Let us turn to God's Word in
the chapter that we read in Revelation 19. And I'll read again the opening
verses. Revelation 19, reading verses
1 to 6. And after these things I heard
a great voice of much people in heaven saying, Alleluia! Salvation! and glory and honor
and power unto the Lord our God. For true and righteous are his
judgments. For he hath judged the great
whore which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath
avenged the blood of his servants at her hands. And again they
said, Alleluia. And the smoke rose up for ever
and ever. And the four and twenty elders
And the four beasts fell down and worshipped God that sat on
the throne, saying, Amen, Alleluia. And a voice came out of the throne,
saying, Praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear
him, both small and great. 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 thundering, saying, Alleluia, for the Lord
God omnipotent reigneth. And the part of this section
that I've just read that I want to really concentrate on is those
last two verses, verses 5 and 6. We read, And a voice came out
of the throne, saying, Praise our God, all ye his servants,
and ye that fear him, both small and great. 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 thundering, saying, Alleluia, for the Lord
God Omnipotent reigneth. Really the theme is so simple. and I suppose we in a sense have
it in a lighter verse those words at the end of verse 10 worship
God worship God it's interesting what we have recorded in that
10th verse here is John overwhelmed really by the things that he's
beholding and he falls down to worship the angel. And the angel
says, See thou do it not, I am thy fellow servant, and of thy
brethren that have the testimony of Jesus. Worship God, for the
testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. All godly worship
is what we should be about then as we gather together in this
fashion. That is surely the principal reason why we come together Lord's
Day. By Lord's Day our service should
be a service of worship. And we come to worship Him who
is the only living and true God. The Lord Jesus says God is a
spirit. And they that worship Him must
worship Him in spirit and in truth. So we have the truth of
God's words. And that surely is to govern
us in all our approaches. It is to regulate really our
worship, but we need something more than the words. We need that One who first gave
the words. How we stand in need of God,
the Holy Spirit that we might profit from the words and that
worship might be as Christ himself has told us not only according
to truth but also in the Spirit. Well let us come to take up this
great subject worship God. First of all we are to worship
God for who he is We are to worship God simply for who He is. And we're told here, aren't we,
in this sixth verse, He is the Lord God. The Lord God Omnipotent
reigneth. When the Lord Jesus was tempted
by the great adversary by the devil himself there in the wilderness
after his baptism remember he's led of the spirit into the wilderness
and he's tempted 40 days and now he says to that serpent that
old serpent the devil thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and
Him only shalt thou serve. God alone is to be the object
of our worship, and we worship God because of who He is. We think of the uniqueness, the
uniqueness of God. Oh, we sang of it just now, didn't
we, in the metrical version of Psalm 100? Know ye that the Lord He is God,
It is He that has made us, and not we ourselves. There in the psalm we are reminded
then that each and all of us are the creatures of His hand. And surely we ought to render
worship and praises to Him who is our Creator, the very One
who ever gave us a being. Where would we be? but for God. We would have no being at all,
no existence. He is that God in whom we live
and move and have our being. Having created us, He sustains
us. And how the children of Israel
are reminded how they are to worship but that one living and
true God. Hear O Israel, the Lord our God
is one Lord. And that's the great theme that
stands out so clearly throughout the Old Testament Scriptures.
One God. And all the nations round about
little Israel, they have their multitudes of idols. And how
many times the children of Israel want to be like the nations.
And they practice the wicked ways of those sinful people. And God has to deal with them
and chasten them, but all the time He will bring them back
to Himself. Oh Israel, thou to recognize there is one God here. Oh Israel, the Lord our God is
one Lord. But then we learn, don't we,
I know there are intimations in the Old Testament, but it's
when we come to the New Testament and that fall and that final
revealing of God in the in the person and work of the Lord Jesus.
