Revelation Chapter 15 introduction

Revelation Chapter 15 introduction

With the seven seals there was an interlude between the sixth and seventh seal so that the church could be sealed in preparation for the seven trumpets. We have also seen that the seven trumpets, which resemble the plagues upon Egypt, were sent to warn mankind and to call mankind to repentance. We also saw that between the sixth and seventh, and final, trumpet the two witnesses, representing the church, also calling mankind to repentance. Here at the start of the seven bowls of God’s wrath we see a picture of the redeemed in heaven who had been victorious over the beast, and his image and over the number of his name. They sing the song of Moses that the Israelites sang after they crossed the Red Sea, the song of Moses indicating their exodus from the world and the destruction of their enemies. This victory over the Egyptians was a foreshadowing of the victory of all God’s redeemed over the beast, his image, his number (Hendriksen). There then comes the seven bowls of God’s wrath which can be likened to the Red sea that drowned the Egyptians who followed the Israelites into the Red sea (Caird). This can also be likened to the lake of blood formed from the great winepress of God’s wrath of the previous chapter (Caird). There is no interval between the sixth and seventh bowl as there was between the sixth and seventh trumpet, which was included so that the church can witness to the world in a last call to repentance. There is no such interval with the bowls because the time for repentance is past, instead the scene moved inexorably from the first to the final bowl as they are poured out one by one. The trumpets warn; bowls are poured out (Hendriksen).

This section on the seven bowls could be seen as a more detailed view of the winepress of God’s wrath found in Rev 14:19-20, which is clearly connected to Christ's coming and the harvest of the age. In 14:19 we find the expression 'winepress of God’s wrath' and in 15:1 the seven last plagues are said to complete God’s wrath. In 14:20 we find a vast lake or sea of blood for a distance of 1,600 stadia, in the second bowl we find that the sea is turned into blood like that of a dead man (Rev 16:3). If the seven bowls are a more detailed description of the winepress of God’s wrath then the seven bowls occur during the time of great distress just before Christ's Second Coming, note the sudden reference to His second coming during bowl six. Notice that in Rev 19:15, which deals with the Second Coming, Christ is described as the one who treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty (19:15). One can also see in this passage a more detailed view of the wrath of God and of the Lamb first mentioned in Rev 6:16-17. Against this view is fact that the day of the Lord will bring swift destruction upon mankind, Zep 1:18, there does not seem time for the seven bowls and the Lord only appears during the sixth bowl. Unless the seven bowls are included in the time of great distress just before the end indicated by Luke 21:25-28, Mat 24:21-30, Mark 13:14-27.

The seven bowls can be seen as God’s response to the beasts of chapter 13 and the persecution of God’s people. The bowls are directed at:

(i) The people who had the mark of the beast and worshipped his image (16:2);

(ii) Those who had shed the blood of the saints and prophets (16:6);

(iii) The throne of the beast and his kingdom (16:10);

(iv) The air where Satan has his dwelling (16:17).