Revelation Part 22
Revelation 15:1
The Bible says in Revelation 15:1,
"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."
There is one other time in the Bible when plagues of this magnitude came from God to torment man. It was in the time of Moses and Pharaoh. The will of God was revealed to Pharaoh through Moses, but Pharaoh resisted and the spirit of rebellion was his driving force. Who is man to resist the will of God? Any who resist must do so to their own destruction. It was true in the day of Moses and it’s true today in the personal life of everyone. It will be especially so at the end of The Great Tribulation.
All sin is traced back to man’s rebellion against God. The history of the mankind is a history in which God has consistently found new ways to present His mercy and grace before man. What is genuinely surprising, considering God’s character, is not his continuing efforts but rather man’s rejection of the good that God is offering. God is a giver of second, third and fourth chances. But the day will come when the opportunities will come to an end. Genesis 3 verse 6 tells us that:
"…the Spirit of God will not always strive with man."
One thing that the Book of Revelation shows us clearly is that the age of grace will one day come to an abrupt end, and be followed by the time of the wrath of God. It will be just like Jesus said in the gospel account by Matthew:
"As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the days of the coming of the Son of Man."
If you are outside of God’s favor and grace, you will not escape the great and terrible day of the wrath of Almighty God. For those who have found refuge in the Lord Jesus Christ, there will be a glorious escape. Initially that escape is the rapture of the church, for those left behind after the rapture who come to Jesus and receive salvation during the reign of the antichrist the escape will be avoiding the second death and being cast into the lake of fire. They will receive their heavenly reward instead. After mentioning the wrath of God that will come against the world, Revelation 15:2-4 speaks of joy and singing and praises that will come from those who are saved from the wrath of God. It says,
"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, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God. And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvelous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints. 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."
We are told that there is a new song that will be sung by those who are saved out of the Great Tribulation. Those who become saved during the Great Tribulation will have won the victory over the antichrist. The purpose of the devil will be to cause people to worship the antichrist and to turn away from God. Most of humanity will be deceived, but a great and mighty victory will won by those who understand the truth of what is going on; and instead of worshipping the antichrist like most of the world, they will openly receive the grace and wisdom of turning to faith in Jesus Christ.
Notice the content of this new song that will be sung. God is praised because "great and marvelous" are His works. God will destroy the antichrist and all of his legions. Those who are saved out of the Great Tribulation will see these great works. They will see the plagues that God will send against a wicked world. They will see the slaughter at the battle of Armageddon when God destroys the enemies of righteousness. The saints will sing the song,
"Great and marvelous are thy works, Lord God Almighty,"
because these saints will see some of the greatest and the mightiest of all the works that God has ever done. They will see God trample out the grapes of wrath, and the blood will flow to the horses’ bridles down through the Kidron valley for a distance of 200 miles. To give you an idea of how great a river of blood that will be, it is the approximate distance down Interstate 45 from the DFW Metroplex to the city limits of Houston, Texas.
God can do great and marvelous things because He is God Almighty. Some people look around and wonder where are the works of God. They see the natural phenomena-taking place, but they do not perceive the works of God. That’s because the despite the works of God and His expressions of love in action in the age of grace their spiritual blindness stops them from receiving what the Lord has for them. Jesus said in the fourth chapter of John:
"God is a spirit, and they that worship Him must do so in spirit and in truth."
