The Revelation chapter 15, titled
our message this morning, The Song of Heaven and Earth. Chapter
15 of Revelation begins the fifth vision in the book of Revelation. And I want to remind us that
each one of these visions is a complete view of Christ and
His victory over every enemy, the victory of His church, their
victory in Christ. This is not just a Each of these
visions are not visions of different time periods or different dispensations
throughout the history of man. It's each one of these visions
is a complete vision of all of man's history on earth. It's
a complete vision of the victory in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
the whole message of the book of Revelation. Christ is the
great victor and his people win the victory in him. And this
morning I want us to look at the song of victory. the song
of victory that the church sings both in heaven and on earth.
It's the same song. I hope to show us that this morning.
Now, God's people learn the words to this song on earth. It's a
song that's easy for a believer to sing. It's a song of Christ,
our Redeemer. It's a song of his love, his mercy, his grace,
his blood, redemption in him. And we love to sing it here.
And glory will sing the same song. It's just that there It'll
be a new song. That's going to be the same,
same message, same words, but it'll be a new song because it's
sung and sing sung in sinless bodies with sinless mind, sinless
souls. It'll be sung new there because
there we'll see Christ, not by faith, but by sight. And we'll
sing it anew. So we're going to skip verse
one of chapter 15. We'll come back. Lord willing
to look at that next week. It goes better with the verses
five through eight. We'll look at those together.
Lord willing next week. I want us to look at the song specifically
that they sing in heaven. The first thing I want us to
see is the foundation of the song. Revelation 15 verse two. And I saw as it were a sea of
glass mingled with fire and then that had gotten the victory over
the beast and over his image and over his mark and over the
number of his name stand on the sea of glass having the harps
of God. Now we've seen this sea of glass
before. It represents the cleansing blood
of Christ. It was pictured by the water
and that brazen labor that sat outside of the tabernacle. They sometimes called the water
in that labor a sea of glass or a sea of water, excuse me.
And the priest would wash in that water when they would wash
in that water before they went about the various services that
they would do in the tabernacle. They were ceremonially clean,
ceremonially pure, picturing how sinners can only come to
God through the cleansing blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's
the only way we can be pure. That's the only way we can be
sinless. It's the only way that God will accept us. We saw, look
back in chapter four of Revelation. This is where the first time
we saw this sea of glass, and this is what it represents coming
to God through the perfect sinless blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Revelation four, verse six. And before the throne, there
was a sea of glass like unto crystal. If you're going to come
to that, that throne, you had to come through this sea of glass.
You had got to be pure, holy and sinless. And the midst of
the throne, around about the throne, were four beasts full
of eyes before and behind. So that sea of glass is a picture
of the blood of Christ that God's elect are forgiven. They're cleansed
from all their sin in the blood of Christ. The sea of glass is
pure, clear as crystal. You see all the way through it.
This is the pure perfection of the Lord Jesus Christ. And his
people in him are both justified and sanctified. They're made
completely whole. And God's people in glory, John
sees them standing upon the sea of glass. The only place that
any of us can ever stand before God is on the blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ. It's the only standing. Only
the blood of Christ is a good foundation that we can stand
on and be accepted by the Father. But John says this sea of glass
was also mingled with fire. And that fire represents judgment.
Now, Christ is the only sure foundation, the only place we
can find acceptance, only place we can stand before the Father
is standing in the Lord Jesus Christ. The only reason anybody
will be in glory singing this song, the only reason anybody
will be in glory before the throne of God is the Lord Jesus Christ. It's who he is and what he's
done for his people. And the only reason anybody will
be in hell, there's just one reason. It's the rejection of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Rejecting the blood sacrifice
of Christ will bring the eternal fire of the wrath of God upon
them. Now the fire of God's wrath is still going to fall on every
sin. The fire of God's wrath will
fall on every sin of every man, woman, and child to ever live
on this earth. It will either fall upon us eternally,
or fall upon Christ, our substitute at Calvary. But one way or another,
the fire of God's wrath is going to fall. God's holy justice must
be satisfied if anybody is going to stand before Him. And the
elect will stand upon the blood of Christ. They'll stand on Christ,
who is the substitute, the sacrifice for their sin. Christ already
endured the fire of God's wrath against the sin of His people.
