Unless you have ever reached your breaking point, you could not begin to understand?
There are times in life, when one hang up leads to another, one problem leads to more, difficulties and hardships pile up until you feel like a football player at the bottom of a pile up, feeling the air being squeezed out of your lungs, wondering if you’ll ever get your head above water again.
In those moments, even the strong stagger. We find ourselves weak, saying things we wish we could take back, doing things that only leave us worse off, and not doing things that might help. Self-control flies out the window. Our horse blinders go up, so that we can only see ourselves, and we become bling to the needs of others. We falter.
In honor of Black history month, our family chose “Revelation 19”, also known as “Hallelujah, Salvation and Glory”, as our February hymn of the month.
The Lord gave the Apostle John a vision when he was on the island of Patmos. John was living there as an exile, imprisoned for his testimony concerning our Lord Jesus Christ.
Babylon, in the Book of Revelation, represents a unified geo-political power that oppresses God’s Church. Heaven breaks forth in jubilant praise in Revelation 19:1–2, because Babylon, also called the great prostitute, has just been defeated once and for all. As John records:
‘Hallelujah!
Salvation and glory and power belong to our God,
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.’”
In this world, it often seems that God is losing. The wicked prosper, while the righteous suffer. Evil seems to prevail. Darkness surrounds us, and we wonder if the Light of Christ shall ever overcome. The main message of the Book of Revelation, for these reasons, serves as great encouragement for the church today and in any age. It tells us that Jesus shall win. Sin shall not ravage forever. Death shall not have the final word. Evil shall give an account at the judgement seat of God. The Light shall overcome. For Babylon, the great mythic oppressor of God’s people, shall fall, and a new age shall break forth, commencing with the Marriage Feast of the Lamb.
The Lord, our God, is indeed mighty and powerful. He shall avenge all that opposes him. His victory is our victory, and we who unite ourselves to him stand in his victory. So, let us join the heavenly chorus and sing praises to our God. For the Lord our God is mighty!
A. Jeffrey LaValley, a black gospel writer, wrote “Revelation 19” almost accidently. He never meant it to be a hit, but the song has become a staple in many gospel-music singing churches. LaValley once explained in an interview how the song came about:
“We were in communion service one Sunday evening in 1985, and the spirit was high. My pastor was standing in the pulpit with his Bible. He walked over to the organ. He flings the Bible on the organ and says, “Sing this.” I said, “Excuse me?” He said, “Sing this.” The Bible was turned to Revelation 19:1. […] The pastor walked back to his pulpit, and I didn’t know what to do, so I began singing the first melody that came into my mind. It was basically the first verse of the song. I sang the verse over and over. Finally the choir joined in unison, and then the congregation joined in, and everybody kept at it. I figured this was it, because I was going to forget the song and the people were going to forget it. But the sound man, who never taped communion service, just happened to tape that communion service. He gave a copy of the tape to me. At that point, we were preparing the His Eye Is On the Sparrow album and we needed a filler cut. So I took that tape and added the “For the Lord Our God is Mighty” section, and did the little descant, and taught it to the choir. […] And that’s how it all happened.”
Traditionally each part of this song is sung individually first. Then the parts are layered, starting with part 1, then adding part 2, and finally adding part 3. This creates a powerful effect, transporting our souls to rejoice in the glory and almighty power of God.
What a powerful declaration of God’s sovereignty over all things!
Jessica and I last fall had the experience of singing “Revelation 19” with thousands of other Christians in Nashville with Dwan Hill and The Choir Room. The rapturous power of the singing reverberated in my soul for weeks. I pray these words, which come from the great praise of Revelation 19, will be an encouragement to you.
Bible Memory Verses
Revelation 19:1, ESV
“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…’”
In the beginning God created the heavens and earth and all was very good (Genesis 1:1, 31). There is an inherent goodness about all things God makes. A beautiful scenic overlook, the graceful flight of a bald eagle, the wonders of the human brain, a charitable act, these are all glimpses of the goodness of God’s creation.
Yet, despite these glimpses of the goodness of God’s creation, it appears that what was made good has been marred. Continue reading →
Ancient stone towers litter an ancient village located at the southernmost tip of Greece. The stone towers served as family homes, at a time when the village was self-governed. The towers not only protected the village from outside invaders, but protected the villagers from each other. The families of that village had turned family feuds into a blood sport. When one family offended another, they would hurl rocks and boiling oil from the height their tower on to the other family. The families built higher and higher towers to gain the advantage; the cycle went on until the village nearly destroyed itself. Continue reading →
Are human beings generally good or generally evil? How we answer that question affects how we view ourselves, view others, rear our children, and even how governments are formed? Continue reading →
The Bible begins with the affirmation that both creation and humanity were created “very good” (Genesis 1:31). In last week’s article we discussed what it meant for humanity to be created good in God’s image (Genesis 1:26-27).
If God created humanity and creation good, what happened? Why all this strife, conflict, division, and suffering? Continue reading →
How can we say anything meaningful about God? If God is transcendent, defying our cognitive abilities to fully comprehend him, how can we say anything of certainty about God? Continue reading →
The rock star Bono once said, “The Scriptures remain a plumb line to gauge how crooked the wall of my ego has become.” Many Christians who read the Bible regularly find this function of the Scriptures helpful, even therapeutic.
Something happens in our lives when we receive the grace of God given to us in God’s Son, Jesus Christ. We used to be under a slave master who seemed quite charming but turned out to be very cruel. The Apostle Paul says, “For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness” (Romans 6:20) In other words, you really did not care about what God desired for your life. That seemed like a pretty good deal, but you were under a spell. In the end, what did that master give you? Death. Death in the fullest scope of the word with its attendant misery, sadness, and frustrations. He tricked you into thinking that freeing yourself from what God commands would make you happy, but it did not.
Do you know the everlasting, always flowing love of the Father? Before we knew the love of the Father in and through the Son, our thoughts of God may have been filled with fear, uncertainty, and disquiet. Now seeing the Father’s love in the Son, we know the heart of the Father, the endless beating of his heart for the sinner.
The ever-flowing love of the Father, like a river, flows to the lowest point. It gives us life. Like the heart supplies blood to every part of the body, God’s love gives life to our otherwise self-loathing, despairing, prideful or egotistic self, our living but not really living self. Like a river it flows down to the lowest point, because while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. The Bible, spoken out by God himself through the pens of his servants, assures us of this rock-solid proclamation of truth. The Apostle Paul, for instance, wrote down for us and human perpetuity, “…but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8 ESV) You can take those words to the grave with you, because, though flowers may fade, God’s Word endures forever (Isaiah 40:8).
