Ch 15: The seven angels with seven plagues.
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1. Seven angels with seven plagues (15:1)
15:1 I saw in heaven another great and marvellous sign: seven angels with the seven last plagues--last, because with them God's wrath is completed. 2 And I saw what looked like a sea of glass mixed with fire and, standing beside the sea, those who had been victorious over the beast and his image and over the number of his name. They held harps given them by God 3 and sang the song of Moses the servant of God and the song of the Lamb:
"Great and marvellous are your deeds, Lord God Almighty. Just and true are your ways, King of the ages. 4 Who will not fear you, O 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."
15:5 After this I looked and in heaven the temple, that is, the tabernacle of the Testimony, was opened. 6 Out of the temple came the seven angels with the seven plagues. They were dressed in clean, shining linen and wore golden sashes around their chests. 7 Then one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls filled with the wrath of God, who lives for ever and ever. 8 And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power, and no one could enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were completed.
With the seven seals there was an interlude between the sixth and seventh seal so that the church could be sealed in preparation for the seven trumpets. We have also seen that the seven trumpets, which resemble the plagues upon Egypt, were sent to warn mankind and to call mankind to repentance. We also saw that between the sixth and seventh, and final, trumpet the two witnesses, representing the church, also calling mankind to repentance. Here at the start of the seven bowls of God's wrath we see a picture of the redeemed in heaven who had been victorious over the beast, and his image and over the number of his name, they sing the song of Moses which the Israelites sang after they crossed the Red sea, the song of Moses indicating their exodus from the world and the destruction of their enemies. This victory over the Egyptians was a foreshadowing of the victory of all God's redeemed over the beast, his image, his number (Hendriksen). There then comes the seven bowls of God's wrath which can be likened to the Red sea that drowned the Egyptians who followed the Israelites into the Red sea (Caird). This can also be likened to the lake of blood formed from the great winepress of God's wrath of the previous chapter (Caird). There is no interval between the sixth and seventh bowl as there was between the sixth and seventh trumpet, which was included so that the church can witness to the world in a last call to repentance, there is no such interval with the bowls because the time for repentance is past, instead the scene moved inexorably from the first to the final bowl as they are poured out one by one. The trumpets warn; bowls are poured out (Hendriksen).
This section on the seven bowls could be seen as a more detailed view of the winepress of God's wrath found in Rev 14:19-20 which is clearly connected to Christ's coming and the harvest of the age. In 14:19 the we find the expression 'winepress of God's wrath' and in 15:1 the seven last plagues are said to complete God's wrath. In 14:20 we find a vast lake or sea of blood for a distance of 1,600 stadia, in the second bowl we find that the sea is turned into blood like that of a dead man (Rev 16:3). If the seven bowls are a more detailed description of the winepress of God's wrath then the seven bowls occur during the time of great distress just before Christ's second coming, note the sudden reference to His second coming during bowl six. Notice that in Rev 19:15 which deals with the second coming, Christ is described as the one who treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty (19:15). One can also see in this passage a more detailed view of the wrath of God and of the Lamb first mentioned in Rev 6:16-17. Against this view is fact that the day of the Lord will bring swift destruction upon mankind, Zep 1:18, there does not seem time for the seven bowls and the Lord only appears during the sixth bowl. Unless the seven bowls are included in the time of great distress just before the end indicated by Luke 21:25-28, Mat 24:21-30, Mark 13:14-27.
Wilcock (p146) notes that again and again trouble will sweep the world (the Seals): whenever suffering is caused, God warns that it cannot be caused with impunity (the Trumpets); whenever his warnings go unheeded, he will in the end punish the wrongdoers (the bowls).
The seven bowls can be seen as God's response to the beasts of chapter 13 and the persecution of God's people. The bowls are directed at:
- (i) the people who had the mark of the beast and worshipped his image (16:2);
- (ii) those who had shed the blood of the saints and prophets (16:6);
- (iii) the throne of the beast and his kingdom (16:10);
- (iv) the air where Satan has his dwelling (16:17).
v1 - I saw in heaven another great and marvellous sign: seven angels with the seven last plagues--last, because with them God's wrath is completed. - He sees another sign in heaven, just as he saw the woman (12:1) and the dragon (12:3), this introduces a new section. According to Wilcock the new section about the plagues rightfully starts in verse 5 with the change of scene. Just as the beast is introduced in Rev 11:7 before his main section in chapter 13 and Babylon is introduced in Rev 14:8 and 16:19 before her main section in chapter 17. This puts the first mention of the bowls directly after the winepress of God's wrath thus linking the two.
