Revelation 15. Bible online. Mandatory elements of the apocalypse

The chapter explains what will happen in heaven after the “gathering” of the first “harvest” (Christ’s co-rulers in heaven in the “harvest” of ch. 14) and before the “bad grapes” of the Earth are cut for the “winepress” of God’s wrath (all the wicked living to the end of this age will be gathered for destruction at Armageddon)
Everything that happens in heaven in this period precedes the beginning of the seven executions of God Almighty for the rest of the inhabitants of this age. By this time, everyone who was able to go their way worthy of the future new world in the eyes of the Lord is already waiting for this world: 144,000 New Testament righteous of this age, likened to Christ, are in heaven. The rest, who "did not make it" in this century to the essence of Christ, managed to "die in the Lord" by this time (Rev. 14:13). As a result, the Earth is being prepared to enter a new age: the era of God's reign and the "everlasting day" (2 Peter 3:18).

15:1 And I saw another sign in heaven, great and wonderful: seven angels having the seven last plagues, with which the wrath of God ended.
Here we are talking about the entry "to the arena" of events - the executors of God's judgment for all the wicked of the earthly world order.

15:2 And I saw, as it were, a sea of ​​glass mingled with fire;
This sea of ​​glass was mentioned, as we remember, in Revelation 4:6: it was in front of the throne of God in the heavenly "throne" meeting room of the spiritual "team of helpers" of Jehovah. Then it was still empty: the "sea" was just preparing to receive on its surface all the co-rulers of Christ in the amount of 144,000.
The sea mixed with fire means that these people went through the fiery trials of faith that fell to their lot. Which ones - shows the further text:

and those who conquered the beast, and his image, and his mark, and the number of his name, stand on this sea of ​​glass, holding the harp of God,
It seems that only the remnant of the co-rulers of Christ, who live in the time of the rebirth of the beast of the devil (its exit from the abyss) and did not worship him (Rev. 13: 1,5-7), are said here. influence of the devil beast throughout his life, but did not worship him:
4 And I saw thrones, and those who sat on them, to whom it was given to judge, and the souls of those who were beheaded because of the testimony of Jesus and because The Word of God, who did not bow down to the beast nor his image, and received not a mark on their forehead or on their hand. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years .
6 Blessed and holy is he that has a part in the first resurrection: over them the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years . (Rev. 20:4,6)

Therefore, all participants in the first resurrection, including the remnant of Christ's co-rulers, during their lives in this century, had to face the power of the beast of the devil, pursuing each of them in their time and on their part of the planet - by the "hands" of various "animal" representatives of this age.

But not one of them, even in the face of death, succumbed to their pressure and betrayed God. Therefore, they were honored to take a seat near the throne of God in His heavenly throne room, holding a harp in order to sing to Jehovah.

It can be figuratively said that the prophecy from Genesis 3:15 was fulfilled on Jesus Christ and the co-rulers of Christ: they turned out to be the seed of the wife of God, and all the “beast-like” people they had to face in their lives are the seed or offspring of the devil. Each of them "stung" the children of God in the heel (persecuted and killed for this age). And the children of God struck him in the head, defeating all his "animals" - fortitude and devotion to the Almighty.

15:3 and sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying: Great and marvelous are thy works, O Lord God Almighty! Their presence at the sea with the song of Moses is symbolic: Moses once led all the people of God of old through the waters of the Red Sea, leading them out of the slavery of the Egyptian pharaoh under the guidance of Jehovah.
All the co-rulers of Christ, standing on this "sea" (not "drowned" in the abyss of the waters of the ungodly world) - thanks to the redemption of the Lamb - came out of the slavery of the greater pharaoh: from the slavery of sin and death, to which the devil condemned all the descendants of Adam.

Why is the song called the song of Moses and the Lamb?
Moses - because, as mentioned in Rev. 14:1-3 - they passed into human body as servants of God, all the trials of the hardships of earthly imperfection and were able to feel for themselves what the great and wonderful deeds of Jehovah God for sinful mankind are.
The song of the Lamb is because it is the song of the victors of the world of Satan: Jesus Christ was the first to set an example of victory over him, leaving "footprints" for everyone else (1 Peter 2:21). And 144,000 successfully coped with overcoming the path to victory over the devil and his bestial children, walking exactly in the footsteps of Christ.

