The Bible Says
Revelation 15:1 Meaning

Revelation 15:1 begins a prelude to the final seven judgments on the earth: the “bowl judgments” that will be poured out in Chapter 16.

The seventh trumpet blast in Revelation 11:15 finished the seven trumpet judgments and heralded the arrival of this final outpouring of God’s judgment upon the earth. In the prior chapter, an angel flew through the sky pronouncing a message called the “eternal gospel” and exhorting people to “fear God” and worship Him rather than take the mark of the beast or worship his image (Revelation 14:6-7).

At the end of Chapter 14, we saw a vision of Jesus, the Son of Man, reaping a harvest on the earth, perhaps a harvest of the righteous, and an angel reaping a harvest of blood. The amount of blood was massive, stretching for two hundred miles (Revelation 14:20). This occurred outside the city, likely referring to Jerusalem.

Now seven angels line up to execute the last seven judgments, the bowl judgments,

Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous, seven angels who had seven plagues, which are the last, because in them the wrath of God is finished (v. 1).

These seven angels will pour out the seven bowls of judgment that are the last because God’s plan of judging evil upon the earth is reaching completion. The final conflict is at hand. We have seen in Revelation a series of sevens. We first saw seven seals containing seven judgments. The seventh seal contained the seven trumpets which contained seven judgments. The seventh trumpet blew in Revelation 11:15.

From the blowing of the seventh trumpet to now, we have seen:

• Christ’s reign pronounced (Revelation 11:15)
• Satan thrown out of heaven (Revelation 12:9)
• The beast and false prophet given power to reign in the earth by the dragon who is Satan (Revelation 13:2, 11)
• The beast given power to overcome the saints and kill those who did not worship his image (Revelation 13:7, 15)
• An angel pronounce the “everlasting gospel,” exhorting people to fear God and serve Him rather than bowing to the beast. Those who feared God (and likely lost their lives) were promised great rewards, while those who worshipped the beast and took his mark were promised “torment” that would last “forever and ever” (Revelation 14:11).

Each sequence delves deeper into the cosmic conflict over the question, “Who has the right to reign?” Satan’s original sin was a desire to ascend to heaven and defy God’s authority (Isaiah 14:13). God appointed humans to be “crowned with glory and honor” of reigning over the earth, even though humans are lower than the angels (Psalm 8:4-6). But when humans fell, due to Satan tempting them to ascend over God’s authority (Genesis 3:4-5), Satan was apparently given to reign over the earth (John 12:31). When Jesus learned obedience and died on the cross for the sins of the world, He was awarded the right to reign (Philippians 2:8-10, Matthew 28:18).

Although all authority has been given to Jesus, He has not yet assumed His throne. But during this series of seven seals, trumpets, and bowls, we see the culmination of the ages of the earth as Jesus judges the world and prepares to take physical possession.

The number seven generally symbolizes completion in scripture. God is pictured as One that is also three. We see that three sevens complete God’s judgment and bring in a redemption both of humanity as well as of the earth. This might reflect God’s sovereignty as well as the culmination of His plan for the earth.

The seven angels stand ready to pour out seven plagues that will bring justice and put an end to the rebellion of those who ally themselves with Satan’s kingdom. This last act of God’s purifying wrath will purify evil from the earth.

We don’t tend to think of God’s wrath in our modern age, focusing instead on aspects of His character like love, kindness, and peace. But God is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8). When He pours out His wrath, it’s always for our best interests. He destroyed the earth with a flood because the earth had filled with violence, and He wanted to get rid of that and rebuild an earth that wasn’t full of violence (Genesis 6).

So then, what are the reasons why God pours out His wrath here in Revelation? First, He’s destroying the destroyers. The way to keep the earth from being continually corrupted is to remove the people doing the corruption. Wickedness will be put to an end and righteousness will fill the earth (2 Peter 3:13). Secondly, He’s getting rid of the world’s system that abuses people, which is a good thing.

