Revelation 15 is the shortest of the 22 chapters of Revelation, and the events therein are set for the conclusion of the Tribulation.
Revelation 15 begins with John witnessing seven angels preparing “the seven last plagues – for in them is filled up the wrath of God.”
“And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God.” – Revelation 15:1
The Greek word for “last” is 2078 ἐσχάτας “eschatas” or “eschatos” and means end, last, uttermost, (in the sense of contiguity); farthest, final (of place or time).
These are the last judgments in the chronological pouring out of God’s wrath. When completed, Messiah is about to return to Earth to finish off the enemies of God and to establish His Messianic Millennial Kingdom.
“And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them 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.” – Revelation 15:2
Revelation 15:1-2 is a prominent reason for why I believe the seven Vial Judgments will occur at the end of the Tribulation. How long before the end of the Tribulation? Well, I am not exactly sure. But we are told that Satan, through the Antichrist, will have absolute power on Earth all throughout the Great Tribulation (Revelation 13:5).
However, in verse two, John “saw… them 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.”
This statement suggests that at the time that the seven angels prepare to pour out the seven Vial Judgments, the outright slaughter by the Antichrist and his forces will finally be abated. For what reasons, we can only speculate, but I would suggest that there are not any more antagonists to be found; most have already been put to death, and those that have escaped are being supernaturally protected by this time so that the remnant of the truly saved, as The Last Sheep, may enter into the coming Messianic Millennial Kingdom.
Moreover, Antichrist and his rebellious cohorts are going to have their hands quite full with what God has planned for them now!
These “that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name” may or may not be among the multitude that John saw in a fast-forward vision in Revelation 7: Bookends of the Tribulation, depending upon whether these Saints in Revelation 7 are only those who died in the Great Tribulation by means other than being beheaded by Antichrist. Yet these Great Tribulation Saints found in Revelation 15:2 are evidently singled out at this time because they had gotten victory over the Beast, which highly suggests that these are they who were beheaded by Antichrist and his forces for refusing The Mark of The Beast.
Meanwhile, their narrative continues…
“And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints.” – Revelation 15:3
Later we are told that these Saints who were beheaded by the Antichrist for their stand against taking The Mark of The Beast and worshiping Satan and the Antichrist do not get their resurrected bodies until after Christ’s Second Coming. For after the Beast and the False Prophet are thrown into the Lake of Fire and Satan is bound for 1,000 years, we read…
“And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived [were resurrected] and reigned with Christ a thousand years.” – Revelation 20:4
And since these who were beheaded by Antichrist will not receive their resurrected glorified bodies until after Christ’s return, then when these Saints are seen by John singing in heaven in Revelation 15:3, they must be in their temporary spirit bodies awaiting their soon glorification.
These precious singled-out Great Tribulation Saints who were beheaded by Antichrist and his forces are seen worshiping the Lord and singing “the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb” and declaring “Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints!”
“The Lord is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works.” – Psalm 145:17
The first song recorded in Scripture was sung by Israel following God’s deliverance from Pharoah and Egypt (representing the world), and after crossing the parted Red Sea while fleeing Pharoah and the Egyptian army.
Moshe, as a type of Messiah, led God’s people, Israel, out of bondage and gross persecution into the Promised Land, similar in typology to Yeshua giving victory to His Saints in the Great Tribulation over Antichrist and his Mark of the Beast economic and worship system. Though they lost their physical lives, those Saints who were beheaded for their testimony and the Word of God by the Antichrist in the Great Tribulation will find deliverance from this evil world through their salvation by grace through faith in the finished work of the Lamb of God on the cross, thereby entering their eternal Promised Land at death.
Israel’s deliverance from Pharoah, Egypt, and the world system of their day at the Red Sea, is spiritually a type of triumph of the Saints over the Antichrist, the Mark of The Beast, and the prevailing rebellious world system during the Great Tribulation. The same God who delivered His people in the past, picturing this final deliverance of the future, is the same God who saves all souls who are willing to come to salvation through His Son, Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, throughout all of history.
The “song of Moses the servant of God” may be that first song sung in the Bible after Israel was delivered from Egypt and Pharoah in Exodus 15:1-19, with a possible emphasis on the following verses.
“The Lord is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation: he is my God, and I will prepare him an habitation; my father’s God, and I will exalt him…
“Thy right hand, O Lord, is become glorious in power: thy right hand, O Lord, hath dashed in pieces the enemy. And 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…
“Who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods? who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?
“Thou in thy mercy hast led forth the people which thou hast redeemed: thou hast guided them in thy strength unto thy holy habitation…
“The Lord shall reign for ever and ever.” – Exodus 15:2, 6-7, 11, 13, 18
Or maybe the “song of Moses the servant of God” is the song sung just before Israel was to enter the Promised Land in Deuteronomy 32:1-43, with a possible emphasis on the following verses.
“Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth. My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass: Because I will publish the name of the Lord: ascribe ye greatness unto our God.
“He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.
“For the Lord’s portion is his people…
“Rejoice, O ye nations, with his people: for he will avenge the blood of his servants, and will render vengeance to his adversaries, and will be merciful unto his land, and to his people.” – Deuteronomy 32:1-4, 9, 43
Or perhaps the “song of Moses the servant of God” could be Moses’ Psalm 90 that will be sung, with a possible emphasis on the following verses.
“Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God…
“For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night…
“So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom…
“O satisfy us early with thy mercy; that we may rejoice and be glad all our days…
“Let thy work appear unto thy servants, and thy glory unto their children. And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us: and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it.” – Psalm 90:1-2, 4, 12, 14, 16-17
“The song of the Lamb” might be the song that is sung in Revelation 5:9-14 or possibly a Messianic Psalm or Psalm of rejoicing, or maybe a reflection on certain aspects of the Song of Solomon.
Alternatively, these songs that are sung by these precious Saints may be entirely new songs altogether or songs that are not recorded for us in Scripture.
Regardless of what songs “the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb” may be that are sung in heaven by the multitude of Great Tribulation Saints that had “victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name,” what a beautiful and reverential scene this shall be to witness!
Their declaration continues:
“Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest.” – Revelation 15:4
Indeed, all nations will come before the Lord and worship Him in the Messianic Millennial Kingdom in which these precious Saints will play a very personal and intimate role to Messiah Himself.
And ultimately in the Eternal Kingdom, “the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it [New Jerusalem]: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it [New Jerusalem]” (Revelation 21:24).
“And after that I looked, and, behold, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened: And the seven angels came out of the temple, having the seven plagues, clothed in pure and white linen, and having their breasts girded with golden girdles.” – Revelation 15:5-6
The Tabernacle in the wilderness and the Temple in Jerusalem were evidently patterned after the “temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven.”
We also learn in Revelation 11:19 that the ark of the covenant had been translated to heaven: “And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament…” Some may suggest that this ark is a heavenly ark, but the context favors this being “the ark of His testament” to Israel that had been taken to heaven at some point. When, we are not told, but Revelation 11 is at the midway point of the Tribulation, so it obviously will be there then. It quite possibly could be there now, having been taken to heaven at any time from Babylon’s destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple up until Messiah’s once-for-all sacrifice on the cross (if the ark was hidden by Jeremiah as some extra-Biblical sources claim).
One reason to believe that no heavenly ark of the covenant exists in the heavenly Temple is because the Ark of Moses represented the presence of the LORD, pictured in the Person of the Son of God, the Messiah. Since the Son of God eternally abides with the Father, even in His divine/human nature (John 3:13), there would be no rationale to having a heavenly ark in the heavenly Temple where the Father and the Son reside, as the Son is Himself the ark of the covenant within the most holy place.
Though the Temple will exist in the Messianic Millennial Kingdom along with the most holy place (Ezekiel 41:4), there will be no ark (Jeremiah 3:16-17), as Messiah Yeshua, who is the embodiment of the ark, will rule and reign from Jerusalem.
Moreover, as we noted in Kingdom Foreshadowing Kingdom, the Temple – earthly or heavenly – will no longer be needed in the New Jerusalem in the Eternal Kingdom (Revelation 21:22).
Out from God’s heavenly “temple of the tabernacle of the testimony” will come “the seven angels… having the seven plagues, clothed in pure and white linen, and having their breasts girded with golden girdles.”
The seven angels are then met by one of the four beasts.
“And one of the four beasts gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials full of the wrath of God, who liveth for ever and ever.” – Revelation 15:7
The scene is one of immense seriousness.
“And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.” – Revelation 15:8
God’s glory and His power will fill His heavenly Temple, with “no man… able to enter into the temple,” while waiting in their divinely appointed locations “till the seven plages of the seven angels were fulfilled.”
On conclusion of these seven Vial Judgments, as recorded for us in Revelation 16, God’s wrath will have been accomplished from heaven, and the Father’s Son will assemble and prepare His heavenly armies, leading them down from heaven to Earth to judge His earthly enemies and rescue His beloved remnant, in preparation to rule and reign in His glorious Messianic Millennial Kingdom.
The bride of Christ, who Jesus rescued from Earth in the resurrection/rapture of the church some seven plus years earlier – along with all the other resurrected Saints from creation through to the Second Coming – will rule and reign with Him, just as He promised, in His glorious Kingdom.
All glory and honor and praise to the Creator, Savior, Redeemer, Lord, and King, now and forevermore. Amen!
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May we all keep Answering the Call of The Great Commission, and giving an answer to every man and woman who so desperately needs Jesus and asks us, “Why Am I Here and What Is It All About?”
Love, grace, mercy, and shalom in Messiah Yeshua, and Maranatha!
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