May it please almighty God to
bless us together this evening as we meditate in his holy word.
Let's turn to the book of the Revelation, chapter 19, and we'll
read verse 6. The book of the Revelation, chapter
19, and we'll read verse 6. And I heard, as it were, the
voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters,
and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia for the Lord
God omnipotent reigneth. It was a wonderful revelation
that was granted to the Apostle John and it's a wonderful blessing
that we have a record of what was spoken to him on that occasion
when, as we're told, he was on the Isle of Patmos and the Holy
Spirit spoke into his heart and he was able to write down those
things which were spoken. And so we have a record and really
In this book of the Revelation we have glimpses of the eternal
scene and glimpses of what will occur prior to that time when
time shall be no more. We don't really have a great
deal of detail of what heaven will be like and we don't have
a great deal of detail of what hell will be like but we do know
that there are two very, very different places, one most blessed
and one most terrible. And what a great favour it is
if the Holy Spirit sets our hearts and affections upon those things
above, the glory, we might say, of Emmanuel's land, with that
true earnest desire that we may be found there eternally, and
not find ourselves dropping into that terrible place of eternal
darkness where there is no hope of any light. And so we're thankful
indeed that God has given us this book of the Revelation and
what the Apostle writes here, he tells us that he heard this
voice of a great multitude and as the voice of many waters and
as the voice of mighty thunderings. Really, it's a very similar statement
to that which we have in the first chapter of the Revelation,
where the Apostle tells us in the 15th verse of that first
chapter, He tells us he was describing the Saviour, and the previous
verse speaks about that. His head and his hairs were white
like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were as a flame
of fire, and his feet like under fine brass, as if they burned
in a furnace, and his voice as the sound of many waters. Well, it's difficult for us to
imagine, isn't it, what the voice of Almighty God will be like. We just have a little view there,
a little touch of what it will be like. And quite clearly, it
will be a great voice. And again, the picture that we
have in this sixth verse is of this great multitude. Sometimes it's just good to ponder
and think of that great multitude. Every sinner saved by grace,
every sinner born again of the Spirit of God, every sinner who
is found under the blood will be found in that great assembly. And what a blessing it is for
each one of us if our concern is to be found in that great
multitude and not to be cast out what a blessing it is then
if we have that true desire to be found in that multitude and
as we read there was this unity of spirit and what were they
singing or saying they were saying Alleluia, which means praise
the Lord. For the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. He reigns today. People don't
realise it. He reigns today. And what a great
blessing if that God reigns in your heart and my heart. So that we are numbered amongst
those who are the true worshippers not those who mock God by pretending
to worship and in fact our hearts are far away. What a blessing
if God gives to us that desire, that spiritual desire to truly
worship Almighty God and to bow down before Him and how good
it is and really the phrase on my mind is this last phrase,
for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. He does, and he always will. He always will. It's a great
truth, isn't it? To realise our God reigns, and
he will never cease. He reigns eternally. And today, he sits the right side of the Father
and the throne in heaven, there to intercede for us as we come
in prayer to God. It's good again to think and
ponder the reality of these things and to recognise that you and
I as poor unworthy sinners of the earth cannot approach directly
unto our Father in heaven, because our Father in heaven cannot look
upon sin. He is holy and just and righteous. But what a blessing it is if
we know the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, indeed the glorious
High Priest, We know that historically in the Old Testament there was
the high priest who was installed when the tabernacle was erected
and that high priesthood continued until that day when the Lord
Jesus took the Passover for the last time and on that occasion
instituted the Lord's Supper. and still today he intercedes
for his people as we pray to our father in heaven the lord
jesus intercedes on our behalf that's a wonderful truth it's
really very humbling as you and I pray to God, and perhaps sometimes
we just need to recognise that as we pray to God, who is high
and lifted up, as we read, who is the King of kings and Lord
of lords, we shouldn't treat that great God just as one of
us, but we should realise he is indeed high and lifted up. And what a blessing, therefore,
to believe that the Lord Jesus Christ intercedes for us, between
us and our Father. He stands, as the hymn writer
says, in garments dyed in blood to demonstrate His wonderful
love, His great grace of interceding for us. And so how wonderful
it is to realise that we do have such a God. and indeed may be
our blessed position to recognise and to say, like we have here,
Alleluia, which means of course, praise the Lord. For the Lord
God omnipotent reigneth. I wonder tonight, are we really
pleased that the Lord Jesus Christ rules and reigns? Are we really
thankful? that he is on the throne and
he really does intercede for us and what a blessing to think
