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.
1. another sign ] Besides those of Rev 12:1; Rev 12:3. Here preparation is made (as in Rev 8:2) for another sevenfold series of visions. Some have attempted to see a sevenfold series in the three preceding chapters its elements being the successively appearing figures of the Woman, the Dragon, the Man Child, Michael, the Beast, the False Prophet, and the Lamb. But this seems rather far-fetched: at any rate, it is not likely to have been consciously present to St John’s mind.
the seven last plagues; for ] Literally, seven plagues, the last, for: i.e. the fact that “in them is filled up [or rather “fulfilled, finished”] the wrath of God” is given as the reason why these plagues are the last.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
And I saw another sign in heaven – Another wonder or extraordinary symbol. The word sign here – semeion – is the same which in Rev 12:1, Rev 12:3; Rev 13:13, is rendered wonder and wonders, and in Rev 13:14; Rev 16:14; Rev 19:20, miracles. The word is not found elsewhere in the Book of Revelation, though it is of frequent occurrence in other parts of the New Testament. See it explained in the notes on Rev 12:1. Here it is used to denote something wonderful or marvelous. This is represented as appearing in heaven, for the judgments that were to fall upon the world were to come thence. Compare Rev 11:19; Rev 12:1; Rev 14:1, Rev 14:6,Rev 14:13-14, Rev 14:17.
Great and marvelous – Great and wonderful, or suited to excite admiration – thaumaston. The subsequent statements fully justify this, and show that the vision was one of portentous character, and that was suited to hold the mind in astonishment.
Seven angels – Compare the notes on Rev 1:4.
Having the seven last plagues – The article here, the seven last plagues, would seem to imply that the plagues referred to had been before specified, or that it would be at once understood what is referred to. These plagues, however, have not been mentioned before, and the reason why the article is used here seems to be this: the destruction of this great anti-Christian power had been distinctly mentioned, Rev. 14. That might be spoken of as a thing now well known, and the mention of it would demand the article; and as that was well known, and would demand the article, so any allusion to it, or description of it, might be spoken of in the same manner, as a thing that was definite and fixed, and hence, the mention of the plagues by which it was to be accomplished would be referred to in the same manner. The word plagues – plegas, from, plege – means properly a wound caused by a stripe or blow, and is frequently rendered stripe and stripes, Luk 12:48; Act 16:23, Act 16:33; 2Co 6:5; 2Co 11:23. It does not elsewhere occur in the New Testament, except in the Book of Revelation. In this book it is rendered wound in Rev 13:3, Rev 13:12, Rev 13:14; and plagues in Rev 9:20; Rev 11:6; Rev 15:1, Rev 15:6,Rev 15:8; Rev 16:9, Rev 16:21; Rev 18:4, Rev 18:8; Rev 21:9; Rev 22:18. It does not occur elsewhere. The secondary meaning of the word, and the meaning in the passage before us, is a stripe or blow inflicted by God; calamity or punishment. The word last means those under which the order of things here referred to would terminate; the winding up of the affairs respecting the beast and his image – not necessarily the closing of the affairs of the world. Important events were to occur subsequent to the destruction of this anti-Christian power Rev. 1922, but these were the plagues which would come finally upon the beast and his image, and which would terminate the existence of this formidable enemy.
For in them is filled up the wrath of God – That is, in regard to the beast and his image. All the expressions of the divine indignation toward that oppressive and persecuting power will be completed or exhausted by the pouring out of the contents of these vials. Compare notes on Rev 10:7, where the word rendered filled up – etelesthe – is rendered finished.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Rev 15:1-4
Seven angels having the seven last plagues
Divine severity and human heroism
I.
Divine severity. Undoubtedly in the government of this world there is the stormy as well as the mild, the gloomy as well as the pleasant. The government under which we live on this earth often assumes aspects of terrible severity.
II. Human heroism. The heroes here suggested are:
1. Those who have conquered the wrong. Sin is a hideous, ravenous, iniquitous beast, served and worshipped by unredeemed men the world over. The foe against which the true hero fights is sin, and sin only.
2. Those who ascribe their victory to God. Observe–
(1) Their posture is one of safety. The sea does not surge about them; it is beneath them. It is a position of splendour. The crystal sea on which they stand is made brilliant by fire. There is no posture of soul so sublime and safe as the true posture of worship. The Shekinah beams around them as their glory and defence. Observe–
(2) Their anthem.
(a) Triumphant praise.
(b) Philanthropic devotion. (David Thomas, D. D.)
The song of Moses and the song of the Lamb.—
The song of Moses and the Lamb
I. The triumphant choir. He calls these triumphant choristers conquerors out of the beast, which implies that victory over him is an escape from a dominion in which the conquerors before their victory were held. They have fought their way, as it were, out of the land of bondage, and have won their liberty. By Christ we conquer. Through faith, which lays hold on His power and victory, we too may conquer.
II. The position of this victorious chorus. As Moses and the ransomed hosts stood on the shore of the Red Sea, so these conquerors are represented by anticipation as standing on the safe beach, and looking out upon this sea of glass mingled with fire, which, calm, crystal, clear, stable, and yet shot through and through with the red lines of retributive judgment, sleeps above the buried oppressors. Observe that besides its picturesque appropriateness and its historical allusion, this sea of glass has a distinct symbolical meaning. Thy judgments are a mighty deep. Oh! the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and of the knowledge of God; how unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out! That great ocean of the judgment of God is crystalline–clear though it be deep. If we cannot look to its lowest depths, that is not because there is any mud or foulness there, but partly because the light from above fails before it reaches the abysses, and partly because our eyes are uneducated to search its depths. If it be clear as far as the eye can see, let us trust that beyond the reach of the eye the clearness is the same. And it is a crystal ocean as being calm. They who stand there have gotten the victory, and bear the image of the Master. By reason of their conquest, and by reason of their sympathy with Him, they see that what to us, tossing upon its surface, appears such a troubled and tempestuous ocean, is calm and still; and their vision, not ours, is the true one. It is a sea of glass mingled with fire. Divine acts of retribution, as it were, flash through it, if I may so say, like those streaks of red that you see in Venice glass, or like some ocean smitten upon the one side of every wave by a fiery sunlight, while the other side of each is dark. So through that great depth of Gods dealings there flashes the light of retribution.
III. The occasion of the song, and the song itself. They sing the song of Moses and of the Lamb. The song of Moses was a song of triumph over destructive judgment; the song of the Lamb, says my text, is set in the same key. The one broad, general lesson to be drawn from this is the essential unity, in spite of all superficial diversities, of the revelation of God in the Old Covenant by law and miracle and retributive acts, and the revelation of God in the blew Covenant by the Cross and Passion of Jesus Christ. And there is another principle here, and that is the perfect harmony of the retributive acts of Gods destructive dealings in this world, and the highest conception of His love and mercy which the gospel brings us. When the wicked perish, says one of the old proverbs, there is shouting. And so there ought to be. When some hoary oppression that has been deceiving mankind for centuries with its instruments and accomplices is swept off the face of the earth, the more men have entered into the meaning of Jesus Christs mission and work, and the more they feel the pitying indignation which they ought to feel at seeing men led away by evil, and made miserable by oppression, the more they will rejoice. And the last thought that I would suggest to you is, that according to the teaching of my text, we may take that old, old story of the ransomed slaves and the baffled oppressor, and the Divine intervention, and the overwhelming ocean, as a prophecy full of radiant hope for the world. That is how it is used here. Pharaoh is the beast, the Red Sea is this sea of glass mingled with fire, the ransomed Israelites are those that have conquered their way out of the dominion of the beast. And the song of Moses and of the Lamb is a song parallel to the cadences of the ancient triumphant chorus, and celebrating the annihilation of that power which drew the world away from God. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
The hymn of the victors
I. Who were they that sang? It is a question of moment for men still. Man is man the world through, and no temptation has touched us with its polluting finger which did not touch them. The image of the beast and the varied semblances of sins had presented themselves to their minds. The stamp of indulged desire, of unrestrained passion, of selfishness and mean thoughts, of untruth and cowardice, of unmanliness and impurity, was heated ready for their brows and backs as it is for ours. The number of the beast is sometimes a swelling magnitude, always a perfected and enticing product in the computation of earth. Public opinion, now elevated to a moral law as high in authority and terrible in sanction as that of Horeb, had to be counted with and opposed by them as by us. The morals of their age had to be avoided as a test or guide, and they, as we, had to rise higher than material interests, and explode, with the stout breath of earnestness and sincerity, the bubbles which, though hollow and worthless, were radiant under the worldly sun. They had come victorious from the beast and from his image, and from his mark and from the number of his name. The essence of their triumph lay in this–that they had educated themselves to look upon the permanent relation of things. The tendency that always tempts us is to see only the narrow relations that are close about us. They think only upon the daily occupation of hand and head, and their converse with their friends embraces no greater theme. But the true mind, beyond the glare of the present, sees the brightness of another life, and the reality of another world. He is continually applying the standard of eternal life to the fragmentary portions of existence on earth.
II. See, too, the subject and the value of their song. Like nearly every hymn in this Book, it tells of the works of God. It is not silent upon the judgments that are seen, nor upon the sorrows and failures of men; but it looks to the One Hand that is powerful, and it asserts that all the works which are done by God are just works and true. There is a sense in which we can clearly see this ourselves, for we can distinguish between the operation and the result. There is a solvent with God for the issues of human deeds. Man works while God overrules. Centuries of investigation have been heaped upon centuries; books beyond counting have been written; but notwithstanding, we are still like children gazing curiously at a great machine, and our conclusions and theories are like heaps of shifting sand upon a forsaken shore.
III. Behold the prospect they hold out.
1. It is a prospect of advancing holiness to themselves. Though enwrapt within eternal blessedness there are long distances, we will not say of purity, but of attainments, which they may yet tread. Is immortality, then, a range and region of perpetual progress? Are we not to lie down in it and sleep, and let the great worlds of a renewed universe wheel round unthought of and unobserved? The whole of the Book says, No. It speaks of endless activity, of mightier attempts and more glorious achievements than we dared to conceive on the earth, of ceaseless efforts towards a glad success.
2. As to the progress of earth. All nations, they say, shall come and worship before Thee. Out of the present actual world there is constantly springing, hour by hour, another world, which in its turn begets a fresh condition of things; for nothing sleeps, and events are never still. The prophecy in this light is inspired with force and fruit. There is a progress of the nations, and therefore of those who compose the nations, distinctly foretold. For worship is the condition of progress, development, and advancement. The nation, as the man, which has ceased to worship, has ceased to grow. Ideals then are lost or dissolved. The higher is unattained because there is no vision of the Highest. But where worship is real, unflagging, and unabused, where nations can see the Eternal One, that sits upon His throne, and hear the hymns that swell from lips of brothers who have fought the good fight of faith, and by the might of Christ have won, there is the guarantee of national principles that will not be cheaply sold, of national stability that challenges and defies assault, and of national progress that expands and strengthens because it has learnt that there is a rhythm and sweetness in the life which has shaped itself to the changeless law, and an articulate gladness and glory which issues from the cross of self-denial and sacrifice. (W. M. Johnston, M. A.)
The song of Gods heroes
I. The service of song is the highest employment of redeemed man. The redeemed whom John saw in vision had left behind them all the imperfections of life, and reached its consummation. The toil and the care were ended. The long battle had closed. Here is the first point to be marked, viz., that perfection of life was the spirit of their song. All the discipline of the earthly had been for this end, that every conflict of the heart should become the element of praise; that every sorrow should change into thanksgiving; that their souls, by all the education of life, should be tuned as harps for God. We may observe still further, that it is the noblest office of music to become the language of those emotions that border on the infinite and eternal. There is nothing in this world that can so completely lift a mans soul above the cares and doubts of time, right up to the throne of God, as the inspiring notes of a psalm of praise. Here, then, is the lesson which the words have for us to-day: just as Christian life approaches the heavenly spirit, that life becomes one song of praise. For the essential principle of Christian life is self-surrendering love to God, and that can bring thanksgiving out of sorrow. You may have known men, old and grey in the Christian conflict, over whom great sorrows have rolled, but they are yet young in soul, for life has renewed its youth in thanksgiving.
II. That song unites the spiritual heroes of all the ages. Men from the dispensation of Moses–men from that of Christ; this seems implied in the words, They sing the song of Moses and the Lamb.
1. The true heroes of all ages are engaged in one conflict. We are told in the 13th chapter that the beast had power given unto him to make war with the saints. There were men in the past whose battle was hard fought in the heart–they overcame. There are such men now. Life is full of heroisms. He who in the little things of daily life fights on unnoticed and unknown, is in spirit a great warrior. The man who does not know hard struggles does not know how the soul rises into song.
2. One means of victory–faith Observe what a glorious idea this gives of heaven. Men from all ages united by one conflict; their song tuned to one spirit of praise. No age is barren–as in music, many voices, but one harmony
III. Its theme is Gods connected dispensations. On earth we praise God for redemption; in heaven they praise God for the whole economy of revelation. (E. L. Hull, B. A.)
The song of Moses and the Lamb
Without pretending to settle what events may be thus prophetically alluded to, we may safely consider our text as belonging to a glorious season, when Christ shall have mightily interfered on behalf of His people, and swept away those who have resisted His authority. The song is a song of exultation, sung by the righteous, and called forth by judgments which have overwhelmed the wicked. The song is one not only of thanksgiving to the Lord, but of exultation over the wicked, and of rejoicing in their destruction. We hardly know a more perplexing truth, nor one which more shows how vast a change will have passed over our feelings when we shall have put on immortality, than that of our acquiescing in the punishment of the wicked; yea, of our approving that punishment, and magnifying God for the vindication of His attributes. It is not merely that those whom wrath overtakes and consigns to perdition will be our fellow-men, beings of the same race, and therefore linked with us by most intimate associations. This were much; for this would seem enough to seal our lips, or cause lament to mingle with our song. But it must come to pass that, in variety of instances, there will be the division of families, so that whilst one member is with the Israelites, another will be with the Egyptians. And this division must be thoroughly known. We must believe that, with all the consciousness that some whom they tenderly loved have earned for themselves a heritage of shame and despair, the ransomed of the Lord will feel how the Divine attributes have been magnified in the punishment awarded to the impenitent, and join in praising their Maker for the manifestation of His justice. And this–however we may shrink from what appears so unnatural–this describes to us what is loftiest in Christian attainment, and what, therefore, may justly be looked for in our future state of being. I know that it would be Christian perfection to have God all in all; to make Him so completely the centre of the affections, or to be so lost in Deity as to have no will but His will, and no end but His glory. We proceed to observe that the song of the triumphant Church is described, not only as the song of Moses, but as that also of the Lamb. They sang the song of Moses, the servant of God, and of the Lamb. Now we may be said to feel more at home with the song of the Lamb than with that of Moses; for this is a song of which, even now, we can strike some notes, whereas we look on that of Moses with a kind of awe and dread, as though it were not suited to such minstrelsy as ours. It is the song of grateful confession that we owe everything to the Redeemer, and that His blood and righteousness have been the alone procuring causes of deliverance from ruin and a title to immortality. And there is vast beauty in the retention of the name of the Lamb in the melodies of heaven. Were not the wounds of the Redeemer the arms with which He mastered the enemies of God? and what are they now but trophies of the unmeasured achievement? To appear therefore as the Lamb, a lamb as it had been slain, in the midst of all the magnificence of the everlasting city, is to appear as the mighty Conqueror who led captivity captive. And if it be as the Lamb that Christ is most glorious, what but the song of the Lamb shall be most on the lips of those for whom He died? We doubt not there will be many and various hymns chanted in the celestial temple. Archangel to angel, cherubim to seraphim, and man to man, will roll sublime choruses, such as our speech cannot now embody, nor our thought embrace. But one hymn there will be which shall be peculiar to men. One anthem shall be heard in which none but those who were once ready to perish will be able to join, but which their voices will never be weary of uttering: Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by Thy blood, out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation. Great and marvellous are Thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are Thy ways, Thou King of saints. Such is a portion of the lofty anthem. To take this anthem in Rs largest application, we may say that it celebrates the greatness and the justice of God as displayed in the occurrences of the judgment day. And it is well worth your attention, that these two characteristics shall be finally declared to have distinguished the whole business of the judgment. It will be a great and marvellous work, when the tares shall have been separated from the wheat, all unrighteousness detected and exposed, the wicked banished, and the faithful exalted. The spectacle has never yet been presented to the inhabitants of this earth, so fraught with the manifestations of Omnipotence as shall be that of the general judgment. What display of power can equal that which will be given by the resurrection of the dead? And if the gathering together of the buried generations, reconstructed and reanimated, be the mightiest imaginable display of Gods power over matter, what shall more declare His power over mind than that laying bare of all the secrets of mens hearts, on which the last sentences shall be founded, and by which they will be justified? Then you must add the portents and signs which are to herald the Judge: the storm and the calm alike proclaim that Omnipotence is there. But this is not the whole of the chorus. The Church affirms Gods ways to be just and true, as well as His works to be great and marvellous. And this is a most important assertion, when considered as called forth by the transactions of the judgment. There is something overwhelming in the thought that the untold millions of the human population will undergo an individual scrutiny; that they will come, man by man, to the bar of their God, and each be tried by his own privileges and powers. We can hardly put from us the feeling that, in so enormous an assize, there will be cases comparatively overlooked, for which due allowance is not made, or in which the sentence is not founded on a full estimate of the circumstances. But whatever our doubts and suspicions beforehand, Just and true are Thy ways, Thou King of saints, is the confession, you observe, which will follow the judgment. It is a confession, we are bold to say, in which the lost will join with the redeemed. The feeling in every condemned man shall be that, had there been none but himself to be tried, his case could not have received a more patient attention, or a more equitable decision. And we rejoice in hearing the chorus which is chanted on the glassy and fiery sea. It tells us that God will be justified when He speaks, and clear when He judgeth. (H. Mellvill, B. D.)
The song of Moses and of the Lamb
What has one to do with the other? Here are the oldest of recorded events and words joined with the farthest and latest possible events and words. Here is the beginning of earths human history united with its Divine consummation. Here are the words of earth and heaven coupled together. The song of Moses, and the song of the Lord Christ–the song of Israelitish victory and of Christian victory, in one breath of thanksgiving. And as we look more carefully we see it is all very full of parallels. The singers in both cases stand by a sea–the Red Sea of Egypt, and heavens sea of fire,–and they are each singing in an attitude and strain of deliverance and freedom from enemies and of victory. And the sentiments of the two songs are the same. Gods great power and display of judgment, and the acknowledgment of all nations.
I. When I find an event like the old Israelitish victory, or a song like that of Moses, carried forward and appearing in the future heavenly history and combined with Christs victory and song, it lights up human life with a new meaning and radiance.
1. It has, in the first place, this value: it connects the end with the beginning. How early that old victory and song of Moses were–one of the very first human victories under Gods guidance! How far away seems that first victory from the heavenly end, when there shall be no more struggle or pain! How since Moses multitudes and generations and companies of men have all had their contests again and again! How, with every day, it comes to each one of us! How premature seems the old song of victory when a new enemy is to come immediately! How ceaseless seems the struggle to us! And so God puts into one phrase for us the earliest and last song of victory, the beginning and the end, the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb, the victory of Moses over Pharaoh and one evil, and Christs victory over all evil and all enemies. No matter how early in the struggle you may be, the end is shown, and Christs victory is coupled with it, and you are to think of them together. Do not say, discouragingly, The contest will be renewed again in another way to-morrow; but say, The contest will end surely, and ritually victoriously in the Lambs triumph.
1. But there is a better, deeper thought of encouragement than this, which comes out of that connection–the song of Moses and of the Lamb.
2. It is that all righteous issues, and all struggles of men, are parts of Christs issue and struggle and victory; and so each mans song is sung with and in the new song of the Lamb. We need to think of this. Christs contest and death and victory were not all a history alongside of ours, to which we can look up from our own and take courage; but they contain ours and all the struggles and victories of the servants of God everywhere. See how close and dear that makes Christs life to you. Oh, as I am led through a lifes discipline, am told to do without this or that, am bid to contend with this or that selfishness, am pressed hard by this or that sorrow, am tempted to give up my trust in Gods care and to be sour or reckless, how it helps me to go and put all this experience into the gospel story, to translate it into the struggle of the Lamb of God, to think of it all as a part of His issue. My struggle and victory to-day is no mere disjointed, separated thing, done alone and without lasting effect, but it is a part of a great victory of the Lamb already won. This little song, which I sing through my tears, as I conquer a hard temptation and struggle through a sea of evil, is a part of Christs song. It does not lose itself in earths air and die, but it shall live in Christs song to the end of eternity, when tears are all wiped away.
3. And so that brings me to a third thing which the phrase teaches us about our life on earth–it is that God would have it happy. Earths song He continues into heaven, not its tears: Moses song of victory, not of his troubles. Are you singing any hymn of victory to-day? Are you joyful over a dead sin, or are you merely merry in slavery or sad in defeat?
II. What we learn of heaven and of its life from the text.
1. First, it gives us this thought of heaven: as a place in which each one of us has a marked individuality and history, even in Christs presence. Heaven would be an unbearable place unless we lived ourselves individually–enjoyed and felt ourselves. And this thought is given us in the fact that the song sung by Moses the servant of God is remembered and repeated there. Human names and experiences and victories are mentioned there in the very company of the name and experience and victory of the Lamb. A city of kings will heaven be; all natures marked and distinct; all with a history and a claim to distinct remark and notice.
2. Then there is this further thought–the communion of saints. They not only all join in the song of the Lamb, but in the song of Moses the servant of God. They use the words which commemorate not only Christs victory, but the victory of Moses too. Think of it: the voices that all go up to Christ, all also using Moses experience and Moses song words! It is that Christian truth: Your experience is mine, and mine is yours. Every mans victory I sing, and every man sings mine, as part of that same salvation of the Lamb which has rescued and sanctified you or me or the man who sings. Oh, get some of this heavenly power of communion of saints now! Do not let anything cut you off from a life that is showing Gods victory. Sing its song; put yourself into its experience and place, and you will sing your own song and fill your own place all the better and more fully.
3. Then, lastly, this text tells me of the thoughts which are the atmosphere of heaven. Often we wonder–What is the new song? What will be my state of mind–what my sentiments? This passage tells us. The song of the Lamb is the song of Moses, the servant of God. The words of the song of heaven. They are but the nobler, fuller use of Moses lyric words. Heavens song is a new setting to Gods harp of any song we have sung on gaining a spiritual victory over enemies by Gods power here and now and in this earthly life. Let a man triumphantly resist a temptation, conquer a passion, win a new grade of character by Gods power, and he has the very sentiments exalting and moving his heart and life which the new song will have in richest and completest harmony. (Fred. Brooks.)
The song of triumph
The life of the redeemed is here represented as a service of song. This will not seem surprising if we reflect on the function of song. There has never been a time in which music has played so large a part in the general life as it does to-day. What is music? It is not the mere pastime of an idle hour, or the mere sensuous gratification of an artistic mind.
1. It is a language, the highest, except poetry, that we are acquainted with, if indeed, in fundamental particulars they can be separated the one from the other. It is often the only language that can give expression to the highest thoughts of the mind or the deepest feelings of the heart. It is also to be noticed that all life, as it approaches perfection, becomes melodious. The life of heaven, then, is a service of song, not after any idle or sensuous fashion, but because the life of heaven is life perfected. Man in complete accord with his surroundings, man moving in absolute harmony with the will of God, man redeemed from all imperfections, and cleansed from all sin by the very constitution of his nature, is man melodious.
2. It is worth noticing, further, that there is no music like the music of triumph, and no songs like those which celebrate deliverance. And I take it as beautifully significant, that the burden of this song should be what it is, and that it should be called the song of Moses and of the Lamb. Moses, the much tried servant of God, the heroic leader of a stiffnecked people; and the Lamb, the eternal symbol of sacrificial suffering and sorrow. For it is a mistake to suppose that noble sorrow nobly borne silences the voice of song. Shelley says, Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thoughts. It is partly true; it is mainly sentimental. But this is wholly true, that sorrow nobly borne is impotent to hang or keep the harp upon the willows. Song breaks from it as the phoenix from the flames. The most triumphant poem of this century is In Memoriam, and we know the sable circumstances of its birth. It is even so. Some birds sing best in the dark. And in the gracious providence of God beauty is not far away from ashes. The oil of joy exudes from mourning, and the garment of praise often covers a spirit of heaviness.
3. It is further suggested by this vision of the redeemed, that the conquerors of all ages take part in this song. The conflict varies from age to age. The beast that has power to make war against the saints assumes many forms. And the radiant hope here set before us, is that all who have overcome, will unite in the eternal song. For there is no power which can unite the hearts of men like music, as they know full well who march to battle with the beating of the drum or the notes of the pibroch. Now think of a society gathered from all ages and lands, filled with a life of which song is the only natural and adequate expression, and you have a picture of the better land as John saw it in his prophetic dream. It is likely that it occurred to him in this form, as he watched from his lonely rock some sunset glories blazing far and wide across the blue Mediterranean. Out there, on the very verge of the horizon, he catches sight of the faithful ones, no longer groaning beneath the oppressor, no longer struggling with the beast, and no longer divided among themselves: one perfect society, telling in unending song of the wondrous works of God, proclaiming the eternal vindication of His just and righteous ways, and reminding us that the confusions of time are only in appearance, and that the essential harmony will be made manifest by and by. Conclusion:
1. Let us expect conflict. No cross, no crown.
2. Let us look for victory from the right source. Looking unto Jesus, etc. (James Thew.)
The song of the glorified
I. The joyful employment of glorified spirits.
1. The song in which all the saints shall join in heaven is a song of triumph over dangerous and powerful enemies.
2. Saints in glory are here said to sing the song of the Lamb, or a song in which they are instructed by the Lamb of God, which has respect to the glorious deliverance which He hath wrought out for them.
II. The subject-matter of this song.
1. The great and wondrous nature of the works of God shall be made the subject of devout and joyful celebration in the world of glory.
(1) The vast works of creation will then be seen in an their magnitude and beauty. Many glorious effects of Gods creative power, of which we have now no knowledge, will then be disclosed. From an elevated point will glorified spirits survey the works of creation, and be pleasingly astonished at their almost boundless immensity, their beautiful order and gradation.
(2) Then also the great designs of Providence will be laid open in all their lustre and glory. As the intellectual sight will then be amazingly strengthened and improved; so the darkness which now veils many of Gods providential dispensations shall then be dispersed.
(3) Then also shall the godlike purposes of Divine grace to save many sinners from hell, and bring them to heaven, be displayed in all their loveliness; their origin and end will be fully disclosed, and furnish the saints in glory with rich occasion for admiration and joy. These great and marvellous works of God will be then perfectly known, and harmoniously celebrated.
(4) The infinite power of God, which is a just object of terror to the wicked, and which will inevitably plunge them into perdition, is the source of consolation and the subject of praise to all true believers. Holy pleasure mixed with solemn awe attends a contemplative view of this Divine attribute even in the present life. In heaven Jehovah shall be praised as the Lord God Almighty. This character will excite the profoundest reverence as well as the highest pleasure in the breasts of the heavenly worshippers, for as it will proclaim the infinite distance there is between them and their maker, so it will insure to them everlasting peace and safety. For what power can control the will, or alter the purposes of Him who in might is infinite? The justice and truth of Gods ways are celebrated in heaven as well as their great and marvellous nature. Just and true are Thy ways, Thou King of saints.
(1) In the upper world glorified spirits celebrate the justice of God–His justice towards friends and foes, the perfect righteousness of His dealings towards all ranks of creatures in heaven, on earth, and in hell. There in a particular manner do they acknowledge the justice and propriety of all those events which puzzled and disturbed their minds when here below. They have no accusation to offer, no complaint to bring against the King of saints; in the whole of His management they heartily acquiesce, and sing a lofty song of praise to His justice and rectitude.
(2) But the heavenly choir celebrate the truth as well as the justice of their Maker. Just and true are Thy ways. As a God of Truth the Almighty hath invariably revealed Himself in all ages, and this title very properly belongs to Him (Psa 100:5). As such He is justly extolled by His people now, but in a much nobler manner shall He be praised on this account hereafter. Then the truth of His predictions to the world at large; His inviolable regard to the promises made to the Church in every age and in every state; His fidelity to every individual that has made or shall make a part of it; His steady attachment to that covenant which through His Son He enters into with every true believer, and His immutable care to confer the blessings it contains, shall be the topics of joyful acclamation by glorified spirits.
(3) The people of God are repeatedly spoken of in the sacred oracles under the title of saints, Thou King of saints. Now these pure and happy souls have God for their King. The great God indeed is the Sovereign of all His creatures. He exercises universal dominion over the works of His hands, and His right thereto is founded on the nature of things, and the relation He bears to them. He is the Creator and of course the Sovereign and Lord of all. All creatures owe Him subjection and obedience, and over all He rules without control. But saints are under His peculiar government. He is their King in a sense which can be applied to none but such as fear and love Him, and have His image drawn upon their hearts. Application:
1. Let us be thankful for the pleasing descriptions of the heavenly world which are given us in the gospel of Christ.
2. Let the consideration of the state to which our deceased believing friends are advanced, and the manner in which they are employed, mitigate our sorrow on account of their removal hence.
3. Let the subject of the songs of Zion be improved for present comfort. Are the works of God no less just and true than they are great and marvellous? Do they as loudly proclaim his unspotted rectitude and inviolable faithfulness as the exceeding greatness of His power and majesty? Let every fearful thought then be instantly dismissed. Let every rebellious sigh be hushed in the Christians breast.
4. Let us all be ambitious to join hereafter in this delightful song, and for that end let us now seek an interest in the Divine favour through the Redeemer. (N. Jennings.)
Israel in Egypt
I. Regard the position of the children of Israel as emblematical of our own. And here we observe that, like the Church of God, the vast host of Israel had been delivered from bondage. With a high hand and an outstretched arm, our God has led us forth from the place of our captivity, and joyfully we pursue our way through the wilderness. But with the children of Israel it was not all joy; they were free, but their master was at their heels. Pharaoh was loth to lose so valuable a nation of servants. Affrighted Israel beheld her infuriated oppressor close at her rear, and trembled for the issue; even so it is with some of you; you think you must be driven back again like dumb cattle into Egypt, and once more become what you were. But once more: the children of Israel were in a position more wonderful than this. They came to the edge of the Red Sea; they feared their enemies behind; they could not fly on either hand, for they were flanked by mountains and stupendous rocks; one course only was open to them, and that course was through the sea. God commands them to go forward. The rod of Moses is outstretched, and the affrighted waters divide; a channel is left whilst the floods stand upright, and the waters are congealed in the heart of the sea. O living army of the living God! ye, like Israel, keep the floods of Providence still standing fast: but when the last of you shall be gone from this stage of action, Gods fiery wrath and tremendous anger shall dash down upon the ground whereon you now are standing, and your enemies shall be overwhelmed in the place through which you now walk safely.
II. The triumph of Moses was a picture of the ultimate triumph of the Lamb. Yes, the day is drawing nigh when Gods enemies shall no longer make it necessary for Gods providence to be apparently disturbed to save His people, when the great designs of God shall be accomplished, and therefore when the walls of water shall roll together, whilst in their inmost depths the everlasting burning fire shall still consume the wicked. Well, I now want to show you why it was that Moses triumphed, and why it is that by and by we shall triumph. One reason why Moses sung his song was because all Israel were safe. Oh! it is my strong belief that in heaven there shall not be a vacant throne. I rejoice that all who love the Lord below must at last attain to heaven. But, perhaps, the major part of the joy of Moses lay in the destruction of all the enemies of God. I see the trembling church, fearing to he overthrown: I mark her leaders bending their knees in solemn prayer, and crying, Lord, save Thy people, and bless Thy heritage. But mine eye looks through the future with telescopic glance, and I see the happy period of the latter days when Christ shall reign triumphant.
III. Some interesting particulars in the song which will doubtless have a place in the everlasting orchestra of the redeemed when they shall praise the Most High.
1. The first thing I would have you notice in it is, that from beginning to end it is a praise of God, and of nobody else but God. The last song in this world, the song of triumph, shall be full of God, and of no one else. Here you praise the instrument; to-day you look on this man and on that, and you say, Thank God for this minister, and for this man. To-day you say, Blessed be God for Luther, who shook the Vatican, and thank God for Whitfield, who stirred up a slumbering church but in that day you shall not sing of Luther, nor of Whitfield, nor of any of the mighty ones of Gods hosts; forgotten shall their names be for a season, even as the stars refuse to shine when the sun himself appeareth. The song shall be unto Jehovah and Jehovah only.
2. And next note that this song celebrated something of the fierceness of the enemy. I believe the last song of the redeemed, when they shall ultimately triumph, will celebrate in heavenly stanzas the wrath of man overcome by God. Sometimes after great battles, monuments are raised to the memory of the fight, and of what are they composed? They are composed of weapons of death and of instruments of war which have been taken from the enemy. Now, to use that illustration as I think it may be properly used, the day is coming when fury, and wrath, and hatred, and strife shall all be woven into a song: and the weapons of our enemies, when taken from them, shall serve to make monuments to the praise of God.
3. And then note how they sang the total overthrow of the enemy. I believe that at the last, a part of our triumph will be the fact that there is not one left. We shall look abroad throughout the earth, and see it all a level sea, and not one foeman pursuing us–not one–not one! Raise thyself never so high, O thou deceiver, thou canst not live, for not one shall escape. Lift thy head never so proudly, O despot, thou canst not live, for not one shall escape. O heir of heaven, not one sin shall cross the Jordan after thee; not one shall pass the Red Sea to overtake thee; but this shall be the summit of thy triumph–Not one, not one, not one of them is left.
4. Furthermore, in this song of Moses you will notice there is one peculiar beauty. Moses not only rejoiced for what had been done, but for the future consequences of it. He says–The people of Canaan, whom we are about to attack, will now be seized with sudden fear; by the greatness of thy arm they shall be as still as a stone. Oh! I think I hear them singing that too, sweetly and softly–as still as a stone. How would the words come full, like gentle thunder heard in the distance–as still as a stone. And when we shall get on the other side the flood, see the triumph over our enemies, and behold our Master reigning, this will form a part of our song–that they must henceforth be as still as a stone. There will be a hell, but it will not be a hell of roaring devils, as it now is. They shall be as still as a stone.
5. And last of all, the song concludes by noticing the eternity of Gods reign, and this will always make a part of the triumphant song. They sang–The Lord shall reign for ever and ever. Then I can suppose the whole band broke out into their loudest strains of music. The Lord shall reign for ever and ever. Part of the melody of heaven will be–The Lord shall reign for ever and ever. That song has cheered us here–The Lord reigneth; blessed be my rock! And that song shall be our exultation there. The Lord reigneth for ever and ever. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Great and marvellous are Thy works.—
The works of God, as King of saints, great and marvellous
I. The work of redemption, which God has wrought, and in which the saints are peculiarly interested, is a marvellous wore.
II. The various revelations by which God has brought the saints, in the several ages of the world, to the knowledge of this redemption, are also marvelous.
III. The dispensation of Gods providence toward the church, in correcting and punishing her for her declensions, and in delivering her out of dangers and afflictions, are great and marvellous.
IV. That work, by which God fits and prepares the saints for glory, is great and marvellous.
1. The conversion of a sinner is a great work, as it makes in him a mighty change.
2. This is a marvellous work, as it is a work of marvellous grace.
3. This is a marvellous work, as it is wrought in a marvellous manner.
4. This is a great work, as it is effected by Divine power.
V. The dispensations of Gods providence toward particular saints, in bringing them to glory, are great and wonderful. (J. Lathrop, D. D.)
Gods wonderful works
It is said of Napoleon that when Marshal Duroc, an avowed infidel, was telling a very improbable story, giving his opinion that it was quite true, the Emperor quietly remarked, There are some men capable of believing everything but the Bible. Infidels look at the Holy Bible superficially, and find fault with the form in which it appears, and reject it because of its mysterious contents, thereby maintaining that religion ends where mysteries begin. It is true that there are events too high, too wonderful and too deep, such things as pass our understanding, recorded in Gods most holy Word. For instance, the doctrine of the Trinity in Unity, Three Persons yet one God, is most mysterious. This we cannot possibly understand, but then God does not ask us to, only to accept it with childlike faith. Again, the whole scheme of our Redemption from beginning to end is a profound mystery. Now look at some of Gods mysterious and marvellous works in creation.
1. And first in the field. Think of the various kinds of small seeds, such as wheat, barley, oats, and rye, which the sower takes in his hands, sows, and leaves in the earth to take care of themselves, but really to be looked after and to be taken care of by God.
2. Furthermore, God cares for our pleasures and happiness as well aa for our sustenance. This may be seen in the abounding and universal beauty of this magnificent world, where everything works so silently, so surely, and so harmoniously, thereby obeying the laws ordained by its Maker. Oh, let us pray earnestly against harbouring the spirit which, indeed, observes the works of God and of Christ, which simply arouses our curiosity, makes us marvel, and leave Him, and go our way, as the Scribes and Pharisees did when put to silence.
3. Again, not only once a year, as in the harvest, are the marvellous works of God visible. The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament sheweth His handy work. What a glorious sight by day to behold the sun, which cometh forth out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a giant to run his course, and by night to see the clear moon and the twinkling stars! Can we look up there, and not think of God the Maker and Upholder of them all? Alas for us if we can and then simply marvel and go our way without a thought of Him. Whilst we accept mysteries in the natural world, shall we reject Bible mysteries? (J. T. Hughes.)
Just and true are Thy ways.—
The rectitude of God
I. The demands of His law attest the truth of this testimony. The Heavenly Teacher has reduced all the demands which the Eternal Governor makes upon us to a twofold command.
1. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, etc. Is this demand just? This depends upon three things.
(1) Whether we have the power of loving any one supremely.
(2) Whether God has attributes adapted to awaken this love within us.
(3) Whether these attributes are revealed with sufficient clearness to our minds. The affirmative to these things must be admitted by all.
2. Whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you. Not whatsoever men do unto you, that might be sinful; but whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you. Would you have them false, dishonest, unkind, tyrannic, towards you? Whatsoever ye would that they should be to you, be so to them. Can anything be more just?
II. The intuitions of His moral creatures attest the truth of this testimony. In all moral intelligences there is–
1. An intuitive sense of the right. All have an inbred sentiment of right and wrong. This sentiment implies a moral standard, and what is that standard but God?
2. There is an intuitive love of the right. All moral souls love the right in the abstract; they are bound to do it. I delight in the law of God after the inner man. All consciences go with God.
3. There is an intuitive remorse. Misery springs up in the soul from a conscious departure from the right. Cain, David, Belshazzar, Judas, are examples.
4. There is an intuitive appeal to God under the wrong as the Friend of the right. Oppressed humanity involuntarily looks to God as Judge of all the earth. Deep in the soul of the moral creation is the feeling that Gods ways are just and right. No argument can destroy this consciousness.
III. The mediation of His Son attests the truth of this testimony.
1. His life was the development of Divine righteousness. He was incarnate rectitude. He did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth.
2. His death was the highest homage to Divine rectitude. He could have escaped death. It was the inner sense of right that urged Him on.
3. His system is the promoter of Divine righteousness. His truth inculcates it; His Spirit promotes it. His Spirit comes to convince the world of sin, righteousness, etc.
IV. The retributions of His government attest the truth of this testimony. Look at the expulsion of Adam, the deluge, the burning of Sodom, the extermination of the Canaanites, the destruction of Jerusalem, and the dispersion of the Jews. Look on to the retribution of the last day, and see what rectitude marks the whole (Mat 25:1-46.). (Homilist.)
Gods ways just and true
Take a straight stick and put it into the water, and it will seem crooked. Why? Because we look upon it through two mediums, air, and water: there lies the deceptio visus; thence it is that we cannot discern aright. Thus the proceedings of God in His justice, which in themselves are straight, without the least obliquity, seem unto us crooked; that wicked men should prosper, and good men be afflicted; that servants should ride on horseback and princes go on foot; these are things that make the best Christians stagger in their judgments. And why? but because they look upon Gods proceedings through a double medium, of flesh and spirit; that so all things seem to go cross though, indeed, they are right enough. And hence it is that Gods proceedings in His justice are not so well discerned–the eyes of man alone being not competent judges thereof.
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
CHAPTER XV.
The seven angels with the seven last plagues, 1.
The sea of glass, and those who had a victory over the beast, 2.
The song of Moses and the Lamb, 3, 4.
The temple in heaven opened, 5.
Seven angels come out of the temple, who receive from one of
the four living creatures seven golden vials full of the wrath
of God, 6-8.
NOTES ON CHAP. XV.
Verse 1. Seven angels having the seven last plagues] Under the emblems of harvest and vintage God’s judgments on the enemies of his Church have already been pointed out: but these are farther signified by the seven vials, which are called the seven last plagues of God. The seven last plagues appear to fall under the seventh and last trumpet. As the seventh seal contained the seven trumpets, so the seventh trumpet contains the seven vials. And as seven angels sounded the seven trumpets, so seven angels are appointed to pour out the seven vials, angels being always the ministers of Providence. This chapter contains the opening vision which is preparatory to the pouring out of the vials.
The Targum of Jonathan on Isa 51:17, Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, which hast drunk at the hand of the Lord the cup of his fury, uses the same words employed by the evangelist here: “Jerusalem, thou hast received from the face of the Lord the cup of his wrath; yath pailey casa dilvata, “the PHIALS of the cup of malediction ” find again on Isa 51:22: I will take out of thy hand the cup of malediction; yath PAILEY casa dechemti, “the PHIALS of the cup of my indignation.”
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous; that is, a representation which appeared to John great and wonderful.
Seven angels; ministers of God, used by him in the dispensations of his providence.
Having the seven last plagues; having a commission to execute the seven last judgments of God, by which he designed to destroy antichrist.
For in them is filled up the wrath of God; for by them the wrath of God was to be executed upon him to the uttermost.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
1. the seven last plaguesGreek,“seven plagues which are the last.”
is filled upliterally,”was finished,” or “consummated”: the propheticalpast for the future, the future being to God as though it were past,so sure of accomplishment is His word. This verse is the summary ofthe vision that follows: the angels do not actually receive the vialstill Re 15:7; but here, in Re15:1, by anticipation they are spoken of as having them.There are no more plagues after these until the Lord’s coming injudgment. The destruction of Babylon (Re18:2) is the last: then in Re19:11-16 He appears.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous,…. This chapter is a preparation to the pouring out of the seven vials, as
Re 16:1 is to the sending of the seven epistles, and Re 2:1 to the seven seals and seven trumpets: the vision is called a “sign”, because what was seen was significative of future events; a sign of the coming of Christ, of his kingdom, and of the destruction of antichrist; and it is said to be a sign “in heaven”, where John was called up, and where he had his visions; and it was “another”, a different one from that in Re 12:1 which represented the downfall of Paganism, but this the downfall of Popery; and it is a very “great” one, it is expressive of great things, as the fall of Babylon the great, or the judgment of the great whore, and the great glory of the church and kingdom of Christ; and it is “marvellous”, for the two grand events it respects are very wonderful; as that antichrist, who was once in such power, should be destroyed, and that by such weak means, in the esteem of men, as the preaching of the Gospel, which is no less marvellous than the fall of Jericho by the sound of rams’ horns; and that the church, which was in so low an estate in the wilderness, for the space of 1260 days or years, should become so glorious. The vision follows,
seven angels, having the seven last plagues; these are not the same angels that blew the seven trumpets, for they are not contemporary with them, but are more likely the same with those in the preceding chapter; though they seem rather to be different from them: if these were angels literally understood, their having plagues is no objection to their being good angels, since such are often the executioners of God’s wrath; and that these good ones, appears from one of them talking with John, and showing him the judgment of antichrist, and another the bride, the Lamb’s wife, and her glory,
Re 17:1 though they seem rather to be the ministers of the Gospel, since they are said to come out of the temple, Re 15:6 and since the destruction of antichrist will be by the breath of Christ’s mouth, or by the preaching of the Gospel; unless it should be thought that members of churches are designed, since these angels receive their vials from one of the four living creatures, Re 15:7 or preachers of the word; and may denote some very principal men, as kings, who will now be come to Zion, and be members of Gospel churches, and will be the nursing fathers and protectors of them; and these will hate the whore, and burn her flesh with fire; but of these angels, see more on Re 15:6. They are said to have “the seven last plagues”; that is, in their vials; for these seven plagues are the same with the seven vials of the wrath of God, to be poured out upon antichrist; and are no other than so many steps, ways, and means, by which God will bring on and finish his destruction: these are called the last plagues, because they will be in the last days: there have been plagues before, as at the destruction of the old world, and of Sodom and Gomorrah, and the plagues of Egypt, and the downfall of several monarchies and kingdoms, and of Paganism in the Roman empire; but these will fall upon antichrist, and will be the last upon him, for they will issue in his utter ruin; they will be the last plagues upon the earth, there will be no other after them, but the conflagration of the world, and the general destruction of the wicked in hell. These plagues are the same with the third woe, and are an explanation of it, and belong to the sounding of the seventh trumpet, which brings in the kingdoms of this world to become the kingdoms of Christ, and the time of God’s wrath upon the nations, or Gentiles, the Papists, and of judging the dead, and destroying them that destroyed the earth, Re 11:15 for these plagues do not follow upon the harvest and vintage, nor has this vision any respect to them, nor to be connected with the preceding chapter, but with Re 11:1 and gives an enlarged view, both of the glory of Christ’s kingdom, and of the ruin of antichrist, by these plagues, called the last:
for in them is filled up the wrath of God; upon the beast, and his followers.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
| The Seven Vials. | A. D. 95. |
1 And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God. 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. 3 And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints. 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.
Here we have the preparation of matters for the pouring out of the seven vials, which was committed to seven angels; and observe how these angels appeared to the apostle–in heaven; it was in a wonderful manner, and that upon account, 1. Of the work they had to do, which was to finish the destruction of antichrist. God was now about to pour out his seven last plagues upon that interest; and, as the measure of Babylon’s sins was filled up, they should now find the full measure of his vindictive wrath. 2. The spectators and witnesses of this their commission: all that had gotten the victory over the beast, c. These stood on a sea of glass, representing this world, as some think, a brittle thing, that shall be broken to pieces or, as others, the gospel covenant, alluding to the brazen sea in the temple, in which the priests were to wash (the faithful servants of God stand upon the foundation of the righteousness of Christ); or, as others, the Red Sea, that stood as it were congealed while the Israelites went through; and, the pillar of fire reflecting light upon the waters, they would seem to have fire mingled with them; and this to show that the fire of God’s wrath against Pharaoh and his horses should dissolve the congealed waters, and destroy them thereby, to which there seems to be an allusion by their singing the song of Moses, in which, (1.) They extol the greatness of God’s works, and the justice and truth of his ways, both in delivering his people and destroying their enemies. They rejoiced in hope, and the near prospect they had of this, though it was not yet accomplished. (2.) They call upon all nations to render unto God the fear, glory, and worship, due to such a discovery of his truth and justice: Who shall not fear thee? v. 4.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Another sign in heaven ( ). Looking back to Rev 12:1; Rev 12:3, after the series intervening. The Seven Bowls are parallel with the Seven Seals (ch. Re 6) and the Seven Trumpets (chapters Re 8-11), but there is an even closer connection with chapters Re 12-14, “the drama of the long conflict between the church and the world” (Swete).
Great and marvellous ( ). is an old verbal adjective (from , to wonder) and is already in Mt 21:42. The wonder extends to the end of this vision or sign (16:21).
Seven angels ( ). Accusative case in apposition with after . Cf. 8:2.
Which are the last ( ). “Seven plagues the last.” As in 21:9, “the final cycle of such visitations” (Swete).
Is finished (). Proleptic prophetic first aorist passive indicative of as in 10:7. The number seven seems particularly appropriate here for finality and completeness.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
The seven last plagues [ ] . Lit., seven plagues the last. Rev., “which are the last.” See on Mr 3:10; Luk 10:30. Is filled up [] . More correctly, brought to an end [] . Rev., finished. Lit., was finished, the prophetic aorist, which speaks of a thing foreseen and decided as if already done.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
THE SEVEN VIALS APPEAR TO ch. 16-21 Seven Angels with Seven Last Plagues v. 1-8
Note: see also Introduction Revelation
1) “And I saw another sign in heaven,” (kai eidon allo semion en to ouranou) “And I recognized another sign in heaven,” a wonder in addition to the two he had seen before, of the woman and the dragon, Rev 12:1; Rev 12:3.
2) “Great and marvelous,” (mega kai thaumaston) “it was great and abounding in marvel; This third sign, marvel, or wonder (in addition to the woman, Israel and the dragon) was of seven angels with Judgment plagues, Lev 26:27-28.
3) “Seven angels having the seven last plagues,” (angelous hepta echontas plegas hepta tas eschatos) “There were seven angels having or holding seven last (or final) plagues,” administering Divine Judgment services for God, Heb 1:4; Rev 16:1; Rev 21:9.
4) “For in them is fill up,” (hoti en autais etelesthe) “Because in them was completed, finished, or terminated;” In the seven last plagues are contained God’s final Judgment upon Israel, Satan, the antichrist and all living unbelievers prior to the beginning of the Millennial reign of Christ, Israel, and his church over the earth. Rev 6:14-17.
5) “The wrath of God,” (ho thumos tou theou) “The passion of God’s anger; that was to be poured out without mixture or without being diluted upon his enemies and the enemies of righteousness, Psa 75:7-8. This verse introduces a vision of what is yet to come on earth, terminating the final era of Jacob’s trouble, Rev 14:10; Rev 16:1 to Rev 18:24.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
THE SEVEN LAST PLAGUES
Rev 15:1 to Rev 16:21
IN presenting chapters fifteen and sixteen, of the Book of Revelation we deal with natural divisions and discuss the seven last plagues. The opening sentences of chapter fifteen are employed by way of introduction to the presentation of the wonderful panorama of events.
John says,
And I saw another sign in Heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God.
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.
And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are Thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are Thy ways, Thou King of saints.
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 (Rev 15:1-4).
Two or three things are set forth in this introduction. First of all, that these seven plagues, which are to be poured out by these seven angels, express Gods judgment against sin. Again, this figure of the glassy sea mingled with fire, with the victors over the beast and his image, standing beside it, having the harps of God, is a scene which was strikingly symbolized when Moses and his kindred stood on the banks of the Red Sea and beheld the Egyptians overwhelmed by it. And as Miriam there, led in the song describing all praise to God, so here, when God executes judgment against His enemiesthe oppressors of His people the Church militant will sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, in memory of that first victory; and the song of the Lamb, in gratitude for the last and greatest triumph, and will say,
Great and marvellous are Thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are Thy ways, Thou King of saints.
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.
After these things John says,
The Temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in Heaven was opened:
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.
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.
These, then, were priest-angels, but no longer engaged in the office of mediation, but rather that of judgment. And lo, the voice to the seven angels is, Go your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth.
Let us study the significance of these seven last plagues, their severity, and their issues.
THEIR SIGNIFICANCE
Phillips Brooks, speaking from the second verse of the fifteenth chapter of Revelation, says, Many people find great pleasure in tracing out elaborate analogies between its prophecies and certain particular events in the worlds career. Here, they cry, pointing to some particular event of contemporary history, do you now see that this is what these chapters mean? Yes, we may generally answer, they very possibly do mean that, but they mean so much more besides that. They mean that, and all other events in which the same universal and eternal causes were at work. These special examples fall in under them, but do not certainly exhaust their application. They are much larger and include much more. All of which is true. I doubt if any interpreter has ever dreamed the full meaning of Revelation, and the utmost that we shall attempt in the exposition of these chapters, is a comparison of Scripture with Scripture, and the drawing of certain practical lessons that ought to be deduced from the more evident of these prophecies.
Speaking, therefore, of the significance of these seven plagues, we call your attention to three things.
First, Their number is suggestive. The seven last plagues. As suggested in the previous discourse, seven is one of the numbers employed in the Word of God to express completeness. That it is used here, in that sense, is put beyond dispute by the expression the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God. God has often poured out something of His wrath upon the earth, a single vial at this point, and another at that, but let sinners fear the day when the seven vials shall be opened. Do you remember how in Leviticus, after God had set before His people the iniquity of idolatry, and had pleaded with them to turn from their evil way to His service, He concluded,
And if ye shall despise My statutes, or if your soul abhor My judgments, so that ye will not do all My commandments, but that ye break My covenant:
I also will do this unto you; I will even appoint over you terror, * *
And I will set My face against you, and ye shall be slain before your enemies; they that hate you shall reign over you; and ye shall flee when none pursueth you.
If ye will not yet for all this hearken unto Me, then 1 will punish you seven times more for your sins.
And I will break the pride of your power; and I will make your heaven as iron, and your earth as brass:
And your strength shall be spent in vain: for your land shall not yield her increase, neither shall the trees of the land yield their fruits.
And if ye walk contrary unto Me, * * I will bring seven times more plagues upon you according to your sins.
Again and again in that 26th chapter of Leviticus, He threatens them with seven times, as if that were the completed punishment.
You will remember that when He wanted Joshua to overthrow the city of Jericho, He said, Ye shall compass the city seven times, * * and the wall of the city shall fall down flat, and the people shall ascend up every man straight before him (Jos 6:4-5).
This Book of the Apocalypse has been called the Book of the Sevens. There are seven visions, seven Spirits of God, seven candlesticks, the seven stars, seven lamps of fire, seven seals, seven horns and seven eyes of the Lamb, seven angels with seven trumpets, seven thunders, seven heads of the beast with seven crowns upon the heads, the seven plagues, seven vials, seven mountains, and seven regencies. Jacob Seiss says, All this is because the Apocalypse is the Book of the fulness of everything of which it treats. There is presented here the consummation of Divine dispensation, and as Jericho went down before seven blasts from Israels trumpets, so the world will finish in the throes consequent upon the opening of the seven vials of the wrath of a long-suffering God.
The character of these plagues is significant. The first vial caused a noisesome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast, and which worshiped his image; the second, turned the sea into clotted blood, as of dead men, and every living soul, even the things which were in the sea died. And the third, touched the fountain of waters, the very source from which they flowed, and changed it unto blood so that those who had taken the blood of saints and Prophets had nought else now to drink than blood. The fourth, affected the sun so that it scorched men with fire. The fifth, brought the beast and his kingdom into darkness, so that they gnawed their tongues with pain. The sixth, dried up the great river Euphrates and cut off the highway for kings. And the seventh, charged the air with the thunder bolts of death, and shook the earth with such an earthquake as it has never seen since man came upon it, dividing cities, submerging islands and mangling men, bringing in a condition of confusion before the terror of which nothing was heard than the blasphemy of the followers of the beast. Now we confess to you that we see no way of interpreting these symbols save to receive them for what the Word says. If the plagues of Egypt were real, why need we spiritualize these prophecies and make them symbolize some event other than those which are described?
Beloved, hold steadily to the Word of God. There was a time when Egypt was smitten with every one of these plagues, because she oppressed Gods people; there was a grievous sore upon man and beast; their waters were turned into blood; the sun scorched them with exceeding heat; darkness lay over all the land; the sea itself dried up; Satan sent his evil spirit among the people to distemper their minds and harden their hearts; and the very air was filled with thunder and lightnings. If we accept that record as real, why not accept this as imminent, and look for the last of it to be fulfilled. One of the dangerous tendencies of the time is touching this very question of refusing to take Gods Word as it says. Why should we expect less colossal things to characterize the end of the age? Why should we believe that God whelmed Egypt with plagues because they had oppressed His people and shall deal less gently with Satan himself, and his accessories, seeing that they have been oppressors from the beginning? Opposers of God, they are high-handed rebels; and when the leader goes down, who can expect less than that his followers will share his fate; even as the Egyptians drowned, in the sea that brought Pharaoh to his death. This, as I understand it, is the picture in detail, of the very event that will bring an end to the three and a half years reign of the dragon, and the beast and the false prophet. And when you stop to think upon it, there is no difficulty in Gods accomplishing every whit of these prophecies of His Word. That He can smite man and beast with noisome and grievous sores, no student of past history will call into dispute; that He can change the very waters of the sea and the rivers into clotted blood is either true or else the Pentateuch is not dependable. That the sun can easily scorch with fire every man from the Atlantic to the Pacific, many are now ready to testify. You continue last weeks atmosphere for a few months and men would die from the face of the earth, or else the living gnaw their tongues from pain. And that God can dry up the Euphrates, let His touch upon the Red Sea witness; the earthquake of the past, the storms that have filled the air: the hail stones that have smitten men, all of these are only the earnest of the powers that are at the command of our God, when He shall will to loose them and make them His batteries against the great rebel of this Book, and all his followers.
Have you ever thought upon the
SEVERITY OF THESE PLAGUES
They fall on all wicked men.
There fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshipped his image.
And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain,
And blasphemed the God of Heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds.
And the seventh angel poured out his vial * *
And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great.
It seems impossible to think of these prophecies as having been fulfilled in any French Revolution, in any of the naval battles of the past; they are yet to come.
When the trumpets were sounded only a part of the earth was involved, hence we believe that they referred to past periods and events; but here the whole world of wicked men, hence we believe this is yet to come. Reflect upon the prophecies of the Old and New Testament teachings concerning these judgments. When Solomon saw it afar, he said, The wicked shall he cut off from the earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it (Pro 2:22). The wicked shall not be unpunished ** the expectation of the wicked is wrath (Pro 11:21; Pro 11:23). Of the wicked, Job wrote, The wicked is reserved to the day of destruction, they shall be brought forth to the day of wrath (Job 21:30). Daniel, writing of the same event to which John here sets his pen, said, Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly; and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand (Dan 12:10). And yet it need not be so; the time of judgment is not on; the angels who hold the vials of Gods wrath in their hands have not yet begun their work of pouring them upon the earth; the voice of mercy is still heard, Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return unto * * our God, for He mil abundantly pardon.
Again, these plagues involve animal life and inanimate nature. And every living thing in the sea will die, and even the sea itself, with the rivers, and even the fountains of waters be putrid. The beasts of the earth shall be involved with men, gnawing their tongues also for pain. God has His reasons for this. When man is to be removed from the seat of action, it will be a mercy toward all domestic things to take them with him, and a necessity to remove beast, fish and fowl, to bring upon the earth the famine that shall conquer the ungrateful, the rebellious, and teach them, by judgment, what they refused to learn in grace, namely, that God is the giver of every good and perfect gift. We often hear it said, and with good reason, that Nature is indifferent to the sufferings of man. The springtime cares nothing for the sorrow that smites your heart; the sun shines just as brightly when darkness is over all your soul; the birds do not hush their song because men are going on in sin and meeting its consequent agonies, for nature has no heart; but while nature is indifferent to mans suffering, man is mightily moved by natures sorrows. When you smite the sea, the rivers, and turn them into blood, you have smitten man himself; when you have parched the earth, so that its fruits perish, you cut off all possible sustenance, and strike unspeakable agony into the soul which looks upon its parching surface. When you loose the thunders of heaven and stir up the fires of the earth so that storm and earthquake shall mightily shake it from center to circumference, you fill the mind with horror, and every heart with a shriek. And yet, when God, by His sure Word of prophecy, speaks of suffering that beggars description, man often treats it with little concern. The Final Judgment is a subject not unknown to jest; and sin itself is laughed at and gaily indulged in as if it were not written that its end is death. Even the Christian world speaks too glibly of the separation before the great white throne; and the wicked man treats that subject as if it were a poor superstition. And yet! And yet! Gods Word remains; Gods warnings are in our ears; Gods prophecies live; and the impenitent hear their passionate pleadings.
Peter refers to this disposition of man to despise the judgment, and says,
The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,
Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? (2Pe 3:9-12).
And now a few words on
THE ISSUES
of the seven last plagues.
They express Gods judgment of sin. Every judgment of the past has in some measure voiced Gods feeling toward sin; but the fulness of His wrath will be reserved for the last day, and expressed in the out-pouring of the seven plagues. Oh, men! let me beg of you not to treat sin lightly, as if it were an indifferent thing! Paul in his Epistle to the Romans writes, Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. * * For the wages of sin is death. When speaking to the Thessalonians, in describing the antichrist himself, that consummation of all iniquity, he can find no stronger term than that man of sin * * the son of perdition. While John in his First Epistle declares, He that committeth sin is of the devil: for the devil sinneth from the beginning.
The second issue of the seven plagues will emphasize the blessedness of the saved. Let us call your attention to the fact that right in the midst of these judgments, and after the sixth is completed, just when the seventh and last is ready to break, these words are interjected, Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments. The reference is unquestionably to the appearance of the Lord, and to the catching away of His saints from this scene of trouble and misery, up to that blessed scene of fellowship with Himself. This is indeed to be the crowning event of Christs Church, touching which Paul wrote to the Thessalonians.
But I would not hove you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.
For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him.
For this we say unto you by the Word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain * *
Shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
Wherefore comfort one another with these words (1Th 4:13-18).
Another issue of that hour will be the demonstration of Gods power and final purpose. I think that Satan is often filled with the conceit that he is going to conquer this world once for all. I find that bad men generally believe that doctrine; and even some good men have accepted it as their political philosophy. Probably a majority of the mayors of the great civic centers of this country are today preaching from platform and through the press the necessity of evil, the certainty of its continuance, and the advisability of compromise with it, on the ground that it is better to stand in with the powers that be. But if this Scripture means anything, it means that these evil powers are coming to an end. And when the mountains and valleys of MeGiddo shall again run red, with the blood of battles, Christ alone will command the forces that will that day finish with iniquity, and overthrow its every advocate; yea, even its monster-hearted Satan, himself. It means that from that time on, God is going to reign. Ah, how little, unbelieving men have dreamed His power; how poorly have they imagined His resources and strength!
