Revelation 15:1

SECTION IV

(Revelation 15-16)

REV:15

This, the shortest chapter in Revelation, together with Revelation 16, for which it is merely the introduction, again takes us through the whole cycle of time to the eternal judgment (Revelation 16:17-21). Several times already the final judgment has been prophesied (Revelation 6:12-17; 11:15-19; 14:14-20). Many have pointed out the remarkable resemblances between the seals, trumpets, and bowls. All are judgments of God; the areas affected by them are similar, especially in the trumpets and bowls sequences. Thus, in the trumpet series: (1) the earth; (2) the sea; (3) the rivers; (4) the sun; (5) the abyss, or throne of the beast; (6) the Euphrates; and (7) the final judgment are exactly the same as the things mentioned in the bowl sequence, and in the same order. Hendriksen thoroughly developed these parallels.[1]

There is also a progression. Whereas the trumpet judgments were restricted to "one third," the bowl judgments are not so limited. However, the woman, the dragon, and the two beasts of Revelation 12-14 are operative throughout exactly the same time period; namely, all the way to the end of time.

Some scholars, such as Ladd, view those chapters (Revelation 12-14) as "an interlude between the trumpets and bowls";[2] but as Roberson observed:

The seven bowls are usually classed with the seals and trumpets; and there obviously is a close affinity, particularly with the latter; but the connection with the woman and her enemies (Revelation 12-14) is even closer. They belong to the long struggle of the church in the world.[3]

The conclusion required by all of this was stated by William Milligan:

Nothing can more clearly prove that the Revelation of St. John was not written upon chronological principles than the scenes to which we are introduced in the fifteenth and sixteenth chapters of the book.[4]

"These chapters describe the entire period between the first and second coming of Christ."[5] In all of these extensive views, "John is telling us something of what will happen in the end-time and something of what goes on in human history."[6] "The statement that these are the last plagues shows that the set of visions now commencing carries us clown to the end of the age."[7] The thought is not that of focusing all of the revelation upon the very end-time, but a bird's-eye view of all time subsequent to the prophecy, including the very end.

But the vision does not move immediately to the terrible judgments. "Once more there is a pause, as if the safety of God's people in the midst of all this sin and judgment could not be insisted on sufficiently."[8] The anticipatory, consolatory vision of the song of the redeemed is again heard (Revelation 15:2-4).

Lenski pointed out another relation between the seals, trumpets, and bowls: "The seals reveal, the trumpets announce, and the bowls execute the long-restrained anger of the living God."[9] Earle's excellent outline of this short chapter is:

I. The waiting angels (Revelation 15:1).

II. The victorious saints (Revelation 15:2-4).

III. The emerging angels (Revelation 15:5-8).[10]

[1] William Hendriksen, More than Conquerors (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1956), p. 26.

[2] George Eldon Ladd, A Commentary on the Revelation of John (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1972), p. 203.

[3] Charles H. Roberson, Studies in Revelation (Tyler, Texas: P. D. Wilmeth, P.O. Box 3305,1957), p. 114.

[4] As quoted by Albertus Pieters, Studies in the Revelation of St. John (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1954), p. 241.

[5] William Hendriksen, op. cit., p. 191.

[6] Leon Morris, Tyndale Commentaries, Vol. 20, Revelation (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1969), p. 187.

[7] W. Boyd Carpenter, Ellicott's Bible Commentary, Vol. VIII (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1959), p. 604.

[8] J. R. Dummelow, Commentary on the Holy Bible (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1937), p. 1085.

[9] R. C. H. Lenski, The Interpretation of St. John's Revelation (Minneapolis, Minn.: Augsburg Publishing House, 1943), p. 461.

[10] Ralph Earle, Beacon Bible Commentary, Vol. 10 (Kansas City: Beacon Hill Press, 1967), p. 584.

And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous, seven angels having seven plagues, which are the last, for in them is finished the wrath of God. (Revelation 15:1)

And I saw another sign in heaven ... Beasley-Murray connected this mention of the seven angels with "the seven angels that stand before God (Revelation 8:2),"[11] concluding that this structural parallelism between the trumpets and bowls corresponds to a parallelism in content. Lenski, however, did not agree, translating this expression without the article (the), "I saw ... seven angels,"[12] as in our version (ASV). The point would not appear to be important. The perfect number "seven" could also symbolize an innumerable company of angels waiting and ready to do the will of God. Hardly anything here is to be understood literally. Plummer observed that:

The last time this statement was made was in Revelation 12:1, where the history of the war between Satan and the church began ... Again, John returns to the beginning to trace the development of the punishments inflicted upon men for their worship of the devil.[13]

Seven plagues, which are the last ... This does not mean that they refer exclusively to the end. "Whenever in history the wicked fail to repent in answer to partial manifestations of God's anger in judgments, the final effusion of wrath follows."[14]

[11] G. R. Beasley-Murray, The Book of Revelation (Greenwood, South Carolina: The Attic Press, 1974), p. 234.

[12] R. C. H. Lenski, op. cit., p. 453.

[13] A. Plummer, The Pulpit Commentary, Vol. 22, Revelation (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1950), p. 381.

[14] William Hendriksen as quoted by Morris, op. cit., p. 187.