If I am reading the Old Testament correctly, the physical manifestations of God’s work in human history during the Old Testament/Old Covenant are meant to point us toward spiritual realities in the New Testament/New Covenant.
God’s deliverance of His people from Egyptian slavery points toward God’s deliverance of His people from spiritual slavery.
the blood of the first Passover saved God’s people from literal death, pointing toward the blood of Jesus saving us from spiritual and eternal death.
the manna in the wilderness points toward God’s spiritual sustenance of His people
in our spiritual journey out of bondage to sin, we are still led by the fire and cloud - God’s direction and protection.
Moses struck a rock to get water for parched tongues; Jesus is the Rock who willingly gives the water of life for thirsty souls
The Promised Land is a type of Heaven, or the Kingdom of God
Noah’s ark of salvation comes before the Ark of the Covenant, which points toward Jesus, the ultimate ark in which the righteous are kept safe.
Adam is explicitly said to have been a type of Christ (Rom. 5:12).
Abel is shown to be a type of Christ (Matt. 23:34-35).
Melchizedek was a type of Christ (he was the King/Priest who blessed Abraham).
Joseph was a type of Christ (he suffered unjustly and then was exalted to save his brethren). [1]
Jesus is the true and better Moses, whose obedience leads us all into a new world of promise.[2]
The Old Testament is thick with physical realities intended to point us toward spiritual realities. [3] I want to look today at some areas of theological significance of The Exodus that we need to have in place before we start Revelation 15. Historical backdrop: The Egyptians enslaved God’s people, and if that wasn’t bad enough, things were getting worse rather than better. Long story short, God raises up Moses to force Pharaoh’s hand and lead God’s people to freedom.
God’s people are delivered from what at the time was the primary “big bad” of the Old Testament in terms of oppressing God’s people: Egypt (Rome and Babylon were coming.)
God’s acts prove him to be greater than the Egyptian gods and the Pharaoh, whom Ezekiel calls a “tannin” – a dragon from the water. More on that in a minute.[4] The following chart explains:[5]
So, that was a clear broadside against the pretenders to divinity. It wasn’t just a dethroning of the gods; it was a clear message to the people of Egypt that there is a God, and it’s YAHWEH. King of King. Lord of Lords. The Most High God.
A “vast mixed company” left with the Israelites, so apparently many Egyptians had begun to recognize Yahweh as God.[6] There is speculation that this multitude may have had more Egyptians than Israelites. It’s a good reminder that God “does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent.” (2 Peter 3:9). Even in His judgment there is mercy.
Of course, Pharaoh eventually tried to exterminate them. When Pharaoh changed his mind, the Egyptians pursued the Israelites. God parted the waters of the sea[7] – a place representing chaos to the Israelites, because that’s where tannin live – but the very chaotic waters that felt like home to Pharaoh destroyed his army.
Exodus 13:3 – 14:31 (excerpted)
Then Moses said to the people, “Commemorate this day, the day you came out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery, because the Lord brought you out of it with a mighty hand. On that day tell your son, ‘I do this because of what the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt.’
This observance will be for you like a sign on your hand and a reminder on your forehead that this law of the Lord is to be on your lips. And when the Israelites saw the mighty hand of the Lord displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant.
This leads to the Song of Moses, which is going to show up in Revelation 15.
The Song of Moses (Exodus 15)
Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to the Lord, saying ,“I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea. The Lord is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him.
The Lord is a man of war; the Lord is his name. Pharaoh’s chariots and his host he cast into the sea, and his chosen officers were sunk in the Red Sea. The floods covered them; they went down into the depths like a stone. Your right hand, O Lord, glorious in power; your right hand, O Lord, shatters the enemy. In the greatness of your majesty you overthrow your adversaries; you send out your fury; it consumes them like stubble.[8]
At the blast of your nostrils the waters piled up; the floods stood up in a heap; the deeps congealed in the heart of the sea. The enemy said, ‘I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil, my desire shall have its fill of them. I will draw my sword; my hand shall destroy them.’ You blew with your wind; the sea covered them; they sank like lead in the mighty waters.
Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders? You stretched out your right hand; the earth swallowed them.[9] You have led in your steadfast love the people whom you have redeemed; you have guided them by your strength to your holy abode.
The peoples have heard; they tremble; pangs have seized the inhabitants of Philistia. Now are the chiefs of Edom dismayed; trembling seizes the leaders of Moab; all the inhabitants of Canaan have melted away. Terror and dread fall upon them; because of the greatness of your arm, they are still as a stone, till your people, O Lord, pass by, till the people pass by whom you have purchased.
You will bring them in and plant them on your own mountain, the place, O Lord, which you have made for your abode, the sanctuary, O Lord, which your hands have established. The Lord will reign forever and ever.”
Alright. God’s people are rollin’! Israel was delivered and its oppressor judged (and keep in mind, this display of God’s power and protection of His people looked mighty compelling to a lot of Egyptians). They are headed for the Promised Land!