How God in these last days has spoken unto us by his Son. The
brightness of his glory, the express image of his person. And so when we come to the New
Testament we discover the truth that though God is one yet there
are three persons in the Godhead. God the Father, God the Son,
God the Holy Spirit. And do we not confess that as
Christians? Or when the Christian, in obedience
to the commandment of Christ, is baptized, identifying with
Christ, that wonderful heaven-drawn picture that we have, of course,
in believers' baptism, buried with Christ in baptism, rising
again from the waters in newness of life, that the language that
we have there at the end of Matthew, Go ye therefore and teach all
nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the
Son and of the Holy Ghost. Name in singular and what is
the name of God? Father, Son and Holy Ghost. All we are Trinitarians, this
is the God that we worship. and as we said at the wedding
only last Tuesday he is the God of love in that fourth chapter
of his first epistle twice John says God is love and he is love
without reference to anything outside of himself the relationship
between those three persons the love of the father to the son,
the love of the son to the father, the love of the father and the
son to the Holy Spirit the Holy Spirit's love to the father and
to the son God is love not just an attribute in God it is the
very nature of God and we cannot really begin to comprehend the
wonder of that we often use that benediction that we find at the
end of the second epistle to the Corinthians. And again, it's
a Trinitarian benediction, isn't it? The grace of the Lord Jesus
Christ and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Ghost
be with you all. all this glorious and blessed
truth then. God can say to whom then will
ye liken God and who is like unto him. We cannot begin to compare him
to anything. To whom will ye liken me and
make me equal and compare me that we may be alike, he says. that great mystery of God in
the fact that he is one God and yet there are three persons.
We can't begin to understand, we can't find him out, can't
say by searching find out God, can't say find out the Almighty
unto perfection. It is high as heaven, deeper
than hell. What can we know? How can we
comprehend these things? There is a uniqueness in the
God that we come to worship and there is no other God but that
God, the God of Israel. The God who has revealed himself
to us here in Holy Scripture. Remember how when God brings
ethnic Israel unto himself and enters into covenant there at
Mount Sinai having redeemed them out of all the bondage that they
were enduring in the land of Egypt so he gives them commandments
he tells them how to worship him I am the Lord thy God he
says in the first commandment thou shalt have no other gods
before me No other gods before this God.
And so He continues with those various commandments. They are
not to make any grave an image. They are not to take the name
of the Lord their God in vain. The second and the third commandments.
They are to remember the Sabbath day to keep it whole. And what
he's got doing there, well he is in a sense telling them how
they are to worship him. Those opening commandments speak
so clearly of the worship of God. No God before him. No images. No taking his name
in vain. But especially the prescribing
of one day in seven wherein he is to be worshipped. Even from
the beginning of creation we are told how God sanctified that
day, set it apart. That men might give themselves
to his service, that men might worship him. And so the angel
says it doesn't it. Here in this 9th verse, rather the 10th verse,
God is to be worshipped. And God is to be worshipped in
and through his Son, the only mediator, the one God, the one mediator, no other way
of entrance or access whereby we can find acceptance, but Christ
the way, the truth and the life. and it's interesting here how
we have the voice coming from heaven in verse 5 and the commandment
of God the voice came out of the throne back in chapter 4
we have that description of the throne of God a voice came out
of the throne saying praise our God all ye his servants and ye
that fear him both small and great and then the immediate
response Oh you see where the word of a king is there is power.
I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude and as the
voice of many waters and as the voice of mighty thundering saying,
Alleluia for the Lord God omnipotent reign. Here we see that this
God who is unique, who is the creator, altogether different
from all his creatures, the one who dwars outside of time the
one who is in eternity the holy one of Israel we are told that
he is that God who is sovereign the Lord God's omnipotent reigneth
and it is because he is God of course that he reigns the sovereignty of God God must
be sovereign if he is not sovereign He's no God at all. But how that
haughty, heathen emperor, Ebukenezer, was humbled before the true God,
the God of Israel, and confesses all the inhabitants of the earth
are accounted as nothing. And he doeth according to his
will among the armies of heaven and the inhabitants of the earth,
and none can stay his hands. or say to him what doest thou
and God sovereign to you as I said it's clearly seen demonstrated
in the way in which he commands men how they are to
worship him the hour cometh and now is Christ
says when the true worshippers shall worship the father in spirit
and in truth the worship is measured by the truth of God by the word
of God and we see that here in chapter 11 where John says there
was given me a reed like unto a rod and the angel stood saying
rise and measure the temple of God and the altar and them that
worship therein The whole of the worship is measured
by a reed like unto a rod. It's God's words. God's words
measuring all the worship. If worship is in truth, it must
be according to the word of God. And this is what God does, you
see. Because of who he is, he prescribes his own worship. We
know that there are many who indulge in will-worship, but
what is that will-worship? That worship that men dream up
in their own minds. It's nothing but superstition.
