The Evangelical Universalist Forum

The Things the Lord Receives

I was struck this verse in Revelation 4:11:

“Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.”

From the context, the being on the throne is God the Father (the Lamb doesn’t appear until the following chapter).

So my question is: How, and from where, does the Lord receive power if he is omnipotent? What is this power’s nature?

God doesn’t receive anything in the sense that He is made better by some force. If He were to receive some good thing, then it would imply that He was not as good before receiving it (and thus he had not been God before being “bettered”). Thus, when we glorify God, we are not actually giving Him glory.

We can only magnify His glory, honor and power. So when we say, “glorify God” we can only show/magnify/demonstrate to all creation that He is glorious.

Psalm 29:2 - Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name.

If we didn’t give our power back to God in cooperation with Him, we’d be abusing the power He gives us and rebelling against Him. :slight_smile:

It’s basically the same as throwing down our crowns in front of His throne.

Perhaps the Lord receives power when we say, “Not my will, but Thine be done.”

Sonia

Could this be referring to ascribing power and glory to Him, rather than actually giving?