Well, if you have a copy of the scriptures, let me invite you to turn to the last book in our New Testament or in our entire Bible, and that is the book of Revelation. So we went from Genesis in the morning to Revelation here in the afternoon as we've been working through this book, chapter by chapter, doing more of an overview. of the chapters in this book, and today we come to Revelation 15. We're going to look, God willing, at the entirety of the chapter, but for our purposes here, initially I'm going to read the opening three verses. Revelation 15, verses 1 through 3. And so let me invite you, as you're able, let's stand once again in honor of the reading and hearing of God's Word. You can read from Revelation chapter 15, beginning in verse 1, wherein John faithfully records. And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous, seven angels having the seven last plagues. For in them is filled up the wrath of God. And I saw, as it were, a sea of glass mingle with fire. And them that had gotten the victory over the beast and over his image and over his mark, and over the number of his name stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God. And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, great and marvelous are thy works, Lord God Almighty. Just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints. May God bless today, once again, the reading and the hearing of his word. And let's join again in prayer. Let us pray. Gracious and loving God, as we come to thy word again, we can remember the words of the psalmist where he said that the scriptures were more precious than silver or gold. And so help us to value highly thy revealed word and give us Eyes to see and ears to hear once more the truth from thy word. We ask this in Christ's name. Amen. You may be seated. Once again, today we come to Revelation 15. You'll notice there are only eight verses in Revelation 15, which makes this the shortest chapter in the book of Revelation according to our contemporary printed editions of it. Of course, originally there were no chapter and verse divisions, but when the printing press was invented and And there was that ability to print the Bible. There were divisions of it into chapters and verses. We're very thankful for that because it helps locate passages and memorize passages and point people to preach through different parts of the passage. But this little section here is the shortest of the chapters we find in the Book of Revelation. And I've put as a title over this chapter, The Seven Last Plagues and the King of Saints. And I think that summarizes the twin themes that we find in Revelation 15. And as has been our practice in these afternoon preaching and teaching times, I have gone through a seven-part catechism for each one of these chapters. And so we have seven questions and seven answers we want to pose as we look at Revelation 15. And so the first question is this, what sign does John see in heaven? And that is answered for us in the first verse, which tells us that John saw seven angels having the seven last plagues. It says in verse one, and I saw another sign And that's the word simeon. You see this in the Gospel of John a lot, where there's a sign or a miracle, an astounding thing. I saw another sign in heaven. Great and marvelous, seven angels having the seven last plagues. For in them is filled up or completed the wrath of God. And we've noted before in this series through Revelation, a book that is controversial, and there are many different interpretations that have been given to it. But we've noted before that in Revelation, there are three sets of seven. There are seven woes, not seven woes, but seven seals rather, that are outlined in chapter five through the first verse of chapter eight. Then there are seven angels that are given trumpets that they sound and that's from chapter 8 verse 2 through chapter 11. And now we have the third of these three sets of seven as commencing here in chapter 15. There are going to be seven angels that we'll see are given seven vials or bowls And these contain what are called by John the seven last plagues. And we suggested earlier in this series that when we see these three sets of seven, the seven seals, the seven angels with the seven trumpets, and the seven angels with the seven vials, that rather than seeing these as representing 21 consecutive events, seven events, seven more events, seven more events, that instead of seeing it like that, we should understand each of these as duplicated descriptions of the same event. Namely, they describe, each of them, the experience of believers in what Paul calls in Galatians 1, this present evil world. As we are here living between the time of Christ's first coming, his first advent and his second advent, We are preaching the gospel. The cause of the gospel is being opposed by Satan in his death throes. And we are awaiting the glorious return of Christ. And so I think all three of these sets of seven are really describing the same thing. And we can take a justification for this interpretation by looking back at Genesis. According to God's providence, we're also looking at the book of Genesis here lately. And in Genesis chapter 41, you might remember that Pharaoh had two dreams. And in the first dream, he saw seven fat cattle that were then consumed by seven lean cattle. And then he had another dream where he saw seven fat ears of grain that were consumed by seven lean ears of grain. And when Joseph interpreted Pharaoh's dreams in Genesis 41, he said to him in Genesis 41, verse 25, the dream of Pharaoh is one. So he said the two dreams are really describing the same event. So he says, your two dreams don't mean there's going to be seven years of fullness and seven years of famine, followed by seven more years of fullness and seven more years of famine. No, it's not a series like that, but the two dreams describe one event, that there will be a 14-year period where there will be seven years of fullness and seven years of famine, rather