The Completion of God's Wrath.
Revelation 15:1 – 8
In chapter fifteen we begin
our forward movement again. Revelation 15:1 NASB “Then I saw another
sign in heaven, great and marvelous, seven angels who had seven plagues, {which
are} the last, because in them the wrath of God is finished [complete].” The
scene in chapter fifteen continues to be in heaven, just as it did in chapter
fourteen. This “Then I saw” is markedly different from the same phrase in
chapter fourteen because of the context. It is not a continuation of what is
seen in the previous chapter and there is a shift because of the context to a
specific heavenly vantage point where there is now forward movement as John
sees the seven angels coming with the seven bowl judgments. This first verse
serves as a summary of what will be covered in the next chapter. This chapter
gives us a heavenly prelude to the implementation of these bowl judgments which
actually occurs in the next chapter. It serves as a prelude and a very sober
warning of what is about to transpire on the earth as these judgments are
implemented.
There are two scenes in
chapter fifteen. The first is covered in vv. 1-4 and focuses on the victorious
martyrs who had come out of the Tribulation and are now before the throne of
God. The second scene covers the last four verses, 5-8, which focus on the
seven angels that are coming out of the heavenly temple carrying their bowls
for judgment which will be poured out upon the earth. They are clad in their
judicial uniforms like officers in a court. The white robes and the golden sash
were typical in the first century in a Jewish context of that which was worn by
someone who was a judge or was instigating judgment, thw white representing
purity.
As we get into the first
verse we see that it begins with the phrase “I saw another sign in heaven.”
This is the third sign that we have seen since Revelation 12:1 where we saw NASB
“A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon
under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars; [2] and she was with
child; and she cried out, being in labor and in pain to give birth.” As we saw,
the woman represents
Notice 15:3 says they
sang the song of Moses, the bond-servant of God, and the song of the Lamb. That
indicates a definite Jewish flavor here and there are definite allusions here
in these verses to the exodus event. So there is a tone in these verses that
relates to
The sign in 15:1 is described
as “great and marvelous.” The sign itself is the seven angels that are carrying
the seven past plagues. The word “marvelous” is a Greek word that has not so
much the idea of marvelous—a better word would be awe, but when we then combine
that with the English word awesome it communicates the idea of being
overwhelmed and overpowered by the majesty, the righteousness and the justice
of God, and His power as it is being displayed in these final judgments upon
evil. The seven angels that come out appear seven times. It is interesting how
the word “seven” keeps coming up again and again. The numerical implication is
of completion. These seven angels appear as a group seven times in the
remainder of the book. Four times they are mentioned in this chapter and
outside of the chapter they are mentioned again in 16:1; 17:1 and then finally
in 21:9. Individuals within that group appear several other times as well in
the remainder of Revelation. This emphasizes their role as the intermediate
agents of God carrying out His final decrees of judgment.
Then the “seven angels who
had seven plagues.” In Revelation
What is the wrath of God? It
is actually an English phrase that translates two different Greek words: orge [o)rgh] which
is used up until chapter twelve; but starting in chapter twelve the word thumos [qumoj] is
used. These words overlap, they are almost identical in many contexts, but it
seems that orge is used to express
the objective severity of God’s justice. Wrath is not a term that means God is
just suddenly angry with man. Anger is an emotion that is the result of
something that know. God in His omniscience has always known about all of the
evil that would transpire in human history. He doesn’t suddenly see the all of
the rebellion of mankind in the Tribulation and become angry and just get
angrier and angrier at mankind. Nobody wants to have a judge who is angry;
emotion blots out objective thought. These phrases like the wrath of God and
the anger of God are designed to communicate the severity of God’s justice. The
wrath and the anger of God expresses the seriousness and the severity of God’s
justice and the harshness of the penalty. orge
represents that judgment or penalty from an objective perspective as one
might look at it as if it hasn’t been applied yet; looking at the penalty
thinking “that is really harsh.” thumos
contemplates it from the perspective of it being applied. When you see it you
just want to close your eyes and not watch because it is so horrible. There are
various places in Revelation where both words are used independently and some
where they overlap. In Revelation
It is interesting that the
phrase “wrath [thumos] of God”
isn’t used until the second half of the Tribulation when the fullest
application of God’s judgment upon the earth is seen. We see the word orge used earlier in the book. For
example, in the sixth seal judgment when there is an asteroid shower or
something like that is pummeling everyone of the earth and the kings and the
great men of the earth say, “Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him
who sits on the throne, and from the wrath [orge]
of the Lamb,” this is the objective penalty that has been assessed for their
rejection of Christ. This contemplates the judgment of God from the vantage
point of the sentence itself. Also
This all relates to basic
understanding of the essence of God. God is sovereign, which means He rules
over creation and is the final authority in creation. He is righteousness, and
this represents the standard of His character. He Himself is the absolute standard
by which everything is evaluated. Justice is the application of that standard.
