Rejoicing in Heaven – Lesson 1 in the 3rd Series, "The Millennium, Final Judgments, and Eternity" of "Study the Revelation" by Paige Ramsey
Revelation
19:1-7
Heaven Exalts over Babylon
1 After these things I heard a
loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying, “Alleluia! Salvation and
glory and honor and power 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! And
her smoke rises up forever and ever!”4
And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and
worshipped 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!7 Let us be glad and rejoice and
give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made
herself ready.”
PARTY
TIME!!
After these
things… after God has judged the corruption on the earth, all of heaven
rejoices! A celebration breaks out like none before, because the Great Whore is
finally exposed, defeated, and all the Believers whom the whore murdered have
been fully avenged!
Notice that Heaven
is filled with people! These are not a multitude of angels – these are people
who once lived on the earth and were dominated by the harlot, murdered by the
harlot, partially deceived by the harlot, and had loved ones who were totally
deceived by her seductions! The whore, Babylon, who defiled the truth of God’s
salvation for mankind from the Tower of Babel down through the Roman Catholic
Church who continued her debasement of idolatry, infiltrated the church of
Jesus Christ, and disguised her filthy idolatrous lusts as truth. The whore who
forced her tainted “gospels” upon the people and slaughtered anyone who dared
to reveal the true Gospel message of salvation by grace, and the newly
established Babylon in her full glory, if she is to be reestablished, she, too,
has completely fallen… this abominable whore finally receives her just
destruction and eternal judgment. After allowing her to fully exhaust her evil
intentions and see her foul plan come to fruition, God has conquered her entirely
(religiously, politically, and commercially). And He has triumphed
victoriously!
The gala
explodes with a “loud voice.” The word “loud” (rendered “great” in the KJV) is megas in the Greek, meaning
“exceedingly, great, high, large, loud, mighty[i].”
The word “voice” is phōnē (fo-nay´) in the Greek, meaning “a tone,
by implication, an address, saying, or language: noise, sound, voice[ii]”
Together, they make, “an exceedingly loud and mighty noise.” The Hebrew
equivalent would be rûaˁ (roo-ah´) as
is found in Psalm 95:1 – O come,
let us sing unto the Lord, let us make rûaˁ
(a joyful noise) to the Rock of
our salvation! Rûaˁ is: “figuratively to split the ears (with sound), that
is shout (for alarm or joy): blow an alarm, cry, … make a joyful noise, … shout
(for joy), sound an alarm, triumph[iii].”
Some of the people in John’s day would holler, “Hallelujah!!” “Amen!!”
“Alleluia!!” Cowboys who lived in the nineteenth century might shout, “Yeeha!!”
or “Yippee!!!” We might cry, “Hoorah!!” “Wahoo!!” “Yeah!!” (Remember – this is in
the Third Heaven)
CELEBRATION
OF WORSHIP
Those who
feel that worship is only a quiet, reverent encountering of a spiritual nature
are going to be quite surprised that God Almighty is honored and revered by a
hoopla of shouting and an uproar of screaming! I can imagine this crowd – can’t
you? You don’t say these words calmly. Have you ever heard anyone say “wahoo”
or “hooray” in a soft voice? No. It just sounds silly. This is an excited bunch
of people! Can you see them saying these words in refined composure? No! They
are obviously jumping up and down, dancing, hands in the air, mouths open wide,
air-punching, foot stomping, twisting, and kicking to express their
exhilaration! Bro. Sam Deville, pastor of Flint Baptist Church in Flint, Texas, very proficiently acted this out on July 6, 2014. His antics are hard to portray in writing, but hopefully you get the picture.
This is not
the mere shout of joy from a parent seeing an introverted son hit his first home run
– any parent would burst out in a state of exhilaration over that! But this is
so much more compelling! It isn’t even the emotional thrill of getting the job of
your dreams, though most of us would not be able to remain composed at
that. Nor is it the erupted elation from a people gaining independence from
a tyrannical rule, although the outbreak of celebration after our own
Revolutionary War must have been phenomenal! This is the outcry from an
oppressed people over generations, centuries, and milleniums – the celebration
of eternity!! No one is worried about what anyone else might think of their
reaction – they just react. And what a reaction it is!!