Fuente: The Bible of the Expositor and the Evangelist by Riley
THE ANGELS OF THE SEVEN VIALS
CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES
THE pledges and tokens of Divine retribution being thus given, the execution of it is speedily to begin. Seven angels are commissioned to go and inflict upon the beast and his coadjutors the seven last plagues, so called because the wrath of God is accomplished by them.
Rev. 15:1.No sooner is this command given than the glorious host of martyrs around the throne of God, whose blood had been shed by the beast, sing the song of anticipative triumph, and praise the justice of God, as about to be displayed in the overthrow of the beast. The temple in heaven is then opened, and the seven angels, charged with the execution of Divine justice, go forth from it in splendid apparel. One of the four living creatures which support the throne of God gives each of them a vial, or cruse (bowl), filled with material to execute the wrath of God. The temple is immediately filled with smoke, rising from the fire which burns fiercely round the Al mighty, as the emblem of His anger (Psa. 18:8), and also of His power to destroy. By reason of this, no one is able to enter into the temple, and, of course, no one is permitted to intercede for those who are about to be punished. Punishment, therefore, is certain and inevitable (Moses Stuart).
Rev. 15:2. Sea of glass.(See Rev. 4:6). Gotten the victory.R.V. come victorious from. Omit and over his mark.
Rev. 15:3. Moses Lamb.Types of material and spiritual redemption. Of saints.Should read either of the nations or of the ages.
Rev. 15:6. White.Or bright.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Rev. 15:1-8
Final Judgments.The vision which perhaps, under all circumstances, most nearly corresponds with the present is that of Isaiah (chap. 6). There the prophet beheld the vision of God. His train filled the temple, and the house was filled with smoke, and a message of judgment was given to the prophet. That message declared that the sin of the people had reached a climax; they had trifled with convictions, and henceforward the words of Gods servants would harden rather than awaken themmake the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes, etc. (Isa. 6:9-10), till the desolating judgments had fallen. The general drift of the present vision is similar: the days of warning are over; the plagues which now fall will fall on those who have trifled with convictions; the sanctuary, which was opened as a refuge, is now closed; none can enter till the plagues have descended. The time has come when the judgments of God fail to stir the conscience which has been deadened by sin; the day when the gracious influences towards repentance were felt has passed. The word that has been spoken is about to descend in judgment (Joh. 7:48).
SUGGESTIVE NOTES AND SERMON SKETCHES
Rev. 15:3. The Song of Moses and the Lamb.Gods world, Gods Word, and Gods people, are all full of song. In Gods world there is nothing, animate or inanimate, without the capacity of making sound. The very flints have music in them. Theres music in the sighing of a reed; theres music in the gushing of a rill. In Gods Word we are told that at the creation the morning stars sang together, and the sons of God shouted for joy. Moses uttered the deliverance of his people in song, saying, I will sing unto the Lord, for He hath triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider hath He thrown into the sea. Deborah taught the people a song, whereby they might praise the Lord for the avenging of Israel. When the new creation dawned, in the birth of Jesus, angels broke through the veil, and were seen and heard by our fellow-men, singing together, Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace, goodwill to men. Davids life was a song. When Paul and Silas lay chained in the dungeon, they sang praises in the night. The visions of heaven assure us that the ransomed ones are full of song. Our text gives us the theme of their song: Great and marvellous are Thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are Thy ways, Thou King of saints. Why so much singing? Why a world full of it, a Bible full of it, a heaven full of it? Because there is nothing but music that can find expression for the deepest, the most thrilling, emotions of our nature. So often our feeling is too deep for words, the force of passion strikes us, and keeps us, dumb. Sometimes feeling is too deep for looksnay, even for tears; it seems to dry up the very fountain of tears. But the man who can find no words has often learned that the tongue of the dumb can sing.
Music! Oh, how faint and weak
Language fades before thy spell!
Why should feeling ever speak,
When thou canst breathe its soul so well?
I. Who are these heaven-singers?Answering that question in the language of symbols this book of Revelation tells us: 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, standing on the sea of glass, having the harps of God. LO, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and peoples, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes and palms in their hands. These rejoicing ones were once sinners of this our earth. They are no company of unfallen angels, whose songs could have no thrilling tones, that tell of sad memories. The song the ransomed sing is a song that only sinners can sing, as the name upon their foreheads is a name that only redeemed sinners can wear. Every bird that flies through Gods sunshinethrush, and robin, and linnet, and nightingalehas his own note, which none but he can sing. Every intelligent creature, every son of God, has his own book of psalms. And there is a style, a tone, an inimitable pathos about a sinners song that will make his voice for ever distinct among the eternal harmonies. And it is pleasant to think that these heavenly singers have been gathered out of all ages and out of all nations. However the forms of music may vary in different periods and different climes, it will be found at last that when the hearts of men sing they make but one chorus. Black and white, bond and free, Jew and Gentile, sing in harmony together the song of Moses and the Lamb. If we inquire, What are these sinners now? the answer comes, The redeemed of the Lord; the purchase of the Saviours blood. Monuments of the grace of the Holy Trinity, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. Ransomed for ever. Sinners who once were justified through faith in the Lord Jesus; who long were being sanctified in the power of the Holy Ghost; and who now are glorified, with something of the glory that Jesus had with the Father before the world was. The work now being carried on in us, in them is finished. While it is being wrought we can sometimes sing, but oftener we must weep; when it is finished we shall weep no more. All tears are wiped away. If we can inquire, Where do these singers stand? the answer cannot be given except by symbol; for of the realities of heaven no man knoweth, no man can know, until the mortal has given place to the immortal, and the eyes of the earthly have changed for the eyes of the heavenly. They stand on a sea of glass, mingled with fire; perhaps we should understand, on the shores of a sea of glass, mingled with fire. The image is suggested by the thought of the Israelites passing through the Red Sea. For them all its waves were stilled; a sea of glass lay on either side their God-made road. And when the evening shadows lengthened and the cloudy pillar changed to fire, it flushed all that glassy sea and made it appear as a sea of glass, mingled with fire. The symbol seems to suggest their possession of rest and their memory of conflict. The restless sea, always rising and falling, often desolating and ruinous, is the Bible emblem of the troubles, and anxieties, and sorrows, of the earth. Man is born to trouble. But yonder is the sea of glass. The waves are stilled now. The weary are at rest. The cloud-flecked sky can find only a broken image of its beauty in the waving sea; and God finds only partial and broken images of Himself in the restless, anxious lives we have to live. A whole firmament of glory shall shine out of a still sea of glass; and a whole image of God may beam forth from that life we shall live in the land of heavenly rest. But memory will mingle the glassy sea with fire. As the sea is the emblem of trouble, so fire is the emblem of conflict. The shores of the glassy sea are only won through a great fight of affliction by him who is girded with the whole armour of God. In many an earthly mansion the shields, and breast-plates, and helmets, and swords, are hung up in the great halls, to remind the peaceful sons of the old battles out of which their forefathers wrung their liberty and rest. Who knows? There may be, somewhere in Gods heaven, an armoury where every new soldier that has battled through may lay up his weapons and his armour. Certainly fire memories shall mingle with the eternal rest; memories of the fires of battles with sin, and memories of the refining fires of Gods chastisements. And home will be to us the sweeter for nights tented in the strangers ground, and bivouac amid the storm and the coldmonths beleaguered by watchful foes, and battles fought hardly for holiness and God.
II. What are the singers songs?Evidently their hymn is a blending of their old earth-song with a new heaven-song. Not, indeed, so altogether new and different. We, too, can sing, even here, the Song of Moses and the Lamb; but not just as they sing it. We can only put as much meaning into our singing as we have had experience to prepare us for. They have an experience which cannot be ours as yetan experience of victory, and victorys reward; so they can sing with meanings which we cannot reach. Their song is our song, with more soul in it. The subject of their song is not redemption alone, but Gods entire dealings with man in revelation. It is not the song of the Lamb only. It is the song of Moses, too. Redemption is, indeed, the one word that expresses all Gods dealing with the race. His one work has always been the work of recoveryrecovery of men, of families, of nations, from outward and bodily evils, from mental mistakes, from moral bondages. Ever since Eden God has been delivering, rescuing, and saving man, and His whole work seems to reach its climax in the deliverance and redemption of human spirits from the yoke and thraldom of sin by Christ Jesus. We lose much by separating the work of God on our race into parts. It is really one sublime, one perfect whole. Some gifts of His, like acts of His, seem, indeed, to rise up into view, mountain-like, and demand unusual attention; but from Eden to the judgment day there has been one purpose, never forgotten, never remitted, never undervalued: it is the worlds full redemption from sin. We may not think of our God resting in eternal peace until every foe of man is slain, suffering and crime are ended, Satan is bound, and death, the last enemy, shall die. One day a saved earth will sing, The Lord God omnipotent reigneth. For the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. The models of this entire deliverance are Moses and the Lamb. Moses representing Gods triumph over evil in its outward manifestations, and the Lamb representing Gods triumph over evil in its inward manifestations. Moses triumph at the passing of the sea I need but recall to mind; it said for all the ages that nothing is too hard for the Lord, and no outward troubles need overwhelm us. The Song of the Lamb reminds us that God has triumphed, and is triumphing, over inward evil. It is the most mournful part of the work of sin that it has defiled human souls, and blurred the image of God on them. Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, is the Divine deliverer from inward sin, from soul-sin. No fetters of national slavery dropped from aching wrists when Jesus died, the sacrifice and ransom price. No Roman armies, panic-stricken, fled from Palestine when He died, the nations champion. No royal proclamation flung open prison doors when He took the sinners place. No waving flags, no enthusiastic shouts, proclaimed a nations resurrection when He died on Calvary. But then the prince of this world was judged, and cast out. Then Satan fell like lightning from heaven. Then captive souls were set free. Then the gospel of Gods saving love was proclaimed to the poor. Then the heaven of holiness for sinners came within their reach. Well may we anticipate the heavenly song, and join now the chorus of the white-robed host, saying, Thou hast redeemed us unto God by Thy blood, and hast made us kings and priests unto God.
The Divine Righteousness.Good men, in all ages, have been deeply impressed with the Divine righteousness. They have ever conceived of their salvation as exhibiting and establishing the Divine righteousness. It is not proper to speak of justice or righteousness as being satisfied. The Bible speaks of it as revealed, manifested. Righteousness can be satisfied with nothing short of the rightness of those in whom it is interested. Men mistake the Divine by treating justice as some abstract quality: it is one of the living forces of a Living Being; it is an expression of the Divine will. The revelation of God is this: A just God and a Saviour. A just God is proved by, illustrated by, His becoming a Saviour.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Strauss Comments
SECTION 46
Text Rev. 15:1
And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having seven plagues, which are the last, for in them is finished the wrath of God.
Initial Questions Rev. 15:1
1.
What is unique about the seven plagues in Rev. 15:1?
2.
Does this imply that Gods wrath is objective or subjective?
Preparation for the Last Seven Plagues
Chapter Rev. 15:1-8
Rev. 15:1
Chapter 15 and 16 form a unit structured around the seven plagues. This chapter begins the last of the sevenfold pictures of judgment under the symbol of seven bowls of anger. John has gone through two other cycles of judgment chapters 58:1 (7 inserted between 6th seal and 7th seal which is opened at Rev. 8:1); the next series is presented through the imagery of seven trumpets and this is contained in chps. Rev. 8:2 thru Revelation 11. In this particular chapter John begins the outpouring of the seven plagues.
Another vision was now vouched-safe to John. He says, I saw . . . seven angels having seven last plagues; because in them was finished (etelesth 1st aor. passive voice the act of completion was singular, complete and final. The finality was a function of the purpose of God) the anger (the word is thumos not orge or wrath) of God.
Discussion Questions
See Rev. 15:5-8.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
Tomlinsons Comments
CHAPTER XV
Text (Rev. 15:1-8)
1 And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having seven plagues, which are the last, for in them is finished the wrath of God.
2 And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingle with fire; and them that come off victorious from the beast, and from his image, and from the number of his name, standing by the sea of glass, having harps of God. 3 And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying,
Great and marvellous are thy works, O Lord God, the Almighty; righteous and true are thy ways, thou King of the ages. 4 Who shall not fear, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy; for all the nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy righteous acts have been made manifest.
5 And after these things I saw, and the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened: 6 and there came out from the temple the seven angels that had the seven plagues, arrayed with precious stone, pure and bright, and girt about their breasts with golden girdles. 7 And one of the four living creatures gave unto the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God, who liveth for ever and ever. 8 And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and none was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels should be finished.
This chapter takes up a detailed account of the final judgments poured out upon the beast, the image of the beast and those who have his mark.
The preceding chapter simply gives a preview or a summary of events that lie in the future; the fifteenth, sixteenth, seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth chapters cover the same territory but give a more detailed account.
Throughout these above mentioned chapters the theme is the destruction of spiritual Babylon. Looking back, the seven seals recount the history and overthrow of Roman paganism. The seven trumpets carry us through the overthrow of the Roman Empire of the west by the Goths, Vandals, Huns and Heruli and the ruin of the Eastern portion of the empire by the Saracens and Turks. The seventh trumpet terminates with the trump of the archangel. The seven vials, or bowls, give the history of an epoch and like each series of sevens before it, carry us to the end of that epoch. Particularly do the events of the seventh seal refer to the ecclesiastical or spiritual Rome, called the papacy. The seven seals have as their object, the overthrow of Roman paganism. The seven trumpets have as their design the overthrow of the Roman Empire. The seven vials have as their goal the overthrow of the blasphemous power, the papacy which is spiritually called Babylon.
This is not the ancient capital on the Euphrates, nor the Roman imperial city situated on the Tiber, but Rome as a spiritual symbol.
The last chapter closed with the two harvests, one of the wheat and the other of the grapes; now we would naturally expect the presentation of the new heaven and the new earth. But again there is a new series of judgments. John reviews, recapitulates and enlarges upon the scenes sketched in the fourteenth chapter. He does this under the symbolism of the emptying of seven vials; or seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God.
Here in the fifteenth chapter we encounter the third and last of the three great signs in heaven given by John. In Revelation, the 12th chapter, the word wonder in the first and third verses, we have found to be signs.
The first sign in heaven was the woman clothed with the sun, or the Church of Christ. The second sign in heaven was the great red dragon, or the devil, or Satan. It is the sign of the mystery of iniquity spoken of by the apostle Paul. The third sign in heaven which is now before us, is the vision of the seven last plagues. This sign is described by John as great and marvelous. Hear him:
Rev. 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.
The seven angels and their vials do not begin their work until we reach the sixteenth chapter. But the emphasis in the fifteenth chapter is that these are the seven last plagues and that by them the purpose of God will be fully and finally accomplished, because Gods wrath will be filled up.
The word plagues, not used in reference to the trumpet judgments, is evidently intended to refer us back in the Scriptures to a parallel case of Gods deliverance of His persecuted people in Egypt. The plagues of Egypt were ten in number to symbolize fullness of Divine visitations; here they are seven in number to symbolize completeness and finality.
Rev. 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.
John here sees the victory gained by the saints over the beast. There is a sea as of glass mingled with fire. It was the sea that overwhelmed the Egyptians in the ten plagues visited upon them. But the people of God passed safely through it. Here is a greater victory. They stand upon the sea. The fire with which this symbolic sea is intermingled represented the judgments of God fully and finally accomplished. The saints are standing on this sea. They are represented as above, or beyond the reach of the sea of judgment.
They have the harps of God to sing the song of Moses and the Lamb. It is very worthy of note that in these visions of the triumphant saints, they are ever pictured as singing to the tune of instrumental music.
Rev. 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.
They sing in a higher key and in a more glorious diapason the old song of Moses which the ancient Israel of God sang on the shore of the Red Sea on the morning of their deliverance. (Exo. 15:1-27 th Chapter) Now into the old redemption song mingles a new and loftier strain the song of completed redemption. Shall we listen to this song of the Lamb as it reaches its grand crescendo:
Rev. 15:4 Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before thee for thy judgments are made manifest.
Whereas the worshipers of the beast glorified the number of the name of the beast, these true worshipers glorify the name of the Lord. They sing in ecstacy of spirit because the judgments of God are made manifest.
The truth and righteousness of Gods judgments are revealed in that Christ manifests himself as the King of the true saints of all nations.
As the strains of praise sink into sacred silence the apostles attention is turned again to the agents of divine judgments. He sees the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven.
The fifth verse of the fifteenth chapter resumes the thread of thought dropped in Rev. 11:19 which reads, and the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament. So after the great interruption in which were given the three celestial signs in heaventhe woman, the dragon and the sign of the seven angels with the seven last plagues, John now returns to his starting point of the opened temple.
Rev. 15:5-6 And after these things (the celestial signs and other visions Rev. 12:1 to Rev. 15:1-4) I saw and the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened: and there came out from the temple the seven angels having the seven plagues, clothed in pure and white linen, and having their breasts girded with golden girdles.
The garb is royal and priestly. Their ministry is priestly although involving duties marked by severity of punishment. Now they are empowered to perform and execute their tasks.
Rev. 15:7 And one of the four beasts (or four living creature) gave unto the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God, who liveth forever and ever.
This living creature,one of the four,we found in the study of the fourth chapter to be one of the cherubim. In Eze. 10:20 Ezekiel said, I knew they were cherubim.
So, one of the cherubim who appears again and again in Revelation, gave the seven bowls full of Gods wrath, to the seven angels.
Rev. 15:8 And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and his power; and no man was able to enter the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.
So it was of old. Smoke covered Mount Sinai when God spoke the ten words. (Exo. 19:18) The cloud filled the house, when the erection of the tabernacle was finished. And it came to pass, when the priests were come out of the holy place that cloud filled the house of the Lord, so that the priest could not stand to minister because of the cloud for the glory of the Lord had filled the house of the Lord. (1Ki. 8:10-11)
We also find that the house was filled with smoke when Isaiah was granted his vision as described in (Isa. 6:4).
And the posts of the door moved as the voice of him cried, and the house was filled with smoke.
All this imagery symbolized divine majesty. Here, in Revelation, the smoke proceeds from the glory of God, and from His power.
And no one was able to enter into the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.
This does not mean that no one can enter the church until after the seventh plague has been poured out. The door of the church was opened at Pentecost and no man can shut that door until the final judgment. But here the meaning seems to be that the true saint of God cannot enter the final place of eternal reward until after these plagues.
Christ, in his life, said, I go to prepare a place for you (Joh. 14:2) To do this, Paul said, He ascended far above all heavens that he might fill all things. (Eph. 4:10) And in Rev. 21:2 we read:
I John saw the Holy City, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
Until the place Christ went to prepare is finished, which certainly will be after the time of the seven plagues, no one could enter therein.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
XV.
(1) And I saw another sign in (the) heaven.The sign is, as we noticed before (Rev. 12:1), a token, not a mere empty wonder. This sign is called great and marvellous; it introduces a new set of scenes; the same characters will reappear, but we must start with fresh attention.
The seer sees seven angels (not the seven angels; it is perfectly needless to ask what angels, or to try and identify them with the trumpet angels) having seven plagues, the last, because in them is completed the wrath of God. The statement that these are the last plagues seems to show that the set of visions now commencing carry us down to the end of the age; there are no other plagues after these: they are the last plagues; the vials, like the seals and the trumpets, run up to the final consummation. They are plagues; the word carries us back to Egypt: on Egypt fell the ten plagues which showed forth Gods righteous power, and exposed the hollow pretensions of the magicians and their gods; the wild beast-power and the false prophet-power of that day was crippled and exposed. In like manner upon the wild beast-power of later ages the plagues of God fall. They are plagues, because they are sent forth, not like the trumpets to warn men to repent, but upon those who have obstinately refused to return; they are not goads to the wavering, but they are strokes upon the wilful and hardened; they are directed against those who are deliberately hostile.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Chapter 15
THE VICTORS OF CHRIST ( Rev 15:1-2 ) 15:1-2 And I saw another sign in heaven, great and wonderful–it was seven angels, with seven plagues which are the final ones, because in them the wrath of God reaches its climax. And I saw what I can only call a sea of glass intermingled with fire; and I saw standing beside the sea of glass, with the harps of God, those who had emerged victorious from their struggle with the beast and with his image and with the number of his name.
It might have been thought that John could have conveniently stopped when he had told of the reaping of judgment; but he has still much to tell–the final horrors, of the thousand year reign of the saints, of the final battle and of the final blessedness.
He has told of the opening of the seven seals; he has told of the sounding of the seven trumpets; and now he must tell of the pouring out of the seven bowls of the wrath of God. His arrangement is typical of the way the apocalyptic writers tended to arrange their material in groups of seven and of three and would regard three groups of seven as standing for perfection.
The scene is in heaven. Before John tells of the seven angels with the seven bowls of wrath, he has a picture of those who came through martyrdom for Christ. They are standing beside the sea which looked as if it was of glass. We have already seen this sea in Rev 4:6. This time the glass is intermingled with fire, a natural addition in the circumstances. This is a passage of judgment and fire in Scripture is often the symbol of judgment. There comes upon Egypt hail mingled with fire ( Exo 9:24); the chaff is to be consumed in the fire ( Mat 3:12); our God is a consuming fire ( Heb 12:29). The whole scene is grimly illuminated with the lurid light of the fire of judgment which is to descend upon the earth.
We are shortly to hear of the song of Moses. This is the song which Moses sang when the children of Israel had come triumphantly through the dangers of the crossing of the Red Sea. Even so, as H. B. Swete puts it, the martyrs have come safely through the sea of martyrdom and have arrived at the shore of heaven.
It is said that the martyrs have emerged victorious from their contest with the forces of Antichrist. There is something very significant here. The martyrs died the most savage deaths and yet they are said to have emerged victorious. It was the very fact that they had died that made them victors; if they had remained alive by being false to their faith, they would have been the defeated. Again and again the records of the early church describe a day of martyrdom as a day of victory. In the record of the martyrdom of Saint Perpetua we read: “The day of their victory dawned, and they walked from prison to the amphitheatre as if they were walking to heaven, happy and serene in countenance.” Jesus said: “Whoever would save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it” ( Mat 16:25). The real victory is not prudently to preserve life but to face the worst that evil can do and if need be to be faithful to death. “May God deny you peace,” said Unamuno the Spanish mystic, “and give you glory.”
THE SONG OF THE VICTORS OF CHRIST ( Rev 15:3-4 )
15:3-4 And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb:
Great and wonderful are your works, O Lord, God the Almighty; Just and true are your ways, King of the nations. Who shall not fear and glorify your name, O Lord? Because you alone are holy; Because all the nations will come and worship before you; Because your righteous judgments have been made plain for all to see.
The victorious martyrs sing two songs. They sing the song of the Lamb which, as we have seen, is the song which they alone could learn ( Rev 14:3). They sing the song of Moses, the servant of God. This was the song which Moses sang in triumph to God after the safe crossing of the Red Sea. It is in Exo 15:1-19. “The Lord is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation…. Who is like thee, 0 Lord, among the gods, who is like thee, majestic in holiness, terrible in glorious deeds, doing wonders?… The Lord will reign for ever and ever.” This song was stamped upon the memory of the Jews. It was sung at every Sabbath evening service in the synagogue. At every Jewish service the recital of the Shema (compare the verb, H8085) , the creed of Israel, was followed by two prayers–it still is–and one of these prayers refers to this song: “True it is that thou art Jehovah our God, and the God of our fathers, our King, and the King of our fathers, our Saviour, and the Saviour of our fathers, our Creator, the Rock of our Salvation, our Help and our Deliverer. Thy name is from everlasting, and there is no God beside thee. A new song did they that were delivered sing to thy name by the sea-shore; together did all praise and own thee King, and say, Jehovah shall reign, world without end! Blessed be the Lord who saveth Israel.” The song of Moses commemorated the greatest deliverance in the history of God’s people Israel, and the victorious martyrs, brought through the sea of persecution to the promised land of heaven, sing that song.
But the martyrs have their own song. Two things stand out about it.
(i) It is almost entirely composed of quotations from the Old Testament. We set down first the words in the song and below them the Old Testament passages of which they remind us.
Great and wonderful are your works.
O Lord, how great are thy works! ( Psa 92:5); The works of the Lord are great ( Psa 111:2); he has done marvellous (wonderful) things ( Psa 98:1); Wonderful are thy works ( Psa 139:14).
Just and true are your ways.
The Lord is just in all his ways, and kind in all his doings ( Psa 145:17).
Who shall not fear and glorify your name, O Lord
All the nations thou hast made shall come and bow down before Thee, O Lord; and shall glorify thy name ( Psa 86:9).
You alone are holy.
There is none holy like the Lord ( 1Sa 2:2); Let them praise thy great and terrible name! Holy is he! ( Psa 99:3); Holy and terrible is his name ( Psa 111:9).
All the nations will come and worship before you.
All the nations thou hast made shall come and bow down before thee, O Lord ( Psa 86:9).
Your righteous judgments are made manifest.
The Lord has made known his victory, he has revealed his vindication in the sight of the nations ( Psa 98:2).
A passage like this lets us see how steeped in the Old Testament John was.
(ii) There is another thing which must strike anyone about the song of the triumphant martyrs. There is not one single word in it about their own achievement; from beginning to end the song is a lyric outburst on the greatness of God.
Heaven is a place where men forget themselves and remember only God. As R. H. Charles finely puts it: “In the perfect vision of God self is wholly forgotten.” H. B. Swete puts it this way: “In the presence of God the martyrs forget themselves; their thoughts are absorbed by the new wonders that surround them; the glory of God and the mighty scheme of things in which their own sufferings form an infinitesimal part are opening before them; they begin to see the great issue of the world-drama, and we hear the doxology with which they greet their first unclouded vision of God and his works.”
THE AVENGING ANGELS ( Rev 15:5-7 ) 15:5-7 And after this I saw, and the temple of the tent of witness in heaven was opened, and there came out of the temple the seven angels who have the seven plagues; and they were clothed in shining white linen, and they were girt about the breasts with golden girdles. And one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls filled with the wrath of God who lives for ever and ever.
The tent of witness, or the tent of testimony, is a common title in the Old Testament for the tabernacle in the wilderness ( Num 9:15; Num 17:7; Num 18:2). It is, therefore, clear that John is seeing this picture, not in terms of the Jerusalem temple, but in terms of the ancient tabernacle.
It is from within the tabernacle that the seven avenging angels come forth. In the centre of the Holy Place within the tabernacle lay the Ark of the Covenant, the chest in which were contained the tables of the ten commandments, the essence of the Law. That is to say, these angels come out from the place where the Law of God rests and come to show that no man or nation can with impunity defy the Law of God.
They are clothed in a shining white robe and are girt about the breasts with a golden girdle. The robes of the angels are symbolic of three things. (a) Their dress is priestly dress. The robe of white fine linen and the gold embroidered girdle about the breast is the dress of the High Priest. The High Priest might well be called God’s representative among men; and these angels come forth as the avenging representatives of God. (b) Their dress is royal dress. The white linen and the high girdle are the garments of princes and of kings; and these angels come forth with the royalty of the King of kings upon them. (c) Their dress is heavenly dress. The young man at the empty tomb of Christ was clothed in a long white garment ( Mar 16:5; Mat 28:3); and the angels are the inhabitants of heaven, come to execute God’s decrees upon earth.
It is one of the four living creatures who hands them the bowls of the wrath of God. When we were thinking about the four living creatures when they first emerged on the scene ( Rev 4:7) we saw that the first was like a lion, the second like an ox, the third like a man, and the fourth like an eagle; and that, they may well symbolize all that is strongest and bravest and wisest and swiftest in nature. if that be so, it is fitting that one of them should hand the bowls of wrath to the seven angels. The bowls of wrath are to bring disasters in nature to the world; and the symbolism may well be that nature is handing itself to God to serve his purposes.
THE UNAPPROACHABLE GLORY ( Rev 15:8 ) 15:8 And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power, and no one could enter into the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels had been completed.
The idea of the glory of God being symbolized as smoke is common in the Old Testament. In the vision of Isaiah the whole house was filled with smoke ( Isa 6:4).
Further, the idea that no one could approach while the smoke was there is also common in the Old Testament. This was true both of the tabernacle and of the temple. Of the tabernacle it is said: “Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting, because the cloud abode upon it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle” ( Exo 40:34-35). Of the dedication of Solomon’s temple it is said: “And when the priests came out of the holy place, a cloud filled the house of the Lord, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord” ( 1Ki 8:10-11).
There is a double idea here. There is the idea that the purposes of God will often be clouded to men, for no man can see into the mind of God; and there is the idea that the holiness and the glory of God are such that man in his own right can never approach God.
But R. H. Charles sees more in this passage. No man could come into the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels have been completed. Charles sees in that a symbolic statement that no approach of man to God can halt the coming judgment.
-Barclay’s Daily Study Bible (NT)
Fuente: Barclay Daily Study Bible
2. The chapter of War Preparation (at Jerusalem) for Babylon’s destruction, Rev 15:1-8.
The seven destroying angels in the temple; presented with the vials, Rev 15:1-7.
1. And As the menaces of the last chapter were in Jerusalem and the temple, so here we are still in the temple at the glass sea; the martyr spirits on its shore are chanting anticipated victory over the beast, 1-4; the tabernacle is opened, 5; the seven angels of the last plagues come from the temple, 6, 7; while the divine presence of Jehovah himself stays in the temple, 8, until the seven plagues do their fatal work on antichrist’s capital.
Another sign Or symbol. Another, in addition to those in Rev 12:1; Rev 12:3.
In heaven That is, in the heaven or region, of symbol. Note Rev 4:11. The seven angels, as being the main figures in the great overthrow, are mentioned before their time, (which comes at Rev 15:6,) and as emphatically the sign great and marvellous. Or, we may say the sign great and marvellous comprehends the entire exhibition of this chapter; nay, perhaps even including the process and catastrophe of next chapter. And thus this another sign forms a marvellous antithesis to the two of 12 and 13.
Last plagues Last as being final for Babylon.
For Assigning reason for their being a finality; they fill up the retribution due to Satan’s capital.
Plagues The Greek word for plague signifies, literally, a blow, a smite; and the infliction is thus assumed to be made by a divine stroke. It is as if the outpouring of the vial was the external sign; but a stroke from Jehovah from his secret place in the temple (Rev 15:8) made the infliction.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
IV. THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, Rev 7:1 to Rev 20:10.
Of the trumpets, the first four are mundane, or earthly; each of the four blasts draws down a judgment upon some creational point, as earth, sea, fountains and rivers; firmamental luminaries. It is the sins of men that draw down these bolts of wrath, rendering every point of creation hostile to our peace. “Cursed is the ground for thy sake,” (Gen 3:17,) is the key-note. This sad status of humanity has existed through all past ages; but it is here represented to form a base from which the history of the renovation commences.
The first four the earthly trumpets are each brief as well as terrible; the spiritual, the fifth and sixth, expand into wider dimensions and rise to more spiritual interests; while the seventh trumpet rolls forth its series of events, through all the future scenes of retribution and redemption to the judgment.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having seven plagues which are the last, for in them is finished the wrath of God.’
The seven plagues are the last to be described not the last chronologically, for the seven seals and the seven trumpets which run parallel to them also involved the wrath of God. They are the last because they sum up God’s judgments. As Paul emphasised ‘the wrath of God IS (at this present time) revealed from Heaven’ (Rom 1:18 compare Eph 5:6; Col 3:6; Rom 5:9) for we are ‘by nature children of wrath’ (Eph 2:3).
The idea of the wrath of God is applied to the final judgment, ‘the day of wrath’ (Rom 2:5; Rom 2:8; Mat 3:7; Luk 3:7; Joh 3:36; Rom 9:22 ; 1Th 1:10; 1Th 5:9; Rev 6:16-17; Rev 11:18; Rev 14:10; Rev 14:19; Rev 19:15) and to the present wrath of God revealed in various ways (Luk 21:23; Rom 1:18 with Rom 1:24-32; 1Th 2:16; Rev 15:1; Rev 15:7; Rev 16:1; Rev 16:19). It is not anger as we know it but righteous anger like the anger of Jesus (Mar 3:5), a righteous response to the awfulness of sin, the sign of an antipathy to sin. In His holiness God must react against sin.
He did it first by offering a way of redemption and providing a means of ‘propitiation’ through Jesus Christ and His death on the cross (Rom 3:25; 1Jn 2:2), which was a way of righteously dealing with sin while forgiving the sinner, but for those who refuse that way His wrath against sin means that He must ultimately deal with sinners, first by attempts to make them consider their ways, and then in final judgment.
‘Another sign in heaven, great and marvellous’, compare the signs in Rev 12:1; Rev 12:3. We have seen the sign speaking of the true people of God, we have seen the sign of the Evil One who seeks to destroy God’s handywork, now we see the sign of God’s response to that evil, seven angels having the seven plagues which finalise God’s programme of wrath against sin. But before these are emptied we must see the safety of the redeemed.
The fact that there is no article before ‘angels’ suggests these are not the seven angels, but merely seven selected from among many. It is not, however, a matter of great importance. What matters is that Heaven is at work.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Rev 15:3 “And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God” Comments – Moses could have carried many titles and accolades. He was well educated in the schools of Egypt. He was an author and a great leader, but his greatest lay in the power of God that worked in his life. The greatest men of God are recognized as servants and not necessarily as leaders. Thus, the most honorable title that could ever be given to a man would be “a servant of God.”
Deu 34:5, “So Moses the servant of the LORD died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the LORD.”
Jos 1:1, “Now after the death of Moses the servant of the LORD it came to pass, that the LORD spake unto Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ minister, saying,”
Rev 15:3-4 Comments The Song of Moses – Another song of Moses in recorded in Deuteronomy 32.
Rev 15:6 Comments – Note how these seven angels are dressed like Jesus Christ was dressed in Rev 1:13
Rev 1:13, “And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle.”
Rev 15:8 Comments – The description of the Temple in Heaven in Rev 15:8 is similar to the one given in 2Ch 7:1-2 when the glory of God filled Solomon’s temple in Jerusalem.
2Ch 7:1-2, “Now when Solomon had made an end of praying, the fire came down from heaven, and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of the LORD filled the house.” And the priests could not enter into the house of the LORD, because the glory of the LORD had filled the LORD’S house.”
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
The Angels with the Seven Vials and the Opening of the Temple.
The sea of glass and the song of praise:
v. 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.
v. 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.
v. 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.
v. 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. The general woes which were to strike the earth and especially the Church, directly or indirectly, were pictured in previous visions. But in the fifth vision, which opens here, the plagues, or the revelation of the wrath of God over the enemies of the Church, are depicted, the present chapter serving as an introduction for the series. The prophet writes: And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous: seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is completed the wrath of God. And I saw what resembled a glassy sea mixed with fire, and those that had come away conquerors from the beast and from his image and from the number of his name standing at the glassy sea, having harps of God. This was a portent as great as any of the preceding ones, and it was full of marvels. That the tables have now been turned, and that the kingdom of Anti-Christ and all the enemies of Christ shall now be visited with plagues, is a great and marvelous fact, but a fact that should fill the believers with comfort and courage. The seven last plagues the seven angels had, including the plague of the final Judgment; for the wrath of God was to find its completion, its final fulfillment, in these plagues. The crystal sea which was mentioned chap. 4:6 is here again included in the vision, mixed with fire, as a symbol of divine majesty. On its shores all the faithful believers, all the Christians that had refused to be blinded by any anti-Christian pomp and doctrine, were assembled, with harps in their hands, ready to sing a hymn of praise to the God of their salvation.
This song is now described: And they sang the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and wonderful are Thy works, Lord God the Almighty; just and true are Thy ways, King of the nations. Who shall not fear Thee, Lord, and glorify Thy name? For Thou alone art holy; for all nations shall come and worship before Thee, because Thy righteous judgments are revealed. As Moses, the prophet and servant of God, sang a hymn of praise after the final deliverance from the host of Pharaoh, Exo 15:1-27, so the saints in heaven sing a song in honor of Him that delivered them out of all the dangers and tribulations of the last days. There is no mention of their own works nor even of their own sufferings; their only thought is the exaltation of God and of the Lamb. They extol Him for the greatness and marvelousness of His works in dealing with them in His mercy, for the justice and truth of His ways in dealing with all nations. For the final result of the Lord’s doing will be that all nations, all men, will be obliged to acknowledge His sovereignty and to give honor to Him as the holy Judge of the nations. The judgments of the Lord, as they were about to be revealed in this vision, would impress all men so that they would finally, in the midst of their obstinate hatred of Him, and in spite of themselves, have to admit that they were right and true. Separate from sinners, pure and holy, beyond all fault-finding, He reigns as the King Supreme.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
EXPOSITION
Rev 15:1
And I saw another sign in heaven. The last time we had this expression was in Rev 12:1-17., where the history of the war between Satan and the Church was begun. Once more we have a new departure, the seer again, as it were, returning to the beginning? in order to trace the course of the punishments inflicted on men for their worship of the devil. Rev 15:1-8. gives a short summary of this, which is expanded in Rev 16:1-21.; and it is introduced, as usual, by a vision of the saints in glory, in order to comfort and support the Christian in his warfare (cf. Rev 6:1, Rev 6:2; Rev 7:3; Rev 14:1-5, Rev 14:13). The “sign” is what is described in the following account. “In heaven” probably merely means in a conspicuous position (cf. Rev 12:1). Great and marvellous. On account of the terrible nature of the events depicted. Seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God; seven angels having seven plagues, the last [ones], because in them is finished the wrath of God. The seer describes what he sees subsequently, as if all the actors were present at one moment. In reality, he sees the actions of the “seven angels” in succession. The number seven denotes the universal, all-extending nature of the plagues (see on Rev 1:4; Rev 5:1, etc.). They are the last plagues, because they lead on to the description of the final fall of the power of the devil in its various forms, and to the account of the last judgment of God and the eternal bliss of the saints in glory.
Rev 15:2
And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire. “And I saw” indicates a new phase of the vision (cf. Rev 14:6, Rev 14:14, etc.). The sea was like glass, either because of its pure transparent appearance, or on account of its consistency; the saints being subsequently described as standing on it. (For a full discussion of the meaning, see on Rev 4:6.) The sea, the elders, and the triumphal hymns of praise are all characteristic of the vision in Rev 4:1-11. Mingled with fire. In Rev 4:1-11. it was described as “like unto crystal.” The fire is an emblem of purity; the same idea is also conveyed by the “crystal.” Fire is also a symbol of judgment, which is the theme of the song of the saints (Rev 4:4). 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; and them that come victorious from the beast and from his image, and from the number, etc. Omit “and over his mark,” according to all the best authorities. Standing by (or, on), having harps. (On “the beast” and “his image,” etc., see on Rev 13:1-18.) These victorious ones stand by (such, probably, is the force of ) the sea (see above and on Rev 4:6). The “harps” are characteristic of the heavenly melodies (Rev 5:8; Rev 14:2). This multitude has been before described in Rev 7:9. From his image; that is, from the temptation to worship the image.
Rev 15:3
And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb. Most probably the song of deliverance after the passage of the Red Sea (Exo 15:1-27.), to which this bears a general resemblance. Moses is called the “servant of God” in Exo 14:31 and elsewhere. The song of Moses is also the song of the Lamb; the Old Testament and the New Testament Churches are one. Saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty (cf. Exo 15:7, “And in the greatness of thine excellency thou hast overthrown them;” also Psa 111:2; Psa 139:14). This song, like that in Rev 4:8, is addressed to the “Lord God Almighty.” Just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints. The reading of the Textus Receptus, , “of saints,” is certainly incorrect. It does not appear in any Greek manuscripts, but was inserted by Erasmus to represent the sanctorum of his Vulgate, which word, however, is itself a corruption of saeculorum, the true Vulgate reading representing . , “of nations,” is read in , A, B, P, 1, 7, 8, 14. etc., An-dress, Primasius; while , “of ages,” is the reading of , C, 95, Vulgate, etc. It has been conjectured that (by itacism for ) has been confused with . a parallel to the reading, ” King of nations” is found in Jer 10:7, Hebrew text and Theodotion, but not LXX.: “Who would not fear thee, O King of nations?” which is very like the succeeding clause in Jer 10:5, especially in connection with the “nations” there mentioned. The title “King of the ages,” or “eternal King,” is applied to God in 1Ti 1:17, and in the Book of Tobit twice (13:6 and 10), but seems unknown to the Old Testament.
Rev 15:4
Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy Name? Omit “thee.” The latter part is from Jer 10:7 (see on Jer 10:3). The former part contains the same idea as Jer 10:6, “Thy Name is great in might.” Compare the similar ascription of praise to the beast in Rev 13:4. The following three clauses supply the reasons for thus fearing and glorifying God. For thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest; for thy righteous acts have been made manifest (Revised Version). “Holy” is , not . It is a word which is applied more particularly to human acts. Perhaps it is used here in connection with the manifest justice of God’s acts before all nations; cf. the song of Moses (Exo 15:11), “Who is like thee, glorious in holiness,” etc.? The three clauses supply the reason for fearing and glorifying God, as mentioned in the first part of the verse.
(1) He himself is in his nature holy;
(2) his sway extends over all nations;
(3) the righteousness of his acts is now visible to all.
Afford adds, “Thy deeds of righteousness acted out towards the nations, both in the publication of the gospel and in the destruction of thine enemies.”
Rev 15:5
And after that I looked, and, behold; and after these things 1 saw. The characteristic commencement of a new vision or portion of a vision (see on Rev 4:1, etc.). The temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened. The tabernacle had its counterpart in heaven (Heb 8:5). In Exo 25:16, Exo 25:21 we have the reason of the title “tabernacle of the testimony”a name which is common in the Bible (see Exo 38:21; Num 1:50, Num 1:53; Num 9:15; Num 10:11). The “temple” is the , the inner shrine, the holy of holies which contained the ark of the testimony, which in Rev 11:1.9 is seen in connection with the judgments of God. Thence now proceed the angels bearing the plagues for men.
Rev 15:6
And the seven angels came out of the temple, having the seven plagues; there came out the seven angels that had, etc. These angels are distinguished from the other angels only by the fact that they bore the seven plagues. These they have not yet, but they receive them directly after. The phrase is added here to distinguish the angels meant. These angels have once before (Rev 15:1) been described in the same manner. Clothed in pure and white linen, and having their breasts girded with golden girdles. , “linen,” is found in , B, P, 7, 14, 97, Andreas, Primasius. , [precious] “stone,” is read in A, C, 38 (margin), 48, 90, Vulgate. It seems more probable that is the correct word; for in no other place in the New Testament is found except in Mat 12:20, where it signifies “flax;” while the ordinary word for linen, viz. or , is found in Rev 18:12, Rev 18:16, and Rev 19:8, Rev 19:14, as well as in Luk 16:19. If be the correct reading, the image is perhaps suggested by the priestly garments (cf. Exo 28:42, and vide infra). For the idea of “clothed in precious stone,” the LXX. reading of Eze 28:13 is usually quoted. We may refer also to the stones of the high priest’s breastplate, and to the description in Rev 17:4. And having their breasts girded with golden girdles (cf. the vision of our Lord in Rev 1:13, and the priestly attire described in Exo 28:8).
Rev 15:7
And one of the four beasts gave unto the seven angels; four living beings. These, as representing life on the earth (see on Rev 4:6; Rev 5:9), are appropriately chosen as the medium for conveying to the angels the plagues about to be inflicted on men. This description is very like what is related of the cherubimfrom which the idea of the living beings is evolved (see on Rev 4:6)in Eze 10:7, “And one cherub stretched forth his hand from between the cherubims unto the fire that was between the cherubims, and took thereof, and put it into the hands of him that was clothed with linen: who took it, and went out.” (On the “seven angels,” see on Eze 10:1.) Seven golden vials full of the wrath of God, who liveth forever and ever. Seven; as showing the complete nature of the wrath of God (cf. Eze 10:1,” In them is fulfilled,” etc.). Golden; the characteristic of the heavenly things and places (cf. Rev 4:4; Rev 21:18, etc.), and which is also sometimes used of other things to indicate gorgeousness and unusual splendour (cf. Rev 18:16). (On “vials,” see on Rev 5:8, and compare with Rev 14:10, “the cup of his indignation.”) Compare the expression, “who liveth forever and ever,” with the possible reading of Eze 10:3, “thou King of the ages.”
Rev 15:8
And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power. The “smoke” suggests
(1) the cloud, or Shechiuah, the symbol of God’s presence and glory (cf. Exo 16:10 : Exo 24:16);
(2) the sign of God’s active operation (Exo 19:18);
(3) the token of judgment and calamity (Isa 14:31; Psa 18:8; Rev 14:11). All three significations receive their fulfilment in this place. And no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled; should be finished (Revised Version). Just as when God manifested his presence on Sinai the people were not allowed to approach, so here no one is allowed to approach the , the dwelling place of God, while he is manifesting his judgments. The description is intended to convey an impression of the awful sacredness of God’s presence. (For the explanation of the parts of this verse, see on previous verses.)
HOMILETICS
Rev 15:1-8
The victors’ song.
The visions of this book are drawing to a close. Those immediately before us are meant to indicate the last judgments which must fall on the world, ere out of the ruin and from it there shall emerge the new heavens and the new earth. But another break in the gloom is permitted to us here. The apostle casts his eyes, not downward, but upward. He beholds two groups of beings in the upper realm. The first is composed of seven angels who have seven plagues, which are the last. The second is composed of great multitudesof those who, while the struggle was going on below, soared out of it, and were victorious. The work of the first group will he noted in subsequent homilies. The song of the second is before us now. If we ask and answer four questions, we shall know as much about the song and the singers as it is possible to do in this state. The four queries are:
(1) Who are singing the song?
(2) At what time?
(3) What are the contents of it?
(4) Where is it being sung?
I. WHO ARE SINGING THE SONG? They “that come victorious from () the beast,” etc. (Rev 15:2). Then it is evident that they are those who once were in the scene of conflict here below; who had to maintain a fight, hard and stern, against a godless world and a corrupt Church; in fact, against all the forces which, led on by “the dragon,” are used by the first and the second beasts. We cannot mistake them, any more than we can the glorious company mentioned in the seventh and fourteenth chapters. They once were strugglers and wrestlers here. But their toils are over, and they have gained the victory. They it is who now are singing the song.
II. WHEN? TO WHAT TIME DOES THE APOSTLE POINT US? It may be remarked by some, that inasmuch as the visions of the conflict indicate future troubles, so the brighter visions indicate future glories. True. But we must remember that we are already more than eighteen hundred years onward, and therefore that the struggles of this present time are “future” from the Patmos standpoint. Besides, the song is being sung simultaneously with the raging of the conflict. They sing in one realm who have sped out of () the other. The dragon, the first beast, the second beast, war still. Some have already escaped out of the confusion, have gained the victory, and are singing () the song. A further indication of time is given in Rev 15:4, “All nations shall come and worship”future. So that it is evidently before the great work of the world’s conversion is completed. Thus we are brought by the time marks in the paragraph to the conclusion to which we have previously come, viz. that the Church of God exists in two realms. One part of it is in the struggle; another has risen beyond it. Their gladness and song have already begun.
III. WHAT OF THE SONG ITSELF?
1. It has a remarkable name. “The song of Moses and the Lamb.” By the former the deliverance out of Egypt was effected. By the latter a redemption infinitely greater, of which the earlier one was but a faint and feeble type; i.e. the song is a celebration of redeeming love, dud reviews the great redemptive work in all its phases, stages, and ages.
2. It has joyous accompaniments. “Having the harps of God.” Under the Jewish worship, as far back as David’s time, the harp was used to aid in sacred song. In a higher realm, where the joy is complete, the “harp” will never be hung on the willows, and will never be out of tune.
3. Its contents are manifold.
(1) It celebrates Divine attributes. “Thou only art holy.”
(2) It magnifies the rectitude of the Divine government. “Righteous and true are thy ways.”
(3) In it the Divine greatness is extolled. “King of the ages; “The Almighty.”
(4) It finds inspiration in the manifestation of the righteous acts of God. To saints above, from their loftier standpoint, the glory of the Divine dealings is far more clear than it can possibly be to us. We “dwell in clouds below.”
(5) The certainty of the coming triumph gladdens their hearts. “All nations shall come,” etc. (cf. Psa 86:9; Isa 2:2-4; Isa 66:23; Zec 8:22; Mal 1:11). Our Saviour’s words intimate to us that the progress of the kingdom of God on earth is witnessed by the saints from their blissful seat in Paradise (cf. Joh 8:56, Greek).
IV. WHERE IS THE SONG BEING SUNG? “I saw them standing by the glassy sea” Here, as indeed throughout the chapter, there is an allusion to the ransomed host of Israel when they stood by the shores of the Red Sea and sang, “Sing ye to the Lord,” etc. That sight furnishes the material for the imagery here. And the underlying thought which that imagery conveys is thisthey stand now in the realm of victory, like as Israel of old when they saw their enemies dead upon the seashore. They are in “the land of triumph,” “There are no foes to encounter there.” Here is the fighting; there, is the rest. Here, the cross; there, the crown. Here, the sigh; there, the song. Here, the foreboding fear; there, all fear is forever done away.
In view of all this, let us note:
1. It is not for nought that we are asked to maintain the conflict with evil, in the Name and on behalf of our Lord. “If we suffer, we shall also reign with him.” In the day of victory, his triumph will be ours. “Be thou faithful unto death, and I wilt give thee a crown of life.”
2. However much perplexity and distress the mystery of the Divine ways may occasion us now, we may rest assured that when God’s judgments are made manifest, they will be the theme of adoring praise. There will be seen to be a unity about them which as yet we can scarcely discern; a steadfast advance through age after age which in the present brief span of our earthly life we cannot trace; and we cannot doubt that the ultimate issue will reveal a grandeur, a vastness, and a completeness in redemption’s plan, which only the Infinite Eye can now discern. Therefore observe:
3. Meanwhile it is an infinite comfort and stay to our souls amid this troubled scene, to have had sketched beforehand for us the tribulations through which we must enter the kingdom, and the glories of the kingdom in which we shall triumph when the tribulation is over.
HOMILIES BY S. CONWAY
Rev 15:1-8
“The wrath of God.”
Such is the subject of this and the following chapters.
I. WHAT IS IT? “The wrath of God” is simply that will of God which forever has linked together sin and suffering; that will by which woe follows wickedness everywhere and always. It is calm, not passionate; inexorable, not capricious; ever just, as man’s wrath too often is not; and never selfish, is ours too often is.
II. IS TERRIBLE TO EVIL DOERS. See the several symbols of it as they are given one by one in the account of the outpouring of the seven vials. And, separate from all symbol, see how everywhere and always and evermore, suffering, like a sleuth hound, tracks the steps of sin, and sooner or later fastens its fangs in the sinful man or sinful people. So sure is this, that that shrewd, wise, observant man who wrote the Book of Proverbs declared it as the testimony of all experience that they are “fools” who “make a mock at sin.”
III. WILL HAVE AN END. Not that the will of God, without which he could neither be the God of holiness nor the God of love; that ordains the everlasting union of sin with sufferingnot that that will can ever end or change, but that, the purpose of his will being accomplished by the extirpation of sin, there shall no longer be occasion for suffering. Hence we say the wrath of God will have an end. And accordingly these very plagues are called “the seven last plagues.” It would be dreadful to think that the moral condition of men should ever be as it is, and has been during all the past. But it will not. The day will dawn when there will no longer be need for any more plagues, and when the last of them, they all having done their work, shall pass away forevermore (verse 1).
IV. IS CONSENTED TO BY ALL THE COMPANY OF HEAVEN. The saints, they celebrate its manifestation by their song. The living ones (verse 7) consign to the charge of the seven angels the seven vials of the wrath of God. Angels, who come forth from the inmost shrine of the temple of God, and are vested as his priests, undertake this awful work; the holy, the blessed, the glorified, the redeemed, those saved by the mercy of God, all alike consent. It is a fearful, but a most solemn and salutary fact, to remember that there will not be found a solitary individual amongst the holy and the good who will intercede against or do aught but consent to God’s judgments against sin. Even he who is the Lamb of God, the Friend and Saviour of sinners, consents; yea, more than this, for it is his song that his saints sing in celebration of these judgments of God. Left utterly alone with his sinwithout one friendwill he be who now refuses to give up his sin and submit to Christ.
V. EVIDENCES THE HOLINESS OF GOD. (Verses 3, 4.) The conviction constrains the confession, “Thou only art holy; Righteous and true are thy ways”so sing they who sing the song of Moses and of the Lamb. What worth is any government, what worth especially would be the government of God, if it were as the sceptic cynic in Ecclesiastes says it is, that “there is one end to the righteous and to the wicked”? There would be no need of a hell by and by, for earth would be hell already. Blessed forever be his Name, who makes “the way of transgressors hard.”
VI. WILL BE FOLLOWED BY THE COMING “OF ALL NATIONS TO WORSHIP BEFORE” GOD. (Verse 4.) This most precious truth explains the song that the saints sing. How could they sing if sin and suffering were to go on forever; if evil were to be eternal, or if the woes of the world meant the destruction of the world? But knowing and seeing clearly, as they do, how all these judgments of God conduce to the glory of God; and that as the cloud of his majesty filled the temple (verse 8), so shall that glory fill all the earth; therefore they can, not merely with calmness, but with joy, contemplate the pouring out of the vials, even of the wrath of God. But for the faith of this how could thoughtful men endure to live?
VII. WARNS US TO FLEE FROM THE WICKEDNESS THAT AROUSES IT TO THE LOUD JESUS CHRIST. For he it is in whom we are sheltered from the wrath due to sin of the past, and from the power of sin present and future.S.C.
Rev 15:3, Rev 15:4
The prelude of the plaguesthe beginning of the end.
It seemed as if all was ended with the harvest and the vintage, of which we are told in the close of the previous chapter. What can come after the ingathering of the saints and the final judgment? And, indeed, nothing can. But what is here given in the chapters that follow is the more detailed setting forth of the Divine judgments upon the Church’s three great enemiesthe dragon and the two beasts; or, in other words, the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet. The overthrow of Satan is, however, related last of all. Ere the Divine judgments on these enemies of the people of God begin, we have the song of the redeemedthe song, as it is termed, “of Moses the servant of God and of the Lamb.” An objection may be felt by some that the saints of God should be represented, as they are here, as exulting over the awful woes which had come upon their enemies. Is such triumph over a fallen foe in harmony with the Spirit of Christ, and with the perfectly sanctified nature of the inhabitants of heaven? In reply, we may say that what is right anywhere is right everywhere; and if it were right for Israel to exult over the dead Egyptians and the utter destruction of Pharaoh and his hostsas surely it wasthen like exultation over far worse foes cannot be wrong. We are scarcely able to comprehend either Israel’s or St. John’s condition of mind. We have so long dwelt at ease, in the enjoyment of full liberty, none daring to make us afraid, that the intense feeling aroused by hideous murder, bloody cruelty, monstrous injustice, and relentless oppression, threatening, not one or two, but a whole people, and enacted under our own eyes, and felt in our own personswhat all this would arouse in men’s minds we do not know, and can scarce imagine. One present amid the Sepoy massacres in the Indian Mutiny tells with what fresh understanding he and his fellow worshippers listened in church to the lessons which fell then to be read out of the Book of Joshua. Burning indignation against wrong can never be wrong. It was in Christ, and should be in us. Exultation, therefore, over its downfall is not only natural, but right. The coupling together of the song of Moses and of the Lamb teaches that in the first we are to find the pattern of the second. Note, therefore
I. THE SCENE. Our thoughts are sent back to the thrilling story of Israel in Egypt. The pouring out of the vials is called by the same name”plagues”as were God’s judgments in Egypt. And the scene of this song alludes plainly to Israel at the Red Sea. We are standing before a sea of glass, as we read in Rev 4:1-11. But that sea now seems “mingled with fire.” On its margin stand the throngs of the redeemed. That sea so lustrous, so still, so smooth, so firm, like as the Red Sea seemed in comparison with the fearful storm of the night of the Exodus. But it had been a sea of judgment to their foes. In its depths lay horse and rider, chariot and horseman, Pharaoh and his army. Fitly did the fire, mingled with this sea of glass, tell of that. And the rejoicing Israelites were the type of which the redeemed Church of Christ, safe in glory, is the antitype. This scene is another reminder, out of many more, that in the story of Israel may be read, in symbol, the story of the Christian Church. The comfort, the counsel, and the warningfor all are thereof the one are for the other also.
II. THE SONG.
1. It is a song, not a speech. Sung, not said. Music, the vehicle of song, is the language of thoughts that lie too deep for words. Words are not adequate to tell of the heart’s feelings. The flush of shame; the flash of the angry eyeas his, whose “eyes were as a flame of fire;” the tears of sorrow; the sigh of distress. More than words is wanted, and music is one of the many means, more expressive far than words, whereby the deeper feelings and thoughts of the heart are uttered. Music is especially animated with joy, and the fact that the heavenly company “sing.” tells of their “joy of heart.”
2. It is a song wherein all the glory is given to God. Moses does not say one word of himself, but bids the people “sing unto the Lord.” So was it, so will it be.
3. It lingers on the terribleness of their enemies. It tells of their proud boast, their cruel intent, their formidable power. Thus the “wrath of man” praised God. And in the future review, when we think of our adversaries, the seemingly insuperable difficultiesthese will be, as the like were, part of our song.
4. It tells of the enemies’ complete overthrow.
5. The future consequences of this victory. Moses celebrates that. How “the dukes of Edom, the people of Palestina,” will be moved with fear. And so in the song of the Lamb, “Who shall not fear,” etc.? (Rev 4:4). The redeemed distinctly contemplate further triumphs for the Lord over those as yet not yielded to him. The “firstfruits,” “the Church of the Firstborn,” “the elect of God”and it is these, and their glorious salvation, which is portrayed hereare, as their prototypes were, for the blessing of others, many others; “all the nations of the earth” are to be blessed in Christ and in his seed. And the elect are to be the instruments. And the mighty lever that shall overturn the mass of error and sin shall be God’s marvellous mercy to them. Oh to be numbered amongst “the sacramental host of God’s elect”! For they are
III. THE SINGERS OF THIS SONG. They were and are such as:
1. Once were bond- men.
2. Had been in sore peril of being re-enslaved.
3. Their preservation due to the fact that they had been “kept by the power of God.” It was his restraining hand had held back the waves, that but for this would have overwhelmed them.
4. They are a “blood-besprinkled band.” On the lintel and doorposts of every house of Israel the blood of the Paschal lamb had been sprinkled, and so had they and theirs been saved alive. Never were they to think that it was for their own worthiness they were saved. To crush such thought the Passover sacrifice was ordained. And the singers of this song owe their all to the fact that for them Christ’s blood was shed. In virtue of that they are what and where they are. Do any askHow is this? We answer –
“I cannot tell the woe
Which thou wast pleased to bear,
O Lamb of God; but this I know
That all my sins were there.”
S.C.
HOMILIES BY R. GREEN
Rev 15:1-4
The song of the redeemed.
A further vision is permitted”another sign”with which the faithful but tried ones are to be cheered. The vision, as a whole, is “great and marvellous.” It reaches to the end of the eighteenth chapter. “Seven angels” have “seven plagues””the last, for in them is finished the wrath of God.” With these solemn words the announcement of the coming judgmentsthe final onesis prefaced. As before, the hearts of the faithful are comforted and assured by a vision of their glorious lot, before the revelation of the judgments upon the earth is made. So are they encouraged to fidelity, and prepared for the terrible scenes which are about to be presented. It is needless to search for an explanation of every detail of the symbol. The vision is of the holy ones, who sing a psalm of praise to God for his manifested judgments. “Thy righteous acts have been made manifest.” It has its hidden assertion. Thy judgments hitherto, thy judgments ever, those which have been, those which are, and those which shall be, are true and righteous altogether. This ascription is thrown into the form of a song, which is
I. A SONG OF PRAISE. Praise to God for the greatness and marvellous character of his works, and for the righteousness and truthfulness of his ways.
II. A SONG OF TRIUMPH. Like the several songs of the Revelation, it anticipates the final issue of the struggle between good and evil. “All the nations shall come and worship before thee.”
III. A SONG FROM A FAITHFUL AND REDEEMED HOST. “Them that come victorious from the beast, and from his image, and from the number of his name.” Only the redeemed who have been faithful in their struggle against evil can rejoice in the final overthrow of that evil.
IV. A JUBILANT SONG. They who sing stand “by the glassy sea, having the harps of God.” It is a song of salvation and deliverance: “the song of Moses”the triumphant exultation of the redeemed host when they, having crossed the flood, saw their enemies engulfed. “The song of the Lamb,” when the whole work of the Lamb has been effected, when the redemption from sin is complete, and the overthrow of whatever opposes the Name of the Lamb is utterly crushed and destroyed. Then truly shall it be said, “Who shall not fear, O Lord, and glorify thy Name? for thou only art holy; for all the nations shall come and worship before thee.” Thus is anticipated in song what is about to be portrayed.R.G.
Rev 15:3
The praise of the Divine works.
