The Heavenly Hallelujah Over Hell's Smoke Text: Revelation 19:1-6
Introduction: Learning to Love the Judgments of God
We live in a sentimental, squishy, and effeminate age. Our generation has been catechized by a gospel of niceness, a therapeutic deism where God is a cosmic grandfather who wants everyone to be happy and fulfilled, preferably without any messy talk of sin, wrath, or judgment. This is the god of American evangelicalism, a god who would never, ever send anyone to Hell, and who certainly wouldn't want His people to rejoice over it if He did. This god is a limp-wristed idol, fashioned in our own image, and he has no power to save.
The God of the Bible, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, is a different sort of God entirely. He is a consuming fire. He is holy, righteous, and just. And because He is just, He judges sin. He hates evil, and He destroys it. And when He does, the host of heaven, the redeemed saints, the holy angels, and the twenty-four elders do not avert their eyes in embarrassed silence. They do not offer up milquetoast prayers for the damned. They lift their voices like the sound of many waters and mighty peals of thunder, and they shout, "Hallelujah!"
This passage is a bucket of ice water in the face of our modern sensibilities. It is a direct assault on our therapeutic, man-centered religion. Here we see the saints in glory, perfected in righteousness, looking down upon the smoldering ruins of Babylon the great, the harlot city. And what is their reaction? It is unrestrained, explosive, corporate joy. They are celebrating the righteous vengeance of God. They are not sad that the harlot is burning; they are glad. They are not weeping for her; they are worshiping God because of it. Their affections are perfectly aligned with God's affections. What He loves, they love. What He hates, they hate. And what He judges, they celebrate.
If this text makes you uncomfortable, that is a good sign. It means the Holy Spirit is showing you an area where your heart is not yet conformed to the heart of God. Our task is not to edit the Scriptures to fit our feelings, but to submit our feelings to be reshaped by the hammer and fire of the Scriptures. We must learn to love what God loves, and that includes learning to love His righteous judgments. This is not bloodthirsty vengeance on our part; it is a zealous love for the glory, holiness, and justice of God. It is the recognition that the universe is not right until all of God's enemies are put under His feet, and all of heaven is shouting "Hallelujah!" for it.
The Text
Hallelujah!
After these things I heard something like a loud voice of a great crowd in heaven, saying, “Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God; BECAUSE HIS JUDGMENTS ARE TRUE AND RIGHTEOUS; for He has judged the great harlot who was corrupting the earth with her sexual immorality, and HE HAS AVENGED THE BLOOD OF HIS SLAVES shed BY HER HAND.” And a second time they said, “Hallelujah! HER SMOKE RISES UP FOREVER AND EVER.” And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who sits on the throne saying, “Amen. Hallelujah!” And a voice came from the throne, saying, “Give praise to our God, all you His slaves, you who fear Him, the small and the great.” Then I heard something like the voice of a great crowd and like the sound of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, saying, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns.
(Revelation 19:1-6 LSB)
The First Hallelujah: The Justice of God (vv. 1-2)
The scene opens immediately after the detailed description of the fall of Babylon in chapter 18. The merchants and kings of the earth were weeping and mourning over her destruction, but the view from heaven is starkly different.
"After these things I heard something like a loud voice of a great crowd in heaven, saying, “Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God; BECAUSE HIS JUDGMENTS ARE TRUE AND RIGHTEOUS; for He has judged the great harlot who was corrupting the earth with her sexual immorality, and HE HAS AVENGED THE BLOOD OF HIS SLAVES shed BY HER HAND.”" (Revelation 19:1-2)
The word "Hallelujah" means "Praise Yahweh." It is a command and an exclamation rolled into one. This is the first of four Hallelujahs in this chapter, and they are the only occurrences of this word in the New Testament. It is Hebrew worship breaking out in the Greek text. And notice the reason for this praise. It is not some vague, general sense of God's goodness. The praise is laser-focused on a specific, historical act of judgment.
They praise God because His judgments are "true and righteous." This is a direct answer to the cry of the martyrs under the altar in chapter 6, who asked, "How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?" (Rev. 6:10). The answer is, "Now." God's patience has run its course, and His justice is being executed. Heaven erupts in praise because God is keeping His promises. He is a covenant-keeping God, and that includes His covenant promises to avenge His persecuted people.
The object of this judgment is "the great harlot." As I have maintained throughout this study of Revelation, this harlot is first and foremost apostate, first-century Jerusalem. She was the city that was supposed to be married to Yahweh, but instead she prostituted herself to the pagan powers of the world, particularly Rome, the beast she rode upon. She was the one who said, "We have no king but Caesar" (John 19:15). She was the one who instigated the persecution of the saints, from Stephen to James and beyond. She was "corrupting the earth with her sexual immorality," which in prophetic language refers to idolatry and covenant unfaithfulness. The central crime was her rejection and murder of the Messiah, and her subsequent persecution of His Church. God has now judged her, and heaven rejoices because God is righteous to do so.
The Second Hallelujah: The Smoke of Damnation (v. 3)
The heavenly choir is not finished. They repeat their praise, this time with a chilling and glorious addition.
