Revelation Chapter 15
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.
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.
Rev 15:3 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.
Rev 15:4 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.
Rev 15:5 And after that I looked, and, behold, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened:
Rev 15:6 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 15:7 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.
Rev 15:8 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, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.
Here is the introduction to the scene of awful judgment that will follow
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.
We are about to see the wrath of God unleashed
It is a fearful thing to see the wrath of God unleashed
The seven angels are prepared
But before we see the angels dispatched in the next chapter, our attention is drawn to another scene
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.
We see those ones standing on a sea of glass mingled with fire
These are those who had gotten the victory over the beast and his image
They have harps and sing a new song
Rev 15:3 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.
Rev 15:4 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.
Reminiscent of those redeemed on the sea of glass chapter 4 and 5
But these have a song of deliverance, the song of Moses
They praise God for His holiness, for His ways, for His greatness and marvelous works
All nations shall worship Him
Rev 15:5 And after that I looked, and, behold, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened:
Rev 15:6 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 15:7 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.
Rev 15:8 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, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.
Temple in heaven was opened
The seven avenging angels appear
Pure and in white linen
They have seven golden vials full of the wrath of God
We see the temple filled with the smoke of the glory of God
The plagues that the seven angels have we will see are terrible, but from a holy God
Revelation Chapter 16
Rev 16:1 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 16:2 And the first went, and poured out his vial upon the earth; 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.
The great voice from the temple announces that it is time for the judgments to begin
The time is fixed by God alone
Before we encounter the seven vials or judgments it is best to set the scene by answering four questions
1. Where were the vials to be poured out
2. On whom where they poured
3. Why
4. When
1. Where
The vials were to be poured on the earth
That is the portion of the earth that is made part of the Apocalyptic vision
Namely the territory of the 10 kingdoms
The last two, however, will be found to cover a larger area
2. Who
They were to be poured out on those who had the mark of the beast and those who worshipped his image
In chapter 13 we saw that the beast represented Papal Rome
The image are those ecclesiastical organizations of Protestantism that mirrored Catholicism
3. Why
The reason especially the first three vials descended on them was that they had shed the blood of the saint and prophets
Both Roman Catholicism and Protestantism have a shameful history of persecution
Protestant churches when they first were established and obtained power act much like the catholic church that had preceded them
… Persecuting, banishing, imprisoning, and even putting to death those who refused to receive their tenets or conform to their system of religion
The Lutherans were at first a pious, persecuted people
But when they ascended to power, they also banished, persecuted, imprisoned and put to death those who dissented
As early as 1574 at a convention in Torgaw, Germany the persecution began (see F.G. Smith)
4. The time
I think it will be obvious that the seventh plague is the final and complete judgement, the last day judgement
The vials are poured out on the worshippers of the image of the beast, as well as the worshippers of the beast, so the beginning must be after the time of the Reformation
It would seem also to be after the time of intense persecutions have ceased
Rev 16:1 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 16:2 And the first went, and poured out his vial upon the earth; 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.
The first vial or goblet of the wrath of God was poured out
It was poured on those who had the mark of the beast and worshiped his image
The time, we have said, would be after the severe persecutions have ceased
300,000 are said to have died in the terrible persecutions during the reign of Louis XIV of France
Louis the XIV died in 1714, but persecutions continued in France off and on until the mid century
This vial produced a noisome and grievous sore
I believe this represents the principles of infidelity, atheism and licentiousness that spread across Europe during the last half of the 18th century
Philosophists was a name given to several persons in France who resolved to overthrow the religion of Jesus and eradicate religion
Voltaire was the first and most prominent
D’Alembert and Diderot were associates
King Frederick of Prussia assisted him for a time
They worked to upset the order of society, forming secret societies
They spread their cancer of philosophy, of the exalting of reason
They rejected the idea of God
“All ideas of justice, injustice, virtue and vice, are all arbitrary”
“The fear of God is the beginning of folly, not of reason”
These ideas were cloaked, but infiltrated literature and education
They were promoted by Montesquieu and Rousseau
The public mind in France was completely corrupted
The system of infidel philosophy was perfected by Dr Adam University of Ingolstadt
He called it a system of light, and a secret society call Illuminati was formed
Its purpose was to diffuse the light of science
The Reformation of the 16th century had broken the bands of dark superstition,
But where the truth was not there to replace it, they resorted to blank atheism
The worship of the second beast and his image continued to shroud the truth from view
This system was like a plague, a noisome sore
It resulted in the corruption of morals and the decay of society
Rev 16:3 And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea; and it became as the blood of a dead man: and every living soul died in the sea.
