Title: Hallelujah/Revelation 19:1 - 10
Contents
Text: Revelation 19:1 - 10
Today is a meaningful day to reflect on the joy of the resurrection as we look at the risen Lord. Hallelujah! One of the most used words in the church is the word hallelujah. The word hallelujah comes from the Hebrew word halal. It is an emphatic form of halal. The meaning of the word halal is “to shine”, “to boast”, “to praise” and “to bless”. The plural imperative of halal is hallelu. Hallelujah was made by combining the word “Yahweh” and “Jah,” the abbreviation of Jehovah. The meaning of Hallelujah is “continue to praise the Lord with passion.”
In the Old Testament, the number 27 came to be used. However, it is rarely used in the Old Testament because it is used almost exclusively in Psalms 146-150. In the New Testament, it is only used 4 times in the text. “Hallelujah, Salvation and glory and power belong to our God” (verse 1) “The second said, “Hallelujah” (verse 3) “Amen, hallelujah” (verse 4) “Hallelujah, the Lord our God the Almighty reigns” (6). Verse) However, hallelujah is the favorite word spoken by all the saints, including the early church. Therefore, Hallelujah is not a praise to God, but a word that we saints should respond to each other. Hallelujah! You cannot tell God to praise Jehovah. It is to encourage each other to praise God. Hallelujah! Amen! "Let's praise God" There are people who can shout out to their neighbors to praise God. Who can truly say Hallelujah? For what reason can we shout hallelujah?
1. People who fear God.
Life is about learning and experiencing what you need to live. There are limits to the learning and experience needed to live life. Too much, too wide, life is not capable of digesting it. So, you will know and experience as much as you need in life. It is different to know and experience in infancy, childhood, youth, youth, adulthood, and old age. Also, you should know that what you know and what you experience are different according to the changes of the times. What you know has a different meaning. So the generation gap naturally comes to humans. However, this knowledge and experience can sometimes become an obstacle or an obstacle to knowing God.
This is because they easily judge God by saying that they know and experience the Almighty and Almighty God based on what they have learned and experienced. Knowledge and pride make people more humble. It makes me think that I have to acknowledge God for God to exist. It makes me think that only when I praise God can God be glorified. It makes me think that only when I respect God can God become great. In this delusion, the life of faith that must be hallelujah becomes a life of self-centered faith. He tells me to praise God only if it pleases me.
They say that we should praise God only as we set our minds to it. When you testify, you should hallelujah while praising God for the material you have obtained through your luck. But it can't be a real hallelujah if you don't mind that others are suffering because of it. I say let's praise God only when the business goes well. Hallelujah without even knowing that the employees are weeping in that business. If a neighboring church is collapsing while you say that you have increased the number of members in your own church, that hallelujah will never be a true hallelujah. Saying that we praise God only when we are healthy is not shouting a true hallelujah. Augustine said:
"The fear and respect of God does not make Him great. But serving Him makes us greater." Hallelujah says that the saints who know themselves as sinners, who know that they are ignorant, who know that they are incompetent, kneel before God. This is what you can say to your neighbor when you kneel. Only those who worship God. You are the one who worships God who sits on the heavenly throne. We must not forget that we do not have to worship humans and hallelujah. No one can be praised except God. No matter how good a man is, he cannot be praised. It is for this reason that the Catholic Church is not allowed to praise Saint by giving it to people by name. No system can be praised. No position can be praised. No ministry can be praised. It must not be forgotten that only the Creator Himself can be praised. Hallelujah! "Let's praise the Lord GOD"
2. Those who experience the grace of God.
Why should we praise God? It is to praise the resurrection that we celebrate today. It is to praise God for His love. "Hallelujah, salvation and glory and power belong to our God" (verse 1). It is to praise the love that embraced us, who have no choice but to die in our sins. In our words, the two words hug and embrace are similar. A hug is an expression of love. A true hug is acceptance. A young man went to a prestigious university. Unfortunately, the young man became addicted to drugs. Furthermore, I was not able to attend school in the end because I spent all my tuition on drugs.
