Revelation 15:4 - Printer Friendly

ESV: Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship you, for your righteous acts have been revealed."

NIV: Who will not fear you, Lord, and bring glory to your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous acts have been revealed."

NASB: Who will not fear You, Lord, and glorify Your name? For You alone are holy; For ALL THE NATIONS WILL COME AND WORSHIP BEFORE YOU, For Your righteous acts have been revealed.'

CSB: Lord, who will not fear and glorify your name? For you alone are holy. All the nations will come and worship before you because your righteous acts have been revealed.

NLT: Who will not fear you, Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous deeds have been revealed.'

KJV: Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest.

NKJV: Who shall not fear You, O Lord, and glorify Your name? For You alone are holy. For all nations shall come and worship before You, For Your judgments have been manifested.”

The celebrating saints recognize that everyone should reverence the Lord and glorify His name. The psalmist wrote: "I call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised" (Psalm 18:3). He asks: "For who is God, but the LORD? And who is a rock, except our God?" (Psalm 18:31). The saints also recognize that only God is holy (Revelation 15:4; Isaiah 6:3). Being holy, God is set apart from sin. He cannot be tempted with evil; nor does He tempt anyone to do evil (James 1:13).

During the tribulation, multitudes will worship the beast, but when Jesus returns to earth and sets up His kingdom, the nations will gather to worship the Lord, the King of kings and Lord of lords. They will be aware of His righteous acts. Zechariah 14:9 proclaims, "And the LORD will be king over all the earth." Further, Zechariah 14:16 predicts: "Then everyone who survives of all the nations that have come against Jerusalem shall go up year after year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Booths."

Revelation 15:1–4 focuses on seven angels with seven plagues that conclude the outpouring of God's wrath on the wicked. The event causes the victors over the beast, his image, and number to celebrate. They play harps and sing the song of Moses and of the Lamb. These are songs of redemption, parallel to those seen in Exodus 15 and Deuteronomy 32. Their song of the Lamb praises the Lord for His character and deeds and anticipates the time all nations will worship Him.

This chapter reports that the apostle John saw an amazing sight in heaven. First, he saw seven angels having seven plagues, which he said are the last plagues to occur to finish God's wrath. Next, he saw what appeared to be a sea of glass mingled with fire. Those who had conquered the beast, its image, and its ''666'' number were standing in front of the sea of glass, and they were holding harps. They sang the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb. They addressed God as the Lord God Almighty and the King of the nations. Finally, John saw the sanctuary of the tent of witness in heaven open. The seven angels with the seven plagues emerged from the sanctuary. They were clothed in pure bright linen with golden sashes around their chests. He saw one of the four living creatures give each of the seven angels a bowl full of the eternal wrath of God. Then smoke from God's glory and power filled the sanctuary. No one could enter the sanctuary until the seven plagues were finished.

Revelation 15 falls between the trumpet judgments and the bowl judgments. Like the events described in chapter 14, the events given in chapter 15 do not occur in chronological order. Like the opened seals and the trumpets, the judgments introduced in this chapter number seven. They are said to be the final judgments. They involve terminal judgments on the empire of the beast from the sea and the beast from the land (Revelation 13).

The word ''revelation'' means ''an unveiling or disclosure.'' This writing unveils future events such as the rapture, three series of judgments that will fall on the earth during the tribulation, the emergence of the Antichrist, the persecution of Israel and her amazing revival, as well as Jesus' second coming with His saints to the earth, the judgment of Satan and his followers, and finally, the eternal state. This content, combined with the original Greek term apokalypsis, is why we now refer to an end-of-the-world scenario as ''an apocalypse.''