Righteous and true are Your ways, O King of saints! As a result of the successful passage of the earthly path to the holiness of the children of God, all 144,000 co-rulers became convinced of the benefits of God's instructions for man: only the leadership of this Ruler can bring eternal benefit to the entire universe.
That is why Jehovah is called here - the King of all saints, no matter how many there are in His spiritual family.

15:4 Who will not fear You, O Lord, and glorify Your name? for You alone are holy. All nations will come and bow before You, for Your judgments have been revealed. The meaning of this song is prophetic: all the co-rulers of Christ are sure that the terrible time of this world with widespread evil, iniquity and blasphemy will be followed by God's full and fair retribution to all the inhabitants of the Earth, both the wicked (death in Armageddon and the inability to get into the world of God) and God-fearing (all of them will fall into the world of God).
And after this - the holiness of God will be affirmed in all the inhabitants of God's universe. This is what the day of eternity will look like: all who live in God's world will worship Him for all eternity. Zechariah also reported this in 14:17-21.

15:5 And after this I looked, and behold, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony was opened in heaven.
Translation by V. Kuznetsova (Good news)is more clear here:
And then I saw: the Temple opened in the sky - the Tent of Testimony,

The Tabernacle of Testimony / Revelation or Holy of Holies - known from antiquity as a small section of the tabernacle, separated by a curtain from the rest of the tabernacle, in which the ark of revelation was located. The word "tabernacle" (later - the temple, naos) was used to refer to both the main building and the small department of the Holy of Holies. Their difference was in the location and contents of the premises:
2 for it was arranged tabernacle first (whole temple) in which there was a lamp, and a table, and an offering of loaves, and which is called "holy."
3 Behind the second curtain was tabernacle called "Holy of Holies",
4 having a golden censer and overlaid with gold on all sides the ark covenant(Heb.9:2-4)

The ark was also called the ark of revelation (Ex. 26:34): over it, God revealed His plans to Moses, appearing to him in the form of a cloud or with the help of a voice (Numbers 7:89; 9:15; 17:4).
Therefore, the Holy of Holies, shown to John in heaven, is called here the "tabernacle of testimony" or "revelation" of God: as we remember, the ark of revelation by this time is in heaven, in the true Holy of Holies - the dwelling of God (Rev. 11:19). John was given to understand that now the revelation of God would be revealed in the form of subsequent events.

15:6 And seven angels went out of the temple, having seven plagues, clothed in pure and bright linen, and girded around their breasts with golden belts.
The angels have gone beyond the Holy of Holies with a willingness to pass executive judgments on the Earth.
The clean and bright linen clothes of the angels testify to the holiness of the messengers of Jehovah - those who are in this case will present the revelation of God from heaven: in the earthly temple, one of the requirements for priests (earthly messengers of Jehovah, Malach.2:7) was to wear linen clothes while serving in the inner courtyard of the temple and in the temple (Lv.16:4; Ezek.44: 17).
Golden belts - signify the glory of God: Jesus Christ was also girded with the golden belt of the “truth” of God (Rev. 1:13; Eph. 6:14) The seven plagues they have mean the seven types of God’s punishments prepared for the wicked (Is. Joshua 24:5).

15:7 And one of the four animals gave the seven angels seven golden bowls filled with the wrath of God who lives forever and ever.
Four animals, as we remember from Rev. 4:6 - are before the throne of God, in that very Holy of Holies (in the "throne room", Rev. 4), which is shown to John as the abode of the Almighty.

One of the animals gave the seven angels who came out of the tabernacle - seven golden bowls filled with the wrath of God. Judging by the fact that in the following text it is said about filling the temple with smoke - in these bowls there was a “fire” of the wrath of God Almighty, with which the wrath of God for all the wicked of the Earth should end:
8 The earth shook and shook, the foundations of the mountains trembled and moved, for [God] was angry;
9 Smoke went up from his anger, and out of his mouth a consuming fire; hot coals [strewn] from Him. (Ps. 17:8,9)

15:8 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 had ended.
Smoke or a thick cloud often symbolizes the presence of God: if
The fire of the wrath of the Almighty is “smoking”, which means that everything that happens is happening with the knowledge of God and under His guidance.
So, the seven punishments (ulcers) prepared by God for the earth are “distributed” to the angels, and the wrath of God (fire bowls) will give them executive power.

As a result of further events, the Holy of Holies will be temporarily closed by a “smoke screen”: until all the wrath of God pours out and all the wicked are destroyed, a temporary break will be “announced” in the worship of the Almighty until the onset of a new era: the era of God board.

