After these things. What things? The destruction of "MYSTICAL BABYLON" and the restored CITY OF BABYLON. The first "Alleluia" is for the destruction of the "GREAT WHORE"--"Mystical Babylon." The second "Alleluia" is for the destruction of the "CITY OF BABYLON" whose smoke rose up for ever and ever, which could not be said of "Mystical Babylon" but only of a CITY. In the preceding chapter, verse 20, at the destruction of the "City of Babylon," we read--"Rejoice over her, thou Heaven, and ye Holy Apostles and Prophets; for God hath avenged you on her." Here we hear the rejoicing. What the merchants, and shipmasters, and sailors, and traders, weep and wail and mourn over, the--"Fall of Babylon," Heaven rejoices over. Here we see the difference between Heaven and Earth's opinion of the these Divine Judgments.
Here we have the first occurrence in the New Testament of the word "HALLELUJAH." It is a compound Hebrew word "HAL-LELU-JAH" ("Praise-Ye-Jah"). It occurs 24 times in the Old Testament, and 4 times in the New Testament. In the Old Testament the word is always translated--"Praise ye the Lord," in the New Testament the Greek word "ALLELUIA" is left untranslated, but in the New Version the word "HALLELUJAH" is substituted for "Alleluia." Four times the word "Hallelujah" is uttered in this chapter, not only by a great multitude, but by the "Four Beasts," and by the "Four and Twenty Elders." It is the "cry of victory" in which praise is ascribed to God. They also sang "Hallelujah" because the time had come for the "MARRIAGE OF THE LAMB."