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Sermon

Get Ready for Judgement Day on Earth

Series
Revelation
Scripture
Revelation 15:1-8

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Note: This transcript and summary was autogenerated. It has not yet been proofread or edited by a human.

Summary

Revelation 15 reveals heaven preparing for the final outpouring of God’s wrath through the seven bowl judgments. This passage teaches us that God’s holiness demands that sin be judged, and that the faithful who endured tribulation now stand victorious, singing praise not for their own achievements but for God’s works, ways, holiness, and plan.

Key Lessons:

  1. The victorious saints in heaven sing not about their own suffering or achievement, but solely about the greatness of God — reminding us that true worship is God-centered, not self-centered.
  2. God’s holiness requires that all sin be judged; no one escapes accountability before a holy God, whether caught on earth or not.
  3. Our redemption is entirely God’s work through the Lamb — we were dead in sin and could not save ourselves, and this truth should produce deep gratitude and praise.
  4. A high view of God produces a high level of holy living, changing what we do, where we go, and how we think.

Application: We are called to examine our lives in light of these coming judgments, to cultivate a high view of God that transforms how we live daily, and to boldly share the gospel with those who do not yet know Christ.

Discussion Questions:

  1. Why do you think the victorious saints in heaven mention nothing about their own suffering or martyrdom in their song? What does this teach us about the nature of worship?
  2. How does having a “high view of God” practically change the way you make daily decisions about what you do, where you go, and who you spend time with?
  3. What prevents you from boldly sharing the gospel, and how can the truths of Revelation 15 motivate you to overcome that hesitation?

Scripture Focus: Revelation 15:1-8 describes heaven’s preparation for the seven bowl judgments; Exodus 15:1-19 provides the Song of Moses celebrating God’s deliverance at the Red Sea; Revelation 5 highlights the worthiness of the Lamb; Philippians 2:10-11 declares that every knee will bow and every tongue confess Christ as Lord.

Outline

Introduction

Hey, good morning everyone. Let’s take our Bibles and turn to Revelation chapter 15.

Revelation chapter 15.

And as we go through Revelation, keep in mind that the book of Revelation is talking about God’s final unveiling of the last days.

And we have been considering the victorious Messiah in an interlude before the bold judgments are released. If anything about Revelation and you’ve been following, you’ll find out that we already had the seal judgments and the trumpet judgments. And the last judgments that are going to take place are the bold judgments. And the bowl is a good representation of just taking a bowl and pouring it out. And that’s how the judgment is pictured. So, judgment day is on our doorsteps here in this text.

And Revelation chapter 15 is a is really preliminary to the outpouring of the seven bowls of God’s wrath. Chapter 15 is a bridge between the trumpet judgments and the vile or the bold judgments. In chapter 14, we saw the warning of the word that if the anti-Christian empire during this time continues in the direction it is heading, hell is their faith. Now in chapter 15 we have the warning indeeds the seven bold judgments which are the advanced warnings of the final explosion of the very last judgment that will come.

And the world is getting worse and worse.

And because the world has been moving further away from God and his truth, it has become more lawless and insane and sexually perverted and deviant and idolatrous. And it will continue that way.

God Must Judge Sin

But remember, God will judge all sin.

God must judge sin because of who he is, because of his holiness.

“God must judge sin because of who he is, because of his holiness.”

It has always been like that. It will always be like that.

He cannot allow sin to take up permanent residence in his holy presence. It must be dealt with. Scripture has been given us this example from the beginning in the garden. God’s word was disobeyed by Adam and Eve and God held judgment on them and death came as he separated them from himself which had farreaching implications for all humanity. We suffer that consequence also. During Noah’s time, people were eating and drinking and being given in marriage with total disregard of God, their creator, without heeding the righteous preaching of Noah, who preached for 120 years.

Evil continued in their hearts. So God held judgment on them and sent the worldwide flood and destroyed all those who dwell on the earth except those he rescued within no Noah’s family.

Moses taught Israel God’s statutes and laws. And as long as they obeyed the Lord their God, he would bless them, protect them. But if they disregarded God and his word and broke his laws, God says then there will be cursing. And there definitely was cursing and that cursing is still taking place today.

But as we approach this t text, I I want to remind you that if I fail to to say that to mention it, it’s not the people in the title of my message getting ready for judgment day on earth. It’s not the people who are getting ready for the judgment day.

