The Crystal Sea and the Heavenly Temple

If you have your Bible with you this morning, and I hope you do, turn to
Revelation 15.
You have probably noticed, as we have been working our way through the book of
Revelation over the last year, that the word "behold" or "look" or "see," this word
shows up a lot in the book of Revelation. In fact, almost 50 times, John is told
to look or to see or to hold something. Revelation is a series of images being
revealed, prophetic visions being revealed to the Apostle John. You go all the way
back to chapter 1 and in verse 11 of chapter 1, Jesus says to John,
"Write what you see in a book." So as we read through Revelation, it is John
writing down what he saw, what was revealed to him, a series over and over again
of these prophetic visions. Verse 19 of chapter 1, Jesus says, "right therefore the
things that you've seen, the things that are to take place after this." This is a
book that's filled with images. John moves from one vision to another vision kind of
like if you were in an art gallery and you were going around and you'd look at
this painting for a while, then you'd look at this painting And they're all by the
same artist. And they're all connected together, but it's not necessarily obvious as
you move from one painting to the next how those connections work together. And last
week as we finished chapter 14, we saw the closing vision, the painting we were
looking at last week was an extended portrait of the dramatic redemption of God's
people and the coming of the harvest being played out. We had seen the holy or the
unholy trinity of the dragon and the two beasts warring against God and his people
over the course of time and in chapter 14 God sends angels to give a warning to
the earth about the coming of his judgment and then we saw it come. That final
harvest, that last painting we were looking at as the sickles are put in and and
the grain is gathered in to the storehouse to be with God forever and the grapes
are trampled out in the wine press of God's wrath. So now when we turn to chapter
15, we're coming to a new vision, a new cycle of seven in this book.
We've seen many cycles of seven. We started with seven letters to seven churches and
then when we got to chapter six, we saw Seals being opened,
seven seals, and then we got to chapter eight and we saw trumpets being sounded.
We have repeatedly seen these cycles showing God's wrath being poured out on the
wicked throughout the church age and with that intensifying over the course of time.
And John, throughout these cycles of seeing God's judgment being poured But God has
shown him visions. There's always been a pause, but a regular pause where God says
instead of seeing destruction for a minute, I want you to see what's going on in
heaven. So in chapters four and five, we saw the throne room in heaven where the
lamb comes forward and opens the seals. And then you get to chapter eight,
and there's another scene in heaven. And then you get to where we were even last
week with chapter 14, where you've got this scene in heaven, and it's all designed
to show John that through the unfolding of God's wrath, this plan is being executed
by God's design according to his purposes. This is not happening outside of God's
providential care, but that he is in charge of this. And anytime we get to a scene
in heaven, what we see is God's people in heaven worshiping God for what he's
doing. We'll see that in the passage we're gonna look at this morning. Before God
reveals the vision of the seven bowls of wrath being poured out, he gives John a
vision of God's people in heaven singing a song of praise around the throne to God.
In fact, there are really two parts to the vision that we will see in chapter 15.
The first part is the saints of God around the crystal sea singing the song of
Moses and the song of the Lamb. That's verses one through four. And then part two
tanks us to the heavenly sanctuary where we see another vision. This is the heavenly
temple. God is present there and seven angels are given seven plagues and seven
bowls and the bowls of God's wrath are going to be poured out on the earth, and
we'll read about that in chapter 16. And I'll just tell you as we start. I think
in the face of the relentless visions that God is giving John of wrath being poured
out on the earth, famine and wars and pestilence and natural disasters and plagues,
in the face of all of this, God understands that John needs, and we all need,
a reminder that in the midst of that tumult, there is peace in heaven.
That's why in chapters 4 and 5, we saw the throne room. Chapter 7, we saw the 144
,000 worshipping the Lamb. That's why at the beginning of chapter 14, we saw it
again. And here in chapter 15, as these bowls are about to be poured out, there's
this moment of respite where God says, "Look, I know on Earth, it looks like chaos
and confusion. In heaven, there's peace. I know it looks like this is intensifying
and it is on the earth and judgment is coming. In heaven, they're at peace.