He endured that fire until the fire went out. When Christ was
sacrificed, normally the fire consumes the sacrifice, doesn't
it? If you have an animal sacrifice and you offer that animal sacrifice
as a burnt offering to the Lord, the fire consumes the sacrifice,
doesn't it? But when Christ, the Lamb of
God, was slain, the sacrifice consumed the fire. He endured
the fire of God's wrath until the fire went out. And the fire
of God's wrath went out because all the sin laid upon Christ
is gone. His sacrifice put the sin of
His people away, now there's nothing left to draw the fire
of God's wrath. Christ endured it all and put
it away. But everyone who refuses to submit to Christ, everyone
who refuses to believe upon Him and bow to Him and trust Him,
they'll endure that fire eternally. That's the sea of glass mingled
with fire. The foundation of the song, the
foundation of our hope, the foundation of our praise is the Lord Jesus
Christ, our sacrifice. There's a second thing I want
to see about this song that the redeemed in heaven sing. The
reason for it is this. Christ gave them the victory.
Christ gave them the victory over Satan. He gave them the
victory over their human nature, over that mark 666. We looked
at that a few weeks ago. That's the mark of failure. It's the mark of being incomplete.
Six is the number of incompletion. Seven is the number of completion.
Seven is the number of perfection. And six can never rise to seven.
It's always a failure. It's always incomplete. But Christ
gave his people victory over their failure by being the successful
savior for them. Christ gave his people the victory
over their incompleteness by making them complete in him.
That's how they overcame. The reason the redeemed sin is
saying is Christ gave them the victory. And here's the third
thing I want to see about this psalm. It is a beautiful song. They sing it having the harps
of God, not just any harps now, but harps of God. This song of
redemption in Christ is so beautiful because it's played by the harps
of God. Back up in verse one, John says,
I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous. That's this
song. This song that the redeemed sing
is great and marvelous. Because God wrote it. God wrote
it. I bet, Mike, you go through the
songbook sometimes and you see an author. Someone wrote the
song, you know it's a good song. Because you know their history.
They write good songs. God wrote this song. It's a good song.
Because of who wrote it. Because of the author of it.
God Himself purposed this song in eternity. He purposed the
object of this song. He purposed redemption in Christ
in eternity. So it's got to be a beautiful
song. God wrote it. God purposed it. And only God
can play this song. Only God can. That's why He sent
His Son into this world to accomplish it. In all of its beauty, in
all of its glory, the Lord Jesus Christ came and accomplished
this song of redemption for His people. And only God can teach
His people to sing this song. Nobody can learn to sing this
song unless God teaches it to them and God puts it in their
heart. We looked at that. Remember, look back in chapter
14, verse 3. And they sung as it were a new
song before the throne and before the four beasts and the elders.
And no man can learn that song, but the hundred and forty and
four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth. The only way
anybody can sing this beautiful song is by God teaching. And this is God's song, the song
of redemption in Christ. And this is a beautiful song. I wish I could find the word.
The human language does not exist to describe the beauty of God's
unmerited, undeserved, unearned grace and mercy for sinners in
His Son. That is the most beautiful song
that anyone's ever heard. The song of forgiveness of sin
in Christ is the most beautiful song of sinners ever heard. The
song of peace with God through the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the song of Righteousness and sanctification in Christ is the
most beautiful song any sinner has ever heard. It's the song
of Christ. If he's the subject, it's a beautiful
song to his people. And this beautiful song, this
is the song John hears and sees being sung in heaven. But you
know, this song is being sung on earth too. It's the song of
heaven and earth. Verse three, John calls it, says
they sing the song of Moses. Verse three, and they sing the
song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the lamb,
saying, great and marvelous are thy works, Lord God almighty,
just and true are thy ways, thou king of saints. Now, the people
in heaven are singing the song of the lamb. Christ is the subject
of the song, but it's also the song of Moses. This is the song
that has been sung on earth before. It's a song of the great and
marvelous work of salvation in our Lord Jesus Christ. I look
back at Exodus chapter 15. Johnson, he recognized the song,
he said that that's the song of Moses. Well, here's when Moses
sang this song. This song has been sung on earth
before, too, and it's been sung ever since. It's a song that
Moses sang after the children of Israel were delivered at the
Red Sea from Egypt. This song that Moses sang is
a great and marvelous song. This song tells us the Lord Jesus
Christ is a marvelous savior. Exodus 15 verse one. Then saying
Moses and the children of Israel, this song unto the Lord and spake
saying, I will sing unto the Lord for he had triumphed gloriously. The horse and his rider had been
thrown into the sea. The Lord is my strength and song.
