In his excellent short article with Ligonier that you can find online, Barry Cooper says, quote, the word hallelujah is a transliteration of two Hebrew words, hallelu and yah. Write down those two Hebrew words using the closest equivalent letters we have in English. And you end up with that strange and beautiful word. Hallelujah or Alleluia. The first Hebrew word, Hallelu, means let us praise. And the second word is Yah, which is short for Yahweh. The very specific personal name of the God of Israel. Yahweh has its origin in the name God revealed to distinguish himself from all the other gods. In Exodus 3, when God speaks to Moses for the first time and calls him to bring his people out of slavery in Egypt, Moses says, quote, If the Israelites ask me your name, what should I say? And God responds, I am who I am. The name Yahweh is built out of the Hebrew word for I am. So it's a name that is intended to make us marvel at the self-sustaining, eternally existing, utterly transcendent nature of this God. The true and living God who is quite unlike any other pretender to the throne. When the name Yahweh appears in the Old Testament, it is often translated LORD, in capital letters, L-O-R-D. And that is how we find it in our English translations, to mark it out from the more generic word for God, Elohim. So hallelujah means, let us praise Yahweh. Let us join together in worshiping and praising our God, this God, the true God, the living God, Yahweh, and no other. The word is used 24 times in the Old Testament, all in the Psalms, and we've noted it already in the two Psalms that have been read, Psalm 111 and Psalm 100. And in these Psalms and in all the other Psalms where it is found, Hallelujah is a declaration of praise by the people of praise, given to the God of praise, in awe at His mighty works and in joy at His beauty and His glory. But in the New Testament, Hallelujah is found only four times. Now that's no surprise since it is a Hebrew word and the New Testament is Greek. But these four instances of Hallelujah are all found here in the opening verses of Revelation 19. For those of you who are familiar with Handel's magnificent work, The Messiah, And if you aren't, shame on you. If you're a child and you don't know it, shame and double shame on your parents. Fix it today. But if you're familiar with that wonderful work, you will know that the Hallelujah Chorus is based on these verses in Revelation 19. Well, just as that wonderful chorus is an inspiration today to so many of us, may our study of these verses at the opening of Revelation 19 be an inspiration to us to sing hallelujah to the Lord. I just have four points for us to consider from this wonderful this morning, this afternoon. I told you I'd say that a few times. Firstly, please notice here, the people of praise. The people of praise. Who are the ones that declare hallelujah? Well, it is here for us in verse 1, isn't it? After these things I heard a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven saying hallelujah salvation and glory and honor and power belong to the Lord our God. It is the great multitude yes in heaven and on earth who can say that Yahweh the Lord is our God. The people of praise are the people who are in communion with this God. It is the people who are in intimate covenant fellowship with this God. It is those that can truly say, the Lord is our God. It is those who have that covenantal fellowship with God. It is those who have been brought into a personal covenantal communion with Him. It is those who have been invited by God to live before His face, Coram Deo, in His presence, before His throne. These are the people. They are described in verse 4 of our text as the 24 elders and the 4 living creatures. And if you're unfamiliar with Revelation, you might wonder, who are the 24 elders and who are the 4 living creatures? Well, let scripture interpret scripture. And go back to Revelation chapter 4, where we read in verse 4, as John sees heaven open before him, he sees that around the throne were 24 thrones. And on the thrones I saw 24 elders sitting, clothed in white robes, and they had crowns of gold on their heads. Who are these 24 elders? Well they are the representation of the sum, the totality of the covenant people of God. We know that in the Old Testament there were how many patriarchs? Twelve. And in the New Testament there were how many apostles? Twelve. And so in Revelation, when we read of the 24 elders who are seated on these thrones in the presence of God, we are reading of the representation of the totality, the sum of the covenant people of God represented in the old covenant by the patriarchs, in the new covenant by the apostles. It is all of those with whom God has formed a bond of covenant communion by grace. These are the people of praise. Furthermore, it is represented by the four living creatures. And again, we're introduced to them also in Revelation 4. Reading now from verse six before the throne, there was a sea of glass like crystal. And in the midst of the throne and around the throne were four living creatures full of eyes in front and in back. The first living creature was like a lion. The second living creature like a calf. The third living creature had a face like a man, and the fourth