Revelation 15:1-8 – Bowled Over
Throughout this study of Revelation I’ve emphasized that John’s vision is not merely about what will happen in the future, at the end times. It is also a description of that the world is like right now, seen from a different point of view. Chapter 12 tells us the Christmas story, and Chapter 5 describes the power of Easter. If we look at the other things and think that they’re only about the end times, we miss out on some powerful lessons to learn about what it means to be a Christian today. The devastation of the four horsemen is happening now. The dragon and the beasts are active today. And on the other hand, God is surrounded with the praise of the heavenly beings, and the saints are already gathering in a festival of praise. I emphasize this because most popular interpretations of Revelation present it as being about something from a world so terrifying and distant in the future that it seems to have nothing to do with Christian life today, other than “Get ready for the horrible future!” The truth is that the world is a terrifying place already, but also that God is in control and that the forces of evil aren’t nearly as powerful as they think they are, and that they try to make us believe.
Having said all that, I don’t want to go too far in the other direction and say that Revelation is only about the present and that it doesn’t tell us anything about the future. It does. It is the Bible’s most detailed description of the hope that we’re waiting for. (It’s not the only one, by the way. Mark 13 and the parallel passages in Matthew and Luke get into as well, as does 1 Thessalonians. Just a few examples.) At this point in Revelation, the focus begins to turn more fully upon what is truly the “end times.” To word it according to what we saw at the end of Chapter 14, we now learn more about what the “harvest of the earth” will be like, as God gathers the faithful and destroys the wicked. In this passage we still find a mixture of “now” and “future,” but the emphasis is shifting. As we continue through to the glorious conclusion of the book, the future focus gets more and more prominent.
Chapter 15 introduces the events of Chapter 16, as God dispatches seven angels to pour out seven bowls upon the earth. We’ll learn more about the bowls in Chapter 16, but for now let’s just say that it’s pretty nasty. This series of seven should remind you of two other similar series that we already considered: the seals of Chapter 6 and the trumpets of Chapter 8 and 9. The bowls are significantly different from the seals and the trumpets, but I’ll leave you in suspense about what the difference is. For now, I draw your attention to how John describes these plagues in v. 1: they are the last plagues which complete God’s wrath upon the wicked.
The vision begins with a description of what they look like from the perspective of heaven. This is an aspect of John’s vision that we’ve seen repeatedly, beginning in Chapter 4. His description of the events of heaven and earth are punctuated regularly with episodes from the throne room of heaven, as God sits encircled by the praise of the four living creatures, the twenty-four elders, and the angels and saints. Each episode reminds us of the first and most complete description, but each time we pick up a few changes in the details. For example, in Chapter 7 the redeemed were able to join in the praise because of the saving work of Christ. Here, we notice that the sea in front of the throne is now mixed with fire. Like other symbols, the sea represents a number of things. It is the view from the top of the waters over the earth (remember that from Genesis 1:6-8?). It is the heavenly version of the “sea” that stood in front of Solomon’s temple. It is the water of baptism that purifies us and enables us to gather in God’s presence without fault and with great joy. Now, the sea is mixed with fire. Again, we can understand this fire to be a number of things. It is the fire that purifies us (Malachi 3:2-4), so that we are able to stand in God’s presence. It is the fires of the trials which the martyrs have endured (sometimes literally). It is the fire of God’s wrath against his enemies.
But God’s wrath is not against everyone. Gathered around the sea are the people who were victorious over the foes on the earth: Satan and his agents. They are the martyrs who were under the altar in Chapter 6, the multitude wearing white robes and waving palm branches in Chapter 7, and the ones singing the unknowable song in Chapter 14. All of this is possible, of course, not because of their own strength and their own merits, but because of the redeeming work of Christ in their lives. Here, John describes them as the victors. Their victory over the beast and its associated image and number/name (Chapter 13) is not a military victory or one in which they “defeat” him (apart from their role in Christ’s conquest of him). They are victorious because they didn’t succumb to the temptations and the deceptions of Satan. Satan killed them, but all that did was bring them closer to God as they take their place in the circle around the throne. I’m reminded of a story that Tony Campollo tells about a Christian who is going to spread the gospel to a godless nation (I think it was in the days of communism). Someone tries to scare him out of his mission by saying, “They’ll take everything you have away from you,” to which the believer replies, “They can’t. I don’t own anything. It all belongs to God.” So the person tries again: “They’ll torture you,” and the Christian responds, “That’s fine. I’m told to rejoice in my suffering.” Finally, the person warns him by saying, “They’ll kill you.” At this the Christian explains, “If they kill me, that means I get to see Jesus face to face in glory.” So what can anyone do against people who don’t own anything, who are happy when they’re tortured, and who look forward to what will happen when they die? The beast can kill the believers, but that certainly doesn’t mean that he wins. We are victorious when we resist the demonic distractions and unmask the Satanic lies.
