Turning together to the book of Revelation. The last book of the Holy Bible. Book 66, chapter 19. The first ten verses of the chapter. The first half of the chapter this morning. Rejoicing in heaven. Revelation 19 verse 1. When the Bible says, after this I heard what seemed to be the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, crying out, hallelujah, salvation and glory and power belong to our God. 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 saints. Once more they cried out, hallelujah. The smoke from her goes up forever and ever. And the 24 elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who was seated on the throne saying, amen, hallelujah. And from the throne came a voice saying, praise our God, all you his servants. You who fear Him, small and great. Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters, and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder crying out, Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and exalt 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. And the angel said to me, write this, blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he said to me, these are the true words of God. Then I fell down at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, You must not do that. I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God, for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. Beloved of God in Christ Jesus, the celebration of Revelation 19 is a result of the great punishment of the prostitute in Revelation 17, and the result of the fall of Babylon the Great in Revelation 18. The consequence? Praise to God. The hallelujah shouted from heaven are a direct response to the judgments of God upon the earth. The Apostle John hears what sounded like a roar of a great multitude in heaven shouting, hallelujah. Four times, hallelujah. Let's look at the wonderful hallelujahs repeated here in our text four times. Hallelujah is a Hebrew compound word made up of hallelu, which is Hebrew for praise, and yah, which is an abbreviated form of God's name, Yahweh. The word appears only in the Psalms, this word hallelujah, 24 times. 24 times in the Psalms and nowhere else in the Holy Bible but here in the book of Revelation chapter 19 where it appears four times. In fact, the last five Psalms begin and end with the word hallelujah. So the Hebrew Psalter concludes with God's chosen people singing hallelujah. Praise to Yahweh. And now the New Testament also, as well, closes with God's redeemed people in heaven singing hallelujah. Praise Jehovah. And now the New Testament Four hallelujahs for four very different things. Did you notice in our text today, the first hallelujah is for salvation. Praise God for salvation. The second hallelujah is literally for smoke. The smoke of judgment. Praise God for the smoke of his judgment. The third hallelujah is praise for worship of the true God. And the fourth hallelujah for wedding to one who reigns. Wedding to a king. Salvation, smoke, worship, and a wedding. Four hallelujahs. All these are shouted from a multitude in heaven that is so great, their shout sounds like a massive roar. Remember what they shout throughout. Praise Yahweh. Praise Jehovah. Salvation and glory and power belong to our God, for true and just are His judgments. Here the Apostle John lists three attributes of God, salvation, glory, and power. Now you and I don't always think of salvation as an attribute of God, but it is. God, after all, is the Savior. He is a Savior in a way that no one else can possibly be. And because God is the ultimate Savior, salvation belongs to Him. We read in the Psalms, salvation is of the Lord. What a profound Reformation truth that is. Salvation doesn't come from us. It is of the Lord. Salvation belongs to Him and to Him alone. God planned to save us when He chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world, Ephesians 1. When the human race plunged themselves into sin, God stood ready to redeem His people. He began to do so. When He called Adam and Eve, when they were hiding in the garden, Adam, where are you? Of course, they emerged. God found them. God clothed them with the skins of animals. When Jesus came as the Lamb who really took away the sin of the world, glory accrued to the name of God. Glory to God in the highest. And on earth, peace to men in whom He is well pleased. Because God maintained His own holiness and righteousness by requiring that a Lamb be born to be sacrificed as an atonement for sin. Salvation. Glory. And with what power God accomplished this in Christ Jesus. The power to redeem. The power to withstand the wrath of God against the sin of the whole world. And then the power to raise the dead. Salvation. Glory. And power. This belongs to our God. Our God's judgments are true and just, whereas the great prostitute is false and corrupt. And you remember the great prostitute stands for all the false hopes of all the people who coalesce their desires in