The Just Deserts

Series on Revelation

II The Viewpoint

D Cycle Four, The Seven Bowls

1 The Prelude

Text: 15:1-8

Introduction

If we step back for a moment and take the larger view of this section we see immediately that we have another series of judgments being introduced. This unit concludes with a distinct reference to God’s final judgment on the unbelievers. The cycle of the seals recorded the judgment on the fourth part of the earth; the cycle of the trumpets spoke of one-third being destroyed; this last cycle ends in complete and total judgment. We are told immediately in 15:1, I saw in heaven another great and marvelous sign: seven angels with the seven last plagues—last, because with them God’s wrath is completed. And then in 16:17 when the seventh angel has poured out his bowl, a loud voice from God’s throne says: “It is done.” As always John’s visions go back and forth from what is occurring on the earth to what is happening in heaven without any specific reference to time. In fact the heavenly visions are inserted for the encouragement of believers and neither indicate that the believers are already there or that they are not there yet. They are simply giving a timeless, indeterminate, and indefinite view of the celebration of victory by the saints over the judgment and deliverance of the earth from the effects of sin and death. For John one vision may succeed another or precede another, but the actual events have an uncertain time frame. Try to think of it this way. Critics of television have pointed out that too many hours spent in front of the tube are ruining the attention span of us all, young and old alike. Politicians running for office speak less and less to complex issues, resorting instead to sound bites of a minute or less. John’s visionary experience in the book of Revelation must have been more like watching television than reading a book. So much happens so quickly in Revelation that it is all too easy to forget what has gone before, and I am not sure that it matters that much. It is more like going through an art gallery. Focus on the scene before you. When my wife and I watch a television show, sometimes we are mystified by the twists and turns in the plot and by the flashbacks and the retrospects. When this happens we say this is really getting convoluted. The book of Revelation is like that except that it does not attempt to resolve all these things. It is content simply to give you pictures. Learn from them. In chapter 15 there are three things we should observe and carry away. They are The tribute, the Torah and the temple.

I The Tribute

We begin with the tribute in verses 2-4, And I saw what looked like a sea of glass mixed with fire and, standing beside the sea, those who had been victorious over the beast and his image and over the number of his name. They held harps given them by God and sang the song of Moses the servant of God and the song of the Lamb: “Great and marvelous are your deeds, Lord God Almighty. Just and true are your ways, King of the ages. Who will not fear you, O Lord, and bring glory to your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous acts have been revealed.” Here we look at the location and the lyrics. The singers are beside the sea of glass mixed with fire. This means they are in the throne room of God. This “sea” is a permanent fixture in God’s presence. John sees it in 4:6 Also before the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal. In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back. The apostle John was not the first one to see it. When the elders of Israel saw God in the mountain of God with Moses in Exodus 24:10 we read, Under his feet was something like a pavement made of sapphire (or lapis lazuli), clear as the sky itself. Clearly these are similar visionary impressions of the throne of God, but we should be aware that they are only the impressions given to the seers and are not necessarily precise. The reality may far exceed the impression. So much for the location. The lyric is the song of Moses and the Lamb. One may search in vain for the words of a separate Lamb’s song. We have learned that only the redeemed can sing it, but this passage is the only place where we see the actual words. The words here do not correspond exactly with any song of Moses in the Old Testament. This is beside the point. Moses as a servant in the house and Jesus as the Son over the house are the great deliverers. This is the great song of redemption. Those of us who believe that the Psalms should be sung in New Testament worship must avoid gloating over the fact that the great song of redemption is echoing the Psalms throughout. Psalms 139, 145, 86, and 98 are all used in the composition of this lyric. The song of Moses and the song of the Lamb are not two different hymns but one and the same song which reflects God’s mighty deeds frequently noted in the Psalms and is a paean of praise devoted to the Lord God. It is a song Moses would sing. It is a song that Jesus would sing, It is a song we can sing with them. Let us hear it again, Great and marvelous are your deeds, Lord God Almighty. Just and true are your ways, King of the ages. Who will not fear you, O Lord, and bring glory to your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous acts have been revealed.

