Hallelujah!

The message was brought by Rev. Eddie Foster on 12/3/23.

Revelation 19:1  And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God: 2 For true and righteous are his judgments: for he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand. 3 And again they said, Alleluia And her smoke rose up for ever and ever. 4 And the four and twenty elders and the four beasts fell down and worshipped God that sat on the throne, saying, Amen; Alleluia. 5 And a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear him, both small and great. 6 And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.

Hallelujah!  I’m afraid we see simple emotionalism in many churches. Emotionalism doesn’t last long. We know we should praise God more than we do.  Even in our lifetime we have seen a decline in praising the Lord.  But we see “alleluia” mentioned several times in this scripture.  He IS worthy of our praise.  Let’s look at a few things.

The hallelujah of redemption.  I praise Him for the redemption that came to man through Jesus Christ.  We are redeemed because of salvation but it will be complete when we get to glory.  Jesus died on the cross paying the sin debt for all humanity.  The Bible says that whosoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.  No one is excluded. Jesus died but on the third day he was raised from the dead.  He’s alive for evermore.  He ascended back to heaven and will come again.  He left bodily and visibly and will return the same way.  When the trumpet sounds he’ll return.  He won’t set foot on the earth.  This is the rapture of the church.  We’re caught up to meet Him in the air.  For seven years we’ll be at the Judgment Seat of Christ (for the saved) and the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.  While this goes on in heaven, the earth will experience tribulation like never known.  After the seven years, Jesus will return with the Christians and set up the thousand year millennial reign of Christ.  The final battle (Armageddon) will have been fought, and it will be followed by peace on the earth.  We are Christ’s by creation and if we’re saved, we’re His by redemption.  He paid the debt and bought us back from the bondage of sin.

The hallelujah of judgment. Look back at verses 2-3. All of God’s judgments are good; they may not be pleasant but they are good.  We serve a righteous God and he is right and fair in his judgments. We can’t say that about the system of law in the land. God is the righteous judge. There will be no self defense. There will be no insanity pleas. No one will get off on a technicality. There is a popular belief in recent times that everybody goes to heaven. That is not true.  There is a place called hell.  It was made for the devil and his angels. But the Bible tells us hell has enlarged its borders because people choose to follow the devil instead of God.  Human reasoning says there is no hell and all go to heaven, but that’s against the Bible.  Those who refuse Jesus Christ as Savior in this life will go to hell and be there for eternity, not in heaven.

The hallelujah of realization of the greatness of God.  Look at verses 4-5.  Creation versus evolution will determine how people act.  We believe that God created mankind, male and female.  Man came from the dust of the earth and woman came from the rib of that first man.  When we look at creation and many of you have seen many of the awesome things in this world–we must declare “my God, how great thou art!”  God is behind it all.  We can see his handiwork.  Read Psalms 107 and praise the Lord.  

The hallelujah of Christ’s reign.   Look at verse 6. The first time Christ came he was despised and rejected.  For centuries people have prayed “thy kingdom come” and in this verse, the time has come.  When Jesus comes again all will bow.  Those who refuse now to bow and accept Jesus for who he is will bow, rich or poor, and declare him Lord.  One day he will reign on the earth.  Today he can reign in your heart.  Ask him to forgive your sins and accept him into your heart and life.  Then…you too can declare…HALLELUJAH!