[Originally preached 30 November, 2003]
Revelation 14.14-15.4
We have the happy situation this week of having a text from Revelation where most of the images are not all that difficult to understand. Basically what we have is a view of a harvest, first of the grain and then of grapes for wine, and then we see the saints singing a song of praise to God. The image of a harvest is familiar enough. And there’s nothing too difficult to understanding songs of praise. And so, we won’t need to spend much time in deciphering the images of our text. Instead, we’ll be able to focus on how it speaks to us in our situation.
Once again John portrays the end of history as we know it. Harvest time has arrived. And what will happen at that time? At the end of our history there will be a great division of all humanity. Everyone will be in one group or the other. A person will either be among the wheat entering into the joy of eternity or among the grapes entering into the wrath of eternity. Eternity will either be incredibly glorious or it will be horrible beyond description. I don’t think that a person can think about this too much. At one and the same time, it will provide for the saints a great warning about the dangers of turning away from Christ and a great encouragement to endure to the end the trials of faithful discipleship. We saints would do well to contemplate over and over the fact that the harvest is coming. Heaven is ours! And it makes sense to picture that as a harvest. A farmer sows his seeds each spring. That is something that he does in faith. He sows in the hope that one day the seed he sows will bear fruit. Once the seed is sown, he does all that he can to help it along. But the fact of the matter is that so much of what happens to that seed is out of his control. Will there be enough rain? Too much rain? Will it be too hot? Too cool? Will there be some blight that will attack the crop? There are so many things that could affect it. Then there is the idea of the long process that is involved. It takes a while from sowing to harvest time. And the progress is not easily seen from day to day. What an apt picture of the progress of redemption. It’s a long process filled with ups and downs. At times, it seems as if the conditions are perfect for the growth of the soul. But then, at other times, it seems as if nothing is going right, and we wonder. John writes to encourage us. The harvest time is assured. Heaven is certainly yours. Don’t grow weary. Don’t give in. One day all of what we hope for will be real. Heaven is assured. And holding to that hope makes such a difference to our being able to be faithful disciples. Let me make a suggestion here. Daydream about heaven. What do you think it will be like for you to be there? I realize that we know so little about what it will be like. But we do know some things. Try to imagine yourself there in terms of what you do know. You know that your enemies, the world, the flesh and the devil, will not be there – not at all. There will be no sin, not even a little bit. There will be work for you to do, work that will allow you to express your creativity and that without any frustration. And heaven will be a world of close and dear relationships that will never have to work through misunderstandings. It will be a world of undiluted love. And best of all, Jesus will be there, ready to answer all of our questions. What a picture to paint in your mind. Put yourself in it. What does it look like to you? Now, will it be an accurate picture? No, it won’t even be close. But that’s because heaven will be so much better than what we can imagine. But trying to picture it, to put some flesh on the bare outline, will be a great help to make heaven more real to you. And that will be a good encouragement to you when this life gets to be a bit much.
In the next section of the text that we’ll look at John pictures one slice of heaven. This isn’t the full picture. It’s just a way of expressing one part of what will be going on. And John pictures that slice of heaven in terms of singing. What we have is another psalm here. It’s a psalm to God, a doxology. So, let’s ask a question of this part of the text. And the question is simple. Why does John picture this part of heaven in terms of singing? The saints are telling God something. Couldn’t they have communicated in a more straightforward way? Why sing it as opposed to just saying it? There are lots of advantages to simple statements of fact. You can include lots of detail and especially lots of precision in your communication. That’s why we write scientific journals in prose and not in poetry. But are there any advantages to communicating by song? Sure. Singing is a better way to express your feelings. Singing is a better way to be emotional. And sometimes, it’s more important to be emotional than precise. In our text we see the saints of God with Him. They are finally experiencing the fullness of the eternal life that had been promised to them. At that point they can’t help but be amazed. They are filled with gratitude to the God who got them there. Their hearts overflow. And so, what do they do? Would it make any sense to write a precise and detailed essay about their thoughts? Certainly not! It makes total sense for the saints to sing. It’s just a great way of expressing the joyous feelings that have welled up within them. Aren’t there times in your own experience when some precise statement of fact just won’t work? Haven’t you felt frustrated when there was something more that you wanted to convey to someone you cared deeply about and the words that came to mind just weren’t working? They just weren’t adequate to convey the deep feelings of your heart. The problem of many of us is that we are just too stuck on prose. There isn’t enough poetry at our disposal. There are some things that you really need to sing to that other person. And that’s true even when the other person is God. Being a disciple of Jesus is an emotional thing. Just read through the Psalms. There are a lot of emotions being expressed. Sometimes it’s emotions of elation.
