Revelation 15 The Context of Worship

Worship as the Right Response to God’s Revelation

You're listening to the podcast of the Recast Church in Matawan, Michigan. This week, Pastor Don Filsex preaches through his series, Thy Kingdom Come, taking us through the book of Revelation. Let's listen in.

We're gonna be talking here in the book of Revelation. We're gonna be in Revelation chapter 15 this morning. And you can turn over there while I'm talking, while I'm introducing the text. And one of the main reasons that I introduce the text is part and parcel to the nature of what we're studying this morning, what the text tells us is ultimately to know God first is vital to worshiping him.

And I say that to you regularly. That's one of the reasons that we look into God's word at the start of our service. It's one of the reasons that we begin talking about it and then go to singing songs.

It's with intention, it's with purpose. It's that we would actually catch a glimpse of God from his word that then our praise and our worship together would be fueled by a more accurate view.

Of who he is.

And that's part of the reason. So in Revelation 15 we're gonna see some worship going on here. But remember that so far in the setup for this text is really, or our text is a setup for the final cycle of judgments that John was granted in his visions.

So far we've seen the breaking of the seven seals that resulted in judgment. We heard the sounding of the seven trumpets. We heard reference to the seven thunders that were sealed up that no one really knows what they are.

And next week we're gonna get a glimpse of the seven bowls of God's final wrath poured out on earth. By the way, those cycles are the core of the book of Revelation, in case you haven't noticed that. It's those cycles of judgment that are poured out on the earth that are a main part of the makeup of the body of this letter that John writes to the churches.

And I've said it before, but I don't believe that these are 21 judgments on the earth that occur sequentially, but they are all snapshots of a final judgment period that's gonna occur on the face of this planet called the Great Tribulation.

Seven years, we see that through the book of Daniel. We see it mentioned in Isaiah, and we see it here in the book of Revelation. And I'm saying all of this to set the stage for the central theme of what is really the shortest chapter in the book of Revelation that we're looking at this morning.

And some of you just got your hopes up by me saying it's the shortest text in the book of Revelation. We'll see how we do. But in the context of final judgment, here at the apex of the wrath of the Almighty, here as kind of a pause just before we get to the final bowls of God's wrath.

In other words, when the crescendo of the birth pangs of the new kingdom are at their strongest, those of you who have gone through birth or gone through birth classes or been with your wife during birth, you know that there's this period in that time called transition.

It's when she breaks your hand with hers, right? It's the time when she is in the most pain and everything is moving towards this birth happening soon now and the pushing is about to begin. And when transition has set in for this earth and the evil kingdoms of the world are poised to fall, and the Almighty gives the earth his final strong shake to try to wake up the peoples of this world and those who oppose him, it's in that context that we see chapter 15.

John is given a vision of the people of God and what are they doing?

Worshiping him.

They're singing to the Almighty at the very doorstep of his wrath and judgment poured out on the face of the planet.

They're praising him.

They're declaring him good. They are talking about his excellencies, his holiness, his power, his might.

They are adoring him.

They're ascribing great worth to his name. They're speaking of his amazing, great, just, true, holy, and righteous deeds. They ultimately here in our text are singing a song reminding themselves, reminding heaven, reminding all of the earth, and reminding us here in Matawan, Michigan, where we sit today, that the one who sits on that throne, the one who stands in judgment over all the nations, the one who will ascribe eternal condemnation to his enemies is the same one who has dealt with humanity through his justice, his truth, his holiness,.

And his righteousness.

It's important that we understand when we get to the end of the book that God doesn't just show up in the end. Some of the deists, some of the people who've even founded our country believed in deism.

Deism is just the belief that God started it up and wound it up like a clock, like a timer, like an egg timer, and then just walked away, and he'll show up in the end to make it right. But he's just walked away from this world.

Is that what we see in Scripture? Not at all. That is a false testimony of what Scripture declares to be true, that he has been involved. He is not a detached judge, but he is an invested party in the business of the world.

Calling prophets, calling preachers, calling you and me to be salt and light to a dark and dying world. Sending people like the Lloyds to Indonesia, sending people around the globe to bring the light, sacrificing himself for the cause, bleeding for us, and ultimately by his spirit, leading his people.