living creature was like a flying eagle. The four living creatures, each having six wings, were full of eyes around and within, and they do not rest, day or night, saying, Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come. These four living creatures. Why four? Well, because there are four corners of the earth. Four pillars of the earth. Four winds of the earth. Representing the totality of creation. These four living creatures in their strange, as we would say, weird, wonderful manifestation. Is a representation of all sentient creation. All that God has created with the capacity to know Him. All the angels. Is it not the angels as we read earlier on in Sunday School in Isaiah 6 who sing this same song? Holy, holy, holy Lord God Almighty. Yes, it is. The angels are represented here amongst these four living creatures. For they are creatures. But also all living flesh that has that capacity to worship God. Therefore, all God's saints, all those who are created in His image and have been recreated and refashioned in Christ to know Him, to love Him, to dwell with Him, with the capacity to worship Him. So if we bring together the 24 elders, the representation of the totality of the covenant people of God, and then bring together the four living creatures, the representation of all the sentient creatures who have the capacity to sing the praise of God. These are those, Revelation 19, 4, who are the people of praise. These are the ones who fall down and worship God and sing Amen, Hallelujah. The entirety of those who know God. The entirety of those who walk with God. The entirety of those who love God. All of those who are united with God. All who enjoy communion with God. All who live for the glory of God. These are the people of prayer. They are the people of Psalm 111. As we read earlier on. Because included in this people of praise are the people of the old covenant. Who sang the praise of this same one true and living God. Yahweh God. So in Psalm 111 verse 1. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. I will praise the Lord with my whole heart. Where? in the assembly of the upright. And in the congregation, verse 6, He has declared to His people the power of His works in giving them the heritage of the nations. And verse 9, He has sent redemption to His people. He has commanded His covenant forever. Holy and awesome is His name. You see, the people who are able to say and sing, Hallelujah. Is the people who are in the congregation of the upright. It is the righteous. It is those who are in covenant with God. It is those to whom God has declared Himself. Revealed Himself. Made known His works. It is those that He has redeemed. It is those with whom He has made covenant forever. And ever. So as we come back to Revelation 19. The people of praise are further described in verse 5 as the servants of God. Those who fear Him, both small and great. The people of praise then are the people whose life is taken up in the service of the Lord. Those whose concern is to do his bidding, to say, speak Lord, your servant is listening. It is those who wait upon his every word. Those who love to dwell in his house, in his presence, to hear his voice. That they might do his will. It is those who fear Him. Not in the sense of trembling and quaking and withdrawing from His presence as those who fear to be destroyed by Him. No rather, those who fear Him in the sense that they revere His holy name. That they love His holy person. And that they fear to displease Him in any way. This is the fear of those who know their covenant God as a loving Heavenly Father. And who are devoted to Him as children who truly adore Him. It comes out in Psalm 111 verse 10. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, a good understanding of all those who do his commandments. These are the ones who are able to praise him forever. It is those who fear him out of a desire to know him, out of a love for him, to hear his word and to do his will and to obey his commandments. And notice in Revelation 19 and verse 5 that the focus of these servants of the Lord, the focus of those who fear the Lord is upon the Lord himself, not upon themselves. That is why whether they are considered small or great is, as we might say, neither here nor there. What are we? Are we small? Well, that matters nothing because it is all about the worship of a great God. And if we are small, what is that? And if we think we are great or if someone calls us great, what is that greatness beside the greatness of this God? The greatness of a creature beside the greatness of the uncreated one. The greatness of any creature beside the one upon whom he depends for all his very being. Is this nothing? Are we small? Are we great? It's nothing. We are devoted to our God. The people of praise are a people who do not focus upon themselves, but upon their God, for whom their God is all to them. This comes out beautifully in Psalm 146. We read from verse 3, do not put your trust in princes, the great amongst this age, nor in a son of man, perhaps we would say the lowly of this age, in whom there is no help. His spirit, whether he's great or whether he's ordinary, departs. He returns to his earth. In that very day his plans perish. Happy is he who has the God of