Overflowing Praise - Hallelujah! Series

CHAPTER 19

v. 1 After these things I heard something like the voice of a great, big crowd in heaven saying,

“Halleluiah!!! Salvation and glory and power to our God!

v. 2 For true and righteous are His judgments, for he has judged the big prostitute who corrupted the earth with her fornication, and He has avenged the blood of His servants, from her hand.”

v. 3 and a second time they said “Halleluiah! and her smoke rises forever and ever”.

v. 4 and twenty four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God, the one sitting on the throne, saying, “Amen, Halleluiah!”

v. 5 and a voice came from the throne saying, “Praise our God, all you His servants, and those who fear Him, the small and the big!”

Overflowing Praise – Hallelujah!

Why is the multitude of heaven, the 24 Elders & the Four Living Ones shouting “Hallelujah!”? Because the prostitute is judged.

Why would the host of heaven (of which we, I believe, will be a part) rejoice over such massive destruction of a city, a system and a multitude of people? This is related, I think, to the Revelation 5, where no one was found worthy to open the scrolls-to release the judgment of God and to hand over ownership of the earth back to God. John weeps convulsively because no one was found worthy. In Chapter 19, we have the flip-side of that. The entire host of heaven rejoices because God’s wrath has been poured out, and “the kingdom of this world is become the Kingdom of our LORD and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever”.

Hallelujah!

All of the rebellion, the filth, the hurt, destruction, war, famine, pestilence, suffering, evil temptation and tyranny of this world have now been destroyed. It has come to an end. It is over. Finally.

Hallelujah!

There will be no more suffering or sin or oppression or abuse of the weak & helpless, or crying or pain anymore forever.

Hallelujah! The Meaning of the word

Halle-means Praise

Lu- means you (really ye, or y’all)

Ja- is the shortened name for God, Jaweh

Praise Ye (y’all) the LORD

We are exhorted, and exhorting, to praise God because the end of evil on earth is come & the beginning of the righteous reign of God has begun.

It’s as if your heart is full of gratefulness and appreciation for who God is, and the richness of that goodness is so overwhelming to you that you realize you cannot possibly praise Him as He deserves. You can’t do this alone. You praise Him, yes, but you have to invite those around you to join in. He can only be praised properly if “everything that has breath” praises Him. Your heart overflows with a super abundance of praise, so that your praise can only be expressed if many voices join with yours to praise Him. This is part of why worship by it’s nature cannot only be a solitary experience. Worship must at times be corporate, for no one worshiping alone gives Him all He is due.

Prayer for Today

Father,

Today, make me an instrument of worship and praise to You. And use me to exhort and inspire others to worship You as only You deserve.

In the name of our Lord Jesus, the Leader of the Song

Amen!

v 1 Hallelujah is the combination of two Hebrew words: hallel and jah, meaning praise Yahweh (Ps 106; 111-113; 117; 135; 146-50). This is the only appearance of this word in the NT.

v 4 This is the last we see of the four living creatures, and note the relation to the twenty four elders (4:4-8; 5:6-14; 6:1-6; 7:11; 14:3; 15:7).