Revelation 15: Signs in Heaven and the Song of Moses

SLIDE 1 We ended chapter 14 with the promise of Armageddon. John has told us God is triumphant and now John will give details to these events in the next few chapters.

 Revelation 15:

·        Signs in Heaven (Who What When Where)

·        Song of Moses

SLIDE 2 Revelation 15:1¹Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and amazing, seven angels with seven plagues, which are the last, for with them the wrath of God is finished.

SLIDE 3 Randy Alcorn in his book Heaven wants us to know that God’s paradise prepared for you is beyond description. John has tried to describe it in terms of his day. The first word of chapter 15 John saw a sign, great and amazing and a sea of glass mingled with fire with the martyred saints playing harps and singing the song of Moses and the Lamb. If you had closed your eyes and imagined the scene in heaven, what a time of worship that would be.

SLIDE 4Revelation 15: 2And I saw what appeared to be a sea of glass mingled with fire---and also those who had conquered the beast and its image and the number of its name, standing beside the sea of glass with (martyred) harps of God in their hands.

The WHO would be the seven angels, the martyred souls with their harps, the four living creature, the 24 elders, and an army of angels before the throne of heaven.

SLIDE 5 The sea of glass was represented by the bronze laver that was outside the Tabernacle. Each time the priest would wash their hands before entering, they would see the imperfection of themselves reflected in the shiny surface meant to humble them before the LORD. The Sea of Glass in heaven showed the reflection of God and all these heavenly beings.

SLIDE 6 The WHAT is the song they sing. Unlike the song last week that only the 144,000 know. Everyone can sing this song. Imagine after the Israelites came through the Red Sea and realized the great miracle the LORD has done.

Exodus 15 begins with Moses and the people of Israel singing a song to the LORD. Twenty-one verses end with Miriam, the sister of Moses, praising God.

SLIDE 7  Now we hear the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb. Fifty-one words: it just the beginning of the worship of the Lord God Almighty. v. 13 Then Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women went out after her with tambourines and dancing. Do you think there will be dancing in heaven? David danced in the street to celebrate the ark of the covenant coming home to Jerusalem.

SLIDE 8 WHAT Revelation 15:3-4 And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying,

"Great and amazing are your deeds, O Lord God the Almighty!
Just and true are your ways, O King of the nations!
Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name?
For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship you,
for your righteous acts have been revealed."

SLIDE 9 WHERE Revelation 15:5-7After this I looked, and the sanctuary of the tent of witness in heaven was opened, and out of the sanctuary came the seven angels with the seven plagues, clothed in pure, bright linen, with golden sashes around their chests. And 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.

SLIDE10 Remember the throne room in chapter 4: the four living creatures and the 24 elders around the throne. Now one of the living creatures carried the golden bowls full of wrath.

SLIDE 11 Hope Parks taught the Tabernacle one summer. It was such a blessing to learn how Christ was represented in every part of the Tabernacle. However the Tabernacle was not built until Ex. 40. While in the desert the Moses pitch a tent outside the camp. He called it the Tent of Meeting.

Exodus 33:9 When Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the entrance of the tent, and the LORD would speak with Moses. God told Moses to build the Tabernacle was based on the pattern of heaven, also called the tent of meeting. Behind a thick curtain 4 inches thick was the Ark of the Covenant, sequestered away until the one time each year the chosen priest would go in to offer blood sacrifices for the sins of the people.

SLIDE 12 When Revelation 15: 8 and the sanctuary was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power, and no one could enter the sanctuary until the seven plagues of the seven angels were finished. 

SLIDE 13Kathy Strieter’s golden bowl prayers of the saints reminds me of the whole sanctuary being filled.

Paul to people of Athens

Acts 17:24 The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man,

Hebrews 9:24 For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made with human hands that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God's presence.

SLIDE 14** One day a man walking down Clark Street, in Chicago, and playing with a dollar bill in his hand, had it snatched away from him by a thief who ran rapidly ahead toward the river, not perceiving that the drawbridge was open. Of course, he plunged into the river's slime. One might have thought this were punishment enough for stealing only a dollar. But no; when rescued by the police, and again on firm ground, there stood his victim beside him accusing him to the officer, who put him into jail.

SLIDE 15The fall into the water was the result of his folly, but the imprisonment in jail the punishment of his crime. Men suffer on earth as a result of their wrongdoing, (that is called the consequences for their action)

The unsaved have yet to meet their Judge, and answer before Him for their sin. Hell may now be in their bosom, but, alas, the day is coming when their bosom will be in hell!—Dr. James M. Gray.  Sermonillustrations.com