And we have to come to God's Word again and again, and seek
how we are to approach Him. how we are to stand in awe before
Him when we come into His earthly courts, when we are to approach
with fear. We think of the language that
we have in a chapter like that of Ecclesiastes 5. Keep thy foot
when thou goest to the house of God. Be more ready to hear
than to give the sacrifice of fools, for they consider not
that they do evil. Be not rash with thy mouth, And
let not thine heart be hasty to utter anything before God,
for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth, therefore let thy
words be few." How many rush foolishly into the presence of
God. All we're to remember just who this God is that we're worshipping.
He is a God that is worshipped simply because of who He is. but God is one who is also worshipped
in his works. Not only for who he is, but worshipped
also for all that he does. And here we see that he is a
God who is active, is reigning. The Lord God's omnipotent reigneth. He reigns. sovereignly over all
the affairs of men and nations without any exception. And God
displays his power even against his enemies. We see that quite
clearly in the Old Testament, the Sons of Moses. There are
two Sons of Moses, aren't there? And is there not some reference
to those Sons of Moses here in the Revelation we are told in verse 3 of chapter
15 they sing the song of Moses the servant of God and the song
of the Lamb saying great and marvellous are thy works Lord
God Almighty just and true are thy ways thou King of saints
the song of Moses and as I said there are two songs of Moses
in the Old Testament. And remember that first song,
it's in Exodus 15, and it's after God has made a way, a remarkable
way for the children of Israel through the Red Sea. They seem
to be enclosed on every hand, the Red Sea before them, the
mountains about them, and of course the armies of Pharaoh
now pursuing them. After the 10th plague, the destruction
of the firstborn in Egypt, Pharaoh quickly sent them out but then
no sooner sending them out than he is pursuing after them again
seeking their destruction and they seem to be trapped but God
makes a way and we see it there in Exodus 14 and then what follows
in chapter 15 the song of Moses and in that song how we find
Moses celebrating the destructions of the enemies of Israel. But
not just the enemies of Israel, they are the enemies of the Lord
God. This is the song of Moses. Verse
9, the enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide
the spoil, my lust shall be satisfied upon them, I will draw my sword,
that my hand shall destroy them. Thou didst blow with thy wind,
the sea covered them, they sank as lead in the mighty waters.
Who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like thee,
glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders? Thou
stretchest out thy right hand, the earth swallowed them up.
the song of Moses celebrates God as a God of judgment he is
a God of judgment he will avenge his servants against all their
enemies avenges his mind I will repay saith the Lord but that's
not the only song is it? there is a second song of Moses
in the 32nd chapter of Deuteronomy the end the end of the books
of Moses and again we see God is that one who is able to avenge
his enemies even as he saves his children there in verse 39
of Deuteronomy 32 see now that I, even I am he, and there
is no God with me, I kill and I make alive, I wound and I heal,
neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand. For I
lift up my hand to heaven and say I live forever. If I wet
my glittering sword and my hand take all on judgment, I will
render vengeance to my enemies and will reward them that hate
me. I will make my arrows drunk with
blood and my sword shall devour flesh, and that with the blood
of the slain, of the captives, from the beginning of revenges
upon the enemy. Rejoice, O ye nations, with his
people, for he will avenge the blood of his servants, and will
render vengeance to his adversaries, and will be merciful unto his
land and to his people. Oh God is that one then who is
able to judge and his people rejoice in his
judgments and it's solemn because we see it so plainly here in
this 19th chapter in the previous chapter as I said we have the
destruction of the great war the great anti-christian
system headed up in the man of sin and the son of perdition. The roman church, that's how
the reformers and the puritans understood these things, they
were so clear with regards to that, but how solemn are the
words with which the chapter opens after these things I heard
a great voice of much people in heaven saying hallelujah salvation
and glory and honor and power unto the Lord our God for true
and righteous are his judgments for he hath judged the great
whore which did corrupt the earth with her fornication and hath
avenged the blood of his servants at her hand how remarkable again look at the end of chapter
