The Final Triumph

Verse 1: And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels who had seven plagues, which are the last, because in them the wrath of God is finished. In chapter 6 we saw six seals being opened. Most of them did not bring down God's wrath, but only a description of certain events that would take place on earth in the last days. But when the sixth seal was opened, we saw that the word "WRATH" occurred for the first time. That is when the wrath of God begins. When God's wrath begins, the church is taken up, because the church is not under God's wrath. Then we saw the seven-fold last trumpet, which was an expression of God's judgment. Now finally, we see seven bowls of wrath having the seven last plagues. In them the wrath of God is "FINISHED". Jesus also had said, "It is finished", when He hung on the cross. There He had experienced the fullness of God's wrath and judgment for our sin. And because we are today in Christ, there is no wrath or judgment for us. But there is no hope of escape from God's wrath for anyone who has not taken shelter in Christ's death on the cross. We read in Isaiah 13:6-11: Wail, for the day of the Lord is near! It will come as destruction from the Almighty. Behold, the day of the Lord is coming, cruel with fury and burning anger, to make the land a desolation; and He will exterminate its sinners from it. For the stars of heaven and their constellation will not flash forth their light; the sun will be dark when it rises, and the moon will not shed its light. Thus I will punish the world for its evil. And the wicked for their iniquity; I will put an end (especially to) ....the ARROGANCE of the PROUD and abase the HAUGHTINESS of the ruthless". The wrath of God will be poured out especially on the proud, the arrogant and the haughty of the earth. There we see how much God hates pride. Verse 2: And I saw, as it were, a sea of glass mixed with fire, and those who had come off victorious from the beast and from his image and from the number of his name, standing on the sea of glass, holding harps of God. Here we see the overcomers again, who have been raptured to meet Jesus in the air, and who are not going to be here, when God's wrath falls on the earth. We saw this sea of glass in chapter 4:6 too. These overcomers are standing before the throne of God. In the book of Revelation, we have seen frequent flashes of grace followed by judgment. The book John ate was sweet and bitter - grace and judgment alternately. So we have a picture of grace here in chapter 15, before we see judgment again in the next chapter. Again, we must remember that the book of Revelation is not written in chronological sequence. The wrath of God described in chapter 6 under the sixth seal is described more fully in chapter 16. Those who have overcome are described here as those who have been victorious over the beast - having overcome the spirit of the antichrist, which has been in operation now for 20 centuries. The spirit of the antichrist has built itself up like a mountain since the 1st century, and we are very close to the peak now! One of these days, the Antichrist will be revealed. But in every generation, there have been overcomers who have overcome the spirit of the antichrist. The world is full of people who behave like beasts and who react like beasts when attacked. But those who have got victory over the beast are those who react in a Christlike way to the beasts around them. These are the overcomers. They follow the Lamb. Even religious people - acted like beasts towards Jesus, when they crucified Him. But He loved them in return and forgave them. This is the path that the overcomers walk. Verses 3, 4: And they sang the song of Moses the bond-servant of God and the song of the Lamb saying, 'Great and marvellous are Thy works, O Lord God the Almighty; Righteous and true are Thy Ways, Thou king of the nations. Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify Thy Name? For Thou alone art Holy; for all the nations will come and worship before Thee, for Thy righteous acts have been revealed'. There are two songs of Moses mentioned in the Old Testament - one in Exodus 15:1-4, when the Israelites crossed the Red Sea and Pharaoh and his army were drowned therein. Moses then sang saying, "I will sing to the Lord, for He is highly exalted. The horse and its rider He has hurled into the sea". We saw in Revelation 6 how the antichrist too is pictured as a rider on a white horse. Here we see the overcomers singing God's praise for overthrowing that horse and its rider too. In the final battle of Armageddon, the Antichrist and his forces will come into the land of Israel and attack it. At that time, the Lord Jesus Christ will come down with His saints. His feet will stand upon the mount of Olives, and He will destroy the forces of the antichrist. The people of God will watch and share in that victory without fighting at all. And that is how we are to win every victory even today. We do not win the battle with human weapons. We stand still and trust in the Lord and the Lord destroys our enemies. So, those who have faith in that can sing the song of Moses even