Other people try to manufacture the works of God through false claims and phony presentations. For example, some of the faith healers are downright lying when they grab someone by the forehead and push them backwards and claim to have healed them. They want to see the works of God so badly that they make false claims. This is totally unnecessary, unwarranted and leads many to a state of unbelief causing them to miss out on the real miracles God is working in our day. I have been privileged to see the hand of God reach out and heal an open cancer on the chest of an 85 year old retired missionary from India as my wife prayed for his healing. We did not touch him, we did not anoint with oil, Faye simply prayed for God to release His healing virtue and she commanded the cancer to dry up and wither. The result one week later the cancer was dry as a bone and had withered from the size of a pound of ground beef to that of a small marble. In my own life, in 1992, I suffered two strokes, less than 90 days later, while in a Charles and Frances Hunter Crusade in San Antonio, Texas, the healing power of God fell on me and all effects of the two strokes were gone in a moment of time. It is now ten years later and the healing still stands. We don’t have to create phony representations of God’s power in the age of grace. The reason we do not see any more true miracles than what we see today is the same reason that Jesus was not able to perform many miracles in Nazareth, unbelief. For too many years, pastors and evangelist, especially here in America have explained away the lack of power and miracles in the Church by claiming they ended when the last apostle died. They claim it was for the beginning of the Church age but not for the modern church in which we live. No, that is just a simple easy route to explain away their own lack of faith and thus lack of supernatural Holy Ghost power. Why the Holy Ghost is hardly mentioned in most mainline denominational churches today and when He is, normally He is referred to as an "it". Is it any wonder we see so very little manifestation of the presence of the Holy Ghost. The greatest work of God, the greatest miracle reamins salvation and a changed heart through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. When a poor, lost sinner who is headed for hell, repents and finds a new destiny in heaven, is made a new creation, the greatest miracle of all has taken place. Despite that fact, miracles of all other kinds can and still do occur. The fact that satan has tempted some to provide "counterfeit-miracles" is further proof that miracles are for today. If miracles were not real, there would be no need for satan to create counterfeit ones. Who tries to counterfeit something that is not real or has no value. No one counterfeits three dollar bills, no usually it is $20’s, $50’s or $100’s. Something with value, something that is real is the only thing one tries to counterfeit. When the age of grace comes to an end, and when God decides that it’s time for His wrath to come against a wicked world, great and marvelous works of an external nature shall be done, and scripture tells us specifically that at this time satan will perform his counterfeit miracles as well.
After the battle of Armageddon and after the vials of the wrath of God are poured out; the hearts of the believers will be filled with praise and joy because the "King of the saints" will come to be the King of the entire world.
Notice that the end of Revelation 15:4 says that
"all nations shall come and worship before Him."
It’s understandable that God’s people would like to see a righteous nation with godly political leaders. It’s a good thing to hope for and to pray for and to work for, but we won’t have true peace and righteous government in the earth until Jesus returns and completes His great and marvelous works to cause it to happen. What is impossible with man, is possible with God.
The believers will praise God and they will sing,
"Just and true are thy ways."
Truth and justice exist because God exists. They are eternal. They will not be kept down. They will come pouring into the world on the wings of the Spirit of God. The believers will be filled with joy as never before, because what they had hoped for and longed for will be fulfilled. When it seems that no one is left to fight the battle, God Himself shall stand up to fight for truth and justice and righteousness. All of the unjust liars who inhabit the earth shall be smashed forever. Who shall be able to stand before Almighty God when He determines to accomplish this?
The believers shall sing and shout for joy when it happens. They will sing,
"Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name?"
When the age of grace is over, all of this is going happen. Those left behind can choose to accept or reject when they hear the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ. Unfortunately, many have chosen to reject Him and they live their lives alienated from God. In this life there are many who do not bow before God and who have no fear or reverence for Him. But once the grapes of wrath are trodden out, and once the King of the saints presents Himself as King of the world the apostle Paul tells us in his letter to the church at Phillipi that,
"Every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father."
God will not stay silent forever. God knows what is happening in the world. He sees. He is taking it all into account, and the day will come as it says in Revelation 15:4 that His
"judgments are made manifest."
For the world and for the ungodly it will be a day of death, destruction and judgment that is truly deserved; but for the believers it will be a day with unspeakable joy and full of glory. We will sing and praise God for all that He is and for all that He has done. We will sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb. We will sing,
"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."
You also can be a part of those who are eternally blessed and happy, if you turn to Jesus before it’s too late.
Romans 3:23 tells us that we have all sinned and come short of the glory of God.
Romans 6:23 tell us that the wages of this sin is death, but that God has provided salvation and eternal life as a gift through Jesus Christ His Son.
Romans 10:13 tells us that whosoever shall call upon His name, the name of Jesus, shall be saved.
Won’t you call on Jesus today. Surrender your life, surrender your will and ask Jesus to come into your heart and cleanse your sin to be your Savior, to be your Lord and Master. Won’t you do it today while there is still time?