Revelation 19:1-3

Does God Have Your Hallelujah?

A sermon by Pastor Joe Haynes

Preached on May 9, 2021 at Beacon Church.

This afternoon we are embarking on a series of sermons on what is one of the most important passages of end-times prophecy in the whole Bible. Chapters 19-20 of Revelation predict the second coming of Jesus Christ as an event that inaugurates the final chapter of earthly, human history. It is the New Testament parallel to the Old Testament prophecy in Daniel about the coming of the Kingdom of the Son of Man. It is Revelation’s parallel to what the Old Testament prophets called “The Day of the Lord,” and to what Jesus Himself predicted when HE said, “…They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.” (Matthew 24:30). It is the great event Paul describes in Romans 8 as the day Creation itself has been waiting for and groaning for for a long, long time.

In fact, Paul describes what is going to happen on that day as the hope that makes life worth living when things seem most hopeless. This is Paul in his own words: "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us." (Rom 8:18 ESV) It’s like Paul imagined a giant pair of scales. On one side, you put all the sufferings of this present life. All of it. All the bitter disappointments. All the grief. All the worries. All the loneliness. All the frustration. All the burdens and scars of sin. All the betrayals. All the dissatisfaction, discontentment, disillusionment, deprivation; the hurts, the waiting, the unanswered prayers, and you put it all in a giant pile on one side of that scale. It seems immovable. Heavier than the earth itself and nothing could ever budge it even an inch. Until you take the predictions of Scripture about the “glory that is to be revealed to us,” and you place just that by itself on the other side of the scale. And guess what? When you do that, “all the sufferings of this present time” suddenly weigh no more than a feather. The weight of all your present sufferings are as substantial as vapour, as smoke, compared to the substance of the Christian’s hope at the return of Jesus Christ. The apostles took the Bible’s predictions that seriously and here in Revelation 19, if you are a Christian, John predicts that you will too.

Now to help you see what’s going on in chapters 18-19 when different voices are speaking I need to remind you what we learned when I preached on Revelation 18 last August. At the beginning of chapter 18, John saw in his vision, a representation of the Lord Jesus Christ descending to the earth like a glorious sunrise, pronouncing His final verdict on the institution known as “Babylon the Great.” But then in 18:4, another voice speaks but it is still speaking for God—and instead of pronouncing a verdict on His enemy, it is a Word from God calling His people to repent from their sin and escape the judgment about to fall on Babylon the Great. Then in 18:20, that voice, speaking the Word of God again, calls the true Church, including “saints and apostles and prophets” to rejoice over what God will have, by that time, done to this institution known as Babylon the Great. I suggested that that voice from heaven, not the same voice as when it was Jesus Christ speaking but a different voice speaking God’s Word for God, is a voice that represents the preaching of God’s Word. I could be wrong about that—it could represent the Scripture itself or the teaching of Scripture generally—but the basic point is the same. So let me put that together so we can see what chapter 19 is about.

Chapter 18:2 predicted that Jesus will condemn Babylon the Great and then predicts the violent fall and punishment of that institution which we know today as the Roman Catholic Church. Chapter 18:4 also predicted that just before that happens the preaching of God’s Word will call many to repent and escape her judgment, and then after that happens, 18:20 predicts God’s Word will then call the true Church of Jesus Christ to rejoice: “Rejoice over her, O heaven, and you saints and apostles and prophets, for God has given judgment for you against her!" (Rev. 18:20 ESV). So then, when we get to chapter 19, we see a prediction of the entire true Church responding to God’s Word with an obedient joy that should make you see that your future happiness depends on you taking God’s Word that seriously. I’m worried though that some of you won’t take it seriously. Because if you don’t get your heart right with God now, I don’t think you will change your mind when you see the end of days happening. I think when you witness these events you will be gripped by the fear of losing everything you love, instead of rejoicing at the arrival of the One you love most. So I pray that today you will hear and obey the call of God’s Word to believe in Jesus. But Christian happiness cannot depend on myths and smoke. It has to depend on God, on reality.

Christian rejoicing depends God being fair (v1-2a)

“After this I heard what seemed to be the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, crying out…” (Rev. 19:1a ESV).

