B i b l e S t u d y
Lesson: Revelation 15 -Seven Angels with Seven Plagues
SCRIPTURE READING: Revelation 15:1-8
GOLDEN TEXT: Revelation 15:1
Revelation 12-14 are inset chapters. Revelation 15:1 picks up the story flow from Revelation 11:19.
1. Did the apostle John see another sign in heaven that was great and marvelous? (Revelation 15:1). Did he see seven angels having the seven last plagues? What do the seven last plagues complete?
2. Did John see something like a sea of glass mingled with fire? (Revelation 15:2). Were those who would not worship the beast and his image killed? (Revelation 13:15). Did he see those who have the victory over the beast, over his image and over his mark and over the number of his name, standing on the sea of glass, having harps of God? (Rev. 15:2). Is this ‘sea of glass’ before and around God’s throne? (Revelation 4:6).
Note: John is seeing the Saints who have come up in the first resurrection (Revelation 14:1-5), and some of those who have been resurrected are those who had been killed and now had victory over the beast and his mark. There are many Saints in the first resurrection who died in the faith and did not have to confront the beast and his image. There has been a lot of the ‘wrath of God’ up to this point in the Book of Revelation with the seven seals and the seven trumpet plagues, but the seven last plagues completes and finishes the ‘wrath of God’.
3. Did these resurrected Saints sing the ’song of Moses’? (Revelation 15:3). Is the ‘song of Moses’ found in Deuteronomy 31:30, 32:1-47? Did Moses praise and exalt God in Verses 1-4? Does this song of prophecy say that Israel had corrupted themselves and that they were a perverse and crooked generation? (Verse 5). Can we say that our society today is corrupt, crooked and perverse? Did Moses say to the children of Israel that God bought them? (Verse 6). Is Jesus our Redeemer and have we been bought with a price? (Titus 2:14,1 Corinthians 6:19-20). Did God bless Israel abundantly? (Verses 12-13). Has God blessed us, the English speaking people, today abundantly? Did ancient Israel forsake God who had made them and scornfully esteemed the Rock of their salvation? (Verses 15). Did they provoked God to jealousy and anger with their abominations and foreign gods? (Verse 16). Are we doing the same thing today in our society? Did they sacrifice to demons and gods that they did not know and not to God? (Verse 17). When God saw it, did He spurn, abhor and reject them? (Verse 19). When you consider what all God did for Israel and to mention just a few things: God brought them out slavery in Egypt and gave them a new life in a new land. He protected them with a pillar of cloud by day and pillar of fire by night. He gave them hope and fed them in the wilderness. With all of the goodness that God bestowed upon Israel, what did they do in return? They rebelled against Him.
Can we hear in this ‘song of Moses’ the echoes of the Book of Revelation regarding the beast and the powers that will lead God to judge Israel of old and also at the end time? The Saints in the first resurrection are singing the ‘song of Moses’ in a new context. The context is that of the Book of Revelation of mankind approaching the end time and who has once again rejected and forsaken God and have turned against Him.
Does God say that He will hide His face from them to see what their end will be because they are a perverse generation? (Verse 20). There may come a time in a person’s life where he will forget God one time to many and God will say: "He is not paying any attention to Me, I will hide my face from him and I will see how well he can do without Me". Does the prophet Hosea say that "Because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children?" (Hosea 4:6). This is scary!
Does God say that He will heap disasters on them? (Deuteronomy 31:23). Waste them with hunger and devour them by pestilence and bitter destruction? (Verse 24). Will God send the sword to destroy them? (Verse 25). Is their way of life like that of Sodom and Gomorrah? (Verse 32). Do these same sins take place in the cities of our country today, the sins of crime, violence, murder, drugs, adultery and depravity?
In reading the ‘song of Moses’ you would think that this was transposed right out of the pages of the Book of Revelation. In the Book of Revelation we have the Saints of God standing on the sea of glass before God’s throne singing the ‘song of Moses’ because it is relevant to what is about to take place. It is the day of God’s vengeance and recompense, the day of their calamity is at hand and the seven last plagues are about to be poured out because God’s judgment is at hand (Deuteronomy 32:36).
4. Did these resurrected Saints standing on the sea of glass also sing the ’the song of the Lamb’? (Revelation 15:3-4). Is this song much more positive in praising God than the ‘song of Moses’?
5. Did John look and see the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven opened? (Revelation 15:5). What is this tabernacle of the testimony? Did God tell Moses to build the Tabernacle according to the pattern which Moses was shown on the mountain? (Exodus 3:1, 19:20, 24:18, 25:9, 26:30, 27:8). Did the writer of the book of Hebrews say that Moses was divinely instructed in how to make the Tabernacle and ‘all things’ within the Tabernacle? (Hebrews 8:5). What was the centerpiece of the holy of holies within the Tabernacle? (Exodus 25:10-22). This centerpiece was a box with a lid and it was called the Ark of the Testimony. (Exodus 25:22, 26:33-34, 30:6,26, 31:7, 39:35, 40:3, 5, 21, Numbers 4:5, 7:16, Joshua 4:16). Did God speak to Moses with the voice of One from above the mercy seat that was on the ark of the Testimony and from between the two cherubim? (Numbers 7:89).