Not detached, but vitally connected all the way through. It says something about his final judgment, that he's been engaged with it all the way through. So the context of worship for all of us is always and only ever within the confines of a broken and fallen world.

Have you ever worshiped God away from fallenness, away from sin, away from brokenness? You haven't. I mean, the fact of the matter is, as much as the Holy Spirit came with you and I, sin came with you and I as well.

Did you know that this morning? We are a dichotomy, we are a paradox of sorts, both capable of great love and great actions and great sacrifice, and simultaneously, capable of arguing and fussing and fighting with our family in the car on the way here.

I'm not calling, I wasn't with you, I don't have a camera in there, but I know that that's the case for some of you this morning, I just know it. I remember rides on the way to church with my family where it was just the shout to the backseat, you know, you kids, I wanna come back here,.

Don't make me pull this car over,.

And then we got to church, and everybody's just fine, everything's good, anybody know what, I mean, does anybody know what I'm talking about? Okay, a couple of you can relate to that. But we never sing any songs, we never do any good acts, we never love one another, far from the reality of a broken and fallen world.

We gather together this morning in the context of a fallen and jacked up world, and we're gonna sing praises. We're gonna sing praises to our great God. Why are we about to sing songs? I mean, it's part of the service, right?

That's what you do at church, you just have some, you have some talking time, you have some praying, and then you have some songs, right? That's what you're supposed to do. Why are we about to sing? Really think about that question in your heart.

I'm not just asking it rhetorically, think about it. Are we about to sing as ignorant people? I think the world thinks, when they hear us sing, that we're singing as either ignorant people, or dumb, or something, like, are we pretending.

There's nothing wrong with the world?

Is that how we're gonna sing songs this morning? Pretending that everything's just all fine? Will we sing as people who think we have pretty good voices to offer, we've got some skills? Boy, it was really, really good for me to sing in the presence of others so that I can kind of bring the standard up a little bit.

That's not me, I'm not talking this, certainly not me. Or will we even think about this, will we even sing as the people who are so driven by our circumstances that, man, we're not gonna sing so well this morning because it's a little bit hot and it's kind of humid in here, or the week wasn't so great and it was a bit tough, and so, man, there's not gonna be quite the swing in my step, there's not gonna be the vibrancy in my voice this morning because I worship God out of, you know, what I perceive to be, either he was good to me this week or he wasn't so good to me this week, and so the songs and the singing is gonna kind of go according to the way that I feel.

Or will we sing because we've encountered the one who is holy, because we've encountered the almighty one, we've come to know him and he's revealed himself to us in a way that moves us in our spirit and in our heart to exalt and say,.

You're worth it all, is that the place of worship for us this morning?

Will we sing because we've caught a glimpse of his great worth? Will we sing because we acknowledge.

That although this world is busted,.

He is the only one who can and one day will make it all right, he'll fix it all. Will we sing because we know him as our redeemer and acknowledge that he has done great and marvelous things for you and me?

Sure, you might have had a rough week, how does that compare to the eternal glory that he promises to his children? I don't wanna minimize your suffering, I don't wanna minimize your pain, I know some of you are going through some pretty dark times, some pretty tough things going on in your lives.

And at the same time, death doesn't compare. Death itself doesn't compare to the weight of glory that he holds out for those who are his eternal life with him, so let's look at our Bibles, Revelation 15, we're gonna read this together, we're gonna see the saints praising our great God, we're worshiping him.

Revelation 15, if you don't have a Bible on your lap or a means to navigate there in a device, then please just raise your hand so that Mike can bring you a Bible. He is standing back there holding a stack and he just wants to give those away to people and so help him out by raising your hand if you don't have a Bible.

And again, it's Revelation 15, recast, as we look at this, as you keep it open and as we're gonna talk through it later, remember this is God's word to us, this is what he desires for us to be here and I don't believe there's any accidents that you showed up this morning, he desires everybody in this room to hear this text read and he wants to impress something by his spirit on us through this word.

So Revelation 15 says this, then I, that's John speaking, the writer, then I saw another sign in heaven, great and amazing, seven angels with seven plagues, which are the last, for with them the wrath of God is finished.

