K-15. THE BOOK OF REVELATION CHAPTER 15.
Rev. 15:1. "And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God."
Rev. 15:4. "Who shall not fear you, O Lord, and glorify your name? For you only are holy: for all nations shall come and worship before you; for your judgments are made manifest." Rev. 15:5. "And after that I looked, and, behold, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened:" Rev. 15:6. "And the seven angels came out of the temple, having the seven plagues, clothed in pure and white linen, and having their breasts girded with golden girdles."
Now that you have an overview let us go back and take each verse one at a time. Read Revelation 15:1 again and see what it is saying to us.
Rev. 15:1. "And I saw another sign (or wonder) in heaven, great and marvelous, seven angels (or seven messengers, which I believe may represent the seven churches) having the seven LAST plagues; for in them (speaking of the seven LAST plagues) is FILLED UP the WRATH of God."
Now to ME, I see chapter 15 as being an OVERVIEW of the WRATH of God being poured out AFTER the CHURCH and the 144,000 are safe with Jesus. In other words, chapter 15 is like summing up what has been already been said just before the time of great tribulation, the second coming of Jesus and the wrath of God are being repeated again in chapter 16. To say this another way the seven vials cover the same three events as the seven trumpets, which cover the same three events as the seven seals. And these three events are #1. the time of great tribulation, #2. the second coming of Jesus to rapture the church and #3. the wrath of God being poured out in the SEVENTH ONLY the seventh SEAL, the seventh TRUMPET, and the seventh VIAL. But some Christians see that ALL of these seven LAST PLAGUES as the WRATH of God where ALL seven vials are the WRATH of God. However, I myself see the first SIX VIALS taking place DURING the time of GREAT tribulation and ONLY the SEVENTH VIAL actually being the WRATH of God. I will explain what I mean by this when we get to Revelation chapter 16. And at the end of this study I will include ANOTHER INTERPRETATION of chapter 15 and the seven VIALS, but for now, please understand that just like some of the Old Testament prophecies have TWO fulfillment so also does Revelation 15 and 15 have TWO fulfilments, one BEFORE the 1000 year reign of Jesus and one at the END of the 1000 year reign of Jesus. Again please read the other interpretation that I have written on chapter 15 and 16 at the end of the book of Revelation after we have gone through all 22 chapters, but for now, let us continue with the line of reasoning that ONLY the SEVEN and FINAL VIAL is the WRATH of God and the first SIX VIALS are poured out DURING the time of GREAT tribulation. I also want to point out that the seven LAST PLAGUES are also called the seven VIALS or the seven BOWLS in some translations of the Bible. So then, here in verse 1 of chapter 15 we see that these seven LAST PLAGUES are FILLED UP with the WRATH of God. Now just reading this verse on the surface it certainly appears that these seven last plagues are the WRATH of God. And I myself went back and forth on how I would interpret this passage of scripture for quite some time. But when I could NOT reconcile Jesus coming yet AGAIN in chapter 16:15,16 after he had ALREADY come at the sounding of the seventh TRUMPET in Revelation 11:11-19 I then concluded that I was MISSING something here in chapter 15. This is when the thought came to me to LOOK UP the word "WRATH" in a concordance to see if it could be translated as something different than WRATH and here is what I found. There are FOUR Greek words that are TRANSLATED as WRATH in the New Testament. First, we have the Greek word "PARORGISMOS", Strong's #(3950) and means "anger" and is used one time in the Bible translated as "wrath" in Ephesians 4:26 speaking of the wrath or anger of man not to let the sun go down on our wrath or anger. Second, we have the Greek word "PARORGIZO", Strong's #(3949) and means to anger, or to exasperate, and is translate one time as "anger" in Romans 10:19 and one time as to "provoke to wrath" in Ephesians 2:3 teaching us not to provoke or exasperate our children to anger or wrath. So then both of these words do not mean THE WRATH of God. Thirdly, we have the Greek word " THYMOS", Strong's #(2372) and means anger, fury, wrath, rage and a state of intense displeasure. The anger of God with the focus of righteous punishment. This word is translated 14 times as wrath, 2 times as fierceness, 1 time