actual comparison of several Old Testament passages that we'll intend to look at today, Lord willing. And then we also have the question handout that we've been following. This is sort of the road map of our study of the questions in Revelation. And we are coming up to question five out of seven. So actually nearing the end of this particular series on Revelation, as we're also nearing the end of our sermon series on Revelation. And so we are pretty close to actually concluding. And then at some point in the future, we may return to another study of eschatology, the doctrine of Christ versus the Antichrist, Gog and Magog, the final battle. These are topics Pastor Terry and I have been discussing. We may come back to after our study of psalmody and civil magistrate and church government. So for now, please, once you have your handout, please turn with me to Revelation. 15, we'll read this opening glimpse of the victory of the saints in Revelation 15, one through four, one through four. This is prior to the vision of the pouring out of the seven bowls of God's judgments in Revelation 16. And here we have a moment of still and a moment of calm in Revelation 15. and we'll read verses one through four. John says, 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 mingled 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, standing 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. Who shall not fear thee, 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. Amen. And thus far, the reading of God's word. Let's bow our hearts together in prayer. Heavenly Father, we come before you in thanksgiving, Lord, for your mercy endures forever. We thank you, Lord, that in the midst of judgment, you remember mercy. We realize, as we were reminded this morning, that we are in the midst of a world that has an expiration date, Father. We are not in the new heavens and the new earth. Yet we are in a world that must fall under the judgment. We are in a world that is stained as sin, like as we are. We are in a current creation that groans and awaits the restoration and the renovation for the new heavens and the new earth. And we do realize, Father, it is only by your grace that we can taste of the world to come and we can taste of the heavenly gift of eternal life in Christ. And so we thank you that you have made us fitted for the world to come. And we thank you that you are helping us to put off the old nature and everything associated with what your servant Paul called this present evil age. So help us to hold on to that, Lord, and help us to appreciate what we have now, but always to look forward to the future and to realize that this judgment must come and it must come as a purging away of everything old so that we can fully realize everything that you will make new. So please forgive us our sins. Please bless this time and remove distractions. We pray for your glory in Jesus name. Amen. It's remarkable as we heard the sermon this morning and the background from Isaiah 65 and 66. It truly is remarkable that all these scriptures come together and they give us a very unified perspective on what this new heavens and new earth will be like. If you read at the end of Isaiah 66, it talked about the new heavens and the new earth and yet there was a sense in which the saints have to look upon the judgment of the old world and those that are outside of Christ and outside of God's kingdom. Because when we have this calm and this peace in the new heavens and the new earth, one of the reasons we have that calm and that peace is because God has removed all of his and our enemies. He has removed everything that can attack his kingdom, and he does that through judgment. In Revelation 21 this morning, it was the same way. It's perfectly in line with what we'll see here in Revelation 15. God is wiping away every tear. He's comforting his people. But then at the end, there's a reminder of everyone who is outside. Everyone who falls under the judgment will not be part of this perfect and this eternal kingdom. And so there's a real sense in which God is bringing the perfection of his salvation through judgment. One of the ways he is guarding and defending his church, especially in the final moment, is that he is destroying all of his and all of our enemies. And that is precisely what we're looking at here in Revelation 15 verses 1 through 4. What does John see? Seven angels. And what are in their hands? These bowls of wrath holding the seven last plagues that will fill up the wrath of God. Now, for those who are outside of Christ, this is not good news. This is not a gospel to them. This is bad news. This is the wrath of God. But for those who are in Christ and are part of his kingdom, what is bad news for the world is good news for the kingdom of God, because it is, again, the removal of all evil and all of our enemies. And so what John sees in verse two is He uses the language as it were, as it were. And we hear this language often because in Revelation, we are getting figures and we are getting symbols. It's not a physical concrete sea of glass. This is actually Old Testament language or theological language. And so he's telling us the vision was like a sea of glass mingled with fire. You have this apocalyptic imagery. And what does fire typically signify in the scriptures? Typically, it's not a happy thing. It can be a purging thing. It can have a blessed end, like the purifying of our faith through fiery trials. But fire usually brings some sense of suffering, some sense of pain, some sense of judgment. And so it is here. The fire is representative of the judgment of God. And yet there is a victory for the saints on the other end of this fire. And