Your Glory Depends on the Throne You Worship Before

You'd like to see the glory of God show up in your sphere of influence: your work, your home, your ministry, your projects. But before asking yourself how to reign, Elder Junias ANANE invites you to ask a more fundamental question: which throne do you bow before? In this third installment of the series "Lord, Let Me See Your Glory," drawn from Luke 4:5-8, Matthew 2:1-11, Revelation 4-5 and Hebrews 4:16, you'll come to understand why a king's power and glory never depend on those who bow before him, but always on the one before whom he himself bows.

Article Outline

1. Two Thrones for Every King: The Visible Reflects the Invisible
2. Power and Glory Are Hidden in Worship
3. The Priesthood Comes Before the Kingship
4. The Magi: Connecting Your Throne to the Throne of the King of Kings
5. Your Spiritual Authority Comes From Your Time of Devotion
6. Draw Near to the Throne of Grace With Confidence

1. Two Thrones for Every King: The Visible Reflects the Invisible

In the spiritual realm, there is a truth that traditional kings, mystics, and even occult powers know well: every king has two thrones. A visible throne, the one he sits on to exercise his authority in front of people. And an invisible throne, the one before which he himself bows and prostrates.

The visible throne is the expression of the invisible throne. The latter mirrors the former. Your glory is the visible expression of the glory of the throne you bow before. Your authority, your grace, the respect people show you: all of it is the echo, in the visible world, of the connection you maintain in the invisible world.

In Revelation 4, John sees a throne in heaven and, around that throne, twenty-four other thrones on which twenty-four elders are seated. And here's what they do: "The twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne" (Revelation 4:10). These are kings wearing crowns. These are visible thrones. But these kings know which throne they're bowing before.

The declaration that rises from their lips lays out the very principle of kingship according to God: "Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power" (Revelation 4:11). Glory, honor, and power belong to the one seated on the throne of heaven. And they come back down, like a garment, on the one who bows before him.

2. Power and Glory Are Hidden in Worship

In Luke 4:5-8, Satan takes Jesus up and shows him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. Then he makes his offer: "To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours."

Beloved, Jesus did not deny this claim. He didn't tell Satan, "That's not true, this authority was not given to you." He knows that dominion was indeed surrendered to the enemy the day Adam fell. The first man, to whom God had said, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it" (Genesis 1:28), handed that dominion over to the devil.

But what really matters is the protocol Satan uses. He didn't tell Jesus, "Worship me." He said, "Fall down before me." He knows the royal protocol. He knows that in the spiritual realm, power and glory are not transferred through a speech, but through an act: the act of bowing down, of worship.

And Jesus, too, knows the protocol. He answers: "You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve" (Luke 4:8). In other words: "This power and glory you're offering me, I will take hold of them, but I will not connect to your throne through my worship. I will connect to the Father's throne through my worship and my service."

There is power in worship. The power and glory of a throne are transmitted to whoever worships that throne. It's a spiritual principle, invisible but real.

3. The Priesthood Comes Before the Kingship

The preacher insists: you do not sit on the throne before you have passed through the altar. The priesthood, that is, our worship, our praise, our thanksgiving, our service before God, always comes before the reign.

That's why Jesus Christ is called the Lamb of God before he is called the Lion of the tribe of Judah. The lamb is the emblem of the priesthood, of sacrifice, of the offering. The lion is the emblem of kingship. Before the throne of God, Jesus is not first a king: he is a worshiper. He is the Lamb who offers his life as a sacrifice. And it is because he was first the Lamb that he received all authority in heaven and on earth (Matthew 28:18), that he is proclaimed the Lion of the tribe of Judah (Revelation 5:5).

This principle runs through the whole of Scripture. Jacob prophesies over Judah: "Judah is a lion's cub... the scepter shall not depart from Judah" (Genesis 49:9-10). Why Judah? Because his mother Leah, at this child's birth, said: "This time I will praise the Lord" (Genesis 29:35). She did not ask for a kingdom; she offered praise. And it is from the tribe of the one named Praise that the King of kings would come.

