1Then I saw in heaven another marvellous event of great significance, seven angels holding the seven last plagues, which would bring God’s wrath to completion.
2I saw what seemed like a glass sea mixed with fire and on it stood all the people who had been victorious over the beast and his statue and the number representing his name, they were all holding harps that God had given them.
3They sang the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb: “Great and marvellous are your works, O Lord God, the Almighty, just and true are your ways, O King of the nations 4for who will not fear you, Lord, and glorify your name, for you alone are holy, because all the nations will come and worship before you, because your righteous deeds have been revealed”; 5after which I looked and beheld the Temple in heaven, God’s Tabernacle, was wide open, 6seven angels clothed in spotless white linen with gold sashes across their chests, who were holding the seven plagues brought forth from the Temple.
7One of the four living beings handed each of the seven angels a gold bowl filled with the wrath of God, who lives forever and ever.
8The Temple was filled with the smoke of God’s glory and power so that no one could enter the Temple until the seven angels had completed pouring out the seven plagues.
Revelation 15:3-6 [aIVLV]
Where do I even start to comment on this remarkable sentence? (i go i go i go) I could use propositional analysis to lay this verse out for you but I have decided not to. I know some of you get confused by propositional analysis, so I will try to explain what is happening in layman’s terms. Greek is one of the languages where thoughts or propositions can be added in layers indicating the thoughts are connected but combined all in one sentence. It is like it ought to be one paragraph or more but instead is expressed in one connected sentence for effect. John’s thoughts, like Paul’s, are tumbling forth in a layered stream.
Expressing things this way adds something to the depth of what he is saying. Let’s see if we can unpack this complicatedly long sentence. There is just so much to comment on in this one sentence; these four verses. I am challenged as to what to tackle first and how to put it all together in order, and what order that should be. So many things are going on here. Aside from the complexity of this sentence we also have the complication of the song. Some of you have already started thinking and asking questions about the song. It’s complicated, so I think I will leave that discussion for the next Gem and settle for handling the big pieces of this one sentence (15:3-6) at a macro level first.
They, those who are standing on the sea of glass tinged with fire, the martyrs and the persecuted, spontaneously start to sing. We could ask why do they start singing? As one person asked me, are they singing at the demise of their persecutors? I don’t think so! We will see what they are singing about when we look at the Song of the Lamb. What is it that they are singing? Where do they get the words from? How is it they all know the words of the song? Are there two songs involved: The Song of Moses and The Song of the Lamb? Or is there just one song – a hybrid combined from each? Allow me to set your questions aside for the moment.
I will tell you at this point there are two songs which are called the Song of Moses. These are found in two places:
- Exodus 15:1-18
- Deuteronomy 32:1-47
There is also a short version of the first Song of Moses, derived from Exodus:15:21.
- “[I will] Sing unto the LORD
- for he has triumphed gloriously
- the horse and rider thrown into the sea.
- The LORD is God and I will praise Him.
- My Fathers’ God and I will exalt Him.”
We used to sing the short version of the song in church back in the seventies. What appears to have been called the Song of the Lamb is what we find recorded in Revelation 15:3-4:
- Great and marvellous are your works,
- O Lord God, the Almighty.
- Just and true are Your ways,
- O King of the nations.
- Who will not fear You, Lord,
- and glorify Your name?
- For You alone are holy.
- All nations will come and worship before You,
- for Your righteous deeds have been revealed.
I will take the time to analyse these songs in the following Gem. But for now I will continue looking at the rest of what John has to say in this one long sentence. One thing we are left to ponder is why we don’t find any elements clipped from Exodus 15 or Deuteronomy 32. This new song (The Song of the Lamb) evidences no quotes from either of Moses’ songs. It leaves us wondering the source of the so-called ‘Song of Moses’. Then there is the query concerning ‘on the sea’, ‘by the sea’ and ‘beside the sea’. Some commentators are of the opinion it is a veiled allusion to the fact that the Israelites were camped ‘by or beside the sea’ at Pi-hahiroth [Nuweiba] (Ex 14:2, 9). If that’s so, it forms a parallel link to the Exodus event, where the LORD miraculously rescued Israel from the Egyptians. More on this at the appropriate moment.
What is curious about this chapter is the fact that it opens with John describing the angels who bear the bowls of judgement which will exemplify God’s wrath on all who live on earth. The following chapter will tell us the detail of that wrath to come. But suddenly in the second verse John sees the victorious people of God standing on a sea of glass singing worship songs to God. How incongruous! The anthem to what God has done comes out of the Temple in heaven from this large worshipping choir. Your works, the things you do are great and awesome LORD, your ways are just and true, who wouldn’t fear you? Especially when faced with these bowls of judgement. i.e. Your judgements are correct and deserved, we all should fear you. The words used are sobering and awesome all at the same time. We know you have judged us right(eously) before You.