as indignation, and 1 time as wraths. And it is THIS word that is used in Revelation chapter 15 verse 1 and verse 7 and Revelation chapter 16 verse 1, which in MY OPINION has led some to FALSELY believe that ALL of the seven VIALS are THE WRATH of God, when in fact it may be that ONLY the SEVENTH VIAL is the actual WRATH of God. Again I will explain this further as we go along. Fourthly, we have the Greek word "ORGE", Strong's #(3709) and means wrath, anger, strong displeasure and hostility. This can range from human anger to the righteous anger of God toward sinful disobedience. It is translated 31 times as wrath, 3 times as anger, 1 time as indignation, and 1 time as vengeance. Now out of these 31 times that this Greek word "ORGE" is translated as "WRATH" all but four are very clear to me that it is speaking of THE WRATH of God without fail. And out of the 14 times that the Greek word "THYMOS" is translated as "WRATH" it is ONLY in the book of Revelation itself that we see that this Greek word "THYMOS" having the possibility as meaning THE WRATH of God. But again of these 8 times in the book of Revelation, I myself see that we should not dogmatically DEMAND that EVERY time we see this Greek word "THYMOS" that it should be translated as THE wrath of Almighty God. If so, then Revelation 16:19 MUST without fail be translated as "...the WRATH of his WRATH...", or the "THYMOS" of his "ORGE". Let us read this verse in CONTEXT so that you can CLEARLY see that this verse in Revelation 16:19 is definitely speaking of THE WRATH of Almighty God being poured out IN the SEVENTH VIAL. Please read Revelation 16:15-21, which clearly shows us the SECOND coming of Jesus as a THIEF, the GATHERING TOGETHER of the RIGHTEOUS and then the POURING out of the FIERCENESS of THE WRATH of God, rather than being translated as THE wrath of THE wrath of God.
"15. Behold, I (Jesus) COME as a THIEF. Blessed is he that watches, and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked, and they (speaking of the angels that Jesus send to GATHER TOGETHER his faithful who are without sin) see his shame. 16. And he (speaking of Jesus by the means of sending his angels to do this job for him, Jesus) GATHERED them (speaking of ONLY the FAITHFUL believers IN Jesus, who are without sin) TOGETHER into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.(Remember and keep in mind that this SECOND coming of Jesus take place BETWEEN the pouring out of the SIXTH VIAL, where we see the armies gathered together for the battle of ARMAGEDDON, and the pouring out of the SEVENTH VIAL, which you will clearly see as THE WRATH of God.) 17. And the SEVENTH angel poured out his VIAL into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done.(speaking of the rapture or the mystery of God being finished just like we read in Revelation 10:7 when the SEVENTH trumpet begins to sound.) 18. And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great. (Again we see the great earthquake taking place at the rapture of the church.) 19. And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the FIERCENESS (THYMOS, which some dogmatically DEMAND to always be translated as WRATH, as in, THE wrath of God, which would then cause this verse to read as THE wrath) of his WRATH (ORGE). 20. And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. 21. And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent: and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great."
So you can see what I mean when I say that this Greek word "THYMOS" does not always mean THE WRATH of God as some DEMAND that it should. But IF we follow their DEMAND then we need to CHANGE verse 19 to read ...the WRATH (THYMOS) of his WRATH (ORGE), which to ME does not make any sense whatsoever. We need to keep in mind that MEN have TRANSLATED the original Hebrew and Greek Bible into English and they have made some errors here and there. Therefore we need to let the CONTEXT overrule their translation when in doubt and when their translations cause contradictions in the word of God. With that being said let us take another look at Revelation 15:1 with the Greek word "THYMOS" translated as "FIERCENESS" rather than the word "WRATH".
"And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the FIERCENESS of God."
We will need to do this one more time in Rev. 15:7 when we get to it, but for now let us continue with Revelation 15:2, which says,
Rev. 2. "And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the VICTORY OVER the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God."