that those words are true that he spoke when on this earth when
he spoke to his disciples he said I go to prepare a place
for you and if I go to prepare a place for you I will come again
and receive you unto myself that where I am there ye may
be also what a wonderful thought that is to think that Almighty
God will receive us when we pass out of time if we're amongst
those who he has loved with an everlasting love. For think that
almighty God waits to receive us, and he's gone to prepare
a place for us. And indeed, as the word of God
tells us, there is a place in glory reserved for every true
believer. And so, to be humbled to think,
the bad as we are, Very often, far off, as we are,
to think that this gracious God has gone to prepare a place for
us and will, on the appointed day, receive us into glory. Now whether that will be before
the end of time, we know not. But there will be a time when
all of us will be out of time into eternity. What a blessing
there is. It is then to have a good hope,
a good hope through the Lord's grace that it is well with our
soul. That means that we be made spiritually
alive. Lord has touched our heart so
that our affections are not just here on this earth and the things
of this poor fading world, but to realise the wonderful blessing
to be amongst those who are prepared by Almighty God. You know, the
Apostle Peter tells us in his first epistle, in the first chapter,
he says, Blessed be God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which
according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a
lively hope that means something which is alive and not dead,
something which is real and not false, a lively hope by the resurrection
of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance incorruptible
and undefiled and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven
for you who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation
ready to be revealed in the last time. So here we have a very
clear statement that the Apostle makes and how good it is if you
and I have that real desire that we may be numbered amongst those
who have an inheritance and no doubt you know or perhaps you
young people don't know quite so much but an inheritance is
something that we've never worked for and the illustration is when
somebody dies and they leave a will and in that will it describes
where their assets are to go and they go to people they've
never worked for it they're given it and that's so true The whole
Church of God is given an inheritance. And that's not something which
is going to get used or disappear. It is incorruptible and it's
undefiled and it fadeth not away. What a great and wonderful gift
that is. It's the gift of eternal life. And what a wonderful prospect,
therefore, to a true believer. And what a prospect I hope it
is for each one of us, that our inheritance, therefore, is in
heaven, not on earth. No doubt there may be inheritances
which you and I receive, but the great blessing is to receive
this. inheritance which is an eternal
inheritance and Peter goes on and he tells us this wherein
ye greatly rejoice well I wonder if you and I greatly rejoice
at the prospect of a place in heaven a place reserved in heaven
that we greatly rejoice and the Apostle then warns us and tells
us, though now for a season, a short time, our life's only
a short time, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold
temptations. That's through many temptations. And the church of God does have
many temptations. The devil wants to tempt us.
He wants to turn us out of the way. He wants to deceive us in
the same way that he deceived Eve all those many years ago. He hasn't lost his skill, and
that's his great aim, to deceive us. Well, what a blessing it
is if God gives us faith to hold on our way. The trial of your
faith being much more precious than of gold that perisheth.
It bears no resemblance, really, to the things and the values
of time. Though it be tried with fire,
and you know fire is purifying naturally, it purifies metals
like gold and gets rid of all that which is false and of no
value. And really it's the same in our
spiritual life. You know God graciously brings
us through a furnace where our religion is tested. And that's a blessing. You may
not think so, but it is. Because what that means is this.
All that which is false, that which is of your providing, is
burnt up. It disappears. and we're left
with that which is true and right. And so says Peter, though it
be tried with fire, might be found under praise and honor
and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. That describes
eternal safety. And what a great blessing that
is. And he just goes on to say, whom
having not seen We've never seen physically the
Saviour. I wonder if you and I are blessed
with that spiritual understanding that Almighty God, the Lord Jesus
Christ, has died upon that cross at Calvary in order to free us
from the curse of sin, to pay the punishment reserved for us,
he paid the punishment instead. It's because of his love to unworthy
sinners. Well, says the apostle then,
yet believing, he rejoiced with joy unspeakable. and full of
glory. You know, it's high language,
isn't it, really? And yet, here it is in the Word
of God to encourage us, to direct us in our pilgrimage that we
might be seen rejoicing with joy unspeakable. That means it's not just a natural
joy which you and I may be aware of, nothing wrong in that, but
to recognise this joy unspeakable and full of glory And he says,
receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls. That really is the great blessing,
isn't it? The salvation of our souls. Far more important than anything
that this world can offer. We could own the whole world
and it would do us no good. But what a blessing it is to
