Revelation chapter 19 in your Bibles, there is no greater responsibility or privilege placed upon us as human beings than that privilege and responsibility to worship the living God. The scripture indicates that worship is a response to God, to who God is and to what God does. As our hearts bow before him in worship, we are really giving a response to who God is as God, His very nature and being, and thus the One worthy of worship. We are also bowing before Him in giving Him adoration and praise and honor for what He has done in the works that He accomplishes that are an outflowing of His character, His righteousness, His justice, His holiness are seen in the works that He accomplishes. As we come into Revelation chapter 19, we are transported again into a heavenly scene where worship is occurring in the very presence of God in heaven. In Revelation chapters 4 and 5, early in the book, we were carried into the throne room scene in heaven. There we saw all the inhabitants of heaven joining together in worshiping Almighty God, both for who He is and what He has done, particularly in our redemption. Now in chapter 19, our attention again is drawn from the earth to the heaven. We find there all the hosts of heaven responding again to who God is and what He has done in judgment with acts of worship and adoration and praise directed to Him. It will be our privilege when we are joined in God's presence in heaven to devote ourselves to the worship of the God who alone is worthy of worship. That is why what we are doing here as a church, believers in Jesus Christ, as a preparation and a foretaste of what awaits us in heaven. The context of chapter 19 is very significant and important. Chapter 18 of Revelation has recorded the fall of Babylon. The fall of Babylon sounds the death note for the satanic system that has ruled and dominated this world down through history. Satan's final and greatest attempt to usurp the place of God, to have the world join together in worshiping him, through a kingdom that he establishes on the earth, has been brought to a crushing and complete defeat. Babylon, the city Babylon, was the center of this earthly empire. Satan attempted to counterfeit what God has declared he would do in the future. He would establish a kingdom over the earth. His son, Jesus Christ, would rule and reign. We have the Antichrist, Satan's counterfeit. The Holy Spirit would be involved in directing the worship of the world to Him. Satan raised up the false prophet in chapter 13 to direct the worship of the world to the Antichrist. Satan himself would be the power behind all of this, receiving the worship of the world, which is due only really to God the Father. The destruction of Babylon and the kingdom associated with Babylon brought a response from the world. That response was that of weeping, lamentation, grief, sorrow, mingled with fear. Because the people of the world have prospered and benefited materially from their involvement in what we call Babylonianism, the satanic system of this world. Back in chapter 13, at the end of verse 15, We're told that the false prophet was directing the worship of the world to the Antichrist. This so dominated the world that the end of verse 15 tells us that he could cause as many as do not worship the image of the beast to be killed. And he causes all the small and the great, the rich and the poor, the free man and the slaves to be given a mark on their right hand or on their forehead. He provides that no one should be able to buy or to sell except the one who has the mark. either the name of the beast or the number of his name. So those who have committed themselves to be worshipers of the beast, who have identified themselves as belonging to the beast, have prospered in many ways during his reign over the earth. Keep in mind, this is a counterfeit millennium. And it's Satan's attempt to create in an artificial way the prosperity and blessing that will characterize the millennium. Now, this is going on within the context and framework of terrible destruction being brought upon the earth. The indication of Revelation would seem to be that while much of the earth is suffering devastating destruction, there are parts of the earth, particularly where the kingdom of the Antichrist is centered, that must be enjoying prosperity and material abundance, much like we have in the world today. places where we have great abundance and relatively little suffering. While other places in the world, they are suffering greatly. But our concern is how we are doing. Our concern with our government and our rulers, number one, is take care of us. We vote on them accordingly. Well, we'll have a magnified picture of that with much greater destruction and suffering, of course, in the Tribulation. But there will be those who have prospered because of their involvement with the Antichrist and materially prospered. At the heart of the Babylonian system is worship. It is a system of worship. It is the desire of Satan's heart that the world would join in worshiping him rather than the living God. Babylon is his last and final attempt. But the Babylonian system has operated down through history, and it's important we understand that. The Babylonian system is in operation today. It's a system of religious, political, and commercial activity. that occurs under the authority and leadership of the devil. Back in Matthew chapter 4, in the temptation