Dive into Revelation 15 as we dissect the Great Sign in Heaven, exploring John’s vision of the seven angels and the final plagues. Discover the profound connection between the Song of Moses and the Lamb, as we delve into how divine justice and redemption are intertwined in Biblical prophecy. Through scripture, we revisit the mighty acts of God, His holiness, and the enduring promise that every nation will come to worship before Him.
Can you figure out the ways of God? He does the strangest things. For an example, he saves people that no one wants to be saved. You know, God saves people no one else wants.
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In Revelation 15, John sees a vision, a vision so incredibly terrifying, so final, it shakes heaven itself. A great sign appears, and seven angels are marching forward, holding the last plagues, the final wrath of God, ready to be unleashed. The sea of glass flares with fire, and their standing in defiant victory are the ones who refused the mark of the beast. They lift up their voices in a song that echoes across eternity. It’s the song of Moses and the Lamb. This is the end of all games. There’s no escape, no hiding. God’s holiness demands justice. This is Hope for Today. It’s day three of our study in Revelation 15 called The Great Sign in Heaven. David Hawking takes us there next. Just before we begin, we want to remind you how much prayer means to this ministry. Wow. Hope for Today depends on God’s people lifting us up. for the financial resources to stay on the air, for strength and wisdom for our team, and for courage to proclaim the Word of God without compromise. So do pray for us. Please do that. And, of course, if you need prayer in your life, well, let us know. Pray for your family, your health, a job situation, maybe your walk with the Lord itself. we would be honored to pray with you. Call us at 800-75-BIBLE in the U.S. or 888-75-BIBLE in Canada and let us know how we can pray for you. Now, on day three of our study in Revelation 15, The Great Sign in Heaven, here’s David Hawking.
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So let’s move to the song of Moses and of the Lamb, verse 3 and 4. We looked at the sign in heaven in the opening two verses, but the song of Moses and the Lamb. Two things I’d point out. One is the connection of this to previous songs in the Bible. And then we’ll look at the content. But the connection of this to previous songs, I think, is indicated when he says, they sing the song of Moses. And the song of the Lamb. There’s some connection here. Turn back to Exodus chapter 15. Now the song of the Lamb is a song of redemption. He’s purchased us with his own blood. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain. We are singing songs about the deliverance that God has given to us. And I think you’ll see the connection here. The song of Moses and the children of Israel was after the experience of crossing the Red Sea, and Pharaoh’s army was destroyed in the water. Verse 1, chapter 15 of Exodus. Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the Lord, and spoke, saying, I will sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously. The horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea. Well, remember, in Revelation, we’re also singing the praises of the Lord because of his judgment of what he has done to the enemies of the Lord. Verse 2, the Lord is my strength and song. He’s become my salvation. He is my God. I will prepare him a habitation. My Father’s God, I will exalt him. The Lord is a man of war. Tribulation stuff. The Lord is his name. Pharaoh’s chariots and his host hath he cast into the sea. His chosen captains also are drowned in the Red Sea. The depths have covered them. They sank into the bottom as a stone. Look down, verse 11, just moving right along. Who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like thee, glorious in holiness? Fearful in praises, doing wonders, thou stretched out thy right hand, the earth swallowed them. Thou in thy mercy has led forth the people whom thou has redeemed. Remember the song of the Lamb? Thou has guided them in thy strength under thy holy habitation. Turn to Deuteronomy chapter 32. We have another song here in the… Book that’s called the Second Law. That is the second time it was explained and given by Moses before they entered the land after the wilderness wanderings. Deuteronomy 32. And here again, the title of the chapter, if you have chapter titles, some Bibles do, some don’t, is Song of Moses. Verse 3, I will proclaim the name of the Lord, ascribe you greatness unto our God. He is the rock. His work is perfect. All of his ways are judgment. A God of truth without iniquity, just and right is he. Look down to verse 43 and tell me, is this not tribulation talk? 