The Hallelujah Chorus

We get to worship God!

I think of the Hallelujah Chorus.

It is this majestic song in Handel’s Messiah.

The words, “Hallelujah” sung over and over again.

I know that the song has become a bit cliche.

It’s used in car commercials, when someone gets a good deal on a new car.

A spotlight opens up onto the buyer.

While a choir sings, “Hallelujah!”

But really, the song is an anthem to the praise of God.

The song gives a reason for the praise of God -

“For the Lord God omnipotent reigneth”

Only to go back to Hallelujah.

“Hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah”

Today we sing Hallelujah.

The word is a combination of Hebrew words.

Halal - which means praise.

Yah - which means God.

You think of God’s special name for Himself, Yahweh.

Those words, Halal Yah are found in the Psalms.

But in Psalms you won’t read it as the word, Hallelujah.

Instead you’ll see it as Praise the Lord, or Praise Yahweh.

But the word, Hallelujah, as it’s sung in Handel’s Messiah isn’t found in the Psalms.

In fact, that unique word, Hallelujah, is only found 4 times in the New Testament, and all 4 times, it’s found in the same chapter, Revelation 19.

Revelation is a book of prophecy describing the end.

It describes God’s judgment upon the earth, and the return of Christ.

Revelation 19 is near the end of it all.

By the time we get to Revelation 19, a lot has happened.

By the time you get to Revelation 19:

The 7 seals were opened.

The earth had been conquered.

The economy had collapsed.

A quarter of the earth died.

The sun went dark.

People wished to die, but couldn’t die.

1/3 of the earth was burned up.

1/3 of the seas became blood.

1/3 of of all water life died.

1/3 of all ships were destroyed.

1/3 of the water became poisonous causing even more people to die.

There was increased demonic oppression.

Then 1/3 of the people who were left died as well.

A great earthquake shook the earth, killing 7,000 people.

Eventually, all animal life in the sea dies.

The temperature of the sun heats up.

It becomes even hotter, scorching people.

Water dries up.

Then there is an even greater earthquake then the first one.

This one will be catastrophic, changing the face of the earth.

This final earthquake will cause islands to collapse into the ocean, and mountains to fall away.

100 pound hailstones will fall upon the earth.

Finally, Revelation describes Babylon, a future city, the capital of the antichrist, and evil on the earth, - Babylon collapses.

The global economy is ruined.

It is destroyed.

Revelation describes a coming day when God brings His judgment upon the earth.

And then we get to Revelation 19, after God has unleashed his judgement, what do we see?

A Hallelujah chorus.

4 times, the word is used.

4 times there is a call to praise God.

After a period of violence and tragedy upon the earth, what happens?

Praise to God.

Hallelujah.

Worship.

We will be in Revelation 19 today.

Why?

Because we have been through something.

We have been through something unique.

We certainly aren’t through it yet either.

There is still a virus.

There are still restrictions.

Governmental power has increased.

The precedent of shutting down churches has happened and I don’t know what the future will bring.

The economy has been crippled.

People’s jobs are on the line or gone.

And what is it we do?

We follow the pattern of Revelation 19.

We worship.

We have not suffered like those who suffer through the Tribulation will.

Revelation describes a time far greater than what we have gone through and are going through, but the same pattern is to be followed, we sing Hallelujah

Open your Bibles to Revelation 19.

Let’s read Revelation 19:1-10.

Read Revelation 19:1-10.

The 1st Hallelujah Chorus celebrates the Protection of God

We begin in heaven.

This first group of singers is probably angels.

It’s a loud voice, a multitude.

And their first word is “Hallelujah”.

They say that salvation, glory and power belong to God.

We celebrate and sing hallelujah to the beauty of God.

He is glorious and powerful.

I’ve seen some amazing things.

I’ve seen the Grand Canyon.

A view that stretches the horizon.

I’ve seen the most beautiful beaches, filled with the warmest water, with gentle islands in the distance.

I’ve admired the most beautiful sunsets.

I’ve looked through telescopes to see clusters of stars that painted the most unique colors, that give a hint of what the walls of the New Jerusalem will look like.