Jacob, Yahweh, the Lord, for his help. Whose hope is in the Lord, Yahweh his God. Who made heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them. Who keeps truth forever. Who executes justice for the oppressed. Who gives food to the hungry. The Lord gives freedom to the prisoners. You see the people of praise are a people who have forgotten about themselves. And are caught up in that. It is a people for whom the worship of God is not a thing that they do. It is the reason why they exist. It is the alpha and the omega of their own existence to be those that sing hallelujah. For he is worthy. As we read in our text, Revelation 19 and verse 2, true and righteous are his judgments because he has judged the great harlot who corrupted the earth with her fornication and he has avenged on her the blood of his servants shed by her. You see, they do not value their own lives. Let my blood be shed for the worship of this God. Let my life be snuffed out for the worship of this God. I cannot. And He is all to me. These are the people of praise. And furthermore, finally, under this heading, we see in verses 6 and 7, the people of praise are a people of corporate joy. This is all their delight. Verse six, I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty thundering saying, Alleluia for the Lord God omnipotent reigns. Let us be glad and rejoice and give him glory. The people of praise are not coerced to praise. There is no cajoling to praise. There is no bouncing them into praise. No. Hallelujah is their joy. They deliver a sound of praise. Verse 6. That is like a cascading waterfall. That is like mighty thunderings. Almost as though they are competing with one another to resound to the praise of their God. With the flowing melody of a thunder that drowns out all other sounds. Let all our combined creative humanity and angelic spirit be devoted in its entirety to the praise of this God. He is the Lord God omnipotent. He reigns. He is all to us. Psalm 146 verse 1. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Oh my soul. While I live I will praise the Lord. I will sing praises to my God while I have my being. He doesn't just praise God with his lips. He doesn't just praise God with his mind. He doesn't just praise God with his spirit. He praises God with his whole being. It is his joy to give Everything that He is to the praise of this God. My friends, this is the people of praise. It is the people who know God personally. The people who are in covenant with God. The people who define their very existence in terms of the praise of God. The people who live to serve this Lord God. The people who are devoted to Him as children to a loving Heavenly Father. The people who focus not upon themselves, but on the Lord their God. The people who are humble and meek, whether they are considered great or small, it matters not, for they are lost in God. And it is the people who delight to praise, who declare their praise with all their being, whose earnest, sincere, and only desire is to give Him all the glory. This is the people. Is it you? Examine yourself. Christ is here. The Spirit is here. Examine yourself. With honesty, with sincerity, does this describe you? Are you amongst this company? If you are not, then you are yet amongst the people who do not praise. You are not in communion with this God. You do not know Him. You do not love Him. You do not serve Him. You do not please Him. You do not glorify Him. Your being is not for Him. In fact, You are under His condemnation right now. But can that change? Can you join the people of praise? Can you declare your own hallelujah? Can it change right now? Can you enter into covenant communion with God right now? What's the name of this church? Isn't it Covenant Church? The God of the covenant is here. I am not merely telling you about him. I am his mouthpiece. And he's speaking to you. The God of the covenant has gathered you here. For the very purpose of adding people like you, men and women and boys and girls like you, to His covenant community. To bring you in, to draw Him in. To draw you into Himself. What did you think you were doing when you came here today? Whatever you thought you were doing, God was summoning you to hear His voice. How is it that you can enter in? How is it that you can become one of those who is joined to the people of praise? Well, it is through the Lamb. It is through the Lord Jesus Christ. For who is this lamb that has been slain? Who is this lamb of whom we read in verse 7, who comes and who draws his wife to himself, the church? Who is he? He is the man who knows God personally. He is the man who is in covenant communion with God. And he can draw you in, so that he who by right and in essence calls God Father, can enable you by His grace and through His finished work to call His God your Father too. He draws you into covenant with His God. He says to His God and His Father, treat this one like you treat me. Love this one like you love me. He is the man who defines his very existence in terms of the praise of God. And he can make you into a creature who is reformed and recreated with the capacity to praise God. He is the man whose entire existence, whose whole being is service to the Lord. And who has given himself only to the Lord. And He can