Study Audio Download

Rev 15:1-4 Angels With The Seven Last Plagues

[Study Aired March 2, 2025]

Rev 15:1  And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God.
Rev 15:2  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.
Rev 15:3  And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints.
Rev 15:4  Who shall not fear thee, O 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.

Introduction

This fifteenth chapter of the book of Revelation is only 8 verses long and is essentially nothing more than the introduction to the sounding of the seventh trumpet which we are told is ‘great and marvellous’ because of the importance which scripture places upon this event within our lives. It consists of the pouring out of the “seven vials” or the seven bowls of the seven last plagues. This trumpet is part of a complete sounding of the trumpet which is called “seven trumpets”, and it cannot be considered apart from the other six trumpets. To separate this trumpet from the others would be like saying the first six vials of God’s wrath are for most people, but the seventh is only for the really wicked. Or ‘the first six seals are for most people but the seventh seal is only for the extremely wicked.’ God’s word is never to be handled in that way. We live by it all (Mat 4:4), and it is all for ‘he that reads, hears and keeps the things written therein’ (Rev 1:3). So these seven last plagues are brought into our spiritual view by “seven angels”, or messengers, and the very fact that the spirit has inspired the use of the number ‘seven’ tells us that if our understanding is to be complete, then every word is to be kept by those who are given to ‘read, and hear and keep what is written here’.

So we are about to finally discover what happens “in the days of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound…” We are about to discover what must take place before “the mystery of God [which is “Christ in you” (Col 1:27)] should be finished” within us. Here it is again:

Rev 10:7  But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.

Once again, we are reminded in verses 3 and 4 of this fifteenth chapter of Revelation, that these seven last plagues are the “works… ways… and manifest… judgments of our Lord”, and in 1Peter 4:17 we are told that God’s judgments “first begin with us”.

1Pe 4:17  For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?

We know this is all “within” us because we are told that Christ is come to judge this world, and we are told that His coming is “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” We are even told what qualifies him to judge this world within us:

Joh 5:25  Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they [the dead] that hear shall live.
Joh 5:26  For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself;
Joh 5:27  And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man.

There it is. That is the qualification for those who will “execute judgment.” They must all be “the son of man”. “The hour now is that the dead hear the voice of the Son of God”, and that ability to “hear the voice of the Son of God”, and to understand “the mystery of God… is made manifest [only] to His saints”.

Col 1:26  Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints:
Col 1:27  To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:
Col 1:28  Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus:

If we forget that it is the sounding of the trumpet of this seventh angel in our lives which facilitates the “finishing of the mystery of God” within us, then we will never realize the finishing of that work in our lives. If we deny that the sounding of the trumpet of this seventh angel with his “seven last plagues of the wrath of God” has anything to do with the finishing of the mystery of God in our lives, then “we will be judged out of our own mouth”, and we will never “enter into the temple” of God, until “the seven plagues of the seven angels is fulfilled” (Verse 8).

Rev 15:8  And the temple [“which temple ye are” (1Co 3:16-17)] 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.

Luk 19:22  And he saith unto him, Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked servant. Thou knewest that I was an austere man, taking up that I laid not down, and reaping that I did not sow:

Rev 22:18  For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:
Rev 22:19  And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book

So these seven plagues are going to be fulfilled in the lives of “every man” who has ever lived, and we are plainly told that it is a bitter experience for us all. Here are the verses from chapter ten which follow verse seven, and which tell us of the bitterness of having to “keep… every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God”.

Rev 10:7  But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.
Rev 10:8  And the voice which I heard from heaven spake unto me again, and said, Go and take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel which standeth upon the sea and upon the earth.
Rev 10:9  And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give me the little book. And he said unto me, Take it, and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey.
Rev 10:10  And I took the little book out of the angel’s hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey: and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter.
Rev 10:11  And he said unto me, Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings.

