Revelation 15 – The Presentation of the Seven Bowls

This chapter merely relates the presentation of the seven angels and seven bowls of wrath.  Little content is here in debate as to the timing of these events, as few if any specific details could be used to determine past or future or whatnot.  They speak, however, of the jurisdiction of God, of the Kingdom of Heaven, and the procedure that God chooses within which to operate.

He created all of these things, and chooses to operate through them.  As it is written, righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne (Psalm 89:14).  God operates His power always through proper authority, and He reveals His heart, His perfect nature, in the beatitudes, perfectly.

His Kingdom, which is eternal, and established in the church on the Earth, must always be lived out in the context of this right way.  Any other use of this power, although quite possible according to Matthew 7:21-22, constitutes lawlessness, rebellion, and God will judge it.

Contrary to this, these judgments are attested to their purity by the various voices that speak forth.  God is perfect beyond all compare, beyond all ability to comprehend, to the smallest molecules and then more.  His justice is perfect, and His judgements completely just.  The mind cannot comprehend this perfect, from greater than the greatest to the least of the least.  He alone is the perfect God, bright shining in beauty.  To comprehend any part of Him perfectly is to know all of Him perfectly, for there is no shadow of turning.

Perfect justice is perfect love which is perfect mercy which is perfect wrath, for they cannot be separate from one another, for the Lord, He is One.  God’s purposes in such arrangements could be seen as instructive to us, only in that they portray who He is.  They teach us, ever more, the nature and character of who He is.  Only as we follow, therefore, the Holy Spirit within us, and keep in step with Him, do we find ourselves in the proper alignment with what He is doing.  We must always seek Him, always cleave to Him, and love Him with all that we have in us.

Revelation 15:1

(1) Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous, (2) seven angels who had seven plagues, (3) which are the last, because in them the wrath of God is finished.

  1. This prophecy is different than the first one of chapters 6-11.  It is a series of visions as a result of the scroll.  John sees another sign in the heavens.
  2. The seven angels with the seven plagues are seen.
  3. They are last because the wrath of God is finished.  This is understood to be the wrath of God over Rome.  Even in the seventh bowl of plague, God remembers Babylon to give her the cup of His wrath.  In the judgment, sinners will face the wrath of God.  Clearly, this does not indicate all wrath of all time, but the wrath against the beast of Rome.

Revelation 15:2-4

And (1) I saw something like a sea of glass mixed with fire, and (2) those who had been victorious over the beast and his image and the number of his name, (3) standing on the sea of glass, holding harps of God. (4) And they sang the song of Moses, the bond-servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, (5) “Great and marvelous are Your works, O Lord God, the Almighty; Righteous and true are Your ways, King of the nations! Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify Your name?  For You alone are holy; For ALL THE NATIONS WILL COME AND WORSHIP BEFORE YOU, FOR YOUR RIGHTEOUS ACTS HAVE BEEN REVEALED.”

  1. John sees the same sea of glass as chapter 4.
  2. John sees the the congregation of overcomers.
  3. Here, they are on the sea in worship with “Harps of God”.
  4. They worship.
  5. The words of the Song of Moses glorify the Lord.

Revelation 15:5-6

(1) After these things I looked, and (2) the temple of the tabernacle of testimony in heaven was opened, and (3) the seven angels who had the seven plagues came out of the temple, (4) clothed in linen, clean and bright, and girded around their chests with golden sashes.

  1. After the worship of the saints who had overcome the beast.
  2. The heavenly tabernacle was the location angels who will carry the plagues.
  3. The seven angels are again mentioned, the same as verse 1.
  4. They are dressed similar to Christ in chapter 1.

Revelation 15:7

(1) Then one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels (2) seven golden bowls full of (3) the wrath of God, who lives forever and ever.

  1. The angels came from the tabernacle, but the plagues came from the four creatures.
  2. One per angel.  More particularly, vials, not particularly bowls.
  3. The wrath of God is somehow contained in these bowls.

Revelation 15:8

(1) And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from His power; (2) and no one was able to enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were finished.

  1. The smoke is from His glory and power.
  2. This is the heavenly tabernacle, and it is probably both man and angel that are unable to enter.  God alone is in view here, and it is in His dominion that these are carried out.  Certain things, such as the altar and what not, which speak later, are already within, and do not need to “enter”.