6. What was the three items put inside the ark? (Hebrews 9:4 ). What was the tablets of the covenant? (Deuteronomy 9:9-11, 4:13, Exodus 24:12). What was the testimony of God that was put into the ark of the Testimony? It was the Ten Commandments. God wrote the Ten Commandments on two tables of stone with His own finger (Exodus 25:16, 21, 31:18).
7. What did the seven angels that came out of the Temple have? (Revelation 15:6). What did the seven bowls contain? (Verse 7). Was anyone able to enter the Temple till the seven plagues of the seven angels were completed? (Verse 8).
The seven last plagues are poured out because mankind has been judged and found guilty of sin and the standard by which they will be judged is the Ten Commandments.
Scriptures
Scripture Reading:
Seven Angels With Seven Plagues
(Revelation 15 NKJV) Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous: seven angels having the seven last plagues, for in them the wrath of God is complete. {2} And I saw something like a sea of glass mingled with fire, and those who have the victory over the beast, over his image and over his mark and over the number of his name, standing on the sea of glass, having harps of God. {3} They sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying: "Great and marvelous are Your works, Lord God Almighty! Just and true are Your ways, O King of the saints! {4} Who shall not fear You, O Lord, and glorify Your name? For You alone are holy. For all nations shall come and worship before You, For Your judgments have been manifested." {5} After these things I looked, and behold, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened. {6} And out of the temple came the seven angels having the seven plagues, clothed in pure bright linen, and having their chests girded with golden bands. {7} Then one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God 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 till the seven plagues of the seven angels were completed.
Golden Text: (Revelation 15:1 NKJV) Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous: seven angels having the seven last plagues, for in them the wrath of God is complete.
1. See Scripture Reading
2. See Scripture Reading
(Revelation 4:6 NKJV) Before the throne there was a sea of glass, like crystal. And in the midst of the throne, and around the throne, were four living creatures full of eyes in front and in back.
(Revelation 13:15 NKJV) He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed.
The Lamb and the 144,000
(Revelation 14:1-5 NKJV) Then I looked, and behold, a Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with Him one hundred and forty-four thousand, having His Father's name written on their foreheads. {2} And I heard a voice from heaven, like the voice of many waters, and like the voice of loud thunder. And I heard the sound of harpists playing their harps. {3} They sang as it were a new song before the throne, before the four living creatures, and the elders; and no one could learn that song except the hundred and forty-four thousand who were redeemed from the earth. {4} These are the ones who were not defiled with women, for they are virgins. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These were redeemed from among men, being firstfruits to God and to the Lamb. {5} And in their mouth was found no deceit, for they are without fault before the throne of God.
3. See Scripture Reading
The Song of Moses
(Deuteronomy 31:30 NKJV) Then Moses spoke in the hearing of all the assembly of Israel the words of this song until they were ended:
(Deuteronomy 32:1-47 NKJV) "Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak; And hear, O earth, the words of my mouth. {2} Let my teaching drop as the rain, My speech distill as the dew, As raindrops on the tender herb, And as showers on the grass. {3} For I proclaim the name of the LORD: Ascribe greatness to our God. {4} He is the Rock, His work is perfect; For all His ways are justice, A God of truth and without injustice; Righteous and upright is He. {5} "They have corrupted themselves; They are not His children, Because of their blemish: A perverse and crooked generation. {6} Do you thus deal with the LORD, O foolish and unwise people? Is He not your Father, who bought you? Has He not made you and established you? {7} "Remember the days of old, Consider the years of many generations. Ask your father, and he will show you; Your elders, and they will tell you: {8} When the Most High divided their inheritance to the nations, When He separated the sons of Adam, He set the boundaries of the peoples According to the number of the children of Israel. {9} For the Lord's portion is His people; Jacob is the place of His inheritance. {10} "He found him in a desert land And in the wasteland, a howling wilderness; He encircled him, He instructed him, He kept him as the apple of His eye. {11} As an eagle stirs up its nest, Hovers over its young, Spreading out its wings, taking them up, Carrying them on its wings, {12} So the LORD alone led him, And there was no foreign god with him. {13} "He made him ride in the heights of the earth, That he might eat the produce of the fields; He made him draw honey from the rock, And oil from the flinty rock; {14} Curds from the cattle, and milk of the flock, With fat of lambs; And rams of the breed of Bashan, and goats, With the choicest wheat; And you drank wine, the blood of the grapes. {15} "But Jeshurun grew fat and kicked; You grew fat, you grew thick, You are obese! Then he forsook God who made him, And scornfully esteemed the Rock of his