I will bless the Lord at all times;
his praise shall continually be in my mouth.
Oh, magnify the Lord with me,
and let us exalt his name together! Psalm 34.1,3
Sometimes it’s great sorrow that is being expressed.
Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy
blot out my transgressions. Psalm 51.1
Being a Christian is filled with emotions. It’s no wonder that the saints sing to God. Here’s a question for you to consider. How is the emotional aspect of your being a disciple of Jesus doing? A marriage without emotions is a marriage in trouble. A relationship with Jesus without emotions is a relationship in trouble. When you get to heaven you’re going to be very emotional, especially at first, I should think. But that isn’t going to start there. It starts here. Singing praises, being emotional about Jesus is something that you learn now. That’s something you might want to pray about.
Let’s look at the title that John gives for this song of praise. He calls it the song of Moses. Why? Again, we need to take a look at the Old Testament. The song of Moses is found in Exodus 15. Before we get to it you need to remember the context. In Exodus 14 Israel is being confronted by the Red Sea in front of them and the army of Egypt behind. It’s an obviously impossible situation. And so, Israel responds in ways that we will see all too often. They complain out of their unbelief.
They said to Moses, "Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt? Is not this what we said to you in Egypt, 'Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians'? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness." Exodus 14:11-12
But how does Moses respond?
And Moses said to the people, "Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent." Exodus 14:13-14
You know the rest. The Red Sea opens for Israel and closes upon the army of Egypt. The threat of being returned to the house of slavery is crushed. The God of Israel acted to deliver His people. So, what we have in chapter fifteen is Israel, safe on the other shore, singing a song of praise that starts like this.
I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously;
the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea. Exodus 15:1
And this is what is happening in heaven. The saints, safe on the other shore, as it were, look back on their enemies and see how God has finally and fully destroyed them. And out of their mouths comes this song of praise. But let’s remember the seven churches to whom all of this was written. Where are they? They’re not in heaven yet. In a manner of speaking they are still confronted by the Red Sea with the army of Egypt ready to pounce. That’s their situation and there may be times when they also feel that it is an impossible situation. Their temptation may also be to return to the house of slavery, to return to the world. So, what do they need? They need to hear again the words of Moses. ‘Fear not, stand firm and see the salvation of the Lord.’ As you work at being faithful, you will find yourselves in situations that feel impossible. It may be that some of you feel that right now. Remember the words of Moses and believe them. As you do, you’ll see how your God will be faithful and deliver you from that ‘impossible’ situation.
Having looked at the background of this song of Moses in our text, let’s take a look at some of its content. The saints are praising God here. And what are they praising Him for? First, they praise Him for the things that He has done, His works. It’s not surprising that they should do this. After all, He has destroyed His and their enemies. But remember how He brought this about. Remember how these enemies were conquered. God’s plan of conquest included the suffering, the persecution and even the death of His saints. These are also the works of God. These are also part of how He brought His plan to its final goal. So, the saints are praising God for these things also. They praise Him for the pleasant things as well as the hard things that have worked together to bring about the deliverance of the people of God. Then, they praise God for His ‘ways’. What’s this? This is one step back from the works of God. God’s ways are the how of His works. This is the manner in which God went about doing His works. Here the saints praise God for things like His wisdom in how He pursued the goal or His patience at each stage of the plan. This includes all the things that determine how God will do those works of His. Then there’s one more step back behind even God’s ways. Here, the saints praise God for simply being God. It shows up in their psalm of praise under the label of holiness. ‘For you alone are holy.’ Remember that the basic idea of holiness is being separated, being different. And God is different. He is in a class all by Himself. He is God. And it is because He is God that His ways and then His works are what they are.
In one sense it’s easy for these saints to praise God in this way. They are looking back on what God has done. They’re like Israel praising God from the farther shore, the other side of the Red Sea. It’s more challenging to do this when you’re on the near shore with the Egyptians breathing down your neck – which is exactly where we are. They praise God by sight. We need to praise Him by faith. And we can do that. We can sing this doxology to Him. We can praise God for His works, ways and holiness. We do that not because we understand how everything will work out, but because we know that it will all work out. We praise Him by faith, trusting His promises, knowing that one day we will understand fully how everything has worked out. It’s just a matter of faith. A measure of the strength of your faith is the quality of your praise when it isn’t at all clear how it will all work out. And isn’t it encouraging to see your heart still praising God and trusting Him even when life seems so terribly confusing?
