The Apocalypse

The Visions of John in Patmos:

By Edward Dennett

Chapter 15 and 16

REVELATION 15, 16.

THE connection of these chapters is with the thirteenth rather than with that which precedes. The latter, as before observed, is parenthetical. This will be at once seen by the character of the present vision. In chapter 13 the first and second beasts, the head of the revived Roman empire and the antichrist, are introduced; and the consequent display of Satan's power in spiritual deception and despotic tyranny is exhibited. Here we have the "seven last plagues," in which "is filled up the wrath of God," brought forth as about to be visited upon the apostate earth, upon that portion of it especially which had accepted Satan's yoke under the deceptive influences of antichrist. The foundations may be destroyed, and the righteous may be almost in despair, but God's throne is still in the heaven; and His eyes behold, His eyelids try, the children of men. (Psalm 11) After the introduction of the seven angels, having the seven last plagues, there is a significant break, and, as is often the case in Scripture, the end is revealed before the commencement. Or rather, before the storm of God's wrath bursts in all its desolating fury upon the earth, He vouchsafes to us a vision of the issue of the trial for His saints. We are permitted to see them preserved through all the unutterable sorrows of that day, with their hearts overflowing in praise to Him who had protected them from Satan's power, and snatched them as brands from the burning.

John says: "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. 2.) The "sea of glass" is evidently that referred to in Rev. 4, where we read, "And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal." It is moreover as clear from Solomon's "molten sea" that the allusion is to the laver in the holy place. This contained water as the means of purification; the "sea" before the throne is of glass, or "like unto crystal," the figure of fixed and accomplished holiness, without which these saints could not have been in heaven. But it was "mingled with fire," indicative of the fiery tribulation out of which they had come, and which God had used for the trial and purification of their faith. (See 1 Peter 1:6-7.) Their characteristic description is also to be remarked: they are those "that had gotten the victory over the beast," etc. To man's eyes they were surely vanquished by his power; but before God they were conquerors through Him that had loved them. So too, in outward appearance, it was with our blessed Lord: "He was crucified through weakness, yet He liveth by the power of God." Man's victories are demonstrative and showy; moral triumphs are silent and unseen, and often accompanied, as with these saints, with the loss of everything in this world. Their occupation is praise: they have harps — symbols of triumphant gladness — and they sing. The character of their song is two-fold, "They sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb." (v. 3.) "The song of Moses is triumph over the power of evil by God's 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."¹ The allusion will be therefore to Exodus 15, and perhaps, for the song of the Lamb, to Revelation 5.

It is interesting to notice that these redeemed ones celebrate God as they had known Him on earth; that is, as revealed in the Old Testament. It is "Lord God Almighty," Jehovah, Elohim, Shaddai; showing the immense difference between the place of the Jewish saints and those of the present dispensation. The ground of their praise is God's marvellous works; that is, we apprehend, as seen in the judgments which had fallen upon the oppressors of God's people; and they add, "Just and true are Thy ways, Thou King of saints."² (v. 3.) The interposition of God in judgment had dispelled all the clouds that had obscured (to sight) His ways in government; but, now that the end is reached, they confess that they were both righteous and true; and righteous and true in relation to the world at large, for He is here owned as King of nations. Faith is assured of this when God's way is in the sea, and His footsteps are not known; still this suffering, but now victorious remnant, sustained by divine power, had gotten the victory over the whole power of evil; and, as they review the past, they gladly confess that all God's ways had been according to Himself, and had ended in the furtherance of His own glory.

In the next place they contemplate the effect of God's judgments. — It is but the amplification of the prophet's words, "When Thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness." (Isa. 26:9.) They cry, "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." (v. 4.) These saints, it will be remembered, are in heaven; and it is there they anticipate the full millennial blessedness of the earth in the subjection of all nations to Christ as King; and this as the result of God's judgments having been made manifest. (See Ps. 72:8-11; Zeph. 3:8-9; Zech. 14:16.)

All is thus prepared; and we read: "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." (vv. 5, 6.) As in Rev. 11:19, so here the temple of the tabernacle is opened in heaven; only it is the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony, rather than the ark of the covenant, that is seen. In both alike the significance is that God is about to act in view of Israel, and according to His unchanging purposes of grace towards them; but in the case before us, as "the testimony" is prominent (the testimony, that is, embodied in the two tables of the law), it will indicate that this is the standard according to which God will proceed to judgment through the angels as the providential instruments of His government; and that He is thus about to make good His character as so revealed, according to this testimony.

There are seven angels — this number as usual setting forth the completeness or perfection of that in which they are to be engaged; and their array is distinguished by two things — their pure and white linen dress, and their golden girdles. The white linen is a symbol of spotless purity, absolute cleanness in God's sight, that which should have been seen, as has been suggested, in Babylon, but superseded there by corruption and "abominations." The golden girdles set forth the fact that these angelic instruments were girded by divine righteousness for their service. The white raiment and the gold (crowns of gold) characterize the twenty-four elders (Rev. 5), and "the fine linen," clean and white, distinguishes the Lamb's wife (Rev. 19); and both of these traits mark these angels when sent forth on their judicial mission, because "it is really the avenging of what God was, as fully revealed to the assembly."