what is the victory over? It is the victory over the beast and over his image and over the mark of the beast and over the number of his name. And so the saints stand and they sing. And you've heard throughout Revelation, they sing this new song, right? Worthy is the lamb. We sing the salvation song. the end time hosannas to our God and to his Christ. And here, how is it described in verse three? What do they sing? They sing the song of what does it say? In verse three, Moses, the song of Moses, extremely interesting, but not just the song of Moses. It is also what? The song of Moses and the song of the lamb. That's the idea. So if you remember last time in Revelation 13, we were looking at Exodus, Exodus, Exodus. They were singing the Exodus song in Revelation 13. But you remember in Revelation 13, it was an ironic Exodus scene. It was a Red Sea reversal. The people of earth who worship Satan and worship the beast were taking the song that should be used to praise Israel's God, and they were singing worship lyrics to Satan in Revelation 13. It was a Red Sea reversal. Well, what Revelation 15 is going to bring, believe it or not, is a Red Sea revision. It's going to be the reversal of the reversal. Because they created a reversal of the Red Sea, God is going to say, you stole my worship, you stole my glory, I'm going to reverse your reversal and put everything back in its right way, everything back in its right place. And this is why they're singing the Song of Moses. What is the Song of Moses? It's the song they sang at the Red Sea. And that's why here in verse three, he is called the song. It is called the song of Moses, the servant of God. Now, if you have your cross references, you might be able to see the exact verse that this links back to in the Old Testament. Or maybe, you know, Exodus 15, of course, is the poetic version of the full song of the song of the sea. But there's a very specific place where Moses is called the servant of God. Does anyone have the cross reference for that? And we can go back. You could look. Any guesses, any thoughts? It's going to be close to Exodus 15. It's going to be on the shore of Exodus 15. Let's turn back to Exodus 14. I just want to affirm that this is precisely where this is coming from. because there's a medley of Old Testament lyrics and allusions here in Revelation 15. But the starting point that John gives us, I want us to be able to put our finger on the text and affirm, this is where John is starting from, is from the Red Sea. So if you're back in Exodus 14, we can look at it here. So this is when God saves the Israelites at the Red Sea. This is the narrative account before the song begins. I'm looking at Exodus 14, 28. And the waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen and all the hosts of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them. There remained not so much as one of them. So the original Exodus, remember, God buries his enemies in the heart of the sea. That's why Revelation 13 was a Red Sea reversal. God's enemies were emerging from the sea. Can you imagine the horror of someone who knows the Old Testament saying, wait a minute, How can they emerge from the sea? This isn't right. God's enemies are supposed to be buried in the sea. How can they come up out of the sea and dare to sing God's worship lyrics to the devil? And so God is saying, just you wait, because Revelation 15 tells us he's going to bury them in the end. He's going to set everything right. This is the way it's supposed to be. Exodus 14, 28. Let's look at the next verse. But the children of Israel walked upon dry land in the midst of the sea and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand and to their left. Notice that wall language. This is going to be close to what John describes as a sea of glass. A wall is firm. So keep that in mind. Also here, God's people go through safely. So there's salvation in the midst of judgment. Again, that's how this works in Revelation. And then verse 30, Thus the Lord saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the seashore. If there was one thing that the Exodus made clear, it is that God made a distinction between those who were his people and those who were not. The same day, that was a day of hopeless damnation for the enemies of God was the same day that was a day of glorious salvation for his people. And so in verse 31, this inspires the worship song at the Red Sea. And this is why in Revelation 15, the same idea inspires a worship song beside the sea of glass, the firm sea. Verse 31, and Israel saw that great work, which the Lord did upon the Egyptians. And the people feared the Lord and believed the Lord. And what does it say? They trusted in the Lord and who? Exodus 14, 31. His servant, Moses. Notice the key word there, servant. This is exactly what John picks up on in Revelation 15. They sing the song of Moses, the bondservant of the Lord. Now, how could they trust in the Lord and trust in Moses? Lowercase T, right? Trusting in Moses. Capital T, trust in God. Lowercase T, trust in Moses. Well, it is appropriate to say they trust in Moses because he was the covenant mediator. He was God's mediator toward the entire kingdom in that old covenant era. And so now who is God's covenant mediator between God and man? It is Christ. It is the Lamb. And so it is the song now, not just of Moses, the old covenant mediator, but it is the song of the new covenant mediator. And that's why they sing the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb. A few other things we need to pick up in the lyrics of the song itself. And let's take a look here in Exodus 15 and look at verse 8 with me, please. Look at verse 8. Someone