Don't seek to be a king. Seek first to be a worshiper. When you're a worshiper, God arranges for people, circumstances, and situations to bow down before you. That's why Jacob adds: "Your brothers shall praise you... your father's sons shall bow down before you" (Genesis 49:8). Because you yourself, first, give praise to the Lord.

4. The Magi: Connecting Your Throne to the Throne of the King of Kings

The story of the wise men from the East, in Matthew 2, perfectly illustrates this mystery. These men are not Jewish. They don't know the Bible. But they are kings, and they know how the spiritual realm works.

When they arrive in Jerusalem, they don't ask Herod, "Where is the child who was just born?" They ask, "Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him" (Matthew 2:2). In the invisible world, they had seen that a royal mantle had fallen on a child. They aren't coming to meet a baby: they're coming to connect their throne to the throne of the King of kings.

And once they had entered the house, the Bible says: "They fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh" (Matthew 2:11). These are three prophetic offerings. Gold: the symbol of the kingship they recognize in him. Frankincense: the symbol of the priesthood, the smoke that rises in worship. Myrrh: the symbol of suffering and death. What these magi were doing there had been prophesied by Isaiah: "All those from Sheba shall come. They shall bring gold and frankincense, and shall bring good news, the praises of the Lord" (Isaiah 60:6).

These kings know something you may be forgetting: power and glory are transmitted through worship, from one throne to another. They come before the child king not as kings, but as priests. They were saying, in effect: "We are kings, but we recognize that you are our King."

5. Your Spiritual Authority Comes From Your Time of Devotion

Here is the principle you must engrave on your heart: the authority and strength of a king do not depend on those who bow before him, no matter how many they are. They depend on the one before whom that king himself bows.

Your rise at work doesn't depend on the intelligence of the people around you. God can place you, even though you're not the most skilled, above people more qualified, more intelligent, more experienced than you. It isn't your own worth that decides this, it's the throne you bow before every morning.

That's why the Bible says in Colossians 2:10 that Jesus Christ is "the head of all rule and authority." In the legal world as in the spiritual world, a higher authority can overturn the decision of a lesser one. Elder Junias tells the story of a sister who had received a deportation order from France. He asked her who had signed the document. She named the prefect, whose name she couldn't even pronounce correctly. He answered her: "It doesn't matter. Jesus Christ is head of all authority." Today, that deportation order has been revoked, and that sister is now a French citizen.

Once you understand which throne you're connected to, you stop trembling before situations. You no longer let yourself be intimidated by what the enemy sends against you. Fear often comes from those who lack confidence in their time of devotion, because they believe that time of devotion depends on their own sanctification. Beloved, it isn't first about your works. It's about the humility of the one who comes before the Lord and says, like Peter: "To whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life" (John 6:68).

Many men and women of God want to see fruit, to exercise spiritual authority, to lay hands on the sick for healing, but their time of prayer and devotion has withered away. They're more in service than in worship, more in the reign than in the priesthood. But the priesthood comes first. You cannot sit on the throne if you haven't first passed through the altar.

6. Draw Near to the Throne of Grace With Confidence

The good news is that your approach to the throne doesn't rest on your own perfection. It rests on the finished work of Christ at the cross. The Bible says: "Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need" (Hebrews 4:16).

The enemy will come and tell you: "You sinned yesterday, don't come near. You fell, you're not worthy." But there is a better word: your confidence doesn't rest on yourself, it rests on the blood of Jesus that speaks on your behalf. Remember the tax collector and the Pharisee in Luke 18:9-14: the one who went home justified was not the one listing his good works, his fasting, and his tithing. It was the one who wouldn't even lift his eyes and simply said: "God, be merciful to me, a sinner!"

Draw near to the throne of grace with that same confidence. You will receive mercy. You will be helped in every need. And because you'll be connected to that throne, your life will begin to reflect everything it embodies: power, riches, wisdom, strength, honor, praise, and glory (Revelation 5:12).

