And I saw something like a sea of glass mixed with fire, and those who had been victorious over the beast and his image and the number of his name, standing on the sea of glass, holding harps of God. And they *sang the song of Moses, the bond-servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, “Great and marvelous are Your works, O Lord God, the Almighty; Righteous and true are Your ways, King of the nations! Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify Your name? For You alone are holy; Revelation 15:2-4a John describes a great group of martyrs, men and women who have given up their lives under the Antichrist, and they are now seen in heaven standing on the sea of glass. These martyrs are said to be victorious over the beast. As you view this scene of martyrdom and judgment, it looks as though when these men and women are killed and leave the earth, they are losers — but when they arrive in heaven, they are seen as victors! It is a wonderful view of how God works far differently from man. Man is under the illusion that what he sees happening is actually according to the way it is, but it really is not. The Antichrist thinks he is getting rid of his enemies by killing them, but what he is really doing is running a shuttle service to heaven! He is but an elevator boy in God’s service, taking loads of saints up to glory. He does not realize that God is using him for the very purposes that God Himself has ordained.
This group of martyrs sings two songs, the Song of Moses (recorded in Exodus 15 as the Israelites came out of Egypt), and the Song of the Lamb. Both songs are a description of the deliverance of God’s people by divine power. When Moses and the Israelites sang the Song of Moses, they were remembering the blood of a lamb put over the doors and, on the doorposts, to keep them safe from the Angel of Death. Here, these new saints are praising God and honoring Him for the divine power given them during the wrath of the Antichrist, all of it based on the blood shed by the Lamb of God for the forgiveness of sin.
A noticeable thing about this Song of the Lamb; there is not one single word about their own achievements! They do not ever say, O Lord, how faithful we have been to You! How true we have been to Your word! How steadfastly we have endured! I’m here because of what I’ve done for you. No, the only descriptive words used in the song are “You” and “Your.”
When you stand in the presence of God, you will not feel that you have accomplished your salvation or that you’ve done something for Him. You will simply be grateful — grateful beyond words — for what God has done for you. Then you can sing a new song, praising God for His marvelous salvation through the blood of Christ.
This is why we must keep looking up.
