Speaker: Greg Sanders

Passage: Revelation 15 & 16

THE LIFE OF REPENTANCE – REVELATION 15 & 16

We’re going to be in Revelation chapters 15 and 16. We’re going to tackle two chapters today. The reason I want to read those together is I think if we come out of 14, chapters 15 and 16 really are a continuation of context, and if we subdivide those, I think we’re going to miss the major point. In fact, I would say that in the study of the Book of Revelation, one of the biggest mistakes I think that happens in the church is that we go so micro that we miss the macro message. 

And so, because we fixate on the strangeness of the beasts and the bowls and all the different things, we tend to miss the actual message that the early church would have heard. And so I want to try to do our best today to tackle a large swath of Scripture. Believe it or not, we’ve been doing it in about twenty-five minutes. 

Number one, what an incredibly sweet time. Felt like we could have stayed there for a while. I feel like there’s so much in the heart of the Lord to do in this gathering. There’s such a nearness of the Lord for the miraculous. I don’t know that we’re supposed to do anything specific except just highlight that there’s just such an awareness of the presence of God. Lean into it. Don’t ever take it for granted. 

BLESSING IN DIFFICULTY

In chapter 14, there’s a statement that is a call of God to the earth. He says to John, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who from now on die in the Lord.” “Blessed are the dead who from now on die in the Lord. ‘Yes,’ says the Spirit, ‘they will rest on their labors, for their deeds follow them.’” It’s a very interesting statement. 

Number one: it doesn’t exactly read like a blessing– “Blessed to the dead who die from now on in the Lord.” What it is, is a call to the people of God to understand, remember, and keep it at the forefront of their minds that the promise of God’s faithful protection is theirs. God will protect them. 

You’re like, How do you get that? Because what He’s talking about is difficulty and adversity. “Blessed are the dead who from now on die in the Lord.” He’s essentially saying, Look, guys, you’re not going to be emancipated from difficulty; it’s going to happen. But you’re protected in it. 

And out of that, I want to highlight something I think is incredibly important. We have to remember that what happens in this life is not an indication of His love for us. If I don’t understand this principle that what happens to me is not an indication of His love, I will begin to read every circumstance that I’m in and look into it to figure out, Does God like me? Is He for me? 

This statement is an incredible declaration to the people of God: You’re going to go through difficulty, I’m not going to emancipate you from it. However, there’s a blessing on it. I will protect you. 

I think one of the biggest mistakes I see in the people of God right now is this kind of belief that, I came to Jesus and therefore everything is going to be good. Church, it’s not the case. That’s not what He’s ever said. What He said is, I’m with you always, to the end of the age. You’ll go through what you’re going to go through, but I’ll be with you in it, and I will teach you how to go through it. 

And the enemy loves to whisper when we face difficulty, See, He doesn’t love you. And what he’s doing is misappropriating our misunderstanding. And if we don’t have good theology that says, No, it has nothing to do with His love, this is just life circumstances, He’s with me, He’s for me, He’s got this, it’ll derail us. 

A GLASS SEA MIXED WITH FIRE

So, John will pick up in 15 and 16, and he’s going to communicate something that’s kind of similar, but he does it from a different vision lens. And what it’s laced with is this terror of choosing to live outside of God’s purpose, plan, and protection. 

Now we get into a lot of strange stuff in 15 and 16: Armageddon, bowls, sores, hailstones that weigh seventy-five pounds. There’s just a lot of wild stuff in here. Here’s what I want to caution this on: I think the actual central message of this is not about that. You have this magnanimous picture of chaos and then these micro-messages that are laced through it. So, we’re going to dig in for those. 

All right, here we go. Revelation 15:1. “Then I saw in heaven another marvelous event of great significance.” Time out. How many would agree with me that the first fourteen chapters up to this point were pretty marvelous and pretty wild? And yet John will push pause and go, Wait. I saw something different. What I just saw was different enough that I needed to mark it and go, whoa, I saw another thing. 

I think it’s a good indication for us that there’s a shift, that he was dealing with history and past– this is my belief, I can’t prove this, my belief– and now he’s transitioning to more future-forward. His goal in this is to put our eyes on what is to come. So, I think that should frame how we understand this passage and what it contains. 