And here's the big idea I want us to see this morning. First, there is no
heartburn in heaven over, no conflict over the judgment of God on his verse,
and His righteousness, holiness, and love. They don't see those conflicting with one
another. As He is getting ready to pour out wrath on the earth, the saints in
heaven are not troubled by God pouring out wrath. And I know that's, I said this
last week, it's difficult for us sometimes to think about a God who would pour out
eternal wrath on the wicked. But I want us to know that in heaven when we see the
picture there nobody in heaven is ringing their hands and going Is this right for
God to do this? No? Perfectly sanctified saints in heaven understand the rightness of
this in a way that we don't understand it or comprehend it fully at this point I'm
suggesting that when we finally see God face -to -face and are overwhelmed with his
love and his mercy and his grace We will also then have no issue with his
righteous wrath being poured out on the wicked. It may trouble us in this moment.
It won't trouble us when we see things perfectly. In fact, I want to suggest to
you this morning something that was kind of an aha thought for me as I was
meditating on this passage this week. There can be no peace or rejoicing in heaven
unless the wrath of God is poured out on the wicked and on the evil.
The two are linked together. We can't know the peace that God has promised us for
eternity unless God is faithful to pour out his wrath. Unless evil is rightly judged
and wickedness is eternally punished, there can be no peace for eternity in heaven
among the redeemed of God. These two go together. And that may be hard for us to
wrap our heads around, but as I said, for those who are already in heaven, there's
no conflict or tension with that. So let me read through the chapter, chapter 15.
I'll show you where the text I think supports this idea, but let me pray for us
as we turn to God's word. Lord, we need Your help. These things are beyond our
ability to understand apart from the work of Your Spirit in our lives, so Holy
Spirit, when you come and be our teacher this morning, would you prepare our hearts
to receive what you have for us? Would you speak to us by your spirit through your
word? And Lord, would you make us doers of your word and not just hearers? We ask
it in your name. Amen.
Revelation 15 starting at verse one, this is the word of God for the people of
God. John writes, "Then I saw another sign in heaven. Great and amazing.
Seven angels with seven plagues which are the last, for with them the wrath of God
is finished. And I saw what appeared to be a sea of glass mingled with fire.
And also those who had conquered the beast and its image in the number of its
name, standing beside the sea of glass with harps of God in their hands.
And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb,
saying, "Great and amazing are your deeds, "O Lord God, the Almighty. "Just and true
are your ways, O king of the nations, who will not fear,
O Lord, and glorify your name, for you alone are holy, all nations will come and
worship you, for your righteous acts have been revealed." After this,
I looked and the sanctuary of the tent of witness in heaven was opened.
And out of the sanctuary came the seven angels with the seven plagues clothed in
pure bright linen with golden sashes around their chests. One of the four living
creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God who
lives forever and ever. The sanctuary was filled with smoke from the glory of God
from his power and no one could enter the sanctuary.
overcomers in heaven singing the song of Moses and of the Lamb. So it starts in
verse one, there's this great and amazing sign in heaven where we see the seven
angels who are prepared with the seven plagues, which John says is the last of the
cycle of judgment that we will see in this book. He says with these seven plagues
the wrath of God is finished. It's complete. Its purpose will be fulfilled with the
pouring out of this wrath. One writer said, "When God is pouring out His wrath on
evil, on the wicked, He's not just blowing off steam as He pours out His wrath.
It has a divine purpose. It's an eternal purpose that is being accomplished." And
when He pours this out, in the same way that Jesus, as He hung on the Cross says,
"It is finished when these bowls are poured out, the wrath of God's punishment on
the wicked will be complete as well." And with the cycles of judgment that we have
seen in the book of Revelation, God's pouring out of His wrath in previous cycles
has been measured. So His wrath was poured out, and a third of the world was
affected by the seals, and then half the world was affected by the trumpets,
now this is total, this is complete. This is across all of humanity.