It is most meet that all should praise the works of Godthose works which themselves do praise him. But the Church of God is especially called upon to view the works of God in the world. There the Almighty Rruler displays his power and wisdom and goodness. There the thoughtful may learn of him; for the righteousness and the truthfulness of his ways are a revelation of the righteousness and truth of his Name.
I. PRAISE IS THE CREATURE‘S BECOMING ASCRIPTION TO ALMIGHTY GOD. His supremacy and government, his wisdom and power, his goodness and beneficenceevery attribute which the human mind may be able, even dimly, to trace, it is the duty of the human heart to praise. It is little that can be offered by a creature to the Creditor. His best service is his true, lowly, reverent, sincere praise. “He that offereth praise glorifieth God; … Praise waiteth for thee, O God, in Zion.”
II. PRAISE APPROPRIATELY ASSUMES THE FORM OF AN INSPIRITING SONG OF FAITH. Faith has its one foundation in God. Whatever lifts man upward to God stimulates to faith in the Divine Name. Without the knowledge of God there can be no faith in him; but as the glory of the Divine Name shines upon the human soul, that soul grows up into filial, obedient confidence in God. The song of praise stirs the sleepy spirit as the battle cry the warrior. To praise God for the goodness and greatness of his works is sure to inspirit the faith that is in him.
III. PRAISE RECOGNIZING THE MIGHT AND MAJESTY OF GOD ASSURES THE HEART OF A FINAL CONQUEST OVER THE FEEBLENESS OF EVIL. This is the subject of the song in these words: “Who shall not fear, O Lord, and glorify thy Name? for thou only art holy.”
IV. PRAISE CALMLY ANTICIPATES THE ULTIMATE HAPPY AND PEACEFUL SUBMISSION OF ALL TO THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF “THE LORD GOD, THE ALMIGHTY.” “All the nations shall come and worship before thee.”
V. THIS PRAISE HAS FOR ITS SUBJECT THE HOLY NAME AND RIGHTEOUS WAY OF GOD.R.G.
Rev 15:5-8
Final judgments proclaimed.
From this point commences the final delineation of the overthrow of the kingdom of evil. It may be difficult, if not impossible, to interpret the symbolical language in detail into realistic descriptions. Probably such interpretation is misleading. But the great ideas stand out prominently, and afford matter for contemplation, and, without puzzling the lowly reader, will help him to a knowledge of the “ways” and “judgments” of God. The complete vision of the destruction of “Babylon” reaches to the end of the eighteenth chapter. The portion named above is preliminary. A glance through the whole is sufficient to assure us that it represents a widespread strugglea struggle of the utmost intensity and severity, and a final one. Within it occur the significant, prophetic words, “It is done!” Let this first glance, starting at the first words and reaching to the last, embrace the whole in a preliminary view, and we shall be instantly arrested
I. BY THE SEVERITY OF THE JUDGMENT THREATENED. The vision is one of judgment, not of warfare. It is only incidentally that the idea of war is introduced (Rev 16:14, Rev 16:16; Rev 17:14). Judgment is the burden of the vision. The severity of the judgments is seen in the terms used. There are seven vials, or bowls. The first becomes “a noisome and grievous sore,” etc. (Rev 15:2); the second a cause of death”every living soul died;” the third turns “the rivers and fountains of the waters” into “blood ;” the fourth, “men were scorched with great beat;” the fifth, “they gnawed their tongues for pain;” the sixth prepares the way for the coming of (antagonistic) kings (this requires a subsequent interpretation); the seventh brings “lightnings and voices and thunders” and “a great earthquake, such as was not since there were men upon the earth.” Thus is set forth ideally the utmost painfulness and severity of judgments. Much of the imagery carries us back to Egypt’s plagues.
II. We are further arrested by the UNIVERSALITY OF THE JUDGMENT. There is no reference to portions of the earth, as earlier (Rev 8:7-11).
III. BY THE FINALITY OF THE JUDGMENTS. “In them is finished the wrath of God.” It is the judgment of “Babylon the great,” “the great harlot that sitteth upon many waters.” “Babylon the great, the mother of the harlots, and of the abominations of the earth,” whose flesh they shall eat, and “shall burn her utterly with fire.” Thus by outward materialistic judgments are we to see a spiritual conquest and destruction and judgment ideally represented. Blessed are they who are not included in “the judgment of the great harlot”!R. G.
HOMILIES BY D. THOMAS
Rev 15:1-4
Divine severity and human heroism.
“And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God. And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast,” etc. This fragment of John’s vision, or dream, brings under our attention and serves to illustrate two subjects:
(1) Divine severity; and
(2) human heroism.
I. DIVINE SEVERITY. “And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up [finished] the wrath of God” (verse 1). Undoubtedly in the government of this world there is the stormy as well as the mild, the gloomy as well as the pleasant. The government under which we live on this earth often assumes aspects of terrible severity. Its manifold ministers or angels bear to us manifold “plagues “afflictions, which our sin-stricken consciences refer to Divine indignation or wrath.
1. The principle of severity is seen in material nature. In the inorganic realms all things do not seem mild and pleasant. We have tornadoes sweeping destruction over sea and land, we have earthquakes that engulf cities, sounds are heard and sights are witnessed that overwhelm with terror and alarm.
2. This principle of severity is seen in the plantal realm. In gardens and orchards, as well as in the fields and woods, the open commons and the wild prairies, there is heard the moaning groan and felt the blasting breath of severity shivering the fruit, scattering the blossoms like hoar frost, freezing the very roots of life.
3. This principle of severity is seen in the sentient domain. From the behemoths that prowl in the forests, and the leviathans that sport in oceans, to the tiniest microbes in the microscopic world, there are aspects of severity, pains of birth and death, of hunger and thirst, and of predatorial ravages and tortures. There is an undertone of sadness heard throughout. “The whole creation groaneth,” etc.
4. This principle of severity is seen in human history. Bodily diseases, secular indigence, social annoyances, heart bereavements, physical dissolution,in all these there is often the ghastly appearance of Divine severity. The “seven angels,” with their “seven plagues,” appear in all directions. I am far enough from averring that the ministry of pain is a malignant ministry, but, otherwise, it is benign Will the ministry of pain ever continue? Will the “seven angels” be ever on the wing, bearing the “plagues”? Cowper says
“The groans of nature in this nether world,
Which Heaven has heard for ages, have an end.”
Will they have an end? Heaven grant they may!
II. HUMAN HEROISM. “And I saw as it were a sea of glass [a glassy sea] mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over [that come victorious from] the beast, and over [from] his image, and over his mark, and over [from] the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass [standing by the glassy sea], having the harps of God. And they sing the song of Moses,” etc. (verses 2, 3). The heroes here suggested are:
1. Those who have conquered the wrong. They are those “who have gotten the victory over the beast.” And what is the beast? Moral wrong in all its elements and forms. Sin is a hideous, ravenous, iniquitous “beast,” served and worshipped by unredeemed men the world over. The foe against which the true hero fights is sin, and sin only. He who destroys life and tramples on human rights is no hero, but a mercenary murderer. From no character do I recoil with such horror as from him who sells his time, his body, his all, to slaughter his fellow men. Nor do I feel scarcely a greater abhorrence for such a character than for those who, professing to be the ministers of Christ, rhetorically extol such as heroes, and subscribe to monuments to perpetuate their infamous history. I wonder greatly that the reports of the horrors of that war lately going on in the Soudan, inaugurated and supported, alas! by what has been rightly denominated the shuffling, starving, slaughtering Parliament of the time, do not rouse all England to arms against the Governments and the Churches that can tolerate for an instant such stupendous crimes.
2. Those who ascribe their victory to God. Observe:
(1) Their posture. “They stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God” (verse 2). It is suggested that their position is one of safety. The sea does not surge about them; it is beneath them, hard as ice. It is a position of splendour. The crystal sea on which they stand is made brilliant by fire. There is no posture of soul so sublime and safe as the true posture of worship. The Shechinah beams around them as their glory and defence.
(2) Their anthem. “They sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb” (verse 3).
(a) Their anthem breathes triumphant praise. They recognize in their triumphs the “great and marvellous works” of God, and the truth and rectitude of his ways. God is righteous. “Just [righteous] and true are thy ways, thou King of saints [the ages]” (verse 3). Notice:
() The demands of his Law attest the truth of this testimony. The heavenly Teacher has reduced all the demands which the eternal Governor makes upon us to a twofold command.
(i.) “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart.” His demand is our supreme love. Is this demand just? This depends upon three things:
(a) Whether we have the power of loving any one supremely.
(b) Whether God has attributes adapted to awaken this love within us.
(c) Whether these attributes are revealed with sufficient clearness to our minds.
The affirmative to these things must be admitted by all. All men do love some object supremely. The Eternal has attributes in every variety of aspect and attraction. The heavenly Teacher has reduced the demands to another command.
(ii.) “Whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, do ye even so unto them.” Not “whatsoever men do unto you”that might be sinful; but “whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you.” Would you have them false, dishonest, unkind, tyrannic, towards you? Whatsoever ye would that they should be, be so to them. Can anything be more just?
() The intuitions of his moral creatures attest the truth of this testimony. In all moral intelligences there is:
(i.) An intuitive sense of the right. All have an inbred sentiment of right and wrong. This sentiment implies a moral standard; and what is this standard but God?
(ii.) An intuitive love of right. All moral souls love the right in the abstract; they are bound to do it. “I delight in the Law of God after the inward man.” All consciences go with God.
(iii.) An intuitive remorse. Misery springs up in the soul from a conscious departure from the right. Cain, Belshazzar, Judas, are examples.
(iv.) An intuitive appeal to God under the wrong as the Friend of the right. Oppressed humanity involuntarily looks to God as Judge of all the earth. Deep in the soul of the moral creation is the feeling that God’s ways are just and right. No argument can destroy this consciousness.
() The mediation of his Son attests the truth of this testimony. Christ came to establish judgmentrectitude in the earth. “What the Law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, and for sin condemned sin in the flesh.”
(i.) His life was the development of Divine righteousness. He was incarnate judgment. “He did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth.”
(ii.) His death was the highest homage to Divine rectitude. He could have escaped death. It was the inner sense of right that urged him on.
(iii.) His system is the promoter of Divine righteousness. His truth inculcates it. His Spirit promotes it. His Spirit comes to convince the world of sin, of righteousness, etc.
() The retributions of his government attest the truth of this testimony. Look at the expulsion of Adam, the Deluge, the burning of Sodom, the extermination of the Canaanites, the destruction of Jerusalem, and the dispersion of the Jews.
(b) Their anthem breathes philanthropic devotion. “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 [righteous acts] are made manifest” (verse 4). The words may be regarded as expressing a desire that all men, all the nations, should worship God. Genuine piety is always philanthropic. He who loves the Father will love his children, and will desire all the brethren to worship the Father “in spirit and in truth.” Genuine piety and genuine philanthropy are convertible expressions, modifications of the same sovereign principlelove.D.T.
Rev 15:5-8
Genuine discipline of soul.
“And after that I looked, and, behold, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened: and the seven angels came out of the temple, having the seven plagues, clothed in pure and white linen,” etc. I do not know that 1 can turn these words to a more legitimate and practical use than by using them as an illustration of genuine soul discipline. In this light they suggest to us the source, the ministers, and the indispensability of genuine soul discipline.
I. THE SOURCE OF GENUINE SOUL DISCIPLINE. “After that [these things] I looked [saw], and, behold, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened” (Rev 15:5). The discipline, as we have seen, was of a painful character. It involved “seven angels” with “seven plagues.” Whence did it proceed? Not from secondary instrumentalities, fortuitous circumstances, or a heartless, rigorous fatality, but direct from the presence of the Infinite. The language here points to the inner compartment of the old Jewish tabernacle, known as the “holy of holies.” There the Jew regarded Jehovah as especially revealing himself to them, and as communicating to them his ideas and plans. To a genuinely disciplined soul all influences from heaven tending to purify and ennoble are regarded as coming direct from the presence of the great Father. Its inner eye, so to speak, is so opened and quickened that it glances into the very shrine of the Almighty. It feels that “every good and perfect gift cometh down from the Father of lights,” etc. It is a characteristic, or rather a law, of true religiousness that it bears the soul away through nature, churches, and chapels, right up into the very presence of God, to the very fontal Source of all good, the mighty Mainspring that works the universe. God is its all in all. It can truly say, “I looked, and, behold, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened” (Rev 15:5). The grand difference between a spurious and a genuine religiousness of soul is thisthe one busies itself about the fussy doings and foggy dogmas of little sects, and the other is so absorbed with the Supreme Good, that it feels with the old Hebrew, “Whom have I in heaven but thee? and whom on earth do I desire but thee?”
II. THE MINISTERS OF GENUINE SOUL DISCIPLINE. “And the seven angels came out of the temple, having [that had] the seven plagues” (Rev 15:6). The great Father who makes his children “meet for the inheritance of the saints in light,” carries on his sublime educational work by angels or ministers. Concerning those ministers, observe:
1. They are complete in number and qualification. “Seven angels” and “seven plagues.”
2. They go forth direct from his presence. “Came out of the temple,” etc.
3. They are divinely marked and attired as God’s priests. “Clothed [arrayed] in pure and white linen [precious stones pure and bright], and having their breasts girded [girt about the breasts] with golden girdles” (Rev 15:6).
4. They have a commission of severity. “And one of the four beasts [living creatures] gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials [bowls] full of the wrath of God, who liveth forever and ever” (Rev 15:7). (The wrath of God is his antagonism to sin.) In the great moral school of humanity there has always been, as in all schools, not a little severity. True soul education involves pain. The very severity is a blessing. “What son is he whom the father chasteneth not?” “Our light afflictions, which are but for a moment,” etc. Whilst the majority of men regard this life as a market, or a banquet, or a playground, he who regards it as a great moral school has the only true ideaas a school in which every object is a lesson, every agent a teacher, and every teacher coming forth directly from God.
III. THE INDISPENSABILITY OF GENUINE SOUL DISCIPLINE. “No man [no one] was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled [should be finished]” (Rev 15:8). The idea suggested is that no man could enter into the shrine or into the immediate presence of God until the discipline had been fully accomplished. Here is a commentary on this: “Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands and a pure heart, who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity.” Cleanness in hands and heart means having conduct void of offence towards God and man. Freedom from vanity means moral reality. These two things, moral cleanness and moral reality, are the qualifications for ascending to the “holy hill,” or fellowship with God. “It is not,” says Luther, “he who sings so well or so many psalms, nor he who fasts or watches so many days, nor he who divides his own among the poor, nor he who preaches to others, nor he who lives quietly, kindly, and friendly, nor, in fine, is it he who knows all sciences and languages, nor he who works all virtuous and all good works that ever any man spoke or read of; but it is he alone who is pure within and without.”D.T.
Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary
Rev 15:1. The prophesy proceeds in this and the following chapters to open further the appointed punishment of Rome, for her oppression of the truth, and persecution of the saints. This chapter represents the solemn manner in which preparation is made for the execution of these judgments, as the next describes that execution. The happy stateof God’s faithful servants, and the joyful thanksgivings with which they celebrate the goodness of God in the protection of their cause, are very elegantly represented, to encourage their constancy and perseverance.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Rev 15:1-8. I saw another sign in heaven, &c. God’s judgments upon the kingdom of the beast, or antichristian empire, are hitherto denounced and described only in general terms, under the figures of harvest and vintage. A more particular account of them follows under the emblem of seven vials which are called the seven last plagues of God, &c. Rev 15:1. These seven last plagues must necessarily fall under the seventh and last trumpet, or the third and last woe trumpet; so that as the seventh seal contained the seven trumpets, the seventh trumpet contains the seven vials. Not only the concinnity of prophesy requires this order, (for otherwise there would be great confusion, and the vials would interfere with the trumpets, some falling under one trumpet, and some under another:) but more-over, if these seven last plagues and the consequent destruction of Babylon, be not the subject of the third woe, the third woe is no where described particularly, as the two former woes are. Before the vials are poured out, the scene opens with a preparatory vision, which is the subject of this chapter. As seven angels sounded the seven trumpets, so seven angels are appointed to pour out the seven vials; angels being the peculiar ministers of Providence: and, in order to shew that these judgments are to fall upon the kingdom of the beast, the true worshippers of God and faithful servants of Jesus, who had escaped victors from the beast, and never submitted to his tyranny or religion, are described, Rev 15:2-4 like unto the children of Israel after their deliverance and escape out of Egypt. For as the children of Israel, (Exodus 15.) having passed through the Red Sea, stood on the shore, and, seeing their enemies overwhelmed with the waters, sung the triumphant song of Moses; so these, having passed through the fiery trials of this world, stand on the sea of glass mingled with fire, which was mentioned ch. Rev 4:6 and, seeing the vials ready to be poured out upon their enemies, sing a song of triumph for the manifestation of the divine judgments; which is called the song of Moses, and the song of the Lamb, the words being in a great measure taken from the song of Moses, and other parts of the Old Testament, and applied in a Christian sense. After this, the most holy place of the temple is opened, Rev 15:5 and, the seven angels came out of the temple, Rev 15:6. (to denote that their commission is immediately from God,) clothed like the high-priest, but in a more august manner, in pure and white linen, to signify the righteousness of these judgments; and having their breasts girded, to shew their readiness to execute the divine commands; with golden girdles, as emblems of their power and majesty. A vial then is given to each of the seven angels, by one of the four living creatures, Rev 15:7 the representatives of the church; by which it is intimated, that it is in vindication of the church and true religion that these plagues are inflicted. Moreover, the temple was filled with smoke, &c. Rev 15:8 in the same manner as the tabernacle when it was consecrated by Moses, and the temple when it was dedicated by Solomon, (Exo 40:34-35. 1Ki 8:10-12. 2Ch 5:13-14. Isa 6:4.) were both filled with a cloud and the glory of the Lord; so that neither Moses nor the priests could enter therein: a further proof of the majestic presence and extraordinary interposition of God in the execution of these judgments.
Inferences and REFLECTIONS.Let us now raise our eyes and our hearts above the low and sordid scenes of mortality, to those happy and exalted spirits who are described as standing before the crystal sea, with golden harps in their hands. Let us attentively hearken to those broken and imperfect echoes of the song of Moses, and of the Lamb, which a gracious God causes to descend, as it were, to this world of ours, and which sometimes sweetly mingle themselves with the clamor of strife, with the din of folly, with the groans of misery. Happy and glorious is their condition now, who are freed from all these evils, and who triumph over all their enemies; whom, as it was said to Israel of the Egyptians, having beheld, they shall see them no more for ever: (Exo 14:13.) They are now acknowledging their great Deliverer, singing everlasting praises to his name, and celebrating the wonders of his works, and the righteousness and truth of all his ways. O Lord God Almighty, O thou King of saints, who would not fear thee, and glorify thy holy name? Let the nations come, and worship in thy presence; let them pay thee their humble reverence and homage, before the vials of thy wrath are poured out: those vials, which, terrible as their contents are, the benevolent spirits of heaven prepare themselves, at thy command, to pour forth with pleasure; applauding, in their responsive hymns, thy righteous judgments, even when the sorest and most dreadful plagues torment the worshippers of the beast and his image; even when their seas and their rivers are turned into blood. Whatever be the calamities, whether past or future, to which any of these particulars may refer, surely they are big with terror to those wretches who, on any pretence, are pouring forth the blood of thy prophets and thy saints. They are worthy of having blood given them to drink, and, accordingly, thou hast a dreadful draught in reserve for them. And, though some of them may have laid down their hoary heads in peace, which, we might rather have expected, would have been brought to the grave with blood, the day of thy vengeance will surely come: a vengeance so terrible, that nothing but a zeal for thy violated law, and thine injured gospel, would make the very sight of it supportable to those whose cause shall then be pleaded, and whose blood shall be visited on their tormentors and murderers.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Rev 15:1 . . The manifestations in ch. 14., with which the present angelic manifestation is contrasted as an ., were also apocalyptic signs.
. The greatness (Rev 12:1 ) and marvellousness lies not only in the fact that seven angels not archangels [3593] appear at once, but also in their peculiar equipage: . Manifestly John wishes, by this expression, [3594] to say more than that they had a sign (“ signatur ”) of the plagues to be brought by them, as that possibly their eyes shone like flames of fire; [3595] the idea is, that they who have the to bring the plagues described in ch. 16. [3596] have and hold these plagues themselves. In what way this is to be understood, is not said; it belongs to the of this vision. But it is worthy of notice with what beautiful, artistic transparency the declaration of the actual ordination of these plagues is communicated, in that (Rev 15:5 sqq.) the seven angels, who are described again also in Rev 15:6 as . ., receive special vials, through the pouring-out of which the plagues can first be brought to plastic representation.
From Rev 15:5 , where the in heaven is opened, and then the seven angels proceed therefrom, Zll., De Wette, Ebrard, etc., correctly infer that in Rev 15:1 a point cannot be designated lying within the vision actually before Rev 15:5 , as though John in Rev 15:1 had only first beheld the seven angels themselves, but in Rev 15:5 their coming forth from the , etc.; rather in Rev 15:1 , the chief subject of the entire vision extending to Rev 16:21 , yea in a certain way embracing the entire final development, [3597] is first given preliminarily, while the more detailed account as to how the seven angels actually come forth follows then (Rev 15:5 ) after the heavenly hymn, Rev 15:2-4 , during which the angels are to be regarded as in the still closed , has praised beforehand the righteousness of the judgment to be executed by them; and then they themselves are certainly equipped for (Rev 15:7 ) their work, and directed (Rev 16:1 ) to fulfil their calling. Cf. Rev 12:6 in its relation to Rev 12:13 sqq.
. Not “the last in this way,” [3598] nor the last which a certain portion of the enemies has to endure, [3599] but for the reason: . [3600] This is misunderstood, however, by Hengstenb., who concludes that with Rev 16:21 , where the seven plagues are at an end, the entire final judgment has been recounted, as should have been the case also in Rev 11:19 and several times before, and that then, with Rev 17:1 , a repetition of that final judgment occurs which renders prominent new sides. Yet not only the very number indicates a meaning analogous to that of the seven last plagues, as the plagues described in the seal- and trumpet-visions, which do not contain the final judgment itself, but have only introduced that immediately before which belongs in the seventh trumpet, [3601] and consequently in the seventh seal; [3602] but, in the sense of the Apoc., the judgment cannot occur at all under the conception of a plague, since, according to the description in ch. 17 sqq., the judgment extends infinitely far over what is contained up to Rev 16:21 . The plagues described also in ch. 16., [3603] not without a reference to those of Egypt, [3604] have in themselves something preparatory to which the final action corresponds. As by the trumpet-plague the dwellers on earth are not brought to repentance, [3605] so also neither are they by the vial-plagues. [3606] The more certain and immediate, therefore, is the actual final judgment, whose description then also immediately follows that of the last plagues , [3607] and to which, therefore, we are directed in the midst of the plagues as to something immediately impending. [3608] The result of this is that the fulfilment of the wrath of God ( ) [3609] is to be understood only relatively; viz., in so far as it is manifested in the “plagues.” No more plagues will come after the vial-plagues; but then the Lord himself will come to administer his final judgment.
[3593] Zll., Stern; cf. also De Wette.
[3594] Cf. Rev 17:6 , Rev 6:5 , Rev 10:2 .
[3595] Hengstenb.
[3596] Cf. Rev 16:9 , Revelation 21 : .
[3597] Cf. Rev 17:1 , Rev 21:9 .
[3598] C. a Lap.
[3599] Beng.: “After the fulfilment of the seven plagues, the holy wrath of God, therefore, against other enemies does not cease.”
[3600] So too, with formal correctness, Beng.
[3601] Rev 10:7 .
[3602] Rev 6:17 , Rev 7:1 , Rev 8:1 .
[3603] Cf. chs. 6, 8., 9
[3604] Cf. also Rev 15:2 sqq.
[3605] Rev 9:20 sqq.
[3606] Rev 16:21 .
[3607] Rev 17:1 sqq.
[3608] Rev 16:15 .
[3609] Cf. Rev 10:7 .
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
4. Preparation, in Heaven, for the Judgment
Rev 15:1-8
a. The Ideal Preparation
1And I saw another sign in [ins. the] heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having the [om. the] seven last [om. last] plagues [ins, the last]; [,] for in them is filled up [finished] the wrath [anger]1 of God.2 2And I saw as it were a [ins. glassy] sea of glass [om. of glass] mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory [those conquering] over [from] the beast [wild-beast], and over [from] his image, and over his mark [om. and over his mark,]3 and [and] over [from] the number of his name, stand [standing] on [or by] the [ins. glassy] sea of glass [om. of glass], having the [om. the]4 harps of God. 3And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, [ins. O] Lord [,] God Almighty [,the All-Ruler]; just and true are 4thy ways, thou King of Saints [om. saintsins. the nations].5 Who shall [or should]6 not fear thee [om. thee]7 O Lord, and glorify34 thy name? for thou only art holy () 8 : for all [ins. the] nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest [were manifested].
b. The Real Preparation. Equipment of the Angels of Judgment, or the Seven Angels with the Vials of Anger
5And after that [these things] I looked [saw], and, behold, [om., behold9ins. opened was] the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony [witness] in [ins. the] heaven was opened [om. was opened]: 6And the seven angels came out of [from] the temple, having [or that had]10 the seven plagues, clothed in [ins. linen11] pure and [and] white [glistening] linen [om. linen], and having their breasts girded [girt around the breasts] with golden girdles. 7And one of the four beasts [living-beings] gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials full of the wrath [anger] of God, who liveth for ever and ever [into the ages of the ages]. 8And the temple was filled with smoke12 from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man [one] was able to enter into the temple, till [until] the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled [should be finished].
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
SYNOPTICAL VIEW
The fundamental idea of the whole section, Revelation 14-15, is the End-Judgment in its general formthe same Judgment which subsequently branches into the three special Judgments upon Babylon, the Beast, and Satan himself in conjunction with Gog and Magog. The fundamental idea of this first division [chs. 14, 15] of our section is the preparation of the End-Judgment, or the judgment of the Vials of Anger,13 in Heaven. Because this great judgment brings about the final decision, it is preceded by a very great and solemn preparation in Heaven, the description of which runs through two chapters, the judgments then being executed upon the earth itself, in swift succession, by the outpouring of the Vials of Anger (Revelation 16). Thus, this heavenly proleptical celebration of the End-judgment is analogous to the great proleptical celebration of the Seven Seals of world-history in chs. 4 and 5.
The anger of God is the manifestation of His love in the forth-going and predominancy of His righteousness unto judgment. Gods anger ordains death as a punishment for sinas a reaction against the spiritual death of man, continuous disobedience or germinant apostasy (comp. the art. Zorn [anger, wrath] in Herzogs Real-Encyklopdie). And inasmuch as anger impels apostasy, or hardening, which is but another form of apostasy, to a crisis, it conducts to eternal death through spiritual deathi. e., it manifests itself in judgment.
But as the very first manifestation of anger was but the climax of a rhythmical succession of chastisements under the reign of long-suffering (Rom 2:4-5), so also the true anger- [or wrath-] period, the great day of anger [or wrath], appears in a succession of constant augmentations.
Great, however, though the anger-judgments may be, so that they wear the aspect of endless and nameless darknessesas, e. g., in the destruction of Jerusalem, in the fall of Constantinople,before God they are weighed and measured, and their measure and operation are appointed them by Gods faithfulness. Thus, anger is contained in golden vials; it is so scrupulously prepared in Heaven, so pondered over, so permeated by the Divine Intelligence, that, as a heroic act of Divine reason, it embodies in itself precisely the opposite to what is described in the heathen pictures of the envy of the gods, and the might of destiny. Our remarks hold good especially in regard to the moderation and limitation of the anger-judgments for the righteous, who are oftentimes externally exposed to the same tempests as the godlessin regard to the cutting short of the troublous days, as the Lord expresses it (see Comm. on Mat 24:22); they are, however, also applicable to the operation of judgment in general.
As these Anger-Vials are, on the one hand, akin to the Trumpets, and unmistakably parallel with them (see Int., p, 86), they form, on the other hand, an antithesis to them, in that the Trumpets are predominantly exhibited in the light of judgments in order to awakening (see Rev 11:13), whilst the Vials of anger generally operate as judgments of hardening (see Rev 16:9; Rev 16:11).
The first great vision in the Heaven-picture of the end of the world is the throng of the elect centre of the Church Triumphant, representative of the Church Triumphant itself. The scene is on Mount Zion. That Mount Zion can neither be situate in Heaven, nor be geographically understood of the eminence on which the Temple stood in Jerusalem; is evident from the symbolical import of the expression. Accordingly, Mount Zion is the real State of God, in its consummation. The heavenly appearance, Rev 1:12, becomes, Rev 4:2, the sphere of the heavenly Throne. In Rev 7:9, the Church Triumphant is depicted in the process of its growth. Here we have the picture of its preliminary spiritual consummation. It is still, however, to be conceived of as in the sphere of the beyond, for only in Revelation 21. is the union between the Christian further and hither shores consummated in the descent of the heavenly Jerusalem, as the City of God, upon the earth. Then, and not till then, the complete pneumatico-corporeal transfiguration of the world, and the real resurrection, are declared. The spiritual consummation of the Church, however, is declared in this earlier passageits blessed, secure position above the anger judgments now about to break upon the earth. The centre of the picture is formed by the Lamb. He is surrounded by 144,000 elect souls. To the query as to whether these are the same souls that appear as sealed ones in Revelation 7, we would answer: First, that the crisis of trial lies before those sealed ones, whilst these who surround the Lamb have passed it, and are, to the triumphant prophetic gaze, perfected ones, the centre, therefore, of the innumerable throng of Rev 7:9. Secondly, the symbolical import of the number 144,000 must be carefully regarded in this passage also. We need not, therefore, press the inquiry as to the identity of the two bands as individuals, but may regard as established their identity as a whole; inasmuch as the sealed elect of this world must also appear in the other world as perfected elect ones. The companions of the Lamb, therefore, are the complete number of the centre of the blessed, representing the entire Church Triumphant.14 They have the Name of Christ and the Name of the Father written on their foreheads, i. e., they are perfected confessors, and hence not such as think they must obscure the Name of the Father by the Name of the Lamb; nor are they such as act in a converse manner. That the Seer intended to represent this throng as composed exclusively of Jews is an utterly ridiculous assumption, from beginning to end. It is, however, particularly ridiculous when the designation of them as virgins is literally understood of celibacy, and the climax of absurdity is reached with the explanatory citation of the Old Testament provision, in accordance with which sexual intercourse rendered unclean for a time. For marriage itself was so far from being represented in the Old Testament as defiling, that, on the contrary, the greatest promises were attached to it. Even Mary, the Mother of our Lord, was obliged to pass through a legal purification, and the Apostle Peter was married. To attribute such a view as the above to the writer of the Apocalypse is to regard him as a dualistic ascetic. Even the Patriarchs and Prophets would, on this ground, be excluded from the number of the elect by this supposed Judaist or Judaizing non-Judaistfor the historical interpretation advances even to the latter conception of the Apocalyptist.
This great optical wonder is followed by a great auricular wonder. The new song of the consummation of the Church Triumphant bursts, in a grand harmony, from Heaven. It sounds like the roar of many waters, for it is the united praise offered to God by the redeemed peoples. It sounds like a great thunder, for it is the completed, world-refreshing revelation of God. It sounds like the harping of harpers, for all true art has entered into the service of the holy. And they sing a new song. These words seem to relate primarily to the harpers, for it is declared that they sing it before the Throne, before the four Life-shapes and before the Elders. The song, however, is not their property; it is given to them as the perfect blossom of revelation; hence it is also newa marvel of song, which has never before been. We must not overlook the fact that the new song, like the State of God, passes through different stages of development before attaining to perfection; see chs. Rev 5:9; Rev 14:3; Rev 15:3; Rev 19:6 (comp. Exodus 15; Psa 96:1). Even the 144,000 elect must learn the song, and they alone can learn it, because it presupposes the entire depth and circuit of their experience and the whole state of their being bought from the earth.
They have not defiled themselves with women. It is manifest that this can be understood only symbolically, for virgins are spoken of. The symbol, however, does not consist of women themselves, but of defilement with women, by which defilement the women themselves are more particularly characterized (Pro 9:13). That illicit intercourse is here referred to, and not marriage, may be understood as a matter of course, in a Book which closes with the Bridal of the Lamb. The Biblical representation of idolatry and apostasy under the figure of harlotry is familiar to all readers of the Sacred Writings, and the idea referred to is the more obvious here, since immediately before the great apostasy has been depicted. The doing of these virgin souls was, however, founded upon their being.15 As virgins, they have also kept themselves pure from all fanaticism and party-spirit in their piety, for both these forms of the defilement of piety are also, in particular, very fatal forms of subtile idolatry. Their virginity is expressed in the fact that they follow the Lamb whithersoever He goethfollow Him, therefore, in all His historical and heavenly movements and advances, and follow only Him. Absolute, pure obedience in absolute, pure trust, is the sign that they are bought from among men as first-fruits (see Comm. on Jam 1:18) unto God and the Lamb. As, however, the consummation of their electness was based upon redemptive grace, evidence of that electness was given, above all, in the characteristics of uprightness (Pro 2:7; Ecc 7:8) and veracity. Grotius rightly makes mention of the fact that all idolatry is infected with falsehood (Joh 3:21). The fact that they should not be represented as sinless and having no need of redemption, is manifest from the declaration concerning them, that they stand before the Lamb, that they are bought, and that no falsehood was found in their mouthno species of untruthfulnessand that they stand as, in every respect, wholly perfected, blamelessas is expressly affirmedbefore the Throne of God.
After this exhibition of the security of the whole blessed Kingdom of God, the announcement of the Judgment may be made. This Judgment has three sides:
First, it is, for the righteous, final redemption; hence, its proclamation as an everlasting gospel, the eschatological gospel of the final , through the judgment, to eternal blessedness and well-being ([Heil] Matthew 25.; Luk 21:28). This gospel is proclaimed to all who sit on the earth, all who are most firmly attached to earth (Rev 15:6), before the coming of the Judgment itself; and the proclamation is conjoined with an admonition to voluntary self-humiliation before God, Who is here pertinently designated as the Creator, the Cause and Lord of all things, and particularly also, as the Author of the fountains of waters, i. e., all original geniuses.
The Judgment is, secondly, for the world ripe unto perdition, an actual fall into perdition. Hence the proclamation: Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! Be it here observed that in this passage it is not Babylon in the narrower sense of the word, to which reference is had, as in Revelation 17. As in Genesis, Revelation 1, water is at first spoken of in the most general sense, then in a special sense, and finally in the most special sense, so here by Babylon the whole ungodly Anti-christianized world is intended. At the outpouring of the seventh Vial of anger, this ungodly and Antichristian world, represented by Babylon, is divided into three parts (Rev 16:19), when the general Judgment branches into the three special judgments: upon the Harlot, or Babylon in the narrower sense; upon the Beast; and upon Gog and Magog under the leadership of Satan. Concerning the more general Babylon which has, undoubtedly, for a considerable time had its culmination-point in the more special Babylon, it is declared: She gave all the nations [heathen, Gentiles] to drink of the wine of the anger [or rage]16 of her fornication. Antichristianity is a unitous evil mock-growth, which has twined its stifling tendrils throughout humanity, as, on the other hand, the tree of the Kingdom of God has pushed its holy roots throughout the same. The wine of the anger of fornication is only materially identical with the anger of God (see Rev 11:18); in a formal point of view it forms an antithesis thereto. The wine of the anger of fornication is, as sin, passionate, riotous intoxication in apostasy; as a judgment, it is also the wine of the wrath of God, the mind-deranging operation of the death-judgments of God.
Finally, the judgment consists, in the third place, of the sentence which interprets the facts. Thus the actual separation of the sheep and the goats (Matthew 25) precedes the sentence passed upon them. The sentence of the Angel is conditioned as follows: If any one worshippeth the Wild-beast and his image, and receiveth his mark on his forehead or on his hand. The one implies the other: recognition of the power of the Beast, and appropriation of the false idea of the system, theocratic or practical testimony. The sentence is as follows: he incurs the internal judgment of having to drink of the wine of the anger [or wrath] of Goddeadly derangement of the mind; this is a wine mingled, i. e., here poured out (presented, credenzt) unmixed [ ],17 as the strongest and most intoxicating beverage, in the cup, the self-limiting decree, of His wrath []. The external local result is as follows: he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. The outward and apparent form of the Judgment is fiery self-consumption in the ever affluent new elements of fiery irritation. For as, to the righteous, every affluent experience is transformed into the gentle oil of the Spirit, so, to the wicked, every experience becomes brimstonefuel for his passion. The temporal result of the Judgment is as follows: the smoke of their torment ascendeth into ages of ages. Smoke rises from fire; not, however, from a clear fire, but from that which is hemmed in and dim. Here, doubtless, the fire of hate is particularly referred tofanatical passionateness in apostasy. Hence it is further declared: they have not rest by day and by night; this they have not, not in a good sense (Rev 4:8), but in a bad sense, as demonic beings, and the true causality thereof lies in their very apostasy;the context is: who worship the wild-beast and his image, and if any one receiveth the mark of his name. The fact that the condition of damnation can continue into the ages denotes, indubitably, the temporal immensity of that condition, but is also, at the same time, expressive of onic figurations and alterations of it.
At the close of this sentence, we again encounter the saying of Rev 13:10, amplified by the declaration that the patience [endurance] of the saints is also evidenced in keeping the commandments of God; their faith, meanwhile, appearing as a faith in Jesus. Only through this patience or endurance can a man escape that sentence of onic fiery death. Here also, as in Rev 13:10, this spirit of blessed calm forms a contrast to the fire-smoke of the restless (Isa 48:22). Here again the Seer significantly insists upon the fact that a vital veneration of God and faith in Jesus necessarily accompany each other.
The sentence unto damnation is now contrasted with the sentence unto blessedness. But why does not the Angel give utterance to the latter, and not a voice from Heaven? We might reply, because the experience of the celestial blessedness of proven Christians passes the experience of Angels. According to the context, this beatitude is pronounced by the Spirit, i. e., the Spirit of the Church Triumphant; He, therefore, gives utterance to a testimony of direct experience. The beatitude of the blessed dead is, however, specially signalized, and commended, as it were, as an inscription for gravestones, with the command: Write. Although this precious sentence (Isa 48:13) holds good for all timesblessed are the dead, etc.it is of particular moment when regarded in its bearing upon the last times. Then are the dying, who die in the Lord as they have lived in Him, to be accounted particularly blessed, because they are taken away from the storm of the last days (see Isa 57:1).
We, therefore, interpret in the following sense: Such are henceforth peculiarly blessed, because they attain unto rest from their sore conflicts, whilst the blessing of their works, and also their perfected vocation to ideal activity, accompany them into the Church Triumphant.
Before passing to a consideration of the three Angels of the beginning execution of the End-Judgment, we must examine the relation of these three Angels to the preceding three Angels of the announcement of Judgment. It is natural to suppose that the first three Angels form an organic totality ( Isa 48:15, Isa 48:17, Isa 48:18, akin to , , , 1Co 12:10), and not that an abstract series of other and still other Angels is cited. The second angelic triad, then, corresponds to the first, and the following scheme is formed:
A. The Announcement of the end. The Lamb standing on Mount Zion (Rev 14:1).
1. The , the proclaimer of the everlasting Gospel, or the Gospel of eternity (Rev 14:6).
2. The , as the proclaimer of the decided fall of Babylon the Great (Rev 14:8).
3. The , the proclaimer of the judgment upon the worshippers of the Beast (Rev 14:9).
4. The voice from Heaven: Proclamation of the blessedness of the dead who die in the Lord.
B. The Accomplishment op the End. Appearance of the form of the son of man on the White Cloud (Rev 14:14).
1. The , issuing out of the Temple, proclaiming the hour of the Judgment (the beginning of the entire Judgment) as a judgment upon Babylon (Rev 14:15).
2. The , issuing out of the Temple in Heaven, with the sharp sickle for the consummation of the harvest (Rev 14:17).
3. The , Rev 14:18, issuing from the Altar, having power over the fire of sacrificewho challenges the preceding Angel to the completion of the End-Judgment, as that Angel (Rev 14:15) had in his turn challenged the form of the Son of Man (Rev 14:14).
We, therefore, distinguish the group of the proclamation of Judgment (A) and that of the execution of Judgment (B). The former is under the dominion of the Lamb, Who stands fast forever on Mount Zion as the Head of the Church Triumphant; the latter group is under the dominion of the form of the Son of Man on the white cloud, with the crown upon His head, and in His hand the sharp harvest-sickleunder the Christ, therefore, as He comes for Judgment upon the world (Mat 26:64; comp. Daniel 7).
With the first Angel, who has proclaimed the eternal Gospel, i. e., the Gospel of a blessed eternity, the final (Rev 14:6), corresponds the first Angel of execution, in that he notifies the Son of Man of the hour or time of harvest, and summons Him to the harvest; whereupon, He Who sits upon the cloud, casts His sickle upon the earth and reaps the earth. This harvest (Rev 14:16) is, without doubt, the harvest of the wheat (Mat 3:12; Mat 13:39), with which the Parousia begins (Mat 24:31), corresponding to the Gospel of the final redemption, and to be distinguished from the harvest of judgment (Rev 14:19-20). Distinctive marks: The Angel of Rev 14:15 goes forth from the Temple, i. e., the ideal Temple of the ripened Church of God, for the ripeness of Gods Church for redemption is the sign of the ripeness of the world for judgment; this Angel is, the symbol of the decree of the Father (Act 1:7). Again, this first harvest is called simply the harvest of the earth; it begins with Christ, as the Judge of the world, casting His sickle from the cloud to the earththat is, with the commencement of His Parousia itself. Here, therefore, the earth which is reaped, is to be understood in the more special sense of the term.
With the second Angel of proclamation, who cries out: Fallen is Babylon (Rev 14:8), corresponds the second Angel of execution (Rev 14:17). This latter Angel issues forth from the Temple of Heaven, for the judgment unto judgment is based entirely upon the objective sentence of Divine Righteousness, which decides when the internal corruptness [Verderben] of the world must find its judgment in external ruin [Verderben]. Even this Angel of judgment, however (who bears a similarity to the import of Michael, the judging Christ), receives the summons to the execution of judgment from another Angel, the third Angel of execution. This Angel issues from the Altar; he has authority over the fire. This is what qualifies him to call for the fire of judgment. For every little flame, every fire of sacrifice, has been a pre-exhibition of the great sacrificial burning at the end of the world. Thus with the third Angel of proclamation (Rev 14:9), who announced that law of the Kingdom in accordance with which the sentence of damnation (Rev 14:9-11) and the Judgment, as a judgment of fire, ensue, corresponds the Angel of the actual fiery Judgment, whose world-historic prefiguration is sacrifice.
We scarcely need mention that this double angelic triad forms a group of symbolical figures; in which the first triad belongs more to the economy of Christ, and the second more to the economy of the Father.
It may appear particularly remarkable that the harvest of judgment is represented as a gathering of the vinethe vine thus, apparently, having an entirely different import here from that assigned it Joh 15:1. It might here be suggested that all Antichristianity will be a corrupt and apostate Christianity. There is, however, another motive which lies at the door, viz., that of conforming the entire picture to the central idea of the wine-press, Isaiah 63. The wine-press of wrath or deadly judgment brings with it the retribution for the great blood-guiltiness of the worlds historyespecially as manifested in the history of the martyrs;this retribution is exhibited in the mighty river of blood in which, at the end of the world, the life of the old humanity pours forth. The treading of the wine-press is accomplished without the city;18 an antithesis by which only the City simple, the City, of God, can be intended. The depth of the river of blood is indicated by the declaration that it reaches to the reins [Zgel] of the horsesnot to the bits [Zame, German Version], for in that case the horses would necessarily sink. It is with difficulty, therefore, that the horses of world-development (Rev 6:2; Rev 19:14) can labor through this stream; it is only through a great crisis that the new world issues from the old. The bloody stream itself overspreads 1000 stadia, the symbol of an on, by the space of 600 stadia, by which an immense extent of further suffering is indicated.
In Revelation 15 is represented the preparation of this Judgment which is about to be executed through the medium of the Vials of Anger. It might be conjectured that the Earth-picture of the Anger-Vials would begin here, but individual traits are against such a suppositionespecially the festival-keeping on the crystal sea. First, then, the Seer beholds another sign in Heaven, the seven Angels with the last seven plagues, or judgment-strokes, with which the anger of God shall be filled up. Again, however, the vision must strengthen the courage of the faithful; the description of the terrible angelic forms is therefore preceded by a picture of the celebration of the Judgment in the congregation of the blessed. The glassy sea is here, as in an earlier passage [Rev 4:6], the completed history of the peoples as a history of salvation, sub specie terni, translumined by the Spirit of God; Divinely still and transparent, and Divinely moved. Here, however, it is mingled with the appearance of fire (see p. 34); for this new world-form has passed through the sacrificial fire as well as through the fire of the universal judgment; moreover, the reflection of the Vials of anger falls upon the crystal splendor of this sea. Hence, the blessed are here designated as victors over the Beast. Their victory is detailed. They have vanquished not only the temptation of the Beast, but also the temptation of his Image, the temptation of his mark, the Antichristian symbol; aye, they have overcome even the temptation to a covert [Verblmt] recognition of him by the assumption of the number of his name in a restless pursuit of vanity. And now they all have harps; harps of God, as Divinely inspired singers and players. The new song which they sing is now called the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb. Of the two songs, the song of the typical redemption (Exodus 15.) and the song of the real redemption, one unitous, grand anthem of redemption is born. Even the Law is, in the light of the consummation, glorified into a phase of the Gospel; and it is also, in spiritual forms, its very self glorified, elevatedand, by being elevated, in a sense abrogated [aufgehoben],transmuted into celestial custom (Matthew 5). This song has reference to the imminent final Judgment from which they, through the redemption, have escaped, as Israel escaped from the pursuit of Pharaoh. Hence, mention is first made of the great wonders of God, particularly as manifest in His conduct of the Final Judgment. Hence, God is again magnified as the All-Ruler [],19 and His ways, in particular,His government and providences [Fhrungen und Fgungen=leadings and joinings]are extolled as righteous and true; as righteous in His world-historic retributionas true in His final fulfillment of all prophecies and threats. Thus He approves Himself the essential King of the nations (not simply of the saints, after the scantily attested reading).20 Thus the worship of the true fear of God appertains to Him at the end of days as much as, and still more than, in the days of the Old Covenant, for this fear is fundamentally diverse from the fear which is cast out by perfect love. The supreme reason for this worship is expressed in the words: He only is holywords declaratory of the Absolute Personality, not merely as a negation of all impersonal conduct, but also as the Founder and Awakener of the Personal Kingdom of Love, in Whose almighty traction of love all nations [Heiden, heathen, Gentiles] shall come and worship before Him after they have beheld the grand manifestation of His judgments. These words point to a great conversion, to take place amidst the development of the worlds judgment.
After this pre-celebration of the Judgment of Anger, the Seer, with new amazement (Rev 15:5), beholds the equipment of the seven Angels for the execution of the Judgment. The scene opens with the opening of the Temple of the Tabernacle of the Witness, i. e., the Ark of the Covenantthe Holy of Holies, therefore. There the holy Law reposes, which has testified the will of God to the nations; thence, therefore, perfect retribution proceeds, as a punitory providence which itself bears the mark of the Holy of Holies, and hence is to be regarded entirely as a providence in order to the protection of personal life.
This providence issues from the Holy of Holies, under the guidance of the seven Angels who are to execute the seven last plagues. These Angels themselves appear as highly consecrate spirits, clothed with pure, glistening (or pearl-beset?21) linen, for they accomplish the deliverances of supreme truth and righteousness solely, in executing the sentence of the anger of God; they are no mediums for the outflowings of dark and unfree passion, no ministers of blind and senseless fate-strokes. Hence they are also girded as for a festal celebration, about the breastnot as for labor, about the loins; they are girded with golden girdles, the signs of Divine strength, self-determination, and bound-abiding faithfulness.
The seven Vials of Anger are given to the Angels by one of the four Life-shapes. Here it is particularly manifest that these Life-shapes cannot be regarded as symbolical forms of creature life.22 They stand between God and these high Angelswho may not, indeed, be identified with the Archangelsand receive the Vials, which are full of the anger of God. One of them distributes the Vials; greater explicitness is not accorded to the visionhence it would be mere guess-work were we to conjecture that the Lion was the recipient and distributer of the Vials.
Why do we here find the expression: Who liveth into the ages of the ages? The domination of Gods wrath in inflictions of death is conditioned by this life. The manifestation of absolute Life is a decree of death to obstinate sinners.
Furthermore, God withdraws Himself from human view as an angry God. Thenceforth the Temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, so that none could go into the Temple until the seven plagues were fulfilled. This phenomenon cannot be resolved into the more general fact that the glory of God veils itself in the pillar of cloud or in a pillar of smoke (Exo 40:34; 1Ki 8:10; Mat 17:5), although it is connected with that fact. For the Temple was not previously filled with smoke, to the eye of the Seer; he has even had a mysteriously expressed sight of God. But as God, as the Holy One, in general conceals Himself from the gaze of sinful man, so this is especially the case in His judgments. He made the darkness about Him His coveringHis pavilion round about Him dark waters [Wassernacht], clouds upon clouds, Psa 18:11. Thus He covers Himself when He comes with terrors upon His enemies. For the Prophet Isaiah also (Isaiah 6), the Temple in which he has seen the glory of Jehovah, afterwards becomes filled with smoke; a sign that this Temple should be burnt, but also an expression of the fact that God is, for the human eye, hidden most in His judgments, most difficult of comprehension therein. That affectionate and familiar boldness which seeks an immediate access into the Temple, to God, shrinks back amid the thunders of majesty; nevertheless, the Mercy-seat is set up in front of the Temple in the person of Jesus Christ for all in the whole world who seek for refuge (Romans 3).
[ABSTRACT OP VIEWS, ETC.]
By the American Editor
[Elliott:23 Rev 14:1-5, is parallel with chs. 12, 13, and presents a view of the true Church gathered around the true Christ (the Lambstanding, not yet enthroned)in antithesis with the merely nominal Church gathered around the enthroned Antichrist, as set forth in those chapters; Rev 14:2-3, mark a progression in their conditionthey refer to the Reformation;the harpers are the rejoicing members of the churches of the Reformation; the voice of many waters and of a great thunder implies the uniting of both nations and princes in their rejoicing; the new song, the song of the Reformation, as set forth by Luther: Learn to know Christ, Christ crucified, Christ come down from Heaven to dwell with sinners! Learn to sing the New Song, Thou Jesus art my righteousness; I am Thy sin; Thou hast taken on Thyself what was mine; Thou hast given me what is Thine.
Rev 14:6-8 are parallel with chs. 15, Rev 16:1-14 (Rev 11:15-19), and set forth the missionary advance of the true Church throughout the Era predicted in those passages (see on p. 296 ).
Rev 14:9-20 are connected with Rev 16:15 to the end of the Apocalypse (see on p. 297 ).
Barnes: Ch. 14. contains a succession of symbolical representations, designed to comfort those exposed to the troublous events of chs. 12, 13, by showing the ultimate result of those events: There is represented by the vision of (1) Rev 14:1-5, the character and final triumph of all the redeemed; (2) Rev 14:6-7, that the gospel will be preached among all nations, and that as indicating the near approach of the consummation; (3) Rev 14:8, the destruction of Antichristian, Papal Rome; (4) Rev 14:9-12, the certain and final destruction of all the upholders of that power; (5) Rev 14:13, the blessedness of all who die in the Lord; (6) Rev 14:14-20, the final overthrow of all the enemies of the Church; the harvest representing the righteous to be gathered into the Kingdom; the vintage, the wicked to be destroyed.Ch. 15 commences the statement of the manner in which the pledges of the preceding chapter would be accomplished, which statement is pursued through the subsequent chapters, giving in detail what is here promised in a general mannerit is merely introductory to what follows, and designed to introduce the account of those judgments with suitable circumstances of solemnity.
Stuart: The combination of three such powerful enemies against Christianity (the Dragon, Satan [p. 240]; the First Beast, Pagan Rome; the Second, the Pagan Priesthood [p. 261]), was in itself of fearful import. To animate the courage, however, of this noble little band, (of Christians), the writer arrests the progress of action in the great drama, in order to hold out the symbols of ultimate and certain victory: Symbol First is of the Lamb (Christ) on the earthly Zion, surrounded by His 144,000 sealed onesnot forces to be employed against enemies, but trophies of victory already achieved; Second, consists of a triplex series of proclamations of (a) the ultimate and certain spread of the gospel throughout the whole world, Rev 14:6-7, (b) the absolute and certain fall of mystical Babylon (heathen Rome), Rev 14:8, (c) the awful punishment that awaits the followers of the Beast; Third, is constituted of a triplex series of actions(a) the reaping, Rev 14:14-16 (the harvest which is ripe, i. e., the enemies of the Church whose wickedness is consummated), (b) the gathering, Rev 14:17-19 (also the wicked), (c) the treading of the wine-press, Rev 14:20.24
Ch. 15. A Heaven-scene preceding the infliction of the seven last plagues: the martyrs around the Throne sing the song of anticipative triumph, and praise the justice of God as about to be displayed in the overthrow of the Beast, Rev 15:2-4; the smoke preventing the entrance of any one into the Temple, Rev 15:8, indicates that no one is permitted to intercede for those about to be punished, and consequently, that their punishment is certain and inevitable.
Wordsworth: Rev 14:1-5. This vision reveals that, although during the sway of the Beast many would fall from the faith, yet the true Catholic Apostolic Church of Christ (the 144,000the number of completeness and union in the true doctrine and discipline of Christ, as preached by the twelve Apostles) would never fail, and would finally triumph over the power of the Beast, and would stand with the Lamb on Mount Zion (in antithesis to the rising of the Beast from the sea) in His Kingdom, which will never be destroyed (comp. Psa 125:1, etc.); the virginity of the 144,000 (Rev 14:3) indicates that they were not corrupted by the spiritual harlotries of Babylon (Rev 14:8; Rev 17:1-5); the song of triumph (Rev 14:2-3), is that of Angels chanting the victory of the Church.
Rev 14:6-7 predict the universal proclamation of the gospel (by literal Angels?), and that as a preparation for the End (compare Mat 24:4).
Rev 14:8 is anticipative of the fall of Babylon, i. e., Papal Rome.
Rev 14:9-11, a warning (by literal Angels?) against worshipping the Beast.
Rev 14:14-16, Vision of the Last Judgment, as (1) a Harvest, the ingathering of the good; (2) a Vintage, the crushing of the wicked.
Rev 15:1. St. John, having been brought in the foregoing chapter to the eve of the Day of Judgment, now re-ascends, as usual, to an earlier point in the Prophecy; and enlarges on the judicial chastisements to be inflicted on the Empire of the Beast.
Rev 15:2-4. Anticipations, continued and expanded, of the future victory of the faithful over the power of the Beast.
Rev 15:5-8. Preparation for the pouring out of the Seven Vials on the Empire of the Beast.
Alford: Ch. 14. This is not entirely another vision, but an introduction of a new element, one of comfort and joy, upon the scene of the last; it is anticipatory, having reference to two subjects to be treated of afterwards in detail(1) the mystic Babylon, (2) the consummation of punishment and reward; it is general in its character, reaching forward close to the time of the end, and treating compendiously of the torment of the apostates and the blessedness of the righteous. It naturally divides itself into three sections: I. Rev 14:1-5. The 144,000 are identical with those of Rev 7:4, and represent the people of God; their introduction here serves to place before us the Church on the holy hill of Sion (the site of the display of Gods chosen ones with Christ [the seat of Gods true Church and worship?]), where God has placed His King, as an introduction to the description of her agency in preaching the gospel, and her faithfulness in persecutions. II. Rev 14:6-13. The four announcements of this section form the text and the compendium of the rest of the Bookthese are of (1) the universal proclamation of the gospel as previous to the final judgments, Rev 14:6-7, (2) the fall of Babylon (Rome, Pagan and Papalprincipally Papal; see on Revelation 17), as an encouragement for the patience of the saints, Rev 14:8; (3) the final defeat and torment of the Lords enemies, Rev 14:9-12; (4) the blessedness of all who die in the faith and obedience of Christ. III. Rev 14:14-16. The Harvest, i. e., the ingathering of the saints, answering to the proclamation of the gospel in Rev 14:6-7. IV. Rev 14:17-20. The Vintage of Wrath, fulfilling the denunciations of Rev 14:8; Rev 14:11.
Ch. 15. Prefatory to the Seven Vials: Rev 15:1, the description of the vision; Rev 15:2-4, the song of triumph of the saints victorious over the Beast; Rev 15:5-8, the coming forth of the seven Angels, and delivering to them of the seven Vials. (See also in Expl. in Detail in loc.)
Lord: Rev 14:1-4. The 144,000 are the same as those of Revelation 7; they are also the Witnesses of Revelation 11 raised from the dead; they have not belonged to the apostate Church, nor sanctioned the blasphemous usurpations of the Wild Beast, but are pure worshippers of God; they are the first-fruits unto God (distinguished from the complete harvest of Rev 14:15-16); the song of Rev 14:3 is their song.
Rev 14:6-7. The Angel represents a body and succession of men, who are to bear the everlasting gospel both to the nations of the ten kingdoms, and to all other tribes and languages of earth.
Rev 14:8. Great Babylon is the aggregate of the nationalized hierarchies of the ten kingdoms; she symbolizes the teachers and rulers of the churches, with whom the kings of the earth join in the institution, practice, and dissemination of a false religion; uniting with her in the usurpation of the rights of God as lawgiver, etc.; her fall is her severance from the civil governments, and dejection from her station and power as a combination of national establishments; the Angel is the representative of a body of men, his flight in mid-Heaven denotes their publicity and conspicuity, and his annunciation, that there is to be a public and exalting celebration of her overthrow.
Rev 14:9-13. The warning implies that notwithstanding great Babylon has fallen from her station as a national establishment, men are still worshipping the Wild-beast and its image, and receiving its markthose Romish hierarchies are still to subsist after their fall, and acknowledge the Pope as their head; the symbol foreshows that after great Babylon has fallen from her station as a combination of nationalized hierarchies, numerous teachers shall arise who shall publicly and strenuously assert the exclusive right of God to enjoin the faith and institute the worship of the Church, etc.
Rev 14:14-16. The one like the Son of Man represents (not Christ but) a human being, raised from the dead in glory, like the human form of Christ in His exaltationthe period of this agency, therefore, is after the revivification of the Witnesses; those harvested by him are the saints, living and mortal.
Rev 14:17-20. The dejection of the vine into the wine-press signifies that those whom the vine symbolizes are to be crushed by the vengeance of the Almightythe treading of the wine-press outside the city (the symbol of the nationalized hierarchies), denotes that the grapes are from their vineyardsthe river of blood symbolizes the vastness and visibility of the destruction; the dejection of the vine into the press is a different work from the treadingthe former is the work of the reapers, the latter of the Son of God.
Rev 15:1-4. A Heaven-scene wherein the entire mass of witnesses, who throughout the ages have held the testimony of Jesus, and refused submission to Antichristian powers, are represented as praising the wisdom and rectitude of the Almighty.
Rev 15:5-8. The introduction to the pouring out of the Vials, indicating that no intercession by the saints on earth for the salvation of Antichristian foes is to be offered during this period.
Glasgow: Revelation 14. The 144,000 are the same as those of chap. 7they are the first-fruits (comp. Exo 13:15; Exo 34:20), representing all Gods ransomed people; the Angel of Rev 14:6 symbolizes the ministry of the gospel from the beginning (specially as missionaries to the heathen); the Angel of Rev 14:8 represents home missionaries, who are more controversial and Protestant than the preceding; the third Angel, Rev 14:9, symbolizes the Protestant ministry; the dead of Rev 14:13 are the martyred dead of all ages; the one sitting on the cloud, Rev 14:14, is Christ in His humanity throughout the gospel dispensation sitting on the cloud (the symbol taken from the cloudy pillar), which ever abides over the Church; the Angel of Rev 14:15, the whole body of Christs ministrythe time of their prayer to Christ coincides with the death of the Witnesses, the reaping-time of His compliance with that prayer is that of the resurrection of the witnesses (the Reformation); the Angel of Rev 14:17 is the Holy Ghost; that of Rev 14:18 represents persecuted saints; the vintage symbolizes the wasting wars that followed the Reformation.
Revelation 15. The resurrection of the witnesses symbolizes the Reformation, and also presents a general view of the glorious events and retributions that followed.E. R.C.]
EXPLANATIONS IN DETAIL
Rev 14:1. And I saw, and behold. Lively introduction of the new, great vision of the heavenly pre-celebration and preparation of the final Judgment. The consummation of the Church, as appearing in the 144,000 virgins, is symptomatic of the consummation of the earth, of its ripeness for judgment.
The Lamb (Rev 7:17)here in the radiance of His glorious spoils of victory.
On the Mount Zion.Is the mountain to be conceived of as in Heaven (in accordance with Grotius, Hengstenberg, Ebrard, et al.)? Or is it, in accordance with De Wette and Dsterd., to be taken in its proper acceptation, i. e., literally? Dsterdieck applies the epithet allegoristic to the interpretation of Mount Zion as the Church (after Bede, Calov., et al.), in his chronic misapprehension of what allegorism is. The vision is, evidently, a picture of the Church Triumphant, resident in that spiritual Heaven which pervades Heaven and earth. Mount Zion, however, particularly symbolizes the lofty citadel, the eternal fortress of the people of God.
