Revelation 14-15
Hope after Hope Before Hope / Revelation 14–15
Songs of redemption are the witness of the church because we hold on until we see Christ in His glory.
What Christ shows us in songs in Chaos
Revelation 14:1–5 ESV
Then I looked, and behold, on Mount Zion stood the Lamb, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven like the roar of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder. The voice I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps, and they were singing a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and before the elders. No one could learn that song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth. It is these who have not defiled themselves with women, for they are virgins. It is these who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. These have been redeemed from mankind as firstfruits for God and the Lamb, and in their mouth no lie was found, for they are blameless.
Is the song we get to sing now. Revelation reminds us how much evil will want to swallow us up but how much bigger Christ is.
We hear it in the song but then there are three angels who tell us that evil is coming to an end. As small compared to joy in Christ it may be, it needs still to be dealt with. Satan is coming to an end. And God is coming in judgment and mercy. And the response is to worship.
Revelation 14:8 ESV
Another angel, a second, followed, saying, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, she who made all nations drink the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality.”
This comes out of the heels of radical chaos, this comes in the middle of radical chaos just after this Babylon is thrown down, so we see all mechanisms of the world crash up against Christ, while the redeemed of Christ sing songs of praise.
Hebrews 11:36–40 ESV
Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated— of whom the world was not worthy—wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.
And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect.
What Christ shows us in Songs of redemption
Revelation 15:3–4 ESV
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.”
Chapter 15 is a take on the song of Moses. Which we can only interpret as a song of redemption freedom from slavery against forces. You have to understand exodus to understand revelation 15. The Lord heard the cry, the Israelites and exodus 3, and He alone responded. And it was through acts of power That the Israelites were free.
If revelation is taught us anything, it’s not a diminishment of what is happening around the world, but it is the ability to see what is real and true, regardless of what the world shows us .
Revelation 15:5–8 ESV
After 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, 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.
When we worship, when we sing, when we speak witness of who Christ is in our lives in the middle of darkness God inhabits our praise.
Worship is the way through. To declare the praises of Him in whom we have redemption and freedom.