So it tells us that while God's judgment is poured out throughout the church age on
the wicked, it's gonna intensify as we get closer and closer to the day of the
Lord. Along with seeing the angels, John says he sees what appears to be a sea of
glass mingled with fire. There are two kinds of seas,
bodies of water that we see in the book of Revelation. We've seen this sea of
glass, this crystal sea, before back in chapter four, where the lamb, before the
lamb steps forward, the saints are gathered around the crystal sea. And there,
so there's that sea in heaven where it's calm and things are at peace. I don't
know if you've ever seen one of those lakes that you go to in the mountains where
everything is calm and there's a reflection in the lakes. Marianne and I have on a
couple of occasions had the opportunity to be in Banff Canada and we've gone up and
seen this lake. This is Lake Louise north of Banff Canada. You take the ride up
the highway And it's a beautiful, it's a glacial lake that's there in the mountains
and the colors are gorgeous and you walk out on a clear day when the sun is
shining and the reflection of those mountains, you can see it in the sea. It's
breathtaking, it's awesome. North of that is Lake Moraine, which is another of these
rocky mountain lakes and it's stunning these pictures. So when I read about the
crystal sea in Revelation, my mind goes to Lake Louise and Lake Moraine and that's
the vision I see is just these placid peaceful landscapes where you walk in and it
does it takes your breath away and you get quiet and you're filled with a sense of
awe. The sea that John sees in heaven, this glassy sea,
is a seed that is mingled he says with fire. It's a picture like the scene from
Daniel's
because the two, as I said, go together. You can't have the peace of the calm sea
without the fire of God's judgment being carried out. The sea of glass and the lake
of fire go together here. Heaven cannot and will not exist in peace without divine
justice being carried out. The eternal peace for which our soul longs and which God
has promised will be ours, it will not come until evil is vanished,
until it's destroyed. Rick Phillips says this, he says, "It is through the judgment
of the wicked world that the people of God are saved from its oppression. The only
way we can know the joy of salvation and deliverance from evil is for God to
ultimately destroy the evil that we are being heard from. So the sea of glass,
the tranquil sea in heaven, mixed with fire is a reminder that these two things go
together, that the peace of God and His judgment are not contradictory statements,
they're complementary statements. They fit together. I told you there are two seas in
Revelation, there's the sea of glass, and then there's the stormy sea, where evil
and unrest exists, where the tumult exists.
Well, here it is the crystal sea, showing that in heaven around God's throne, all
of the unrest of the sea of tumult is calmed. It's like Jesus on a stormy sea
saying, peace be still. God calms the sea. John also sees those who had conquered
the beast and its image and the number of its name. This is a vision of God's
people who are already in heaven, those who overcame, those who have remained
faithful to God, who are not pulled away and marked by the beast. They did not put
the priorities of the world ahead of their relationship with God. They remain
faithful to the end. Tom Schreiner says, only those who triumph over the beast and
its image and the number of his name can stand in the presence of the Holy One of
Israel, who burns with intense and fearsome holiness. Those who...
"and have not been marked by the beast, "these are the ones who did not give in,
"even if it meant death. "They remain faithful." And we need to remember something
here. Those in heaven who overcame, who are singing the song of Moses and the song
of the Lamb, how is it that they overcame? We have to go back to Revelation
chapter 12. They did not overcome Through willpower, they did not overcome by
gritting their teeth and working hard to overcome. It was not because of their
tenacity that they overcame or their determination or their grit, they overcame by
the blood of the lamb and the word of their testimony. Now that doesn't mean that
we don't have to work to persevere in our faith, it just means that the source of
our perseverance is not our grit, the source of our experience is the shed blood of
Christ. We overcome because He overcame. We overcome in Him and through Him.
We still have to do it. We still have to work it out, but the overcoming,
where we left to our own strength and our own devices, we would never overcome. The
only reason we're able to overcome is because of the blood of the Lamb. These
saints in heaven who conquered the beast in its image, they conquered because they
continued throughout life to identify themselves with the lamb. Say, I belong to him.
I'm following him. I'm going after him. And God in the midst gave them the strength
to persevere and to overcome. They didn't earn their way around the crystal sea
through perseverance. They persevered because God's power and love kept them. They
simply kept believing in the work of Christ, His death and resurrection.
They kept following Him, they kept serving Him, trusting Him, walking with Him.
That's why they're there. And we have to ask ourselves, "Is that us?" As we read
about these saints in heaven, if today was our last day on earth, Would we find
ourselves in the next moment around the sea with them, or not? Is our life marked
by, characterized by, an obedient following of the land? Not in perfect obedience,
in stumbling, halting obedience, but the trajectory of our lives is a trajectory that
keeps us following him, pointing to him. "Would we be numbered today with those who
are singing the song of the Lamb as they wait for God to execute final judgment?
If it's not you today, it can be you today. If sitting here you would say,
"I don't know that that's where I would be. If I died today, you can settle that
with God today by turning to Him, turning away from the priorities that you've had,
the earthly priorities, and make him your priority. You can understand that it's not
by works of righteousness that you've done that you gain entrance into heaven, it's
according to his mercy, his grace. You embrace that, you believe that, you pledge
yourself to him, you surrender your life to him, now and for the future.
