SINGING IN THE FIRE

Transcript

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Hello everyone, this is Pastor Dean Thompson with the word of hope singing in the fire. They sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb. Revelation chapter fifteen verse three. In the fifteenth chapter of Revelation, John sees a sea of glass mingled with fire, and standing beside it those who had come through the great conflict victorious. And what are they doing? They are singing. They sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb. The people who have come through the fire are not silent survivors nursing their wounds. They form a choir. The song they sing reaches back to one of the oldest moments in Israel's memory. The song of Moses recalls a song sung on the shore of the Red Sea, when the people who had been slaves walked through the water on dry land and watched their pursuers swallowed behind them. It was the original song of deliverance, a song, the song of a people who had been trapped and were now free, who had been doomed and were now saved. To sing the song of Moses is to join the ancient chorus of the rescued. But they also sing the song of the Lamb. And this is the deeper deliverance, is the deeper deliverance the Red Sea only foreshadowed. The Exodus from Egypt was a picture. The cross is the substance. The Lamb has led a greater multitude through a greater sea out of the slavery of sin and death and into the freedom of God. The two songs become one song because they celebrate the one great pattern of God's character. He is a God who rescues his people through the waters and brings them safely to the other side. Notice where they are standing as they sing. Beside the sea of glass mingled with fire. The fire is there. The trial has been erased or forgotten. These are people who came through real suffering, and the marks of it are part of the scene. Yet they sing. This is one of the defining marvels of faith. The capacity to sing in the presence of the fire, to lift a song of praise, not because the trial is pleasant, but because the God who carries us through is faithful. Faith at its mature height is worship that does not wait for the fire to die down. Anyone can sing when the sun is out and the path is smooth. The song of Moses and the Lamb is sung by those who have stood beside the fire and still found God worthy. Their praise is not naive, it is battle-tested. They sing not because they have forgotten the cost, but because they have discovered through the cost that God can be trusted all the way through through. There is something defiant and victorious about a song raised in hard places. When a believer worships in the middle of grief or praises God from a hospital bed or gives thanks. In a season of loss, the universe takes notice. It is a declaration that the fire does not have the final say, that the God of the Exodus and the God of the cross is still on the throne, and that the song will outlast the flames. So let us learn to sing the song of Moses and the Long. Not only on the far shore, when the trial is finally behind you, but beside the sea of glass mingled with fire, while the heat is still real. You will serve the God who brings his people through the waters. Lift your song now in the middle of it and join the choir of the delivered who have learned that faith can sing in the fire.

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Oh God of the ages. God who carried your people through the Red Sea.

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Please teach us to sing the Song of Moses and the Lamb. Even as we go through the fires of this life. Let our praise be battle tested, lifted up in the middle of our trials, trusting you to carry us through. Help us to be faithful to the very end. Amen. God bless you, brothers and sisters.