make you just like Him. He is the man who is utterly devoted to His Father. And He can draw you into His Father's family. He is the man who is so committed to serving His Father and doing His Father's will that He went to the cross. He did not merely shed His blood in obedience. No, He gave Himself over to the wrath. of God in His obedience to His Father. And He can share His heart with you. He can give you a heart that beats with His own heart. For He is the man whose entire existence is a thunderous waterfall of praise to the Father. He is the man who is a never ceasing thunderclap of praise to God. In whose presence all you can hear is hallelujah. And he is here in his word calling you to be remade like him. How dare you resist Him? And if He calls you, you welcome. And He will make you like Him. This is the people of praise. But secondly, from our text, let us now consider the God of praise. How is this God described to whom these hallelujahs are offered? Well, he is described in verse 1 as in this particular hallelujah of praise, there are four perfections highlighted for us. Hallelujah. Salvation and glory and honor and power belong to the Lord our God. He is the perfection of salvation. He is the perfection of glory. He is the perfection of honor. And He is the perfection of power. This is our God. The one we praise. He is then in the first place, the perfection of salvation. He is the God of covenant faithfulness. He is not the God who comes to make it possible for people to try again, and think again, and maybe possibly save themselves. There's no gospel in that is there? There's no covenant faithfulness in that. If that is what God brings to us, the opportunity for us to do the covenant of works all over again and have another crack at it and see if we make a better job of it than Adam. No gospel. No covenant of salvation. But you see what God does is, He comes to his people in the covenant of grace promised in Genesis 3.15, fulfilled in Christ Jesus. And he actually saves his people. He is the perfection of salvation. Each and every one of those that he has chosen according to his eternal covenant, rooted in the covenant of redemption, promised in the covenant of grace. Every one of them will be saved. And the people of praise sing the praises, the hallelujah of the God of the covenant. Because He is the perfection of salvation. As we read in Psalm 111 and verse 7. The works of His hands are verity and justice. All His precepts are sure. They stand fast forever and ever. And all are done in truth and righteousness. He has sent redemption to His people. He has commanded his covenant forever. Holy and awesome is his name. Our God, the God of the covenant is the God who redeems. He is the God who saves. Paul in Ephesians 1 could not be clearer. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in The beloved, oh how many times have you read those verses? Never let them become commonplace. Our God is the perfection of salvation. We praise him because before the worlds were made, he loved us. He covenanted within his own being to save us. In time and space, He came in the person of His Son, the eternally begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. He took flesh. And He died for us. And He shed His blood for us. And He propitiated the wrath of God for us. And He expiated away all our guilt. And He declares us in the right with Him. He's the perfection of salvation. Hallelujah. And He is the perfection of glory too. The God of heaven is the God of all glory. All glory belongs to God. Negatively speaking, there is no one and there is nothing else in all existence that possesses any glory save God himself. All the glory in creation is God's own glory. All the works of creation are the glory of the Creator. He made it. He sustains it. He ordains all of it. So that it all might be for His glory. All the living creatures, all four of them, all sentient beings, all praise Him. And so, as we read in Psalm 111 from verse 3, His work is honorable and glorious. And His righteousness endures forever. He has made His wonderful works to be remembered. The Lord is gracious and full of compassion. He has given food to those who fear Him. He will ever be mindful of His covenant. He has declared to His people the power of His works. in giving them the heritage of the nations. You see, all creation, all providence, everything glorifies the one true and living God who is the reason for it all. He is the perfection of glory. David understood this. In his prayer of 1 Chronicles 29 verse 10. We sing hallelujah to God who is the perfection of salvation. We sing hallelujah to God who is the perfection of glory. We sing hallelujah to God, thirdly, who is the perfection of power. The God who saves, the God who is glorified is thus because he has the power, the honor rather, the honor, the perfection of honor. Power is full. All the honor belongs to God and to God alone. Especially in relation to his redeeming covenant love. In Psalm 146 and verse 5 we read, Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God, who made heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them, who keeps truth forever. God is therefore to be honored. He executes justice for the oppressed. He gives food to the hungry. The