who could read verse 8, please. Nice and loud. And the temple was filled with smoke. Oh, I'm sorry. Exodus 15, 8. Oh, I'm sorry. Did I say Revelation? You may not have. My apologies. Let's see. Exodus 15, 8. And with a blast by nostrils, the waters were gathered together. Blood stood upright as an heap. and the depths were congealed in the heart of the sea. Yes, thank you. And so this is the destruction. This is the preparation for the destruction of God's enemies. How does it describe the waters? One, they gather together. Two, they pile up or they stand upright like a heap. And then three, they are congealed in the heart of the sea. What does it mean for the waters to congeal? Well, that's a little bit quaint language there, they congealed. What does it mean when liquid congeals? Let's put this in simple terms, it hardens. There's a hardening of the sea here in Exodus 15, and if you go back to the original Greek or the original Hebrew, it talks about the sea hardening. Our English translators use the term congealed, but that's the idea here is that the sea hardens up. to create a firm wall which protects the Israelites, but it's going to destroy the Egyptians. Flash forward to Revelation 15, this is the reason why the apocalyptic Red Sea is described as a sea of glass. What does that mean, sea of glass? like glass, right? Because he says, as it were like a sea of glass. That means a perfectly hardened red sea. That's the idea here. And I will share with you in my own studies of Revelation. This was a great mystery to me until I saw the connection between Revelation 13 And the false Red Sea, in Revelation 15, this is God's perfect vision of a perfected Red Sea. That's the idea. The congealed sea from the Exodus is represented here by a sea of glass. This was very well known to John, please believe. We could go into great depth to study how Jewish interpreters and Jewish commentators talked about the Red Sea like it was a sea of glass. They said it looked like glass, it hardened like glass. And what was there in the Red Sea during the judgment in Exodus 14? God appeared. And he separated the Israelites from the Egyptians. And when God appeared in the waters, or actually on the bottom of the sea, between the hardened waters, when God appeared there, how did he appear? He appeared in the pillar of fire in the hardened sea. That's why John here sees a hardened sea, a sea like glass, mingled with what? In 15.2, mingled with fire. This is the apocalyptic vision of the Red Sea. So God is burying his enemies that tried to emerge from the sea. He is burying that beast that dared to receive worship from humanity. And this is the response. This is the ironic critique that exposes the irony of the fact that the world thought their beastly government antichrist system was invincible. Remember in Revelation 13, they say, who is like the beast and who is able to wage war with him? And so what they thought was that no one could possibly be powerful enough to vanquish the beast because they thought the beast was invincible. Well, now that same beast that emerged from the sea, like a God-like thing, is ironically being buried in the sea, and now the sea is hardened like glass, and it has sealed his fate, and there's perfect judgment, perfect destruction of all God's enemies, which means God ultimately and finally saves his people. It's a glimpse of Revelation 21, what we just heard this morning. It's a glimpse that everyone that needs to be on the outside will be on the outside. And God's people will have perfect safety and perfect peace because God has sealed away all their enemies. That symbolizes being buried now in the sea of glass. That's what's happening here. And so, of course, they sing this song and we'll get into the content of the song in just a moment. But up to this point, any thoughts? What are the thoughts about this when we think about this Red Sea reversal? Yes. Well, there's the mystery of what the seed, ironically, represents symbolically. To me, is it an instrumentality that God uses to judge and separate, or is it a thing? As in, there's no forcing, sort of a transitory vehicle God uses, or does it represent something spiritually as far as Certainly this is the reason why pastor has touched on this several times during the sermons in the ancient world the sea would have been Similar to talking about the underworld because that's basically there's the pit in the earth Sometimes that's described as the pit or the underworld or the abyss in the sea would be the aquatic version of the underworld Both are places where the dead are buried. They're either buried in the earth or they're buried at sea and So these are symbols of hell and symbols of the underworld. They are places of darkness in the ancient world. So you have your finger on it. There's certainly a reversal and a restoration here, because what happened in Revelation 13? The sea was open. The sea was churning. The sea was pumping out evil right in Revelation 13. The beast was emerging from the open sea. Now what God is saying is exactly that as in Revelation 21, 22, it'll be a place where there's no more evil. There's no more sea in the sense of no more presence of evil. That's really the heart of what that means. And so when God seals the sea like glass, that means nothing can ever come out again. That's the idea. That's why this is really a flash forward toward Revelation 21. When we look at this passage here, it's a great observation. Any other thoughts? This part here. Otherwise, you know what we have to do now We have to look for our Old Testament background from the song here because this is our fifth question in Revelation 15 for they sing who will not fear