All this is figurative, of course, in the language of metaphors.
Speaking in the language of events - before the destruction of this wicked age and all its supporters - there will be a slight calm: the wicked will live, continuing to do evil, in the absence of true worship of Jehovah on Earth. That is, none of those living on it at this time will worship God in a way pleasing to Him: God will hide from all the wicked of the Earth behind the “cloud” of His “fiery” indignation.

Article forty-five. About the seven angels, leading ulcers on people before their death, and about the glassy sea, which I saw in Revelation.

Everywhere the number seven is taken and this indicates that the falsehoods boldly admitted in the seven days of our life will be curbed by seven plagues and seven angels. Under the guise of a sea of ​​glass is shown future life and glorification of the saints.

glass sea, we think, means the multitude of those who are being saved, the purity of their rest, and the lightness of the saints, with the rays of which they will shine like the sun(Matthew 13:43). Sea mixed with fire, and this must be understood from the words of the apostle: it's anyone's business, as it is, the fire will tempt(1 Corinthians 3:13). This fire does not in the least harm the pure and undefiled, because, according to the saying of the Psalmist (Ps. 28: 7), it has two properties: one - burning sinners, and the other, as Basil the Great understood this, - enlightening the righteous. It will also be plausible if we understand by fire Divine knowledge and grace of the Life-Giving Spirit, for in fire God appeared to Moses and the Holy Spirit descended on the apostles in the form of fiery tongues. Gusli point to the mortification of the flesh and life, led by the Holy Spirit and well-ordered in the harmony of virtues.

And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying: Great and marvelous are Your works, Lord God Almighty! Righteous and true are Your ways, O King of saints! Who will not fear You, O Lord, and glorify Your name? For You alone are holy; all the nations will come and bow down before You, for Your judgments have been revealed.

And I will sing the song of Moses. According to the song of Moses, we assume that here a hymn is sent up to God from the justified to grace under the law, and according to the song of the Lamb - that those who have lived righteously on earth after the coming of Christ offer Him unceasing hymn and thanksgiving for the mercies and good deeds sent to our people, for to knowledge He called all nations through His divine apostles.

Here we are talking about the heavenly tabernacle, in the image of which God commanded Moses to build the earthly tabernacle. Angels came out of this temple, who, as a sign of their purity, proximity to the cornerstone - Christ and the lordship of virtues, are dressed in linen or pure stone, as some lists say. They are girded by Persians with golden belts as a sign of his power, purity, honesty and authority in the ministry.

Seven angels received from four animals seven golden cups filled with the wrath of God, as Ezekiel says (Ezek. 5:13), and this means that the knowledge of work, as the great Dionysius teaches, is obtained second from the first.

The smoke indicates the terrible, terrible and painful wrath of God, which, having filled the temple, comprehends those worthy of it on the Day of Judgment, and above all, those who submit to the Antichrist and do apostate deeds. This is further confirmed, for he says:

Therefore, we assume that until Divine wrath against the wicked separates the righteous from the unrighteous, until then the Saints will in no way receive the lot in the heavenly Jerusalem, the priesthood and rest in the temple of God. For first, the plagues, with which those who deserve this sin are rewarded, must first end, and then the Saints will be granted dwelling in the city above. I think that the one who refers each of the plagues to those on earth at her death will not sin either. And God, as a philanthropist, in order to reduce the endless torment in the future, allows real life inflict punitive ulcers on those who deserve it, either through the Prophets Enoch and Elijah, or through ongoing suffering from wars. - But we will pray to the Lord that He would punish us paternally, and not torment us in His anger, for it is said: there is no whole place in our flesh from His wrath(Ps. 37:4), so that, having washed our robes, defiled by sins, with tears of repentance, and having put on wedding clothes, we may enter the eternal chamber of joy of Christ our God, to Whom all glory, honor and worship is due with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and forever, and forever and ever. Amen.

Article forty-six. About the fact that after the outpouring of the first phial, festering wounds became on the apostates.

From this we assume that the saints will not receive the lot in the heavenly Jerusalem until then, the priesthood and rest in the temple of God, until the wrath of God separates the righteous from the sinners. For first it is fitting to end the punishments that are repaid for sin to those who deserve them, and then the saints will be settled in the highest city. But there will be no error if each of the plagues is attributed to those living on earth at its death. God, in His philanthropy, in order to weaken the endless future torments, allows and induces punitive ulcers in the present life on those who deserve it either through their prophets Enoch and Elijah, or through suffering from wars. But we will pray to the Lord that He punish us like the Father, and scourge us without pain in His anger, for it is said: there is no whole place in our flesh from His wrath(Ps. 37:4), so that, having washed our garments defiled by sins with tears of repentance and put on wedding clothes, we may ascend into the hall of eternal joy of Christ our God, to Whom all glory, honor.

