Praise and Prayer

Revelation 5: 7 He came and took the scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the throne. 8 And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.

In this unfolding revelation before God’s throne John sees the Lamp as he takes the scroll from the right hand of God. This scroll is the deed to creation and more so to man himself. As He takes the scroll He takes our sin. In the words of Isaiah…

Isa. 53:4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 5  But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

He replaces our sin with two objects, a harp and golden bowls full of incense. These two objects representative our ability to praise and pray.

The harp speaks of our ability to worship and praise God. Because He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows we now can rightly offer him the sacrifice of praise. The fact that each elder has a harp tells us that each one of us has a praise. The ability to worship and praise God is given to each one on the same level. Your praise may be different than mine but it is just as significant.

The golden bowls full of incense, are the prayers of the saints. In your hands lies the ability to offer prayers to God. These are not “lay me down to sleep prayers”, they are fervent prayers. The Greek word means fervent prayers. These prayers rise up before God as incense. This must be what David thought of when he said, “Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense; and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.”

Because Jesus took the scroll of redemption for us we now hold in our hands praise and prayer. He took our sins, grief, sorrow, and shame and exchanged them for praise and prayer. They are in our past.

Think of this. In order to pick up shame, sorrow, grief, despair, all the things sin brings into our life, we will have to let go of the harp and bowl. Only if you stop praising him and praying to him can you pick up your past.

No matter what we’re going through we can face His throne with praise and pray. If we hold praise in one hand and prayer in the other we can’t hold on to worry, doubt, or fear.