Two Songs

And I saw what looked like a sea of glass glowing with fire and, standing beside the sea, those who had been victorious over the beast and its image and over the number of its name. They held harps given them by God and sang the song of God's servant Moses and of the Lamb: Great and marvelous are your deeds, Lord God Almighty. Just and true are your ways, King of the nations. Who will not fear you, Lord, and bring glory to your name? For you alone are holy.

Rev 15:2-4a

The promise from God here is that this is the last of the series of judgments. We have reached a turning point of history when we come to these seven bowls of God's wrath. God will then begin to set up his kingdom upon the earth. In this scene, John describes a great host of martyrs, men and women who have given up their lives under the Antichrist, and they are now seen in heaven standing on the sea of glass or crystal. These martyrs are said to be victorious over the beast. As you view this scene of martyrdom and judgment, it looks as though when these men and women leave the earth, they are losers — but when they arrive in heaven, they are victors! It is a wonderful revelation of how God works far differently from man. Man is under the illusion that what he sees happening is actually according to the way he views it, but it really is not. The Antichrist thinks he is getting rid of his enemies, but what he is really doing is running a shuttle service to heaven! He is but an elevator boy in God's service, taking loads of saints up to glory. He does not realize that God is using him for the very purposes that he has ordained.

This host of martyrs sings two songs, the Song of Moses (recorded in Exodus 15 as the Israelites came out of Egypt and crossed the Red Sea), and the Song of the Lamb. Both songs are a description of the deliverance of God's people by divine power, based upon a blood redemption. When Moses and the Israelites sang the Song of Moses, they were looking back to the blood of a lamb put over the lintels of the doorposts to keep them safe from the Angel of Death. Here the martyrs are praising God and honoring him for the divine power that has delivered them from the wrath of the Antichrist, based on the blood of redemption shed by the Lamb of God.

The striking thing about this Song of the Lamb is that there is not one single word about their own achievements! They do not ever say, O Lord, how faithful we have been to you! How true we have been to your word! How steadfastly we have endured! The only pronouns used in the song are your and you. When you stand in the presence of God, you will not feel that you have done anything. You will simply be grateful — grateful beyond words — for what God has done for you.

Father, thank you that regardless of what happens to me on earth, in you I am a victor! Help me to live with joy and hope because of what you have accomplished. Amen.