After realising that, I saw the Tabernacle in the Temple was wide open. Then I saw seven angels who were holding the bowls of judgement were dressed in dazzling white linen and wearing gold sashes, paralleling what Jesus wore in an earlier vision. (Rev 1:13). They were dressed like you, Lamb of God, representing You. The bowls of wrath came out of the Temple borne by the seven angels dressed to be identified with Christ. The significance was clear that these bowls of wrath were from the Temple in heaven and came from God. Normally things coming out of the Temple were not associated with God’s wrath. Look at Revelation 16:5 which reads, “You have sent these judgements LORD.” That is the underlying message John took from what he was seeing. In Revelation 16:7 we are told “Yes O Lord God, the Almighty, these judgements are just and true.”
As John looked he saw that the door to the Temple was wide open. Normally the door to the Temple was only open at times when the priests were able to enter on behalf of the people. But on this occasion the door is wide open. For the priests to go in to achieve atonement for the people? No!
7One of the four living beings handed each of the seven angels a gold bowl filled with the wrath of God, who lives forever and ever. 8The Temple was filled with the smoke of God’s glory and power so that no one could enter the Temple until the seven angels had completed pouring out the seven plagues.
Revelation 15:7-8
This time when the angels are handed the bowls of wrath, no one is able to enter the Temple because the Temple is filled with the power and holiness of God. IN OTHER WORDS, the only thing coming out of the Temple are angels with bowls of wrath from God. No one can enter the Temple until the last judgement bowl has been poured out. Up until now there has been grace upon grace, opportunity after opportunity to repent. The pausing and the extension of the time have been a feature of this delayed judgement. Now we are poised on the edge of the judgement being measured out, there is no more opportunity given for anyone to enter.
I am jumping ahead of our text here in Chapter 15, but in Chapter 16 we are told after the seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, a mighty shout came from the throne in the Temple saying, “It is finished!” – meaning the judgement is completed. What? You mean after all the delaying and the seventh seal, trumpet and bowl morphing into seven of the next judgements, it is now over and that is the end! No more chance to repent? Yes, you are correct in your understanding. The sudden end has caught everyone by surprise. I believe that is the purpose of this long sentence with the end coming quicker than you imagine. The flow of the propositions moved too quickly from those who were singing God’s praises to those who were to be judged being caught at the last moment. The pace of the end event quickened in such a way that caught everyone by surprise.
Now let me tell you of the pattern that I detected in these passages of Revelation. I have brought it to your attention before. This is not the first time, I even suggested you do some thinking about it.
Then the angel filled the incense burner with fire from the altar and threw it down upon the earth; and thunder crashed, lightning flashed, and there was a terrible earthquake.
Revelation 8:5
Then, in heaven, the Temple of God was opened and the Ark of his covenant could be seen inside the Temple. Lightning flashed, thunder crashed and roared, and there was an earthquake and a terrible hailstorm.
Revelation 11:19
Then I looked and saw that the Temple in heaven, God’s Tabernacle, was thrown wide open. . . The Temple was filled with smoke from God’s glory and power. No one could enter the Temple until the seven angels had completed pouring out the seven plagues.
Revelation 15:5, 8
17Then the seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air. And a mighty shout came from the throne in the Temple, saying, “It is finished!” 18Then the thunder crashed and rolled, and lightning flashed. And a great earthquake struck—the worst since people were placed on the earth. . . 21There was a terrible hailstorm, and hailstones weighing as much as seventy-five pounds fell from the sky onto the people below. They cursed God because of the terrible plague of the hailstorm.
Revelation 16:17-18, 21
Did you detect the pattern?
- heaven open, thunder crashed, lightning flashed, a terrible earthquake (8:5)
- heaven open, lightning flashed, thunder crashed, an earthquake, a terrible hailstorm (11:19)
- heaven wide open, but no one can enter, only plagues come out (15:8)
- heaven no longer open, thunder crashed, lightning flashed, the worst earthquake ever and the worst hailstorm (16:18)
Yes like Christine Clarke suggested in Gem 2328 and David Holmes suggested in Gem 2329, thunder represents the voice of God. What I suspect is indicated here with the reversal of the timing of the thunder before the lightning is when God has spoken and warned sufficiently, He will then likely act in a way to catch the unrepentant by surprise.
With this Gem I suggest you need to look at the number of times God warned throughout Revelation and yet people stubbornly did not repent. It is telling. I will show you why in the following Gems, after I have highlighted some aspects of the songs involved. I still haven’t sufficiently addressed the issues and questions related to the song(s) sung by the redeemed. Following that we will move on to Revelation 17 – if you, my readers, have no more questions.
[aIVLV] = Ian Vail’s Literal Version
God touches and moves, warns and desires all mortals equally, and He wants one quite as much as another. The inequality lies in the way in which His touch, His warnings, and His gifts are received.
Johannes Tauler
Warning: Exposure to the Son may prevent burning.
Ian
Warning: You ride in this car at your own risk. The driver could vanish at any instant.(A sticker we used to have on the dashboard of our first car when I was first a Christian which led to many conversations with hitch hikers.)
Ian
For the time has come for judgement, and it must begin with God’s household. And if judgement begins with us, what terrible fate awaits those who have never obeyed God’s Good News?
1 Peter 4:17