The Song of Moses was an age-changing song. As we saw in our last post, John hears the saints in heaven singing it in the Vision of Seven Vials.1 God would soon judge apostate Israel.2 This judgment would end the Mosaic age and allow the Messianic Age—started by Jesus during his earthly ministry—to proceed.3
The saints in heaven describe the Messianic Age by adding their commentary to the Song of Moses: “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” (Rev.15:4; emphasis added). After God judged Mosaic-Age Israel, the Messianic Age4 would produce a world of converted nations. This is God’s vision statement for the church.
Business leaders prize an affirmation that clarifies “overarching aspirations,” that “encompasses the big picture and envisions where [we are] heading long term.”5 The church has a great advantage over businesses: divine wisdom has composed our vision.
The saints in Revelation express our vision. We desire a reality in the now-present Messianic Age where all nations engage in willing, joyful worship of God through Christ. We work and pray for that goal.
God provided an earthly picture (i.e., a type) to help us visualize this reality. He told Israel after the flesh (1 Cor. 10:18) of their future. Through God’s blessing, they would drive out their enemies and exercise dominion over the land (e.g., Exod. 23:28–31). They would inhabit cities they did not build, enjoy the fruit of the land, etc. (e.g., Deut. 6:10–11). They would dwell in safety and prosperity in the Promised Land. This life in the land was their goal. They worked to make it come to pass.
That was the picture. The commentary on the Song of Moses in Revelation describes the reality (i.e., the antitype). The church envisions a time when all nations worship God. At present, powerful enemies occupy our land (i.e., the world). As Paul says, God has “put all things in subjection under his [Christ’s] feet. . . . But now we see not yet all things put under him” (Heb. 2:8).
Our vision statement requires a change in this situation, and we participate in making the change. Like Israel after the flesh, we must wage war on Christ’s enemies. This is not carnal warfare, however (cp. 2 Cor. 10:3–6). Again, like Israel of old, God will bless our faithful obedience; the vision will become a reality.
To see the importance of this vision statement, let us see how God reiterates it throughout the Scriptures. We only have space for a few examples.
Our Vision in Revelation
John states this vision elsewhere in Revelation. Christ has “made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth” (Rev. 5:9–10). This is not a reign in heaven or one that begins after the resurrection. It is a reign with Christ (cp. Rev. 20:4) “on the earth.” This is our vision for the future of the world in the church age.
We have seen that Paul describes a “remnant according to the election of grace” in Mosaic-Age Israel (Rom. 11:5) John uses symbolic numbers to describe this remnant; they are the 144,000 from the tribes of Israel (Rev. 7:1–8). God will preserve them through the “great tribulation” of the Jewish wars that will destroy the Temple.6
John sees more. He sees “a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues” (Rev. 7:9). All nations come to worship God in the Messianic Age after he judges Israel.
This remnant of Israel after the flesh appears with the Lamb (i.e., Jesus) on Mt. Zion. They are “the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb” (Rev. 14:4). The term “firstfruits” suggest a full harvest will come in the Messianic Age. When it does, all nations will offer joyful worship to God through Christ. This is the reality our vision describes.
Our Vision in the Old Testament
Psalm 2 gives the church’s vision statement in advance. As a prophet, David foretells apostate Israel’s rebellion against Christ and their murder of him (Psa. 2:1–3). The early church quotes this passage to explain Jesus’s crucifixion (Acts 4:24–28).
David then mentions God’s resulting judgment against them for their rebellion (Psa. 2:5). It would come after Jesus’s enthronement as king on Mt. Zion (Psa. 2:6). This happened in the “great tribulation” in Jesus’s generation (Matt. 24:21, 34). John is describing this judgment in Revelation, too.
After Jesus ascends to heaven to begin his messianic reign, God invites him to ask for something. He says, “Ask of Me, and I will give You the nations for Your inheritance, And the ends of the earth for Your possession” (Psa. 2:8 NKJV). This clear invitation and declaration coincides with our vision.
Psalm 110 also records our vision. This passage “might have a claim to be the best-known ‘messianic’ text among first-century readers.”7 The early church knew their glorified Lord must reign because God had said to him, “Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool” (Ps 110:1). He would “judge among the nations” and overcome “many countries” (Psa. 110:6 NKJV). The church knew Jesus would reign over the nations and that the saints would reign with him.
