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In the last chapter we saw that Revelation is a book of life. In this chapter we will see that it is a book of praise. In Revelation 5:8-14 there are the praises in the beginning of the book; then in 19:1-7 there are the praises again at the end. In between, in 7:9-12; 14:1-3; 15:2-4; as well as in other places, there are also praises. Revelation is really a book of praise.
Why are there so many praises in the book of Revelation? It is mainly for Christ. Christ has won the victory, Christ is victorious, and Christ is worthy. So all things in the heavens, on the earth, under the earth, and in the sea are praising Christ. If everything in the whole universe must praise, then what about the church? Should the church be silent? How poor Christianity is today! Not only those in the heavens, not only those on the earth, but even those under the earth and in the sea are praising. What about us? We have to take the lead to give more praises. We see how wrong Christianity is today. They build up their cathedrals and church buildings with stained-glass windows and make their places of so-called worship so dark. When you enter these places, it is so dark, and the roof is so steep that you are afraid to open your mouth. That kind of building keeps your mouth shut. Have you ever been in a Catholic cathedral? It simply frightens you into silence. Who did this? It was Satan.
So many Christians talk about 1 Corinthians 12, but they have missed the first three verses. Verse 1 says something about being spiritual, and verse 2 says that when the Corinthians were Gentiles, they were led away to dumb idols. All the idol worshippers are dumb worshippers. The word dumb in this verse does not mean that they were stupid, but that they made no sound. Dumb idols have dumb worshippers. All the worshippers of idols are silent. Once, I saw several hundred people worshipping idols without any voice; all of them were so dumb and silent. I have also seen Catholic churches in many places. I discovered that all the worshippers in the Catholic churches are also dumb. They go to some of the images and burn candles without any voice. They are so dumb and so silent.
Christianity teaches people that they must be silent when they worship God. Is there any scriptural ground for this? Acts 2:47 says that the early church was praising God. Can you praise God silently? In a sense, you may pray to God silently, but I do not believe you can praise God silently. Who can praise without uttering something? Do you see the subtlety of the enemy?
In a sense, the services of today’s Christian churches are almost a dumb worship. They have pastors to give the message, and the audience sits and listens. Everybody knows how to listen, but very few know how to praise God. They do not have any spiritual praising; what they have are the formal solos and the special numbers by the choir. We need to read the book of Revelation again. If in all realms of the entire universe everyone is praising, why must we keep silent? I am afraid that many Christians will be surprised that so many in the universe can praise, but they are not used to praising.
Suppose we were all to come into the meeting place in such a silent way: everyone sits quietly, waiting for the song leader to call a hymn; then the pastor offers a prayer and gives a sermon; then there is the benediction, and we are dismissed. Do you like this kind of meeting? You may say that you do not know how to praise, but at least you can say, “O Lord! Amen! Hallelujah!” At least you can shout, “Praise the Lord!” Everyone can sing that Jesus is the Lord! Of these two kinds of meetings, which do you prefer? Which do you think the Lord prefers? Do you prefer a noisy kind of meeting, or do you prefer a silent one? Regardless of how much you simply listen and hear, there is nearly nothing satisfying and refreshing; there is nearly nothing nourishing. But the more you say, “O Lord, Amen, Hallelujah! O Lord, Amen, Hallelujah!” the more you are satisfied. The more you sing it, the more you are refreshed and nourished. Why is this? It is because you are exercising your spirit to contact the Lord. The Lord is not a thought or doctrine. The Lord is the life-giving Spirit, and the Spirit is the breath. Christ is the intensified Spirit, the sevenfold breath. He is not waiting for us to understand Him; He is waiting for us to breathe Him in. The more we say, “O Lord, Amen, Hallelujah! O Lord, Amen, Hallelujah!” the more we breathe Him in. This is really good for our spirit, and it is really good for Him too. We can sense the inner satisfying, the inner watering, the inner refreshing, and the inner nourishing.
We simply need to know how to exercise our spirit. We were taught to understand, to listen, and to discern. We were taught to exercise our mind. In this way, the Lord is not the Spirit but a set of doctrines. This is why today’s Christianity is so dead. We must be assured that the Lord has turned the age from dead doctrines to the sevenfold living Spirit. Praise the Lord!