than 28-year period being described. And then Joseph later explains to Pharaoh in Genesis 41, verse 32, And for that the dream was doubled unto Pharaoh twice, it is because the thing is established by God, and God will surely, or shortly rather, bring it to pass. And so in the case of the two dreams describing the same event to Pharaoh, Joseph's interpretation was it was doubled to make sure to you that you know that this thing is settled by the decree of God. It will come about. and it will come about according to God's timing in a way that will be in the proper timing of God. It will come swiftly according to the decree and the choosing of God himself. And so with these three sets of seven, we suggest they're really describing the same thing and what life is like in this world and what we should expect before the second coming of Christ. Second of our seven questions, what more does John see? And this is described for us in verse two. And the first thing he sees is after the seven angels with the seven last plagues, he sees a sea of glass. Look at verse two. And I saw, as it were, a sea of glass mingled with fire. And so he sees this amazing thing. We don't know, you know, we've never seen a sea of glass. Sometimes at the end of the ocean, the sea can look like a glassy surface. But this description we know is a description of heaven, because if you look back at chapter four and verse six, where there's a description of the throne of God in heaven, there is also described there underneath the throne of God, a sea of glass. And what is more, He sees in heaven on this sea of glass also the victorious church at rest. Look at verse 2. And them that had gotten the victory over the beast and over his image and over his mark and over the number of his name stand on the sea of glass having the hearts of God. And so this is John's vision of the triumphant church, the church at rest in heaven. And they have overcome the beast who warred against them. They have overcome his attempt to mark them and have them bow down to his image. They have not bent the knee to the image of the beast. And they have have not succumbed to the secret number of the B666. a broken number that is short of God's perfection. And they have been faithful in this age. And there at the end in verse 2, it says they have the harps of God. So contrary to a popular view that some people have that in heaven there are angels floating around plucking on harps, it's actually the saints of God who have the harps. And they have them there to sing praise unto God for all eternity. Third question, what song do the saints who hold these harps sing? And the answer is given to us in the first part of verse 3, where it tells us that they sing the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb, declaring the greatness of the Lord God Almighty's works, says in verse 3. And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the Song of the Lamb saying, great and marvelous are thy works, Lord God Almighty. And if you think about these two songs, it seems that they celebrate two mighty acts, one that is recorded in the Old Testament and one that is recorded in the New Testament. The one that's recorded in the Old Testament is the Song of Moses. And that's referring to the song that Moses sang, led the Israelites in singing, when the Egyptians were defeated at the Red Sea, and the horses and the riders were cast into the sea. And in fact, if you look at Exodus 15, verse 1, it says, Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the Lord, and Spake saying, I will sing unto the Lord, for He hath triumphed gloriously, The horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea. So that's the song of Moses celebrating God's mighty acts recorded in the Old Testament. And then what's the new song that is sung that's recorded in the New Testament? It's the song of the Lamb. It's a song that celebrates the great victory of the Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. in his death on the cross, in his resurrection. That is the theme of the Song of the Lamb. And notice that both of these songs are gloriously God-centered. The song is directed to the Lord God Almighty, the Pantocrator, the one who is almighty over all. And this reminds us, doesn't it, that the book of Revelation is not necessarily a future book, it's a worship book. It's telling us about the worship of God. Fourth question, who especially is given praise by this song or these songs? And the answer is given to us in the second half of verse three and on into verse four. And I would suggest that the focus of the praise is the Lamb, who is given the title here of the King of Saints. And so at the end of verse 3, it says, just and true are thy ways, thou King of Saints. Who shall not fear thee, verse 4, O Lord, and glorify thy name? For thou only art holy. For all nations shall come and worship before thee, for thy judgments are made manifest. The Lord Jesus Christ, when he was preaching upon the earth, declared that the kingdom of God is at hand. When he went to the cross, he was mocked as proclaiming himself the king of the Jews. And now he reigns as the king of kings. And he's given this title. He is the king of saints. He is our sovereign. And we have been made citizens of his kingdom. Now, we live in a nation where we don't have a king. We have presidents. And it's a little something different to have a monarch. But if we can imagine Christ being like a king who is ruling and reigning over us. That's the power and the potency, the depth of this image. And we notice now that the song of praise is not merely theocentric, God-centered, but it's also Christocentric. It's Christ-centered. To worship Christ is to worship God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. Notice also, in verse four, the triumph of the Great Commission. All nations shall come and worship before thee. The Great Commission is going out. We are preaching the gospel to all nations, baptizing in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and