He said, “Seven angels were holding the seven last plagues, which would bring God’s wrath to completion. I saw before me what seemed to be a glass sea mixed with fire. And on it stood all the people who had been victorious over the beast and his statue and the number representing his name.” 

So, there’s seven angels, seven plagues. Why? What is the significance of seven? It’s perfection. Why does it matter here? It’s language that’s intended to show us that what’s happening is from God. It’s holy. It’s pure. 

There’s a phrase– “would bring God’s wrath to completion–” it’s pointing us to the future because we know, currently, not complete. It’s probably safe for us to say this is after the time of John’s writing. Where does that land in the timeline of humanity? I have no idea. Neither does anyone else. No matter what they say, they don’t know. What we should do is discern with great humility and caution. In other words, the things we can know in Scripture, we hold tightly; the things we don’t know, we relax on. 

Why? How many would agree with me that in the Scriptures, God is very good at being very clear when He wants to be? Thou shalt not sin. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not murder. There’s a list of not vague things. It’s very specific. 

So, when He’s not detailed and clear, it should cause us to step back and go, Maybe it wasn’t intended to be expressly known. Maybe it’s a mystery. I don’t like mysteries. Well, you’re not God. Perhaps He leaves things in mystery form because it might not even pertain to our life. I think that mysteries are intended in the Book of Revelation. 

So, what is John seeing? He says, “I saw before me what seemed to be a glass sea mixed with fire.” Anytime in Scripture you hear somebody say, “I saw before me what seemed…” Ezekiel will do it, Isaiah will do it, Jeremiah will do it, the prophets do it all the time, they’re seeing a vision, and they’re trying to put language to what they see because they don’t know what they’re seeing. 

They’re seeing something that is new to them, and they’re doing their best to grab at descriptors to go, It kind of looked like a sea of glass. I’ve never seen a sea of glass, have you? He’s using language to try to put a picture together. 

He’s like, But it looked like it was on fire. But people were standing on it. “On it stood all the people who’d been victorious over the beast.” Okay, so what he’s seeing is the totality of the people of God who have died. I would offer that from this, we get a picture that it’s in the end, places it at the end timeline, post Jesus’ return. 

OUR WORSHIP CARRIES OVER INTO THE NEXT LIFE

But then instantly John doesn’t hang out in that narrative. He shifts his narrative to something that’s very interesting. “They were all holding harps that God had given them.” Doesn’t a harp seem like a strange gift to get from God? I mean, I don’t know that I ever saw a picture of the pearly gates and harps being handed out, but it says all the people– all the people– were holding harps. Every single one of them was holding a harp, based on this narrative, based on John’s picture. 

Why? Why would God give harps? I do not have a definitive answer, but I have a couple thoughts I want to give us. How many would agree with me that harp is an instrument of music? How many would agree with me that a harp is a personal expression instrument? Only one person can play that harp at a time. 

Okay, so if I take those two ideas, those pictures that are put together, perhaps your personal worship on this side is something He will capture and reward you for on that side. What if your ability to worship through earthly circumstances earns you a harp that becomes a foundational element in your eternal song? 

You’re like, I don’t sing. That’s not true. You might not sing well, but you do sing. It’s not true. Your worship is not an issue of skill. Your worship is a discipline in the Kingdom. It’s actually a weapon for breakthrough. 

And what we see here is that He gives them a gift. It’s an odd gift. I think it’s significant. I would say to us, we need to learn the principle of the harp, which is how I go through my difficulties in life is important. Do I worship when I face difficulty, or do I fight? 

Because if I really understand that, that means, when He brings difficulty into my life, how I process it has a reward on the other side, that I might be missing out on an opportunity for reward if I don’t learn how to worship for breakthrough. 

I promise you, if you’re in the middle of a difficult situation and you discipline yourself to go get alone with the Lord and worship, it will change your circumstance. Worship is not a response of the heart; it’s a weapon in the Kingdom. I use praise for breakthrough. 

Why? Because it aligns my spirit with the truth of who He is and I transcend my circumstance by beginning to declare the goodness of God over my life. That although what’s around me might look chaotic, I just set my eyes on Him, and I begin to declare His nature and His goodness. And we don’t do that enough. 