Revelation 14.14-15.4
We have the happy situation this week of having a text from Revelation where most of the images are not all that difficult to understand. Basically what we have is a view of a harvest, first of the grain and then of grapes for wine, and then we see the saints singing a song of praise to God. The image of a harvest is familiar enough. And there’s nothing too difficult to understanding songs of praise. And so, we won’t need to spend much time in deciphering the images of our text. Instead, we’ll be able to focus on how it speaks to us in our situation.
Once again John portrays the end of history as we know it. Harvest time has arrived. And what will happen at that time? At the end of our history there will be a great division of all humanity. Everyone will be in one group or the other. A person will either be among the wheat entering into the joy of eternity or among the grapes entering into the wrath of eternity. Eternity will either be incredibly glorious or it will be horrible beyond description. I don’t think that a person can think about this too much. At one and the same time, it will provide for the saints a great warning about the dangers of turning away from Christ and a great encouragement to endure to the end the trials of faithful discipleship. We saints would do well to contemplate over and over the fact that the harvest is coming. Heaven is ours! And it makes sense to picture that as a harvest. A farmer sows his seeds each spring. That is something that he does in faith. He sows in the hope that one day the seed he sows will bear fruit. Once the seed is sown, he does all that he can to help it along. But the fact of the matter is that so much of what happens to that seed is out of his control. Will there be enough rain? Too much rain? Will it be too hot? Too cool? Will there be some blight that will attack the crop? There are so many things that could affect it. Then there is the idea of the long process that is involved. It takes a while from sowing to harvest time. And the progress is not easily seen from day to day. What an apt picture of the progress of redemption. It’s a long process filled with ups and downs. At times, it seems as if the conditions are perfect for the growth of the soul. But then, at other times, it seems as if nothing is going right, and we wonder. John writes to encourage us. The harvest time is assured. Heaven is certainly yours. Don’t grow weary. Don’t give in. One day all of what we hope for will be real. Heaven is assured. And holding to that hope makes such a difference to our being able to be faithful disciples. Let me make a suggestion here. Daydream about heaven. What do you think it will be like for you to be there? I realize that we know so little about what it will be like. But we do know some things. Try to imagine yourself there in terms of what you do know. You know that your enemies, the world, the flesh and the devil, will not be there – not at all. There will be no sin, not even a little bit. There will be work for you to do, work that will allow you to express your creativity and that without any frustration. And heaven will be a world of close and dear relationships that will never have to work through misunderstandings. It will be a world of undiluted love. And best of all, Jesus will be there, ready to answer all of our questions. What a picture to paint in your mind. Put yourself in it. What does it look like to you? Now, will it be an accurate picture? No, it won’t even be close. But that’s because heaven will be so much better than what we can imagine. But trying to picture it, to put some flesh on the bare outline, will be a great help to make heaven more real to you. And that will be a good encouragement to you when this life gets to be a bit much.
In the next section of the text that we’ll look at John pictures one slice of heaven. This isn’t the full picture. It’s just a way of expressing one part of what will be going on. And John pictures that slice of heaven in terms of singing. What we have is another psalm here. It’s a psalm to God, a doxology. So, let’s ask a question of this part of the text. And the question is simple. Why does John picture this part of heaven in terms of singing? The saints are telling God something. Couldn’t they have communicated in a more straightforward way? Why sing it as opposed to just saying it? There are lots of advantages to simple statements of fact. You can include lots of detail and especially lots of precision in your communication. That’s why we write scientific journals in prose and not in poetry. But are there any advantages to communicating by song? Sure. Singing is a better way to express your feelings. Singing is a better way to be emotional. And sometimes, it’s more important to be emotional than precise. In our text we see the saints of God with Him. They are finally experiencing the fullness of the eternal life that had been promised to them. At that point they can’t help but be amazed. They are filled with gratitude to the God who got them there. Their hearts overflow. And so, what do they do? Would it make any sense to write a precise and detailed essay about their thoughts? Certainly not! It makes total sense for the saints to sing. It’s just a great way of expressing the joyous feelings that have welled up within them. Aren’t there times in your own experience when some precise statement of fact just won’t work? Haven’t you felt frustrated when there was something more that you wanted to convey to someone you cared deeply about and the words that came to mind just weren’t working? They just weren’t adequate to convey the deep feelings of your heart. The problem of many of us is that we are just too stuck on prose. There isn’t enough poetry at our disposal. There are some things that you really need to sing to that other person. And that’s true even when the other person is God. Being a disciple of Jesus is an emotional thing. Just read through the Psalms. There are a lot of emotions being expressed. Sometimes it’s emotions of elation.
