Revelation Chapter 15
VERSE 7 and 8 continued “Then one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God who lives forever and ever. The temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from His power, and no one was able to enter the temple till the seven plagues of the seven angels were completed.”
“It is most fitting that of the four living ones or beings, the divine attribute of Justice is represented as distributing the vials of the wrath of the ever-living God to the angels. Yea, that which is ephemeral, that which can be shaken, will be shaken.
As was stated in an earlier post, Part # 239, Brother Shallieu interprets the seven angels somewhat differently than others. He does not see the seven angels as the seven Gospel Age messengers to the Church (Rev. 1:20), but rather as an allegorical representation of seven messages. His view is this:
The seven angels do not represent seven different personalities. They represent titles, each with its own theme. The “vials” (bowls or vessels) containing the wrath of God signify that the format of His displeasure is written, i.e., it is in book form. Each plague-containing bowl has its own particular list of grievances and/or malpractices that have aroused His indignation over the failure of the nominal Church to follow the straight and narrow way. The vials being “golden” indicates these publications would be sent under divine care and direction.
Some brethren are of the opinion that the Studies in the Scriptures series, the six volumes written by Pastor Russell, plus the little book Tabernacle Shadows represent the seven bowls of judgment. We should not be too quick to disregard the thoughts of these brethren. All seven of these books most definitely expose many of the errors and practices taught by the nominal Church.
It is important that we carefully consider the views of all the brethren before coming to any one particular interpretation, especially when dealing with prophecies yet fulfilled, as all truth was never given to any one particular individual, and this includes the Pastor. Rather it has please the Lord to distribute the truth among his faithful so that they learn to be dependent one upon another, “knit together by what every joint supplies”, and “Grows with the increase (of grace and knowledge), which is from God.” (Eph 4:16; Col2:19)
Temple Filled with Smoke
The temple filled with smoke clearly calls to mind the dedication of Solomon’s Temple, in which the Lord’s glory was described as “thick darkness” (1 Kings 8:12). “The cloud filled the house of the Lord, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud: for the glory of the Lord had filled the house of the Lord” (1 Kings 8:10, 11).
Both the Temple and the Tabernacle were structures ordained of God (1 Kings 9:3–5; Heb. 8:5), and both, at their inauguration, were blessed with the manifestation of His presence in the manner described.
Thus, both instances of yore, as well as the symbolic vision at hand, were and are intended to represent the future glorification and manifestation of the true sons of God (Rom. 8:19). “The Lord is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him” (Hab. 2:20).
The “smoke” refers to God’s glory and power and not to confusion in the nominal Church.
Although at first the wording of Verse 8 seems to indicate that the temple was filled with glory prior to the pouring of the plagues, the order of events is the reverse.
It should be observed that the temple was not filled with the Lord’s glory (Verse 8) until AFTER
a) “the temple . . . was opened” (Verse 5), until AFTER
b) “the seven angels came out” (Verse 6), and until AFTER
c) “one of the four beasts gave . . . vials full of the wrath of God” (Verse 7) unto the angels.
The temple was not filled with smoke BEFORE these three events occurred.
Furthermore, the glory-filled temple climaxed a dedication ceremony, foreshadowing the revealment to the world of God’s acceptance of the true and complete temple class. How long the time interval will be between the three events described above and the public recognition of the inauguration of the Kingdom is epitomized in the concluding clause of the chapter: “till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.”
In other words, the plagues do not, in their fulfillment, follow the Lord’s glory, for, of necessity, they must precede the sovereignty of God and of Christ and the services of the antitypical priesthood of the next age. In the type it was only after the Lord’s glory had subsided that the typical restitution offerings of the people were accepted by the priesthood. The Church will be completed during the fulfilling of the seventh plague but will not officiate on behalf of the world until after the plagues have been fulfilled and their repercussions fully felt.
In review, the first four verses of Chapter 15 tie in the plagues with the Red Sea deliverance; Verses 5 through 8 link the plagues to the dedication of the temple. The plagues themselves are a common denominator to both equations. Chapter 16 details the pouring of the plagues prior to the completion of the last members of the elect body, which will be followed by the fall of Babylon in the great Time of Trouble.
In our next post we should like to present another view of Verses 5-8 as explained by the Pastor in one of his earlier writings.