you Oh Lord and glorify your name and you know, all these questions come packaged with an expectation This is a very hopeful expectation. They say if God's judgments are manifest. I Who wouldn't fear you, God? Wouldn't that make sense? If God reveals his righteousness, if he shows the world his judgment is coming, then everyone in their right mind should fear God and glorify his name. The expectation is everyone should do this. But there's actually a deeply sad irony here, that in all the world, by nature, no one is in their right mind. Everyone should fear God and glorify his name. But the next chapter will show us the ironic reversal here is instead of fearing God and glorifying his name, humanity is going to fearlessly proceed to blaspheme his name instead of fearing him and glorifying his name. It's the reversal of everything we would hope for when it comes to the fallen world. They say this here, who wouldn't fear and glorify your name because you're the only one that's holy. Who else should they glorify? He's the only one that's holy. But then they say this, because all nations will come and worship before you for your judgments are made manifest. So the expectation is all the world should come and glorify God's name. But we'll see a reversal of that in just a moment. Look forward in Revelation 16. Let's see how this happens. Remember, they said in 15.3, just and true are your ways, O king of saints. They're going to repeat this language in Revelation 16. Look at this forward in Revelation 16, verse 7. In fact, if someone could read Revelation 16, verses 7 through 9, please. And I heard another out of the altar say, even so, the Lord God Almighty, true and righteous, are thy judgments. And the fourth angel poured out his love upon the sun, and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire. And men were scorched with great heat, and lastly, the name of God, which hath power over these plagues, and they were pending not to give him rest. Yes. So notice in verse 7, the exact same words from Revelation 15, 3, true and righteous there in verse 7 are the same Greek words that are used when he says just and true are your ways. So there's a connection here. It's talking about the just and true judgments of God. And they expected if your judgments are manifest, who would not worship fear you and glorify your name. That's the idea. Well, what does humanity actually do when the judgments come down in the final bowls of wrath in verse nine? They don't fear God and glorify his name. They blaspheme God's name in verse nine. This is the sad irony, is that if we were in our right minds, we should fear God and glorify his name. But they continue to the bitter end. Those that are not gods, they continue to blaspheme his name even as his righteous judgments are being revealed. And John is pressing his finger on this in verse nine. He is saying, they did not repent to give him glory. That's what he was talking about in the song, right? Who would not fear and glorify your name? And now he clarifies, no, no, no. Those that are not gods are not going to repent or give him glory even to their last breath. This is the sad irony here. And so what we learn from this is it is true that all nations are going to come and worship God. But to be explicit, it's not going to be that great restoration of every single individual in every nation, in every part of the world, with none who are unsaved to where Christ returns to find a saved world when he comes back. That's not the picture that John gives us. The reality is all nations will come. But John is clarifying it will be a remnant from every single nation. It's always been a remnant. It currently is a remnant. And he's showing us at the end. it will still be a remnant because for those who are not part of God's invisible kingdom, they will continue to blaspheme him until the bitter end and they will not repent to give him glory. And so this is where we have to dig in deeper to the Old Testament background. Back in the question in Revelation 15, four, the reason we can sing this song on earth below with the saints above is because God has set us apart from our beast worshiping ways. Otherwise, if not for the grace of God, there go I, you, and every single one of us, because this is human nature. Once again, if you want a picture of total depravity in the book of Revelation, this is where we all go, if not for the grace of God. Everyone would be blaspheming Him and not repenting to give Him glory until their last breath. And so John gives us a very clear picture of what this judgment will be like and what happens to those who worship the beast in Revelation 15, four. You remember what we said last time? We said those who worship the beast escaped the wrath of the beast, but they could not escape the wrath of God. That's what we see here in Revelation 15, the wrath of God finally comes. Now, on the other hand, those of us who might experience some wrath from the beast for following Christ and saying, no, Caesar is not Lord, Christ is Lord. We might experience the wrath of the beast, but what God shows us is he spares us from the wrath of God. No man can serve two masters. And so John is reminding us, choose you this day whom you will serve because we're going to experience the wrath of one or the other if God doesn't preserve us. And so we have here in verse four, who will not fear you, O Lord, and glorify your name. Where does this come from in the Old Testament? Anyone have any any inklings? This is a pretty tough find. Jeremiah 10, seven. Good man. How did you know that? You have the elite study Bible marginal notes. You got the pastoral edition. Very, very nice. Turn back with me to