governments that are corrupt and promise things they can never deliver, and then stand in opposition to God. God saves his own people, but the people who make up the great prostitute are condemned. Hallelujah. Praise Yahweh. That's the first hallelujah. Praise to God for salvation. And again they shouted hallelujah. This time for smoke. The smoke from her, that is the great prostitute, goes up forever and ever. This hallelujah praises God that the smoke of Babylon rises without ceasing. John had already used this wording in connection with the destiny of all who worship the beast, the Antichrist, and his image. They will drink the wine of God's fury. And the smoke of their torment rises forever and ever. Revelation 14 verse 11. The very same picture is presented here as the one Isaiah presented concerning Edom. Remember the descendants of Esau, the archenemy of Israel, when he prophesied concerning Edom saying, forever. Isaiah 34, 9-10. And so we have this in our minds, right? That those who refuse to serve the living and true God will experience His holy burning wrath forever and ever. Now here in Revelation, John applies this curse of God against Edom to Babylon, who represents all those opposed to God. This is the imagery of Sodom and Gomorrah, salted with fire, burning up with smoke, rising forever. And the smoke rose from Sodom and Gomorrah like the smoke of a furnace, we read in Genesis. The word forever reminds us of the eternal fires of hell, fired, fueled by the wrath of God. For all this, hallelujah, praise Jehovah. And it is a shame to much of the modern mainstream church that they cannot get on board with this hallelujah. Much of the modern mainstream church cannot get on board with God's judgment upon the wicked. And it's a serious sign that they may not be God's people at all. Hallelujah! Praise Jehovah, who forever destroys His enemies and grants eternal rest and peace and security and happiness to His own people. This is the second hallelujah. Praise God for the smoke of hell. The fire that burns the trash of history. The third hallelujah comes from the 24 elders who are now giving their amen to what they've heard before. And the four living creatures who represent all creation falling down worshiping God who's seated on the throne. And they cried, Amen! Yes. So shall it be. Let it be. Absolutely. Hallelujah. Praise Yahweh. Then a voice came from the throne saying, Praise our God, all you His servants, you who fear Him, both small and great. Notice how in this hallelujah, fear. is an important element. Reverence. The 24 elders as ruling representatives of all God's people concur with the praise already being given for the salvation of God's saints and the smoke which symbolizes God's punishment of His enemies. Yes! Praise God for saving grace and for smoldering justice. Let everyone praise Him, both small and great, whatever your station in life, whatever your position of responsibility is. And they are represented there, the 24 elders with authority, the four living creatures. Whoever you are in all creation, whatever you do, praise God. For we are all His servants. And as such, we take our responsibility as a serious privilege in service of the high King of heaven. And notice how fear and praise are connected, reverence and rejoicing go hand in hand. This is the third hallelujah, praise for wholehearted worship of the one, the only one who is so deserving. Now John describes the fourth hallelujah, 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. It's quite clear that this multitude is the same multitude as the one mentioned at the beginning of this chapter. This is a multitude of saints and angels joined in tune. Saints and angels singing, shouting, praising together in heaven. The sound they make is the sound of a multitude of people. All talking at the same time. I don't know if you've ever been in a sports stadium with, say, over 90,000 people. What an experience. What a roar. What a sound. And if those 90,000 are singing, Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, early in the morning, our song shall rise to Thee, all the better. The sound they make rises from the pleasing tones of rushing water and then swells to the crashing crescendo of thunderclaps. It is like a mass choir which begins singing softly, pianissimo, and gradually builds The quadruple forte. Building in volume until their song culminates in a resounding roar that overwhelms the hearer. This song is sung in praise of the fact that our God Almighty reigns. Remember the song, Our God Reigns. Our God reigns. Hallelujah, praise God, for He is sovereign and He reigns. The beast was mighty, but God is almighty. The image of the beast was mighty, but our God is almighty. The false prophet was mighty, but our God is almighty. Babylon the great was mighty, but our God is almighty. The great prostitute was mighty, but our God is almighty. The nations of the earth were mighty, but the Lord God alone is