Original Meaning

THE BOWLS, like the seals and the trumpets, are administered by angels. But John makes it clear that what he sees is a symbolic portrayal of judgments; like the woman and the dragon, this scene of angels preparing to pour out bowls is a “sign” in the heavens (12:1, 3; 15:1).1 Thus when he declares that these seven plagues are the “last plagues,” completing God’s anger, he probably does not imply that Revelation arranges all judgments in literal chronological sequence (though this book does emphasize completion of God’s purposes; 10:7; 11:7). Rather, “last” implies that these bowls begin John’s final sequence of judgments. They are the last in terms of John’s narrative—based on the sequence of his visions rather than on the sequence of history. Note that in 15:1, 8, the completion of these plagues forms an inclusio around the entire scene of heaven in 15:1–8, thereby framing this section with an emphasis on the plagues.

The word used for the “bowls” of divine anger (phiale, 15:7; 16:1–17:1; 21:9) is also used for the bowls that contained the prayers of the saints (5:8), suggesting a connection between the saints’ intercession and their vindication through the world’s judgments, as with the trumpet plagues (8:3–5).2 Probably these bowls, like those in 5:8, contain incense representing the prayers of the saints; it is also possible that the image here implies cups of judgment leading up to the final judgment of the wine cup of God’s anger (14:10, 19–20). That the judgments in this passage issue from God’s presence and follow worship by the conquering martyrs (15:2–4) probably implies that God has chosen to release his acts in history in response to the worship of faithful saints.3

Those who have “been victorious over the beast” (15:2) are the saints who overcame by way of the cross, that is, by being defeated on a purely earthly level by refusing to compromise with the agendas of the tyrannical beast (12:11; 13:7). This is the same group already portrayed as God’s conquering army in 14:1–5, who conquered by martyrdom (see also comment on 7:4–8). The location of the overcomers is significant. The “sea of glass” (15:2) recalls the heavenly temple (see comment on 4:6); perhaps the mixture “with fire” indicates that these saints have overcome the “lake of fire,” although it has not yet been mentioned (19:20; 20:10, 14–15; 21:8).

The song in 15:2–4 drives home the point. The harpists explicitly recall 14:2, and this passage spells out the “new song” of the 144,000 in 14:3; it declares how they have been victorious. Their song is the “song of Moses … and the song of the Lamb,” recalling the Exodus both in terms of Moses’ leading out of Egypt (cf. 11:8) and deliverance from God’s plagues by the blood of the Passover lamb.4 Some compare the song with Moses’ song in Deuteronomy 31:30–32:43, which may in fact originate some of the imagery employed by later prophets and Revelation (esp. the themes of divine vengeance, the vine of Sodom, and their deadly wine, 32:32–35).5 But the primary allusion is surely the song of the Exodus in Exodus 15:1–18, which evokes more of the Exodus themes alluded to here.6 This song continued to generate much attention in early Jewish circles.7

Israel sang this song, led by Moses and summarized antiphonally by Miriam (Ex. 15:21), when God brought his people through the Red Sea and destroyed their enemies, the Egyptians. As God conquered Egypt in the sea, there figuratively slaying the primeval dragon (Ps. 74:13–14; Isa. 51:9), so here the 144,000 are the people of the new exodus, delivered and standing as conquerors on the sea of glass and fire. This song proved a fitting climax for the plagues on Egypt of old or Revelation’s equivalent (11:8), from which the righteous were shielded (7:1–8).

The song in verses 3–4 praises God in language developed from Israel’s ancient worship, especially Psalm 86:8–10.8 The saints address God as either “King of the ages” or “King of the nations” (Rev. 15:3); both readings have significant support and we cannot tell conclusively which is more likely the original reading. “King of the ages” means “eternal King,”9 which certainly fits the context: God is the Alpha and the Omega (1:8) and will reign forever (11:15). On the other hand, “King of the nations” also makes sense; God has triumphed over the nations as he triumphed over Egypt in the Exodus, and now the nations will come to worship him (15:4).10 Further, “King of the nations” (15:3) is linked with the prayer, “Who should not revere you?” in Jeremiah 10:7 (the addition of “glorify” is from the base text, Ps. 86:9). Both expressions probably reflect a Semitic understanding of the original melek ha‘olam, which can be rendered either “King of the ages” or “King of the world.”11 God is also “Almighty,” as Revelation declares eight other times, usually in praises (see comment on 1:8).

