Anticipating the Final Victory | Rev 15

Have you ever watched a movie premiere in the theaters where there is a hard fought battle between the good guys and the bad guys, and then just when all hope seems lost, the good guys muster their last bit of strength and pulls out the victory and all the people in the theater cheer because the dastardly villain has been defeated?

Why are they cheering? They cheer justice. They cheer victory over evil. They cheer because the hard fought battle is over, and the good guys no longer have to fear or battle the bad guys any more.

This is how one author put it:

“Why is there jubilation in the theater when the evil villain gets his comeuppance? Why does the whole class go home encouraged when the bully finally gets sent to the principle’s office? Why do we feel so satisfied at hearing the stories of Harriet Tubman’s exploits along the Underground Railroad in the American South? It is because we have a built-in sense of justice that craves to see the right prevail and the tyrants get their due. And the Darker the injustice and the evil becomes, the stronger and deeper the rejoicing will be over the defeat.” Buist Fanning ZECNT, Revelation pg

As Jim noted last week, it is common for us to be uneasy about the wrath of God, and the idea that it is celebrated is hard to digest. We like to talk about His love, but not His justice.

I think part of the reason it makes us so uncomfortable is because we know that we are all guilty before him, and we don’t want to dwell upon the reality that wrath ought to befall us as well.

Furthermore, our culture has conditioned us to believe that the worst thing you can do to someone is cause offense, and what could be more offensive than telling someone that they deserve God’s wrath and hellfire?

So we are timid about the subject.

But the subject, for the believer, should not be one that makes us uneasy. We serve a Warrior King, Amen? He fights for His own! And he will bring everything into subjection to Himself.

Today’s passage is the final stage-setting passage for the final judgments to befall the earth and those who dwell upon it. And in this passage, there is joy and singing at the coming of the wrath of God.

Why? Why singing?

Because God’s wrath is not just about God getting even. It’s not really about that at all. It is about justice triumphing over injustice. It is about good overcoming evil, light conquering darkness. And therein we find our own deliverance from all that is wrong.

Allow me to read through our text this morning. Revelation 15.

Revelation 15 LSB

Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous, seven angels who have seven plagues, which are the last, because in them the wrath of God is finished. Then I saw something like a sea of glass mixed with fire, and those who have overcome the beast and his image and the number of his name, standing on the sea of glass, having harps of God. And they sang the song of Moses, the slave of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, “Great and marvelous are Your works, O Lord God, the Almighty; Righteous and true are Your ways, King of the nations! “Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify Your name? For You alone are holy; For all the nations will come and worship before You, For Your righteous acts have been revealed.” And after these things I looked, and the sanctuary of the tabernacle of testimony in heaven was opened, and the seven angels who have the seven plagues came out of the sanctuary, clothed in linen, clean and bright, and girded around their chests with golden sashes. Then 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 was able to enter the sanctuary until the seven plagues of the seven angels were finished.

The first thing we see from this text is that final victory is anticipated by the final plagues.

The Final Plagues Anticipate Final Victory

Our text begins with John shifting the scene. Last week we saw The Lord treading out the winepress of His wrath, a prophetic foreshadowing of the judgment to come. Now the scene shifts back to heaven where the final stage-setting pieces are put into place before the judgment comes.

John sees another sign in heaven, and this one is called great and marvelous. These words are used separately throughout the Scriptures, but only here and in vs 3 do both these words appear together in one place.

This makes an emphatic point about the nature of the judgment to come.

John has seen some amazing things! He has seen wonderous things! He has beheld the glory of the Lord. But these two adjectives come together only here. The signs are great. Large. Significant. The scale and magnitude of the works of God.

The signs are marvelous. Wonderous. This word is used to speak of the wonder of the Gospel, and the splendor of God’s kingdom.

Think of some of the great wonders of our world. Niagara Falls. Grand Canyon. Yellowstone. Glacier National Park. I love the videos of Going-To-The-Sun Road in Glacier National Park. It’s on my Bucket list. It’s so grand, so glorious, that one adjective doesn’t do it justice.