And I saw what appeared to be a sea of glass mingled with fire and also those who had conquered the beast and its image and the number of its name standing beside the sea of glass with harps of God in their hands and they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God and the song of the Lamb saying, great and amazing are your deeds, O Lord God, the Almighty, just and true are your ways, O King of the nations.

Who will not fear you, O Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy, all nations will come and worship you, for your righteous acts have been revealed. After this I looked and the sanctuary of the Ten of Witness in heaven was opened and out of the sanctuary came the seven angels with the seven plagues clothed in pure bright linen with gold and sashes around their chests and one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God who lives forever and ever.

And the sanctuary was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power and no one could enter the sanctuary until the seven plagues of the seven angels were finished. Let's pray as the band comes to lead us in worship like that.

Father, you are holy and by that word I just mean different than us. I mean so utterly, unreasonably different than us. Your ways are not our ways. Your thoughts are not our thoughts. It's not even worth a comparison.

Your majesty, your power, your goodness, your justice. Father, we recognize injustices all around us because we're broken, we're fallen, we're jacked up people. Father, it's our hunger is, as a race of humanity, all of us together, there's a hunger in us for justice that will not be quenched by our legal systems, that will not be quenched by our governments, but will only be quenched once the rightful king is installed on his throne.

So Father, we look forward to that day and may our worship and praise come from a recognition that there is a solution. There is an answer to the problems that we face day in and day out. There is a solution and a problem to the death that stalks us every day, that limits our potential, that limits our, well really our lives, are the things that we can strive for and we recognize that it's a specter that is always over us.

We live in the place of the shadow of death, but even death has been conquered by you. And so may we lift up our voices this morning in rejoicing, you have done great things. You are great and you have acted greatly toward your people.

So Father, may we mingle our voices with those in heaven who even this morning are singing your praises around your throne. People who have gone before us, people who we know, relatives, family, friends, people that we have loved who are even now singing around your throne.

May our voices join them in gratefulness, gratitude, and recognition of all that you have done for us in Jesus' name, amen. Big thanks today for leading us and I encourage you to get comfortable, keep your Bibles open to Revelation chapter 15 as we're gonna dig through and if you need any more water or juice or donuts, while they're available, feel free to get up at any time during the message.

It's not in my notes, but I just can't believe that I didn't say this up front. It's something that Dave just prayed, made me think about it, and it's just simply that our mission statement as a church, one of the set in writing reason that we exist is to worship him and to find more worshipers for his name.

Now worship is so much more than singing, obviously, and that worship him with our lives, worship him as he has revealed himself in the word of God through belief and trust in his son and the way that we live our lives and all of that, but then to find more worshipers for his name, find more out there who would grab ahold of this reality that God is worth our lives.

So that's why recast started in the first place. So it just kind of set the stage for that. Now I feel like I need to keep reminding us every week as we dig into the book of Revelation that it is not chronological.

Now it's abundantly clear if you're studying it. Now you approach any text with some kind of notion that it's chronological, don't you? I mean, we have a little bit of a sense that when you're reading it, you expect that what comes next comes after historically.

And so we don't have a lot of writing styles in our culture that are not chronological. If Americans are anything, they seek to be precise, and the English language is designed for precision. We have more words in our vocabulary than the majority of other languages.

We have a vastly larger vocabulary. We use a lot of precision in our words to try to describe things, not necessarily a lot of words for emotions. Have you noticed that? We're not a highly emotive culture, but we're a highly precise culture.

And so when we think about chronology, that's our expectation when we approach a text like this. So last week, does anybody remember? We saw the harvesting of the world, like end time, end of everything.

And the sun dipped in his sickle and harvested the believers. And then the angels dipped in their sickle and harvested everybody else. And that was it. So now, why isn't that the end of the book, right?

You're kind of like, isn't that, where else could we go from here? And now we're gonna see more judgments poured out. I thought the earth was done last week. And what we're seeing is these cycles of judgment, despite last week feeling pretty final.

And part of the key of that is found in a set of words at the start of verse one that we frequently see at the start of sections in the book of Revelation. It's this phrase, then I saw another sign. Then I was given another vision, John says.