God’s greatness and his “marvelous … deeds” (15:3) recall Psalm 86:10 (cf. Job 9:10), since verse 4 explicitly quotes Psalm 86:9. Yet the “great and marvelous … deeds” in Revelation’s own context especially refer to the “great and marvelous” plagues of Revelation 15:1, that is, God’s judgments.12 Likewise, after God drowned the Egyptian army in the Red Sea, the Israelites recognized God as One “working wonders” (Ex. 15:11); Psalm 86 probably alludes back to that proclamation in Exodus, because 86:8 and 10 recall its language.13 God is both “just and true” in his judgments (Rev. 15:3; 16:7; 19:2; cf. 6:10)—“just” or “righteous” in executing appropriate judgment (16:5–6), and “true” in his faithfulness to the saints, whose blood he now vindicates (3:7, 14; 19:9, 11; 21:5; 22:6).14

Yet whereas in the Exodus God overthrew Egypt for oppressing Israel, here he welcomes those from all nations who have joined God’s servants in resisting the world. The nations now come to God in worship (15:4), as in 21:24. Judgment brings representatives of all peoples to repentance (for more on this, see Bridging Contexts section, below).

As with the judgments of the seals (5:1–2) and the trumpets (8:2), the plagues from the bowls (16:1–17) are introduced with a scene in heaven (15:5–8), reminding us that earthly disasters are not merely accidents, but methodically arranged events determined by God’s sovereign vindication of his saints. These angels of judgment, in contrast to destroying angels in some strands of Jewish tradition, are willingly obedient servants of God (cf. 17:1; 21:9); it is a throne angel that hands them the judgments to pour out on humankind (15:7).15

That this scene takes place in the heavenly temple is significant.16 The angels’ linen clothing (15:6) may simply reflect the tradition that angels normally wore white or linen (1 En. 71:1; Ps-Philo 9:10; John 20:12), but alongside the mention of golden breastplates (cf. Ex. 39:8; probably Rev. 1:13) undoubtedly reminds the reader that these angels fulfill priestly acts in the heavenly temple (15:5–6). Worshipers in temples normally wore linen or white,17 and this was required for service in the Most Holy Place (Lev. 16:4). The prerequisite for such service was righteousness (Rev. 19:8). Priests in the heavenly temple respond to the earthly priests (1:6) of the oppressed earthly temple (11:1–2), whose prayers (6:9–11; 8:3–6) have invited the judgments about to begin.

That “smoke” filled the heavenly temple (15:8, note contrast with the smoke of the world’s torment in 14:11) alludes to God’s glory filling his house in some Old Testament theophanies (Isa. 6:4; Ezek. 10:3–4). Under these circumstances the priests could not minister in the temple (1 Kings 8:10–12; 2 Chron. 7:2), nor could even Moses enter the tabernacle (Ex. 40:35); the glory exceeded human ability to withstand. God had filled the earthly tabernacle with his glory at its dedication and a time of celebration (Ex. 40; cf. 1 Kings 8); now he fills the temple with glory in response to the worship of his martyred conquerors through history, and responds with systematic judgments (probably also poured out throughout history). Judgment, as well as mercy, reveals God’s great glory.

Bridging Contexts

THE NATIONS. The nations come to God in worship in 15:4. Revelation blends various portrayals of the future in the biblical prophets, including judgment on the nations (19:18–21; 20:8–9; cf. Joel 3:12; Mic. 4:13), the nations’ turning to God (Rev. 21:24, 26; cf. Isa. 19:25; Zech. 2:11; 8:22–23), and the nations’ becoming servants to God’s people (Rev. 21:24–26; cf. Isa. 45:14; 49:23; Dan. 7:14).

To harmonize such portrayals on the theological level, we must understand at least some of them on a symbolic level. Since other early Christian literature is unanimous that there is no Christian conversion apart from faith in Christ, and since Revelation also portrays the destruction of the nations, it is likely that the turning of the nations refers to the repentant remnant among the nations. Some take this as the majority who are not killed, hence predict the conversion of much of the world (cf. 11:13, if it refers to the world rather than to Jewish people). But perhaps it simply reminds us that as the beast has its kingdom from all peoples, so also does Christ, and the remnant of all nations will worship him. The praise of the nations indicates that in the end the world will recognize the falsehood of idols and the truth of God, the Lamb, and their people.

The wrath. Some interpret the bowls of God’s anger as the “wrath” from which Paul promised believers deliverance through sharing Christ’s resurrection (1 Thess. 1:10; 5:9). But the syllogism that (1) the Tribulation is God’s wrath, (2) the saints will not go through God’s wrath, (3) hence the saints will escape the Tribulation is logically vulnerable. To identify the “wrath” in (1) with the “wrath” in (2) is no more straightforward than saying saints are appointed to tribulation (1 Thess 3:3), hence must endure the Great Tribulation.

