A Commentary in Simple English on Revelation

CHAPTER 15

This chapter starts with a verse in which John begins to tell us about the seven bowls. These bowls will be used to pour out God’s punishments on the world. This is because of God's great anger or 'wrath'. Once again, John starts to talk about this in verse 1 but then he tells us about the seventh 'vision' in the rest of the chapter. Then in Chapter 16 we read about the seven bowls. The shape of this is rather like the start of Chapter 8.

Verse 1: The sign of the Seven Last 'Plagues’

In this verse, John seems to say: 'These really are the last'. This will not be like 11:14, where John led us to expect something really bad when the last trumpet sounded. It did not happen then. But the seven bowls really do take us right to the end of what God will do.

Verses 2-8: The Last Exodus [15.1]

In Exodus 14, the people of Israel had Moses to lead them. They had escaped from Egypt. Their journey took them eastwards. It was the start of the journey to the Land, which God had promised to give to them. But soon they came to the sea (Exodus 14:9). The Egyptian army was behind them. Pharoah, the King of Egypt, wanted to make them go back to Egypt. They would be slaves again if that happened. The people of Israel were frightened.

But God gave them the 'glory cloud', the 'pillar of fire'. It had led them. Now it went behind them. It left the army of Egypt in darkness. It gave light to Israel (verses 19 and 20). Then God told Moses what to do (Verses 21 and 22). God made a way through the sea for Israel. The water was piled up on each side of them like a wall. The Egyptians tried to follow Israel, but the water came back over them and it killed them (Verses 23-28).

Then in Chapter 15 we have the song which Moses and Israel sang.

We need to think of the light from the 'pillar of fire', shining on the water of the sea that night. It looked as though the fire and the water were mixed together.

So now in verse 2, John tells us how he saw a new Israel in his 'vision'. This 'new Israel' was the Church.

1 In 4:6, John saw 'a sea which was made of glass'. There, it came between God and His people. Now he sees it again, and it is mixed with fire.

2 But the new Israel are on God's side of this sea. Like Israel in Exodus, they have gone through the sea, and now they are safe.

3 John tells us who they are. They are the Christians who would not join in the false worship of Caesar. They had won the fight. Once it looked as though they had lost the fight (13:7). But they had 'overcome' at last.

4 Like Moses and Israel in Exodus, they are full of joy. They had harps, which God had given them to help them in their worship (verse 3). The song is not called 'The Song of Moses' because the words are like the words Moses and Israel sang. The words are different. It is because it is the song of those who are saved; the song of those who have won the war against sin.

The song in verses 3 and 4 does not say anything about Jesus, the Lamb of God. It is called the 'Song of the Lamb' because the people who sing it are the people who 'follow the Lamb wherever He goes'.

God is 'the King of the Ages' because He reigns over all that happens in all the ages.

In verse 4, John asks: 'Who shall not fear God?'. The answer must be: -'Everyone will!’ But Christians fear God with joy. God does not frighten them. God will frighten those who do not believe the Good News.

In the middle of verse 4 we read: 'You alone are holy'. In most places in the New Testament the word 'holy' stands for a Greek word which means 'separate'. [15.2] The word here is a different one. It is a great word, which means very, very 'pure'. We think that the angels are pure because they have not sinned. This is right. But God is far purer than they are. The word is only used about eight times in the New Testament.

The Christian turns away from the devil, who would destroy us. We turn to the God who saves us. We turn from the devil who hates us to the God who loves us. We can never turn back.

Before we leave these verses, we should compare them with the next chapter. We have looked at a great song of praise to God in verses 3 and 4. In 16: 9 and 11 men speak about their hate for God. In verse 2 of this chapter we saw the people of God. They stood by the sea. The sea came between them and all their enemies. It shone with the fire of God.

In 16:3, the sea itself dies.

In verse 5, John looks again and God opens the 'inner temple'. This is the real 'temple' where God Himself lives in heaven. It is the Tent or ‘tabernacle’, which has in it the signs of all that is true about God. In 11:19, God opened His Temple in heaven. Then it was His grace and goodness, which we could see. Now it is the great anger of God against sin, which we can see. In verse 6, seven angels come out of the Temple. We had hoped that it would be Jesus, our great High Priest, who would come out. These angels have the seven last 'plagues'. The next chapter will tell us what the 'plagues' are. The angels are rather like John's 'vision' of Jesus (1:13). [15.3]

In verse 7 one of the 'living creatures' (see 4: 6-8 and 6: 1-7) gives to each of the angels a bowl which is made from gold. These are filled with God's great anger. It may help if we place this between verses 5 and 6. Men die and God's great anger against sin causes this. But God does not die. He lives for ever. We read in the next chapter of the anger of men against God. That does no good. We must turn from our sin and give the glory and honour to God.

In verse 8, smoke fills the Temple. It came both from God's glory and from His power. (See Exodus 40:34 and 35; 1 Kings 8:10 and 11; Isaiah 6:4.) [15.4] People wanted to go to God to pray about the 'plagues' but they could not. This was the effect of the smoke. But it was not the reason for it. The reason for the smoke was that God was about to do something new. We can see this if we look at the Old Testament verses.