15:3 a
Song of Moses
We have already seen the words
of the song, 1502a, but a portion
bears repeating because it is the emphasis here: "Then sang Moses and the
children of Israel this song unto the LORD, and spake, saying, I will sing
unto the LORD, for he hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider
hath he thrown into the sea. The LORD is my strength and song, and he is
become my salvation." (Ex. 15:1, 2)
Moses had another
song. Here is the introduction to it:
"And
the LORD said unto Moses, Behold, thou shalt sleep with thy fathers; and
this people will rise up, and go a whoring after the gods of the strangers
of the land, whither they go to be among them, and will forsake me, and
break my covenant which I have made with them. . . . And I will surely
hide my face in that day for all the evils which they shall have wrought,
in that they are turned unto other gods. Now therefore write ye this song
for you, and teach it the children of Israel: put it in their mouths, that
this song may be a witness for me against the children of Israel. . . .
And Moses spake in the ears of all the congregation of Israel the words
of this song, until they were ended." (Deut. 31:16, 18, 19, 30)
Excerpts from
the second song of Moses
You may want to read all
of it in your Bible.
"Give ear, O ye heavens,
and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth. My doctrine
shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small
rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass: Because I
will publish the name of the LORD: ascribe ye greatness unto our God. He
is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God
of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.
"Remember the days of old,
consider the years of many generations: ask thy father, and he will shew
thee; thy elders, and they will tell thee. When the most High divided to
the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set
the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel.
For the LORD'S portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance.
"Of the Rock that begat thee thou art unmindful, and hast forgotten God
that formed thee. . . I said, I would scatter them into corners,
. . . For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorrah:
their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter: Their wine
is the poison of dragons, and the cruel venom of asps. . . . For the LORD
shall judge his people, and repent himself for his servants, when he seeth
that their power is gone, and there is none shut up, or left." (Deut. 32:1-4,
7-9, 18, 26, 32-36).
Did you notice in the first paragraph above, "He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he." Christ is the Rock. The "judgment" here is in "all his ways." The seven final plagues will be this kind of judgment.
Our current text
"And they sing the song of
Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous
are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King
of saints [or "nations"]. 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." (Rev. 15:3, 4)
15:3 b
And of the Lamb
The Lamb also has a song. "And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne. And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints. And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;" (Rev. 5:6-9).
You may wish to scan back
through the songs as we have seen them, or look in your Bible for the full
texts, then summarize what you feel those by the sea of glass will be singing
about. Does it match the ideas we have in verses 3 and 4? (above).
15:3 c
Lamb, woman,
and the road to Canaan
The Bible often uses the experiences
of the journey from Egypt to Canaan to represent how God frees us from
captivity to sin and leads us to the heavenly Canaan. During the night
when the angel passed over Egypt to destroy all the firstborn, the children
of Israel were to kill and eat a lamb, then put its blood on their doorposts.
Then they left in a mass exodus, to be tested at the Red Sea and continue
toward their destination.
The Passover Lamb slain on
Calvary at the beginning of the journey of God's New Testament Israel is
seen in the midst of the throne in the sanctuary in heaven. He has been
found worthy as the I AM, the angel of the Lord in the pillar of cloud
and of fire! (Ex.
14:18). The Lamb taken to the slaughter at Calvary became the Shepherd
and He is leading His children home.
The woman of Revelation 12
fled to the wilderness of the New Testament Israel Rev
12:14. Then she failed the test by rejecting the message of the two
faithful spies out of the ten. (Num.
13, 14), So the promise was passed on to the next generation.
"And the LORD spake unto
Moses and unto Aaron, saying, How long shall I bear with this evil congregation
which murmur against me? . . . Say unto them, As truly as I live, saith
the LORD, as ye have spoken in mine ears, so will I do to you: Your carcases
shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were numbered of you. . . .
But your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, them will I bring
in, and they shall know the land which ye have despised." (Num. 14:26-31).
What happened
to the children — the "little ones" who were to finally enter 40 years
later?
"And Israel abode in Shittim,
and the people began to commit whoredom [prostitution] with the daughters
of Moab. And they called the people unto the sacrifices of their gods:
and the people did eat, and bowed down to their gods." (Num. 25:1, 2).
For this sin, 24,000 died
by a plague. (Num
25:9) From the woman's seed a remnant was left who were not slain for
this sin of immorality and idol worship. As faithful ones from each tribe,
they, like the 144,000, finally crossed through the Jordan into the Promised
Land.
"And the dragon was wroth
with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which
keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ."
(Rev. 12:17)
Does Revelation
12 describe the journey to Canaan?
No, it draws imagery from
the journey to describe the Christian church which, like the people who
rejected God's invitation to go in and take the land, made up their rules
for the game, combining pagan worship practices into the major church and
persecuting those who opposed them. This drove those who wanted to follow
their conscience, underground. Thus we have the woman (true church) in
the wilderness.
Here in chapter 15 we see
the introduction to the seven final plagues. They come after the final
apostasy of the New Testament church when it tries to force the conscience
about how God tells us to worship.
Relating to this time of trouble will be our experience, as the remnant,
of going through the Jordan to enter Canaan.
A table, T12,
relates the events of the journey to Canaan with the Christian life and
to chapter 12.
15:3d
Just and true
.And they
sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying,
Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are
thy ways, thou King of saints.
His judgments
are made manifest
We may see this as
the praise of those who were pressured by the beast and the image to receive
the mark, etc. The "judgments" would be the plagues which are described
in the next chapter. Thus this is the result. The approval of this group
shows that the accusations of the evil one against Christ were not justified.
They proclaim Him their king in eager submission. This is also a result
of the preadvent judgment.
We recall another acclamation
about the goodness of Christ. "And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep
not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, hath prevailed
to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof." 0505.
This was after the sacrifice on Calvary. We looked at the five
hymns in chapters 4 and 5 and showed that each represented a different
group and time. In our present text the worship from all nations (including
the wicked) is future. It comes at the end of the millennium (the thousand
years). Then every knee will bow! is4523.
15:4
Who shall not
fear
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.
The implied response
is no one. We remember that the the beast supporters exclaimed, ". . .
Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?" 1304.
That boast will be forever silenced.
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