I saw another great and amazing sign in heaven: seven angels with the seven last plagues. The last because that's where the wrath of God ended.I saw something like a sea of ​​glass mixed with fire. On the sea stood those who came out victorious in the fight against the beast, its image and the number of its name. They held God's harps in their handsand sang the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb:

- Great and wonderful are Your deeds,

Lord God Almighty!

Your ways are just and true

King of the nations!

Who is not afraid of You, Lord,

and glorify Your name?

You alone are holy!

All peoples will come to worship you,

because everyone has learned about Your just judgments!

After that, I saw that a temple was opened in heaven - the tabernacle of the testimony.Seven angels came out of the temple with seven plagues. They were dressed in clean and shiny linen clothes, and each was girded around the chest with a golden belt.Then one of the four beings distributed to seven angels a golden vessel filled with the fury of God who lives forever.The temple was filled with smoke from the glory and power of God, and no one could enter the temple until the end of the seven plagues sent by the seven angels.

15:3: See ref. 15:1-18.

15:3: Or: "King of Ages."

15:3-4: See Jer. 10:7.

15:4: Wed Ps. 85:9-10.

15:5: Tabernacle of Testimony - The word “testimony” refers to either two stone tiles with the 10 commandments written on them, which serve as evidence of the covenant between Israel and God, or it says that the tent itself was evidence of the presence of God among His people.

15:8: See ref. 40:34-35; 3 Kings 8:10-11.

And I saw another sign in heaven, great and wonderful - seven angels having the seven last plagues, with which the wrath of God ended.

And I saw, as it were, a sea of ​​glass mingled with fire; and those who conquered the beast, and his image, and his mark, and the number of his name, stand on this sea of ​​glass, holding the harp of God.

One might have thought that it would have been more convenient for John to stop by talking about the harvest of judgment, but he still has a lot to say - about the last horrors and the millennium reign of the saints, about the last attack of the Gentiles and about the final beatitude.

John spoke about the breaking of the seven seals and about the seven trumpets, and now he must tell about the seven bowls of God's wrath. This manner is typical of the authors of the apocalyptic books, who grouped everything into groups of seven and three and considered the combination of three groups of seven to be perfect.

All this is happening in heaven. Before proceeding to the story of the seven angels with the seven bowls of wrath, John spoke about those who were martyred for Christ's sake and now stand on a sea of ​​glass, as it were. This sea we have already seen in 4,6. Now this glass is mixed with fire, a perfectly natural combination under the present conditions. This passage speaks of judgment, and in Scripture fire is often a symbol of judgment. Hail and fire - one of the Egyptian plagues (Ex. 9:24); God will burn the chaff with unquenchable fire (Mat. 3:12); but our God is a consuming fire (Heb. 12:29). The entire scene is gloomily illuminated by the fire of judgment that will descend upon the earth.

Soon we hear the song of Moses. This is the song that Moses sang when the children of Israel triumphantly walked out of danger and passed through the Red Sea. Likewise, the martyrs, Sweet says, passed unscathed through the sea of ​​martyrdom and reached the shores of heaven.

The martyrs, says John, victoriously withstood the struggle against the forces of Antichrist. This is extremely important. The martyrs died the most cruel and terrible death, and yet John says they overcame the beast and emerged victorious. Their death made them victorious; if they had saved their lives by betraying their faith, they would have suffered final defeat. In the history of the early Church a day martyrdom like a day of victory. In the history of the martyrdom of Perpetua we read: "The day of their victory was coming to an end and they walked from the prison to the amphitheater, as if they were going to heaven, happy and with calmness on their faces." Jesus said: “He who wants to save his soul will lose it; but whoever loses his life for my sake will take it away.” (Matt. 16:25). To win a true victory is not to save life prudently, but to boldly face the worst that can cause evil and, if necessary, be faithful to the end. “May the Lord deprive you of your peace,” said the Spanish mystic Unamuno, “and give you glory.”

Revelation 15:3.4 Song of Victory

And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying: Great and marvelous are Your works, Lord God Almighty! righteous and true are thy ways, O King of saints!

