By W. J. Erdman D.D.
V. The Seven VialsIntroductory Vision THE OVERCOMERS AND THE SEVEN ANGELS. Chapter 15:1-8
The third of the three great “signs” or wonders seen in heaven introduces the Visions of the Seven Vials. The other two great Signs were the Sun-clad Woman and the Dragon. This Sign is seen in a Vision by itself and so is one of momentous meaning. 15:1. The second Vision discloses the Overcomers who were in the Tribulation standing by the glory-reddened sea and singing the song of Moses and the Lamb. The scene is antitypical to the exodus and the deliverance of Israel. The combination of Moses and the Lamb suggests the overcomers are both Jews and Gentiles and as of one body. 15:2-4. In this introductory Vision, the Holy of Holies m heaven was opened, the Seven Angels came forth with the bowls of wrath, and as of old, in the day of Moses and of Solomon, again “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.” 15:5-8. The scene preparatory to the outpouring of the Seven Vials and the Vials themselves are all comprehended by one “And I saw,” so implying both a unity of purpose and an uninterrupted continuity of occurrence, 16:1-21. Progression THE SIX VIALS. Ch. 16:1-12.
The Seven Vials, or the “Third Woe,” taken together may constitute the Seventh Seal or the Consummation, in an extended form; but the Seventh Trumpet sounds beyond them to the establishment of the Kingdom itself. When this Seventh Seal is opened (Ch. 8:1) all that is said of it is “there followed a silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.” That this Seal has no immediate connection with the six Trumpets which follow in the context has already been shown in that there follows an additional prophetic formula, “And I saw,” so introducing the Trumpets as new matter; accordingly, the Seventh Seal is not the hinge for, or the container of the Trumpets. Its contents belong to a future vision of the Consummation. The wrath of the Seventh Trumpet is sevenfold as seen in the Seven Vials. The very silence, as previously stated, reminds of other prophetic Scriptures where Jehovah is seen coming forth in a final avengement of his people.
8:1; Hab. 2:20; Zeph. 1:7; Zech. 2:13. Likewise, when the Seven Vials are being emptied no one can enter the Sanctuary until their plagues are finished. It is suggestive, too, that just as Jericho was compassed with the blowing of trumpets once each day for six days, but seven times on the seventh day, so, when in the Apocalypse six Trumpets have finished their sounding, the Seventh ushers in the Seven Vials and together these constitute the Consummation — the Seventh Seal. Also, in favour of such a period of time for the Wrath, let it be noted, that the equivalent of the phrase “the coming of the Son of man” in one Scripture is “days of the Son of Man” in another; “a day of the Son of Man” signifying a day of deliverance. The first act of Messianic deliverance will be the removal of the Church; and the “days” are equivalent to successive strokes of wrath. In passing, it may be suggested that the Seer was told to seal up and not write the things which the seven Thunders uttered, because for aught we know they be longed to the Seventh Seal whose contents were not to be disclosed till the Vial time, and if so, they are the equivalents of the Seven Plagues of the wrath and power of God. They seem to imply that now the great redemption has been accomplished, the iniquity removed, and the Jubilee proclaimed, for in the types of old, the atonement and the jubilee came on the same day, making it at once a “day of restraint,” a solemn close and review of an eventful past, but opening also on a new age of perpetual peace and universal divine blessing. In brief, the great Inauguration of the Kingdom, may be intimated in such promise of blessed days; or in those of the great “Marriage Supper of the Lamb,” or in the following kindred Scriptures: “And when he again bringeth in the first born into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him;” “For not unto angels did he subject the world to come”— “There remaineth therefore a rest (Sabbatismos), for the people of God.” Lev. 25:29; Heb. 1:6; 2:5; 4:9; Ps. 93 to 100. Episode THE GATHERING OF THE KINGS. Chapter. 16:13-16.
This vision of three froglike demonic spirits, which go forth to gather the kings to battle, is a parenthetic episode. Since believers are told their redemption is nigh when the signs begin, and that the day of the Lord “shall not overtake them,” it is evident that the Rapture of the Church takes place before any of the Vials of wrath are poured out, and not at the point between the sixth and seventh Vials where the warning is sounded, “Behold I come as a thief.” This warning of the approach of the Advent is in a parenthetic vision of the gathering of the kings between the sixth and seventh Vials, and as has been shown, in each case of an Episode between a sixth and seventh (seals and trumpets) the events of the Episode antedate at least the Sixth. This is true of the Seals, for the 144,000 of Israel and those seen coming out of the great Tribulation belong to the Fifth Seal. In the historic fulfilment the Tribulation of the Fifth Seal will come before the Signs of the Sixth and this before the “day of the Lord” or “wrath” of the Seventh. I Th. 5:1-10; Luke 21:28; 7:1-17. This is also true of the Episode between the Sixth and Seventh Trumpets, for in the words of the angel to John, there is an intimation of a return to scenes with which his previous visions had to do. In view of this law of the Episode, the Advent forewarned in the Episode between the Sixth and Seventh Vials should antedate all the Vials. An analogy would be seen in Israel’s exemption from the last seven plagues which came only upon the Egyptians. After the seven plagues came the over throw in the Red Sea, so after seven “vials” comes Harmagedon and the overthrow of “Beasts” and armies and kings. Likewise the summons of the demons, found in this same Episode, for the gathering of the kings to battle, can antedate the Sixth Vial and even all the Vials. It should also be recalled that in the holy ascription concerning him “who is and was and who is to come,” the words “to come” are omitted at the Third Vial. All this proves that the saints are removed before the wrath begins to be poured, and accords with the scene and song of the overcomers by the glory-reddened sea, who are now safely housed in the glory of heaven, while the judgments of God are made manifest on earth. See similar events in Israel’s history where no one could enter the sanctuary. 10:1-11, 14; Exod. 9; 40:34 35; II Chr. 5:13-14. Consummation THE SEVENTH VIAL. Chapter. 16:17-21.
Here are pictured the final and comprehensive judgments upon the enemies of God. Yet what is here mentioned in mere outline, is narrated in detail in visions which follow. The battle of Armageddon is yet to be de scribed. “Great Babylon” has come into remembrance before God; but her destruction is to be the most impressive of all the pictures of punishment and doom which fill the ensuing visions (Chs. 17-19) and prepare for the closing scenes of splendour, the glories of the “new heaven” and the “new earth.”
|
|
|