of Christ, early in his public ministry, the devil, in verse 8 of Matthew 4, took Christ up to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, All these things will I give you. if you will fall down and worship me." Do you see what is the burden of Satan? What is at the heart of Babylonianism? It is a desire that the worship of the world be directed toward Satan rather than the living God. Christ's response is that the Scripture declares, you shall worship the Lord your God and serve him only. Do you see the audacity of Satan? You realize Satan and the demons knew who Christ was. When he walked the earth, the demons said, we know who you are, the Holy One of God. Now Satan has the audacity to come and confront him face to face and challenge the Son of God to bow down and worship him. And what Satan really offers him, you can be the Antichrist. I'll give you the kingdoms of the world. No necessity for suffering, no necessity for the cross. You can rule and reign under my authority. Worship me. That is the desire of Satan, worship. The Babylonian system will culminate in the city, in the events of Revelation, particularly chapter 17 and 18. But it's going on. Look in First Corinthians, chapter 10. It's going on today. We as believers need to be aware of it and alert to it. 1 Corinthians chapter 10, verse 14. Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. Flee from idolatry. He's not just talking about worshiping of physical idols, but he's talking about flee from all kind of false worship, which is setting something up in place of the living God. Down to verse 20. He asked the question, is an idol anything? No, an idol is nothing. The physical things associated with the false worship don't have any supernatural power, as some people superstitiously believe. No, but verse 20, but I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God. Now listen, I do not want you to become sharers in demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You see, Satan's activity continues to be the same. All false worship is ultimately a worship of the devil, a worship of his demons, and that's his desire. That's why it's of utmost importance that we are very careful that we only join ourselves and involve ourselves in worship that is according to the instructions and revelation of God in His Word. That's why it's so abominable that some would profess to be believers in Jesus Christ and remain within the worship system of the Roman Catholic Church. Some would profess to be believers in Jesus Christ and remain in the worship system of apostate Protestant churches. All false worship is ultimately the worship of the devil and his demons. Paul says, I do not want you to have fellowship. to be sharing together in demonic worship. Such a thought is totally repulsive. Come back to Revelation. That is what has happened with Babylon. Satan has solidified his power over the world. Solidified it in the reign of one man. Centered it in one capital city, Babylon, as a counterfeit of the New Jerusalem that shall someday reign over the earth. God has brought that satanic system to crushing defeat. The response of the unbelieving world is great grief. But in chapter 19, verses 1 to 10, you have the response of heaven. And it is a response of overwhelming celebration and joy as they bow in worship of the living God who has brought justice and judgment to the satanic kingdom. The first six verses of chapter 19 unfold the celebration of worship in heaven that is followed in verses 7 to 10 with the celebration regarding the coming marriage of the Lamb and the marriage supper that will take place in the context of that marriage. The first six verses of chapter 19 are the hallelujah chorus of the New Testament. The word hallelujah, as we're going to look at in verse 1, The word that's only used four times in the New Testament, all four times, are in the first six verses of Revelation, chapter 19. Look how chapter 19, verse 1, opens up. After these things I heard, as it were, a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven saying, Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God. In chapter 18, verse 20, Following the response of the people of the world to the destruction of Babylon, the instruction was given, Rejoice over her, O heaven, and you saints and apostles and prophets, because God has pronounced judgment for you against her. Chapter 19 opens up with the response of heaven to that instruction to rejoice. A great loud voice from a great multitude of heavenly hosts in heaven cry out, saying, Hallelujah. Hallelujah is the transliteration of a Hebrew word. When we transliterate something, we just replace the letters of the Hebrew word with our English letters. So this is a Hebrew word, we've just carried it over into our language. Hallelujah. If we translated it, it would be translated, praise God, or praise the Lord. Hallel, the first part of the word, means to praise. Yah is the shortened form of Yahweh, Jehovah, God. Praise God or praise the Lord. So the cry of this heavenly host is, Praise the Lord. It's a cry that comes from the Psalms. Hallelujah is used 24 times in the Psalms. The acclamation of God's praise is declared there. It's often used in the Psalms in the context of God bringing judgment on His enemies and the enemies of His people. That's the context we have in chapter 19. We're familiar with what are called the imprecatory Psalms, and