It is one of the four living creatures who gives "unto the seven angels seven golden vials [or bowls] full of the wrath of God, who liveth for ever and ever." (v. 7.) It is thus the eternal God who is about to deal with the world through these providential scourges. When we say "providential" we mean that His arm will not be made bare, except to the eye of faith; that to the eyes of the natural man the things which will happen will seem to be the result of the operation of natural laws. Science, for example, might be able to pacify the fears of men by indicating causes, or by alleging an explanation of the events. The reader will remark that one of the four living creatures hands the bowls to the angels, and that the bowls, even as the girdles of the angels, are golden. The living creatures, symbols of the attributes of God as displayed in creation, are always connected with God's throne, and with His throne in its judicial aspect, in its relation to God's government of the earth. It is therefore in harmony with the action proceeding, judicial wrath in government, that one of these living creatures should be the intermediary between God and the angels. The golden bowls or vials tell again of God's righteousness, what is suited to His own nature which He is about to vindicate in judgment. (Compare Rom. 1:16-18.)

The vials being given to the angel, another thing is recorded. "And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from His power; and no man [no one] was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled." (v. 8.) The glory of God is the display of what He is. Any putting forth therefore of what God is, whether in grace, in power, or in holiness, is a display of His glory. Here accordingly, as power in judgment is in question, it is the display of what He is judicially according to the requirements of His own nature. (Compare Isa. 6:1-4, also 2 Chr. 7:1-2.) This at once explains why, until these judgments were completed, no one could enter the temple; for who indeed could stand before a God of judgment?

While one of the living creatures is employed to give the vials to the angels, the command for action proceeds out of the temple itself: "And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, Go your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth." (Rev. 16:1.) The attitude of the seven angels is to be remarked as a pattern of all true service. It is an attitude of perfect obedience. They come out from the presence of God, they receive the instruments of their service from one of the living creatures, and finally they do not move a step until they have a divine command; they "do His commandments, hearkening unto the voice of His word."

Upon the vials themselves but few remarks will be necessary, because of their remarkable similarity to the seven trumpets. We shall therefore content ourselves with calling attention to the points of agreement and difference, and to their general significance. First of all it should be noted, that, inasmuch as the seventh trumpet reaches down to the close, and the establishment of Christ's kingdom, the seven vials must, if comprised within a shorter period, he in part contemporaneous with the seven trumpets. If they begin after the commencement of the trumpets, they must still terminate at the same time. Secondly, there is no mention in the vial-judgments, as in the case of the trumpets, of a "third part" being specially affected. That is to say, the effects of God's judicial dealing are not confined, as in the trumpets, to the Roman earth, but are more general in their character. Thirdly, the first four vial-plagues" have the same object 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 fifth and sixth vials correspond with the fifth and sixth trumpets: both alike affect the kingdom of the beast and the Euphrates, while the last two in each series bring us to the close of God's dealings with the earth preparatory to the introduction of the kingdom of Christ.

Attention to the above comparison and contrast will aid in seizing the general meaning of these last seven plagues. The first vial is poured out upon "the earth," the scene of ordered government: "And there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshipped his image." (v. 2.) Satan may delude men and seduce them into apostasy, and into the acceptance of the beast and antichrist, but God will once more make it known, by causing His hand to fall upon His enemies, as in Egypt in days of old, that He will not suffer His glory to be given to another. The next vial is poured out "upon the sea," the sea representing the masses of the peoples, "viewed as unorganized"; "and it became as the blood of a dead man: and every living soul died in the sea." (v. 3.) It may be difficult to state precisely what is intended here; but plainly some deadly influence goes forth in this plague among the peoples of the earth, resulting in general moral death. The third is somewhat similar, only the plague falls upon "the rivers and fountains of waters; and they became blood." (v. 4.) If rivers and fountains represent moral principles, which, in their course, should be the sources of life and refreshment to men, this will portend the corruption of these, the surrender of all such, so that what is offered in their stead becomes the means of death rather. than life. It is so in this day, for example, when rationalism and infidelity flow out through the nation in the place of the word of God.

This plague evokes from "the angel of the waters" the cry, "Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast, and shalt be,³ because Thou hast judged thus. For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and Thou hast given them blood to drink; for they are worthy." (vv. 5, 6.) On the ground of righteousness this principle is evident. Men had put to death God's witnesses, rejected His word, and now they have judicially to "drink" that which causes death. So, for example, the Jews shed the blood of Stephen and others, and they, in this case of their own will, "drank," in their blind hate against God and His truth, that which brought in spiritual death upon their souls. To the cry of the angel of the waters, "another out of the altar" is heard to respond, "Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are Thy judgments." (v. 7.)

