Revelation 15:1-8
A Glimpse of
Glory, Part 1. – “The Sea.”
The
Seven Angels with Seven Plagues
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.”
The Great Tribulation period described from chapters
6-19, is a time of great judgment, as God pours out His judgment and wrath
upon the Christ-rejecters, it also a time to bring Israel (God’s people) to
salvation, and to accept Jesus the Christ, the Messiah of God.
There are a series of 7’s/seals/trumpets/vials, bowls
of wrath.
Verse 1.
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.”
7 last plagues,
notice how God uses the angels of heaven to pour out these judgements upon the
earth!
Verse 7.
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.”
Now we have the four living creatures
giving judgements to the angels.
John has already seen the 7 seals opened, heard 7
trumpet judgments, but the worst is yet to come in these bowls! (Chapter 16).
So far, most of the judgments have come by God using natural means,
earthquakes, wars, etc., but now they start falling from God above Himself! Do
not miss this bit of depth, then we will get practical:
Chapter 15 is an introduction to the 7 bowls of wrath/lays
foundation for them/all that happens in chapter 15 happens in
heaven/still during the tribulation/from a different location, a different
viewpoint. Here we get a glimpse of glory, and it is remarkably interesting.
Verse 2.
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.” Here we see “a sea.”
Verses 3-4.
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.”
Now we hear “a song.”
Verses 1, 6-8.
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.
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.”
Then we will look at all these “7’s.” That
is our outline for this first part!
Verses 1-2.
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.”
We are in heaven now, and not on the earth.
The last few chapters have been about the evil Antichrist and his demons on the
earth, and thousands of deaths and destruction. Now we have a break from all of
that, here we are having a “Glimpse of Glory.”
“Sea of glass,” what is it? It is not an ocean, do not think of a
literal sea, but think of a round laver, or a wash basin. (Let me explain). Remember
this is happening in heaven, specifically, just outside the temple in heaven
(God gave Solomon the design of the temple in heaven!)
Verse 5
5 After this I looked,
and the sanctuary (Temple) of the tent of witness in
heaven was opened.”
Verse 8.
8 and the sanctuary
(Temple) 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.”
There are two articles of furniture exist just outside
the temple: the brazen altar, the brazen (brass) laver. After the priest offers
a sacrifice on that altar, he steps up to the laver to wash up before entering
the holy place.
See 1 Kings 7:23-26:
23 And
he made a molten sea, ten cubits from the one brim to the other: it was
round all about, and his height was five cubits: and a line of thirty cubits
did compass it round about.
24 And
under the brim of it round about there were knops compassing it, ten in a
cubit, compassing the sea round about: the knops were cast in two rows,
when it was cast.
25 It
stood upon twelve oxen, three looking toward the north, and three looking
toward the west, and three looking toward the south, and three looking toward
the east: and the sea was set above upon them, and all their hinder
parts were inward.
26 And
it was a hand breadth thick, and the brim thereof was wrought like the brim of
a cup, with flowers of lilies: it contained two thousand baths. (OT
measurement).
Sounds like what we see in Revelation 15, not
an ocean, but the brazen laver outside the temple in the courtyard! Ephesians
5:26 “That He might sanctify and cleanse it with
the washing of water by the word.”
The laver represented cleansing, the priest had to do
this before entering in/thus he gave us a picture of how we are to approach God
in worship correctly/the laver was made from polished brass, a mirror in those
days, and like water, mirrors are a Bible picture of the Word (I Corinthians
13, a glass, darkly).
Now, look at verse 2: these saints are standing
on the Word, symbolic of the victory they have won by the Word! “Standing beside the sea of
glass with harps of God in their hands.” God’s Word stands forever. Are you glad you
are part of a Bible believing world Church?!
“Fire” = a symbol of testing in scripture. These are they who refused to take
the mark of the beast! They may have been persecuted, starved, tortured, and
lost their heads (death) for it, but they awoke immediately standing on the
Word of God, praising the Name of God, holding the harps of God, this is a
verse of victory! And we will be there to see it live, with our own eyes!
That was a little deep, so what can we apply/make
relevant to us today?