And with Him a hundred and forty-four thousand.There is as little foundation for the belief that these 144,000 are composed exclusively of Gentiles (Dsterdieck) as for the assumption that the 144,000 of Revelation 7 are Jews exclusively. For a discussion of the question as to the identity (Grot., Vitringa, and many others) or diversity (Bleek, Neander, et al.) of the two assemblies, we refer our readers to the Synoptical View [also Add. Note, p. 193.E. R. C.] The 144,000 of the present chapter are, as a whole, the same kernel of the Church of Goda kernel, however, which has developed, from a host of combatants warring on this side of the boundary which divides this life from the life to come, to a host of victors who have crossed the line; as, similarly, the seal on the foreheads of the first has become the open inscription of appertinency to God and Christ.
Rev 14:2. A voice from the Heaven.The heavenly character of the voice is the main thing; the sounds are sounds of perfection. The voices are in part voices of Christian nations (the voice of great waters), in part the voices of great Prophets (the voice of a great thunder), both the former and the latter being perfected in holy art (the voice of harpers). In a certain degree, therefore, the voice from Heaven certainly does represent the 144,000 themselves (Bengel, Hengstenberg, et al.); more strictly speaking, however, it is the true fountain of song within the Church of God, whose outflowings pass but gradually to the entire Church;the choir of the celestial Church.Great waters (Rev 1:15).The voice of a great thunder (Rev 6:1).Harps (or citherns).With all its sublimity, the song, in its spiritual beauty, is as exquisitely delicate as the music of the cithern. [Alford comments: The harpers and the song are in Heaven, the 144,000 on earth; and no one was able to learn the song, i. e., to appreciate its melody and meaning, so as to accompany it and bear part in the chorus. On the other hand Lord remarks: The Mount Sion on which the 144,000 stood was that of the heavenly tabernacle The song, accordingly, which he heard from Heaven was their song; not the song of the other redeemed or of angels. This is apparent from the representation that it was sung before the Living-creatures and Elders, and that no one was able to learn it but the 144,000. To suppose it to have been sung by others, is to suppose that they had already learned it.E. R. C.]
Rev 14:3. A new song.As the Old Testament is new in comparison with the primeval time; as the New Testament is new in comparison with the Old Testament; as the eternal gospel is new in comparison with the gospel of principal ; so the new song is new in comparison with Moses song of redemption;a more developed form is the conjunction of the two songs (Rev 15:3).And no one could learn the song, etc.The condition whereon the learning of it is dependent is not artistic talent, but the depth of ethical experience, such as is possessed by the 144,000. The highest sthetics, the most profound artistic intelligence, in the simplest words.
Rev 14:4-5. On different attempts to construe the following, see Dsterd.
Attributes of the 144,000: 1. They are virgins (, virgin-like [Jungfruliche]; the Greek term is applied to men as well as to women) in a religious sense; they have kept themselves pure from idolatry (Coccei., Grot., et al.), ideal iconoclasts, who, it may be, even as heathen, perceived the myths to be but symbols. The words [ ] have been infelicitously referred to monkish asceticism by Roman Catholic exegetes; to celibacy (Augustine, Bede, Rothe, Dsterdieck); to chastity (Hengstenberg; abstinence from all fornication, De Wette); to the Christians of the last days (Hofmann). And thus the symbolism of the entire Old Testament, bearing upon this point, has been unable to obtain a foothold in the minds of these commentators. And the flimsy deductions which Neander and others (also Dsterdieck especially, see his note, p. 466) have drawn from the misunderstanding, are a result of this ignoring of the Old Testament symbol, a recognition of which should the more assuredly have been induced by the fact that this virginity forms the extreme contrast to the extreme abomination of idolatry, viz.: the worship of the Beast.25
2. These (with emphasis) are they who follow the Lamb, etc.Dsterdieck and others lay stress upon the present, follow, in order to confute the interpretation of the term as a preterite, expressive of the following of Christ to tribulation and death (Grot., Bengel, Hengstenberg). They are the constant attendants of the Lamb, it is declared. The latter thought, however, is inclusive of the former one, even as it is also the result of it. [If He goes to Gethsemane, they follow Him thither; if He goes to Calvary, they take up their cross and follow Him thither. He is gone to Heaven, and they will be with Him there also. Wordsworth.E. R. C.]
3. These were bought.Emphasis is laid upon the personal worth of these souls by the repetition of . They are redeemed [bought] in a special sense, agreeably to their destination of being an for God and the Lamb. [Redeemed from among menlanguage derived from the Book of Exodus: The first-born of my sons I redeem (Exo 13:15; Exo 34:20). This exhibits the 144,000 as representing all Gods ransomed people.E. R. C.]
Does constitute an antithesis to the entire world (in accordance with De Wette, et al., comp. Jam 1:18), or, which is more probable, to the general throng of believers (Ewald), or of the blessed (Bengel, Dsterd., et al.)? In accordance with the distinction made, Revelation 7, between the 144,000 and the innumerable multitude, a special selection is likewise intended here. In this view, the difference between the Augustine-Calvinistic and the Biblical doctrine of election is clearly apparent.
4. In their mouth was not found falsehood.The term (comp. Rev 21:27) is to be apprehended in its general import, and not to be limited to the falsehood of idolatry (Grot.: non vocarunt deos, qui dii non sunt, Bengel), heresy, or a denial of Christ (Hengstenberg). Dsterdieck. This deliverance is more than half recanted by the remark that a certain antithesis to the sphere of falsehood in which the seducing pseudo-prophet moves, is obvious, (after Ewald, Ebrard). Idolatry is the primary form of falsehood, see Romans 1.
Summation of attributes: For they are blameless.Here, again, their onic disposition is cited as the basis of their temporal conduct; as in Rev 14:4 : for they are virgins.
In discussing the design of this vision it must first of all be stated that, in accordance with the construction of the whole Book, the vision has not a backward reference to Revelation 13, but a forward reference to ch. xvi, as a life-picture of the final contrasted with the final Judgment. Church-historical interpretations of particular detailssome of which are of a remarkable charactersee in Dsterdieck, p. 468, and De Wette, p. 143. Christianis reference of the 144,000 to the Church of the last time agrees better with the context than many another interpretation. A reference to the Israelitish Church of the end [Luthardt] belongs to a Judaizing chiliasm.
Rev 14:6-7. Another Angel.The reference of the expression another Angel to Angels who have previously appeared upon the scene (De Wette, Dsterdieck), is untenable. The difficulty of was, perhaps, the cause of its omission in Cod. B.; see above.Flying;Comp. Rev 8:13.In mid-heaven.A herald to the whole world.An everlasting gospel.Ebrard: The older exegetes, together with Lcke, are probably right in understanding the import of the tidings to be salvation in Christ generally. (Note by the same com.: Of course this apprehension does not in the slightest degree justify the arbitrary allegoristic references of the three Angels to Wickliffe, Huss, and Luther, and the like. Calovius understood by the first two Angels Luther and Chemnitz, most coolly appropriating to himself the honor of being the third.In conjunction, that is, with the other opponents of syncretism; see De Wette on this passage; also Dsterd., p. 474.) Other interpretations of the three Angels, see collected in De Wette, p. 147 (Peter de Bruis, Wickliffe, Luther, etc.). Ebrard refers the Angel of the everlasting Gospel to the preaching of the Gospel amongst the heathen, which, according to Matthew 24, precedes the end. But though the old Gospel is, in respect of its purport, an eternal Gospel, it should, as the Gospel of principial salvation, be distinguished from the Gospel of the final redemption to eternal felicity; and the new proclamation, of which the present passage speaks, is not for the heathen alone, but for the whole earth. One-sided, but not incorrect, is the explanation of Corn. -Lapide: A message promissory of the eternal good things in Heaven. According to Hengstenberg, the message of the Angel is a Gospel [even for the enemies of God], inasmuch as his exhortation to repentance is conjoined with the grant of a respite for repentance. But there is no intimation here of a respite for repentance in the strict sense of the words. The last-named commentator interprets the attribute eternal as having reference solely to the irrevocability or certainty of this Gospel. On the reference of this Angel to Luther, comp. Hengstenberg, II., p. 133.
To declare glad tidings unto them, etc.The fact that this message is not addressed simply to the heathen who may still be left (Ebrard, p. 408), is clearly evident from the further explication of those for whom it is intended: to every nation, etc. Neither can it be said that the Angels exhortation to repentance is distinct from his message of joy:the message in its totality is the everlasting Gospel, in the form of a parnesis [].
The general character of the exhortation:Fear God, etc., rests upon the law that the preaching of the end goes back to the preaching of the beginning; and that partly on account of the fact that most Christians have learned very little from Christianity, and that there is now no time to lose. The fear of God, according to the text, would be for many the beginning of salvation, as it is elsewhere declared to be the beginning of wisdom. Finally, in the eternal Gospel, the form shall have become transparent for the universal Gospel, and a real worship of God, Who, besides the Heaven, has made the earth and the sea and fountains of watersall in a symbolical sensewould be the actual foundation of conversion, the beginning of all Christian development. This Gospel is, certainly, conditioned, but, as conditioned, it is also a real Gospel (see Luk 21:28). It cannot be denied that the passage is suggestive of mans absolute dependence upon God, as opposed to a false dependence upon, and subserviency to, the Beast;the particular truth, however, which it is designed to exhibit is, that the judicial power of God is based upon the fact that He is the Creator of all things.
Rev 14:8. And another, second Angel, etc.It is not on account of the dramatic vividness of the scene that one Angel follows another (Dsterd.), but because of the rapid succession of particular items in the approaching judgmenta truth of which Grotius was sensible when he commented thus: Quot rei nunciand, totidem nuntii.
Fallen.One of the sublimest words of consolation for advanced Christians. Comp. Isaiah 14. Before God, the thing is decided; the decision on earth approaches. The passage is, therefore, a proleptical description, in prophetic form, of an imminent event (see Rev 11:18).Triumphant certainty is expressed in the repetition: fallen!
Babylon the great.Babel was, even in Genesis, the primeval type of a God-opposed world-power; in the Prophets, Babel [or Babylon] became the greatest type of the anti-theocratic world-power; and here the typical expression is perfected in the type of the antichristian world-power. Godless self-exaltation (Dan 4:30), apparent crushing omnipotence over against the Church of God, and perfect impotence in face of the suddenly approaching storms of Divine judgmentare tie individual features of the type. Here, however, as has already been remarked, the reference is, not to Babylon in the narrower sense of the term, but to Babylon in the most general sense, culminating, of course, in Babylon in the more restricted sense.
Who gave all the nations to drink of the wine of the anger [or rage] of her fornication.Wine is a symbol of enthusiasm; fornication is a symbol of idolatry; and in this connection is the wrathful [angry] zeal of fanaticism.26 As fanaticism, in its lust of rule and its intolerance, corresponds with internal irreligiousness and profligacy, so idolatry itself corresponds with actual unchastity. These characteristics are found combined in the religion of ancient Babylon, and are in process of constant development, corresponding to the increasingly God-opposed character of the world-powers. Various have been the false interpretations of the wine of anger, as e.g., poisoned wine and ardent wineexplanations rightly rejected by Dsterdieck. Yet the expression can not be regarded as significant purely of the wine of the anger of God; rather, together with the anger of the heathen [nations] or the Harlot, the reaction of the Divine anger develops into judgment (see Rev 11:18; Rev 17:4; comp. Rom 1:21 sqq.). Thus the fornication also is not simply fornication committed with great Babylon (Dsterdieck), but, above all, the fornication of the Harlot herself (see Jer 25:16; Jer 51:7). De Wette and others assert that this Babylon is pagan Rome solely (Tertull., Augustine, etc.); not papal Rome (Vitringa, Bengel, et al.), or Jerusalem (Abauzit, Herder, et al.), not even the wicked world or world-power (Andreas, Bede, et al.). Hengstenberg also confounds Babylon in the wider and Babylon in the narrower sense (Revelation 18). Similarly Ebrard. It should, indeed, be observed that the judgment upon the great universal world-Babylon commences with the judgment upon Babylon in the narrower sense of the term.
Rev 14:9-11. And another, third Angel.He proclaims the code or norm of judgment in an eschatological form.With a great voice.This clause is wanting in the description of the second Angel. Hengstenberg thinks that this is because the proclamation of the second Angel is related to that of the first as the particular to the general, whilst the proclamation of the third Angel is of a general cast again. The distinction, however, lies also, and in a greater degree, in the purport of the announcements.
If any one worshippeth the Wild-beast, see Revelation 13.He also shall drink, etc.Dsterdieck: (comp. Rev 14:17) represents the individual as incurring judgment equally with the Harlot herself (compare Ewald) A nearer reference of the would, perhaps, be to the fact that he has previously, in company with the Beast, himself drunk the wine of anger of Antichristian fanaticism, and presented the same to others (see Rev 9:17-18; Rev 13:10; Hengstenberg, 2, p. 151). Taken in the abstract, the reference to the Beast would also give a good sense. The meaning is that none shall be able to excuse himself on the plea that the Beast or the False Prophet seduced him; every one who has worshipped Antichrist shall be personally responsible for the facthe himself, man for man. An important rule, as opposed to those who hold that individuals belonging to a great mass are personally excused from responsibility. The error is the greater when it includes the belief that the holiness-treasures of a heavily indebted hierarchical system27 are available for personal profiting.
Of the anger of God.Anger for angerthe holy coming as a retribution upon the evil.
Which is mingled [=poured outprepared] unmixed.The expression, literally apprehended, contains a contradiction; it must, therefore, be taken as an oxymoron. Now if, with Wetstein and others, we take in the trite sense of to pour out, no distinct point is visible. The explanation of Zllig: pure essence of mixtures [spices, etc.], needs not to be refuted. Hengstenberg, on the other hand, seems to hit the point: In the Divine wine of anger, mixture with water corresponds to the element of grace, of compassion. The entire absence of such an element is represented here. Dsterdieck calls this comment artificial. [See Text. and Gram., Note 19.E. R. C.]
In the cup of His wrath.Here appearsthe stronger form of . [See Text. and Gram., note 29.E. R. C.]
Tormented with fire and brimstone.Rev 9:17; Rev 20:10. The hell punishment here described may not be resolved, in accordance with Grotius, into pangs of conscience. (Dsterd.). It goes on, however: In the presence of holy angels and of the Lamb. Can this be said of the torments of hell, in the strict sense of the term? The torments of hell resultant upon a being cast into the lake of fire are spoken of later. Do they not begin, however, in this life, especially at the end of time, where time and eternity come in contact with each other? The fire is the glow of passionate self-consumption; the brimstone is an envelopment in the fuel of irritability and irritationa fuel constantly blazing up afresh with new ardor; the pangs of conscience are as yet in the background, or at least form but a part of the torment. On the Old Testament types of punishment by fire, see Hengstenberg, 2., p. 150. A leading passage bearing upon the subject is Isa 66:24. [See Rev 20:10, and Isa 34:9-10, from which the imagery comes. De Wette is certainly wrong in interpreting , nach dem Urtheilein the judgment of. It is literal, and the meaning as in Luk 16:23 sqq., that the torments are visible to the angels and the Lamb. Alford.E. R. C.]
And the smoke of their tormentRev 19:3; Isa 34:10; Mat 25:41. Smoke is a phenomenon attendant upon imperfect combustion. If they burned with free devotion in sacrificial fire, they would blaze refulgently, without smoke; the more the flame is restrained by resistance, the thicker and blacker is the smoke which pours forth. Hence, also, is not pure [passive] suffering, but a racking or torturing process. Hengstenberg: They have no rest day and night from being tormentedwith reference to Rev 20:10, and in opposition to Vitringa, who interpreted the passage as referring to the torment of conscience.
They have not rest by day and by night.Absolute unrest or excitementa frantic condition, thereforeforms the spiritual aspect of their .
Who worship, etc.The present form of the verb must not be overlooked. The offence continues along with the . It is not: who worshipped. With the punishment, the crime which at the first merited that punishment, endures.
Rev 14:12. Here is the endurance [Lange: patience], etc.Are these words a digression of the Seer, or are they the concluding utterance of the Angel? In accordance with the analogy of Rev 13:10 (comp. also Rev 14:18), they are a practical digression of the Seer. Thus Hengstenberg regards them: The verse has reference to the point of view, the purpose to which the foregoing is subservient. Does this mean that the warning against this hell-punishment is the source of the patience [endurance] of the saints? This is about the theory maintained by those who occupy a legal stand-point; it was the theory of the Middle Ages, and is still the theory of the most popular Protestant sermons which advocate a turning from sin to holiness principally on the ground of the pain thereby to be escaped. The patience [endurance] of the saints, however, has its source in the righteousness of God, in that sacred and Divine justice which is here depicted in characters of flame (see Rev 13:10). The explanation: Here is the place for patience, here it must give proof of itself (De Wette, Hengstenberg, Ebrard), virtually translates by hither! which, undoubtedly, in and for itself gives a good sense; it is also mediately to be retained as a challenge, as is evidenced by the subsequent sentence. The construction is informal, like Rev 1:5; Rev 2:20 (Dsterdieck). In the sense of the Seer, however, a second is, probably, presupposed. The expression: The commandments of God and the faith of Jesus, is, doubtless, of wider scope than the distinction of Law and Gospel. The whole of revelation is grounded in the eternal righteousness of God, and culminates in the faith of Jesus, which is principially the steadfastness of Jesus Himself.
Rev 14:13. And I heard a voice.We cannot fix this voice upon any distinct person [i. e., saint or Elder (Hengstenberg)]; nor are there two voices (the first voice and the speaking Spirit, Zllig). It is the voice of Gods Spirit Himself in the Church Trumphant, in His sympathy with the Church in the last time. The temptation to apostasy is more prevalent than ever: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord. Dsterdieck (in accordance with most commentators) rightly distinguishes between the theme, which closes with , and the subsequent rationale. On a preposterous reference of to the last sentence, see Dsterdieck. With Cocceius and Hammond, we firmly adhere to the view that the proposition does not simply contain a general consolatory truth, but that it has a special bearing upon the last troublous time. Those, however, who die in the Lord are not to be apprehended as martyrs of the old style (Zllig); for the expression is not: die for the Lords sake (Grotius, et. al.), but in Him, in positive fellowship with Him.Henceforth is by Roman Catholic exegetes explained (Stern) as intimating that the intermediate state of purgatory is now [at the end of the world] done away with; by De Wette, Hengstenberg, Dsterdieck, it is interpreted as signifying that the glorious end is nearhence also the perfect beatification of believers. This explanation should be retained only upon the condition that special stress be laid upon , with reference to the temptations and trials of the last time; but precisely this has previously been disallowed by Dsterdieck. Our explanation of the manifoldly interpreted is indicated in the translation of the text given in the beginning of this chapter. See the authors Dogmatik, p. 1243.
[The mention of the endurance of the saints brings with it the certainty of persecution unto death. The present proclamation declares the blessedness of all who die not only in persecution, but in any manner in the Lord, in the faith and obedience of Christ. And the special command to write this, conveys special comfort to those in all ages of the Church who should read it. But it is not so easy to assign a fit meaning to . That it belongs to the preceding sentence, not to the following one, is, I conceive, plain. And, thus joined with the former sentence, it must express some reason why this blessedness is to be more completely realized from this time when it was proclaimed than it was before. Now this reason will quickly appear, if we consider the particular time, in connexion with the proclamation which is made. The harvest of the earth is about to be reaped; the vintage of the earth to be gathered. At this time it is, that the complete blessedness of the holy dead commences: when the garner is filled and the chaff cast out. And that not on account of their deliverance from any purgatorial fires, but because of the completion of this number of their brethren, and the full capacities of bliss brought in by the resurrection. Alford.The language is evidently not to be construed as implying that they who had died in the faith before were not happy, but that in the times of trial and persecution that were to come, they were to be regarded as peculiarly blessed who should escape from these sorrows by a Christian death. Barnes.E. R. C.]
For [Lange: But] their works follow with them.A rejection of the bare idea of reward is detrimental to the idea of retribution itself. The same spirituality of Theology which combats the idea of legal merit as pertaining to works, has also to maintain the truth that those works of believers which have been done in God have become for the performers of them not simply powers and virtues of the new life, but also riches of that life. The , as such, are left herefrom them the blessed rest; but as , as ideal operations, they pass with them, as their escort, into eternity. Not simply the memory of their deeds accompanies them, but also the love-blessing of this whole world in which they have helped to build the future. [May not the distinction be this: They rest from their labors (service rendered with fatigue and pain), but their works (service to be rendered without fatigue and pain) follow them? See Add. Comments on Rev 7:15, and foot-note (*) (2d column), p. 154.E. R. C.]
Rev 14:14. And I saw, and behold (a new vision-wonder, the Judgment scene itself).The Angels of the announcement of Judgment are succeeded by the Angels of the execution of Judgment; Christ being, as before, at the head. Dsterdiecks superscription of the following section: further figurative announcements of the now imminent judgment, overlooks the antithesis between this section and the preceding one.A white cloud.Commencement of Christs Parousia. The fact that Christ alone can be intended is manifest not only from the attribute of the golden crown and the parallelism with Dan 7:13; Mat 26:64, but also from the harmonious contrast between Rev 14:14 and Revelation 1. In the latter passage, Christ stands, as the Lamb, on Mount Sion, keeping holy-day in the midst of the Triumphant Church; in the former, the King Militant appears on the white cloud to execute judgment upon the world. Even the parallelism which the three following Angels of execution sustain toward the three preceding Angels of announcement, serves as evidence that none other than Christ can be intended.28 Hence, Dsterdieck rightly rejects the interpretation of the figure as an Angel (Grotius, et al.), or as heroic princes, proclaimers of the principles of evangelic truth (Vitringa).A sharp sickle.The implement of harvest in the handa symbol of beginning judgment.
Rev 14:15. Another Angel.No reference is had to Rev 14:14, nor to the preceding Angels (Dsterdieck); the reference is to the two following Angels; see above.Send forth thy sickle.Such a command is, certainly, not in harmony with the position of a real Angel; assuredly, however, the decree of the Father (see above) is most aptly set forth in a symbolical Angel.
Rev 14:16. Cast His sickle.The commencement of the judgment, therefore, precedes the actual Parousia of Christ.29 The Harlot, or Babylon, is first judged through the Beast (Rev 17:16); then follows the appearance of Christ, for the destruction of the Beast himself (Rev 19:11). Babylon, or the fallen theocracy, is destroyed by mankind; the Antichristian bestialization and deification of man is destroyed by Christ; Satan, with his rabble rout, is destroyed by God the Father.And the earth was reaped.This is the true harvesting of the fruit, the net produce of the harvest-fields of earth for God (Mat 24:31).30
Rev 14:17. Another Angel.This Angel represents the judgment of reprobation, or the dark side of the Judgment. According to Hengstenberg, this Angel is Christ Himself again. It is wrong to suppose either that Christ only is intended or that a mere ordinary Angel is meant. Why should not the Angel, as a symbolical unit, represent that plurality of Angels, who, according to Mat 13:41, are the executioners of judgment? The present passage is not identical with Rev 19:15, nor with Isaiah 63. Certainly, Christ is Himself the Judge in reference to the reprobate as well as to the blessed, but the Angel, as such, is the symbol of a manifestation of Christ which must be distinguished from Christ Himself. Hengstenberg sees in this Angel a terrible warning to those who might suffer themselves to be driven by fear into concessions; he does not say, however, what concessions he meansthe expression is so indefinite that it might even mean concessions against the hierarchy.
Rev 14:18-19. And another Angel.See chs. Rev 8:3; Rev 16:7. The altar here is not the altar of burnt-offering on earth, but the altar of incense in Heaven.Out of the altar; this can be said only of a symbolical Angel. The mythical idea of a fire-angel (De Wette) must be rejected (see above).
Gather the clusters of the vine of the earth.Hengstenberg: Such an antithesis between the harvest and the vintage as is assumed by Bengel, is not indicated by any feature of the description. Manifestly, however, the first harvest, as the fruit harvest [fruitin the primitive sense of that which is profitable and good.Tr.], is characterized by the fact that the harvest-field has become dry or white in appearance; the grapes, on the other hand, are full of grape-blood. See Ebrard, pp. 41618. Compare Joe 3:18. The remarkable choice of the figure of the vine, the grape, and the blood of the grape might, primarily, be based upon the fact that the vintage comes later than the wheat-harvestthus signifying that the judgment upon the wicked is not until after the ingathering of the righteous. To this, however, must be added the consideration that Christ calls Himself , an expression suggestive of the contrast of a vine which is such in a merely symbolical, unreal sense. Such an one was the Old Testament Theocratic Church at first. The whole vineyard early became corrupted, however, according to Isaiah 5. The vine was laid waste, Psalms 80. It became a degenerate vine, Hos 10:1; Jer 2:21; Deu 32:32. It is to be given over to judgment, Eze 17:6-10. The fact that the Old Testament vineyard, with its vines, has become a fief [Lehnsbesitz, the old feudal term=estate in loan, trust-estate] of the New Testament Church of God, is declared by the parable Mat 21:33 sqq. Christ, the true [wesentlich=essential, genuine] Vine, is the author of true [see preceding parenthesis] eternal joy and inspiration; the symbolical vine of the New Testament Church, therefore, in so far as it differs from Christ, is a vine which attains its maturity in spurious enthusiasms, fanatical and untrue joys and festivals. The most terrible thing in its degeneracy, however, is the fact that its clusters acquire their juice [Blut] by blood-shedthat it has been the author, to a constantly increasing extent, of demonic joys of bloodthirstiness; hence pure blood flows from it when it is trodden in the wine-press, and the conception grape-blood or juice is exchanged, with fearful irony, for blood (see Isa 63:3). The base-lying thought is the following: as much blood as the vine has drunk in, shall be pressed out of it again in the great winepress of the anger of God.
Rev 14:20. Without the city.Explained by most commentators of Jerusalem; by others of Rome. In the symbolical apprehension of the passage, only the City of God can be meant. But is this the Church, as Hengstenberg maintains, or the heavenly Jerusalem, as Bede, et al., affirm? The external Church, at all events, can not be intended, since the text treats of the end of the world, a time when the Church is fallen. The visible appearance of the heavenly Jerusalem (Rev 21:2), however, is preceded by the Judgmentin the first (Rev 18:24; Rev 19:2), second (Rev 19:17 sqq.), and even third instance (Rev 20:9). Nothing, therefore, save the vital Church of God of the last time can be understoodin its quality, incontrovertibly, of passing into the visible appearance of the heavenly Jerusalem and the imperishable City of God (Revelation 21); as, on the other hand, the treading of the grapes begins with the judgment upon Babylon (to which judgment it seems, also, to have special reference), but extends through the subsequent judgments into the ons. We are of opinion that this onic duration is that which is denoted by the 1600 stadia (see above).In view of all this, therefore, the application of without the City to the contrast of Heaven is not entirely incorrect, but too external. Curious interpretations of the reins, see in Dsterdiecks note, p. 478. [Alford regards the City as that of Rev 11:2, viz.: Jerusalem; so also Barnes, etc.; Wordsworth, as the New Jerusalem; Lord, as that by which the apostate hierarchies are represented.E. R. C.]
For a thousand and six hundred stadia.By this we understand a punitory suffering extending beyond this present on into future ons, a state of misery to which the eye can see no limit. Manifold interpretations of the number, see in De Wette. The complete number 1000 and the age of Noah at the time of the deluge (Andreas). The number 4400, denoting the expanse of the earth and the four regions of Heaven (Victorinus, et al.). The length of Palestine (Bengel, et al.), with reference to Jerome. Extension of the Roman dominion (Mede). The British Islands (Brightman: the Reformation; Cranmer: the Angel, Rev 14:18!). Martyrdom of converted heathen (Alcasar). According to Ebrard, the number should be analyzed by 40. The number 40 is the number of punishment; 4040 is, therefore, the number of involved punishment. An involved [mathematical sense] temporal measure of punishment of some 1600 years does not exactly coincide, however, with the onic succession of judgment.
Rev 15:1. Another sign in the Heaven.The Seer has already beheld the unitous phenomenon of the final Judgment; he now sees the historic preparation and development of the same in the succession and intensification of the Anger-Vials or judgments of hardening. The antithesis to the sign in Rev 14:14 is the pragmatical preparation of the Judgment. The sign, however, is a sign in the Heaven; it still belongs to the Heaven-picture. The greatness and marvellousness of the sign does not lie solely in the fact that seven Angelsnot Archangels (Zllig, Stern; comp. De Wette)appear simultaneously, but also in their peculiar equipment: (Dsterdieck). Hengstenberg thinks that even before the reception of the Vials they might have been recognized as the Angels of the seven plagues by some signespecially by eyes like flames of fire. Zllig, De Wette, Ebrard, Dsterdieck, rightly regard the vision of Rev 15:1 as the superscription of the immediately following section, as the Angels themselves do not issue from the Temple until Rev 15:5 (in opposition to the conception of Hengstenberg). We do not think, however, that the section under this superscription reaches to Rev 16:21 (Dsterd.), but hold that it ends at Rev 15:8, since with Rev 16:1 a new picturethe Earth-picturebegins.
The seven plaguesthe last.That is, the eschatological last anger-strokes, which bring in the final Judgment; these plagues are, manifestly, characterized as judgments of hardening. The last: This term is, on the one hand, not to be construed as having reference to individual life, or to be taken partially (Bengel); but on the other hand, neither should it be confounded with the final Judgment itself (Hengstenberg), as Dsterdieck justly remarks. denotes not so much the coming to an end as the consummation, the full development of the anger of God. Even in this point the New Testament preserves its septenary, in contrast to the ten plagues under which Pharaoh and the Egyptians hardened themselves. As, however, those plagues were instrumental to the redemption of the people of Israel, so are these instrumental to the perfect redemption of the New Testament Church of God. For the unitous mass of the earth all plagues do indeed come to an end with the last of these plagues; it is not so in the case of the enemies of Christ.
Rev 15:2-4. And I saw as it were [Lange: an appearance as].It might be queried: Is not this a second and therefore superfluous pre-celebration of the Judgment, since we have already had one pre-celebration of it in Rev 14:1-5? That, however, was the general pre-celebration of the entire Judgment, with reference to the Church Triumphant and its escape from said Judgment; here we have the more special pre-celebration of the plagues of anger, the second part of the Heaven-picture. The antithesis to the fearful stormy succession of those last strokes of anger is formed by the crystal seathe world-history of the saints, calmed and clarified in God; the antithesis to the impenitent world on the earth is formed by the conquerors by [on] the crystal sea; the antithesis to the blasphemies of those visited by the plagues is formed by the heavenly celebration in song, and adoration of the righteous judgments of God.
As a glassy [Lange: crystal] sea mingled with fire, see Rev 4:6.Dsterdieck justly remarks, against Ebrard, that the article [before sea] must be absent because it is only the image of a crystal sea that is spoken of. The greater stress must be laid upon this circumstance, since the idea of a crystal surface of sea mingled with fire does not come within the possibilities of thought, and hence Ewald, in consequence of his insisting upon the reality [materiality] of the image has arrived at the conception of an ineffably seething and foaming mass, a fiery broth (see Dsterdieck, p. 484). The image of a crystal-clear sea in Heaven may, however, readily appear as though illuminated and reddened by the fiery glare of the Anger-Vials on earth; and this very reflection is expressed in the song of praise which refers to the judgments of God; moreover, the clarified world-history has itself passed through the fire of earthly world-history (see p. 34 and Rev 4:6). [The addition, , is probably made as bringing into the previous celestial imagery an element belonging to this portion of the prophecy, of which judgment is the prevailing complexion. Alford.E. R. C.]
And I saw those conquering.To this passage, again, a great and confused mass of interpretations attaches. De Wette: The multitude and glory of the blessed (And., Areth.). Baptism (Primas., et al.). The Divine truth in which believers have their station (Vitringa). Multitude of the heathen (Alcas.). Gentile Christians (Grotius). De Wette: The atmosphere. The last named commentator rejects the reference to the brazen sea in the Temple, but assumes a reference to Israels passage through the Red Sea. The fire has also been variously interpreted: Trial-fire (Andreas; others: temptation, persecution, conflict). Martyrdom (Primas.). Love (Grot.), etc. See De Wette, p. 152. According to Dsterdieck, the crystal sea mingled with fire denotes the unity of the beatific grace and the judicatory righteousness of God. The conquerors are not simply martyrs (in accordance with Eichhorn, Ewald, et al.), neither are they (because of the present: ) such as are still in the conflict; they are, in a proleptical representation (De Wette), the congregation of victors, especially those of the last time, over against the great plagues of the last time and those who blaspheme under them. undoubtedly does not mean that they have destroyed the power of the Beast; from this fact, however, it does not follow that it must mean: away from the Beast [vom Thiere weg], as if they had kept themselves at a distance from him.
[On (or by) the glassy sea.Does import actually upon, so that they stood on the surface of the sea, or merely on the shore of? On every account the latter seems the more probable, as better suiting the heavenly imagery of Revelation 4, and as according with the situation of the children of Israel when they sung the song to which allusion is presently made. The sense may be constructionally justified by Rev 3:20; Rev 8:3. Alford.E. R. C.]
Harps of God.Tuned solely for the praise of God (Beng.).
Rev 15:3. And they sing, etc.The song of Moses is the lyrical celebration of the typical redemption by Moses; the song of the Lamb the celebration of the real redemption by the Lamb; and the two songs in their unity as one song are the lyrical celebration of the Old and New Testament revelation faith, in view of the whole redemption which began with Moses, was decided with Christ, and is now thoroughly consummated through the fiery judgments of God. Not two songs, therefore, sung respectively by Old and New Testament believers (Andr.); not the song of Moses applied to Christ and the things of Christ (Grotius); not a song composed at once by Moses and by the Lamb (Ewald, Dsterd.); but the whole redemption as mediated by Moses and Christ, with a distinct reference to the song of Moses and the passage through the Red Sea, as a type of the passage through those rivers of fire by which the faithful of the last time shall be separated from the hardened sinners of that time.
Great and marvellous, etc.The thought of Vitringa: Canticum Mosis habet spiritualem et mysticum sensum, secundum quem si accipiatur fit canticum agni, contains something of truth inasmuch as even in the song of Moses, together with the omnipotence of God, which destroyed the enemy and saved the people of Israel, the manifestation of His holiness is especially magnified, and it is also even intimated that the whole event must make a startling and a relatively awakening impression upon the heathen. Comp. Exo 15:14-16 with the conclusion of the song in the Apocalypse.
Rev 15:3-4. The song first glorifies, in an objective contemplation of the Judgment, the marvellous, all-swaying, kingly rule of God over the world, in particular over the nationsa governance now attaining its consummate appearance, especially in the righteousness and truth (absolute consistency and faithfulness) of His ways. Then, secondly, it declares the impression made by this rule upon the conquerors: it produces the most sacred awe of the holiness of God, and a joyful enthusiasm which prompts them to praise His name as it shines in the perfection of His revelation. Thirdly, the song expresses the prophetic expectation of the effect which these judgments of God shall produce upon the world of nations;a genuine New Testament trait as expressive of the hope that many shall yet be converted even under the ministry of the Vials of Anger, Exo 9:16; Exo 14:7; Psa 126:2; Mic 7:16.In Rev 15:4, as well as in Rev 16:5, is used in reference to God, which is unusual.
Rev 15:5. Opened was the Temple.It is more precisely defined as the Temple of the Tabernacle of the witness. According to Grotius, Ebrard and others, the Holy of Holies is itself intended; according to Ewald and Dsterdieck, the Sanctuary proper is intended, as an adjunct to the Holy of Holies. Hengstenb.: The Temple in its quality of being the place of the testimony. The Temple as the Sanctuary, in contrast to the Holy of Holies, also needed not now first to be opened; see Syn. View.Be it further observed that the seven Angels are symbolical figures of anger in the ramification and course of its domination. [The is the holy place of the Tabernacle, to which latter the appellation is here peculiarly appropriate, seeing that the witness and covenant of God are about to receive their great fulfillment. Alford.E. R. C.]
Rev 15:6. Clothed in linen pure and glistening.Their adornment is similar to that of Christ. Their import also is, doubtless, connected with that of the Archangel Michael. The reading gives occasion to many debates here (see Dsterdieck, p. 486). Clothed with Christ, the Jewel, or with the ornament of the virtues (Andreas)? This is destitute of all appropriate meaning, and about the same remark may be applied to the explanation that (with reference to Eze 28:13) a garment bestudded with precious stones might be understood. In conjunction with such a the adjective would be rather superfluous, and , at all events, would be inappropriate.
Rev 15:7. And one of the four Living-beings [Lange: Life-shapes].Here, likewise, the false interpretation reappears, according to which the four so-called Beasts are representatives of the creature, and hence one of them appears because the plagues concern the whole creation.Into the ages.The eternity of God surpasses the time of the seven Anger-vials. The Vials of Anger also denote death, unceasing and repeatedand over against them stands the eternally Living One.
Rev 15:8. With smoke.Veiling of the Divine Majesty (Bengel). Also a sign of His un-approachableness in the manifestation of His holiness. See Isaiah 6.; Exo 40:34; 1Ki 8:10. Comp. Syn. View. Different interpretations, see in De Wette, p. 154; Dsterdieck, p. 484. There are some very curious interpretations amongst those cited, as for instance that of Cocceius: The human ordinances of popery debar men from faith. Or that of Calov.: Symbol of the blindness of unbelief.
[No one was able to enter into the Temple (comp. 1Ki 8:10-11; Exo 40:34-35) until the seven plagues of the seven Angels should be finished.The passages above referred to give the reason: because of the unapproachableness of God, when immediately present and working, by any created being. See Exo 19:21. When these judgments should be completed, then the wrathful presence and agency of God being withdrawn, He might again be approached.Alford. See also the conclusion of the abstract of Stuart, p. 282.E. R. C.]
[ADDITIONAL NOTE ON THE SECTION]
By the American Editor
[This section consists, as it seems to the writer, of three complete visions, and the beginning of a fourtheach relating to a period still future, and terminating with the consummation of the present on (the on immediately preceding the establishment of the Millennial Kingdom). Each of these visions is independenteach contemplating matters not referred to in any of the others, and each describing events mentioned by all the others, though in a different mode and under different relations.
Vision I., Rev 14:1-13, is introduced by the strong disjunctive formula, , , and consists of several consecutive parts.Part first (Rev 14:1-5) contemplates the body about to possess the Kingdomthe Lamb with the completed (see p. 193)standing on the Mount Sion.31 It describes also the condition and character of the chosen companions of Christ.Part second (Rev 14:6-7) relates to a universal proclamation of the Gospel preceding the outpouring of the Vials of anger. Whether the Angel, in this and the following parts, denotes a real Angel, or symbolizes a body of men specially commissioned for the purpose indicated, it is impossible now to determine.Part third (Rev 14:8) foretells a proclamation of the fall of Babylon (see on Rev 18:2).Part fourth contemplates a public proclamation of woe to be visited upon the worshippers of the Beast; (the execution of the judgments set forth in this and the preceding proclamation is presented in detail in chs. 1619)Part fifth is designed for the comfort of the saints. It refers (Rev 14:12) to the ground of their endurance, viz.: the sure destruction of the power of their persecutors; and then declares (Rev 14:13) their certain blessedness when the trials of this life are ended.
Vision II., Rev 14:14-20, is introduced by the same formula as the preceding. It contemplates Christ in the exercise of His office as Ruler over all things (comp. Eph 1:22)(1) as gathering His ripened Church from the earth (Rev 14:15-16); and (2) as executing judgment upon His enemies. This execution of judgment, as in the preceding vision, is more fully set forth in chs. 1619.
Vision III., Rev 15:1-4, is not indeed introduced with the same formula as the preceding; it commences, however, with one equally significant. It is purely a Heaven-scene. It contemplates, on the one hand, the chosen ministers of the judgments about to be executed; and, on the other, the entire glorified Church gathered before the Throne as worshippers, and as spectators of the course of Divine Providence on earth. (Is not this assemblage the same as that mentioned Rev 7:9? See Add. Note, p. 193.)
Vision IV. begins with Rev 15:5, and extends to the close of Revelation 17. This vision is introduced with one of the most significant disjunctive formulas employed in the Apocalypse: (see foot-note, p. 150, first column). It consists of three parts.Part first, Rev 15:5-8, sets forth the preparation of the ministers of vengeance for their work, and the heavenly events attendant thereupon.Part second, Revelation 16, describes the execution of their work.Part third, Revelation 17, contains a supplemental statement concerning the Harlot and the Beast, upon whom judgment had been executed.E. R. C.]
Footnotes:
[1]Rev 15:1. [There are three words which in the E. V. are translated wrath: viz.: , as here; , as in Rev 15:10; , which occurs only in Eph 4:26. The instances of the occurrence of the first two are as follows: : Luk 4:28; Act 19:28; Rom 2:8 (indignation); 2Co 12:20; Gal 5:20; Eph 4:31; Col 3:8; Heb 11:27; Rev 12:12; Rev 14:8; Rev 14:10; Rev 14:19; Rev 15:1; Rev 15:7; Rev 16:1; Rev 16:19 (fierceness); Rev 18:3; Rev 19:15 (fierceness); : Mat 3:7; Mar 3:5; Luk 3:7; Luk 21:23; Joh 3:36; Rom 1:18; Rom 2:5 (bis), Rom 2:8; Rom 3:5 (vengeance); Rom 4:15; Rom 5:9; Rom 9:22 (bis); Rom 12:19; Rom 13:4-5; Eph 2:3; Eph 4:31; Eph 5:6; Col 3:6; Col 3:8 (anger); 1Th 1:10; 1Th 2:16; 1Th 5:9; 1Ti 2:8; Heb 3:11; Heb 4:3; Jam 1:19-20; Rev 6:16-17; Rev 11:18; Rev 14:10 (indignation); Rev 16:19; Rev 19:15. From a comparison of these passages, especially those in the Apocalypse, it will become apparent that the latter is the intensive, of the former (see Lange in Expl, in Detail on Rev 15:10),that the effects of are for the most part experienced in the present life; those of in the life to come. In accordance with what he regards as the manifest design of the Spirit to distinguish between the objectives of these terms, the Am. Ed. throughout this translation renders the former by anger and the latter by wrath. It may be objected that this change of the translation of involves a change in the formula Vials of wrath that has become a household phrase. It may be answered that due regard for the distinctions made by the Holy Spirit requires a change here, or in the rendering of ; and the latter would require an alteration of the formulasthe wrath of the Lamb (Rev 6:16), the great day of His wrath (Rev 6:17), the fierceness of His wrath (Rev 16:19), the wrath of Almighty God, Rev 19:15.It should be remarked that in the confused translation of these terms the E. V. closely follows Luthers Version, as it generally does in other instances.E. R. C.
[2]Rev 15:1. [The translation contemplated is as follows: Seven angels having seven plaguesthe last, for in them is finished the anger of God.E. R. C.]
[3]Rev 15:2. Omitted in the best Codd. [Omitted by . A. B*. C. P. 6, 7, 14, Vulg., etc.; it is given (see Tisch.) only by 1, 35, 36, 79.E. R. C.
[4]Rev 15:2. [Crit. Eds. omit the article with . A. C. P.; it is given by B*. 2, 7, etc.E. R. C.]
[5]Rev 15:3. Two variations: of the ons, of the saints. [Crit. Eds. give with c. A. B*. P. 1,6,7, etc.; with?; *. C. 18, 95, Vulg, Cl., Fuld., etc., read . Alford judiciously remarks: The confusion has apparently arisen from the similarity of () and ; but which was the original, it is impossible, in the conflict of authorities, to decide.E. R. C.]
[6]Rev 15:4. [The construction here is irregularthe first verb being ; the second, .E. R. C.]
[7]Rev 15:4. without . [So Crit. Eds. with A. B*. C. P. 1,12, etc., Am., Fuld.; 6, 7, Cl., etc., subjoin ; . places it before .E. R. C.]
[8]Rev 15:4. [Crit. Eds. give with . A. C. P. 1, etc.; B*. 6, 7, 8, read .E. R. C.]
[9]Rev 15:5. [The is supported only by Vulg., Cop., Prms., Er.; Crit. Eds. omit with . A. B*. C. P. 1, Syr., Arm., th., etc.E. R. C.]
[10]Rev 15:6. [Lange and Tisch. read with A. C., etc.; . B*. 1, etc., omit ; Alf. brackets, Treg. marks with *.E. R. C.]
[11]Rev 15:6. Codd. A. C., etc. [Am., Fuld.] give the difficult reading ; . B*. [P. Vulg. Cl.] support the Rec. [Lange, Alf., Tisch., give ; Lach. and Treg. .E. R. C.]
[12]Rev 15:8. without , according to . A. C. [P.]. [So Crit. Eds. generally; Tisch. (1859) prefixed with B*.E. R. C.]
[13][For the employment of this term rather than wrath see Text. and Gram. (Note 28) on Rev 15:1. In consequence of the confusion of and in the accepted Version, the same confusion exists in the language of German, as in that of English-speaking, Theologians. As the German Zorn, like the English wrath, is used to translate both these words; and as it is capable of being rendered by both anger and wrath, the Am. Ed. takes the liberty of using the one or the other of these English words according as the reference is to or .E. R. C.]
[14][See Add. Note, p. 193,E. R. C.]
[15]Schiller: Gemeine Naturen zahlen mit dem was sie thun, edle mit dem was sie sind.
[16][See Text. and Gram. under Rev 14:8, note 16.E. R. C.]
[17][See Text. and Gram. under Rev 14:10, note 19.E. R.C.]
[18]May there not be an allusion to the fact that the crucifixion of Christ, in which the sin and, par excellence, the blood-guiltiness of the world culminated, took place without the cityTr.]
[19][See on p. 94.E. R. C.]
[20][See Text. and Gramm. under Rev 15:3, note 33.E. R. C.]
[21]On the reading , see Dsterd. [See also Text. and Gram.E. R. C.]
[22][See Add. Note on pp. 161 sq.E. R. C.]
[23][There is considerable complexity in the last part of Elliotts great work. The whole of chs. 1214 he regards as a connected revelation written on the outside of the Roll, and presenting a revelation parallel with that presented in the other portions of the Apocalypse (inside written) to the close of Revelation 19. (see Rev 5:1). Chs. 1214:5, he regards as extending to what he styles the primary end of the period of 1260 days, about A. D., 178993 (see p. 260); Rev 14:6-20, as above.E. R. C.]
[24]The above seems to be the division contemplated by Stuart.E. R. C.]
[25] Alford: There are two ways of understanding these words. Either they may be figurative, implying that the pure ones lived in all chastity, whether in single or in married life, and incurred no pollution (see 2Co 11:2); or they may be meant literally, that these purest ones had lived in that state of which St. Paul says, 1Co 7:1, ; and as between these two meanings, I conceive, that the somewhat emphatic position of goes some way to decide. It is not , the fact of impurity in allowed intercourse, but that is put forward, the fact of commerce with women. I would therefore believe that in the description of these who are the first fruits from the earth, the feature of virginity is to be taken in its literal meaning. Nor need any difficulty be found in this. It is on all hands granted that he who is married in the Lord enters into holy relations or which the single have no experience, and goes through blessed and elevating degrees of self-sacrifice, and loving allowance, and preferring others before himself. But neither on the other hand can it be denied that the state of holy virginity has also its peculiar blessings and exemptions. Of these, the Apostle himself speaks of that absence of distraction from the Lords work, which is apt to beset the married, busy as they are with the cares of a household and with pleasing one another. And another and primary blessing is, that in them that fountain of carnal desire has never been opened which is so apt to be a channel for unholy thoughts and an access for the tempter. The virgins may thus have missed the victory over the lusts of the flesh; but they have also in great part escaped the conflict. Theirs is not the triumph of the toil-worn and stained soldier, but the calm and the unspottedness of those who have kept from the strife.E. R. C.]
[26][See Text. and Gram. (note 16) in loc.E. R. C.]
[27][Whether the indebtedness has a human or a Divine bearingi. e., whether it signifies the issue, by the system in question, of more promissory notes than its capital will cover,or whether it is indicative of a moral involvement toward Godthe German leaves undecided (Heiligkeitsschdtze eines schwer verschuldeten hierarchischen Systems); Dr. Langes somewhat frequent use of the quivoque, however, favors the idea that both aspects of the matter were contemplated by him.Tr.]
[28][For a different view, see abstract of Lord, p. 283.E. R. C.]
[29][This conclusion does not follow. If the appearance of the Son of Man on the white cloud be the commencement of Christs Parousia (see comment on Rev 14:14), then, manifestly, the casting forth of the sickle does not precede that Parousia.E. R. C.]
[30][For a contrary view, see abstract of Stuart, p. 282.E. R. C.]
[31][It is an interesting question, Where is the Mount Sion here mentioned? Is it earthly or heavenly? In the judgment of the writer, it is heavenly. Christ as Head of the Millennial Kingdom does not come into visible manifestation (on earth) until after the pouring out of the Vials (see Rev 19:11-16). The earthly Jerusalem and the earthly Sion are types of places in that glorious world where Jesus and His disembodied saints now are (comp. Joh 14:2-3; Heb 12:22), awaiting the time for the establishment of the Basileia and the manifestation of the Sons of God on earth.E. R. C.]
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
SPECIAL DOCTRINO-ETHICAL AND HOMILETICAL NOTES (ADDENDUM)
Section Twelfth
Heavenly World-picture of the Seven Vials of Anger, or the Judgment of Anger in its General Form (embracing the Three Special Judgments upon Babylon, the Beast and Satan.) (Chs. 14, 15)
General.The peculiar sublimity of this section is thoroughly manifest only when it is regarded as representative of the heavenly celebration of Gods anger-judgments on earth, and when its relation to these is recognized in the treatment of it. The dreadful darkness of these judgments, as they here appear, is pure light above,aye, it is there resolved into festal radiance. Above, the measures of Divine anger, ruling, as a holy anger of united love and righteousness, over the wrath of the heathen [nations], and, by its ruling, conducting the latter to the judgment of self-annihilation, are recognized and magnified, in their holiness and gloriousness, to the glory of God and the Lamb.
In the foreground of the whole festal scene stands the Lamb, on the Mount Zion, surrounded by the 144,000 elect, who represent the Church Triumphant. Herein two grand ideas are involved. On the one hand, the Lamb has lifted His heavenly Congregation high above the sphere of anger; and, on the other hand, it is the very righteousness and privilege of the Lamb and His companions by which the wrath of the heathen [nations] is excited, and the holy anger of God at that wrath is superinduced. Here lies the causality of the Vials of Anger.
Next follows a description of the perfect heavenly consciousness of the necessity for these judgments, as well as of the ideal import of themthat at the right time they must needs come as the harvest of the earth, now that the earth is ripe for harvest,ripe for a judgment which will be the final redemption, in virtue of its separation betwixt the wheat and the chaff. This entire description is presented in the form of a grand transaction between six Angels, three of whom are charged with the proclamation of the judgment, whilst the three others have the symbolic execution of it. The two divisions are separated by an intervening voice from Heaven, declaratory of the blessedness of the dead who die in the Lord. The first herald of the judgment proclaims throughout the universe that the imminent judgment will be an eternal Gospel, a Gospel of eternity, for all who give glory to God. As a death-judgment, the judgment is divided into two sections, the first consisting of the judgment upon Babylon the Great, and the second composed of the judgment upon the Beast and its worshippers. These two judgments form two sides of the one general judgment (Rev 14:19-20). The transactions of the three executive Angels likewise fall into two divisions. At the head of the three executive Angels appears the seventh, or rather the first, figure of the entire group, the Man on the white cloud, or the Lamb, again, in another form. As the Father has reserved to Himself the time and the hour of the final judgment, an Angel represents this reservation on the part of the Father, by summoning the One on the cloud to the harvest of the earth. Christ casts His sickle upon the earth, and thus ensues the harvest in the truest sense of the termthe harvest of redemption, of the redeemed. This is followed by the harvest of anger. Thus is unfolded the perfect heavenly consciousness concerning the idea, the purpose, the time and the hour of the judgment of anger.
Next follows Act the Third, the representation of the holy order of the judgment of anger, and its sacred heavenly measures. The Divine clemency which characterizes the judgment itself is expressed first by the fact that it is septenariously divided; secondly, by the execution of the judicial decrees by seven Angels of God; and, thirdly, by the circumstance that the result of the judgment once more appears,the crystal sea, the eternal, new humanity,and that this result is celebrated by a song, in which the song of Moses, or the song of anger, and the song of the Lamb, or the song of love, are united. Worthy of special prominence is the further fact that the Angels go forth from the Temple of the tabernacle of the witness, and thus accord with the ideality of the Divine Lawa truth which is likewise expressed in their holy adornment [clothed in pure and white linen], and in the committal to them of the dispensation of the Divine anger in golden vialsin heavenly measures, determined by Divine faithfulness (see Exeg. Notes).
Special.
[Chs. 14, 15.] Pre-celebration of the anger-judgment in Heaven.
[Rev 14:1-5.] The Church Triumphant: (a) Her stand-point, (b) her centre, (c) her characteristics, (d) her song.Relation of the 144,000 triumphant ones to the 144,000 sealed ones (Revelation 7).The end-judgment as the harvest of the earth.The new Bong: (1) Its newness, (2) its melodies, (3) the singers, (4) the hearers.
[Rev 14:6.] The eternal [everlasting] Gospel as the Gospel of eternity. Or as the eschatological phase of the one principial Gospel.
[Rev 14:8.] Pre-celebration, in Heaven, of the judgment upon Babylon.
[Rev 14:9-11.] Pre-celebration of the judgment upon Antichristianity.
[Rev 14:12.] The patience of the saints, (1) as endurance in persecution, (2) as forbearance from persecution.Great warning against Antichristianity (Rev 14:9-11).
[Rev 14:13.] Blessed are the dead, etc., or the heavenly peace-bell, pealing amid the thunders of judgment.
[Rev 14:14-20.] Gods double harvest on earth: 1. The proper harvest (the sickle); 2. The improper harvest (the wine-press).
Revelation 15 : The heavenly equipment of the seven Angels of Anger in its grand significance: 1. What they effect (Rev 15:2); 2. What they glorify (Rev 15:3); 3. What they bring about (Rev 15:4).
[Rev 15:6.] Forth-going of the judgments of God out of His Temple.The judgments of God in their beauteous heavenly aspect (Rev 15:6-7).
[Rev 15:8.] Sublime veiling of the majesty of God during the time of His judgments on earth, and the import of that veiling.
Starke (Chap. 14.): Christ stands in the midst of His Church, over against Antichristian abominations and cruelties, as a Conqueror (Psa 100:2), and is ready to help His people (Act 7:56).Cramer: The holy Christian Church is not founded upon the sand, but upon a mountain (Psa 68:16), aye, firmer than the seven mountains on which the great city lies (Rev 17:9).
Rev 14:2. This is to be understood of the true confessors of the Churchs doctrine, in which doctrine they, in reference to the corruption of the spiritual Babylon, are emphatic and unanimous. Hence there is ascribed to them a voice of great waters, because with their doctrines they instituted many movements; a voice of a great thunder, which penetrates and shakes all things, indicates the mighty preaching of the Gospel, Mar 3:17; and a voice of harmonious music teaches that all their doctrines beautifully harmonized in Christ, Col 3:16. (All this is, indeed, not yet fulfilled in Protestant theology or the ecclesiastical structures of the Reformation, so far as their outward form is concerned.) This picture is drawn from the service of the Levites in the Old Testament (Psalms 134).
Rev 14:3. It sounded entirely new (as when we hear a new and unknown song, set to a strange and unaccustomed tune), because the faithful bring it with new hearts, and because it tells of new benefits, etc.It is called new in antithesis to the old.Gods praise must be sung in the Church.He who would sing the Gospel song aright, must have a new heart and must have his face set toward God and His Throne.
Rev 14:6. The Angel with the everlasting Gospel. Those who regard this as fulfilled, explain it as follows; This has reference to a remarkable teacher who should reform the Church and purify it in the time of Antichrist; by this Angel, Luther and his associates, who began the Reformation, are intended. Those who regard it as future, explain as follows: The voices of these three Angels pertain to the very last time, etc.
Rev 14:8. This expression is taken from the philters or love-potions of abandoned women, etc.
Rev 14:9. This proves clearly that the Beast cannot be the Harlot, or the Papacy.
Rev 14:13. The ancients carefully distinguished between dying for the Lord and dying in the Lord; the former is peculiar to martyrs, the latter is common to all true Christians. (The distinction, becomes false, however, so soon as it is pressed.)The voice of the Lord which gives command to write, also commands men to read.The tears which flow at the departure of pious persons may be wiped away by the diligent contemplation of the bliss to which they have attained.The Holy Scriptures know of no purgatorial fires; those who have died in the Lord they place, immediately upon their death, in Heaven.
Rev 14:15. And another Angel. Some understand, by this other Angel, the Holy Ghost, Who is sent into the hearts of men and, with strong crying, makes the distress of the faithful known unto Christ.
Rev 14:18. Some regard the Angel mentioned here, as the Holy Ghost.
Rev 14:20. In the grain harvest there is no sign of anger, but, on the contrary, there is mercy in it, for believers who have remained faithful to Jesus under the domination of the Beast, are then gathered into Gods garner because the judgment upon the wicked is at hand (Mat 13:30). The vintage is a harvest of anger, for there is express mention of anger in this connection (Rev 14:19).Rev 15:3. Some apprehend the song of Moses as the Law and the song of the Lamb as the Gospel (in contra-distinction to those who regard the song of Moses as the song of the physical redemption, by means of the passage through the Red Sea, and the song of the Lamb as the song of the spiritual redemption from the spiritual Egypt). True servants of God must unite the song of Moses and that of the Lambthe old and the new.
Sabel (see p. 73): Rev 14:1. He is called the Lambkin [] in antithesis, to the great red Dragon (Rev 12:3) who gave his great authority to the Beast (Rev 13:2), and in antithesis to the Beast itself, which speaks great things and blasphemies (Rev 13:5).
Rev 14:3. No one could learn the song, etc. There are, then, lessons to be learned even in Heaven. That learning will, however, be something different from our more mechanical, discursive learning. Even [in this mortal life] we know the difference between this latter learning and the being taught of God (Joh 6:45).
Rev 14:4. Even on the basis of the Apocalypse a literal interpretation of this passage would be productive of great embarrassment. Such an interpretation would exclude from the 144,000 the Apostles themselvesa thing inconceivable according to Mat 19:28; the brethren of the Lordof whom it is related, 1Co 9:5, that they carried their wives with them on their missionary journeys; and also Philip, one of the deacons, the father of four daughters (Act 21:8-9). There is, moreover, not the slightest indication to be found in the Old Covenant, from the participants in which the nucleus of the heavenly congregation of the first fruits had been gathered, that celibacy was regarded with any favor in Israel. On the contrary, no eunuch, no impotent man, could enter into the congregation of God (Deu 23:1), and only of the future system of salvation was it prophesied that not even the eunuch should be shut out from it (Isa 56:3; see Gen 2:18; Mat 19:4-5; Eph 5:23; 2Co 11:2; 1Ti 4:1-3).The Angel with the everlasting Gospel. This is the Angel of missions, the representative of all missionary labor, both within apostate Christendom and in heathen lands. (Missions are good and great; but the reference here is to a time when missions must have completed their work, and to a new fact, the end-judgment, in its character of a gospel of a blessed eternity, for believers.)
[From M. Henry: Rev 14:13. Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from henceforth, etc. They are blessed, 1. In their rest; they rest from all sin, temptation, sorrow, and persecution. 2. In their recompense, their works follow them; they do not go before them as their title or purchase, but follow them as their evidence of having lived and died in the Lord. 3. In the time of their dying, when they have lived to see Gods cause reviving, the peace of the Church returning, and the wrath of God falling upon their idolatrous, cruel enemies.From The Comprehensive Commentary: Rev 14:4. They follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth. Through persecutions and tribulations, into obscurity, or into prisons, with self-denial, obedient faith, and patient hope; taking up their cross, and copying His example of meekness, purity and love. (Scott.)From Barnes: Rev 14:3. To appreciate fully the song of Zion; to understand the language of praise; to enter into the spirit of the truths which pertain to redemption, one must himself have been redeemed by the blood of Christ.
Rev 14:11. And they have no rest, day nor night. It will be one of the bitterest ingredients in the cup of woe, in the world of despair, that the luxury of rest will be denied forever, and that they who enter that gloomy prison sleep no more; never know the respite of a momentnever even lose the consciousness of their heavy doom.
