REVELATION 15
Read Revelation 15:1-8
This chapter continues the thought of Chapter 14; distinguishing between those who are faithful to God and bear his name, and those who carry the sign of the evil one. John had another vision of heaven, this time with all in heaven praising and worshipping the victory of Jesus over sin and death. There is mention of seven angels and seven plagues – that number seven again! How many times have we seen that? We recognise that it symbolises perfection and completion, which is only to be expected because we, through John’s eyes, are looking into heaven. There are seven bowls of wrath, that is, God’s righteous judgement, and these will feature in the coming chapters.
The inhabitants of heaven, the faithful, are singing the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb. Moses has two songs in the Old Testament. The first song, in Exodus 15, expresses praise to the Lord for the deliverance of the Israelites from the pursuing Egyptians at the Red Sea, “I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously” (Exodus 15:1 AV), “The Lord will reign for ever and ever” (Exodus 15:18). The second song of Moses (Deuteronomy 32:1-43) is another great song of praise to the Lord for who he is and what he has done for his people. The song that the faithful in heaven sing is in the same vein. It speaks of God’s victory over evil by the lamb, none other than Jesus. It is a song of victory. It is a song that speaks of God’s greatness and holiness. It also makes clear that all will come before him and worship him and in this we see echoes of both the Old and New Testament. Isaiah 2:3 says, “Many people will come and say, come let us go up to the mountain of the Lord to the house of the God of Jacob”. In Philippians 2:10 we read, “At the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow, in heaven, on earth and under the earth and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord”.
In Jesus, God has already defeated the enemy. He is king of kings and lord of lords.
The chapter ends with a picture of the angels going out from heaven to bring God’s judgement on the unfaithful, those who have turned against God and have allied themselves with the beast, that is, those who have chosen the way of the world rather than the way of God (See Psalm 1, “Blessed is the man who does not walk in the way of the wicked . . . the wicked will not stand in the judgement. For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish”).
It is not fashionable these days to talk about judgement, even within the church. It is thought to be too downbeat and not encouraging. But the Bible speaks of judgement throughout – Jesus spoke about judgement several times. Judgement is a reality. For the faithful, for those who trust in Jesus as Lord and saviour there is nothing to worry about because he has already paid the price for our sins on the cross. For those who have rejected him, they will be judged and found wanting and will suffer the consequence – eternal separation from him.