Revelation 15
Notes
Transcript
1 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.
2 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.
3 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!
4 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.”
5 After this I looked, and the sanctuary of the tent of witness in heaven was opened,
6 and out of the sanctuary came the seven angels with the seven plagues, clothed in pure, bright linen, with golden sashes around their chests.
7 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,
8 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.
Revelation reveals that there is to be a terrible time coming upon the earth in the end time, a time so terrible that Christ Himself described it as the great tribulation (Mt. 24:21). Revelation uses some descriptive language to describe this period of time. It calls the judgments of the period trumpet judgments, picturing the blast of trumpets. There have been seven trumpet judgments altogether. But when the seventh trumpet blasted an amazing thing happened. There was no blast of judgment, not immediately. Instead an over-all picture of the end time was blown forth:
⇒ There was a picture of Israel being chosen as the nation through which God would send His Son into the world, the picture of Jesus Christ coming to the earth as the Savior of the world (Re. 12:1–5).
⇒ There was the picture of the dragon, that old serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, working to get men to be ungodly and evil—all because he wants to cut and hurt the heart of God (Re. 12:6–17).
⇒ There was the picture of the antichrist and of his right hand man coming upon the earth, the picture of how they will gain and consolidate power over the whole earth and launch the worst holocaust the world has ever seen (Re. 13:1–18).
⇒ There was the glorious picture of the very end of the world when Jesus Christ triumphs over all the ungodly and evil of this world, the picture of Jesus Christ harvesting the earth, of His taking believers to heaven with Him and judging unbelievers (Re. 14:1–20).
Now, the seventh trumpet blasts forth its judgments. And the judgments come fast and furious. Why? Because they are the very last judgments. God has decided to end human history. He has decided to stop all the ungodliness and evil of the earth. He can no longer take the rebellion, denial, cursing, immorality, stealing, drunkenness, sorcery, and murder of man. Therefore, Jesus Christ will destroy all the ungodly and evil of this world and do it quickly. Remember: the whole tribulation period will last seven years. It will be divided into two periods: the first period will be three and one half years and is called the beginning of sorrows. The last period will also be three and one half years and is called the great tribulation.
⇒ When the tribulation begins, during the first three and one half years, there will be seven seal judgments that will take place upon earth (Re. 6:1–7:17).
⇒ When the great tribulation itself begins, the final three and one half years, there will be seven trumpet judgments that will take place upon earth (Re. 8:1–14:20).
⇒ Then, at the very end of the tribulation period, there will be seven more judgments, the seven bowl judgments. The bowl judgments will end human history as we know it.
This passage is the heavenly preparation for judgment. This is the preparation that will be made for the launch of the judgments that will end all the ungodliness and evil of man upon earth.
1. The sign of judgment in heaven (v.1).
2. The reason for the judgment: believers will be martyred by the beast or antichrist (vv.2–4).
3. The judgment of God will be sent forth (vv.5–8).
1 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.
2 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.
Notice the frequency in how things are being revealed to John. After the seventh trumpet is blown, things are moving quickly. The 144,000 and the Lamb were revealed singing a song only they knew, following the Lamb everywhere He went. The three angels and their messages followed, and the harvest of the earth occurred and now, we are introduced to the seven angels that will dispense the seven final judgments or plagues, the seven bowls of wrath.
Notice what we are told in verse one - this is the end “For with them (the seven plagues) the wrath of God is finished” and the seven angels will be the one who bring the final steps of judgment to the earth.
Now, in the age of grace, God is withholding his wrath - waiting for any and all that would accept Jesus as their personal Savior.
11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people,
12 training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age,
13 waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,
14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.
In this verse, we see the end of the age of grace - when there are no more on earth who will repent of their sins and turn to the saving grace provided by Christ. This final “sign” that we see is preceded by the great signs of the woman and the red dragon. Opportunities had been given, opportunities had been ignored, now judgment is coming.
John saw what appeared to him to be a sea of glass mixed with fire. This may be the same sea described in Revelation 4:6.
6 and before the throne there was as it were a sea of glass, like crystal. And around the throne, on each side of the throne, are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind:
Beside the sea John saw the martyred dead described in Revelation 7:9-17.
9 After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands,
10 and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”
11 And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God,
12 saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”
13 Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?”
14 I said to him, “Sir, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
15 “Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence.
16 They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat.
17 For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”
3 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!
4 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.”
These martyred saints were singing the song of Moses, which could have been the song of God’s faithfulness to Israel outlined like the song in Exodus 15.
1 Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to the Lord, saying, “I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea.
2 The Lord is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him.
3 The Lord is a man of war; the Lord is his name.
4 “Pharaoh’s chariots and his host he cast into the sea, and his chosen officers were sunk in the Red Sea.
