Hallelujah!

Revelation chapter 19. After these things, I heard, as it were, a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying, Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God. Because his judgments are true and righteous, for he has judged the great harlot who was corrupting the earth with her immorality, and he has avenged the blood of his bonds on her. And a second time they said, Hallelujah, her smoke rises up forever and ever.

And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshipped God. Who sits on the throne saying, Amen, hallelujah. And a voice came from the throne saying, Give praise to our God, all you his bonds, you who fear him, the small and the great. And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, and as the sound of many waters, and as the sound of mighty peals of thunder, saying, Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty. Reigns. We have spent many weeks looking prophetically at what's going to happen in the future of the world when God Himself Judges those who dwell upon the earth.

The Bible calls it the tribulation or The day of the Lord, or the time of Jacob's trouble, a day of darkness, a day of gloom. As you recall, back in chapter 6, when the tribulation began, the seals were open. The Lamb of God had taken from the Father in heaven the seven-seal scroll in Revelation chapter 5. As he broke the seals, they unravel that scroll one seal at a time. And as we were able to see the devastating judgments. Pour out upon the earth, whether it be in the form of false peace, whether it be in the form of war, famine, death.

Earthquakes, stars falling from the sky, all kinds of horrendous things happening, the judgments of God began to unfold upon the earth. We saw them again with the seven trumpets. We saw them again with the seven bowls. All of them producing terror. All of them producing judgment. Many people die. But now we come to Revelation chapter 19. And now we hear the words of heaven. We hear the hallelujah chorus. We hear what heaven has to say about what is happening. On earth, we have seen in great detail the retribution of God.

We have seen throughout our study the salvation. Of God. We have seen, as Revelation 7 states, a great multitude of souls who are saved during a seven-year span of time. And I believe that during that seven-year span of time, there are more people who give their life to Christ than all the period of history put together into one. Because there was a great multitude, the Bible says.

During the church age, narrow is the gate, and few there be that find it. But we have seen the salvation of God, we have seen the salvation of Gentiles. We have seen the salvation of the Jewish nation. We've also seen the cons of God. On three separate occasions, God has made a specific attempt. To tell John and to show John how he can be encouraged, despite all the chaos and all the calamity round about him, how he can receive encouragement because God is doing a great work. Whether it be through the ceiling of the 144,000 Jewish evangelists, whether it be through the salvation of a great multitude of Gentiles.

God says there is encouragement that happens. Whether there be the encouragement of a temple that's going to be built, and John having seen the destruction of Jerusalem, knowing. That there's going to be a new temple, God consoles John. So, whether it be the retribution, whether it be the salvation, whether it be the consolation of God, God puts Himself on display. But no time is he on display better than Revelation chapter 19, in which all heaven erupts with jubilation. All heaven erupts with joy in which words cannot express.

As we embark in Revelation chapter 19, this is the chapter in which Jesus Christ Himself returns. He does not come back until verse 11 of chapter 19. So the first 10 verses are going to tell us what is happening in heaven.

Before the glorious event of Christ's return and his majestic glory on a white horse, we are able to see what's going on. In the heavenly realm. And so this will be our last vision of heaven. There are seven visions that John receives of heaven. This will be the last one. Of the seven, we have seen nothing but celestial j. And why do people rejoice? Because Messiah is returning. The wickedness on the earth is going to cease. It's going to end. The rebellion on the earth is going to be over. The wickedness that has encompassed the world will cease to be.

It causes heaven to rejoice. Needless to say, I was extremely convicted upon studying just six verses about what it means. To hear the heavenly hallelujahs, and then to appropriate them in my life so that God is glorified the best. By way of note, what is happening on earth at this time is completely different than what is happening in heaven. While there is worship in heaven, there is weeping on the earth. Revelation 18, verse number nine: the kings of the earth. Who committed acts of immorality and lived sensuously with her will weep and lament over her when they see the smoke.

Of her burning. The monarchs of the world begin to weep. They begin to cry. They begin to lament when those in heaven they worship and rejoice. And yet you got to realize that everybody on the earth for those seven years have had the opportunity to repent, right? They've had ample opportunity. They've heard the gospel proclaimed by the angel that flies in mid heaven. The hundred forty four thousand Jewish ev. The Gentile believers who gave their life to Christ, other Jewish believers who gave their life to Christ, told other people about Christ.

There were the two witnesses in Revelation 11. Who spoke about Christ so the world had ample opportunity to hear the truth? They just rejected the truth. And yet, you must understand that heaven's joy. Is not because of their damnation. Heaven's joy is because of God's glorification. God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked. The Bible is very clear about that. So heaven is not rejoicing because people are being damned to hell. Heaven is rejoicing because God's being honored. God's being glorified.

