Chapter BY Chapter

Revelation 15

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"Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and amazing, seven angels with seven plagues, which are the last, for with them the wrath of God is finished.

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And I saw what appeared to be a sea of glass mingled with fire—and also those who had conquered the beast and its image and the number of its name, standing beside the sea of glass with harps of God in their hands.  And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying,

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“Great and amazing are your deeds,

    O Lord God the Almighty!

Just and true are your ways,

    O King of the nations!

Who will not fear, O Lord,

    and glorify your name?

For you alone are holy.

    All nations will come

    and worship you,

for your righteous acts have been revealed.”

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After this I looked, and the sanctuary of the tent of witness in heaven was opened, and out of the sanctuary came the seven angels with the seven plagues, clothed in pure, bright linen, with golden sashes around their chests.  And one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God who lives forever and ever, and the sanctuary was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power, and no one could enter the sanctuary until the seven plagues of the seven angels were finished.

 

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In chapter 13, we learned that the Anti-Christ is going to require that everyone worship him and take his mark on their forehead or on their right hand.  If they refuse, they will go into captivity or be killed.  In chapter 14, we learned that God has a plan to deal with this evil.  Since God is a righteous God, and because he loves his people, God will take out his wrath on the earth and reap those that take the mark of the beast.  Now in chapter 15, we start to learn more detail about how God is going to reap the evil ones on the earth. 

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Verse 1,

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“Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and amazing, seven angels with seven plagues, which are the last, for with them the wrath of God is finished.”

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7 more plagues.  At first, we had just 7 seals with plagues, but the 7th seal was a set of more plagues – 7 trumpets.  Each trumpet announced another plague, but the 7th trumpet did not announce a plague, but rather, it announced the mystery – the fact that God would now take the kingdom of the world for his kingdom.  This would be an action that would come in more detail.  And now we get to the beginning of that detail.  There are now going to be 7 more plagues.  But these are the last set of plagues – I promise. 

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Verse 2,

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“And I saw what appeared to be a sea of glass mingled with fire—and also those who had conquered the beast and its image and the number of its name, standing beside the sea of glass with harps of God in their hands.”

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So, all those that conquered the beast and its image are now standing in heaven with harps of God in their hands.  Quite frankly, I think that these harps of God are going to be electric guitars with really huge amplifiers. 

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What does this imply?

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(No, not the part about the harps)

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(Those that conquered the beast are in heaven because they were slain for their faith.)

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Then what?

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Verse 3,

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“And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying,”

Now the following song is not exactly like the song of Moses.  Notice it says that they sing the song of Moses AND the song of the Lamb.  What we can assume is that they are alluding to it here.  Thus john is saying they sang the song of Moses, and this song.  Let’s look at the song of Moses and see what it says there.

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Actually, there are 2 songs of Moses.  The first is in Exodus 15:1-18,

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“I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously;

    the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea.

The Lord is my strength and my song,

    and he has become my salvation;

this is my God, and I will praise him,

    my father's God, and I will exalt him.

The Lord is a man of war;

    the Lord is his name.

“Pharaoh's chariots and his host he cast into the sea,

    and his chosen officers were sunk in the Red Sea.

The floods covered them;

    they went down into the depths like a stone.

Your right hand, O Lord, glorious in power,

    your right hand, O Lord, shatters the enemy.

In the greatness of your majesty you overthrow your adversaries;

    you send out your fury; it consumes them like stubble.

At the blast of your nostrils the waters piled up;

    the floods stood up in a heap;

    the deeps congealed in the heart of the sea.

The enemy said, ‘I will pursue, I will overtake,

    I will divide the spoil, my desire shall have its fill of them.

    I will draw my sword; my hand shall destroy them.’

You blew with your wind; the sea covered them;

    they sank like lead in the mighty waters.

“Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods?

    Who is like you, majestic in holiness,

    awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?

You stretched out your right hand;

    the earth swallowed them.

“You have led in your steadfast love the people whom you have redeemed;

    you have guided them by your strength to your holy abode.

The peoples have heard; they tremble;

    pangs have seized the inhabitants of Philistia.

