WEEK SIX INTRODUCTION 
TITLE: THE SONG OF THE LAMB: AGNUS DEI
Revelation 15:3-4
January 2 - January 7

They sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying:
“Great and marvelous are Your works,
Lord God Almighty!
Just and true are Your ways,
O King of the saints!
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.”

This year’s Advent Project concludes with the Canticle of the Lamb from the book of Revelation. It serves as the perfect summation to the Incarnation Canticles. What better way to end our time together than by singing around the throne of God with Christian martyrs who have “overcome the beast” and now stand victorious before the Lamb, singing his praises eternally? This potent image echoes Israel’s victory over the Egyptians in Exodus 14–15. As the children of Israel successfully passed through the waters, and stood safely on the other shore, they sang the Canticle of Moses over the dead Egyptians whose bodies were now at the bottom of the Red Sea. “Who is like You, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like You, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders? The Lord shall reign for ever and ever” (Exodus 15:11,18).

Commentator Joshua Stevens writes, “[The Canticle of Moses] celebrates the great deliverance of God’s people from their enemies in the Old Covenant era, and [the Canticle of the Lamb] celebrates God’s great deliverance of his people in the New Covenant era. They sing the song of Moses and of the Lamb, because they have triumphed over their enemies through the blood of the true Passover Lamb.” Citing the Old Testament, Jesus said, “It is they that bear witness about me. If you believed Moses you would believe me; for he wrote about me” (John 5:39, 46; also see Deuteronomy 18:15). It is with great wonder then that we celebrate Christ’s coming to earth and assuming the role of a servant so that he might make “all things new” (Revelations 21:5). Let us rejoice together at this miracle of everlasting life and love.

Day 36 - Sunday, January 2
Title: THE SONG OF MOSES
Scripture: Exodus 15:1

Then Moses and the children of Israel sang this song to the Lord, and spoke, saying:

“I will sing to the Lord, for He has triumphed gloriously! The horse and its rider He has thrown into the sea! The Lord is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation; He is my God, and I will praise Him; my father’s God, and I will exalt Him. The Lord is a man of war; the Lord is His name. Pharaoh’s chariots and his army He has cast into the sea; his chosen captains also are drowned in the Red Sea. The depths have covered them; they sank to the bottom like a stone.

Your right hand, O Lord, has become glorious in power; Your right hand, O Lord, has dashed the enemy in pieces. And in the greatness of Your excellence You have overthrown those who rose against You; You sent forth Your wrath; it consumed them like stubble. And with the blast of Your nostrils the waters were gathered together; the floods stood upright like a heap; the depths congealed in the heart of the sea. The enemy said, ‘I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; my desire shall be satisfied on them. I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them.’ You blew with Your wind, the sea covered them; they sank like lead in the mighty waters.

Who is like You, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like You, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders? You stretched out Your right hand; the earth swallowed them. You in Your mercy have led forth the people whom You have redeemed; You have guided them in Your strength to Your holy habitation.

The people will hear and be afraid; sorrow will take hold of the inhabitants of Philistia. Then the chiefs of Edom will be dismayed; the mighty men of Moab, trembling, will take hold of them; all the inhabitants of Canaan will melt away. Fear and dread will fall on them; by the greatness of Your arm they will be as still as a stone, till Your people pass over, O Lord, till the people pass over Whom You have purchased. You will bring them in and plant them In the mountain of Your inheritance, in the place, O Lord, which You have made for Your own dwelling, the sanctuary, O Lord, which Your hands have established. The Lord shall reign forever and ever.”

Poetry:
The Left Hand is Complement
by Jeanine Hathaway

Praise to my elders who are my left hand.
My awkward hinge, my elders-hand, the hand
that holds the wallet while the quick one
spends, the hand that hugs the bowl
as the adept stirs the dough, the hand
at the end of the bat for stable opposition.
The hand that wears the ring, my elders,
that says until death, that says
I do (I did); the ring I don’t wear anymore,
that says this hand has a chance at wisdom
if not dexterity. The hand that, when I am
seated at God’s right, will be closest,
will brush against the hand of God
as we pass around desserts. 

THE SONG OF MOSES

It might seem strange that the “song of the Lamb” in Revelation 15 is also the “song of Moses.” In the Christmas season we sing songs about how the Lamb of God came to “bring peace on earth and good will to men,” but the song of Moses celebrates God as “man of war” whose “fury… consumes [men] like stubble.” Is the song of Moses a good song to sing when we are celebrating the coming of the Lamb?

The song of Moses celebrates the victory of God over his adversaries when he drew Pharaoh’s army into the Red Sea and drowned them. There are certainly strong parallels between this victory and the victory celebrated in Revelation 15: the final triumph of the Lamb over the Beast and Babylon. That victory will be accompanied by the pouring out of bowls of wrath on the earth with a destructive power that more than equals that of the destruction of the plagues and the Red Sea.

Initially, we might be struck by the contrast between the terrifying destruction in the exodus and the end times and the non-violent, compassionate ministry of Jesus. However, we should not forget that it was in the time of Jesus that God won his greatest victory over his adversaries. In this regard, Jesus showed himself a “man of war” who “triumphed gloriously” over his enemies with a victory worthy to be celebrated by the song of Moses.

Moses sang, “You overthrow your adversaries,” praising God for destroying the armies of Pharaoh, who had held his people in bondage for years with the threat of death. Jesus came to “destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery” (Heb. 2:14-15).

Moses sang, “Pharaoh’s chariots and his host you cast into the sea…the floods covered them, they went down in the depths like a stone.” Jesus delivered many people from what held them in bondage—including demons. When he cast the demons out of one man, he sent them into a herd of pigs which then “rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the waters” (Mat. 8:32).

Moses sang, “Your right hand shatters the enemy.” When people said that Jesus was casting out demons by the power of Beelzebub, he replied that it was actually by “the finger of God” (Luke 11:20), and that this could only be done by one who was stronger than Satan.

Moses sang, “You blew them with your wind [or breath] and the sea covered them.” Jesus said it was by the Spirit that he drove out demons (Mat 12:28), and that this could only be done if he had already “bound the strong man” Satan.

Paul reminds us that like Jesus “we do not wrestle with flesh and blood” (Eph. 12) and “that weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power” (II Cor. 10:4). In this spiritual war, the Lamb has already won the decisive victory by his sacrificial death: He took on flesh so that “through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death” (Heb. 2:14). The Lamb has triumphed gloriously!

Prayer:
Thank you Lord that you did not leave me in bondage but sent your Son to defeat my greatest enemies and deliver me from their power. May I walk today in the victory he won.
Amen

Devotion Author: 
Dr. Joe Henderson
Associate Professor of the Old Testament
Torrey Honors College
Biola University

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