ENDURANCE AND VICTORY
Opening Prayer
Lord Jesus, one day I will go to be with you. Keep before me that this life is only a temporary assignment.
Read REVELATION 15
Seven Angels With Seven Plagues
15 I saw in heaven another great and marvelous sign: seven angels with the seven last plagues—last, because with them God’s wrath is completed. 2 And I saw what looked like a sea of glass glowing with fire and, standing beside the sea, those who had been victorious over the beast and its image and over the number of its name. They held harps given them by God 3 and sang the song of God’s servant Moses and of the Lamb:
“Great and marvelous are your deeds,
Lord God Almighty.
Just and true are your ways,
King of the nations.[a]
4 Who will not fear you, Lord,
and bring glory to your name?
For you alone are holy.
All nations will come
and worship before you,
for your righteous acts have been revealed.”[b]
5 After this I looked, and I saw in heaven the temple—that is, the tabernacle of the covenant law—and it was opened. 6 Out of the temple came the seven angels with the seven plagues. They were dressed in clean, shining linen and wore golden sashes around their chests. 7 Then one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls filled with the wrath of God, who lives for ever and ever. 8 And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power, and no one could enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were completed.
Footnotes
- Revelation 15:3 Some manuscripts ages
- Revelation 15:4 Phrases in this song are drawn from Psalm 111:2,3; Deut. 32:4; Jer. 10:7; Psalms 86:9; 98:2.
New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
Remember Jesus of Nazareth, coming ‘out of the tomb toward the Resurrection, bearing on his body the proud insignia of the defeat which is victory.* Picture the scene and reflect on the cost of his achievement.A vision of a heavenly victory celebration is positioned between the announcement of the final set of judgments (v 1) and the unleash- ing of the seven bowls of God’s wrath (15:5 – 16:21). The vision of God’s victorious people standing beside the sea of glass with harps in hand and singing a song of praise to God and the Lamb recalls earlier worship scenes in Revelation (4:6; 5:8,9).
The worshippers represent ‘those who had been victorious over the beast and its image’ (15:2). The followers of Christ have defeated the beast not by wielding the beastly weapons of power and violence, but through the blood of the slaughtered Lamb and their own costly witness, even to the point of death (12:11). In this they have imitated Christ (5:5).
This final and great deliverance is good news for the whole world, bringing people from every tribe and nation to worship the true King, echoing Old Testament images of the pilgrimage of the nations to Jerusalem (Isaiah 2:2–4; 60:1–9; Zechariah 8:22).
Apply
The song of verses 3 and 4 is a beautiful compilation of verses from all over the Old Testament (for example, Psalm 111:2,3; Deuteronomy 32:4; Jeremiah 10:7). Find ways to use these verses as a basis for prayer.
Closing prayer
Loving Father, when trouble hits, I find it so easy to choose despair. Today, Lord, I want to choose hope. I trust your promise to make all things new.
*Frederick Buechner, ‘The Magnificent Defeat’, https://thepastorsworkshop. com/sermon-quotes-on-easter/
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