And yet, none of these things compare to the beauty of our God.

Even more beautiful than the creation is the mind that invented these things.

He created from nothing.

He provided for His creation.

And when His creation rebelled, God’s justice demanded death.

But in an uncompromising fashion, He gave His Son.

He demonstrated His love, and His justice in the event of the Cross.

His justice achieved.

His love demonstrated.

Hallelujah.

Praise the Lord.

This great multitude in heaven sings Hallelujah, for a reason.

Verses 1 and 2 says, “for his judgments are true and just; for he has judged the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her immorality, and has avenged on her the blood of his servants.”

While we sing of the beauty of Christ, in this instance what are they saying Hallelujah for?

For his judgment upon Babylon.

This coming city.

The capital of the AntiChrist.

The location of man’s great rebellion against God.

This city will rise up.

If current events concern you, we will watch things get worse.

But fear not, because God will judge this city.

God’s judgment is true and just.

It’s true.

God is a good judge.

He will never punish the innocent for something they did not do.

I believe the United States of America has the best justice system in the world.

For someone to be found guilty, they’ve had to go through lots of hoops.

The justice system is generous to the accused.

And yet … we hear of people who are wrongly accused.

They are found guilty of a crime they haven’t committed.

There are times, as we’ve seen this past week, when people are wrongly treated and handled by the authorities.

And it becomes an outrage.

But not with God.

He is a good judge.

You will not be charged for a crime that you did not commit.

At the same time God is just.

He does not let the guilty go free.

I love our justice system.

But there have also been tragedies in our justice system where the guilty have gone free.

Perhaps there wasn’t enough evidence.

Maybe because of a procedural error, the convicting evidence was thrown out, and the trial was dropped.

I met a man just last Sunday, who when he was 19 years old, was arrested for murder.

He was guilty.

He knew he was guilty.

And for some reason, when he went into court, the murder charges were dropped.

The victim’s family was in the room.

He saw them, as the charges were dropped.

Justice wasn’t accomplished.

And yet, God is completely just.

Exodus 34:7, God affirms His commitment to justice, “but who will by no means clear the guilty ...”

Earthly justice may fail, but God will not.

And the day is coming when God will have His justice upon His enemies.

Babylon, the wicked city.

Revelation calls her “the great prostitute” will be judged.

She will be capital city, oppressing the saints of God.

Killing the saints of God.

Conquering the saints of God.

Those in heaven even witness this evil.

If you’ve ever looked at evil in this world, and you’ve wondered, “how much longer”, know that there are people in heaven who ask that same question.

There are people who suffer for their faith in Christ, and who die for their faith in Christ.

We call them martyrs.

Revelation 6:10 records these martyrs in heaven, looking down upon evil, and asking, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”

This hallelujah comes from those who have suffered for Christ.

They know that God will bring judgment upon His enemies.

This hallelujah is an encouragement who’s fears for the events on this earth, because it reminds us that God has not abandoned us.

He will judge those who do evil.

This Hallelujah is one of faith, because the events of Revelation have not happened.

But in anticipation of it we say Hallelujah, because God is true to His word.

And by the way, the only way any of us escape this judgment ourselves is because of Jesus Christ.

He suffered so that we would not face this same wrath.

And to that I say, Hallelujah.

Because whatever judgment is coming upon this future Babylon, we deserved in our unconverted state.

Ephesians 2 says that we lived according to that same standard.

Our sin was outright rebellion against God.

Deserving of His wrath.

And yet, Christ suffered for us.

Jesus took that punishment so that we would be spared.

Hallelujah!

The 2nd Hallelujah Chorus celebrates that the Rebellion is Ended.

There is this old question about evil, some call it the problem of evil.

The question is, how could a good God allow evil to come into the world.

The tone of the question is usually coming out of heartache.

There is some kind of evil that goes unpunished.

The guilty man escapes.

The victim is not righted, there is no one to defend him.

Even King Solomon questioned this in Ecclesiastes.

Sometimes it seems as if the bad guy wins.

And that is a tragedy.

And so we say, how could a good God allow this to happen.

In response to the problem of evil, there really isn’t any problem.