and he has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will prepare
him in habitation, my father's God, and I will exalt him. You know, when the Lord drowned
Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea, the Lord gave us a picture
of how he's going to redeem his people from their sin. Remember,
Egypt represents bondage to the law. The children of Israel were
in bondage in Egypt. Somebody had to set them free
from that bondage. They couldn't do it. Somebody
else had to do it. Well, God, in a miraculous, marvelous way,
bared the right arm of his power and he delivered his people from
bondage in Egypt. And he did it by making the power
of Egypt, the might of Egypt, did not exist anymore. The might
of Egypt was their great army. This was the greatest army in
the history of the world at the time. And without Israel ever
firing a shot, that army was 100% wiped out. God put them out of sight at
the bottom of the Red Sea. And that's a picture. God gave
us that as a picture. God's people are born in bondage,
just like the children of Israel. Those poor babies were born in
bondage in Egypt. They're going to live their life
in bondage unless the Lord sends them to live for it. Well, God's
people are born in bondage. We're born in bondage to the
law because of our sin. And try as we might, we can't
set ourselves free. We can't quit sinning. We can't
set ourselves free from the laws of man. God's elect are only
set free from the law by Christ putting the power of the law
away, by putting the sin of his people away and making it to
not exist anymore, putting it under the blood of Christ. Now
we talk about our sins, the sins of God's people being put under
the blood of Christ. You know, don't think like, you
know, I could put something here and put my Bible on top of and
it's under my Bible and it's hidden from view. But everybody
knows it's still there, don't they? Yeah, it's still there.
When we talk about our sin being put under the blood of Christ,
it's not like our sin doesn't exist anymore. It's not, well,
our sin still exists. It's just hidden from view. No. When God put the sin of his people
under the blood of Christ, he made it to not exist anymore.
He took the reason for God's wrath away. And God's people
love to sing the praises of that same What a successful, great
and marvelous Savior who did something the human mind could
never imagine, put sin away. And you'll notice as they talk
here, they're not just singing about a work of salvation, are
they? They're singing about a person. The Lord is my strength. Not
that He gave me strength, the Lord is my strength. He is my
God. He is become my salvation. My salvation is a person through
the Lord Jesus Christ. And we can sing from the heart
with a whole lot more thanksgiving and meaning, but we're not singing
about a work. We're not singing about a doctrinal
truth, but we're singing about a person, the one who gave himself
for us. That's the song a believer loves
to sing. Our savior is great and marvelous.
And our Lord is great and marvelous in his justice too. Look at verse
three, Exodus 15. The Lord's a man of war. The
Lord is his name. Pharaoh's chariots and his host
hath he cast into the sea. His chosen captains also are
drowned in the Red Sea. The depths have covered them.
