Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Fifteen

The Seven Vials: The angels receive the vials

Near the end of the previous chapter we saw God taking vengeance on the papacy in the form of the reaping angel. This angel with his sickle probably would look very much like the grim reaper to the Catholics as he came to bring about their destruction. But all that the information in the last chapter really amounted to was an overview of what occurred. In chapter thirteen we saw the emergence of the two great beasts that Satan used to fight against God and His Church. In the first part of chapter fourteen we saw the emergence and growth of the Church. Toward the end of that chapter we saw the result of their conflict, the defeat of Satan’s worldly and religious powers and the restoration of God’s Church to its rightful place of prominence. But missing in all of this was the details of how this very decisive conflict was carried out. So we will now go back in time, in this and the next chapter, and find out some of the details of how all of this happened.

15:1 And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God.

After John has been allowed to see Rome’s demise and the Restoration of the Lord’s Church, he now sees another vision. This one is of seven plagues. These plagues are the result of God’s wrath. When pharaoh refused to allow the Children of Israel to leave Egypt, God brought ten plagues against them to finally persuade them to release His people (Exodus 3-12). Here God will bring these seven plagues to bear against the Catholic Church to punish it and to destroy its power. Seven representing completeness, these plagues will bring about the utter and complete end of the beast’s power and dominion. It should also be noted that these are the “last” plagues. The seven seals showed us the fall of paganism in Rome, the seven trumpets showed us the fall of the Roman Empire, now these last seven plagues will show us the fall of the last part of Rome, the papacy. This means the final defeat of the beast and of course his master, Satan.

15:2 And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.

The word sea here is used in the same sense as in chapter four. It refers not to a large body of water, but to a large bowl that was employed in the Temple for the priests to wash their hands in before performing their service to God. The one in chapter four was said to be “a sea of glass like unto crystal” (Revelation 6:4). It was likely the same sea that John was seeing here. “Glass mingled with fire” indicates how brilliant and shiny it is. It sparkles as though there was actually fire in the glass.

Upon this sea are standing “them that had gotten the victory over the beast.” Since the sea in the Temple was used by the priests to wash their hands it is a sign of cleanliness. These saints are shown standing on this sea in Heaven, which shows their spiritual cleanliness, purity and innocence. They have been made spotless by the blood of the Lamb. The victory spoken of here is not the type won on a carnal battle field. This victory was won by everyone who remained faithful to God despite the oppression and persecution of the beast. It was a spiritual battle of the highest degree. It is as the apostle Paul said, “Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole amour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand” (Ephesians 6:11-13). And here we are seeing all of those who had heeded Paul’s advice and were able to stand against Satan and they are now standing with God.

These men have won a victory over the beast, his image, his mark, and the number of his name. All of these are different ways of referring to the same thing. As Shakespeare said, “A rose by any other name would smell just as sweet.” Similarly, the beast, whether referred to by his image, mark, or number, will smell just as rotten.

The fact that these people had harps shows that they were worshipping and praising God. This will be seen more clearly in the next verse.

15:3 And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvelous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints.

These Christians who had overcome the beast sang “the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb.” Moses represents the Old Testament dispensation, and Christ the New. They were the lawgivers in their respective eras. But notice that a distinction is made between the two. So that no one will think they are of equal importance, Moses is mentioned as a servant, while the Lamb is not. This shows that Christ was superior to Moses. The song which these people sing praises God for the things that He has done on their behalf. He is now about to begin judgment on the beast which has tormented the saints for 1,260 years. Throughout all of this time the saints have been patiently awaiting the events which are now soon to occur. And beyond this, God is about to destroy the seventh and final head of the great beast that Satan has used for over 3,500 years to oppress God’s people. Certainly the righteous of all ages would sing for joy over such a wonderful event.

“Just and true are thy ways” denotes the fact that God is very honest and fair in all His dealings. His people have suffered many things, but now He is about to pay back those who have done this great evil. He will give them exactly what they deserve. “Thou King of saints” shows God’s place as Lord and King over His people.

15:4 Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? For thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest.

“Fear” does not strictly mean to be afraid in this passage. It certainly does include the idea that the world will be afraid of the great and awesome power of God which they have seen brought to bear against Rome. But it also includes the idea of respect. The world will see God’s justice and His love for His people and will praise Him, not out of fright only, but also out of respect and admiration. The world will also recognize God’s holiness because of His actions against those who had oppressed His people.

“All nations shall come and worship before thee,” certainly does not mean that every person in the world will become Christians. But what this does mean is that God will be respected and feared around the world. We definitely saw this come to pass in the Western world in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The Catholic’s power was stripped and the nations considered themselves “Christian” nations, but not Catholic nations. This was just the opposite of the way things were during the Dark Ages.