The fourth and fifth vials are easily comprehended. The fourth "poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him [it] to scorch men with fire." (v. 8.) The sun, it will be recollected, is the emblem of supreme authority; and this plague therefore points to some tyrannical exercise of it, some fearful despotism which causes immense trial and suffering to those trodden down under its heel. But so far from humbling themselves before God, while groaning under sufferings, men blaspheme His name, for in spite of their wickedness they will be made to recognize that He "hath power over these plagues." Yet, such is the hardness of man's heart, "they repented not, to give Him glory." (v. 9.)

"The fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat [throne] of the beast"; and, again like Egypt of old, "his kingdom was full of darkness," only this, we apprehend, would be moral in its character rather than actual. The consequence was what is really a foretaste of hell; for in the intensity of their distress and misery they "gnawed their tongues … and blasphemed the God of heaven," to whom they also attribute "their pains and their sores." But they "repented not of their deeds." (vv. 10, 11) The reader cannot fail to be struck with the solemn repetition of the impenitence of those who are suffering under the judicial hand of God. They had despised and killed His witnesses, and now, though they cannot any longer conceal from themselves that there is a God who judges the earth, they refuse to acknowledge their sin. They "repented not"; their evil hearts still clung to the very deeds which had brought upon them their terrible sufferings. What a proof of the incurable evil of human nature, that every imagination of the thoughts of man's heart is only evil continually!

The sixth angel "poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the East might be prepared." (v. 12.) The Euphrates, a river well known in Scripture, was, and, as is plain from this scripture, will be, the eastern boundary of the Roman empire. What is here symbolically described therefore as the drying up of its water, will mean that this boundary is broken through, and can no longer be maintained.⁴ Whatever the human instrumentality by which the removal of this boundary is effected, it is the consequence of the pouring out of the angelic vial. It is a "plague" from the hand of God through His providential agents. In connection with this, "three unclean spirits like frogs" proceed from the trinity of evil, "out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet," and act upon "the kings of the whole habitable world."⁵ (vv. 13, 14.) Just as Ahab was persuaded by "a lying spirit" in the mouth of his prophets to go up to Ramoth-Gilead to battle to his own destruction, so these "spirits of demons, working miracles" (v. 14), will influence these kings to combine with one consent with their allies for their objects, all ignorant of the fact that they are being gathered for the battle of that great day of God Almighty. Jerusalem, as we may learn from the prophets, will be the point to which they will converge (see Isaiah 66; Zech. 12 - 14; with Rev. 19:11-21); and Jerusalem will be the object of their attack. At first victory will seem to be theirs; but just as their prey is about to be devoured, the Lord Himself will appear, and, rescuing His people, will "destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem." (Zech. 12)

That this is the event indicated is seen from verse 15. After the description of the action of the three spirits of demons there is a solemn pause, and the Lord Himself speaks: "Behold, I come as a thief." This is the known way in Scripture of His coming to the world; that is, of His appearing. (See 1 Thess. 5:1-4; 2 Peter 3:10; Rev. 3:3, etc.) This makes it very clear that the battle of that great day of Almighty God is that consequent upon the sudden appearing of Christ in His glory as described in the scriptures above given. It is because He will come thus as a thief that He adds, "Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame." (v. 15, compare Matt. 24:36-37.) This instruction, as well as warning, applies above all to the elect remnant of that day.

One more particular is now added — the name of the place to which the kings and their armies will be gathered. It is called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.⁶ This name has a symbolical import, and means, in fact, the hill of Megiddo. Megiddo was the great battle-field of Barak (Judges 5:19), and had, therefore, combined with other events in connection with the same place,⁷ a peculiar significance in Jewish history. This will account for its application to that awful place where "the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies" will gather "together to make war against Him that sat on the horse" (the Lord in His glory) "and against His army." (Rev. 19:19.)

The consummation is now reached. Together with the pouring out of the seventh vial "into the air, there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done." (v. 17.) God's preliminary judgments are now completed; and the next thing to follow, not described here, will be the event announced in verse 15, the coming of the Lord as a thief. The effects of this last plague are briefly given. The great city, Rome (Rev. 17:18), "the unified association of European civilization," for it is the expression of all that the Roman Empire is in its wealth, art, literature, and commerce (see Rev. 18) is "divided into three parts." (v. 19.) Babylon is judged, the details of which are found in chap. 18; "and every island fled away, and the mountains were not found" (v. 20); all the world's stability and order are utterly subverted, and reduced to chaotic confusion; and finally, God's violent judgments (see Isaiah 32:19) will once again descend on men, who, still untouched by His repeated scourges, will in their madness respond with blasphemy "because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great." (v. 21.)

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1) Synopsis of the Books of the Bible, vol. v.

2) It should be "nations," not "saints."

3) Another reading gives, omitting "O Lord," "Thou art righteous, who art and wast, the Holy One."

4) Whether these kings of the East come at first in antagonism to the "beast" cannot be known. In the issue, it is certain they are his confederates.

5) So it should read, and not, as in the English Version, "the kings of the earth and of the whole world."

6) Some read, Harmagedon.

7) See, for example, 2 Chronicles 35:20-27, where one of the saddest events, as affecting the Jewish people, is recorded.