Rev 14:13. Blessed are the dead. We should be grateful for any system of religion which will enable us thus to speak of those who are dead; which will enable us, with corresponding feeling, to look forward to our own departure from this world.Which die in the Lord. Not all the dead; for God never pronounces the condition of the wicked who die, blessed or happy. The declaration is confined to those who furnish evidence that they are prepared for heaven. To die in the Lord implies, 1. That they who thus die are the friends of the Lord Jesus. 2. It would seem also to imply that there should be, at the time, the evidence of His favor and friendship. This would apply (1) to those who die as martyrs; and (2) to those who have the comforting evidence of His presence and favor on the bed of death.That they may rest from their labors. In view of such eternal rest from toil, we may well endure the labors and toils incident to the short period of the present life, for however arduous or difficult, it will soon be ended.Their works do follow them. Note here, 1. That all that the righteous do and suffer here will be appropriately recompensed there. 2. This is all that can follow a man to eternity. He can take with him none of his gold, his lands, his raiment; none of the honors of this life, none of the means of sensual gratification. All that will go with him will be his character, and the results of his conduct here; and, in this respect, eternity will be but a prolongation of the present life. 3. It is one of the highest honors of our nature that we can make the present affect the future for good; that by our conduct on earth we can lay the foundation for happiness millions of ages hence.
Rev 14:15. For the time is come for Thee to reap. That is, the harvest which Thou art to reap is ripe; the seed which Thou hast sown has grown up; the earth which Thou hast cultivated has produced this golden grain, and it is fit that Thou shouldst now gather it in.From Vaughan: Rev 14:7. Till a man fears, he can never know hope. The first, call of the everlasting Gospel itself is to fear God and to worship the universal Creator.
Rev 14:11. Some rest not day nor night from praise (Rev 4:8); others rest not day nor night from suffering.
Rev 14:15. As there is a harvest of the earth for good, so also there is a harvest of the soul, an immaturity and a ripeness of the individual Christian.
Rev 14:18. So also there is an individual ripening for the vintage of wrath and judgment.From Bonar: These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth. We follow Him here in suffering and service, as we shall follow Him hereafter in glory and joy.]
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
CONTENTS
The Church, having been prepared in the preceding Chapter, by seeing her Safety in Christ, is in this Chapter taught concerning the Ministry of the seven Angels, with the seven last Plagues. The Song of Moses and the Lamb. The seven Angels come forth from the Temple.
Rev 15:1
And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God.
This is a short, but sweet Chapter. It seems in its contents, principally designed to fortify the Church with the assurance of victory, that the Lord’s people, in the worst of times, might feel no fear from any outward exercises, being strengthened with inward grace. It opens with a sign, which John calls, great and marvellous. And great and marvellous it always is, when the worm Jacob is made to thresh the mountains. And great and marvellous also upon another account, when grace is so blessedly shown to the Church, in the same moment, the wrath of God is poured out on the ungodly. There is nothing so affecting to a child of God, as when, in the time he feels: some new token of God’s love, is conscious, when receiving it, he merits God’s displeasure; and beholds that displeasure poured out on others, no more undeserving than himself. The words, upon such occasions, burst involuntarily from the heart, overwhelmed under a sense of distinguishing grace: Lord! how is it that thou dost manifest thyself unto me, and not unto the world, Joh 14:22 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
The Song of Triumph
Rev 15:3
I. The life of the redeemed is here represented as a ‘Service of Song’. This will afford matter neither for merriment nor surprise, if we reflect for a moment or two on the function of song. Music is a language, and frequently the only language that can give expression to the highest thoughts of the mind, or the deepest feelings of the heart. For words cannot utter what is greatest in us. Looks may dp it, glances, gestures, smiles and tears may do it, but it is never so well or so effectually done as when the gifted sons and daughters of song come to our aid. (1) It is further to be noticed that all life, as it approaches perfection, becomes melodious. (2) There is no music like the music of triumph, and no songs like those which celebrate deliverance.
II. I take it as beautifully significant, that the burden of this song should be what it is, and that it should be called ‘The Song of Moses and of the Lamb’. Moses, the much tried servant of God, the heroic leader of a stiff-necked people; and the Lamb, the eternal symbol of sacrificial suffering and sorrow. For it is a mistake to suppose that noble sorrow, nobly borne, silences the voice of song. Shelley says, ‘Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thought’. It is partly true, it is mainly sentimental. But this is wholly true, that sorrow when, as I say, it is nobly borne, when the pathetic ‘How long?’ passes into no form of rebellion and self-will is important to hang or keep the harp upon the willows. Song breaks from it as the phoenix from the flame.
III. It is further suggested by this vision of the redeemed, that the conquerors of all ages take part in this song. The radiant hope here ‘set before us’ is, that all who have overcome will unite in the eternal song. They shall come from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south, with the marks of conflict still upon them, and there, standing upon the ‘Sea of glass,’ with the golden fires as of a grand sunset flashing across its smooth surface, they shall roll to highest heaven ‘the song of Moses and of the Lamb’. Think of that, my heavily-laden friend! The very thing that weighs upon thee most, thou shalt set it to music some day.
IV. Let us expect conflict There is something more than a happy alliteration in the well-worn phrase. ‘No cross, no crown.’
V. Only let us look for victory from the right source. ‘Looking unto Jesus’ is the only safe attitude for the best and bravest of us.
J. Thew, Broken Ideals, p. 61.
Rev 15:3
Compare a sentence written by Mrs. H. B. Stowe during the dark hours of the war between the South and North: ‘If this struggle is to be prolonged till there be not a home in the land where there is not one dead, till all the treasure amassed by the unpaid labour of the slave shall be wasted, till every drop of blood drawn by the lash shall be atoned by blood drawn by the sword, we can only bow and say, “Just and true are thy ways, thou King of Saints”.’
References. XV. 3. H. Melvill, Penny Pulpit, No. 1656, p. 289. H. Alford, Quebec Chapel Sermons, vol. ii. p. 295. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. iii. No. 136. Expositor (6th Series), vol. v. p. 137.
Rev 15:3-4
Dr. John Brown, in his letter to Dr. Cairns, tells of his uncle ‘astonishing us all with a sudden burst. It was a sermon upon the apparent plus of evil in this world, and he had driven himself and us all to despair so much sin, so much misery when, taking advantage of the chapter he had read, the account of the uproar at Ephesus in the Theatre, he said, “Ah, sirs! what if some of the men who, for about the space of two hours cried out, Great is Diana of the Ephesians, have for the space of eighteen hundred years and more been crying day and night, Great and marvellous are Thy works, O Lord God Almighty; just and true are all Thy ways, Thou king of saints; who shall not fear Thee, O Lord, and glorify Thy Name; for Thou only art holy “.’
The Glory That Shall Be Revealed
Rev 15:3-6
I. In the text we hear of those songs and of that music, of those victors, those happy palm bearers, who are keeping the true Feast of Tabernacles; who with joy and gladness have been brought and have entered into the King’s palace. And we hear too of the mighty tribulation through which they passed; how they got the victory over the fourfold enemy, over the wild beast and over his image and over his mark, and over the number of his name. That Anti-Christ, who, conquered, the warfare of the Church will be accomplished, her iniquity pardoned; that image, no doubt some devilish caricature of the miracle of the Resurrection; and his mark and his name the impressing of which, whatever it may be, will bring on the final persecution. It is worth while to notice how, from the very beginning, Satan has seemed to exult in imitating God’s miracles; as when Jannes and Jambres cast down their rods and they were turned into serpents; or changed water into blood, or brought forth frogs upon the land. So, as the greater number of holy writers piously believe, that deadly wound of the wild beast which was healed, will be a diabolical parody of the Resurrection. For it goes on directly, ‘All the world wondered after the wild beast’ as if it were the crowning, the stupendous miracle which clinched his authority. And notice as we are marked in our foreheads with the Lord’s sign, so will his unhappy servants be with the mark of the wild beast; and as the promise to him that overcometh was the white stone and the new name, the Lord’s new and everlasting name, written on it, so must the others have the wild beast’s name; or (and time only will show what is the difference) the mark of his name.
II. And about the sea of glass. Notice; there was but One, who, in this world, walked even on the sea; His one follower, who so desired to walk we know how his attempt ended. But, put the whole mystery together the boundlessness of the sea, the transparency of the glass, the brilliance of the fire, I remember once when in one of the narrow sea-straits that divide the little islands of Denmark, I was voyaging this way and that way a whole summer day, with nothing to do but to lean over the boatside, and to watch how the glorious rays of the sun shot in through the pure green sea, working out those ripples of gold and emerald which no earthly words can describe; how the sight brought to my mind the true sea, that sea, glorious in its boundlessness and in its depth, but which yet has the element of fire added to it, and perhaps some little thing more of the future kingdom was then made known to me.
III. Then, they shall not pass over it; then they shall not say, ‘Lord, if it be Thou, bid me that I come to Thee upon the water’. No, then they shall stand on the infinite abysses of God’s judgments; shall see how all things have worked together for good to them that love God; shall perceive how all the waves of this troublesome world were bearing them onwards to the calm of the Everlasting Port; and that, with the clearness of the glass; that, with the love of the fire, they stand on the sea of glass.
J. M. Neale, Sermons on the Apocalypse, p. 71.
Rev 15:4 ; Rev 18:7
These are the only two passages in which the word glorify is used in the book of Revelation; once, to describe the Christian, once, to describe the pagan, attitude. For the latter see R. W. Church’s Cathedral and University Sermons, pp. 25 f. (‘Can we believe that He whose words were so terrible against the pride of Egypt and Babylon, against that haughty insolence in men, on which not only Hebrew prophet, but the heathen poets of Greece looked with such peculiar and profound alarm that He will not visit it on those who, in their measure, are responsible for its words and temper, when it takes possession of a Christian nation?’)
Fuente: Expositor’s Dictionary of Text by Robertson
Moses and the Lamb
Rev 15:3
This is a marvellous conjunction of names. The song sung by the saints who overcame is a song of the human and divine; a song of the servant and the Son; and it may be worth our while to trace, so far as we may be able, this remarkable and even startling conjunction. It is not proposed to go in quest of remote analogies or resemblances, or to force meanings upon passages contrary to their plain import. We know that Moses was very meek above all men upon the earth, and that Jesus Christ was meek and lowly in heart. We know that Moses was the deliverer of Israel, and that Jesus Christ was the Redeemer of the world; and we are not prepared to deny that many just and impressive analogies might be wrought out by comparing the work of Moses in Egypt and the wilderness with the work of Christ among men; there is undoubtedly abundant scope for legitimate exercise of sanctified genius in giving spiritual and Christian interpretations to many points in the eventful ministry of Moses; and if I do not avail myself of the goodly stores which may be found in such interpretations, it is because I have in view a task, which is sufficiently comprehensive to engage our attention during the whole time allotted to our studies. Let us read, in order, a set of passages which will indicate the ground which it is intended to traverse:
“Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, Every son that is born ye shall cast into the river” ( Exo 1:22 ).
“Herod will seek the young child to destroy him” ( Mat 2:13 ).
“This Moses whom they refused… the same did God send to be a ruler and a deliverer” ( Act 7:35 ).
“The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner” ( Mat 21:42 ).
“As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life” ( Joh 3:14-15 ).
“The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ” ( Joh 1:17 ).
“They sing the song of Moses… and the Lamb” ( Rev 15:3 ).
The first remark that occurs upon reading these texts is that the highest human powers are quite unable to baffle the schemes of God. Pharaoh and Herod were intent upon murder. Bad kings have always been afraid of young life; they have never been the friends of intelligent and progressive manhood. History convicts them of the direst crimes which human wickedness can perpetrate. Their short but never easy method has been summed up in the decree, Slay all who threaten you; throw them into the river kill them with the edge of the sword! May not we learn something from this ruthless method of upholding bad purposes? If wicked men have been afraid of young life, is there not a power in young life which may be trained to the highest uses? Ought we to be indifferent when kings have been struck with mortal terror? Where they have seen vengeance, ought not we to see energy that should be sanctified? Where they have proposed murder, ought not we to propose education? Train your children as if God had called them to a special ministry; do not set up a low standard of possibility; not that you are to overtax their powers, or encourage them in unnatural conceit; set before them the highest examples, animate them by the noblest considerations, point out the road which lies towards heaven, aid them in every endeavour to lighten human misery, and work diligently, as God may put opportunities in your way; and you will help to train a race of men, before whom all throned evil and all sceptred terror shall quake, and perish in unpitied and irrecoverable ruin. The devil gives ungracious welcome to every child that carries the faintest sign of moral nobility or special destiny. Moses was laid upon the river; the Lamb was pursued by the sword of Herod. It was a hard beginning, but the world has had history enough now to know that hard beginnings are the winters out of which spring is quickened, and by which summer is enriched and glorified. Have any of you had a hard beginning? Look at Moses and the Lamb! Write a list of men who have ever done anything remarkable for the world, whose beginning was bright, and full of joy, and I will engage to throw it into insignificance, by a list long, illustrious, and imperishable, of men who have been cradled in the manger, exposed on the river, pursued in early life by un-kindness, by malice, and by all uncharitableness, which darkens in the direction of murder itself.
“This Moses, whom they refused, the same did God send to be a ruler and a deliverer…. The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner.”
Here we come to a different class of opponents and enemies, but to an opposition, if possible, more malignant and wicked. When a man’s enemies are those of his own household, he has reached almost the last trial of his faith and patience. When David’s equal, and guide, and acquaintance, with whom he took sweet counsel, and walked to the house of God in company, reproached him, and magnified himself against him, David’s heart failed, and he spake bitterly with his tongue. Jesus Christ came unto his own, and his own received him not; he was in the world, the world was made by him; and the world knew him not. No man received his testimony. He was as a king of whom his own citizens said, “We will not have this man to reign over us.” Yet God hath set this stone of stumbling and this rock of offence as the head of the corner, and on him the spiritual house is established for ever. Very wonderful is God’s method of electing and calling men to his service; so wonderful as to throw into confusion all human probabilities and calculations. He raiseth the poor out of the dust, and lifted up the beggar from the dunghill; to set them among princes, and to make them inherit the throne of glory. He destroys the wisdom of the wise, and brings to nothing the understanding of the prudent; he chooses base things of the world, and things which are despised; yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are. By the foolish things of the world he confounds the wise; and by the weak things of the world he confounds the things which are mighty. God’s election fell not upon Eliab, but upon David, the keeper of sheep; he called Elisha from the plough, and set Amos, the herdman and gatherer of sycamore fruit, to prophesy unto Israel. Men are confounded when probabilities are upset, and when their inductions from what they mistake for facts are contradicted by unexpected events. Men talk about cause and effect; they say that the cause must be equal to the effect; they read life, and work in life in the light of theories which have a great deal to recommend them; yet God often baffles them often calls the unlikeliest men to the front often gives the race to the slow, and the battle to the weak and gathers the whole kingdom of heaven around a little child, as its best earthly type and illustration. “This is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes.”
“As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up.”
Here the names of Moses and the Lamb are brought into conjunction by Jesus Christ himself. No sign of inferiority is attached to Moses. There is nothing in the terms of the conjunction to denote inequality. Is Jesus Christ degraded by such a remarkable association? Ours is a poor reverence in fact only a drivelling superstition if we tremble lest Christ’s honour be divided. Was not the lifting up of the serpent in the wilderness a divine arrangement? Is not the apparent insignificance and contemptibleness of the device quite consistent with God’s method of doing his work? It was not the scheme of Moses; it was not the proposition of the suffering Israelites; it was the direct command of God, and, therefore, not unworthy of being spoken of in illustration of the Great Redemption. But is not every human attempt to recover and heal the world, a movement in the direction of the Christian redemption? Men are not always aware of the full significance of their work. Every man who studies and toils that he may alleviate human suffering, is moving in the line of divine beneficence. He may not see all that he is doing; it may be an unconscious and, in fact, an unintentional movement, yet not the less certain, and not the less a basis of appeal to himself on higher concerns. God’s argument with men regarding the recovery and sanctification of their souls is strengthened and made logically irresistible, by their own efforts in the lower region of healing, and education, and satisfaction. The text may be expanded so as to embrace all those efforts. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness; as physicians seek healing virtue in plants and minerals; as parents strain their affections and their outward resources for the advantage of their suffering children; as philanthropists make great efforts to better the state of society; as human life, in its best condition, is a continued attempt to raise and bless the world; even so is the lifting up of the Son of man, the whole scheme of divine mediation, the great, the transcendent expression of divine love, the all-inclusive and sublime consummation of all your human processes and if you did but understand your own care about the welfare of the world, you would see in it a sign of God’s infinite love as shown in the lifting up of the Son of man. In this union of the names of Moses and the Lamb you have a hint of the co-operation of the human and the divine, which should help to an understanding of the great special work which is entirely of God, and cannot be shared by men. In all our attempts to do good, though they be divinely suggested, we are but working with broken faculties, and our sinfulness mars the beauty of our ideals: we cannot work with whole-heartedness and purity; we struggle and blunder; we become discouraged and weary but God works from the other end. With infinite power, infinite wisdom, infinite love, he answers the cry of the heart, and reveals the Cross bearing his own Son, as the great end towards which we have been moving, but which of ourselves we could never have attained.
“The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.”
Here we have at once a parallel and a contrast a parallel, in that law and grace are both of God, and a contrast, in that while law came by the servant, grace and truth came by the Son. Yet grace is not lawless, nor is truth an unregulated sentiment. We could never have known grace had we not first known law; nor could we, as sinful men, ever have come to the spirituality of truth, but through the definiteness and severity of commandment. In a very important sense we have to begin with Moses, and to traverse the initial and preparatory stages of the old Testament; the Old Testament and the New are yet to be to us as Moses and the Lamb. They are distinct, yet united; and as Jesus Christ himself began at Moses and all the prophets, and found in all the Scriptures things concerning himself, so we may find in the ancient records of inspiration the law which, unchanging as the Lawgiver, is yet carried to fulness of grace and truth in the work of Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the world. There is a difference between law and grace, and law and truth, which need not be pointed out at great length in this connection, as the one object of our discourse does not require any collateral discussion. It is enough for us to lay hold of the fact that in the working out of his purpose God sent us a schoolmaster, to conduct us through a severe yet invigorating discipline, that we might be prepared to enter upon the glorious liberty of the sons of God. Children can understand a command when they cannot understand the reason on which it is based; they can obey the law, when they cannot explain the truth; they can walk by the letter when they cannot comprehend the spirit. Yet there comes a time in their growth, if they grow according to the divine law, when, under the sternness of the commandment, they see the tender purpose of grace, and through the hardness of the letter they see the brightness and beauty of truth. Jesus Christ, then, did not come to destroy the law, but to fulfil it; he did not depose Moses and the prophets, but gave them exceeding honour; he did not relax the law of the seasons, but showed that in himself alone came the bloom and splendour of eternal summer. It is true, blessedly true, that we are not under the law, but under grace; yet I question whether any man can be under grace until he has first been under law; and I deny that any man who is in grace can make light of law; on the contrary, he will see in law the first motion of the divine love which culminated in the grace of Jesus Christ. If any man is carrying the law as a burden, which prevents his coming to the gospel, he is abusing the law; and if any man says that because he is under grace he can therefore dispense with the law, he is dishonouring grace. But, being under grace, we are the servants of righteousness, we are not without law to God, but under the law to Christ
“They sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb.”
Wonderful is the song of Moses and the Lamb the song of the human and the divine the song of law perfected in grace the song of earth and heaven. How human nature is thereby glorified, apostate, ruined human nature associated with the Lamb in the song of heaven! Christianity, instead of depreciating human nature, exalts it, it is only in Christianity that we see the real worth of human nature. If a man would know what he really is, and what he may become, let him look, not at himself, but at Jesus Christ. Was not man made in the image and likeness of God? True, he is a fallen creature; yet in his fall he attests his origin there is not a fragment of the shattered temple which does not prove that its builder and maker was God.
The song of Moses and the Lamb are not two distinct songs; the song is one and the same. Nor is the Lamb dishonoured by being thus associated with the great representative of the human race; it is his own doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes! It is not the song of Peter and the Lamb, though Peter was the first Christian disciple; it is not the song of John and the Lamb, though John pointed out the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. It is the song of Moses and the Lamb the Old Testament and the New are one; the law and the gospel are one.
From the beginning to the end the divine dispensations are one; God’s love, as shown in Jesus Christ, was not a merely chronological development. From eternity to eternity God is love now thundering on the mount that burned with fire, now entreating upon Mount Sion; now smiting the nations with the rod of destruction, and now sending the gospel to every creature; now commanding the pestilence to make havoc in the earth, and now causing the sun to arise with healing in his wings. God’s love has many servants; Moses, Elias, and Jesus are to us separate names; are they not, viewed from an earthly point, as Faith, Hope, and Charity? all God’s gifts; yet the last, and best, and greatest, is Jesus.
From the outset I have spoken of The People’s Bible as my life-work. God indeed has enabled me to set up other memorials, but this is peculiarly the witness by which I would remember his daily ministry in my spiritual education. Wherein the work is likely to be useful to others I wish with my whole heart to ascribe all praise and honour to the Divine Spirit. “This is the Lord’s doing.” As the five-and-twenty volumes have nearly all been reported, and printed from the reporter’s notes, there has been no attempt at literary composition or polish. It is not my habit to write sermons. All the discourses, with hardly an exception, were delivered from the briefest possible notes. The language is the language of the moment. This will explain whatever may be observed of verbal crudeness, repetition, abruptness, and ellipsis. It is mainly for this reason that attention is called to what may or may not be a defective method of pulpit preparation. Every man can best follow his own method. I have followed mine. The People’s Bible is the result.
From the beginning, even whilst The People’s Bible was merely a prospectus, I promised to annotate much of the sacred text with the best available criticism. In this matter I gratefully acknowledge the careful assistance which others have rendered, for in many cases they have happily illuminated the inspired text. By this arrangement The People’s Bible has become, in an important sense, a conspectus of critical opinion and suggestion.
The work is done. “What is writ, is writ: would it were worthier.” Life hastens to the evening twilight. Even my pensiveness veils a most inspiring joy. Others must increase: I must decrease. I close my book amongst the fast-thickening shadows of the nineteenth century. I believe that the New Century cannot do, and will not attempt to do, without the Bible. No poet has surpassed its sublimity, no dramatist has deposed its tragedy, no moralist has rivalled its purity. The Bible stands alone. Other books are as trees which men have planted and trimmed and pruned with periodical care; but the Bible belongs to that forestry of thought, event, direction, and sovereignty, which human hands never planted, a church built, and aisled, and lighted in a way beyond the ways of man.
In my judgment, the only preaching that can do profound and lasting good must be Biblical. Such preaching cannot be monotonous, nor disappointing, to men who sincerely wish to commune with God, and obey his will. Any pulpit that founds itself on personal invention, cleverness, ingenuity, audacity, or affected originality, will most surely cover itself with humiliation, and pass into merited oblivion. Revelation enriches us with truths, which Reason never could have discovered, but which, being given, Reason can accept without loss of dignity or remission of responsibility. To me the Bible is a Divine revelation a revelation of God, Providence, Sin, Atonement, Faith, Immortality. The Bible is not a book containing a revelation, it is a revelation accepting the risks and limits of a book. Man is not a body containing a spirit, he is a spirit inhabiting a body. In both instances I think the distinction of vital importance. It is upon this distinction that this work is largely based. This, indeed, is the key of my interpretation of the whole Kingdom of God as brought near in Nature, Providence, Humanity, and Revelation. Within the suns is the God who made them, and who wears them as a robe: in all history there is a directing and controlling mind: in humanity there is a Divine purpose: in Revelation there is a Godhead accessible to faith and love and penitence.
We assume an immense responsibility in claiming that any book is a final and authoritative standard in faith and morals. We place the Book itself in an awful position. We separate it from all other books, we make sceptical criticism a profane offence, and devout obedience an essential element of spiritual character. The mind has simply to receive, the will has simply to obey, the heart has simply to trust. The Book is to us verily as God himself. Are we, in nineteenth century light, to stand by such a position or to abandon it? Is the Bible still to stand alone, and to demand the obeisance of all other books; is the dream-book to stand in the harvest fields of literature and to receive the homage of the bending sheaves? There is only one Book in the world which can prove the inspiration of the Bible, and that is the Bible itself. Possibly in our early reading of the Scriptures we put ourselves into a false relation to the Book by taking with us some preconceived notion or theory of inspiration, and trying to make the Bible exactly fit our mechanical orthodoxy. This was like timing the sun by our chronometers, instead of timing our chronometers by the sun. What wonder if we have lost much by this process? What wonder if the supposed orthodoxy has originated the real scepticism? Inspiration, like its author, is a term which has no equivalent in other words, and therefore can have no complete theory. Strange as it may appear, there are some words which lexicography cannot break up into explanatory syllables, and amongst them the word Inspiration holds a foremost place. We must feel some meanings, as blind men feel the morning light. Illustrations of inspiration we can have, also reverent suggestions respecting it, also such confirmations as arise from coincidence, unity, purpose, and issue, here, indeed, is the most inviting and productive field of devout and even intellectual research; but to say authoritatively where Inspiration begins, where it ends, how it operates, what it involves, where it separates itself from genius, how it burned for a brief day in shepherd or king, fisherman or tent-maker, and then was withdrawn to heaven, nevermore to glow upon earth, would be to have the very inspiration which is said to have completed itself in revelation. Unless in the most limited and severely guarded manner, I cannot but think that the less we theorise about Inspiration the better. Theories are human. As such, they are, as to their verbal form, matters of opinion and subject to change. Every man has of course the right to form an opinion, but no man has the right to say it is the only opinion that can be formed; otherwise it would be inspired, and inspiration is said to have ceased. My counsel would be, Let the Book speak for itself. When inquirers come with their questions, objections, and difficulties, insist, as a condition of conference, that the Book itself be read through and through from end to end until the inquirer is thoroughly acquainted with its contents.
That reading will do its own work. That reading has made me an unquestioning and grateful believer in the plenary inspiration, the divine authority, and the infinite sufficiency of Holy Scripture, and, therefore, I can the more earnestly and definitely encourage others to impose upon themselves the sacred task. I now know that the Bible is inspired. It addresses itself to every aspect and every necessity of my nature; it is my own biography; I seem to have read it in some other world; we are old friends; the breathing of Eternity is in us both, and we have happened together, to our mutual joy, on this rough shore of time. I never know how great a Book it is until I try to do without it: then the heart aches; then the eyes are put out with the great tears of grief; then the house is no home of mine; then life sinks under an infinite load of weariness. In great moods of moral exultation I cannot stoop to the unworthy fray of intellectual encounter, to compare theories, to discuss contradictory scepticisms, and to institute comparisons between the cleverness which baffles me and the faith which impels me to service. I know well all the criticisms which this kind of confession never fails to evoke; if I knew less of them I would make more of them, but knowing them well, in all their scope and meaning, I will no longer allow them to rob the heart of its most sacred joys.
Has Inspiration really ceased out of the Church? Is the Holy Spirit but a term in ancient theology? Is he not the abiding Paraclete? Jesus Christ distinctly promised that the Paraclete should abide “for ever,” and can he be in the heart without inspiring the whole range of the mind? I have no doubt as to the continuance of Inspiration in the Church, for it seems to me to be the one gift which must, of gracious necessity, abide for ever the gift, indeed, without which the Church could not exist. But the gift is not always to be used in one direction. There are inspired readers as certainly as there are inspired writers. “There is a spirit in man, and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth him understanding,” in the deep and true reading of the Word.
I am not alarmed by the perils which must instantly suggest themselves to apprehensive minds, though some of those perils, viewed from unequal distances, are unquestionably portentous in outline. The gift of inspired reading is the gift of the whole believing and suppliant Church. There is no inspired class in the Church, divinely marked off for special reverence and remuneration; indeed, it seems to me that the so-called priests are the only uninspired followers the mere craftsmen and pensioners of the Church; they are “shepherds that cannot understand: they all look to their own way, every one for his gain, from his quarter.” “Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind.” You need not, therefore, fear that I am pointing to a priestly class. The kind of inspiration I mean can be had for the asking by all humble souls. “If ye, then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?” The proof of such inspiration will be found less in intellectual splendour than in spiritual docility and childlike obedience; we shall be unconscious of the shining of our face, but shall know that in our hearts there is a great softness of love, a holy yearning after our Father’s perfectness; we shall be most inspired when we are most teachable; we may be sure that the purpose of the Holy Spirit is being accomplished within us when we say, “Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth,” and ask him, beside whom are the two anointed ones, not to withhold his revelation from babe-like souls. Verily, Inspiration hath not ceased. Let us pray for an inspired ministry, in other words, that our ministers may be blessed with a double portion of the Holy Spirit. This is our protection against priestism. This will sanctify every man, body, soul, and spirit, and make the whole Church the living temple of the Holy Ghost.
When ministers are divinely inspired, their public reading of the Scriptures will be an exposition; every accent will be as a tongue of fire, and every emphasis will give new hints of meaning. The inspired writers wait for inspired readers. How the Holy Book leaps, so to say, in recognition of the sacred touch and the loving glance! Inspired reading gives us a Bible which cannot be taken from us; not a mechanical Bible, which cunning hands can disjoint; not an artificial Bible, which relies upon scattered proof-texts; but a living revelation, a voice which awakens faithful echoes in the heart; a self-attesting Book; its own mystery and its own lamp; without beginning or end; an infinite surprise, an infinite benediction. Have no fear that the Ark of the Testimony will be taken. We lose our inspiration when we lose our Faith, and then we are the subjects of irrational panic. Rather say, “Come up, ye horses; and rage, ye chariots; and let the mighty men come forth;… for Pharaoh king of Egypt is but a noise.” Theories and dogmas, propositions and controversies, orthodoxies and heterodoxies, come and go, but the Word of the Lord abideth for ever, “surely as Tabor is among the mountains, and as Carmel by the sea.”
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker
XIV
THE SEVEN PLAGUES AND THE SEVEN BOWLS OF WRATH
Revelation 15-16
We shall consider in this study the seven plagues and the seven bowls of wrath, or the divine judgment on the leopard beast, and the harlot woman, and the consequent triumph of the true church through the gospel. Revelation 17-19 will continue the same theme. Preliminary Observations
1.Rev 15:1 : by anticipation, presents the plagues as if inflicted, though the details of the infliction are given in Rev 16 .
2.Rev 15:2-4 : in like manner i.e., by anticipation presents the triumph of the saints when the plagues shall have been inflicted, and is given in more detail in Rev 19:1-10 , in its proper historical connection.
3.Rev 15:5-8 , also by anticipation, gives the agencies through which the plagues in Rev 16 will be inflicted and the triumph achieved.
4. The Old Testament analogue which constitutes most of the imagery of Revelation 15-16 is Exodus 1-15. We cannot successfully interpret this lesson without an understanding of the ancient history which suggests its imagery.
5. Another historical analogue, Babylon, and the Euphrates which constituted both its defense and its weakness, suggests the imagery in Rev 16:12 . Here our historical background is Xenophon’s account of the capture of Babylon by the armies of Cyrus, through diversion of the waters of the Euphrates, and consequent drying up of its channel in the city, confirmed both by the prophecy of Jeremiah (Jer 50:38 ) and by this passage in Revelation. The Babylon downfall as foretold by the ancient prophets, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel, will suggest much of the imagery of Revelation 17-18, which will be more particularly considered in the exposition of those chapters.
6. Our interpretation will make the “seven thunders” of Rev 10:4 , uttered then but temporarily sealed up, i.e., not written, and “the seven plagues” of Rev 15 , and “the seven bowls of wrath” of Rev 16 , substantially the same, though the logical order would be this: The seven thunders called, the seven bowls of wrath responded to the call, and the seven bowls of wrath when outpoured constitute the seven plagues.
These six preliminary observations underlie the exegesis now given in detail. Rev 15 .
“And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having seven plagues, which are the last, for in them is finished the wrath of God.”
The reader must note that when these plagues are called “the last,” for in them is finished the “wrath of God,” the import of the term “last” and “finished” must not be stretched beyond their connection. It is a relative “last” and “finished.” It is the last of the divine judgment on the organized apostasy in its triple form of a “Holy Roman Empire,” a papal head and an idolatrous and persecuting counterfeit church, but it cannot refer to the wrath exercised after the millennium in Rev 20:7-10 , nor the wrath of the final judgment (Rev 20:11-15 ). Note next on this first verse the “seven plagues” repeated in Rev 15:6 ; Rev 15:8 and named in Rev 16:8-21 . Their number “seven” indicates their completeness, as will appear when the bowls of wrath which produce them are poured out in succession on the earth, the sea, the rivers and fountains, the sun, the Euphrates and the air. When the lightning strikes in all these places, it touches the whole circumference of environment. There is no escape from such diverse wrath. It is done. It is finished. The measure is filled up to overflowing.
We now look back to the historical analogue. We have in Exodus 1-15 the great war between Jehovah and the gods of Egypt for the redemption of his national Israel, or between Moses, the mouthpiece of God,, and Pharaoh, king of Egypt, or between the miracles wrought by Moses and the lying wonders of the magicians, Jannes and Jambres. Jehovah speaks, Moses acts, the ten plagues follow, just as here the seven thunders are God’s voices, the bowls of wrath respond and the plagues are the result. Whoever has studied the ten plagues of Egypt will see their completeness touching all the environment and degrading every god in Egypt, and all their ministers, whether king, magician, or priest. All these discriminated between Israel and Egypt; on one they fell, the other was exempt. The very form of some of these plagues is repeated here, as will appear in our exegesis of chapter 16. The conflict terminated with the complete overthrow of Pharaoh and his hosts in the Red Sea, and “Thus Jehovah saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea shore, and Israel saw the great work which Jehovah did upon the Egyptians; and the people feared Jehovah; and they believed in Jehovah and in his servant Moses” (Exo 14:30-31 ).
“And I saw, as it were, a sea of glass mingled with fire; and them that came off victorious from the beast, and from his image and from the number of his name, standing by the sea of glass, having harps of God. And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying: Great and marvellous are thy works, O Lord God Almighty; righteous and true are thy ways, thou king of the ages. Who shall not fear, O Lord, and glorify thy name? For thou only art holy; for all the nations shall come and worship before thee, for thy righteous acts have been made manifest.”
This is almost an exact parallel of the analogue at Exo 14:19-22 , and the triumph song at Exo 15:1-18 , and Miriam’s response at Exo 15:20-21 . The Old Testament analogue alone enables us to explain “the sea of glass mingled with fire” which so unnecessarily perplexed commentators. You need only to conceive of the Red Sea divided standing up in walls on either side, and as Exo 15:8 , expresses it: “The floods stood upright as an heap; the deeps were congealed in the heart of the sea,” then conceive Israel marching in triumph between and the pillar of fire between them and Pharaoh, shining on those ice walls which, as mirrors, reflected its light, it indeed seemed a “sea of glass mingled with fire,” and so “they were baptized in the cloud [pillar of cloud overshadowing] and in the sea” (her walls on two sides encompassing them). Hence it might be called a baptism, so overwhelmed and enwrapped were they, but it was a baptism in light. So here, after the plagues have overthrown their long-time enemies with a complete overthrow, the saints, bathed in radiance, sing their song of triumph which, on account of the analogue, is called “The song of Moses, the servant of God, and of the Lamb.”
The study is profitable to compare the Moses song (Exo 15 ) with the song here (Rev 15 ), and its more elaborate form (Rev 19 ).
On the closing paragraph of Rev 15:5-8 , it is necessary now to note only the following points:
1. “The temple of the tabernacle of testimony,” or the sanctuary of the tent, means here the church as an institution, through which as an agent the plagues are to be inflicted.
2. The priestly garb of the angels carrying the plague also indicates human agency.
3. The “smoke” in temple or sanctuary indicates the Divine Presence, as in Exo 40:34 ; Num 9:15 ; 1Ki 8:10-11 ; Isa 6:4 . While Moses nor the priests of Solomon could for a while enter the holy house, filled by the cloud, there seems to be an additional idea in the Isaiah case that as God entered for fully ripened judgments there could be no intercession allowed while the judgments were being inflicted, since probation was ended and the space for repentance was withdrawn. Such also appears to be the idea here, as we repeatedly note in Rev 16 that no repentance followed these plagues. (See Rev 16:9-11 .) The plagues, therefore, were not chastisements designed to lead to repentance, but altogether punitive. inflicted 16
The Bowls of Wrath, and the Consequent Plagues
General Observations:
1. I restate the general idea of interpretation already suggested by the Old Testament analogue (Exodus 1-15). Before Pharaoh and his people could be induced to liberate God’s ancient Israel, all the supports of their power must be swept away by successive divine judgments. These judgments were like the flood in the days of Noah: “The windows of heaven were opened; the fountains of the deep were broken up; the waters increased; the waters prevailed and increased mightily; the waters prevailed mightily, mightily upon the earth, and all the high mountains that are under the whole heavens were covered. Fifteen cubits did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered.” As the waters of the flood wiped off from the face of the earth every living being, so the ten plagues swept away all the props of Egypt, and just so here, by successive judgments, God completely sweeps away all the props of Satan’s usurped kingdom. Whatever the meaning of the symbols, “the earth, sea, rivers and fountains, sun, the throne of the beast, the great river Euphrates, the air,” on which in succession the bowls of wrath were poured, they represent exhaustively the whole resources of Satan’s kingdom under its apostate forms of a Holy Roman Empire, its papal head, and its harlot counterfeit church. While we may not be dogmatic in the interpretation of these symbols, the meanings given are the expression of sincere and thoughtful judgment.
2. Any student must be struck with the correspondence, in part, between the events under the trumpets and under the bowls of wrath, particularly where the apostasy poisoned the fountains and dimmed the sun. So in just the same place here the lightning will strike.
3. “Har-Magedon” (Rev 16:16 ). Literally, this compound word means “the hill of Megiddo.”
Geographically, it overlooks the great plain of Esdraelon, near the middle of the Mediterranean coast of Palestine.
Historically, on account of its strategic position, it has been the decisive battleground of the ages for the fate of that country. Here Joshua conquered. Here, in the times of the Judges, Barak, and Deborah won their decisive victory over Sisera (Judges 4-5), and Gideon his signal triumph over the Midianites (Jdg 7 ). Here Saul lost his life and kingdom (1Sa 31:8 ), and here good Josiah lost his life in battle with the Egyptians, which called forth an ordinance for lamentation by Jeremiah and the people (2Ch 35:24-25 ). And this great mourning for Josiah suggested to Zechariah the greater penitential mourning of the Jewish people which will lead to their salvation in a later day (Zec 12:10-13:1 ). This same valley was the battlefield of the Ptolemies of Egypt and Seleucids of Antioch for the supremacy of the Holy Land, and for Saracen and Crusader after their day, and the scene of many struggles since.
Prophetically, in the Old Testament is it equivalent to Joel’s great battle in the valley of Jehoshaphat: “Multitudes, multitudes, in the valley of decision” (Joe 3:1-17 ), and Zechariah’s great war for the recovery of Spiritual Jerusalem (Zec 14:2-15 ), and Daniel’s great battlefield (Dan 11:45-12:1 ), and Isaiah’s blood-stained hero (Isa 63:1-6 )?
Prophetically in this book are the parallel passages, the greatvintage (Rev 14:17-20 ), the war of Har-Magedon (Rev 16:14-16 ), and the great victory preceding and introducing the millennium (Rev 19:10-21 )? With the literal, geographical and historical backgrounds we have no concern except to find the symbolic imagery. The prophetic meaning from the symbols we must gather from the four Old Testament passages and the three New Testament passages, cited. For the answers to these last two questions see Rev 15 and Rev 17 respectively. Exegesis of Rev 16 , beginning with Rev 16:1 :
“And I heard a great voice out of the temple, saying to the seven angels, Go ye and pour out the seven bowls of the wrath of God into the earth. And the first went and poured out his bowl into the earth; and it became a noisome and grievous sore upon the men that had the mark of the beast and that worshipped his image.”
Note first that this judgment finds its symbol in the sixth plague on Egypt, the plague of the boils and ulcers. And also note that, as here, the wrath was poured on the “earth,” and the victims are those who worshiped the beast and wore his mark. So from Rev 13:11-17 , we have learned that the earth beast with the voice of a dragon caused men to worship the image of the leopard beast and to receive his mark. In the Egyptian plague, the body was afflicted, but what means it here? Here it must mean some ulceration of mind and soul, a spiritual inflammation causing exquisite torment. One may not define too confidently just what state of mind fulfils this prophecy. But we will not be far afield if we refer it to that mental disquietude and spiritual unrest which come to all idolaters when their delusions are scattered by exposure of the false objects of worship, and the torments of remorse when seeing that they have been blinded and enslaved in turning away from the service and worship of the true God. Intense despair of spirit follows such disenchantment when the mind at last beholds the entire system of counterfeit religion to be earthly, sensual devilish. The best illustration I know is the ruined Zelica’s shriek of despair when Mokanna lifted his veil and let her see what a foul, hideous demon he was.
“And the second poured out his bowl into the sea, and it became blood as of a dead man; and every living soul died, even the things that were in the sea.”
Out of the “sea” came the leopard beast (Rev 13:2 ). “The many waters” upon which the harlot sat are defined as “peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues” (Rev 17:1-15 ). Wrath poured on the sea then must mean God’s judgment on a politico-religious government, a union of church and state whose ecclesiastical head dominates the many subject nations. That kind of a government is Satan’s masterpiece. It is essential to the prevalence of the papal power. It is the water of life in the papal garden; turn it into blood and the garden becomes a desert. If this line of thought be correct, the interpretation may be applied to the action of all nations that finally repel the supremacy of the Romanist hierarchy over either their national or ecclesiastical affairs. For example, one emperor of Germany went, on Papal demand, to Canossa and put his neck under the foot of the Pope, but Bismarck, referring to William III, said, “This emperor will not go to Canossa.” Or, it would apply to the weakening of the nations strictly Romanist, as Spain is and France was, compared with the increase in power and influence of non-Romanist nations.
In other words, as expressed in Rev 17:13 ; Rev 17:16 , the ten kingdoms which at first had “one mind,” to give their power and authority unto the beast, “to make war on the Lamb,” these later “shall hate the harlot and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.”
John Bunyan, in Pilgrim’s Progress, represents his pilgrims as passing by the mouth of a cave from which two old, decrepit giants, “Pagan and Pope,” glared at them in impotent rage, saying, “You will never stop this going on a pilgrimage until more of you be burned,” but their powers to burn bad passed away. The nations now refused to be the executors of ecclesiastical anathemas.
As in the analogue the turning of the Nile the very life of Egypt into blood broke for the time being the power of Pharaoh, so when this unholy alliance of church and state becomes as a dead man’s blood, blood that would no longer flow, governmental persecution for conscience’ sake received a shock from which it has never fully recovered. The ecclesiastical disposition to burn “heretics” still remains, but the states are no longer subservient. So far as the principle is involved, this applies to all persecuting states, whether Pagan, Papal, Greek, Protestant, or Mohammedan. The divine judgment is on the whole business, no matter under what name. The class will note the power of the expression, “the blood of a dead man”; the outward form remains, but the inward arterial current has congealed.”
And the third poured out his bowl into the rivers and the fountains of the waters, and it became blood. And I heard the angel of the waters saying: Righteous art thou who art and who wert, thou Holy One, because thou didst thus judge; for they poured out the blood of saints and prophets, and blood thou hast given them to drink: they are worthy. And I heard the altar saying: Yea, O Lord God, the Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments.”
Here we must recall, from Rev 8:10-11 , that the second effect of the apostasy, under the symbol of a star called wormwood, representing an apostate clergy, yet burning as a lamp, representing an apostate church, was the poisoning of a third part of the rivers and fountains, which was there interpreted to mean the sources of thought and life. The judgment now follows the poison. The imagery again comes, but in a different direction, from the first plague on Egypt. That miracle worked in two directions: (1) The Nile, worshiped as a god, became corrupt and death-breeding through conversion to blood; (2) All drinking water in the canals, reservoirs and house vessels became unusable.
The thought of this bowl of wrath, following the second direction of the miracle, is that as by corruption of religious thought, the minds of men have been turned to persecutions, then by so much as they have shed blood shall they be made to drink blood. The punishment comes in kind.
“And the fourth poured out his bowl upon the sun, and it was given unto it to scorch men with fire. And men were scorched with great heat, and they blasphemed the name of God who hath the power over these plagues, and they repented not to give him glory.”
Recalling the fourth trumpet (Rev 8:12 ) we there found the third effect of the apostasy was to dim the sources of light, particularly the third part of the sun. We there interpreted the sun to be the symbol of Christ, and the dimming of the light to be a substitution for Christ in his expiation (by the mass) and in his mediation (by the virgin Mary), and in his vicar (by the Pope). Now again the judgment follows the form of the apostasy. God in Christ is salvation. God out of Christ is a consuming fire. If his light be rejected, his heat scorches. Moses very vividly presents the thought in his farewell address to Israel. If you turn away from Jehovah, everything intended for a blessing will become a curse: “Jehovah will smite thee with consumption and with fever and with inflammation and with fiery heat and with the sword, and with blasting, and with mildew: and they shall pursue thee until thou perish. And thy heaven that is over thy head shall be brass, and the earth that is under thee shall be iron. Jehovah shall make the rain of thy land powder and dust; from heaven shall it come down upon thee, until thou be destroyed. . . And thy life shall hang in doubt before thee; and thou shalt fear night and day and shalt have no assurance of thy life. In the morning thou shalt say, Would it were even, and at even thou shalt say it, Would it were morning; for the fear of thy heart which thou shalt fear, and for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see.” (Deu 28:22-24 ; Deu 28:66-67 .) Indeed, all of that great chapter of Deuteronomy from v. 15 to the end makes good collateral reading for this sixteenth chapter.
“And the fifth poured out his bowl upon the throne of the beast, and his kingdom was darkened, and they gnawed their tongues for pain and blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores; and they repented not of their works.”
As Christ reigns from Mount Zion symbolic of the true church, so Satan reigns from Babylon, symbolic of the counterfeit church. We see in the next chapter the harlot woman riding the beast, and her mystic name is Babylon. The judgment here falls on the hierarchy resting on a union of church and state. Its ancient power is stripped away; confidence in its holiness is lost; the world marvels that it was once so glorified and its blasphemous pretensions recognized.
“And the sixth poured out his bowl upon the great river, the river Euphrates, and the water thereof was dried up, that the way might be made ready for the kings that come from the sunrise.”
Here we must recall the historical background which suggests imagery. There was a real Babylon, ancient foe to national Israel. It was situated on both sides of the Euphrates, which constituted its reliance for defense. Your attention has been called in the preliminary observations to the method employed by the armies of Cyrus in diverting the waters through canals reaching around the city on both sides, so that through its empty channel they might enter the city and capture it. Both Jeremiah and Revelation confirm the disputed account of Xenophon. But our concern just now is to interpret the mystic Euphrates.
The author believes it to signify all that mighty conflux of sentiment, superstition and false doctrine erected to support the Romanist pretensions. Through many centuries by schools, monasteries, nunneries, diplomacies, and other means, this sentiment had been created and had supported the mystic city. It was the counter-teaching, culminating in the Reformation, which dried up this Euphrates.
“And I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet three unclean spirits, as it were frogs; for they are spirits of demons, working signs; which go forth to the kings of the whole world, to gather them together unto the war of the great day of God the Almighty.”
If we have been correct in our interpretation in the drying up of the Euphrates by the Reformation teaching, then those symbolic frogs represent in some way the expedients adopted by the Romanist hierarchy to counteract the Reformation and enable it once more to make a world fight for the supremacy. From history we will know what these expedients have been.
There was first of all the pretended ecumenical Council of Trent for a definite statement of the Romanist faith. Ecumenical and Catholic mean literally about the same thing, that is, universal as opposed to local. This council was not ecumenical in fact or in spirit. The vast Greek ecclesiasticism, nor Protestant denominations, nor any of the age-long dissidents from the Romanist idea of the church, were represented. Over those actually present and participating, the Italian representatives of the Pope completely dominated. This Tridentine confession of faith, while divisive in some respects, was yet consolidating in another direction. It drew a distinct line of cleaveage and set up a definite standard around which its followers might rally, and did, with its attendant catechism, erect a strong barrier against further Protestant conquest. This was followed up later by papal encyclicals, resulting in a complete system of Mariolatry, and in 1870 by the Vatican Council declaring the absolute supremacy and infallibility of the Pope.
Now, we might fairly identify as the three frogs: (1) The declaration of the Council of Trent; (2) the declarations of the Vatican Council; (3) the papal encyclicals and syllabuses, particularly those completing the system of Mariolatry. To those doctrinal declarations we may add as enforcers of the decrees two mighty factors:
1. The Inquisition, which long preceded the Reformation as a heresy court, tending to prevent the very spirit of the Reformation, became afterward in some countries, particularly Belgium and Holland, the bloodiest tribunal known in the annals of history. The tools of the Inquisition have become rusty now.
2. But by far the most persistent and aggressive factor of Romanism, defined above, was the organization, under Papal sanction, of the Jesuits, founded by Ignatius Loyola. This compact, secret, iron organization, obeying only the Pope and its general, followed the outbreak of the Reformation, and has not only proved to be the strongest buttress of Romanism, but its most potential propagandist. Its greatest fields of operation have been: (1) missions; (2) diplomacy; (3) tutoring the children of the great. I repeat that modern Romanism, defined in three particulars above, and led by the Jesuits, has aligned its forces for a worldwide conflict, here symbolically called the “war of Har-Magedon,” the consideration of which must be left to a subsequent chapter.
QUESTIONS ON THE PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS
1. How does Rev 15:1 , present the plagues, and Rev 15:2-4 , present the triumph of the saints; and Rev 15:5-8 , present the agencies employed?
2. What Old Testament analogue suggests most of the imagery in Rev 15 and Rev 16 ?
3. What Old Testament analogue of Rev 16:12 , and what historian gives the account of using the Euphrates for conquests of Babylon? And what Old Testament prophecy had forecast the history?
4. What is the relation between the “seven thunders” (Rev 10:4 ); the “seven plagues” of Rev 15 , and the “seven bowls of wrath” of Rev 15:7 and Rev 16 ?
EXEGESIS
5. At Rev 15:1 , in what sense are these plagues “the last,” and in them “the wrath of God finished”?
6. Give briefly the Old Testament history which furnishes the symbols of these plagues.
7. Explain from Old Testament history the imagery of the “sea of glass mingled with fire,” at Rev 15:2 .
8. As this triumph of the saints, at Rev 15:2-4 , is here given by anticipation, where does it appear in detail?
9. Explain the collection of the Song of Moses with the Song of the Lamb at Rev 15:3 , What the resemblance between the Song of Moses, Exo 15 , the song here and the later song in chapter 19?
10. At Rev 15:5 , explain the words “temple” and “testimony,” and then tell what they symbolize and what the relation to the seven plagues.
11. How does it appear that angels carrying the plagues and bowls of wrath indicate human agency?
12. Explain the “smoke” that filled the sanctuary, and why in this particular case none might enter the sanctuary until the plagues were finished, and prove this from the next chapter, and thereby show the plagues are punitive and not chastisements.
GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON Rev 16
13. Repeat the general idea of interpretation suggested by the analogue Exo 1:15 .
14. Show how a great preceding judgment is like in its completeness to the Egyptian plagues, and apply both to the case in hand.
15. What symbolic words in Rev 16 show that these plagues strike the whole circle of environment?
16. What correspondence, in part, do you find between the trumpets of Rev 8 and the bowls of wrath in Rev 16 , and why?
17. The Har-Magedon of Rev 16:16 explain it literally, geographically, historically, and prophetically.
18. With what part of this have we present concern? (N. B. The exegesis of the war of Har-Magedon reserved till next lecture.)
EXEGESIS OF CHAPTER Rev 16:1-14
19. Rev 16:1-2 , what plague of Egypt the symbol here?
20. Explain pouring this bowl of wrath on the earth.
21. The Egyptian plague afflicted the body: give the meaning here and illustrate from Tom Moore’s “Lalla Rookh ,”
22.Rev 16:3 : Explain at some length the pouring of this bowl of wrath on the sea: apply and illustrate the interpretation.
23. Quote and show application of passage from John Bunyan.
24. What Egyptian plague the analogue here? Apply the meaning broadly and explain the significance of “the blood of a dead man.”
25. What the first effect of the apostasy smitten by this plague?
26. Rev 16:4-7 : What the second effect on the apostasy given in Rev 8:10-11 , and show how the judgment here corresponds.
27. In what two directions did the first Egyptian plague work, and which one considered here in the meaning of the symbol?
28. Rev 16:8-9 : Recalling the fourth trumpet (Rev 8:10 ), what the third effect of the apostasy, the meaning of the symbol there, and the nature and fitness of the corresponding judgment here?
29. Illustrate from farewell address of Moses.
30. Rev 16:10-11 : Explain the throne of the beast.
31.Rev 16:12 : What is the historic background furnishing this symbolism, and what is the meaning of the Euphrates here, and how brought about, and how long unshaken, and then by what dried up?
32.Rev 16:13-14 : In general terms the meaning of the three frogs? And the purpose?
33. In specific terms?
34. What two factors greatly helped to enforce these decrees?
36. In what ways have the Jesuits most helped Rome?
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible
1 And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God.
Ver. 1. And I saw another sign ] Distinct from the former, and describing the utter overthrow of Antichrist in this and the following chapters.
Great and marvellous ] A just wonder it was indeed, the miracle that we in these last times are to look for, that the kingdom of Antichrist should be so easily and suddenly overturned by the preaching of the gospel, as once the walls of Jericho were by the blowing of rams’ horns.
Seven angels ] i.e. Certain chieftains of the reformed Churches.
Having the seven last plagues ] Being the several parts of the seventh trumpet, and said to be the last that shall in this life be inflicted; though far worse follow in hell, whereof all these are but typical. Here the leaves only (as it were) fall upon reprobates, but hereafter the whole trees. Here they pay but the interest only, but there the whole principal.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Rev 15:1-8 .] PREFATORY: the description of the vision , Rev 15:1 ; the song of triumph of the saints victorious over the beast , Rev 15:2-4 ; the coming forth of the seven angels and delivering to them of the seven vials , Rev 15:5-8 .
And I saw another sign in heaven great and marvellous, seven angels having seven plagues which are the last ( plagues ), because in them is completed the wrath of God (I have adopted an unusual arrangement to throw the into connexion with , for which epithet it renders a reason. It is to be observed 1) that this verse is evidently only a compendious description of the following vision: for the angels themselves are not seen till Rev 15:6 , and do not receive the vials containing the plagues till after they are seen: 2) that the whole of God’s wrath in final judgment is not exhausted by these vials, but only the whole of His wrath in sending plagues on the earth previous to the judgment . After these there are no more plagues: they are concluded with the destruction of Babylon. Then the Lord Himself appears, ch. Rev 19:11 ff.). And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire (see ch. Rev 4:6 and note: not merely glassy : the indicates the likeness: it was as it were made of glass . The addition is probably made as bringing into the previous celestial imagery an element belonging to this portion of the prophecy, of which judgment is the prevailing complexion. The fact, that the personages of the former heavenly vision are still present, Rev 15:7 , seems to remove all doubt of this being the same sea of glass as that before described ch. Rev 4:6 , in immediate connexion with which the four living-beings were mentioned), and the conquerors (the pres. part. has the force of simple designation, as so often in this book) of (see ref.: they have come victorious out of the strife: cf. Thuc. i. 120, , , , ) the beast and of his image and of the number of his name (i. e. of the temptation to worship his image and to receive the mark consisting of the number of his name, ch. Rev 13:17-18 ), standing on (does import actually “ upon ,” so that they stood on the surface of the sea, or merely on the shore of? On every account the latter seems the more probable: as better suiting the heavenly imagery of ch. 4, and as according with the situation of the children of Israel when they sung the song to which allusion is presently made. The sense may be constructionally justified by ch. Rev 3:20 , and Rev 8:3 ; the fact of having a genitive in the latter place not setting it aside as a precedent) the sea of glass, having harps of God (sacred harps, part of the instruments of heaven used solely for the praise of God. We have had them before mentioned in ch. Rev 5:8 , Rev 14:2 ). And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God (i. e. a song similar to that song of triumph which Moses and the children of Israel sung when delivered from the Red Sea and from the Egyptians, Exo 15 . In Exo 14:31 , Moses is called, as here, the servant ( , LXX, as also in Heb 3:5 ) of God (see also Num 12:7 ; Jos 22:5 ( )): and this song is formed on the model of parts of that one: see below) and the song of the Lamb (it is not meant that there are two distinct songs: the song is one and the same; and the expression which characterizes it betokens, as do so many other notices and symbols in this book, the unity of the Old and New Test. churches. Their songs of triumph have become ours: the song of Moses is the song of the Lamb. In this great victory all the triumphs of God’s people are included, and find their fulfilment), saying (the song is a reproduction of several portions of the O. T. songs of praise), Great and wonderful are thy works (Psa 110:2 , 138:14, LXX), Lord God Almighty: just and true are thy ways (Ps. 144:17; Deu 32:4 in Moses’ song), thou King of the nations (or, of the ages (see 1Ti 1:17 reff. and note). The confusion has apparently arisen from the similarity of ( ) and : but which was the original, it is impossible, in the conflict of authorities, to decide): who can but fear (Thee), O Lord (these two clauses are from Jer 10:7 , but not in the LXX [116] [117] [118] . The title “King of nations” is especially appropriate, as it is God’s judgments on the nations, and their effects on them, which are the theme of the Church’s praise), and shall glorify (the construction is a mixed one, compounded of and ) thy Name? because Thou only art holy ( is only used of God here and ch. Rev 16:5 ; hence the var. . Dsterd. quotes from the Schol. in Eurip. Hec. 788, . This first grounds the in the attributes of God ): because all the nations shall come and worship before thee (so it is declared in reff. LXX. This second grounds the in matter of fact ): because Thy righteous acts (= Thy judgments: thy deeds of righteousness acted out towards the nations, both in the publication of the Gospel and in the destruction of Thine enemies) have been made manifest (the aor. as so often lately, looking back over the past and regarding it as matter of history, simply as the past. This third grounds the . in its immediately exciting cause the manifestation of God’s judgments). And after these things I saw, and there was opened the temple of the tabernacle of witness in heaven (see on ch. Rev 11:19 , Rev 16:17 . The is the holy place of the tabernacle, to which latter the appellation is here peculiarly appropriate, seeing that the witness and covenant of God are about to receive their great fulfilment): and there came forth the seven angels (viz. who were before mentioned: the does not point out any particular seven, such as the archangels. On the other hand, if we omit the second , we must not violate the force of the anarthrous participle by saying “the seven angels who had ,” . The E.V. here is strictly correct) which had (or, “ having .” This was their office: but they had them not yet) the seven plagues out of the temple (cf. ch. Rev 14:15 ; Rev 14:17 ), clad in linen (the remarkable reading can hardly be genuine, though strongly attested: see digest. There is a precedent for in Eze 28:13 ) pure ( and ) glistening (the well-known clothing of angels and heavenly beings, see Act 10:30 ( Rev 1:10 ), ch. Rev 19:8 ; Mat 17:2 [119] , Mat 28:3 ), and girt round their breasts with golden girdles (being in this like our Lord Himself as seen in vision, ch. Rev 1:13 ). And one from among the four living-beings (appropriately to the symbolic meaning of these as the representatives of creation , see notes on ch. Rev 4:7 ; Rev 4:11 , inasmuch as the coming plagues are to be inflicted on the objects of creation) gave to the seven angels seven golden vials (the was a shallow bowl or cup, usually without a stand or foot, in which they drew out of the or goblet: so Plato, Crito p. 120 a, . The Schol. on II. . 270 explains it , . Cf. Eurip. Ion 1181 ff.; Xen. Cyr. v. 2. 7), full of the wrath of God who liveth for ever and ever (this addition serves, as in ch. Rev 1:8 , to give solemnity to the fact related). And the temple was filled with smoke from (arising from) the glory of God and from His might (i. e. from His presence, in which His glory and His might were displayed. The description calls to mind similar ones in the O. T., e. g. Psa 18:8 f.; Isa 65:5 . See also below), and no one was able to enter into the temple (cf. 1Ki 8:10-11 ; Exo 40:34-35 ) until the seven plagues of the seven angels should be finished (the passages above referred to give the reason: because of the unapproachableness of God, when immediately present and working, by any created being. See Exo 19:21 . When these judgments should be completed, then the wrathful presence and agency of God being withdrawn, He might again be approached. Many other meanings more or less far-fetched have been given, but where Scripture analogy is so plain, the simplest is the best).
[116] The MS. referred to by this symbol is that commonly called the Alexandrine, or CODEX ALEXANDRINUS. It once belonged to Cyrillus Lucaris, patriarch of Alexandria and then of Constantinople, who in the year 1628 presented it to our King Charles I. It is now in the British Museum. It is on parchment in four volumes, of which three contain the Old, and one the New Testament, with the Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians. This fourth volume is exhibited open in a glass case. It will be seen by the letters in the inner margin of this edition, that the first 24 chapters of Matthew are wanting in it, its first leaf commencing , ch. Mat 25:6 : as also the leaves containing , Joh 6:50 , to , Joh 8:52 . It is generally agreed that it was written at Alexandria; it does not, however, in the Gospels , represent that commonly known as the Alexandrine text, but approaches much more nearly to the Constantinopolitan, or generally received text. The New Testament, according to its text, was edited, in uncial types cast to imitate those of the MS., by Woide, London, 1786, the Old Testament by Baber, London, 1819: and its N.T. text has now been edited in common type by Mr. B. H. Cowper, London, 1861. The date of this MS. has been variously assigned, but it is now pretty generally agreed to be the fifth century .