When was the last time that you watched a news report, got kind of sad about what you saw, and decided to go worship until you got your perspective right? When was the last time something happened at work, and it just turns you upside down in your head, and your first response is, I got to get home and worship because I need my head on right? That is to be how we handle life, that we are to worship for breakthrough, not problem solved for it. 

THE TWO SONGS

John said, “They were singing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb: ‘Great and marvelous are your works, O Lord God, the Almighty. Just and true your ways, O King of the nations. Who will not fear you, Lord, and glorify your name? For you are holy. All nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous deeds have been revealed.’” 

There’s two songs that are being sung here. Here’s my question: are they just songs? Do they matter? Well, they’re both ancient songs of Scripture out of Exodus 15, Isaiah 12, and Psalm 105; the song of Moses was a song of deliverance, the song of the Lamb a song of redemption. 

So, what do we understand from these songs? The song of Moses is the song that is sung by the people of Israel when He secured their freedom, when He fixed a tough situation, He freed them. The song of a Lamb is a song of gratitude for salvation. Both of these songs are rooted in the majesty and wonder of who He is and what He’s done– both who He is and what He’s done. 

I want you to catch this picture: those who are redeemed and protected from the maelstrom of what’s happening on the earth– so they’re around the throne, that’s the picture– what’s going on on the earth, they’re protected from.

They’re singing around His throne of who He is. We get that in worship. They’re also singing about His capacity and what it was in their earthly lives. They’re bringing songs from their history to the throne; their personal histories are laced into the songs they’re singing on the other side. 

So, perhaps our worship testimony of His faithfulness in our lives is to become our personal declaration for all time. In other words, what you’re going through now actually matters there; how you process it, matters there. 

If I believe that my journey matters, the individual things I face in my life matter, my willingness to stay in the fight matters– anybody wanted to get out of the fight and quit once in a while? when you’re just like, This is ridiculous. I can’t do this. You’re like, I never have. Well, good for you. 

So, perhaps every time you find a place you have to trust Him and depend on Him, what you’re actually doing is learning to write your worship anthem. Because you found a place He’s inviting you to worship for breakthrough because it’s tough, it’s difficult. 

My instant question would be, Well then, where is it? Where do you need to trust Him more? Could you consider all the places in your life that are tough are places that He’s inviting you to worship until you get breakthrough? 

You’re like, Man, I got a lot of places to worship. Well, then, you must be really blessed. Because we see here that what He did with those was give reward. So, He’s not just saying, Buck up. He’s saying, No, I want to give you reward. And what happens if maybe just a very few people understand that discipline? 

THE SEVEN ANGELS AND SEVEN PLAGUES

“Then I looked and I saw that the Temple in heaven, God’s Tabernacle, was thrown wide open.” So, John will instantly change the narrative. It goes to a big picture where it gets really kind of violent. 

“The seven angels who were holding the seven plagues came out of the Temple. They were clothed in spotless–” see up until this moment, I thought they might look like Transformers, but then it tells me what they were wearing. 

“They were clothed in spotless white linen with gold sashes across their chest. Then one of the four living beings handed each one of the seven angels a gold bowl filled with the wrath of God, who lives forever and ever. The Temple was filled with the smoke of God’s glory and power. No one could enter the Temple until the seven angels had completed pouring out the seven plagues. 

“And then I heard a mighty voice from the Temple say to the seven angels, ‘Go your ways and pour out on the earth the seven bowls containing God’s wrath.’ 

“So the first angel left the Temple and poured out his bowl on the earth, and horrible, malignant sores broke out on everyone who had the mark of the beast and who worshiped the statue. 

“Then the second angel poured out his bowl on the sea, and it became like the blood of a corpse. And everything in the sea died. 

“Then the third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and springs, and they became blood. And I heard the angel who had authority over all water saying, ‘You are just, O Holy One, who is and who always was, because you have sent these judgments. Since they shed the blood of your holy people and your prophets, you have given them blood to drink. It is their just reward.’

“And I heard a voice from the altar, saying, ‘Yes, O Lord God, the Almighty, your judgments are true and just.’” 