Jeremiah 10. I love it. Instant Bible scholar. If you use those cross references, you'll be an instant Bible scholar. Turn back to Jeremiah 10. This is where this comes from. This is where this comes from. So the question is, who would not fear you? And so it's all so similar to what we see in Revelation 15. Now, the problem in Jeremiah 10, Just for time's sake, I'll share with you. This is an attack on idolatry. Jeremiah wants to destroy idolatry from the hearts of the Israelites. He wants them to put no hope in any idols. He wants them to put all their hope in the true and the living God. And so he says in ten three. The customs of the people are vain. He's talking about idolatry. One cuts down a tree from the forest. It's the work of the hands of the workman with an ax. They deck it out with silver and with gold. They fasten it with nails and hammers so that it moves not. He's saying you built a strong God, didn't you? Look at this amazing God you built with your own hands. It's not even going to stumble or totter. They're upright as the palm tree in verse five. But what's the problem? They can't speak. They have to be carried because they can't walk. Don't be afraid of them. They can't do evil. Neither is there any power in them to do good. Verse six. Why not? For as much as there is none like thee, O Lord, thou art great. Thy name is great in might. So the question in Jeremiah is, if all these idols are worthless, have to be carried around, you need a ventriloquist behind them to make them speak. He says, we serve a true and a living God. He doesn't just have life, he gives life. He can't just speak, he is the word, right? Everlastingly, he gives speech to us. So in verse seven, who would not fear thee, O king of nations, for to thee doth it appertain? For as much as among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their kingdoms, there is none like unto thee. but they are altogether brutish and foolish. The stock is a doctrine of vanities." And then he'll go on about the foolishness of idolatry, the silver and the gold, the worthlessness of these idols that humanity has crafted. Now, this is where I'm very happy that we found Jeremiah 10 here because that is the central Old Testament background. This is where John got the question that they're singing in Revelation 13. But if you grab your other handout, you'll take a look and you'll find that all this language in Jeremiah 10, this is amazing, is actually language from all these other Old Testament passages against idolatry pulled together in one. And so you have this really amazing excavation of Old Testament theology against the idols. We start in Revelation 15, look at the left side of the chart. Oh Lord God, the almighty, righteous and true are your ways. What is John calling the king of the nations? Who would not fear Lord and glorify your name for you alone are holy. If you look at the next layer, this is where it comes from in Jeremiah 10. You see right alongside where you have the underlining oh Lord in Revelation 15. What does Jeremiah say? Oh Lord. And then they glorify his name. What does Jeremiah say? You are great and great is your name. John is picking up on all this. King of the nations, who would not fear? That's what they sing in Revelation. What did Jeremiah say? Who would not fear you? King of the nations. What did John say? For you alone are holy. What did Jeremiah say? There is none like you. That's the idea. All this comes from Jeremiah. But what we notice, if we can dig deeper into the Old Testament, is that Jeremiah 10 is one layer of the excavation here. And there's another layer in Psalm 115. And there's another layer in Psalm 135. And there's an even deeper layer, because where does all this come from? Earlier than Jeremiah, earlier than the Psalms, Where do most of these things start from? They start in the Torah. Started in Deuteronomy chapter four, where God first said, these idols are worthless. They have eyes they can't see. They have ears they can't hear. This is where this all begins is in Torah. Now that's a little bit too deep for our study and our time sake today, but you can notice, just take a moment. If you study the top of the chart here, top of the each column, Jeremiah 10, compared to Psalm 115, compared to Psalm 135, what do you notice there? Let's just make some free observations. If you look at the top of the chart, what are the connections between the Psalms and Jeremiah? They're made by men, they cannot speak, they cannot do anything. Yes, amen. So it's all there. Everything we see in Jeremiah is there in Psalm 115. It's there in Psalm 135. And so they are creations of human beings, right? How could these be gods if they're made by something that was in God's image? We're too far removed, right? And although we give them mouths, they can't speak. And of course, they claim to have feet, but they cannot walk. But the worst of all, down at the bottom, what do you notice at the bottom of the chart when we compare Jeremiah with the Psalms? All three texts have this again. This is how you know all these texts are in lockstep in their attack on idolatry. What's the problem with these idols? They cannot speak, right? There's no revelation. There's no true prophecy from these idols. And how is that expressed at the bottom there? No breath in these idols. There is no breath. You heard this morning that the first Adam became a living soul. Why did that happen? God put breath in the first Adam. What is the Hebrew term for breath? Ruach, the spirit. He put spirit in Adam. He put breath in Adam. These claim to be living gods, but there is no breath. There's no spirit inside them. And of course, the judgment is down at the