The Power Of Praise Series

We live in a dangerous world today, so I thought you would appreciate Mark Moring’s advice on how to stay safe. After doing some “extensive research”, he suggests the following.

Avoid riding in automobiles because they are responsible for 20 percent of all fatal accidents.

Do not stay home, because 17 percent of all accidents occur in the home.

Avoid walking on streets or sidewalks because 14 percent of all accidents occur to pedestrians.

Avoid traveling by air, rail, or water because 16 percent of all accidents involve these forms of transportation.

Of the remaining 33 percent, 32 percent of all deaths occur in hospitals. Above all else, avoid hospitals!

However, he says, “You will be pleased to learn that only .001 percent of all deaths occur in worship services in church, and these are usually related to previous physical disorders. Therefore, logic tells us that the safest place for you to be at any given point in time is at church!” (Mark Moring, Elburn, Illinois; www. PreachingToday.com)

Now, obviously, this is all said tongue-in-cheek, but it does raise an important question: Why worship? Do we worship, because we feel safe and warm in a sanctuary? Or is there another, much grander purpose for our worship?

Well, if you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to Revelation 19, Revelation 19, where we see the power of worship and what it is designed to accomplish.

Revelation 19:1-4 After this I heard what sounded like the roar of a great multitude in heaven shouting: “Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God, for true and just are his judgments. He has condemned the great prostitute who corrupted the earth by her adulteries. He has avenged on her the blood of his servants.” And again they shouted: “Hallelujah! The smoke from her goes up for ever and ever.” The twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God, who was seated on the throne. And they cried: “Amen, Hallelujah!” – which means, “Praise the Lord!” (ESV)

All of heaven praises the Lord. They shout “HALLELUJAH!”– not once, not twice, but three times in these first four verses. It’s the Heavenly Hallelujah Chorus with another “hallelujah” coming in verse 6.

But why is heaven so excited? Why are they so glad? It’s because God has finally judged that wicked harlot at the end of the Tribulation. He has “condemned the great prostitute,” verse 2 says. In other words, He has paid back the Babylonian empire and this world’s system for the way she treated God’s people over the ages.

Heaven praises God for his righteous judgments. Heaven praises God, because He is absolutely just and fair when it comes to those who mistreat God’s people.

I think about the hundreds of Christians who are being crucified and beheaded by ISIS these days, and I think about those in Paris and around the world who are being slaughtered by their butchery. Those who blew themselves up, thinking they would receive 70 virgins in paradise, found quite the opposite. They’re in a place of conscious torment, and one day they will stand before the Righteous Judge of the Universe, who will cast them into the Lake of Fire forever.

You see, there is coming a day when God will right all wrongs. There is coming a day when God will judge all evildoers. “Vengeance is Mine,” says the Lord, “I will repay” (Rom 12:19). We don’t ever need to seek revenge as God’s people. We don’t ever need to get even, because there is coming a day when God Himself will even the score, and that day may be sooner than you think.

Heaven praises God for His righteous judgments, and they invite us to do the same.

Revelation 19:5 Then a voice came from the throne, saying: “Praise our God, all you his servants, you who fear him, both small and great!” (ESV)

Heaven calls upon all of God’s people to praise Him. 1st, praise Him for His righteous judgments.

And then praise Him for his reign. Rejoice, because God is in control.

Revelation 19:6 Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting: “Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns. (ESV)

There is so much shouting. There is so much praise that it sounds like the great Niagara Falls with its tons and tons of water rushing over that giant precipice every second. If you’ve ever been there, you know you have to shout to be heard above the falls. The noise is almost deafening.

That’s what the praise in heaven will be like. It will be awesome and loud, almost deafening in its impact. Millions and millions of God’s angels, and millions and millions of God’s people will be shouting, all of them, at the top of their lungs, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty reigns!”