they're Psalms where condemnation and judgment is called down on God's enemies. Here you have the realization of that. Turn back to one of these Psalms, in Psalm 104. This is the first use of Hallelujah in the Psalms, the first of 24 uses. Verse 35, the last verse of the 104th Psalm. Let sinners be consumed from the earth and let the wicked be no more. Bless the Lord, O my soul. Hallelujah. Or praise the Lord, as it's translated here. You see the context. Let sinners be consumed from the earth. Let the wicked be no more. Bless the Lord, O my soul. Hallelujah. Praise God. He will bring justice to the earth. He will bring judgment to sinful mankind. Sinners will be consumed from the earth. The wicked will be no more. We join in praising God for His justice. We delight that the wicked will go to hell. And God is a God of mercy and grace. And these are days where He offers salvation to wicked men. But wicked men and women continue to sin against the grace of God and spurn that grace and reject it. But be assured that God will bring justice and judgment to the earth in His time. And that will cause heaven to join together in praising Him. Back to Revelation 19. This declaration of praise to God is followed. by a statement, salvation, glory and power belong to our God. We are going to identify God in His greatness here. The definite article, the, appears with each of these. It's not in our translation, but it is there. This is literally the salvation and the glory and the power of our God, because His salvation, glory and power have been revealed in the destruction of the wicked." And that's where we will move to in verse 2. "...because his judgments are true and righteous, for he has judged the great harlot." It's important to see this scene of praise and worship in heaven flows out of the righteous character of God displayed in judging the satanic system of the world. Salvation. the declaration of God's work in defeating His enemies and thus bringing deliverance to His people, for the two go together, in the salvation that we have experienced by faith in Christ. What has happened? Well, Christ brought defeat to Satan at the cross. He rendered powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, according to Hebrews 2, that he might provide to us forgiveness and cleansing and newness of life. So, when you declare the salvation of God, you declare His victory over sin and Satan, which brings redemption and salvation to His elect. Divine justice has been demonstrated. God's victory has been displayed. This note of victory was proclaimed earlier, chapter 7, verse 10. Again, you have a heavenly host innumerable as a multitude. crying out at the end of verse 9 with palm branches in their hands, they cry out with a loud voice saying, salvation to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb. They are declaring that salvation comes from the enthroned God and His Son, Jesus Christ. That salvation is demonstrated in the destruction of the wicked with the destruction of Babylon in chapters 17 and 18. Who will win this power struggle that is going on? Well, as believers in Jesus Christ with the revealed Word of God, we know the outcome, we've read the end. But you know, at times, under the pressure, we wonder, when will God intervene? When will justice be done for His people? When will He vindicate His name? Well, all heaven is crying hallelujah in Revelation 19, the salvation of our God. It has been displayed. Satan and his system have been crushed. God is victorious. In chapter 12 of Revelation, verse 10, I heard a loud voice in heaven saying, Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come. You see, again, the declaration of God's salvation in the context of the coming kingdom because of the overthrow of Satan and being cast out of heaven. all go together as we declare God's salvation. It deals with the enemy that must be defeated, Satan and sin, and the victory that is accomplished, the provision of righteousness. And they are inseparably joined together. You cannot provide righteousness for fallen men unless you can deal with sin and Satan. God has done that. Back in Revelation 19, it's salvation and the glory. The glory is God's majesty and greatness. The overwhelming majesty of His person in preparation for the seven last judgments of the tribulation, the seven bowls. Revelation chapter 15 and verse 8 told us the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of the Lord and from His power. His glory and His power. The majesty of His presence when it is unveiled is overwhelming. Not even the host of heaven could enter the temple on this occasion. This is His glory, the display of who He is, the manifestation of His majesty as the sovereign God. It is a glory that belongs only to Him, a glory that He jealously guards. What has happened, He has vanquished those who would attempt to usurp that glory for themselves. Turn back to Isaiah, chapter 42, verse 8. The context of the greatness of God and what He has done, verse 5, told us, Thus says the Lord God, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and its offspring, who gives breath to the people on it, spirit to those who walk in it, and so on. Look at verse 8. I am the Lord, that is my name. I will not give my glory to another, nor my praise to graven images, to idols, to others. I am the Lord, that is my name. I will not give my glory to another. I won't share that glory with