John records for us the order in which he received these signs, these visions, but they are not necessarily in the sequence in which they will take place in history. You hear that? So he's recording for us the order of revelation, the order in which he received these from the Almighty, the order in which the Spirit laid them on his heart, but not necessarily the order in which everything is gonna go in the end.

And so I saw another sign, and he records that for us. This genre of apocalyptic literature was cyclical in nature. It told visions of revelation with repeating patterns to it. Imagine that you, if you kept a journal by your bed and you recorded every dream that you had in the past year, some people dream more than others.

I don't dream a whole lot. When I do, they seem to be pretty weird and strange. I don't know about you. But if you recorded every dream that you had in the past year in a journal and then shared those with people, those would be a little bit strange, right?

They'd be a little bit bizarre, and there wouldn't necessarily be a significant chronological sequence to them. But in John's case, these dreams and visions were inspired by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is having him write down and revealing these things to him as he goes.

And so this vision occurs in heaven, and it's a great and amazing sign the text tells us. Seven angels are being outfitted with the final seven plagues and that word final, and now we start thinking, oh, well, chronological, Don, didn't you just explain that?

But that word final means that these are the final judgments revealed to John in his visions. So he's received all of these visions, and these are the final visions of judgment that he's going to share with us.

And with this last vision comes the completion of God's wrath. Now pause for a moment and reflect on what John is saying here, the completion, the finishing of the wrath of God, and it occurs both in the first verse and the last verse, that phrase, that word finishing.

Here in the middle of some pretty heavy texts on judgment, heavy texts on condemnation and final destruction, is a phrase that I would call an oasis of beauty in the text. A day is coming when God's wrath will be finished.

It'll be done. No more anger, no more wrath. There is coming a day when all sin will finally be judged and dealt with. His wrath will be given one final act, and then all sin will indeed be done away with.

Believing that should move us in our hearts toward worship. Sin and God's anger with sin will one day be finished. Anybody excited about that day? When there is no more sin in us or around us, or the evil one tempting us, or the evil world system that we live in, gone.

Worship in the Midst of Final Judgment

Verse two further describes the vision of heaven where John sees a sea of glass. We saw that sea of glass earlier in the book of Revelation. He had described that for us, and it was a symbol of peace, but now it's mingled with fire.

Why do you suppose it might be mingled with fire? Impending symbol of the judgment of God. The final judgment is looming. The peace we saw earlier in the throne room of God is now surrounded by a sea of flames.

But standing there on the shore of that great sea are those who have conquered the beast, those who did not worship his image, and those who did not receive his mark on their hand or their forehead. They've chosen to follow the lamb instead of following the beast.

They were marked by God. Remember the 144 ,000 who were marked by God and not marked with the sign of evil. Now many of these around the throne were likely martyred for their faith. They starved, they were beheaded, they were beaten, they were shot.

They, in some way, gave it all for the king. And following their Lord, they are said to be conquerors of the Antichrist. And so it's said of them that they conquered. We know how they conquered. It was said earlier in the book of Revelation.

It's very important for you to understand how does one conquer the beast? How does one conquer evil? It's through the blood of Christ. It's through trust and faith in the gospel. It's not through our ability.

And so when we're seeing a song, we're about to see those who have conquered celebrating. And are we gonna see them singing a song.

Of their power and their might.

In conquering the beast, the Antichrist? Is that the nature of the song? How awesome they are and how they've overcome? They're gonna give credit to someone else, right? It's credit to the lamb, not to themselves.

What we see in our text, they're all holding harps. And has anybody in the room ever had harp lessons? Just curious. Raise your hand if you have not had harp lessons. That's kind of what I was feeling was gonna happen, kind of going into this.

So something's gonna happen between where we are now and then for us to be able to play harps on that day. Would you agree with me on that? Maybe a quick crash course in harpery. Is that a word?

Harpistry?

I don't know, I'm making stuff up up here. But a crash course to be able to play. And many have taken that and run with it. The notion, you know, if you see the Farside cartoons, does anybody ever get into Farside cartoons or whatever?

