We have been looking at Revelation 19 for a couple of weeks. In that chapter, we read of “the marriage supper of the Lamb,” which is the wedding supper, and we have seen that this is not a black tie affair. This is nothing like we would think it would be when we are invited to a feast or a wedding banquet. This is a supper that has to do with God’s victory over His enemies.
This is why the fowls are called to come and feast, because this feast is concerning the dead enemies of God. This is really a picture of the battle of Armageddon, because the marriage supper of the Lamb and the battle of Armageddon are one and the same.
On the first day of judgment, which was May 21, this started a judgment process that would last for five months. God calls this whole five-month period the “day” of judgment, but it is actually 153 days.
The first day was May 21st. On that day, a third of the world’s population was slain. They were killed spiritually even though they are still walking around. This is because what God did was that He transitioned from the judgment on the churches to judgment on the whole world.
For the last 23 years, there has been judgment on the churches in which the Holy Spirit was not present in the congregation. This means that there was no salvation in the churches of the world – and it did not matter which church.
Anyone who was in that environment and who then transitioned over into the Day of Judgment on May 21 and these days after, they now find themselves in an environment that encompasses the whole world in which there is no salvation.
What happened, in effect, was that God slew the third part of men. This is why we read in Revelation 9:16-18 concerning the 200 million:
And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them. And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone. By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.
The third part identifies with the church. They were killed on May 21. But two-thirds of the world – all of the other unsaved people – they are not in the church. We cannot say for certainty that they are dead, because God saved a great multitude. They are out there in the world and we do not know who they are.
This is the reason that Revelation 9:20 says:
And the rest of the men…
This word for “rest of the men” is the word “remnant,” which means those who were left.
It continues:
And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands…
This word for “plagues” is the same word for “stripes” that we find in Luke 12, which speaks of those who “knew his lord's will…shall be beaten with many stripes.” Those who “knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes [plagues], shall be beaten with few stripes.”
Since the third part knew their master’s will, they get an extra stripe where their hope is taken away immediately on May 21. But for the “rest of the men,” the two-thirds of the world, this cannot be said of them.
This is because we do not know whether or not the Muslim or the Buddhist or the Hindu or the atheist or the agnostic or anybody outside of the church is one of the 200 million or one of the great multitude whom God saved. This means that they still have hope from both our perspective and from their perspective.
From God’s perspective, of course, He knows who they are. This is why He refers to them as “the rest of the men”; because even though they were not killed by that particular plague, they still do not repent. They still do not repent because they are not saved.
So what we are seeing is that God is using His elect people (Jacob) as the weapon to bring about the judgment.
If you remember, Mr. Camping was speaking of these things repeatedly. For those of us who believed these things, we all thought that May 21 would be the day of the rapture and the day of the resurrection. This action of God, whereby He would resurrect the dead elect and He would rapture the living elect, would be the deathblow to all of those left behind. This would be the lethal blow that would bring about this torment. This is because everyone would know where they would stand with God if they had been left behind.
The problem with this understanding is that this would have left those in the churches and those left in the world on the same level. They all would have experienced the same amount of torment, because they all would have known that there was no hope for them.
This means that one reason why we are still here is so that God could slay the third part and still have some question as to who these elect people are, which allows the “rest of the men” to have hope for this period of five months.
God’s intent was to bring this lethal blow on the Day of Judgment, and so what God did instead of resurrecting and instead of rapturing all of His people was that He saved everyone whom He intended to save. All whose names were written in the Lamb’s Book of Life were saved prior to May 21. This action is the blow. This action is the judgment.
The whole history of the world was for the purpose of God seeking out and finding His sheep.
Do you remember what Jesus said to the Syrophenician woman who desired to be fed with a few crumbs? He said to her, “I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
Spiritually, “the house of Israel” could be anybody, Jew or Gentile. When anyone becomes saved, they are spiritually circumcised in heart and become part of the Israel of God
But the fact is that He was not sent to anyone but to the lost sheep and neither were we. Since we did not know who they were, we went into all the world with the Gospel so that maybe this one or maybe that one or maybe this one over here might be a sheep.
Actually, if we had known who they were, we would have gone directly to them. This is because the Gospel is not to make the world feel good that there is a Gospel wherein there is the possibility that they could be saved. No; Christ said, “I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
All of the sheep are now found. The whole history of the world was for the purpose of finding these sheep up until May 21, and now they have all been gathered into the sheepfold.
What do we know about May 21? We know that this was the day that the door shut. The door shut on May 21. This was the 17th day of the 2nd month of the Hebrew calendar, which matched perfectly with the 17th day of the 2nd month of Noah’s calendar when God shut him in and the flood came.
If we look at John 10, we will be reminded that we were constantly making this connection. The connection we made was that Christ is the door. We were constantly telling people that He is the door to Heaven; and that if the door shuts and He is the door, this means that this is it.
We were right about this, because this was correct. He is the portal. He is the way into Heaven. The Bible tells us, “No man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” There is no other way but through Him, and yet we kind of missed something in John 10 because it says in John 10:1-2:
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold…
He is “the door into the sheepfold.” It continues:
…but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.