If you keep reading in Exodus, soon the people entered into a covenant relationship with YHWH. On the basis of the covenant relationship, YHWH showed His presence tangibly, first symbolized in the tabernacle and then the temple (which eventually point toward us, the church, with whom God ‘tabernacles’[10] and in whom the Holy Spirit dwells[11]).
Long story short, 40 years+ later[12] they are in the Promised Land. In this physical land, God’s people were intended to find freedom from bondage and freedom to flourish (“land flowing with milk and honey”[13])
This was a land of promised rest - but, it could be lost if the people were disobedient to the covenant. Obedience to the covenant meant life and freedom, while disobedience resulted in a return to what it was like to live in Egypt: in bondage, enslaved by others, sometimes in their own land and sometimes in a land not their own.
In Israelite history as recorded in the Old Testament (and other Jewish writing), the people forfeited their right to live in the land over and over. It was deeply discouraging. By the end of the Old Testament, they were living as a ruled people in strange lands, weeping by the waters of Babylon as they remembered Zion.[14] It sure seemed as if the dragon just kept lurking about, hunting them, drawing them back into the bondage of Egypt.
Revelation 15:1 I saw in heaven another great and marvelous sign: seven angels with the seven last plagues[15]—last, because with them God’s wrath[16] is completed.2 And I saw what looked like a sea of glass glowing with fire and, standing beside the sea, those who had been victorious over the beast and its image and over the number of its name. They held harps given them by God 3 and sang the Song of Moses and the Song of the Lamb:
Notice the Exodus overlap:
The angels are preparing to pour out the last plagues (the last 7 which, in Exodus, did not touch God’s people like the other plagues did, so keep that in mind when we get to them next week).
Those victorious over the beast are standing by a Sea of Glass. Second Temple literature often associated the image of the Sea of Glass with the Red Sea of the exodus.[17]According to tradition, the Red Sea became congealed and appeared like a glass vessel with fire inside.[18]
Add to that rabbinic tradition which claimed that just as Moses sang a song at the Red Sea, so he will sing a “new song” of praise in the world to come.
So, big picture view on how Revelation is the taking Old Testament events swirling around the Exodus and replaying them on a cosmic scale.[19]That’s the broader context of several chapters. More specifically, in how Revelation 15 interacts with Exodus themes:
In both, the enemy seemed to have God’s people under him. But God acted decisively on behalf of His people.
In both exoduses, God leads His people out triumphantly.
There is a “vast mixed company” in both stories, many of whom are brought to repentance and then worship when they see the might deeds of God (which includes recognizing the severity of sin and the goodness of God’s path of life as revealed in judgment/punishment)
Moses is the visible leader who leads Israel through crisis to victory. The Lamb is the cosmic leader who leads the saints to victory.
The first the controversy was with the dragon Pharaoh; the second is with The Dragon. They both end the same: God’s people will be delivered into the Promised Land.[20]
The Song of Moses and of the Lamb
“Great and marvelous are your deeds, Lord God Almighty.
Just and true are your ways, King of the nations. Who will not fear you, 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.”[21]
Note the new elements compared to the Song of Moses:[22]
The victory over the dragon has come not with the staff of Moses but through the blood of the Lamb. The battle is not ours; it’s the Lord’s. We will see this later when God’s final army appears – and does no fighting.
the faithful do not sing about their own deliverance, but of God’s works in the world and reign over all the nations.
instead of focusing on the destruction of the enemy, the song of the Lamb[23] focuses on the peoples of the world joining in praise and worship for the King of the nations.[24]
One way to think of the importance of the addition of the Song of the Lamb is to think of The Song of Moses as a song about deliverance from, and the Song of the Lamb about deliverance to.
If you are a follower of Jesus, you have been delivered from the dragons and beasts of the world, the chains of sin that enslaves us, ultimately from the penalty of eternal death that would be the just wages of our sins. That’s all good news, but it’s only part of the news.
We have been delivered to the just, true and holy King of the Nations. We have been delivered to a spiritual land of promise, in which:
the milk and honey is God’s love and grace
our rest is not just from our physical labors but our spiritual exhaustion
our manna is the beauty and truth of God’s Word that fills us
the Holy Spirit is the cloud and the fire that leads and protects
the Passover Lamb is The Lamb who was slain so that we can live.
the dragon that falls is not merely an earthly enemy; it’s the cosmic enemy, Satan, who is behind all the beasts.
* * * * *
There is so much in the book of Revelation that can raise anxiety if we let it: “Where/Who is the Beast? Are we going to suffer? How long? How bad? What will the church be like when this happens? WHAT SHOULD I DO WHEN ALL THIS HAPPENS?”
It’s perhaps natural in a country where life for followers of Jesus has been pretty smooth to wonder when those things will happen. For John’s audience – and for so many Christians in the history of the world, including right now – Revelation’s events were and are a present reality.
Where is the Beast? (gesture vaguely all around)
Are we going to suffer? (“You mean like we are right now?”)
What will the church be like when this happens? (“Like this.”)
WHAT SHOULD I DO WHEN ALL THIS HAPPENS? (“Same thing you’ve been doing. Hold fast to the testimony of Jesus and keep His commandments.”)