I want us to not miss these, these are not casual statements. There’s two reasons they’re not casual statements. They’re spoken by perfect Heavenly beings. So, we have to look at them in that context. These are spoken in Heaven; these are not opinions. 

Secondly, they’ve been recorded in Scripture. There has to be a reason why those will be recorded in Scripture. There’s not a lot of things that are spoken on the other side that get recorded. What it for sure means is they’re not opinion, they’re truth. 

The statement, “They earned what they received,” wow, that seems harsh, you got what you deserved. We cannot react to it and go, How harsh. What it means is that God was fully in the right, releasing this difficulty on the earth. It was justified and righteous. 

And I want to leave the text for a second and ask us a question: can we as a people reconcile that when He decides to release something, when He decides to do something, it is right, regardless of what we think about it, regardless of our opinion, or whether we understand it? 

And if I learn to live in that discipline, if I learn to live in that truth, it makes understanding tough things easier. In other words, I can look at some stuff that I don’t understand and go, Look, I know that Lord, You don’t release things unless that’s right to do it. You’re fully right to release things. You never do it out of a haphazardness. You never do it out of anger. You’re never punitive with it. You’re never just trying to get back at people. It’s always something you’re doing with intention. Therefore, I don’t have to have an opinion about it- in fact, I should be careful not to– I should step back and say, I don’t get it. I just know He’s holy. I know He’s pure. 

The second thing I want us to see is the reality that God is keeping score. It says why God sent them: “Because they shed the blood of your holy prophets and your people.” God is responding to the way His people were treated. They say, “Your judgments are just and true.” I just want us to catch this: He’s watching over His people. When they’re attacked, misused, abused, there will be recompense. 

Why is that important? Because it frees me up to trust Him when tough stuff comes my way. When I’m mistreated, when I’m abused, when I’m mishandled, I can just trust the Lord. Why? Because I know that He will take care of it. I don’t have to react and respond. Instead, I can trust and release it to Him. I can live accepting His sovereignty and just trust in His ability to reward me if I let Him protect me. 

We forfeit a lot of reward by trying to go after our own protection. We want to defend our own place, and we lose reward because we’re not allowing Him to do it. 

“Then the fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, causing it to scorch everything with its fire.” This is where it gets really important. “Everyone was burned by the blast of the heat–” not that part– “and they cursed the name of God, who had control over all these plagues. They did not repent of their sins and turn to God and give him glory. 

“Then the fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and his kingdom was plunged into darkness. His subjects ground their teeth in anguish, and they cursed the God of heaven for their pains and sores. But they did not repent of their evil deeds and turn to God. 

“Then the sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great Euphrates River, and it dried up so that the kings from the east could march their armies towards the west without hindrance. Then I saw three evil spirits that looked like frogs leap from the mouths of the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet. They are the demonic spirits who work miracles and go out to all the rulers of the world to gather them for battle against the Lord on that great judgment day of God the Almighty. 

“‘Look, I will come as unexpectedly as a thief! Blessed are those who are watching for me, who keep their clothing ready so they will not have to walk around naked and ashamed.’” 

I have not touched this in any of the gatherings, I have to touch this. It shows up in red. It shows up as words of Jesus directly. It’s a wildly– in my opinion– misplaced idea here. Except it can’t be. He speaks into this moment where we’re seeing all this chaos and these plagues. Why would He do that? Why would He say, “I’m going to come as unexpectedly as a thief, blessed are those who are watching for me?” The point isn’t to say, Sleep in fear, it’s a pop quiz tomorrow. 

The point is to say, Blessed are those who are watching for me, in other words, who have set their attention on the Kingdom. My mindset is towards You. My heart is towards You. I’m engaged with you at all times, whether that’s through prayer, whether that’s through study, whether that’s through the discipline of a personal life, living in the fear of the Lord, You’re my focus. 

And He says, “Who keep their clothing ready so they will not have to walk around naked and ashamed.” It tells me that righteousness, learning to walk in holiness and purity, is really what this passage is about. He’s really aiming at His people, understanding that them learning to appropriate the fear of the Lord and walk clean, puts clothing on them and prepares them for whatever He wants them to do. 

That when we forfeit our righteousness, we forfeit holiness, we stop living into the fear of the Lord, what we’re doing is walking around exposing our nakedness, spiritually. It’s dropped in here, almost like this anchor point in the middle of the text. That’s very interesting. 

