Seventh Vision, Seven Plagues

I. Introduction
A. This passage also has a glaring mystery in it. It seems to be both the expected seventh vision in the series of seven visions and also the introduction to the seven bowls, which follow in ch.16.
1. We would expect to read about the seventh vision first, and then to read the introduction to the next seven – namely the seven bowls of God’s wrath.
2. But for some reason the two are interlocked – like two intertwined trees.
3. It starts with a one verse introduction of the seven bowls – as if the previous section has already finished, then in v.2-4 it goes back and gives us the seventh and final vision of the seven visions. And then it returns back to the introduction of the seven bowls.
B. Revelation 15:1–8 Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and amazing, seven angels with seven plagues, which are the last, for with them the wrath of God is finished.
1. 2 And I saw what appeared to be a sea of glass mingled with fire—and also those who had conquered the beast and its image and the number of its name, standing beside the sea of glass with harps of God in their hands. 3 And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, “Great and amazing are your deeds, O Lord God the Almighty! Just and true are your ways, O King of the nations! 4 Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship you, for your righteous acts have been revealed.”
2. 5 After this I looked, and the sanctuary of the tent of witness in heaven was opened, 6 and out of the sanctuary came the seven angels with the seven plagues, clothed in pure, bright linen, with golden sashes around their chests. 7 And one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God who lives forever and ever, 8 and the sanctuary was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power, and no one could enter the sanctuary until the seven plagues of the seven angels were finished.
C. Today, we are concluding a section of the book of Revelation which began in ch.12.
1. Before this, we had the opening of the seven seals (Rev.6:1-8:1), followed by the blowing of seven trumpets (Rev.8:2-11:18).
2. But the section we’re finishing today, without being explicitly numbered, contains a series of visions, six up to this point, all introduced by the same Greek expression, KAI EIDON, which means, “And I saw.” Because of the seven seals & the seven trumpets, as well as the seven letters to the seven churches even before that, we’ve been led to expect there to be seven visions as well.
D. And when 15:1 begins with the same Greek expression, KAI EIDON, we think everything is on track. But then suddenly it gets very confusing. The second verse also starts with KAI EIDON and begins a description of just the kind of vision we were expecting to find as the seventh vision.
1. And then in v.5 the introductory vision of the seven bowls – begun in v.1 – continues.
E. Or let’s look at it backwards – let’s start in ch.16 and back up to 15.
1. Chapter 16 is about the seven bowls of wrath which are poured out upon the earth. And it begins this way in Rev.16:1 “Then I heard a loud voice from the temple telling the seven angels, “Go and pour out on the earth the seven bowls of the wrath of God.”
2. These are the same bowls mentioned two verses earlier in Rev.15:7: “And one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God.”
3. And those are the same “seven angels with seven plagues” mentioned the verse before (Rev.15:6), and the same seven angels with seven plagues in Rev.15:1. They’re all the same angels which have seven plagues which turn out to be the seven bowls of God’s wrath to pour out on the earth.
4. So, Rev.15:1 is indeed introducing the seven bowls.
F. So, how can we explain this? Why would the introduction of the next section of Revelation begin before the section before it ends?
G. Maybe Rev.15:2-4 isn’t actually the seventh vision. Maybe there are only six visions, or maybe the two halves of the first vision are really two visions. But that doesn’t work either, for three reasons:
1. Because the vision in Rev.15:2-4 is a perfect seventh vision because it fits in with the pattern of the seventh seal and the seventh trumpet being about the final celebration after the deliverance.
2. Because the vision doesn’t fit in with the introduction of the seven bowls of wrath at all.
3. Because the second half of ch.12 vision doesn’t begin with KAI EIDON, which signals the beginning of each new vision in the series of seven.
H. Well, maybe the order got mixed up somewhere. If we just move v.1 after v.2-4, it all makes perfect sense. And it sort of does. But we can’t just go around switching the order of things in the Bible!
1. The order is inspired by God just like the words.
2. (Now the chapter and verse divisions are not inspired, and the order of the books in our Bibles is not inspired, but the flow and order of the words in each book is inspired.)
I. So, why is it written this way? Well, whenever you find something like this in the Bible, you’ve probably stumbled onto a mysterious treasure. And so it is here. In this passage God is drawing our attention to something pretty wondeful.
J. So, here’s the way I’m going to approach this. First, we’ll talk about the seventh vision. Then, we’ll talk about the introduction of the seven bowls. And then thirdly, we’ll talk about why they are strangely intertwined.
II. So, let’s skip over v.1 momentarily and look at the seventh vision in v.2-4: And I saw what appeared to be a sea of glass mingled with fire—and also those who had conquered the beast and its image and the number of its name, standing beside the sea of glass with harps of God in their hands. 3 And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, “Great and amazing are your deeds, O Lord God the Almighty! Just and true are your ways, O King of the nations! 4 Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship you, for your righteous acts have been revealed.”