Here we have a great and marvelous sign: seven angels who have seven plagues, the last ones.

I think its easy for us to understand why they are great in terms of magnitude. Why marvelous?

These are the last ones. In them the wrath of God is finished. These are the last plagues. There will not be any others. These are the final plagues, because in them the wrath of God is finished.

Final Victory is right around the corner.

It’s marvelous because justice is finally accomplished.

It’s marvelous because in them wrath is done. No more wrath to pour out.

It’s marvelous because it is the final vindication of the saints.

It’s marvelous because it represents final deliverance for those who have been martyred for the Lord.

Do you consider the wrath of God marvelous? Are you fearful to speak of God’s wrath? We would all do well to orient ourselves to the text of scripture and the God it reveals. We would do well to delight in the justice-accomplishing God in a world full of genuine injustice.

On an apologetic note, there are some who claim that the God of the OT is different from the God of the NT. They say he is angry and wrathful in the old and loving and kind in the new. I’d be willing to bet they are not familiar with the content of Revelation. Clearly the same God! And of course, there are many examples of God’s gracious and loving interaction with His people in the OT. Same God, both testaments.

On a polemical note, there are some who say that all or most of Revelation was fulfilled in AD 70 with the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple. This cannot possibly be the case in light of this verse. These are the last plagues. In these the wrath of God is finished. Vs 7 says the bowls are full of the wrath of God. As we get into chapter 16 we will see that there is no way these were fulfilled in AD 70. The implications for saying that they have been fulfilled already are staggering. These await a future fulfillment.

These are the last plagues, they anticipate the final victory, and the next verses show us they are celebrated by the overcoming saints.

The Final Plagues are Celebrated by the Overcoming Saints

Notice the details in vs 2. Sea of glass mixed with fire. Last time we saw the sea of glass was chapter 4, but back then it looked like crystal. Here is is mixed with fire, like a furnace heating up and anticipating the outpouring of God’s wrath.

Present here are those who have overcome the beast, his image, and the number of his name.

Those who have overcome the beast. I love this. This is one of those great reversals in Scripture.

We might say, now wait a minute. Didn’t they die? Doesn’t that mean the beast overcame them?

Didn’t chapter 13 directly say the beast overcame them??

Revelation 13:7 LSB

And it was also given to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them, and authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation was given to him.

Seems like the beast is winning!

And yet, we are reminded of this precious detail. How is victory and overcoming to be defined?

Mere survival is not victory. Preserving your earthly existence for as long as possible is not overcoming.

Faithfulness. even to the bitter end...that is true victory.

Thus we can be reminded of the text we saw in chapter 12

Revelation 12:11 LSB

“And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their witness, and they did not love their life even to death.

They did not love their life even to death. They were faithful even to the bitter end!

What precious truth this is to know that no matter what scores of evil may seem to have their way against us, victory is not in our ability to survive but in faithfulness to the truth of God’s Word and reality of Christ as Lord!

Brothers and sister, even if you must suffer for being a Christian now, even if you lose friends, face mockery, or even harsher forms of persecution, it may seem as though you have been overcome, it may seem as though the world has won, it may seem as though evil has gained the upper hand, but if you remain faithful to the end, make no mistake about it, you will have overcome! You will have gained the victory!

Don’t trade your faith for the fool’s gold of the world.

Don’t trade your witness for the whims of the world!

Though it may seem to cost you everything in this life, you will be richly blessed by the Lord if you remain faithful

These saints are said to have overcome three major obstacles: the beast, his image, and the number of his name.

The beast is the antichrist himself. The image represents the false worship of the beast that may include forms of immorality. The number of his name refers back to the mark of the beast, a symbol of allegiance to the beast that allows commerce.

It seems they have resisted military pressure, religious pressure, and financial pressure, along with all the possible strings, carrots, sticks, and traps along the way.

I think of the things that Christ says will take place. Torture. Imprisonment. Betrayal. Brother will betray brother, children will betray their parents.

It reminds me of Richard Wurmbrand.

