A Sermon by Archibald Bonar^1
Revelation 19:6. And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.
Even if nothing more had been revealed in the Bible than the certainty, extent and uprightness of God’s providential rule, this would have provided a powerful argument for searching the Scriptures and making them our constant companion in this world. To have infallible authority for the doctrine of God’s providence is something highly satisfying to the mind; it is so suited to the wishes and needs of all men, so soothing in times of sorrow, so supporting in the prospect of approaching difficulties or of dreaded dangers that it may well constrain the humble worshippers of the Almighty to join with the happier assemblies of saints above in saying, with ever-growing gratitude: Alleluia! Let us be glad and rejoice, for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.
When this sublime thought is engraved on our heart, we may meditate without dismay on all the astonishing things which are happening among the nations. Undaunted at what the people may devise, we may look by faith to Him who is invisible, and hear Him saying, “My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure”. We behold this glorious Ruler, seated on His throne of justice and judgement, ordering aright the lot of His people, distributing to all a just proportion of good and evil, putting down one and exalting another, ensnaring wickedness in its own devices or promoting righteousness by the stratagems used for its destruction, sending abroad judgements through many lands or mercifully calming the tumult of the nations. Thus in considering what has been, or now is, or what may be hereafter, we may triumph in the persuasion that the kingdom and power and glory are God’s.
The consolation arising from a firm belief in the important doctrine contained in this text is greatly heightened to real Christians because they know that He to whom the alleluias of heaven are addressed, and who reigns King for ever, is the very Prince of peace on whom their hopes are built and whom they supremely love. He died to redeem them from their sins by His own blood; He is exalted a Prince and a Saviour, having all power in heaven and earth, and on His vesture this name is written: King of kings and Lord of lords. This is what confirms their faith that all things work together for their good; it gives energy to their hope of safety in troublous times; and it yields to their minds unspeakable calm amid all changes and revolutions.
The text leads our believing thoughts to the activities and joys of the inhabitants of heaven. It introduces believers to the innumerable company of angels and to the spirits of just men made perfect; it represents all the ransomed above as worshipping before the throne of God and the Lamb; it elevates their devotion by declaring the cause of the joy of heaven; and it invites those still in the world to take their part in the heavenly songs and, with their feeble notes of praise, to celebrate the glory, the greatness and the grace of Zion’s Almighty King.
Thus you read: “And the four and twenty elders and the four beasts fell down and worshipped God that sat on the throne, saying, Amen; Alleluia. And a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God, all ye His servants, and ye that fear Him, both small and great. And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to Him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife hath made herself ready” (Rev 19:4-7).
Let us for a moment forget that we are on earth and let us joyfully listen to those seraphic strains above. Gabriel tunes his golden harp and gladly sings, Alleluia; “the Lord reigneth; let the earth rejoice; let the multitude of isles be glad thereof”. Abraham and the venerable band of patriarchs re-echo, Alleluia; He whom we saw in vision and whom we foretold as Shiloh, the Prince of peace and the King of righteousness; He reigns; the government is upon His shoulders; Hosanna in the highest. David and all the prophets join the angelic hosts and say, Alleluia; the Lord reigns; His arm and power shall reach afar, shall extend from sea to sea, from the rising sun to where it sets; men shall be blessed in Him, and all nations shall call Him blessed. Martyrs and apostles shout aloud with joy, Alleluia; the Lord Redeemer reigns; He has all power in heaven and earth; to Him every knee shall bow and every tongue confess; and the kingdoms of the world shall become the kingdoms of our God and of His Christ.
Let us join these heavenly songs, saying, Live and reign, wondrous King of glory; be Thou Lord of all; let Thy kingdom come, and let Thy will be done in earth; and let every creature ascribe blessing, dominion and glory to the Lord God omnipotent, who was and is and is to come.
In further discoursing on this portion of Scripture, I propose through divine assistance: (1.) To speak of the wide extent of Jehovah’s government: “the Lord reigneth”. (2.) To remind you of the essential properties of His providence, towards mankind in general and His redeemed in particular. (3.) To point out to you the application of this extensive subject, which is suggested by the text and the context.^2
- To excite the ardour of your devotion and lead you to join, with understanding, in the song of the adoring hosts above, let us contemplate the wide extent of the omnipotent Jehovah’s government. The Lord reigneth, says our text; or, as it is expressed in the Psalms, “The Lord hath prepared His throne in the heavens; and His kingdom ruleth over all” (103:19). Memorable words, commanding at once our trust, submission, obedience and joy. Independent of all created aid, He Himself has prepared and established His throne, so that it cannot be shaken by all the furious attacks of earth or hell. This throne of God is in the heaven of heavens; there He reigns in royal majesty; and from thence extends His sovereign authority to all around and all beneath – to all His creatures and all their actions. His kingdom rules over all: (1) over angels of light, (2) over fiends of darkness, and (3) over mankind of every kindred, nation and language.