A. Just like the seventh seal (8:1) and the seventh trumpet (11:15-18), the seventh vision is a scene of final worship. The people of God who have conquered the beast and his allies are playing harps and singing an ecstatic song of praise to God.
B. But there are a couple of other very interesting things here, things which link this vision with the Exodus, when God delivered the Israelites from Pharaoh and the Egyptians through the Red Sea and they worshiped on the other side.
1. The most obvious one is that in the vision the people are said to sing “the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb.” The song of Moses was the song the Israelites sang on the other side of the sea after God delivered them and destroyed the Egyptians.
2. It makes a lot of sense to us that the believers would be singing the song of the Lamb, but why does this vision have these Christian believers, after they’ve been delivered from their enemies, singing the song of Moses?
3. You might think they used the words of the song of Moses in their worship. You’d be wrong. This song actually bears little resemblance to the song of Moses in Exodus 15.
4. The only reasonable theory of why this song is called the song of Moses here is because God wants us to connect the two stories in our minds: God’s great victory at end of history and God’s victory on behalf of His people Israel in the Exodus.
5. And if that’s true, then other things fall into place as well:
a. The sea of glass mingled with fire in v.2 makes sense. This isn’t talking about a sea made of glass but a sea that is so still, it looks like glass. The sea of glass here symbolizes the still, calmed Red Sea after the battle is over. All through the OT, the sea represents the evil nations and the powers of darkness. This continues in the book of Revelation, where, in Rev.13:1, the beast comes up out of the sea, and in the new heavens and new earth there is no longer to be any sea (Rev.21:1).
b. So, in this seventh vision, the sea of glass seems to represent the troubled powers of the sea calmed by divine sovereignty, which has defeated the creatures which stir up the sea.
c. But what about the fire? Well, all through Revelation, fire signifies the judgment of God upon the wicked, so the sea of glass mixed with fire seems to mean that the sea of glass is the place where the Lamb has just destroyed the beast, like the lake of fire into which the devil, the beast, the false prophet, the people of the beast, and death itself are thrown (Rev.20:10, 14-15). (See also Dan.7:10-11 where there is a river of fire in heaven before God’s throne, in which the beast is judged and destroyed.)
III. Now let’s talk about the introduction to the seven bowls.
A. 1 Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and amazing, seven angels with seven plagues, which are the last, for with them the wrath of God is finished...5 After this I looked, and the sanctuary of the tent of witness in heaven was opened, 6 and out of the sanctuary came the seven angels with the seven plagues, clothed in pure, bright linen, with golden sashes around their chests. 7 And one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God who lives forever and ever, 8 and the sanctuary was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power, and no one could enter the sanctuary until the seven plagues of the seven angels were finished.
B. Angels clothed in pure, bright linen and golden sashes around their chests given seven golden bowls
1. They are acting as priests in the heavenly sanctuary.
C. the sanctuary was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power
1. The glory cloud filling the sanctuary
D. no one could enter the sanctuary until the seven plagues of the seven angels were finished
1. These seven bowls were to be fulfilled before anyone was allowed to enter the heavenly temple.
2. In other words, all seven bowls will be fulfilled before the time when the saints would be welcomed into the new Jerusalem.
E. Some have taken v.1, when it refers to the “seven plagues, which are the last” as meaning that these visions of trouble being poured out upon the earth are sequential and these bowls will be fulfilled last. However, more likely “last” here simply refers to the order they’re given in the book of Revelation, not the order they’re to be fulfilled in history.
F. And consistent with the Exodus connection we talked about earlier, we see here that the heavenly temple is referred to here as “the tent of witness in heaven.”
1. A few verses before this we read of two angels coming out of the heavenly temple (Rev.14:15,17)
2. But here the angels are said to come out of the heavenly tent of witness.
G. We’ve seen a number of times through Revelation when the temple of God in heaven is mentioned. Why just last week, in chapter 14, we saw it referenced two times, in v.15 and 17, with two different angels said to come out of the temple in heaven. But here there is a subtle shift. These angels aren’t said to come out of the temple, but out of the tent of witness. Again, it seems to be drawing our attention to the period of time when Israel was in the wilderness and worshiped God not in the temple but in the tabernacle.
1. But why is it called “the tent of witness”?
a. In the OT it was called the tent of witness (Num.17:7-8; Acts 7:44) because it contains the ten commandments in the ark of the covenant.
b. But in the book of Revelation, the witness refers to the message of Christ. So here it seems to both the gospel and the law.