They sank into the bottom as a stone. Thy right hand, O Lord,
is become glorious in power. Thy right hand, O Lord, hath
dashed in pieces the enemy. In the greatness of thine excellency,
thou hast overthrown them that rose up against thee. Thou sentest
forth thy wrath which consumed them as stubble. And with the
blast of thy nostrils, the waters were gathered together. The flood
stood upright as in heap, and the depths were congealed in
the heart of the sea. The enemy said, I will pursue. I will overtake. I will divide the spoil. My lust
shall be satisfied upon them. I will draw my sword. My hand
shall destroy them. And all God did, thou didst blow
with thy wind. The sea covered them. They sank
as lead. in the mighty waters. Now the
Lord is merciful to his people. The Lord delivered his people
in great power and great mercy. And the Lord gets great glory
in mercy, salvation of his people. God said his greatest glory is
showing mercy to sinners, didn't he? That's what he told Moses,
his greatest glory is showing mercy to sinners. But you know,
the Lord also gives glory in justice to his enemies. He sure
does. Now we hate to think about it
right now, but when God damns unbelievers, His justice is glorified. He doesn't give them something
they don't deserve. His justice is glorified because
He gives them exactly what they deserve. They said, I want to
earn it. I want what's coming to me. And God's justice is glorified
and He gives them exactly that. Just exactly what they got coming
to them, what they've earned. God's going to get glory to Himself.
Every attribute of God is going to be glorified, either in mercy
or in wrath and justice. For time's sake, let me just
give you one example of one attribute of God is justice. The God is
just, that's an attribute of God. Well, God's justice was
glorified in the salvation of his people through the sacrifice
of the Lord Jesus Christ. God's justice is glorified. How's
that? because the death of Christ for
His people satisfied God's justice for them. So in showing mercy
to His people, He also glorified His justice. And God's justice
is also glorified when God will pour out one day His wrath upon
those who refuse to believe, who refuse to bow. In both cases,
either way, God's justice will be glorified. At the Red Sea,
God was glorified, wasn't He? God was glorified when He set
His people free. God was glorified when he destroyed
Pharaoh and his army to Red Sea and the whole earth heard about
it. In both, in God delivering his people and God destroying
the Egyptian army to Red Sea, the whole earth heard about it.
When those spies came to Jericho, Rahab said, we heard about you.
We know about your God, how he delivered you from that great
army. We heard about you. God's name was glorified. in
justice and showing mercy to his people and his wrath, destroying
Pharaoh's army. And all this is given to us as
a picture. One day, God's going to take
vengeance on those who refuse to believe on his son. Now listen
to me, I'm not trying to scare anybody. This is just the truth
of who God is. Nobody's ever terrified and scared
into coming to God. No, we come to God because God's
merciful, because He's gracious to sinners, because He's the
Savior of sinners. We're a sinner. I'm a sinner. I need a Savior.
That's why I come to Christ. But don't fall for this lie that
God loves everybody. In this song of Moses, Moses
said, God's a man of war. He doesn't love everybody. There's
somebody he doesn't love. Somebody's at the bottom of the
Red Sea, aren't they? Somebody's consumed to stubble.
Somebody's dashed in pieces. God doesn't love everyone. His
justice is going to be glorified. And if God destroys anybody,
it's going to be their own fault. Pharaoh and his army destroyed
at the Red Sea. Do they got anybody to blame
but themselves? They don't, do they? God told
him over and over and over again. And Pharaoh was determined he's
going to pursue after him. I'm going to destroy the people.
I'm going to satisfy my lust upon them. At one time, Pharaoh
hardened his own heart. Who is God that I should bow
to him? Who is God that I should submit to him? He hardened his
own heart. He said, I will not let thy people go. And then one
day, God hardened his heart. Then he killed him at the Red
Sea. Pharaoh had nobody to blame but himself. In the judgment,
the same thing will be true of everybody God damn. They won't
have anybody blame it to themselves. They said, I'm going to pursue
after my own righteousness. My hand is going to deliver me.
I'm going to satisfy my lust. That's not talking about sinful
lust now. That's talking about my lust, my desire to produce
my own righteousness, to make God happy with me by what I do. And they refuse to submit to
the righteousness of Christ. And God's going to, God will
damn them for it. Injustice. God is marvelous in His justice. Then verse 11, God is great and
marvelous in His holiness. Who is like unto thee, O Lord,
among the gods? Who is like thee? Glorious in
holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders. God is holy. God cannot even look upon sin. God's glory is so Glorious. It's so wonderful. Sinful man
can't look upon God and live. That's what God told Moses. You
can't look up upon me. You can't see my face and live.