I will bless the Lord at all times;
his praise shall continually be in my mouth.
Oh, magnify the Lord with me,
and let us exalt his name together! Psalm 34.1,3
Sometimes it’s great sorrow that is being expressed.
Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy
blot out my transgressions. Psalm 51.1
Being a Christian is filled with emotions. It’s no wonder that the saints sing to God. Here’s a question for you to consider. How is the emotional aspect of your being a disciple of Jesus doing? A marriage without emotions is a marriage in trouble. A relationship with Jesus without emotions is a relationship in trouble. When you get to heaven you’re going to be very emotional, especially at first, I should think. But that isn’t going to start there. It starts here. Singing praises, being emotional about Jesus is something that you learn now. That’s something you might want to pray about.
Let’s look at the title that John gives for this song of praise. He calls it the song of Moses. Why? Again, we need to take a look at the Old Testament. The song of Moses is found in Exodus 15. Before we get to it you need to remember the context. In Exodus 14 Israel is being confronted by the Red Sea in front of them and the army of Egypt behind. It’s an obviously impossible situation. And so, Israel responds in ways that we will see all too often. They complain out of their unbelief.
They said to Moses, "Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt? Is not this what we said to you in Egypt, 'Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians'? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness." Exodus 14:11-12
But how does Moses respond?
And Moses said to the people, "Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent." Exodus 14:13-14
You know the rest. The Red Sea opens for Israel and closes upon the army of Egypt. The threat of being returned to the house of slavery is crushed. The God of Israel acted to deliver His people. So, what we have in chapter fifteen is Israel, safe on the other shore, singing a song of praise that starts like this.
I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously;
the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea. Exodus 15:1
And this is what is happening in heaven. The saints, safe on the other shore, as it were, look back on their enemies and see how God has finally and fully destroyed them. And out of their mouths comes this song of praise. But let’s remember the seven churches to whom all of this was written. Where are they? They’re not in heaven yet. In a manner of speaking they are still confronted by the Red Sea with the army of Egypt ready to pounce. That’s their situation and there may be times when they also feel that it is an impossible situation. Their temptation may also be to return to the house of slavery, to return to the world. So, what do they need? They need to hear again the words of Moses. ‘Fear not, stand firm and see the salvation of the Lord.’ As you work at being faithful, you will find yourselves in situations that feel impossible. It may be that some of you feel that right now. Remember the words of Moses and believe them. As you do, you’ll see how your God will be faithful and deliver you from that ‘impossible’ situation.
Having looked at the background of this song of Moses in our text, let’s take a look at some of its content. The saints are praising God here. And what are they praising Him for? First, they praise Him for the things that He has done, His works. It’s not surprising that they should do this. After all, He has destroyed His and their enemies. But remember how He brought this about. Remember how these enemies were conquered. God’s plan of conquest included the suffering, the persecution and even the death of His saints. These are also the works of God. These are also part of how He brought His plan to its final goal. So, the saints are praising God for these things also. They praise Him for the pleasant things as well as the hard things that have worked together to bring about the deliverance of the people of God. Then, they praise God for His ‘ways’. What’s this? This is one step back from the works of God. God’s ways are the how of His works. This is the manner in which God went about doing His works. Here the saints praise God for things like His wisdom in how He pursued the goal or His patience at each stage of the plan. This includes all the things that determine how God will do those works of His. Then there’s one more step back behind even God’s ways. Here, the saints praise God for simply being God. It shows up in their psalm of praise under the label of holiness. ‘For you alone are holy.’ Remember that the basic idea of holiness is being separated, being different. And God is different. He is in a class all by Himself. He is God. And it is because He is God that His ways and then His works are what they are.
In one sense it’s easy for these saints to praise God in this way. They are looking back on what God has done. They’re like Israel praising God from the farther shore, the other side of the Red Sea. It’s more challenging to do this when you’re on the near shore with the Egyptians breathing down your neck – which is exactly where we are. They praise God by sight. We need to praise Him by faith. And we can do that. We can sing this doxology to Him. We can praise God for His works, ways and holiness. We do that not because we understand how everything will work out, but because we know that it will all work out. We praise Him by faith, trusting His promises, knowing that one day we will understand fully how everything has worked out. It’s just a matter of faith. A measure of the strength of your faith is the quality of your praise when it isn’t at all clear how it will all work out. And isn’t it encouraging to see your heart still praising God and trusting Him even when life seems so terribly confusing?
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