II The Torah

The next thing we see is the Torah in verses 5 and 6, After this I looked and in heaven the temple, that is, the tabernacle of the Testimony, was opened. Out of the temple came the seven angels with the seven plagues. They were dressed in clean, shining linen and wore golden sashes around their chests. John sees the angels dressed like priests and they are coming out of the Holy of Holies. I refer to this as Torah because if you visit a Jewish synagogue even today you will see an ark positioned in almost always such a way that those who face it, face towards Jerusalem. This ark is reminiscent of the Ark of the Covenant which contained the tablets with the Ten Commandments. This is the holiest spot in a synagogue, equivalent to the Holy of Holies. The ark is often closed with an ornate curtain, the parochet, which hangs outside or inside the ark doors. This “ark” is a little ornamental closet specifically created to host the Sefer Torah and Haftorah. Sephardic Jews call this ark by the Hebrew word for temple. This is essentially what John is seeing as related in the words, “The tabernacle of the Testimony, was opened.” In John’s case we are looking into the holiest place at the ark of the covenant which is under the mercy seat. The way into the holiest has been made available to believers because of Jesus’ sacrifice that paid for all the sins of his people, and it was signified by God by the curtain separating the Holy Place from the inner sanctuary being split from top to bottom when Jesus died. According to I John 2:2, He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. The Greek word translated atoning sacrifice and in some versions propitiation is actually the Greek word for mercy seat. Jesus is our mercy seat. However beneath the mercy seat was the ark of the covenant containing the ten commandments so in addition to the revelation of God’s great mercy as we look into the holiest we also have a revelation of God’s pure justice. The Ten Commandments are a witness to the people’s transgressions that would call forth God’s judgment and condemnation. Hence from the very presence of God and from the testimony of these laws divine judgment flows forth. Passing judgment, God executes justice and righteousness on the basis of his law. Thus the plagues fall upon the earth in accordance with the just sanctions of the law. The soul that sins will die.

III The Temple

As the seven angels prepare to pour out their cups or vials of God’s wrath the temple is described for us in verses 7 and 8, Then one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls filled with the wrath of God, who lives for ever and ever. And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power, and no one could enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were completed. In Exodus 40 Moses has finally set up the tabernacle at God’s command and exactly in accord with the instructions. And we read in verses 34 and 35, Then the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. Moses could not enter the Tent of Meeting because the cloud had settled upon it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. This showed that God approved the tabernacle as His dwelling place in the midst of Israel and so intense was the manifestation of His presence that no one could enter. This occurs again at the dedication of Solomon’s temple in II Chronicles 7:1-3, When Solomon finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple. The priests could not enter the temple of the Lord because the glory of the Lord filled it. When all the Israelites saw the fire coming down and the glory of the Lord above the temple, they knelt on the pavement with their faces to the ground, and they worshiped and gave thanks to the Lord, saying, “He is good; his love endures forever.” The smoke is actually the Shekinah of pillar of fire by night and smoke by day which hovered over the Holy of Holies in the middle of the Israelite encampment, but came down on these special occasions and manifested God’s presence in such a way that no man could come close. This is what Isaiah sees in Chapter 6 in his vision of the Lord. As the mighty seraphim are crying out around the throne of God, “Holy, holy, holy,” we read in verse 4, At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. Then with the advent of the Babylonian captivity Ezekiel has a vision of the glory of God, that is, the Shekinah, In chapter 10. It is a cloud filling the inner court leaving the temple in Jerusalem moving from the Holiest to the threshold. Then in chapter 44 in Ezekiel’s vision of the restoration he sees it return and he writes in verse 4, Then the man brought me by way of the north gate to the front of the temple. I looked and saw the glory of the Lord filling the temple of the Lord, and I fell facedown. So at crucial times God chooses to manifest His presence in a way that no one can stand before Him. Our text describes one of those occasions God has drawn near in judgment. God manifesting His righteousness and holiness is fearful as for example when he descended on Mt Sinai to deliver the Ten Commandments to Israel. The author of Hebrews describes it in 12:18-21, You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom and storm; to a trumpet blast or to such a voice speaking words that those who heard it begged that no further word be spoken to them, because they could not bear what was commanded: “If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned.” The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, “I am trembling with fear.” Notice that he says that believers have not come to such a place but says, rather, in verses 22-24, they have come, to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. They and we do not receive our just deserts, but we receive undeserved and unmerited grace and forgiveness through the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. These last judgments are not for believers, but for an unrepentant world.