almighty. This term, Lord God Almighty, occurs seven times in the book of Revelation. Chapter 1, Chapter 4, Chapter 11, Chapter 15, Chapter 16, Chapter 19, and Chapter 21. From beginning to end, The Lord God Almighty reigns. Furthermore, He is not only the Lord God Almighty, He is our Lord God Almighty. This is the wonder of it all. For our Lord God Almighty reigns, our Lord. Our Savior, our Master, our Lord and our King. Hallelujah. Praise Yahweh. Our God reigns. This is the fourth. Hallelujah. And this God, this Almighty King is our betrothed husband. Which brings us to the second point, the wedding of the Lamb and the readiness of the Bride. Beloved, our text presents us with a scene of festivity here. A wedding is about to happen. The wedding of Christ, the Lamb of God and His Bride, the Church. In Christ, the Bride chosen from eternity, throughout the Old Testament, this pending wedding was announced. When the Son of God assumed our flesh and our blood, the betrothal took place. While here on earth, Christ paid the dowry price on Calvary's cross with his own blood and laying down his life for his bride. And now, after living apart for an interval of time, which in the eyes of God is but a little while, the bridegroom will return. Let us rejoice and be glad and give Him glory. Why? For the wedding of the Lamb has come and the bride has made herself ready. Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her, you see, given her by God, granted to her by grace to wear. But then, Revelation says, fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints. And those of us trained in the doctrine of the Reformation are jolted a little bit and we're like, what? Isn't this the righteous acts of Christ with which we're clothed? Well, this is instruction for those who have a weak doctrine of sanctification, which might include some of us. When you're saved, you're also sanctified. This is sanctification, power to live a sanctified life. During the time that they are apart, the bride, the church, prepares herself for her groom. How does she prepare herself for her wedding day? By putting on her wedding dress made of fine linen, bright and clean, which was given her to wear very clearly in Scripture. But we notice together today that the bride can prepare herself only when God provides the wedding dress for her Because the wedding gown God gives her is beautiful and pure. She knows that her own clothes are but filthy rags. But Christ cleanses her and presents her to himself a bride without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish. Ephesians 5. John then goes on to explain that the fine linen, bright and clean, represents the righteous acts of the saints. Acts which we can do only in the Spirit and power of our God and Savior. And I know that some of us want to say, well, I thought you just said that the bright and beautiful dress was given to the bride by God. Now John says that it stands for the righteous acts of the saints. What we must understand is that God Himself is clothing His bride with an actual righteous life. The Apostle Paul sheds light on these righteous acts which God has given the saints to wear when he writes in Ephesians 2 saying, we are God's workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God prepared in advance for us to do. You hear the parallelism there? To do good works. works which are done in Christ and through the power of God. These righteous acts of the saints are made possible through God's grace in the hearts of His saints by the indwelling Holy Spirit. Set free from the bondage of Satan, the redeemed dedicate their lives to serve God. They feed the hungry, give the thirsty something to drink, supply hospitality to strangers, clothe the needy, visit the sick and those in prison, Christ blesses all the righteous acts of the saints by preferring them through His own perfect righteousness. And because of the bridegroom's work in her heart, the bride feels her obligations to the bridegroom very keenly. She's convicted of these. Convinced of these. I must live to serve the groom. As she waits with eager expectation for his appearance. This overall disposition with which the bride is clothed is an unconditional gift of God's grace. It is a divinely inspired garment. of good deeds washed in the blood of the Lamb. So we have this wholesome, holistic understanding of the Word of God comparing Scripture with Scripture. Then the angel says to John, Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb. Have you received your invitation? If you've heard the Gospel, if you know who Jesus is, then you have. And he added, these are the true words of God. This is the fourth of seven beatitudes. Blessed are those who are invited. This is the fourth of seven beatitudes, blessednesses, found in the book of Revelation. All that God has promised and prepared for His people throughout the ages will certainly come true. Whereas the hopes and dreams of the great prostitute are all dashed to pieces. and destroyed by fire, by God Himself. Our hope, the blessed hope of God's saints will not disappoint us. Blessedness is ours now in Christ. Blessedness multiplied and completely realized to hearts overflowing is to be ours in the future. is our future. Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb. Blessed union, blessed communion, blessed fellowship, blessed life for all eternity, blessed joy unending in the presence of Christ our Savior. Finally, this morning, the worship of God and the witness it entails. The Apostle John was so overwhelmed by the revelation of all these things, he reports, at this I fell at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, don't do it. Don't worship me. I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God. For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. Well, this verse emphasizes that the worship of angels is strictly forbidden under any circumstances. We don't worship angels, we join angels in their worship of God. We don't worship angels even when the angel is bringing a message directly from God. And remember, the book of Hebrews was written to the Hebrews, first of all. And in Hebrews 1.14, we read, You see, some Jews had begun worshiping angels, And now we see, we can hear how the author of Hebrews assigns a place to the angels that is actually lower than that of the saints. He says God created the angels to serve the saints. Why are you worshipping them? Why are you worshipping your servant? Why are you worshipping your slave? The one assigned to serve you. That's messed up. That's what the writer of the Hebrews is saying to the Jews. And so the revelation given to John emphasizes to all God's people that they must worship no one but the true and triune God. If John is forbidden to worship an angel, then clearly Christians must not worship beasts or emperors or angels or any created thing but God alone. And Jesus is God. This is the testimony of Jesus I and the Father are one. The angel tells John that both angels and human believers are fellow servants of the message, this very message, Jesus is God and therefore God is to be worshipped through Him. The worship of Jesus is our witness before the world. We worship Jesus, we bow before Him, we obey Him, None else besides. Those who read or heard the Bible, the book of Revelation for the first time, realize that bearing this witness before the world by refusing to worship idols, or refusing to worship the emperor, would place them in open conflict with pagan culture and the Roman authorities who always wanted you to worship Caesar. Caesar is Lord. And you would give that pinch of incense and place it in the fire burning before the statue of Caesar. And Christians today will also find themselves in conflict with permissive and immoral agendas of our culture. And Christians increasingly are finding themselves in conflict with ungodly governments who assume to themselves what belongs only to God. To refuse to cooperate is part of our worship. It's part of our worship. We will obey authority in all things lawful, in all things that are appropriate. But to refuse to give to the government the adoration, the trust, and the fear of our hearts which belong alone to God, the reverence which belongs alone to God, is part of our own wedding gown. It is our own practical and principled hallelujah before the world. So when God gives to us discernment to perceive all the lies, that are being perpetrated upon the world today. Lies concerning the threat of disease. Lies concerning climate change. Lies concerning human sexuality. And all the choices that you're told you have. When God has said, there are two possibilities which I have decided. Male and female. All the lies about abortion. All the lies that are going on in politics. All the economic lies. The cultural lies. The religious lies. Moral lies. Our wedding garment. The Holy Spirit in us gives us this discernment. Do not believe the lies. Do not follow the lies. Do not fear the lies. Do not worship the lies. Save our souls, God of truth. Clothe us with Christ's righteousness. Help us put on our wedding clothes and be ready for your coming. Hallelujah. Praise Yahweh. Hallelujah. Praise Jehovah. Amen. Let us pray. Almighty God, by your grace, our hearts, Lord, our voices, our lives would join these hallelujahs here. Lord, bring us on board with the praise. Add our voices to the crescendo heard from heaven. And we thank you, Lord, for this praise which will roll on and on, even as the smoke of your just judgment rises forever and ever. Lord, we thank you that Christ has come as one who loves us, as Christ has come to redeem us, to save us, Lord, to claim us. He will come to get us. We thank you for the wedding gown that He has clothed us with even now. Even now that we are a new creation in Him. Help us to live, Lord God, as authentic Christians. Help us to live in the truth. Your Word is truth. In Jesus we pray.