other gods, small g. And what you have is Satan's attempt to usurp what was God's, the glory that is his, because that glory is what calls forth the worship of creation. He has crushed those who would oppose him. We have yet to deal with Armageddon at the end of chapter 19, but the fall of Babylon is viewed as the crushing of the satanic system. And now, with Armageddon, we will deal finally with the people who have been part of that system. The judgment here shows the satanic system has fallen before Almighty God, the one alone who has the glory. There's a serious matter with God. We talk about this matter of worship. What we see going on in the worship in heaven is to be reflected in the worship that we, the people of God, offer to Him on the earth. We better be sure that our worship is offered in the context of the purity of His Word. He will not share that glory with another. That means when I come to worship, you'll note the focus of what we're talking about here. All the attention of heaven is directed to Him. We've seen this in our previous study of passages in Revelation that talk about worship in heaven. It all centers on Him. And we have corrupted the worship of the living God and are trying to take from His glory because we come to worship services wondering what I will get out of it. wondering whether it will meet my needs, wondering whether I go away feeling good about having been there. We are pleased to have trite little talks that deal with felt needs, quote, of people today. That is an attempt to usurp the glory that belongs to God alone. We come into His presence with one focus. He is God. He is everything. All the glory is His. And if that really impacts my heart and mind, then I fall in my spirit on my face and worship Him. And everything else is a corruption of that worship and an attempt to usurp to myself that which belongs to God only. Corrupt being that I am, that I should come to worship God filled with thoughts of me, not Him. Concerned about me, not Him. That's not biblical worship. That's a Babylonian counterfeit. Setting something up myself in the place of God and then evaluating what is done in light of its impact on me rather than whether it exalts God and displays His glory. Chapter 48 of Isaiah, verse 11, For my own sake I will act. For how can my name be profane, and my glory I will not give to another?" And we sit back with a song and say, How long, O Lord? When? In His time. The crushing of Babylon is a declaration of the glory of the Lord. He will share it with no one else. The third expression in Revelation chapter 19, The salvation, the glory, and the power of our God. The power. Babylon the Great. The mightiest city at the center of the mightiest empire the world has ever known. The most complete control that Satan has ever been able to exercise over the earth. the most powerful opposition ever brought against God, and it has been crushed. It is a smoking ruin as a testimony to the power of the God who, down at the end of verse 6, will be called the Almighty, the One who alone has power. Glory and power joined together here. They're joined together back in chapter 4. Verse 11 of Revelation, where the inhabitants of heaven cry, You are worthy, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power. Glory and power go together because the glory of who He is is supported with the power that is associated with the eternal God. Chapter 7, verse 12 connects the glory and the power as well. Again, It's a scene of worship. And what do they declare? Amen, blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honor, and power, and might be to our God forever and ever. If we could just go back and work through all the heavenly scenes of worship in Revelation, what do they all do? They all declare who God is, what God has done. That's what worship is. The word means to bow down before, kiss the ground before someone. I'm not looking at myself, I'm looking at Him and I'm overwhelmed with who He is and I'm prostrate before Him. His power has been displayed. 1 John 5, 19 says, the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. Now, the dynamic power of God has crushed the satanic system and heaven declares the power of God. Back to Revelation 19. Hallelujah, salvation and glory and power belong to our God, because His judgments are true and righteous. For He has judged the great harlot was corrupting the earth with her immorality, and He has avenged the blood of His bondservants on earth. This verse gives the reason for the praise ascribed to God in verse 1. Hallelujah, praise the Lord, because He has judged the harlot. Because His judgments are true and righteous. You see, we worship God for who He is as God and for what He does. Here, His actions in judgment. He has acted to judge sin. And He always judges truly and righteously. His judgments are true and righteous. Sometimes people, as they're confronted with the reality of the wrath of God and the awfulness of coming judgment, their response is, my God wouldn't do that. God is a God of love. I cannot conceive of Him doing that. They fail to consider and to take into consideration that this God of love and mercy and grace is also a God of holiness and justice. He will always judge with truth and righteousness. We see His mercy and grace as He delays, humanly speaking, judgment and offering salvation to fallen human beings. Come! Buy! Eat! No cost! But if He