Three lessons to learn from this:
1. We must be clean to serve God correctly.
The message of the laver is sanctification (altar = justification)
God wants to use us but will not use a dirty vessel. We cannot expect God to
use us while we harbour sin! People come to church having not read the Bible
hardly at all that week, not prayed a tick, stay up late Saturday night
watching a movie with sinful content, drag themselves out Sunday morning and
sit there saying, I just do not get much out of church!
What if we all came together excited, with expectancy,
having been with God already that day/week, and we did not need woke up,
entertained, etc., we would have an incredible service!
The laver is our first lesson, daily cleansing.
2. There are some things worse than death!
Jesus said in, Matthew 10:28 “And fear not them which kill the body but
are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both
soul and body in hell.”
These Tribulation saints say, we will not bow to the
antichrist, we would rather die, and they will die for their faith, we will not
take the mark, death first! Like Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, “Our God will
deliver us, but if not, we will die for our faith!”
If you are reading this, and are not saved, consider there
is something worse than even death! Do you have a faith you are willing to die
for? If so, you will be living for it! Do not tell me you will die for Christ if
you do not witness for Him now/tithe now/serve now.
Lesson of the laver/some things are worse than death/now the
last lesson.
3. It pays to serve God!
Not always in this life, but in the next life! These
are standing on a crystal sea, praising God, holding the harps of God, these
are the winners, escaping Tribulation and hell for all eternity!
I will be back!
Revelation 15:1-8.
A Glimpse of Glory, - The Song, Part 2.
This chapter is a prophetic scene taking place in
heaven during the Tribulation period.
I said before that we see three things: The sea,
song, a seven (last plagues). Last time, I looked at “The sea.”
Verse 2.
2 And I saw 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.”
Speaking about the brazen laver of Old
Testament Temple, which represents the Word of God, which is what we are to
stand on! These were martyred because they would not bow to the antichrist.
Now the song of chapter 15:
Verses 3-4.
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.”
According to these verses, these saints will not only
be standing in heaven, but also singing, the sea of glass may represent the steadiness
of the Word of God, but the song represents the sanctity of the worship of God.
They are standing, and they are singing what?
Verse 3. The song of Moses and the song of the Lamb.
What is the song of Moses?
Exodus 15. The song Israel sang as they were delivered from
Egypt, passing through the Red Sea on dry ground.
Israel (the people of God) was in bondage as slaves in
a foreign land, God raised up Moses to stand before Pharaoh and say, “let my
people go,” God then performed His greatest miracle the people (some say
2.4 million people) crossed the red sea on dry land.
Liberals say storms and low tide combined to blow back
the sea water, leaving just a few inches of water deep, so that the people
crossed on muddy ground. That is how they explained away the miracle of
crossing the red sea.
Well praise God for an even bigger miracle that followed,
of God drowning an entire army in the same few inches of water that followed
the people of God! Ha, ha!
Sorry about this story. In the film Robin Hood and men
in tights. There is a fight scene where Robin Hood and Little John are over a
small stream, Robin showed Little John that he could jump over the stream, it
was just a few inches of water.
Well in the fight scene Little John fell into this
steam of water, shouting out to “save him” from drowning ha, ha. Robin sited
Little John up, and Little John said from then on, that Robin saved his life.
Just image all the army of Pharaoh, the men and horses face down in an inch of
water, and “All drowned.”
No wonder God gave them a song of redemption,
deliverance, giving God glory for His miraculous power! Why would they sing
this song in heaven (the Tribulation saints)? Because of the symbolism. All the
Old Testament points to something or someone in the New Testament.
Their bondage in Egypt pictured our bondage to sin
(the toughest taskmaster of all!)
Pharoah = Satan,
holding us enslaved.
Moses = picture of
Jesus, delivering us.
So, they sing the song of Moses, a particularly good
illustration of Tribulation saints’ deliverance from the antichrist!
They also sing the song of the Lamb.
Verse 3. We do not know the melody, but the lyrics
are given to us right here in verse 3, look!
Song of victory by blood of Christ, just as the blood
of the lamb was to be on doorposts.
Song of Moses: Song of the Lamb:
Sung at the red
sea. Sung at
the crystal sea.
Victory over Egypt. Victory over the antichrist.
Brought out! Brought in!
First song in
Bible. Last song in the Bible!
