"Transition to Final Judgment—The Bowls" REVELATION 15 From the Series: When The Lamb Stands.

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Although the Trumpet Judgments end in chapter eleven, John post-pones his narrative of the Bowl Judgments until chapter fifteen to prepare all things for the completion of wrath. The flow of the Tribulation was interrupted to give us a good look at events which take place at the mid-point of the Tribulation, and to proclaim Christ’s sure victory and the imminent hour of His final unleashing of judgment. This delay also represents His final mercy. The Lord always warns before judgment as a last call to repentance [Rev. 14:7]. But now the time has come for the seven last plagues, and in them the wrath of God is completely satisfied [15:1].

CHAPTER 15—INTRODUCTION TO FINAL JUDGMENT--THE BOWLS

• Vs. 1—The seven angels appear ominously with the seven last plagues: They are the LAST judgments and therefore the WORST judgments because “God’s wrath is completed” in them. The Bowls come swift and terrible; chapter 15, the introduction of the Bowls, is the shortest chapter in the entire book. Little is there left to say to a world set in stone-faced rebellion against God.
• Vs. 2-3—We see the sea of glass before the throne in heaven, now mixed with fire. This expanse was first described in chapters 4 and 5. In heaven, the redeemed will walk on the sea of glass as if walking on water because now there is nothing to separate them from Christ and the Father. Peter fell under the waves when he took his eyes off of Jesus on the Sea of Galilee; but in heaven, Christ’s atoning blood holds the redeemed up ETERNALLY in cleansing fire. The “sea” in heaven corresponds to the laver in the earthly Temple where the priests washed their hands before performing rites of sacrifice. The laver represented Christ’s cleansing of our sin. Cleansing leading to salvation in the Tribulation will come through the fire of judgment resulting in the sea of glass mixed with fire.
• The redeemed of the Tribulation that were introduced in Rev. 7—the blood-washed multitude—are given the honor of introducing the Bowls with a worship song. They sang before the throne in chapter 7 and are still singing!
• They hold harps, like the elders in chapter 5. Harps are a symbol of worship and were used extensively in Temple services. Imagine millions of harp strings plucked in concert before the throne! Their music will swell the expanse of heaven, superior to all the stringed instruments of earth in their celestial sound. Even today, the harps similar to the kind played by King David and used in Old Testament Temple worship, are being reproduced in Jerusalem in preparation for the building of the Third Temple, what will be the Tribulation Temple. Their sound is a sweet but tiny preview of the heavenly concert to come.
• The chorus multitude sing a song of Moses (Deut. 32:1-43) and of the Lamb (Rev. 5:9-12). The song of Chapter 15 is a song that combines both because both speak of God’s deliverance, salvation and faithfulness.
• Both songs can be combined to make a new song because salvation in both the Old Testament time period and the New Testament time period is the same: by grace thru faith in Jesus Christ alone (Eph. 2:8). Messiah replaces Moses in their spiritual maturity—Jesus Christ is the HERO OF ISRAEL. Paul prophesies this in Hebrews 3:3--Jesus will finally be seen as worthy of greater honor than Moses… We recall that the 144,000 learned this song in Rev. 14:2-3 because they have been redeemed and now know that the Lord God Almighty of Jewish tradition and history is the Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah of the Jews. Combining the “song of Moses” and the “song of the Lamb” represents this understanding.
• Vs. 3-4—The song itself affirms the Lord’s right to complete His wrath. They testify that it will cause all to “fear” the Lord. The lost will have a dread of the Lord, even though they do not put their faith in Him; but believers will have a holy and reverent fear out of honor to the Almighty. “All nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous acts have been revealed.” The remnant of believers is previewed again, those who will be part of “the nations” that will live in the Millennial Kingdom. (See Isaiah 66:19-23)
• Vs. 5--The angels of the Bowls come forth from the heavenly Temple symbolizing, again, that the origin of the judgments is from God, Himself. The Father and Son are the Temple (Rev. 21:22). Specifically, they come forth from “the tabernacle of Testimony,” which corresponds to the place of the Ark of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies in the Temple on earth. In Heaven, this is THE HEART OF THE TEMPLE. The significance of this emanation point is not to be missed. The Ark of the Covenant on earth was a wooden box covered with gold. It held the tables of the law, Aaron’s almond-wood rod that burst into bloom, and a pot of manna [Hebrews 9:3-5]. All represent Christ: He was the righteous fulfillment of the law [Hebrews 7:26-27; 9:11-12], the bread of life broken in the atonement [John 6:35; 48; 50-51; 58], and He conquered death by rising from the dead, as symbolized by the dead rod that came back to life, bloomed and bore almonds [Numbers 17:8]. Christ symbolized in the Ark is the wood of humanity covered with the gold of divinity. The cover of the Ark was where the blood of the sacrifice on the Day of Atonement was sprinkled to preview Messiah’s atonement once-and-for-all—the Mercy Seat. The lid of the Ark deflected God’s wrath for the sake of the blood. Now, the accumulated wrath of the ages that man deserved for his sin in breaking the law is poured out on the earth, from the very point where wrath was deflected.
• Vs. 6--The angels of the Bowls wear the uniform of Christ from chapter 1—white robes with gold sashes. Will they have a rainbow insignia as worn by the emissary angel in Revelation 10:1?
• Vs. 7--The Bowls are distributed to the seven angels by one of the Living Creatures of chapter 4 representing the high authority of their mission. The war room of heaven is in full mobilization.
• Why Bowls? They remind us of the bowls used to hold the blood of animal sacrifice in the Tabernacle/Temple, a preview of Christ’s shed blood of redemption. Rather than being filled with redemptive blood, these are filled with WRATH. It is saying—REJECT CHRIST’S SACRIFICE—RECEIVE GOD’S WRATH. They may also represent the blood of His enemies shed in 14:20 in the harvest of the earth.
• Vs. 8--Smoke fills the temple, a new element, evidence of the release of pent-up wrath from such a powerful and glorious God. It possibly also refers to the amount of prayers being burned on the altar of incense—those asking for final justice [Rev. 5:8; 6:10]. The smoke will not clear until the WRATH is finished, “until the seven plagues of the seven angels (is) completed.” No doubt, the accumulated judgments will result in a great deal of fire on the earth to echo the smoke in heaven.

