Daniel and
Revelation - Revelation Chapter 15
Excerpt from Daniel
and Revelation by Uriah Smith (1897-1911)
CHAPTER -- XV -- The
Seven Last Plagues
p 681 -- This chapter
introduces the seven last plagues, a manifestation of Heaven's unmingled wrath,
and the fulness of its measure, for the last generation of the wicked. The work
of mercy is then forever past.
VERSE 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. 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. 3. And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and
the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvelous are thy works, Lord God
Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints. 4. Who
shall not fear thee, 0 Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy: for
all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made
manifest. 5. And after that I looked, and, behold, the temple of
the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened: 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. 7.
And one of the four beasts gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials
full of the wrath of God, who liveth forever and ever. 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.
A Preparatory Scene. -
Thus reads the fifteenth chapter entire. By it we are carried back to a new
series of events. The whole chapter is but an introduction to the most terrific
judgments of the Almighty that ever have been, or are to be, visited upon this
earth in its present state; namely, the seven last plagues. The most that we
here behold is a solemn preparation
p 682 -- for the
outpouring of these unmixed vials. Verse 5 shows that these plagues fall after
the close of the ministration in the sanctuary; for the temple is opened before
they are poured out. They are given in charge to seven angels, and these angels
are clothed in linen pure and white, a fit emblem of the purity of God's
righteousness and justice in the infliction of these judgments. They receive
these vials from one of the four beasts, or living creatures. These living
beings were proved (see on chapter 4) to be a class of Christ's assistants in
his sanctuary work. How appropriate, then, that they should be the ones to
deliver to the ministers of vengeance the vials of the wrath to be poured upon
those who have slighted Christ's mercy, abused his long-suffering, heaped
contumely upon his name, and crucified him afresh in the treatment of his
followers! While the seven angels are performing their fearful mission, the
temple is filled with the glory of God, and no man - oudieV (oudeis), no one, no
being, referring to Christ and his heavenly assistants - can enter therein.
This shows that the work of mercy is closed, as there is no ministration in the
sanctuary during the infliction of the plagues; hence they are manifestations
of the wrath of God without any mixture of mercy.
God's People
Remembered. - In this scene the people of God are not forgotten. The prophet is
permitted to anticipate a little in verses 2-4, and behold them as victors upon
the sea of glass as it were mingled with fire, or sparkling and refulgent with
the glory of God, singing the song of Moses and the Lamb. The sea of glass,
upon which these victors stand, is the same as that brought to view in chapter
4:6, which was before the throne in heaven. And as we have no evidence that it
has yet changed its location, and the saints are seen upon it, we have here
indubitable proof, in connection with chapter 14:1-5, that the saints are taken
to heaven to receive a portion of their reward. Thus, like the bright sun
bursting through the mid-night cloud, some scene is presented, or some promise
given, to the humble followers of the Lamb, in every hour of temptation, as if
to assure and reassure them of God's love and care for them, and of the
certainty of their final reward. Verily
p 683 -- the words of
the prophet are among the true sayings of God: "Say ye to the
righteous, that it shall be well with him;" but "Woe unto the wicked!
it shall be ill with him." Isa. 3:10, 11.
The song the victors
sing, the song of Moses and the Lamb, given here in epitome in these words:
"Great and marvelous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and
true are thy ways, thou King of saints," is a song of infinite
grandeur. How comprehensive in its terms! how sublime in its theme! It appeals
to the works of God which are a manifestation of his glory. With immortal
vision the saints will be able to comprehend them as they cannot here; and yet
astronomy reveals enough to fill all hearts with admiration. From our little
world we pass out to our sun ninety-three million miles away; on to its nearest
neighboring sun, nineteen thousand million miles away; on to the great double
pole-star, from which it takes light, in its electric flight of one hundred and
ninety-two thousand miles a second, forty years to reach our world; on past
systems, groups, constellations, till we reach the great star Aleyone, in the
Pleiades, shining with the power of twelve thousand suns like ours! What, then,
must be the grand center around which these myriads of shining orbs revolve!
Well may the song be raised, "Great and marvelous are thy works." But
the song covers another field also - the field of God's providence and grace:
"Just and true are thy ways, Thou King of saints." All the
dealings of God with all his creatures in the eyes of the redeemed, and the
sight of all worlds, will be forever vindicated. After all our blindness, all
our perplexities, all our trials, we shall be able to exclaim at last in the
exuberance of satisfied joy,"Just and true are thy ways, thou King of
saints."
