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The Song of Moses and of the Lamb
The circle closes (Revelation 15; 19)
6 min read
Who is like You?
the question"Who would not fear You, Lord, and glorify Your Name?"
Rev 15:4the overcomers at the sea of glass
No god a human ever dreamed up let himself be drawn so far for a bride who had been unfaithful to him, and no god ever bent down to wipe away her tears with his own hand.
At the end of all the visions John sees a sea. It is no longer the roaring chaos, the primeval enemy, the water that swallowed an army and pulled a prophet down into its depths. This is a sea of glass, mingled with fire: smooth, translucent, motionless as a floor. The power the nations feared and that only YHWH could tame lies here like a mirror beneath the throne, stilled for good. On that sea of glass, or beside it, people are standing. They are the overcomers, those who withstood the beast and its mark, with the harps of God in their hands. A multitude that has gone through the fire, standing on the tamed sea, and they lift up a song.
John calls it the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb. Two songs in one mouth. The first was born at another sea, when a people of newly freed slaves stood on the far bank and sang it out over the water: who is like You among the gods, YHWH? At the last sea it sounds again, sung by a multitude no one can number, who have come home straight through the last storm: great and marvelous are Your works, Lord God Almighty; righteous and true are Your ways, King of the nations. Who would not fear You, Lord, and glorify Your Name? For You alone are holy; all the nations will come and bow down before You. What began at the Red Sea as a question no longer needs a question mark here.
Further on a sound breaks loose that is heard nowhere else in the New Testament. A great multitude in heaven cries out, like the roar of many waters and of heavy peals of thunder, one word that needs no translation: Hallelujah. The water that once swallowed an army has become the sound of praise. Four times the Hallelujah breaks loose, like waves crashing over one another. The first wave sings of justice: true and just are His judgments, for He has judged the great prostitute who corrupted the earth (19:1–2). The last wave carries the reason with it: the wedding of the Lamb has come, and His bride has made herself ready. The covenant began as a marriage vow at the foot of a mountain, and that wedding day was defiled with a calf of gold. Here she stands ready, in fine linen, bright and pure, and the linen has been given to her as a gift.
The Bridegroom has been longing for this day. Isaiah already saw it: "You will no longer be called Forsaken [...] you will be called My Delight Is in Her [...] as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so your God will rejoice over you" (Isa 62:4–5). Where the feast opens onto the new creation, the Almighty does the most intimate thing Scripture tells of Him. God Himself will dwell with them, a voice from the throne promises, and He will wipe every tear from their eyes (Rev 21:3–4). John, who had wept so loudly in the throne room, hears it with his own ears. No god a human ever dreamed up let himself be drawn so far for a bride who had been unfaithful to him, and no god ever bent down to wipe away her tears with his own hand.
On the night before His death, in an upper room in Jerusalem, Jesus took a cup, gave thanks, and passed it on. From now on I will not drink of this fruit of the vine, He said, until the day I drink it new with you in My Father's kingdom (Matt 26:29). Then He went out into the night. Now an angel calls to John: write, blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb (Rev 19:9). He had once told it Himself, in a parable about servants waiting for their master to come home from the wedding: he will dress himself to serve, have them recline at table, and come and wait on them (Luke 12:37). The Host Himself pours the wine. He has been waiting for that cup.
ExpertTwo songs, one mouth
The overcomers at the sea of glass sing "the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb" (Rev 15:3). The phrasing binds together two poles of Scripture. "The song of Moses" points to Exodus 15, the first incomparability hymn, sung after the passage through the sea: "who is like You among the gods, YHWH?" (15:11). "Great and marvelous are Your works" breathes that song, "righteous and true are Your ways" echoes Moses' last song (Deut 32:4), and the line "who would not fear You, King of the nations?" quotes Jeremiah 10:7 almost word for word, the confession over against the dead idols. In this way the birth of the question at the Red Sea and its sharpest development in the courtroom of the prophets are united in this one final song.
The sea itself belongs to this ending as well. The "sea of glass mingled with fire" (15:2) is tamed and stilled; a little further on John sees that in the new creation there is "no more sea" (21:1). There the primeval enemy has disappeared, not merely been subdued.
ExcursusThe bridal garment
"Hallelujah" means "praise Yah," with the short form of the divine Name. In the New Testament the word occurs only in Revelation 19, four times in a row (19:1,3,4,6). It brings in the psalms that open or close with it, among them the Hallel (Pss 113–118) sung at the Passover meal over the exodus.
About the garment, 19:8 says two things at once. The fine linen was "given" to her (edothē), and the fine linen "is the righteous deeds of the saints." The first sentence lays the stress on grace, the second on a life that fits that grace. The text does not choose between the two, and the interpretation need not either: the garment is a gift, and whoever wears it lives up to it.
HeartYou are the bride
You can read this ending as a grand cosmic event you get to watch from a distance. Scripture will not allow that. It does not call you only one of the invited (Rev 19:9). It says that you belong to the bride. The feast at the end of all things is your own wedding day.
Perhaps that word chafes. If you are a man of 50 with calluses on your hands, "bride" is not the first word you would use for yourself. But the image is not about veils. It is about being wanted. Israel's farmers and soldiers, priests and shepherds together were called the bride of YHWH, and the men in Corinth heard from Paul that he had betrothed them to one husband as a pure virgin (2 Cor 11:2). It means that Someone is watching for you, who rejoices over you with gladness and exults over you with singing (Zeph 3:17), and who has come the whole way to you. Whoever recognizes himself in the unfaithful sides of this story may know how it ends: with a wedding, and not with a reckoning, because the Lamb has already borne that reckoning. You do not have to weave the garment yourself. You do not sing the question "who is a God like You?" in the study. You sing it on your wedding day.
A note on the source text. The sea of glass mingled with fire and the overcomers with the harps: Revelation 15:2. The song of Moses and of the Lamb: 15:3–4, with "great and marvelous are Your works" (cf. Exodus 15:11; "righteous and true": cf. Deuteronomy 32:4) and "who would not fear You, King of the nations?" (Jeremiah 10:7); "You alone are holy." "No more sea" in the new creation: 21:1. The fourfold Hallelujah and the wedding of the Lamb: 19:1–8; the bridal garment that is given and the righteous deeds of the saints: 19:8; the Hallel: Psalms 113–118; the wedding supper of the Lamb: 19:9; the cup He will drink new: Matthew 26:29. God's joy over the bride: Isaiah 62:4–5; the tears wiped away: Revelation 21:3–4; the master who comes home from the wedding and serves his servants: Luke 12:36–37. The church as bride: 2 Corinthians 11:2. The rejoicing Bridegroom: Zephaniah 3:17. The divine Name as YHWH.