In the past, I was told that two words are the same in every language: hallelujah and Coca-Cola! I can confirm that this is true, at least in the countries I’ve traveled to. The first one demonstrates the power of God; the second, the power of successful marketing.

Hallelujah is a compound word made up of two Hebrew words: Hallelu and Yah. “Hallelu” is an exhortation to praise someone, or something addressed to more than one person. The Old English translation “Praise, ye” is therefore accurate. “Yah” is simply a shorter version of “YHWH” – the English transliteration of the covenant name of Israel’s God. When you say Hallelujah, you are issuing a command in ancient Hebrew: ‘All of you must praise the Lord!’

Judaism teaches that God’s name is too holy to be pronounced at all (nor does anyone know how to pronounce it correctly, since the original Hebrew didn’t use vowels). Most translators, both Jewish and Christian, chose the word “Lord” instead, a translation of another Hebrew name for God (Adonai). Therefore, we say, “Praise the Lord!” Further, hallelujah and allelujah are the same word; the Greek and Latin translations drop the ‘h’ at the beginning.

In the Hebrew Bible, what we call the Old Testament, a section of Psalms is labeled “the Hallel psalms.” They are also frequently called the Egyptian Hallel because they celebrate God’s redemption of the Israelites and their freedom from bondage in Egypt. Psalm 118 is one of the Hallel psalms. According to the Jewish sages, there are several fundamental themes distinguishing the psalms of Hallel – and one of them is acknowledging the source of salvation. 

We know that Psalm 118 was recited on the way to the Temple and also in the Temple on Passover Eve, at the time of the slaughtering of the Passover sacrifice. The crowds at the Triumphal Entry, during Jesus’ first coming, who cried “Hosanna,” meaning “save now,” recited Psalm 118:25-26. So these words from Psalm 118 confirmed that Jesus entered Jerusalem as the ‘Ultimate Sacrifice’ – as the Passover Lamb – and also recognized and acknowledged Him as the source of salvation. We, too, should praise God daily for the gift of our salvation!

Chapter 19 marks a dramatic change in the tone of Revelation. The destruction of Babylon, the capital of the Beast’s kingdom, marks the end of the Great Tribulation. The somber gives way to song. The transfer is from darkness to light, from black to white, from dreary days of judgment to bright days of blessing. This chapter marks a clear division in Revelation and ushers in the greatest event for this earth—the Second Coming of Christ. It bridges the Great Tribulation and the Millennium.[1]

Our text for today, Revelation 19:1-6, is a prelude to Jesus’ Second Coming; it contains a fourfold “Allelujah.”

¹ After these things I heard a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying, “Alleluia! Salvation and glory and honor and power belong to the Lord our God!

² For 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.”

³ Again they said, “Alleluia! Her smoke rises up forever and ever!”

⁴ And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who sat on the throne, saying, “Amen! Alleluia!”

⁵ Then a voice came from the throne, saying, “Praise our God, all you His servants and those who fear Him, both small and great!”

⁶ And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty thunderings, saying, “Alleluia! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigns! 

This text contains a fourfold “Allelujah” with each acclamation highlighting God’s salvation, power, and glory. 

Keep in mind that the opening verses of chapter 19 show us the response to the command in Heaven from Revelation 18:20: “Rejoice over [Babylon], O heaven, and you holy apostles and prophets, for God has avenged you on her!”

The First Hallelujah is for

The Judgment of the Prostitute

In my introduction, I spent a bit of time looking at the word, allelujah. This word appears only 4 times in the entire New Testament, and all of them are in this text. Anselm of Canterbury considered alleluia to be an angelic word that no human language can fully reproduce. Augustine said that feeling it and saying it embody all the blessedness of heaven. It is the same word that appears in the most exultant of the Hebrew Psalms. It is one of the highest acknowledgments and celebrations of God.

As we noted earlier, chapter 17 describes ecclesiastical or religious Babylon, while chapter 18 focuses on the city’s political and commercial aspects. In the immediate aftermath of chapter 18, John hears the loud voices of a multitude in Heaven crying out, “Alleluia! Salvation and glory and honor and power belong to the Lord our God!

We are not told who the voices are that shout this acclamation of praise, but there are some clues. Some commentators think these are angels; however, Scripture never uses the word ochlos to describe a group of angels.

More likely, these are the Tribulation saints of Revelation 7:9-10, which says, “I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!’” Notice that salvation is part of both acclamations. While angels can acknowledge salvation, they can’t experience it, thus limiting their praise.

And why do they shout in acclamation? “For true and righteous are His judgments, because He has judged the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her fornication; and He has avenged on her the blood of His servants shed by her.” The great prostitute has had her day of wealth, popularity, and pleasure, but she now has entered eternal darkness. Once drunk with the blood of the saints she hated, she is now hated, stripped of her finery, and burnt with fire.

The Next Hallelujah is for

The Judgment of Commercial Babylon

A second time, the multitude proclaims, “Allelujah! Her smoke rises forever and ever!” The smoke of Babylon’s burning (mentioned several times in chapter 18) keeps on rising forever and ever. This cannot refer to the city itself, but to a perpetual judgment on the people who engaged in her wickedness. The flames and smoke will eventually die out, but the judgment on sinners’ souls is eternal. 

The destruction of the last and most powerful empire in human history marks the end of man’s day. The rebellion that began long ago in the Garden of Eden is finally ended (apart from a futile, short-lived revolt at the end of the Millennium; 20:7–10). There will be no more false religion, worldly philosophy, injustice, unrighteousness; all the sorry results of human depravity will be vanquished.[2]

This rejoicing over Babylon’s destruction should remind us that the objects of the world’s fondest love and delight are often the objects of God’s most intense wrath. The things men work for and most diligently pursue are those which God judges most severely. The things the wealthy and powerful deplore and mock are the things that call forth the loudest heavenly hallelujahs. As the writer of Hebrews expresses it, “For God is not unjust to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do.”

