And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within. And day and night, they never cease to say, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is, and is to come.”
– Revelation 4:8
This is in the middle of this vision that John sees in Revelation 4–5. Those two chapters go together. He gets this glimpse into heaven.
Revelation 4:8 teaches us about the constant worship around God’s throne.
And there’s a ton we could talk about with the imagery here. The picture that I want us to see and pray according to here in Revelation 4:8 is this picture of these living creatures. And it says, “they’re full of eyes in front and behind, the first like a lion, the second like an ox, the third like the face of a man, the fourth like an eagle in flight.”
Again, we could talk a ton about the imagery here, but the picture is of them saying or singing non-stop. They never cease, day and night, to say this. “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come. And whenever,” verse 9 says, “these living creatures say this, whenever they give glory and honor and thanks to God on the throne, then the 24 elders fall down before him who sits on the throne and worship him. They cast their crowns down, saying, “Worthy are you, our Lord, and God.” And then, the rest of verse 11 goes on to describe what they’re saying.
Revelation 4:8 encourages us to join the heavenly chorus.
And I just want to remind us that when we pray or when we gather together in our churches to sing in worship, we are joining in a chorus that is resounding around the throne of God at every moment of the night and day. This is Isaiah 6, these angels, burning one, seraphim around the throne. And they’re singing the same song, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty.” In Isaiah 6, it’s “The whole earth is full of His glory.” Here, it’s, “Who was, and is, and is to come.”
Just think about it. When you lay your head down on your pillow at night and you fall off to sleep into unconsciousness, they are singing, “Holy, holy, holy.” When you sleep through the night, they’re singing, “Holy, holy, holy.” When you wake up in the morning, they’re still singing, “Holy, holy, holy.” Right now they are singing, “Holy, holy, holy.”
There’s a ton we could think about even with just that. But I want to lead us to pray and join with them for the next couple of minutes. Let’s just join with what they are saying right now, realizing that as we pray, we are joining in a chorus that’s resounding to the glory of God at every moment of every single day and night.
This verse leads us to a continual acknowledgment of God’s supremacy.
And so, we pray, O God. We join with angels singing around your throne, creatures singing around your throne right now. We say with them, “Holy, holy, holy are you, the Lord God Almighty. You are holy, O God, there is no one like you. You are perfect in every way. You’re perfect in power. Lord, you’re perfect in love. You’re perfect in beauty. God, you’re perfect in your justice. You’re perfect in your majesty. There is no one like you. No one compares to you, O God. You are holy, holy, holy. You are the Lord. Yahweh, God, the Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come. You have been forever. You are infinite. God, you are eternal, everlasting, infinite in all your attributes. Your love is never-ending. And your mercy is never-ending. Your justice is infinite justice. Your power is infinite power. Holy, holy, holy.”
And God, as we sing this song with angels around your throne right now, we pray. Help us to live in light of your holiness today. God, help us to be holy as you are holy. Help us to be pure as you are pure. Lord, help us to live in the fear of you. Help us to live today in awe of you. And help us to live in anticipation of the day when we will gather around your throne and we’ll be able to join in this song with resurrected bodies. We’ll sing physically to you, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come.” O God, you alone are worthy of glory and honor and power and praise.
Prayer for the Ad Dharmi People
And all creation, God, we pray just as Jesus taught us to pray, hallowed be your name in all the earth. And specifically, O God, hallowed be your name among the Ad Dharmi people of India. 1.2 million of them, hardly any, if any of them at all, who are followers of Jesus right now, who know you in all your holiness. They worship, in Hinduism, hundreds of millions of gods. None of those Gods are the One True God.
You alone are God and all of them are idols. God, we pray, show all of them to be idols and exalt your name as “Holy, holy, holy” among the Ad Dharmi people of India, that they might know your mercy and know your love and know your grace, and know your beauty and know your majesty. God, we pray for them as we praise your name. And we pray all these things in the name of Jesus, your Son, who died to make it possible for us to be in your holy presence. Amen.
David Platt serves as a Lead Pastor for McLean Bible Church. He is also the Founder and Chairman of Radical, an organization that helps people follow Jesus and make him known in their neighborhood and all nations.
David received his B.A. from the University of Georgia and M.Div., Th.M., and Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Some of his published works include Radical, Radical Together, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, and Don’t Hold Back.
He lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area with his wife and children.