He’s the man who founded the Voice of the Martyrs. He tells the story of the Soviets forcing him to stand in a wooden box barely large enough for him to fit into and he must stand in the box for hours. Think of it like an tight vertical casket, and they would drive nails through the wood into his body.

He tells of how he had to watch the torture of his own son and yet he still refused to deny Christ and bow to the Communist Agenda.

I imagine similar tactics might be used during the tribulation to get people to bend the knee to the beast, to his image, and take the mark of the beast bearing the number of his name. Insane pressure.

But these will have overcome. They surrender their lives, they face torture and death, but they overcome. They remain faithful to the bitter end.

The overcomers are present with harps. I have wondered if this is where the idea that we all sit around playing harps in heaven comes from. Sorry to disappoint, but it’s just the tribulation martyrs, folks!

And they are not just sitting around playing harps. They are jubilant with the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb.

This is fascinating. I don’t have time to show you all the texts and to break it all down, but just a few brief notes:

There are two places where we find songs of Moses. Exodus 15 and Deut 32. In neither place do we have these exact words. In fact, this is far shorter than what we find in those chapters.

As a result, Scholars are split on if this is in reference to Ex 15 or Deut 32.

I lean toward Ex 15, because the themes are so similar. Celebrating the works of God in deliverance of his people.

Listen to how Ex 15 begins.

Exodus 15:1–3 LSB

Then Moses and the sons of Israel sang this song to Yahweh and said, “I will sing to Yahweh, for He is highly exalted; The horse and its rider He has hurled into the sea. “Yah is my strength and song, And He has become my salvation; This is my God, and I will praise Him; My father’s God, and I will extol Him. “Yahweh is a warrior; Yahweh is His name.

And then later

Exodus 15:14–16 LSB

“The peoples have heard, they tremble; Anguish has seized the inhabitants of Philistia. “Then the chiefs of Edom were dismayed; The leaders of Moab, trembling seizes them; All the inhabitants of Canaan have melted away. “Terror and dread fall upon them; By the greatness of Your arm they are still as stone; Until Your people pass over, O Yahweh, Until the people pass over whom You have purchased.

Similar themes at play.

But this is not just the Song of Moses, this is the Song of the Lamb. Some people think there are two songs, but I think there is just one. I like how Robert Thomas put it:

“It is the song of Moses because its thought and language come from Moses. It is the song of the Lamb because He composed it, not in words but in actions that are the essential focus of this whole revelation of last things”

What does the song declare? Great and marvelous are your works. There is that pairing again.

O Lord God the Almighty. A title reminiscent of the OT, and a title befitting the all powerful God.

Righteous and true are your ways, King of the nations! He only does what is right. Even now in the pouring out of wrath, is it righteous and true. He is the king of the nations. Satan may think his antichrist reigns, but God is the true King.

Who will not fear, o Lord, and glorify your name? Brothers and sister, when we come face to face with almighty God and behold his wonderous works, fear and worship are the only appropriate responses, amen? This rhetorical question asks who won’t do this as if it is obvious we all should. And it is obvious.

Why? Because he alone is worthy.

Because all the nations will come and worship before him.

Because his righteous acts have been revealed.

This reminds us of truth taught by Paul in Phil 2:9-11

Philippians 2:9–11 LSB

Therefore, God also highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Brothers and sisters, There is a day coming when all the nations will bow before Christ. Some will bow in fear and dread because they persisted in rejection and they will be separated out as a goat.

But many will laud him and worship him with joy because he is the almighty God, and He has accomplished perfect righteousness in the pouring out of his wrath.

And this is a moment celebrated by the martyred saints. They rejoice! They know that final deliverance, vindication, and justice has finally, come, and like the crowd in the theater when the villain gets their due, they sing for joy at the victory of the Lamb!

The Final Plagues Reveal God’s Glory

After the song, John sees the temple in heaven open and the angels carrying the plagues come out.

They are clothed in clean and bright linen, girded with golden sashes. Their attire is visual confirmation of the purity and rightness of their role in carrying out God’s judgments.