bottom. What all of these passages warn against, ultimately, is that you see this at the bottom of the Psalm 115 column. Those who make them will be like them. Everyone who trusts in them. That's Psalm 115. What about Psalm 135? Those who make them will be like them. Yes, all who trust in them. Why would God repeat this for us? Because he's warning us. We're all going to worship something, right? Humanity is either going to escape the wrath of the beast or they're going to escape the wrath of God. They're either going to worship the beast or they're going to worship the true and the living God. And what God is showing us here is we will become like what we worship. And so they claim. to worship these living gods, but there's only one true in the living God. And so if people worship idols, they become like what they worship. Now, what's the problem? There's no ruach. There's no spirit or breath or life in these idols. So what all these passages from the Old Testament are effectively saying is, since you worship lifeless idols, they're gonna take your life away. If people are worshiping these gods that have no spirit, no breath in them, they'll take your breath away and not in the good sense. They'll take your spirit away. They will become like what they worship. On the other hand. When Paul picks up on this passage in 1 Thessalonians 1, he says that people turned from dead idols to serve the true and the living God. And that's the same thing Jeremiah is teaching us. When we worship the living God, he gives us eternal life. We become like what we worship. And so there is eternal life in the living God, but there is only death and there's only emptiness in these empty idols. That's really, really what's happening here in the Psalms. Other thoughts on that? This is the struggle. Yes. Is this fearful, this lack of fear of God, somehow consummated? And there's a lot of knowledge of the fear of God, but unbelieving is still an undercut of Revelation 21 and the lake of fire. In other words, is this like the Venus leading up to the lake of fire? And then of the consummation, the ultimate consummation of Revelation 21, we're fearful of unbelieving. Yes, this is a question of the timeline in Revelation. And it's always very important to be careful here. As you all know now, there are a lot of flash forwards and flashbacks in Revelation. Revelation 15 is showing you a picture of the final judgment. So it is it is where judgment is finalized. So you could say this is after every knee has bowed, after every tongue has confessed. And now it's time for the saints to sing in worship. In fact, Once God's enemies are finally silenced and they're put down in the sea of glass, you could say the closest parallel to Revelation 15 will be Revelation 20 in the lake of fire. So the fiery judgment in the lake of fire actually correlates to the Red Sea imagery here with the fiery sea of glass. So it is final judgment here in Revelation 15, definitely. Definitely, I think it's very interesting Everything that man worships is an idol unless it be God Now the interesting thing about idols that do not speak they're made by man out of silver and gold or oil or stone And that's really just self-worship because we as man want to create something and worship it so we can put our own words in the idols mouth so we can put our own Lordship It's really a way by which we can do whatever we want, because when we create the idol, we can create something, we can do whatever we please, you know. And it's really interesting that these passages, they parallel here. Instead of us giving the idol life, you know, worshipping the idol is going to give us death, you know, because you're going to be like those idols that you don't see. That's exactly right. That's exactly right. In fact, one one has put it this way. The idols that they thought would be the source of life and blessing are ironically the source of death and damnation. So these are their pseudo saviors, their pseudo gods. Right. And they don't lead to salvation. They lead to damnation. I need to check with pastors. I think my I'm not sure if the clock up here is is right. How much time do we have? Where are we over time? Oh, fifteen. Okay, great. Yeah, I just I just lost track of the uh the ending time there. Um good. So, other questions or thoughts up until this point. This is a little it's related to a bit far field. Um you talk to some Christians that are very afraid of objects. Like, you know, this This statue was in this fake temple, or this is tied to this religion, or this painting is this. And they are almost afraid that there is supernatural power in the object. And if I take this object that was in this unholy or bad place, I'm going to be bringing it, almost like a territorial demon, into my home. How would you see any connections between Jeremiah, Psalm 115, and Revelation? Yes, yes. This could be a relatively complex question in some regards. And what I would say is, Jeremiah and all the prophets are very concerned to say idols are empty and lifeless, and there's no power in them in and of themselves. Paul is very clear, of course, they says the things that the Gentiles sacrifice to idols, they are sacrificing to demons and not to God. So The less complex answer would be in the Old Testament era. I think it's clear that they understood that the physical token of the idol itself, the thing they built, there was nothing in it. And so in that sense, it is powerless and it is useless. God is very clear, though, that there are very real demonic entities in the world. So I would be very careful about any kind of territorial spiritual geography, theology. Those often go off in very strange and sometimes