Revelation 15-16, "It Is Done!"

What is the nature of God? Is wrath an essential part of His nature? If not, does He take seriously all the injustice in our world, and how will He answer it all?

God’s Holiness Outlasts His Wrath, So Sing

These two chapters say in four different ways that the wrath of God has an end. One day, it will be finished.

Psalm 30:5 (ESV)

For his anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.

In Revelation 15-16, Jesus borrows from the handbook of images in the Hebrew Bible. This time from Exodus. Seven angels are given seven bowls with plagues in them. Like the plagues on Egypt, with a twist. In Egypt, there were ten plagues. God had created the world with ten words. The ten plagues uncreated Egypt’s empire. In Revelation, seven plagues represents the completion of God’s judgement.

We can see more imagery from Exodus in 15:2-4

Revelation 15:2–4 (ESV)

And I saw what appeared to be a sea of glass mingled with fire—and also those who had conquered the beast and its image and the number of its name, standing beside the sea of glass with harps of God in their hands.

And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, “Great and amazing are your deeds, O Lord God the Almighty! Just and true are your ways, O King of the nations!

Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship you, for your righteous acts have been revealed.”

When God delivered Israel from Egypt, He led them through the Red Sea, or Sea of Reeds, and drowned the Egyptian army. When the reached the other side, Israel stood by the sea and sang the song of Moses. It is a song of God’s victory over unjust, oppressive enemies and the empire of the beast of their day. You can read that in Exodus 15.

In Revelation 15, the singers of this song are those who had overcome the temptation to worship the beast and take its number. They had conquered the beast. But they don’t sing of anything they had done to win this victory. They sing about God. He has done great and amazing deeds. He is almighty, just, true, sovereign, glorious, holy, and righteous.

“In 6:11 the martyred saints were given white robes and told to wait. Now they need wait no longer, and they stand in the place of triumph beside the throne on the “sea of glass mixed with fire” (cf. 4:6), holding harps like the living creatures and elders do in 5:8. Note that they do not recount their own deeds of faithfulness and perseverance nor celebrate their own triumphs in ministry. Their total attention is on what God has done, not on what they have accomplished. This is the perspective we must strive for in our age of pride and self-centeredness. Their song of victory will be ours when we too celebrate the great saving deeds and just ways of almighty God. Every time we cry out “How long?” in our own personal trials, we need also to sing this song of triumph in faith that God will indeed be faithful to his promises (Heb. 10:23) (Osborne, p. 573).”

But notice the language John uses in chapter 15. Verse 1 says these plagues are the last, for

Revelation 15:1 (ESV)

Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and amazing, seven angels with seven plagues, which are the last, for with them the wrath of God is finished.

and closes the chapter with the same word finished

Revelation 15:8 (ESV)

and the sanctuary was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power, and no one could enter the sanctuary until the seven plagues of the seven angels were finished.

God’s wrath has an end. God has wrath for all the evil in our world that destroys life, oppresses humans, all the lies of Satan that keep people enslaved in their idolatry will result in a final judgement. And God is just and true in all His ways.

Revelation 15:3 (ESV)

“Great and amazing are your deeds, O Lord God the Almighty! Just and true are your ways, O King of the nations!

And God should be feared

Revelation 15:4 (ESV)

Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship you, for your righteous acts have been revealed.”

Because He alone is holy. That is his nature. We should fear Him and glorify His name because He is holy. We often connect His holiness with His wrath. Is wrath part of God’s nature? Because God is holy, He has wrath toward all the things that would separate us from Him in His holiness, especially our sin. But what if His righteous requirements were met and His wrath came to an end because there was nothing separating us? His holiness would remain, undiminished. We would still fear Him, but not because of His wrath.

Holiness means set apart. What sets God apart? It isn’t His wrath toward enemies. Every king, emperor, and small-g god has that. God has wrath toward everything that would separate us, especially our sin. But that is actually one demonstration of His love. The song of Revelation 15 is really a rewriting of Psalm 86.

Psalm 86:9–13 (ESV)

All the nations you have made shall come and worship before you, O Lord, and shall glorify your name. For you are great and do wondrous things; you alone are God.

Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth; unite my heart to fear your name.

I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart, and I will glorify your name forever. For great is your steadfast love toward me; you have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol.

What sets God apart from all the other gods, from the beast and his empire, is His steadfast love toward us. He leads us in truth because He loves us. He is great, and He does great things, and He alone saves. This is why the song in Revelation 15 is also called the song of the Lamb. Jesus’ blood has provided salvation and it was the outpouring of God’s love for us. The blood of the Lamb ratified the new covenant in which God cleanses us of our sins and gives us the Holy Spirit to lead us in His ways.

In Jesus Christ, God has won a great victory over all the things that would separate us. The dragon, the beast, false religions, and our own sin. His holiness and His love are inseparable and undiminished in glory.

When we think about the songs that we sing, there have been many songs written in the last thirty years about our love for God and our devotion to Jesus. But I just don’t find those as powerful as the songs we sing about God and his love for us in Christ. He is victorious over satan, the world, and sin. His victory is our victory. The way we conquer the beast is singing the song of the Lamb.

The song is prelude to the main event. After the song, the temple in heaven opens and the seven angels with plagues are given golden bowls filled with the wrath of God.

