The prophet of God taught us that in each church age, a seal opened and a mystery unfolded, after which a trumpet sounded to declare spiritual war, and then a plague was dropped upon those that rejected the revealed mystery under the seal. Throughout the seven church ages, there were plagues that swept across the world as a result of the Word having been rejected; but at the end of the last church age, at Armageddon, the seven plagues of the seven vials will be poured out upon the world for rejecting the fulness of the Word.
Revelation chapter fifteen is all about the wrath of God coming down in its fulness after mercy has been rejected for the final time. When John gazed up into Heaven, he saw a great and marvelous sign (Revelation 15:1), seven angels having seven vials filled up with the plagues of God’s wrath. The sign John saw by vision would materialize in 1963, when Christ was revealed as the Supreme Judge of Heaven and Earth in the supernatural Cloud that appeared in the skies above Arizona. The Cloud was formed by seven Angels, which are collectively God Himself, even as the seven Spirits before the Throne (Revelation 1:4) collectively are the great Holy Spirit of God. The seven heavenly Angels were with the seven earthly angels or church age messengers, giving each his ministry.
We learn in Revelation 17:1 and Revelation 21:9 that the angel who showed John the things he saw, was one of the seven angels that had the seven vials. In Revelation chapter one we learned that this angel was the seventh church age messenger, William Branham, so then the other church age messengers must also have a vial. With this in mind, we come to understand that the seven heavenly Angels of Revelation 15:1 were all God Himself speaking through each earthly church age messenger, but when the message was rejected, then God pronounced judgment upon the age through the messenger. In the last days, when all seven ages have run out, the same God that dropped a plague on each age for rejecting its message, would then drop seven plagues upon the whole world at Armageddon for rejecting the fulness of the Word.
After seeing the judgment sign in Heaven, John then sees a sea of glass mingled with fire (Revelation 15:2), upon which stood the foolish virgins and the 144,000 Jews. The sea of glass is the laver of the Old Testament tabernacle, and is where the priests would wash themselves before and after carrying-out their sacred duties each day. The sea of glass is described as mingled with fire, because the foolish virgins and the 144,000 Jews will have been purged (fire represents purging) in the Great Tribulation by sealing their testimony with their own blood. When the priests would wash themselves in the laver, the water would become discolored as they cleaned the sacrificial blood off their hands and garments. But the sea of glass is clear as crystal (Revelation 4:6), having no blood mixed in with it, because the time of mercy under the blood of the Lamb is passed when the seven vials are poured out at Armageddon.
Upon being killed in the Great Tribulation, the foolish virgins and the 144,000 Jews will go into the presence of the Lord, because they are seen standing on the sea of glass in the outer court of the heavenly sanctuary. Whilst they are gathered on the sea of glass, the fifth seal Jews are gathered under the brazen altar in the outer court of the heavenly sanctuary (Revelation 6:9-11), and the sleeping New Testament saints are gathered under the golden altar of the Holy Place in the heavenly sanctuary. These three pieces of furniture in the heavenly sanctuary are all representative of dimensional planes of existence connected with the presence of the Lord, to which the different groups will go in their waiting to be resurrected.
We know that it is the foolish virgins and the 144,000 Jews who are standing on the sea of glass, because the Jewish group are singing the song of Moses, and they join with the foolish virgins to sing the song of the Lamb. The song of Moses is recorded in Exodus 15:1-21 after the enemy perished in the Red Sea, but now the Jewish group is rejoicing at having gotten the victory over the Beast, its image and the mark under the ministry of their two Jewish prophets who have the ministries of Moses and Elijah, for it was Moses who called Israel out of Egyptian hands, and it was Elijah who called Israel out of Jezebel’s hands.
The 144,000 Jews are not singing about three persons in one God, but are calling the Lamb the “Lord God Almighty,” for the revelation of the true Lamb will have come to them by the message of the two Jewish prophets, who will introduce the Lamb to them. They have come to realize that the blood of bulls and goats in the Old Testament was only a shadow of the perfect blood of the perfect Lamb, their Messiah, Jesus Christ. Unlike their forefathers who rejected the perfect Lamb, the 144,000 Jews will accept Him and be united with Him; and then under the administration of Christ in the Kingdom Age, when all the nations shall be subservient to Christ and His Bride (Revelation 15:4), they will be attendants/servants to the King and Queen.