Lord gives freedom to the prisoners. He is to be honored by his people because he has saved us. Because he is glorified in that salvation. Because he is the one who has done it all. Isaiah in chapter 42 insists that all the honor must be given to God alone. Verse 5, the Lord created the heavens and stretched them out. The Lord spread forth the earth and that which comes from it. He gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who walk on it. I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness and will hold your hand. I will keep you and give you as a covenant to the people, as a light to the Gentiles, to open blind eyes, to bring out prisoners from the prison, those who sit in darkness from the prison house. I am the Lord. That is my name and my glory. I will not give to another nor my praise to carved images. Why is the Lord the perfection of honor? Because He has done it all. As we read here in Isaiah 42, in and through the Lord Jesus Christ, He has done it all. We've already referred to the Lord Jesus Christ as the man. Yes, He is a man. But He is more than a man. He is the man who is God. He comes from heaven as the God-man. As the one who is yes, truly human, but also truly divine. Is he not then worthy of all the honors? He is the one who opens the blind eyes. He is the one who lets prisoners out from the prison. He is the one who releases those who sit in darkness. He is the Lord. He is to be glorified. He is the perfection of honor, and that is why we sing hallelujah to Him. So back in Revelation 19, we sing hallelujah to the perfection of salvation, to the perfection of glory, to the perfection of honor, and finally, to the perfection of power. Who is this God? Well we have it in verse 6 of our text. He is the Lord God omnipotent. He possesses all power. Sovereign power, reigning power. Authoritative power. Power in heaven. Power on earth. Power under the earth. Power in the past. Power in the present. Power in the future. Power in all places. Power at all times. God possesses all power. And that is why we sing hallelujah to Him. As we read in Psalm 111, The works of the Lord are great, studied by all who have pleasure in them. His work is honorable and glorious. His righteousness endures forever. He has made his wonderful works to be remembered. The Lord is gracious and full of compassion. He has given food to those who fear him. He will be mindful of his covenant and so on. God possesses all the And to whom has he given this power? He has given it to His Son, our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He now possesses all authority in heaven and on earth. That is why we sing His praise. That is why we sing hallelujah to Him. And as we read in Revelation 11, the kingdoms of this world, verse 15, have become or will become on that day the kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ. And He shall reign forever and ever. And so we sing, we give thanks. To you, O Lord God Almighty, the one who is and who was and who is to come, because you have taken your great power and you have reigned. The God of praise is the perfection of all things. Of salvation, of glory, of honor, of power, of all things. He possesses all perfections. Can you see then how vain it is to give praise to any other than He? How empty it is to offer up worship and praise to any but this God. This true and living God. This Yahweh God. This Lord God. This God of the covenant. The psalmist understood this well and calls us to avoid it. As we read in Psalm 146 verse 3. Do not put your trust in princes, nor in a son of man in whom there is no help. His spirit departs, he returns to his earth. In that very day his plans perish. On the contrary, we must put our hope in God. We must live for the praise of God. Who in your life are you trusting? Whom do you praise? In whom do you place your expectation of satisfaction? To whom are you looking for joy and fullness? Is it a spouse? Is it a parent? Is it a child? There are good things in a beautiful spouse. There are good things in a faithful parent. There are good things in a devoted child, especially in a Christian family. Have you made them your God? Can they save your soul? According to Psalm 146, they cannot even save themselves. There is one who can save you. It is God. Give Him all the glory. Don't be an idolater. Don't divert your praise away from the God of praise to anyone or anything else. Many seek today to give glory to creation as though it had an essence or an existence of its own. What a vain thing that is. To praise evolution as though a process can be ascribed glory. Let us magnify the big bang together. Let us declare the praise of dark matter. Let us worship at the black holes. There is only one God of praise. One perfection of glory. It is our God. Many would give honor to great people, men and women who've accomplished great things. But who gave them the ability to do the great things they've done? The great athlete, or the great thinker, or the great inventor, or the great leader. Is it not God? Do not all the greatnesses of creation speak of the greatness of the Creator? Does He not have all the power? Is not the kingdom all His, now revealed in Jesus Christ? No, let us praise the true and living God and only He. Let us be the