Revelation 15
Section 5. Chapters 15-16. The Seven Bowls of Wrath.
REVELATION 15
15:1. Here begins another view of the government of God and the victory of the Lamb over all his and our enemies. It is a picture of his wrath poured out when all warning trumpets of judgment have been ignored (cf. chapters 8-11). Judgments of wrath come upon men and nations throughout these entire last days between Christ’s two advents. “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness” (Ro. 1:18). As the number seven indicates, God’s wrath is finished, (i.e., perfected) in these plagues. They are the last, because “No plague can be added to them” (Dennis Prutow). Whenever a man dies outside of God’s grace in Christ, for him it is a bowl of wrath poured out.
15:2. Standing upon the sea of glass (before the throne of God, see 4:6) are the victorious ones, those who had resisted the beast and his image and the number of his name by their obedience and faith in Jesus, even unto death (cf. 13:15, 18; 14:12-13). From the seething sea of the nations, these victors now stand before the throne in the perfect calm of the crystal sea, a sea mixed with fire symbolizing “the flames of affliction, trial, and suffering” (Prutow) through which they have passed and are passing (cf. 1 Pet. 4:12).
“These are individuals standing on the sea of glass in the midst of the flames of affliction. They stood against the beast, his image and the number of his name. They are victors. The beast is anti-Christian power manifested in government. The image of the beast is the complex of institutions built on ungodly principles. This image provides a mouth for the false prophet in schools, laboratories, museums, publishing companies, theaters, television networks, etc.” (Dennis Prutow, In Response, Vol. V, No. 7, July 1996).
15:3-4. The song of Moses (Ex. 15), God’s bondservant, and the song of the Lamb are not two songs, but one. The redeemed of both the old and new testaments have but one gospel of salvation. The Lord God the Almighty is King of the nations, and every knee shall bow before him, willingly or unwillingly (Php. 2:10), for his righteous acts (of judgment) have been revealed.
“I will sing to the LORD, for He is highly exalted. The horse and its rider He has hurled into the sea. The LORD is my strength and song, And He has become my salvation….” “The LORD shall reign forever and ever.” (Ex. 15:1-2, 18). So begins and ends the song of Moses, which Israel sang as the bodies of the Egyptian army washed up on the banks of the Red Sea. Their destruction was Israel’s salvation (Ex. 14:30; cf. Ro. 9:15-17).
15:5-8. These verses begin John’s vision that looks back to see the reason the redeemed celebrate and praise God with the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb. Their faith in God and his justice is vindicated as his wrath is poured out of the seven golden bowls upon those who have rejected the grace of God and have afflicted his people. As heaven is opened, John sees again the seven angels having the seven last plagues (cf. v.1). They are clothed in the garments of Christ, for they act on his behalf as his emissaries (cf. 1:13; 3:4). One of the four cherubim, the guardians of God’s holy presence, gave the seven angels seven golden (sacred) bowls filled with the wrath of God, who lives forever and ever (implying the duration of his unpropitiated wrath). The temple filled with smoke none can penetrate implies that the day of mercy has passed, and atonement can no longer be made. Our High Priest has entered the temple with his own blood as the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. He has been seated at the Father’s right hand as King of kings and Lord of lords. But these men have given their allegiance to the beast and his image, having rejected the King of Glory (“We will not have this man to reign over us.” Lk. 19:14, KJV). Thus the smoke of God’s glory and power will fill the temple until wrath has been poured out upon them to the uttermost (cf. 1 Thess. 2:16).