Revelation 15:1-8 - Homiletics

The victors' song.

The visions of this book are drawing to a close. Those immediately before us are meant to indicate the last judgments which must fall on the world, ere out of the ruin and from it there shall emerge the new heavens and the new earth. But another break in the gloom is permitted to us here. The apostle casts his eyes, not downward, but upward. He beholds two groups of beings in the upper realm. The first is composed of seven angels who have seven plagues, which are the last. The second is composed of great multitudes—of those who, while the struggle was going on below, soared out of it, and were victorious. The work of the first group will he noted in subsequent homilies. The song of the second is before us now. If we ask and answer four questions, we shall know as much about the song and the singers as it is possible to do in this state. The four queries are:

I. WHO ARE SINGING THE SONG ? They "that come victorious from ( ἐκ ) the beast," etc. ( Revelation 15:2 ). Then it is evident that they are those who once were in the scene of conflict here below; who had to maintain a fight, hard and stern, against a godless world and a corrupt Church; in fact, against all the forces which, led on by "the dragon," are used by the first and the second beasts. We cannot mistake them, any more than we can the glorious company mentioned in the seventh and fourteenth chapters. They once were strugglers and wrestlers here. But their toils are over, and they have gained the victory. They it is who now are singing the song.

II. WHEN ? TO WHAT TIME DOES THE APOSTLE POINT US ? It may be remarked by some, that inasmuch as the visions of the conflict indicate future troubles, so the brighter visions indicate future glories. True. But we must remember that we are already more than eighteen hundred years onward, and therefore that the struggles of this present time are "future" from the Patmos standpoint. Besides, the song is being sung simultaneously with the raging of the conflict. They sing in one realm who have sped out of ( ἐκ ) the other. The dragon, the first beast, the second beast, war still. Some have already escaped out of the confusion, have gained the victory, and are singing ( ᾄδουσι ) the song. A further indication of time is given in Revelation 15:4 , "All nations shall come and worship"—future— προοκυνήσουσιν . So that it is evidently before the great work of the world's conversion is completed. Thus we are brought by the time marks in the paragraph to the conclusion to which we have previously come, viz. that the Church of God exists in two realms. One part of it is in the struggle; another has risen beyond it. Their gladness and song have already begun.

III. WHAT OF THE SONG ITSELF ?

1 . It has a remarkable name. "The song of Moses … and … the Lamb." By the former the deliverance out of Egypt was effected. By the latter a redemption infinitely greater, of which the earlier one was but a faint and feeble type; i.e. the song is a celebration of redeeming love, dud reviews the great redemptive work in all its phases, stages, and ages. £

2 . It has joyous accompaniments. "Having the harps of God." Under the Jewish worship, as far back as David's time, the harp was used to aid in sacred song. In a higher realm, where the joy is complete, the "harp" will never be hung on the willows, and will never be out of tune.

3 . Its contents are manifold.

IV. WHERE IS THE SONG BEING SUNG ? "I saw … them … standing by the glassy sea" Here, as indeed throughout the chapter, there is an allusion to the ransomed host of Israel when they stood by the shores of the Red Sea and sang, "Sing ye to the Lord," etc. That sight furnishes the material for the imagery here. And the underlying thought which that imagery conveys is this—they stand now in the realm of victory, like as Israel of old when they saw their enemies dead upon the seashore. They are in "the land of triumph," "There are no foes to encounter there." Here is the fighting; there, is the rest. Here, the cross; there, the crown. Here, the sigh; there, the song. Here, the foreboding fear; there, all fear is forever done away.

In view of all this, let us note:

1 . It is not for nought that we are asked to maintain the conflict with evil, in the Name and on behalf of our Lord. "If we suffer, we shall also reign with him." In the day of victory, his triumph will be ours. "Be thou faithful unto death, and I wilt give thee a crown of life."

2 . However much perplexity and distress the mystery of the Divine ways may occasion us now, we may rest assured that when God's judgments are made manifest, they will be the theme of adoring praise. There will be seen to be a unity about them which as yet we can scarcely discern; a steadfast advance through age after age which in the present brief span of our earthly life we cannot trace; and we cannot doubt that the ultimate issue will reveal a grandeur, a vastness, and a completeness in redemption's plan, which only the Infinite Eye can now discern. Therefore observe:

3 . Meanwhile it is an infinite comfort and stay to our souls amid this troubled scene, to have had sketched beforehand for us the tribulations through which we must enter the kingdom, and the glories of the kingdom in which we shall triumph when the tribulation is over.