Is the sense of “wrath” equivalent in both contexts? In Paul’s writings, “wrath” (orge) sometimes refers to God’s present anger, which is not against us, but neither are we removed from the world that endures it (Rom. 1:18; Eph. 5:6; 1 Thess. 2:16). Usually, however, Paul means future wrath at the Second Coming, the Day of Judgment (Rom. 2:5, 8; 9:22); he nowhere unambiguously applies it to the Tribulation period. When Paul speaks of salvation from wrath, he refers to a promise for all believers, not only the final generation (Rom. 5:9).

To read Revelation into Paul, as if Paul’s first readers could simply flip over to Revelation (not yet written) to understand his meaning, is historically naive. But even if we jump from Paul’s use to Revelation, Revelation always applies the same Greek term for wrath (orge) to the judgment at Christ’s coming, not during the Tribulation (6:16–17; 11:18; 14:10; 16:19; 19:15). The synonymous Greek word thymos sometimes applies to the Tribulation period (15:1, 7; 16:1), but even that usually refers to the Second Coming wrath (14:10, 19; 16:19; 19:15).18

Whatever else may be said about Tribulation saints, it must be said that they do not stand under God’s anger, since Christ died for them (7:14). If they will not suffer God’s wrath during the Tribulation, we have no reason to argue that the church must be raptured out before it to escape God’s wrath; if they will be protected during wrath, the same might be said of the church. In any case, this provides no logical argument here for a Rapture before the Tribulation.19

Contemporary Significance

SPIRITUAL WARFARE AND overcoming. This text, like the rest of Revelation, provides a graphic model of spiritual warfare for us: We overcome by being physically defeated, by enduring the world’s suffering (see comment on 5:5–6; 7:9–17). The conquerors provide us a model of unwavering faithfulness to God and to his purposes. “The Beast has conquered them in martyrdom but in that same martyrdom they had conquered the Beast, for he had been utterly unable to make them deny Christ. This is their victory: loyalty to Christ in tribulation.”20

For Christians struggling against the imperial cult in John’s day or subsequent forces of the Antichrist in history, “this song affords great encouragement. The last word of history is not with Satan and his Antichrist, but with the Lord and his Christ.”21 The Church has nothing to fear, in this age as well as the age to come, for God reigns forever (or, over all peoples, depending on which variant reading one prefers). As Ladd puts it, “Even when evil is strongest on the earth, when God’s people are most violently attacked by Satan, God is still the ‘King of the ages’ (Rev. 15:3).”22

Like Israel in the Exodus, God’s people will again triumph; the certainty of the new redemption is rooted in our confidence in the old one.23 For John, the songs of Moses and the Lamb were not two separate songs, as if Old Testament redemption and New Testament redemption were discontinuous and incompatible ideas. Jesus as the Lamb has provided the climactic act of redemption, akin to the paschal lamb of the first Exodus, so the song of Moses is also the song of the Lamb. That the overcomers stand on the sea (15:2) may indicate afresh the triumph of the Exodus that subdued even the sea (Ex. 15:8; Ps. 78:13; 89:9–10).

Praising God. The song reminds us that we must praise God for his deliverance and acknowledge his greatness (15:3–4; for more on the former, see comment on 5:9–10; on the latter, see comment on 4:8). The text also invites us to praise God for his judgments on the world (15:1, 3; cf. 19:1–6), though we must qualify what we mean by this praise. It is praise not for the suffering of our fellow human beings, for whose well-being we should work and pray (Luke 6:28; 1 Tim. 2:1–2). Rather, we see in these judgments, as in the plagues of the first Exodus, acts of deliverance for God’s people; the sufferings of this age are birth pangs for a better one. Nor does God look on such activity merely passively (Zeph. 3:17). That God’s heavenly temple is filled with glory (15:8) indicates that he celebrates the triumph with us.

The bowls. That “bowls” are used both for God’s anger (15:7) and the saints’ prayers (5:8) probably emphasizes, as noted earlier, the importance of prayer in the way God moves history and brings about his purposes. This may suggest that God seeks not only a generation of radical witnesses before the end (6:9–11; cf. Matt. 24:14) but a people of prayer. God often uses prayer, itself moved by God’s Spirit, to prepare for the fulfillment of many of his purposes in history (e.g., Ex. 2:23–24; Matt. 9:37–38).

That the judgments (16:1–17) are prefaced with a scene of heaven (15:5–8; cf. 5:1–2; 8:2) reminds us that God is sovereign. The world’s catastrophes, while not directed against each individual who suffers them, often function as wake-up calls to the world, vindicating God’s message and the prayers of his people that he will reveal himself in the world. Such judgments thus serve as a foretaste of the final Day of Judgment, to warn people to get ready for it before it is too late (9:20–21; 16:9).