THE PEOPLE VICTORIOUS OVER THE BEAST

PROCLAMATION

“And I saw what looked like a sea of glass glowing with fire and, standing beside the sea, those who had been victorious over the beast and its image and over the number of its name.  They held harps given them by God and sang …”  Revelation 15:2-3 (NIV)

 

EXPLANATION

These are the words of prophecy which were revealed to, and written by, the Apostle John, under the influence of The Holy Spirit of God.  In this fifteenth chapter of Revelation, while he was still in the spirit (Revelation 4:2), John continued to see vision after vision.  Now He saw another great and marvelous sign in heaven, and he saw what he described as a sea of glass glowing with fire.  Standing besides the sea he saw those who had been victorious over the beast and its image and they were singing. (Revelation 15:1-3)  After this he looked and he saw in heaven the tabernacle of the covenant, and it was open.  Out of the temple came seven angels with seven plagues.  Each angel was given a bowl filled with the wrath of God which, along with the plague they had been given, would soon be unleashed on the earth. (Revelation 15:5-8)  The seven seals, the seven trumpets, and the seven angels were precursors to the seven bowls of wrath, the wrath of God, which will be the last and worst of all. (Revelation 15:1)  This is the preparation for the destruction of the Antichrist.

 

APPLICATION

After the rapture of the church from the earth, (1 Thessalonians 4:17) the 144,000 Jewish male virgins will be sealed and protected during the Great Tribulation period, and they will be God’s witnesses on earth. (Revelation 7:9-10)  They will proclaim the gospel and many souls will be saved.  Those saved people are the ones that John saw in his vision standing by the sea of glass glowing like fire. (Revelation 15:2-3)  They did not defeat the beast, they survived him by their belief in God.  They were brought into heaven during that first harvest. (Revelation 14:14-16)  Believers will be watching what the unsaved will be going through next from someplace safe in heaven.  The Bible Book of Revelation is a book of prophecy.  It provides us with a warning of things which must take place in the future. (Revelation 4:1)  Repent or suffer.