5 The floods covered them; they went down into the depths like a stone.
6 Your right hand, O Lord, glorious in power, your right hand, O Lord, shatters the enemy.
7 In the greatness of your majesty you overthrow your adversaries; you send out your fury; it consumes them like stubble.
8 At the blast of your nostrils the waters piled up; the floods stood up in a heap; the deeps congealed in the heart of the sea.
9 The enemy said, ‘I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil, my desire shall have its fill of them. I will draw my sword; my hand shall destroy them.’
10 You blew with your wind; the sea covered them; they sank like lead in the mighty waters.
11 “Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?
12 You stretched out your right hand; the earth swallowed them.
13 “You have led in your steadfast love the people whom you have redeemed; you have guided them by your strength to your holy abode.
14 The peoples have heard; they tremble; pangs have seized the inhabitants of Philistia.
15 Now are the chiefs of Edom dismayed; trembling seizes the leaders of Moab; all the inhabitants of Canaan have melted away.
16 Terror and dread fall upon them; because of the greatness of your arm, they are still as a stone, till your people, O Lord, pass by, till the people pass by whom you have purchased.
17 You will bring them in and plant them on your own mountain, the place, O Lord, which you have made for your abode, the sanctuary, O Lord, which your hands have established.
18 The Lord will reign forever and ever.”
19 For when the horses of Pharaoh with his chariots and his horsemen went into the sea, the Lord brought back the waters of the sea upon them, but the people of Israel walked on dry ground in the midst of the sea.
20 Then Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women went out after her with tambourines and dancing.
21 And Miriam sang to them: “Sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea.”
22 Then Moses made Israel set out from the Red Sea, and they went into the wilderness of Shur. They went three days in the wilderness and found no water.
23 When they came to Marah, they could not drink the water of Marah because it was bitter; therefore it was named Marah.
24 And the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?”
25 And he cried to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a log, and he threw it into the water, and the water became sweet. There the Lord made for them a statute and a rule, and there he tested them,
26 saying, “If you will diligently listen to the voice of the Lord your God, and do that which is right in his eyes, and give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, your healer.”
27 Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they encamped there by the water.
Or perhaps it was like the song outlined in Deuteronomy 32.
1 “Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak, and let the earth hear the words of my mouth.
2 May my teaching drop as the rain, my speech distill as the dew, like gentle rain upon the tender grass, and like showers upon the herb.
3 For I will proclaim the name of the Lord; ascribe greatness to our God!
4 “The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he.
5 They have dealt corruptly with him; they are no longer his children because they are blemished; they are a crooked and twisted generation.
6 Do you thus repay the Lord, you foolish and senseless people? Is not he your father, who created you, who made you and established you?
7 Remember the days of old; consider the years of many generations; ask your father, and he will show you, your elders, and they will tell you.
8 When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when he divided mankind, he fixed the borders of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God.
9 But the Lord’s portion is his people, Jacob his allotted heritage.
10 “He found him in a desert land, and in the howling waste of the wilderness; he encircled him, he cared for him, he kept him as the apple of his eye.
11 Like an eagle that stirs up its nest, that flutters over its young, spreading out its wings, catching them, bearing them on its pinions,
12 the Lord alone guided him, no foreign god was with him.
13 He made him ride on the high places of the land, and he ate the produce of the field, and he suckled him with honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock.
14 Curds from the herd, and milk from the flock, with fat of lambs, rams of Bashan and goats, with the very finest of the wheat— and you drank foaming wine made from the blood of the grape.
15 “But Jeshurun grew fat, and kicked; you grew fat, stout, and sleek; then he forsook God who made him and scoffed at the Rock of his salvation.
16 They stirred him to jealousy with strange gods; with abominations they provoked him to anger.
17 They sacrificed to demons that were no gods, to gods they had never known, to new gods that had come recently, whom your fathers had never dreaded.
18 You were unmindful of the Rock that bore you, and you forgot the God who gave you birth.
19 “The Lord saw it and spurned them, because of the provocation of his sons and his daughters.
20 And he said, ‘I will hide my face from them; I will see what their end will be, for they are a perverse generation, children in whom is no faithfulness.
21 They have made me jealous with what is no god; they have provoked me to anger with their idols. So I will make them jealous with those who are no people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.
22 For a fire is kindled by my anger, and it burns to the depths of Sheol, devours the earth and its increase, and sets on fire the foundations of the mountains.
23 “ ‘And I will heap disasters upon them; I will spend my arrows on them;
24 they shall be wasted with hunger, and devoured by plague and poisonous pestilence; I will send the teeth of beasts against them, with the venom of things that crawl in the dust.
25 Outdoors the sword shall bereave, and indoors terror, for young man and woman alike, the nursing child with the man of gray hairs.
26 I would have said, “I will cut them to pieces; I will wipe them from human memory,”
27 had I not feared provocation by the enemy, lest their adversaries should misunderstand, lest they should say, “Our hand is triumphant, it was not the Lord who did all this.” ’
28 “For they are a nation void of counsel, and there is no understanding in them.