[117] The CODEX VATICANUS, No. 1209 in the Vatican Library at Rome; and proved, by the old catalogues, to have been there from the foundation of the library in the 16th century. It was apparently, from internal evidence, copied in Egypt. It is on vellum, and contains the Old and New Testaments. In the latter, it is deficient from Heb 9:14 to the end of the Epistle; it does not contain the Epistles to Timothy, Titus, and Philemon; nor the Apocalypse. An edition of this celebrated codex, undertaken as long ago as 1828 by Cardinal Angelo Mai, has since his death been published at Rome. The defects of this edition are such, that it can hardly be ranked higher in usefulness than a tolerably complete collation, entirely untrustworthy in those places where it differs from former collations in representing the MS. as agreeing with the received text. An 8vo edition of the N.T. portion, newly revised by Vercellone, was published at Rome in 1859 (referred to as ‘Verc’): and of course superseded the English reprint of the 1st edition. Even in this 2nd edition there were imperfections which rendered it necessary to have recourse to the MS. itself, and to the partial collations made in former times. These are (1) that of Bartolocci (under the name of Giulio de St. Anastasia), once librarian at the Vatican, made in 1669, and preserved in manuscript in the Imperial Library (MSS. Gr. Suppl. 53) at Paris (referred to as ‘Blc’); (2) that of Birch (‘Bch’), published in various readings to the Acts and Epistles, Copenhagen, 1798, Apocalypse, 1800, Gospels, 1801; (3) that made for the great Bentley (‘Btly’), by the Abbate Mico, published in Ford’s Appendix to Woide’s edition of the Codex Alexandrinus, 1799 (it was made on the margin of a copy of Cephalus’ Greek Testament, Argentorati, 1524, still amongst Bentley’s books in the Library of Trinity College, Cambridge); (4) notes of alterations by the original scribe and other correctors. These notes were procured for Bentley by the Abb de Stosch, and were till lately supposed to be lost. They were made by the Abbate Rulotta (‘Rl’), and are preserved amongst Bentley’s papers in the Library of Trinity College, Cambridge (B. 17. 20) 1 . The Codex has been occasionally consulted for the verification of certain readings by Tregelles, Tischendorf, and others. A list of readings examined at Rome by the present editor (Feb. 1861), and by the Rev. E. C. Cure, Fellow of Merton College, Oxford (April 1862), will be found at the end of these prolegomena. A description, with an engraving from a photograph of a portion of a page, is given in Burgon’s “Letters from Rome,” London 1861. This most important MS. was probably written in the fourth century (Hug, Tischendorf, al.).
[118] The CODEX SINAITICUS. Procured by Tischendorf, in 1859, from the Monastery of St. Catherine on Mount Sinai. The Codex Frederico-Augustanus (now at Leipsic), obtained in 1844 from the same monastery, is a portion of the same copy of the Greek Bible, the 148 leaves of which, containing the entire New Testament, the Ep. of Barnabas, parts of Hermas, and 199 more leaves of the Septuagint, have now been edited by the discoverer. A magnificent edition prepared at the expense of the Emperor of Russia appeared in January, 1863, and a smaller edition containing the N.T. &c., has been published by Dr. Tischendorf. The MS. has four columns on a page, and has been altered by several different correctors, one or more of whom Tischendorf considers to have lived in the sixth century. The work of the original scribe has been examined, not only by Tischendorf, but by Tregelles and other competent judges, and is by them assigned to the fourth century . The internal character of the text agrees with the external, as the student may judge for himself from the readings given in the digest. The principal correctors as distinguished by Tischendorf are: A, of the same age with the MS. itself, probably the corrector who revised the book, before it left the hands of the scribe, denoted therefore by us -corr 1 ; B (cited as 2 ), who in the first page of Matt. began inserting breathings, accents, &c., but did not carry out his design, and touched only a few later passages; C a (cited as 3a ) has corrected very largely throughout the book. Wherever in our digest a reading is cited as found in 1 , it is to be understood, if no further statement is given, that C a altered it to that which is found in our text; C b (cited as 3b ) lived about the same time as C a , i.e. some centuries later than the original scribe. These are all that we need notice here 6 .
[119] When, in the Gospels, and in the Evangelic statement, 1Co 11:23-25 , the sign () occurs in a reference, it is signified that the word occurs in the parallel place in the other Gospels, which will always be found indicated at the head of the note on the paragraph. When the sign () is qualified , thus, ‘ Mk.,’ or ‘ Mt. Mk.,’ &c., it is signified that the word occurs in the parallel place in that Gospel or Gospels, but not in the other or others .
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Revelation Chapter 15
A peculiar scene is described in chaps. 15, 16. On this one we need not now bestow more than a few words. Thus it connects itself with what came before us in Rev 11:15-18 . Still more plainly it contains that which is shown us in Rev 17:18 , the judgment of Babylon. “And I saw another sign in the heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having seven strokes, the last; for in them is finished the fury [ ] of God.” You will observe that it is not yet the Lord’s appearing. This is of importance to show the structure of this portion of the book. We must carefully beware of supposing that the seven Bowls or Vials are after the Son of Man is come for the harvest and the vintage of the earth, which are at the end. We must go back, therefore, not to the beginning of Rev 14 but before its last acts. The last of the Bowls, or the seventh, is the fall of Babylon. This judgment of course corresponds with the third dealing of God in Rev 14 . The first is the separation of the godly Jewish remnant; the second, an everlasting gospel to the Gentiles; and the third, the fall of Babylon. Thus the last Bowl of wrath only brings us up to the same point. Hence the Bowls must not in any way be supposed to follow after Rev 14 , but only after its earlier part at the utmost. This is important, because each true landmark helps to gather a juster idea how to place chronologically the various portions of the book. The last Bowl is also the last outpouring of God’s wrath before the Lord Jesus appears. It synchronises with the third out of seven consecutive acts in 14. The end of Rev 16 does not in point of time fall lower than the third step in those of Rev 14 . The fifth from its nature is not a judgment,. but a comfort peculiarly seasonable at that juncture. Certainly the fourth, sixth, and seventh parts of Rev 14 are events necessarily subsequent to the seven Bowls of God’s wrath, which close before the Son of Man appears.
Let us look then a little into the subject. “And I saw as a sea of glass.” Here it is distinguished in its accompaniments from the description in Rev 4 . There the elders were seen on thrones, with the sea of glass bearing its silent but strong testimony that these saints had done with earthly needs and defilements. A sea of glass would not avail for those who required the washing of water by the word. Their immunity is indicated by that symbol. This is not only intelligible but even plain. When the glorified saints are caught up to heaven, they no longer want what was set forth by the laver and its water to purify. The sea of glass attests that the purity was henceforth fixed. The fact is that they were outside and above the earth, where water is needed to cleanse the daily defilements. It is not blood we need for a perpetual standing, but the daily application of the washing of water by the word. If the Advocate wash not our feet, then have we no part with Him.
Here it is not merely a sea of glass, but mingled with fire. What does this teach? That these saints passed through the time of fearful fiery tribulation, as did not the elders. The absence of the fire in connection with the elders is just as significant as the presence of fire in connection with the saints in collision with the Beast and the False Prophet, of whom we are now hearing. If people ask, Are the saints to pass through the time of tribulation? the right answer is this, What saints are meant? Those represented by the elders were caught up to heaven at Christ’s coming before that time. Scripture is positive. If one only means that saints called afterwards pass through that day of inflicted trial, it is unquestionable. In short we have only to distinguish persons and times, and all becomes plain: by confounding the two all is made a mass of obscurity. But scripture cannot be broken.
“And those that come conquerors from the beast, and from his image, and from the number of his name, standing, upon the sea of glass, having harps of God.” The victory over the Beast is never predicated of the elders in any sort; nor is there any association with the elders here. It is a closing scene of fearful trial’. This is important The only victors here noticed are confined to the time when Satan’s last plans will be consummated. These are seen, as a sign in heaven, delivered if they died before the Beast falls. At the least the fact is undeniable that these conquerors belong exclusively to the time of the last efforts of the devil through the Beast and the False Prophet. They are strictly speaking therefore Apocalyptic saints, and the final company of those who refused to bow.
It will be recollected that according to Rev 6 the first sufferers who died for the truth were to wait for another company to be killed as they were. But it is a mistake on every ground to interpret either the one chapter or the other as of Christ and the church. So with those standing upon the sea of glass mingled with fire. The structure of the book proves each to be a special company, and all distinct from the twenty-four elders, who really do represent the entire aggregate of those that rise at Christ’s coming Although these joyful sufferers may have fallen under the enemy’s hand, they really come off victors, and are here seen standing on the sea of glass having harps of God. It was therefore rightly styled “mingled with fire”; for this tribulation transcends all before. Their melody in praise of the Lord was none the worse for the sea of fiery trial through which they pass into His presence. The harps were of God, not man’s.
“And they sing the song of Moses, servant of God, and the song of the Lamb.” Thus it is plain that they are not Christians in the strict or true sense of the word. Assuredly they are saints most really, but they had not such relations as now subsist spiritually; they knew not the bond which is made good by the indwelling of the Holy Ghost in those who are now associated with Christ. So exclusive is it for us that those who were under Moses are under him no more; they own no master or head but Christ. The souls of whom we here read retain their link with Jewish things, though beyond a doubt they serve God and the Lamb. Hence we hear of them “saying, Great and marvellous [are] thy works, Lord God the Almighty; righteous and true [are] thy ways, O King” – not “of saints” but – “of the nations.”
There is beyond doubt no such thought or phrase in scripture as “King of saints.” It is one of the worst readings of the rather vicious Text. Rec. of the Revelation. Not only is it against the best witnesses, but it conveys an unfounded notion of mischievous consequence For what can go more to destroy in principle and practice the proper relationship of the saints to the Lord? Elsewhere we never hear of such a thing as “King of saints,” nor has it any just sense. To the saints the Lord Jesus stands undoubtedly as their Lord and Master; but “King” is a relationship with a nation living on the earth. It is not a connection that pertains to the new man. Besides, even these if martyred belong actually to heaven, where such a relationship would be strange indeed. Thus it is strange doctrine as well as a fictitious reading. The allusion is to Jer 10:7 . There all may find “king of nations,” with other words which are cited here. If these saints were not exclusively Gentiles, at least they comprehended such; and this has to be borne in mind in reading the passage. The true title then is “king of the Gentiles” or “nations.” No doubt King of the Jews He is; but those in particular who were Gentiles themselves would and ought to rejoice in being able to praise Him as King of nations, as the Jewish prophet fully recognised of old.
“Who shall not fear [thee], O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only [art] holy (or, gracious): for all the nations shall come and do homage before thee.” Here again it is not Israel, but all the nations shall come. “For thy righteousnesses were manifested.” They anticipate the triumph reserved for God in the day of power and glory at Christ’s second advent.
“And after these things I saw, and the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in the heaven was opened: and out of the temple came the seven angels that had the seven plagues, clothed in pure bright linen, and girded about their breasts with golden girdles And one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the fury of God that liveth unto the ages of the ages. And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and no one was able to enter into the temple, till the seven strokes of the seven angels were fulfilled.” It is not now the ark of God’s covenant seen in the opened temple; it is characterised as the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in the heaven (not yet on earth); and judgments follow on apostate Gentiles, not the revelation of the divine counsels touching Israel. Doubtless the mass or many of the Jews worship at this time the man of sin in the ostensible temple of God, as it was historically and to their extreme guilt. But truly before God this house, which the Lord left in His day as “their house” and “desolate” indeed, will then be Satan’s house beyond any other on earth.
Fuente: William Kelly Major Works (New Testament)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Rev 15:1-3 a
1Then 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. 2And 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. 3And they sang the song of Moses, the bond-servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying,
Rev 15:1 “in heaven” This is the third in a series of signs John saw in heaven. See Special Topic at Rev 12:1.
“great and marvelous” This phrase occurs only here and points toward the OT allusion in Rev 15:3, which may come from one of several places (i.e., Deu 32:3-4; Psa 111:2; Psa 139:14; or Hos 14:9).
Rev 15:3-4 make up one long composite OT allusion from several possible places.
“the wrath of God” See full note at Rev 7:14.
“is finished” This is an aorist passive indicative of tele to finish or fulfill. The bowls are a complete and final judgment on incalcitrant unbelief! There is no more hope of repentance and faith, only judgment and isolation!
It is theologically possible that the sequence of the seals, trumpets, and bowls was a way of showing God’s hope of human repentance, but in the end, His total judgment, removal, and isolation of evil is justified! Hell is the only option left.
Rev 15:2 “I saw something like a sea of glass” This is first mentioned in Rev 4:6. Because of its use in Rev 21:1, it seems to be a metaphor for God’s holiness, which kept sinful mankind from approaching Him (i.e., possibly a metaphor for the waters of heaven). One day this barrier will be removed. The OT allusion is to either Exo 24:10 or Eze 1:22; Eze 10:1. See full note at Rev 4:6.
“mixed with fire” This is a new element not found in Rev 4:6. There have been numerous theories.
1. it is the reflected setting sun on human history
2. it represents fire which stands for God’s judgment
3. it is the blood of the martyrs
4. it is connected to the victory at the Red Sea and the Song of Moses since the OT background of chapters 15 and 16 is the plagues of the Exodus (cf. Exodus 7-12; Exodus 15)
NASB”those who had been victorious”
NKJV”those who have the victory”
NRSV”those who had conquered”
TEV”those who had won the victory”
NJB”those who had fought against”
At first this seems to refer to the martyrs, but Rev 12:11 shows that it must apply to those who have experienced natural deaths but who have not worshiped the beast (cf. Rev 20:4).
NASB”from the beast and from his image and from the number of his name”
NKJV”over the beast, over his image and over his mark”
NRSV”the beast and its image and the number of its name”
TEV”over the beast and its image and over the ones whose name is represented by a number”
NJB”the beast and man, and against his statue and the number which is his name”
The beast is first mentioned in Rev 11:7. From chapter 13 it is obvious that there are two wild beasts; one is the incarnation of Satan (i.e., a parody of Christ) and the other is his false prophet (i.e., a parody of the Spirit). From Rev 13:18 we know that his number is 666, which is not so much a number of a person as it is of the fallenness and inadequacy of human society (i.e., government) apart from God.
“standing on the sea of glass” Some translations have “on” (NASB, NKJV), and some have “beside” (NRSV) or “by” (TEV, NJB). The Greek preposition’s basic meaning is “upon.” This metaphor speaks of those overcomers being close to God. The “sea” in Revelation stands for a separation between a holy God and sinful creation. This sea is completely removed in Rev 21:1 when full fellowship is restored (i.e., the fellowship of the Garden of Eden is restored).
For interpretive options on the meaning of “the sea of glass” see note at Rev 4:6.
“holding harps of God” Angels are described as having harps in Rev 5:8; Rev 14:2. In this context it refers to believers who are synonymous with the 144,000 of chapter 14. As the angels worshiped with music before the God in heaven, now too, the victorious believers!
Rev 15:3 “And they sang the song of Moses. . .and the song of the Lamb” This shows the unity of the old covenant and the new covenant in this song of redemption. The song of Moses is an allusion to Exo 15:1-19, where Moses thanks God for the defeat of Pharaoh at the Red Sea. However, it is possible that John had Deuteronomy 32 in mind because the first phrase may be an allusion to Deu 32:3-4. The song of the Lamb has previously been noted in Rev 5:9; Rev 14:3. Notice that it is a song of corporate, not individual, salvation (cf. Gen 3:15).
“the bond-servant of God” This is an honorific title for OT characters like Moses, Joshua, and David. It may be the origin of Paul’s “servant of Christ.”
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
saw. App-133.
another. App-124.
sign. App-104. See Rev 12:1.
in. App-133.
heaven. See Rev 3:12.
seven angels. Occurs seven times; here, and: Rev 15:6, Rev 15:7, Rev 15:8; Rev 16:1; Rev 17:1; Rev 21:9.
seven. See App-10and App-197.
plagues. See Rev 9:20 and App-197.
filled up. Compare App-125.
God. App-98.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Rev 15:1-8.] PREFATORY: the description of the vision, Rev 15:1; the song of triumph of the saints victorious over the beast, Rev 15:2-4; the coming forth of the seven angels and delivering to them of the seven vials, Rev 15:5-8.
And I saw another sign in heaven great and marvellous, seven angels having seven plagues which are the last (plagues), because in them is completed the wrath of God (I have adopted an unusual arrangement to throw the into connexion with , for which epithet it renders a reason. It is to be observed 1) that this verse is evidently only a compendious description of the following vision: for the angels themselves are not seen till Rev 15:6, and do not receive the vials containing the plagues till after they are seen: 2) that the whole of Gods wrath in final judgment is not exhausted by these vials, but only the whole of His wrath in sending plagues on the earth previous to the judgment. After these there are no more plagues: they are concluded with the destruction of Babylon. Then the Lord Himself appears, ch. Rev 19:11 ff.). And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire (see ch. Rev 4:6 and note: not merely glassy: the indicates the likeness: it was as it were made of glass. The addition is probably made as bringing into the previous celestial imagery an element belonging to this portion of the prophecy, of which judgment is the prevailing complexion. The fact, that the personages of the former heavenly vision are still present, Rev 15:7, seems to remove all doubt of this being the same sea of glass as that before described ch. Rev 4:6, in immediate connexion with which the four living-beings were mentioned), and the conquerors (the pres. part. has the force of simple designation, as so often in this book) of (see ref.: they have come victorious out of the strife: cf. Thuc. i. 120, , , , ) the beast and of his image and of the number of his name (i. e. of the temptation to worship his image and to receive the mark consisting of the number of his name, ch. Rev 13:17-18), standing on (does import actually upon, so that they stood on the surface of the sea, or merely on the shore of? On every account the latter seems the more probable: as better suiting the heavenly imagery of ch. 4, and as according with the situation of the children of Israel when they sung the song to which allusion is presently made. The sense may be constructionally justified by ch. Rev 3:20, and Rev 8:3; the fact of having a genitive in the latter place not setting it aside as a precedent) the sea of glass, having harps of God (sacred harps, part of the instruments of heaven used solely for the praise of God. We have had them before mentioned in ch. Rev 5:8, Rev 14:2). And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God (i. e. a song similar to that song of triumph which Moses and the children of Israel sung when delivered from the Red Sea and from the Egyptians, Exodus 15. In Exo 14:31, Moses is called, as here, the servant (, LXX, as also in Heb 3:5) of God (see also Num 12:7; Jos 22:5 ( )): and this song is formed on the model of parts of that one: see below) and the song of the Lamb (it is not meant that there are two distinct songs: the song is one and the same; and the expression which characterizes it betokens, as do so many other notices and symbols in this book, the unity of the Old and New Test. churches. Their songs of triumph have become ours: the song of Moses is the song of the Lamb. In this great victory all the triumphs of Gods people are included, and find their fulfilment), saying (the song is a reproduction of several portions of the O. T. songs of praise), Great and wonderful are thy works (Ps. 110:2, 138:14, LXX), Lord God Almighty: just and true are thy ways (Ps. 144:17; Deu 32:4 in Moses song), thou King of the nations (or, of the ages (see 1Ti 1:17 reff. and note). The confusion has apparently arisen from the similarity of () and : but which was the original, it is impossible, in the conflict of authorities, to decide): who can but fear (Thee), O Lord (these two clauses are from Jer 10:7, but not in the LXX [116] [117] [118]. The title King of nations is especially appropriate, as it is Gods judgments on the nations, and their effects on them, which are the theme of the Churchs praise), and shall glorify (the construction is a mixed one, compounded of and ) thy Name? because Thou only art holy ( is only used of God here and ch. Rev 16:5; hence the var. . Dsterd. quotes from the Schol. in Eurip. Hec. 788, . This first grounds the in the attributes of God): because all the nations shall come and worship before thee (so it is declared in reff. LXX. This second grounds the in matter of fact): because Thy righteous acts (= Thy judgments: thy deeds of righteousness acted out towards the nations, both in the publication of the Gospel and in the destruction of Thine enemies) have been made manifest (the aor. as so often lately, looking back over the past and regarding it as matter of history, simply as the past. This third grounds the . in its immediately exciting cause-the manifestation of Gods judgments). And after these things I saw, and there was opened the temple of the tabernacle of witness in heaven (see on ch. Rev 11:19, Rev 16:17. The is the holy place of the tabernacle, to which latter the appellation is here peculiarly appropriate, seeing that the witness and covenant of God are about to receive their great fulfilment): and there came forth the seven angels (viz. who were before mentioned: the does not point out any particular seven, such as the archangels. On the other hand, if we omit the second , we must not violate the force of the anarthrous participle by saying the seven angels who had, . The E.V. here is strictly correct) which had (or, having. This was their office: but they had them not yet) the seven plagues out of the temple (cf. ch. Rev 14:15; Rev 14:17), clad in linen (the remarkable reading can hardly be genuine, though strongly attested: see digest. There is a precedent for in Eze 28:13) pure (and) glistening (the well-known clothing of angels and heavenly beings, see Act 10:30 (Rev 1:10), ch. Rev 19:8; Mat 17:2 [119], Mat 28:3), and girt round their breasts with golden girdles (being in this like our Lord Himself as seen in vision, ch. Rev 1:13). And one from among the four living-beings (appropriately to the symbolic meaning of these as the representatives of creation, see notes on ch. Rev 4:7; Rev 4:11, inasmuch as the coming plagues are to be inflicted on the objects of creation) gave to the seven angels seven golden vials (the was a shallow bowl or cup, usually without a stand or foot, in which they drew out of the or goblet: so Plato, Crito p. 120 a, . The Schol. on II. . 270 explains it , . Cf. Eurip. Ion 1181 ff.; Xen. Cyr. v. 2. 7), full of the wrath of God who liveth for ever and ever (this addition serves, as in ch. Rev 1:8, to give solemnity to the fact related). And the temple was filled with smoke from (arising from) the glory of God and from His might (i. e. from His presence, in which His glory and His might were displayed. The description calls to mind similar ones in the O. T., e. g. Psa 18:8 f.; Isa 65:5. See also below), and no one was able to enter into the temple (cf. 1Ki 8:10-11; Exo 40:34-35) until the seven plagues of the seven angels should be finished (the passages above referred to give the reason: because of the unapproachableness of God, when immediately present and working, by any created being. See Exo 19:21. When these judgments should be completed, then the wrathful presence and agency of God being withdrawn, He might again be approached. Many other meanings more or less far-fetched have been given, but where Scripture analogy is so plain, the simplest is the best).
[116] The MS. referred to by this symbol is that commonly called the Alexandrine, or CODEX ALEXANDRINUS. It once belonged to Cyrillus Lucaris, patriarch of Alexandria and then of Constantinople, who in the year 1628 presented it to our King Charles I. It is now in the British Museum. It is on parchment in four volumes, of which three contain the Old, and one the New Testament, with the Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians. This fourth volume is exhibited open in a glass case. It will be seen by the letters in the inner margin of this edition, that the first 24 chapters of Matthew are wanting in it, its first leaf commencing , ch. Mat 25:6 :-as also the leaves containing , Joh 6:50,-to , Joh 8:52. It is generally agreed that it was written at Alexandria;-it does not, however, in the Gospels, represent that commonly known as the Alexandrine text, but approaches much more nearly to the Constantinopolitan, or generally received text. The New Testament, according to its text, was edited, in uncial types cast to imitate those of the MS., by Woide, London, 1786, the Old Testament by Baber, London, 1819: and its N.T. text has now been edited in common type by Mr. B. H. Cowper, London, 1861. The date of this MS. has been variously assigned, but it is now pretty generally agreed to be the fifth century.
[117] The CODEX VATICANUS, No. 1209 in the Vatican Library at Rome; and proved, by the old catalogues, to have been there from the foundation of the library in the 16th century. It was apparently, from internal evidence, copied in Egypt. It is on vellum, and contains the Old and New Testaments. In the latter, it is deficient from Heb 9:14 to the end of the Epistle;-it does not contain the Epistles to Timothy, Titus, and Philemon;-nor the Apocalypse. An edition of this celebrated codex, undertaken as long ago as 1828 by Cardinal Angelo Mai, has since his death been published at Rome. The defects of this edition are such, that it can hardly be ranked higher in usefulness than a tolerably complete collation, entirely untrustworthy in those places where it differs from former collations in representing the MS. as agreeing with the received text. An 8vo edition of the N.T. portion, newly revised by Vercellone, was published at Rome in 1859 (referred to as Verc): and of course superseded the English reprint of the 1st edition. Even in this 2nd edition there were imperfections which rendered it necessary to have recourse to the MS. itself, and to the partial collations made in former times. These are-(1) that of Bartolocci (under the name of Giulio de St. Anastasia), once librarian at the Vatican, made in 1669, and preserved in manuscript in the Imperial Library (MSS. Gr. Suppl. 53) at Paris (referred to as Blc); (2) that of Birch (Bch), published in various readings to the Acts and Epistles, Copenhagen, 1798,-Apocalypse, 1800,-Gospels, 1801; (3) that made for the great Bentley (Btly), by the Abbate Mico,-published in Fords Appendix to Woides edition of the Codex Alexandrinus, 1799 (it was made on the margin of a copy of Cephalus Greek Testament, Argentorati, 1524, still amongst Bentleys books in the Library of Trinity College, Cambridge); (4) notes of alterations by the original scribe and other correctors. These notes were procured for Bentley by the Abb de Stosch, and were till lately supposed to be lost. They were made by the Abbate Rulotta (Rl), and are preserved amongst Bentleys papers in the Library of Trinity College, Cambridge (B. 17. 20)1. The Codex has been occasionally consulted for the verification of certain readings by Tregelles, Tischendorf, and others. A list of readings examined at Rome by the present editor (Feb. 1861), and by the Rev. E. C. Cure, Fellow of Merton College, Oxford (April 1862), will be found at the end of these prolegomena. A description, with an engraving from a photograph of a portion of a page, is given in Burgons Letters from Rome, London 1861. This most important MS. was probably written in the fourth century (Hug, Tischendorf, al.).
[118] The CODEX SINAITICUS. Procured by Tischendorf, in 1859, from the Monastery of St. Catherine on Mount Sinai. The Codex Frederico-Augustanus (now at Leipsic), obtained in 1844 from the same monastery, is a portion of the same copy of the Greek Bible, the 148 leaves of which, containing the entire New Testament, the Ep. of Barnabas, parts of Hermas, and 199 more leaves of the Septuagint, have now been edited by the discoverer. A magnificent edition prepared at the expense of the Emperor of Russia appeared in January, 1863, and a smaller edition containing the N.T. &c., has been published by Dr. Tischendorf. The MS. has four columns on a page, and has been altered by several different correctors, one or more of whom Tischendorf considers to have lived in the sixth century. The work of the original scribe has been examined, not only by Tischendorf, but by Tregelles and other competent judges, and is by them assigned to the fourth century. The internal character of the text agrees with the external, as the student may judge for himself from the readings given in the digest. The principal correctors as distinguished by Tischendorf are:-A, of the same age with the MS. itself, probably the corrector who revised the book, before it left the hands of the scribe, denoted therefore by us -corr1; B (cited as 2), who in the first page of Matt. began inserting breathings, accents, &c., but did not carry out his design, and touched only a few later passages; Ca (cited as 3a) has corrected very largely throughout the book. Wherever in our digest a reading is cited as found in 1, it is to be understood, if no further statement is given, that Ca altered it to that which is found in our text; Cb (cited as 3b) lived about the same time as Ca, i.e. some centuries later than the original scribe. These are all that we need notice here6.
[119] When, in the Gospels, and in the Evangelic statement, 1Co 11:23-25, the sign () occurs in a reference, it is signified that the word occurs in the parallel place in the other Gospels, which will always be found indicated at the head of the note on the paragraph. When the sign () is qualified, thus, Mk., or Mt. Mk., &c., it is signified that the word occurs in the parallel place in that Gospel or Gospels, but not in the other or others.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Chapter 15
And now we come to the prelude to the final seven plagues, by which God’s judgment will be completed upon the earth and the earth prepared for the reign of Jesus Christ.
And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is completed the wrath of God. [filled up, accomplished] And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire ( Rev 15:1-2 ):
The sea of glass that is before the throne of God now being mingled with fire for the fiery judgments that are to come.
and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over the image, and over the mark, and over the number of his name, and they were standing on the sea of glass, having the harps of God. And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God ( Rev 15:2-3 ),
These are redeemed Israel who have been saved during the Great Tribulation period who have received Jesus Christ as the result of the two witnesses and the hundred and forty-four thousand who will also be bearing witness to them at that time. So 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 ( Rev 15:3 ).
Here is the song that is proceeding the final judgments of God poured out upon the earth and again the justice of God is declared. All the way through this Great Tribulation period, voices from the throne, from beneath the throne, crying out “holy and just are thy ways, righteous and true are thy judgments”.
There will never be a question or a doubt of the righteousness of God. Man does that now. How could a God of love do this or that or the other? And man challenges the justice and the righteous of God now, but when the final time comes throughout eternity there can never be any challenge of the fairness of God, of the righteousness of God or the judgments of God. There will always be that declaration of “holy and true are thy ways, thy judgments, O Lord”.
Even as God sought to protect the innocence of Jesus in His death, by many testimonies, Pilate examined Him even by scourging. And after this Roman inquisition, Pilate said, “I find no fault with Him”( Joh 19:4 ), a testimony of the innocence of Jesus. Judas, the one that betrayed Him, when he threw the money down on the floor said, “I have betrayed innocent blood”( Mat 27:4 ), a witness to the innocence of Jesus. And finally as He was hanging there on the cross, the one thief said to the other, “We are here because we deserve to be here, but this man has done nothing amiss”( Luk 23:43 ). God protected the record. Jesus was innocent. He was the just one dying for the guilty.
Now through the Great Tribulation, God’s justice, God’s righteousness, God’s fairness is constantly being vindicated and declared. Just and true are thy ways thou King of Saints.
Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for only thou art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest. And after that I looked, and, behold, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened: 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 ( Rev 15:4-6 ).
So, there are seven angels bringing now the seven final plagues, the judgments of God, and in this will the judgment be complete.
And one of the four cherubim gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials [little bowls] full of the wrath of God, who liveth for ever and ever. 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, until the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled ( Rev 15:7-8 ).
Now, there is in heaven a temple of which the earthly tabernacle was a model, the very presence and place of God’s dwelling there within the Holy of Holies. Now, even as when Moses established the earthly tabernacle and the presence of God came down like a cloud, and Aaron and the others could not stand to minister because of the power of God’s presence that was there in this cloud.
So, now in heaven as we see the temple of God, we see this cloud covering it during this final pouring forth of the judgment of God. And no man is allowed entrance during this period of time. I believe the reason why is that God is in His temple weeping over what is taking place upon the earth.
You remember that Jesus said to His disciple one day, “He who has seen me has seen the Father, why sayest thou then, show us the Father”( Joh 14:9 ). You remember when Jesus was looking at Jerusalem, and He began to weep. “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that stonest the prophets and all that have come from God to thee; how often I would have gathered you together as a hen that gathereth her chicks, but you would not; and now is your city laid unto you desolate”( Mat 23:37 ). Your children are going to be slain in the streets. They are going to put an embankment around you. And He was describing the agony, the judgment that was going to come upon Jerusalem because of their failure to recognize their day of visitation. “If you would have only known in this thy day that things that belong to your peace, but they are hid from your eyes; and now as a result of this thy judgment that is going to come.” And Jesus was weeping as He could see the judgment that was going to come upon them. Jesus said, “If you have seen me, you have seen the Father.”
God does not delight in the death of the wicked. In fact, through the prophet Ezekiel, God said, “Turn ye, turn ye, for why will ye die; behold I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked”( Eze 33:11 ). I believe that God weeps over the wickedness of man and those that remain obdurate in their rebellion against God to death.
And so as God’s final plagues are poured out, the temple is closed for man and covered with a cloud, as I believe God sits in the temple weeping over what man has necessitated as a result of his rebellion. And God is forced to put away the evil in order to prepare the earth for the righteous reign of His Son throughout the kingdom age. Awesome.
And now we move into chapter sixteen, next week sixteen, seventeen and eighteen, as we are two more weeks and we should finish the whole book.
Father, we thank you for salvation offered to us so freely through Jesus Christ. Thank you for your love, sending Your Son, taking our guilt, the innocent dying for the guilty, purchasing our redemption, making us children of God, making possible, Lord, our dwelling with You. Now, Father, in Jesus’ name, let us hide your word away in our hearts. May the Holy Spirit impress upon our hearts the truth of your Word and thus may we live in accordance with that truth. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
May the Lord be with you and give you a beautiful week. Fiercesome and awesome things are coming upon the earth. Jesus in talking about them said, “Pray ye always that you’ll be counted worthy to escape these things that are going to come to pass upon the earth, that you might be standing before the Son of Man” ( Luk 21:36 ). That is my prayer. I want to walk in close fellowship with Jesus Christ. I wouldn’t dare walk any other way at this point. I am convinced that the day of the Lord is at hand. In the same place where Jesus said, “Pray that you will be accounted worthy,” He also said, “When these things begin to come to pass, look up, lift up your head, your redemption draweth nigh.”
Hey, when they begin to develop computer chips and the Smart cards and begin to put them into sample marketing and all, look up, lift up your head, your redemption is getting nigh. We are not far off from that time when they will require everyone to take this mark in their right hand or in their forehead. The technology exists. It is being used in an altered form right now. Already being used the same system that can be easily transferred into everyone receiving that mark for identity. “Look up, lift up your head, your redemption draws nigh.”
The Lord is coming soon. And the words of Jesus to us in this day is, “Watch ye therefore and be ready for you know not the day or the hour the Son of Man is coming.” Look up, lift up your head, your redemption is drawing nigh. Walk with Him. I would say run with Him. God bless you as you run with Jesus this week. “
Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary
Rev 15:1-4
SECTION THREE
POURING OUT OF THE SEVEN PLAGUES
Rev 15:1 to Rev 16:21
PreliminaryNotes:
1. There are three sets of symbolic sevens, each one bringing the story to the end of time or the coming of the Lord. Since the prophetic history of the church from John’s time was pictorially revealed in the book of seven seals, naturally the seventh seal would not be exhausted till the end. The seven trumpets came under the last seal and the sound-ing of the seventh one brings the end. (Rev 11:15-19.) In like manner the plagues, under another set of symbols, complete the cycle, for Rev 15:1 says in them is “finished the wrath of God.”
2. The fourteenth chapter was designed to encourage saints in their struggles by predicting the fall of Babylon (verse 8) and the final victory of the righteous (verse 13). Section three points out the means by which these glorious results are to be accomplished.
3. In view of the fact that these plagues were to be poured out upon the beast and his worshipers (Rev 16:2; Rev 16:10), it is evident that they represent a series of events that will ultimately end the papal hierarchy–accomplish the destruction of the “man of sin.” This event will occur at the coming of the Lord. (2Th 2:8.) All this is proof that the plagues did not begin to be poured out till after the 1,260-year period, or the time when Rome’s complete sway began to be destroyed.
1. AN INTRODUCTORY VISION
Rev 15:1-4
1 And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having seven plagues, which are the last, for in them is finished the wrath of God.–This sign which John saw in heaven was one of marvelous beauty fitted to excite wonder and prepare the mind to appreciate the promise of victory over the beast. Appearing in heaven would indicate that this victory would come through the judgments that God would providentially bring upon the beast. Saying that these plagues are the last is explained to mean that when they are completed the wrath of God against the papal beast power will be finished. However long a time may be covered by the plagues, their finish means the end of the world.
2 And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire; and them that come off victorious from the beast, and from his image, and from the number of his name,–A similarvision is recorded in 4:6 except that here the sea of glass is “min-gled with fire.” There it was “before the throne”; here it is in heaven, hence must have reference in some way to the saved. This is further evident by the fact that it is those who are victorious that are standing by it, or upon it, according to the margin. Compare the notes on Rev 4:6. On the expressions image of the beast and the number of his name see the notes on Rev 13:15-18. The victory mentioned here evidently refers to the fact that those standing by the sea of glass had successfully resisted all the schemes and devices of the papacy to force them to accept its doctrines and practices; this they did in spite of threats and persecutions. The fire may represent the persecu-tions in which they attained their glorious victory. (Act 14:22.)
standing by the sea of glass, having harps of God.–As the scene was laid in heaven and the persons were those who had gained a victory over the beast, it must refer to saints in glory, not to those in the church on earth. The word “harps,” as a symbol, doubtless, means the praise that the redeemed will render to God. It certainly could not mean mechanical harps, for pure spirit beings would not need material harps. In Eph 5:19 Paul uses the Greek word psallo in a figurative sense, saying that it is done with the heart. Whatever spiritual faculties we have for praising God will be the heavenly harps. Whatever the meaning of this expression, it can have no reference to the church on earth. See notes on Rev 14:2.
3 And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, O Lord God, the Almighty; righteous and true are thy ways, thou King of the ages.–It does not seem reason-able that those who gained a victory over the beast should sing the same song that was sung when Moses led Israel out of Egypt. (Exo 15:1.) That they should celebrate their victory in an appropriate song like the Israelites did at the Red Sea is altogether reasonable hence, the language probably means that they sang a song to the Lamb as the Israelites did to Moses. Both victories were accomplished through God’s help and in a similar way. Since reference is made to the deliverance of the Israelites from Egypt, it is natural for the song to speak of God as having almighty power and his works being great and marvelous. The Red Sea and Mount Sinai furnish examples. That God should be just or righteous, true in all his ways, is required by his very nature. Pharaoh with all his wickedness was as justly treated as the Israelites in their affliction. So the reverses that fell upon the beast power were but evidences of the just providences of God.
God is here referred to as the “King of the ages”; the margin says King of nations, and the King James Version King of saints.It is immaterial which is the true reading, for if God is King at all, he is King of all three. There is a broad general sense in which God has and will rule in all ages, though the specific reign in this age is given to Christ. Since this authority was given to him by the Father, and he operates through the Father’s power, the direct reign will he given back to the Father in the final state. (1Co 15:24.)
4 Who shall not fear, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy; for all the nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy righteous acts have been made manifest. –This means that all should fear his name because of his holiness. Then it is affirmed that all nations–that is, people from all nations–will come and worship before him. His righteous acts have been made known and those influenced by them to be faithful regardless of persecution will he per-mitted to worship before him in heaven and join in the song of praise.
Commentary on Rev 15:1-4 by Foy E. Wallace
(1) The sign of the seven angels-Rev 15:1-2.
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-Rev 15:1. The sign in heaven carried the same import as observed in previous comments on other visions and in the Lords own preview of the destruction of Jerusalem in Mat 24:31. What was here envisioned in heaven (the sphere of authorities) was carried out on earth (among the inhabitants of Palestine) with special reference to Judah and Jerusalem.
The seven angels with the seven vials and plagues formed a visional recapitulation of the seven seals and trumpets of the first series of visions–the difference existed in the central figures of the visions. The first series surrounded Christ, the Lamb; the second series surrounded the church, his Bride. The second series, though repetitive, was also a progressive development of the events in an enlargement of judicial punishments inflicted on the empire-beast. The seven plagues in the hands of the seven angels were contained in seven vials, as mentioned in Rev 15:7, and this chapter had the effect of an introduction to the pouring out of the plagues contained in the vials of the following chapter.
In reference to the seven vials, verse 1 stated that in them is filled up the wrath of God, which indicated the fulfillment of time. The function of the seven angels therefore was to execute the seven plagues in the series of cosmic woes to be poured out on the earth–the land of the Jews. The visions of these final plagues, or woes, anticipated the overthrow of apostate Jerusalem, referred to previously as the fall of the harlot Babylon. Later, the same seven angels were seen showing to John the new Jerusalem emerging as the spiritual Jerusalem in contrast with the old apostate Jerusalem.
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-Rev 15:2. Here was the vision of a crystal sea, with the transparency of glass, signifying that the impending events were soon to be manifest. The mingling of fire in the crystal denoted the consuming judgment of God soon to descend upon the beast and his minions. Standing on the crystal sea were the host of martyrs that had gotten victory over the beast, and over his image, and over the number of his name . . . having the harps of God, and they sang the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb. The reference to the song of Moses indicated that the elements of this vision were formed from the deliverance of Israel and were a comparison with the Red Sea, which swallowed up Pharaoh and his hosts. The saints had gotten victory over the emperor-beast as Israel was victorious over Pharaoh; and as Israel sang the triumphant song of Moses standing by the sea; so these saints also, standing on the sea, sang the song of Moses and the Lamb. It was Pharaoh there, and the emperor here; the victorious Israelites there, the triumphant saints here; it was oppressed Israel delivered from Egypt there, the persecuted saints redeemed from the earth.
The reference to the Egyptian Pharaoh in comparison with the Roman emperor was made clear by the mention of the song of Moses, the servant of God and them that had gotten victory over the beast, over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name–the language identifies Pharaoh Rameses and Nero Caesar.
The mention of the victorious host having the harps of God, as in chapter fourteen, could not be literal any more than the angels and martyred saints could be physical. The harps here, as in preceding visions, were the symbol of the perfect melodious harmony of the grand symphony of redeemed voices singing. the song of Moses and the Lamb in exultant victory, standing on the crystal sea; as Israel in the exodus sang the song of Moses, standing by the sea.
The analogy drawn enforced the relation between the oppression and deliverance of Israel in the Old Testament, and the persecution and victory of the church in the New Testament. The symbols and apocalypses were parallel, and must be so applied. Otherwise the New Testament history of the early oppressions of the church loses force, and, the visions lose meaning, the symbols become enigmatic, the entire book becomes a dilemma, and its apocalyptic events anachronistic.
(2) The song of Moses and the Lamb-Rev 15:3-4.
1. Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints -Rev 15:3. The song of Moses had long been incorporated in the temple services, which the temple worshippers sang in choruses. This visional victory song of the saints, as previously stated, was patterned after the Old Testament exodus song of Moses, led by Miriam; but here the phrase and the Lamb was added–the song of Moses and the Lamb.
The rhetoric of the song enhances the supreme excellence and glory of the object of its praise–the Lord God Almighty, and the Lamb of God. The comparison of the irreverent familiarity of present times in addressing God, as if He were on equality with man is an inadvertent profanation. The eulogies of the song are sublime, as should be all prayer to God. The supreme title Lord God Almighty expressed omnipotence; the tribute great and marvellous was exclamatory of matchless majesty; the attributes just and true, were the acknowledgment of submission to His righteous judgment; the coronation name, thou King of saints, included the saints of all ages, hence has been variously translated thou King of the ages; and it ascribed to Him eternal existence and the Sovereign of all saints, through whose power they were freed from the dominion of the imperial beast.
2. Who shall not fear thee, 0 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 -Rev 15:4. The interrogation, Who shall not fear thee? was expressive of complete and unalloyed adoration, short of the late irreverent familiarity. The refrain thou only art holy was the superlative holiness inherent only in God. The declaration all nations shall come and worship before thee was promissory of liberation from Roman image idolatry and the freedom of all men to worship God. The judicial declaration for thy judgments are manifest had reference to the meeting out of retributive justice to the oppressors of the saints.
The song is a combination of many triumphant expressions of Old Testament psalmody of praise and adoration pertaining to Israels deliverance from enemy nations and lord of dominion, and again represents a parallel of apocalypses of Old Testament Israel and the New Testament church.
Commentary on Rev 15:1-4 by Walter Scott
ANOTHER SIGN. Rev 15:1-8.
Rev 15:1. – And I saw another sign in the Heaven, great and wonderful: seven angels having seven plagues, the last; for in them the fury of God is completed.
We have had the great sign of the woman, Israel (Rev 12:1), then another sign, that of the dragon (Rev 15:3), now we have another sign spoken of as great and wonderful. Those three signs are each seen in the Heaven – the dwelling place of God and angels. What makes the third one of such solemn import, even more so than the two preceding, is, that corresponding to the third Woe, the fullness of Gods wrath is poured out upon the Beast, the diabolic persecutor of the woman. The first sign directs attention to Israel, the second to the real instigator of the evil, the dragon, and the third to the apostate civil power, who under Satan blasphemes God and persecutes Israel.
Seven angels. There are three numbered groups of angels: of four (Rev 7:1), of seven (Rev 8:2; Rev 16:1), and of twelve (Rev 21:12). In the ministry of judgment under the Trumpets and under the Vials there are two distinct groups of seven angels. Those connected with the Trumpets are evidently a highly honoured company, as they are spoken of as those who stand before God, (See remarks on Rev 8:2.) and are likewise introduced by the definite article the seven angels (Rev 8:2). Not so the Vial angels.
Having seven plagues, the last. The Seal judgments were succeeded by the Trumpet series, and now the seven Vial plagues are about to be poured out, in which the pent-up and concentrated wrath of God is fully expressed. These providential judgments are the last. Emphasis is laid upon this expression of finality; not that the Vials close up the story of divine wrath, but they bring to an end the providential judgments of God. Further strokes of the divine vengeance are most surely inflicted, but these are by the Lamb in Person at His Coming (Rev 19:1-21; Mat 25:31-46).
For in them the fury (or wrath) of God is completed. The reason is here given why these seven plagues are the last. For therein the wrath of God is exhausted, that is, His providential dealings in judgment with a wicked and apostate scene.(*The wrath of God, as an expression occurs six times in the Apocalypse: Rev 14:10; Rev 14:19; Rev 15:1; Rev 15:7; Rev 16:1; Rev 19:15. In Rev 19:15-16 Gods wrath and the Lambs wrath are united in action.) On the conclusion of the Vials, the wrath of the Lamb, even more terrible than the wrath of God, is openly expressed on the subjects of vengeance. Commission to act is given to Christ as soon as the ministration of the Vials ends. The secret providential dealings of God are brought to an end with the Vials, or Bowls of wrath, after which the Lamb in Person publicly assumes the government of the world. But as the nations at His Coming are in armed rebellion – apostate and wicked beyond all human conception – the wrath of the Lamb burns in its fierceness. The wrath of God is finished in the Vials, to be succeeded by the wrath of the Lamb.
THE VICTORIOUS MARTYRED COMPANY OF JUDAH.
Rev 15:2-4. – And I saw as a glass sea, mingled with fire; and those that had gained the victory over the Beast, and over his image, and over the number of his name, standing upon the glass sea, having harps of God. And they sing the song of Moses, bondman of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and wonderful (are) Thy works, Lord God Almighty; righteous and true (are) Thy ways, O King of nations. 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 righteousnesses have been made manifest. In the earlier vision (v. 1) we had a solemn intimation of what is coming on the organised political (Rev 16:10) and religious (v. 19) systems then dominating the earth, as also on those connected with them. On these the wrath of God in resistless force spends itself, while the civil and ecclesiastical leaders are reserved for special punishment under the wrath of the Lamb inflicted at His Coming in power. The vision of judgment in verse 1 is resumed in verse 5. In the parenthesis between the visions of wrath we are introduced into an exceedingly grand scene of victory and song (vv. 2-4). The awfulness of the Vials (v. 1) is an occasion for God to bring into bold and striking relief His thoughts about His suffering people, and that before a blow is struck at the enemy. They are here witnessed in a parenthetic vision after the announcement of wrath, and before its execution. Historically the Beast triumphed (Rev 13:7) over the saints in the great Tribulation. They were not preserved from his brutal power. Now, however, we see the position reversed. The saints who had been martyred are here the victors on high, and the Beast on earth a subject of the fullest vengeance of God.
A SEA OF GLASS.
Rev 15:2 – As a glass sea, mingled with fire, like it in appearance. In the first of these heavenly visions (Rev 4:1-11) the Seer beheld a sea of glass like crystal spread out before the throne of the Eternal, intimating a fixed state of purity in keeping with the holy character of the throne. The glassy sea like crystal (For the force of the imagery see remarks on Rev 4:6.) signifies the solid calm of that scene of unsullied light. But in the vision before us the crystal is omitted. In beautiful accord with the divine character of the scene detailed in chapter 4 it would be morally out of place in our chapter. Here the sea is mingled with fire, evidently referring to the fiery persecution under the Beast, a trial exceeding far in its combination of suffering anything hitherto experienced (Mar 13:19). The pagan persecutions of early times, and the still more exquisite and refined torments under papal Rome, come short of the horrors of the great Tribulation.
The victory of the conquering band standing on the sea of glass is assured. The Beast concentrated his power and energies to overthrow the faith of the martyrs. Paradoxical as the statement may seem, yet it is true that in death they triumphed. In the victory of the Beast we behold the triumph of the saints. They gained the victory over the Beast, and over his image, and over the number of his name. The victory was thorough and complete.
Rev 15:2 – Standing upon the glass sea. They stand in keeping with their new position as conquerors and worshippers; the elders sit, save when engaged in praise or other service. The glass sea in the early vision is unoccupied; here we witness the happy, victorious, and praising company standing upon it.
HARPS.
Rev 15:2 – Having harps (See remarks on Rev 5:8.) of God. The Authorized Version wrongly inserts the article before harps. There are two heavenly companies spoken of as having harps, the only musical instrument mentioned in the Apocalypse. First, the glorified saints who had been translated at the Coming into the air (Rev 5:8); second, the martyrs under the Beast, a victorious company on the sea of glass (Rev 14:2; Rev 15:2). We gather that the harp singers of chapters 14 and 15 are the same company. It will be noted likewise that harp and song are conjoined in each of the three references. The words of God signify that they are provided by Him for His direct praise and worship – Gods harps; inasmuch as the instruments, the musicians, and the themes are His.
Each one of the rejoicing band is a skillful minstrel and each a joyous singer. Harp and song correspond; no jar, no discord to mar the harmony of the strains of the heavenly and triumphant host. Neither voice not heart can be out of tune when the leader of their song is Jesus, the Savior and Lord (Heb 2:12). There is a somewhat striking parallel between this triumphant company and Israel of old in the day of her deliverance and gladness. Egypt, the oppressor, smitten with plagues; Israel across the Red Sea, saved and emancipated, and singing on the eastern bank of the sea, the first song recorded in Scripture (Exo 15:1-27); all this has its spiritual counterpart in the Beast, the enslaver of Gods saints smitten in a series of plagues; the godly remnant beyond the malice of the Beast, saved and triumphant, and singing the song of Moses on the sea of glass, the last song recorded in Scripture (Rev 15:1-8).
THE SONG.
Rev 15:3. – They sing the song of Moses, bondman of God, and the song of the Lamb. The songs are united. The song of Moses celebrates Jehovahs mighty deliverance of His people, His acts of power, and His ways of grace with and for Israel from the beginning of their history till their final triumph. Grace and glory are celebrated in the magnificent song sung on the eastern bank of the Red Sea (Exo 15:1-27) – pre-eminently the song of Moses. (The prophetic song of Moses (Deu 31:30; Deu 32:1-52), when a hundred and twenty years old, cannot be entitled to the appellation, The Song of Moses. That the song of Exodus, and not the Deuteronomy one, is meant seems evident from the following considerations: The apocalyptic reference to the victors on the sea on which they stand; their conscious triumph over their enemy; the term plague common to the Mosaic and apocalyptic judgments on Egypt and on the Beast, as also the character of the plagues alike in both. These and other considerations which might be adduced prove conclusively that The Song of Moses is that of Exo 15:1-27, and not the subsequent one on the eve of his death.) But it was an earthly redemption, and won with power over the might of the enemy. The song of the Lamb intimates two main subjects: first, redemption from guilt and sins consequences by the blood of Gods Lamb; and, second, the exaltation of the Lamb to which this book bears ample testimony.
The song of the martyred victors, the harp singers of Rev 14:2-3, the brethren of the spared Jewish remnant on mount Zion (Rev 14:1), is not so elevated nor characterised by such depth as that sung by the elders (Rev 5:1-14). The worship of the latter is more profound, yet both companies are partakers of the heavenly calling. (Their song is very peculiar. The song of Moses is triumph over the power of evil by Gods judgments. The song of the Lamb is the exaltation of the rejected Messiah, of the suffering One, and like Whom they had suffered; for it is the slain remnant amidst unfaithful and apostate Israel whom we find here. The song celebrates God and the Lamb, but by victorious sufferers who belong to Heaven. – Synopsis of the Books of the Bible, in loco.)
THE SUBJECTS OF THE SONG.
Rev 15:3 – Great and wonderful (are) Thy works, Lord God Almighty; righteous and true (are) Thy ways, O King of nations. The opening words of the song, Great and wonderful, occur also in Rev 15:1. The connection, of course, is different, but one cannot overlook the recurrence of the phrase in a scene admittedly closing up the manifested wrath of God upon public evil. The sign of closing judgment is great and wonderful (Rev 15:1), so also are the works of God (Rev 15:3). The time of the pouring out of the Bowls of wrath will be brief, but acts of stupendous and wonderful power will characterize it.
It will be observed that the works are ascribed to JEHOVAH, the Self-Existing, Sovereign, Independent One; ELOHIM, the Creator, the God of gods; and SHADDAI, Almighty in power, Almighty in resources, Almighty to sustain. As Jehovah He was known to Israel (Exo 6:2-3). As God He stands related to creation (Gen 1:1-31). As the Almighty He revealed Himself to the patriarchs (Gen 17:1). The order in which the divine names and titles are here employed differs from that of their revelation. God, Jehovah, (By My Name JEHOVAH was I not known to them, i.e., Israel (Exo 6:3), means that it was not known as a title of ordinary relationship. To Israel, of course, the name was familiar, but not known formally in special relation to them as a people.) and the Almighty is the historical order. But the true, real Israel is before God in the victorious company on the sea of glass, and thus the representatives of the nation use the appropriate divine title first. How true God is to His own Word and Name! Jehovah from the early days of Exo 6:1-30 still stands related to Israel. Jehovah and Israel! Ah, then the people can never perish; never cease to be remembered. What a tower of strength in the combination of these divine titles! How consoling in their application to believers in all ages! How awful to contemplate their exercise to the enemies of God and of His saints!
But the ways of God also form part of the song. His tenderness, His grace, His love, His wisdom, and every gracious, moral feature manifested in His dealings with His saints pass before the victors in review. The holiness and pity of God to His saints form a tale that never can be fully told. The conspicuous acts of Jehovah were displayed before the eyes of Israel. These acts of power did not call for an intimate knowledge of Jehovahs character; they were self-evident to all. But the ways of God – those dealings flowing from what He is – could alone be discerned by the spiritual, hence we read, He made known His ways unto Moses, His acts unto the children of Israel (Psa 103:7). His ways here, however, are ways of judgment, and that judgment, however variously expressed, is righteous and true. The ways of God in His dealings with His people are ever just and true, but equally so in the chastisement of His enemies; this latter is specially in view in the passage before us.
Rev 15:3 – O King of nations. In the text of the Authorized Version we have saints instead of nations; the latter, however, is inserted in the margin. Without doubt, the correct reading, on competent authority, should be nations, not saints. Christ is King of kings, King of the earth, King of Israel, King of the nations, but is never spoken of as Our King, and never as the King of saints. Believers in the present dispensation have kingly rule and authority conferred upon them (1Co 4:8; 1Co 6:2-3; Rev 1:6); its exercise is yet future. We shall reign with Christ (2Ti 2:12). The nations comprising the Roman earth are about to come under judgment, hence the appropriateness of the title King of nations (see Jer 10:7). We gather that in this song of praise both God and Christ are worshipped, the former in the greatness of His Being, but in relation to Israel, and the latter in His ways of judgment with the Gentiles or nations.
Rev 15:4. – Then the victors in their song throw out a universal interrogation. Who shall not fear (Thee), O Lord, and glorify Thy Name? The threefold repetition of the conjunction for supplies three reasons, each grounded upon the character of God, why all should comply with the interrogative claim to fear the Lord and glorify His Name. (1) For (Thou) only (art) holy. The word here rendered holy is not the word usually applied to God in speaking of His holy character. It is used here and in Rev 16:5 of Him, otherwise it is applied to men as denoting the sum of moral qualities of a divine character. But in the two apocalyptic references it signifies that the sum of qualities in God alone entitles Him to the exclusive worship of the creature. The word holy as employed here denotes therefore all in God entitling Him alone to worship. In the Septuagint we have the same word in the sure mercies of David (Isa 55:3). How fitting the application of this word to the Lord at a time when the world wonders after and worships the Beast, a worship and homage to which God alone is entitled, as signified by this word holy. (2) For all nations shall come and worship before Thee. The prophecies of the book are generally cast in the present tense, but the one before us is an exception. The future is employed. As a result of these ways of judgment by the King of nations the iron will of the peoples is broken, and they turn from human props and confidences to God, and worship in His presence. It will be the time and fulfilment of such Scriptures as Psa 100:1-5; Psa 148:1-14; Isa 2:2-4; Isa 56:6-7; Zec 14:16-17, etc. (3) For Thy righteousnesses (The same word in Rev 19:8. Only in our text it is applied to judgments on the wicked, whereas in the other Scripture it is employed to set forth the righteousness or righteous acts of the saints. In a footnote to Rev 19:8 in The New Translation (Morrish, London) the learned translator says: In Hebrew the plural of acts expressing a quality is used for the abstract quality itself. This may be the case by analogy here (also in Rev 15:4). So Psa 11:7, where in Hebrew it is righteousness, but it is actual, not imputed.) have been made manifest. The manifestation of Gods righteous acts of judgment is indicated in the plural righteousnesses. God declaring Himself in judgment is surely a powerful reason why His Name should be glorified.
Commentary on Rev 15:1-4 by E.M. Zerr
Rev 15:1. The preceding chapter describes the vision before John that came down to the day of judgment and to the final assignment of all mankind to their eternal destinations. The present chapter goes back some distance (as the book has done before), and will again take up the judgments of God that were poured out upon the apostate church for her worship of idols and her persecution of the faithful servants of God. Seven angels are seen as a symbol of the completeness of God’s system for executing his wrath upon the wicked of the earth.
Rev 15:2. Clear glass and fire are symbols of opposite facts and yet are appropriately used. The verse tells of several persons who had won a victory of a spiritual nature over the forces of Rome. The fire symbolizes their conflicts in which they were victorious, and the clear glass signifies their calmness of mind after the victory. The beast, the image and the mark were all involved in the conflict. The faithful servants resisted the direct attacks of Rome, also avoided imitating her in their lives, and as a consequence had escaped receiving the mark of guilt. Over the number of his name. The man whose number is stated in the text is Nero Caesar. Getting the victory over the number of his name is an indirect way of saying their victory was over Nero. That is significant since he was the emperor who was chief among the heads of Rome that tried to force the Christians to sin.
Rev 15:3. The song of Moses and of the Lamb was especially appropriate. It is to be associated with the four and twenty elders who have been mentioned a number of times. Twelve of them represent the Mosaic system and twelve stand for that under Christ. The song John heard these happy persons singing was about the lawgivers of those great institutions. But while the subject matter of the song was concerning them as the lawgivers, they ascribed the credit to works of God because they are marvelous, and to Christ as a King who is true and just in his ways-
Rev 15:4. The occasion for this great rejoicing is the prospect of judgments that are soon to be inflicted upon the powers of Rome whose hold upon the people has just been broken by the effects of the Reformation. That is why they exclaim about the worthiness of the Lord to be glorified. All nations shall come and worship before thee. Their worship will consist in doing homage to God as the true object of praise, for the light of truth that the Bible shed, on them since it was given back to them. Through that channel of information they have been informed that God’s judgments are just.
Commentary on Rev 15:1-4 by Burton Coffman
Rev 15:1
This, the shortest chapter in Revelation, together with Revelation 16, for which it is merely the introduction, again takes us through the whole cycle of time to the eternal judgment (Rev 16:17-21). Several times already the final judgment has been prophesied (Rev 6:12-17; Rev 11:15-19; Rev 14:14-20). Many have pointed out the remarkable resemblances between the seals, trumpets, and bowls. All are judgments of God; the areas affected by them are similar, especially in the trumpets and bowls sequences. Thus, in the trumpet series: (1) the earth; (2) the sea; (3) the rivers; (4) the sun; (5) the abyss, or throne of the beast; (6) the Euphrates; and (7) the final judgment are exactly the same as the things mentioned in the bowl sequence, and in the same order. Hendriksen thoroughly developed these parallels.[1]
There is also a progression. Whereas the trumpet judgments were restricted to “one third,” the bowl judgments are not so limited. However, the woman, the dragon, and the two beasts of Revelation 12-14 are operative throughout exactly the same time period; namely, all the way to the end of time.
Some scholars, such as Ladd, view those chapters (Revelation 12-14) as “an interlude between the trumpets and bowls”;[2] but as Roberson observed:
The seven bowls are usually classed with the seals and trumpets; and there obviously is a close affinity, particularly with the latter; but the connection with the woman and her enemies (Revelation 12-14) is even closer. They belong to the long struggle of the church in the world.[3]
The conclusion required by all of this was stated by William Milligan:
Nothing can more clearly prove that the Revelation of St. John was not written upon chronological principles than the scenes to which we are introduced in the fifteenth and sixteenth chapters of the book.[4]
“These chapters describe the entire period between the first and second coming of Christ.”[5] In all of these extensive views, “John is telling us something of what will happen in the end-time and something of what goes on in human history.”[6] “The statement that these are the last plagues shows that the set of visions now commencing carries us clown to the end of the age.”[7] The thought is not that of focusing all of the revelation upon the very end-time, but a bird’s-eye view of all time subsequent to the prophecy, including the very end.
But the vision does not move immediately to the terrible judgments. “Once more there is a pause, as if the safety of God’s people in the midst of all this sin and judgment could not be insisted on sufficiently.”[8] The anticipatory, consolatory vision of the song of the redeemed is again heard (Rev 15:2-4).