Here in this verse, as well as in this whole chapter 15, we see an OVERVIEW of the CHURCH and the 144,000 AFTER they have been caught up in the CLOUDS to meet Jesus in the AIR. Remember in chapter 7 the church stood before the throne of God and in chapter 14 the 144,000 were in VIEW of the throne of God. But the main point is that both the JEWS and the CHURCH go through the time of great tribulation and the church along with the 144,000 seal Jews get VICTORY OVER the beast by NOT taking his mark, or being numbered among the Muslims to worship their IMAGE the black stone in the Kaaba in Mecca. Again I personally believe that there is more to the REMNANT of the Jews than just the 144,000 sealed Jews. And also there will be some left alive of the nations who will not have taken the mark of the beast. Then after chapter 15 and this overview when we begin chapter 16, John will take us back in time again to the time of GREAT tribulation that is BEFORE the SECOND coming of Jesus. The whole book of Revelation is written in this style of writing of going back and forth from the past to the future and from the future back to the past repeating the same events over an over. To say this another way and perhaps more precisely, the book of Revelation gives a sequence of events in the order of their taking place and then REPEATS that same sequence of events in more detail over and over. And this is why so many people get so confused when trying to interpret what happens and when it happens because some Christians want to read the WHOLE book of Revelation as events happening in chronological ORDER. However, if one interprets the book of Revelation sequentially from beginning to end then you will have to say that there will be THREE different times that the WRATH of God is poured out. I hope that you see that there will not be THREE different wraths of God, but rather that Revelation REPEATS itself giving more detail as it describes the ONE WRATH of God. Yes, I do see the HOUR of God's wrath being lifted at the second coming of Jesus and the completion of this HOUR of God's wrath being at the END of the 1000 year reign of Jesus. This is one of the reasons why I have an alternative interpretation of Revelation 15 and 16 at the end of this verse by verse study of God's word where ALL seven vials are the wrath of God at the END of the 1000 year reign of Jesus. But even then it appears that history will repeat itself where there is ANOTHER coming of Jesus in Revelation 16:15,16 before the SEVENTH vial is poured out in the AIR in Revelation 16:17- 21 if so be one decides to go with this alternative interpretation of chapters 15 and 16 being THE WARTH of God and NOT just the seventh vial being the wrath of God. So, for NOW, I am interpreting Revelation chapter 15 and 16 as being the a REPEATING of the three events of the great tribulation, the second coming of Jesus and the wrath of God BEFORE the 1000 year reign of Jesus. So the Greek word "thymos" is chapter 15 should have been translated as fierceness or anger of God being filled up. Think of chapter 15 as God being pushed to his limit and his anger is being filled up. Again we also see that these saints have gotten VICTORY over the beast system by NOT worshiping the beast or his image or taking his mark. Now I am not sure what the sea of glass means, but if we take the word "SEA" to mean the WICKED as it sometimes does in the Bible and we take the word "GLASS" as something that is easily broken or as being under the FEET of the saints. And then we read the words of Jesus in Revelation 2:26-28 where Jesus gives TO us who OVERCOME and get VICTORY over Satan the one behind the beast the honor and power to BREAK in PIECES the wicked like the vessels of a potter then we can see that the sea of glass may be symbolic for the wicked. So then, the wicked are under our feet. Revelation 2:26-28.
27. And he (speaking of us the church and the 144,000 along with Jesus) shall RULE them (speaking of the WICKED) with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they (the WICKED) be BROKEN to shivers (like as GLASS is easily broken to shivers): even as I received of my Father. 28. And I will give him the morning star (many Bible scholars agree that the "morning star" here in this verse is a reference to Satan. Know you not that WE shall JUDGE the angels, which I believe means the FALLEN angels and Satan who is Lucifer a FALLEN angel.)."