dangerous directions. I would certainly try to avoid that. But I think it's clear that God associates demons with certain people groups in the Old Testament. And when they worship certain gods, there are demons behind them, and there were demonic influences. So the token itself is certainly nothing. God is very clear that demons are real entities, and so I think we have to take that seriously. But I guess the point is there was a separation between the token and whatever could be related to that idea or that theology. Yeah, I don't think it's the object that has the power, but it's the setting. Yeah. Overnight believer can't have certain powers. So the believer ultimately can't say, It is a comfort person. You see, you have association with it. It has the power, the power of reception that he's laid for you, you know, for the end of the way. It's pretty amazing. I think that's very helpful because with God, it's always a heart matter. It's always about what we believe. It's always about our spiritual disposition. And I think Paul is concerned for the same thing when he says that if they have a spiritual connection with demons, that's the real problem. The physical token is really not what's important. It's about their worship in their heart. So to tease that out just a bit further, you could think there's a reason why Calvin constantly preached and taught against superstition. If you go back and read Calvin, Calvin is constantly targeting superstition. Believers should not be superstitious as though some physical token could bless you or curse you or something like that. That's superstition. But the spiritual layer of what we worship, that's what's really important. Well, kind of. I don't get it, too. It goes back to when Paul talks about the meat offered on the idols, and for him, there's no power in that but watch out for the weaker brethren. I would say that the only power that ain't token or anything like that is what I have, is what's given to it by the individual, essentially. And, but, if you, let's say you had it in your home, and you had somebody over from church or something like that or even somebody who wasn't related to church that suddenly may have power to them that to you is just a piece of jewelry or whatever and you let it don't really matter but as soon as an individual does have power to them, then I would say you would be wanting to watch out for the weaker brethren and that kind of stuff and available or where people would see it or whatever if there was a chance that somebody would value that or think of it. Right. Only has power in so much as we give it power through our own unbelief or mind. Yeah. So, we need to strengthen the brethren so we don't have a problem. Well, at the end of the day, I don't think my final application here is let's find all the tokens we can find that won't cause anyone to stumble. I think ultimately the cautionary note from Alan is very helpful here because, you know, there are a lot of places in this world where believers who have their hearts fixed on God can operate in their freedom and in their liberty. And if we were in the marketplace saying, I don't know if this was sacrifice to whatever, but I don't even have to ask. Says Paul because my heart is fixed on God. I know he created these animals. I haven't worshipped any idols My spirit is locked in with the Lord my Savior and I'll bless him and thank him for this food And I don't have to dig any deeper than that But it is very important when there are other people if there's an issue that could inspire them toward idolatry That's where we have to be extra extra careful, of course I think so. Well, that's very helpful. There's one other one other thing that we should note here. I'm going to argue from this passage, and this will be our final little section. I'm going to argue that the victory over the beast in verse two, speaking of idolatry and over his image and over his mark and over the number of his name. I'm going to argue that this includes all of the beast's disciples. Not just the beast himself, but I'm going to argue that when he refers to the mark and the number, this necessarily is connected to everyone who worships the beast. Because where does the mark go? The mark goes on the beast's disciples. It goes on their hand or it goes on their forehead. The mark is conquered here. I think that means everyone who is connected to this mark is conquered in the sea of glass as well. So I have three sub points here. If we study through these scriptures together, the first is that we can see that the mark is connected with the beast disciples. The second with the destruction of his disciples. And thirdly, with the damnation of his disciples. What do I mean by these distinctions? Well, let's start by sharing this. Every other place in Revelation, where it refers to the image icon of the beast, the Greek term Akon, 100% of the other references in Revelation are connected with the beast's disciples. They're always connected with the image, and they're always connected with worshiping the beast. The same thing with the mark, and the mark is particularly connected, not just with the disciples, but with their destruction. We can see this back in Revelation 13, verse 14. Turn back with me briefly to 13, 14. And what happens when the first and second beast emerge? They deceive them that dwell on the earth. That is not God's people. It's the earth dwellers, not the heavenly citizens. By means of those miracles, which he had power to do in the sight of the beast, saying to them that dwell on the earth that they should make an image. There it is. The image is connected with the beast's people. They should make an image to the beast, which