Lenski pointed out another relation between the seals, trumpets, and bowls: “The seals reveal, the trumpets announce, and the bowls execute the long-restrained anger of the living God.”[9] Earle’s excellent outline of this short chapter is:
I. The waiting angels (Rev 15:1).
II. The victorious saints (Rev 15:2-4).
III. The emerging angels (Rev 15:5-8).[10]
[1] William Hendriksen, More than Conquerors (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1956), p. 26.
[2] George Eldon Ladd, A Commentary on the Revelation of John (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1972), p. 203.
[3] Charles H. Roberson, Studies in Revelation (Tyler, Texas: P. D. Wilmeth, P.O. Box 3305,1957), p. 114.
[4] As quoted by Albertus Pieters, Studies in the Revelation of St. John (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1954), p. 241.
[5] William Hendriksen, op. cit., p. 191.
[6] Leon Morris, Tyndale Commentaries, Vol. 20, Revelation (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1969), p. 187.
[7] W. Boyd Carpenter, Ellicott’s Bible Commentary, Vol. VIII (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1959), p. 604.
[8] J. R. Dummelow, Commentary on the Holy Bible (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1937), p. 1085.
[9] R. C. H. Lenski, The Interpretation of St. John’s Revelation (Minneapolis, Minn.: Augsburg Publishing House, 1943), p. 461.
[10] Ralph Earle, Beacon Bible Commentary, Vol. 10 (Kansas City: Beacon Hill Press, 1967), p. 584.
And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous, seven angels having seven plagues, which are the last, for in them is finished the wrath of God. (Rev 15:1)
And I saw another sign in heaven … Beasley-Murray connected this mention of the seven angels with “the seven angels that stand before God (Rev 8:2),”[11] concluding that this structural parallelism between the trumpets and bowls corresponds to a parallelism in content. Lenski, however, did not agree, translating this expression without the article (the), “I saw … seven angels,”[12] as in our version (ASV). The point would not appear to be important. The perfect number “seven” could also symbolize an innumerable company of angels waiting and ready to do the will of God. Hardly anything here is to be understood literally. Plummer observed that:
The last time this statement was made was in Rev 12:1, where the history of the war between Satan and the church began … Again, John returns to the beginning to trace the development of the punishments inflicted upon men for their worship of the devil.[13]
Seven plagues, which are the last … This does not mean that they refer exclusively to the end. “Whenever in history the wicked fail to repent in answer to partial manifestations of God’s anger in judgments, the final effusion of wrath follows.”[14]
[11] G. R. Beasley-Murray, The Book of Revelation (Greenwood, South Carolina: The Attic Press, 1974), p. 234.
[12] R. C. H. Lenski, op. cit., p. 453.
[13] A. Plummer, The Pulpit Commentary, Vol. 22, Revelation (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1950), p. 381.
[14] William Hendriksen as quoted by Morris, op. cit., p. 187.
Rev 15:2
And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire; and them that come off victorious from the beast, and from his image, and from the number of his name, standing by the sea of glass, having harps of God.
As it were a sea of glass mingled with fire … Rist and a number of others believe that there is an indirect reference here to the Red Sea,[15] through which God delivered the first Israel from the wrath of Pharaoh; and the typology certainly fits, but Beckwith declared such an interpretation as “purely fanciful.”[16] Perhaps it is best to view it as “symbolizing the majesty and holiness of God,”[17] as in Rev 4:6. The group here assembled is clearly the host of the redeemed from earth, as in a number of similar visions throughout the prophecy. As for the glass sea, Lenski was sure that, “It is the same as that in Rev 4:6.”[18]
Having harps of God … “These are symbolical of heavenly melodies.”[19] “The harps are a symbol of their victory … of praise and worship to God.”[20] We prefer the view that sees the harps as symbols of the songs of the saints, especially of that song which this company was about to sing (Rev 15:3). It is nothing short of phenomenal that a whole group of commentators go hog wild on this verse and find nothing at all in it except literal harps. Even Lenski identified them as “zithers of God on which to play the music of the glory song!”[21] Beasley-Murray saw “harps for the worship of God.”[22] “They are holding the harps that God had given them.”[23] Earle was certain that “these harpists sing as well as play.”[24] Such literalisms are absolutely preposterous. As Pieters said:
Literalism is here hopeless. How could one put the wrath of God in a bowl and pour it on the sun?[25]
Actual harps in heaven? Who could believe such a thing? Is there also a department of cats to supply the cat gut strings? Ridiculous! Note that God “gave” these harps to the singers. What else could this be except the voices which were created by God? In the entire history of the world up to this time, that is the only musical instrument which God ever made; and we refuse to believe that he will enter into the manufacture of mechanical instruments of music in heaven. In Rev 8:4, the “incense” is the prayers of the saints; here the “harps” are the songs of the redeemed, as the very next verse says. To literalize “harps” here, and then to declare that this constitutes divine approval of mechanical instruments in Christian worship, is just as unreasonable as it would be to declare the “incense” of Rev 8:4 to be literal and as divine approval of the burning of sacred incense in Christian worship. We dare to affirm that not a single one of the exegetes who did this to the harps would dare to follow their own reasoning and apply it to the incense. How strange it is that the same scholars who have no trouble at all seeing the symbolical nature of these visions in the instance of the incense, lose all rationality when they come to the “harps.”
[15] Martin Rist, The Interpreter’s Bible, Vol. XII (New York-Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1957), p. 478.
[16] Isbon T. Beckwith, The Apocalypse of John (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1919), p. 674.
[17] G. R. Beasley-Murray, op. cit., p. 235.
[18] R. C. H. Lenski, op. cit., p. 455.
[19] A. Plummer, op. cit., p. 383.
[20] George Eldon Ladd, op. cit., p. 204.
[21] R. C. H. Lenski, op. cit., p. 456.
[22] G. R. Beasley-Murray, op. cit., p. 235.
[23] G. B. Caird, op. cit., p. 197.
[24] Ralph Earle, op. cit., p. 585.
[25] Albertus Pieters, op. cit., p. 243.
Rev 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, O Lord God, the Almighty; righteous and true are thy ways, thou King of the ages.
And they sing the song of Moses … and … the Lamb … Morris said of this, “They sing (presumably to their own harp accompaniment).”[26] At least, Morris named such a conclusion what it is; namely, a presumption, a presumption which we do not allow for a moment as in any sense valid. The notion of literal harps is simply not in this passage. The text says “they sing.”
Of Moses and of the Lamb … Perhaps no more is meant by this than the unity of the saints of both the Old Testament and the New Testament. Moses was the grand Old Testament type of Christ. See extensive development of this in my Commentary on Hebrews, pp. 67-69. The song is that of redemption.
Great and marvelous are thy works, O Lord God, the Almighty … Significantly, this song, made up of a blended collection of Old Testament texts, deals not with the overcoming of the saints, but with the mighty works of God. “There is not a single word about their own achievement.”[27] Self is at last forgotten; selfishness is finally destroyed. In heaven, the song of Moses and the Lamb is exclusively an anthem of loving praise to the Almighty.
The Almighty … “This title, which is ascribed to God nine times in Revelation, is found but once elsewhere in the New Testament (2Co 6:18).”[28]
Thou King of the ages … The KJV has “King of the saints,” and the ASV margin has “King of the nations.” The passage is true, however it may be rendered.
[26] Leon Morris, op. cit., p. 188.
[27] William Barclay, The Revelation of John (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1976), p. 120.
[28] Robert H. Mounce, Commentary on the New Testament, Revelation (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1977), p. 288.
Rev 15:4
Who shall not fear, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy; for all the nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy righteous acts have been made manifest.
Who shall not fear the Lord …? This is a rhetorical question meaning that all people shall indeed fear and honor God.
All nations shall come and worship thee … Rist criticized this passage as being, “out of harmony with the belief expressed throughout Revelation that the nations shall stubbornly refuse to repent.”[29] Such a criticism does not properly construe the meaning. It is everywhere taught in the prophecy that “an innumerable company” will be saved (Rev 7:9) from “every tribe and tongue and nation and people.” It is that company who are meant here. They are the true nations who shall come and worship before the Lord. When God is through with this world, all that remains of it will glorify God. “The Apocalyptist thus declares the absolutely universal recognition of God in the End.”[30] “The teaching of the Scriptures is that in the end the whole universe will acknowledge the righteousness of all God’s acts and verdicts.”[31]
[29] Martin Rist, The Interpreter’s Bible, Vol. XII (New York-Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1957), p. 479.
[30] Isbon T. Beckwith, op. cit., p. 675.
[31] R. C. H. Lenski, op. cit., p. 459.
Commentary on Rev 15:1-4 by Manly Luscombe
1 Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous: seven angels having the seven last plagues, for in them the wrath of God is complete. John sees seven angels. These angels have the seven last plagues. We are told three important things here 1. These are the last plagues. 2. They are from the wrath of God. 3. They represent the complete wrath of God. Again we have seven angels and seven plagues. Since seven is the number of divine completeness, the image is presented here to show this is the total, complete, and final wrath of God.
2 And I saw something like a sea of glass mingled with fire, and those who have the victory over the beast, over his image and over his mark and over the number of his name, standing on the sea of glass, having harps of God. In the middle of all this wrath and plagues is the calmness of God. There is no mass confusion or hysteria. God is not flying off in a fit of rage. The wrath of God comes from a calm determination to meet out punishment to the wicked on earth. On this sea, calm as glass, is fire. The fire of Gods wrath. The fire of retribution. The fire of eternal punishment. Around this calm sea are all who remained faithful. They did not receive the mark of the beast. They did not succumb to the temptation to worship the beast. They have suffered great tribulation and persecution. They overcame death. They overcame temptation. They are now in the calmness of Gods presence. They offer to God worship and praise.
3 They sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying: Great and marvelous are Your works, Lord God Almighty! Just and true are Your ways, O King of the saints! Christians are singing people. The apostles sang a hymn after the institution of the Lords Supper. (Mat 26:30) James asks if we are happy. If we are happy, we sing. These faithful saints who have overcome are rejoicing. They sing the song of the Lamb. The words to this song are words of praise. God is great, marvelous, powerful, and Almighty. God is true to His word. God promised a reward for the faithful. They are now rejoicing that their faith in these words is not misplaced. Have you sung this song lately? Have you taken time to just praise and magnify the Lord God for his majesty and power?
4 Who shall not fear You, O Lord, and glorify Your name? For You alone are holy. For all nations shall come and worship before You, For Your judgments have been manifested. The song continues here. The second verse points out that the enemies of God will also fear Him. Who will fear God? Answer: All will, at some point, honor, recognize and fear God. For the world of unbelievers, this fear of God will be too little and too late. But, they will confess that Jesus is Lord. (Php 2:9-11). God is a Holy God. Only God is only holy. We have not done enough study on the holiness of our God. We must learn to appreciate His holy nature. All people will confess and worship God. It will be too late, but they will acknowledge that Jesus is Lord. This song also praises God for his judgments. Some Christians have questioned if a loving God would send anyone to punishment in an eternal hell. The answer is at least three-fold. God will not cause them to be lost. They are lost because of the choices they made. Just as in our judicial system, a judge is not the one who sends someone to prison. They are sent to prison because of their decision to violate the law. God will announce the sentence. The cause is their decision to sin. God will pour out wrath on the disobedient. 2Th 1:8-9 is clear that God will punish those who do not believe in God and those who do not obey the gospel. They will suffer eternal punishment. (Mat 25:46). All faithful Christians will agree with Gods judgment. Some seem to question the judgment of God. I believe this verse, and some others in Revelation, show that when judgment comes, we will agree that God had to judge the wicked or He would not be a Holy and Just God. The holiness of God requires that sin be separated from Him. He cannot allow wicked, evil and sinful men to be in His presence. God cannot be Just and allow the evil beast to be rewarded just like those the beast killed and persecuted. Even we humans have a sense of justice.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Seven angels having seven plagues constitute that which “finished the wrath of God.” First, the seer beheld the sea of glass and, standing by, the victorious host who had overcome the beast. They are seen, not as defeated and killed, but as triumphant and living. They sing the song of Moses, which is the song of law, and the song of the Lamb, which is the song of love. They have learned perfectly how law and love mingle and merge in the divine economy. The burden of song is praise to the Lord God Almighty. His words, His ways, His character, His acts are all referred to. Through all the terrible times of stress and strain these souls have walked by faith.
Now for them at last faith is lost in sight, and they chant the praise of God whom they served even at the cost of suffering and death.
Following this vision of the victorious hosts, John beheld the opening of a temple in heaven. It is “the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony.” From it come the seven angels having the seven final plagues. To these angels the bowls of wrath are given by one of the living ones. Behind these angels is seen in the temple the glory of God in such magnificence and majesty that none can know it until the judgment is ful6lled.
Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible
the Song of Moses and of the Lamb
Rev 15:1-8
The imagery in the magnificent scene with which this chapter opens is perhaps borrowed from Pharaohs overthrow in the Red Sea, which, as the rich lines of an Eastern dawn illuminated its waters, seemed like a sea of glass mingled with fire. So, beside the crystal sea of Time, from whose surface all traces of storm will have been removed and on which the eternal morning will be breaking, we, who by grace have overcome, shall celebrate the final victory of God. We shall sing an anthem in which the Hebrew and the Christian, the children of the old dispensation and of the new, the souls who have seen through a glass darkly and those who have beheld face to face, shall rejoice together.
One day we shall see the rightfulness of all that God has done, Rev 15:4. All His ways are just and true, whether our poor human sense detects this or not. Let us dare to affirm it even now. Ponder that great name-King of the ages, Rev 15:3, r.v. He only is holy; we need the perfect cleansing and righteousness which He gives us, that we may dare to stand in His presence. From this radiant vision, we turn sadly to the fate of the godless, Christ-rejecting world. See Rev 15:1-8; Rev 14:1-20; Rev 13:1-18; Rev 12:1-17; Rev 11:1-19; Rev 10:1-11; Rev 9:1-21; Rev 8:1-13.
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
Chapter Fifteen Glorified Israel
Revelation 15-16 form one connected vision depicting the final scenes of the dispensation of judgment, which occupies a large portion of the content of the book of Revelation. We need to remember that the Revelation is primarily a book of judgment. While it may seem very pessimistic to be occupied with so many fearful scenes, all is bright at the end. The book does not close until the new heavens and new earth are brought in, where righteousness will dwell throughout a blissful eternity. Therefore I need not apologize for continually bringing before you picture after picture of Gods judicial dealings with the prophetic earth. He has given us these revelations out of kindness to us. We may be warned by them to avoid what lies ahead of this guilty world and to shun every form of the apostasy which He is so soon coming to judge.
The Glorified Witnesses (Rev 15:1-5)
In the last chapter we noticed that there was one particular company of saints in Heaven who responded in a very noticeable manner to the 144,000 Israelites standing on mount Sion. In the fifteenth chapter the scene is changed. The prophet sees what is going on in Heaven, and this company at once comes before his vision (1-3).
The redeemed company standing on the sea of glass with the harps of God is not to be confused with the church of the present dispensation. We are told that they sing the song of Moses the servant of God and the song of the Lamb. Clearly then, they are Israelites. They are singing the song of Moses, which is the celebration of Jehovahs victory over Israels foes, and the song of the Lamb, which is the song of redemption. They are those who have been slain by the servants of the last great apostate power, but who have been raised from the dead and raptured during the tribulation period. Perhaps they are the two witnesses of chapter 11. But they are at least like them in that they have been faithful witnesses on earth and because of their witness-bearing have been put to death. They are seen as raised from the dead and caught up to God and to His throne. Like the elders, they have in their hands the harps of God and are a worshiping company.
These are said to stand on the sea of glass, which is here represented as mingled with fire (2). The sea of glass, as pointed out previously, corresponds to the brass sea in Solomons temple and the brass laver in the court of the tabernacle. It is an illustration of the Word of God needed for cleansing on earth; in Heaven it is crystallized, a glassy sea on which the glorified saints take their stand to praise Him who has redeemed them to Himself and made them forever clean. The glass is seen as mingled with fire because of the fiery trial through which these martyrs have passed.
I would observe that the rendering King of saints (kjv) at the close of verse 3 is generally recognized as faulty. The better manuscripts read nations though some have ages in place of saints. Nowhere is the Lord spoken of as King of saints. He is, however, King of the nations and the Ruler of the ages. These glorified witnesses to His saving power praise and adore Him for His justice and truth. They recognize the righteousness of His ways and the holiness of His person. Because of this, all nations will come and worship before Him in the day that His judgments are displayed. Observe, it is not the grace of God that will bring the nations to own His authority and worship before Him. It is when [his] judgments are in the earth, [that] the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness (Isa 26:9). Nowhere does Scripture teach the conversion of the world through the preaching of the gospel in this dispensation. Eventually, the world will be converted, but only after the unbelieving portion has been purged out by judgment. The remnant left for the kingdom will give glory to the God of Heaven.
In the fifth verse we have another of the openings of this marvelous book. We read, And after that I looked, and, behold, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened. The mention of the tabernacle of the testimony brings Israel again before us. It reminds us that these judgments carry out Gods covenant with His ancient people Israel, when the nations that have oppressed them must be punished. Jerusalem [is] a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it (Zec 12:3). Therefore the nations who have vented their hatred on Israel cannot escape the wrath of God.
The Seven Angels (Rev 15:6-8)
The seven angels are to complete the wrath of God. They introduce and close His final visitations in judgment on the Gentiles. Then the many prophecies of retribution in Scripture will be fulfilled. It is a righteous thing, said the apostle Paul, to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you (2Th 1:6). If this could be said in regard to saints of the church period, how much more in regard to Israel. Many people have been troubled with what are called the imprecatory Psalms. They cannot understand David calling down the judgment of God on His enemies, or Israels prayer for the overthrow and destruction of all their foes. But in the righteous government of God, those nations that have oppressed and sought the destruction of His people must be visited with the fierceness of His wrath.
Joseph Cook told how at the beginning of the Civil War, a gentleman was in conversation with a minister of the gospel. He was objecting to the imprecatory Psalms because they did not seem to him to be in harmony with the spirit of Christianity. As they talked together a newspaper was brought in, and the minister read, The federal army is marching upon Richmond. Good, exclaimed the other, I hope they will destroy it. That, cried the preacher, is an imprecatory psalm. The point is that it is thoroughly in keeping with Gods mind to desire the triumph of righteousness and the overthrow of what is iniquitous.
Gods glory is at stake. His righteousness demands the punishment of iniquity, both in this world and in that which is to come. He does not apologize for dealing thus with unrighteousness, nor do His servants need to apologize for Him.
Verse 8 indicates that when the seven angels are about to come forth to execute their awful mission, it will be one of intense concern in Heaven. The temple is seen filled with smoke from the glory of God and from His power. Man, though redeemed, is represented as standing outside in awe, awaiting developments.
Fuente: Commentaries on the New Testament and Prophets
Rev 15:2
The Sea of Glass Mingled with Fire.
With all the mysteriousness of the book of Revelation, one thing we are sure of: that in it we have the summing up of the moral processes of all time. There may or may not be a special meaning discoverable in its pictures, but this there certainly is. The verse which is our text represents, in a highly figurative way, the result of all moral contest. We may call that our subject.
I. Those who had gotten the victory over the beast stood on a sea of glass mingled with fire. What is the meaning of this imagery? I confess that I do not pretend to know in full what is intended in the Revelation by this term “the beast.” But, on the principle which I have just stated, I think it certainly means, in its largest sense, the whole power of evil in all its earthly manifestations, everything that tempts the soul of man to sin or tries his constancy with suffering. The sea of glass is evidently the type of repose, of rest, of peace; and fire, with its quick, eager, searching nature, testing all things, consuming what is evil, purifying what is good, never resting a moment, never sparing pain-fire all through the Bible is the type of active trial of every sort, of struggle. “The sea of glass,” then, “mingled with fire,” is repose mingled with struggle. It is peace, and rest, and achievement, with the power of trial and suffering yet alive and working within it. It is calmness still pervaded by the discipline through which it has been reached.
II. This is our doctrine, the permanent value of trial-that when a man conquers his adversaries and his difficulties it is not as if he had never encountered them. Their power, still kept, is in all his future life. They are not only events in his past history: they are elements in all his present character. His victory is coloured with the hard struggle that won it. Just as the whole fruitful earth, deep in its heart, is still mingled with the ever-burning fire that is working out its chemical fitness for its work, so the life that has been overturned and overturned by the strong hand of God, filled with the deep, revolutionary forces of suffering, purified by the strong fires of temptation, keeps its long discipline for ever, roots in that discipline the deepest growths of the most sunny and luxuriant spiritual life that it is ever able to attain.
III. There are several special applications of our doctrine to the Christian life which it is interesting to observe. (1) It touches all the variations of Christian feeling. The redeemed world-all the strong vitality which that name records will be the fire that will mingle with the glassy serenity of its obedient and rescued life. (2) Here we have the picture of the everlasting life. What will heaven be? I find manifold fitness in the answer that tells us that it shall be a sea of glass mingled with fire. Is it not a most graphic picture of the experience of rest, always pervaded with activity, of calm, transparent contemplation, always pervaded and kept alive by eager work and service, which is our highest and most Christian hope of heaven? Heaven will not be pure stagnation, not idleness, not any mere luxurious dreaming over the spiritual repose that has been safely and for ever won, but active, tireless, earnest work, fresh, live enthusiasm for the high labours which eternity will offer. These vivid inspirations will play through our deep repose, and make it more mighty in the service of God than any feverish, unsatisfied toil of earth has ever been. The sea of glass will be mingled with fire.
Phillips Brooks, Twenty Sermons, p. 110.
Rev 15:3
The Song of the Triumphant Church.
Our text suggests two topics of discourse; for it gives what may be called a definition of the song which the triumphant Church sings, and it then furnishes the words of which that song is composed. We have, therefore, in the first place, to examine the language by which the song is described: “the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb”; we have then, in the second place, to consider the language employed: “Great and marvellous are Thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are Thy ways, thou King of saints.”
I. Now it admits of no dispute that when the song of the triumphant Church is called “the song of Moses the servant of God” the reference is to the Church of the Israelites and their leaders when Pharaoh and his hosts had been buried in the waters. And it is very observable, and in some respects almost mysterious, that it should be this “song of Moses” to which glorified saints still strike their harps. The song was not only of thanksgiving to the Lord, but exultation over the wicked, rejoicing in their destruction. The song of the triumphant Church is described not only as “the song of Moses,” but as that also of “the Lamb.” “They sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and of the Lamb.” Now we may be said to feel more at home with “the song of the Lamb” than with that of Moses, for this is a song of which even now we can strike some notes; whereas we look on that of Moses with a kind of awe and dread, as though it were not suited to such minstrelsy as ours. “The song of the Lamb,” which the Evangelist heard, may be considered as that “new song” which is given in other parts of the book of Revelation, the burden of which is the “worthiness” of the Redeemer. The “thousand times ten thousand of thousands” which are “round about the throne” were heard by St. John saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing.” There is something similar to this in the strain which mingles with that of lofty exultation as the Church beholds her overthrown enemies. And if, therefore, “the song of Moses” be one which shows such subjugation or refinement of human feeling as is almost unintelligible, at least “the song of the Lamb” is in thorough harmony with what is now felt and chanted by believers; it is the song of grateful confession that we owe everything to the Redeemer, and that His blood and righteousness have been the alone procuring cause of our deliverance from ruin and our title to immortality.
II. “Great and marvellous are Thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are Thy ways, thou King of saints.” Such is a portion of the lofty anthem. Taking this anthem in its largest application, we may say that it celebrates the greatness of the plan of God as displayed in the occurrences of the judgment-day. And it is well worthy our attention that these two characteristics should be finally declared to distinguish the whole business of the judgment. It will be “a great and marvellous work” when the “tares shall have been separated from the wheat,” all unrighteousness detected and exposed, the wicked banished and the faithful exalted. And this is not the whole of the chorus. The Church affirms God’s “ways” to be “just and true,” as well as His “works great and marvellous”; and this is a most important assertion when considered as called forth by the transactions of the judgment. The judgment will include in its searchings and sentences the heathen world as well as the Christian-men who have had none but the scantiest portion of revelation and those who have been blessed with its fulness. And even in a Christian community there is the widest difference between the means and opportunities afforded to different men; some being only just within sound of the Gospel, whilst others are continually placed within sound of its messages. All this seems to invest with great difficulty the business of the judgment. It shows that there must be various standards: one standard for the heathen and another for the Christian; one for this heathen or this Christian and another for that. And there is something overwhelming in the thought that the untold millions of the human population will undergo an individual scrutiny; that they will come man by man to the bar of their Judge, each to be tried by his own privileges and powers. We can hardly put from us the feeling that in so enormous an assize there will be cases comparatively overlooked, in which due allowance will not be made, or in which sentence will not be founded on a full estimate of the circumstances. But whatever our doubts and suspicions beforehand, “just and true are Thy ways, thou King of saints,” is the confession, which will follow the judgment. It is a confession, we are bound to say, in which the lost will join with the redeemed. The feeling of every condemned man shall be that, had there been none but himself to be tried, his case could not have received a more patient attention or a more equitable decision. The praise which is chanted on the glassy and fiery sea tells us that God will be justified when He speaketh, and clear when He judgeth.
H. Melvill, Penny Pulpit, No. 1656.
References: Rev 15:3.-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. iii., No. 136; Homilist, 3rd series, vol. iv., p. 20; H. Wonnacott, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xiv., p. 186.
Rev 15:3-4
The Triumph of Goodness.
I. Moses is not to be regarded here exactly as a historic personage; certainly it is not the song which he composed that is meant, nor the song that was composed by the Lamb; but here is the theme: Moses and the Lamb. And what was Moses in this heavenly tableau, to the thoughts of those addressed but the beginning of a great Divine dispensation of mercy and of education? He, far back in the wilderness and in the beginnings and sources of history, organised truth, and beauty, and right, and set a-going those great services by which the soul was to be enriched and ennobled. In other words, he was the beginner. The song, beginning with Moses and ending with the Lamb, connected the very first dawn of Divine truth, in the earliest periods, with its first flow and all its mutations clear down to the time of Jesus Christ, who in Jerusalem was, and who now in the new Jerusalem is, typified as the Lamb. The figure to us is almost dead, but to the Jew, who had been accustomed to associate with the sacrificial lamb whatever was sweet, whatever was beautiful, whatever was pure and unworldly in perfection, the figure meant immensely more than it means to us.
II. The song was of triumph. It was the shout, the jubilatic outcry, of the universe, that stood around about the ends of things, looking back to the beginning and seeing the way of God down through the whole dispensation of time in the world, now fulfilled and brought to a triumphant close in the other life. All that there was in the different heroes, all that there was in the different dispensations, all the judgments, all the sufferings, all the reformations, all the growths, all the developments, all the victories, whatever had gone to make up the moral elements in human history, in the household, and in matters touching priestly offices and prophetic qualities in those who witnessed in the wilderness, in prisons, and in the mountains, the apostolic administrations, and all the after-periods, and doubtless all that which has come down from the Apostles’ day to ours; all these things constitute the theme of that great, heavenly, outbreaking song. And what is the result of it? It is simply the chanting of the old bard by which the deeds of his chief are narrated, as we narrate the achievements, enterprises, battles, and victories of an hero. “Great and marvellous are Thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are Thy ways, thou King of saints. 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.” Here, then, is the Divine catastrophe-evil gone under; imperfections swelled out to perfectness; ungrowth and crudeness brought up to ripeness and to beauty; goodness triumphant through the universal realm. All nations shall come to Thee, not one being left out.
III. This was the vision, not of time, but of the upper sphere; and it was this: the absolute triumph of the Divine part in man. They who have gone before, and for generations yet those that shall follow us, must see the flesh stronger than the spirit in the great mass of mankind. Time, looked at from any high standpoint, is a most sad and dreary experience, unless we have some outlet, unless we have some compensation somewhere. The might and power of past ages has been physical, passionate, sensuous, devilish; and although here and there there have been sprinklings of goodness, although here and there there have been a thousand sweet voices heard, yet in the main the chant of time has been hoarse, harsh, cacophonous. In the main the movement of the human race has been the movement of vast bodies with vast sufferings, and vast wastefulness, and vast uselessness. But they who stand disengaged from the ignorance and darkness of time, they who are lifted up, and are at a point of vision where they can see the past, the present, and the future-I behold them, not bearing witness to us, but in their own unconsciousness breaking out into ecstacies of gladness because God is justified. He who brought into existence this globe, with all its miserable populations, in the last estate shall stand and be glorified in the thought and feeling of those who behold the end as well as the beginning. “Thou only art holy.” “All nations shall come and worship before Thee.” Why? “For Thy judgments are made manifest.” There is charity; there is explanation; there is reconciliation; there is harmonisation; and in the end it shall appear, when we see from the beginning to the end of this tremendous, and as yet uninterrupted, riddle of life and time, with an unclouded eye and with a vision just, and true, and perfect-then it shall appear that God is lovely and beautiful.
H. W. Beecher, Christian World Pulpit, vol. viii., p. 165.
Fuente: The Sermon Bible
CHAPTERS 15-16
The Seven Vials
1. The victors song and worship (Rev 15:1-4)
2. The seven angels leave the temple (Rev 15:5-8)
3. The first vial (Rev 16:1-2)
4. The second vial (Rev 16:3)
5. The third vial (Rev 16:4-7)
6. The fourth vial (Rev 16:8-9)
7. The fifth vial (Rev 16:10-11)
8. The sixth vial (Rev 16:12)
9. Parenthesis: The seventh vial (Rev 16:13-21)
Rev 15:1-4.
And now the last seven angels appear; seven seal judgments first, followed by seven angels with trumpets and next the last seven angels. With these seven angels who have the seven last plagues for the world, the wrath of God is completed. Before these angels go forth we behold another worship scene. Who are they? Not the twenty-four elders, but they are the harpers which we saw harping and singing in Rev 14:2-3. They are the martyred company worshiping in glory. Here we are told of their victory and their song, the song of Moses and of the Lamb. The song of Moses (Exo 15:1-27) is the song of an earthly deliverance and the song of the Lamb concerns a spiritual deliverance. They are redeemed by power and by blood.
Rev 15:5-8.
A wonderful sight it is. There is again an ominous silence similar to the silence in connection with the opening of the seventh seal. The silence is not mentioned. But the text shows an impressive scene of silence. Quietly the procession of these ministers of judgment file out of the temple. They are clothed in pure, white linen; this is symbolical of the righteousness which demands the judgment wrath about to be poured out. And the golden girdles with which their breasts are girdled speak still more of divine righteousness. God in His righteousness must judge and now His wrath in completeness is about to be felt on the earth. The angels left the temple empty-handed, but the four living creatures give into their hands the bowls full of the wrath of God. And behind that smoke is the fire of judgment.
Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)
Chapter 32
The glorious triumph of Christ and his church by the gospel.
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
Rev 15:1-8
Things look very bad now. False religion abounds on every side. Papacy has risen again to the position of prominence and acceptability throughout the world. The idolatrous superstitions of Rome have become acceptable and pleasing, even in those churches which were born in the great Reformation under the leadership of Luther, Calvin, and Knox. The poisonous errors of Pentecostalism have spread throughout the world, to the ruin of millions of unsuspecting souls. The doctrines of easy-believism, decisionism, free-willism, and works salvation, parading through the world under nearly every denominational name, have spread darkness throughout the world. And liberalism, in its many pompous forms, continues to sway the minds of multitudes who are ready to embrace anything other than the Word of the living God. Add to these heresies the increased acceptability of Islam, Judaism and the mystic religions of the world, and one might almost sink in utter despair. The world today is more religious than it has ever been in history. But the world today is more godless than it has ever been in history. As always in history, the more popular false religion is, the more perverted society is. The more men preach up the free-will of man, good works, and law, the more man exercises his free-will to do evil and live in lawlessness. It appears that we are living in that day when Gods true witnesses lie as dead men on Main Street in the City of False Religion, which is called Sodom and Egypt (Rev 11:7-8). The religion of the world appears to have trodden down the holy city of our God. It seems that satan has been loosed out of his prison for a little season to once again deceive the nations of the world (Rev 20:7). The time of apostasy has come (2Th 2:1-12). But there is no cause for despair.
Theres a better day coming! The Spirit of life from God shall once again enter into his church. His faithful witnesses shall once again stand forth upon their feet. And by the power of the gospel we preach fear shall fall upon our enemies (Rev 11:11). The gates of hell shall not prevail against the church of God. Truth shall prevail at last. Without political force, without legislative power, without carnal weapons of any kind, the cross of Christ, the simple preaching of free-grace by Gods appointed, all-sufficient Substitute, shall destroy the religion of antichrist. Babylon and all her daughters shall fall like dominoes before Zion, by the mighty arm of the Lord, when the everlasting gospel is preached unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people (Rev 14:6). This is the great and marvelous sign which John saw in heaven and describes for us in Rev 15:1-8. This vision, like the ones before it, runs throughout this entire age. It gradually builds up to and culminates in the last days immediately preceding our Lords glorious second advent. Throughout the vision John is telling us There is a better day coming! In the end, Christ and his church shall triumph and be victorious over antichrist and all false religion by the gospel.
John describes the preparation of Gods wrath (v-1)
Gods acts of judgment are not sudden outbursts of passionate fury. Judgment is always the just and righteous retribution of God upon men and women who, by their sinful rebellion and unbelief, have filled up the wrath of God. These seven last plagues which John saw poured out upon the world were, in his minds eye, acts of astonishing wrath and justice. This sign in heaven is the sign of our Lords approaching advent and of the destruction of antichrist (2Th 2:11). It is called a great sign because it speaks of great things: the fall of Babylon; the glory of Christs church and kingdom, and the ultimate triumph of Christ and his church. It is a marvelous thing indeed when we realize that the means by which these things shall be accomplished is that very thing which the world most despises – the preaching of the gospel! As the walls of Jericho fell by the sounding of rams horns, antichrist and the empire of false religion shall fall by the preaching of Jesus Christ and him crucified.
The seven angels having the seven last plagues are gospel preachers, representatives and spokesmen for the church of God. They come out of the church, the temple of God (Rev 15:6). Antichrist shall be destroyed by the preaching of the gospel, not by political power, not by civil legislation, but by the preaching of the gospel. The seven last plagues are the judgments of God upon the wicked and unbelieving, by which their eternal ruin is forever sealed. They are called the last plagues because they are Gods last dealings with the wicked and impenitent upon the earth; and they will result in the final, eternal ruin of all who refuse to repent. God almighty will not trifle with those who trifle with his Son and the gospel of his grace. When sinners harden their hearts against Christ, God responds by hardening their hearts to the gospel. And gospel hardened sinners cannot repent (Pro 1:22-33; Rom 1:24; 2Co 2:14-16; 1Jn 5:16). Once a person has filled up the measure of the wrath of God by willfully rejecting and despising the gospel of his grace, he is past all hope. The door is shut! His doom is certain. For such reprobate souls, the wrath of God is prepared!
John saw the victory of Gods church (Rev 15:2-4)
Without question, these verses may be applied to the glory and triumph of Christs church in heaven. But in the context, they speak directly about the triumph and victory of Gods church in this world by faith in Christ and by the preaching of the gospel. Notice the description the apostle gives of Gods saints in this world.
1. John saw in the church of God a sea of glass mingled with fire
There is an allusion here to the brazen sea in the temple and the laver of brass in the tabernacle (2Ki 25:13; Exo 30:18), in which the priests were required to wash before entering upon the service of God in his house. This sea of glass represents the precious blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. All of Gods people stand before him upon the basis of Christs blood atonement. It is compared to a sea because of its abundance and efficacy. It is called a sea of glass because in it we are able to see clearly the fullness of free justification, the pardon of our sins, and the basis upon which God can be both just and the justifier of all who trust his Son (Rom 3:24-26). It is called a sea of glass mingled with fire. because of the fires of Gods wrath which Christ endured as our Substitute. When he was made to be sin for us (2Co 5:21), the Son of God endured all the vehement fire of Gods wrath against our sin and drowned the sins of his people in the depth of the sea of his own precious blood! This, and this alone, is the basis of our acceptance with God!
2. John saw them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name.
They got the victory over the beast by standing on the sea of glass, that is, by the blood of the Lamb, by their close, constant, persevering adherence to the gospel of Christ. Antichrist could not deceive them or destroy them because:
1. They were chosen by God the Father, whose purpose of grace cannot be frustrated (2Th 2:13-14);
2. They were redeemed by God the Son, whose blood cannot be shed in vain (Gal 3:13); and
3. They were called and sealed by God the Holy Spirit, whose grace is irresistible and effectual (Eph 1:13-14). Hence it is written, We are more than conquerors through him that loved us (Rom 8:32-39).
3. John saw them having the harps of God
Even in the midst of trials, troubles, and persecutions, all Gods saints are full of praise in their hearts, Their hearts are in excellent frame, turned, and inclined by God to sing his praise and show forth his glory. Believers are people who in their hearts celebrate the praises of God with joy and gratitude, giving thanks always and for all things (Eph 5:20; 1Th 5:16-18; Php 3:3). The obvious allusion is to the children of Israel, led by Moses, singing and dancing beside the Red Sea as Pharaoh and the Egyptians were drowned (Exo 15:1-21). Like them, we do and we shall give praise to our God for the defeat of all our spiritual enemies (the world, the flesh, and the devil), the redemption of our souls by the blood of Christ, Gods paschal Lamb sacrificed for us (1Co 5:7; Rev 5:9-10), all his great and mighty works of providence and grace, and as our sovereign, mediatorial King. He is the King of saints. And, as the word implies, he is also the King of all nations and the King of all ages. Our Savior is the almighty Sovereign of the universe (Joh 17:2). We give praise to him by ascribing to him alone all reverence, glory, holiness, righteousness, and worship (Rev 15:4).
Our Lords instruments of judgment (Rev 15:5-8)
The basis of judgment is twofold: the law of God and the gospel of his grace. It proceeds from the very throne of God, the mercy-seat (Rev 15:5). Those who have violated Gods law and despised the blood of his dear Son shall not be spared his wrath. The instruments of judgment are gospel preachers (Rev 15:6). God will judge those who hear and refuse to believe the gospel by the gospel (Rom 2:16; Heb 13:17). Indeed, as the gospel is preached, sinners are judged by it (2Co 2:14-16), and the messengers of God are binding the tares for the burning (Mat 13:30). The pure, white linen garments with which these messengers are clothed is the righteousness of Christ by which they are accepted of God and which they proclaim to and wear before men.
The golden girdle with which they are girded and strengthened is the love of Christ and the grace of God bestowed upon them in him. The vials of wrath are the judgments of God upon those who refuse to repent and believe the gospel (Rev 15:7). They are vials, that is, measured bowls of wrath. The wrath of God shall be in exact proportion to the sins of men, measured by divine justice. They are golden vials, symbolic of righteousness and truth. They are full of wrath. They are temporal judgments which result in eternal judgment. Those against whom judgment is passed in this world in judicial reprobation shall forever suffer the wrath and judgment of God in the world to come (Luk 13:24-25).
Be sure you do not miss the lesson of Rev 15:8 – Though judgment falls upon the wicked, the church of God shall be filled with the power and glory of God in the last day. In that day, our God will reveal himself gloriously. His glory will be our defense, which will keep our enemies from entering into and destroying the church. The wicked shall not intrude into heavens kingdom (Rev 21:27). The saints of God will make no intercessions for the damned, once judgment is passed (Jer 7:16; Rev 19:1-6). And when John tells us that the seven last plagues shall be fulfilled, he is assuring us that Gods judgment upon antichrist shall be fully accomplished by the gospel of his grace.
The gates of hell shall not prevail against the church and kingdom of our God. The gospel shall be triumphant at last. When Christ, the King of Saints, is revealed in his ultimate glory, when he has at last conquered all his enemies, all nations and people shall bow before him and acknowledge that he is Lord to the glory of God the Father (Php 2:9-11). Every knee shall bow to the Son of God. If we bow to him now in humble faith, we are saved by his grace. But if you bow only when you are forced to do so, in the terror of his wrath, you shall be damned forever!
Fuente: Discovering Christ In Selected Books of the Bible
angels
(See Scofield “Heb 1:4”).
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
I saw: Rev 12:1-3, Dan 4:2, Dan 4:3, Dan 6:27
seven angels: Rev 15:6, Rev 8:2, Rev 8:6, Rev 10:3, Rev 16:1-17, Rev 21:9, Mat 13:41, Mat 13:42, Mat 13:49, Mat 13:50
last: Rev 8:13, Rev 11:14, Rev 16:17-21, Rev 17:1
is filled: Rev 15:7, Rev 14:10, Rev 14:19, Rev 16:19, Rev 19:15, Dan 12:6, Dan 12:7, Dan 12:11, Dan 12:12
Reciprocal: Gen 3:15 – thou Jos 6:4 – seven times Jer 51:48 – the heaven Dan 8:19 – the last Luk 14:21 – being Rev 11:18 – and thy Rev 15:8 – till Rev 17:17 – until Rev 22:18 – God
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
CHAPTER 15 BEGINS another sub-section of the book. Chapter 14 gave a series of visions, in which things were presented to us in brief summary. In verses 9 and 10 the wrath of God against the beast-worshippers was announced. We now learn in much more detail how that wrath will be poured out.
The seven angels having the seven last plagues are introduced to us as another sign in heaven. This expression has occurred twice before at the beginning of Rev 12:1-17, though our Authorized translators used the word wonder instead of sign. The three signs in heaven are, then, first, that of the elect Israel, out of whom Christ sprang; second, that of the dragon, the great opponent of the Man Child, operating by means of the two beasts; third, that of the angels to whom it is given to pour out the vials filled with the wrath of God, which wrath is specially directed against the beasts and all who own their authority. The wrath of the dragon and the beasts is against the Man Child and all who own Him. The wrath of God is against the dragon and all who own him.
It is evident, then, that Rev 15:1-8 does not follow Rev 14:1-20 chronologically, but rather breaks back to a time preceding the execution of the harvest and vintage judgments by the Son of Man; just as we find the wrath of God against Babylon announced under the seventh vial at the end of Rev 16:1-21, and then full details of Babylons fall given in Rev 17:1-18 and Rev 18:1-24. Its fall indeed had been briefly announced in Rev 14:8.
But before John had to contemplate the outpouring of the vials in detail he was given a vision of those who will be carried in triumph as overcomers through that terrible period and then ascribe the glory of their victory to God. The mingling of fire with the sea of glass would indicate that these victors had been subjected to the fiery trial of death but from their martyrdom had stepped into victory. Consequently their song is not only that of Moses but of the Lamb. The first song recorded in Scripture is that of Moses in Exo 15:1-27, celebrating Jehovahs victory in crushing the might of Egypt and redeeming His people. Our verse gives us the last record of a song in Scripture, and again the song of Moses appears for once more and finally God is crushing the adversary and redeeming His people. But coupled with that is the song of the once suffering but now triumphant Lamb, for in their suffering they had trodden in His steps, and it is never to be forgotten that He triumphed in and through His suffering and apparent defeat.
The song celebrated Gods works and ways in judgment. They may be full of mystery while in process of accomplishment, but once completed they are seen to be great and marvellous, righteous and true. The names by which He is addressed are not those indicating the peculiar relationship in which He stands to the church, but those relating to Israel and the nations -the Jehovah, Elohim, Shaddai, of the Old Testament. And then again, the correct reading here is evidently, King of nations, and not King of saints. There is a strong resemblance here to Jer 10:6, Jer 10:7, where the wrath of God against the nations is prophetically announced. The King of nations will subdue all nations in His wrath, and vindicate and glorify His elect.
The song closes in giving three reasons why God should be feared and glorified. First, because of what He is in His gracious holiness; second, because of His supremacy, which will ultimately command the homage of all nations; third, because the rightness of His judgments is now being made manifest. The word here is literally, righteousnesses, the same word as is used for the righteous acts of the saints in Rev 19:8. Gods judgments are so righteous that the prophet could say, When Thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness (Isa 26:9). In contrast to this, Israel will at last have to confess, as we do today. All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags (Isa 64:6).
Having been granted the vision of these, who though victims under the beast were nevertheless victors over his power, a wholly new scene unrolled itself before Johns eyes. He saw the seven angels with the seven last plagues come out of the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven. This is a remarkable phrase. In the Old Testament we read of the tabernacle of testimony in the wilderness and also of the temple when the people were in the land; both of them figures of the true. Here both figures are coalesced. Out from the inner shrine of the Divine presence, where the testimony to all His purposes had been preserved, came the seven angels, empowered to deliver the final strokes of judgment, previous to the manifestation of His purpose for the earth by the appearing of Christ.
The two verses which close chapter 15, emphasize the exceeding solemnity of this moment. The vials handed to the angels were full of the wrath of God, who lives to the ages of ages-the eternity of His Being adding an infinitude of weight to His wrath. They were handed to them by one of the Living Creatures, that we saw in chapter 4, symbolizing the power, endurance, intelligence and swiftness of the Creators ways in dealing with a rebellious earth. And again, the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God. We had smoke from the pit in chapter 9, symbolic of Satanic influences which excluded all that is Divine. Here we have the Divine glory excluding all men and all that is merely human, while these last plagues were in process. There is an analogy between the plagues of Egypt, preceding the death of the firstborn, and these seven plagues, which will precede the revelation of Gods Firstborn from heaven.
Fuente: F. B. Hole’s Old and New Testaments Commentary
Mercy and Punishment
Rev 14:1-20, Rev 15:1-8, Rev 16:1-21
INTRODUCTORY WORDS
As we open our study on three chapters in Revelation, we find various scenes in chapter fourteen which we wish to present, by way of introduction.
1. We have one hundred and forty-four thousand redeemed from the earth. The chapter opens with the Lamb standing on Mount Zion, with Him were the one hundred and forty-four thousand. If these one hundred and forty-four thousand are the same as the sealed of Israel, in chapter seven, then it is wonderful to us to find so large a group of redeemed from among God’s chosen nation, standing by the lamb, the Son of God, whom Israel from the days of the crucifixion until this hour, have rejected, repudiated, and despised. Now, however, their eyes are opened, and they have seen Him, and believed in Him. Indeed, all Heaven is rejoicing in the presence of the Father, and sounding their harps as they sing a new song.
These who are with the Lamb are undefiled. They followed the Lord mid the throes of tribulation on earth, and now they follow Him whithersoever He goeth.
2. An angel with the everlasting Gospel. Here is the second scene of chapter fourteen. This angel is preaching this everlasting Gospel to them that dwell on the earth. In every age and in every clime God has always had His messengers. During the tribulation the Word will be preached by the one hundred and forty-four thousand. It will also be preached by the two witnesses, and by others.
These, however, will not be enough mid the strenuous times. Thus God, once more, sends forth His angels, and one of them Is seen preaching the Everlasting Gospel to every nation, tongue, and kindred upon the earth.
The purport of this Gospel is thus expressed; “Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come: and worship Him that made Heaven, and the earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.”
3. The second angel appears on the scene. He is saying, “Babylon Is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.” The story of the fall of Babylon is given in detail in chapter eighteen. This will be considered in a later sermon.
4. A third angel follows the second with a great warning. We must remember that at the sounding of the seventh trumpet all Heaven saw the Lord’s kingdom about to be set up. We are, therefore, now considering certain scenes which are in the end of the period of The Great Tribulation.
Before the Lord comes these angels follow fast, upon one another, giving final calls to the peoples of the earth. God would not destroy man until He gives one great, last and loud call of warning. Here are the words of the third angel: “If any man worship the beast, and his image and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of His indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb.”
So it is that earth’s people are in a strait betwixt two. On one hand is the antichrist and his lords of estate meeting physical death if they do not receive the mark of the beast, and if they do not worship his image. On the other hand, God is warning them that if they do these things, they shall have eternal hell.
There are some who may imagine that this is all figurative, that there is no fire and brimstone. It does not matter what you or I think, that is what God says. Verse eleven adds, “And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day or night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.”
5. A final voice from Heaven. No doubt there will be many who will, because of this voice of the angel, refuse to follow the antichrist. God therefore sounds forth a note from Heaven saying, “Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: yea, saith the Spirit, that they might rest from their labors; and their works do follow them.” In all of this may be found the patience of the saints, and of those that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. They bent their backs to the stripes of those who hate them; they paid for their faith with their blood, and now they rest from their labors.
I. THE HARVEST OF THE EARTH IS RIPE (Rev 14:14-16)
We now come into the discussion of the very end of the present age world conditions.
1. The vision of the Son of Man. John beheld Him upon the cloud. “Having on His head a golden crown, and in His hand a sharp sickle.” Perhaps the cloud, upon which He sat, is that same Shekinah Glory cloud in which He is to descend to the earth. We read of that descent in chapter nineteen of this book. He comes with golden crown because He is now taking upon Him His kingly throne. He has in His hand the sharp sickle, because His coming is one of judgment, and of reaping.
2. The vision of an angel, crying unto the Son of Man. “Thrust in Thy sickle, and reap; for the time is come for thee to reap.” When we think of reaping, we think of a harvest that is ripe. That is the statement here. Could words be more expressive of present world conditions? The grain of the earth is already drooping its head. Its color bespeaks its ripening unto the harvest.
The age in which we live is divinely called, man’s day. Man has gone on plying with his own genius in every realm of earth life. We are having many expositions just now; there is a world’s fair in San Francisco; there is a world’s fair in New York City. These seem to be extending their hands to the big throbbing world, and saying, “Come, and see! Behold what man has wrought!” He who goes returns amazed at world progress. Every kind of invention seems to have reached its zenith.
When we think of the world as it was in our own boyhood, fifty and sixty years ago, and as it is at this moment, we stand amazed. In our own remembrance the automobile, the telephone, the wireless, the airship, the electric light, and many other things have not only come in, but have been perfected. All of this grandeur in the line of invention, is climaxed only by a world ripened in iniquity, in sin, and in shame.
Do you marvel, therefore, in our chapter that we read, “The harvest of the earth is ripe”? There is no doubt about it, everything that is high and lifted up against God and His glory, is to be cut down, and the Lord alone will be exalted in that day.
We seriously doubt if some of the things that mark the present age as so attractive, will be allowed under the reign of Christ. The Bible says that during Christ’s reign the children will play in the streets; they certainly are not safe there today.
II. THE HARVESTING OF THE VINTAGE (Rev 14:16-20)
After the harvest of the earth is reaped, another angel came out of the temple which is in Heaven. He also had a sharp sickle. As he stood there, a second angel appeared from the altar. He had power over fire. He cried with a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, saying, “Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe.” Then the angel thrust in his sickle and he gathered the vine of the earth, “And cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.”
1. God’s judgments are upon Jew, as well as Gentile. The truth is, the tribulation period is known in the Bible as the day of Jacob’s Trouble. God has chastened the Jew from that day in which he ruthlessly cried, “His blood be on us and on our children.”
At this hour the Jew is in great stress, and there is no relief in sight. Many are trying to get into Palestine, they are, however, doomed. Jonah entered a ship at Joppa, going to Tarsus, however he got into a storm, then into a whale’s belly. Israel will do no better. To go into Jerusalem now, is only going into the very lions’ den. The nations are helping forward the affliction of God’s chosen people.
2. The Jews are the vine of the earth. This is the story of the eightieth Psalm, of Isaiah twenty-seven, and of Ezekiel fifteen; and is referred to in John fifteen. God will cast Israel into the wine press of His wrath, as He was, of old, crucified outside the city, so will God’s wine press be trodden outside the same city.
3. A final glorious deliverance. In the chapters which we have noted above, where Israel is the vine, God does not leave His people to be wholly destroyed. In Psalm eighty we read of Israel being burned by fire, and cut down and perishing at the rebuke of His countenance. However, immediately, the picture is changed and this prophecy follows: “Let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand, upon the Son of Man whom thou madest strong for thyself.” Then Israel cries, “Quicken us and we will call upon Thy name. Turn us again, * * cause Thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.” The same thing in effect is given in Isaiah twenty-seven. “He shall cause them that come of Jacob to take root: Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit.”
III. A VISION OF THE OVERCOMERS (Rev 15:2-4)
We called this sermon, “Mercy and Judgment.” To us it is most wonderful to study the book of Revelation, and to discover throughout that in wrath, God remembers mercy. Is it not remarkable? As we turn our faces earthward we behold tribulation and anguish under the throes of fiery indignation and wrath. Then, we turn our faces heavenward and we hear paeans of praise, shouts of victory.
On the earth, men are blaspheming God; in the Heavens, they are giving glory to His name. On the earth is blood, and fire, thunders, and earthquakes; above, the saints rest in the Lord.
1. The story of earth’s victors. Verse two tells us of those who have gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name.” The people on the earth never dreamed that they had gotten any victory. All their eyes beheld were the dead bodies, the wan faces, the beaten backs of saints, with their hair clodded with blood.
All they beheld were men and women slain, and their bodies thrust into hastily made graves for burial, or else cremated-anything, to get rid of them. John, however, saw not alone their bodies in death; he saw them standing on a sea of glass, having the harps of God in their hands. Think you that if they had their lives to live over again, that they would not again refuse to follow the antichrist? They surely would.
2. The song of the victors. Verse three says,-“They sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb.” The song of Moses was the song of deliverance. The song of the Lamb, was the song of the Deliverer. Here are the words of their song. “Great and marvelous are Thy works, Lord God Almighty, just and true are Thy ways, thou King of saints.”
There was not one word of complaint, because of their martyrdom, not a word of regret. Their lips were filled only with praise, and with worship. They cried out: “For all nations shall come and worship before Thee, for Thy judgments are made manifest.” These martyr victims fully realized that out of the carnage of the Tribulation judgment, the earth would learn righteousness.
IV. THE GOD OF MERCY IS THE GOD OF JUDGMENT AND WRATH (Rev 15:5-8)
1. The vision of the Temple of the Tabernacle of the Testimony. John saw in Heaven this marvelous temple of the tabernacle. He saw it open. We all know that the Tabernacle of the Testimony was typical of Christ, throughout. It stood for redemption through the. blood of the slain Lamb. It stood for fellowship with God, for the light of Heaven, that shines upon the pathway of saints. It stood for the bread of life. It stood for everything that had to do with the Cross, the risen, living Lord, and His high priestly work.
You remember in the building of this Tabernacle, that God commanded Moses to build it according to the pattern showed him in the mount, and Moses did as God commanded. The facsimile of that temple, so significant in its testimony, stood open in heaven.
2. The vision of seven angels coming out of the temple. These angels came, “Having the seven plagues.” They were clothed in pure and white linen, and their breasts were girded with golden girdles. As they stepped forward, one of the four living ones gave unto the seven angels “seven golden vials full of the wrath of God, who liveth for ever and ever.”
Then, “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 words we have quoted are so majestic, and, withal, so solemn.
It is impossible to separate God’s judgments and wrath, from His love and His holiness and His power. We showed you how the earthly Temple of the Tabernacle, which was a replica of the one in Heaven, stood for salvation and everything that accompanies it. It was throughout typical of Christ and His redemption. Now, we behold that from that very temple, mid the glory of God and the manifestations of His power, priestly angels clothed in white, stand ready to pour out the vials of the wrath of God.
Wrath has always been linked with mercy. Let us consider Joh 3:16. The verse is resplendent with the love of God. It tells of how God so loved, that He gave His only begotten Son. It bespeaks a possible, and a willing Saviour. Clothed, however, with this wonderful raiment of love, and proffered salvation, is that solemn, yea, terrifying word “perish.” Those who believe in the Lamb perish not, but on the others the wrath of God remaineth. As the angels go their way to pour out the vials of wrath they seem to be saying, “Had you entered into the Temple of Testimony you would have been saved from wrath to come. However, you spurned His love, His redemptive grace, and now wrath remaineth.”
V. THE VIALS OF THE WRATH OF GOD (Rev 16:1-9)
1. The first vial-noisome and grievous sores upon men. Verse two tells the story. The angel, one of seven, beautiful in white, having come out of the temple in Heaven, pours out his vial upon the earth. Immediately, “There fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshipped his image.” We do not know what the noisome sore was. The Greek word is “Kakos.” It suggests something very bad. It is used concerning every form of evil, whether moral or physical. It was also grievous, it gave pain.
2. The second vial was poured upon the sea. As it came, the sea was as the blood of a dead man, and every living soul died upon the sea.
3. The third vial was poured upon the rivers and fountains of water and they became as blood.
4. The fourth vial was poured out upon the sun; “And power was given unto him to scorch men with fire.” We pause for a moment to think of these first four vials out of the seven final judgments. As they were enacted, one angel cried out, “Thou art righteous. O Lord, which art, and wast, and shalt be, because Thou hast judged us.” Perhaps it is difficult for us to comprehend the God of love, pouring out such vials of wrath; yet, God’s angel said, “Thou art righteous, O Lord.”
Then the angel added, “They have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and Thou hast given them blood to drink.”
Then another angel, of the altar (no doubt the brazen altar of sacrifice) said, “Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are Thy judgments.”
If we would criticize God for His judgments, why then do we thank Him for His judgments which fell upon Christ when He gave His soul to be made an offering for our sin. God’s attitude toward the men who reject that Cross and follow after the antichrist, is no different than His judgment upon the Christ, when He was made sin for us. You would have thought that men would have repented, especially when they were scorched with the heat of the sun. Yet. they repented not. but blasphemed the name of God.
VI. THE VIALS OF THE WRATH OF GOD CONTINUED (Rev 16:10-16)
1. The fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast. The result, was that the kingdom of the antichrist was full of darkness, “and they gnawed their tongues for pain.” Then men blasphemed the God of Heaven, because of their pains and their sores. However, they repented not of their deeds.
Let no one try to spiritualize all of the judgments of God as the vials are poured forth. You can no more spiritualize these things, than you can spiritualize the plagues in the land of Egypt. The plagues there were literal, these are the same. Another thing to be observed is that the plagues in the olden times, in Egypt, only caused Pharaoh to harden his heart the more. They repented not, neither do the men who are before us in this Scripture, repent.
2. The sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates. We have stood by this river. It is a great river. When we were there, fresh waters in great volumes went quietly flowing on their way. Now, however, the water thereof, is dried up, that the way of the king of the east might be prepared.
As John looked, he saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. Here is the devilish trinity. They are combining together in one last effort to counteract the judgments of the Almighty.
These unclean spirits, which they sent forth, are the spirits of demons, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth, and of the whole world, to gather them together to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. Thus, Armageddon is at hand. The stage of the final great war is set.
Armageddon now stands before us as Satan’s final effort to battle against God. The devilish trinity is to face, the divine trinity.
As the armies are gathered together, we can almost hear a whisper from Heaven. It is God who is holding the nations in derision. He is laughing at them in His sore displeasure. Thus, He says (read verse fifteen) “Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.” Thus, while the battle is set on earth so it will be that the battle is set in Heaven. The great conflict is described in detail in chapter nineteen.
VII. THE SEVENTH OR THE LAST VIAL POURED OUT INTO THE AIR (Rev 16:17-21)
It may be that some of you are asking this question: When the seventh trumpet sounded, in Rev 11:15, was it not announced that the time of the kingdom had arrived? That is true. However, within, as it were, the sounding of that seventh trumpet, there were hidden away these seven vials, which we can safely assert will be followed in rapid succession one after the other. They are God’s final judgments completed. They tell the story of what will happen upon the earth immediately following the enunciation of the king.
The seventh vial, which is now before us, is quite similar to the seventh seal. There, in chapter six, when the sixth seal was broken, we seem to be approaching the very end. There was a great earthquake, the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood, the stars of the Heaven fell unto the earth, the Heaven departed as a scroll rolled together. The kings of the earth, and the great men, the chief captains, and the mighty men, hid themselves in the dens of the rocks of the mighty mountains saying the great day of His wrath has come. And the great day of His wrath had come.
When, however, the seventh seal was broken, immediately the seven angels began to blow their trumpets. Then, following the seventh seal, came the pouring out of the vials. Perhaps you have looked at a house from one angle, and then moved over and looked at the same house from another angle. In the seals and the trumpets God seems to be giving different aspects of the same scenes upon earth.
In the vials, however, God is giving us only the picture of the very last scenes. The trumpets and the seals cover a larger picture than the vials, but the seventh seal, and the seventh trumpet, and the seventh vial, appear to us to be all placed at the very end.
Let us now give the description that marks the very onset of Armageddon, “And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great. And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath. And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent: and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great.
Fuente: Neighbour’s Wells of Living Water
Rev 15:1. The preceding chapter describes the vision before John that came down to the day of judgment and to the final assignment of all mankind to their eternal destinations. The present chapter goes back some distance (as the book has done before), and will again take up the judgments of God that were poured out upon the apostate church for her worship of idols and her persecution of the faithful servants of God. Seven angels are seen as a symbol of the completeness of God’s system for executing his wrath upon the wicked of the earth.
Comments by Foy E. Wallace
Introduction..
VI. THE SEVEN ANGELS WITH THE LAST PLAGUES (Chapter 15)
With this chapter the successive order of the visional events were resumed, as connected with the end of chapter thirteen, where the prolepsis of chapter fourteen had broken the continuity of the visions by projecting the symbols into the final scenes of the judgments of God executed against the apostate city and the oppressors of the saints.