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. Next verse says, Moses came and spoke all the words of this song in the ears of the people. What does Revelation 15 say? The song of Moses and of the Lamb. There’s a connection there. Because what they are singing is we have triumphed over the beast, over his image, over the mark, over the number of his name. And we stand here with harps on the sea of glass in front of the throne of God as a testimony to the fact that we are resurrected in his likeness and we have overcome all of the attempts of the enemy. And now we praise the Lord that he’s bringing the seven last plagues where he will finish his plan of executing wrath and vengeance against the world. So there is a connection with all these songs. Songs of victory, deliverance from all of our enemies, and being redeemed by the Lord. These songs are connected. Go back to Revelation 15. Let’s take a quick analysis of this song. Maybe some of you want to start writing music to it. After all, the book of Revelation was the major songbook of the early church. They wrote songs and tunes based on the words of Revelation more than anywhere else in the Bible. And maybe we ought to do that. Some of you who are music-oriented, maybe you want to start writing right now, getting some tunes going. But here’s the song. Great and marvelous are thy works, Lord God Almighty. Great and marvelous are thy works. Well, you know, you’ve got something going, don’t you? Some of you have got to be thinking already. Just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints. 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. What you have here are four stanzas and stanzas of praise. As you look at the content of this song, boy, does it represent what we ought to be doing every day. Let these martyrs of the tribulation be a vivid reminder to all of us who claim to be believers of how we should be praising the Lord. There are four stanzas. Number one, they praise the works of God. Number two, they praise the ways of God. Number three, they praise the worthiness of God. I’ll repeat these. And number four, they praise the worship of God. Let’s go back and look at it again. In stanza number one, they praise the works of God. In each case, something about God is emphasized. In this case, it emphasizes God’s power. Great and marvelous are thy works, Lord God, what? Almighty, the all-powerful one. It emphasizes the power of God when you praise the works of the Lord. Turn to Psalm 145. Psalm 145. one of the stanzas, so to speak, of the song that ought to be in our hearts because we’re filled with the Spirit, one of the stanzas that ought to come out of our mouths frequently in conversation is that we are praising the works of God, emphasizing the power of Almighty God, that there isn’t anything… That’s too hard for him to do. In Psalm 145, verse 5 and 6, I will speak of the glorious honor of thy majesty and of thy wondrous works. And men shall speak of the might, the power of thy terrible, some translate awe-inspiring acts. And I will declare thy greatness. Look at verse 10. All thy works shall praise thee, O Lord, and thy saints shall bless thee. They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom and talk of thy power to make known to the sons of men his mighty acts, powerful acts, and the glorious majesty of his kingdom. Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom and thy dominion endureth throughout all generations. What a wonderful reminder to us of these dear martyred believers standing on that sea of glass with harps and singing the song of Moses just like they did in the past. Victory, deliverance, redemption. It’s all there. And the song of the Lamb. And the first stanza says, Great and marvelous are thy works, Lord God Almighty. It praises the works of God, emphasizing his power. Stanza number two. It praises the ways of God. And the emphasis here is on God’s plan. It says, just and true are thy ways, thou king of saints. Psalm 145, 17, where we just were, it says, the Lord is righteous in all his ways. God says very clearly his ways are not our ways. In Isaiah chapter 45. And then in Romans 11, 33, it says, His ways are past finding out. Have you noticed that? Can you figure out the ways of God? He saves people that no one wants to be saved. You know, God saves, I mean, we’re talking real stinkers. Do you know that? People nobody wants saved. You know, there’s a lot of us who feel that way, especially when you run into somebody who’s totally different from you are and kind of ticks you off just meeting them. How many of us can really say that all the circumstances in my life I clearly understand? I know why everything happened as it did. Now, if you feel that way, we do recommend counsel. But you understand, we don’t know. We don’t understand the ways of God. And what are we supposed to be doing in our hearts? We’re supposed to be praising him. God, I want to just thank you for whatever it is you’re doing. I don’t know what you’re doing, but I know you’re doing it. And I know it’s your plan. And I’m just going to say, praise the Lord. Like Job, though he slay me yet, will I trust him? I’m going to trust you, Lord. I don’t understand this, but I’ll trust you. It’s a very important thing to understand. The third stanza of this song, they not only praise the works of God that emphasize God’s power and praise the ways of God that emphasize God’s plan, but they also praise the worthiness of God himself. And that emphasizes God’s perfection when they say, thou only art holy. Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? That’s who God is, his worthiness. For thou only art holy. Absolutely perfect in every way. Totally separate from man. Psalm 29. You want to turn there. Verse 2. Psalm 29, verse 2. It says, Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name and worship the Lord in the beauty of what? You remember it. Holiness. Holiness. Thou only art holy, says the third stanza of this song. In chapter 96 of Psalms and verse 8. Chapter 96, verse 8. It says, Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name. Bring an offering and come unto his courts. Verse 9, O worship the Lord in the beauty of what? Holiness. Holiness. Thou only art holy. When you praise the worthiness of God, you’re emphasizing God’s perfection. He is holy, totally separate from all that is sinful, from that which he himself created as well. We’ve got three stanzas so far. We praise the works of God, which emphasizes God’s power. We praise the ways of God, which emphasizes God’s plan. We praise the worthiness of God, which emphasizes God’s perfection. fourth stanza is they praise the worship of God, which emphasizes God’s purpose. What is God’s purpose? Is that we would worship him forever and ever. We read here very clearly in verse four, for all nations shall come and worship before thee, for thy judgments are made manifest. All nations shall come and and worship before thee. And you’ll find throughout the testimony of scripture that truth, even the great prophecy of Zechariah 14, all the nations shall come to worship the Lord. Psalm 66, 72, 86, Isaiah, many chapters, Daniel, Zephaniah, Zechariah, the prophets are filled with it. The glorious purpose of God is emphasized over and over again that everyone, all nations are going to worship him. Every knee shall bow, the Bible says. Every tongue shall confess that he is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Isn’t that a great song? That’s a wonderful song. The scene in heaven is in verses 5 to 8. It’s rather simple. I just want you to notice three things. One is the appearance of these seven angels. Now, they’ve been active through the book of Revelation. That’s true. But it’s kind of dramatic here. Let’s face it. Verse 5, I looked and behold, the temple of the testimony, the tabernacle of the testimony of heaven was open. And what comes out of the temple? The seven angels. It’s just like a Spectacular procession. Can you picture it? They’ve been actively involved. They’ve been blowing the trumpets. They’ve been involved in all the scene, but now the seven line up, and in dramatic fashion, God opens the temple, and out of the heavenly temple comes the seven angels with the bowls of wrath that dump on the earth. Rather dramatic, let’s face it. Some things that caught my attention. Coming out of the temple, look what it says, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven. God’s covenant is being unraveled. It’s a testimony. It’s God’s faithfulness that he’s going to do what he said. And so there’s a dramatic introduction of that, and they’re coming out of it, and even his description of it, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony. the ark of the testimony, a reminder of the faithfulness of God and his promises to us. And not only they’re coming out of the temple, but they’re clothing. It says in verse 6, clothed in pure and white linen with their breasts girded with golden girdles. You can’t help but see the righteousness of God there, certainly with the pure white linen, for that’s what it says in chapter 19, verses 7 and 9. It pictures the righteousness of God, the purity of God. But how about the majesty of God, as the breasts are girded with golden girdles, like what we saw of the Son of God himself back in Revelation 1. You talk about a dramatic thing, it’s like seeing a play, and the final act, the performers have changed their costumes to illustrate the dramatic moment of history here. And they come out dressed in majesty, and they’re ready to dump out God’s final judgment on the world. It really is spectacular. But not only their appearance, but the assignment that they’re given. Verse 7, one of the four living creatures or beasts gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials full, not empty or half full, full of the wrath of God who liveth forever and ever. What an assignment. These angels are asked to execute the final judgment of God. Wow. One final thing, look at the atmosphere in the temple, verse 8. 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. Just two things about the atmosphere. One certainly is the intensity of God’s power being displayed here. filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power. In Isaiah chapter 6, you remember that? Isaiah said, I saw the Lord high and lifted up. His train filled the temple. And it says the temple was filled with smoke. In the Old Testament tabernacle, God’s presence, we call the Shekinah presence, meaning the dwelling of God. His presence came down in a cloud that was like smoke. In the temple, when it was dedicated, the Levitical priests could not even minister because the smoke of God’s presence, this manifestation of God’s presence and power, was so thick they couldn’t see. They didn’t even know where to go, where to move. They couldn’t minister at all because God manifested his presence in such a way to say hey don’t forget who’s in charge don’t forget who’s running everything it’s quite a testimony the importance also of God’s plan is here as well as the intensity of his power because he says at the last line till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled We’re finished. Back at verse 1, in them is filled up, finished, the wrath of God. And chapter 16, verse 17, it is done. It’s finished. It’s over. We’re coming now to the final judgment of God on planet Earth.