Oftentimes, God’s wrath, as seen here, is manifested as giving people what they demand, giving us over to the natural consequences of sin. In Romans, Paul writes that,

“…the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness…Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity…And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper
(Romans 1:18, 26, 28).

If we insist, God will give us over to our own passions, lusts, and addictions. If you fall into an addiction, you eventually get to the point where you don’t think right. In order to get out of that, you have to renew your mind. And God has the power to do that. This isn’t always the outcome. God will only pour out His wrath on people if they insist on it. And giving them over to their lusts and passions is wrathful, even though it’s what they think they want, because it ultimately means separation from God.

Before each wave of judgment in Revelation, there is always an opportunity to repent-yet many refuse (Revelation 9:20-21, 16:9). Satan’s path leads to destruction, but God’s path leads to life. Those that did not repent will now experience the complete destruction that accompanies rebellion against God and His design for creation. The wrath of God is finished when these looming judgments are complete, foreshadowing a total end to rebellion against and a full restoration of God’s creative order.

Now that we have a better grasp of God’s wrath, what does it mean that it’s finished? The word here translated as finished is the Greek “teleo.” Let’s look at the other places in Revelation where this word is used:

• Revelation 10:7 “the mystery of God is finished”
• Revelation 11:7 “they have finished their testimony”
• Revelation 15:8 “the seven plagues of the seven angels were finished”
• Revelation 17:17 “the words of God will be fulfilled”
• Revelation 20:3 Satan “would not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were complete”
• Revelation 20:5 “the rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed”
• Revelation 20:7 “When the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison”

We have seen in Daniel’s seventy-weeks prophecy that many of the intended conclusions took place at the end of the sixty-nine weeks when “the Messiah” was “cut off.” This refers to Jesus being rejected and dying for the sins of the world. The following is a view of the possible timing of Daniel 9:24’s predictions, where the final result of human history and the seventy weeks “decreed for your people” (Israel) occur:

• “To finish the transgression” and “to make an end of sin” was completed spiritually when Jesus died on the cross and all sins were placed there (Colossians 2:14). These predictions will be completed physically when all judgment is finished and the earth is filled with righteousness. This will have at least two stages, one during the inauguration of the messianic kingdom and one after a thousand years when Satan is released for a time and a final judgment is made upon human rebellion (Revelation 20:4, 7-12).

• To “make atonement for iniquity” took place on the cross. Jesus died for the sins of the world, and all may receive forgiveness simply by receiving it in faith (Colossians 2:14).

• To “bring in everlasting righteousness” is now taking place. In Revelation 11:15, we saw that when the seventh trumpet sounded, the kingdom of the Messiah, the Christ, the anointed of God, was proclaimed: “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ and He will reign forever and ever.” Now we are on the brink of the seven bowl judgments and with them the wrath of God is finished-Jesus will return and take up the throne of the earth.

• To “seal up vision and prophecy.” When these events are finished, and Jesus the Son of David, the Christ (“anointed” in Greek) and Messiah (“anointed” in Hebrew) takes up the throne and restores the kingdom to Israel, this will “seal up vision and prophecy.” All the visions and prophecies of scripture will reach a full and physical fulfillment in the Messianic kingdom of Israel and blessings to the nations of the earth. In particular, the vision of the statue of Daniel 2:36-45 will be complete. That vision set forth a prophecy of the ages of this earth, which ends with a divine kingdom not made with human hands.

• “To anoint the most holy place” might refer to Ezekiel’s temple. In Ezekiel 43:7, God says of that temple “this is the place of My throne and the place of the soles of My feet, where I will dwell among the sons of Israel forever.” This will likely be installed after Jesus sets foot on the Mount of Olives, where the Mount splits in two and a new river flows from it and restores the Dead Sea to become a living body of water (Zechariah 14:4, Ezekiel 47:8-10).

What these verses promise is that there will be a time when God’s wrath will go away. That doesn’t mean that His character will change, but remember that God is always motivated by love. So the fact that He won’t have to act wrathfully anymore is when there are no destroyers left. Now we are headed toward a new heaven and a new earth in which righteousness reigns (Revelation 21).