Diversity Is the Means, Not the End in Itself

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I’m teaching 6 Bible studies on Revelation in Q1 of 2023, and this week is #5! Our topic: Why I Do Not Believe “The Rapture” Is a Biblical Doctrine.

Yeah baby. You know you’re curious. 6:30 PM Wednesday (3/1), with dinner beforehand. Families, bring your kids! (As always, livestream available.)

 
 
 

REVELATION 15:1-8

1 Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and amazing, seven angels with seven plagues, which are the last, for with them the wrath of God is finished. 2 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. 3 And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying,
“Great and amazing are your deeds, O Lord God the Almighty!
Just and true are your ways, O King of the nations!
4 Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name?
For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship you,
for your righteous acts have been revealed.”
5 After this I looked, and the sanctuary of the tent of witness in heaven was opened, 6 and out of the sanctuary came the seven angels with the seven plagues, clothed in pure, bright linen, with golden sashes around their chests. 7 And one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God who lives forever and ever, 8 and the sanctuary was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power, and no one could enter the sanctuary until the seven plagues of the seven angels were finished.

 
 

What is God’s plan for history? How will the Kingdom come?

God gave John his vision so that the Church would know the answer to that question.

The life, death, and resurrection of Jesus defeated evil and launched the Church. The Holy Spirit came to incorporate people of all nations into the Church, and not just the Jews.

As we read through the New Testament, we see the Church made up of believers from—in the language of Revelation—every nation, tribe, people, and language.

That alone is of utmost importance.
But Revelation tells us something electrifying:

Namely that the multi-ethnic church is not the goal—it is the means to the end.

In Revelation 15, John compares the victory of God at the end of history to the victory of God over the Egyptians in the days of the Exodus; in other words, John sees a new and greater Exodus.

2 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.
3 And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying,
“Great and amazing are your deeds, O Lord God the Almighty!
Just and true are your ways, O King of the nations!
4 Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name?
For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship you,
for your righteous acts have been revealed.”

The new song the people sing is not just the song of Moses (as in Exodus) but also the song of the Lamb, because it is the death of the Lamb (i.e. the death of Jesus) that has won the victory. And what has that victory achieved?

“That all nations will come and worship” the Lord.

Revelation reveals that the reason the Lord created a multi-ethnic church was so that the multi-ethnic church would evangelize the multi-ethnic world.

 

A CHURCH FROM ALL NATIONS FOR ALL NATIONS

Richard Bauckham, as usual, puts it perfectly:
“In 15:2-4 the martyrs celebrate the victory God has won through their death and vindication, not by praising him for their own deliverance, but by celebrating its effect on the nations, in bringing them to worship God. This gives a fresh significance to the earlier use of new exodus imagery with reference to the Lamb’s victory, in which by his death he ransomed a people from all the nations to be a kingdom and priests for God (5:9-10). We now see that this redemption of a special people from all the peoples is not an end in itself, but has a further purpose: to bring all the peoples to acknowledge and worship God. The immediate effect of the Lamb’s own victory was that his bloody sacrifice redeemed a people for God. But the intended ultimate effect is that this people’s participation in his sacrifice, through martyrdom, wins all the peoples for God. This is how God’s universal kingdom comes and the concluding verse of the song of Moses [in Exodus] is fulfilled: ‘The Lord will reign forever and ever’ (Exodus 15:18).”

— Richard Bauckham, The Climax of Prophecy

 

OTHER QUICK POINTS ON REVELATION 15

  • John portrays the conversion of the nations in several different ways: in 11:3-13 it’s the result of the testimony of the two witnesses; in chapter 14 it is through the image of the harvest; here, it’s the image of a new exodus.

  • The sea of glass is mixed with fire as a sign of heavenly judgment.

  • The seven bowls are the final judgment and there is no more delay from this point on because the church has been created and God’s purposes have been realized.

  • In v. 5, heaven is opened so that God’s glory can be seen in the midst of the final judgment.

  • In v. 8, we see that God’s glory in heaven is manifested as wrath on earth, and vice versa.