Both of these words that we have in the English, righteousness and justice,
have little relationship to each other; but in both Greek and Hebrew the same
word group is translated into both of these terms. These two concepts always go
together and they are foundational for understanding what is happening in
chapter fifteen. What is so interesting as we go through Revelation is that we
have three series of judgments. The whole book hangs on these three series of
judgments. What happens just before the execution of each one of these series
of judgments? There is a scene in heaven where the angels, the four living
creatures and the elders are singing praise to God, and each one of those hymns
that they sing focus on God’s holiness, His righteousness and His justice. We
have to ask why the writer is doing this. Why does he reveal it this way? It is
because these judgments are so harsh that man in human viewpoint says, Well how
can this be fair, how can this be just? This is so harsh, so horrible. Yet what
the writer is showing here and what the Holy Spirit is teaching us is that this
judgment flows out of God’s absolute purity, His righteousness and His justice;
and because He is righteous and just He has to deal with rebellion and sin in
this manner. He has dealt with it in another manner and that was at the cross.
That was His grace, when He poured out this same kind of judgment. And that is
a demonstration of the love of God, which is the next characteristic in the
essence of God and it doesn’t work apart from His righteousness and justice. In
fact, if God was not righteous and just then His love would be nothing more
than just sentimentality. It would have no substance to it, no depth, no value.
Love without righteousness, without an ethical standard, an ethical absolute,
is not worth anything at all. So God’s righteousness and justice work together
with His love. These three really come together to form the foundation of the
entire essence of God, along with truth. Just as the sending of His Son to take
upon Himself the sin penalty for us is as much a product of His righteousness
and justice and love—and it shows His grace in providing that solution—so at
the end time it is because His grace has been rejected that His righteousness,
His justice and love must now pour out this kind of judgment on those who have
rejected Him and upon the cosmic system and fallen angels. Because He is
absolutely true (His veracity) that works with His righteousness, justice and
love to form the very foundation of His character, and this never changes—His
immutability.
The focal point in the first
verse sets us up for understanding the justice and righteousness of God in
terms of His wrath. In verse 2 this is going to be exemplified again in the
heavenly vision. Revelation 15:2 NASB “And I saw something
like a sea of glass mixed with fire, and those who had been victorious over the
beast and his image and the number of his name, standing on the sea of glass,
holding harps of God.” The last time we saw this glassy sea it was like
crystal, in Revelation chapter four, and it was before the throne of God. It is
this glassy sea that separates God from His creatures. There is this distance
between God on His throne and the angels, the four living creatures and the
elders. There is something that separates them from Him and that is His
character: His righteousness and justice. His holiness is not shared with His
creatures; His is absolute. In the previous image it is a crystal sea but here
it is mingled with fire. Why? That imagery of the fire is of the judgment which
is about to occur. As this judgment is about to be poured out it is His
righteousness and His justice that is about to be enacted and so there is the
mingling of fire in this sea of glass.
Who are the ones who have
victory over the beast? This is the same Greek word that is used in Revelation
2 and 3 to describe those mature believers who overcome, who are victorious in
the Christian life. The word comes from the noun nike [nikh] meaning to have victory or to overcome, and
grammatically it is the same format. It is a present active participle, here in
15:2 it is a plural whereas in those passages it is a singular but it is the
same idea—“those who overcome the beast.” This has an ironic twist because it
appears that the beast overcame them because it was the beast who took their
life. The next phrase, “holding harps of God,” really sets up the transition
for the next verse which is where they begin to sing. So there is going to be
this heavenly choir of these martyred saints. This is different from what we
saw in the last chapter where we saw the 144,000 with the Lamb on Mount Zion
and they were singing a song that only they could sing because only they had
gone through the experiences they had gone through in the Tribulation period.
But these are the other martyrs and in Revelation
Revelation 15:3 NASB
“And they sang the song of Moses, the bond-servant of God, and the song of the
Lamb, saying, ‘Great and marvelous are Your works, O Lord God, the
Almighty; Righteous and true are Your ways, King of the nations!’” Where is the
orientation to worship here? It is God the Father. There is worship to the Lamb
but here the focus is on God the Father, and this is indicated by the phrase,
“Lord God, the Almighty,” which is never used of the Son. What are these songs
that are being described here? There is not a lot of clarity on this. There are
two options for the song of Moses. One is the song to the Jews in Exodus 15
after
Revelation 15:4 NASB
“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.”
The word “fear” means serious respect engendered in the creature here as we
focus on His holiness, His righteousness, His separateness. His absolute
righteousness is not shared with any of His creatures. When the human race
looks upon the outworking of those judgments when they are all over with the
conclusion will be that this was the right thing to do; yet the horror is
unbelievable.
The second part of the
chapter comes in Revelation 15:5 NASB “After these things
I looked, and the temple of the tabernacle of testimony in heaven was opened.”
This pulls together two Greek words: naos
[naoj], the temple, and skene
[skhnh] for tabernacle. naos
was the word that focused on the holy place in the temple. It indicates that
inner sanctum. skene is the word
for dwelling, a dwelling place. The temple is the dwelling of God in heaven,
and inside of it is the dwelling of the testimony. The testimony has to do with
the heavenly record of God’s covenant with
Revelation 15:7 NASB
“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 word “bowl” is
the Greek word phiale [fialh]. There is something dramatic that happens here at the close of this
chapter. The severity of this judgment is of such a nature that it is a picture
of God shrouding Himself in smoke. So He is not seen. It is like when He was on
Revelation 15:8 NASB
“And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from His power;
and no one was able to enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven
angels were finished.” This verse mirrors the statement that was made in verse
one, that in these seven plagues the wrath of God will have been brought to
completion. That sets us up for the instigation of these seven bowl judgments
that are then going to be described in the next chapter.