It is heaven that is getting ready for the judgment day. And so this morning, we are actually transported to heaven.

And we’re going to see what John saw in heaven. And some very striking things are taking place here. Some people have read this passage and said, “Well, there’s not really much there.” And and move on to chapter 16. But then once you start turning over all the stones and looking underneath them, you begin to say, “There’s a lot of things going on here.” and you want to look at the details of the text.

Preparation for God’s Final Wrath: The Sign in Heaven

So this morning we’re going to look at really point one which has three parts to it. Point one would be preparation for God’s final wrath all for all these verses verse 1 through8 and we’re going to see that there are three things going on. There’s going to be a sign in heaven.

There’s also going to be singing in heaven and then the final scene in heaven. So, heaven is preparing for judgment and we’ll see that in chapter 16. Not today, though. So, let’s look at the first thing in the preparation of God’s final wrath, the sign in heaven. And notice in verse number one of chapter 15, then I saw another sign in heaven. And John says it was great and marvelous.

“Heaven is preparing for judgment.”

See the warning given here isn’t of a an event so so ofmous significance that John says it’s great and marvelous.

See, John sees in this third third sign something that causes wonder which as we will see is of supreme significance for not only heaven but for all of mankind and all of us who read this text and study it and heed it and obey it.

Seven Angels and Seven Plagues

And now what does he see? Look at verse number one. Seven angels with sea seven plagues.

That’s what he sees in verse number one.

John sees these seven angels ready to carry out their mission to pour out the seven last plagues upon earth. And this term plague also had bears the meaning of blow. A blow or as laid on by a whip or an instrument that God will smite the anti-Christian empire and with seven fearful blows before he utterly crushes this empire in the last judgment.

“Seven angels ready to carry out their mission to pour out the seven last plagues upon earth.”

God’s Wrath Poured Out to Secure Victory

So that’s what he sees. Then John sees something else. He sees in verse number this seven bowls with wrath. So these seven bowls that are poured out will bring the anger of God to a finish. And notice what it says in verse 15.

It says seven angels who had seven plagues which are the last because in them the wrath of God is finished. So we see here something is happening. Something’s coming to a close. Revelation is coming to a close.

Human history is coming to a close. Life on this planet is coming to a close. And that’s what’s going on in heaven. They are getting ready to pour out those seven bowls. And you you’ll find out that those bowls are poured out very rapidly.

It’s not like the the trumpet judgments or the seal judgments which were more progressive. These are one after another after another after another and the devastation is going to be it’s going to be the worst time that anybody could ever lived on on this planet earth. So there are also three things that come out of this this text in these eight verses.

And there’s three reasons for God’s fierce and final wrath. And we really find the first one here that the first reason for God’s fierce wrath is that the Lord pours out his wrath to secure victory.

He’s going to secure the victory of the faithful, those who were martyed during the tribulation. And really, I think he go it goes back to anyone who ever lived and suffered for Christ. He’s taken care of right here. So the Lord pours out his wrath to secure victory of the faithful and then especially during this tribulation period. And what do they do at that point? What they do?

“The Lord pours out his wrath to secure victory of the faithful.”

They sing.

They sing in heaven. So they’re getting ready for this worst time of judgment and they’re singing. All right? It seems like it doesn’t make sense, but that’s exactly what makes sense because you’ll find out why they’re singing. And so, not only do they John sees the seven bowls with wrath, not only does he seen the sign in heaven, but he also now sees them singing in heaven. Verse 2-4. And we see the victorious saints are supported by God in heaven. And we see in verse number two, and I saw something like the sea of glass mixed with fire and those who had been victorious.

So in other words, let me just stop right there. The sea of glass is mingled with fire. Which means those standing on the sea of glass have gone through the fire and have now come forth as victorious and sup supremely triumphant because of what God has done. And so the question would be asked at this point, how could the saints obtain a victory over such a powerful demonic enemy during that time?

The Beast’s Deception and Control

Remember, we’re we’re dealing with a triunity of the beast and antichrist and the false prophet and of course Satan himself energizing them to do terrible, horrible things in the world. And not only that, but to take control of everything that’s going on. See, the false prophet’s function, if you remember back in chapter 13, the there function was to promote the beast.