Who will not fear You, O Lord, and glorify Your name? for You alone are holy. All nations will come and bow before You, for Your judgments have been revealed.

The victorious martyrs sing two songs: the song of the Lamb, which, as we have seen (14,3) only they could learn; and the song of Moses, the servant of God. It was the song that Moses sang to the glory of God after Israel's safe crossing of the Red Sea. She is in Ref. 15:1-19:“The Lord is my strength and my glory, He was my salvation ... Who is like You, Lord, among the gods? Who, like You, is majestic in holiness, worthy of praise, a worker of miracles? ... The Lord will reign forever and ever.

This song was imprinted in the memory of the Jews. It was sung at every Sabbath service in the synagogue. During every Jewish service, reading Shema, Israel's creed of faith, was accompanied—and is still accompanied today—by two prayers, and one of them is this song: “It is true that You are Jehovah our God, and the God of our fathers, our Savior and the Savior of our fathers, our Creator, the Rock of our Salvation, our Help and our Deliverer. Your name is eternal and there is no God but You. A new song was sung by those who were redeemed to Your name on the seashore; they all together praised you and called you the King and said, may Jehovah reign in the boundless world! Blessed are you, Lord, who saved Israel." The song of Moses sealed forever the greatest deliverance in the history of God's chosen people of Israel, and this song is sung by the victorious martyrs who were led through the sea of ​​persecution to the promised land of heaven.

But martyrs have their own song. Two things stand out here.

1. It is composed almost entirely of quotations from the Old Testament. We first give the words of the song, and then the corresponding places in the Old Testament.

Great and marvelous are Your works.

"How great are Your works, O Lord" (Ps. 91:6)."Great are the works of the Lord" (Ps. 110:2)"He did miracles" (Ps. 97:1)."Wonderful are thy works" (Ps. 139:14).

Righteous and true are Your ways.

"Righteous is the Lord in all his ways" (Ps. 144:17).

Who will not fear You, O Lord, and glorify Your name?

“All the nations that You have created will come and bow before You, O Lord, and glorify your name» (Ps. 85:9).

You alone are holy.

"No one is as holy as the Lord" (1 Samuel 2:2).“Let them praise your great and terrible name: holy is it!” (Ps. 98:3).“Holy and terrible is His name!” 77s. 110,9).

Your judgments have been revealed.

"The Lord has revealed His salvation, He has revealed His righteousness before the eyes of the people" (Ps. 97:2) This passage shows us how much John was immersed in the Old Testament.

2. One more thing is striking in the song of the triumphant martyrs. There is not a word in it about their own accomplishments; this song from beginning to end is a lyrical outpouring in honor of the majesty of God.

Heaven is a place where people forget about themselves and remember only about God. As R. G. Charles put it, “When one sees a perfect God, one’s self is completely forgotten.” Sweet put it this way: “In the presence of God, martyrs forget themselves; their thoughts are absorbed by the new miracles surrounding them; before us is the glory of God and his great plan, in which their sufferings are only an extremely small fraction. They begin to see the great events of the world drama and we hear the doxology in which they hail their first perfectly clear vision of God and His works.

Revelation 15:5-7 Avenging Angels

And after this I looked, and, behold, the temple of the tabernacle of testimony was opened in heaven,

And seven angels came out of the temple, having seven plagues, clothed in clean and bright linen clothes and girded around their breasts with golden belts.

And one of the four animals gave the seven angels seven golden bowls filled with the wrath of God who lives forever and ever.

The Tabernacle of Revelation is what is usually called in Old Testament tabernacle in the wilderness (Numbers 9.15; 17.7; 18.2). Thus, John does not mean the Jerusalem Temple at all, but the ancient tabernacle.

And it was from the tabernacle that the seven avenging angels came out. In the center of the Holy in the tabernacle stood the ark of the covenant; a box containing the tablets of the Ten Commandments, which were the essence of the law. In other words, these angels came out from the place where the law of God is to show that no person and no nation can ignore the law of God with impunity.

These avenging angels are dressed in clean and light linen clothes and girded with golden belts. The clothes of angels symbolize three things, a) They are priestly clothes. High priests wore clothes made of thin white linen and a belt embroidered with gold around the camp. The High Priest could well be called God's representative among the people, and these angels came out as God's avenging representatives, b) These are royal robes. White linen and high sashes of the clothes of princes and kings, and these angels came out in royal attire and with the authority of the King of kings, c) This is a heavenly garment. The young man at the empty tomb of Jesus was dressed in white clothes (Mat. 28:3; Mar. 16:5), and the angels, the inhabitants of heaven, came to fulfill the decision of God on earth.