So that's what that's the saints who are there, that's why they're there. And as
they stand there, they're standing beside the sea of glass. They have harps of God
in their hand. I think this is where we get the picture of angels in heaven with
harps floating on a cloud. But these harps are instruments of joy.
Whenever you break out the harps, you're getting ready to celebrate and to sing with
joy. trying to think, is there an instrument we break out that just brings joy? And
depending on who you are, the banjo either brings joy or you start to throw rocks,
right? I don't know what your musical tastes are, but there's something about hearing
a banjo where you just smile or you leave, one of those two things. And these
harps, as they gather out these harps, it's because they want to vibrate loudly the
goodness of God. That's why the harps are out. And they sing, according to verse
three, the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb. These are
not two songs. This is one song that was first premiered back in Exodus 15 and
then was updated during the life of Jesus. And let me remind you of the context of
the song of Moses in Exodus chapter 15. God's people, as you know,
had been in bondage in Egypt. They had been slaves there and God had sent a
deliverer. He'd sent Moses. Moses had gone to Pharaoh and said, "Let my people go,"
and Pharaoh had said, "No," and God had sent plagues. And finally, with the 10th
plague, the death of the firstborn on that horrible night in Egypt where the Jewish
children were saved because of the blood over the doorpost where the Passover
happened. That's when Pharaoh finally wakes up the next morning he says okay go and
God's people left Egypt they were free from their bondage and their slavery.
But then Pharaoh changed his mind. He sent his army to go recapture these Jews who
were headed off into the wilderness and the Jews found themselves at one point
trapped on the shores of the Red Sea with Pharaoh's army coming down to pursue them
and no way to get away other than for Moses to take that step put his staff down
and to walk out into the middle of the Red Sea and what happened the sea parted
all of Israel passed through the Red Sea on dry land, they got to the other side,
and here come the advancing Egyptian warriors, and they come into the middle of the
Red Sea in that same pathway that God had parted for the Jews to come through, and
as soon as they find themselves in the middle of it, God takes down the walls, the
water rushes in, and they are wiped out and they're destroyed. Now do you understand
that that picture, that story I just told you, is a biblical type. Do you know
that term, typology in the Bible? Biblical typology refers to events that happen in
the Bible that are ordained by God, that are designed to showcase some aspect of
redemption. So they are true events that happened that serve as a bigger picture or
a parable of a spiritual reality that is being pictured for us. So for example,
Jesus in John chapter 5, he says, "Just as Moses held up the serpent in the
wilderness, shall the Son of Man be lifted up." He's saying that was a picture,
that was a type of what's coming. Well, this story of the Exodus is a type of
God's deliverance from our spiritual slavery to sin and our ultimate liberation
through the waters.
the Deliverer and the whole Exodus event was designed to be a picture of a
spiritual truth that God would one day send a greater Deliverer who would deliver us
from a greater slavery, our slavery and our rebellion to sin and that deeper bondage
that we're in. So the Exodus event is a picture of our spiritual liberation.
And the thing I hadn't really thought about that much until I was looking at this
this week, in the same way that our salvation were set free from the work of sin
in our life, the penalty of sin in our lives, in the same way that God liberated
the Jews from Egypt, it didn't end there. My experience, I'm sure it's been your
experience as well, when you come to faith in Christ and you are set free from the
penalty of sin, have you noticed that sin still pursues you, still comes after you,
and that sometimes you find yourself on the shores of the Red Sea in front of you,
and sin bearing down on you, and you're looking and go, I don't know how to escape
this, and God is the way of escape in the midst of that. The advancing Egyptian
army is like the relentless pursuit of sin. Satan is still trying to capture you
and bring you back into bondage. But God has said I will provide the way of escape
for all of this
We're all free from sin But we all have the the temptations and that we still have
to do battle with temptations and sinful desires in our lives We still have the
world the flesh and the devil bearing down on us And trying to recapture us But
there is a day ahead when there will be a final victory, when wrath will be
consumed by the Red Sea, when those who are pursuing us will be wiped out and the
seawalls. The pouring out of God's wrath is like the walls coming down on the
Egyptian soldiers in Exodus 15. And Exodus 15 is the hymn that God's people sang
after their deliverance from Egypt and after God brought them through the Red Sea,
and I don't know if, I learned Exodus 15 when I was a kid. There was an old folk
song that went Zana Zana Zana Zana can't hear the music playing in the village
square. Have you ever heard that song with little folk? So what we learned was I
will sing unto the Lord for he has triumph gloriously the horse and rider thrown
into the sea, anybody else? Okay, I'm just wondering if And the only one who knows,
"I will sing unto the Lord, for he has triumph gloriously, the horse and rider
thrown into the sea. The Lord, my God, my strength, my shield, he has become my
victory." Anyway, so it's, I don't know if it was that tune that they sang in
Exodus 15 or not, probably not, but this is the song that God's people sang after
they were liberated from Egypt and God had rescued them from the advancing Egyptian
army. It's the song of Moses, and now it becomes the song of the Lamb,
which it always was. It's just updated. The saints in heaven are seeing the judgment
of God on the wicked as the greater fulfillment of what he did with the advancing
Egyptian army. God is about to pour out his judgment on the evil in the same way
that God brought judgment to the evil Egyptian armies at the Red Sea, And they are
seeing this come with these bowls of wrath that are gonna be poured out, the
ultimate fulfillment of what happened at the Red Sea. So let's look at the song
they sang. And I want us to take just a little bit of time to examine this song.
