Faith Baptist Church
4258 Botetourt Road
Fincastle, Virginia 24090
(540) 473-2325
The tide is finally turning as we get to chapter nineteen. At the close of chapter eighteen we find great joy at the judgment of God upon the harlot church and commercial Babylon. We find that God is not impressed with religion or the inventions of men, especially when these become the cause of suffering for so many of God’s people. And when I say God’s people I must quote Gal.3:26 “For you are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.” Anyone who seeks a relationship with God apart from Jesus Christ is still lost and condemned as per God’s word, Jn.3:18. This is not the words of a non-loving Christian, or religious bigotry as some say.
Good intentions and good works are no substitute for the shed blood of Jesus Christ. Religious observances and ritualistic ceremonies and the offering of prayers and the giving of tithes and offerings does not save ones soul. Morality and military service does not save ones soul. Only acceptance of the crucified, risen Son of God pardons sin and guarantees eternal life, period!
19:1
Those who rejoice in heaven will say Hallelujah!
This word hallelujah is a transliteration of two Hebrew words, halal meaning, “praise” and Yahweh meaning “Jehovah”. So when we say Hallelujah, we are saying, “praise the Lord”.
This is the only use of this word in the entire Bible. It is used four times in our passage today.
Ps.111:1, 112:1 it is simply stated, “Praise ye the Lord.”
The struggle is nearing the end, and the Bridegroom is standing at the entrance to his kingdom.
A great Hallelujah chorus is sounding loud and clear. As a matter of fact Rev.19 was Handel’s inspiration for the Hallelujah Chorus sung in his work, Messiah.
So often this song is sung at Easter in regards to the resurrection of Jesus Christ. We rejoice too little do we not? It is so hard to rejoice when we are beat down, but we must because we will be a part of those saints singing Praise the Lord, Salvation, and glory, and honor, and power, unto the Lord, our God:
You and I will be one of many singing this song because we are saved. I can be nothing less than faithful to my Savior now in light of what he has done for me, and what he allows me to be a part of in the near future. I pray you can say the same thing.
I want to note the word honor in the Greek is spelled, time. It looks like our word time, but this e is an eta in the Greek. This word honor means to value the worth of someone or something. I would advise all of us to not wait until we get to heaven to honor the worth of our Lord; that we should not ignore him on his day so that we will have the victory through his spoken word. The reason we sing this chorus is noted in verse 2.
19:2 -3
Babylon’s system of corrupting men with religious works for salvation is no more. Babylon’s system of enticing men with materialism is no more. God has judged her. The persecution of God’s people is no more. Justice is served. Today even Christians give you a dirty look when you expound upon the justice of God. They do not understand that God’s justice is 100% fair, and that his justice is carrying out what his righteousness demands. If God did not carry out judgment for the unsaved he could not carry out blessing for the saved.
Justice is like a coin. It has two sides though we prefer to look at only the side of blessings. We as a people do not want to reap what we sow. Mankind would rather God be mocked than us. My friend that will never happen.
A second hallelujah [praise the Lord] goes up in v.3. The promise of 14:7 of her destruction is seen as fulfilled. When God says something will happen we had better trust him on it.
No one pulls the wool over on the righteousness of God. You can wrap sheep wool over a goat, but its still a goat, and God knows it. Mankind can attempt to cover his sin with good works and church membership and even morality, but God still sees the unrepentant rebellious soul.
We have spoken so far about the sins of the great harlot. She is now seen as shut up. Now we will focus on the strength of the majesty of the Lord God omnipotent.
v.4
Now we have the third hallelujah. [praise the Lord].
Here we have the twenty-four elders which represent the church and we have the four cherubim angels as seen back in Rev.4:4-8. The four angels represent the divine majesty of God’s (1) sovereignty, (2) patience, (3) intelligence, (4) strength and supremacy. They stand at the throne of God in full expectation of his word, and say Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come. This praise is seen in one of our hymns, “Praise God from whom all blessings flow; Praise Him, all creatures here below; Praise Him above ye heavenly host; Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen. SO BE IT.
They say Amen! Which is to say, so be it, or it is so. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we agreed so quickly with God? Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we would all get on board with his program for the ages than spending so much of our energies on our own temporal plans? Look at how much more we could do if we would voluntarily answer the call to faithfulness and fruitfulness, and to garnish God’s work with our efforts rather that fill our own coffers with our temporary dreams.
v.5
A single voice, perhaps the heavenly song director says, Praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear him, both small and great. You see, regardless of our status in this life, in heaven our money and education means nothing. Our dedication to the Lord in time means everything.
Obedience is the highest order of intelligence. No matter how gifted and talented we are; no matter how much we give financially; no matter how much we help around the church; no matter how articulate we are, God is looking for obedient saints who can be counted on to be faithful and loyal and diligent.
v.6
The small and great will stand shoulder to shoulder and give the fourth hallelujah. John said it was the thunderous sound, like the sound of a great water fall, a sound that drowns out all other sounds, and everyone is singing, saying Hallelujah, For the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.” The omnipotence of God refers to his infinite power, a power which never violates his justice and righteousness. It is a power which is at all times available to save and keep.