(1.) Let us meditate on the government and providence of God as it relates to the holy angels in heaven. Here the aid of faith is necessary, for these happy spirits are invisible to human view. Thus it is only belief of what Scripture reveals that can make us acquainted with them. The Bible tells us all that we need to know about their nature, number and work. There they are called the host of heaven, an innumerable company of angels, ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands. They are continually employed in ascribing glory to God in the highest, harkening to His commands and doing His will. With unceasing rapture they celebrate the riches of redeeming love; with unwearied alacrity they minister to the heirs of salvation and fulfil whatever is the pleasure of their almighty King.
O joyful discovery! By faith we behold myriads of superior intelligent creatures perpetually praising and serving the God whom we are to serve. Do not say then, humble worshipper, that you are left alone and unsupported in your regard for the honour of religion, that you have no one to encourage your zeal for God and no one to accompany you in the path of obedience. Far from being alone in your zeal for the glory of God, an innumerable company of angels join with you in the same service. Like you, but in a manner that is vastly superior, they contemplate and admire and worship and obey.
These countless hosts of angels excel all other intelligent beings in wisdom and strength; they are closely allied to God; they are completely blessed in His presence; and they enjoy constant communion with their Maker. They are willing subjects of His kingdom and government, and under His sovereign dominion, they are always obedient to His royal command and gladly serve Him with all their extensive active powers.
He often sends them on important errands to mankind, either to punish iniquity, or for the joy of the righteous. When the firstborn in Egypt were to be cut off in one night, an angel was commissioned for that memorable service. And when the army of Sennacherib was justly doomed to immediate destruction, angels from heaven were made the ministers of divine indignation. On the other hand, these benevolent beings were sent to deliver Lot from Sodom, to comfort Jacob at Bethel, to strengthen Elisha at Dothan, to inform the watchful shepherds at Bethlehem that a Saviour had been born, even Christ the Lord. They willingly ministered to this Saviour in the days of His sorrow; they adorned the triumphs of His exaltation, when He ascended up on high, leading captivity captive. In all this they fulfilled the pleasure of Him who is the Lord of hosts, who has established His throne in the heavens, and who does His will among the armies above.
Daily the angels minister to every heir of salvation. They rejoice at his conversion; they witness his devotion; they mark with gladness his Christian conduct; they guard his midnight hours; they attend his tottering steps in the days of declining health; they surround his dying bed and introduce him to the world of happy spirits and welcome him to the mansions of eternal bliss.
Such is the government of God over holy angels: the subjects of His kingdom; they obey what He commands and serve Him with perfect love and perfect joy; they are immutably confirmed in a state of unspeakable happiness; and they minister to the heirs of salvation by ways unknown to us. Alleluia; the Lord God omnipotent reigneth and is King of glory; many angels are about His throne and ascribe blessing and dominion to Him who lives for ever, and to the Lamb that was slain.
(2.) Let us next turn our attention to God’s rule over the powers of darkness. Let us see, with adoring joy, how their malignity is restrained, how their furious rage is bounded, and all their stratagems turned into artillery against themselves. These wretched spirits were once angels of light and continued for a time perfect in wisdom, purity and bliss. But, proudly aspiring to be independent of the God who made them and ungratefully rebelling against His authority, they brought upon themselves wretchedness and ruin, were banished from heaven, cast into the place of torment and doomed to irrecoverable vengeance. Ever since that apostasy and condemnation, they have been the determined foes of God and of righteousness, and never do they experience one moment’s mitigation of their unutterable anguish, except perhaps when hoping to thwart the designs of the Almighty and when trying to prevent mankind from doing His will.
For holy ends they have been permitted, in God’s unsearchable wisdom, to set up a kingdom in opposition to the cause of God and His Christ. With unwearied vigilance and unceasing stratagem, they endeavour to entice mankind from the path of commanded duty. And, alas, their success in every age is marvellous and sad. Many are led captive by the snares of these malignant spirits; many are the children of the evil one; many believe and obey Satan rather than God, doing the works of their father the devil, resembling him in their evil dispositions and uniting with him in opposing the interests of holiness.
But Almighty God reigns, and His kingdom shall prevail. He who was manifested to destroy the works of the devil, who even in His state of humiliation dispossessed legions and delivered men from the cruel influence of Satan – this almighty King of Zion holds Satan bound in chains and says to the furious tempter: Hitherto shalt thou go, but no further; here shall thy proud rage be stayed. This exalted Lord of lords governs the invisible worlds and has the keys of death and hell; He beholds all the stratagems of the artful seducer of souls; He gives His people strength to resist the devil, to stand in the evil day, to vanquish the powers of darkness, and to be more than conquerors through the grace of Christ.
In many nations and in many hearts, the empire of Satan seems so firmly established that it can never be overthrown; yet He whose kingdom rules over all shall arise and plead His own cause; He will make the nations obedient to His word, will deliver an elect world from the bondage of the great adversary, and will bring Jews and Gentiles, barbarians and Scythians, bond and free, to the clear light and glorious liberty of the children of God. Before long, the omnipotent Lord of Zion will take to Himself His great power, and the accuser of the brethren will be cast out. Before long that tremendous day shall come to which Satan looks forward with agonising horror – that day of final judgement when his total overthrow shall be accomplished, when he shall be constrained to bow to the dire irreversible service of never-ending misery.