Now are the chiefs of Edom dismayed;

    trembling seizes the leaders of Moab;

    all the inhabitants of Canaan have melted away.

Terror and dread fall upon them;

    because of the greatness of your arm, they are still as a stone,

till your people, O Lord, pass by,

    till the people pass by whom you have purchased.

You will bring them in and plant them on your own mountain,

    the place, O Lord, which you have made for your abode,

    the sanctuary, O Lord, which your hands have established.

The Lord will reign forever and ever.”

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And the next song is in Deuteronomy 32:1-43,

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“Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak,

    and let the earth hear the words of my mouth.

May my teaching drop as the rain,

    my speech distill as the dew,

like gentle rain upon the tender grass,

    and like showers upon the herb.

For I will proclaim the name of the Lord;

    ascribe greatness to our God!

“The Rock, his work is perfect,

    for all his ways are justice.

A God of faithfulness and without iniquity,

    just and upright is he.

They have dealt corruptly with him;

    they are no longer his children because they are blemished;

    they are a crooked and twisted generation.

Do you thus repay the Lord,

    you foolish and senseless people?

Is not he your father, who created you,

    who made you and established you?

Remember the days of old;

    consider the years of many generations;

ask your father, and he will show you,

    your elders, and they will tell you.

When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance,

    when he divided mankind,

he fixed the borders of the peoples

    according to the number of the sons of God.

But the Lord's portion is his people,

    Jacob his allotted heritage.

“He found him in a desert land,

    and in the howling waste of the wilderness;

he encircled him, he cared for him,

    he kept him as the apple of his eye.

Like an eagle that stirs up its nest,

    that flutters over its young,

spreading out its wings, catching them,

    bearing them on its pinions,

the Lord alone guided him,

    no foreign god was with him.

He made him ride on the high places of the land,

    and he ate the produce of the field,

and he suckled him with honey out of the rock,

    and oil out of the flinty rock.

Curds from the herd, and milk from the flock,

    with fat of lambs,

rams of Bashan and goats,

    with the very finest of the wheat—

    and you drank foaming wine made from the blood of the grape.

“But Jeshurun grew fat, and kicked;

    you grew fat, stout, and sleek;

then he forsook God who made him

    and scoffed at the Rock of his salvation.

They stirred him to jealousy with strange gods;

    with abominations they provoked him to anger.

They sacrificed to demons that were no gods,

    to gods they had never known,

to new gods that had come recently,

    whom your fathers had never dreaded.

You were unmindful of the Rock that bore you,

    and you forgot the God who gave you birth.

“The Lord saw it and spurned them,

    because of the provocation of his sons and his daughters.

And he said, ‘I will hide my face from them;

    I will see what their end will be,

for they are a perverse generation,

    children in whom is no faithfulness.

They have made me jealous with what is no god;

    they have provoked me to anger with their idols.

So I will make them jealous with those who are no people;

    I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.

For a fire is kindled by my anger,

    and it burns to the depths of Sheol,

devours the earth and its increase,

    and sets on fire the foundations of the mountains.

“‘And I will heap disasters upon them;

    I will spend my arrows on them;

they shall be wasted with hunger,

    and devoured by plague

    and poisonous pestilence;

I will send the teeth of beasts against them,

    with the venom of things that crawl in the dust.

Outdoors the sword shall bereave,

    and indoors terror,

for young man and woman alike,

    the nursing child with the man of gray hairs.

I would have said, “I will cut them to pieces;

    I will wipe them from human memory,”

had I not feared provocation by the enemy,

    lest their adversaries should misunderstand,

lest they should say, “Our hand is triumphant,

    it was not the Lord who did all this.”’

“For they are a nation void of counsel,

    and there is no understanding in them.

If they were wise, they would understand this;

    they would discern their latter end!

How could one have chased a thousand,

    and two have put ten thousand to flight,

unless their Rock had sold them,

    and the Lord had given them up?

For their rock is not as our Rock;

    our enemies are by themselves.

For their vine comes from the vine of Sodom

    and from the fields of Gomorrah;

their grapes are grapes of poison;

    their clusters are bitter;

their wine is the poison of serpents

    and the cruel venom of asps.

