Are you ready for eternity?
Living Tribulation Saints Standing on the Sea of Glass holding Harps
The Book of Revelation
Chapter 15
Living Tribulation Saints Standing Before God in Heaven
Seven Angels are Given Seven Golden Vials Full of the Wrath of God
Seven Angels With Seven Plagues
1 And I saw another sign in Heaven, great and marvelous, seven Angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God.
Living Tribulation "Reaped" Saints Standing Before God in Heaven
2 And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.
3 And they sing the song of Moses [Exodus 15] the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvelous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints.
4 Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest.
These are the Tribulation Saints that were still alive on Earth who were reaped in Revelation 14:14-16 "And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of Man [Jesus], having on His head a Golden Crown, and in His hand a sharp sickle. 15 And another Angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to Him [Jesus] that sat on the cloud, Thrust in Your sickle, and reap: for the time is come for You to reap; for the harvest of the Earth is ripe. 16 And He [Jesus] that sat on the cloud thrust in His sickle on the Earth; and the Earth was reaped."
These people were carried by the Angels to the Throne Room in Heaven before God’s wrath was to be poured out on the Earth. These are those who have been delivered from the beast/antichrist, just as the children of Israel were delivered from Pharaoh in Egypt.
This is not the group told about in Revelation 7:9-17. That great multitude is the Tribulation Saints who were 'killed' during the Tribulation.
Matthew and Mark also tell about the Angels gathering the living Saints.
Matthew 24:31 “He shall send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”
Mark 13:27 “Then shall He send His angels, and shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven.”
As mentioned in Chapter 14, the Saints who were caught up in the Rapture did not need to be gathered by the Angels, since their bodies were changed, "in the twinkling of an eye", and they ascended to meet the Lord in the air.
Seven Angels are Given Seven Golden Vials Full of the Wrath of God
5 And after that I looked, and, behold, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in Heaven was opened:
6 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.
7 And one of the four beasts [Seraphims] gave unto the Seven Angels seven golden Vials full of the wrath of God, who lives for ever and ever.
8 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.
Chapter 16
The Seven Vials / Bowls of God’s Wrath
Jerusalem is divided by the Earthquake
Preparing for the Battle of Armageddon
16:15 "Blessed is he that watches and keeps his garments"
The Seven Vials / Bowls of the Wrath of God
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.
We know the seven vials do not take place until after the mark of the beast is administered because when the First Vial is poured out, the bible tells us very clearly that it will be unleashed upon the people that have taken the mark of the beast. So, from that we know that the Vials will all be enacted at the time of the very end.
First Vial - Sore on People with the Mark
2 And the first [Angel] went, and poured out his Vial upon the earth; and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshipped his image.
Notice this is 'a sore', it is singular. This implies that the site of the "Mark", be it by Injection. Chip placement, Quantum Dot Tattoo, or any other means, in the right Hand or forehead is going to become a foul smelling and grievously painful sore.
Second Vial - Sea became as Blood - All Living in Sea Died
3 And the second Angel poured out his Vial upon the sea; and it became as the blood of a dead man: and every living soul died in the sea.
The first Vial just gave us a foul smelling sore, and now just imagine the disgusting stench of thousands upon thousands of dead fish carcasses littering the beaches. It will be horrendous!
Third Vial - Rivers and Fountains became Blood
4 And the third Angel poured out his Vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters; and they became blood.
5 And I heard the angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and was, and shalt be, because thou hast judged thus.
6 For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink; for they are worthy.
7 And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments.
Fourth Vial - People are Scorched by Fierce Heat of the Sun
8 And the fourth Angel poured out his Vial upon the sun; and power was given to him to scorch men with fire.
9 And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give Him glory.
Fifth Vial - Antichrist Kingdom full of Darkness
10 And the fifth Angel poured out his Vial upon the seat of the beast [Antichrist]; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain,
11 And blasphemed the God of Heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds.
By this point in the Tribulation, few are repenting. They know that God is sending His wrath onto the world, but many shake their fist at Him and refuse to repent. Battle lines have been set in eternal stone. In Revelation 13 people either took the mark of the beast, thereby signaling their worship of Satan and sealing their doom, Revelation 14:9-10, or they refused the mark, thereby signaling their worship of the Lamb who lives forever, sealing most of these to their martyrdom (which immediately transfers their Spirits to Heaven).