salvation. {16} They provoked Him to jealousy with foreign gods; With abominations they provoked Him to anger. {17} They sacrificed to demons, not to God, To gods they did not know, To new gods, new arrivals That your fathers did not fear. {18} Of the Rock who begot you, you are unmindful, And have forgotten the God who fathered you. {19} "And when the LORD saw it, He spurned them, Because of the provocation of His sons and His daughters. {20} And He said: 'I will hide My face from them, I will see what their end will be, For they are a perverse generation, Children in whom is no faith. {21} They have provoked Me to jealousy by what is not God; They have moved Me to anger by their foolish idols. But I will provoke them to jealousy by those who are not a nation; I will move them to anger by a foolish nation. {22} For a fire is kindled by my anger, And shall burn to the lowest hell; It shall consume the earth with her increase, And set on fire the foundations of the mountains. {23} 'I will heap disasters on them; I will spend My arrows on them. {24} They shall be wasted with hunger, Devoured by pestilence and bitter destruction; I will also send against them the teeth of beasts, With the poison of serpents of the dust. {25} The sword shall destroy outside; There shall be terror within For the young man and virgin, The nursing child with the man of gray hairs. {26} I would have said, "I will dash them in pieces, I will make the memory of them to cease from among men," {27} Had I not feared the wrath of the enemy, Lest their adversaries should misunderstand, Lest they should say, "Our hand is high; And it is not the LORD who has done all this."' {28} "For they are a nation void of counsel, Nor is there any understanding in them. {29} Oh, that they were wise, that they understood this, That they would consider their latter end! {30} How could one chase a thousand, And two put ten thousand to flight, Unless their Rock had sold them, And the LORD had surrendered them? {31} For their rock is not like our Rock, Even our enemies themselves being judges. {32} For their vine is of the vine of Sodom And of the fields of Gomorrah; Their grapes are grapes of gall, Their clusters are bitter. {33} Their wine is the poison of serpents, And the cruel venom of cobras. {34} 'Is this not laid up in store with Me, Sealed up among My treasures? {35} Vengeance is Mine, and recompense; Their foot shall slip in due time; For the day of their calamity is at hand, And the things to come hasten upon them.' {36} "For the LORD will judge His people And have compassion on His servants, When He sees that their power is gone, And there is no one remaining, bond or free. {37} He will say: 'Where are their gods, The rock in which they sought refuge? {38} Who ate the fat of their sacrifices, And drank the wine of their drink offering? Let them rise and help you, And be your refuge. {39} 'Now see that I, even I, am He, And there is no God besides Me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; Nor is there any who can deliver from My hand. {40} For I raise My hand to heaven, And say, "As I live forever, {41} If I whet My glittering sword, And My hand takes hold on judgment, I will render vengeance to My enemies, And repay those who hate Me. {42} I will make My arrows drunk with blood, And My sword shall devour flesh, With the blood of the slain and the captives, From the heads of the leaders of the enemy."' {43} "Rejoice, O Gentiles, with His people; For He will avenge the blood of His servants, And render vengeance to His adversaries; He will provide atonement for His land and His people." {44} So Moses came with Joshua the son of Nun and spoke all the words of this song in the hearing of the people. {45} Moses finished speaking all these words to all Israel, {46} and He said to them: "Set your hearts on all the words which I testify among you today, which you shall command your children to be careful to observe; all the words of this law. {47} "For it is not a futile thing for you, because it is your life, and by this word you shall prolong your days in the land which you cross over the Jordan to possess."
(Titus 2:14 NKJV) who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.
(1 Corinthians 6:19-20 NKJV) Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? {20} For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's.
4. See Scripture Reading.
5. See Scripture Reading.
(Hebrews 8:5 NKJV) who serve the copy and shadow of the heavenly things, as Moses was divinely instructed when he was about to make the tabernacle. For He said, "See that you make all things according to the pattern shown you on the mountain."
Moses and the Burning Bush
(Exodus 3:1 NKJV) Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. And he led the flock to the back of the desert, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.
(Exodus 19:20 NKJV) Then the LORD came down upon Mount Sinai, on the top of the mountain. And the LORD called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up.
(Exodus 24:18 NKJV) So Moses went into the midst of the cloud and went up into the mountain. And Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights.
(Exodus 25:9 NKJV) "According to all that I show you, that is, the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all its furnishings, just so you shall make it.
(Exodus 26:30 NKJV) "And you shall raise up the tabernacle according to its pattern which you were shown on the mountain.
(Exodus 27:8 NKJV) "You shall make it hollow with boards; as it was shown you on the mountain, so shall they make it.
