Revelation 15 (WK) - Bible Truth Library

• Those who had won the victory over the beast were not his creatures or slaves; far from it — they were the servants of God. Here they were seen standing in conscious victory, outside all the scene of their conflicts, having the harps of God. And they sing: it is intelligent praise. (“Brief Exposition of Revelation 15” by A.J. Pollock)

• [See Psa. 103:7] The distinction is between the deep hidden ways of the Lord which Moses knew, and the public acts which were conspicuous before all Israel. Here these saints take up, not His ways first, but His displayed works…. And then they rise to celebrate His ways. (“Lectures on Revelation 15” by W. Kelly)

• If I apprehend aright, the reason why "nations" are introduced here is that these vials were about to be poured out very particularly upon the Gentiles. (“Lectures on Revelation 15” by W. Kelly)

• "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty." It always implies separation from evil — absolute separation. The holiness spoken of here implies mercy, which is quite another thought. (“Lectures on Revelation 15” by W. Kelly)

• Moses sang of God's great deliverance of His people and judgment on their enemies. The song of the Lamb is evidently not the song of His redeeming love, but of His work of judgment, as is characteristic of the Book of Revelation. Verses 3 and 4 show this, as they give the substance of the song, ending with the words, "Thy judgments are made manifest." (“Lectures on Revelation 15” by W. Kelly)

J. N. Darby Translation

And they sing the song of Moses bondman of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and wonderful are thy works, Lord Goda Almighty; righteous and true are thy ways, O King of nations.

JND Translation Notes

See Note l, ch. 1.8.

W. Kelly Translation

And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and wonderful are thy works, O Lord God the Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou Kinga of the nationsb.

WK Translation Notes

It means "king of nations," not of "saints"; and a very important error it is to be expunged. There is no doubt of it. There is not a scholar who knows anything at all about these matters who would not agree with me. The notion of "king of saints" is very unscriptural; and it is a very important mistake because the proper notion of the relation of a king to his people is one of distance and of graduated ranks in the kingdom. The word "king" implies graduated ranks, all having their place and their measure of nearness or of distance, and, consequently, there are all kinds of relative distance among themselves. That is not the case in the church of God, because the least Christian is as much a member of Christ’s body as the greatest. You see the fact of the membership of the body puts aside all these questions of relative or different distances. In the kingdom there will be these differences. See following note to verse 3.

There is beyond doubt no such thought or phrase in scripture as "King of saints." It is one of the worst readings of the rather vicious T. R. of the Revelation. Not only is it against the best witnesses, but is conveys an unfounded notion of mischievous consequence. Also, it is hard to conceive why the Revisers preferred "ages," to "nations," in the face of {vi 19209}{/vi}. No doubt the authorities are conflicting; but the Old Testament allusion is evident, and the context confirms it in the verse that follows. See previous note to verse 3.

WK Verse Note

(Note: Words in italics have been inserted from the J. N. Darby translation where the W. Kelly translation doesn’t exist.)