Now, I am not saying that this is what the saints standing on the sea of glass must mean, in that, it cannot mean anything else, but rather I am speculating on a POSSIBLE meaning of what the sea of glass means, so if you have something else please let me know and I will consider your input. We also see this phrase "sea of glass" in Revelation 4:6. "And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal:..." So it might be just a description of the FLOOR in the throne room of God and nothing more. Now, when some Christians read Revelation 2:28 above in the King James version they connect it with Revelation 22:16 where Jesus calls himself the BRIGHT and MORNING STAR and they get offended that I would even write something that even suggests that SATAN is the MORNING STAR. First of all, I am sorry if this has offended you because that was not my intention. Secondly please consider what Jesus is saying in verse 28 above. Jesus is saying that HE himself will GIVE those who OVERCOME Satan the MORNING STAR. So then will Jesus GIVE us HIMSELF? To ME that interpretation does not make sense, so I looked up the Greek words that were TRANSLATED as "MORNING STAR" is both passages of scripture and the Greek words for "MORNING" are two completely DIFFERENT Greek words. This tells me that John, the same writer of both verses is showing us that these two DIFFERENT morning stars are NOT speaking of the SAME person. Revelation 22:16 is most definitely speaking of Jesus and Revelation 2:28 appears to ME as referring to Satan, which Jesus himself gives to us who overcame him to judge him. Let us dig a little deep by taking a look at Isaiah 14:12 where Lucifer is called the son of the morning and where the Hebrew word translated to the Latin word "LUCIFER" means shining one and morning star. Isaiah 14:8-16.
"The whole earth is at REST, and is quiet: they break forth into singing. (This is speaking of the 1000 year reign of Jesus when Satan will be BOUND during the 1000 years and the people 9. Hell from beneath is moved for you to meet you at your coming: it stirs up the dead for you, even all the chief ones of the earth; it has raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations. (It appears that those in the grave speaking of the WICKED or lost shall be able to see Satan when he is BOUND in the bottomless pit. I think of those called by conspiracy theorist as the "elite" who are in league with the fallen angels where they are deceived into believing that the fallen angels are aliens from another solar system. It appears that Satan is using the elite and governments of the world to help build ships of war to fight against Jesus and his angels at his coming so Satan is deceiving some to prepare for an ALIEN invasion that is coming to HARVEST the earth according to the conspiracy theory. Again please read the studies "WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY ABOUT UFO'S?" and "THE WAR IN HEAVEN-REVELATION 12" before you write me off as a quack for the Bible itself has a lot to say about the CHARIOTS of God.)
Some may say WOW if I had KNOWN this before I would have walked all over Satan rather than cowering down being AFRAID of him. The TRUTH of the matter is that Satan is UNDER your FEET NOW dear child of God so STAND in your authority in the mighty name of Jesus and tread on that old serpent now in this present world. RESIST the Devil and he WILL flee from you in the name of Jesus. Let us move on the Revelation 15:3, which says,
Remeber in chapter 14 that the 144,000 will learn a new song which will be the song of the Lamb. For ME, I always see Almighty God the FATHER as being separate from Jesus his SON all through the New Testament of the Bible. In other words, Jesus is NOT the Father and Almighty God the FATHER is NOT his SON Jesus. We must believe in BOTH the SON and the FATHER. When we honor the SON, the LAMB, we honor the Father also. In this verse, we also see TWO groups of people, the JEWS and the CHRISTIANS, who are the TWO WITNESSES in Revelation chapter 11. You will see these TWO groups all through the book of Revelation and even hidden in the Old Testament as well if you are looking for them. Please read the study "THE TWO WITNESSES-WHO ARE THEY?" for all the verses showing us that the two witnesses are two groups of people rather than two single individual people. Now let us move on to verse 4 of chapter 15.
Here I see that God's HOUR of JUDGMENT has ALREADY been made KNOWN or have already been MANIFEST. In other words, God WRATH has ALREADY been poured out and ALL the nations have SEEN the FIERCENESS of his WRATH so this is WHY the statement WHO shall NOT fear you O Lord? This is written as a question, as in, surely now ALL the nations shall come and WORSHIP before you after suffering your WRATH. Remember and keep in mind how the book of Revelation keeps jumping around showing us an overview, then going back to the beginning, showing us the some of the great tribulation in the first SIX, and then showing us the second coming immediately AFTER the first SIX and then showing us the wrath of God being poured out in the SEVENTH. And then the book of Revelation starts over again repeating these same three events, back and forth all the way through the entire book of Revelation. And if you remember, the wicked do NOT repent during the time of great tribulation, so to me, this is just a repeating of the WRATH of God AFTER those before the throne of God who overcame during the time of great tribulation. Remember in the previous chapter 14 we saw a type of example or the RAPTURE of the church followed by the harvest of the wicked being the wrath of God. Now let us move on and read Revelation 15 verses 5 through 8, which says,
Rev. 15:6. "And the seven angels came out of the temple, having the seven plagues, clothed in pure and white linen, and having their breasts girded with golden girdles."