The cups filled with the wrath of God were given to the seven angels by one of the four animals. When we first spoke of the four animals on their first appearance on stage (4,7), we have seen that the first animal was like a lion; the second is like a calf; the third had a face like a man; and the fourth animal is like an eagle, and that they are symbols of all that is strongest, bravest, wisest, and swiftest in nature. If this is so, then it would be quite appropriate if one of them gave the seven angels bowls filled with the wrath of God. The bowls of wrath are supposed to bring misfortune to nature and to the earth, and it may well be that this is a symbol of how nature itself puts itself into the hands and at the disposal of God in order to serve His purposes.

Revelation 15:8 Unapproachable glory

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 had ended.

The idea of ​​the glory of God, symbolized by a cloud of smoke, is typical of the Old Testament. In the vision of the prophet Isaiah, the house of God was filled with incense (Isaiah 6:4).

In addition, the idea that no one can approach the Temple while there is smoke from the glory of God is also typical of the Old Testament. “And a cloud covered the tabernacle of the meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. And Moses could not enter into the tabernacle of meeting, because a cloud overshadowed it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle" (Ex. 40:34-35). Regarding the consecration of Solomon's Temple, it says: “When the priests came out of the sanctuary, a cloud filled the house of the Lord. And the priests could not stand in the service, because of the cloud; for the glory of the Lord has filled the temple of the Lord.” (1 Kings 8:10.11).

There is a double idea in this. First, the idea that the purposes of God are often hidden from people by a cloud, for no one can see what is in God's mind; and secondly, the idea that the holiness and glory of God are such that man by himself cannot approach Him.

But some theologians believe it means something more. No one can enter the Temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels have been completed. R. G. Charles sees this as a symbolic statement of the fact that no matter how much a person approaches God and turns to Him, this cannot avert the coming judgment.

15:1 - 16,21 The seven bowls of God's wrath make up the fourth cycle of visions leading up to the Second Coming (Introduction: Characteristics and topics). The initial picture of the worship of God (15:1 - 16:1) resembles the worship of the throne of God (4:1 - 5:14). Seven luminous angels receive bowls in God's presence in the temple. The cups symbolize the cup of God's wrath, with which, as it is said in the Old Testament, the nations are drunk (14:10; 16:19; Is. 51:17.21.22; Jer. 15-29; Lamentations 4:21; 34; Hab. 2:16). These cups are poured out at the command of God (16:1); each of them is followed by one of the last seven plagues, which brings the story to the Second Coming of Christ, since the plagues "ended the wrath of God" (15:1).

The seven bowls are associated with the seven trumpets. The first four bowls, like the first four trumpets, lead to destruction in the main spheres of the created world: on earth, on the sea, on the waters and in the sky. Like trumpets, the bowls are reminiscent of Egyptian executions. But the bowls cause more terrible plagues than those that followed the sound of the trumpets. Executions after the sounding of the trumpets struck a third of the living, the ulcers that followed from the outpouring of bowls completely affect all living things.

These bowls symbolize the judgments of God on those who do evil. The picture of the judgment may indicate both the judgment of the godless Roman Empire and the final struggle before the Second Coming of Christ (Introduction: Difficulties of Interpretation).

15:2 sea of ​​glass. See com. to 4.6.

conquered the beast. The prayers of the saints have an important role to play in the execution of the judgments of God (6:9-11). As in 7:1-17, the saints are protected from plagues that strike the earth.

15:3 song of Moses. See Ex., ch. fifteen.

15:5 temple. See 4.1 - 5.14&com.

15:6 a clean and bright linen garment. In the Old Testament times, linen was used to make clothes for priests (Ex. 28:42; Lev. 16:4). The bright robes of the angels emphasize the holiness of the judgments of God.

15:7 one of the four animals. See com. to 4.6.

15:8 the temple was filled with smoke. Smoke or a thick cloud often accompanies the Divine presence. The connection of this verse with the appearance of God on Mount Sinai (Ex. 19:9; 20:18) and the visions of the prophets Isaiah and Ezekiel (Is. 6:4; Ezek. 1:4; cf. Num. 12:5; Ps. 17.9.12; 73.1).