“For thy judgments are made manifest,” shows that the world will recognize God’s displeasure with the Catholics and will see His hand in their downfall. When I speak of the world in this passage I do not mean to imply that everyone is to be included. What this means is that many people will see and understand what has transpired and will know that God was behind it all. To use an earlier illustration, the world will see the smoke of the beast’s destruction, and will know exactly who lit the fire.

15:5 And after that I looked, and, behold, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened:

“Temple of the tabernacle of the testimony.” The Jewish temple consisted of two parts, the holy place, and the most holy place. The term tabernacle here represents the entire structure and the term temple represents the most holy place. This is where the ark of the testimony was located. The idea is that the most holy place is open to view before John. This is the place where God’s presence was said to dwell.

15:6 And the seven angels came out of the temple, having the seven plagues, clothed in pure and white linen, and having their breasts girded with golden girdles.

In verse one John introduced us to these angels but then left them for a few moments to mention other things. Now he again takes up the story of these seven angels which have the seven plagues. They were clothed in pure and white linen showing their holiness and innocence before God. They were also wearing golden girdles, just as Christ was said to be wearing in chapter one. It was explained there that a girdle was an essential item of clothing for that time period. It was worn about the chest or breast area of the body. The girdle itself bears no significance here, but the fact that it is made of gold shows the value and importance of these angels. These angels came from the temple that John saw open up before him in the previous verse. This tells us that they are coming from the presence of God, and are being sent out to do His bidding.

15:7 And one of the four beasts gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials full of the wrath of God, who liveth for ever and ever.

When the angels were introduced in verse one they were spoken of as the “seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God.” But now we see one of the four beasts, or creatures, giving the angels “vials full of the wrath of God.” We seemingly have a contradiction. How could the angels be given what they already had? The answer is that they did not already have the plagues when we first saw them in verse one. They were referred to as they were in verse one for the sake of identification. This statement was made in prospect of what would come to pass. It is similar to Eve being called the mother of all living in Genesis 3:20. At that point she was yet to become a mother, but when Adam gave her this name he knew that it was appropriate because she was destined to soon be the mother of all living. Likewise, John, being inspired of God, knew what the purpose of the angels was and identified them as the carriers of the plagues before they actually received them. The wrath of God these angels had was contained in golden vials. Vial is from the Greek “phiale,” which Thayer defines as “a broad, shallow bowl, deep saucer.”[1] It is just a symbolic container for God’s wrath.

15:8 And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.

The temple where the angels had just come from is the place where God’s throne is. No man was able to enter the abode of God, Heaven, until these angels had fulfilled their mission by pouring out their vials of God’s wrath upon the beast. This whole scenario must be related to the Law of Moses to be understood. Under that Law the High Priest would enter the Most Holy Place, which was where God was said to dwell between the cherubim, once a year on the Day of Atonement. He would take with him the blood of sacrificed animals and would make atonement for the people’s sins. This did not bring forgiveness of their sins, only the blood of Christ could do that, but it did roll the sins forward to the next year. Ultimately they were all washed away when Christ died on the cross as the ultimate sacrifice. Hebrews chapters nine and ten cover this point extremely well.

The application of all this in Revelation can now be easily determined. As we know, the High Priest entered the Most Holy Place once a year to make atonement for the people’s sins. If suddenly he were forbidden by God to do this, then it would mean that God would no longer accept any sacrifice for the people’s sins. This very thing happened to the Children of Israel during the Babylonian captivity. The people had continually moved further and further into idolatry, immorality, and every other sort of evil. Finally, God had had enough. He would listen to no more pleas for mercy or leniency. He then punished Judah and Israel alike for their sinful ways.

The same type of thing is now occurring here in our story. God has been very patient and longsuffering with Rome, just as He had promised He would be. But He had also promised that if they did not repent He would punish them. In the letter to Pergamos, which covered the period from A.D. 313 to A.D. 533 we find such a warning. “Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth” (Revelation 2:16). This was the period when the apostate Roman church was beginning to take shape. The next letter, which is to Thyatira, also has a warning to repent. “And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not. Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds” (Revelation 2:21-22). Thyatira covers the period from A.D. 533 to A.D. 1400. Rome did not repent after the Lord’s first warning and here certain punishment is announced.

Around the year 1400 the Reformation began and thereafter Rome’s power was slowly broken. This period is covered by the letter to Sardis which extends from A.D. 1400 to A.D. 1793. “Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee” (Revelation 3:3). Here we clearly see that the Lord plans to come in judgment against Rome and warns everyone else to stand clear so that they are not hurt in the battle. It is during this time, while God is in the process of punishing Rome that no one can enter the temple. God will no longer entertain pleas of mercy on Rome’s behalf. They must now be made to pay for their sins against God and His people.