Here we see an awful judgment poured out.
The sea is a symbol of a kingdom, a central power, a government
The waters became as the blood of a dead man
Every living soul died
The waters, the inhabitants, became as the blood of a dead man
This symbolizes the massacre of the people
The death of the living creatures symbolizes the extinction of those in power
This second vial is the French Revolution
Voltaire and his associates had trampled in the dust everything held sacred and prepared them for the scenes of terror that followed
Remember why these judgments were sent
Because of the persecution of God’s people
From the time the popes received their first temporal authority from Pepin and Charlamagne,
France constituted the real backbone of the Papacy
In the 14th century the papal seat was moved from Rome to Avignon and remained for 70 years
To write a history of the Papacy during the dark ages is to outline the history of France
The French Revolution was a blow to all the thrones of despotism in Europe
The revolution commenced the 5th of May, 1789
The conflict between despotism and popular rights had been going on
Nobility contending for absolute power and the people for freedom
However, the infidelity of Voltaire had removed the constraint of morality and there was no fear of God in those that seized power
the scenes that followed are unapparelled in human history
(read and expound)
Rev 16:4 And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters; and they became blood.
Rev 16:5 And I heard the angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast, and shalt be, because thou hast judged thus.
Rev 16:6 For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink; for they are worthy.
Rev 16:7 And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments.
The third vial is poured out
The rivers and fountains
Rev 16:8 And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire.
Rev 16:9 And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory.
The scorching sun is the symbol of a tyrant ruler
We find this fulfilled in Napoleon
Rev 16:10 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,
Rev 16:11 And blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds.
The fifth angel pours out his judgement
This judgment is on the seat of the beast
First, as you recall, the beast represents papal Rome, the Holy Roman Empire
Rev 12:3 And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads.
We would expect then this fifth vial to be judgement on Papal Rome
The timing we would expect to be following the fourth vial, which was the time of Napoleon
The kingdom being filled with darkness I believe represents the downfall of the pope as a temporal ruler
Under the reign of Napoleon, the Holy Roman Empire was dissolved in 1806
However, this was but temporary
Known in history as the Reaction came
In 1870, King Victor Emmanuel established the free government of United Italy
The temporal sun of the Holy Roman Empire set forever, his kingdom left in darkness
Jacobinism still so infested the masses that they became a painful sore for the followers of the beast
Rev 16:12 And 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.
Rev 16:13 And I 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.
Rev 16:14 For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.
Rev 16:15 Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.
Rev 16:16 And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.
The sixth vial is poured out on the great river Euphrates
Do you remember the over throw of historic Babylon?
The river ran under the wall of Babylon
The Chaldeans diverted the river and entered the city through the river bed
In this judgment, the defenses of Babylon are dried up
The way of the kings of the east was prepared, meaning an opening for knowledge and understanding
We see three unclean spirits released from the mouth of the Dragon, the Beast and the false prophet (paganism, Catholicism, and fallen Protestantism and Islam)
Notice that they go out into the whole world…not confined to the apocalyptic earth
From the time of the breaking down of the defenses of Babylon until the second coming of Christ, false religion will battle the true followers of Christ
Rev 16:17 And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done.
Rev 16:18 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.
Rev 16:19 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.
Rev 16:20 And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found.
Rev 16:21 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.
This vial is the last great judgment day
Rev 16:17 And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done.
Rev 6:15 And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;
Rev 6:16 And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:
Rev 6:17 For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?