Biblion Bible Commentary
Read the introduction to Revelation · About this commentary
The Song of Moses and the Lamb
Revelation 15:1-4
1 I saw another great and marvelous sign in the sky: seven angels having the seven last plagues, for in them God’s wrath is finished. · WEB
The last sign opens with the victors already standing on the fiery sea, singing the two songs as one — and every clause of it is Scripture reassembled.
I saw another great and marvelous sign in the sky: seven angels having the seven last plagues, for in them God's wrath is finished.
The third of the book's labeled signs Revelation 12:1 Revelation 12:3 announces the end of the long forbearance: seven plagues that are last — nothing follows them — for in them God's wrath is finished: the finishing verb of the mystery Revelation 10:7, now applied to judgment. The trumpet-thirds warned Revelation 8:7; warning is over; what remains is completion.
But before one bowl pours, the vision does what this book always does before judgment — it shows the safe first Revelation 7:3. I saw something like a sea of glass mixed with fire, and those who overcame the beast, his image, and the number of his name, standing on the sea of glass, having harps of God Revelation 15:2.
The throne room's crystal sea Revelation 4:6 now shot with fire — the trial passed through, still glowing in the glass — and standing on it, the conquerors of the whole thirteenth chapter: the company that would not worship the image or take the number, on the far shore of their Red Sea with harps in their hands. The tableau is the exodus completed at world scale: Israel stood on the shore, the sea behind them, and sang Exodus 15:1; the last-generation overcomers stand on their sea, the beast's whole economy behind them, and sing.
They sang the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb Revelation 15:3 — one song with two titles: the oldest anthem in Scripture and the newest, deliverance from Pharaoh and deliverance from the beast, one continuous salvation with one music. And its lyrics are entirely assembled from the older Scriptures — great and marvelous are your works Psalms 111:2; righteous and true are your ways Deuteronomy 32:4 — the song of Moses' own keynote; you King of the nations Jeremiah 10:7; who wouldn't fear you, Lord, and glorify your name? — the first angel's summons Revelation 14:7 become the redeemed's doxology; for you only are holy. For all the nations will come and worship before you Psalms 86:9; for your righteous acts have been revealed Psalms 98:2.
Notice what the victors' song contains: not one word about themselves. No verse of their endurance, their refusal, their scars — the song of those who overcame the beast is entirely about God's works, ways, holiness, and revealed justice. That is the book's definition of victory singing — and it is placed here so that the bowls about to pour are heard through it: the judgments ahead are the righteous acts this choir certifies Revelation 16:5–7.
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