That is the primary interpretation, now let us get
practical. Events which will happen in the future have bearing upon us now. Here
is practical application from these verses:
We are not going to question God’s love or His actions
when we get to heaven…so why cannot we learn not to question Him now? These we
read about in chapter 15, singing these two songs have just gone through
the worst possible suffering imaginable on earth, prior to arrival in heaven.
Their refusal to bow to antichrist has
caused them to be starved out, hiding out, caught out, tortured, forced to
watch family or children tortured first, then they were beheaded publicly at
the guillotine (antichrist’s preferred method), so the bible says.
Yet when we see them in heaven, they are immediately
praising God, not complaining, or questioning why.
Their praise is three-fold:
1.
His virtue.
Verse 3.
“Great and amazing are your deeds,
O
Lord God the Almighty!
Just and true are your ways,
O
King of the nations!
They praise the Lord’s works, and His ways. You always
do what is best for us, even when it is not what we hoped for. We need to be
singing this song in the here and now. Not ever prayer we pray, is answered not
in the way we want it to happen. “But all things work together for good.”
2.
His victory.
Verse 4.
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.”
Nobody is a match for you, Lord, you are all time,
undisputed, undefeated, champion of love, the one and only Jehovah God, the
Master of the universe, with victory guaranteed, and every knee will bow to
you!
Verse 4b.
“For your righteous acts have been revealed.”
Made manifest = right every wrong, even out all the
scales and scores.
One moment they are
being tortured, then instantly they are acknowledging God as sovereign, all
wise, all knowing, all powerful. He makes no mistakes.
We could spare ourselves a lot of sorrow if we could
learn to trust Him now, to leave it all in His hands and not our own now, to
thank Him now?
You may be going through trying circumstances, but if you
are saved, you are under God’s ownership, and He does not allow anything to
happen without His permission, nothing comes into your life until it has been
filtered through the divine love of God!
Your trial was either planned or permitted by God! It
is all by divine providence, for correction maybe, or perfection perhaps, for
discipline or maturity, either caused by God or allowed by Him, once we get to
heaven we will thank God for every trial, heartache and problem, and we will
understand more clearly the words of James “brethren, count it all joy when
trials come, for the trying of your faith worketh patience, let patience have
her perfect work, that you may be established.”
Some of us may feel like hypocrites standing there, as
we watch Tribulation saints arrive and praise God for His virtue, having just
been killed, as they lift His name for His victory, having just been tortured, as
they worship Him for His vengeance, having just been persecuted.
How will we feel watching this,
knowing that we have lived our lives here on earth feeling cheated by God.
Neglected, forgotten, questioning God, rather than
humbly and trusting Him, believing He is always in control, and makes no
mistakes, and still answers prayer! God is big enough to answer our prayers,
and big enough to put us in our place when we disagree with His plan.
A bit of a personal testimony. When I started in bible
college, I went through a time of God deeply speaking to me about very part of
my life, more so my failings, sins etc. For several weeks when I prayed in
private, the Lord would reveal those failings in my life, and I shared many
tears.
This went on for a few weeks, it hurt, but I needed to
know that I had to be right with God, if He was going to use me. Serving the
Lord is not all joy, sometimes a loving Father must discipline us. I say this
again, it hurt! But I believe it did me good. It was dealt with one for all.
It is one of the secrets to being used by God
powerfully: study the lives of great Christians and you will find that their
pathway to glory was the pathway of suffering and pain, as they humbly
submitted to trials of life, to authority they disagreed with, God’s power
became real in their life and made them better for it, rather than bitter for
it!
Example: Fanny Crosby, the hymn writer, which wrote Blessed
assurance, etc. We have been greatly enriched by her writings, yet when she was
6 months old a foolish country doctor put the wrong medicine in her eyes, and
she was made blind.
Saved at an early age, she determined to trust God,
and rather than blame the authority she disagreed with, she decided that God
makes no mistakes, and wanted her in that situation!
At the age of eight she wrote her
first poem:
“Oh, what a happy
child am I, although I cannot see
I am resolved that
in this life contented I will be
Because I am
blind, I see the things that other people do not
To weep and cry
because I am blind I cannot…and I will not.”
An 8-year-old understood that God knows what He is
doing, and in heaven we will acknowledge that, like the Tribulation saints. Why
cannot we get it down now? Let us not wait till then to love God. Trust God, thank
God, and praise Him, and stop taking things into our own hands but leaving it
all in His!
