Last week, I expounded on the declarations of judgments in Rev 14. This week, I will expound on what immediately happens in the narrative after this. Chapter 15 begins with a vision of the seven angels who will pour out the vials of God’s wrath. We see in this scene the two-part refrain seen throughout the book. An act of worship that triggers the supernatural manifestation of God’s power.
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Revelation 15:1-8 NKJV |
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Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous: seven angels having the seven last plagues, for in them the wrath of God is complete. (2) And I saw something like a sea of glass mingled with fire, and those who have the victory over the beast, over his image and over his mark and over the number of his name, standing on the sea of glass, having harps of God. (3) They sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying: “Great and marvelous are Your works, Lord God Almighty! Just and true are Your ways, O King of the saints! (4) Who shall not fear You, O Lord, and glorify Your name? For You alone are holy. For all nations shall come and worship before You, For Your judgments have been manifested.” (5) After these things I looked, and behold, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened… |
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Revelation 15:1-8 NKJV |
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…(6) And out of the temple came the seven angels having the seven plagues, clothed in pure bright linen, and having their chests girded with golden bands. (7) Then 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. (8) The temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from His power, and no one was able to enter the temple till the seven plagues of the seven angels were completed. |
We are informed here in this text that they sang “the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb.” This is a reference to the song Moses composed at the command and inspiration of God as his life on earth neared its end. This song is recorded in Deuteronomy 32. The background to this song can be found in the surrounding text of chapters 31-34. Deuteronomy 31 begins with Moses convening an assembly – the final assembly in which he will preside. In verse 2, he says,” I am an hundred and twenty years old this day; I can no more go out and come in: also the LORD hath said unto me, Thou shalt not go over this Jordan. ” Moses was going to die on his 120th birthday. This was the last day on which he was going to wake up. The next time he would fall asleep, he would pass on to be with the Lord.
Moses was going to die in the saddle. He had a busy day of ministry. There were three major things he did that day. He finished the final composition of the Law and gave it to the elders with instructions. He then commissioned Joshua to be the new leader, giving him warnings of what would happen if Israel fell away from following God’s commandments. He then premiered his song. After premiering his song, God instructed him to go to the mountain where he was to die.
Moses wrote six stanzas. These would prophetically capture the history of the people of God from the days of Joshua to the Second Coming of the Messiah Yeshua – Jesus Christ.
The first stanza establishes that God is an infallible Rock whose ways are truth and righteousness. Christ is that Rock, that if we are built on Him, we can withstand the storm.
The second stanza establishes that the people of God quickly corrupted themselves and admonishes them to remember that God is their Father who adopted them as sons and daughters, looking both to a personal relationship with God the Father and also to the history handed down to them by their elders as witnesses to what God has done to establish us. This is applicable even today, as we can look to both the Word revealed in Scripture and the Holy Spirit to show us the ways of God.
The third stanza establishes that Israel was the centerpiece of God’s plan. He even seeded the diversity of nations according to the number of the children of Israel* He gloriously led Israel to greatness. God has instructed us, nourished us, and performed mighty miracles to establish His people. He has done this both in the case of Israel and the Church.
The fourth stanza revealed that God’s people rebelled once they attained greatness and prosperity and turned toward the abominations of the surrounding nations. Because of them, God promises to mete out judgment. These judgments would reduce God’s people and bring them back into bondage to foreign and worldly taskmasters.
The fifth stanza revealed that God would have wiped out his people if it were not for the enemies of God becoming inflamed with mockery and pride, claiming that it was their power and not God that gave them the victory over God’s people, and using such claims to make a mockery of God. God cannot be mocked(Gal 6:7). This issue came to the forefront earlier in Moses’ ministry. God threatened to wipe out the Israelites and offered to create a new people out of Moses. Moses appealed to God’s glory and promises as a defense for the Israelites, arguing that God’s enemies would mock Him and denigrate His power and goodness (Ex 32:9-14). God relented then, and He does now. If he had not, we would have been completely destroyed. The Israelites had Moses; we have Jesus Christ, who lives to make intercession (Romans 8:34, Hebrews 7:25).
The sixth stanza revealed that God will once again shine upon his people. He would shine upon us once He saw that human machination and power were totally broken. It is when we can no longer go to the Pharaohs, the Assyrians, or the Romans to play the harlot that He will intervene on our behalf. When we no longer prostrate ourselves in the sexual position (figurative or otherwise) before the Republicans, the Democrats, or any other political party and realize only He can save us, He will come. Isaiah 59 also foresees the day when God will no longer find anyone who was both able and willing to intercede for justice in this world. God Himself intervenes using weapons that anticipate spiritual warfare in actions that cross-reference with Ephesians 6:10-18. When we seek Him to enter the battlefield using spiritual weapons and spiritual power, He will come (see also Psalm 118).
This song, as written by Moses, however, was incomplete. He wrote the six stanzas to completion. It would appear that a melody has not yet been written as he “spake” the song to Israel rather than singing. The chorus is also missing. Jesus Christ Himself wrote the chorus, which appears in the text in Revelation 15. The incompleteness of Moses’ ministry is also evidenced by the fact that he could not enter the Promised Land. He was faithful as a servant in God’s house, but fell short because he was a servant. He fell short through his sin at the waters of Meribah. God had anticipated Moses’ shortcomings and transformed Moses’ incompleteness into a well-designed pattern for completeness.
Moses’ ministry was to be completed by Yeshua. The name ‘Yeshua’ tied together both the immediate fulfillment of Moses and the cosmic, typological fulfillment over the ages. He was given a vision of the physical Promised Land that was to be conquered by a Yeshua whose name comes down to us as Joshua and whose exploits are recorded in a book of the same name. This Yeshua did not fully occupy Moses’ office. There was another Yeshua who was the Prophet like unto Moses. He would complete Moses’ ministry on a cosmic scale. Moses was also given a vision of the fulfillment of God’s plan of the ages that would be fulfilled by a Yeshua known to us as Jesus Christ. He is the Lamb who wrote the chorus. A chorus whose full premiere heralds the coming of the wrath of God to take back physical possession of the earth from the Satanically inspired globalist dictators.
Below is an English translation of what the complete song of Moses and of the Lamb might look like. Don’t know what the music would sound like, but a melody becomes attached to this before the Day of the Lord’s wrath as the singing of this song heralds that awesome and terrifying sequence of events.