Revelation 15

Revelation 15:1

Chapter 15 unfolds in the period of time known as the Tribulationthe seven-year period following the Rapture of the church. In chapter 15, we’ll begin to see God pour out His wrath on the world that rejected His payment for their sinan understanding vital to the events that follow, for it is only a clear understanding of Revelation 15 that keeps us from thinking God unfair in chapters 16 through 19. In Revelation 15, God says, “I have been patient with human rebellion and depravityand now the bowls are full.” In Gen_15:13-16, God says to Abraham, “You’re going to be the father of a nation that will sojourn in another country for four hundred years. Your people will be afflicted and enslaved because the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.” In other words, while Israel was held captive in Egypt for four hundred years, God was giving the Canaanites an opportunity to repent and turn to Him. Tragically, however, they didn’t. “Destroy the Amorites,” God commanded Joshua upon the Israelites’ entry into Canaan (see Deu_20:17). This only seems extremely unfair and brutal when one fails to take into account the fact that God waited four hundred years for these same Amorites to turn from the horrific perversion and cruelty that defined their culture and destroyed their souls. Four hundred years is a long time. For twice as long as our nation has existed, while Israel was held captive in Egypt, God waited for the Amorites to turn from their bizarre, evil practices. But they didn’t. So finally, when the iniquity of the Amorites was full, God said, “Enough is enough. Destroy them.” Did He do so because He is cruel? No. The Amorites were already doomed, damned, lost, gone, toast, curtains, dust. They were so sick that in ordering their annihilation, God was simply putting them out of their misery. I camp on this point because people who read the Bible casually or hear a story in a Sunday sermon occasionally can think God is cruel. We must explain to them how patient God isbut that we must not mistake His patience for apathy, impotence, or approval of sin. For while the wheels of God’s judgment turn slowly, they do, indeed, grind thoroughly.

Revelation 15:2

In addition to seeing the seven angels about to pour out the fullness of God’s wrath, John sees a sea of glass. Because the tabernacle was a shadow of the reality of heaven (Hebrews 8-9), I believe the sea of glass is actually a glassy sea of literal water, of which the laver in the temple was a picture (Exo_30:18). It is intriguing to me that those who lose their lives in the Tribulation because they choose to listen to the message of the 144,000 and believe God rather than take the mark of the Beast or bow before the image are seen not around, but on the sea of glass. Why does this intrigue me? Because it reminds me of another tribulation… Out on the sea with the wind blowing and the waves rolling, the disciples were understandably terrified. Seeing the Lord walking toward them, Peter cried, “Lord, if that’s really You, bid me come.” Jesus said, “Come,” and Peter did just that (Mat_14:28). So, too, in our text, these guys are walking on water. On earth they didn’t. Having been persecuted and destroyed by Antichrist, on earth they would have been seen as losers. Not so in heaven. In heaven, they’re water-walkers. If you don’t factor in heaven, none of biblical Christianity works. Without heaven, folks, you’re going to go down the wrong path in your experience of spiritual life. You’ve got to factor heaven into every single equation. If you get nothing else out of the Book of Revelation, my prayer would be that you would first of all see Jesus Christ on the throne in control, and, secondly, that you’d understand it’s all about heaven.

Revelation 15:3

The song of Moses, recorded in Exodus 15, is the first song in the Bible. With their backs to the Red Sea, three million Jews looked up to see Pharaoh’s army barreling down on them. “Moses, you’ve led us into a trap!” they cried because not one of them knew that God was about to do something totally unexpected, unpredictable, unprecedented. So it was not until after God intervened, after the Red Sea parted, after the children of Israel crossed safely to the other side that they sang, “The Lord has triumphed gloriously.” The song of Moses was sung near the Red Sea. The song of the Lamb is sung near the glassy sea. The song of Moses dealt with rescue. The song of the Lamb deals with Rapture. The song of Moses was sung by those brought out of Egypt. The song of the Lamb is sung by those brought into heaven.

