Revelation 19:1-6
Purpose: To highlight the joy that awaits believers.
Aim: I want the listener to examine their hearts to make sure they belong to Christ.
INTRODUCTION: As Chapter 18 of Revelation closes, the kingdom of the Antichrist and the Beast has destroyed peace and prosperity on the earth. Almost everything is in shambles. The leaders who had promised peace and security are now discredited. As Isaiah the prophet predicted: Isaiah 14:16-17 “Those who see you will gaze at you, They will ponder over you, saying, ‘Is this the man who made the earth tremble, Who shook kingdoms, Who made the world like a wilderness And overthrew its cities, Who did not allow his prisoners to go home?’ (NAU)
Great darkness now covers the earth. God’s followers have been hunted down and slaughtered like never before in the history of the earth. The few Christians that remain can’t buy or sell openly and are forced to live off of the black market and remain in hiding somewhere.
All appears to be lost. Just when it seems certain that there is no hope the Righteous King of the universe breaks through the clouds and reverses everything the antichrist and the Beast had inflicted on this earth.
Just when life seems darkest, God can break though our clouds and show us that everything is, and always has been, in His powerful and loving hand. There is NEVER a reason for a Christian to be in despair.
Today we are going to learn some important truths about worship.
REVIEW:
1:1-20 I. John’s Vision of the Past “the things which you have seen”
2:1-5:14 II. Christ’s Vision of the Present “the things which are”
Ch.6-22 III. John’s Vision of the Future “things which will take places”
6-7; 12-14 A. Satan’s war against God’s creation: the first six seals
8-11; 13:11-18; 15-18 B. The wrath of God: the seventh seal
LESSON:
Ch.19-20 C. The worship of God
19:1 1. A description of worship “salvation…glory…power”
Here we see worship that is loud and large.
Contrast the joyful worship of believers to the response from unbelievers when they reacted to the same scene: Revelation 18:10-11 standing at a distance because of the fear of her torment, saying, ‘Woe, woe, the great city, Babylon, the strong city! For in one hour your judgment has come.’ “And the merchants of the earth weep and mourn over her, because no one buys their cargoes any more— (NAU)
“The voices are of all those in heaven including: (1) the voices of the Church, having been ruptured before the Tribulation, (2) the voices of the Tribulation saints, many of whom were martyred (Rev. 6:9; 7:14; 12:11; 13:7, 15; 15:2; 16:6; 20:4), and (3) the voices of various ranks of angels. They sing in unison as one mighty, thunderous voice (Rev. 19:6). [1]
Worship directs our attention to the wonder of who God is. For example, Revelation 7:12 saying, “Amen, blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might, be to our God forever and ever. Amen.” (NAU)
Psalm 22:23 You who fear the Lord, praise Him; All you descendants of Jacob, glorify Him, and stand in awe of Him, all you descendants of Israel. (NAU)
Psalm 135:1-3 Praise the Lord! Praise the name of the Lord; Praise Him, O servants of the Lord, You who stand in the house of the Lord, In the courts of the house of our God! Praise the Lord, for the Lord is good; Sing praises to His name, for it is lovely. (NAU)
Many books have been written about the quality of our worship—some of them are very good, many of them are not. But, very little has been said about the QUANTITY of our worship. Verse 5 is a command. Compare verse 5 with Revelation 18:20 “Rejoice over her, O heaven, and you saints and apostles and prophets, because God has pronounced judgment for you against her.” (NAU)
It is convicting when we see how often believers in the Bible, especially in the book of Revelation, worship God and how rare it is that we worship God today.
Knowing the reasons why we should worship God should help us worship Him more often.
“Salvation - They praise Him for His deliverance and reward to all who trust Him to fulfill His promises and plan.
Glory - they praise Him for His attributes and character, recognizing that He alone deserves to be praised.
Power - they praise Him for His greatness; no one can do what He can do, an ability marvelously made manifest during the tribulation period.” [2]
19:2-6 2. Four reasons to worship God
Here we have four “Hallelujah’s” which is, “A transliteration of the Hebrew, הַלְלוּ־יָהּ [hallû–yāh] , a command: You all praise Jah! (e.g., Ps. 106:48). The first occurrence of the word Hallelujah in the OT corresponds with the context of its usage here: “Sinners shall be consumed out of the earth, and the wicked shall be no more. Bless Jehovah, O my soul. Hallelujah!” (Psalm 104:35).
So, what are the four reasons we should worship God?
Vs.2 a. God brings holiness to the earth “true and righteous”
This chapter starts with “after these things.” What things? The complete destruction of religious and material Babylon. The city that had spread wickedness throughout the whole world and murdered thousands, if not millions, of God’s people was now history.
Praise and punishment often go together in the Bible. For example, Proverbs 29:16 When the wicked increase, transgression increases; But the righteous will see their fall. (NAU)
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! (NAU)
“Godly people love righteousness and hate sin, for righteousness honors God and sin mocks Him. Believers long for a world of justice and it will come.” [3]
Vs.3 b. God’s holiness is eternal “forever and ever”
What God does He never has to redo.
Revelation 14:9-11 …“If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed in full strength in the cup of His anger; and he will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. “And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever; they have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.” (NAU)
Vs.4-5 c. God loves without partiality “small and the great”
Notice that the Lord CAUGHT UP His church into heaven, then He CLEANED UP His church, then He CHEERED UP His church.