delayed indefinitely, there would be no justice. There would be no manifestation of His holiness. There would be no order in creation. There will come a time when mercy will end. When grace will cease for sinners under condemnation, His judgments are true and righteous. We have a problem with the judgments God brings because, number one, we don't understand how sinful and vile we really are. Number two, we don't understand how holy and righteous He really is. And since we have a faulty conception of the holiness of God and a faulty conception of the sinfulness of man, we have some kind of muddled gray that we're not so bad and He's not so great, so we'll work it out. And that's not the picture that the Scripture unfolds of our God and His action. Back in chapter 15, verse 3, they sang the song of Moses, the bondservant of God, and the song of the Lamb sang. Great and marvelous are Your works, O Lord God the Almighty. Righteous and true are Your ways, You King of the nations. Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify Your name? For You alone are holy. For all the nations will come and worship before You, for Your righteous acts have been revealed." In verse 1 we have our words, "...righteous and true are Your ways." All He does can be characterized by righteousness, by truth. That is also true of His judgments. Down in chapter 16, verse 5, And I heard the angel of the waters saying, Righteous art thou who art and who wast, O holy one, because you did judge these things. For they poured out the blood of saints and prophets. You have given them blood to drink. They deserve it. And I heard the altar saying, Yes, O Lord God the Almighty. True. and righteous are your judgments." True and righteous are your judgments. Back in Deuteronomy 32, Moses spoke in chapter 32 of Deuteronomy, verse 3, For I proclaim the name of the Lord, ascribe greatness to our God, the Rock. His work is perfect, for all His ways are just. A God of faithfulness and without injustice. Righteous and upright is He. True and righteous are His judgments. That's His character. Look at Psalm 111. It starts out with our word. Hallelujah! Praise the Lord. I will give thanks to the Lord with all my heart, in the company of the upright and in the assembly. You see who you join together in worship and praise with? the company of the upright, the redeemed. Great are the works of the Lord. They are studied by all who delight in them." So, aside, why do we come together and study the Word? We study because we delight in them. Why? This is a revelation and unfolding of the character of the God that we want to know better, to worship, to serve. We delight in these things. That's a description of believers. They are studied by all who delight in them. You know, my appetite for this truth, the book, the Word of God, ought not to diminish with the passing of time. It ought to grow and increase. Isn't it amazing that new Christians don't seem to be able to get enough of the Word? And I just have a hunger for the Word. And boy, if you offer Bible studies seven nights a week, I'll find a way. I can't get enough of the Word, of the truth, of my God. For the passing of time, well, you know, it's just not new to me anymore. We have an infinite God that we're studying, that we're coming to know, and we have the audacity that we don't delight in any longer. It's descriptive of a believer that he delights to study these things. His delight is in the Lord. I can never get enough of Him, never satisfied. My love for Him doesn't grow dimmer, it grows stronger. Continues in Psalm 111, talking about his works. Verse 3, splendid and majestic is his work. His righteousness endures forever. He has made his wonders to be remembered. That's why we study what he has done. It's not musty old history. This is what my God has done. He has done it and recorded it so that we would remember it. The Lord is gracious and compassionate. Verse 7, the works of his hand are truth. and justice. All his precepts are sure. They are upheld forever and ever. They are performed in truth and uprightness. The end of verse 9, holy and awesome is his name. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. A good understanding have all those who do his commandments. His praise endures forever. We begin our hallelujahs here, but they are unending through eternity. We will be giving praise to him. This declaration, true and righteous are his judgments, are told to be in chapter 19 of Revelation, because he has judged the great harlot who was corrupting the earth with her immorality. The corruption of the world. that is so obvious and evident around us continues and it will grow and increase. We as believers need to realize that. It gives me great serenity in the midst of turmoil, in the midst of a tide of vileness that seems to have no end and no bottom to this pit of muck and mire that our own country desires and delights to bathe in. and plummets depths. But I know the end. The end will be when Almighty God intervenes in judgment. Because fallen man delights in the filth of the Babylonian system. The only hope of escape is redemption for those who would be purchased out of the slavery to sin by the gracious provision of our God. They would come to believe in the Christ who died on the cross. But this world is not going to take a turn for the better. We haven't seen anything yet. By God's grace, the church will be removed before