Sermon Tone Analysis
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Introduction
Your feet are sore, and you can feel a sunburn on the back of your neck, but you don’t care.
The most incredible thing you have ever witnessed in your life just took place.
Tell the story of crossing the Red Sea.
As the Israelites start to come to grips with what has just taken place, Moses begins to lead the people in a new song.
In fact, this is the first recorded song in the Bible.
Read Exodus 15:1-18
This is how the people of God rejoiced in His deliverance at a time that would become the single most important picture of the Gospel until the coming of Jesus.
As God often delights to do, this experience from the past is going to be referenced again in the future.
But to see that, we need to turn to Revelation 15 and continue in our study.
The Righteous Can Exult (1-4)
The Third Sign (1)
Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous,
This is the third sign we have seen in the book of Revelation.
The first was the woman seated in heaven (Revelation 12:1), and the second was the great red dragon who attacked her (Revelation 12:3).
This sign is described as great and marvelous.
It is hard to imagine topping the previous two signs, but this sign points to something even more significant than the previous two.
Whereas the woman and the dragon depicted the ages-long struggle between the people of God and Satan, this sign signifies the end of that struggle.
…seven angels who had seven plagues, which are the last, because in them the wrath of God is finished.
The sign consisted of seven angels with seven plagues.
We think of plagues as great diseases and epidemics, but the original word simply means a “blow” or a “wound.”
These angels hold the final seven “blows” that God will deal to the beast in delivering his mortal “wound.”
After these, there will be no more judgments because the wrath of God will be finished.
We will see later a very short rebellion in the Millennial kingdom, but that will be overthrown immediately as a prelude to the Great White Throne judgment.
This is the end of the cycles of God’s wrath whereby He demonstrates His holiness and fulfills His promises to His people through the complete destruction of this world’s wicked system.
The word of wrath is a very strong one, describing not a slow burning anger, but a rage or passionate outburst.
God has patiently waited and withheld the judgment this world so richly deserves while His gospel goes throughout the earth, but the time for patience is now over, and these final judgments come as a burst of intense heat.
Applications:
Remember that the wrath of God won’t delay forever, and take heart
Just like John, we should be struck with how great and marvelous these visions are - don’t become jaded
Do you ever get discouraged because it seems like God just never gets around to fixing everything wrong in your world?
How should this passage encourage us?
What about our look at Revelation so far has impressed you the most?
An Ancient Song
And I saw something like a sea of glass mixed with fire,
What we see here is a location that various prophets have glimpsed throughout the history of man.
It is a sacred place and a beautiful one.
It was glimpsed by Moses.
It was viewed by Ezekiel.
And it was seen previously by John himself.
What is unique about this vision is that it includes a fiery color mixed throughout.
The wrath of God is so intense that even the massive pedestal upon which His throne stands is taking on the color of fire.
…and those who had been victorious over the beast and his image and the number of his name, standing on the sea of glass, holding harps of God.
But wait, who is this?
Standing on this sea of fiery glass are those who have been victorious over the beast.
Their victory is a total one.
Notice that they have triumphed over (1) the beast, (2) his image, and (3) the number of his name.
They have triumphed in their hearts, in their worship, and in their interactions with the culture.
Now they stand with God, on His wrath-tinged dias, armed with…harps?
Look at that!
This isn’t the kind of rage we are used to seeing.
This isn’t anger out of control.
This is a wrath that is prepared, measured, and on time.
Visual Aid: Helicopter Clock
This is a situation where the proper response is singing!
Notice also that the harps don’t belong to the saints, but that they are the harps of God.
Imagine the scene where God sends and angel to get all of His harps from the harp closet and pass them out to the saints.
“I’m about to wreak vengeance, final vengeance, upon the earth.
But first, a song!”
What song are they going to sing?
Well, we already looked at it!
And they sang the song of Moses, the bond-servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying...
3 And they sang the song of Moses, the bond-servant 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!
4 “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 cRIGHTEOUS ACTS HAVE BEEN REVEALED.”
This song is a remix!
It is a combination of two of the greatest hits of all time, the song of Moses, which is the first song in recorded Scripture, and the song of the Lamb, which features here in the last great song recorded in Scripture.
Both the first song and the last song in the Bible have a common theme:
The enemy is defeated;
The saints await the future;
The Lord is exalted.
(Exploring Revelation, John Philips, Chicago: Moody, 1987; quoted in Revelation 12-22 by John MacArthur)
This is the peace that comes with being a child of God.
Remember, they are standing on the flame colored sea of glass that represents an outburst of wrath greater than the power of every super-nova this universe has ever seen combined, and they are singing!
They aren’t the enemy, so they do not fear being treated as one.
They are on God’s side, so there is nothing by glory to look forward to.
They now see the Lord as He truly is, and they declare that He is the Almighty God, King of the nations!
Every line of this song is true for these saints and will be fulfilled, and every line of this song directly echoes promises in the Old Testament.
God never changes, and therefore the hope of His people never changes.
The same can’t be said for those who remain on the earth, though.
Applications:
Don’t forget that even though Satan still moves about the earth, he is already defeated
Don’t let the intimidating pressures of life cloud your view of how mighty God is above and beyond all those things
Stop to remember all that you have to look forward to, especially if you are in the middle of a trial
What things in your life most easily discourage you or cause you to lose sight of the “big picture” of God’s plan for the world and you?
How would you explain your hope to someone who was feeling despair?
What are you looking forward to specifically, and why?
The Unrighteous Can’t Escape (5-8)
After these things I looked, and the temple of the tabernacle of testimony in heaven was opened,
After these things introduces a new vision, as it has throughout Revelation (Revelation 4:1; 6:2, 5, 8; 7:9; 14:1; 19:11).
We are moving away from the “sign” that we were looking at, and are returning to events as they unfold.
The word for temple here is a special one that refers not to the whole temple, but to the innermost sanctum - the holy of holies.
This is where on earth the ark of the covenant was stored.
The ark of the covenant is what stored the testimony of God to man, and it was where man could plead with God in prayer on behalf of that testimony.
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