God's being put on display. The majestic power of God is seen by them and seen by all. Shortly, when he returns in verse 11. And so they rejoice in the heavenly hallelujahs. The promise of God's vindication comes. To fruition. So heaven erupts with heavenly hallelujahs. What else should they do? I mean, history is reaching its climax. What heaven has always longed for is now going to take place. Heaven has always longed for the Son of Man to rule and reign upon the earth. We, as the children of God today, pray, thy kingdom come to earth.

We long for his rule. So when it finally happens, what else are we supposed to do but to rejoice and praise the L?

And of course, that's what heaven does. So when you come to Revelation chapter 19, you have the summation, the finalization of God's deliverance. The completion of God's salvation, not of one soul, but as Paul would say, now is your salvation nearer than when you first belie.

This is the ultimate deliverance from sin, from a fallen world, and from wicked people. It is rich in meaning. Why? For the very first thing you praise the Lord for is His redeeming mercy.

His redeeming mercy. When God saved your soul. He delivered you from the wicked oppressor, Satan him. When God delivered your soul from hell, because of his wonderful mercy, your salvation was secure. Salvation belongs to God. Hallelujah. Salvation and glory and power, they all belong to God. What do we praise God for? We praise Him for His redeeming mercy. We praise Him because He saved our souls. We praise Him because He keeps our souls. We praise Him because He is all glorious to do so. And we praise Him because He is all power To do so That's why we praise the Lord.

Glory and power belong to God. Sple and strength belong to God. Majesty and might belong only to God. And therefore we praise him for who he is and how he accomplished his redeeming work. I'm reminded of the words in 1 Chronicles 29 in David's prayer when he said, Thine, O Lord, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty. Indeed, everything that is in the heavens and the earth. Thine is the dominion, O Lord, and thou dost exalt thyself as head over all. Both riches and honor come from thee, and thou dost rule over all, and in thy hand is power and might, and a lie is in thy hand to make great.

And to strengthen everyone. Now, therefore, our God, we thank thee and praise thy glorious name. Why? Because of thy great gl and p. Remember Matthew 6, verse number 13? That great ending to the disciples' prayer when the disciples asked Christ. Teach us how to pray. And he taught them how to pray. And he ended by saying, For thine is the kingdom. For thine is the power, for thine is the gl, forever and ever. Am. Yours is the power, yours is the glory, and yours is the kingdom, and it is forever.

So be it, God. Here we come and say, hallelujah, salvation and glory. Glory speaks of the person of God. Glory speaks of the bign of God. Psalm 19. The heavens declare what? The glory of God. The heavens declare the glory of God. That emphasizes the bign of God. The bign of God. The vastness of God. God is so big that the universe can't even contain him. But when you see the vastness of the universe, we give glory and praise to God because he is the creator of that universe, and that universe puts our God on display.

Very interesting thing that I learned this past week, and that is this: that the new Jerusalem, the new Jerusalem. The holy city of God comes down out of heaven. Do you know that when you die, that's where you go? Did you know that? You say, Where's heaven? Heaven is the holy city of God. The holy city of God is unstained by evil, unstained by sin, so that it exists outside of our present universe, because our universe is stained by sin and corrupted by sin. And because it's the holy city, it is outside of the universe.

You see, we think the universe is infinite. It's not. It's finite. Only God is infinite. The universe which He created is not infinite. It is finite. Because outside that universe is the heavenly abode, is the holy city of God. And when we get to Revelation 21. We will see how that holy city comes out. We know, according to Hebrews 10, that God Himself is the builder and architect of that city. And we know, according to John 14, verses 1 to 3, that if I go away, Christ says, I go to prepare a place for you.

And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, receive you into myself, that where I am, there you may be also. So we know that when we die, we go to be with God. And where do we go? We go to His stud, we to His abode, we go to His place. That 's where we go. And what do we praise Him for? We praise him for his redeeming mercy. Salvation belongs to God because he's all-glorious and he's all-powerful. Number two.

We praise him because of his righteous victory. We praise him for his righteous victory. Because his judgments are true and righteous. For he has judged the great harlot who was corrupting the earth with her immorality, and he has avenged the blood of his bonds. On her. Hallel. Justice reigns. Righteousness finally reigns.

Remember Isaiah chapter 9, Isaiah 9, verse number 6. We talk about it at Christmas time for a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us. And the government will rest on his shoulders, and his name will be called Wonderful Counsel, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of his government. Or peace on the throne of David and over his kingdom to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forever. You see, forevermore there will be justice.

Forever there will be righteousness. And so what do we praise God for? We praise Him for His righteous victory. He has destroyed the harlot. He has destroyed the system. He has destroyed the Antich system in his righteousness now.

Will rule and reign over in Jeremiah 23, verse number 5. It says, This: Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I shall raise up for David a righteous. Branch, and he will reign as king and act wisely and do justice and righteousness in the land. In his days, Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is His name by which he will be called the Lord our right. We praise him for his redeeming mercy. We praise him for his righteous victory. We praise him for his removing iniquity.