people who praise our God. Alleluia. Salvation and glory and honor and power belong to the Lord our God. And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude as the sound of many waters and the sound of mighty thundering saying, Alleluia. For the Lord God omnipotent reigns. Let us be glad and rejoice and give him the glory. But thirdly, let us look now at the reason for praise. We've seen the people of praise. We've seen the God of praise. But what is the reason for praise here? For there is a peculiar in the sense of a distinct and special reason for praise highlighted in these verses. And it may surprise us. The reason why the God of salvation and glory and honor and power is worthy to be praised in this context, what is it? Look at verse 2. For, because, this is why we praise. True and righteous are his judgments, because he has judged the great harlot who corrupted the earth with her fornication, and he has avenged on her the blood of his servants shed by her. Again they said, Alleluia. Her smoke rises up forever and ever. And the 24 elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who sat on the throne saying, Amen. Alleluia. The people of praise raised their hallelujah to the God of praise for his full and final judgment of all wickedness. That is the context here isn't it? These four hallelujahs surround judgment and condemnation. Well, because such judgment is true and righteous and just in and of itself. In the judgment of wickedness, the glorious justice of God is displayed. This is lost on us largely today because we have forgotten, we have lost a true biblical sense of what justice is. But if we are able to recover it, then we will say when God delivers full and final justice, when God meets out judgment upon all wickedness, that in and of itself is an ultimate good for which God is to be praised. Please do not imagine that the judgment of the great day of the Lord is a hurdle over which we must Unavoidably jump in order to get on the other side so we can then forget about justice and forget about judgment and forget about condemnation and enjoy all the blessings. That is how so many evangelicals view judgment. A kind of unfortunate day that has to come and somehow we kind of just got to get through it with gritted teeth. It's not how Revelation views judgment. The people of praise are singing to the God of praise for His judgment. And they are singing this song forever and ever. Not momentarily so they can get to something else on the other side. But forever and ever they sing this praise because the perfection of justice has been done. And that in and of itself is worthy of praise. But furthermore, this judgment will bring to an end all that is unjust, all that is unfair, all that is unrighteous in this age. Do we not long for that? Do we not long for the day when the great harlot in Revelation, this is the picture of humanity in rebellion against God, serving Satan and the beast and the false prophet and being Drunk on the wine of her fornication. Being addicted and overwhelmed and controlled by the wickedness and the immorality of this whole way of living that is satanically ordered. It will be done with. It will be finished. Do we not long for that? Will we not rejoice when we see her slaughtered? Will it not bring forth a hallelujah? My friend, are you not weary of all the injustice? When you turn on your news or you flick it up on your phone and you see the injustice that covers this globe, are you not weary of the injustice? Are you not also weary of the fake justice? The virtue signaled non-justice. The people who stand on their soapbox and jump up and down and make a rant and a rave about injustice in this age and yet they themselves are fomenting the worst kind of injustice in the name of so-called justice. Does it not weary us? Does it not provoke us? And all the noise and all the nonsense, particularly in the West, that goes for so-called justice today. Will we not sing praise when we see God deliver real, full, final, perfect justice? As we read in Revelation 15, 3. Great and marvelous are your works, Lord God Almighty. Just and true are your ways, O King of the saints. Who shall not fear you, O Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy, for all nations shall come and worship before you. Or your judgments have been manifested. It is that final manifestation of the judgment of God which will cause us to rejoice. Now of course, Revelation 19 follows Revelation 18. And what is Revelation 18 all about? I commend it to you for reading later. It is about the judgment of Babylon. It is about the removal from this earth of all sin, all wickedness, all evil, all ungodliness. So that from that moment on, upon this earth, there will be no more sin. No more possibility of sin. No more threat of sin. No more temptation to sin. No more fear of sin. No more hint of sin. No more evil harmful memory of sin. There will only be hallelujah. For the perfection of justice has been done. No more of the great harlot's corrupting influence, or even the threat of it. Amen and hallelujah. Justice has been done. And end of verse 2, as we've already mentioned, the blood of the martyrs will be avenged. This is the answer to the prayer back in Revelation 6. When the fifth seal was