was wounded by the sword and did live. And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast. This is that false breath, that false spirit of idolatry here. That the image of the beast should both speak and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. Notice again, the image is always connected with people because the image is what leads them to idolatry. Flash forward to Revelation 14. Verse nine, and the third angel followed them saying with a loud voice, if any man worship the beast and his image and receive his mark in his forehead or in his hand, where does the mark of the beast exist? It exists on people. It's not just floating in the atmosphere. It exists on people. And once again, this is a spiritual mark. It actually exists in their souls. and verse 11, and the smoke of their torment ascendeth up forever and ever, and they have no rest day or night who worship the beast and his image. Who are these people who worship his image? It's those who receive the mark of his name. These are the three terms John uses in the sea of glass. The image, the mark, and the name. It's always connected with his people. When we go further in Revelation 16, it's not just connected with their people, just as here in 14, it's connected with their destruction. Look at Revelation 16. Could someone read verse two for us? Revelation 16, verse two. Yes. So there's destruction connected with the image, connected with the mark. And specifically, what does God bring judgment on? He doesn't bring judgment just on a mark or an icon. He brings judgment on everyone that was connected with the beast through the mark and through the icon, everyone who worshiped the beast. So in short, they become like what they worship. Since the beast has to be destroyed, the disciples of the beast have to be destroyed. Flash forward to Revelation 19, our second to last verse here. Revelation 19, verse 20. If someone could read Revelation 19, 20 for us. Yes, amen. So this is what I said in Revelation 15 the sea of glass mingled with fire and Is a preview of the vision of the lake of fire, sea, lake, fire, fire. This is apocalyptic imagery. This is the final judgment in both visions. And where does it happen here? The beast is thrown in. And of course, he deceives everyone that receives this mark and those that worship his image. So since the beast goes in the lake of fire in Revelation 19, here's our last verses in Revelation 20. You see this in verse 4. John says, And I saw thrones, and they that sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them. And I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus and for the word of God. And why are these people able to rule in God's kingdom? Because they had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, Neither had received his mark on their foreheads or in their hands. And so they live and reign with Christ for a thousand years. These are the ones that are separated. And we are by the grace of God preserved. But up in verse 15, here's the difference. This is where everything that I said and believe about Revelation 15 is made explicit in Revelation 20. Because the beast goes in the lake of fire. Everyone who wasn't written in the Lamb's Book of Life, who received the Mark of the Beast, has to go into the Lake of Fire. And so in Revelation 20, verse 14, death and hell were thrown into the Lake of Fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the Lake of Fire. That means everyone who was outside of the Lamb's Book of Life, well, How did God describe that book of life in Revelation 13, verse eight? It's like this, hear this from 13, eight. All that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, that is the beast, whose names are not written in the book of life of the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. And so this is where we see very clearly, those who worship the beast have to join him in his judgment. So at the end of the day, The beast disciples seem to be blessed in this life because they escaped the wrath of the beast. But ironically, they will be cursed for everlasting ages. But the Lamb's disciples, we who are followers of Christ, seem to be cursed now in the eyes of the world. Paul said, of all men, we would be the most hopeless, right? If all we had was this life, we seem to be cursed. We seem to be defeated, just like the lamb seemed to be defeated to the world by death. But ironically, he brought life and victory. So although we seem to be cursed now, we will be blessed with Christ for eternity. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you, Lord, and we love you. And we thank you for these sobering revelations, Lord. As we think about the bright line that you draw between idolatry and true worship, Lord, between all the idols and all the counterfeit gods of this world and the worship of your son, who is the great and only savior, Lord, he is the king of kings and lord of lords. So help us to fix our hearts on him. Help us to give our allegiance only to him. and help keep us pure, Father, we pray, from the images of idolatry that fill this world, and help us then to take on the image of Christ, since there are clearly those who take on the image of the beast. Help us, Father, to take on more and more and reflect the image of your glorious Son in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness, as you are recreating us father and you have made us new creations in the image of christ so please forgive us our sins and please bless all the rest of our worship this day we pray for your glory in jesus name amen well thank you for the thoughtful discussion we have three i believe we have three more Plus the antichrist thing. Yeah.