“After this…” – there is a sequence to this. The prophecy of chapter 19 predicts things that can only happen after the prophecy of chapter 18 is fulfilled—whether immediately or later, I don’t know. “After this,” shows that there is a sequence and order to John’s predictions and reminds us to read them and study them in order. Christians take the Bible seriously. And Christianity lost its way when it stopped treating the Bible with the seriousness it deserves. Anyway, when John says “after this,” it tells us that what the next words predict take place after the fall and destruction of Babylon the Great. So for us, all of this is still in the future. “I heard what seemed to be the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, crying out…” (1a). Take every word seriously. John did not hear a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven. He heard what seemed to be a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven. Also, he did not hear loud voices of a great multitude but the loud voice of a great multitude suggesting that many voices are speaking as one, in unison. That’s why the multitude has only one voice. And that helps us see that the united voice of what seemed to be a great, heavenly multitude, is really the Church of Jesus Christ obeying the call of 18:20 to rejoice. “Rejoice over her, O heaven, and you saints and apostles and prophets, for God has given judgment for you against her!" (Rev. 18:20 ESV). The whole church was commanded by God’s Word to rejoice when they witness the future fall of Babylon the Great, and in 19:1, the whole church in unison obediently rejoices because they take God’s Word that seriously.

Isn’t it nice to see that one day the whole Church of Jesus Christ will be completely united? Here they speak with a single voice, in unison, in obedience to the command to rejoice over what they will witness God doing. This is a good reminder, isn’t it, to check ourselves and what sorts of things we take most seriously. Not all truths of Scripture are equally urgent in the same way at all times. By not rightly ordering truths of first importance first, second, second, and so on, we can undermine and damage the unity of the church. But notice what the Church in unison cries out in 19:1. “…Crying out, ‘Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God…’,” (Rev. 19:1b ESV).

Certain things unite the whole true Church. 1) The true Church confesses that salvation only belongs to God. There is no salvation or hope of salvation found anywhere but in God. That was the thrust of what Peter told the ruling council in Jerusalem in Acts 4, after he and John had been arrested for healing a man and then preaching that Jesus had been raised from the dead, and after the council demanded to know, “By what power or by what name did you do this?" (Act 4:7 ESV)

…Let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead-- by him this man is standing before you well.  11 This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone.  12 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.  (Act 4:10-12 ESV)

The apostles took God’s Word so seriously that they wagered their very lives on the fact that salvation belongs to God alone. Likewise, when Babylon the Great falls, Christians who live to see that happen will testify as they have for centuries that salvation does not belong to the Roman Catholic Church or to the Popes or to priests or to any earthly denomination or human religion but to God alone and His Son Jesus Christ. Salvation is God’s alone. Glory is God’s alone. Power is God’s alone. These belong to God alone. There is no other name under heaven in which anyone must ever pray for salvation; no other name to which anyone must ever ascribe glory and power. No other name.

And speaking of no other name, in verse 1, there is a word that expresses the deep joy and worship in the hearts of all God’s people is Hallelujah! (v1b). This word is Hebrew. “Jah” abbreviates the Covenant Name of God in the Old Testament Scriptures, “Yahweh”—Hallelujah means “praise Yahweh!”[i] This is the very first time in the entire New Testament when the word “hallelujah” is used. Then suddenly John hears this word used 4 times in this one chapter: v1, 3, 4, and 6. This is predicting the arrival of a unique and happy day for God’s people! Each time, “Hallelujah!” is what John hears from the mouths of those who know and believe that God has kept His Word, has saved His people, has upheld His covenant promises to His people, the covenant He sealed in the blood of His only begotten Son, when He pledged Himself to save every sinner who repents of their sin and by faith takes shelter under the name of Jesus. Hallelujah!

But then verse 2 does more than praise God for saving His people; verse 2 shows God’s people praising Yahweh because of what He has done to Babylon the Great: “…For his judgments are true and just…” (Rev. 19:2a ESV). This is probably alluding to Psalm 104:35-- "Let sinners be consumed from the earth, and let the wicked be no more! Bless the LORD, O my soul! Praise the LORD!" You need to take that in: God’s people take God’s name and glory so seriously that they will praise His name on the day when He punishes the wicked, false church, Babylon. This should make you examine where your loyalty lies.

Christian rejoicing depends on God being faithful (v2b)

I said earlier that in this prediction we see a prediction of the entire true Church responding to God’s Word with an obedient joy, and I said that you need to take God’s Word just as seriously. I said your joy—your happiness-depends on this. I said that because when the true Church in the future cries out “Hallelujah!” and ascribes salvation, glory, and power to God alone; when that’s how they respond to the events they witness as He will one day punish Babylon the Great, they don’t accuse God of being unfair or unjust. They take God more seriously than that. They prize God more than anything. They recognize, when that happens, that God has kept His Word, that God has beef faithful to not only save everyone who humbles themselves and prays in Jesus’ name for Him to forgive their sins, but who also punishes and judges the greatest of all deceivers on the earth—the institution of the Roman Catholic Church that for centuries claimed they and they alone had the power to save sinners from the wrath of God. I’m saying that this predicts the true Church will one day take God’s Word so seriously that they will see the judgment of Babylon as proof of God’s faithfulness.