As we have demonstrated, it is “the Israel of God”, including Gentile Galatians (Gal 6:15-16), who are “redeemed from every nation…” (Rev 5:9). We all rejoice to learn the truths we are learning. These wonderful truths are sweet in our mouths as we first hear and learn about them. But here is what happens when we “eat this book”:

Eze 2:3  And he said unto me, Son of man, I send thee to the children of Israel, to a rebellious nation that hath rebelled against me: they and their fathers have transgressed against me, even unto this very day.
Eze 2:4  For they are impudent children and stiffhearted. I do send thee unto them; and thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD.
Eze 2:5  And they, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear, (for they are a rebellious house,) yet shall know that there hath been a prophet among them.
Eze 2:6  And thou, son of man, be not afraid of them, neither be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns be with thee, and thou dost dwell among scorpions: be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house.
Eze 2:7  And thou shalt speak my words unto them, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear: for they are most rebellious.
Eze 2:8  But thou, son of man, hear what I say unto thee; Be not thou rebellious like that rebellious house: open thy mouth,and eat that I give thee.
Eze 2:9  And when I looked, behold, an hand was sent unto me; and, lo, a roll of a book was therein;
Eze 2:10  And he spread it before me; and it was written within and without: and there was written therein lamentations, and mourning, and woe. [“the seven plagues of the seven angels”]

It is when we discover that we are required to “prophesy before many people” and live out these words in our lives that we all end up praying this prayer:

Luk 22:42  Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.

We will one and all “eat this book”, and in doing so, we will “fulfill the seven plagues of the seven angels” in our own lives. It is at our own peril that we think we can eat all but “the seven plagues of the seven angels”. We will eat this entire book, including the seven last plagues. It will either be while we live in these vessels of clay, or they will be fulfilled in our lives as resurrected spirit bodies in a place called “the lake of fire”. In the end, “the mystery which has been hid from ages and generations” will be fulfilled and realized in “every man”, and “every man” will experience that same “one event” which we have referenced so many times in Ecc 9:2.

Ecc 9:2  All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth not: as is the good, so is the sinner; and he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath.

Now let’s remind ourselves what that “mystery of God, which He declared to His servants the prophets” really is. Here are the scriptures:

Col 1:26  Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints:
Col 1:27  To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:
Col 1:28  Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus:

Col 1:28 is the fulfillment of Rev 10:9-11. Let’s read it again:

Rev 10:9  And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give me the little book. And he said unto me, Take it, and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey.
Rev 10:10  And I took the little book out of the angel’s hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey: and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter.
Rev 10:11  And he said unto me, Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings.

“Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings”. It is this commission, to be a faithful witness to the words of this prophecy, which is an integral part of the experience of the seven vials of the seven angels, and the “finishing of the mystery of God” and the birth of “Christ in you”.

So “every man will be presented perfect in Christ Jesus” in his own time, and “every man” will, at his own appointed time, “enter into the temple, when the seven plagues of the seven angels are fulfilled” in his life. So there really is but “one event… which comes alike to all men”. All of “man[kind really] shall… live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God”, and “all things [really] are ours, things present and things to come”, and “every day we live [really] was written in God’s book before any of them ever were.”

Psa 139:16  Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; and in Your book were all written the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them. (NASB)

Ecc 9:2 All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth not: as is the good, so is the sinner; and he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath.

Mat 4:4  But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

1Co 3:21  Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours;
1Co 3:22  Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours;

With this Truth firmly in place, let’s begin our study of “the words written in this book” which we are instructed from the beginning of this prophecy to read, hear and keep (Rev 1:3).

Rev 15:1  And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God.

Here we are again plainly told that these seven angels with these seven last plagues are a “sign in heaven”. What does that mean? We will not again go through all the scriptures which demonstrate that “heaven” is the spiritual place of God’s dwelling within the hearts and minds of His saints. We have already demonstrated this to be what the scriptures teach. What we are being told that is “great and marvellous” is that these seven angels with these seven last plagues upon us and upon our lives, are a sign to God’s elect which prepares our hearts for the fulfilling of these plagues within the hearts and minds of every man who will ever enter into the temple of God. Paul tells us the same thing in these words:

2Th 1:3  We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet, because that your faith groweth exceedingly, and the charity of every one of you all toward each other aboundeth;
2Th 1:4  So that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure:

Now look at what Paul reveals that “all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure” are. This is what our  sufferings in His body is all about:

2Th 1:5  Which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer:

That is the purpose of these “seven last plagues” and that is why are we told that they are a “great and marvellous sign” in [our] heavens! That is the purpose for all of God’s wrath upon our “ungodliness and unrighteousness”:

Rom 1:17  For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.
Rom 1:18  For [Greek: gar, because] the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;

“The just shall live by faith because the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men…” That wrath of God, is first revealed against the ungodliness and unrighteousness of those who are chosen to become “the house of God”, and that chastening fire is just as hot and burning against our ungodliness and unrighteousness as it is against those who are predestined to be in that lake of fire. There is “one event to all”.

