Revelation 15:1-4

How Did We Get Used to This?

A sermon by Pastor Joe Haynes

Preached on October 27, 2019 at Beacon Church

When my son Josiah was little he had an imaginary friend named Cowboy Friend. (This was not long after Toy Story 2 and we noticed that Cowboy Friend sounded a lot like Woody the Cowboy.) But as Josiah got older, and made real friends, he didn’t need his imaginary friend anymore. Lots of people imagine friends and significant others. When my wife was a little girl she imagined her future husband—and she did not picture a slightly overweight, bald, average looking man—she pictured someone, you guessed it, tall, with hair—dark hair—and handsome. Like I said: “imaginary.” But you know what’s better than an imaginary husband? A real one. Similarly, I think it was RC Sproul who one time was asked what the difference is between the gods of other religions and the Christian God, and his answer was that the difference between other gods and the Christian God is that the Christian God exists. But lots and lots of people have imaginary gods, don’t they. Some of them sound so real, they catch on and become world religions. The only reason people are more interested in the god they imagine than in the God who exists is that they get used to the real God. If you hear the same things about God long enough, what used to sound amazing starts to sound kind of old-news, doesn’t it?

Revelation 15:1 reads, “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,” (Rev. 15:1 ESV). Yawn. It’s just another sign, right? Obviously John didn’t know how much it takes to impress modern readers. We’ve seen it all. Thrones and dragons and beasts are nothing—did you hear there’s a new Star Wars movie coming out? This callousness to great and wonderful things is not new. God created the Heavens and the Earth and a paradise for Adam and Eve and before you know it, they were convinced He was keeping them from something better. God rescued Israel from Egypt, drowning the super-power Egyptian army in the sea, and before you know it Israel doubted He could give them victory over the Canaanites. God gave Israel a Tabernacle and filled it with the visible glory of His personal presence, and before you know it, they asked for a king to rule them so they could be like the other nations around them. What would it take for God to really impress modern people?

That’s an interesting question. There are two picturesque themes in chapter 15—the people standing by the sea, and the angels coming out of the Tent of Witness. The first one is the theme of this week’s sermon; I’ll leave the other until my next sermon on Revelation. You can think of the main idea of this sermon, in verses 1-4, like this: God helps believers stay alert in the present by showing us His amazing deeds in the past. Experts say that if you look up and see that you’re standing in front of a hungry tiger, the chemicals in your brain will put you on the alert. It’s a weird fact, though, that if you stay there long enough, and the tiger doesn’t eat you or attack you, your brain will gradually go from high alert, to medium alert, to wondering what you should have for supper.[i] Need I remind you, that about 2000 years ago, God took on human flesh, took on himself the consequence of all human sin, died, and rose again? How did we get used to that? We got used to it, because in our boredom, or ignorance, it seemed like life more or less went on like before.

The Sign and Those Who Sleep Through It

The sign in heaven, that John saw, had such a powerful effect on him that he described it as “great and amazing.” But what amazes John is not that he saw seven angels with seven plagues. When you read the whole passage here, 15:1-8, it’s a bit surprising that John mentions the seven angels, but then takes some time to describe other things he saw—a glassy sea, a people who had overcome the beast, the song they sang, the Holy of Holies in the heavenly tabernacle opened, and finally, after we’ve forgotten the seven angels, there they are again in verse 6! When we read verse 1 we expect to be as amazed as John was, but as we keep reading, by verse 6 we’ve almost forgotten all about the seven angels with seven plagues in the 45 seconds it takes to read that far! What amazes John about these angels with seven plagues is that they are the last—“for with them the wrath of God is finished” (v1). Unlike us, John didn’t get bored in between verse 1 and 6. Unlike you and me, John hasn’t gotten used to everything he has seen in this vision. But we are so hard to impress, so calloused to wondrous things, that we don’t even remember what chapter 10 was about.

