God's Purpose - almost defeated

Do not do it!

Towards the end of his career as the recipient of "the" revelation from Jesus Christ, the Apostle John committed (almost) a great sin (that is worshiping a wrong object of worship), so before himself going all the way, he got quickly corrected, for the angel said, "Do not do it" as he fell at the feet of the angel to worship him.

Refer to Revelation 19:9-10 especially v. 10, "At this I fell at his feet to worship him., But he said to me, "'Do not do it.' I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers who with you and with your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy."

The message we get is not as to why John might have wanted to worship the wrong object or how the angel quickly corrected, but "WHY" he said to John "Do not do it!"

Why? The answer is in v. 10b, "The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." What does this mean? What does the reason teach us? I think the answer is found in what the angel said: "Do not do it." That is to say that the whole point of the teachings of the Bible as they are handily embodied in the testimony of Jesus Christ (the testimony that rings out of all of Jesus' teachings as well as sacrifices he made for us) is to restore for men the right worship of God, the Father who saent Jesus Christ the Son.

And this (the restoration and instilling in the life of his children the worship of God the Father through the Son) is the whole point of all the revelations from God in and through the prophets and finally through the Son Jesus.

This is true for as used in the Bible the function of prophecy is to turn that which is otherwise not known to men (and therefore remains shrouded in the realm of mystery) to light - the realm of real (or effective) knowledge, for that which is unknown to men stands for mystery, whereas that which has been known to men is called 'revelation'.

Prophecy is one of the means for God to turn mystery into revelation. Just as the same spirit of prophecy worked and revealed that which was hidden through the prophets of Old Testament era, so also the same spirit of prophecy worked in Jesus to finally and fully reveal the purpose of God in sending the Son, that is, establishing the rule/worship of God in God's children. For this purpose, the Risen Lord revealed to John so much, and yet towards the end of John's career as Jesus' apostle, he ended up falling to a wrong object of worship. This is truly embarrassing, but still it is what happened to John and can happen to you and me.

One word: Do not do it!