15 1 Then I saw in heaven another marvelous event of great significance. Seven angels were holding the seven last plagues, which would bring God's wrath to completion.
2 I saw before me what seemed to be a glass sea mixed with fire. And on it stood all the people who had been victorious over the beast and his statue and the number representing his name. They were all holding harps that God had given them.
3 And they were singing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb: "Great and marvelous are your works, O Lord God, the Almighty. Just and true are your ways, O King of the nations.
4 Who will not fear you, Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous deeds have been revealed."
5 Then I looked and saw that the Temple in heaven, God's Tabernacle, was thrown wide open.
6 The seven angels who were holding the seven plagues came out of the Temple. They were clothed in spotless white linen with gold sashes across their chests.
7 Then one of the four living beings handed each of the seven angels a gold bowl filled with the wrath of God, who lives forever and ever.
8 The Temple was filled with smoke from God's glory and power. No one could enter the Temple until the seven angels had completed pouring out the seven plagues. NLT
(the following commentary is from www.easyenglish.bible/bible-commentary/revelation-lbw.htm)
"Verse 1 What John saw next was great and wonderful. He saw in heaven 7 angels. These angels controlled the 7 last troubles that came upon the world. These will be times of awful trouble and pain, because God will be angry. God will be angry because people refused to accept his love. God will be angry because people became very wicked. And God will be angry because people worshipped the beast and his image instead of God.
These last troubles will bring the anger of God to an end.
This does not mean that God’s anger has finished. He still has to punish the devil. And he still has to throw the beast and the false prophet into the lake of fire. But it does mean that this will be the final act of God’s anger on the earth.
These 7 troubles will be the last ones. When they have finished, Christ will return to the earth.
Verse 2 John again sees a glass sea (Revelation 4:6). This sea seems to be glass, but it glows like fire. It was a solid sea rather than like water. A large crowd stood on the sea.
The crowd was of all those who had defeated the beast and its image. They did not worship the beast. They did not have the mark of the beast. That mark was the number of the name of the beast. God gave to them harps in order to make music. They held these harps in their hands.
Verses 3-4 They sang a song of praise to God. They sang about the wonderful things that God had done. They sang the song that Moses had sung. It was a song about how God saved Israel from Egypt (Exodus 15:1-18). They sang about the way that the Lamb had saved them.
They praised God because he is all-powerful. God fixed limits on the power of the beast. God had control over all things. They praised God because he had been with them during the troubles. Now God had brought them to safety in heaven. They declared that all God’s deeds are right and perfect. He is the king of the ages. He rules all things through time and beyond time.
In the end, all who remain will be afraid of God. They will give honor to him. Nobody will worship another god because there is no other. He is the one and only holy God.
This song is about the time after God deals with the beast. The nations will then see what God has done. God as the judge will punish the workers of evil deeds. People from all the nations will worship God.
Each phrase in the song comes from the Psalms or the prophets of the Old Testament.
Verses 5-6 Then John saw the temple in heaven. In the temple was the most holy place. It was open and 7 angels came out of it. The angels came from God. They would bring the final awful troubles to the earth.
Verse 7 Each of the 7 angels received a gold bowl from one of the creatures. These bowls contained the 7 last troubles. In other words, each trouble would happen when the angels poured out each bowl. These troubles were the anger of God. This means that the troubles were the result of God’s anger.
Verse 8 As the angels received the bowls, smoke filled the temple. This smoke was from the glory and power of God. This smoke showed that God was present in his temple. Because of the smoke, nobody could enter the temple. Nobody could stop the awful troubles that God sent on the earth."
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