"And a second time they said, “Hallelujah! HER SMOKE RISES UP FOREVER AND EVER.”" (Revelation 19:3)
This is one of the most difficult verses in the Bible for modern, sentimental Christians to stomach. The saints are not just praising God for the fact of the judgment, but for the finality and eternality of it. The image of smoke rising forever is drawn from the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen. 19:28) and the judgment of Edom (Isa. 34:10). It signifies a complete, irreversible, and perpetual desolation. This is not remedial punishment. This is not temporary. This is final damnation.
The saints in heaven, with their perfected vision and sanctified hearts, see this and shout "Hallelujah!" Why? Because the eternal punishment of the wicked glorifies the justice of God. It demonstrates the infinite evil of sinning against an infinitely holy God. An eternal Hell is the only just penalty for high treason against the eternal King. To wish for anything less is to diminish the glory of God's justice and the heinousness of sin. The saints in heaven are not squeamish about this because they are not man-centered; they are God-centered. Their chief joy is the glory of God, and the smoke of the harlot's torment is a perpetual testimony to that glory. If we want to be heavenly-minded, we must learn to see it this way too.
The Third Hallelujah: The Worship of the Elders (v. 4)
The praise is not limited to the great multitude. The highest-ranking beings in heaven join the chorus.
"And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who sits on the throne saying, “Amen. Hallelujah!”" (Revelation 19:4)
The twenty-four elders represent the entire redeemed people of God, the twelve tribes of Israel and the twelve apostles of the Lamb, the Old and New Covenants united. The four living creatures represent the fullness of creation, the cherubim who guard the throne of God. All of heaven's government and all of creation's representatives fall on their faces in worship. They add their "Amen," their "so be it," to the judgment of God. They affirm the rightness of what God has done. And then they add their own "Hallelujah!"
This is a picture of perfect theological unity. There is no debate in heaven about the justice of Hell. There are no dissenting opinions. From the newest saint to the most ancient cherub, all are united in the worship of the God who judges the wicked. This is what true worship is: ascribing to God the glory due His name for all that He is and all that He does, including His acts of wrath and vengeance.
The Call to Praise and the Final Hallelujah (vv. 5-6)
The worship reaches a crescendo as a voice from the very throne of God issues a universal summons to praise, which is met with a thunderous response.
"And a voice came from the throne, saying, “Give praise to our God, all you His slaves, you who fear Him, the small and the great.” Then I heard something like the voice of a great crowd and like the sound of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, saying, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns.”" (Revelation 19:5-6)
A voice from the throne itself calls for more praise. All of God's servants, all who fear Him, regardless of their earthly status, are commanded to join in. This is not an optional activity for a select few. Worship is the duty of every creature who fears God. And what is the reason for this final, climactic Hallelujah? "For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns."
This is the foundation of it all. The judgment of the great harlot is not an isolated event. It is a demonstration of the fact that God is on His throne. He is sovereign. He is the Almighty. His enemies do not have the final say. The corrupt political and religious systems of this world do not have the final say. God has the final say. The fall of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 was a down payment, a historical manifestation of this ultimate truth. God judged the city that killed His Son, and in so doing, He demonstrated that He reigns.
The sound of this final praise is overwhelming. It is like a massive crowd, like a roaring waterfall, like a violent thunderstorm. This is not quiet, contemplative, navel-gazing worship. This is loud, explosive, triumphant worship. This is the sound of victory. The reign of God is not a quiet, abstract, spiritual reality. It is a concrete, world-altering, history-shaping reality that crushes His enemies and vindicates His people. And the only proper response to it is a thunderous "Hallelujah!"
Conclusion: Aligning Our Alleluias
The worship of heaven is a rebuke to the worship of much of the modern church. We have become allergic to the justice of God. We want a king who is all mercy and no majesty, all grace and no government. But that is not the God of the Bible. The God of the Bible is the one who judged the great harlot, and over whose judgment the saints rejoice with a loud voice.
The fall of Babylon, which I take to be the destruction of Jerusalem, was the great turning point in redemptive history. It was the public divorce and execution of the unfaithful wife, clearing the way for the marriage of the Lamb to His true bride, the Church, which we will see in the very next section. The judgment of the harlot is the necessary prelude to the wedding of the Lamb.
Therefore, we must learn to align our hearts with heaven's song. We must learn to praise God not only for salvation, but for judgment. We must learn to rejoice not only that He saves His people, but that He avenges them on their enemies. We must learn to see the smoke of Hell as a tribute to the perfect justice of a holy God. This is not about cultivating personal bitterness or a lust for revenge. It is about loving the glory of God more than we love the comfort of sinners. It is about recognizing that God's kingdom comes not just through gentle persuasion, but also through the violent overthrow of His enemies.
The Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns. He is on His throne. He has judged His enemies, He is judging His enemies, and He will judge His enemies. And because this is true, we have every reason to join with that great multitude, with the elders and the living creatures, and to shout, with everything that is in us, "Amen. Hallelujah!"