His removing iniqu. It says, and a second time they said, Hallelujah. Her smoke rises up forever and ever. He removes iniquity. Her punishment is forever. Her smoke rises up. Forever and forever. As you recall back in Revelation 18:8, Revel:, and verse number 18, that Babylon went up in flames. God set it ablaze and it went up in flames, and they were able to observe the smoke from a distance. And now we realize that this smoke goes up forever and ever and ever. It is unending. It is over. He removes iniquity.

And those who truly praise the Lord praise Him because iniquity has been removed, and righteousness prevails, and purity reigns and rules on the earth. And that's what the Christian wants. We praise him for his removal of iniquity. Question comes: Is this eternal smoke? Answer? Well, no, it's not. Why? Well, because when the Lord returns, He's going to reshape the earth and reconfigure the earth, and I believe put it back the way it was before the fall of man. And He'll rule on this earth for a thousand years.

The fire will eventually burn out, and the embers will cool, the ashes will blow away, and the renewed earth will not have a smoldering place. The purpose of the statement is this: the rebellion's over. The treachery is over. The apostasy is over. The disloyalty is over. The sexuality is over. The immorality is over. The mutiny is over. The insurgency is over. Iniquity is over forever because God Himself reigns. There'll be a slight rebellion at the end of the thousand years, but the Lord will squelch that in a matter of seconds.

Revelation 20, verses 7 to 10. There's another implication here, and that implication is this: that these people who are killed will burn. Will burn in hell forever. Matthew 9 calls it a place where fire never ends and the worm dieth not. Persecution is over. False religion is over. Materialism is over. Evolutionary science is over. Philosophy is over, psychology is over, injustice is over, un is over, it's finished. We praise Him for His redeeming mercy. We praise him for his righteous victory. We praise him for his removing iniquity.

And lastly, we praise him for his reigning majesty. We praise him for his reigning majesty. It says, verse number 4, and the 2 elders and the four living creatures fell down and worship God, who sits on the throne, saying, Amen, hallelujah. And a voice came from the throne saying, Give praise to our God, all you his bonds, you who fear him, the small and the great. And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, and as the sound of many waters, and as the sound of mighty peals of thunder, saying, Hallelujah, for the Lord our God, the Almighty.

Reigns his reig majesty Psalm one oh six verse number forty eight States it this way: Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, from everlasting, even To everlasting, let all the people say Am. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. So be it. We agree. We accept. We affirm what He has done and what He is going to do. Giving praise to God is a present imperative. Keep on praising. Everybody. Who is a bonds, whether you be small or great, anybody who has been redeemed by his mercy, praise him. Praise him for what?

He is about to do. It's a deafening praise. Why is it deafening? Because he's king, he's taken over. He is in complete control. He is in charge. If you were to read Psalm 146 to Psalm 150. It's all about God's sovereignty, His rule, and His eternal fellowship with the Redeemed. And it's all about saying hallelujah to Almighty God. What a tremendous passage of Scripture. We have seen the wor. Next week, we will see the wedding. And then in the weeks to come, we will see the war. The Battle of Armageddon as the King him returns.

I 'm reminded of the hymn written by Charles Wesley, entitled Lo He Comes. It reads as follows Lo, he comes with clouds descending, Once for our salvation slain. Thousand, thousand saints attending, swell the triumph of his train All, hallelujah God appears on earth to reign Every eye shall now behold him, Robbed, or excuse me, robed in dreadful majesty Those who said at naught and sold him, Pierced and nailed him to the tree Deeply wailing, deeply wailing, Shall the true Messiah see Now the Saviour long expected, See in solemn pomp appear All his saints by man rejected Now shall meet him in the air.

All All See the day of God appear Yea, amen. Let all adore Thee, high on Thine eternal throne. Saviour, take the power and gl. Claim the kingdom for thy own. Oh, come quickly, oh, come quickly. All, come, Lord, come. That's the prayer of the believer. Come, come, so we may praise you for your redeeming mercy. Come, so we may praise you for your righteous victory. Come so we may praise you for your removing iniquity. Come so we may praise you for your reigning majesty. Let's pray. Father, thank you for tonight.

A chance to briefly look at the worship of heaven as it will be right before you return. We realize, Lord, that we don't know all about heaven. We realize, Lord, we don't know all about what's going to happen on earth in the tribulation. But we do know. Where the world's going, and we can know for certain of our eternal destiny. And my prayer for all who listen.

Either they be in the auditorium this evening or by way of tape or radio. We pray that they would know for certain. That they have been redeemed by the mercy of Almighty God. That salvation belongs to God. And all glory and power are His alone and no one else's. For Lord, we know that with you and in you is life eternal. And we pray, if there be one soul that does not know you, that this would be the time they say, Yes, Lord, I am a sinner. I need to be saved by the mercy and grace of Almighty God.

That I might live in accordance with the Word of God. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.