Days of Vengeance - The Preterist Archive

15:3-4
sacrifices; and the Glory of the LORD filled the House.
And the priests could not enter into the House of the
LORD, because the Glory of the LORD filled the LORD’s
House” (2 Chron. 7:1-2). Similarly, at the end of the
prayer of the saints standing on the Sea, the seven
angels are given chalices filled with fiery wrath, which
will fall upon the Land to consume apostate Israel as a
whole burnt sacrifice; the Glory fills the Temple, and no
one is able to enter until the sacrifice is consumed (Rev.
15:5-8).
Another passage parallel to this is Zechariah 12, which
pictures Jerusalem as a cup of drunkenness to the
nations (Zech. 12:2; cf. Rev. 14:8-10), a laver of fire that
will consume the heathen (Zech. 12:6; Rev. 15:2). The
irony of Revelation, as we have seen repeatedly, is that
first-century Israel herself has taken the place of the
heathen nations in the prophecies: She is consumed in
the fiery laver – the Lake of Fire – while the Church,
having passed through the holocaust, inherits
salvation.
3 We saw in the Introduction to Part Five that the
Song of Moses . . . and the Song of the Lamb refers to
the Song of Witness which Moses and Joshua (= Jesus,
the Lamb) taught to the children of Israel at the border
of the Promised Land (Deut. 31-32). The imagery,
however, is taken from Exodus 15, which records
Moses’ Song of triumph at the defeat of Pharaoh and
his army in the Red Sea (two other Biblical paraphrases
of Moses’ Song in Exodus are Isaiah 12 and Habakkuk
3). It is important to note that both Songs of Moses are
firmly rooted in history: Both proclaim that the
salvation God provides is His victory in this world, over
the heathen of this world. These saints through Christ
are overcomers, in time and on earth. As R. J.
Rushdoony says, “The earth is the Lord’s, and the area
of His victory. The issue of the kingdom’s battle will be
no more a flight from history than was the incarnation
and the atonement. God the Son did not enter history
in order to surrender it. He came to redeem His elect,
assert His crown rights, make manifest the implications
of His victory, and then to re-create all things in terms
of His sovereign will.” 5
St. John’s text of the Song of Moses does not actually
quote from either Exodus 15 or Deuteronomy 32,
although some of its phrasing contains faint echoes of
the latter; however, as Farrer observes, “it is
characteristic of St. John that he is content with
having made the references; the beautiful psalm he puts
into the mouths of the saints is a cento of phrases from
all over the psalter and elsewhere.” 6 Edersheim
comments on the relationship of this scene to the
Sabbath services in the Temple: “It is the Sabbath of
the Church; and as on the Sabbath, besides the psalm
for the day [Ps. 92] at the ordinary sacrifice, they sang
at the additional Sabbatic sacrifice [Num. 28:9-10], in
the morning, the Song of Moses, in Deuteronomy 32,
and in the evening that in Exodus 15, so the victorious
Church celebrates her true Sabbath of rest by singing
this same ‘Song of Moses and of the Lamb,’ only in
language that expresses the fullest meaning of the
Sabbath songs in the Temple.” 7
It is probably impossible to track down the Song’s Old
Testament allusions completely, but I have at least
noted some of them: Great and marvelous are Thy
works, O Lord God, the Almighty (Ex. 34:10; Deut,
32:3-4; 1 Chron. 16:8-12; Ps. 92:5; 111:2; 139:14; Isa.
47:4; Jer. 10:16; Amos 4:13; cf. Rev. 1:8); St. John
makes it clear that the saints are not merely making a
general statement of fact, but instead are specifically
referring to the “great and marvelous” final judgments in
which “the wrath of God is finished” (15:1). Righteous
and true are Thy ways (Deut. 32:4; Ps. 145:17; Hos.
14:9); again, God is said to be “righteous and true” with
special reference to His saving judgments, delivering
the Church and destroying His enemies (cf. 16:7). “In
seasons of tribulation on earth, when the worldly power
appears to triumph over the church, she has often been
led to doubt the greatness of God’s works, the justice
and truth of His ways; to doubt whether He were really
the king of the heathen. Now this doubt is put to
shame; it is dispelled by deeds; the clouds, which veiled
the glory of God from her eyes, are made entirely to
vanish.” 8 Thou King of the nations (Ps. 22:28; 47:2, 7-
8; 82:8; cf. 1 Tim. 1:17; 6:15; Rev. 1:5; 19:16); as Ruler
of all nations He moves the armies of earth to fulfill His
purposes in judgment; He smashes them for their
rebellion; and He brings them to repentance.
4 Who will not fear Thee, O Lord, and glorify Thy
name? (Ex. 15:14-16; Jen 10:6-7; cf. Rev. 14:7); this
means, in language we are more familiar with: Who will
not be converted? Who will not serve God, worship
Him, and obey Him? The clear implication (to be made
explicit in the next sentence) is that the overwhelming
majority of all men will come into the salvation that
God has provided in Jesus Christ. This is the great hope
of the Old Covenant fathers, as numerous passages
abundantly attest. For Thou alone art holy (Ex. 15:11;
1 Sam. 2:2; Ps. 99:3, 5, 9; Isa. 6:3; 57:5, 15; Hos. 11:9;
cf. Matt. 19:17; 1 Tim. 6:16). God’s “holiness” in
Scripture often refers not so much to His ethical
qualities as to His unique majesty, His absolute
transcendence and “otherness.” Yet this very
“unapproachableness” is here stated to be the precise
reason for His immanence, His nearness, His
accessibility to all peoples. The doctrine is declared
positively: For all the nations will come and worship
before Thee, for Thy righteous acts have been
revealed (1 Chron. 16:28-31; Ps. 2:8; 22:27; 65:2; 66:4;
67:1-7; 86:8-9; 117:1; Isa. 26:9; 66:23; Jer. 16:19); the
conversion of all nations is both the ultimate goal and
inevitable result of God’s judgments. The fall of Israel,
5. Rousas John Rushdoony, Thy Kingdom Come: Studies in Daniel and Revelation
(Tyler, TX: Thoburn Press, [1970] 1978), P. 93.
6. Farrer, p. 171.
7. Alfred Edersheim, The Temple: Its Ministry and Services As They Were at the
Time of Jesus Christ (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.,
1980), p. 76.
8. E. W. Hengstenberg, The Revelation of St. John, two vols. (Cherry Hill, NJ:
Mack Publishing Co., [1851] 1972), Vol. 2, pp. 146f.
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