One of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God.

Bowls like theses are vessels for pouring out libations — a libation is the pouring out of wine in a religious ceremony in worship of a deity. In the Bible, the drink offering was the final offering along with the burnt offering. It is a irretrievable offering. As the wine hits the ground there is no getting it back. There is collecting the remains. You can’t unpour it.

So it will be with the bowls of God’s wrath. There is nothing to be held back. As it is poured, there are no reversals.

The text says they are full of God’s wrath.

As awful as some things have been so far in the book of revelation, it is here now that nothing to be held back. Up until now, everything that has happened has been merciful, because God’s full wrath has been deserved all along, but it has not yet come. Now, nothing is held back.

The smoke filling the sanctuary reminds us of the dedication of Solomon’s Temple in the OT, and the shekinah glory that was evident there, and it reminds us of God’s presence with Moses on Sinai.

No one could enter the temple while the glory of God was there, no one could approach the mountain, and no one wanted to because they were terrified.

Here everyone must depart from the sanctuary in heaven as God’s wrath is kindled and the smoke of his glory and power are unbearable to anyone else until the seven plagues were finished.

God’s glory is revealed in His wrath.

Again, not something we like to think about as much. God’s glory is revealed in the display of His attributes, and we love it when his glory is displayed in His love and mercy and kindness, and power.

But what about when His glory is revealed in holiness, justice, and wrath?

Brothers and sisters, this is both a good and necessary reality.

God cannot be a good and loving and gracious God, if He is not also a holy, righteous, and wrathful God!

If God did not hate sin and accomplish justice, there is no sense in which we could have any comfort in his love and grace! His mercy is only mercy because He is Just!

Without God’s wrath we would have a impotent, sentimental deity who would not lift a finger to avenge the injustice in the world, and that is no god worth serving.

God’s glory is revealed in his wrath, and this is a good and necessary thing.

There are several parallels in this text that remind us of the Exodus. The song of Moses, the content of the plagues, the glory of God, etc.

What I think John wants us to see here and be encouraged by is the reality that this passage is not just a story of God’s wrath, but it is a story of God’s deliverance for his people.

You will not face the specific evils of the tribulation if you are in Christ today, but that does not mean you do not face general tribulation.

We live in world ruled by the evil one. Satan is the prince of the power of the air, he is the god of this world, he walks around like a roaring lion seeking to devour, he masquerades as an angel of light, he deceives, he comes to steal, kill, and destroy.

At times it can feel as though the enemies work against us is relentless!

One day that will all be done! Be encouraged that all the forces of sin and darkness that come against you even now will find their end here. Don’t be embarrassed about the wrath of God, but rightly celebrate His provision of deliverance for you!

In 2 Chron 20, there is a story of King Jehoshaphat, which was one of my favorite names to say when I was a child. he reigned over Judah. The text says a coalition of three nations were against Judah, and the king and his people were afraid.

Jehoshaphat goes to the Lord in prayer and God answers: Do not fear or be dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours but God’s.

You need not fight in this battles; take your stand and see the salvation of Yahweh on your behalf. Tomorrow go out to face them, for Yahweh is with you.

The king and all the people rejoiced and worshiped at these words. The next day they assembled the armies, but they did something unusual. They put the singers at the front of the army, and they sang and worshiped as they marched toward the enemy. They sang “Give thanks to Yahweh, for his lovingkindness endures forever!”

It is unusual to sing before the victory is won. Usually premature celebration causes us to anticipate that defeat is around the corner. But in this case, the celebration on the front end is based on the promises of God and His work to accomplish the victory. And as they came to the place where the battle was to take place, the text says “behold, they were corpses fallen on the ground, and no one had escaped”

God supplied the victory, and it was in the promise of coming victory that all Judah sang and rejoiced!

Such is the case here in Revelation 15. This song that celebrates the coming wrath of God is not a morbid delight in the destruction of our enemies.

It is joy in the surely coming accomplishment of God’s full and final deliverance and vindication of His people.

Take joy in your Warrior King.