*******
IMPORTANT NOTE-
Probation is OVER when
the seven last plague fall!
The plagues are NOT
given to induce contrition and repentance, the plague are a PUNISHMENT, a
deserved punishment.
Everyone in the world
at the time of the seven last plagues will have had an opportunity to know and
believe in the truth of our Savior and the Salvation He alone offers,
everyone! Not a single person will
receive the punishments of the wrath of God unjustly, not one!
We hear people say,
but God is merciful, He wouldn't hurt anyone, He wouldn't allow pain and
suffering. The truth is, God offers a
way of escape from ALL deserved punishment and that WAY is through Jesus Christ
our Savior, He suffered the punishment all who sin, and that's everyone,
deserves. Sin deserves punishment.
Why?
Just look at our own
justice system one that we've made up ourselves outside of all religious
influence. Our justice system calls for punishment and this is a worldwide
system. We have a worldwide UN that calls for punishment, we have individual
countries that call for punishments, and we have states that endorse
punishments and we have cities the do the same, don't we? I'm not making this
up. We even have all sorts of punishments enacted outside the formal law. We
have punishments given to children by parents, we have bosses punishing their
employees, teachers punishing their students and so on. The punishment depends upon the crime
committed, right? The harsher the
punishment the more severe the crime committed.
This is a worldly
system and WE LIVE BY this system and at times we call in unjust and it is at
times- humanity makes mistakes, right? Right. Yet ask anyone who has been a
victim of a crime whether or not they want the criminal who made them a victim
to be punished and most will answer yes.
We have jails and prisons filled with those who have broken our laws and
we call this justice! We live by this!
And we DARE to find
fault with God, our Creator, our Heavenly Father, with our Savior, Jesus
Christ, for enacting punishment towards those who have chosen the path of sin?
They've chosen the path of spiritual criminality, yes, they are spiritual
criminals and in choosing this path they choose to be punished. They, like many criminals if not all, will
only regret their path of criminality when they feel the punishment, but it's
too late then.
A lot of time for
little crimes perhaps those between child and parent, boss and employee, etc
the punishment seems worth the crime- steal a candy bar and suffer the
grounding for a week, report to work
late consistently and suffer a written notice.
But there is NO little sin. There is NO sin that doesn't warrant
death. Sin is the transgression of the
moral law of God, a law of love, a law of righteousness, a law of truth. When we choose to live against such a law we
are choosing our path towards eternal death. We might not be able to keep from
sinning, but CHRIST was able and CHRIST will keep us from sinning when we
submit fully to Him. I don't have all the how's and such, I have to live by
FAITH- in the unseen, the unknown.
I do know that sin
unforgiven needs to be punished, because it is willfully done, willful
rebellion committed, a willful denial of salvation and when we choose to
disobey we suffer the consequences.
In life this is truth,
in the flesh life and in the spiritual life. We can't escape punishment just
because it is spiritually deserved. We can't blame the Judge for our sins, our
crimes. We can't blame the jailor for our punishment. We can't blame societies mores for our lack
of obedience. You might be saying sure
we can, well it's true, you can but not with any serious believable conviction
to any sane person.
Spiritual crimes will
be spiritually punished if NOT repented and forgiven.
And the seven last
plagues are spiritual punishment - given spiritually by angels of God and
manifested in the flesh for all those who choose spiritual criminality over
spiritual salvation in Christ Jesus.
When those plagues
fall PROBATION is over. All chance to repent and find forgiveness is GONE.
So as we study the
seven last plagues do NOT believe as some movies, books and such depict, that
they are warnings to our world, they are not warnings, they are punishments.
You will NOT be able to repent when those plagues fall, not and have our Savior
forgive you because the door to mercy has been closed.
This WILL happen! This
WILL occur and soon!
By the grace and mercy
of our LORD and SAVIOR alone will we be found as HIS and HIS ALONE! Please,
forgive us! Save us! We would be YOURS! We do NOT want to feel the wrath of the
plagues! We want to be found worthy and righteous IN YOU, in YOUR worthiness
and righteousness! Cloth us with YOUR RIGHTEOUSNESS LORD, for we have none!
All in YOUR LOVE
ALWAYS!
Amen!
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