Contrast this scene of the acrid smoke rising from the ruined, desolate city with the cloud of fragrant smoke that rises with the prayers of the saints in Revelation 8:4. “And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel.”

The Next Hallelujah is from

Those Around the Throne

What the heavenly multitude so exultantly expresses, the 24 elders and the 4 living creatures now feel and endorse equally. They prostrate themselves before the throne in the most profound adoration and worship, proclaiming, “Amen, Allelujah.” They echo Psalm 146:8.

Amen is a word we all know. That familiarity makes it easier for us to lose its true impact and significance. From its first mention in Numbers 5:22 until the very last word of the Book of Revelation, it is used as a special word of holy deference and sacred endorsement. Indeed, it was a word constantly on the lips of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Wherever the text records Jesus saying, “verily, verily,” or “truly, truly,” the word is amen! It is also the word He taught us to use in closing our petitions to the Father in the model prayer.

Amen isn’t an oath, yet it bears the solemnity and force of one. It authenticates, binds, seals, and pledges to the truth of that to which it is attached. It carries the worshipper’s hearty consent to what has been stated before. This is why, especially in group prayer, we must not let our minds wander, but pray along with the one leading the prayer. At the end of the prayer, we can then say with full conviction, “Amen.”

In this scene, the elders and the living creatures have heard the triumphant celebration of God’s salvation, power, and glory, sounded forth by this heavenly multitude. This exultation has so completely expressed their convictions and emotions that they make it their own and fall before the Almighty. Their “amen” makes the previous alleluias their own. All heaven is of one mind and one soul!

The fact that the 24 elders and the four living creatures are introduced as worshiping God in a separate way from the great multitude seems to confirm my earlier suggestion that the great multitude are the martyred dead of the Great Tribulation. They are the ones who suffered immediately from Babylon’s wickedness just before Christ’s second coming. If the 24 elders represent the church, they witness these events from heaven, even though they have not participated in quite the same way.

As John continued to watch and listen, he heard a voice from the throne. We are not informed of the source of this voice. This is probably the voice of an angel rather than God’s or the saints’. The occasion for praising God is His judgment against wicked men who have oppressed God’s people. Could it be the “Angel of His Presence,” Isaiah 63:9?

The voice authoritatively calls another group to join in the anthem of praise, saying, “Give praise to our God, all you His bondservants, you who fear Him, the small and the great.” The all-inclusive phrase the small and the great (also in 11:18) transcends all human categories and distinctions; it embraces everyone. All the redeemed are called to praise God.

The first two exclamations of “alleluia” were voiced by the vast heavenly multitude. The third one, accompanied by the “amen,” was proclaimed by the elders and living creatures. All of these focus on the exhibition of divine justice, truth, and power in the judgment of Babylon and the avenging of the blood of the saints. However, as the multitude responds to this latest command, their praise seems to embrace everything in the latter part of this chapter.

This leads us to the final alleluia.

The Final Hallelujah is for

The Triumph of the Almighty

In the immediate aftermath of this authoritative voice from the throne, admonishing all creation to join the alleluias, John “heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty thunderings, saying, ‘Alleluia! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigns!’”

This is a greater alleluia than any before because they celebrated the singular victory over Babylon. That judgment showed God’s might, but here His sovereignty is pictured as universal. The thundering roar of voices proclaims, “Alleluia, because the Lord God, the All-Ruler, has assumed the kingdom.”

This takes us back to the sounding of the 7^th trumpet in Revelation 11:15-19. There, a great voice proclaimed, “The kingdom (singular) of this world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!” The kingdom of the world includes political sovereignty, kingly dominion, and the governing authorities on earth, even as they are today. All of these delegated authorities and powers now pass into the hands of the Lamb (1 Corinthians 15:20-28) and are no more!

Jesus taught us to pray for this kingdom in the model prayer. Yes, His instruction applies to His kingdom reigning in our hearts, enabling us to live in victory over the desires of the flesh and the Devil’s temptations. But that is not the fullness of power and rule we witness here.

Isaiah prophesied of the Messiah that “the government shall be upon His shoulder…Of the increase of His government and peace There will be no end, upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, to order it and establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward, even forever.” In Daniel’s interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream and the image he saw, it was revealed to him that “In the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever” (Daniel 2:44).

We could cite additional passages such as the announcement of Jesus’ birth to His mother Mary (Luke 1:26-33). Or the parable of the minas in Luke 19:11-13. These verses and more confirm that the kingdom on earth will be literal, not just spiritual in the hearts of men.

We must remember that when Adam was in Eden (before sin), God was King. And only when the original Theocracy is restored will the promised peace of Isaiah 9:6 be realized. Man has had some 6,000 years to experiment and to conclude that some governments are better than others, but all their efforts have been tainted by sin.

However, this kingdom, the kingdom of Christ, will come as prophesied in Psalm 72. “He shall come down like rain upon the grass before mowing, like showers that water the earth. In His days the righteous shall flourish, and abundance of peace, until the moon is no more. He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth. Those who dwell in the wilderness will bow before Him, and His enemies will lick the dust. The kings of Tarshish and of the isles will bring presents; the kings of Sheba and Seba Will offer gifts.  Yes, all kings shall fall down before Him; All nations shall serve Him.”

Are you anticipating this fullness of the coming kingdom? If you are, join me in praise to the Lord, “Amen, Alleluia!”

[1] McGee, Reveling Through Revelation, II, p. 66

[2] MacArthur, New Testament Commentary on Revelation, p. 910