Look at what it tells us about God. It's a song that is sung to God. It's about
God. By the way, great hymns should be about God and should be sung to God. It
should be less about you and you and more about him. There should be a lot more
you in these hymns than there is I in these hymns. It's not that we don't interact
with them, but the more the song is about God, the better it is. The more it's
about me, the less focused it is. God is at the center of this song. He is
identified as the king of the nations. He's the king over all nations. He is not
the king of one nation. He's not a tribal God, as Most of the contemporaries of
the Jews, they all had their tribal deities, but Israel understood their God is the
God of the nations. He is the King of kings. He's the Lord of lords. He's above
all the gods of all the nations. There is no nation, no king, no people, no entity
that exists independent from his sovereign rule and reign. He is the king of all
the nations. He's also identified as the one who alone is holy. You see that in
the psalm? He alone is holy. He is set apart. That makes him different than any
other ruler. He has no rival, no contender for his rule. And we need to remember
this. Sometimes I think we think about the devil being opposed to the work of God
and we can get this idea that it's like a boxing match and God's here and the
devil's here and the devil throws a punch and God deflects it, you need to
understand that in the boxing match between God and Satan, Satan never lands a blow
that God doesn't allow him to land.
God is in control of every punch Satan throws. And you say,
"Well, why does he allow some of them for his own glory and his own purposes?" I
don't know. That's the best I can do. That's all the Bible tells me. But It is
not that there's never been a time when Satan has landed a blow and God said,
"Boy, that caught me off guard. I wouldn't expect him that." There's never been a
time when God said, "I didn't see that one coming." God has never said about Satan.
I wasn't expecting that. He's the king of the nations. He alone is holy, and he is
over all the events of human history. So this tells us about him. This him also
points to his deeds and his ways. Look at verse 3. It says, "His deeds are great
and they are amazing." Great means big in scope. They're great deeds.
It's not a little deed. God does great deeds.
They are bigger than expected. When God does His deeds, you are amazed and
astonished by what you see. He does more than you expect. He does exceedingly,
abundantly beyond what you think and ask. His deeds are great and they are amazing.
Last summer, for the first time in my life, I walked to the edge of the Grand
Canyon. I had seen pictures of the Grand Canyon. But when you walk to the edge of
the Grand Canyon and you look out, it's breathtaking in a way that no picture can
capture. You look at it and you go, this is awe -inspiring, it is great, and it's
amazing. And it's one of the deeds of God that we have at Grand Canyon. You stare
at that, and it's more than you expected it would be. That's what the deeds of God
are. They are bigger and more than you imagine. And then the last line of this
hymn also points to the fact that that his ways, righteous,
he's righteous in his ways. His ways are great and amazing. They're not just great
and amazing, they're also right. That's what righteous means. Whatever God does is
right, it's perfect. So it's not only big and amazing, but it is right.
Again, there's never been a time when God had to say, boy, I made a mistake there,
I messed up. That wasn't what I planned. Never been a time where he said, you
know, if I had to do it over again, I'd do it this way. No, all his ways are
right, are perfect. We may look at them and go, what is he doing?