And he did that by demanding the worship of the beast. Also, the pro the false prophet did did this also by deceiving people through demonic signs.

As it says in chapter 13:13, he performed great signs so that he even makes fire come down out of heaven to the earth in the presence of men. So these are miraculous signs and of course these signs are designed to attribute what’s going on to the antichrist as being the Messiah.

See, that’s the big lie that’s going on here.

“These signs are designed to attribute what’s going on to the antichrist as being the Messiah.”

So these signs he tries to do like Jesus but his goal is very different. His goal is to make an impression on the earth dwellers to get them to worship the antichrist as their savior.

That is what they’re to do. To get the earth dwellers to believe the lie. See, the lie was the claim of the Antichrist to be a god greater than all other gods and then to subtly convince the earth dwellers to take the mark in order to identify as a worshipper of antichrist as a worshipper of the true Messiah.

Now you you have to ask the question too how how did they survive that?

Everything of worldly character is beating the track for the for partnership of the superhuman man and his unholy trinity.

The cry of the business world is for centralization.

The cry of the religious world is for unification regardless of faith and doctrine. The cry of the political world is for a league of nations to settle disputes.

How is that happening?

Not very well. The cry of the commercial world is for control and like-minded cooperation.

The cry of the financial world is for one central banking house like cryptocurrency today Bitcoin right digital money.

Signs of the Times: Digital Control

See the man who can affect this monetary control is the antichrist himself. Now we just learned just recently that gold is $4,000 an ounce. One Bitcoin is $127,99720 as of October 7th.

All right, that’s a lot of that means that the US dollar is being weakened every single day. Totally cashless world is right around the corner.

“A totally cashless world is right around the corner.”

So this man of sin, he will be a wizard of finance who through his 10 leagued kingdom will settle the debts of the overburdened world by repudiation and control of the wealth of the world. He will be a miracle working worker in industry who will control the world under one world government. And he will keep politics, economics, and religion under his sway.

With the assistance of the false prophet and the scarlet woman, which is the apostate church, he will pose as a god demanding the worship of his image. And if one does not bow down in worship, he will be ruined economically or be killed.

So the mystery of iniquity is very much alive in our present day and it has come to the forefront of almost every part of society. We see it today more clearly than any generation.

Did just for your information that when we talked about receiving the mark of the beast, right? Whatever that mark is, did that digital ID is already used in five countries? China, India, South Korea, Switzerland, Australia, and just recently, Prime Minister Stammer of England put forth before their parliament a bill to institute digital ID in their kingdom, the United Kingdom.

See, that’s that’s significant as what’s going on and where this is all heading because it doesn’t when it comes to the tribulation time, the these things are going to be in place already and we have these digital things we call iPhones. And right there, that’s how they track people. They track people.

They’re going to track people by surveillance. They’re going to track people by biometric things like fingerprinting, face recognition, all those kind of things. And so the government has an overreach already in our lives. And of course that means a loss of freedom. It also means a loss of animity.

That means digital ideas can make it harder to remain anonymous.

We want to try to make a remain anonymous, but it’s going to be impossible to do that. No matter what you do, no matter how much you try to live off the grid, you’re not going to be able to because they’re going to be able to track you in every single way.

States today, not only if you don’t have a driver’s license, they they are requiring that you have an ID now that you get through the government. That’s all in the process of them taking control of everything. So, I’m I’m asking the question, how in the world are the saints going to obtain victory over such a powerful demonic enemy with all this manipulation and control?

The Victorious Saints on the Sea of Glass

Well, if you go back and look at verse number two of chapter 15, how impossible it was to be victorious in such a tumultuous situation, yet they were. And if you look at verse number two, it says, “And those who had been victorious over the beast and his image and the number of his name.” Isn’t that great?

You can’t miss this. The victorious ones are standing on the sea of glass and they’re holding harps of God.

“The victorious ones are standing on the sea of glass and they’re holding harps of God.”

They’re holding harps of God. Standing on the sea of glass is really a picture of God’s providence like standing on solid ground. It is for the faithful to show God’s support of them that they are on safe ground now.

Harps of God and the Posture of Victory

But God’s provision for the followers of the beast will be fire. It will be in order for God to scorch them with a severe blow. Now, there’s two things about the posture of the victorious ones is number one, they’re standing. That means it implies victory. It implies conquest over the enemy. They were killed for their faith, but now they stand victorious in heaven. And secondly, the victors are holding harps of God. In other words, these victorious saints are supported by God.

