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[Revelation Ch.15: The Bowl Judgments]

I. Prelude to the Bowls

     This is the shortest chapter of Revelation. It is the last heavenly scenery before the greatest of all judgments (the bowl judgments) fall.

     Since the 7th trumpet brings in the 7 bowls, we are chronologically back to Revelation 11.

REV 15:2  And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire

     In 4:6, the sea of glass is like "crystal." Here it is "mingled with fire." Fire speaks of judgment and tribulation.

REV 15:2-3  ...and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark...And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying

     These are not church saints, who had been raptured before the reign of the beast. They are tribulation saints who had overcomed and had been martyred by the beast during the last half of the tribulation.

     The religious scene during the tribulation will be--

     (1) First Half--

          The Apostate Church (Religious "Babylon") would dominate the world, even dictating to the antichrist who would be over Europe.  This super church would be so powerful that it could kill those who refuse to submit to its universal reach.

     (2) Second Half--

          The Antichrist and False Prophet would dominate this period. The apostate church would be either destroyed or made subservient to antichrist. Again, there is martyrdom for those who refuse to receive the mark of the beast.

          The "song of Moses" is the song of victory in Exodus 15:1-21. This song was combined with a thanksgiving hymn to the Lamb of God.

REV 15:8  And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.

     Smoke is a symbol of judgment, as in Mount Sinai when the law was given. The law produced the knowledge of sin, which in turn introduced judgment. Note that only "cloud" filled the tabernacle when it was finished (Ex. 40:35); similarly the temple (I Kings 8:10-11).

     Notice the increasing severity of the seal, trumpet, and bowl judgments. The order is climactic and the judgments become more intensive and cataclysmic. Because of the catastrophic nature of the bowl judgments, the 7 bowls must be seen as trip-hammer blows, falling one after another on earth, towards the end of the tribulation. 

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