Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the Book of Revelation.  Tonight is study #12 of Revelation, chapter 15, and we are going to read Revelation 15:6-8:

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. And one of the four beasts gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials full of the wrath of God, who liveth for ever and ever. 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.

In our last study we were discussing verse 6 and we saw, once again, further confirmation that the “seven angels” or “seven messengers” picture the true believers that are performing their role as a “royal priesthood.”  Remember, earlier in verse 2, those that had gotten the victory over the beast were standing on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.  We related the “sea of glass” to the “molten sea” that was in the temple and in which the earthly priests washed.

Now the seven messengers are clothed in “pure and white linen.”  We looked at a few verses in our last study that related to the priests and “linen.”  They also had had their breasts girded with “golden girdles” and it is all very strong language in which God is making sure we understand that the “spiritual priests” are in view; they are His elect people and it is time for them to fulfill the role of a spiritual priest.  Priests were instrumental in carrying out the sacrifices that God had commanded, according to the Law.  For example, “This is the sacrificial animal that must be offered in the morning or in the evening.  Here is the animal that must be offered on the Day of Atonement.  Here is the sacrifice that must be performed in this exact manner.”  Each and every sacrifice (and there were many of them) pointed to the judgment of God upon sin and it was demonstrating that there needed to be One that would take the sins of others and die for them.  That would be the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, and these things all pointed to His atoning work from the foundation of the world.

However, it was still the work of the priest to slay the animal and to burn it and to destroy it in the sacrifice and this is a work of “judgment.”  So, in the Day of Judgment, which we are presently going through, God is offering up the sacrifice of the wicked, in a sense.  That is why we saw the imagery in Revelation, chapter 19, at the time of the marriage supper of the Lamb, as it said in Revelation 19:17-18:

And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God; That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great.

This means all the unsaved inhabitants of the earth are the “supper.”  They are the “sacrifice,” because it is the day of God’s wrath and the time of the pouring out of His anger upon them for their sins.  This was exactly what Christ had experienced.  He experienced the wrath of God in the place of His elect, but His sacrificial atoning work was to be the recipient of the wrath of God.  The sacrifice gets the fire.  The sacrifice is consumed and destroyed.  That is exactly what is happening today, spiritually, and it is the priests that offer the sacrifice.

Christ, of course, is the High Priest.  He is the Supreme Judge and He is judging the world, but the Bible says in 1Corinthians 6:2: “Know ye not that the saints shall judge the world?”  He comes with “ten thousands of his saints.”  He is the Priest and we are the royal priesthood, so the “seven angels” or “seven messengers” can be viewed as the body of Christ, with Christ performing the task of the Priest in offering up the sacrifice of the unsaved people of the earth, doing so through His body of believers.  I think that is why there is this connecting language of the “seven messengers” with priests.

Then it says in Revelation 15:7:

And one of the four beasts gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials full of the wrath of God, who liveth for ever and ever.

We saw this language of “the four beasts” earlier in the Book of Revelation and we corrected how it really should have been translated.  The word “beasts” is not the same word that we read, for instance, in Revelation 13, where we read that the “beast” rose up out of the sea, which referred to Satan.  So in order to avoid misunderstanding or misapplication, it really should be translated as “four living creatures,” and the “living creatures” are a representation of Eternal God.  We first saw this back in Revelation, chapter 4, and I am going to substitute “living creature” for “beast,” as we look, again, at Revelation 4:6-8:

And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four living creatures full of eyes before and behind. And the first living creature was like a lion, and the second living creature like a calf, and the third living creature had a face as a man, and the fourth living creature was like a flying eagle. And the four living creatures had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.

Of course, this ties in the “four living creatures” with the seraphim that are seen in Isaiah, chapter 6, and they are also a representation of God Himself.  The “four living creatures” are a picture of God Himself, so when we read, “And one of the four beasts gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials full of the wrath of God,” this means that God gave the seven messengers the seven golden vials that were full of the wrath of God.  Of course, it is only God that can mete out the wrath of God and He is not giving the vials to them in the sense of punishing them, but He is giving it to them so that they will have in their possession the ability to pour it out at a later time.  This means that they have the “container,” or the vessel in which the wrath of God is stored and God will give commandment in the next chapter to go forth and pour out these vials.  So this is the preparation for doing that, as they receive the vials full of the wrath of God.

Let us look at the word “vial” before we move on to the next verse.  The Greek word for “vial” is only translated as “vial.”  It is found here and it is found several times in the next chapter, in Revelation 16.  It is also found once back in Revelation 5:8:

And when he had taken the book, the four beasts (living creatures) and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints.

Here is the same word “vials” and they were full of odours, which were said to be “the prayers of the saints.”  This reminds us of Revelation 8:3-6:

And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel's hand. And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of the altar, and cast it into the earth: and there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake. And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound.

So there are some similarities in the language between Revelation 8 and what happens in Revelation 15 and 16; that is, there was an angel that took a censor and filled it with fire from the altar and cast it into the earth.  The seven vials full of the wrath of God will also be cast out or poured out upon the earth.  Also, in Revelation 8 and in Revelation 9, there are “seven angels” that are sounding trumpets and now we have “seven angels” which are pouring out the vials of the seven last plagues.  So there are similarities in Revelation, chapters 8 and 9, with what we are looking at now.  God broke up the judgment; the first four trumpet blasts had to do with judgment on the churches and the last three trumpets (the “three woes”) have to do with the judgment on the world.