“Standing on the sea of glass is a picture of God’s providence like standing on solid ground.”

And because they are supported by God, there’s something happening that wasn’t happening before. Their harps are no longer hung on the willows because they’re in captivity. But now it meaning that the music was no longer being played. But now here the victorious followers of Christ are holding the harps ready to pluck the strings again to sing. The harps, remember, are usually connected with the joy, with the gentle, sweet melody of God because of how God worked in a particular person’s or nation’s life.

That the sign of victory is the sign of real heartfelt music. And these are the conquering ones who have come as victors out of the battle against the antichrist, his evil government, and the tyranny, the tyranny of being forced to worship the image. And even for some to take the mark on their hand and forehead, they did not do that.

They stood up against them. And so now it is a musical instrument of choice here chosen to employ in scripture the direct praise and worship of God. These victors play on their harps music to praise the God of all glory and not only that to praise also the God who is now going to hold judgment on the whole world.

So that’s what we see in verse three and four. We see the victorious saints singing. If you notice what it says there, what are they singing?

Why are they singing? First of all, it is not because of their strength. It is not because of their strong will. It is because of their obedience to the word of God.

It’s because of their faith in Jesus and them clinging to Jesus during that time.

The Song of Moses

And then what are they singing? Notice in verse number three, they are singing the song of Moses, the bondervant of God, and the song of the lamb.

That’s what we read this morning in Exodus 15 verse 1-19. But it’s also recorded in chapter 14 and Numbers 27 and Deuteronomy. So this is a very important historical event for Israel.

They sing the song of Moses, the bondervant of God. Remember, Moses praises God Almighty for deliverance from from the drowned Egyptians.

Moses, the slave of God, does the will of his God and leads his people to the edge of the Red Sea.

That’s an insane move with an with millions of people. How you going to cross? There’s no no way out. And there’s only way out is by God’s power to deliver his people. And that is the point. And that’s why they sing. They celebrate the deliverance that comes by God’s power as seen in the song of Moses. The song of Mo Moses com commemorated Israel’s physical deliverance from the forces of the Gentiles, from the force of the most powerful nation on earth at that time with the most advanced and skilled military.

“There’s only way out — by God’s power to deliver his people. And that is the point.”

And they were pinned between the desert and the Red Sea.

And God preserved his people through the Red Sea. Just to remind you from the reading this morning, these are some of the things that they were singing about in the song of Moses. They said, “And Moses, the the sons of Israel sang this song to the Lord and says, I will sing to the Lord, for he is highly exalted.

The horses and his riders have been hurled into the sea. The Lord is my strength and my song. I will extol him.” And then he says in verse number three of chapter 15, the Lord is a warrior.

The Lord fights the battles and wins the battles against the most formidable opposition and enemies that are against us. And then again in in chapter 15, it says this, “Your right hand, O Lord, is majestic in power. Your right hand, O Lord, scatters the enemy. And in the greatness of your excellence, you overthrow those who rise up against you.

And you send forth your burning anger, and it consumes them like chaff. That’s what they’re praising God for. And that’s is the same kind of song that the tribulations saints will sing. Moses goes on to say that the Lord shall reign forever and ever. That the horses of Pharaoh with his chariots and his horsemen went into the sea and the Lord brought back the waters of the sea on them. But the sons of Israel walked on dry ground through the midst of the sea.

That’s impossible. We’re talking about impossible things that are taking place by the power of our God. And so that is something that we really ought to sing about. But they also sang another song.

The Song of the Lamb

And it says here they sang the song of the lamb. Now what is so interesting about this?

The saints sing by what God has wrought through the lamb that the apostle John takes all kinds of passages and puts them into one thing. From the Psalms. He takes it from all over the Psalms. He takes bits and pieces and he puts it all together from Isaiah, from Jeremiah, from Exodus. He brings them all together into this one song that he calls the song of the lamb.

See, both the Old Testament and these New Testament saints sing because of God’s work of deliverance. That deliverance from the Egyptians foreshadows the deliverance from the beast and his image and his name, which leads to the praise of the greater deliverance, that deliverance by redemption.