And the answer is he's doing what is right. And you may not see it or it may not
make sense to you, but it's right. And rather than thinking God needs to change his
ways, we need to change our perspective on the ways of God.
Again, what he does is write the saints in heaven have no doubt about that. We
might say that doesn't seem right to me, but there's no doubt in heaven about what
God's doing. So in addition to his acts and his deeds being great and amazing and
right, this hymn talks about God's ways, and I think his ways are different than
his deeds and his acts. So, your deeds and your acts come out of your ways,
in the same way that God's deeds and acts come out of his ways. What are his
ways? What's his character? What's he like? Well, the Bible says here in these
verses, his ways, look at verse three, they are just and true. What God does It's
just, it's fair, it's right, and it's also true. This God who abounds in mercy and
loving kindness and patience, he is also never unjust.
His mercy is never capricious, he never says one thing and does another.
It's always right and true. And his ways come before his deeds,
just as it does with you and me. Who we are produces what we do. When what we do
is wrong, it's because something's wrong inside of us that needs to be corrected.
But God's character is perfect. His ways are just and true. And what we're about to
see with the bowls of wrath being poured out, that is just and true,
and it's right. That's why these saints around God's throne are singing this in
advance of what God is about to do. And the response of God's people in this hymn,
when they see who God is, and they see this about his ways, and they see this
about his deeds, their response is to fear him, to glorify him, and to worship him.
Those three are all here in this hymn. In fact, if you look back one chapter, look
at chapter 14 verse 7,
one of the angels who is sent out by God to send a warning to the earth, this
angel comes and cries with a loud voice and says, "Fear God, give him glory because
the hour of judgment has come, worship him who made heaven and earth and the sea
and the springs of water." So Here, that's what the saints in heaven are doing.
They're doing what the angel warned the whole earth to do. Fear him, glorify him,
worship him. Fear him means care more about his priorities than about any other
priority. But care more about pleasing him than pleasing anyone else or anything
else. Give him glory, keep putting the spotlight on him, his It's his character,
keep pointing people to him and telling everyone you know about his greatness. That's
how you glorify him and worship him. Make sure that he is the value ahead of
everything else in your life.
This is the same thing the people in heaven are declaring in the song of Moses and
the Lamb. They're declaring their worship, his glory, and their awe of him.
But it's more than just them, if you look at the song of the Lamb, they're not
just saying, "We fear you, we glorify you, we worship you." Look at what they say.
They say, "Who will fear you?" And the answer to that is, the coming judgment of
the wicked should stir a holy fear in the hearts of all who will see his hand
moving in judgment.
Even the wicked will fear God in the day of punishment. They will still reject him,
they will still hate him, but they can't help but fear him when his wrath is
poured out. So when they sing, "Who will fear you, O Lord?" They are saying,
"These people are about to fear," they may not fear you today, but they're about
to, as you unleash your wrath, their fear is about to be stirred. And who will
glorify your name? The answer is The coming judgment of the wicked will put the
spotlight on God's goodness, His righteousness, His justice, and His mercy, and it
will cause all men to see His greatness and to see His glory.
Now, again, the wicked will still reject that, but they can't help but see it on
display through His punishment. And who will worship? Well, this tells us all nations
will worship. The coming judgment of God on the earth will cause every king to bow
down. Every knee will bow. Some will bow voluntarily. Some knees will bow because
those knees are broken. So the scene in heaven around the crystal sea with the
saints who have gone before anticipating the final judgment of God on the earth,
singing the same song that a victory the God's people sang when he delivered them
from the hand of the Egyptian, the scene here in preparation for the advancing,
the coming turmoil, it's laying a groundwork for what is coming that's going to be
horrible and shocking and terrible.
And here in the midst of this peace they are saying God is great in what he's
about to do. God alone puts his glory on display in what he's about to do. In
fact, if we didn't have this scene in heaven when the bowls of wrath are poured
out we would be tempted to say does God know what he's doing but this scene in
heaven is here to remind us of course he knows what he's doing.
It's already happening in heaven today. The saints are gathered around the crystal
sea today and they are waiting for the ultimate fulfillment of the prophecy as these
bowls are finally poured out in preparation for the last day. So that gets us
through these first four verses. I told you we'd spend most of our time there. Let
me just quickly take you to what is the prologue of chapter 16. It's the overview
of what we're gonna see happen in chapter 16.