Some of you might struggle with that. Maybe your compassion for people is heavier on the scale of your hearts than your loyalty to God? Maybe you need to remember that God could not simply excuse my sin or yours and still be holy and righteous and good? Jesus had to die in our place; our sins were literally punished in the shedding of His innocent blood. He Himself said He came for this purpose, to give His life as a ransom for us. And it was the hardest thing Jesus ever did—He agonized over what He had come to do the night before He went through with it. But in the end, thank God, HE was loyal to His Father above all: “Not my will but yours be done,” (Luke 22:42). Maybe you know you just don’t love God yet in a way that moves your heart to be loyal to Him above everything else? But do you see that you should? Do you get it that Jesus knew the whole truth about His Father and that therefore He simply could not let anything else get in the way of putting His Father first? Do you see that if you knew even the slightest fraction of what Jesus knew about His Father, then you would want to put God first? That you would love to put God first? Maybe your Hallelujah is a bit weak still. But my friend, the more you get to know God by getting to know His Word, the more HE will have your heart.

Christian rejoicing, in verse 2b, depends on God being faithful because this predicts the Church responding with “Hallelujah!” when they see what God will one day do to Babylon the Great: “…For he has judged the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her immorality, and has avenged on her the blood of his servants." (Rev. 19:2 ESV). Because He judged the prostitute:  they will see she was not innocent, she was profoundly guilty. Not just of sexual abuse and untold crimes, but of spiritual abuse that victimized billions of people with eternal consequences. Not just of leading sinners into further delusions and sinful self-deception, but of persecuting and murdering thousands if not millions of faithful servants of Jesus Christ over the centuries. The end of verse 2, in Greek, describes the “blood of His servants on her hands.” The false church has blood on her hands. I explained that before regarding Rev 17:6 when it described Babylon as being drunk on the blood of the saints, on the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. Like Queen Jezebel in 2 Kings 9:7, of whom God said He “[would] avenge on Jezebel the blood of my servants the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of the LORD.” Revelation 14 and 16 and 17 and 18 predict that God would one day judge Babylon the Great and punish her for what she did to the men and women and children who for centuries suffered at her hands because they were loyal to Jesus and His Gospel. So in Revelation 19:2, the church says Hallelujah because they will see that God has been faithful.

Christian rejoicing depends on God being final (v3)

I said that this is a prediction of the entire true Church responding to God’s Word with an obedient joy that should make you see that your future happiness depends on you taking God’s Word that seriously. Eternal punishment is pretty serious. “Once more they cried out, ‘Hallelujah! The smoke from her goes up forever and ever.’,” (Rev. 19:3 ESV). Tom Schreiner says, “Their praise comes as they see the smoke of Babylon rising forever. They are full of praise when they see the justice and rightness of God’s judgment of their great enemy.”[ii] This isn’t about getting revenge or gloating over payback. This is about seeing God’s justice, God’s rightness vindicated; about seeing God’s name hallowed; seeing God’s reputation upheld; about God finally and forever holding accountable that corrupt and hypocritical institution that has deceived so many and by her crimes and hypocrisy has made countless others turn away in disgust at everything called “Christian.” The smoke of her burning, rising up forever and ever is probably a metaphor for her eternal punishment. The punishment will fit the crime and this predicts that the true Church, when that day comes, will see that not only has God been fair and faithful, but that God will be final: He will never again allow a corrupt imitation of Christianity to tarnish the good name of our precious Saviour. So I ask you again, where does your loyalty lie? Is there anything holding you back from putting God first? Is there anything preventing you from giving Him your “Hallelujah”? Does your happiness depend on something temporary or on what is forever?

You know, before John wrote Revelation, a Roman poet nicknamed the City of Rome, “Urbs Aeterna” (the eternal city)—a boast that was repeated by classical Roman writers like Virgil and Livy.[iii] It has existed for 3000 years. Half of that time as a symbol of paganism and half of that time as a symbol of Christianity. But over and over again, the predictions in the Book of Revelation have come true: God humiliated pagan Rome and elevated Christianity in the fourth century; then God punished the increasing apostasy of Christianized Rome when she fell in the 5th century; then God brought calamity and disgrace upon Catholic Rome at the hands of the people of Europe during the 19th and early 20th centuries. We have yet to see how her final punishment and fall will come true but we can be sure of this: Rome is not eternal. Revelation 14:8 says, "Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, she who made all nations drink the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality." (Rev 14:8 ESV) And the verse right before it says, "Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come, and worship him who made heaven and earth," (Rev 14:7 ESV). Not even the earth will last forever. But its Creator will. Paul once preached, "The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man,  25 nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything."  (Act 17:24-25 ESV). And Jesus Himself preached,

"Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.  34 "But watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a trap.  35 For it will come upon all who dwell on the face of the whole earth.  36 But stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.""  (Luk 21:33-36 ESV)