The deliverance from sin and the slavery of sin and deliverance from God’s enemies, the enemies that are against us. Through who? Through the Passover lamb. Through Jesus Christ as seen in the song of the lamb. Now where where did we get that from? Where where does John also remember back in chapter five? He also gives us a sense of the the new song that they’re to sing because now they’re in Christ because they are saints and they’re filled with gratitude and praise because of Christ Jesus’ accomplishment on their behalf. And what do they sing in chapter 5? They sing this.

Because he’s the lamb who is worthy.

Because he is the lamb that is slain.

Because he is the one who paid the price by his blood to purchase the saints to redeem them to buy them back from the slave market of sin. See, that is the great redemption that we all receive as God’s people. We are redeemed not by any human wealth or human power, but we are saved by the precious blood of Jesus Christ.

That the New Testament consistently declares that it caused the death of Jesus Christ to rescue man from the de dilemma and the slavery into which sin has brought him and which he cannot escape from apart from God’s power and deliverance. That is the great deliverance that we have today in that we are purchased for God. It says in chapter five, with your blood, men from every tribe and tongue and people and nations.

“We are redeemed not by any human wealth or human power, but by the precious blood of Jesus Christ.”

See, Christ died so that there might be people from every people group on this earth. From the inner city people, neighborhoods to the suburbs to the country folk to mountain people to desert people to remote tribes of people everywhere. Christ has purchased specific people from every place on the planet so they would belong to him. And anyone who really is a believer, who really knows that they’ve been saved from their sin, cannot take credit that they have done anything to save themselves or even help God save them.

They were blind. They were dead. We were dead in our sin. Unless God granted us faith and repentance as a gift and opened our eyes to see, we would never ever be saved.

See, that is the song of the lamb.

That is the song of the martyrs.

And there’s something very striking of the triumphant martyrs. Two things that stand out about it.

And look at the first one. Let let me read it first. Look at what it says in verse three and four. Here’s the song of the lamb. It says, “Sing, great and marvelous are your works, O Lord God, the Almighty. Righteous and true are your ways, King of the nations. Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name?

For you alone are holy.

For all the nations will come and worship before you for your righteous acts have been revealed. That’s the song of the lamb that they are singing there.

Nothing About Their Own Achievement

But the something very interesting here is that this song is a mosaic of material from all over the Old Testament and the New Testament, Exodus, Psalms, many places, Isaiah, all of them are brought together in this one song of the land. John’s just taking passages and putting them in there and it’s it becomes something very significant. But a second thing that’s very interesting not only about the song of Moses but the song of the lamb. There’s not one single word about their own achievement. Not one. From the beginning to the end, the song is a lyric outburst of the greatness of God.

See, sometimes we, you and I may think when we get to heaven that we will be mauling over the trials and struggles that we went through while on earth.

However, these martyed saints mention nothing about their martyrdom, nothing about the pain or suffering they went through, which gives us the strong impression that heaven is a place people forget themselves and remember only God.

“Heaven is a place people forget themselves and remember only God.”

In the presence of God, the martyrs ignore themselves.

Their thoughts and attentions are absorbed by the new wonders that surround them as they see with unclouded vision the glory of God and his works and his ways.

Everything else is tiny.

Nothing else is significant.

This also brings us to a second reason for God’s fierce wrath that the Lord pours out on his his wrath to show the power and the works are what the faithful sing about.

In other words, the faithful sing that this victory is God’s victory alone and we participate in it because God brought us into to participate in it. So that’s the wrath comes for the saints and the saints see now what God has done in their behalf. It’s it’s clear now in heaven. There’s no doubt in heaven.

There’s no even there’s not even any more questions to ask in heaven. It’s crystal clear that God has done all this thing. God is the one who brought about this victory and it was through the lamb Jesus Christ who died in our place who took the wrath of God. So there’s no wrath to be taken by us and he paid the full penalty and satisfied the father’s justice forever.

Praising God for His Works

See, that’s what the Lord’s done. And so I can see why they sing. And they’re singing to get ready to what’s going to take place on earth. So, the song of the lamb really does give us some instruction on what we should praise God about.

Look at there’s about four things in verse number three and four that give us the sense on what should we be praising God about. Notice the first thing. Great and marvelous are your works. All right? So the first thing to praise and worship him is for God’s works.