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Well, that’s Bible teacher and author David Hawking, and this is Hope for Today. David will be back in a moment to close out our time in the Word with some additional teaching and perspective, so do stay right there. Ahead of that, David’s son Matt’s here, and together we’re going to tell you about a great home Bible study resource. I think you’re really going to like this because it’s all about…
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Hope. There are a multitude of reasons we lose hope. Turn on the news and, well, the outlook isn’t real hopeful. Or how about those times when we fail? We take our focus off of the Lord, give in to a temptation. Someone wrongs us and we steep in bitterness and anger.
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Job loss, disease, a rebellious child, or any number of trials that surround and push into our lives. You know, it’s very easy and very human to lose hope.
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And the enemy of our soul loves to taunt us and divert our focus away from our source of true and certain hope, the Lord Jesus and God’s word. So, Matt. Yes. What is hope? Is hope just a whimsical wish like… You know, when you blow out the candles on your birthday cake or is there more? No, God’s word guarantees us that true hope is much more. And when we understand and fill our hearts with the hope God graciously provides in his word. Wow. Wow. The result. Phenomenal.
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It is the joy we see portrayed so vividly in the lives of biblical characters who came through the toughest tribulations, torment and trial.
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They came through that stronger and filled with joy. Yes. And right now we’re spotlighting the book, Hope in Difficult Times. And with the despair of our age, flourishing evil and hurts and pains, this book study of biblical hope is just what we need, Jim.
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Oh, we see so much of it today, just recently in the news. Amen. And folks, we need to know God’s hope. We need to know hope in the word of God. Let us get Hope for Difficult Times by David Hawking into your hands.
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Yeah, it’s a 195-page dynamic study. Scripture, illustrations, stories from the Word, wisdom and insight for hope. And it’s just $20.
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And when you purchase, please consider adding an extra amount, a donation to Hope for Today. Or make a donation by itself. Your gift makes you a part of this ministry. And as always, please start by praying for hope for today. Thank you. To get your copy of Hope in Difficult Times, call 800-75-BIBLE, that’s in the U.S., or 888-75-BIBLE in Canada. You can also order online at davidhawking.org. And as we mentioned at the beginning of today’s program, we need your prayers. This ministry depends on God’s people standing with us in prayer, asking the Lord to provide the resources, the finances, the strength, and the open doors to keep declaring His Word. When you reach out, let us know that you’re praying for us, and by all means, do tell us how we can pray for you. And if God moves you to give a special amount of donation, know that it goes directly to keep Hope for Today on the air and free to listeners around the world. Send your prayer request or donation to Hope for Today, Box 3927, Tustin, California, 92781. In Canada, write to Hope for Today, Box 15011. RPO Seven Oaks, Abbotsford, BC, V2S 8P1. Together with your prayers and support, this ministry will continue to lift high the name of Jesus. Amen. And here’s David.
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Thanks for listening, friends. This is Revelation 15 that we’re wrapping up today, verses 1 to 8, that introduces the seven angels with the seven bowls of wrath called the last plagues, and that in them, in these bowls that they’re going to dump out on planet Earth, is the wrath of God. That’s what it says. Well, all the tribulation, according to chapter 6, is the wrath of God. First the seal judgments, then the trumpet judgments, and now we’re getting ready for the seven last plagues. And my friends, the temple in heaven was filled with smoke from the glory of God and His power, and no man could enter the temple till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled. That’s what Revelation’s all about, my friend. It’s the fulfillment of God’s prophetic word. It’s telling us what’s going to happen on this planet. And my dear friends, it’s awesome. It is absolutely awesome. And we’ve already looked at the seal judgments and the trumpet judgments, the blowing of the shofar seven times, but now we’re We’re getting ready for the seven last plagues, and they are specifically known as the wrath of God poured out on this planet. Wow. I hope you know the Lord, because if you do, you’re going to be in the rapture. God bless you.
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Well, thank you, David. And friend, if you missed any part of today’s program or perhaps a recent broadcast, just go to our website, davidhawking.org. Click on the radio link and you can listen to our most recent broadcast right there. Again, it’s davidhawking.org. Well, next time on the program, the final plagues are poured out. God’s wrath hits the earth with full force, and the enemies of heaven have nowhere, and I mean nowhere, left to hide. Wow. The time for mercy is over, and the judgment of God is unstoppable. Well, don’t miss day one of our study in Revelation 16, the final plagues, and invite a friend to listen along with you right here on Hope for Today. Hope for Today