We do not prophesy these judgments upon ourselves, but rather we preach these judgments to the world warning them what is coming upon them. God provides protection for his people even now before the great tribulation, but not all Christians make use of God's protection. Hosea teaches us that God's people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. I am not sure how it will be during the great tribulation, but I feel quite sure that God will GIVE us POWER to overcome and also provide protection from his judgments if we are OBEYING the gospel to get sin out of our lives.
Rev. 15:7. "And one of the four beasts gave unto the seven angels SEVEN golden VIALS full of the WRATH of God (which remember the word that is TRANSLATED as wrath here is the Greek word "THYMOS", which should have been translated as full of the FIERCENESS of God), who lives forever and ever."
Please read Revelation 11:4-7. "And I will GIVE POWER unto my two witnesses (NOT SEND down my two witnesses from heaven back to the earth, but rather GIVE POWER to my two witnesses that are already in the earth), and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth. 4. These are the two olive trees (Israel is the natural born olive tree and the Christians are the wild olive tree), and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth. 5. And if any man will HURT them, fire proceeds out of their mouth, and devours their enemies: and if any man will HURT them, he must in this manner be killed.(This sure sounds like protection to me at least till we FINISH our testimony and prophecy. Remember that the judgment of plague is for the Muslims and the ungodly of the world to repent and believe in Jesus the Son of the one true and only Almighty God. Personally, I do not believe that the fire out of our mouth will be a literal fire, but rather it will be the word of God like fire in our bones that we must prophesy.) 6. These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy (like the "spirit" of Elijah): and have power over waters to turn them to blood (like the "spirit" of Moses), and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will. 7. And when they shall have FINISHED their testimony, the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them."
I myself believe that this war will begin at the abomination of desolation, which will start the clock so to speak on the 3 1/2 years of great tribulation. Then this war will increase over the course of the 3/12 years to become its fiercest at the end of the 3 1/2 years where most of the killing of the Jews and the Christians will take place. But I also believe that during these entire 3 1/2 years of great tribulation many Jews and Christians will be killed even more than they are right now in 2000 through 2016 at the time of this updating of this study. Keep in mind ALL the verses that speak of the "bottomless pit" because there are TWO ascents out of the bottomless pit; one before the second coming of Jesus and one after the 1000 year reign of Jesus. The Holy Spirit just revealed this to me so I have not had time to pray and meditate on this. Some thoughts I am having right now are two raptures on at the second coming, one before the 1000 year reign of Jesus for the church and one after the 1000 years for the Jews and those left alive of the nations who are faithful to follow Jesus during the Millennial reign of Jesus. This is like when Jesus spoke of the resurrection, which SEEMED like ONE resurrection. But when John received more revelation we now see clearly that there are TWO resurrections. One thing that has puzzled me is the JEWS being given power like the church without being a part of the church. And if they get saved and are a part of the church, then there would be only ONE witness and not TWO witnesses. Now if these thoughts that I am having right now are correct, then BEFORE the second coming there will be power given to the church to prophesy. And then during the little season and the end of the 1000 years, the Jews will be given the power to prophesy. Again sort of like history repeating itself. The first shall be last and the last shall be first. God choose the Jews first and when they rejected his so great a salvation God turned to the Gentiles who were not his people. So we the church who are last shall be raptured first before the 1000 year reign of Jesus. And the first chosen Jews shall be the last to be raptured at the end of the 1000 year reign of Jesus. In other words, Revelation chapter 11 of the two witnesses being killed, then resurrected and then raptured or caught up into the clouds before the eyes of their enemies is actually speaking of TWO separate events separated by the 1000 year reign of Jesus. This brings us to the end of chapter 15 and to the pouring out of the seven VIALS in CHAPTER 16. |