the vileness breaks forth in its fullness. Now there is a restrainer. But 2 Thessalonians 2 says the one who restrains is going to be removed. Then we'll have a tide of vileness. So don't be disheartened, believer. You've read the end. I expect that every day may bring a slide into more vileness, more depravity, more open display of the rejection of Almighty God and His truth. Are we discouraged? Why should we? We know the end. It's exactly as God said. We are here to call men and women out of darkness into light by the proclamation of the gospel. I await the destruction of the satanic system. until the intervention of God that we are studying about in this portion of Revelation. It's at this time, according to verse 2, that the vengeance of God will be poured out for those who have shed the blood of His servants. And that goes back to Deuteronomy 32, 43. At the end of the chapter 32, we just read the opening verses, where God speaks, He will avenge the blood of His servants. Deuteronomy. Moses lived almost 1,500 years before Christ. We're almost 2,000 years afterwards. 3,500 years we are waiting for the vengeance of God to vindicate and avenge His servants. God is a God of patience, infinite patience, but infinite justice for those who do not avail themselves of that infinite patience. There comes a time when justice will be done. And so all heaven is celebrating the intervention of God. And if we would come to a time in this country where persecution would become more overt, where you would be carted off to prison or execution or your children or your parents, then we would probably be on our knees crying out, Oh Lord, how long do you intervene? How long will the wicked destroy the righteous? But here are the prayers of the martyrs of chapter 6, verse 10. How long, O Lord, before you avenge our blood? Wait a while. There are more martyrs to come. Now there is celebration in heaven because God has taken vengeance. Vengeance is mine. I will repay, says the Lord. We wait upon Him. Verse 3 of chapter 19, And a second time they said, Hallelujah! Praise the Lord! Her smoke rises up forever and ever. And this second hallelujah celebrates the fact, not only has God judged, but He has judged Babylonianism with a final and permanent judgment. Satanic kingdoms have come and gone. The empires of the world have risen and fallen and risen and fallen. But the satanic system behind them all has suffered its crushing blow. The smoke of her torment rises up forever and ever." This is a reference back to Isaiah chapter 34, verse 10, to the destruction of Edom in the context of Isaiah 34, which deals with events of the tribulation and particularly of Armageddon. And there we are reminded that in cities like Sodom and Gomorrah, like Edom, their destruction and their burning fire, we are giving a glimpse of what was to take place in the culminating destruction of Satan's earthly empire ambitions. But here it is, endless fire depicting endless destruction. It will never rise again. You realize the satanic system, its religious, political and commercial impact is over. There will be a rebellion at the end of the millennium, but there will be no revival of the Babylonian system. Simply a futile attempt on one occasion to try to challenge the rule of Christ that's met with overwhelming defeat again. Verse 4, and twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshipped God who sits on the throne saying, Amen, Hallelujah." See what happens? You see what comes of worship? You see why we are to study the Word? As we consider who God is, as we consider what God has done, if we are doing this with hearts bowed before Him, open to the ministry of the Holy Spirit, the impact of this drives us to worship. The elders and the living creatures fall on their face and worship the God on the throne. I'm overwhelmed with who He is. I'm overwhelmed with what He has done which displays His righteous character. What else can I do but bow and worship before Him? Amen. What they do is add their voice to the agreement of praise that has just been given. regarding the fall of Babylon. Amen, it's true. God is true and righteous. He has judged the harlot that polluted the world with its opposition to our God. Twenty-four elders and the living creatures have been seen before in Revelation, back in chapter 4 of Revelation. Turn back there. Verse 8, the four living creatures do not cease to say in verse 8, holy, holy, holy. is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come. Verse 10, the twenty-four elders will fall down before Him who sits on the throne, will worship Him who lives forever and ever, cast their crowns before the throne saying, worthy art thou, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power. Can you see the response of heaven to God? Worship. Down into chapter 5, verse 8, "...when he had taken the book, the four living creatures, the twenty-four elders, fell down before the Lamb." They sang a new song, verse 9, "'Worthy art thou to take the book.'" And they worship Him because He died to provide redemption for fallen creation. Verse 12, with a loud voice they're saying, "'Worthy is the Lamb.'" Then all creation joins together in verse 13, to Him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and dominion forever and ever. And the four living creatures kept saying, Amen. The elders fell down and worshipped. I fear that often what we pass off as worship is