Revelation: The Hope - The Song of Moses

Modern Coast of Turkey

I adore dystopian literature.  College Board’s Advanced Placement Handbook to Literature defines dystopian literature as, “Accounts of imaginary worlds, usually in the future, in which humanity's present tendencies are carried out to their intensely unpleasant culminations.”  In other words, society as we know it collapses, and nothing good takes its place.  I’m not sure what it says about my personality that this is my favorite genre, but we will leave the psychoanalysis for another day.  

Dystopian Literature

My obsession began in sixth grade with Lois Lowry’s The Giver.  Mary Walker, English teacher extraordinaire, taught us 1984 in 1984.  Honestly, one of the most surreal experiences of my life.  Aldus Huxley’s Brave New World should be required reading for 2025 because he really envisioned our modern culture.  Teaching Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 proved a highlight of my personal career.   Bradbury’s vision of the future in 1953 turned out to be prophetic in many ways including high definition, interactive television and touch ID recognition. My favorite part was when I made the kiddos create their own future worlds and present their burgeoning imaginations.  

John’s book of Revelation fits the dystopian genre.  The future predicted for the earth definitely meets the definition of “intensely unpleasant.”  But what fascinates me more about the Bible than any other literature I study is the united message from beginning to end.  No questions remain about what may or may not come to pass.  God’s word is very clear.

Sea of Glass

In Revelation 15, the ones who are victorious over the beast stand on a sea of glass and sing The Song of Moses (versus 1-4).  The inhabitants of heaven recite words very similar to Exodus 15 in Revelation 15.  The seamless continuity of the Bible amazes me.  The people of Israel crossed the Red Sea on dry land.  The saints of heaven stand on solid ground like the sea and proclaim “All nations will come and worship before you because your righteous acts have been revealed.” Revelation 15:4   

The Tabernacle of Moses

After The Song of Moses is sung, the tabernacle opens - the same tabernacle where the Israelites worshiped for all of their wanderings in the desert.  Angels emerge from the tabernacle with the seven bowls of God’s wrath, and the tabernacle “was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power and no one could enter.” Revelation 15:8  Exactly like Exodus 40: 34-35,  “The cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. Moses was unable to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud rested on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.” Seamless continuity

When the angels pour out the bowls of God’s wrath on the earth, each bowl corresponds to one of the plagues God afflicted on Egypt when freeing His people:  

• Bowl One = painful sores

Sixth plague festering boils

• Bowl Two = sea turns to blood

First plague Nile into blood

• Bowl Three = the rest of the waters of the earth turn to blood

First plague multiplied

• Bowl Four = scorching heat and drought leading to death

Tenth plague death of the first born

• Bowl Five = Darkness

Ninth plague darkness for three days

• Bowl Six = Euphrates dries up

Plagues two, three, and four brought frogs, gnats, and flies plus God dried the Red Sea for His people to pass out of Egypt

The reaction of the people of the earth to the bowls of judgment will be no different than the reaction of the Egyptians and Pharaoh to Moses.  "But Pharaoh responded, 'Who is this Lord that I should obey him by letting Israel go? I don't know this Lord, and besides, I will not let Israel go'" Exodus 5:2. “They blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, but they did not repent of their works.” Revelation 16:11

Over and over and over in the Bible, God demonstrates His consistency.  Revelation tells us that if we are sealed by the blood of the Lamb, we will be exempt from God’s wrath.  Those with the mark of the beast will witness the people of God be spared from the horrible events, but they still will not repent.  They continue to blaspheme.  They are caught doing what they know to be wrong, but rather than turn back to the Creator of the Universe, they choose to plow forward under their own power.  

Hailstone the size of a baseball

When the seventh bowl is poured out hundred pound hailstones fall from the sky!  What begins with the Song of Moses ends with the arrival of Armageddon - flashes of lightning, rolls of thunder, earthquakes, and the fall of all great cities and nations.  

What began with the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt will finally come to an end at Armageddon.  Look at the time between events!  Look at God’s patience with us as we perpetrate the same bad behavior for millennia, yet he still holds back his judgement.  He does not want one sheep to stray, but provides consistent and detailed instructions in His word for how to be one of the sealed and not one of the blasphemers.

But just like all of my dystopian literature, humans bring their ultimate end upon themselves.  Despite the warnings and efforts of the protagonists, humanity still finds a way to destroy this beautiful earth and each other.  In the end, no one can choose for another how they will conduct their lives or in what they will place their faith. People will either choose to plow forward under their own power or trust in the blood of the Lamb.    

Sing the Song of Moses.  

Declare to the Lord how great and awe-inspiring are His works.  He is just and true in all His ways.  Fear and glorify His name.  God alone is holy.  All the nations will come and worship before Him.  

Song of Moses in Deuteronomy - Our final command is to follow the Lamb

We know how the story of humanity ends.  Do not delay.  Will you continue to wander in the desert or will you choose to sing the Song of Moses today?