This is a sign and therefore the seven bowls should not be taken literally, but that does not mean that they do not express something that is real, behind every symbol there is something more real than the symbol, for example the Lamb or the woman of 12:1 or the dragon of 12:3. One key question is when does this happen? The sixth bowl is closely allied with the last battle between Christ's enemies and the Lord, the day of the Lord and the second coming. The seventh bowl describes the destruction of all the cities, but mankind is still around then. However the viewpoint is that of heaven, the events could take place over the gospel age and therefore refer to God's final judgement on individuals through 'natural' disaster, this is the idealist's view. The futurist would regard it as all happening in the future, some climactic eschatological event. Certainly the sixth and seventh bowls are future and so is probably the forth and fifth. The seven plagues have sometimes been compared to the warning given in Lev 26:21, 24, 28.: ''If you remain hostile toward me and refuse to listen to me, I will multiply your afflictions seven times over, as your sins deserve' they ignored the warnings of the trumpets and so God multiplies their afflictions with the bowls. The seven plagues are God's complete outpouring of wrath, the trumpets were warnings but these plagues are not warnings, they are final judgements.
Trumpets warn; bowls are poured out, (Hendriksen). The seventh bowl (Rev 16:17) marks the completion of God's wrath. The similarity between the trumpets and bowls is another example of parallelism. Hendriksen offers the following arguments for parallelism.
i. The close resemblance of the trumpets and the bowls.
ii. Both visions of the trumpets and bowls end with the judgement scene (11:18, 16:17).
iii. The vision of the bowls (15:1) has an opening almost identical with that of the vision of the woman and dragon, 12:1.
iv. The bowls are poured out on those who have the mark of the beast, this is very general historically.
v. We have in the vision of the bowls (16:13) a description of the same forces of evil as in the vision of the dragon (12:3), the beast out of the sea (13:1) and the beast out of the earth (13:11).
v2 - And I saw what looked like a sea of glass mixed with fire and, standing beside the sea, those who had been victorious over the beast and his image and over the number of his name. They held harps given them by God - Wilcock argues that this section of the victorious redeemed belongs to the end of the previous section after the harvest. The plagues are merely introduced in 15:1, the section about the plagues starting in verse 5 with the phrase 'After this I looked and in heaven...' which ushers in a change of viewpoint. The song of victory of the redeemed seems to be more appropriate to the previous section which now sees the saints in heaven after the harvest. The next scene starts with the tabernacle of the Testimony being opened.
Just as Satan stood by the sea, Rev 13:1, so God's people stand by the heavenly sea and look on. Just as when the Israelites had passed through the Red Sea and the Egyptians were destroyed, they then sang the song of Moses, Exo 15, so God's people stand by a heavenly sea before singing the song of Moses. There could also be a link to the waters of baptism which are also linked to the Red Sea, 1 Cor 10:2. This is the same sea of glass seen in Rev 4:6 only mixed with fire because of the coming judgement, Rev 8:5 and verse 7.
It is the same Greek word translated here as 'victorious' (Gk. nikao) which is translated as 'overpower' in 11:7 when the beast overpowers the two witness and it is translated as 'conquer' in 13:7 when the beast makes war against the saints. Those victorious over the beast are those who did not worship the beast or his image or receive his mark, Rev 20:4, they endured patiently their persecution and remained faithful to Jesus (13:10). They are now in heaven, they are the martyrs (either through their testimony or death), they also overcame (nikao) the devil by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their own lives so much as to shrink from death (12:11). They held harps as did the 144,000 from 14:1-3, it is likely therefore that both groups are the same, just as the 144,000 from 7:3 are the same as the great multitude of 7:9.