Isaiah provides a picturesque description of the world for which we work and pray. During the reign of Christ, “the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea” (Isa. 11:9). This will occur, says Isaiah, after God saves “the remnant of his people.” He will then “set up a banner for the nations” and they will gather under it (Isa. 11:11–12 NKJV; cp. Hab. 2:14). This is a view of the nations worshiping God in the Messianic Age as our vision statement describes.
Our Vision in the New Testament Outside Revelation
Jesus reinforced this theme and told us to act on it. We are to pray that his kingdom reign will cause men to do his will “in earth, as it is in heaven” (Matt. 5:10). How can we pray for this if our prophetic model teaches it will not happen? Our vision of what God intends us to accomplish determines our response to Jesus’s lesson on prayer.
Jesus reiterated this vision when he explained what was happening in his ministry. God had spoken to Isaiah of the healings Jesus would perform. He said:
‘Lo, My servant, whom I did choose, My beloved, in whom My soul did delight, I will put My Spirit upon him, and judgment to the nations he shall declare, he shall not strive nor cry, nor shall any hear in the broad places his voice, a bruised reed he shall not break, and smoking flax he shall not quench, till he may put forth judgment to victory, and in his name shall nations hope.’” (Matt. 12:17–21 YLT; emphasis added)
During the Messianic Age, the nations will come to hope in Christ’s name.
Jesus told us how God intended to achieve this vision:
And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. (Matt. 28:18–20 NKJV; emphasis added)
The nations will come to worship God—as John describes in Revelation—through gospel preaching, baptism, and discipleship. The churches work to achieve this vision. They become evangelistic centers for the founding of new churches (e.g., 1 Thess. 1:6–8). In them, saints live holy lives that show God’s “new creation” (Gal. 6:16, NKJV) to the nations.
Paul stresses the importance of this vision. While speaking of the bodily resurrection of believers, he quotes the passage in Psalm 110 we saw above. Christ will reign “till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death” (1 Cor. 15:25–26). This is our vision and it will happen before the resurrection.
Christ’s reign began during the “last days” of the Mosaic Age (Heb. 1:2). It continues after God’s judgment of Israel that John describes in Revelation. During his reign, Christ will overcome all his enemies—all the nations will serve him.
Conclusion
Vision statements serve a critical role in all organizations that seek specific outcomes. Artists “see” (or “hear”) their finished products before they begin work. Their vision of the end product may become clearer as work progresses, but they do not start work without some version of the end product in their heads. A clear vision statement helps them start projects that will turn their vision into reality. This is true in the church as well. God’s vision will help us engage in kingdom work.
A vision also helps us continue our work. It gives meaning to the sometimes-tedious incremental steps needed to achieve the desired result. Great works of literature often require years of hard labor to complete. A clear vision enables the writer to persevere in the daily tasks that no one sees.
The same is true in kingdom work. God has revealed the vision: a world where “all nations shall come and worship before” him (Rev. 15:4). This vision prompts us to enter the necessary work. It encourages us to continue. Jesus said, “No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:62). We endure the hardships and put forth the effort to achieve our kingdom vision because of the glory it will bring to our Lord.
Inmillennialism provides a prophetic framework that supports this vision. It shows the optimistic future of the church in history. Without such a framework, we may misunderstand God’s vision and fail to work toward its accomplishment.
Let us adopt the vision of all nations worshipping God through Christ during the Messianic Age.
Footnotes
- For our outline of Revelation, see Mapping God’s Highway In Revelation.
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We have referred to apostate Israel as Mosaic-Age Israel and Israel after the flesh. For a justification of these terms, please see our posts Can God’s Kingdom Grow? and Israel: God’s Church Kingdom.
- We saw this in The Parousia of Christ and the Destruction of the Temple and other earlier posts.
- Also called the kingdom of God, the parousia of Christ, the church age, etc.
- Paula Fernandes, “What is a Vision Statement?” (2017): accessed Jan. 8, 2017, https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/3882-vision-statement.html.
- This happened in AD 66–70.
- N. T. Wright, Paul and the Faithfulness of God, Vol. 4, Christian Origins and the Question of God (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2013), 820.