And then it goes back, “And the demonic spirits gathered all the rulers and the armies…” It’s almost like it just drops in and then we disappear. “He gathers them to a place with a Hebrew name, Armageddon. The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air.” I don’t know how you pour a bowl out into the air. That’s interesting. 

“And a mighty shout came from the throne in the Temple, saying, ‘It is finished!’ Then the thunder crashed and rolled, and lightning flashed. And a great earthquake struck– the worst since people were placed upon the earth.”

Prior to that, “Worst since people were placed on the earth,” it would be easy to go, Oh, maybe the “it is finished” is what happened at the cross. But we know that the earthquake that happened at the cross wasn’t the worst earthquake that happened in the history of the earth. Otherwise, that would have been recorded historically. It wasn’t. 

“The great city of Babylon split into three sections, and the cities of many nations fell into heaps of rubble. So God remembered all of Babylon’s sins, and He made her drink the cup that was filled with the wine of his fierce wrath. And every island disappeared, and all the mountains were leveled. There was a terrible hailstorm–” here we go with those big old hailstones– “and hailstones weighing as much as seventy-five pounds fell from the sky onto the people below.” And catch this: “They cursed God because of the terrible plague of the hailstorm.” 

THE DEMONIC REALM WILL BE JUDGED

Armageddon: if you’re like me, I grew up Pentecostal, when we talked about Revelation, Armageddon was about like this: it’s a valley– and it’s a weird valley– it’s a valley that somehow has a floor that allows blood to come up to about a horse’s bridle, so it’s going to be just thick with blood, and there’s going to be a battle, and it’s just blood, it’s just mayhem, and it’s chaos.

I don’t think that’s what John’s talking about here. I’m not saying that interpretation is wrong, I’m saying John is just simply saying, There’s a battle coming, this place called Armageddon. Is that a real battle? Is that a spiritual battle? I don’t know. It doesn’t matter.

What I want to draw our attention to is what John’s actually focusing on. He wants us to realize that there’s a clear and coming judgment for the demonic realm. The demonic realm will be judged for the way it has trampled and afflicted the people of God and humanity. So, the narrative here is really clear: there’s recompense coming for the demonic realm. 

THE UNREPENTANT

I don’t think that’s the most important part here, though. The most important part is this phrase: “They never repented.” There’s this repeated phrase, “Those who are against God never repented.” No matter what the Lord sent to them, they refused to repent. Bowl after bowl, plague after plague, they refused to repent. 

I would love you to consider that bowl after bowl, it was the same people being invited to repent, and time after time after time, they refused. So, there’s a narrative shift where what’s really being talked about by John is repentance. 

The tragedy of this passage is that they would not repent no matter what came into their life that was difficult, and I don’t think we can look at this while asking this question: Are you a person who repents quickly? What does it take for you to repent? What does God have to bring into your life for you to be willing to repent? Because what we see here is a people who will refuse to repent. 

I see the only difference between the people in the earth and the people around the throne that he sees, the only difference I can find is that they were willing to repent. All the plagues, they come out like an eye-for-an-eye, kind of like, What do you mean? They bowed to the beast; they got sores. They killed people; they got blood. It’s just like an eye for an eye. 

What’s the point of it? I want you to understand the point of the plagues was grace. The point of the plagues, based on this narrative, was God was trying to get their attention so they would repent. He was sending increasingly cascading levels of difficulty, intensity, so that they would turn. 

It’s the same thing that we see in Israel when the plagues come against Egypt. God’s heart was to save Egypt, it was not to judge them. He was after an entire culture. At the time, it was the most powerful culture in the world. The plagues were intended to cause Pharaoh to go, Time out, I’m clearly not God. 

Why? Because Pharaoh thought he was God. You study Egyptian history, they believed Pharaoh was God. They were God on earth. God was making a play to help them understand, You’re not God. I’m God. My concern is this hard-heartedness where there’s no repentance. We can’t look at that and judge it, go, Yeah, because it’s a human condition. 