But we do not see God breaking up the seven “vials” in that manner; we do not find (as we did with the seven trumpets) that after the first four there is an interlude and then there was the declaration, “Woe, woe, woe, unto the inhabiters of the earth” by reason of the next three trumpets sounding.  There is nothing like that.  Remember, these are the “seven last vials full of the wrath of God,” and they are filled up with the completeness of God’s wrath, so all seven of these vials will picture the final judgment of this world – Judgment Day on the world as a whole, which includes the people within the churches.  But it is not pointing to the judgment on the churches during the Great Tribulation, except in one place in Revelation 16, where God “back tracks” and at the point of the pouring out of the seventh vial, God goes back and summarizes and then brings us forward to the pouring out of the seventh vial, which is the Day of Judgment. 

So the “seven messengers” now have in their possession the “seven golden vials.”  I want to mention one last thing about “vials.”  Again, in the New Testament, the Greek word is only translated as “vial.”  In the Old Testament, we also find the Hebrew word translated as “vial.”  It says in 1Samuel 10:1:

Then Samuel took a vial of oil, and poured it upon his head, and kissed him, and said, Is it not because JEHOVAH hath anointed thee to be captain over his inheritance?

Here, Samuel annointed Saul and, later, another prophet will annoint Jehu.  The word “vial” is translated as “box” in 2Kings 9:3:

Then take the box of oil, and pour it on his head, and say, Thus saith JEHOVAH, I have anointed thee king over Israel. Then open the door, and flee, and tarry not.

The word “box” is the same Hebrew word.  It is also a container for the oil and the oil is poured out.  I think this helps us to understand a little bit better the “vials” of the wrath of God.  The vials in the Old Testament contained oil that was used to annoint kings.  We have looked at that kind of language in other studies and we have seen that the “oil” represents the Holy Spirit.  In the cases of Saul and Jehu, it actually pictures God’s Spirit annointing them to qualify them for a specific task in an earthly sense.  But the oil represents the Holy Spirit.  David was annointed with oil, also, and it pictures God’s Spirit that is poured out.  Remember, on the Day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit was “poured out.”  It was like oil that poured forth and the church age began, when God began to save the firstfruits.

So the “vial” contained the oil and you would tip the vial or the box to pour the oil upon the heads of Saul or Jehu, for example. 

Likewise, when the seven messengers go forth with the golden vials full of the wrath of God, they will “pour them out.”  That is the language of Revelation 16:1:

And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, Go your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth.

I think this relates to the “bitter water,” in Revelation, chapter 10.  I know we are jumping around a bit tonight in the Book of Revelation, but remember when John was told to take the little book and eat it up?  It said in Revelation 10:9-11:

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. 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. And he said unto me, Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings.

We saw that, normally, what flows out of the belly of true believers, after eating up the Book, the Bible, is the sweetness of the Gospel unto salvation.  God likens His Word to honey and we consume the Word of God and it is “sweet” in our mouth.  But in the Day of Judgment, it is not rivers of living water that flow forth as we declare the things the Bible says, but it is “bitter water” now, because there is no more salvation. 

Likewise, with the vials in which the Holy Spirit could normally be poured out, for example, when He poured out the early rain and the Latter Rain, which were the first and second outpouring of the Holy Spirit.  How did He do that?  How did God pour out the Holy Spirit?  It was through the sending forth of His Word.  The Word brought the Spirit.  The Word of God is that which “anoints” those sinners that were God’s elect to receive the Spirit of God in salvation.  The Holy Spirit came upon them and they became a “spiritual king,” as they were annointed by the Word that brought the Spirit. 

But, now the Word of God, represented by the “vials,” has only wrath to bring.  So when God says, “Go your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth,” there is no more salvation; there is no grace and mercy available any longer for the hearers of the Word of God.  If they have not yet become saved (if they were not saved before God shut the door to heaven), they cannot become saved now, so all that is contained in the “vials” is the wrath and anger of God.  There is not the mercy and grace of salvation and, yet, it is still God’s Word that the people of God must pour out.  They send it forth and they tell people the truth about what the Bible teaches and this accomplishes the two-fold task that has been given them.  The first task is to feed His sheep; even though there is no salvation available, for those that are already saved, the truth feeds them and nourishes them.  The second task is to publish that “Babylon is fallen.”  Here, again, it is just like in the previous chapter where it said to “Send in thy sickle.”  That word “send” applies to sending the reapers, who are the “angels” or “messengers.”  Remember that verse in Matthew 13:39:

The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels.

The reapers are the “angels” or “messengers,” just as these “seven messengers” were sent forth, also.  That is why they are messengers, because they were sent with the seven vials full of the seven last plagues and they are commanded by God: “Go your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth.”  It is further confirmation that this is what we should be involved in doing – we should be actively involved as a “priest,” as a messenger and as a reaper. 

We should be involved in getting this message and information from the Bible out to all the world, as far as we can go.  God is not limited.  He has all power and might and all things are possible with Him.  We have our limitations, but we are to do whatever we can do and we should not try to justify inactivity or slothfulness or being a sluggard that is sleeping in the day of harvest, which is as a son that causes shame.  We should not say, “Oh, it is a big world and we do not have Family Radio any more, so we cannot reach seven billion people, so I am not going to even bother to reach one person.  I am not going to bother to get some tracts and stand on a corner and hand out 100 tracts, just because it is not possible for me to hand out seven billion tracts.”  That is just poor justification for failing to do what God would have us to do as individuals.  We can leave the “big picture” to God.  We will leave that in His hand because those things are above us and they are not for us to intermeddle in, but we can trust God with the tactics and how He is going to do it, but we need to be busy in “going forth” and pouring out the vials of the Word of God, which will bring the news of Judgment Day.