Such is the mysterious and righteous government of God over the devil and his angels. They are now permitted to tempt, and seemingly to triumph, so that the wisdom, power and grace of the great God may appear more illustrious in translating careless captive sinners from darkness to light; in enabling feeble, timid believers to fight and conquer; in extending the triumphs of the gospel through those lands where Satan has his seat, and in hastening on the blissful period when a spiritual, holy, everlasting kingdom shall be established. “Alleluia; for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.” True and righteous are His judgements; He shall judge the great deceiver which did corrupt the earth and shall cast him into the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, where the smoke of his torment shall ascend for ever and ever.
(3.) Having reminded you that the dominion of the glorious Jehovah extends to the host of heaven and to the fiends of hell, let us now turn our attention to His government of the children of men on earth. Here a most rich, varied and wide scene opens before us – involved indeed with clouds and darkness, if viewed only by the dim eye of natural reason, but bright and joyful when contemplated through the light of revelation and by the eye of faith. Then we can clearly perceive that God is King of all the earth and can see that the Almighty is regulating every motion in the complicated machinery of His providence.
By Him kings reign, princes decree justice and kingdoms rise and fall; He lays low the proud monarch of Egypt and sends the imperious King of Babylon to feed with the beasts of the field; He crowns with victory the arms of Cyrus and says that he will do all God’s pleasure “though thou hast not known Me”. Those astonishing changes in empires, which seem to arise merely from the fury of the people or the ambition of princes, are under the control of Him who sits on the floods and directs the storm, who mocks the projects of princes and laughs to scorn the monarchs of the earth, who defeats the enterprises of the crafty and makes His people’s fiercest foes the instruments of safety and good to His chosen. Alleluia; the Lord reigneth. Thine, O Lord, is the kingdom, power and glory; Thou changest the times and the seasons; Thou dashest into dishonour the towering hopes of the mighty; and Thou exaltest to victory the defeated captives doomed to destruction. All kings of the earth should bow down before Thee; all kindreds of the people shall do Thee homage.
As God is King of kings, so He is the refuge of the needy and the Father of the fatherless in His holy habitation. His care is not confined to the mighty and the noble; He pleads the cause of the destitute; He delivers the oppressed from deceit and violence, and is the stay of those whom no one regards; He beholds the sorrowful, pities the afflicted and does not overlook a blind Bartimaeus, a wretched Lazarus, or even a starving prodigal. Thus princes and people, the mighty and the lowly are in the hands of the Lord, and His most righteous government extends to all ranks, kindreds and nations.
But let us come nearer home; let us behold the text verified in our own situations, and let us admire the providence which has cared for us from our earliest infancy and so graciously ordered all our concerns. How has it come about that you are the children, not of idolaters, but of Christian parents? To whom belongs the praise for all the merciful circumstances relating to your birth, infancy and childhood? And how is it that, amidst the thousands who die in their early years, you have been spared in the land of the living and have been blessed with health, food and clothing? To all such questions God’s children may reply in the language of Scripture: “Thy hands have made me and fashioned me”; “By Thee have I been holden up from the womb”; “Thou art my trust from my youth”; my praise shall be ever of Thee.
But the progress of life, as well as its beginning, is from the Lord. He has nourished and brought us up as children, has made us dwell in safety and kept our life from the power of the grave; He has healed our distresses, heard our supplications and crowned us with tender mercies. Our various situations in life, our worldly calling, our success in business, our relations and home, though seemingly accidental, are ascribed in Scripture to the care, the guidance and the control of God’s providence. The great Lord of all appoints our place, assigns our work and gives to all life, breath and all things. Look back on your past days; remember the way by which Jehovah has led you; and behold Him thwarting your plans, disappointing the schemes of your kindest friends, raising up unexpected benefactors, making cross occurrences productive of much benefit, and making encounters that seemed accidental to be the origin of important events in life.
But here let me particularly remind you that in His all-governing providence, He has specially regarded your spiritual interests. To Him you owe those distinguished religious privileges with which you are favoured and those precious means of grace to which you have free access. To Him also you owe pious parents, who train up their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, and faithful pastors who warn their hearers to flee from God’s wrath, and those who may kindly beseech you to shun the path in which destroyers go. To Him we owe the living oracles of truth, the peaceful sanctuary, the reviving sacrament of the Supper, the liberty of prayer and the communion of saints.
He has not dealt thus with everyone; it therefore becomes you to adopt the language of the text, ascribing grateful hosannas to the Lord God omnipotent, to whom you are so much indebted. And God’s children ought to say, from a sincere heart: Here we raise our Ebenezer, for hitherto the Lord has helped us and He has done all things well. You may thankfully adopt this acknowledgment, not only for the evident mercies already mentioned, but also for the adverse circumstances you have experienced. Your afflictions do not spring from the dust, nor come by chance; they were sent in mercy and wisely timed to humble and to try you – to chastise your offences and reclaim your wandering steps, to reveal and remove your secret corruptions, to test and improve your spiritual graces, to increase your faith, and to exercise your submission and patience.