Revelation Chapter 15

[Pastor Dave Honey]

Revelation 15:1
Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous: seven angels having the seven last plagues, for in them the wrath of God is complete.

Much more than this spectacular image of seven angels appearing with seven bowls, is that this great and marvelous sign represents that these seven bowl judgments are the final judgments of Revelation!

If you remember back in chapter 11:15, the angel having the seventh trumpet sounded his trumpet which introduced these seven bowl judgments. The completion of this segment of God's wrath, depicted in chapter sixteen, will signify the end of tribulation and will lead us into the Millennial Kingdom!

Revelation 15:2
And I saw something like a sea of glass mingled with fire, and those who have the victory over the beast, over his image and over his mark and over the number of his name, standing on the sea of glass, having harps of God.

Revelation 4:6 describes a sea of glass like crystal before the throne of God. We also see in Ezekiel 1:4, his vision of God's throne, including a whirlwind of raging fire! In heaven, as seven angels exit the temple, they will walk on a sea of glass where the appearance of fire will signify a time of God's judgment! Cheering them on will be a heavenly choir made up of all those who have been martyred for their faith during the time of tribulation!

Revelation 15:3-4
3 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!
4 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 song of Moses was a song of victory and deliverance! It was sung by the Children of Israel following their escape through the Red Sea (Exodus 15). The Children of Israel sung on the banks of the Red Sea, while the tribulation saints sung the song of the Lamb on a sea of glass!

Revelation 15:5
After these things I looked, and behold, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened.

This is the heavenly temple where God dwells! According to Revelation 11:19, if we could look inside we would see the ark of His covenant!

Revelation 11:19
Then the temple of God was opened in heaven, and the ark of His covenant was seen in His temple. And there were lightnings, noises, thunderings, an earthquake, and great hail.

How amazing it must have been for John to look and see this incredible temple now opened! All of the temples of the earth, as well as all of the articles of temple worship, including the earthly ark, would clearly be seen as just pictures of this amazing and wonderful heavenly temple and its incredible contents!

Revelation 15:6
And out of the temple came the seven angels having the seven plagues, clothed in pure bright linen, and having their chests girded with golden bands.

Now the time has finally come for God's final great judgment to be poured out on what's left of the world! A world so ravaged by war, pestilence and so much death! The Antichrist, who just over three years earlier was a symbol of a new world of hope and peace, now revealed for who, or what he really is, a monster bent on destroying Israel and all of her people! Seven angels march out of the temple, ready to dispatch the seven plagues which are about to be handed them in seven ceremonial bowls!

Their cloths are appropriate for this occasion! The bright linen fabric of their cloths represents their holiness and the golden bands represent royalty! They are certainly arrayed in formal attire for this unprecedented activity.

Revelation 15:7
Then one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God who lives forever and ever.

The four living creatures are cherubim, which are of the highest ranking of the angelic realm. These very special creatures are always seen in the presence of God where they serve Him without end! Here they are seen delivering the seven bowls containing seven strategic plagues into the hands of seven angels who have been chosen by God Himself for this incredible mission!

Revelation 15:8
The temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from His power, and no one was able to enter the temple till the seven plagues of the seven angels were completed.

Smoke symbolizes the glory of God and the majesty of God. smoke also symbolizes His wrath which is so appropriate in this context!

Isaiah 6:4
And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke.

You might understand the latter part of verse eight to say that no one was able to re-enter the temple until the glory cloud of God's judgment had left the temple. The smoke of His judgment will remain in the temple until the last bowl has been poured out and it's plague had run it's course. It will be at that time, and only that time that the world will have been purged and made ready for it's King and the Millennial Kingdom.

I cannot even begin to imagine how horrific a time it will be on earth during these final seven judgments! They will come fast and furiously as the angels pour out in rapid succession, these horrifying judgments on all of mankind, or the lost of mankind!

I believe with all I know that at any moment the Lord Jesus is ready to rapture His church! The burning question is; are you ready? Have you taken care of the business of your eternal destination? If you have, great! You can know with assurance that your eternity in heaven with God is secure, and nothing or no one can take that from you! But, if you have not heeded the words of the gospels, if you have dismissed the word of God and exchanged truth for a lie, if you have said in your heart; "There is no God!" If you have rejected the Son of God, then I implore you to consider this; God created all of us in His image. One unavoidable aspect of His image in us is immortality, yes, immortality! He created your soul and it shall never cease to be! Sin has separated us from God and should we reject His Son as the solution to our problem of sin, then there is a place that was created only for Satin and his fallen angels, and that place is where unresolved sin will go! That place is the Lake of Fire, or Hell! You may ask; "What makes you so sure that I am a sinner?" Great question! You and I are sinners by virtue of our birth! Original sin has pretty much guaranteed that all of us are sinners. We didn't become a sinner because we have sinned, quite the contrary, we sin because we are sinners! So, what I want to ask is this; If you find yourself looking around one day and you realize that a lot of people have disappeared, will you believe the inevitable spin as to where they have all gone, or will you consider the things we've been talking about in this study on the Book of Revelation? It will be a more difficult choice during that time as the Holy Spirit will not be there to convict your heart of sin. So why wait? Won't you pleas consider Jesus today?

If you have questions, please feel free to contact me at [e-mail] any time!

 

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