29 If they were wise, they would understand this; they would discern their latter end!
30 How could one have chased a thousand, and two have put ten thousand to flight, unless their Rock had sold them, and the Lord had given them up?
31 For their rock is not as our Rock; our enemies are by themselves.
32 For their vine comes from the vine of Sodom and from the fields of Gomorrah; their grapes are grapes of poison; their clusters are bitter;
33 their wine is the poison of serpents and the cruel venom of asps.
34 “ ‘Is not this laid up in store with me, sealed up in my treasuries?
35 Vengeance is mine, and recompense, for the time when their foot shall slip; for the day of their calamity is at hand, and their doom comes swiftly.’
36 For the Lord will vindicate his people and have compassion on his servants, when he sees that their power is gone and there is none remaining, bond or free.
37 Then he will say, ‘Where are their gods, the rock in which they took refuge,
38 who ate the fat of their sacrifices and drank the wine of their drink offering? Let them rise up and help you; let them be your protection!
39 “ ‘See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god beside me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand.
40 For I lift up my hand to heaven and swear, As I live forever,
41 if I sharpen my flashing sword and my hand takes hold on judgment, I will take vengeance on my adversaries and will repay those who hate me.
42 I will make my arrows drunk with blood, and my sword shall devour flesh— with the blood of the slain and the captives, from the long-haired heads of the enemy.’
43 “Rejoice with him, O heavens; bow down to him, all gods, for he avenges the blood of his children and takes vengeance on his adversaries. He repays those who hate him and cleanses his people’s land.”
44 Moses came and recited all the words of this song in the hearing of the people, he and Joshua the son of Nun.
45 And when Moses had finished speaking all these words to all Israel,
46 he said to them, “Take to heart all the words by which I am warning you today, that you may command them to your children, that they may be careful to do all the words of this law.
47 For it is no empty word for you, but your very life, and by this word you shall live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess.”
48 That very day the Lord spoke to Moses,
49 “Go up this mountain of the Abarim, Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, opposite Jericho, and view the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the people of Israel for a possession.
50 And die on the mountain which you go up, and be gathered to your people, as Aaron your brother died in Mount Hor and was gathered to his people,
51 because you broke faith with me in the midst of the people of Israel at the waters of Meribah-kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin, and because you did not treat me as holy in the midst of the people of Israel.
52 For you shall see the land before you, but you shall not go there, into the land that I am giving to the people of Israel.”
In either one, we see the Israelites praising God for His faithfulness to His chosen people. But notice there is a second song - the song of the Lamb. where God is praised for His great deeds, justice, truth, glory, and holiness. We are then told there will be a time when ALL nations will worship God. When we read of the second coming of Christ, we are told that every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that He is Lord.
11 for it is written, “As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.”
9 All the nations you have made shall come and worship before you, O Lord, and shall glorify your name.
9 And the Lord will be king over all the earth. On that day the Lord will be one and his name one.
The time in which those on earth will be so wicked Christ has no choice but return will be followed by God’s judgment and holiness at the Second Coming.
5 After this I looked, and the sanctuary of the tent of witness in heaven was opened,
6 and out of the sanctuary came the seven angels with the seven plagues, clothed in pure, bright linen, with golden sashes around their chests.
7 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,
8 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.
As John watched this heavenly vision unfold before him, he saw the temple - the sanctuary - in the tent of witness would be opened. We know of the splendor of the earthly temple built for sacrifice and atonement for sins, and for worship of God. Now we see a temple of judgment. As this temples is opened, the seven angels with the seven plagues come out. They are described as clothed in bright linen, pure - with golden sashes around their chests. These angels were not only pure, in the eyes of God, but the gold also pointed to their holy assignment given by the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
Notice it is one of the four living creatures that gave the angels the seven bowls of wrath that would be poured out on the earth.
What happens next is interesting - the sanctuary fills with smoke so that no one could enter until the plagues were finished. Why? Was it because no person should worship or offer praise during this awful time of judgment and wrath? We will never know this side of heaven, but one thing is for sure. This chapter gives us a frightening picture of the divine judgment that will one day come to this wicked world. The next chapter will describe just how bad things will get.
According to the Bible, we live in the age of grace. God is withholding His judgment - for a period of time - because He does not want anyone to perish. But someday the period of grace will suddenly be over and it will be time to “pay the fine” for the wages of sin.
During this age of grace, we have to acknowledge our sinfulness to God and put our faith in Jesus Christ, who has already taken the complete penalty on Himself. But if we die without receiving Christ as Savior, or if He returns and we’ve rejected Him, the “grace period” will be over and we will be judged for our sin.
Have you asked Jesus Christ to forgive your sins and to be your Savior? If not, don’t wait. No one knows when their grace period will end.