something foreign to what the Word of God talks about as worship. In chapter 7, verse 10, The multitude of the heavenly hosts crying out with a loud voice, salvation to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb. The angels around the throne, the elders, the four living creatures. Verse 11, they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God saying, Amen. And all the honor and glory and power and majesty goes to God. Chapter 11. Verse 16, And the twenty-four elders who sit on their thrones before God fell on their faces and worshipped God, saying, We give you thanks, O Lord God, the Almighty. You see the impact? Being confronted with God and what He does is we fall on our faces before Him in worship. That's why we come together to study the Word of God. take attention off of ourselves and focus it upon Him, the One who has given this revelation. To bow my heart and mind before Him and say, O Lord, by the gracious ministry of the Spirit, impact me with the greatness of Your person, with the wonder of Your works. And the only response left in that situation is that I come to worship Him in spirit and truth. That I bow before Him. Now, we've made a travesty of worship. It's become a service that we want to get into as late as we can and get out of as early as we can. Any concept of joining together, praise God, I'm busy in the morning, I run here, as long as I get here, time for the sermon, that's all right, and as long as the sermon's done on time, that's all right. When we stop and think, we're to be reflecting what goes on in heaven, that in heaven we'll worship Him forever and ever. And all I'm concerned about is how little can I get by with. We have churches that call themselves Bible believing churches shutting down on Sunday night. Why? No one's interested in coming back. Would I come back and worship God again? I mean, my day's busy. I got a lot going on. That's why the clock's important to me. Everything we've got to do in worship ought to be done by this time. We get out of here. What more important do we have to do? Wouldn't you think the people of God, who are destined to be worshiping God for all eternity in the presence of His glory, and this is just a preparation for that time and a foretaste of that time, would be saying ourselves, do we have to stop? Do we have to stop now? Is there any reason why we couldn't continue on? Wouldn't you think, as you would read this as an observer, that that would be the response of the people on earth who are prepared for that event? Wouldn't you think they'd be saying, oh, praise the Lord, we're privileged to get back together again? We only begin the first day of the week this way. We always come back together. Young people singing a few weeks ago on Sunday night, and I praise God for the good response we have at Sunday night. But I wondered as I got up when they were down and they looked around and they are familiar with what it looks like in the morning. They saw all the lack of presence in the evening. I couldn't help but think, I wonder what they're thinking is the declaration of the importance of the worship of God by this church. Oh, and what they're thinking will be their pattern as they get older. I'm learning something. Fifty, sixty, seventy percent of the people that will stop in here on a Sunday morning don't believe that they ought to take advantage of every opportunity to join together in the worship of God. I wonder, will we be comfortable in heaven? This is what heaven is about, the worship of God. the coming to know more of Him, to hear His works declared, that we might fall in worship and adoration of Him. If I get too much of it here, I'd be concerned about really where I am going at the end of this life. Back to Revelation chapter 19, verse 5. A voice came from the throne. This is not the voice of God on the throne. This comes from the throne, and it's a call Give praise to our God." So the fact that the voice from the throne says, give praise to our God, indicates it's not God speaking. But the voice comes from the direction of the throne. Who is speaking, we're not told. A particular angel, the living creatures, whoever, we're not told. Give praise to our God, all you His bondservants, you who fear Him, the small. and the great give praise to our God. These are the Greek words that would be the equivalent of the Hebrew Alleluia. So we have the word Alleluia or Hallelujah four times in the six verses, but we also have the instruction given in the Greek language, give praise to our God, which is saying the same thing as Hallelujah. This is given in a present imperative, a command. We ought to constantly be giving praise to our God. Keep on praising God, you His bondservants. It comes from Psalm 135 and verse 1 where so much of these instructions to praise, so much of this section in Revelation chapter 19 comes from the Psalms. Psalm 135 verse 1 says, Praise the Lord. Praise the name of the Lord. Praise Him, O servants of the Lord! You who stand in the house of the Lord, in the courts of the house of our God, praise the Lord, for the Lord is good. Sing praises to His name, for it is lovely." So the voice comes from the throne that we are to constantly be giving praise to our God. Who is He addressing? The redeemed. And He addresses them as all you His bondservants. You who fear him. Word translated bondservant is the Greek word doulos. It's simply the word for