God’s Justice will Overcome All Injustice, So Pray

I met with a man this week that has been suffering, partly because of his own sin, but also because of the sins of others. And he is trying to turn his life over to Jesus. And he has been praying that God would end the unjust mistreatment he has received from others. And he is finding it so hard to keep praying when God has not ended that injustice and the suffering it has brought into his life. How many prayer have been prayed in the history of the world that sound something like,

Psalm 94:1–7 (ESV)

O Lord, God of vengeance, O God of vengeance, shine forth! Rise up, O judge of the earth; repay to the proud what they deserve!

O Lord, how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked exult? They pour out their arrogant words; all the evildoers boast.

They crush your people, O Lord, and afflict your heritage.

They kill the widow and the sojourner, and murder the fatherless; and they say, “The Lord does not see; the God of Jacob does not perceive.”

“How long, O Lord, before you end the injustice?”

The seven plagues of Revelation 15-16 are the answer to those prayers. We are told that the plagues are poured out in seven golden bowls,

Revelation 15:7 (ESV)

And 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,

We have seen the golden bowls before. In chapter 5 the golden bowls are symbolic of the prayers of the saints, especially those who were persecuted and killed by the beast.

Revelation 6:10 (ESV)

They cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”

Now, the wrath of God will be poured out on the earth in answer to those prayers.

C.S. Lewis, in his “Reflections of the Psalms” says, “The ancient Jews, like ourselves, think of God’s judgement in terms of an earthly court of justice. The difference is that the Christian pictures the case to be tried as a criminal case with himself in the dock; the Jew pictures it as a civil case with himself as the plaintiff. The one hopes for acquittal, or rather for pardon; the other hopes for a resounding triumph with heavy damages. Hence he prays “judge my quarrel”, or “avenge my cause” (35:23).”

We want someone to hear our case and right the wrongs. The Psalmists do not cry to God for mercy as much as for justice. “The Divine Judge is the defender, the rescuer (Lewis).” In this sense, we look forward to the day of judgement. This is what we see in Revelation. When the bowl filled with the plague of blood is poured on the rivers and springs of water, the angel says,

Revelation 16:5–7 (ESV)

And I heard the angel in charge of the waters say,

“Just are you, O Holy One, who is and who was, for you brought these judgments.

For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and you have given them blood to drink. It is what they deserve!”

And I heard the altar saying, “Yes, Lord God the Almighty, true and just are your judgments!”

Those that witness this event can see clearly that this is a just judgement. The angels and saints at the altar, where all those prayers have been offered for centuries, resound with this praise for God’s truth and justice in His judgements.

And when even these final catastrophes come upon the earth. All the water is polluted, all the worshippers of the beast are tormented with pain, we are told,

Revelation 16:9 (ESV)

they cursed the name of God who had power over these plagues. They did not repent and give him glory.

The final act will be God allowing Satan to deceive and collect all the kings of the earth to do battle with God. But they will find out two things.

Revelation 16:14–15 (ESV)

For they are demonic spirits, performing signs, who go abroad to the kings of the whole world, to assemble them for battle on the great day of God the Almighty.

(“Behold, I am coming like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake, keeping his garments on, that he may not go about naked and be seen exposed!”)

The day belongs to God. This is the Day of the Lord, which the prophets of old talked about. When God would frustrate all the plans of the nations that opposed His kingdom. All the kings that ruled through injustice and oppression. All the demons that deceived people into idolatry and death. They will all be destroyed by the coming of the one true King, Jesus. This is added like a parenthetical remark to the reader. “Hey reader, this Day of God the Almighty is the sudden return of Jesus Christ. So be ready, don’t be unprepared.”

Then the seventh bowl, like the seventh seal and the seventh trumpet, shake and level the whole world and destroy all the evil so that God’s kingdom can be established forever. And God will pronounce,

Revelation 16:17 (ESV)

The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple, from the throne, saying, “It is done!”

When Jesus returns, all the injustice will be answered with justice. You will have your day in court. God will hear your case against all the unjust offenders in your life. Everything will be shaken, and only those acts, attitudes of heart, thoughts in the mind, and life plans that have been established on the just judgements of God will stand. Everything else will be destroyed. Are we really ready for this?

When we pray for God to end all injustice, do we know what we are praying for? The answer to those prayers is the pouring out of seven terrible plagues to cause everyone to feel the pain of the injustice in which they have participated. And most people, even when they feel that pain, still will not repent of their deeds. Where will we find ourselves?

As I pray that God will end the injustice in the world, I begin with the prayer that He will end all the injustice in me. All the idolatry, the judgmental attitudes, the immoral thoughts, the life plans that were built on jealousy and selfish ambition, not on the just judgments of God revealed in Jesus Christ who said, love God and love others, and give up your life in this world to follow me and make disciples, and you will find your life established for eternity.

We are nearing the end of Revelation and entering Advent. This is the season we look back to the first advent of Christ so that we grow in our anticipation of His second coming. Are we ready for Him to come? He will come in perfect holiness and just judgement. The outpouring of the wrath of God will be finished. We who believe in Jesus now will be able to sing. Because we know that Christ crucified, risen, and coming again is our salvation and we have nothing to fear from God’s wrath.

Communion

Questions for Discussion

What are you thankful for this week?

What are some things that stir up your wrath?

What do we learn about God in Revelation 15?

What does it mean that with the seven last plagues the wrath of God is finished?

What are the great and amazing deeds and righteous acts of God that are revealed in Revelation?

What do we learn about people in Revelation 15-16?

Where do we see ourselves in these chapters?

What are some injustices you are praying God will end and answer with justice?

What is the injustice that God answers in Revelation 16:4-7, and what does this tell you about God and His people?

How will you respond to this passage this week?

Who is someone you can share this passage with this week?