18 verse 20 rejoice over her thou heaven and ye holy apostles
and prophets for God hath avenged you on her rejoicing in God's judgments because God is a God who is righteous
and just in all his ways even when he visits. That's a
just punishment upon those who are his enemies. However, we
have to recognize here that there is a certain emphasis really
on God's great work in salvation. It is the day of grace. It is
the acceptable time. It is the day of salvation. And you see how in the opening
verse After the Alleluia, we read salvation. After these things
I heard the great voice of much people in heaven saying, Alleluia,
salvation. Salvation comes first, and glory,
and honor, and power, unto the Lord our God. What is this salvation? Why, it's the sovereignty of
God's grace. as we see at the end of this
sixth verse. What do they say as they respond
to the voice that comes out of the throne, praise our God? Well,
the voice of many waters, the voice of a mighty thundering,
saying hallelujah, the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. And it is
God in our day reigning in His omnipotent grace. that God who
is able to save the sinner, save the sinner from the uttermost
to the uttermost. Oh, that's the great thing. Oh
yes, they sing the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb. But we remember, don't we, that
the law was given by Moses and grace and truth came by Jesus
Christ. Oh, the Gospel always has the
priority. Paul says as much there in Galatians
3, 16 and 17. He speaks of the law which was
430 years after the Gospel. That was the promise that came
to Abraham. Blessing I will bless them. And
it's not till 430 years later that there comes the giving of
the law, the gospel as the priority. The law serves the gospel, the
law is a schoolmaster to bring the sinner onto Christ. Oh, it's
the song of the Lamb. That great salvation that has
been accomplished by the Lord God Himself in the person of
His only begotten Son. Salvation is of the Lord. The Lord God Omnipotent reigneth. And so we are to worship God
only in and through Him who is that Blessed Mediator. Worship
God then in His Son. There is love and there alone. There we see the wonder of the
grace of God. the great love that he has to
those who only deserve his wrath. And God is glorified when he
visits judgments upon the sinners. But where sin abounds, Christ
does so much more abound. Oh, what is this worship? God
is to be worshipped because of who he is in all that he is in
his own blessed person as three persons in one Godhead but also
in all that he does as he reigns reigning over the affairs of
all men and nations but how how are we to explain the manner
of this worship that is being offered well I mentioned just
two things First of all, there's a great volume from what we read
here in the 6th verse. The voice of a great multitude,
the voice of many waters, the voice of mighty thunderings. Bedaam in the hymn says, shouts
for the blessed Jesus rise. Oh, it's a great shouts. We know
that the Lord's own voice is a mighty voice and how the Psalmist
certainly celebrates that truth in the language of the 29th Psalm. In the words that we have there
at verse 3 following, The voice of the Lord is upon the waters,
The God of glory thundereth. The Lord is upon many waters.
The voice of the Lord is powerful. The voice of the Lord is full
of majesty. The voice of the Lord breaketh
the cedars. Yea, the Lord breaketh the cedars
of Lebanon. He maketh them also to skip like
a calf. Lebanon and Syria like a young
unicorn. The voice of the Lord divided
the flames of fire. The voice of the Lord shaketh
the wilderness. The Lord shaketh the wilderness
of Kadesh. The voice of the Lord maketh
the hinds to carve, and discovereth the forests. And in His temple
doth everyone speak of His Lord." All God's voice What a voice
is that voice of the Lord that thunders. We were thinking only
last week, weren't we, of that voice. We looked then at what
is recorded in the opening chapter of the book and John there in
verse 10 of chapter 1 is in the Spirit on the Lord's day. and
he hears a great voice as of a trumpet and we thought of that
great voice that great voice as of a trumpet and it's very
much the trumpet of the gospel because having looked at that
10th verse last Lord's Day morning we in the evening went on to
look at what follows in John's experience recorded later in
verses 17 and 18 The voice that speaks to John.
Fear not. Remember how the Lord speaks.
Fear not I am he that liveth and was dead and behold I am
alive forevermore amen and have the keys of hell and of death.
That was the voice that spoke to John. And when John first
heard the voice and saw the vision, he falls dead at the feet of
the Lord Jesus, but then the Lord speaks those gracious words,
in which really is declaring all the work that he has done.
