Word of Encouragement (12/23/2021)
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, 2 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” (Rev. 19:1-2).
The heavenly multitude praises God, “Salvation and glory and power belong to our God.”
God is worthy of our praise because salvation belongs to Him. This means that He is our Savior and no one else. He is our Savior because it is He who saves us from beginning to end. Neither man nor angel can help Him in any way. Our salvation is Christ’s work and His alone, not some kind of partnership between Him and His people, in which we are required to contribute something to His work of salvation. He does not just provide a way of salvation to everyone, and it is up to each person to take it or leave it. That would be like a captain of a ship, who throws out lifesavers from the ship to people who are drowning at sea. Of course, those who grabbed a lifesaver and got rescued would be grateful to him for saving their lives and that would be only right.
But the biblical picture of our Savior is even more comprehensive and intimate. What if some of those who were drowning were babies or old people, who didn’t have the strength to hold on to the lifesaver long enough to be rescued out of the water? In fact, the Bible tells us that we were spiritual all dead in our trespasses and sins (Eph. 2:1). None of us had any life left in us to reach out and grab a lifesaver, let alone the strength to hold on to it! We needed Jesus Christ to jump into the ocean (thus, the Incarnation), grab a hold of us, bring us onboard the ship, and resuscitate us to life! Salvation belongs to Him and Him alone!
This also means that salvation is His to give. It is not a basic human right but His gift of grace, which none of us deserves. Paul says, “...in order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls—she was told, ‘The older will serve the younger.’ As it is written, ‘Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated’” (Rom. 9:11-13). The Westminster Confession of Faith says, “The end of God's appointing [Judgment Day] is for the manifestation of the glory of His mercy, in the eternal salvation of the elect; and of His justice, in the damnation of the reprobate, who are wicked and disobedient” (33:2). We can only thank God for saving some out of the fallen humanity instead of condemning all.
If salvation belongs to God, glory belongs to Him as well. He alone deserves all glory and praise for our salvation. The multitude in heaven, which stands before God’s presence, knows this too well; they cannot help but give all glory to God for their salvation.
Power also belongs to God. This is most obvious: God is omnipotent. But this praise is not talking about God’s power in general; it is speaking of God’s power in relation to our salvation, particularly His true and just punishment of Babylon the great prostitute and all those who were corrupted by her immorality. Christ has already defeated sin and death and Satan: sin has lost its dominion over us; death has lost its sting; Satan has been chained so that he can no longer deceive the nations and stop the progress of the gospel to the ends of the earth (Rev. 20:3). But sin is not yet uprooted from the hearts of God’s people, death is not yet eradicated from the world (so the dead can be raised), and Satan is not yet forever locked up in hell. Christ accomplished our salvation through His weakness. But God will bring our salvation to its glorious completion by His power. So, the heavenly multitude praises God for His power.
Let us praise God for His salvation, glory, and power, especially during this Christmas season!