“The Sea of Glass” (Revelation 15)

What this episode covers

The Sea of Glass The Sea of Glass Brad Mills / General Revelation / Heaven; Worship; Wrath of God / Revelation 15:1–8 Let me begin by reminding you of some of the fundamental principles we have been following in order to better comprehend this challenging book. Given the nature of the apocalyptic genre, our default hermeneutic (how we interpret any given passage) should be to expect symbolism and metaphor. We see it throughout the book. That doesn’t make the events any less true or real, but they are not an exact picture of events the way they will play out in history. An understanding of the OT is helpful in finding the right balance between figurative and literal meanings. Another crucial piece in our interpretative method is making out the cyclical structure. Each new cycle of the book brings us to the beginning of this present gospel age—the time between Christ’s first and second coming. We also need to keep in mind the situation of the original audience. They were in the midst of undergoing Roman persecution for their faith. They had tremendous cultural pressure to conform to the idolatry of the world that had infiltrated the economy. Their Christian faith made it difficult for them to function in any normal capacity with their neighbors. This revelation from Jesus Christ, given through his servant John, encouraged them (and believers in every age) to endure their temporary trials looking forward to Christ’s return with confidence. This chapter serves that end as well. Read Revelation 15:1-8. As we have seen many times already, John is consistently quoting or alluding to the Old Testament throughout his revelation. This chapter is no exception. Almost every verse contains an allusion to a Psalm or prophet. We will not take the time to examine all of them, but it is something to keep in mind as we make our way through the passage. The return of Jesus Christ is not some sudden fall of judgment. It is the culmination of much long suffering on the part of the redeemed and it is the end of God’s great patience. The hopes and fears of all the years throughout the OT era were fulfilled on the night of Christ’s birth. The hopes and fears of all the years throughout the NT era will culminate upon Christ’s return. › Those who have prayed for and waited for this day to arrive now join together in… 1. The Worship of God (1-4) The new cycle is introduced in v.1. These are “the last” of the plagues of judgment in the order of John’s vision (not chronological order in history). I have argued that they are separate events in John’s vision (15:5; 4:1; 7:1, 9; 18:1; 19:1), but in their historical fulfillment they occur in parallel fashion. The plagues that the seven angels will pour out of the bowls in the next chapter lead up to and include the point of Christ’s Second Coming and the judgments that surround his return. Next week we will see more clearly the intensification of the bowls which impact the same areas that the trumpets affected. And when we consider the seals we see the growing impact of judgment. The seals affected 1/4 of its target, the trumpets affected 1/3 of the region, while the bowls impact the whole region. Each section of the seals, trumpets, and judgments ended with a depiction of God’s final judgment. Again, these portray complementary pictures of God’s wrath. “The wrath of God is finished” in the sense that it is fully expressed by the combination of the bowl judgments with the previous seals and trumpets. The bowls represent the fullest expression of God’s wrath upon those who refuse to worship him. The vision pauses here for a moment to be picked up again at verse 5. It is as if the tension is cut with another image of the alternative to idolatry. For any audience reading this prior to Christ’s return, it serves as another reminder that there is indeed a way to escape the coming wrath! In order to understand the function of this pause it is helpful to look back at Re 8:2-5. Revelation 8:2 ESV Then I saw the s

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