have this great gift of eternal life, the wonder of salvation. Well, what a mercy therefore
if we understand what Peter says, indeed what John says in this
book of the Revelation and tells us here in this verse. Alleluia
for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. It's a great blessing to be able
to look forward to an eternity in bliss, an eternity of happiness,
which will never be sullied, will never be spoiled. And the
reason? There's no sin in heaven. Not the slightest sin, not any
evil thoughts, not even wrong thoughts, not even wrong words. but perfect peace and union. What a mercy and what a blessed
prospect, therefore, for the Church of God. Well, here we
have this statement then as the Apostle directs us to what he
heard. He heard this voice of a great multitude. Okay, a number
that no man can number. Vast, isn't it? And yet, you
know, sometimes I think of those words in the scripture, and every
eye shall see Him when the Saviour comes. When time shall be no
more, when the trumpet is sounded, and time shall be no more, every
eye shall see the Saviour coming in the clouds. And again, you
and I are time people. We understand time, we don't
understand eternity. and to think of that is beyond
our natural comprehension. But how good it is if God gives
us faith to believe it and to understand that wonderful prospect
for the true Church of God. And if it is so, and if you and
I are amongst those who will be in that heavenly throng, that
heavenly multitude, then what a blessing it will be for us
to be able to come and say today, like John says here, hallelujah,
praise the Lord, for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Well, do we today praise the
Lord because of that? Are we thankful to know that
we have a Saviour who reigns for ever and ever, a Saviour
who does not change, who is indeed, the Word of God tells us, the
same yesterday and today and forever. What a wonderful blessing
that is. And there's a number of scriptures
that encourage us In this way, the 47th Psalm, it tells us,
it tells us, for the Lord Most High is terrible. He is a great king over all the
earth. And then further on, sing praises
to God. Sing praises, sing praises unto
our king. sing praises, for God is the
King of all the earth. Sing ye praises with understanding. Well, quite clearly the psalmist
desired that the Church of God would sing praises unto our God. We often fail, don't we? We often
fail to praise Almighty God. for how good it is when you and
I are lifted up in our hearts to view what the Saviour's done,
and from our heart to truly praise Him from whom all blessings flow. Well, it's a great blessing,
for God is the King of all the earth, singing praises with understanding. And it's good, you see, again,
if God gives us a right understanding And by that I mean this, an understanding
that we have where the Holy Spirit has shown us what we are by nature. And what are we by nature? We're
needy sinners. We're needy sinners. We need
salvation. We need to know that the blessed
God, the Lord Jesus Christ, took our sins and paid the price,
and to have them cast into the depth of the sea to be seen no
more forever. What a wonderful blessing, what
a wonderful favour that is, and how kind and gracious our God
is. And then just a couple of other
Psalms in Psalm 93, which is only a short psalm. And the first
two verses tell us this, the Lord reigneth. The Lord reigneth. Again, it's good to realize that.
You see, we read about these things, but do we really understand
it? That the Lord Jesus is on the
throne in glory, and he reigns. He reigns over everything. And
what a mercy if he reigns in your heart and my heart. May we not be amongst those who
say, we will not have this man to reign over us. What a blessing
it is when we submit ourselves under the mighty hand of God. and come and say nevertheless
not my will but thine be done and so the psalmist says in the
93rd psalm the Lord reigneth and he does and he always will
he always will the Lord reigneth he is clothed with majesty we
just get some little idea of majesty when we see our king
clothed with his robes But this is so different. This is clothed
with majesty, garments pure and white. The Lord is clothed with
strength, wherewith he hath girded himself. The world also is established,
that it cannot be moved. Thy throne is established of
old. Thou art from everlasting. Again, what a mystery that is.
We have a God who is from everlasting, always was, and is, and always
will be. Our finite minds cannot really
grasp the greatness of such a God. But what a blessing, my friends,
if God has given you and me that faith to believe that these things
are true. They're not false, they're true. and we can praise God for them
and rest indeed in what has occurred. It's a great blessing, isn't
it, to realise these things, that we have a God who rules
and reigns. Psalm 97 tells us, first verse,
the Lord reigneth. Let the earth rejoice, let the
multitude of isles be glad thereof. And in the last verse in this
psalm, rejoice in the Lord, ye righteous. and give thanks at
the remembrance of his holiness. This is a clear direction, isn't
it, to the Church of God. And if you and I are a believer,
if you and I are one of his children, then we should take note of such
a statement as this. Rejoice in the Lord, ye righteous. We're not righteous in and of
ourselves, but we're made righteous for the blood of the Lamb, and
give thanks at the remembrance of His holiness. Christ was and
is without sin. How wonderful, isn't it? If He had sinned, He would never
have been an acceptable sacrifice, He would never have been an acceptable
Saviour, but He lived that perfect life. And when you think of all
the opposition and all the temptations that he had, he never complained. He never had a wrong thought.