When John tells us that the victorious redeemed are standing at the side of the sea, he does more than merely describe their location in the throne room. He evokes the image of the Israelites standing on the shores of the Red Sea after they passed through, and the waters collapsed on Pharaoh’s army. It’s the joyful scene that Exodus 15 recounts, as Miriam leads the women in a song of praise and celebration at their escape from slavery and their journey into freedom. That’s the “song of Moses:” when God rescues us from the burdens and chains that we struggle under, just as the Israelites did in Egypt. It’s a song of anticipation and gratitude for the freedom of the Promised Land that we are entering. (Unfortunately for the Israelites, their doubts and fears meant that they had to take a forty-year detour, but that’s another story.) God gives them the harps that they need to worship God. So worship and praise they do!
This “song of Moses and of the Lamb” is a composite of many different parts of the Old Testament, especially the Psalms, which proclaim God’s goodness and greatness. It relies a lot on Deuteronomy 32 and of course on Exodus 15. There are two aspects of the song in particular to notice. First, it describes the wonderful acts of God, and his glory. But by now, we know what those acts are. This isn’t just touchy-feely stuff “He made rainbows and flowers and the warm summer rain.’ Sure, God does all of that that. But when you remember what just happened (the bloody harvest of the earth) and what’s coming next (the bowls which bring about utter destruction), God’s great and marvelous deeds are fierce and mighty. He is the God who saves his beloved by destroying the destroyers. Second, we see that people from all nations will come to join in the worship of God. That’s a reminder of the “people from every nation, tribe, people, and language” that we met in Chapter 8. God’s love is universal, and we are anticipating a worldwide worship of God. This is a dramatic change from the original “song of Moses,” which celebrated the destruction of Egypt so that Israel could be set free. There’s no more nationalism included in our worship of God. When we ask God to bless America, we should also be asking him to bless every other nation on the face of the earth.
Unfortunately, however, this doesn’t mean that every individual will be saved: what is typically called “universalism.” Everyone is eligible, and everyone is given a chance. People from everywhere will respond with faith. But others will reject God’s invitation and fight against him. That’s why God dispatches the angels from his tabernacle (or temple), carrying the bowls of destruction to be poured out on everyone who isn’t already standing by the sea. The angels are dressed like the priests of the Old Testament because they are acting on God’s behalf. We may wonder, by the way, if these are the same bowls that were used in Chapter 5:8 to scoop up our prayers. God’s wrath that is poured out upon the earth is his response to our calls for justice.
Having said all that, I don’t want to go too far in the other direction and say that Revelation is only about the present and that it doesn’t tell us anything about the future. It does. It is the Bible’s most detailed description of the hope that we’re waiting for. (It’s not the only one, by the way. Mark 13 and the parallel passages in Matthew and Luke get into as well, as does 1 Thessalonians. Just a few examples.) At this point in Revelation, the focus begins to turn more fully upon what is truly the “end times.” To word it according to what we saw at the end of Chapter 14, we now learn more about what the “harvest of the earth” will be like, as God gathers the faithful and destroys the wicked. In this passage we still find a mixture of “now” and “future,” but the emphasis is shifting. As we continue through to the glorious conclusion of the book, the future focus gets more and more prominent.
Chapter 15 introduces the events of Chapter 16, as God dispatches seven angels to pour out seven bowls upon the earth. We’ll learn more about the bowls in Chapter 16, but for now let’s just say that it’s pretty nasty. This series of seven should remind you of two other similar series that we already considered: the seals of Chapter 6 and the trumpets of Chapter 8 and 9. The bowls are significantly different from the seals and the trumpets, but I’ll leave you in suspense about what the difference is. For now, I draw your attention to how John describes these plagues in v. 1: they are the last plagues which complete God’s wrath upon the wicked.
The vision begins with a description of what they look like from the perspective of heaven. This is an aspect of John’s vision that we’ve seen repeatedly, beginning in Chapter 4. His description of the events of heaven and earth are punctuated regularly with episodes from the throne room of heaven, as God sits encircled by the praise of the four living creatures, the twenty-four elders, and the angels and saints. Each episode reminds us of the first and most complete description, but each time we pick up a few changes in the details. For example, in Chapter 7 the redeemed were able to join in the praise because of the saving work of Christ. Here, we notice that the sea in front of the throne is now mixed with fire. Like other symbols, the sea represents a number of things. It is the view from the top of the waters over the earth (remember that from Genesis 1:6-8?). It is the heavenly version of the “sea” that stood in front of Solomon’s temple. It is the water of baptism that purifies us and enables us to gather in God’s presence without fault and with great joy. Now, the sea is mixed with fire. Again, we can understand this fire to be a number of things. It is the fire that purifies us (Malachi 3:2-4), so that we are able to stand in God’s presence. It is the fires of the trials which the martyrs have endured (sometimes literally). It is the fire of God’s wrath against his enemies.