We all must learn to praise. Let us sing and praise Him and forget about our mind. We must often say or sing, “O Lord, Amen, Hallelujah! O Lord, Amen, Hallelujah!” This is the exercise of the spirit. The more we say, “O Lord, Amen, Hallelujah!” the more we breathe Him in. In the past we used the wrong organ. We used the mind instead of the spirit to contact the Lord. But John 4:24 says, “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit.” In the past we did not worship God in our spirit, but in our mind. Now the Lord wants to turn us from the mind to the spirit, from the doctrines to the Spirit. So we all must learn how to exercise our spirit to praise the Lord. This is the right organ for us to worship God.
The Lord is life, and life is in the Spirit, and life is the Spirit. The Spirit is called “the Spirit of life” (Rom. 8:2). “The words which I have spoken to you are spirit and are life” (John 6:63). When we touch the Spirit, we touch life. Life is in the Spirit, and the Spirit is just like the air. The Greek word for Spirit is pneuma, and this also means “air.” Today the Lord is the heavenly, divine pneuma to us. He is the air, the breath, and there is only one way to take in the breath—to breathe. If we try to learn, to listen, or to understand the breath, we get nothing. Christ is not Christianity; He is not a religion or a set of doctrines. He is the life-giving Spirit. He is the sevenfold Spirit, and as the Spirit He is the divine air, the heavenly breath for us to breathe.
Romans 5:10 says that we will be saved in the Lord’s life, and Romans 10:13 says that whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. If we put these two verses together, we see that we are saved by calling. Formerly, I thought that Romans 10:13 was only for the unbelievers. Since I had been saved already, I did not feel that I needed this verse. In a sense, we have been saved already, but in another sense, we still need to be saved. For instance, we still need to be saved from our temper. It may be a continual trouble to us. How then can we be saved from our temper? We can be saved not by the Lord’s death but by His life. How can we be saved in the Lord’s life? It is by “O Lord, Amen, Hallelujah! O Lord, Amen, Hallelujah! O Lord, Amen, Hallelujah!” This is the best secret to overcome our temper. Whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Call!
We must not think that our temper is a small thing. It is so small, but it is so troublesome. Let me ask you a question. Can you say that you have not lost your temper within the past seven days? I am afraid that you cannot say this. So we must not think that our temper is insignificant. It is so practically troublesome. But I have the secret of overcoming the temper. It is just by saying, “O Lord, Amen, Hallelujah! O Lord, Amen, Hallelujah!” Whenever the little temper comes to bother you, do not try to overcome it. You cannot overcome it, but you can say, “O Lord, Amen, Hallelujah!” and the temper is gone. Your temper is not lost but gone.
Husbands and wives, parents, and children are the best helpers of the devil to stir up our temper. But whenever these dear ones are doing their best in this way, we must say from deep within, “O Lord, Amen, Hallelujah! O Lord, Amen, Hallelujah!” Just try it. This is not being superstitious. The Bible tells us in 2 Chronicles 20:22 that when the people began to praise the Lord, the Lord set ambushes for the enemy. When we praise the Lord by saying, “O Lord, Amen, Hallelujah!” the ambushes will be set.
In Psalm 8:2 the word strength can also be rendered “praise.” So it could be read in this way: “Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings / You have established praise / Because of Your adversaries, / To stop the enemy and the avenger.” The Lord established strength with praise out of the mouths of the babes and sucklings. It is this that silences the enemy. It will not only defeat the enemy, but it will also shut the enemy’s mouth.
So we must learn to praise. The secret to overcome all situations is to praise. You may say that you do not know the Lord’s way for you. There is no need to know. Just praise the Lord. “Lord, I do not know Your way; I do not know, Lord. Hallelujah! I do not know, Lord. Amen! O Lord, Amen, Hallelujah! I simply do not know, Lord. But You know, Lord. Hallelujah!” If you will praise the Lord in this way for fifteen minutes, you will be clear. If you feel lonely, do not try to pray by begging for the Lord’s presence. Just say, “O Lord, Amen, Hallelujah! O Lord, Amen, Hallelujah! O Lord, Amen, Hallelujah!” In less than five minutes you will have the sense that the Lord is with you. You can get everything just by these four words: O Lord, Amen, Hallelujah! Sometimes it is even better to sing these words. Whatever you need, this praising will bring it to you. Poor Christianity! They have complicated matters with so many teachings and “spiritual” philosophies to exercise the mind. But praise the Lord! His way is so simple, so practical, so rich, so living, so refreshing, and so nourishing. We could use hundreds of words to describe it! “O Lord, Amen, Hallelujah! O Lord, Amen, Hallelujah!”