Sixth Vial - Dry up Euphrates River to Prepare for the Battle of Armageddon
12 And the sixth Angel poured out his Vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.
13 And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon [Satan], and out of the mouth of the beast [Antichrist], and out of the mouth of the false prophet [World Religious Leader].
14 For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.
Saints - Watch and Keep Your Garments of Righteousness
Look at what God is saying here! God threw this WARNING in for the Saints directly in the middle of these verses where He is talking about gathering together the nations for the battle of Armageddon.
15 Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watches, and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.
Revelation 3:3 "If therefore you shall not watch, I will come on you as a thief, and you shall not know what hour I will come upon you."
Revelation 3:18 "I counsel you to buy of Me ... white raiment, that you may be clothed, and that the shame of your nakedness does not appear."
Christians keep their spiritual garments of salvation and righteousness white with prayer and by obeying His commandments. Take heed lest you be found walking without your garments, and suddenly find that you have missed the Rapture. This will be the shame a person will feel when other people begin to question them as to why they are still on Earth after the Rapture when they were expecting to go up.
16 And He gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.
Zechariah 14:2-5,9 "For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city. Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations, as when He fought in the day of battle. And His feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south. And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains ... and the Lord my God shall come, and all the Saints with Thee ... And the Lord shall be King over all the Earth.
Situated at the foot of Israel's Mount Megiddo is the valley that appears to be the site for the Battle of Armageddon. For this battle all of the world's armies will descend on this plain for an epic battle against Israel; when the battle ends, the valley will be filled with "blood up to the bridles of the horses, Rev.14:20" and the land will be restored to Israel under Christ's rule, fulfilling God's covenant with Abraham, which promised to restore the land to his descendants.
Christ will establish a literal Kingdom on Earth after this period of unprecedented chaos and strife known as the Great Tribulation.
Seventh Vial - Voices, Thunders, Lightnings; and a Great Earthquake
17 And the seventh Angel poured out his Vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of Heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done.
18 And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great.
19 And the great City [Jerusalem] was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath.
20 And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found.
21 And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven [the skies], every stone about the weight of a talent: and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great.
When the seventh Angel poured his Vial into the air, from the Throne in the Temple came a shout, “Done!” followed by lightning flashes and noises, thunder crashes and a colossal huge and devastating earthquake, never an earthquake like it since time began. The Great City split three ways, the cities of the nations toppled to ruin. Great Babylon had to drink the cup of the wine of God’s raging anger! Every island fled and not a mountain was to be found. Large hailstones plummeted, and men and women blasphemed God for the curse of the hail, for it fell upon them with savage blows.
The people continue to blaspheme God instead of repenting. By their actions, they choose Hell instead of Heaven!
* * * * *
We see from comparing these Verses, that the 7th Seal, 7th Trumpet, and 7th Vial all END at the exact same time with the same events happening.
7th Seal - Voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake.
7th Trumpet - Lightnings, and voices, and thundering's, and an earthquake, and great hail.
7th Vial - Voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake.
* * *
7th Seal - Revelation 8:5: "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."
7th Trumpet - Revelation 11:19: "And the temple of God was opened in Heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament [covenant]: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail."
7th Vial - Revelation 16:18: "And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great."
* * * * *
The things John sees with the opening of the Seals are given as an outline of the judgments to come, and then additional details are given as John tells about the Trumpets being sounded, and then the Vials of Wrath being poured out.
The Seven Seals are the Long outline which end at Armageddon.
The Seven Trumpets are the Shorter Outline which end at Armageddon.
The Seven Vials are the Shortest outline which also end at Armageddon.
The Seals outline the entire seven year Tribulation.
The Trumpets happen sometime during the last half of the Tribulation.
The Vials of Wrath are poured out near the end of the Tribulation.
* * * * *
The Seven Vials / Bowls of the Wrath of God
Please read "Understanding the Book of Revelation" before reading this Chapter. Notes of Clarification are written in this Font Color.