1Pe 4:12  Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:

1Pe 4:16  Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.
1Pe 4:17  For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?

Fiery trials are called “fiery” because they are painful. “Fiery trials” and “great earthquakes” are both symbols of how God speaks to and judges the ungodliness and unrighteousness within us. Both are “plagues” upon our weak, flesh and blood, “shapen in iniquity, conceived in sin” bodies.

Why are these plagues called the “last plagues”? The answer is clear. We are told that they are “the manifest judgments of God” (Rev 15:4), and we are told “for in them is filled up the wrath of God.” They are “last” because they are those experiences in our lives which are required to finally finish and “fill up the wrath of God… against our ungodliness and unrighteousness” (Rom 1:18). In other words, these are the experiences which are timed to be so earth-shaking and so severe as to change us from within, in our hearts.

Rev 16:18  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.

At this point we need to ask, is God’s wrath only against certain evil people whose sins are so egregious that they deserve God’s wrath, whereas others are not? That is exactly what Job’s “miserable comforters” thought about Job:

Job 22:1  Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said,
Job 22:2  Can a man be profitable unto God, as he that is wise may be profitable unto himself?
Job 22:3  Is it any pleasure to the Almighty, that thou art righteous? or is it gain to him, that thou makest thy ways perfect?
Job 22:4  Will he reprove thee for fear of thee? will he enter with thee into judgment?
Job 22:5  Is not thy wickedness great? and thine iniquities infinite?
Job 22:6  For thou hast taken a pledge from thy brother for nought, and stripped the naked of their clothing.
Job 22:7  Thou hast not given water to the weary to drink, and thou hast withholden bread from the hungry.
Job 22:8  But as for the mighty man, he had the earth; and the honourable man dwelt in it.
Job 22:9  Thou hast sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless have been broken.
Job 22:10  Therefore snares are round about thee, and sudden fear troubleth thee;

The story of Job signifies the story of the Lord’s rejected and despised elect. The experiencing of God’s wrath is something which, in the Lord’s own time, becomes common to all men. That is what the scriptures teach about this seventh trumpet which “fills up the wrath of God”.  There really is just “one event [that is common] to all men”.  It is the Lord’s elect who are intended to be the first to “read, hear, and keep the things written in this book”, and that includes the seven last plagues of the wrath of God which is this seventh trumpet.  We cannot say that we are to see ourselves as sinners in need of a Savior and perhaps in need of some chastening from our heavenly Father, but never once in need of experiencing His wrath against us.

Do we ever need to experience His wrath? The answer to that question is to simply ask if you or I have ever “held the truth in unrighteousness”?

Rom 1:18  For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;

Have you ever been ungodly or unrighteous? Have you ever been an unbeliever? Have you ever taught anything contrary to the truth, while at the same time claiming to be a teacher of and a witness for the Truth? If you have ever done any of these things, and we all have (Rom 7:17-21, Psa 51:5), then this is the Truth concerning God’s wrath as it relates to each of us:

Joh 3:36  He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath [Greek: orge] of God abideth on him.

Eph 2:1  And you hath he quickened [given life], who were dead in trespasses and sins [did not believe];
Eph 2:2  Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
Eph 2:3  Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath [Greek: orge], even as others.

Col 3:5  Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:
Col 3:6  For which things’ sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience:
Col 3:7  In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them.

According to the apostle Paul, we have all been “the children of wrath” and “the children of disobedience” and were all “dead in trespasses and sins… held the truth in unrighteousness, and are chief of sinners” before we were “given life in Christ Jesus”.

1Ti 1:15  This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.