I mean, everybody in heaven is always carrying a harp and they're wearing, you know, a robe and they're walking around on the clouds and stuff like that. So some have taken that and imagined that we're gonna be 24 -7 in heaven playing harps.

Anybody else think that that doesn't sound super like, that doesn't really ignite your imagination for what heaven might be like? I mean, anybody like me on that? It's kind of like, even Dave is a musician.

He's like, yeah, I'm not quite sure.

About the whole harp thing.

So, and I think it's important for us to understand that, just to grab a, because it stands out to us in the text, they're all holding harps. But John here is recording for us a snapshot of events in heaven during the time of the Great Tribulation.

Humans will not be in heaven for long. We weren't made for heaven. We will spend eternity on a new earth, a new earth restored under King Jesus. But during the time of the Great Tribulation, during the times of the birth pains of that new kingdom coming, the church will be in heaven, and we will be joined during that period of seven years by many martyrs who will come join us and take up the harps on a day-by-day basis during that seven years of dire persecution on the earth.

But here, I want to take the remainder of our time together to highlight, yeah, 10 things we can learn about worship from chapter 15. Some of you are wishing I just said three things or four things. I said 10 things, but each one is fairly short, fairly simple, but things that we see from this text about worship that I think is kind of important for us to grab ahold of.

They're here in the text, and I'm taking these 10 points out of the text, and so you're gonna see, hopefully you see just like I do that they are there. But the first thing is quite simple, quite basic.

We've already started to talk about it, and that is that they use instruments. They use instruments in the worship of God. Now, I mentioned that worship, earlier I mentioned that it's not just musical, right?

I mean, when we think in terms of worship, we often move straight to music, and that's not the sum total of it. As a matter of fact, I would suggest to you that's a very small portion of it. Our worship is our work.

Our worship is our parenting. Our worship is our friendship with others. Our worship is the way that we live and breathe and move in this world, acknowledging that it all comes from God and that it's all going back to him.

So we can be gardening and worshiping. We can be washing dishes and be worshiping. We can be setting up chairs and be worshiping. We can be playing music and be worshiping. It's all part of that. We could be at our workplace, doing whatever you do day in and day out, teaching students or delivering packages, or you can be designing something or analyzing a process at your business or whatever it is, and you can be worshiping.

But what I do believe is clear in the text, I'm not saying that you have to have a musical instrument to worship. You don't have to have that. Praise God, because I cannot play a single, anybody with me that cannot play a single instrument?

A few of us in the room, hold them up proud. Yeah, there you go, no instruments. You are gonna have eternity.

Just think about this.

You're gonna have eternity to practice that. You're gonna get to perfect the instruments. I mean, that's a glorious thing. We don't have a very good imagination. I'm going, I'm stepping aside here for a second.

We don't have a good enough imagination about heaven, about what the new earth is going to really be like. It's a place with tables and people and relationships and learning and activity and events, all of the types of things that you can think of that are worship and rendered to worship to God here will only be enhanced in that place.

So to spend 100 years perfecting my oboe and then moving on to other instruments and getting the tuba out and playing the drums and getting all of that done,.

You're gonna have time to work on those things.

That's a pretty cool thing. Like, what am I gonna be doing for all that time? Well, is it just harps? I don't believe so. And the indication from where we're going in the book of Revelation by the end, I hope you're gonna see that, that it's a real place with streams and water and a city that is there and culture and relationships.

I believe even technology will be there. But anyways, none of that was in my notes here, so uh-oh. But I believe that music, singing, and musical instruments are an intentionally powerful way to worship God.

Would you agree with me on that? It's a powerful way to worship God. Very little impacts my heart, my mind, my soul, and my emotions quite like music does. I know that's not true for everybody in the room, but it's true for me.

And the use of harps by those in heaven merely identifies the instruments are indeed a gift from God to be used for his honor and for his glory, all instruments. And you know what? If you can play a musical instrument, raise your hand if you play one.

Probably pick it up now. Okay, you just have been indicted in the process of maybe being able to play a musical instrument at church. So think about it. You know your own skill level, by the way, so some of you are like, I shouldn't have raised my hand.