The works of Almighty God praised here are the final judgments on the beast and the ungodly world. God’s judgments of the seven bowls are so great they will fill us and those who understand them with wonder. But it’s also the works of salvation. It’s the work of creation. Everything that comes in there, the work of creation.

“Great and marvelous are your works, O Lord God, the Almighty.”

Praising God for His Ways

A second thing we could praise God for is notice in verse three, righteous and true are your ways, king of the nations.

Praising God for His Holiness

See his ways praised here are his total reliability to keep his promises. That the king of all the ages has ruled his people so righteously that his people know without a doubt his truth points to his genuiness. That is his ways are never a sham or empty or deceptive.

They are always clearly true with no twist at all in them. They know that. See that’s God’s ways. That’s who they can praise the Lord for. And also in verse four, they praise we can praise and worship the Lord for his holiness.

And this becomes an important part of this portion of Revelation. It says, “Who will not fear, oh Lord, and glorify your name?” The question it says, “For you alone are holy.

“Righteous and true are your ways, King of the nations.”

No one else is holy but you. That his holiness is praised because he is separate and above all his creation. And that God should be re revered and glorified because of it. There’s no one like God.

There never was. There never will be anyone like God. Our God is an infinite cut above all the rest.

Revelation 15:4: “Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy.”

Even Jeremiah tells us in Jeremiah 10:7 that God is not like anyone else.

And remember Jeremiah is known as the weeping prophet because he preached and nobody listened.

And he says this, “Who would not fear you, oh king of the nations? Indeed, it is your due among all the wise men of the nations and in all their kingdom.

There is none, none like you. Jeremiah knew that. He wouldn’t have been able to preach if he didn’t really believe that.

It’s important for you and I to believe things so strongly that nobody can move us from our position. See, God is holy.

He is not like us. And sometimes when we think of things in scripture that oh I wouldn’t have thought about it like that. Well, that’s a good thought because that we don’t we’re not we’re not concerned about your thoughts. We’re concerned about God’s thoughts. Right?

So like what does the scripture say if you were never born? What does it mean if you you and I never existed?

So our opinions really don’t really matter much.

Praising God for His Plan

But I want you to know a last thing. He he we can praise and worship God. It it’s his plan. Notice what it says. The last part of verse number four in Revelation 15. For all the nations will come and worship before you for your righteous acts have been revealed.

This is almost like a Romans chapter 1, right? It’s clear what God has done.

That means his plan is to be praised because his goal was always to have all of creation and all the nations see clearly who he is and what he has done.

“His goal was always to have all of creation see clearly who he is and what he has done.”

So the saints and the heavenly hosts will sing about the sovereignty, the glory, the justice, the righteousness of God almighty because the saints and the heavenly host have a high view of God. They have a clear view of God.

A High View of God Changes Everything

And even as we teach in our membership class, if you have a high view of God, it will cause you to have a high level of living. All right? That means you will want to live a holy life. Why?

Because of how you see God and how the scriptures, you understand the scriptures bring God to the highest point that if he’s done these things for you and I, how can I live the old way?

How can I go back to my sin? How can I go back to the crutches that I had in the past? I can’t do it because my view of God has changed. I have a high view of God and I have a high view of his word. His word becomes paramount to me what he says there.

“If you have a high view of God, it will cause you to have a high level of living.”

And then if you look in verse number four, it says, “Your righteous acts have been revealed.” That means that God’s judgments again are clear. They are made visible to all the na. They will be made visible to all the nations of the world.

The nations of the world will have their view of God changed someday because they will see God’s righteous verdicts clearly and they shall acknowledge that his righteous acts are true and they are just and because of that he is worthy to be praised and worshiped. He’s worthy to be praised and worthy. And what what does Paul say in Philippians?

So that at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow. Those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth.

Some are attribute that to hell.

And every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

Everybody will proclaim Jesus as Lord someday, believers and unbelievers.

So if the Lord Jesus Christ today, you should be singing the song of the lamb and the song of Moses because of his deliverance in your life. And then having a high view of God, it change it should change everything you do in your life. It should change the way you think, what you do, where you go, who you hang out with, what you listen to, everything.

Because you want to live a life that is pleasing to the Lord. And you want to be a usable vessel, right, in this world. You want to be able to go place and and show the light of the gospel to show that you you are coming to a situation and you’re salt.

