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,
2 for his judgments are true and just;
for he has judged the great prostitute
who corrupted the earth with her immorality,
and has avenged on her the blood of his servants.”
3 Once more they cried out,
“Hallelujah!
On Easter, 1743, Handel’s Messiah debuted in Dublin. When the Hallelujah chorus began, one person in attendance, King George II, stood for some reason. For reasons we can guess, everyone else stood too. For me, it is not hard to guess why the king stood when I look at these verses in Revelation 19. The chorus starts this way.
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
23 times in the chorus. Hallelujah means “Praise ye Yahweh”. The great multitude could not help crying out Hallelujah. Neither could the most powerful king on earth. He would soon meet his judge.
Come to Cape Community Church tomorrow as we respond in the same way as the 24 elders, the 4 living creatures and, the 1 king of England. We will respond in worship. Hallelujah! There is no way to be overly repetitive with this phrase, as Handel himself knew from Scripture. This is because the Lord God Almighty reigns on the throne as the Lamb. Jesus Christ is God the Son, the Lamb upon his throne. This glimpse of the Trinity should lay to rest any thought that Jesus is less than anything. Come tomorrow and worship the Great I Am!
Dear Lord, thank you that you are the Lion and the Lamb, victorious through surrender. May we surrender ourselves to you in worship tomorrow. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Pastor Brad Boyer
Cape Community Church