IV. Why are they interlocked?
A. I got this from smarter people than me who have spent their lives studying the Bible and interacting with others who spend their lives studying the Bible. And we are so blessed to inherit the insights which are collected over the years and passed down generation by generation. This is a part of the church’s role of teaching. Our study of Scripture is done in the context of the body of Christ.
B. We saw how the seventh vision in v.2-4 portrays the worship of God’s people in heaven after the judgment day when God delivers His people from the hands of their foes and destroys the enemies – and how the text connects it to what God did with Israelites and the Egyptians at the Red Sea. That’s why it’s called the song of Moses and of the Lamb.
1. We also saw that this seems to be why the people of God are standing beside the sea of glass.
C. So, what does this have to do with the seven bowls? Why does God intertwine the introduction of the seven bowls with the seventh vision?
1. Well, the seven bowls of God’s wrath are actually very similar to the ten plagues which God brought upon Egypt. Six of the seven plagues in ch.16 correspond to the ten plagues on Egypt.
2. The first four seals and the first four trumpets were about the tribulations on earth in this age.
3. But the fifth, sixth and seventh seals and trumpets were about things leading up to the last day.
4. But unlike the seven seals and the seven trumpets (and the seven visions, for that matter), all seven of the bowls seem to be talking about troubles brought upon the earth in this present age, so, unlike the seals, trumpets and visions, the seven bowls do not end with victory & celebration.
5. So, by using this clever literary device of intertwining, the seven bowls are tied to the final victory and celebration of the seventh vision which comes before them.
6. As you’re reading it, it’s as if the vision of the song of Moses and the sea of glass provoke a flashback of the plagues.
7. Instead of the seven bowls building toward a triumphant climax, they actually begin with the triumphant climax and then go back in time to describe the tribulations which came before.
8. The bowls go back in time to explain the woes of our age – the age which comes before the great culmination of the story described here in Rev.15:2-4 in this glorious vision of worship.
9. So, the seventh vision of Rev.15:2-4 serves double duty. It is the concluding and climactic vision in the series of seven visions, but it is also part of the introduction of the series of seven bowls.
V. The linking of this final vision with the story of the Exodus suggests that what has happened in our age and what is coming in the future will mirror what happened to Israel in Egypt.
A. Just as God raised up Moses, so He raised up Jesus – to deliver His people from their bondage.
B. Just as God brought plagues against Egypt, so God is now bringing plagues against this world.
C. Just as Pharaoh increasingly persecuted the Israelites as the end drew near, so the unholy trinity of serpent, beast and false prophet will do so as the end of this age draws near.
D. Just as God parted the waters of the Red Sea, delivering His people and destroying the enemy, so at some point there will be a spectacular intervention when God acts to rescue His people & to destroy their enemies.
E. And just as the Exodus ended with a dramatic explosion of worship, so, after our deliverance, our story will end with a spontaneous and exuberant celebration of God – on the last day.
VI. And what’s the point of all this? God gives us this vision to help us learn to live today in the hope of this final day.
A. As God’s people we might be struggling now, but if we hold on to Christ, one day we will be overtaken with a pure and unbridled joy which we’ve never experienced before.
B. Rev.15 is a real curveball in the flow of the book. But that’s the way life works too. We really like it when everything flows along in a smooth and understandable way. But every once in a while, there’s a train wreck which makes no sense to us at all. It feels all wrong. Nothing seems to fit.
1. And as we survey the train wreck, it’s tempting to doubt the Lord. Is He really in control? Is He really making all things work together for my good? These are the times that test men’s faith.
2. In those moments, we must remember this vision – and others like it.
3. It reminds me of the story of the couple who sat in front of their doctor’s desk and were told that the husband had terminal cancer and probably only had another year to live. And after they stumbled out of the office and got into their car and sat in shocked silence for a moment, the man said, “Nothing has changed! God is still on His throne. He is still doing all things for our good. He is still our provider and our protector. We’re still His beloved children who will one day be received into the loving arms of our heavenly Father.”
4. Joy is not the result of the right circumstances, but of the right interpretation of circumstances.
5. Joy does not come as a result of forgetting the trials of today, but as a result of seeing God’s hand in the trials of today.
6. If we saw things as God sees them, we would know that joy now. And to whatever extent we can see them, we can taste that joy in this life.
7. In this vision, the saints are pictured as STANDING BY THE SEA praising God for His victory.
a. The very place of their trial became the place of their triumph!
b. The very place of their suffering became the place of their celebration!
8. All those years of suffering! All that praying and waiting while the enemy scoffed!
9. But now it’s crystal clear: He was listening! He was watching! He was with us through it all!
10. And now the tables have been turned and the humble have been exalted!
11. And now the ones who have trusted are the ones who have triumphed!
12. And the ones who have prayed are the ones who have prevailed!
13. And the ones who have waited are the ones who have won!