I don't know. You know where you're at, but man, that's the kind of thing that's really cool that you can use for the glory of God and help out if that's possible. So they use musical instruments. Second, they sing songs together.

You see that in the text. You can sing in the shower, I mentioned. You can sing in the car to various effects, depending on who you are. The shower turns me into a rock star. I don't know if that has to do with an echo or something, but it's, man, I can sing when I'm in the shower.

But there's something so powerful in the gathering together of God's people, isn't there? There's something amazing about that. When our voices mingle together on a Sunday morning, singing truth about our great God, we are declaring the same words together.

And we, I would suggest, are never more together in our proximity to the throne and to each other than when we are together mingling our voices to lift up our Savior and Lord. God has called us together to be a people of praise, to sing songs to him.

And I don't know if you realize this, but multiple times throughout the pages of scripture, God commands us to sing. He commands us to sing in the gathering of his people. The third thing is that they sing specific types of songs, according to the text.

They sing songs of redemption. The song of Moses is a common song that you can look up and read later in Exodus chapter 15. The song of Moses was the song of redemption immediately following the people of Israel.

During the Exodus, they sang a song as the sea closed over the Egyptians and they had walked through on dry ground. A song of redemption, a song of salvation by God for his people. But also, in that event was judgment for the nation that was opposing them, and the nation that had enslaved them.

So we look at the song of Moses, but we also, it's called simultaneously, not just the song of Moses, but the song of the Lamb.

And we're really talking about.

One combined song of redemption. The Lamb who saves his people and the song of Moses of God who saves his people. God redeemed his people from the slavery of Egypt through Moses, but now he is redeeming his people from slavery to sin through Jesus, who is the Lamb of God.

Many of our songs here at Recast intentionally focus on salvation and the gospel. I hope you've caught that, I hope you noticed that. And people who truly understand redemption and the wrath that we have been saved from, as we've been studying that in the book of Revelation, it's been pressed on my heart.

What have we been saved from?

That kind of wrath. So glorious salvation, I hope that it moves you to enthusiastically sing songs of praise about how he has purchased his people for himself. Redemption songs. Fourth, they see continuity, the worshipers see continuity between the Old Testament and the New Testament.

These worshipers have no false dichotomy between that God of the Old Testament and that God of the New Testament that many in our culture, and I would dare say many in our churches, maybe even some sitting here, have some sense of dichotomy whereas the God of the Old Testament, wrath, I can't stand reading the Old Testament because it scares me.

And some of you, don't raise your hand, but if you're there, I'd love to talk to you more about that, but there are people that I've interacted with who have that sense of fear regarding the God of the Old Testament versus the God of the New Testament and there's none of that here.

They're singing the song of Moses,.

Which is the song of the Lamb,.

There's continuity in God's redemptive work. Many would say they wanna worship the nicer, more gracious God 2 .0 in the New Testament. Scared to spend time with that really scary God.

Of the Old Testament.

But the saints in heaven see that he is the one and true living God. God has always been a God of both mercy and justice. He's very patient with the people in the Old Testament. I think you realize what kind of spans of time, of patience and endurance that God is putting out there in the Old Testament.

We must be a people who are prepared to worship him through the entire revelation of his character. What I mean by this is that we cannot treat the scriptures like a smorgasbord of stories about God only picking out the ones that we like and then saying, that's my God, that's the God I'm gonna worship.

Man, I really like this story about him. It's very gracious, it's very kind. Just really resonates with my soul. Gotta take the entirety of scripture and understand who he is and then worship him that way.

The fifth thing, they do not draw distinctions between who God is and what he has done. I'll say that one again, they do not draw distinctions between who God is and what he has done. Throughout this text of worship, throughout the song of praise going on in heaven, there is both ample worship of God, you are holy, you are just, you are true, and your righteous deeds have been made known.

The things that you have done are glorious. Now, I've often heard people speak like it's selfish to only thank God for what he's done.

Any of you ever heard that before?

It's kind of selfish to just thank him for what he's done and maybe it's only me, I can brush through this point. But I was taught that the purest, I've been taught, and I maybe caught it a little bit over the years, that the purest of worship is to thank God for who he is.