opened, verse 9, and John saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God. And for the testimony which they held, and they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, until you judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth? Then a white robe was given each one of them, and it was said to them that they should rest a little while longer until both the number of their fellow servants and their brethren would be killed as they were was completed. They're waiting, they're longing, they're praying, Lord, when, when, when, when will justice be done? And the Lord says, Not yet. But soon, it will come. And when it comes, all heaven and all the renewed earth will sing hallelujah to the God of justice. For let me tell you this, my friend, that day will be the last funeral ever to be held on planet earth. And it will be sin's funeral. Sin's funeral. And this won't be like a Christian funeral where the body is placed in a casket and laid into the ground. God forbid we burn our dead. We bury our dead. We bury them because we have a sure and certain expectation that that body will rise from that ground and be glorified. But sin will not rise. Sin will be burned. And in that funeral pyre, we shall sing hallelujah, hallelujah. Sin is gone. Forever. That is why we will praise as the smoke of her torment rises up forever and ever. It has always been the longing of the saints. That justice would be done. How does Psalm 104 conclude? We think it's kind of strange, you know, this wonderful hymn of praise in Psalm 104, more hallelujahs here. It concludes with hallelujah in verse 35. But what comes just before the hallelujah, just before the bless the Lord, oh my soul, hallelujah. What comes in verse 35 of Psalm 104? May sinners be consumed from the earth and the wicked be no more. And only when that happens can everything else really come to pass. Only when verse 35 of Psalm 104 has been delivered can verse 33 and 34 really happen. I will sing to the Lord as long as I live. I will sing praise to my God while I have my being. May my meditation be sweet to him. I will be glad in the Lord when the wicked are no more. When sin's funeral has been conducted. And my friends, it's coming. It's coming. It's coming. The funeral of sin. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. God will do it. We all know what it's like to breathe a sigh of relief when a trauma has passed. That trauma has passed. You had that in your life? A sigh of relief. I am done with that. I am finished with that. I never have to face that again. Do you know that sigh of relief? For the full and final passing of sin from this world. that everlasting sigh of joyful release from all the pressure and all the distress and all the heartache that sin brings and the injustice it produces, it will be gone. It will be the day when the one that the wicked crowned with thorns shall come crowned with glory. The day when those who sought to bury the Lord of love and light in a tomb forever, will themselves be cast into the lake of fire, never to trouble this earth again. And make no mistake, If the wicked could get their hands on our Lord Jesus Christ and rip Him from His throne and plunge Him into the fires of hell, never to trouble them again, they would do it right now. For they hate the fact He is raised. And they hate Him for reigning over them. And as we read earlier in Revelation, they will hate Him forever. But He will rule. And he will conquer them. For he is the one, later on in Revelation, we are told who will come. And he with the sword that proceeds from his mouth will slay the wicked and will bring justice and righteousness. And he, end of Revelation 19, will call upon the carrion, the vultures, to feast upon the flesh of the wicked. And we know what a carrion vulture does. It cleans the body completely. When the vultures have finished with the flesh, there's no flesh left. When God has finished with sin and with all wickedness, there will be nothing left. This earth will be clean. That is why we sing hallelujah to the Lord. In verse 7 of Revelation 19, there is an invitation to rejoice in the marriage of the Lamb and to come, verse 9, to the marriage supper of the Lamb. But the marriage supper of the Lamb can only take place when the funeral pyre of sin is burning. It is through the very window of the marriage supper hall. that the funeral pyre of sin is seen to be burning. And that is required for the joy of heaven to come to earth. Which brings us briefly to our final point, which is the joy of sung praise. All of this is sung, isn't it? I heard a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven saying, it's a song, it's declared, it's made known. This is not just the contemplation of these things, or the reassurance of these things, or the establishment of these things. It's the singing of them. That's what the hallelujah is all about. There is a people of praise, and a God of praise, and a reason of praise. But it is the praise itself that brings forth the joy. God has ordained singing as our way of rejoicing in Him. Notice verse 1, the loud voices of the singing. I heard the loud voice. Great numbers gathered together in heaven and on earth, united together, singing in unison, great and worthy and profound