There is only a problem if evil survives.

There is only a problem if evil wins the day.

But that’s not what happens.

Revelation 19 comes after the destruction of Babylon, the enemy of God and His people.

Not only is she destroyed, but she is punished.

19:3 says, “Hallelujah! The smoke from her goes up forever.”

This is an eternal judgment.

It’s a complete judgment.

This is not a slap on the wrist.

This is not go to anger management classes and tell the victim your sorry.

This is judgment.

And it lasts forever.

This one little verse gives a description of the eternality Hell.

Hell is eternal.

The smoke of Babylon goes up forever and ever.

You’ve made fires before.

I enjoy making campfires in my backyard.

They burn only as long as their is fuel.

And once the fuel is consumed, the fire goes out.

That is not what Hell is like.

Hell will never run out of fuel.

It burns forever and ever.

The smoke of that fire continues to rise.

Jesus described Hell in Mark 9:47-48, “And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell, ‘where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.’”

The worm doesn’t die there.

The fire is not quenched.

You wish you could die, but you won’t die.

It is eternal.

The day is coming when God will put a complete end to the rebellion that began in the Garden of Eden.

At some point Satan rebelled.

At some point, he deceived Eve, who then gave her husband the fruit.

And when Adam ate, all mankind fell with him.

And for 7,000 years, we’ve been following in his footsteps.

Sinning like our fathers before us.

But the day is coming when Christ will put out the rebellion.

And He will condemn His enemies.

The wicked will not escape.

And what will we shout?

Hallelujah.

There is no problem of evil.

Because evil does not win.

God has decreed its end.

And His creation will sing hallelujah.

We will praise God for His victory.

There is a category of Psalms that describes this hallelujah.

There are different kinds of Psalms.

Psalms of thanksgiving.

Psalms of ascension, when people go travel up to Jerusalem.

Then there is this grouping called imprecatory psalms.

They are violent.

They call for God’s justice upon the wicked.

Let me give you an example.

Psalm 58:6, “O God, break the teeth in their mouths; tear out the fangs of the young lions, O Lord!”

That’s a call for God’s justice.

Rip out their teeth.

Psalm 58:7, “Let them vanish like water that runs away; when he aims his arrows, let them be blunted.”

Blunt arrows?

Hurt them.

But don’t hurt them quickly.

Blunt your arrows when you strike them.

So that they don’t pierce.

But so the arrows tear, and painfully force their way into God’s target.

Psalm 58:8, “Let them be like the snail that dissolves into slime, like the stillborn child who never sees the sun.”

You put salt on a snail what happens to it?

They bubble and melt.

“God make them like the snail. Pour salt on them and watch them melt.”

That’s what is prayed.

I know it’s strange.

These imprecatory psalms are still Psalms of praise, because they are rejoicing that evil comes to an end.

Psalm 58 ends by saying, “The righteous will rejoice when he sees the vengeance; he will bathe his feet in the blood of the wicked. Mankind will say, “Surely there is a reward for the righteous; surely there is a God who judges on earth.”

God is praised when evil is vanquished.

This day is not yet here.

There is still evil in the world.

Everyday we experience the affects of sin.

But we sing hallelujah, praise the Lord, because we know He will conquer evil.

The 3rd Hallelujah Chorus is filled with Active Worship

In verse 4, the scene grows bigger.

Before, it was the angels in heaven singing praise to God.

Now we have the 24 elders.

These are members of the church.

And the 4 living creatures.

These are special high ranking angels.

And now they worship.

What has provoked them to worship?

The work of God.

The actions of God provoke praise.

And the more you admire the work of God, the more you worship Him.

If you struggle with worship or worshipping God, a question I’d pose to you, is what do you know about God?

Exodus 1-14 features Israel being saved out of Egypt.

There are the plagues, 10 of them.

They come to their climax with the 10th plague, when the first born of every family is killed by the angel of the Lord.

Israel is released.

Israel flees to the wilderness.

Pharaoh changes his mind, and pursues Israel.

Israel comes to the Red Sea.

The waters are parted.

They pass through on dry land.

Pharaoh, gets brave and chases them into the Red Sea.

