Revelation Now :
Daily Devotional Bible Studies in Revelation
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Seven Angels and Seven Plagues : Day 55 
I saw in heaven another great and marvellous sign: seven angels with the seven last plagues, last, because with them God's wrath is completed. And I saw what looked like a sea of glass mixed with fire and, standing beside the sea, those who had been victorious over the beast and his image and over the number of his name. They held harps given them by God and sang the song of Moses the servant of God and the song of the Lamb: "Great and marvellous are your deeds, Lord God Almighty. Just and true are your ways, King of the ages. Who will not fear you, O Lord, and bring glory to your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous acts have been revealed." (Revelation 15.1-4)
Justice and holiness
John has told of the opening of the seven seals; he has told of the sounding of the seven trumpets; and now he must tell of the pouring out of the seven bowls of the wrath of God. His arrangement is typical of the way the apocalyptic writers tended to arrange their material in groups of seven and of three and would regard three groups of seven as standing for perfection.
The scene is in heaven. Before John tells of the seven angels with the seven bowls of wrath, he has a picture of those who came through martyrdom for Christ. They are standing beside the sea which looked as if it was of glass. (1) This time the glass is intermingled with fire, a natural addition in the circumstances. This is a passage of judgment and fire in Scripture and is often the symbol of judgment. There comes upon Egypt hail mingled with fire (2); the chaff is to be consumed in the fire (3); our God is a consuming fire (4). The whole scene is grimly illuminated with the lurid light of the fire of judgment which is to descend upon the earth.
We are shortly to hear of the song of Moses. This is the song which Moses sang when the children of Israel had come triumphantly through the dangers of the crossing of the Red Sea. "The martyrs have come safely through the sea of martyrdom and have arrived at the shore of heaven. (5)
It is said that the martyrs have emerged victorious from their contest with the forces of Antichrist. There is something very significant here. The martyrs died the most savage deaths and yet they are said to have emerged victorious. It was the very fact that they had died that made them victors; if they had remained alive by being false to their faith, they would have been the defeated. Again and again the records of the early church describe a day of martyrdom as a day of victory. We read, "The day of their victory dawned, and they walked from prison to the amphitheatre as if they were walking to heaven, happy and serene in countenance." (6) Jesus said, "Whoever would save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it" (7). The real victory is not prudently to preserve life but to face the worst that evil can do and if need be to be faithful to death. "May God deny you peace, and give you glory." (8)
The victorious martyrs sing two songs. They sing the song of the Lamb which, as we have seen, is the song which they alone could learn (9). They sing the song of Moses, which he sang after the safe crossing of the Red Sea. "The Lord is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation.... Who is like thee, O Lord, among the gods, who is like thee, majestic in holiness, terrible in glorious deeds, doing wonders?... The Lord will reign for ever and ever." (10.)
This song was stamped upon the memory of the Jews. It was sung at every Sabbath evening service in the synagogue. At every Jewish service the recital of the "Shema", the creed of Israel, was followed by two prayers and one of these prayers refers to this song, "True it is that thou art Jehovah our God, and the God of our fathers, our King, and the King of our fathers, our Saviour, and the Saviour of our fathers, our Creator, the Rock of our Salvation, our Help and our Deliverer. Thy name is from everlasting, and there is no God beside thee. A new song did they that were delivered sing to thy name by the sea-shore; together did all praise and own thee King, and say, Jehovah shall reign, world without end! Blessed be the Lord who saves Israel." The song of Moses commemorated the greatest deliverance in the history of God's people and the victorious martyrs, brought through the sea of persecution to the promised land of heaven, sing that song.
But the martyrs have their own song. Two things stand out about it. It is almost entirely composed of quotations from the Old Testament. There is another thing which must strike anyone about the song of the triumphant martyrs. There is not one single word in it about their own achievements, but from beginning to end it is a lyrical outburst on the greatness of God.
Heaven is a place where people forget themselves and remember only God. As finely puts it: "In the perfect vision of God self is wholly forgotten." (11):
"In the presence of God the martyrs forget themselves, their thoughts are absorbed by new wonders that surround them, the glory of God and the mighty scheme of things in which their own sufferings form an infinitesimal part are opening before them, they begin to see the great issue of the world-drama, and we hear the doxology with which they greet their first unclouded vision of God and his works." (12)
Justice and holiness are joined like the links of a chain. "Just and true are your ways, King of the ages". Having the just means that the true is there too. God's supreme holiness and purity are matched by his perfect justice. He is scrupulously fair in his judgment because his holy standards are so clear.
Words to meditate on
"True it is that thou art Jehovah our God, and the God of our fathers, our King, and the King of our fathers, our Saviour, and the Saviour of our fathers, our Creator, the Rock of our Salvation, our Help and our Deliverer. Thy name is from everlasting, and there is no God beside thee. A new song did they that were delivered sing to thy name by the sea-shore; together did all praise and own thee King, and say, Jehovah shall reign, world without end! Blessed be the Lord who saves Israel."
Words to pray
"Great and marvellous are your deeds, Lord God Almighty.
Just and true are your ways, King of the ages.
Who will not fear you, O Lord, and bring glory to your name?
For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before you,
for your righteous acts have been revealed." (13)
Notes
(1) Revelation 4:6 (2) Exodus 9:24 (3) Matthew 3:12 (4) Hebrews 12:29 (5) H. B. Swete (6) the record of the martyrdom of Saint Perpetua (7) Matthew 16:25 (8) Unamuno the Spanish mystic (9) 14:3 (10) Exodus 15:1-19 (11) R. H. Charles (12) H. B. Swete (13) Revelation 15.3,4
"The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place."