Revelation is supposed to reorient us. We have been delivered from the land of Worry about hardship, Anxiety for our safety, and Fear of the unknown; we’ve been delivered to the care of the just, true and holy King of the Nations. Revelation is a revelation of Jesus Christ. He’s the point. If anxiety, worry and fear arise as we think about End Times (or these times, for that matter), or we become consumed by our need to know precisely what will happen, we are missing the point.
Let’s make it more practical right now.
“What if we in the United States ever face the kind of persecution and hardship because of our faith that our fellow Christians are experiencing in other parts of the world?” We have been delivered from the land of Worry about hardship, Anxiety for our safety, and Fear of the unknown, and delivered to the care of the just, true and holy King of the Nations.
“What if we lose the freedoms we enjoy - like a right to assemble and speak and worship freely - and we face severe penalties for living and speaking our faith?” We have been delivered from the land of Worry about hardship, Anxiety for our safety, and Fear of the unknown, and delivered to the care of the just, true and holy King of the Nations.
What if our economy collapses, gas prices double, inflation soars, housing prices never come down, the stock market crashes, Social Security disappears, health care implodes? We have been delivered from the land of Worry about hardship, Anxiety for our safety, and Fear of the unknown, and delivered to the care of the just, true and holy King of the Nations.
“What if THAT PERSON becomes President, or Russia attacks the Ukraine, or COVID never stops, or Media gets even more ridiculous, or violence spills over in the streets, or another major terror attack rocks our land…or…???” We have been delivered from the land of Worry about hardship, Anxiety for our safety, and Fear of the unknown, and delivered to the care of the just, true and holy King of the Nations.
“What if my health falls apart, my kids wander from family and faith, we never get back in the gymuary… What . If.” We have been delivered from the land of Worry about hardship, Anxiety for our safety, and Fear of the unknown, and delivered to the care of the just, true and holy King of the Nations.
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[1] Thanks to https://feedingonchrist.org/old-testament-personal-types-and-shadows-of-christ/ for the refresher/reminder J
[2] https://devotionalstsf.org/2016/07/28/the-true-and-better-moses-hebrews-3-4/
[3] I got so much good info from “The Exodus Motif In Revelation 15–16: Its Background And Nature,” by Laslo Gallus, Belgrade Theological Seminary. https://digitalcommons.andrews.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3010&context=auss
[4] Ezekiel 29:3 (ASV) Speak, and say, Thus says the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I am against you, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great dragon that lies in the midst of his rivers, that has said, My river is my own, and I have made it for myself.”
[5] From https://www.metrolife.org/blog/post/learning-from-the-plagues.
[6] Also, it seems clear from later passages that the Israelites and Egyptians had intermarried, so there were family ties.
[7] Beale notes that the ‘sea’ is associated with the idea of evil. It’s a picture of the beasts’ origin a seen in Daniel 7. The Red Sea in the OT is the abode of the evil sea monster (Isa. 51:9–11; Ps.74:12–15; Ezek. 32:2)
[8] Interesting. Fire language to describe a flood. It’s a good reminder that fire language is judgment language that can cover a lot of possibilities.
[9] Same thing that happened to the flood the dragon sent against the woman in Rev. 12.
[10] John 1:14
[11] 1 Corinthians 6:19-20
[12] 40 represents a period of time in the Bible. #weighthenumbers
[13] Exodus 3:17
[14] David’s words in Psalm 137. What happened in the centuries before Jesus came had been happening on and off throughout Israel’s history.
[15] The difference in the number of plagues of the Egyptian exodus and those in the book of Revelation is not surprising due to the strong tendency in OT and Second Temple literature to reduce the number of the plagues from ten to seven. The reason for this tendency should be sought in the significance of the number seven, which is indicative of the severity and completeness of YHWH’s judgment.
[16] “This anger is directed against sin with intense opposition.” HELPS Word Studies
[17] T. F. Torrance claims that the sea in Rev 13:1, out of which a beast emerges, is the same sea as the Sea of Glass (The Apocalypse Today)
[18] Per Michael Heisser, when John later says that “there is no longer any sea” (21:1), he means that all evil on the earth will be not only defeated but also eradicated when Christ’s kingdom is established consummately on earth. There will no longer be a place for dragons to dwell among us.
[19] The chart is from https://sites.google.com/site/preteristpost/rethinking-revelation-11-the-woman-in-the-wilderness-ii
[21] Both songs remind me of Isaiah’s Song of Praise in Isaiah 26.
[23] Inspired by a number of Old Testament passages (Deut. 32:4; Ps. 86:8-10; 111:2; 139:14; 145:17; Jer. 10:6-7).
[24] “Christian worship… points “backward” and understands the present in its light (the “new exodus”), points “forward” to the future victory and celebrates its reality in the present, and points “upward” to the transcendent reality of God’s world, participating in the worship of the heavenly sanctuary that unites past, future, and present.”Eugene Boring, https://drtscott.typepad.com/markedbythelamb/2013/10/exploring-revelation-151-4-the-song-of-moses-and-the-lamb.html