slave. Constantly be praising him all his slaves. His slaves are those who have a reverential fear and awe of the living God. There's this balance. God is our heavenly father. We have freedom of access to Him, boldness of access, but we are to never lose the awe and reverence and fear of Him. They're called His slaves. You know, this discussion that goes on lordship, anti-lordship, to me, is totally foreign to Scripture. You want to talk about the redeemed, how does this voice from the throne of God identify them? Be constantly giving Him praise, all you His slaves. That's another way to identify a believer. He is a slave of God. One who lives with that reverence and fear of God. The end of verse 5, the small and the great. You know, we compare ourselves with one another, even as believers. One's more intelligent, one's less intelligent. One has more money, one has less money. One has more power, one has less power. That's not the way we're looked at. We come to worship. We come as slaves of God. We come as those who have a fear of Him, small and great, humanly speaking. Come united by that vertical relationship. It doesn't matter how great you are and how small I am, how rich someone is, how poor someone else is, how super intelligent this person is, how less intelligent this person is. We come to give praise to our God. We come because we are slaves of God and reverence Him, not one another. We serve Him in the absolute sense, not one another. So, verse 6, it ties us together and leads into where we're going in our next study. I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, the sound of many waters, the sound of mighty peals of thunder. You know what the majesty and power, when heaven gets into worship, it gets into it. No lackluster singing, no lackluster praise, no indifference about being here and not being here. They all join together with a thunderous sound, hallelujah, for the Lord our God, the Almighty reigns. And we have the fourth and final hallelujah. A declaration of praise to God because He's not only judged Babylonianism, but now He will establish His kingdom in place of the satanic kingdom. It's time for the Messianic Kingdom to be established on the earth. Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, and Almighty is an exact translation. It is the word All in Greek in front of the word Mighty. So, He is literally the Almighty. All might, all power is His. That's the God we're talking about. Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, words used nine times in Revelation, He is the One with absolute, completely sovereign power. He is the Almighty. And that leads into the discussion of the marriage of the Lamb, where we're going. This has prepared the way for the marriage of the Lamb, followed by the marriage supper of the Lamb. That's especially important for us. This is when the Church of Jesus Christ, the Bride of Christ, will be formally united with the bridegroom in marriage, followed by the celebration of the marriage feast. This is our destiny, the marriage of the Lamb. Well, we have two systems. We have the Babylonian satanic system of this world, and every unbeliever is a part of it. Unless you've been redeemed by believing in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, You are a part of the Babylonian system of this world. Then you have the redeemed who are part of the Bride of Christ, who are going to the glorious destiny that we'll talk about in our next study, the marriage of the Lamb. All heaven joins in this hallelujah. Hallelujah, the Lord, our God, the Almighty reigns. For the marriage of the Lamb has come and the Bride has made herself ready. That's the redeemed of the church. We live in a day of grace, moving toward a day of judgments. Have you availed yourself of the grace of God? Have you believed in Jesus Christ? If you have, is the delight of your heart an evidence of the fact you've been redeemed? Is there anything more precious to you than worshiping together with the people of God? I'm not saying we don't worship on our own, privately, every day. But you know, repeatedly, we see in the worship of heaven, the saints, the angels are joined together. And God has brought us together as a body to serve him, to minister to one another, and to be privileged to be united in worship of God, to prepare ourselves for what will be our most blessed activity and ministry through all eternity, worshiping the God who has judged sin and redeemed his people. Let's pray together. Thank you, Lord, for an overwhelmingly wonderful salvation provided by a God for us who himself is wonderful. Lord, we bow in your presence. We acknowledge you as our God. We give to you praise and honor and glory for who you are and for what you've done. Lord, may we as a local church be consumed with a passion for worshipping you. May we have a hunger and a longing and a desire to know you better, to revel in the record of the works that you've given to us and that reveal your character. Lord, may our study of who you are and what you've done always through the power of the Spirit bring us to our knees before you. that we might worship you again and again and again until we're joined together in glory where worship will continue. We pray for those who are not part of that worship because they have yet to be redeemed. By your grace, touch their hearts today that they might believe in the Savior, in whose name we pray. Amen.