The Gospel returning again to Israel after the Bride has been raptured is described by John in his seeing the heavenly sanctuary opened up (Revelation 5:5) and the Ark of the Testimony seen. This connects exactly with the seventh trumpet in Revelation chapter eleven, wherein the heavenly sanctuary was opened (Revelation 11:19) and the Ark of the Testament seen. The Ark of the Covenant in the Old Testament tabernacle was a shadow of Jesus Christ, who will be revealed to the 144,000 Jews under the seventh trumpet, even as Christ is revealed to the Gentile Bride under the seventh seal. Because Heaven consists of the Word, and the heavenly sanctuary being opened revealed the Ark of the Testimony, we come to understand that Jesus Christ can only be truly known by the opening or revealing of the Word.
It is after the temple has been opened, that the seven Angels come forth (Revelation 15:6) to collectively pour out their vials of wrath upon the earth. So it is after the Word has been fully opened by the revealing of the seven seals to the Gentile Bride, and the seven trumpets to the 144,000 Jews, that the seven vials of God’s wrath can be poured out upon the earth at Armageddon. We know already that these seven heavenly Angels are God Himself who was in each of the seven earthly church age messengers. The seven heavenly Angels are coming out of the temple to show that the origin of judgment upon the inhabitants of the earth is coming from the Throne of God, because the Ark of the Testament in Moses’ tabernacle was representative of God’s Throne in Heaven.
The seven Angels are clothed in pure and white linen which speaks of God’s righteousness, and their chests are girded with golden girdles. Whereas a priest wore his belt or sash about the waist in his ministry, a judge wore his across the chest, thus God is showing by the placement of the girdle that He is in the office of Supreme Judge, to speedily avenge the blood of the saints. This is precisely how John saw the Lord Jesus in Revelation 1:13, girt about the paps with a golden girdle, to show that God in Christ is the Supreme Judge at that time.
What we are witnessing here is the very same scene described later in Revelation chapter nineteen, wherein Heaven opens (Revelation 19:11) and Christ descends to the earth with His saints for Armageddon, and the vials of His wrath are poured out. Notice carefully, Heaven opens and Christ descends to judge and make war, because in Revelation chapter fifteen, the temple is opened and the seven Angels are coming out of the temple to pour out their vials of God’s wrath. It is the exact same scene described slightly differently. Furthermore, when Christ comes back to the earth at Armageddon, the seven earthly messengers of each church age are among the seven ages of saints. This is important to see, because the seven heavenly Angels through the seven earthly messengers and their groups of people, will execute the wrath of God upon the enemy at Armageddon.
When the seven Angels step forth from the heavenly sanctuary, they are given the vials of wrath by the Cherubim. Ezekiel chapters nine and ten are closely connected with what is taking place here, especially when we read Ezekiel 10:7: And one cherub stretched forth his hand from between the cherubims unto the fire that was between the cherubims, and took thereof, and put it into the hands of him that was clothed with linen: who took it, and went out. The cherub that took fire and gave it to the man clothed in linen is precisely what we are seeing in Revelation chapter fifteen. The Cherubim who told John to “Come and see” when the seals were being opened, are the same Cherubim now connected with the ministry of judgment after the ministry of mercy is over. There is no incense mixed with the fiery coals that the cherub takes, for we may recall in Revelation 8:5, that when the censer of fire is cast into the earth, no incense is mixed with the burning coals because there is no more intercession at that time. Intercession must end before the fulness of judgment can come.
Finally, the seven vials are poured out upon those who rejected the Word, and when they are poured out, the heavenly sanctuary is filled with smoke (Revelation 15:8). The smokey sanctuary is connected with the Day of Atonement and the cleansing of the sanctuary on that most sacred of days. No priest could enter the sanctuary whilst it was filled with smoke, to show that the ministry of intercession has ended, that mercy is over, and the fulness of judgment has come.
Much could be said here about the cleansing of the sanctuary and what it means. Sufficient to understand is that when the Lamb leaves the heavenly sanctuary, it became filled with smoke from the incense mixed with burning coals. The Lamb is the High Priest who is offering up for the final time the prayers of the saints that are connected with His blood. When that is done, intercession is over, mercy has ended, and the coals of fire are poured out on the earth, to show that the earth will burn with nuclear and volcanic fire, and by it, be renovated for the Kingdom Age.
Proceed to Revelation Chapter 16