Why would
such a festival erupt just because God has destroyed an old institution? Today,
especially in America, we do not totally understand how much corruption there
is throughout the whole world because of this whorish Babylonian establishment.
It may even seem quite ridiculous to think an antique belief system or a
ritualistic organization can really be responsible for such havoc. “What’s the
big deal?” we might ask. “After all, people can choose whether or not to follow
such foolishness, can’t they?” Obviously, when God makes this judgment, we will
see the whole picture with perceiving eyes. We will see the deception, the dominance,
and the hold this institution has over its people. And we will empathize
because we will know and fully understand that except for the grace of God, we,
too, would be deceived, controlled, and held captive by her craftiness. When we
fully realize the vast evil, and see the deception and control, then watch as
God exposes it and brings it down, we will lose all control as we rejoice and
praise the Lord.
Luke 7:36-47 tells about a time when Jesus
entered the home of a Pharisee named Simon to have dinner, and a disreputable
woman of the city brought an expensive perfumed ointment to soothe His tired
feet. Her tears of conviction and repentance began to flow and she washed
Jesus’ feet with them, then used up the extravagant balm for comforting.
When Simon saw Jesus allowing this woman to behave in this way, he questioned
within himself about Jesus’ authenticity as a prophet. After all, a true
prophet would know what kind of woman this was. Jesus, knowing his thoughts,
told a story about a man who had lent money to two men. One owed 50 day’s wages[iv]
(perhaps $5,000 by today’s standard in America), the other owed 500 day’s wages
(or $50,000). Neither man could pay the money back. The lender exonerated both
men of their debts. “Which of them will love him most?” Jesus asked Simon. “I
suppose, that he, to whom he forgave most,” Simon answered.
The point
Jesus was making is that the woman, who was behaving most attentively, didn’t
care about how her actions looked to anyone else. She was lovingly caring for
her Lord who had shown her mercy. That is all she was concerned about – she was
caught-up in the moment. She knew she was sinful. She knew she deserved
punishment. She understood her position with God Almighty, and yet, Jesus came
from God, showed her mercy, and treated her with kindness and compassion. The same
thing happens to the people in the Third Heaven: having their understanding
perfected, they break out with shouting and outcries of ecstasy! These are a
people of abundant gratitude – they understand their former position and how
the grace of God showed them mercy! These are a people of extreme outrage at
the decadent deeds of the harlot who captivated a multitude of fellow human
beings. These people know they, too, would have been deceived, except for the grace
of the Lord Jesus Christ! When God destroys this whore, they lose all composure
and shout out victoriously!! Praise the Lord! The Lord is pleased with outbursts
of praise. He made us creatures of emotion. He knows genuine elation coming
from His people, and it pleases Him!
Can’t wait
to be in this celebration of worship!!
FATAL FUMES
OF A FALSE FORTITUDE
Reading
verse three, one cannot help but muse upon the smoke that rises from the
Vatican as a new pope is chosen, changing colors to indicate a final decision. Or…
liken these fumes with the smolders of incense she used in her pretense to battle
evil. Now, after God has fulfilled His verdict, the smoke of her demise rises
for the entire world to see. All those who followed her without question see
her utter downfall. All those who spread her ugly, polluted doctrines realize
her ruin. After so many centuries of declaring herself as God’s power on this
earth, the smoke purifying her poison continually rises as a testimony of her true
state – a fraudulent fortitude of death.
EXPRESSIONS
OF WORSHIP
The
twenty-four elders and the four living creatures even get in on the act of
praise and worship! They are so awestruck they can’t do anything but fall down
on their faces before this mighty King of Kings! This is a different reaction
that expresses worship in an overwhelming, awestruck fashion. Have you ever
fallen on your face before God? Have you ever been so thankful for God’s
intervention in your life to give you His great blessings that you cannot do
anything else but fall down with your face in the ground or on the floor and
worship Him?
