"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 songs 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."
Revelation 15v1-4
This is the smallest chapter in the book of Revelation, only eight verses, but they contain much spiritual truth. Verses 1-4 are a preparation for God's final assault on Satan's kingdom (the details of which are in chapter 16) . that this is the final judgment is made clear in verse 1; the seven angels with the seven last plagues and the completion of the wrath of God; shortly after this the world as we know it will come to an end. We are presented in these verses with four very important symbols reflecting the kind of times into which the world is moving.
- The sign in heaven verse 1.
- The sea of glass verse 2.
- The saints in victory verse 2b.
- The song of Moses and the song of the Lamb verses 3&4.
Together these depict for us on the one hand the solemnity of the situation, and on the other hand the glorious victory of the saints of God. We must look at each of these in turn before we move into the fast and furious and awesome outpouring of the vials of the wrath of God upon this world.
The sign in heaven.
The scene moves from earth in chapter 14 to heaven in chapter 15 as it has done back and forth ever since chapter 4. Heaven is in control and is orchestrating all world events. The word "sign" here is used many times in the New Testament, mainly to describe miraculous and supernatural events; it is a warning of significant action in heaven and on earth and appears seven times in the book of the Revelation. When Jesus was here on earth the people demanded signs from Him to authenticate His claim to be the Messiah. He refused to give them any saying that it was "an evil and adulterous generation which sought for signs." and there would be given to them only one sign, the sign of the prophet Jonah; (that which was symbolic of His own death and resurrection.) In the gospel of John there are seven signs which should have identified Himself as the Messiah but they rejected Him. In contrast to His first advent He made clear that prior to His second advent there would be many signs. Matthew 24v3 "What shall be the sign of Thy coming and the completion of the age?" In the same chapter of Matthew He indicates a prophetic programme of events with phrases like "the end is not yet" (verse 6) then in (verse 15) "then shall the end come" again in (verse 30) "then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven."
In the Revelation there are three signs in heaven, In chapter 12v1 there is the great sign of the woman clothed with the sun. In chapter 12v3 there is the sign in heaven of the great red dragon; here in chapter 15v1 is the sign of the final judgment of God. Putting these three signs together we have a summary of the entire purposes of God. In the woman we have glorified Israel as head of the nations. In the dragon we have the arch rebel against God and tempter of all mankind finally deposed. In the seven last plagues we have the overwhelming judgment of God upon an unbelieving world. The scene here is that the programme is almost at an end.
This sign is called "great and marvellous." it is great because of the greatness of the One who brings it to pass. It is marvellous because it signals the end of the suffering of all God's people. The number seven pervades these chapters. Seven angels, seven last plagues (which are the seven vials of wrath of chapter 16). Seven is the number of completion and God is about to bring things to an end. These are the ultimate demonstration of the wrath of God. In verse 1 it says "in them is filled up the wrath of God." The word is "teleo" which means the extreme end, the conclusion of something, the discharge of responsibility, the performance of the last act which completes a process. The word is actually used in classical Greek in the sport of archery. Teleo refers to the point of the arrow striking the bull's eye. it is a solemn situation and we dare not make light of it but in our modern language this word just means "job done." The apostle Paul captures the strength of this in 1st Thessalonians 2v16 "for wrath is come upon them to the uttermost." We are on the verge here of the fulfillment of the wrath of God.
Throughout the chapters we have seen the demonstration of the wrath of God in the six seals of chapter 6, in the seventh seal leading to the first six trumpet judgments in chapters 8 - 11; we have seen the final harvest of the earth and the cutting down of the vine of the earth in chapter 14. We are about to see the most devastating outpouring of divine indignation upon human sin that will ever be seen, until everyone in existence knows just who God is.
Amazon bookshelf George Neilly
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