When John writes, in verse 1, “which are the last, for with them the wrath of God is finished,” we should have one of those moments like when you’re falling asleep at the wheel and the blaring horn of a dump truck slams you awake again, with your heart pounding in your chest, and you know you just about met your Maker. When you read verse 1, that with these the “wrath of God is finished,” you should become extremely alert and realize the hungry tiger hasn’t moved a muscle, but he is very, very alert. And he is staring at you. The same phrase, “the wrath of God” is in John 3:36 “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.” God is alert, and waiting, and just because you haven’t noticed anything happening does not mean you are safe. How did we get used to this? In your boredom, or ignorance, it seemed like nothing happened. So your brain came to believe nothing was ever going to happen.

These are not the first angels or the first curses in Revelation; they are the last. Revelation is a complex vision of sights and sounds, written down in words in a book, using an intricate literary structure to preserve the order and meaning of the vision John saw. Like a numbered list you might create in a Microsoft Word document; with seven points, leading to seven subpoints, ending in seven more subpoints. Three series of seven are the main skeleton of this book. These seven angels with seven last plagues are the last of them. And that is amazing and wonderful, and it should shock you awake and leave your heart pounding at your close call. So because our brains get used to danger way too fast, let me remind you that much has happened so that you be as alert as you should be. God helps believers stay alert in the present by showing us His amazing deeds in the past. The prophecies of Revelation are revealed in exactly the right way so that every generation since John has some prophecies they can look back on as now fulfilled, and others they can look forward to and stay alert.

The first series of seven was when the Lamb, representing Jesus, standing beside God’s throne, opened seven seals on a scroll God had given Him. As each seal was opened, events happened on earth—those are described in chapter 6. In Rev 1:1, John wrote that God gave this vision, “to show His servants the things that must soon take place.” And starting with the opening of the first seal, those predictions began to be fulfilled, in order, within 10 years of when Joh wrote this book. Because the people of the Roman Empire rejected Jesus, ignored His Gospel message, and became more and more hostile to Jesus’ followers, the seven seals describe the increasingly severe judgements God brought down on the pagan Roman Empire until paganism was overthrown and the Christians who had been persecuted suddenly had political power.

The next series of seven are seven trumpets that describe the next era of Roman government—a commonwealth of European kingdoms swearing allegiance to a new kind of Roman emperor—the bishop of the Church of Rome. During that era, true Christians were increasingly persecuted by so-called “Christian” governments that tried to keep the Bible out of the hands of the people. Until the religious empire of the Popes began to collapse, thousands of new churches were planted, and the Bible began to be preached out in the open once again.

Chapter 15 introduces the final seven judgements upon the people and lands of post-Catholic Europe. When the last series, the trumpets, was finished, chapter 9:20 showed that during all these judgements people were supposed to flee the wrath of God and find safety in turning to Jesus, but they didn’t. “The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands nor give up worshiping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk,” (Rev. 9:20 ESV). People got used to the idea that Jesus had come; got used to the idea that Jesus saves sinners; got used to the idea that time would eventually run out for people to turn to Jesus; and got used to the idea that God would eventually unleash His wrath on a sinful world that refused to receive the gift of salvation Jesus offers.

The Sea and Those Who Stand Beside It

In verse 2, John saw something new: a sea, and people standing beside the sea. These are the people who stayed amazed by Jesus. “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 and the number of its name, standing beside the sea of glass with harps of God in their hands,” (Rev. 15:2 ESV). “The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands nor give up worshiping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk,” (Rev. 9:20 ESV). They are those who “had conquered” the beast, and those words point back to the war against the saints in chapter 13:7 on. But that word “conquered” is an important word in Revelation, that’s what I want you to focus on here.

In every one of the letters to the seven churches, at the beginning of the book, Jesus promised special blessings “to the one who conquers”—blessings like the gift of “eating from the tree of life;” or to, “not be hurt by the second death;” or to receive, “authority over the nations;” or to be, “clothed in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life.” In Revelation 12:11, Christians martyred under the old Roman Empire are described as “conquerers”—having conquered “by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.” What do you think they loved more than their lives? Jesus.