Falling down
is different than getting down. When a person falls down before God, he or she
has not mulled the thought about and then made a conscious decision to do this
act of worship – it is an automatic reaction from being overwhelmed. This may
have never happened to you – it has never happened to me. Does that mean we
don’t truly possess salvation? Does that mean we are not totally thankful for
God’s gifts to us? Absolutely not!! The lender in Jesus’ parable completely
forgave the man who had the debt of 50 days’ wages – yet, he might not have
reacted quite as openly in gratitude as the man who was forgiven 500 days’
wages. Perhaps we don’t yet realize the magnitude of God’s gift to us, to send
us into that level of worship.
In response
to a challenge Beth Moore gave in one of her brilliant Bible studies, I got
down on my face and prayed once a day for three weeks. It is a humbling
experience that I recommend and also challenge every Christian to do. With your
face on the floor – especially if that floor has not been swept that day, as
mine tended to be – you realize your unworthiness. This is our proper position
before a Holy God – our faces in the dirt. I’ll extend Beth Moore’s challenge
to you as well. For a week, two weeks, or even three, get down – completely
down – lying prostrate with your face down and pray for your own sinful
tendencies. Confess your sins completely, describing them out loud. Ask for the
Lord to reveal to you deeper levels of sin or hidden sins that you have tried
to suppress.
Sin is sin.
Period. But we humans put a measure of sinfulness on our various sins. We say murder
is more sinful than pride; sexual perversion is more sinful than lust; child
abuse is more sinful than anger. But in reality, those “more sinful” actions
make us cringe because they outwardly show how sinful the sinfulness within
each one of us truly is. When we fully realize how sinful we really are, the
minor degrees of sinful actions will fade away.
Let me use a
limited depiction of filth to illustrate. A few centuries ago, people were not
aware of microscopic germs that made them sick. If a person with that knowledge
from our time would watch a scene between two people of that era, he would
laugh at their lack of understanding. One person has been collecting the
garbage from the village and another has been working in the field, removing
stones. Both are filthy. The one who collected garbage wipes his hands off well
with a wet rag. The one who came in from the field just brushes off the dust.
Both sit down to eat, and the garbage collector begins to inwardly criticize
the field worker for eating with dirty hands. He gets disgusted and harbors a
bad opinion of his friend. Perhaps he gets sick to his stomach later and blames
it on the friend for “making him sick” to watch him eat in such a state. As an
onlooker, we would realize the total ridiculousness of the situation. The
garbage collector probably got sick from the filth on his own hands and has no
reason at all to criticize the field worker. God must look at us in this way.
We criticize others and harbor ill feelings toward them for their sinfulness
when we ourselves are just as polluted with sin. God must laugh at the sarcasm
of it.
Those who
know how dirty they really are will react differently from those who have no
idea the depth of their sin. A prostitute, murderer, or addict who experiences
the grace of a forgiving God and forgiving Christian brothers and sisters might
display an outward, loud, open expression of worship, being “caught up” in the
experience, while one who is guilty of cheating in secret, prejudice,
selfishness, and lying might display some quieter outward expressions of
worship, feeling enormous inward emotions.
Be careful
not to criticize someone else’s exuberance or seeming lack of exuberance just
because you do not express worship in the same manner. Do not assume it is a
“put-on” or a “show.” Do not assume there are no spiritual emotions in
another’s worship just because the outward acts of worship are not like yours. Only
God knows true worship, and only He can judge an act of worship. As you
worship, if you enjoy worshipping with a quiet, deep, internal joy and awe
before the throne of grace and someone close to you worships in a more outward
expression, just praise the Lord in your heart that you can both worship as your different personalities and experiences call for.
Heaven is not a bunch of angels floating around on clouds strumming harps. Heaven is a place of exuberant rejoicing, exciting worship, and so much more that we can not even fathom the magnificence! We'll be learning more about heaven as this series closes. When we realize what heaven truly will be like, we won't want anyone to miss out on its splendor! Do not miss the last lessons of this marvelous book God gave us!
[ii]
G5456 in Strong’s Hebrew & Greek Dictionaries
[iii]
H7321 in Strong’s Hebrew & Greek Dictionaries
[iv]
The word “pence” in the KJV is the Greek word “denarion” (G1220 in Strong’s
Hebrew & Greek Dictionaries) which comes from the Latin word “denarius.” At
the time Jesus gave this parable, a denarion was a day’s wage for most men.