But God’s wrath is not against everyone. Gathered around the sea are the people who were victorious over the foes on the earth: Satan and his agents. They are the martyrs who were under the altar in Chapter 6, the multitude wearing white robes and waving palm branches in Chapter 7, and the ones singing the unknowable song in Chapter 14. All of this is possible, of course, not because of their own strength and their own merits, but because of the redeeming work of Christ in their lives. Here, John describes them as the victors. Their victory over the beast and its associated image and number/name (Chapter 13) is not a military victory or one in which they “defeat” him (apart from their role in Christ’s conquest of him). They are victorious because they didn’t succumb to the temptations and the deceptions of Satan. Satan killed them, but all that did was bring them closer to God as they take their place in the circle around the throne. I’m reminded of a story that Tony Campollo tells about a Christian who is going to spread the gospel to a godless nation (I think it was in the days of communism). Someone tries to scare him out of his mission by saying, “They’ll take everything you have away from you,” to which the believer replies, “They can’t. I don’t own anything. It all belongs to God.” So the person tries again: “They’ll torture you,” and the Christian responds, “That’s fine. I’m told to rejoice in my suffering.” Finally, the person warns him by saying, “They’ll kill you.” At this the Christian explains, “If they kill me, that means I get to see Jesus face to face in glory.” So what can anyone do against people who don’t own anything, who are happy when they’re tortured, and who look forward to what will happen when they die? The beast can kill the believers, but that certainly doesn’t mean that he wins. We are victorious when we resist the demonic distractions and unmask the Satanic lies.
When John tells us that the victorious redeemed are standing at the side of the sea, he does more than merely describe their location in the throne room. He evokes the image of the Israelites standing on the shores of the Red Sea after they passed through, and the waters collapsed on Pharaoh’s army. It’s the joyful scene that Exodus 15 recounts, as Miriam leads the women in a song of praise and celebration at their escape from slavery and their journey into freedom. That’s the “song of Moses:” when God rescues us from the burdens and chains that we struggle under, just as the Israelites did in Egypt. It’s a song of anticipation and gratitude for the freedom of the Promised Land that we are entering. (Unfortunately for the Israelites, their doubts and fears meant that they had to take a forty-year detour, but that’s another story.) God gives them the harps that they need to worship God. So worship and praise they do!
This “song of Moses and of the Lamb” is a composite of many different parts of the Old Testament, especially the Psalms, which proclaim God’s goodness and greatness. It relies a lot on Deuteronomy 32 and of course on Exodus 15. There are two aspects of the song in particular to notice. First, it describes the wonderful acts of God, and his glory. But by now, we know what those acts are. This isn’t just touchy-feely stuff “He made rainbows and flowers and the warm summer rain.’ Sure, God does all of that that. But when you remember what just happened (the bloody harvest of the earth) and what’s coming next (the bowls which bring about utter destruction), God’s great and marvelous deeds are fierce and mighty. He is the God who saves his beloved by destroying the destroyers. Second, we see that people from all nations will come to join in the worship of God. That’s a reminder of the “people from every nation, tribe, people, and language” that we met in Chapter 8. God’s love is universal, and we are anticipating a worldwide worship of God. This is a dramatic change from the original “song of Moses,” which celebrated the destruction of Egypt so that Israel could be set free. There’s no more nationalism included in our worship of God. When we ask God to bless America, we should also be asking him to bless every other nation on the face of the earth.
Unfortunately, however, this doesn’t mean that every individual will be saved: what is typically called “universalism.” Everyone is eligible, and everyone is given a chance. People from everywhere will respond with faith. But others will reject God’s invitation and fight against him. That’s why God dispatches the angels from his tabernacle (or temple), carrying the bowls of destruction to be poured out on everyone who isn’t already standing by the sea. The angels are dressed like the priests of the Old Testament because they are acting on God’s behalf. We may wonder, by the way, if these are the same bowls that were used in Chapter 5:8 to scoop up our prayers. God’s wrath that is poured out upon the earth is his response to our calls for justice.
posted by Rev. Peter de Vries, Old Union Presbyterian Church @ 11:03 AM
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