"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."
(Revelation 15:2)
The background of verse 2 is found in Exodus 14. By God’s great mercy, the Red Sea separated God’s people from the object of His wrath—the Egyptians. They stood on the seashore and “saw the great power which the Lord had used against the Egyptians,” and they feared the Lord and believed Him (Ex. 14:31). Worship then took place through The Song of Moses, as they sang to the Lord of His greatness and strength in judging the Egyptians and delivering them by His strong hand.
But John’s picture is much greater. The scene moves from Sinai to heaven, from the Red Sea to “a sea of glass mixed with fire,” with the glass symbolizing God’s transcendent purity and the fire symbolizing divine judgment. Who are these people standing on the sea and worshiping, which is pictured by holding “harps of God” (or “harps for playing to God”)? It is those who had been victorious over the beast. How were they victorious over the beast? He’s already told us. “And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death” (Rev. 12:11). Here are the redeemed—the saints, who had endured much at the hand of the beast to whom it was given “to overcome them” (Rev. 13:7). But here is the great message that underlies John’s description: the beast cannot overcome those eternally secured through the death of Christ. The events on earth often obscure the reality in heaven. The beast—that figure representing the governing world in opposition to God—temporally appears to defeat the saints. Yet the reality is that through the blood of Christ the saints have “been victorious over the beast and over his image and over the number of his name.” No aspect of the beast’s evil strokes is left (thus the repeated detail of overcoming him). The victory through Christ is complete!
(Phil A. Newton)
No comments:
Post a Comment