In order to re-establish connection between chapters thirteen and fifteen, observe again that the first beast (of the sea) symbolized the Roman empire, personified in the ruling emperor; and the second beast (of the land) symbolized his Palestinian minions who compelled the inhabitants of Palestine to worship the image of the imperial beast, and caused all who refused to thus receive the mark of the imperial image-worship to be killed. In the course of these visional events the faithful saints were slain, and chapter thirteen ended with the full and complete roll of the martyred saints. The interposed prolepsis of chapter fourteen introduced a vision of the whole martyred number, symbolized by an hundred forty-four thousand “redeemed from the earth,” and the visions were projected beyond the intervening chapters to the end. That chapter (14) therefore must be studied as an interlude preview of the final consummation of all events. But chapter fifteen reverted to the vision of events in the order of the sequence and succession that was interrupted at the end of chapter thirteen, thus re-establishing the orderly connection.
The contents of chapter fifteen may now be arranged as follows:
(1) The sign of the seven angels–Rev 15:1-2.
(2) The song of Moses and the Lamb–Rev 15:3-4.
(3) The temple of the tabernacle of the testimony–Rev 15:5-8.
Verse 1.
(1) The sign of the seven angels–Rev 15:1-2.
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–Rev 15:1. The “sign in heaven” carried the same import as observed in previous comments on other visions and in the Lord’s own preview of the destruction of Jerusalem in Mat 24:31. What was here envisioned in heaven (the sphere of authorities) was carried out on earth (among the inhabitants of Palestine) with special reference to Judah and Jerusalem.
The seven angels with the seven vials and plagues formed a visional recapitulation of the seven seals and trumpets of the first series of visions–the difference existed in the central figures of the visions. The first series surrounded Christ, the Lamb; the second series surrounded the church, his Bride. The second series, though repetitive, was also a progressive development of the events in an enlargement of judicial punishments inflicted on the empire-beast. The seven plagues in the hands of the seven angels were contained in seven vials, as mentioned in verse 7, and this chapter had the effect of an introduction to the pouring out of the plagues contained in the vials of the following chapter.
In reference to the seven vials, verse 1 stated that in them is filled up the wrath of God, which indicated the fulfillment of time. The function of the seven angels therefore was to execute the seven plagues in the series of cosmic woes to be poured out on the earth–the land of the Jews. The visions of these final plagues, or woes, anticipated the overthrow of apostate Jerusalem, referred to previously as the fall of the harlot Babylon. Later, the same seven angels were seen showing to John the new Jerusalem emerging as the spiritual Jerusalem in contrast with the old apostate Jerusalem.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Rev 15:1. The angels spoken of have seven plagues which are the last; and the reason is assigned why they are so named, for in them is finished the wrath of God. Gods last and most terrible judgments are at hand.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Section 1. (Rev 15:1-8.)
The unity of righteousness in the King of Ages.
“And I saw another sign in heaven, great and wonderful -seven angels having seven plagues, the last, for in them is completed the indignation of God.”
The one bright word here is “completed.” For the earth at large, it is indeed so. Judgment comes, as we shall see at the close of the Millennium, upon a special, though, alas, numerous class; but it is nevertheless not the earth that rebels, nor can the Hand that holds the sceptre be any more displaced. How the voice of the everlasting gospel sounds in that word “completed”! But in proportion as the judgment is final now, so must it be complete, conclusive. All limitations are now removed. The rod of iron thoroughly does its work. As in the Lord’s answer to His disciples’ question as to this very period, “Wheresoever the carcase” -the corruption that provokes God’s anger -“is, there will the eagles be gathered together.”
But first, -and this is the style of prophecy, as we have seen, -before the judgment strikes, the gathering clouds are for a moment parted, that we may see, not the whole good achieved, but the care of God over His own, who in this scene might seem to have found only defeat and forsaking. One righteous Man alone ever was really forsaken. And we are permitted to see how, in fact, He has but hidden in His own pavilion, from the strife of men, those who amid the battle drop down and are lost. The sea of glass in the vision answers to the brazen sea in the temple of old -the laver; but here it is glass, not water. Purification is over, with the need of it. The fire mingled with it indicates what those here have passed through, which God has used for blessing to their souls. They are a special class, martyrs under the beast, no doubt, who have found victory in defeat, and are perfected and at rest before the throne of God.
They sing a mingled song, the song of Moses and of the Lamb -conquerors like those who were delivered out of Egypt, but by the might of Him who goes forth as a “man of war” for the deliverance of His people. The song of the Lamb looks to the victories recorded in this book, in which the “works” of the Lord God Almighty of the Old Testament are repeated by Him who, as King of the ages, manifests thus His ways as true and righteous throughout the dispensations.
Divine promises are being fulfilled. God is once more taking up the cause of His ancient people, while the sufferers in Christian times are no less being vindicated and their enemies judged. He has not slept when most He seemed to do so, and now acts in judgment that makes all men fear. Ripened iniquity, come to a head wherever we may look, claims the harvest-sickle. The open challenge of the enemy brooks no delay in answering it. It is the only hope for the earth itself, which will learn righteousness when His judgments are in it, while the New Testament here coalesces with the voice of prophecy in the Old, and the cycle of the ages is completed, and returns into itself, only with a Second Man, a new creation, and the paradise of God. Truly Christ is “King of the ages.”
And now the temple of the tabernacle of testimony is opened in heaven, where the ark of the covenant has been already seen. Faithful to that covenant now, in which Israel and the earth are together ordained to blessing, the seven angels with the seven last plagues issue forth as the result of that faithfulness. Thus they are arrayed in pure white linen, and girded with golden girdles. It is the glory of God in behalf of which they serve, as the bowls are also golden and filled with His wrath. From the glory of God and from His power smoke fills the temple. None can therefore approach to intercede. There can be no more delay. Long-suffering patience is exhausted. “No one was able to enter into the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were completed.”
Fuente: Grant’s Numerical Bible Notes and Commentary
THE SEVEN VIALS
The law of recurrence finds a further illustration here for we are still in the Tribulation period, the latter half of Daniels seventieth week, and are looking upon the features of that day of judgment.
The Introduction includes the whole of chapter 15, being the revelation of the overcomers and the seven angels. No one can read this without being struck by its likeness to the song of Moses after Israels deliverance from Pharaoh at the Red Sea. (Exodus 15).
The Progression is set before us in the revelation of the six vials (Rev 16:1-12), which are doubtless literal plagues to be visited upon the followers of the beast and upon his throne, and which also suggest the story of Israels deliverance from Egypt (Exodus 5-11).
The Parenthesis is the gathering of the Kings (Rev 16:13-16). The drying up of the Euphrates may be taken literally, though it is difficult to say just who are meant by the kings of the east. Some regard the passage as paralleled by Ezekiel, chapters 38-39, which reveal the rising of Russia and her allies against the Roman federation sometime during the period, or approximate to the period, we are now considering. It is to be noted here that the great battle of Rev 16:14 is not described, although its issue is announced (Rev 16:17-21, compare also Zec 14:1-3).
The Consummation (Rev 16:17-21) synchronizes with the judgment on the city of Babylon literal Babylon, rebuilt as the seat of the beast on the plain of Shinar (Isaiah 13-14).
QUESTIONS
1. What law of rhetoric is again illustrated in this lesson?
2. What Old Testament parallel is suggested?
3. How may the six vials be interpreted?
4. What Old Testament prophecy is recalled by chapter 16:12?
5. Have you re-read the passage in Zechariah?
6. Have you reviewed our lesson on Isaiah 13-14?
Fuente: James Gray’s Concise Bible Commentary
This and the following chapter acquaints us with a fresh vision, which St. John had of the pouring forth of the vials, or the inflicting of the seven last plagues and judgments upon the world; upon the Heathen world, say some; upon the antichristian world, say most; I saw seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God; where, by seven angels, understand the ministers and executioners of the wrath of God; by the seven plagues, understand the last dreadful judgments that should be inflicted, which would make a final end of him, whoever he be, that they should be poured forth upon, one after another.
Where note, 1. How the patience, forbearance, and long-suffering goodness, of God, is wonderfully seen in his carriage towards sinners; though he punishes the wicked sometimes, to let them see that his justice is not asleep, yet he doth not stir up all his wrath, nor poureth it out all at once upon them, but gradually; desirous of and waiting for their repentance, even when he has begun in justice to punish them.
Note, 2. Whereas it is said, in them (that is, in the present seven plagues) is filled up the wrath of God; we learn, what final impenitency, and incorrigibleness under former judgments, will produce at last; namely, judgment to the uttermost: ripeness in sin will at last make men ripe for ruin; and when they have filled up the measure of their sins, God will fill up the measure of his wrath; in them is filled up the wrath of God.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
The first sign was the woman with child, the second a great red dragon and now we have the third. ( Rev 12:1 ; Rev 12:3 ) In the seals ( Revelation 5-8:5 ), we saw Christ revealed and his saints persecuted and martyred. The trumpets ( Rev 8:6-13 ; Rev 9:1-21 ; Rev 10:1-11 ; Rev 11:1-19 ) served as warnings from God since only one-third of earth, sea, etc., are hurt. Men could have followed Christ or repented at the first two, but this third completes the process (Thayer) of God’s wrath and presents his punishment of those who will not repent.
Fuente: Gary Hampton Commentary on Selected Books
Rev 15:1. And I saw a sign in heaven, great and marvellous Such as fixed my attention, and will demand that of the reader: seven angels (doubtless holy angels) having the seven last plagues Hitherto God had borne with his enemies with much longsuffering, but now his wrath will go forth to the uttermost. But even after these plagues the holy wrath of God against his other enemies does not cease, Rev 20:15.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Revelation Chapter 15
Chapter 15 is a new vision. It unrolls before the prophet another scene, the last plagues or judgments of God, and specially that of Babylon, before Christ comes. The main object of the vision was the seven angels, having the seven last plagues; but, as ever, the saints who have to do with this scene are seen in security before the judgments begin. They have been purified, but have come through the fire of tribulation too. They stand on a sea mingled with fire. They have belonged to the time when the beast and his image were in power, but they had got the victory over it. They seemed perhaps to have succumbed– it was real victory.
Their song is very peculiar. The song of Moses is triumph over the power of evil by Gods judgments. The song of the Lamb is the exaltation of the rejected Messiah, of the suffering One, like whom they had suffered; for it is the slain remnant amidst unfaithful and apostate Israel whom we find here. The song celebrates God and the Lamb, but by victorious sufferers who belong to heaven. What they celebrate are the works of Jehovah Elohim Shaddai (the God of the Old Testament), but who has manifested Himself in judgment, known by His works that are public for the people. He shewed His ways unto Moses, His works unto the children of Israel. His works are celebrated now. They are the works of Jehovah Elohim Shaddai, the Judge of all the earth. But His ways are celebrated too. There was intelligence of them, as far at least as righteous judgment went. These ways in judgment were just and true. Israel would understand deliverance, and how it came; but Moses knew Gods ways. But this is all. It is not merely celebration of qualities and attributes, as the angels do, nor the full knowledge of Gods work in salvation by the blood of the Lamb. It is not the heart going up in the sense of its own relationship, but a celebration of the glory of the Lord, who would now be worshiped by the nations for His judgments were manifested. It was intelligence when judgments were manifested, not when all was yet to be learned within the veil.
This celebration of what was just bursting forth being made, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened, not merely the temple with the ark of the covenant seen. That secured the result for faith, when evil was raging in power on earth; the ark of Gods covenant secured Israel. It was a testimony opened out, not a covenant which secured in the hour of evil, but a testimony which made good what the ark of the covenant secured; for the temple was opened, and the messengers of judgment came forth-Gods judgment for the restoration and blessing, of Israel, by the judgment of the Gentiles and all who corrupted the earth. Cleanness in Gods sight and divine righteousness, characterised and animated this judgment-clean linen pure and white, and golden girdles: I apprehend the former, in answer to corruption in what should have had this-Babylon. (compare Rev 19:8.) That is, it was a judgment which required it, and was according to it, and also to divine righteousness. It is not brass burning in the fire-simply execution of judgment in dealing with men, though that took place-but God making good His own nature and character against corruption, the essential character of the eternal God, which the assembly ought to have displayed; whereas Babylon was entirely the contrary, and the beast too. The seven angels judge all according to these characters of God, because it was really the avenging of what God was, as fully revealed to the assembly; but the white linen refers, I doubt not, specially to Babylon, though the men with the mark of the beast would come under the judgment. One of the four living creatures gives the vials; for it is the judicial power of God in creation, not yet the Lamb. Gods glory in judgment filled the temple; and no man could have to say to Him in worship, or approaching Him, while these plagues were executing. It was the full display of God in judgment.
The first four plagues have the same objects as the judgments of the first four trumpets-the whole circle of symbolic nature, but here directly as regards men- earth, sea, rivers, and sun; the ordered prophetic sphere of Gods dealings, the masses of peoples as such viewed as unorganized, the moral principles which give an impulse to their movements, and sovereign authority. But it is not a third here (that is, the Roman earth), but in general.
Fuente: John Darby’s Synopsis of the New Testament
1. THE SEVEN LAST PLAGUES
WHEN John saw the book of prophecy in the hand of the Apocalyptic Angel, it was a parchment-roll, enveloped in seven wrappers, and secured with seven seals. When the Lion of the tribe of Judah loosed successively the seven seals, each one revealed its part of the prophecy in programme, the interest constantly increasing in geometrical ratio. The opening of the seventh seal reveals the contents of the book, which is so momentous that seven trumpet-bearing angels are now called out to proclaim the wonderful prophecies. These trumpets began to sound at the time of the Apocalypse, have been sounding ever since, and will continue till the Lord comes to reign. During the first trumpet, as described in Chapter 8, a terrible infection, political, social, and ecclesiastical, falls on the earth, and begins to undermine the fabric of human government. When the second angel sounds his trumpet, a great burning mountain is cast into the sea; i.e., the infection reaches the popular masses, stirring them into discontentment and revolution. When the third angel sounds his trumpet, the malady reaches the rivers and fountains of water; i.e., the subordinate departments of government, shaking them with political earthquakes, and disqualifying governors and proconsuls longer to enforce law and order. When the fourth angel sounds his trumpet, this growing infection reaches the heads of government, filling capitols and royal palaces with darkness, confusion, anarchy and bloody revolution, so that every throne topples, and sovereigns fall to rise no more. When the fifth angel sounds his trumpet, these social, political, and ecclesiastical troubles have assumed worldwide proportions. Consequently, the Holy Ghost pronounces the proclamation of the fifth trumpet a woe. During the first four trumpets, Satan succeeds in the undermining and disintegration of the political and social fabric, and the superinduction of the Dark Ages on the whole world. The seventh century has ushered in, kingdoms are falling, and thrones toppling in all lands. It is an auspicious epoch in the history of Satan. His millennium is now fully inaugurated. Hence he calls up Mahomet to rule the Eastern hemisphere and the pope the Western. The first woe proclaimed by the fifth trumpet continues one hundred and fifty years.
Meanwhile Moslem conquest rolled its bloody tide over Asia, Africa, and Spain, everywhere exterminating Christianity by the sword. This appalling scourge received its first signal rebuff in the battle of Tours, France, where Charles Martel signally defeated the Saracens and saved all Europe from subjugation, slaughter, and the Moslem yoke. These prophecies run in a geometrical ratio, with a constantly increasing intensification. Hence the second woe, proclaimed by the sixth trumpet, covers a period of four hundred years (Rev 9:15), the second great period of Mohammedan conquests, which, taking new impetus after the Crusades, swept on, building up the great Mogul Empire, which for two hundred years claimed the conquest of the world. They received their final signal defeat at the siege of Vienna, 1683, when John Sobieski, the Polish hero, led seventy thousand Christian warriors into the conflict under the battle- cry: Not unto us, O Lord, but unto Thee be the glory! That signal defeat culminated in the treaty of 1698, in which the Saracens were forced to surrender vast kingdoms to Christendom.
Rev 11:15 introduces the seventh trumpeter, who proclaims the third and last woe that shall ever come on the earth. That woe is to knock down all the carnal powers, political and ecclesiastical, throughout the whole earth, and thus prepare the way for the King of kings to descend on His millennial throne and reign forever. This last trumpet is to sound on to the end of the Gentile Age, when the kingdom comes.
Here is another evolution, the greatest and the last of all; i.e., the seventh trumpet is evolved into the seven last plagues, which are committed to seven angels in the seven vials, or, as the Greek says, seven bowls, containing the final consummation of Gods wrath against this wicked world, focalized in those terrible catastrophes destined to come in righteous, retributive judgments against a wicked world and fallen Church. After these seven bowls of wrath shall have been poured out on the earth, and shall have expended their force in the castigation of all the wicked nations and apostate Churches, then the chastisements of the Almighty against this rebel world will forever have an end. The wicked rulers of the earth will have toppled from their thrones, Babylon fallen, and earth redeemed from Satans misrule. We read the positive statement from the Holy Ghost in the 1st verse of the 15th chapter: In these the wrath of God is finished. Oh, blessed consolation! we are so rapidly approaching the end of earths troubles, sorrows, and calamities, when Satan shall be cast out and our glorious King descend to reign.
We have now reached, in the seven last plagues, the final evolution in these panoramic prophecies, which will clear the field for our glorious coming King by removing all the incorrigible, irreconcilable, and unsanctifiable elements out of the world.
2. I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire, and those who are triumphant over the beast and his image, and the number of his name, standing on the sea of glass, having the harps of God. Here John has another vision of the bride. The sea of glass is the imperturbable experience of the souls profound repose in Jesus when it enters the experience of entire sanctification. A thousand cyclones may sweep over a sea of glass and never produce a ripple on the surface. So it is with this wonderful soul-rest. It is proof against all distraction and perturbation. Commingled with fire means the glorious baptism of Pentecostal fire, which Jesus always gives the sanctified soul. It is the Christians invincible panoply for the Lords war against the devil. It is His indispensable palladium for the conquest of the world. A well-rested man will do about ten times as much work as a tired, worn-out man. Hence, perfect rest in Jesus and the fiery baptism flooding your soul will enable you to shout down every Jericho and chase a thousand devils. These are the people who have the victory over the beast, and his image, and the number of his name.
The beast here signifies the world-power, carnality, and especially the pope, the incarnation of carnal, worldly religion. The image of the beast includes idolatry in all its forms and phases, and especially the fashions of the world. You cannot be a devotee of any of these things and follow Jesus. The number of his name is 666 (Rev 13:18), which, as you see from the calculation, means Romanism. While Babylon is a harlot, she is also the mother of harlots. Her maternity has been wonderfully prolific. Her daughters are in all the popular Churches on the globe. The influence of Romanism is this day predominant in all the great Protestant Churches. Since the popes temporal dethronement by Victor Immanuel in 1870, he has radically reversed the engine and changed his tactics. Since his grip on the rulers has broken, he maneuvers, through myriads of subterranean channels, to reach the governments through the people. Hence he has his sworn Jesuits in hundreds of Protestant pulpits, expediting, with all their chicanery, the universally downward trend of all ecclesiasticisms into Romanism. She loudly boasts of her two hundred and fifty millions of members belting the globe. The Protestant Churches, captivated by the eclat, are all competing for members. If you would go to heaven, you must be thoroughly saved from the influence of members. You must be willing to take the lone way with Jesus, singing, with Bishop Marvin:
Id rather be the least of them Who are the Lords alone, Than wear a royal diadem, And sit upon a throne.
The true pilgrim has no assurance that any other soul is treading the narrow path but himself and Jesus. Hence you are bound to utterly die out to the influence of numbers, and be willing to walk alone by faith with an unseen God.
3. We find these victors over the beast, his image, and the number of his name, all sing the song of Moses and the Lamb. The normal attitude of the Mosaic Dispensation was that of justification, while that of the Christian Dispensation is entire sanctification. Therefore, you see all the members of the bridehood sing about this wonderful double salvation. They all have the experience of regeneration and entire sanctification. So, if you are a candidate for the bridehood, you must have these two experiences, and sing the song of Moses and the Lamb.
4. Thou alone art holy. Hence you see, intrinsically, none are holy but God. Wesley well says: You cannot lay up a stock of holiness, as you can only be holy in connection with Christ. The moment you separate from Him, you have nothing but unholiness left. Hence we can only have delegated holiness, and receive it from Christ constantly by faith. Your faith should become as natural as breathing, so you rest in Jesus like a tired child in its mothers arms, unconscious of the slightest effort on its part. This holiness is original in Jesus and imparted to us. Faith is the hand with which we reach out and receive this holiness. There is no defalcation about getting it. If we only touch the hem of His garment, virtue will come out of Him and make us holy. In this respect we are like Him. We partake of His holiness. (Heb 12:10.)
All nations shall come and worship before Thee. This prophecy will be fulfilled during the kingdom. While Satan is loose, the worshipers of God will be individuals. The survivors of the tribulation will still perpetuate the nationalities in the millennial reign. As there will be no devil here to lead the nations into sin, of course they will worship the glorious King by solid nationalities.
5, 6. These seven angels entrusted with the responsible duty of administering the final retributions to the rebel nations and fallen Churches are all invested with priestly regalia, and all testify for God, illustrating the capacity of Gods ministers and their identity with the Gospel Age. To the people who have obstinately and finally rejected Gods mercy, they are now sent to administer His wrath.
7. Forever and ever describes the duration of God. The original is aioonas aioonoon, the same as in ch. 14, verse 10, which tells the duration of punishment. So remember, despite all the speculations of Universalism, the moment they prove the end of punishment, the very same argument proves that God will cease to exist. Hence the utter futility of all arguments to disprove the endless punishment of the wicked.
8. This verse tells us that the temple of testimony will be so darkened during the awful tribulations that all ingress will cease till these terrible plagues accomplish their work on the earth.
Since all the sanctified will be taken up in the rapture, there will he no people left on the earth to testify. It seems that testimony is already relegated to the sanctified. When you go to meeting nowadays and hear people testifying, you say at once, Why, these are the Holiness people. In the absence of the holy people and amid the terrible retributions of the premillennial judgments, no wonder the testimony meetings will all be discontinued. Oh, how forlorn and dreary will this world be without a holy person in it To this, add earthquakes, cyclones, wars, famines, and pestilence. Let us all keep on the witness-stand for God, so that when He takes His saints out of the world, He will remember us.
Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament
Rev 15:1. I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous: a vision very sublime, to attract the notice and study of the church. There appeared seven angels, the final ministers of divine vengeance on the beast, and his progeny. Their work seem too great for created beings; they might be the seven Spirits of God, who go forth into all the earth.
Rev 15:2. A sea of glass, as is noted in Rev 4:6. A pavement of gems, like that seen by Moses, which reflected the uncreated glory. Here the choral bands sing the victories obtained over the beast, in all the wars of the Lord. But while they sing, their enemies, who murdered them on earth, weep and wail in the dungeons of outer darkness: what the poets call Plutos dark house.
Rev 15:3-4. And they sing: so is the Greek. But we should leave the Hebrew idioms, when the past and the future is designated by present time. Thus in chap. Rev 5:9. Et cantabant canticum novum, and they sung a new song. As Moses sung sublimely when the Hebrews were delivered from Egypt, and Pharaoh and his mighty host drowned in the sea, just as the beast and his worshippers were sentenced to the abyss; so now, they sung the song of the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world, and hath redeemed them to God by his blood. Who would not fear thee, oh Lord God Almighty. Thou only art holy: all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee. Psa 22:27.
Rev 15:6. Seven angels clothed in pure and white linen. Spotless ministers of justice, as the scribes before the temple. Eze 9:2.
Rev 15:7. One of the living creatures gave to the seven angels seven vials, full of the wrath of God. These vials are appended to the seventh trumpet, which shall finish the mystery of God. He will not hide from his saints the secret councils of his wisdom and love.
Rev 15:8. And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, who makes the clouds his chariots, and thick darkness his pavilion. This circumstance is often noted in the old testament. Exo 40:35. Lev 16:2, 1Ki 8:10, 2Ch 5:13. Isa 6:3. For a time the Lord hides himself, while the cloud demonstrates the reality of his presence.
REFLECTIONS.
What, and are all the groans and tears, and deaths of the saints come to triumphal songs at last? Has the Lord showed strength with his arm, and wrought righteousness for his people? What, are their glorified bodies, once mangled, burned, or worried by wild beasts, now glorious as the sea of glass, the pavement of gems on which they stand? Are the noble army of martyrs and confessors, once treated as the worst culprits of the earth, now ennobled as the first characters of heaven? Oh what a scene of reversion, of retribution worthy of a God.
But oh what mercy, what longsuffering and goodness in him who could bear so long with the rebellious gentiles and the progeny of the beast. What a grand display of righteousness. The Judge of all the earth will do wrong to none. He allows the worst of men, with some exceptions of those who perished speedily after embruing their hands in the blood of the saints, a time for repentance. Yes, he endures with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted for destruction; and his slighted equity and terrors shall be the heavier for being long delayed.
Ah, if the infidel, the blaspheming world, did but know the vials of wrath which the purest ministers of celestial visitation are preparing to pour on their heads, surely they would pause in the course of sin. If they once go to the abyss, how will they regain emancipation, and recover their steps in the walks of life. Ah, here is the work, this is the task. To-day if you would hear his voice, revolt no more, nor dare to harden your hearts, because judgment is long delayed.
Sed revocare gradum, superasque evadere ad auras, Hoc opus, hic labor est
neid. 6:128, 129.
Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Rev 15:1-8. The Preparation for the Vision of the Bowls.
Rev 15:1. which are the last: an indication that we are nearing the end of the tragedy.
Rev 15:2. Before the plagues are poured out from the bowls we have a new vision of heaven and the triumphs of the redeemed.glassy sea: cf. Rev 4:6.mingled with fire: this addition to the description of the heavenly sea is difficult to explain. The crystal light of the sea of glass is reddened as by fire, and The red glow on the sea spoke of the fire through which the martyrs passed, and yet more of the wrath about to fall upon the world which had condemned them (Swete). This seems to be the only possible explanation. The lurid light of the coming judgment was reflected in the sea of glass. [There may, however, be no symbolism intended. The writer may use features in his description suggested by physical phenomena, in this case by the sunset on a still sea or lake. Details in these descriptions are perhaps not to be pressed any more than details in parables.A. S. P.]victorious from the beast: i.e. those who had refused to worship the Emperor and suffered martyrdom in consequence.the number of his name: i.e. 666 (cf. Rev 13:18).
Rev 15:3. the song of Moses: the song of triumph after the passage of the Red Sea which is given in Exodus 15.the song of the Lamb: the new song of the redeemed. The character of this song is rather surprising. We should have expected a reference to the martyrs and certainly an allusion to the Lamb. Swete suggests that In the presence of God the martyrs forget themselves, and their thoughts are absorbed by the new wonders that surround them . . . they begin to see the great issue of the world-drama, and we hear the doxology with which they greet their first unclouded vision of God.
Rev 15:5. the tabernacle of the testimony: Rev 11:19*. Both in Hebrews and the Apocalypse the Tabernacle, rather than the later Temple, is the symbol of the Divine presence.
Rev 15:6. the seven angels . . . plagues: see ch. 16.arrayed with precious stones: there is an interesting variation in the Gr. text here which accounts for the difference between AV and RV. The difference is explained by the fact that the Gr. words for linen (linon) and precious stone (lithon) are spelt exactly alike with the exception of a single letter, and might be easily interchanged. Authorities differ in their preference for one or other of two readings. Those who, with RV, adopt precious stones interpret the phrase by a reference to Eze 28:13. [The RV is intrinsically so improbable that one would hesitate to accept it even if it stood in the autograph, were that accessible. No one who has had much experience in the extent of error that arises in copying or in writing from dictation will easily believe that any weight of MS testimony could justify the acceptance of a reading so incredible. Eze 28:13 speaks of a number of stones, not of one, and Toy renders adornment rather than covering.A. S. P.]
Rev 15:7. living creatures: see Rev 4:6*.golden bowls: see Rev 5:8
Rev 15:8. temple . . . smoke: based on Isa 6:4.
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
Preparation For The Seven Last Plagues
The seventh trumpet (Rev 11:15) took us to the end of the Tribulation and to the introduction of the Millennial Kingdom. Rev 12:1-17 to Rev 14:1-20 added explanatory details connected with the events of the trumpets, and these also continue to the end of the Tribulation. Therefore the seven vials (or bowls) are not successive to the trumpets or to Rev 14:1-20, but cover at least part of the same period of time. These “bowls” are direct inflictions of awesome judgment from God, beginning at the middle of Daniel’s seventieth week of years and thus limited to “the Great Tribulation” of 3 1/2 years length. The seals were confined to the first 3 1/2 years and introduced the trumpets which begin before the middle of the week and continue to the introduction of Christ’s millennial kingdom.
In heaven a great and awe-inspiring sign is seen first-the sign of seven angels having the seven last plagues (v. 1). These complete the wrath of God. Dreadful as that wrath is, how wonderful to know it has an end! As is common in prophecy, before the bowls of judgment are poured out we are given a preview of the pure, unspeakable joy and blessing that will come out of the Tribulation. Thus we are shown a sea of glass mixed with fire (v. 2). The sea of glass is to be compared to the sea of moulded metal in Israel’s temple (2Ch 4:2), a very large basin which held water for purifying the priests before they performed the temple service. The glass speaks of a fixed, stable state of purity in contrast to the need for many washings. The fire reminds us of the holiness of God which, through the purging fires of the Tribulation, has accomplished its proper work of self-judgment in the company standing on the sea of glass.
No mention is made of a large number, for these are the martyrs who will be resurrected for blessing in heaven (Rev 20:4), not the 144,000 who stand on Mount Zion (Rev 14:1) or the great number of Gentiles who stand before the throne in Rev 7:9. These martyrs have gotten the victory over the beast, his image, his mark and the number of his name. By murdering them, the beast considered himself triumphant, but God in raising them from the dead will give them the ultimate victory while the beast is reduced to the humiliation of eternal judgment.
Having the harps of God, they sing the song of Moses (v. 3), the first song Scripture records (Exo 15:1-18). It is the song of God’s glorious victory. This counterpart of Moses’ song is the last song recorded in Scripture. Being also the song of the Lamb, it involves redemption by His great sacrifice-sweet theme for exultant singing! They celebrate the marvellous works of the Lord God Almighty and His righteous, true ways as the King of Nations (v. 3), not King of saints. It is popular to refer to the Lord Jesus as our King, but we have a much closer relationship to Him-the church engaged to Him to be His wife (2Co 11:2). He therefore expects from us more intimate affections than simply being subject to His royal authority. His works are what He has accomplished: His ways are the means by which He works, displaying His own blessed character. His ways are connected with His title, King of Nations, for these involve authority while His works emphasize His power as the Lord God Almighty.
In view of His great judgments, who could be so foolhardy as not to fear Him and glorify His name? He only is holy: the comparative holiness of others fades into insignificance in the light of His absolute holiness manifested in world-encircling judgments. At that time all nations will come and worship before Him (v. 4), whether the worship is genuine or whether it is merely in fear and feigned (Psa 18:44 -margin-NASB).
The Seven Angels Presented
Verse 5 returns to consider the holiness and truth of God in His ways of bringing judgment on the earth. The “temple” of the tabernacle of testimony in heaven is opened. Though in the heavenly city, New Jerusalem, there will be no temple (Rev 21:22), yet the temple is spoken of here in connection with judgment to impress us with the fact that judgment must issue from the calm serenity of the sanctuary, the holy presence of God. The seven angels proceed from the temple, clothed in pure white linen-perfection of righteousness (v.6). Their breasts (which symbolize their feelings or affections) are girded with golden girdles, indicating that their feelings are restrained by the greater consideration of God’s glory (the gold).
One of the four living creatures (one of those sublime principles that deal with God’s administrative government in the universe) gives each of the angels a golden bowl full of the wrath of God (v. 7). The angels receive the bowls from the living creatures because of the glory of Him who is the eternally living One, who only has immortality.
The Lord’s glory and power so filled the temple with smoke that no one could enter the temple (v. 8). Judgment is inflexible: there is no other remedy, and no intercessor can draw near until all the bowls of wrath are poured out.
Fuente: Grant’s Commentary on the Bible
Verse 1
Filled up; fulfilled, consummated.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
13 The Vials (Revelation 15-16)
There have been brought before us, in Revelation 12 and 13, the fearful outburst and rebellion against God that will take place under Satan and his instruments in the sphere of the Roman Empire, during the three and a half years that will precede the coming of Christ to put all enemies under His feet and establish His kingdom.
We have further learned that during this time God will secure a people for the kingdom of Christ, announce the everlasting gospel to the nations, and deal in judgment with the wicked.
Now we are to learn in Revelation 15 and 16 further details of the special judgments that will fall upon both the Eastern and Western spheres of the kingdom in which the beasts will exercise their dominion.
(15: 1) These judgments are referred to as “the seven last plagues” that will precede the appearing of Christ, and we are told that “in them is filled up the wrath of God.”
(Vv. 2-4) Before we hear of the judgments that will come upon those who wear the mark of the beast, and worship his image, we are assured of the blessing of those who will get the victory over the beast and his image. In the vision John sees these saints standing on a sea of glass, mingled with fire, having the harps of God. Does this not set forth in symbolic language that these saints have passed through fiery trial and reached a scene of fixed purity, where there will be no more fear of defilement, and where sorrow will give place to songs of joy and praise? They are seen as having been delivered from “the seven last plagues,” even, as of old, Israel was delivered from the plagues that fell upon the Egyptians. As that deliverance called forth from Moses a song of praise, so, again, this future deliverance will be followed by a similar burst of praise, that will ascribe their deliverance to the great and marvellous works of the Lord God Almighty, who is just and true in all His ways, and the “King of nations” (N. Tr.). Under the influence of the two beasts, led by Satan, the world will rise in rebellion against God and the Lamb. These saints who have gotten the victory over the beast will sing the song of the Lamb by which they delight to own that the Lamb that was slain is worthy “to receive power and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and glory, and blessing” (Rev 5:12), and they foresee that the time has come when all nations shall worship before God; for, at last, His judgments are no longer, as hitherto, of a providential character, but they are “made manifest.”
(Vv. 5-8) Having learned the blessing of those who get the victory over the beast, we at once see that the way is opened for judgment upon those who have the mark of the beast. By the symbols used, are we not to learn that these final judgments, before Christ comes, will not only deal with the evil of the nations, but will also be a testimony to the holiness of God’s dwelling place, for the angels that are used to execute these judgments come forth from “the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven?” In witness to, and in suitability with, the holiness of God’s temple, the angels are “clothed in pure and white linen,” and, as becoming those who are about to execute judgment, their affections are held in by a golden girdle that speaks of the righteousness of God.
Directly the angels come forth, “the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from His power,” and during the time of these judgments “no man was able to enter into the temple.” May this not set forth that when God is acting in judgment there will, in this solemn time, be neither worship nor intercession in His presence?
Fuente: Smith’s Writings on 24 Books of the Bible
15:1 And {1} I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven {2} angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God.
(1) This is that other passage of the acts of Christ, as I noted before see Geneva “Rev 14:14”. Now therefore is shown a singular work of the judgment of God belonging to the overthrow of Antichrist and his forces, of which divine work the preparation is described in this chapter: and the execution in the next. The preparation is first set down generally and in type in this verse: and is after particularly set forth in the rest of the chapter.
(2) Of which Rev 8:9 in sending forth the plagues of the world: for even these plagues do for the most part agree with those.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The announcement of the seven last judgments 15:1
This verse serves as a superscription for chapters 15 and 16 and even, perhaps, for the rest of the book. One writer argued that Rev 15:1 concludes the previous revelation rather than introducing what follows. [Note: Michael Wilcock, The Message of Revelation, pp. 137-40.] Most scholars disagree.
"And I saw" (Gr. kai idou) again introduces a new scene, this time in heaven (cf. Rev 13:1; Rev 13:11; Rev 14:1; Rev 14:6; Rev 14:14; Rev 15:2; Rev 15:5). The "sign" John saw signified God’s final judgments on earth-dwellers during the Tribulation (cf. Rev 12:1; Rev 12:3). The former signs were the woman and the dragon.
"They [the signs] point beyond themselves and disclose the theological meaning of history." [Note: Mounce, p. 285.]
This sign, however, is both great and marvelous, especially awesome. It is awesome because it signifies the climax of the outpouring of God’s wrath on nature, humankind, the dragon, and the two beasts. The sign itself is the seven angels who control seven plagues. As with the seals and trumpets, angels were God’s agents in pouring out His wrath in this series of judgments. These angels were now ready to do their duty (cf. Psa 103:20). They appear seven times as a group (Rev 15:6-8; Rev 16:1; Rev 17:1; Rev 21:9) and nine times individually (Rev 16:2-4; Rev 16:8; Rev 16:10; Rev 16:12; Rev 16:17; Rev 17:7; Rev 21:9). John simply introduced them here. They do not begin to act until Rev 15:6 (cf. Rev 8:2; Rev 12:6; Rev 21:2).
The bowl "plagues" that follow have many similarities to the plagues that God sent on Egypt, as we shall see. All seven of these judgments reprise in varied ways the plagues of Egypt. These similarities suggest that God’s purpose in both series of judgments is the same: to punish godless idolaters and to liberate the godly for future blessing and service.
Some interpreters believe the bowl judgments are the same as the seal and trumpet judgments. One advocate of this position wrote as follows.
"The bowls go back in time before what is depicted in ch. 14 and explain in greater detail the woes throughout the [inter-advent] age culminating in the final judgment." [Note: Beale, p. 786.]
He explained their being described as "the last" this way.
". . . they portray the full-orbed wrath of God in a more intense manner than any of the previous woe visions." [Note: Ibid., p. 788.]
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
; Rev 16:1-21
CHAPTER XII
THE SEVEN BOWLS.
Rev 15:1-8; Rev 16:1-21.
NOTHING can more clearly prove that the Revelation of St John is not written upon chronological principles than the scenes to which we are introduced in the fifteenth and sixteenth chapters of the book. We have already been taken to the end. We have seen in chap. 14 the Son of man upon the throne of judgment, the harvest of the righteous, and the vintage of the wicked. Yet we are now met by another series of visions setting before us judgments that must take place before the final issue. This is not chronology; it is apocalyptic vision, which again and again turns round the kaleidoscope of the future, and delights to behold under different aspects the same great principles of the Almighty s government, leading always to the same glorious results.
One other preliminary observation may be made. The third series of judgments does not really begin till we reach chap. 16. Chap. 15 is introductory, and we are thus reminded that the series of the Trumpets had a similar introduction in Rev 8:1-6. It is the manner of St. John, who thus in his Gospel introduces his account of our Lords conversation with Nicodemus in chap. iii. by the last three verses of chap. 2, which ought to be connected with the third chapter; and who also introduces his narrative regarding the woman of Samaria by the first three verses of chap. 4.
To introduce chap. 16 is the object of chap. 15.
“And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, angels having seven plagues, which are the last, for in them is finished the wrath of God (Rev 15:1).”
The plagues about to be spoken of are “the last,” and in them the final judgments of God upon evil are contained. What they are, and who are the special objects of them, will afterwards appear. Meanwhile, another vision is presented to our view: –
“And I saw as it were a glassy sea mingled with fire; and them that come victorious out of the beast, and out of his image, and out of the number of his name, standing upon the glassy sea, having harps of God. And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvelous are Thy works, O Lord God the Almighty; righteous and true are Thy ways, Thou King of the nations. Who shall not fear, O Lord, and glorify Thy name? for Thou only art holy: for all the nations shall come and worship before Thee; for Thy righteous acts have been made manifest (Rev 15:2-4).”
It can hardly be doubted that the glassy sea spoken of in these words is the same as that already met with at Rev 4:6. Yet again, as in the case of the hundred and forty and four thousand of Rev 14:1, the definite article is wanting; and, in all probability, for the same reason. The aspect in which the object is viewed, though not the object itself, is different. The glassy sea is here mingled with fire, a point of which no mention was made in chap. 4. The difference may be explained if we remember that the “fire” spoken of can only be that of the judgments by which the Almighty vindicates His cause, or of the trials by which He purifies His people. As these, therefore, now stand upon the sea, delivered from every adversary, we are reminded of the troubles which by Divine grace they have been enabled to surmount. It was otherwise in chap. 4. No persons were there connected with the sea, and it stretched away, clear as crystal, before Him all whose dealings with His people are “right.” The sea itself is in both cases the same, but in the latter it is beheld from the Divine point of view, in the former from the human.
The vision as a whole takes us back to the exodus of Israel from Egypt, and hence the mention of the song of Moses, the servant of God. The enemies of the Church have their type in Pharaoh and his host as they pursue Israel across the sands which had been laid bare for the passage of the chosen people; the waters, driven back for a time, return to their ancient bed; the hostile force, with its chariots and its chosen captains, “goes down into the depths like a stone;” and Israel raises its song of victory, “I will sing unto the Lord, for He hath triumphed gloriously, the horse and his rider hath He thrown into the sea.”* (* Exo 15:1)
The song now sung, however, is not that of Moses only, the great centre of the Old Testament Dispensation; it is also the Song of the Lamb, the centre and the sum of the New Testament. Both Dispensations are in the Seers thoughts, and in the number of those who sing are included the saints of each, the members of the one Universal Church. No disciple of Jesus either before or after His first coming is omitted. Everyone is there from whose hands the bonds of the world have fallen off, and who has cast in his lot with the followers of the Lamb. Hence also the song is wider in its range than that by which the thought of it appears to have been suggested. It celebrates the great and marvelous works of the Almighty in general. It speaks of Him as the King of the nations, that is, as the King who subdues the nations under Him. It rejoices in the fact that His righteous acts have been made manifest. And it anticipates the time when all the nations shall come and worship before Him, shall bow themselves at His feet, and shall acknowledge that His judgments against sin are not only just in themselves, but are allowed to be so by the very persons on whom they fall.
A second vision follows: –
“And after these things I saw, and the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened; and there carne out from the temple the seven angels that had the seven plagues, clothed with a precious stone pure and lustrous, and girt about their breasts with golden girdles. And one of the four living creatures gave unto the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God, who liveth forever and ever. And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from His power: and none was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels should be finished (Rev 15:5-8).”
The temple spoken of is, as upon every occasion when the word is used, the shrine or innermost sanctuary, the Holy of holies, the peculiar dwelling-place of the Most High; so, that the seven angels with the seven last plagues come from Gods immediate presence. But this sanctuary is now beheld in a different light from that in which it was seen in Rev 11:19. There it contained the ark of God s covenant, the symbol of His grace. Here the eye is directed to the testimony, to the two tables of the law which were kept in the ark, and were Gods witness both to the holiness of His character and the justice of His government. The giving of the law then was in the Seers mind, and that fact will explain the allusions to the Old Testament found in his words. The description of the seven angels, as clothed with a precious stone pure and lustrous (not with “fine linen” as in the Authorized Version) may be explained, when we attend to the second characteristic of their appearance, girt about their breasts with golden girdles. These words take us back to the vision of the Son of man in chap. 1, where the same expression occurs, and where we have already seen that it points to the priests of Israel, when engaged in the active service of the sanctuary. The angels now spoken of are thus priestly after the fashion of the Lord Himself, who is not merely the Priest but also the High Priest of His people. The high priest, however, wore a jeweled breastplate; and in correspondence with the nobler functions of the New Testament priesthood, these jewels are now extended to the whole clothing of the angels spoken of. A similar figure for the clothing of the glorified Church meets us in the prophecies of Isaiah: “I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for He hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, He hath covered me with the robe of righteousness; as a bride groom decketh himself (the margin of the Revised Version calling attention to the fact that the meaning of the original is “decketh himself as a priest”) with a garland, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels;”1 while the same figure, though applied to Tyre, is employed by Ezekiel: “Every precious stone was thy covering.”2 The seven angels are thus about to engage in a priestly work. (1 Isa 61:10; 2 Eze 28:13)
This work is pointed out to them by one of the four living creatures, the representatives of redeemed creation. All creation owns the propriety of the judgments now about to be fulfilled.* (*Comp. Rev. 6)
These judgments are contained, not in seven “vials,” as in the Authorized Version, but in seven golden bowls, vessels probably of a saucer shape, of no great depth, and their circumference largest at the rim. They are the “basins” of the Old Testament, used for carrying into the sanctuary the incense which had been lighted by fire from the brazen altar. They were thus much better adapted than “vials” for the execution of a final judgment. Their contents could be poured out at once and suddenly.
The bowls have been delivered to the angels, and nothing remains but to pour them out. The moment is one of terror, and it is fitting that even all outward things shall correspond. Smoke, therefore, filled the sanctuary, and none was able to enter into it. Thus, when Moses reared up the tabernacle, and the glory of the Lord filled it, “Moses was not able to enter into the tent of meeting:”1 thus, when Solomon dedicated the temple and the cloud filled the house of the Lord, “The priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud.”2 Thus, when Isaiah beheld the glory of the Lord in His temple, and heard the cry of the Seraphim, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts,” “the foundations of the thresholds were moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke;”3 and thus, above all, when the law was given, “Mount Sinai was altogether on smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly.”4 (1 Exo 40:35; 2 1Ki 8:11; 3 Isa 6:4; 4 Exo 19:18; Heb 12:18)
All due preparation having been made, the Seven Bowls are now poured out in rapid and uninterrupted succession. As in the case of the Seals and of the Trumpets, they are divided into two groups of four and three; and those of the first group may be taken together: –
“And I heard a great voice out of the temple, saying to the seven angels, Go ye, and pour out the seven bowls of the wrath of God into the earth. And the first went, and poured out his bowl into the earth; and it became a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast, and which worshipped his image. And the second poured out his bowl into the sea; and it became blood as of a dead man, and every living soul died, even the things that were in the sea. And the third poured out his bowl into the rivers and the fountains of the waters; and it became blood. And I heard the angel of the waters saying, Righteous art Thou which art and which wast, Thou holy one, because Thou didst thus judge: for they poured out the blood of saints and prophets, and blood hast Thou given them to drink: they are worthy. And I heard the altar saying, Yea, O Lord, God, the Almighty, true and righteous are Thy judgments. And the fourth poured out his bowl upon the sun; and it was given unto it to scorch men with fire. And men were scorched with great heat: and they blasphemed the name of the God which hath the power over these plagues; and they repented not to give Him glory (Rev 16:1-9).”
Upon the particulars of these plagues it is unnecessary to dwell No attempt to determine the special meaning of the objects thus visited by the wrath of God – the land, the sea, the rivers and fountains of the waters, and the sun – has yet been, or is ever perhaps likely to be, successful; and the general effect alone appears to be important. The chief point claiming attention is the singular closeness of the parallelism between them and the Trumpet plagues, a parallelism which extends also to the fifth, sixth, and seventh members of the series. Close, however, as it is, there is also a marked climax in the later plagues, corresponding to the fact that they are “the last,” and that in them “the wrath of God is finished.”1 Thus the first Trumpet affects only the third part of the earth, and the trees, and all green grass: the first Bowl affects men.2 Under the second Trumpet the “third part” of the sea becomes blood, and the third part of the creatures which are in the sea die, and the third part of the ships are destroyed: under the second Bowl, the “third part” of the sea is exchanged for the whole; the blood assumes its most offensive form, blood as of a dead man; and not the third part only, but every living soul died, even the things that were in the sea.”3 Under the third Trumpet the great star falls only upon the “third part” of the rivers and fountains, and they become wormwood: under the third Bowl all the waters are visited by the plague, and they become blood.4 Lastly, under the fourth Trumpet only the “third part” of sun and moon and stars is smitten: under the fourth Bowl the whole sun is affected, and it is given unto it to scorch men with fire.5 With this climactic character of the Bowls as compared with the Trumpets may also be connected a striking addition made to the details of the third Bowl, to which in the Trumpet series there is nothing to correspond. The angel of the waters, not an angel to whom the smiting of the waters had been entrusted, but the waters themselves speaking through their angel, and the altar, that is, the brazen altar of chap. 6:9, respond to the judgments executed. They recognize the true and righteous character of the Almighty, and they welcome this manifestation of Himself to men. (1 Rev 15:1 2Comp. Rev 8:7; Rev 16:2 3Comp. Rev 8:8-9; Rev 16:3 4Comp. Rev 8:10-11; Rev 16:4 5Comp. Rev 8:12; Rev 16:8)
Another feature of these Bowls will at once strike the reader, – their correspondence to some of the plagues of Egypt: for in the first we see a repetition, as it were, of that sixth plague by which Pharaoh and his people were visited, when Moses sprinkled ashes of the furnace towards heaven, and they became “a boil breaking forth with blains upon man and beast,”1 and in the second and third a repetition of the first plague, when Moses lifted up his rod and smote the waters, that were in the river, “and all the waters that were in the river were turned to blood.”2 The fourth Bowl reminds us of the terror of the appearance of the Son of man in Rev 1:16, when “His countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength.” (1 Exo 9:10; 2 Exo 7:20)
One other characteristic of these plagues ought to be noticed. It comes to view no doubt only under the fourth, yet, as we shall immediately see, it is not to be confined to it The plagues had no softening or converting power. On the contrary, as at Rev 9:20-21, the impiety of the worshippers of the beast was only aggravated by their sufferings; and, instead of turning to Him who had power over the plagues, they blasphemed His name.
From the first group of Bowls we turn to the second, embracing the last three in the series of seven: –
“And the fifth poured out his bowl upon the throne of the beast; and his kingdom was darkened; and they gnawed their tongues for pain, and they blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores; and they repented not of their works (Rev 16:10-11).”
The transition from the realm of nature to the spiritual world, already marked at the introduction of the fifth Seal and of the fifth Trumpet, is here again observable; but, as in the case of the sixth Trumpet, the spiritual world alluded to is that of the prince of darkness. With darkness he is smitten. That there is a reference to the darkness which, at the word of Moses, fell upon the land of Egypt when visited by its plagues can hardly be doubted, for the darkness of that plague was not ordinary darkness; it was “a darkness that might be felt.”* More than darkness, however, is alluded to. We are told of their pains and of their sores. But pains and sores are not an effect produced by darkness. They can, therefore, be only those of the first Bowl, a conclusion confirmed by the use of the word “plagues” instead of plague. The inference to be drawn from this is important, for we thus learn that the effects of any earlier Bowl are not exhausted before the contents of one following are discharged. Each Bowl rather adds fresh punishment to that of its predecessors, and all of them go on accumulating their terrors to the end. Nothing could more clearly show how impossible it is to interpret such plagues literally, and how mistaken is any effort to apply them to the particular events of history. (* Exo 10:21)
The sixth Bowl follows: –
“And the sixth poured out his bowl upon the great river, the river Euphrates, and the water thereof was dried up, that the way might be made ready for the kings that come from the sun-rising. And I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits, as it were frogs: for they are spirits of devils, working signs, which go forth unto the kings of the whole inhabited earth, to gather them together unto the war of the great day of God, the Almighty. (Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.) And they gathered them together into the place which is called in Hebrew Har-Magedon (Rev 16:12-16).”
Probably no part of the Apocalypse has received more varied interpretation than the first statement of this Bowl. Who are these kings that come from the sun-rising is the point to be determined; and the answer usually given is, that they are part of the anti-Christian host, part of those afterwards spoken of as the kings of the whole inhabited earth, before whom God dries up the Euphrates in order that they may pursue an uninterrupted march to the spot on which they are to be overwhelmed with a final and complete destruction. Something may certainly be said on behalf of such a view; yet it is exposed to serious objections.
1. We have already at Rev 9:14, at the sounding of the sixth Trumpet, been made acquainted with the river Euphrates; and, so far from being a hindrance to the progress of Christs enemies, it is rather the symbol of their overflowing and destructive might, 2. We have also met at Rev 7:2 with the expression “from the sun-rising,” and it is there applied to the quarter from which the angel comes by whom the people of God are sealed. In a book so carefully written as the Apocalypse, it is not easy to think of anti-Christian foes coming from a quarter described in the same terms. 3. These kings “from the sun-rising” are not said to be a part of “the kings of the whole inhabited earth” immediately afterwards referred to. They are rather distinguished from them. 4. The preparing of the way “connects itself with the thought of Him whose way was prepared by the coming of the Baptist. 5. The type of drying up the waters of a river takes us back, alike in the historical and prophetic writings of the Old Testament, to the means by which the Almighty secures the deliverance of His people, not the destruction of His enemies. Thus the waters of the Red Sea were dried up, not for the overthrow of the Egyptians, but for the safety of Israel, and the bed of the river Jordan was dried up for a similar purpose. Thus, too, the prophet Isaiah speaks: “And the Lord shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea, and with His scorching wind shall He shake His hand over the river, and shall smite it into seven streams, and cause men to march over dryshod. And there shall be an highway for the remnant of His people, which shall return, from Assyria; like as there was for Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt.”l Again the same prophet celebrates the great deeds of the arm of the Lord in the following words: “Art thou not it which dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep; that made the depths of the sea a way for the redeemed to pass over?”2 And, once more, to a similar effect the prophet Zechariah: “I will bring them again also out of the land of Egypt, and gather them out of Assyria. . . . And He shall pass through the sea of affliction, and shall smite the waves of the sea, and all the depths of the Nile shall dry up. . . . And I will strengthen them in the Lord; and they shall walk up and down in His name, saith the Lord.”3 It is unnecessary to say more. In these “kings from the sun-rising” we have an emblem of the remnant of the Israel of God as they return from all the places whither they have been led captive, and as God makes their way plain before them. (1 Isa 11:15-16; 2 Isa 51:10; 3 Zec 10:10-12)
Nor is this all. In the fate of these foes a striking incident of Old Testament history is repeated, in order that they may be led to the destruction which awaits them. When Micaiah warned Ahab of his approaching fate, and told him of the lying spirit by which his own prophets were urging him to the battle, he said, “I saw the Lord sitting on His throne, and all the host of heaven standing by Him on His right hand and on His left And the Lord said, Who shall entice Ahab that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead? And one said on this manner; and another said on that manner. And there came forth a spirit, and stood before the Lord, and said, I will entice him. And the Lord said unto him, Wherewith? And he said, I will go forth, and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And He said, Thou shalt entice him, and shalt prevail also; go forth and do so.”* In that incident of Ahabs reign is found the type of the three lying spirits or demons which, like frogs, unclean, noisy, and loquacious, go forth from the three great enemies of the Church, the dragon, the first beast, and the second beast, now first called the false prophet, that they may entice the “kings of the whole inhabited earth” to their overthrow. And they succeed. All unknowing of what is before them, proud of their strength, and flushed with hope of victory, these kings listen to the demons and gather themselves together unto the war of the great day of God, the Almighty. It is a supreme moment in the history of the Church and of the world; and. before he names the battlefield which shall, in its very name, be prophetic of the fate of the wicked, the Seer pauses to behold the assembled armies. Upon the one side is a little flock, but they are all “kings,” and before them is He by whom, like David before the host of Israel and over against the Philistines, the battle shall be fought and the victory won. On the other side are the hosts of earth in all their multitudes, gathered together by the deceitful promise of success, The Seer hears the voice of the Captain of salvation, Behold I come as a thief, to break up and to destroy. He hears further the promise of blessing to all who are faithful to the Redeemers cause: and then, with mind at rest as to the result, he names the place where the final battle is to be fought, Har-Magedon. (* 1Ki 22:19-22)
Why Har-Magedon? There was, we have every reason to believe, no such place. The name is symbolical. It is a compound word derived from the Hebrew, and signifying the mountain of Megiddo. We are thus again taken back to Old Testament history, in which the great plain of Megiddo, the most extensive in Palestine, plays on more than one occasion a notable part. In particular, that plain was famous for two great slaughters, that of the Canaanitish host by Barak, celebrated in the song of Deborah,1 and that in which King Josiah fell.2 The former is probably alluded to, for the enemies of Israel were there completely routed. For a similar though still more terrible destruction the hosts of evil are assembled at Har-Magedon. The Seer thinks it enough to assemble them, and to name the place. He does not need to go further or to describe the victory. (1Judges 5; 2 2Ch 35:22)
The seventh Bowl now follows: –
“And the seventh poured out his bowl upon the air; and there came forth great voice out of the temple, from the throne, saying; It is done; and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunders j and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since there were men upon the earth, so great an earthquake, so mighty. And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and Babylon the great was remembered in the sight of God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath. And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. And great hail, every stone about the weight of a talent, cometh down out of heaven upon men: and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof is exceeding great (Rev 16:17-21).”
The seventh or last Bowl is poured out into the air, here thought of as the realm of that prince of this world who is also “the prince of the power of the air.”* All else, land and sea and waters and sun and the throne of the beast, has now been smitten so that evil has only to suffer its final blow. It has been searched out everywhere; and therefore the end may come. That end comes, and is spoken of in figures more strongly colored than those of either the sixth Seal or the seventh Trumpet. First of all a great voice is heard out of the (sanctuary of the) temple, from the throne, saying, It is done, Gods plan is executed. His last manifestation of Himself in judgment has been made. This voice is then accompanied by a more terrible shaking of the heavens and the earth than we have as yet been called to witness, the earthquake in particular being such as was not since there were men upon the earth, so great an earthquake, so mighty. (* Eph 2:2)
Some of the effects of the earthquake are next spoken of. More especially, The great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. As to the meaning of “the cities of the nations” there can be no doubt. They are the strongholds of the worlds sin, the places from which ungodliness and impiety have ruled. Under the shaking of the earthquake they fall in ruins. The first words as to “the great city” must be considered in connection with the words which follow regarding Babylon, and they are more difficult to interpret. By some it is contended that the “great city” is Jerusalem, by others that it is Babylon. The expression is one which the Apocalypse must itself explain, and in seeking the explanation .we must proceed upon the principle that in this book, as much as in any other of the New Testament, the rules of all good writing are followed, and that the meaning of the same words is not arbitrarily changed. When this rule, accordingly, is observed, we find that the epithet is, in Rev 11:8, distinctly applied to Jerusalem, the words “the great city, where also their Lord was crucified” leaving no doubt upon the point. But, in Rev 18:10; Rev 18:16; Rev 18:18-19; Rev 18:21, the same epithet is not less distinctly applied to Babylon. The only legitimate conclusion is, that there is a sense in which Jerusalem and Babylon are one. This corresponds exactly to what we otherwise learn of the light in which the metropolis of Israel appeared to St John. To him as an Apostle of the Lord, and during the time that he followed Jesus in the flesh, Jerusalem presented itself in a twofold aspect. It was the city of Gods solemnities, the centre of the old Divine theocracy, the “holy city,” the “beloved city {Rev 11:2; Rev 20:9}.” But it was also the city of “the Jews,” the city which scorned and rejected and crucified its rightful King. When in later life he beheld, in the picture once exhibited around him and graven upon his memory, the type of the future history and fortunes of the Church, the two Jerusalems again rose before his view, the one the emblem of all that was most precious, the other of all that was most repulsive, in the eyes both of God and of spiritually enlightened men. The first of these Jerusalems is the true Church of Christ, the faithful remnant, the little flock that knew the Good Shepherds voice and followed Him. The second is the degenerate Church, the mass of those who misinterpreted the aim and spirit of their calling, and who by their worldliness and sin “crucified their Lord afresh, and put Him to an open shame.” In the latter aspect Jerusalem becomes Babylon. As in Rev 11:8 it became “spiritually,” that is mystically, “Sodom and Egypt,” so it becomes also the mystical Babylon, partaker of that citys sins, and doomed to its fate. This thought we shall find fully expanded in the following chapter. The question may indeed be asked, how it comes to pass that, if this representation be correct, we should read, immediately after the words now under consideration, that Babylon the great was remembered in the sight of God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath. But the answer is substantially contained in what has been said. When Jerusalem is first thought of as “the great city,” it is as the city of “the Jews,” as line centre and essence of those principles by which spiritual is transformed into formal religion, and all sins are permitted to hide and multiply under the cloak of a merely outward piety. When it is next thought of as Babylon, the conception is extended so as to embrace, not a false Judaism only, but a similar falseness in the bosom of the universal Church. Just as “the great city where also our Lord was crucified” widened in Rev 11:8 to the thought of Sodom and Egypt, so here it widens to the thought of Babylon. May it not be added that we have thus in the mention of Jerusalem and Babylon a counterpart to the mention in Rev 15:3 of “the song of Moses and the Lamb”? These two expressions, as we have seen, comprehend a song of universal victory. Thus also the two expressions, “the great city” and “Babylon,” having one and the same idea at their root, comprehend all who in the professing Church of the whole world are faithless to Christian truth.
Further effects of the last judgment follow. Every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. Effects similar, though not so terrible, had been connected with the sixth Seal. Mountains and islands had then been simply “moved out of their places.”1 Now they “flee away.” Similar effects will again meet us, but in an enhanced degree.2 As yet, while mountains and islands flee away, the earth and the heavens remain. In the last description of the judgment of the wicked the heavens and the earth themselves flee away from the face of Him that sitteth upon the throne, and no place is found for them. The climax in the different accounts of what is substantially the same event cannot be mistaken. (1 Rev 6:14; 2 Rev 20:11)
The same climax appears in the statement of the next effect, the great hail, every stone about the weight of a talent, that is, fully more than fifty pounds. No such weight had been spoken of at the close of the seventh Trumpet in Rev 11:19.
Again, however, here is no repentance and no conversion. Those who suffer are the deliberate and determined followers of the beast. As under the fourth Bowl, therefore, so under the seventh they rather blaspheme God amidst their sufferings, because of the plague of the hail, for the plague thereof is exceeding great.