P |
RAISE ye the LORD: for it is good to sing praises unto our God; for it is pleasant; and praise is comely. 2 The LORD doth build up Jerusalem: he gathereth together the outcasts of Israel. 3 He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds. 4 He telleth the number of the stars; he calleth them all by their names. 5 Great is our Lord, and of great power: his understanding is infinite. 6 The LORD lifteth up the meek: he casteth the wicked down to the ground. 7 Sing unto the LORD with thanksgiving; sing praise upon the harp unto our God: 8 Who covereth the heaven with clouds, who prepareth rain for the earth, who maketh grass to grow upon the mountains. 9 He giveth to the beast his food, and to the young ravens which cry. 10 He delighteth not in the strength of the horse: he taketh not pleasure in the legs of a man. 11 The LORD taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy. 12 Praise the LORD, O Jerusalem; praise thy God, O Zion. (Psalm 147:1-12)
There is an exclamation of profound joy uttered during the exalted worship of God Almighty – ALLELUIA! It is derived from two Hebrew words – Hallal (all praise), & Yahh (God) – Praise ye the Lord! It is both a shout of adoration and victorious praise. In the Book of Revelations, it is used at the climax of the world system and inauguration of the heavenly and righteous. It is the final victory of our Lord over the devil and the powers of darkness that have for so long hurt the earth and her inhabitants. It is the beginning of the reign of the saints. “And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God: For true and righteous are his judgments: for he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand. And again they said, Alleluia. And her smoke rose up for ever and ever. And the four and twenty elders and the four beasts fell down and worshipped God that sat on the throne, saying, Amen; Alleluia.” (Revelation 19:1-4)
We have refined our prayers more through human desire than through divine reverence for the Almighty in failing to praise His Holy Name with the same measure of earnest devotion as that with which we ask our petitions. He deserves our praise at the beginning of every prayer as well at its conclusion.
There was a span of time, in the glimmering past, during which the church did, indeed, pay exalted homage and praise to the Lord of Glory. It was a time of merciless persecution and righteous indignation at the evils being foisted upon those who followed in the Way of the Lord Jesus Christ. A remnant of the Church was preserved and protected in rocks and crevices of the underground Church being persecuted by the Great Whore (false church) that has, for centuries past, sat upon many waters. (see Revelations 17:1-6) The false church had made merchandise and profit from her vassals, but the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ remained joyful in their hurt and faithful to His Name.
There is even a great military and bloodless victory won by the ancient British church during the Lenten Season of 430 A.D. by the British Church under counsel of bishops from Galicia. (NOTE: for those who may not be aware, the Church in England existed centuries before the coming of the Roman Catholic Church). The Gallican bishops were in Britain to put down a pervasive heresy called Pelagianism – a belief that denies original sin and asserts that man is capable of turning to God and serving Him without the benefit of divine Grace. While these bishops were in Britain, the ruthless barbarian tribes of the north forced passage through the northern chain of forts previously constructed by Agricola and Hadrian endangering the southern kingdoms.
Under the leadership of Galician Bishops Germanus and Lupus, an army was organized and rushed north to stop the invasion. Both sides were comprised of simple-minded combatants, but the superior educational training of the bishops conceived a tactic they perhaps learned from Gideon of the Old Testament. The Britons deployed under cover in the wood-lines overlooking the valley through which the barbarians were expected to come. When fully exposed in the valley, the clergy of the British Church, at the signal of Bishop Germanus, began to shout, ALLELUIA! All along the line the others took up the call with one voice. The shouts echoed and reverberated from the hill slopes and were amplified by those slopes. The barbarians fled in disarray and panic casting their weapons to the ground. A great victory was achieved without the shedding of blood on either side by shouting of the very biblical term, ALLELUIA! Perhaps the words of the Prophet Isaiah apply: “11 So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.” (Isaiah 55:11)