Is this simply a rhetorical statement by the apostle Paul? Or is this not how we are all to come to view ourselves? There are those who contend that God’s wrath is never poured out upon his elect. God’s elect, they contend, are somehow raptured away, or in some way protected from and never, ever exposed to the wrath of God. The whole orthodox Christian world quotes 1Th 5:9 as proof that God has promised to keep his elect from ever having to endure or experience His wrath which is being discussed here in Rev 15-16. Let’s look at that verse and see if it really does guarantee that God’s elect never have and never will endure His wrath upon their ungodliness or unrighteousness. Here is 1Th 5:9:

1Th 5:9  For God hath not appointed us to wrath [Greek: orge], but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,

It is pointed out by some that the Greek word translated ‘wrath’ in Rev 15:1 is ‘thumos’ and God’s ‘thumos’ wrath is said to be much more severe than God’s ‘orge’ wrath.

For those who make such a clamor and distinction between the Greek words ‘orge’, and ‘thumos’, it is interesting to note that the Greek here in 1Th 5:19, which is touted as proof that we are never to experience God’s wrath, is ‘orge’ and not ‘thumos’. But where in that verse are we told that we never have had and never will have God’s ‘thumos’ or his ‘orge’ wrath poured out upon our ungodliness and unrighteousness? One thing is very clear, there is nothing in 1Th 5:9 that states that God’s elect do not experience His ‘thumos’ wrath.

So is there really any Truth to the argument that the ‘thumos’ wrath of God is somehow disconnected from or different from the ‘orge’ wrath of God? To answer that question we need to remember what we read in the previous chapter of Revelation. Notice how these two Greek words are used in the same verse and are both experienced by all who receive the mark of the beast:

Rev 14:9  And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand,
Rev 14:10  The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath [Greek: thumos] of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation [Greek: orge]; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:

So the ‘thumos’ of God is poured out without dilution into the cup of His ‘orge’. This “cup of God’s ‘orge’, which is full of God’s ‘thumos’” is then drunk by “any man who has ever worshiped the beast and his image, and received his mark in his forehead, or in his hand”. That doctrine is in complete accord with all the rest of the New Testament writings on this subject. Notice who God’s thumos and orge are upon in the writings of the apostle Paul:

Rom 2:5  But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath [Greek: orge] against the day of wrath [Greek: orge] and revelation of the righteous judgment of God;
Rom 2:6  Who will render to every man according to his deeds:
Rom 2:7  To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life:
Rom 2:8  But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation [Greek: thumos] and wrath [Greek: orge],
Rom 2:9  Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile;

So ‘indignation’ and ‘wrath’, ‘thumos’ and ‘orge’, are as closely associated as “tribulation and anguish”. Now since we know that “all things come alike to all” (Ecc 9:2) and since “all things present and things to come are ours” (1Co 3:21-22), and since God’s thumos and His orge are “upon every soul of man that does evil”, and since “all have sinned” (Rom 6:23), how can we not conclude that we do indeed “fulfill the seven plagues of the seven angels”, and that we “keep the things which are written” in this 15th and 16th chapters of Revelation?

As we pointed out earlier, Job is the Old Testament type of us as we endure these seven plagues which fill up the wrath of God against all of our “ungodliness and unrighteousness”. Just like every one of us, Job thought he was totally undeserving of God’s wrath upon his ungodliness and unrighteousness. Job considered himself to be anything but ungodly and unrighteous. If you have any doubt about that then please take the time to read Job 29. Job, just like each of us, despised the judgments of God in his life. Here is what Christ said to Job, in response to Job’s accusations against God’s “righteous judgments”:

Job 40:6  Then answered the LORD unto Job out of the whirlwind, and said,
Job 40:7  Gird up thy loins now like a man: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me.
Job 40:8  Wilt thou also disannul my judgment? wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous?
Job 40:9  Hast thou an arm like God? or canst thou thunder with a voice like him?
Job 40:10  Deck thyself now with majesty and excellency; and array thyself with glory and beauty.
Job 40:11  Cast abroad the rage of thy wrath: and behold every one that is proud, and abase him.
Job 40:12 Look on every one that is proud, and bring him low; and tread down the wicked in their place.
Job 40:13  Hide them in the dust together; and bind their faces in secret.
Job 40:14  Then will I also confess unto thee that thine own right hand can save thee.

We will pause here and continue our study of our judgment by the seven angels with the seven last plagues in our next study.