Then in Revelation 13:7, it says the beast martyrs more Christians: “it was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them.” Millions of European Christians were put to death by the beast—by the decree of the Roman popes—Christian groups like the Waldensians, the followers of Wycliffe, and the Hussites, and later numerous Protestants. They were martyred, yes, but like “the ones who conquer” in Revelation 2, they have eaten from the tree of life, so the second death will not hurt them—the beast might be able to kill their bodies, but he has no power over their souls. They overcame the beast, like those in Rev 12:11, “for they loved not their lives even unto death.” How exactly does an ordinary Christian stay true to Jesus even when some government threatens him with death? By not getting used to the real Tiger. Jesus is the one who conquered death itself; Jesus is the one who saves sinners by grace through faith; Jesus is the Judge who is coming back again. Next to Jesus, the beast is no more dangerous than an angry kitten. It was Jesus who said, "…Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell." (Mat 10:28) God helps believers stay alert in the present by showing us His amazing deeds in the past.

Do you remember how God rescued Israel from slavery in Egypt; how the Egyptian Pharaoh refused to let Israel go, how God parted the sea so that Israel could pass through to the other side, but how God drowned the Egyptian army in the sea?

30 Thus the LORD saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore.  31 Israel saw the great power that the LORD used against the Egyptians, so the people feared the LORD, and they believed in the LORD and in his servant Moses. Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to the LORD… (Exod. 14:30-15:1a ESV)

That’s the picture John is shown here: these ones who conquered are the ones who passed through the sea to the other side; they are those delivered through persecution to eternal life by the salvation Jesus gives them. That’s why they are “standing beside the sea” in verse 2 (I’ll explain the other details in the next sermon). When these who were martyred long ago, read these words in Revelation 15, they could see the encouraging reminder about how God delivered Israel through danger. His amazing deeds in the past gave them hope and helped them remember not to fear the beast who could only destroy their bodies. So when we now understand how they endured in faith, and conquered the beast, we see not only how God delivered ancient Israel through the sea, but how God delivered these martyrs as well—so that we might stay alert in a time when the attacks of our enemy are much more subtle, when the devils main weapon against Christians is not the use of force, but skepticism, uncertainty, and doubt. That’s why John wrote down the words of the martyrs’ song.

The Song and The One To Whom We Sing

These people standing on the seashore loved Jesus by remembering Him: they never got used to Him! Just look at what they say to Jesus in verse 3: it’s the same words John used in verse 1—“great and amazing” but here these singers say this to Jesus!

3 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!  4 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." (Rev. 15:3-4 ESV)

I want you to notice that in the first and second stanzas of this song, there are two truths about what God has done, and two truths about who God is: a) “Great and amazing are your deeds” (the same phrase John used in verse 1!); “Just and true are your ways”; b) “O Lord God the Almighty”; “O King of the nations!” This is how John describes Jesus in chapter 1:

Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood  6 and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.  7 Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen.  8 "I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty."  (Rev. 1:5-8 ESV)

The Ruler of Kings, the Lord God, the Almighty. The question is not “how do persecuted Christians stay amazed by Jesus,” the question is, “why don’t we?” When you start to see how the prophecies in Revelation predicted both the suffering of earlier Christians, and the amazing survival of the Christian faith; when you see that God’s judgements are fair and His ways are true, you will have a much deeper sense of safety and security when you remember that your Saviour is the Lord God, the Almighty; when you are reminded that Jesus is already the King of the Nations. God gave us this Scripture to help His people stay alert in the present. Because if we forget God’s amazing deeds, we will become bored with Jesus. How could we get used to Jesus!?

But we do, don’t we? We need to sing to remember. This is the song of those who fear the Lord and glorify His name; the song of all who remember what God has done through Jesus the Lord and confess with thanksgiving, “For you alone are holy!” (v4) Truly all nations will one day bow to the King of Kings! There surely is no other government, no earthly power as fearsome as the Lord God, the Almighty! And have you ever heard of such a faithful Redeemer, willing to forgive and save everyone who asks God for mercy on account of the Saviour who was killed for our sins? The Lion of Judah is more to be feared than a thousand mortal tigers. And the Lamb of God alone is more to be trusted than any other name in heaven or on earth. The difference between Christ and other gods is that Christ exists. Fear Him only and give Him glory.