Sunday School Notes: Revelation 15:3-5

³ And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying: “Great and wonderful [are] your works, O Lord God Almighty. Righteous and true [are] your ways, King of the nations. ⁴ Who would not fear [you], O Lord, and glorify your name? For [you are] alone holy, for all the nations shall come and they shall worship before you. For your righteous requirements have been made known. ⁵ And after these things, I looked, and the temple, that is the tabernacle of the witness in heaven, was opened.

Chapter 15 opens with a vision of seven angels holding seven plagues, which will complete the outpouring of the wrath of God. We then cut away to a vision of a sea of glass (like the one we saw in chapter 4), and the “overcomers”–the heaven-dwellers–standing beside (or on; the preposition could be taken either way) it, holding harps.

God’s people then begin to sing “the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb.” I don’t believe these are supposed to be two different songs. The “and” there could be translated, “even,” what grammarians would call the epexegetical use of the conjunction. In other words, “the song of the Lamb” further explains, or describes, “the song of Moses, the servant of God.” Could this be a tie-in with the “new song” sung in 5:9-10, which proclaimed the Lamb’s worthiness to open the scroll? Possibly. This song certainly has the same theme of victory and conquering.

But which song of Moses does it refer to? The words of the song here in 15:3-4 don’t correspond exactly to any song of Moses in the Old Testament, but there are certainly thematic parallels. The song sung in Exodus 15:1-18 is a victory song, recounting the mighty way the Lord rescued Israel from the Egyptians. Just prior to the song, in Exodus 14:31, Moses is referred to as “servant of God,” further hinting at an intentional connection with Revelation 15. There is, however, another song of Moses in Deuteronomy 32:1-43, delivered near the end of his life, after Joshua had been named his successor. God told Moses that Israel would stray and break their covenant with Him. The song Moses sings bears witness against Israel, warning them this will happen and exhorting them to return to the Lord. This is a very different song, one that speaks of judgment against God’s wayward people.

We noted this song of victory in Revelation 15 is sung before John sees the vision of the bowls. This speaks to the fact that God’s judgment is certain. It is an eternal truth. And this is why the church need not fear the wrath of the Lamb: God’s people are secure. What has been decreed by God from eternity past will come to pass exactly as He ordained.

As I noted, the words of the song in 15:3-4 are not the exact words of any particular song of Moses in the Old Testament, but neither are they random “religious” phrases pulled out of the air. They derive from Old Testament passages, and the context of those passages help illuminate what the song here is communicating.

“Great and wonderful are your works” echoes words found in Deuteronomy 28:58-60. This is part of a passage in which Israel is warned to keep the Law or suffer plagues like those visited upon Egypt. Also, Psalm 111:2-4 speaks of God’s great works bringing redemption to His people.

“O Lord God, the Almighty” is found numerous times in the Old Testament (throughout Job, also Isaiah 13:6, Ezekiel 1:24, Joel 1:15). We also saw it at the beginning of Revelation (1:8), and will encounter it a few more times yet in chapters 16, 19, and 21. This is a strong affirmation of God’s ability and authority, in this instance, to judge, and do the works He does.

“Righteous and true [are] your ways” reflects Deuteronomy 32:4, part of the song of Moses mentioned earlier, which warns Israel of the fate that awaits them for turning away from the Lord. This is an affirmation of the fact that God does not sin, and has absolute moral authority to act as He does.

“King of the nations//Who would not fear [you], O Lord…” These two lines can be found in Jeremiah 10:7 in reverse order. In this passage, Jeremiah compares idols to the true God, declaring there is none like Him. The same is true comparing the Beast-idol with the true God–there is no god like the one true God, and He alone is worthy of worship.

“… and glorify your name?” A little later in the same Jeremiah passage, 10:16, the prophet declares, “Not like these [idols] is He who is the portion of Jacob, for He is the one who formed all things, and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance; the Lord of hosts is His name.” The nations should all glorify His name. As it is, only God’s people do.

“for [you are] alone holy” The word “holy” here is the Greek word hosios, which has more the sense of “pious” or “upright.” It’s a statement regarding God’s righteousness, rather than His being set apart. Psalm 86:9-10, 12 contains this kind of language, and, indeed, much of what we find here in 15:4. It further emphasizes the true God’s superiority over idols and everything in His creation.

“For all the nations come and they shall worship before you.” We can take this in two ways. Either, as in Revelation 5:9, 7:9, and 14:8, “all the nations” is referring to people from all nations without distinction, not every person from every nation. Alternatively, this could be saying, as in Philippians 2:10-11, that all nations will acknowledge the worthiness of the Lamb and the glory of God, even those who are bound for destruction. Jesus’s lordship is a fact, not an opinion, and all people will bow the knee and acknowledge that fact, either in joyful acceptance, or in grudging admittance.

“For your righteous requirements have been made known.” Not only in the redemption of His people, but in His judgment of the lost. Psalm 92 begins with an allusion to Exodus 15:1, 6, and verse 2 seems to echo these words. So the context of this Psalm is the song of Moses, and Israel’s victory over the Egyptians. The psalm ends with the promise that the Lord will judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with equity. This is what we’re about to see in chapter 16.

John then sees the temple, in other words the tabernacle of the witness in heaven, opened, and seven angels coming out. We didn’t have time to talk about the seven angels, but we did consider this “temple.” The ESV renders the Greek “the sanctuary of the tent of witness in heaven.” I’m not sure this is helpful to our understanding of what’s going on here. The Greek word naos is the word used for the Temple, and I take the rest of the verse to be a further description of this temple: the tabernacle of the witness, or testimony, in heaven.

In Exodus, the 10 Commandments are often referred to as “the testimony” (Exodus 31:18, and 32:15, for example). Under God’s direction, Moses put these tablets of the Law in the Ark of the Covenant, along with manna and Aaron’s rod. The Ark then went into the Holy of Holies in the Tabernacle, and then ultimately in the Temple.

The Holy of Holies, where the Ark resided, was God’s dwelling within the Tabernacle. And the Tabernacle itself, especially while it was being carried around in the wilderness, was symbolic of God’s presence with His people. So the Temple John sees here is this Tabernacle containing the testimony, but in heaven. In 11:19, John saw the Temple in heaven, and the Arc of the Covenant in the Temple. And he made note of the fact that the Temple was open, and there was thunder, lightning, earthquakes, hail, and so on. In other words, the open, heavenly Temple brought judgment. The testimony–the witness, the Law–is the standard by which all mankind is judged. Those in Christ, bearing his name, are covered by his blood, so their penalty for failure to keep the Law has been paid. These are the heaven-dwellers. The earth-dwellers, however, stand alone in their dirty garments, about to receive the just judgment for their sin.

This, I believe, is the significance of the open Temple, and the visible witness, or testimony. It reminds the heaven-dwellers that the Lord is with them, and they are secure in Him, Christ having paid the penalty for their sin. But it also represents judgment on the earth-dwellers who have wantonly and willfully violated His Law.

We’ll pick up with verse 6 next time…