finally, a hallelujah

After this I heard what seemed to be the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, crying out,

Hallelujah!

Revelation 19:1

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“Hallelujah” appears twenty-four times in the Bible. Only four of those times is it found in the New Testament and Revelation 19 lays claim to those. Think of that for a moment. The first time the word “hallelujah“ shows up in the New Testament is at the very end.

One could imagine a hefty hallelujah following the huge buildup in the previous 256 chapters of gospel and epistle. Like the swelling of a musical piece to its finale, ‘hallelujah’ hits just the right note.

I spent a little time grousing to the Lord this morning about unanswered prayers. After finishing out my little pity party, I opened the Word and picked up where I left off yesterday. The first words I saw are what you just read in the quote-box above.

For the 247th time this year, I mentally threw my hands up and said, “Okay, God, I get it. You win.”

I’m sure you can’t relate to that at all.

Laura Story sang about such things in her single, “Blessings.”

What if my greatest disappointments
Or the aching of this life
Is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can’t satisfy
And what if trials of this life
The rain, the storms, the hardest nights
Are Your mercies in disguise?

—Laura Story, Blessings © Capitol Christian Music Group, Capitol CMG Publishing

If you’re out here struggling against unanswered prayers, hard labors, injustices, and dark nights of the soul, don’t lose hope. We’ll all sing “hallelujah” when all is said and done. Few are fortunate to get vindication in this life; most have to wait till it gets nearer to the end of the book.

Let’s say it again — louder — for the people in the back:

Once more they cried out,

Hallelujah!

Revelation 19:3

Amen. Boy do I feel that.

This “hallelujah” is for all whose theology is outpacing their doxology. For everyone who lived righteously and didn’t receive their reward in life but were rather hated and jeered and despised, this hallelujah belongs to you.

It’s for all the smoldering wicks and bruised reeds. The ones Paul Simon called “the sat upon, spat upon, ratted on.” It’s for the publican at the door of the temple who can’t possibly know he’s been justified until the book comes out.

For every parent who trained up their children in the way they should go but whose child departed from it anyway, this is your hallelujah.

For the followers of Christ who were promised they could “reign in this life” but were crushed by it instead, you get this hallelujah too.

Those who prayed and believed for healing in this life but you still had to carry it like a thorn in your side anyway, your hallelujah is coming.

For every survivor of rape and physical and sexual abuse who was told to keep quiet about it ‘for the good of the church,’ or, worse, not believed, this hallelujah belongs to you.

To the saintly ones who’ve been silenced, canceled, vilified, and shown the door by the mob, here’s your hallelujah.

When you opted rather to bless than retaliate, God sees you and invites you to own this hallelujah. All who were crushed by oppression but held to Jesus anyway can take your place in the choir. To the one who seemed to have the devil on your back all the way to heaven, this hallelujah’s especially for you.

Spoiler alert for those still not sure about how it ends:

He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.

🔸🔸🔸🔸

And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.”

Revelation 21:4,5

The page is turning; we’re getting closer to the end of the book. 2023 fidgets around the corner. For those who have made Jesus their Life in spite of every human reason not to, perhaps this is this year we finally get our hallelujah.

Even so, Come, Lord Jesus.

I’ll close out with the video to Laura Story’s song I referenced earlier. Hallelujah is not found in the lyrics, but it expresses a hallelujah heart better than anything I could say.

So for now I’ll be waiting to sing that Most Holy Hallelujah with you in that off-in-the-distance-yet-to-be Day when all the dots finally connect and all those unanswered prayers make perfect sense,

Pasture

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