Why does God love the “the small and the great”? Because God sovereignly chooses to love the ones He loves. Turn to1 Corinthians 1:26-30a For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, so that no man may boast before God. But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus… (NAU)
The fact that God chooses to love the unworthy should move us to loud praise frequently.
Margaret Sangster Phippen wrote that in the mid-1950’s her father, British minister W.E. Sangster, began to notice some uneasiness in his throat and a dragging in his leg. When he went to the doctor, he found that he had an incurable disease that cased progressive muscular atrophy. His muscles would gradually waste away, his voice would fail, and his throat would soon become unable to swallow.
Sangster threw himself into his work in the British home missions, figuring he could still write and he would have even more time for prayer. "Let me stay in the struggle Lord," he pleaded. "I don’t mind if I can no longer be a general, but give me just a regiment to lead." He wrote articles and books, and helped organize prayer cells throughout England. "I’m only in the kindergarten of suffering," he told people who pitied him. Gradually Sangsters’s legs became useless. His voice went completely. But he could still hold a pen, shakily.
On Easter morning, just a few weeks before he died, he wrote a letter to his daughter. In it, he said, "It is terrible to wake up on Easter morning and have no voice to shout, "He is risen!" -- but it would be still more terrible to have a voice and not want to shout."
Vs.6 d. God rules “the Almighty, reigns”
“Imagine the largest stadium in the world, filled to overflowing with a thundering crowd. Now multiply that by one thousand, ten thousand, even myriad of myriads (Rev. 5:11)! Gather all the world’s instruments together with all the heavenly instruments—instruments and sounds and voices of unimaginable purity, power, and magnificence. On command, they all shout forth: ALLELUIA!” [4]
This verse rings with even more meaning when we remember that the current Roman Emperor, Domitian, liked to hear himself addressed as, “Lord and God.”
Psalm 97:1 The Lord reigns, let the earth rejoice; Let the many islands be glad. (NAU)
God is almighty! Isaiah 40:12-15 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, And marked off the heavens by the span, And calculated the dust of the earth by the measure, And weighed the mountains in a balance And the hills in a pair of scales? Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord, Or as His counselor has informed Him? With whom did He consult and who gave Him understanding? And who taught Him in the path of justice and taught Him knowledge And informed Him of the way of understanding? Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, And are regarded as a speck of dust on the scales; Behold, He lifts up the islands like fine dust. (NAU)
“In one sense, God has and always will reign supreme. His rule over all creation has never been, nor ever will be in question: “Your throne is established from of old” (Ps. 93:2a), “The LORD reigns: let the peoples tremble! . . . He is high above all the peoples” (Ps. 99:1a-2). In another sense, the physical reign of God on earth has been corrupted by fallen men and usurped by Satan. It is in this sense—the mediatorial rule of God on earth through men—that events are now rapidly moving to bring God’s kingdom to earth.” [5]
God’s rule is what Jesus told us to pray for. Matthew 6:9-10 “Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. ‘Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.’ (NAU)
CONCLUSION: A correct view of God will affect every aspect of our worship including how we sing. John Wesley wrote: " Have an eye to God in every word you sing. Aim at pleasing God more than yourself, or any other creature. In order to do this attend strictly to the sense of what you sing, and see that your heart is not carried away with the sound, but offered to God continually; so shall your singing be such as the Lord will approve here, and reward you when he cometh in the clouds of heaven.” [6]
Praising God from the heart requires an understanding of the awfulness of sin.
“The promise of forgiveness does not mean anything without the felt sense of need and guilt. If evil is not judged, then the promises of grace have a hollow ring about them…” [7]
We cannot be grateful for grace until we see our need to be forgiven.
The same Jesus who is coming back with all power and glory came over 2,000 years ago and endured a cruel and shameful slaughter just so my sins could be paid for.
Do you see yourself as a hell deserving sinner?
[1]A Testimony of Jesus Christ by Tony Garland. Online at www.spiritandtruth.org/teaching/Book_of_Revelation/commentary/htm/031902.htm#74030
[2]"The Coming World Ruler" by David Hocking p.268
[3]MacArthur, J. J. (1997, c1997). The MacArthur Study Bible (electronic ed.) (Re 19:2). Nashville: Word Pub.
[4]A Testimony of Jesus Christ by Tony Garland. Online at www.spiritandtruth.org/teaching/Book_of_Revelation/commentary/htm/031902.htm#74030MacArthur, J. J. (1997, c1997). The MacArthur Study Bible (electronic ed.) (Re 19:2). Nashville: Word Pub.
[5]A Testimony of Jesus Christ by Tony Garland. Online at www.spiritandtruth.org/teaching/Book_of_Revelation/commentary/htm/031902.htm#74030
[6]Rules for Singing (1761), Rule 7, as reported in Alive Now, Jul-Aug 1987, page 7
[7]Palmer, E. F., & Ogilvie, L. J. (1982). Vol. 35: The Preacher’s Commentary Series, Volume 35 : 1, 2 & 3 John / Revelation. Formerly The Communicator’s Commentary. The Preacher’s Commentary series (220). Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson Inc.