“‘Is not this laid up in store with me,

    sealed up in my treasuries?

Vengeance is mine, and recompense,

    for the time when their foot shall slip;

for the day of their calamity is at hand,

    and their doom comes swiftly.’

For the Lord will vindicate his people

    and have compassion on his servants,

when he sees that their power is gone

    and there is none remaining, bond or free.

Then he will say, ‘Where are their gods,

    the rock in which they took refuge,

who ate the fat of their sacrifices

    and drank the wine of their drink offering?

Let them rise up and help you;

    let them be your protection!

“‘See now that I, even I, am he,

    and there is no god beside me;

I kill and I make alive;

    I wound and I heal;

    and there is none that can deliver out of my hand.

For I lift up my hand to heaven

    and swear, As I live forever,

if I sharpen my flashing sword

    and my hand takes hold on judgment,

I will take vengeance on my adversaries

    and will repay those who hate me.

I will make my arrows drunk with blood,

    and my sword shall devour flesh—

with the blood of the slain and the captives,

    from the long-haired heads of the enemy.’

“Rejoice with him, O heavens;

    bow down to him, all gods,

for he avenges the blood of his children

    and takes vengeance on his adversaries.

He repays those who hate him

    and cleanses his people's land.”

And now for the song of the Lamb in Revelation 15:

“Great and amazing are your deeds,

    O Lord God the Almighty!

Just and true are your ways,

    O King of the nations!

Who will not fear, O Lord,

    and glorify your name?

For you alone are holy.

    All nations will come

    and worship you,

for your righteous acts have been revealed.”

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What parallels can you find between the songs of Moses and the song of the Lamb sung by those that had victory over the beast?

1. They were both being pursued by an evil ruler.

2. They were both rescued by the mighty deeds of God.

3. They both talk about God’s righteousness and holiness.

4. They both talk about other nations.

 

Notice that the song of the Lamb is claiming some Old Testament prophesies, namely:

Psalm 86:9,

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“All the nations you have made shall come

    and worship before you, O Lord,

    and shall glorify your name.”

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And Isaiah 66:23,

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“From new moon to new moon,

    and from Sabbath to Sabbath,

all flesh shall come to worship before me,

declares the Lord.”

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We learned last week that the beast and those that take his mark will be tormented day and night forever and ever.  Those that were victorious over the beast already know this, but it hasn’t started yet.  We know that those that follow the beast will be reaped from the earth, but it hasn’t happened yet.  We are just getting to the point where it is about to get to that point.  There are seven more plagues.  How are these going to be delivered?

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Verses 5 to 8,

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“After this I looked, and the sanctuary of the tent of witness in heaven was opened, and out of the sanctuary came the seven angels with the seven plagues, clothed in pure, bright linen, with golden sashes around their chests.  And one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God who lives forever and ever, and the sanctuary was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power, and no one could enter the sanctuary until the seven plagues of the seven angels were finished.”

The bowls of wrath coming right out of the tent of witness in heaven signifies that God is filling these bowls of wrath.  Remember, God is in the cloud above the mercy seat which is above the ark.  This is God’s wrath, and it will be stronger than any wrath ever meted out before. 

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There were also a couple of times that the smoke or cloud or glory of God filled the earthly tabernacle.

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When the tabernacle was completed in Exodus 40:34,

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“Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.”

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When Solomon completed constructing the temple in 2 Chronicles 5:13,

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“and it was the duty of the trumpeters and singers to make themselves heard in unison in praise and thanksgiving to the Lord), and when the song was raised, with trumpets and cymbals and other musical instruments, in praise to the Lord,

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“For he is good,

    for his steadfast love endures forever,”

the house, the house of the Lord, was filled with a cloud,”

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So, this is a very significant time.  This is a major milestone in God’s plan.

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God alone is holy. Why?

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Only God can bring about complete justice.

Only God can bring about complete peace.

Only God can give complete love.

Only God can give complete hope.

Only God can give true faith.

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Something to think about – God values your worship and praise.

Song: You Alone Are Worthy of My Praise - w/ Lyrics - Charlie Hall