You’re preventing corruption, but you’re also giving flavor to things because you see things the way God sees them. And people want to hear that. They want to see that even though they may reject it time and time again, just like you and I, we came to a place we say what, that’s really interesting. I never heard that before.

And you start thinking about it. And that’s how God draws you in. And he he he opens your eyes to see and you becomes you become saved, born again, right? And so that’s what’s happened.

The Scene in Heaven: The Holy Tabernacle

But now I want you to see that we’ve seen the the sign in heaven. We’ve seen the singing in heaven. But now now let’s look at verse eight 5-8. The the scene in heaven and you you’re going to find that everything in this scene is holy.

The first thing is the holy tabernacle.

Verse number five. After these things I looked and the temple of the tabernacle of testimony in heaven was open.

Now just reading that something dramatic, something dramatically new is seen by the Apostle John in the holy place of the tabernacle in heaven that was opened in this instance. The references specifically to the tabernacle and the holy of holies which is the ark of the testimony.

“The temple of the tabernacle of testimony in heaven was opened.”

That’s where it was kept. The ark where the tables of stone are kept.

Now the only one who can possibly fulfill the law is Jesus himself.

And so we see here and the point being that God always keeps his covenant with Israel and with all believers. He is completely trustworthy in doing that.

And that also brings me to a third reason for God’s fierce wrath. And that the Lord pours out his wrath to substantiate his promise through the word of God.

That what God promises will come to pass.

The Holy Angels

And then notice in verse 6 and seven, there’s holy angels.

It says, “And the seven angels who had the seven plagues come out of the temple.

And these angels, they can dwell with God in his presence because they have no sin. They were created for this very purpose. That the angels come out of a place where the law of God rests and come to show that no person or tribe or nation or people, group or demonic trinity can with impunity defy the law of God.

Nobody gets away with anything before God because God is holy and he’s just.

“No person or nation or demonic trinity can with impunity defy the law of God.”

The only thing between us and God is that he is pure. He is perfectly holy and just. He sees clearly everything.

And that that means he’ll administer judgment fairly.

We cannot do that.

We are we’re unable to do that. We try our best to do it, but we are unable to do it like he can do it. So the angels come out of the place where the law of God is. And these angels are dressed to represent the one for whom they do their bidding, the king of kings. And their uniform denotes the noble and sacred nature of their office, their mission, and are really symbolic of three things.

Their dress, notice what it says in verse six. It says, clothed in linen, clean and bright, and girded around their chest with golden sashes.

That means their dress is a priestly dress. First of all, the robe of white fine linen and the embroidered girdle about their breasts is really the dress of a high priest. They’re going to minister in behalf of God and behalf of his people.

But then notice also their dress is also a royal dress. It says clean clo and linen clear and bright girded around with their chest with golden sashes. That signifies a definitely a royal nature to it.

That the white linen and the high the high girdle are the garments worn by princes and by kings that these angels come forth with the royalty of the king of kings upon them.

And then of course their dress is also heavenly dress in verse number six. Clothed in linen clean and bright. So so the cloth in the the long white garments is clothing of the inhabitants of heaven. We’ve seen that over and over again that they come with an imposing imposing vestments to execute God’s decrees upon the earth. So no one at all will make a mistake as to who they represent.

So those are the angels.

And then at this point in heaven, another steps forward, but it’s not an angel.

Notice what it says in verse number seven.

The Four Living Creatures

It says, ‘ Then one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven bowls full of the wrath of God who lives forever and ever. And I asked the question, why the four living creatures or one of the representatives of the four? Why them? Why just not another angel?

So I had to kind of hunt that down a bit.

Well, these this one representative of the four living creatures are going to give the four the the bowls to the angels.

And why the four living creatures are given this task? Well, their place in heaven back in chapter 4 when they were first mentioned is this.

They are centered around the throne of God. The four living creatures, these are creatures that have full of eyes in front and behind.

So having eyes all around means that they have vigilance over God’s whole creation.

Man, beast, bird is pictured as glorified with him as part of God’s sovereignty.

That these four living creatures, their function for which they were created is this.

They constantly are engaged in praising and worshiping God. This is what it says in chapter 4 verse number eight. Listen, it says, “For the four living creatures, each one of them having six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they do not cease to say, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come.” That is their task. That is their message.

Revelation 4:8: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come.”

So, because holy calls attention to all that God is.