v3 - and sang the song of Moses the servant of God and the song of the Lamb: - The song of Moses was sang after deliverance through the Red sea after they saw the great power the Lord displayed against the Egyptians, in which they were destroyed, see Ex 15. It should also be noted that these plagues are also similar to the plagues of Egypt, but the Egyptians were not finally destroyed until they entered the Red Sea. There is another song of Moses in Deu 31:30 ff., in the context here which speaks of Gods deliverance of his people it the song of Moses of Exo 15 is applicable but in the context of the seven plagues then the song of Moses of Deu 31:30 is more applicable. Not only did they sing the song of Moses but they sang the song of the Lamb, probably meaning one song.
v3-4 - "Great and marvellous are your deeds, Lord God Almighty. Just and true are your ways, King of the ages. 4 Who will not fear you, O 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." - Just as the Israelites praise God for his great deeds in bringing them out of Egypt so God's people in heaven praise him for his coming judgements. Because of God's holiness he is perfectly righteous in bringing about these plagues which are in response to the sin of man. It is his mercy which has delayed these final judgements for so long and preceded them with the warning trumpets. God desires that all men come to a knowledge of the truth and to be saved, 1 Tim 2:4. Righteous acts could be translated righteous judgements, the bowls are his judicial sentences, in 16:5-7 after the third bowl the angel declares that God is just in his judgements because mankind shed the blood of the saints, the martyrs respond likewise. We are reminded here again of how awful in God's sight is the persecution of his saints. This verse also reminds us of a number of psalms from which it is taken, Psa 86:9-10, 98:1-2, 111:2, 145:17, see also Deu 32:4, 1 Sam 2:2, Zep 2:11 In Zec 14:16 the survivors from those nations that attack Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, the LORD Almighty, and to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles. Notice that all nations will come and worship before God which once again emphasises that God alone is to be worshipped, see Dan 7:14.
v5 - After this I looked and in heaven the temple, that is, the tabernacle of the Testimony, was opened. - This is similar to another occasion when the temple was opened exposing the ark of his covenant, Rev 11:19, this occurs after the seventh trumpet and before the vision of the woman clothed with the sun and moon. Some see this to introduce a new heavenly perspective for the next section (Wilcock, see also 4:1, 19:11). Caird sees in this another example of the Exodus typology, after crossing the Red Sea, the giving of the law amid the smoke of Sinai and the erection of the tent of testimony. The tabernacle of the testimony (Ex 38:21) contained the ark of the covenant (Rev 11:19) which contains the two tablets of testimony that testifies against man's sin (Exo 32:15, Deu 10:4). It can also be translated tent of witness which is also tent of martyr. Hendriksen comments that this sanctuary is now opened, so that we may understand that the wrath which is about to be revealed is God's wrath.
v6 - out of the temple came the seven angels with the seven plagues. They were dressed in clean, shining linen and wore golden sashes around their chests. - Notice that the angel who gathers the grapes for the winepress of God's wrath also comes out of the temple. The seven plagues can be likened to the sevenfold affliction promised by God to those who disobey Him, Lev 26:24-25. The angels came out of the temple meaning from the presence of God and therefore with divine sanction. One of the purposes of the book is to show that earthly events are under the control of God. They were dressed in clean, shining linen (Acts 10:30) which emphasises their purity, they had a golden sash similar to the 'son of man', 1:13, see also Dan 10:5. They are distinguished from the saints who wear white linen.
v7 - Then one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls filled with the wrath of God, who lives for ever and ever. - The four creatures, representing nature, now give the bowls to the angels the first four of which affect nature itself. The golden bowls in Rev 5:8 were full of incense which are the prayers of the saints, now they are used to pour out God's wrath. Once more the wrath of God is God's answer to the prayers of the saints as with the trumpets, see Rev 8:5, the cry of the martyrs for their blood to be avenged is answered in the third bowl.
v8 - And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power, and no one could enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were completed. - There are many incidents like this in scripture, in which the tent or temple is filled with a cloud of the glory of the Lord, Exo 40:34-35, 2 Chr 5:14, Isa 6:3, Isa 30:27, Ezek 10:4, this verse emphasises God's determination to complete his wrath. No one could enter the temple until the seven plagues were completed indicates God's determination to carry out these plagues to the bitter end. It is as though intimate communion with God by the saints is not possible until God has dealt with this matter (xxxx).