We should never look at ourselves. We are not good for praising. Only Christ is worthy. Look at Him! He is worthy! The Lamb is worthy to receive all the praises, glory, honor, and blessing. To praise in this way is not only food but also medicine. It not only nourishes; it also heals.
Look at Christ, and look at the church. Do not say that the church is poor. No, the church is golden. If you say that the church is poor, sooner or later you will lose the case. If not today, then tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. Someday the church will be so golden. I have already spoken of the heathen prophet Balaam, who was hired by Balak to curse the people of God. At that time the people of God were really a mess, and Balak thought that because of their poor situation it was a good opportunity for the prophet Balaam to curse them. Then Balaam tried to curse them, but when he opened his mouth, he said, “He [God] has not beheld iniquity in Jacob” (Num. 23:21). Is that not strange? God said through the mouth of Balaam that He has not seen any sin among the people of Israel. Balak was troubled because he thought the people of Israel were full of sin, yet Balaam said that God did not behold any sin among them. Then Balaam was brought to another point of view and was asked to curse them again. Balak thought that if he gave him more money, he would curse them this time. But Balaam opened his mouth and said, “How fair are your tents, O Jacob” (24:5). Do not say that the people of God are a mess. A thousand years to the Lord are but one day. He will make them golden someday. Do not say that the church in Los Angeles is poor. You must say that the church in Los Angeles is really golden.
At the time the book of Revelation was written, I believe that the apostle John was greatly disappointed. By that time nearly all the local churches were degraded and poor, and he was in exile on the island of Patmos. John must have been disappointed and troubled with the situation in the local churches. But he heard a great voice, and he turned and saw seven golden lampstands. There was nothing impure; every stand was golden. Can you believe that all the local churches are golden? We must believe this. One day, sooner or later, there will be a great voice in the heavens saying that Babylon is fallen, and the Lamb’s wife is ready. The Lord will perform it. We must be fully assured that everything will be so marvelous. Do not be shortsighted. We must learn to have foresight. We need the foresight to see that the local churches will be so golden and transformed. Let us praise the Lord for Christ, and let us also praise Him for the church. We do have something to praise about, and we do have something to praise with.
The more you say that the church is poor, the poorer it becomes in your eyes. But we must forget what we think and what we feel and put our trust in the Lord. We must have the foresight in the Lord that all the local churches in all the localities are good. We must all learn to praise the Lord in this way.
The Word says, “Whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Rom. 10:13). It also says, “The same Lord is Lord of all and rich to all who call upon Him” (v. 12). Do not think that to call is to pray. What is it then to call? “O Lord, Amen, Hallelujah!” It is even something more than this. Suppose your house is on fire. Do you pray? Do you go to your neighbor’s house and ask him to please do something to help you? That is what it means to pray. Then what is it to call? “Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire!” Whenever my temper was stirred up, I used to pray, “Lord, help me not to lose my temper.” But eventually, I mostly always lost my temper. But now when my temper is stirred up, I just say, “O Lord, Amen, Hallelujah! O Lord, Amen, Hallelujah!” and my temper is gone. We must learn to call. This is not a long-distance call; this is a local call, and the line is always open. We must learn to call on the Lord, not just to pray.
We must also learn to praise the Lord. Calling is better than praying, and praising is better than calling. The best call is to praise, and praising is the best calling and the best breathing.
The Lord has turned the age. We should not be old anymore; we must give up the old way. I do not know what the new way is, but the principle is this: in the new way, teaching and preaching are not the main thing. Exercising the spirit is the main thing, either by praising, by praying, or by witnessing. This is why the last book of the Bible is a book of praise. In this last age we must be praising churches, and all our meetings must be praising meetings.