They succeeded in preventing family members who did not know it from coming to the graduation ceremony by lying well. Then one day, he is so distressed that he goes home and tells his mother about this. The mother who had been praying for her son collapsed, but cried and hugged him tightly. How hard was that son? The son was so pitiful. He was able to embrace him because he was able to embrace him as he was.
Of course, the son is born again through the love of his mother's embracing embrace. This is the story of the returning prodigal son that Jesus heard in parables. It is the love that we receive while waiting for the second son who returns to live as his father's servant because he misses his father's arms and wastes all his wealth. It is a life of forgiveness and encouragement. A life that experiences the power of resurrection through forgiveness, the power of the cross, is a life of embracing. Only those who have received the love who accepted us who are unacceptable can receive our unacceptable neighbors. Resurrection is the image of Jesus opening his hands and accepting it. It is the love that embraced Himself in His love, knowing nothing about sin and fault, knowing nothing about it, and being able to do nothing. That is, when we abide in the love that was shed on the cross, we experience the embrace of God through the love of inclusiveness.
This is expressed in today's text as the covenant of marriage of the Lamb. It is the thrill of being the bride of the holy Lord who is unqualified, unqualified, and has nothing to experience this embrace. It is Jesus who became the bridegroom and us who became the bride. Baptism and initiation are the betrothal ceremonies with the Lord. Just as a bride wears a white dress, God has allowed us to wear shiny, clean linen. The clean linen cloth is said to be the right deeds of the saints. It is the right conduct of the saints. It does not mean that we are saved by the works of the saints. It means a life in which life becomes more pure through the grace the saints have received.
It refers to a life that comes from the grace of being redeemed by the shed blood of Jesus. Even if it seems like humanly right behavior, there are things that are not right in the Lord's eyes. It refers to right conduct for one's own righteousness. It's not a clean linen cloth, it's the scarlet harlot's clothes, so we can't shout the true hallelujah. It refers to the right deeds that come out of a life in debt of grace. That right deed will naturally give glory and honor to God. Here comes the true hallelujah. These are, in other words, the fruits of a life of experiencing an empty tomb. The works of resurrection will take place in the life of having the risen Lord in me after overcoming the authority of death.
There was a famous free thinker in England named Anthony Collins. While walking down a country road to experience God, he meets a farmer. Seeing his face overflowing with joy and peace, curiously, he asks: "What do you think of God?" The farmer answers. "God is both great and small at the same time. He has the entire universe in his bosom and at the same time dwells in my heart." It is a life of experiencing God in our lives. It is a life lived by experiencing the salvation of God. It is a life of experiencing the glory and power of God. Hallelujah! Those who have experienced the power of resurrection live a life of being born again. Only those who have experienced their own death on the cross with the Lord will experience the encounter with the risen Lord of the empty tomb.
In a prison in Korea, there was a prisoner who was serving a life sentence for murder. The vicious and terrifying prisoner came to know the gospel through the missionary church. The prisoner has an encounter with the Lord. Although he himself cannot go to the mission field and preach the gospel, he vows to do the ministry of preaching the gospel to fellow prisoners without ever leaving prison. At the same time, they thank the country and make a different petition. He told me not to commute his sentence because he could provide his own food, clothing, and shelter and concentrate on the gospel ministry. He learns calligraphy and makes scriptures to become a minister helping missionaries.
Saints are those who are held in the arms of the risen Lord as they are. Only those who have experienced the forgiveness of embracing can be embraced in the heart of the Lord's embrace. “Peace be with you” was the first word the resurrected Lord spoke to his disciples. Hallelujah! Let us praise the Lord Jehovah. Those who kneel in acknowledgment of who God is will humble themselves in God's love and live a life of being embraced by God. When this becomes the life of a believer who enjoys the joy of resurrection, we shout hallelujah to those we meet.