Yet in holiness, God saved his people. God did not bypass his
holiness to save his people from their sin. He made them holy. He made them what he will accept
in the person of his son. And now he enables them to see
the glory of God. in the face of Jesus Christ.
That's where we see the glory of God's holiness. Verse 12,
God is great and marvelous in his power. Thou stretchest out
thy right hand. The earth swallowed them. The
whole earth just swallowed up God's enemies. All he had to
do is stretch his right hand out and the earth just swallowed
him up. All it took for God to destroy his enemies is just a
blast of his nostrils. They made him mad and his nostrils
just flared just the slightest bit in anger. and they were destroyed. God's marvelous in His power. God is great and marvelous in
His power to show mercy to His people. Verse 13. Thou and thy
mercy has led forth a people which thou hast redeemed. Thou
has guided them in thy strength and in thy holy habitation. This goes back to the song of
redemption we were talking about earlier. A sinner can sing. I mean about the glory of the
one who is holy, who has all power, yet he's merciful to a
sinner like me. He has such tender compassion
upon sinners. You go read the four Gospels,
Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, you will never find the Savior
having a harsh word for a sinner in his mercy, never. Now he has
harsh words for the scribes and the Pharisees, the leaders of
those things, doesn't he? But he never had a harsh word
for a sinner who needs mercy. He has such tender compassion
upon sinners that he would sacrifice himself to redeem them. We can
sing that song, can't we? Then God is great and marvelous. He's so wonderful. All of his
enemies are going to shake in fear before him. Every one of
his enemies are going to bow to him eventually. Verse 14.
Thy people shall hear and be afraid. Sorrow shall take hold
on the inhabitants of Palestina. Then the Dukes of Edom, the great
and mighty men, shall be amazed. The mighty men of Moab, trembling,
shall take hold upon them. All the inhabitants of Canaan
shall melt away. Fear and dread shall fall upon
them by the greatness of thine arm. They shall be as still as
a stone. To thy people pass over, O Lord,
to the people pass over which thou hast purchased. even the
greatest of men, the most stubborn, the most stiff necked, one day
are going to bow to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, it is my prayer
that they bow to him now, that the Lord be merciful, that they
bow now. It may not be till the day of
judgment, but one day they're going to bow. Everyone is going
to bow to the Lord Jesus Christ. He's great and marvelous. Our
Savior is great and marvelous in giving His people everything
He promised them. God always keeps His promise.
God promised to give a land to Abraham's seed. Hundreds of years
before this time at the Red Sea, God promised Abraham, your seed
is going to inherit this land. God's faithful to give it to
him. Verse 17. Now shall I bring them in and
plant them in the mountain of thine inheritance. In the place,
O Lord, which thou has made for thee to dwell in, in the sanctuary,
O Lord, which thy hands have established." God gave Israel
everything he promised them. You remember how God deals with
that nation Israel is always a picture of how God deals with
his people. God's going to give his people everything he promised. He promised redemption. He promised
forgiveness of sin. He promised eternal life. He's
promised to glorify them together with Christ. They're going to
have it. And they're going to have it
because God promised it. And I know there are times that we look
around us here on this earth and we think, I don't see how
this is going to get me from here to there. But you rest on
the promise of God. You will. Because God promised
it. He's so great and glorious, He never goes back on His word.
Something never happens out of His control that stops Him from
giving His people everything He promised them. Which brings
me to the next thing. God is great and marvelous. in
His royal reign over everything. Verse 18, the Lord shall reign
forever and ever. That remind you of the Hallelujah
Chorus? Moses started singing the Hallelujah Chorus a long
time ago, didn't he? That God shall reign forever
and ever. Hallelujah. And people are still
singing it. We looked at this just a few
weeks ago. We love to sing the hallelujah chorus now. And that's
what they're singing in glory. The Lord God omnipotent reign
it. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. He reigns
over all things. So nothing can stop him from
accomplishing his purpose. In verse 19, God is great and
marvelous in his electing love. For the horse of Pharaoh went
in with his chariots, with his horsemen into the sea. And the
Lord brought again the waters of the sea upon them. But here's
the difference. The children of Israel in the
exact same place, they went on dry land in the midst of the
sea. He came out on the other side, saved. But in that very
same place where Israel was saved, God crushed his enemies. The
Lord makes a difference. His electing love makes a difference.