adding to the great chorus of worshipers in heaven. Fifth of our seven questions. What next does John see? And the next thing he sees recorded for us in verse five is he has a vision of the temple in heaven with the tabernacle or the ark of the testimony or the ark of the covenant that is opened, as it says in verse five. After that, I looked and behold, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened. Of course, the ark of the covenant held the Ten Commandments and held some residue of the manna that had supplied the Israelites in the wilderness. And now this ark is opened in heaven. And what this tells us is that things are now being revealed. Things are now being opened to God's people. And in verse 6, coming out of this temple, we read, and the seven angels came out of the temple having the seven plagues, clothed in pure and white linen, having their breasts girded with golden girdles. So there are these seven angels, these messengers or servants of God, and they are ordained and adorned with pure and white linen to take up their assigned duties And their assigned duties will be, as we shall see in this chapter and ones to come, to bring righteous and terrible judgments upon the earth. The sixth question. What are the seven angels given? And the answer is they are given golden vials. Look at verse 7. It says, and one of the four beasts, remember there are four heavenly creatures that are always around the throne, gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials, some modern translations say bowls, full of the wrath of God, who liveth forever and ever. And we'll see this played out in chapter 16, that each one of these Angels with these bowls with these seven last plagues will pour them out upon the earth. And what this tells us is that in this final age, as we draw near to the coming of Christ, God will allow there to be temporal judgment and chastisement upon the earth. It's not unjust because we deserve God's wrath and punishment, but he has it toward a good end. not only to temporally judge the wicked, but also, I think, to awaken and enliven some to the faith and to also encourage the saints as they see God's cause being vindicated. Seventh question, what happens in the temple after these seven angels receive these golden vials? It says in verse 8, and the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power. And no man was able to enter into the temple till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled." And so we have this picture of this temple, and there is smoke, a haze, a cloud from the glory of God. And if you're familiar with the Old Testament, you know that many times when God is dwelling in the tabernacle or in the temple that his presence is covered because men are too weak and sinful to look directly upon the Lord. So in the wilderness, for example, and the Israelites are wandering in the wilderness, they are led by a pillar of cloud. There's a cloud that comes over the tabernacle as they go through the wilderness. Or you might remember in Isaiah chapter six, when the prophet Isaiah says that he sees the Lord sitting on his throne high and lifted up. But then he adds there in Isaiah 6 that the prophet's vision was veiled because the Lord's train, the skirts of his robe, filled the temple. And God did that mercifully to shield Isaiah from looking directly at God in all of his glory and being withered. In first Timothy chapter six and verse 16, Paul says that God dwells in light, which no man can approach unto whom no man has seen nor can see. And I think in the end what this tells us is. God is sovereign. He is in heaven. He is ruling. He is reigning. He is commissioning and sending his angels, his messengers. And the end of history is being revealed, unveiled. And yet, God is also keeping some things hidden and not for us to know. As Christ himself said, no man knows the day or the hour of Christ's coming. Earlier within Revelation, John had spoken about what he called the patience and the faith of the saints. And we can see this back in chapter 13 and verse 10 at the end of verse 10 and chapter 13. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints. And that same sentiment is expressed also in chapter 14, verse 12. What are we to do in this age? We are to be patient, we are to be long-suffering, and we are to be faithful, we are to be believing. God's task is to work out His holy and righteous will. Our task is, as the old hymn puts it, to trust and obey. Let all glory then be given to Christ. our King of Saints, world without end. Amen. Let me invite you as you're able. Let's stand together. Let's join in prayer. Gracious and loving God, we give thee thanks that as believers we have nothing to fear. Perfect love casts out fear. And one day we would trust by thy grace that we might stand on that sea of glass with the saints who have gone before us, who have overcome the beast, who did not bow to his image, who refused to have his mark, and who refused to have his twisted number placed over our lives. But we worship the King of saints, and we trust thee in this age and this time as faithful Christians have in every generation past. Even sometimes when the church has to suffer and go through difficulties. Indeed, there are many brothers and many churches that are suffering across the world today in places like China, in Nigeria, in Pakistan, and other places where Christians are regularly attacked and their meeting houses are burned down, their leaders are arrested. But we know that they are not bending the knee. They are not bending the knee to the great dragon, but they are serving Christ. And we give the thanks that we have enjoyed relative safety and security in this nation, but help us to be faithful. There are different kinds of temptations and different types of compromises that we might be tempted to pursue. But help us to demonstrate the patience and the faith of the saints in this age, even as we look to Christ, the King of saints. We ask this in Christ's name and for his sake. Amen.