Three Things We Must Know About the Wrath of God – Revelation 15:1-16:21
15 And I saw another sign in heaven, one that was great and marvelous: seven angels with the seven last plagues—last, because with them the wrath of God is completed. (2) I saw what looked like a sea of glass mixed with fire, and standing on the sea, those who were victorious over the beast and his image and the number that represents his name. They held harps given them by God (3) and they sang the song of Moses the servant of God and the song of the Lamb. They sang, “Great and marvelous are your works, O Lord God, the Almighty; righteous and true are your ways, O King of the ages. (4) Who shall not fear you, O Lord, and glorify your name?—for you alone are holy. All the nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous acts have been revealed.”
(5) After this I looked, and the temple in heaven, that is, the tabernacle of the Testimony, was opened. (6) Out of the temple came the seven angels who have the seven plagues. They were dressed in pure and bright linen, and they wore golden sashes around their chests. (7) Then one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls filled with the wrath of God, the one who lives forever and ever. (8) The temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power, and no one was able to enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were completed.
16 Then I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, “Go, pour out the seven bowls of God’s wrath upon the earth.” (2) The first angel went and poured out his bowl upon the land, and it caused ugly and painful sores to break out on the men who had the mark of the beast and who worshiped his image. (3) The second angel poured out his bowl upon the sea, and the sea turned into blood like that of a dead man, and every living thing in the sea died. (4) The third angel poured out his bowl upon the rivers and the springs of water, and they became blood. (5) Then I heard the angel in charge of the waters say, “You are righteous, you who are and who were, you who are the Holy One, because you have by these means executed judgment. (6) They poured out the blood of the saints and the prophets, and now you have given them blood to drink. They deserve it.” (7) And I heard the altar respond, saying, “Yes, indeed, O Lord God, the Almighty, your judgments are true and righteous!”
(8) The fourth angel poured out his bowl upon the sun, and the sun was granted permission to scorch men with fire. (9) Men were scorched by the intense heat, yet they blasphemed the name of God, who has the authority over these plagues, and they did not repent and thereby give him glory. (10) The fifth angel poured out his bowl upon the throne of the beast, and his kingdom was darkened. Men gnawed their tongues in agony, (11) yet they blasphemed the God of heaven on account of their pains and their sores, and they did not repent of their deeds.
(12) The sixth angel poured out his bowl upon the great river, the Euphrates, and its water was dried up, to prepare the way for the kings who come from the east. (13) Then I saw three evil spirits* that looked like frogs; they came out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. (14) They are the spirits of demons performing miraculous signs, and they go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them together for the battle on the great day of God, the Almighty. (15) (Listen! I will come like a thief. Blessed is he who keeps watch and who remains dressed, so that he does not go naked and be exposed to his own shame.) (16) They gathered the kings together to the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon.
(17) The seventh angel poured out his bowl upon the air, and out of the temple came a loud voice from the throne, saying, “It is finished!” (18) Then there came flashes of lightning and rumblings and peals of thunder and a severe earthquake. No earthquake like it has ever occurred since man has been on the earth, so tremendous was the quake. (19) The great city split into three parts, and the cities of the nations collapsed. God remembered Babylon the Great, in order to give her the cup filled with the wine of the fierceness of his wrath. (20) Every island fled and the mountains could not be found. (21) And huge hailstones, each one weighing about a hundred pounds,** came down out of heaven upon men; yet men blasphemed God on account of the plague of hail, for the plague was extremely severe.
*Literally, “unclean spirits”
**Literally, “a talent”
Now proceed to the next section of this study, entitled, Exploring the Passage.
