Chapters 15, 16: the Martyred Remnant and the Seven Seals {Introduction}

In these two chapters we have another section of the book, which gives us the account of the outpouring of the seven vials. Terrible judgments as they are, they are followed by the Lord Himself coming in flaming fire. But, as we have previously seen in the Apocalypse, so here, the heart is relieved from the sorrows of the outpoured wrath of God, by a parenthetic announcement of a saved remnant standing in joy and blessing before the throne.
The fifteenth chapter opens by telling us, that John
saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God {Rev. 15:1}.
It is sad to think that the awful doom which awaits men is so unheeded. God speaks once, yea, twice, but man perceiveth it not. We have traced the opening of the seven seals, and the sounding of the seven trumpets in all their various characters of judgment, and now the last actings of Divine wrath, prior to the Lord taking everything into His own hands, are brought before us. It is the wrath of God in these chapters; the wrath of the Lamb will follow.
But before the prophet witnesses in the vision the long- deserved writhings of the profane, his eye is drawn to the sea of glass before the throne of God. In the fourth chapter, we noticed
a sea of glass like unto crystal {Rev. 4:6},
and unpeopled; but here it is mingled with fire, referring, perhaps, to the fiery trial of Antichrist which they had passed through, and occupied by them
that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name {Rev. 15:2}.
They are seen standing upon the sea of glass, in the attitude of thanksgiving and rejoicing, having
harps of God {Rev. 15:2};
all expressive of marvelous deliverance and victory. They had known the deep sorrow and distress of the time of Jacob’s trouble, and they got victory over the beast, not by an arm of flesh, but by faith; and though by death they lost the place of blessing on the earth, they found it more than made up by a place of resurrection- joy and gladness given them before the throne of God.
Who are the people here spoken of? Let their own utterances tell us. They do not sing the new song of the fifth chapter, or the song of the seventh chapter; neither are they described as coming out of every nation, as we find there; but they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb. It is a song of redemption, both by power and by blood; but why the song of Moses? Is it not to show us that the singers are on Old Testament ground — in other words, pious Jews, faithful to Moses’ law, and hoping for the kingdom to be set up on earth? Are not these people a remnant the saints described by Daniel (Dan. 7:21), and which we saw suffering under the beast in the thirteenth chapter of the Apocalypse? Their song, too, seems in harmony with the spirit of the remnant often brought before us in the psalms, as speaking of the judgment and power of God, which would subdue all nations to Himself. This song is, in principle, much like the song of Moses in the book of Exodus. They say,
Great and marvelous are Thy works, Lord God Almighty! Just and true are Thy ways, Thou King of nations! [Margin.] 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 {Rev. 15:3, 4}.
The difference between this utterance and the new song of the fifth chapter is most striking, so that it is impossible to identify them. The whole company stands before us as another witness of the faithfullness of God to those who, in any dispensation, make God and the Lamb their refuge, and thus find shelter from impending wrath. The 20th chapter shows us that those who thus get the victory over the beast and his image are in the first resurrection (Rev. 4, 5) Before closing our remarks on this portion, it may be well to say that the marginal reading,
king of nations,
is preferable to
king of saints,
because the Scripture nowhere teaches that Christ stands to us in the relationship of king. It is true that He is Lord of all; but our hope is to share His throne with Him, instead of being reigned over by Him as King of kings, and Lord of lords.