and wonderful words of praise to God, the God who is worthy, as we have seen. Words are chosen. Agreed what shall be sung and together there is a chorus of praise. It is corporate praise. And the sense is so wonderful, verse six. That it is overwhelming. It is overflowing. It is like a waterfall that never ends. Have you ever stood by a waterfall and just taken it in? It just never stops, does it? It just keeps going. And if you get near enough to a really big one, you can't hear anything else. There isn't anything else. I mean, somebody could be standing right next to you and they don't even really exist. It's just that waterfall. It's the same with thunder, isn't it? When the thunder and the lightning are right above your head, nothing else is going on. It's just that. And this is the sung praise when we gather together to sing this heavenly song, this eternal song, this glorious song, this holy song. It is all consuming joy. The elevation of our entire human spirit up to God himself. Hallelujah! For the Lord God omnipotent reigns. Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory. You know in the age to come when Christ has come and these things have been consummated. It will be just joy and joy and joy and joy. The increase of joy. God is the perfection of joy. There is no increase of joy in Him. He cannot increase, He cannot diminish, but we're creatures, so we will increase forever. Imagine that. The joy of day one in glory will be superseded by the joy of day two and superseded by the joy of day three and on and on and on and on and on and on and on into all eternity, never forgetting why you were rejoicing yesterday, always looking forward to why you will rejoice tomorrow. This is the hallelujah of praise that we shall sing to God. And we shall sing it to God in Christ. Revelation 5. You are worthy to take the scroll to open its seals for you were slain. And have redeemed us to God by your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation. And have made us kings and priests to our God. And we shall reign on the earth. Then I looked and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne. The living creatures and the elders. And the number of them were 10,000 times 10,000. And thousands of thousands saying with a loud voice. Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing. My friend, do you know this joy? It's the singing of the hallelujahs of the people of praise to the God of praise with full reason for praise. Is this sung praise your gateway to heaven? Is it your access point of paradise? Is it your foretaste of the wedding supper? Or is it all lost on you? If it's lost on you, you don't know what you're missing. If you know nothing of this joy in the sung praise of your God, you know nothing of heaven. You know nothing of its glories. You are utterly unprepared. You would be out of place on that great day. Truth is, you don't belong. You're still singing the song of Babylon. And if you are still singing the song of Babylon, then we are reliably informed in Revelation 18 that the day is coming when your capacity to sing will be taken away. Revelation 18 21, Then a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying, Thus, with violence, the great city Babylon shall be thrown down and shall be found and shall not be found anymore. The sound of harpets. Musicians, flutists and trumpeters shall not be heard in you anymore. No craftsman of any craft shall be found in you anymore. And the sound of the millstone shall not be heard in you anymore. The light of a lamp shall not shine in you anymore. And the voice of bridegroom and bride shall not be heard in you anymore. For your merchants were the great men of the earth, for by your sorcery all the nations were deceived. And in her was found the blood of the prophets and saints and all who were slain on the earth. Are you still in Babylon? Are you still in Babylon? Yes, for now you've got a song to sing. A song of praise to sin. A song of wanton immorality. A song that is only the devil's song. A song of pea and of praise to the beast. A song you sing while you ride with the scarlet woman and you bow before the false prophet. God will take away your capacity to sing on that day. God will take away all your instruments. God will take away all that enables you to do that. You will be divested. And you will be cast into hell. No singing there. No praising there. No joy there. And it will be just. And it will be righteous. Because you despised His King, you rejected His Savior, and you were here today, and you heard Him speak to you, and you hardened your heart, and you went out again, and you would not believe. May God have mercy. Or if you are still found singing Babylon when the Lord returns, you will be destroyed with all its sin and all its immorality and all its wickedness. There is no joy in hell. That's Satan's great deception. But the Lord gives you the invitation. Come and sing with us. Come and join with us in the hallelujah chorus of heaven on earth. Let it be a foretaste of the consummation of the joy that will be ours in all eternity, in the everlasting marriage supper of the Lamb, who is here now, who stretches out his nail-printed hands and says, come, I will receive you. Come and sing hallelujah to the Lord.