Catholic Commentary on Revelation 15

"Great and marvellous are your deeds, Lord God Almighty. Just and true are your ways, King of the nations." (Revelation 15:3)

The Song of Moses and the Lamb

Another great and marvellous sign appears in heaven: seven angels with the seven last plagues, last because with them God's wrath is completed. Before these final judgments, John sees those who had been victorious over the beast and its image and over the number of its name, standing beside a sea of glass glowing with fire, holding harps given them by God. They sing the song of God's servant Moses and the song of the Lamb. The combination is precise: the song of Moses from Exodus 15, sung at the Red Sea after the defeat of Pharaoh, is now sung again as the song of the Lamb, at the sea of glass before the throne of heaven. Pharaoh's defeat was the type; the beast's defeat is the antitype. Every biblical deliverance points forward to the final deliverance that the Lamb has accomplished.

Great and marvellous 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. This is the theology of history in miniature: God's acts are great and marvellous, his ways are just and true, and the end of all things is the worship of all nations before him. The Catechism identifies the gathering of all nations in worship as the final fulfilment of the covenant promise to Abraham (CCC 60).

Living the Word

Brothers and sisters, great and marvellous are your deeds, Lord God Almighty. Just and true are your ways. When history seems to contradict this, when the ways of God seem neither just nor true but cruel or indifferent, this is the song the Church sings anyway: not because she does not feel the pain but because she knows the one at the sea of glass, and she trusts the one who opens the seals. Sing it today, as an act of faith before the final vindication arrives.

Prayer

Great and marvellous are your deeds, Lord God Almighty. Just and true are your ways, King of the nations. You alone are holy. Let all nations come and worship before you, for your righteous acts have been revealed. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

15
The Song of Moses and the Lamb
(Deuteronomy 32:1–47)
1 Then I saw another great and marvelous sign in heaven: seven angels with the seven final plagues, with which the wrath of God is completed.
 
2 And I saw something like a sea of glass mixed with fire, beside which stood those who had conquered the beast and its image and the number of its name. They were holding harps from God, 3 and they sang the song of God’s servant Moses and of the Lamb:
 
“Great and wonderful are Your works,
O Lord God Almighty!
Just and true are Your ways,
O King of the nations!* 15:3 SBL and WH King of the ages; TR King of the saints
4 Who will not fear You, O Lord,
and glorify Your name?
For You alone are holy.
All nations will come and worship before You,
for Your righteous acts have been revealed.”
Preparation for Judgment
 
5 After this I looked, and the temple—the tabernacle of the Testimony—was opened in heaven. 6 And out of the temple came the seven angels with the seven plagues, dressed in clean and bright linen and girded with golden sashes around their chests.
 
7 Then one of the four living creatures gave the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God, who lives forever and ever. 8 And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from His power; and no one could enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were completed.

*15:3 15:3 SBL and WH King of the ages; TR King of the saints

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