The smoke screen is ominous. What will be left on the earth when the smoke clears in heaven? Remember after the September 11, 2001, attack on the World Trade Center in N.Y. how long it took for the smoke to clear from ground zero? The destruction will be beyond anything the world has seen. But Christ will rebuild the earth for the Kingdom Age, centering on Israel and Jerusalem. He may allow the nations to rebuild their own territory, something that can happen quickly with the perfect King on the throne.

MacArthur: “Divine wrath is not an impulsive outburst of anger. It is the settled, steady, merciless, graceless and compassionless response of a righteous God against sin.” The Lord has long determined to eventually give sinful man the “cup of his wrath” to drink, like these bowls of wrath. They will cause man to become “drunk” and senseless so he contributes to his own destruction. (See Ps. 75:7, 8; Jer. 25:15, 16; Zech. 12:2—They attack Jerusalem “drunk” w/hatred and anti-Semitism.)

John MacArthur’s comments are sobering. The ultimate response of God to sin will not be uncontrolled; His response will be perfectly controlled and as creative and perfect as is His creation. In the Bowl Judgments, we will see divine justice at incredible levels of poetic justice to fit perfectly the crime. They will be terrible in their appropriate retribution. The Bowls finally fill up the wrath of God that has been held in merciful check for over six thousand years.

Next time: The Seven Bowls of Wrath.

In Him We Wait, Work, and Watch,

[Luke 12:35-59]

Sharon

[Prophecy Chat is a commentary of current events and Bible prophecy.]