Revelation 15:4

“All nations shall come and worship before thee,” sing the overcomers in Revelation 15, fulfilling Zechariah’s prophecy… And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles.Zec_14:16 When the Lord comes back, the Feast of Tabernaclesthe week-long celebration, wherein throughout history the Jews commemorated how God brought them through the wildernesswill be reinstated. Instead of commemorating how the Lord brought His people through the wilderness, however, it will celebrate how He brought His people through the world. Everyone will be invited, but not everyone will come . . And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain.Zec_14:17 Those who don’t come will experience drought, limited fruit, restricted harvest. The Lord says the same thing to you and me today, “Come and dine. Worship Me.” And we say, “Well, I’m kind of busy.” We don’t have to come, gang. But I’ll tell you this: When I don’t come, I get real dry because God is into corporate worship. Those of you who say, “But I’ve heard Revelation already,” or, “Why should I hear the Book of Acts being taught again? I studied it a year ago,” consider this… I talked with a precious couple from Missouri who said, “When your daughter, Jessie, went to heaven, we ordered the videotape of her memorial service. After watching it, we decided to hang on to it because we knew someone would need to see it. Almost a year to the day after Jessie went to heaven, our son was killed in an automobile accident. We pulled out the video, and you know what? It was for us.” It had only been a year since their son went to heaven, yet they shared with me maturely, wisely, deeply because, you see, although they had heard about heaven many times before, now they truly had the bigger picture of heaven burned into their hearts. Saying, “We don’t need to go to Bible study because we’ve heard that before and have been there already,” is really foolish because we don’t know what lies right around the bend… King Asa was wise. During the ten years of peace and prosperity under his reign, he built up the walls of his kingdom. He put bars on the gates. He raised up 280,000 men from Judah and gave them shields and spears. He raised up another 200,000 men of Benjamin and armed them as well. Why? Because knowing there would be a battle ahead, he used the time of peace and prosperity not to kick back, but to build up (2 Chronicles 14). This world isn’t a playground, dear saints. It’s a battlefield. And wise is the one who, over the weeks and months and decades, says, “I’m going to build the walls of my faith. I’m going to fortify the city. I’m going to get the shields and weapons ready because I know sooner or later there will come trials and difficulties through which the Enemy desires to make my faith collapse. I need to be forewarned that I might be forearmed, prepared that I may be preserved.”

Revelation 15:5

As the period of the Tribulation begins here in chapter 15, we see the angels dressed in spotless white linenlike a surgical team, if you would. The girdles of gold across their breasts symbolize the heart of gold within. That is, the judgment they are about to administer to the earth stems not from cruelty but from love.

Revelation 15:7

Knowing that sin bites, burns, brutalizes, and butchers His children (Rom_6:23), God sends His surgical team of angels with vials of the bitter medicine of judgment in their hands in order to deal with the sin that destroys humanity. In a parallel passage, we see David dealing with the repercussions of his own sin following his adulterous relationship with Bathsheba, and the subsequent murder of her husband, Uriah… Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice.Psa_51:7-8 When a lamb repeatedly jeopardized his own safety by continually wandering away from the flock, the shepherd would break its leg. Then, throughout the healing process, the shepherd would carry the heretofore straying lamb on his shoulder, during which time something amazing transpired in the lamb. You see, when after five or six weeks, his bone could again support his weight, the lamb remained close to the shepherd, never to wander againnot because he feared another broken bone, but because he had become attached to the shepherd. So it is as a shepherd that David cries, “Lord, I know that the bones which Thou hast broken shall rejoice again.” Precious people, if we wander away and continue in sin, the Good Shepherd will do what He did with David and what David did with his own sheep: He’ll break the bone of our self-sufficiency in order to force us to draw close to Him in ways we never would have otherwise. But lest you think the vials of judgment about to be poured out in the Tribulation are still unfair, take another look at our Shepherd, and you’ll realize that the Good Shepherd is also the Lamb of God who suffered not a broken bone, but a broken body and a broken heart as He died for our sin.