We'll look at it briefly. John says in verse 6 that the seven angels with the
seven plagues come out from the heavenly sanctuary. They are coming out from the
place where God's presence is dwelling, the place his glory dwells. These plagues are
coming from him. They're not coming from evil, they're coming from him. The angels
are clothed that says, in pure bright linen with golden sashes around their
And these plagues are going to be horrible, but the messengers who are delivering
these plagues are coming as representatives of God. So what's about to be seen is
going to be ugly and black and terrible, but the ones who are bringing it are
coming as messengers of God. They're dressed in white, and they're holy, and they're
set apart.
And verse 7 says that it's one of the four living creatures who gives the bowls to
the angels. We first met the four living creatures back in chapter four and we
don't know why it's one of the four living creatures who hands over these bowls to
the angels but that's what it tells us. The bowls are to be filled with the wrath
of God and he is described here as the one who lives forever. John is being
reminded that God is the God of eternity that in light of what's about to happen,
the destruction that's about to come on the earth, the total annihilation of what's
about to happen. God is transcendent above time and space. Even when the earth is
wiped out, God is eternal. He will never be wiped out. The chapter ends with the
heavenly sanctuary being filled with smoke from the glory of God. And this has
happened in the history of Israel a couple of times. So when the tabernacle is
first directed in the wilderness, the glory of God comes in the cloud. When the
temple is built in First Kings 8, the cloud comes and the smoke fills the temple.
And no one can go in because the presence of God is so thick there. What John is
seeing in this passage, in this vision, is that these bowls of judgment are coming
from God. They're being poured out. Excuse me. It has got himself.
It's got himself who is bringing about this judgment and as I said, that's a
prelude to what is coming in chapter 16 Which by the way, we will get to after
the first of the year I decided that next Sunday when we light the candle that is
about joy We should not then turn our attention to the seven plagues being poured
out on the earth I just thought those two don't go together So we're gonna talk
about joy next Sunday and we'll save the plagues until after the first of the year
when a lot of people think the plagues are coming in 2025 anyway we'll see.
Well as I said when we started this chapter this morning verses 2 through 4 is a
scene where the pouring out of God's wrath on evil and wickedness is a cause for
worship and joy. In fact I thought about that because that's what's going on in
heaven. They are rejoicing, they are celebrating, the coming wrath of God.
That seems,
there's something in me that kind of goes, that's wrong to celebrate that. But it's
right to celebrate it when your perspective is that God is accomplishing his good
and holy and righteous purposes as horrible as it's gonna be. It's right,
God knows what he's doing. It's not right to celebrate the horror that is coming
through.
In fact, did you know that the song we sing at Christmas, Joy to the World, is
actually not about the first coming of Christ. It's not a Christmas hymn. It's a
second coming hymn. When Isaac Watts wrote Joy to the World after reading Psalm 89,
his focus was not on the birth of Christ in the manger. His birth was on Joy to
the World when the Lord comes the second time, When earth receives her king When
when he judges the earth in truth and righteousness, that's what we're saying. He
rules the world In truth and grace he judges the world in truth and righteousness
when his wrath is poured out heaven and nature will sing Fields floods rocks hills
planes will repeat the sounding joy "Sin and sorrow, according to the hymn,
will be done with. "No more will thorns infest the ground. "He comes to make his
blessings flow "far as the curse is found." And he rules the world with truth and
grace and makes the nations prove the glories of his righteousness and wonders of
his love. Next time you sing joy to the world, keep in mind that behind the joy
to the world is the picture of Revelation 15 and 16 where the wrath of God is
going to be poured out and evil is going to be done away with and we need to
rejoice in that truth even though it's going to be a dark and terrible day when it
comes. Let me pray. Father I confess these are hard things for us to get our
hearts around. Thank you for this picture of your saints singing this hymn in heaven
So that we can get where they are in our own hearts We can sing and glorify and
magnify you We can sing great and awesome are your works. Lord God Almighty Just
and true are your ways king of the nations
Who will not fear and glorify your name you alone are holy all the nations will
come and worship before you Because your righteous acts have been revealed Lord.
We long for that day not the horror of that day, but the rightness of that day
Help us to be ready as
Individuals for that day by continuing to follow you persevering Not being pulled
away By the dragon or the beast not being marked by them,
but continuing to be marked by you.
And Lord, help us to look forward to that day with a longing for right to come in
the world, for everything that is wrong to be made right.
We ask these things in your name.