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 →
Unlike Peter or Mary, when John went into Jesus’ empty tomb, something incredible happened. Not only did he see all that Peter saw. He believed (John 20:8). Why did John believe before the others?
Distraught and weeping, Mary says to Peter, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” (John 20:2) Peter and another disciple immediately run to the tomb to check things out for themselves. The other disciple outran Peter. He arrived at the tomb first.
They would have cut the tomb where Jesus was laid into the rock of the Judean hillside. The entryway would have been low to the ground, so that the other disciple would have needed to bend low to peak in. As the sun had risen higher, enough light would have entered the tomb so that this other disciple could see what Mary could not have seen earlier. He sees the linen burial strips lying there. He does not go in. We can excuse him. This was, after all, someone else’s tomb. Laws prohibited, just as today, tampering with someone else’s grave.
Mary, still literally in the dark, sees the stone taken away from the tomb where her beloved friend was laid. Given the low sunlight – the sun had probably just cracked the horizon – she probably could not see into his cave-like tomb. She assumes, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb…” (John 20:1)
Mary’s assumption was reasonable enough. Imagine you were at a cemetery walking up to the grave of your loved one. You see a pile of dirt next to a hole where you know your loved one was laid to rest, but you have not yet moved close enough to peer in. What might you assume? You might assume someone took the body. Mary did. She did not know better.
The darkness, in John’s Gospel, signifies something more than the early hour. We all, like Mary, start in the dark. We all, like Mary, start with assumptions about who this Jesus really is. In John’s gospel, people have been making all sorts of assumptions about Jesus. Some called him “the Prophet (John 6:14).” Others called him the Christ without yet knowing what that title meant (for example, John 7:31). Still others said he had a demon or was insane (John 10:20).
In the wee hours of the morning Mary Magdalene went to the tomb of her recently deceased Master and friend, Jesus. The sun had not yet ruptured the horizon. When she arrived, the stone sealing the tomb, much to her surprise, had been taken away. (See John 20:1)
We know from the other gospel accounts that Mary Magdalene was not the only one there. Other women accompanied her. Yet, Mary Magdalene, in all the gospel accounts, is given center stage. Later we find out that she was also the first to meet the risen Lord.
When we take into account the culture of that time, Mary’s center stage presence at the empty tomb surprises us. A woman? Women were not even considered legally valid witnesses in a Jewish courtroom at that time. A woman like Mary Magdalene? Jesus cast seven demons out of this woman not long ago (Luke 8:2). She had a checkered past. Furthermore, if I am doing the math correctly, she was likely the youngest of this group of women who went to the tomb.
