The Triune God displays his law and gospel and brings victory and peace to his people!

God is Triune: The song cries out “You alone are holy,” and yet describes God in terms of God’s ‘threeness’ — he is “Lord God Almighty,” he is “King of the ages,” and he is “Lord.” The Trinity is a mystery we do not claim to understand, but we nevertheless confess it with our hearts as the Bible portrays it for us.

God displays his law and gospel: the song sung by believers in heaven is “the song of Moses” (through whom God gave us his law) and “the song of the Lamb” (through whom God displayed and fulfilled his gospel). The law of God afflicts the comfortable. The gospel of God comforts the afflicted.

God brings victory and peace: Once again we see the “sea of glass,” now mixed with fire. We saw the glassy, calm and subdued sea earlier in Revelation 4:6 (“a sea of glass, clear as crystal”). It was a reminder that God is the source of peace. Now that sea is mixed with fire, and we are reminded that God is not only in command of the earth and sea, but of fire and destruction as well. What comes as the destruction of the earth and the punishment of unbelievers is also from the hand of God. The victory over sin, death and the devil is God’s victory. He is our champion; we are his undeserving servants.

In verse 4, the angels sing, “All nations will come and worship before you.” This idea is common in the Old Testament pictures of the coming Messiah, such as in Malachi 1:11: “My name will be great among the nations, from the rising to the setting of the sun. In every place incense and pure offerings will be brought to my name...” And Psalm 86:9: “All the nations you have made will come and worship before you, O Lord.” Do these (and many other passages) mean that in the end, God will bring salvation and virtually force it upon the earth; that all nations must become Christian in the end? No. Jesus himself talks about separating the sheep from the goats on the last day (Matthew 25:32) and that many false Christs will appear and deceive the nations (Mark 13:22). All nations will worship God in the Last Judgment -- but that worship will be of no use to those entering into eternal hell.

In the Gospels, the last teaching Jesus did before making arrangements for the Last Supper and permitting himself to be crucified, was teaching about the last days. This is a message that is a warning for us, so that we are prepared for the difficulties ahead. And yet it is also a comfort to us, because we know we have a Rescuer, a Savior -- a God -- who loved us and preserved us even from our own sins, and who will bring us into his eternal rest, for ever.