I am he that liveth and was dead, and am alive forevermore, and
have the keys of hell and of death, all that he has done.
that work upon the earth He has lived, He has lived the righteous
life He has died the cruel death of the cross in living and in
dying ever mindful of His people in the obedience of that sinless
life He has accomplished a glorious righteousness for us in that
accursed death upon the cross He has borne that penalty that
was there just desert when He died the just for the unjust
when He shed that precious blood This is what the Lord speaks
to John. I am he that liveth and was dead,
and behold, I am alive forevermore. He has now entered heaven, and
he reigns now in his mediatorial kingdom, the mediator of the
covenant. I have the keys of hell and of death, he says. What
a voice. What a voice. and here we see that the voice
of praise is so voluminous the response to what God says
God says out of the throne praise our God all ye saints and all
ye that fear him and then in response the voice of a great
multitude the voice of many waters the voice of mighty thunderings
saying Alleluia for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. It's
voluminous, yes. It's also deductive. There's instruction in it. What is the worship that they
utter here? They say Alleluia. They say Alleluia. What does that word mean? It's
a Hebrew word. What does it mean? Well, it's
based on the name of God, Yah, Jehovah. Hallelujah, of course,
literally means praise ye the Lords. That's what it means,
praise ye the Lords. And how we see it time and again
here in these opening verses of the chapter, the voice of
much people in heaven. In verse 1, what do they say?
Alleluia! Salvation and glory and honour
and power unto the Lord our God. But then again in verse 3, again
they said Alleluia! And the smoke, oh the smoke of
the Great Wall God's judgment upon apostate religion, apostate
Christianity, God's judgment. They're rejoicing in God's judgment.
They said, Alleluia, and the smoke rose up forever and ever.
And then again at the end of verse 4, why the 24 elders and the 4 beasts,
they all fall down and worship God, sitting on His throne, and
they say, Amen. Alleluia. Amen, praise ye the
Lord. And you see, how this is deductive,
we're addressing one another, we're saying to one another as
it were, praise our God. The voice comes out of heaven,
in verse 5, and what is the voice saying? Praise our God. And when
we praise God, and say Hallelujah, we're exhorting one another to
praise God. In that sense it's didactic.
We see it in the worship of heaven in Isaiah chapter 6 when the
prophet has that vision of the throne that's never vacated.
The king, Uzziah, dies. Well the king is dead along with
the king. Another king comes along but Isaiah's gone but there's
a throne that is never vacated. There's always one sitting on
that throne. and Isaiah sees the throne of God and he sees
about the throne the angels, the seraphim, the burning ones
these worshipping spirits and one cries unto another and says
see how they exhort one another, encourage one another in the
worship of God one cries to another and says holy, holy, holy Lord
God of hosts, heaven and earth are full of Thy glory. They are
worshipping the Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Ghost, and we are
to encourage one another in the worship of God. Remember the
exhortation of the Apostle to the Hebrews, there in chapter
10, let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good
works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the
manner of some is. We're not to forsake the assembly,
the corporate worship of God and as we come together what
are we to do? We're to consider one another,
we're to provoke one another. Speaking to yourselves in psalms
and hymns and spiritual songs, Paul says to the Ephesians, we
encourage one another in the worship of God and I do like
those hymns in which we're not only addressing God but when
we come to address the Lord God we also seek to encourage one
another come ye sinners poor and wretched weak and wounded
sick and sore Jesus ready stands to save you full of pity grace
and power He is able. He is willing. Don't know more. You see, when we sing such words
as that, it's not simply a matter of us singing praises to God,
but we're provoking one another. We're encouraging one another.
And that's why it must be corporate. We must gather together. We can't
worship in a corporate fashion in our own homes. We do that
when we gather in the name of the Lord Jesus, when we gather
to the Lord Jesus our Shiloh. All the voice comes out of the
throne, and what does the voice say? Praise our God, all ye his
servants, and ye that fear him, both small and great. That's
the voice of God to us. Or can we measure up to that
that we read in the response? John says, I heard, as it were,
the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters,
and as the voice of mighty thundering, saying, Alleluia. Praise our God, or praise the
Lord really. It's Yah, it's Jehovah. For the
Lord God's omnipotent, reigneth. Oh, the Lord help us in, and
the Lord bless His Word. Amen.