Revelation 15:5-8
A Glimpse of Glory – The Seven. Part 3.
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.”
You may say through this study: “Do not be negative, all
the time, do not keep speaking about sin, hell, damnation, judgment, keep it
positive” But, there is no way to preach the whole counsel of God and not face
some sad news. Would you rather see step cliffs unfenced, no warning signs of
danger etc.
The best sermon I have ever heard was titled “Behold
this point there is no return.” Speaking about not listening to the warnings of
God. Until we fall into the greatest danger that we cannot expect.
Revelation 15-16. Here is the climax of the great tribulation, and for
the saved it is nothing but good news for us and motivation to reach others and
to know the signs of the times. Does God overlook sin? Hardly! It is being
stored up, His wrath will fall, partially as part of 7 massive plagues we find
referred to in Chapter 15.
Just as in the days of Noah, there
will be a line crossed at which time God’s mercy will give way to His wrath, they
laughed at Noah for many years as he preached of coming judgment!
Verse 7.
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.”
These bowls are symbolic, but it does
not change the fact that God’s anger is stored up somehow and will somehow be
poured out! People say this is a scary book, here is where it gets scary, if
you think it has been bad so far! See
Revelation 16:1 Then I heard a mighty voice from the Temple say to the seven angels, “Go
your ways and pour out on the earth the seven bowls containing God’s wrath.”
Chapter 15 takes place in the temple of God in heaven, stay with
me now as we look at the text, and then I will apply it all to the lives of all
those still awake!
The Old Testament
temple was a witness: to man and against man. It told us how we
much approach to God, not on our terms, but his!
The tabernacle was surrounded by a fence, the only way
into the temple was through the gate (Jesus is the way, the truth, the life).
It witnessed against man as a reminder
of the fact that we are unworthy to come to God based on our own merit, you
came to the temple with a sacrifice or with nothing at all! (With a blood
sacrifice, not money, fruits, good works, etc.).
The most important part of the temple was the little
room called the holy of holies with a wooden chest overlaid with gold (imagine
it sitting here right now!). On top: gold statues of angels looking down into
that box and a brilliant light of the shekinah glory (presence of God) emanates
from within, and lid was solid gold (mercy seat).
The ark of the
covenant!
(Raiders of the Lost Ark was not committed to Biblical
accuracy, but it gives an idea of what it could have looked like). Once a year
on the day of atonement the high priest would enter with the blood of the
spotless lamb he had just offered on the brazen altar, he would sprinkle it 7
times on the mercy seat, symbolically covering the sins of the people.
God’s glory saw man’s sin through the blood and His
judgment and justice was satisfied! No wonder it is called the mercy seat, for
it was God’s mercy that allowed the payment for sin.
Verse 5.
5 After this I looked, and the sanctuary of the tent of
witness in heaven was opened.”
The
testimony = the ark of the covenant.
Why is it being
opened?
Verse 6.
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.”
No longer a throne of mercy, but now
of judgment…out of it proceed these judgments! The mercy seat becomes the
judgment seat!!
In chapter 16 we will look at the 7 judgments
individually (God willing), but for now, 5 words from chapter 15 which
describe these judgments.
Verse 6.
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.”
They will be complete and perfect because there is 7
of them! (God’s perfect number of completeness). This judgment will not be too
little or too much, and no one will be left out.
It will also be a righteous judgment, too:
Verse 6.
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.”
Pure and white linen, no one will be able to say God
is being unfair, it will be deserved judgment righteous.
Sovereign judgment:
“Breasts girded
with golden girdles” = a
symbol of sovereignty, the Lord Himself will carry out this judgment! These 7
judgments come directly from the throne of God.
It will be awful judgment:
Verse 7.
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.”
“Full” to the brim! But let us remember that what God does He does big, and
He does it right!
It was a certain judgment:
verse 8.
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.”
No man could enter (to offer atonement, to pray, for
blood, an intercessor, a sacrifice, too late for an offering!). Once the dam is broken, no man
will be able to stand against the floodtide of judgment which will pour out!
Not saved? Better
get saved!
Saved?
Thank God!!
That is the end of chapter 15.