It reminds us that his love is holy.

His mercy is holy.

His knowledge is holy knowledge. His spirit is holy spirit. His justice is holy justice. Which means that his final judgment upon all humanity and creation will be holy judgment. So what who best to initiate that representative of the four living creatures to come and proclaim and give to these bowls to the angels that will finish the task. Than the ones who have been singing in heaven over and over and over again, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God. That’s why he gives them the task.

That’s why he gives them the task.

God’s Wrath to Satisfy His Holiness

So, that brings me to a fourth reason for God’s wrath. And it’s this. The Lord pours out his wrath to satisfy his holiness.

His holiness must be satisfied. I said that nobody will get away with from any with anything no matter whether they were caught here and convicted here or not or they got away with it while on earth. They won’t get away with it before God because God is holy and that his holiness must be satisfied.

“The Lord pours out his wrath to satisfy his holiness. His holiness must be satisfied.”

And no one could stand against God’s holiness and get away with anything.

The Temple Filled with Glory

So we saw the holy tabernacle of the holy angels and now we see the holy temple again. It says in verse number eight.

Now it says that the temple was filled with with smoke from the glory of God and from his power. Now all this is going on. Remember the tabernacle is open.

And now just as in Old Testament passages when the glory of the Lord fill the temple, what could people do?

Nothing. You can’t do anything. Nobody moves because God’s glory so fills everything. And his holiness so permeates everything that all that we the people can do is stop and watch.

That’s it. They can stop and watch because it says we look here that that no one can enter the temple in heaven until the task is complete. That the smoke of God’s glory make it impossible for anybody to enter in because of the glory of God and his power. If you notice again in verse number eight, it says the last part, and no one was able to enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were finished.

“God’s glory so fills everything that all the people can do is stop and watch.”

So God’s hot anger will be completely emptied upon the worshippers of the beast and his anti-Christian empire and all who belong to it from that then and before that that the sealed judgments struck a quarter part of the earth that the trumpet judgments took onethird part of the earth and the bold judgments will bring the very end that the all the seven bowls will be emptied and it will be finished and the wrath of God will be satisfied.

Call to Respond

So that’s what we have in this section of scripture and it is one that it has to humble us u and cause us to really want to worship God the way we ought to and it should adjust our lives to really want to live for the Lord. Knowing these days are coming and I don’t know about you, as I said, I’ve been saying that the more I try not to listen to the news too much, it gets me aggravated as it does you. But as I listen to the crazy stuff going on in the world, this is this is this cannot be this organized without demonic backing. It cannot. It’s happening in every country of the world.

So demons are working behind the scenes to bring together God’s allowing it to bring together where God’s plan is heading because judgment is coming.

So if Christ today, you don’t have to worry about these things, but you sure should examine your life to see how you’re living.

“If you know Christ today, you don’t have to worry, but you should examine your life.”

And if you don’t know Christ, today is the day. As I say and others who have preached here, Pastor Dave and myself, today is a day of salvation. You cannot wait any longer. You are not guaranteed tomorrow morning. No one is. No matter how old or young you are, you must know Christ. You must not doubt that. You must know that. And if you don’t know that, today is a good day to come talk to me or talk to talk to Pastor Dave or one of our elders, our deacons or people know the gospel in our church and ask them about how to be saved, how to be right with God.

See, that’s what we ought to do. Amen.

Let’s pray.

Lord, thank you again for the great truth of this book called Revelation.

Lord, in it is contained your mind and your will.

And Lord, I I must admit that when we read these things and hear these things, they are fear producing.

But Lord, we know that you are our deliverer. You’re the one who has taken the wrath of the father so we can be saved and be made right with you. And Lord, that gives us peace in our heart.

That gives us joy to sing. But Lord, it also brings us to mourn for those who don’t know you yet in our family, on our jobs, people we interact with all the time. We want to be able to share the gospel with them, Lord. So Lord, put on our hearts to pray for them and then give us an opportunity to speak in your behalf. And Lord, I know Lord, including myself, sometimes when that happens, I choke. I don’t say anything.

And Lord, usually the day goes pretty miserable when that happens. I pray, Lord, make us people who are bold. And I pray just like the the apostles, the disciples who were not really educated men when they spoke, people concluded that their boldness came from them hanging out with Jesus. And I pray our boldness would come from the same place.

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