20.12 | When the Song Begins

Revelation 15

‘And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, “Great and amazing are your deeds, O Lord God the Almighty! Just and true are your ways, O King of the nations!”’

Revelation 15:3

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In 1976, basketball commentator Ralph Carpenter made a quick statement, that caused an uproar of amusement in the commentary box, and became an axiomatic phrase for sports fans across the world. The Texas A&M Aggies had clawed back to a 72-72 tie, late in the SWC tournament finals.

“The opera ain’t over,” Carpenter said, “until the fat lady sings.”

We’ve all heard this statement. Most of us have used it. We know it when our team is winning or losing by a small margin, and we’re either not getting too comfortable with premature celebrations, or aren’t yet ready to give up hope of a miraculous turnaround. The singing fat lady only comes when we are 100% confident of the outcome.

Today’s reading begins the final cycle of seven in Revelation: the seven bowls of God’s wrath. And the imagery, once again, is deeply familiar to biblical memory. For these bowls are described as ‘plagues’.

The echo is, once again, from that story that became definitive of the identity of God’s people, of the nation of the Hebrews and their being liberated from slavery in the land of Egypt. For in that story, God brought ten ‘plagues’ against the land of Egypt—plagues of painful sores on people’s skin, and the river turning to blood, and the sun turning to darkness. And yet, in all of these, Egypt would not repent and turn to God. And yet, in the final plague, Egypt finally relented, and God’s people walked from slavery to freedom, with the blood of a lamb painted over the doorposts of their houses.¹

The people journeyed away from Egypt, to the shores of the Red Sea, for the famous story of the waters parting. Here, the people finally escaped Pharaoh and his armies, coming safely through to dry land on the other side, while their enemies were defeated by the waters behind them. And as they came out, they sang a song of victory, that became known as the song of Moses.² It was a song of freedom. It was a song of enemies defeated. The fat lady had sung, and the party had begun.

This is the backstory. And yet, there’s something different in today’s reading, that contradicts the Exodus story and basketball commentators alike. For in Revelation 15, the song of Moses is sung before these plagues are poured out.

Worship so often works like this. It sings of realities that we may not yet have experienced. It sings of liberty when we are experiencing slavery, and victory when we feel like we’re limping through defeat. Songs of worship invite us to lift hands and lift voices, often directly within the very situations that would have us withdraw into slumping and silence.

Have you experienced these feelings? When you arrive to sing songs with your community, after a week of particular pain and challenge? When your soul feels flat and your heart is running dry? When we look around and see others singing, and assume that they must therefore be walking through moments of brilliant liberty and personal fulfilment?

In such moments, take heart. For there is deep prophetic power in learning to sing the song of victory when you still feel like you’re on this side of the Red Sea. For the victory of Jesus upon the Cross means that the outcome of the battle you find yourself in is assured. The song you sing in this moment is a reminder to every enemy who would beset your soul with fear and hopelessness, that you stand as a child of the King, with a certain eternity, and a song of unending praise in your mouth.

Sing the song, dear friends. Sing in your trial. Sing in the struggle. Sing, because these waters will pass and the Promised Land is before. Because the Lamb we follow walked there first, and thus, we can sing with perfect, unshakeable, and unending confidence.

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Reflect:

Where I feel like I still live in the land of slavery and opposition? Speak, sing, or write down what is true of the greater reality, in the victory of Jesus.

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Pray:

Lord Jesus,

I sing Your song in such moments as these.

When I feel like I am walking in slavery,

I sing the song of perfect freedom;

When I feel that I am walking in despair,

I sing the song of unbreakable hope;

When I feel that I am walking in darkness,

I sing the song of perfect light;

When I feel that I am walking in the shadow of death itself,

I sing the song of everlasting life.

And as I sing, renew this soul in the knowledge of what is most true,

That my song be defiance, and renewal, and confrontation,

Unto the inbreaking of Your eternal Kingdom

In me, and through me,

Lord Jesus, in Your Name,

Amen

Old Testament: Habakkuk 1-3 | Proverbs 30:24-33

1. See Exodus 7-12

2. You can read it in Exodus 15.