So when you pray "Lord, let me see your glory," understand clearly what you're asking for: "May the glory I show in my sphere of influence be yours. May the visible throne you've placed me on (my work, my home, my ministry) become the reflection of the invisible throne before which I bow."

Key Takeaways

• Every king has two thrones: the visible throne is the expression of the invisible throne before which he bows.
• Power and glory are not transmitted through a speech but through worship (Luke 4:5-8).
• The priesthood comes before the kingship: Jesus is first the Lamb, then the Lion of the tribe of Judah (Revelation 5:5).
• The magi from the East came to connect their throne to that of the King of kings through worship and offering (Matthew 2:11).
• Your authority doesn't depend on those who submit to you, but on the one to whom you yourself submit.
• The secret of being lifted up is your capacity to bow before the throne of God.
• Draw near to the throne of grace with confidence: that confidence rests on the blood of Jesus, not on your own sanctification (Hebrews 4:16).

Personal Application

• Which throne do I actually bow before each day? Does my devotional life reflect a living connection with the throne of God, or do I rush first into the business of the day?
• Am I seeking first to reign (to succeed, to be recognized, to exercise authority) without having cultivated the priesthood that must come first?
• Is there a situation I'm trembling before today when I should be reminding myself which Throne I'm connected to?
• Am I tempted to pull away from the throne of grace because of a recent sin? Am I relying on my own sanctification, or on the blood of Jesus that speaks on my behalf?
• In my sphere of influence (work, home, ministry), what should better reflect the glory of the throne before which I bow?

Verses Cited

• Psalm 40:1-6 · "I waited patiently for the Lord... he put a new song in my mouth"
• Luke 4:5-8 · The temptation of Jesus in the wilderness, "You shall worship the Lord your God"
• Genesis 1:28 · "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it"
• Matthew 2:1-12 · The wise men from the East come to worship the child king
• Isaiah 60:6 · Prophecy about gold, frankincense, and praise
• Revelation 4 · The throne of heaven and the twenty-four thrones
• Revelation 5:5-12 · The Lamb and the Lion of the tribe of Judah
• Genesis 29:35 · Leah: "This time I will praise the Lord"
• Genesis 49:8-10 · Jacob's blessing on Judah
• Matthew 28:18 · "All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth"
• Colossians 2:10 · Christ, head of all rule and authority
• John 6:68 · "Lord, to whom shall we go?"
• Luke 18:9-14 · The Pharisee and the tax collector
• Hebrews 4:16 · "Let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace"
• Joshua 1:5 · "No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life"

FAQ

What exactly does it mean to "bow before the throne of God" today?

It isn't primarily a physical posture, even though the body can take part in it. Bowing before the throne of God means recognizing, in your time of devotion, your praise, your thanksgiving, and your service, that God alone is King, Lord, and Sovereign. It means refusing to connect your visible throne (your life, your success, your ministry) to any throne but his. It means offering your worship every morning like incense (Revelation 5:8), and casting your crowns before him, like the twenty-four elders of Revelation 4:10.

Does this mean my sanctification no longer matters?

No. Sanctification remains precious, and it's a normal fruit of a life surrendered to God. But sanctification is never the foundation of your access to the throne of grace. The foundation is the blood of Jesus (Hebrews 4:16; Hebrews 10:19-22). If the enemy accuses you of yesterday's failure to keep you away from the throne, remember that this is exactly why Christ shed his blood. The tax collector of Luke 18 went home justified, not the Pharisee who listed his good works.

How can I concretely know which throne I'm connecting to?

Junias' question is very simple: "Tell me which king you honor through your worship, your praise, and your thanksgiving, and I'll tell you which throne you're connected to." What you worship shapes what you display. If you spend time before the Lord every morning before you go out, your life will reflect the throne of God. If you don't, you'll display the strength of whatever throne you bow before by default, the throne of your worries, your ambitions, or whatever priorities the world imposes on you.