The waters are released.

Pharaoh and his army die in the Red Sea.

And do you know what Israel did after these events?

Exodus 15:1 - “Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to the Lord, saying, “I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea.”

They praised God.

Judges 4 tells of Deborah and Barak.

Together, they conquered the king of Canaan.

Great story.

A good one to read to your children.

Do you know how Deborah and Barak responded after their victory?

Judges 5:1 - “Then sang Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam on that day:”

What did they do?

They sang.

A song of praise.

The Psalms, Israel’s hymnal is filled with this same thing.

Saul tried to pin David to the wall with his spear.

How did David respond?

Psalm 18:1-3 - “I love you, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies.”

Looking at the work of God provokes worship in the hearts of His people.

Hallelujah

But this is active worship.

The worship of those who gaze upon God isn’t this half-hearted worship that we often have.

A song says, “So we raise up holy hands ...”

What do we do?

We lift a hand off the chair in front of you.

Wow!

That’s passion.

The 24 elders and 4 living creatures witness the power of God, and what did they do?

Verse 4, “And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down ...”

They laid prostrate in front of God.

They laid themselves out in submission.

They laid out in reverence.

A position of weakness.

And they said, “Amen”

That’s a statement of agreement.

The world is looking for unification.

I’m looking for unification.

I’m sick of fighting.

I’m sick of arguing.

Whether its politics, the coronavirus, wearing masks, not wearing masks.

I’m glad we can meet today.

I’m glad our governor allowed us to meet.

Do you know he’s taking a lot of flack for us meeting?

Some of us have been ready to meet for weeks.

There are some who think that the governor has unleashed the Great Tribulation by allowing us to meet today.

I’m sick of division.

But the day is coming, when Christ will return.

He will judge His enemies.

They will be thrown into a lake of fire and sulfur.

And for the first time since before the fall there will be unity.

And we will do the same thing.

We will fall in agreement before our God and king and say, “Hallelujah!”

This unity will be no fake unity.

It’s not a symbolic unity.

It’s not like the unity that many people fake at the holidays.

This is the reality that evil is removed, and Yahweh is supreme, and we will fall down and say, Hallelujah.

The 4th Hallelujah Chorus is The Marriage of Christ and His Bride.

Verse 5 brings with it a transition, a new voice is added to the mix.

Something special is about to happen.

When you go to a wedding you find your seat and sit down.

At some point, music starts playing, and the wedding party enters.

The groom and his groomsmen take their places up front.

The grooms parents are seated.

The brides family extended family is seated.

The bridesmaids enter.

There is the flower girl and the ring bearer.

Then if there are doors, the doors shut.

Something changes.

The music changes.

The organ gets loud.

You hear 4 notes - baahh, ba, ba, baah

The wedding march.

This is the cue that something is about to happen.

The doors open, and there she is - the bride.

She’s in her white dress.

Everyone stands in awe of the beautiful bride.

And she comes down the aisle to her husband who is waiting for her.

Verse 5 is the cue that something is about to happen.

It’s the organ hitting those familiar notes that let the audience know the bride is about to come.

We are still in heaven, and a voice comes from the throne.

“Praise our God, all you his servants, you who fear him, small and great.”

Some think that this could possibly be God Himself, or maybe even Jesus, because it’s coming from the throne.

I would think so too, except, the speaker says, “Praise our God.”

So this speaker is under God, he is a part of creation as well.

He calls for all of God servants to praise God.

Not some of the servants.

Not the important servants.

Not the unimportant servants.

All the servants.

Both small and great.

Regardless of class or race.

Suddenly, there is unity.

There is only the church.

At a wedding, when the wedding march begins, everyone stands and celebrates the arrival of the bride.

Notice what happens in verse 6.

In verse 5 all God’s servants are told to respond in praise.

Then in verse 6 things get loud.

Verse 1 began with a great multitude, and it’s only getting louder.

The multitude is growing.

Now it sounds like roar of many waters, or like the crackling of thunder.

It’s almost deafening how loud it will be.

But all of God’s people respond to that voice’s command.

And they say our fourth and final Hallelujah.

“Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure”— for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.

This final hallelujah is the last time the word is used in the Bible.

There are 3 reasons for this final hallelujah.

1. The Kingdom of God is established.

Verse 6 says, “For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns.”

Since the time of Abraham, the promise was that there would be a people who could not be counted.

Israel grew and became a nation.

They then had kings.

David ruled.

Solomon ruled.

But the dynasty came to an end, and eventually, Israel lost her autonomy.

This hallelujah praises God because God reigns.

This is a literal reign.

He has just crushed Babylon and her empire.

An actual nation will be destroyed by God.

And in Revelation 20, Christ will set foot on the earth and actually rule for 1000 years.

This is called the millennium.

We are not yet in this period.

We live by faith.

We live in anticipation of the day when God will remove the nations that are in opposition to Him.

We look forward to the day when Christ rules on this earth.

And when Christ rules what will we say?

Hallelujah.

And what do we say now in faith?

Hallelujah.

2. The second reason for this hallelujah is because the marriage of the lamb has come.

This is celebrating Christ being united to His bride.

It’s been 2000 years since Christ was here on this earth.

2000 years since he said, “I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also” - John 14:3

This is His glorious return.

I’ve been to a lot of weddings.

I’ve seen a lot of beautiful weddings.

But there has never been a wedding like this.

Never has there been a groom who loved his bride like this groom.

Never has a groom demonstrated his love for his bride like this groom.

John 15:13 says, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.”

How much did Jesus love His bride?

He died for her.

He didn’t died for her when she was beautiful and dressed in white.

He died for her while she was sinning.

While she was rebelling.

While she was hating him.

Never has a bride needed her groom as much as this bride.

The bride is the church.

And without our groom, without Christ, we are damned to Hell.

This marriage has not happened yet.

But we look forward to it.

The Christian religion contains actual events.

We aren’t sitting around with our legs crossed, saying mantras to ourselves for better mental health.

We believe actual things, and have real physical hope for the future.

Our hope is that our bridegroom, Jesus Christ will come.

And when He comes, we will say hallelujah.

3. And the third reason for this hallelujah is because we have been made ready.

A bride tries on dozens, sometimes hundreds of dresses, until she finds just the right one.

Look at verse 8, “it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure.”

The grace of God is that our old life is washed away.

Our sins are removed.

God, in a show of mercy changes the heart of his bride to love her bridegroom.

We are covered in the righteousness of Christ.

We are clothed in Christ.

And now the Christian lives in this new life.

Verse 8 says “for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.”

And this we do now.

We are a bride, waiting for that wedding day.

Each day of your life is preparation for this day.

Each day of your life is preparation for this wedding, when you will be brought to your groom, Jesus Christ.

So we clothe ourselves in righteous deeds.

Like the newly engaged woman, who flaunts her engagement ring.

We live in obedience.

We live in righteousness.

We show mercy to others.

We show grace to others.

We serve others.

Is Christ your groom?

As the passage comes to a close, the angel tells John to write this down.

John mistakes who the angel is, and falls down and starts worshipping this angel.

Obviously, this is not good.

The 1st and 2nd of the 10 Commandments is to worship only God.

The angel stops John from worshipping him.

Verse 10, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus.”

Angels are these spectacular creatures.

Quite unlike the Barbie dolls with wings that you put on top of your Christmas tree.

Angels are fearsome creatures, that are created to serve in the presence of God.

Many times when a person meets an angel, the angel’s first words are “Fear not”.

And yet, we must remember, angels are created beings.

Angels are fellow servants.

The angel concludes with a command, “Worship God.”

This is what we do.

We worship God.

We give praise to Him.

Hallelujah, praise the Lord.

The Christian life is not a mindset, or a way of thinking, it is living in the reality of who Jesus Christ is, what He will accomplish, and what He has accomplished.

We return today.

And I’m so glad we are here.

But don’t misunderstand today.

Today is not a day:

To celebrate the human spirit and our ability to endure.

Not even to hang out together.

Nor is it a day to make a political statement.

This is to say Hallelujah, praise the Lord, praise Yahweh.

Why are you here today?