They cried, “Amen, Hallelujah!” Revelation 19:4
Joy was apparent in their voices as the high school choir sang the Argentinian song “El Cielo Canta Alegría.” I was enjoying the performance but couldn’t understand the lyrics because I don’t know Spanish. But it wasn’t long until I recognized a familiar word as the choir began to jubilantly declare, “Aleluya!” Repeatedly, I heard “Aleluya,” a declaration of praise to God that sounds similar in most languages around the world. Eager to know the background of the song, I went online after the concert and discovered the title translates “Heaven Is Singing for Joy.”
In a celebratory passage in Revelation 19, we’re given a glimpse of the reality expressed in that choral song—all of heaven rejoicing! In the apostle John’s vision of the future in the last book of the New Testament, he saw an enormous gathering of people and angelic creatures in heaven declaring gratitude to God. John wrote that the chorus of voices celebrated God’s power that overcame evil and injustice, His reign over the whole earth, and eternal life with Him forever. Over and over again, all the inhabitants of heaven declare “Hallelujah!” (vv. 1, 3, 4, 6), or “Praise God!”
One day people “from every tribe and language and people and nation” (5:9) will declare God’s glory. And with joy all our voices in every different language will shout together, “Hallelujah!”
Revelation 19:1-8
Threefold Hallelujah Over Babylon’s Fall
19 1 After this I heard what sounded like the roar of a great multitude in heaven shouting:
“Hallelujah!Salvation and glory and power belong to our God,2 for true and just are his judgments.He has condemned the great prostitute who corrupted the earth by her adulteries.He has avenged on her the blood of his servants.”
3 And again they shouted:
“Hallelujah!The smoke from her goes up for ever and ever.”
4 The twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God, who was seated on the throne. And they cried:
“Amen, Hallelujah!”
5 Then a voice came from the throne, saying:
“Praise our God, all you his servants,you who fear him, both great and small!”
6 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. 7 Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. 8 Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear.”
INSIGHT
1. What is a reason you can say “Hallelujah” today?
2. Why is it vital to regularly praise God?
“Hallelujah!” (Revelation 19:6), from the Hebrew halal (“to praise”) and yah, the first syllable of Yahweh, means “to praise God.” One reason for praise in Revelation 19 is God’s victory over “the great prostitute” (v. 2), which is identified elsewhere as “the great city that rules over the kings of the earth” (17:18). This woman or city is associated with “Babylon” (v. 5), which most interpreters believe symbolizes a corrupt empire(s) that rules in opposition to God (interpretations vary over the empire’s identity). But in chapter 19, she’s been defeated, and another woman becomes the focus—the “bride” of Christ—“God’s holy people” (vv. 7-8). She’s wearing “fine linen, bright and clean” which “stands for [her] righteous acts” (v. 8). Instead of the corrupt empire symbolized by Babylon, Jesus will usher in the new Jerusalem (21:2, 10), a city filled with the light of the “glory of God” (vv. 11, 23).
PRAYER
Hallelujah! I’m so grateful for the joy I know because I’m loved by You, my God. In Jesus name I pray and believe. Amen.
Read: Revelation 19:1-8 | Bible in a Year: Psalms 100-102; 1 Corinthians 1