He made a difference between Israel and the Egyptians, didn't
he? Just like he made a difference between Jacob and Esau. He makes
a difference between believers and unbelievers. You who believe,
what's the difference between your family and friends who will
not believe? What's the difference? You can
only attribute it to one thing. It's not that you're smarter
or you're better because you know you're not. It's God's elect
and grace. It's the only difference. I chose
you. God sent his gospel to you and
gave you faith to believe in. God's elect are going to live
because God had mercy He determined to have mercy upon them. He sent
his son to die for them, to purchase it. It sends his spirit to give
them life. They're going to live. And unbelievers
are going to perish simply because God chose to leave them alone.
He'll give them just exactly what they've earned by their
works. Now quickly look back in our text, Revelation 15. That's
the song of Moses. Now let's look at this song sung
in glory and see it's the exact same song. Exactly. The only
difference is, in glory, the church is perfect. And they're
singing it in complete victory. Israel had the victory that day
at the Red Sea, didn't they? They got other battles they're
gonna have to fight. But here, in glory, those who are singing
this song there are in perfection. No more battles. No more battles
to fight. It's all over. They're perfect.
They look back now. and they see what they believed
all along. They believed all along God's hand was working
all things together for good to them that loved God. They
believed that. Now they look back and see, I see how he did
that for me. They have no more enemies left.
God worked everything out for them. He's the one who redeemed
them. He's the one that brought them
to glory. And now they're singing the exact same song Moses sung.
They sing how everything our God has done, everything about
him is great. and marvelous. Verse three, they
sing the song of Moses, the servant of God and the song of the lamb
saying, Great and marvelous are thy works, Lord God Almighty. Everything God does is great
and marvelous. And they're saying, I see that
now. I see how all of God's work of
redemption from election to final glorification. I see how it's
all marvelous now. David sung this song, we won't
turn to it, but I love to read this verse, Psalm 139, verse
14. David sounds like he's from Eastern
Kentucky. He says, all God's works are
marvelous, that my soul knows right well. I know that right
well. Those who are in glory know it
right well, perfectly. Just like Moses, those in glory
sing of the marvelous holiness of our God. Verse three says,
just and true, are thy ways." Everything God does is just. Everything God does is true and
holy. And all of creation is going
to praise him for it. All of creation is going to bow
to him for it. Verse 4, Who shall not fear thee, O Lord? Who shall
not glorify thy name? For thou only art holy. For all nations shall come and
worship before thee. For thy judgments are made manifest. How glorious it will be in that
day. to see the personal, perfect
holiness of God and see that everything He's done is just
like Him. It's holy. Just like Moses, the church sings
of the eternal kingship of Christ. At the end of verse three, he
says, they're saying to thou King of saints. Now the Lord
is the King of saints. He is the King of his people.
But if you look in your center reference there, that word means
all people of nations or all ages. The Lord is king of everything
and he reigns eternally. And then just like Moses, the
church sings of everyone. There we read it in verse four.
Everyone is going to fear and worship God. Everyone will eventually. Every human being is going to
see Christ in judgment. And at that time, we're going
to bow. We'll bow in fear and everyone will glorify his name.
Philippians 2 tells us, that at the name of Jesus, every knee
is going to bow, and every tongue is going to confess that Jesus
Christ is Lord. Those who refuse to believe in
this life, they're going to confess it. They're going to bow the
knee in terror and shame, and they're going to confess it.
And they're going to glorify God's justice. They're going
to say, God gave me exactly what I deserve. And those who believe
Christ now, they're going to bow utter joy. Can you imagine seeing the Savior
face to face and bowing to Him? They're going to glorify God's
grace and mercy and His love. They're going to confess, I can
tell you why I'm here. It's only because of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And then they're going to join
in this song and spend eternity singing this song of the Lamb. I pray God will teaching us the
words, putting that song in our heart this morning. All right.
Lord bless you.