Homily: 23 November 2022: Revelation 15:1-4
Please read the Scripture passage before the homily.
The definitive and massive rescue operation by God we celebrate annually if the Passover, commemorating the deliverance of the people of Israel from Egypt. It was epic in style and formed the pattern for God’s subsequent deliveries of the people of God.
John alludes to this great Exodus in this passage about plagues and the song of Moses. John’s day was another chapter in the book of God’s deliverances. It is as if John were telling us to look back to Egypt and the persecutions of that time, when God rescued the Israelites by leading them across the Red Sea and annihilated the Egyptian army. The believer in John’s day needed to be rescued. The heavenly vision promises such a rescue. Whereas Moses had led the people dry-shod through the sea, this time God would lead the through a solid sea of glass. The victory song of Moses would be sung again on heaven’s side of the sea of glass.
While John’s people were suffering from persecution, John was announcing ultimate victory to them. We likewise suffer in our day, from persecutions of several kinds, but Church continues to call us to the book of Revelation. As it was in the time of Moses, and as it as in the time of john, so likewise will it be in our times: those who are persecuted will look from the safe shore to see their Egyptian strewn on the other shore, and those who have struggled against the beast will stand on the save shore singing the hymn of victory, and of us today will one day fully in the triumph and song of the saved.