A Glimpse of Glory - The Song.doc
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A Glimpse of Glory, pt. 2

Rev. 15:1-8

 

This chapter is a prophetic scene taking place in heaven during the tribulation period. 

 

3 things we see:  The sea/song/a seven (last plagues)

 

Last time:  The sea

v. 2          brazen laver of OT temple…which represents the Word of God…that’s what we are to stand on!  These were martyred because they wouldn’t bow to antichrist. 

 

Next is the song of ch. 15:

 

v. 3-4       Acc’d to these verses, these saints will not only be standing in heaven, but also singing…the sea of glass may represent the stability of the word of God, but the song represents the sanctity of the worship of God.

 

They’re standing, and they’re singing…what?

v. 3  The song of Moses and the song of the Lamb

 

What is the song of Moses?

Ex. 15      The song Israel sang as they were delivered from Egypt, passing thru the Red Sea on dry ground.

(bondage as slaves in a foreign land/God raised up Moses to stand before Pharaoh and say let my people go/God performed His greatest miracle/liberals say storms and low tide combined to blow back water, just a few inches deep [well praise God for an even bigger miracle of drowning an entire army in only inches of water!]/then God gave them a song of redemption, deliverance, giving God glory for His miraculous power!)

 

Why would they sing this song in heaven (the trib. saints)?

        Because of the symbolism.

All of the OT points to something/someone in the NT.

 

Their bondage in Egypt pictured our bondage to sin (the toughest taskmaster of all!)

Pharoah=Satan, holding us enslaved, pic. of antichrist in rev.

Moses=picture of Jesus, delivering us

 

So, they sing the song of Moses…a very good illustration of trib. saints’ deliverance from antichrist!

 

They also sing the song of the Lamb…

v. 3  We don’t know the melody, but the lyrics are given to us right here in v. 3…look!

(song of victory by blood of Christ/just as blood of lamb was to be on doorposts)

Song of Moses:                       Song of the Lamb:

Sung at red sea                        sung at crystal sea

Victory over Egypt                 over antichrist

Brought out                             brought in!

First song in Bible                  last!

 

That’s the primary interpretation, now let’s get practical:

 

Events which will happen in the future have bearing upon us now (sweet by and by/nasty now and now)

 

Just 1 insight (practical application):

We are not going to question God’s love or His actions when we get to heaven…so why can’t we learn not to question Him now?

 

These we read about in ch. 15, singing these 2 songs have just gone thru the worst possible suffering imaginable on earth, prior to arrival in heaven.

        Their refusal to bow to antichrist has caused them to be starved out, hiding out, caught, tortured, forced to watch family or children tortured first…then they were beheaded publicly at the guillotine (antichrist’s preferred method)

 

Yet when we see them in heaven they’re immediately praising God, not complaining/questioning why.

 

Their praise is 3 fold:

His virtue

v. 3  His works/His ways

You always do what’s best for us, even when it’s not what we’d hoped.

His victory

v. 4  Nobody is a match for you, Lord…you’re the all time, undisputed, undefeated, champion of love…the one and only Jehovah God, the Master of the universe, w/ victory guaranteed…and every knee will bow to you!

v. 4b        made manifest=right every wrong, even out all the scales/scores.

One moment they’re being tortured, then instantly they’re acknowledging God as sovereign, all wise/all knowing/all powerful…He makes no mistakes.

        We could spare ourselves a lot of sorrow if we could learn to trust Him now…to leave it all in His hands and not our own now, to thank Him now?

 

You may be going thru trying circumstances, but if saved, you’re God’s property…and He doesn’t allow anything to happen w/ out His permission…nothing comes into your life until it’s been filtered thru the divine love of God!

        Your trial was either planned or permitted by God!  It’s all by divine providence…for correction maybe, or perfection perhaps/for discipline or maturity/either caused by God or allowed by Him…once we get to heaven we’ll thank God for every trial, heartache and problem…and we’ll understand more clearly the words of James “brethren, count it all joy when trials come, for the trying of your faith worketh patience…let patience have her perfect work, that you may be established”

 

Some of us may feel like hypocrites standing there, as we watch trib. saints arrive and praise God for His virtue, having just been killed/as they lift up His name for His victory, having just been tortured/as they worship Him for His vengeance, having just been persecuted.

        How will we feel watching this, knowing that we have lived our lives here on earth feeling cheated by God/neglected/forgotten/questioning Him, rather than humbly trusting Him, believing He’s always in control, and makes no mistakes, and still answers prayer!

 

We have a few here who serve a very small God, they think:  too small to lead us in the right way, lead His man on what to preach, or how to challenge/encourage/care for/motivate the flock…or too small to correct His man where needed!

 

Oh, He’s big enough to answer our prayers, and big enough to put us in our place when we disagree w/ His plan.

 

It’s one of the secrets to being used by God powerfully:  study the lives of great Christians and you’ll find that their pathway to glory was the pathway of suffering…and as they humbly submitted to trials of life, to authority they disagreed w/, God’s power became real in their life and made them better for it, rather than bitter for it!

 

Fanny Crosby, hymn writer (blessed assurance, Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him, I shall know Him)

        We’ve been greatly enriched by her writings…yet when she was 6 months old a foolish country dr. put the wrong medicine in her eyes and she was made blind…saved at an early age, she determined to trust God, and rather than blame the authority she disagreed w/, she decided that God makes no mistakes, and wanted her in that situation!

        At the age of 8 she wrote her first poem:

(From the heart of an 8 yr. old blind girl)

“Oh what a happy child am I, although I cannot see

I am resolved that in this life contented I will be

Because I’m blind I see the things that other people don’t

To weep and cry because I’m blind I cannot…and I won’t”

 

An 8 yr. old understood that God knows what he’s doing…and in heaven we’ll acknowledge that, like the trib. saints…why can’t we get it down now?

 

Let’s not wait ‘til then to love/trust/thank/praise Him…not taking things into our own hands, but leaving it all in His!

 

 

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