today!! We can sing the song of Moses in life's battles. We can "stand still" and see what the Lord does to our enemies. The second song of Moses is in Deuteronomy 31:30 to 32:52. There also he sings Rejoice, O nations, with His people; for He (the Lord) will avenge the blood of His servants, and will render vengeance on His adversaries and will atone for His land and His people" (Deuteronomy 32:42, 43). In both songs, we see one truth: The people of God do not take vengeance on their enemies. They stand back and God fights for them and avenges them. This is the song that we need to learn now so that we can sing it in glory with the harps of God one day. The daily situations of life are like a choir practice for us, to learn this song. The overcomers sing saying that God's ways are perfect. In heaven we will sing that "Jesus has done all things well". In that day, when we look back over the way God led us on earth, we will discover that everything - yes, everything - was ordained by God for our very best. Today we do not understand why many things happen. But in that day, we will understand perfectly. But the man of faith does not have to wait until that day. He believes and knows it even now. He does not have to wait until God explains the reason for everything that happened to him on earth. Right now he sings, "Lord! your ways are perfect!". Verses 5, 6: After these things I looked, and the temple of the tabernacle of testimony in heaven was opened, and the seven angels who had the seven plagues came out of the temple clothed in linen, clean and bright and girded around their breasts with golden girdles. The angels are clothed in linen "clean and bright". In Revelation 19:8 we are told that the clean, bright linen typifies the righteousness of the saints. These angels bring forth the judgment of God, and their dress indicates that the judgment is righteous. The golden girdles around their breasts also speak of the same thing. We read in Isaiah 11:2, 3 about Jesus, that "He would not judge according to what He saw with His eyes nor according to what He heard with His ears". We all have a tendency to pass judgment on others based on what we have seen and heard! But Jesus would not do that, because he did not trust His earthly senses. We are called to follow Jesus' example. Jesus saw and heard many things. But He took them all to His Father and said, "Father, I am now here as a Man with human limitations. So I will not judge anyone. I want to hear your opinion." And if His Father told Him something, He would form his judgment on the basis of that. That is why the judgment of Jesus was always righteous. We are commanded never to judge anyone, because we can judge only on the basis of what we see and hear and such information is always insufficient to form a righteous judgment. Verse 7: 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. The four living creatures had only participated in the worship of God until now. Now they also participate in God's judgment. God's righteousness and God's judgment are not two different things. One is the direct result of the other. And it is just as natural for these four living creatures to worship God as it is to participate in His judgments, when the time comes. It is perfectly proper for God to manifest goodness and also to execute judgment when necessary - for both are manifestations of His perfect love. Verse 8: And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from His power; and no one was able to enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were finished. When Solomon had completed building the temple in his day, the glory of God filled the temple. That was a manifestation of God's goodness. But here the glory of God fills the temple when judgment takes place. This teaches us that there is a glory in God's judgment too. Here we see the answer to the question that many have as to how we will be able to bear the sight of some unconverted loved one burning in hell forever and ever. None of us can love anyone more than Jesus loves that person. So, if Jesus can bear to see that person eternally damned, we will also be able to bear it, because we will be like Him then. In the presence of God, we will see clearly that the glory of God is manifested in His judgments, just as much as it was manifested when Jesus walked on earth in meekness and love. We cannot understand that fully now, because we are still in the flesh and because our minds are tainted and warped by sin. Unconverted men cannot understand even the glory of God manifested in Jesus "full of grace and truth" (John 1:14), because their eyes are blinded by seeking the glory of men. But we can understand it, because our eyes have been opened by God. We can now see the glory of humility, forgiveness, mercy, not avenging ourselves, loving our enemies etc., - which worldly people cannot see. In the same way, when our eyes are opened a little more in that final day, we will be able to see clearly that it is the love of God that sends people to hell too!! For God hates no-one. There is a glory of God manifested in His judgments too, which we may not be able to understand fully now.