The Ark
(Exodus 25:10-22 NKJV) "And they shall make an ark of acacia wood; two and a half cubits shall be its length, a cubit and a half its width, and a cubit and a half its height. {11} "And you shall overlay it with pure gold, inside and out you shall overlay it, and shall make on it a molding of gold all around. {12} "You shall cast four rings of gold for it, and put them in its four corners; two rings shall be on one side, and two rings on the other side. {13} "And you shall make poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold. {14} "You shall put the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark, that the ark may be carried by them. {15} "The poles shall be in the rings of the ark; they shall not be taken from it. {16} "And you shall put into the ark the Testimony which I will give you. {17} "You shall make a mercy seat of pure gold; two and a half cubits shall be its length and a cubit and a half its width. {18} "And you shall make two cherubim of gold; of hammered work you shall make them at the two ends of the mercy seat. {19} "Make one cherub at one end, and the other cherub at the other end; you shall make the cherubim at the two ends of it of one piece with the mercy seat. {20} "And the cherubim shall stretch out their wings above, covering the mercy seat with their wings, and they shall face one another; the faces of the cherubim shall be toward the mercy seat. {21} "You shall put the mercy seat on top of the ark, and in the ark you shall put the Testimony that I will give you. {22} "And there I will meet with you, and I will speak with you from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are on the ark of the Testimony, about everything which I will give you in commandment to the children of Israel.
(Exodus 25:22 NKJV) "And there I will meet with you, and I will speak with you from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are on the ark of the Testimony, about everything which I will give you in commandment to the children of Israel.
(Exodus 26:33-34 NKJV) "And you shall hang the veil from the clasps. Then you shall bring the ark of the Testimony in there, behind the veil. The veil shall be a divider for you between the holy place and the Most Holy. {34} "You shall put the mercy seat upon the ark of the Testimony in the Most Holy.
(Exodus 30:6 NKJV) "And you shall put it before the veil that is before the ark of the Testimony, before the mercy seat that is over the Testimony, where I will meet with you.
(Exodus 30:26 NKJV) "With it you shall anoint the tabernacle of meeting and the ark of the Testimony;
(Exodus 31:7 NKJV) "the tabernacle of meeting, the ark of the Testimony and the mercy seat that is on it, and all the furniture of the tabernacle;
(Exodus 39:35 NKJV) the ark of the Testimony with its poles, and the mercy seat;
(Exodus 40:3 NKJV) "You shall put in it the ark of the Testimony, and partition off the ark with the veil.
(Exodus 40:5 NKJV) "You shall also set the altar of gold for the incense before the ark of the Testimony, and put up the screen for the door of the tabernacle.
(Exodus 40:21 NKJV) And he brought the ark into the tabernacle, hung up the veil of the covering, and partitioned off the ark of the Testimony, as the LORD had commanded Moses.
(Numbers 4:5 NKJV) "When the camp prepares to journey, Aaron and his sons shall come, and they shall take down the covering veil and cover the ark of the Testimony with it.
(Numbers 7:89 NKJV) Now when Moses went into the tabernacle of meeting to speak with Him, he heard the voice of One speaking to him from above the mercy seat that was on the ark of the Testimony, from between the two cherubim; thus He spoke to him.
(Joshua 4:16 NKJV) "Command the priests who bear the ark of the Testimony to come up from the Jordan."
6. (Exodus 25:16 NKJV) "And you shall put into the ark the Testimony which I will give you.
(Exodus 25:21 NKJV) "You shall put the mercy seat on top of the ark, and in the ark you shall put the Testimony that I will give you.
(Exodus 31:18 NKJV) And when He had made an end of speaking with him on Mount Sinai, He gave Moses two tablets of the Testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God.
(Hebrews 9:4 NKJV) which had the golden censer and the ark of the covenant overlaid on all sides with gold, in which were the golden pot that had the manna, Aaron's rod that budded, and the tablets of the covenant;
(Deuteronomy 9:9-11 NKJV) "When I went up into the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant which the LORD made with you, then I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water. {10} "Then the LORD delivered to me two tablets of stone written with the finger of God, and on them were all the words which the LORD had spoken to you on the mountain from the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly. {11} "And it came to pass, at the end of forty days and forty nights, that the LORD gave me the two tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant.
(Exodus 24:12 NKJV) Then the LORD said to Moses, "Come up to Me on the mountain and be there; and I will give you tablets of stone, and the law and commandments which I have written, that you may teach them."
(Deuteronomy 4:13 NKJV) "So He declared to you His covenant which He commanded you to perform, the Ten Commandments; and He wrote them on two tablets of stone.
(Exodus 31:18 NKJV) And when He had made an end of speaking with him on Mount Sinai, He gave Moses two tablets of the Testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God.
7. See Scripture Reading.