He lived a perfect life. What a wonderful saviour. What
a glorious saviour we have and may we truly rejoice in it and
praise God for it. And so here we have then this
statement in this 19th chapter of the Revelation saying Alleluia
for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth and the next verse tells us let
us and I hope that includes you and me let us be glad and rejoice and give honour to him. Well, it's a great statement,
isn't it? So often, you know, we're earthy and sinful and dragged
down. That's what the devil wants us
to be, dragged down. But what a mercy, if God gives
you and me that grace to look up, to look up. That's a great
blessing, isn't it? Isaiah looked up and he saw the
Lord high and lifted up. May you and I by faith look up
and see the blessed Saviour high and lifted up and if so that
will bring us into this position where we will come and say hallelujah
for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Omnipotent means really all-powerful
God. He is all-powerful. He is in
charge of everything. He is omnipotent and he reigns,
he does, and you'll never be dislodged from his throne. Kings sit on thrones, our king. King Charles sits on a throne.
The Lord Jesus sits on a eternal throne. And he reigns forever
and ever. Well, do we rejoice in that wonderful
truth? I hope we do. And so says the
apostle, let us be glad and rejoice and give honor to him. the marriage
of the lamb is come and his wife hath made herself ready and we're
told unto her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine
linen clean and white for the fine linen is the righteousness
of saints. We can think perhaps in the Old
Testament of the book of Zechariah where we have some wonderful
statements and in the third chapter we have this statement and we're
told to start at verse one perhaps, and he showed me Joshua the high
priest standing before the angel of the Lord and Satan standing
his right hand to resist him. And my friends, believe that's
true today. Satan stands to resist us from
coming to our God. And the Lord said unto Satan,
the Lord rebuketh thee, O Satan, even the Lord chosen Jerusalem
rebuke thee is not this a bran plucked out of the fire and really
every true believer is a bran plucked out of the fire what
a mercy that applies to you and me if we've been plucked out
by the power of God then we were perhaps enjoying the vanities
of this world occupied with them. And then God came and plucked
us out. The work of the Spirit of God. And we're told now, Joshua was
clothed with filthy garments and stood before the angel. What
does that mean? It means, doesn't it, covered
in sin. Our garments are covered in sin,
aren't they? Filthy garments. I wonder if
we realise that. Perhaps we think we're righteous.
Perhaps we think we live quite a good life. Well, what a blessing
when the Holy Spirit shows us that we're no better. In reality,
we're clothed with filthy garments. And the blessing is that Zechariah
saw this vision and he says, Joshua was clothed with filthy
garments and stood before the angel and he answered and spake
unto those that stood before him saying, take away the filthy
garments. You and I can't take them away,
but what a blessing if God takes them away. Take away the filthy
garments from him. And unto him he said, Behold,
I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will
clothe thee with change of raiment. And he said, let them set a fair
mitre upon his head. So they set a fair mitre upon
his head, and clothed him with garments. And the angel of the
Lord stood by. What a blessing, my friends,
for you and me, if we are clothed with nothing less than the imputed
righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that will not be
taken away, It covers our nakedness. Isn't it wonderful? What a blessing. And perhaps we've been relying
on our own righteousness. We may think we haven't been
living a bad life, really. We may have made one or two little
falls, but in actual fact, we're not too bad. Well, when the Holy
Spirit works, we'll see what we're really like, and we'll
be like a person with leprosy. We'll have to cry out, unclean,
unclean. Yes, we need to be cleansed,
we need to be washed, washed in the blood of the Lamb and
clothed with the glorious and blessed righteousness of the
Saviour. Well, what a wonderful blessing
it was in Zachariah's day and what a blessing it'll be for
you and me today if we have that evidence that we have been given
Christ's righteousness which has been imputed to us. Some of us heard my nephew Matthew
speak last week on the imputed righteousness of Christ and what
a wonderful blessing it is. It's beyond our understanding
to think that we as unworthy sinners should receive such a
great and wonderful gift well we can rejoice then if that is
so we can indeed agree with what is spoken here and to her was
granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen clean and white
for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints and he said unto me
write Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage
supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are
the true sayings of God. That's a comfort, isn't it? To
know that these are the true sayings of God. And if they are
true sayings of God, they are eternal. They won't fade away. They're there. God has spoken
to them and what a mercy therefore if they come home to us and we
can indeed praise our God for them. He goes on and says, Right,
blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the
Lamb. All of us need to be called. We won't find our way there by
ourselves but what a blessing if we're called. called unto
the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are
the true sayings of God. And I fell at his feet to worship
him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not, I am thy fellow
servant, and of thy brethren, that have the testimony of Jesus.
Worship God. the testimony of Jesus is the
spirit of prophecy. Well my friends the book of the
revelation is a deep book and there's many things which are
very hard to understand but yet we can rejoice where there are
those parts which we can understand and we can bless God for and
may it therefore be our wonderful favour tonight to be amongst
those who enter in to this statement amongst the whole Church of God
and be able to come and praise God and be part of that great
multitude that says or sings Alleluia for the Lord God, omnipotent
reigneth. Amen.