GOD’S PROTECTION OF THE REPENTANT

There’s this punch line in this message that I just want to draw out: we, God’s people, are protected and delivered from any affliction that’s around us. You say, What’s that mean? It means, if He’s letting it happen in your life, relax, He’s in control of it. We’re protected from the judgments, from the things that were intended to be punitive, in so much that we learn to live a life of repentance.

What’s that mean? It means I live His way, period. When I don’t, I stop, drop, and pour my heart out. Learning to repent, church, is vital; it’s not an optional thing. I can’t read this passage without the question coming: do I live a life of repentance? Do you live a life of repentance? 

Would those around you say, Man, that’s a tender-hearted person. They’re just so soft before the Lord. When they do something wrong, their first response is, Hey, please forgive me, I’m sorry, that wasn’t right, that wasn’t the nature of Christ, that’s not who He’s called me to be. 

Or are you a person who your answer is, I don’t know, if He doesn’t convict me, I don’t worry about it. If that’s your answer, that’s awful. Because Paul said, “I’m crucified with Christ, yet I live. But this life I live now, I don’t live according to the flesh. I live according to every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.” 

Which means I’m actively studying what’s in there, I’m actively seeking what’s in there, I’m analyzing my life, I’m asking the question of myself, is the nature of Christ on me? Is His character in me? Am I living the Kingdom as He’s called me to? And if I find deficiencies, I’m taking those to Him, and I’m saying, Search me and know me. Lord, I see places where I need You more. I’m not living arrogantly in a spot where I would say, I don’t know, if You don’t convict me, I’m not worried about it. Clearly, You’re cool with me. 

I think the message for the church today in this passage is really simple: His way is protection; outside of His way is pain. So church, here’s my word out of this passage for us: repent and stay tender to his desire for your life; if you do that, you’re fine. 

SEEK REPENTANCE

My request for today is that you go away and you sit and consider: do I live a life tender to the voice of God, tender to the nature of God? Am I actively shaping myself into His image, or have I just decided I’m going to go with the flow, and if He wants to convict me, He can convict me? 

See, discipleship is to be a learner under discipline. I’m actively in pursuit of Him. I live a life of repentance because it’s the way forward. I love repentance because it washes all my stupidity away. It’s really easy to go, Man, Lord, I screwed up again, will you please forgive me? His answer is, Always.

You’re in a relationship, isn’t it easy to be with somebody who’s like, I’m sorry, I should have done that better, will you forgive me? You’re like, Oh, cool, moving on. Versus the tendency that’s in us as people, which is to bull our necks and be like, What? Make me. What’s wrong with that? We can’t be those people. That’s what’s going on in this passage, no matter what the Lord brought to their life, their answer was, Yeah, I don’t care. 

Stand with me, please. So, go away today, please, take ten minutes alone, sit with the Lord. Proverbs talks about the person that hears the word of the Lord and doesn’t do anything about it, it’s like looking in a mirror and walking away and forgetting what you saw. I think this is a word for us to assess whether or not we’re really living as repentant people, tender to the voice of God, tender to the move of God. 

If you have things where you’re like, I know I’ve done X, Y, Z, I got to make it right with people, go make it right with people. Don’t be arrogant. Don’t be stubborn. You’re like, Yeah, but I just don’t want to admit it. They already know you’re wrong. Just walk in and go like this, You know what? I was at church today, and I really got convicted that the way I’ve been living is wrong. Will you please forgive me? Jesus called me to a better standard, and I need to ask your forgiveness. Done. They’re like, I don’t know. That’s their problem. 

Your responsibility is to walk right before Him. What other people do with it is up to them. But to not walk right before Him out of pride, out of insecurity, I can’t admit when I’m wrong, you’re forfeiting reward for no reason. 

All right, that was a second sermon, sorry. Jesus, we love You, honor You. Lord, I know there’s places when we talk about this kind of stuff that instantly come to mind, and Holy Spirit, would You give us the courage to face those? 

Lord, whether that is something we can do alone with You, or maybe we need to meet with prayer teams, that’s fine, but would You give us the courage to face them, the tenacity to do what’s necessary to make things right now? 

I love the truth of all this chaos that’s going on in this passage, we don’t have to worry about it if we just live right before You, that we walk protected. So, would Your face shine upon us, be with Your people as we leave today. Jesus’ name, amen.