Revelation 15

This is sign number three. The first two show up in Revelation 12:1, 3.

666 (Revelation 13:18). They had refused to allow this number to be written on their forehead or on their right hand. This was possibly a symbolic, coded way for John to say Christians were refusing to play by Rome’s rules and worship Rome’s gods.

The songs are “of” Moses and the Lamb. That’s vague. It could mean: by, about, for, or devoted to. The Bible preserves three songs reportedly by Moses: (1) Exodus 15:1-18, after crossing the sea and escaping from Egypt’s army. (2) Numbers 21:17-18, after finding water in a well the people dug. (3) Deuteronomy 31:30—32:43, near the end of his life, and after commissioning Joshua as the new leader. Scholars debate which, if any of these, track well with the first song John reports. The Exodus song seems especially popular because of its theme about victory and gratitude, though not so much for the word choices. The reference to the second song either by or about the Lamb is hard to figure out. John doesn’t say where one song ends and another begins. And it reads like one song.

Holy is a word Bible writers used most often to describe objects in the Jerusalem Temple or people who are devoted to God. It’s rare for Bible writers to call God holy. In relation to God, it’s not always clear what the writers intended the word to mean. The word John uses shows up only here and in Revelation 16:5. Some scholars say holy refers to the uniqueness of God—he’s the one and only. Others suggest it means he’s fair and honest and perfectly right in everything he says and does. He’s pure in every way anyone could measure purity.

Also called the Tabernacle, it was a portable worship center that Moses and the Jews used during their escape from slavery in Egypt, known as the Exodus. “Agreement” or “covenant” refers to the ark of the covenant, a chest that held the Ten Commandments. Those 10 laws were the agreement. Some scholars suggest that the reason John compared heaven’s temple to the ancient tent worship center is because he wanted to remind everyone that humans from the very beginning broke their part of the agreement. They kept breaking all 10 of the Ten Commandments. Other scholars say John saw a temple with a tent inside. That’s a literal reading of John’s report.

These four beings are first described in Revelation 4:6–8, which tells us that they “stood near the throne. They were covered in eyes, front and back. Each of the four beings looked like a different creature: lion, ox, flying eagle, and one that had a face resembling a man. Each of these four beings had six wings and were covered with eyes.”

Sometimes, where there’s smoke there’s God. God appears under the cover of smoke in several Old Testament stories. During the Jewish exodus out of Egypt, God descended in fire and smoke on Mount Sinai (Exodus 19:18). The cloud covered Mount Sinai for six days (Exodus 24:16). God also promised Moses that when priests burned incense in the worship center, God would be there in the cloud of smoke (Leviticus 16:12-13).