The singing of the new song and subsequent judgment of Babylon led to the singing of another song in heaven. In Revelation 15 John shares his vision of another group of worshipers singing the awesome acts of God.
And I saw something like a sea of glass mingled with fire, and those who have the victory over the beast, over his image and over his mark and over the number of his name, standing on the sea of glass, have harps of God. They sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying: Great and marvelous are your works, Lord God Almighty! Just and true are your ways, O King of the saint! Who shall not fear You, O Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy. For all the nations shall come and worship before you, for your judgments have been manifested.
(Revelation 15:2-4)
The only description of these worshipers in this passage is that they have the victory over the beast and everything associated with it. The beast is introduced in chapter thirteen of Revelation and was given power by the dragon who is Satan. It was also given authority to make war with the saints and overcome them. In my opinion the beast is the kingdom of a false religious system (anti-christ) put in place by Satan to deceive man and if possible even God’s elect.
There is, however, a multitude of people who have not bought in to what this world or a false religious system has to offer. They have taken seriously the command of God to come out from them and be separate. They have overcome temptation and have been faithful through tribulation. They have persevered through persecution and have kept the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. These are the saints of God who have not bowed their knee to worship the beast but have become victorious over the works of darkness. These are the true worshipers of God who sing the song of Moses and of the Lamb. Revelation 12:11 describes them this way; And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.
Why is their song titled the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb? We begin to answer that question by looking at the exodus of Israel from Egypt. God’s children, his nation, were in slavery to a dark kingdom. They had been oppressed for hundreds of years by an evil task master. In time God heard their prayers for deliverance and sent a man to act as a deliverer. By many signs and wonders God delivered his people from bondage then drowned the oppressor’s army in the Red Sea.
Then Moses and the children of Israel sang this song to the Lord, and spoke, saying: I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously! The horse and its rider he has thrown into the sea! The Lord is my strength and song, and he has become my salvation; he is my God, and I will praise him; my father’s God, and I will exalt him.
(Exodus 15:1-2)
The song continues to praise God for his mighty power, his just ways and his holiness. In essence the song of Moses is one of praise for the deliverance of his people from bondage.
We find another song of Moses in Deuteronomy 32 which has a similar theme to that of the song in Revelation 15. In verse four Moses sings, He is the Rock, his work is perfect; for all his ways are justice, a God of truth and without injustice; righteous and upright is he. He ends the song with a declaration that God will avenge his people and provide atonement for them.
Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people; for he will avenge the blood of his servants, and render vengeance to his adversaries; he will provide atonement for his land and his people.
(Deuteronomy 32:43)
The song of the Lamb is coupled with the song of Moses because it to is one of deliverance. In chapter 5 of Revelations Jesus is introduced as the kinsman-redeemer. By his blood he purchased his people. He brought them out of bondage and set them free from the grip of the task master called sin, death and self. He gained for them an inheritance and presented them to his Father as kings and priests. It was the blood of a Lamb that caused the death angel to pass over Israel in Egypt. It is the blood of the Lamb that takes away the sin of the world. Much of the worship in John’s vision of heaven is centered on the Lamb and what he has accomplished by his blood.
Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom, and strength and honor and glory and blessing!
(Revelation 5:12)
All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
(Revelation 13:8)
1 Peter 2:9 reads, But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, his own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of him who brought you out of darkness into his marvelous light. We enter heaven’s worship as we proclaim the praises of the Lamb. We become true worshipers of God as we bow to his mastery and refuse to be slaves to the world’s system and the beast.
Worship is essential in ushering in the return of Christ. I believe that as Jesus, the Lamb of God, is given the rightful place of worship among God’s people that the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms of our God and of his Christ. As the kingdoms of this world crumble we grow closer to hearing the words; Let us be glad and rejoice and give him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his wife has made herself ready. (Revelation 19:7) The bride, the Lamb’s wife, has made herself ready by washing herself clean in his blood and putting on the garment of praise. Even so come quickly, Lord Jesus.