The door has everything to do with being a sheep and with Christ being the Shepherd. His sheep go into the door, which is a “door into the sheepfold.”
Further down in John 10, it says in John 10:7-9:
Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.
So Christ is the door of the sheep. On May 21, the door shut. But why? The door shut because He found all of His sheep. He found all of His sheep and He now has the totality of His elect into the sheepfold, and then He shuts the door.
I am sure that there are some people out there who are scratching their heads and wondering why in the world are we talking so much about feeding sheep? Where did this come from?
Well, if we look at John 21, we read of a great catch of fish, which consisted of “an hundred and fifty and three.” This has everything to do with the great multitude who came out of great tribulation.
Following this, we find Christ addressing Peter, “Lovest thou me?” Then Peter responds, “Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee.” This exchange between Christ and Peter happens three times. Then three times Christ responds with feeding sheep. He says the first time, “Feed my lambs.” Then the next two times, Christ says, “Feed my sheep.”
So there are three questions, there are three responses, and then Jesus says three times, “Feed my sheep.” It also says in John 21 that this was the third time that He showed Himself to the disciples.
And so what is God’s purpose after this great catch of fish? Well, we have all of these sheep. We have all of these sheep and it is time to feed them. It is the time to feed the sheep.
We have really been seeing how today is also similar to Israel coming out of Egypt. They came out of the gate. They were all free. There was not a single Jew left. At first, the Egyptians did not follow after them because they were burying their firstborn. But after burying their firstborn, they began to think about what they had done.
Here is what God says about this in Psalm 78. We read in Psalm 78:51-53:
And smote all the firstborn in Egypt; the chief of their strength in the tabernacles of Ham: But made his own people to go forth like sheep, and guided them in the wilderness like a flock. And he led them on safely, so that they feared not: but the sea overwhelmed their enemies.
They came out of Egypt, but the Bible also tells us that they did not go straight for the Promised Land even though it was near. They could have reached the Promised Land in maybe one week if they had gone up by the way of the Philistines. But God did not take them that way. He took them instead by the way of the Red Sea.
You might remember the move, “The Ten Commandments.” When the actor who played Pharaoh heard that Israel was encamped by the Red sea, he said, “Moses’ God is a poor general.” Why? This is because the Israelites had backed themselves into a corner.
Actually, God Himself says in Exodus 14:1-3:
And JEHOVAH spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, that they turn and encamp before Pihahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, over against Baalzephon: before it shall ye encamp by the sea. For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, They are entangled in the land, the wilderness hath shut them in.
This word “shut” is the same word in Genesis 7 where we read, “and the LORD shut him in.” It does not even say “door” in Genesis 7.
Let us go back there. This is referring to the 17th day of the 2nd month of Noah’s calendar. It says in Genesis 7:16:
And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: and JEHOVAH shut him in.
This was, of course, referring to the door. There was only one door on the ark. If He did not shut the door, there would have been many problems with the amount of water that was actually coming both down and up from the deep as well. And so all of the context surrounding this indicates that the door was shut, but still God did not use the word “door.”
This helps us to relate this verse to Exodus 14. This is because here in Exodus 14, Pharaoh says concerning Israel that they are “entangled in the land” and that “the wilderness hath shut them in.” And these are the sheep. These are the sheep who came out of Egypt. They were not yet too far from Egypt. They had not gone over the Red Sea yet. They were still encamped by the Red Sea.
What we see with this is that God was not yet finished with Pharaoh and the Egyptians, even though all of the firstborn were dead; and the death of the firstborn was a huge blow to Egypt.
The firstborn, spiritually, relates to the churches and congregations that were slain on May 21. They were part of the kingdom of Satan. Remember that he was the king who took his seat as the “man of sin” in the churches. They were like Satan’s firstborn and God killed them.
Have we been bothered at all over the last few months by the church? I do not really hear hardly anything from the churches and we are almost four months into this. Why not? Maybe this is happening in some cases, but they are not really troubling us as far as I can tell.
There has, however, been an awful lot of troubling going on. Where is this coming from? It is not coming from the firstborn; it is not coming from the churches. I am sorry to say this, but this is coming from individuals who we thought were likeminded. It is coming from them, and this is because Pharaoh still had an army. He still had an army to muster up.
So here we are shut in. We are shut in and we are also sheep, and sheep are awful helpless. We are just basically sitting ducks. We have our backs, believe me, against the sea, because October 21 is it. October 21 is it. We have laid it all on the line. For many of us, we have committed just about everything to this.
If it were true, like some people accuse us, that this is all a sham and that this is all some kind of ploy of date setting, do you not think we would have set a date that was maybe seven years from now rather than five months later? This would not be a wise thing for anybody to do in the world if they were trying to deceive people.
No; this is not a ploy. This is no sham. This is what the Bible teaches. It teaches five months. This is what Revelation 9 teaches. Revelation 9 teaches five months of torment.
God is the One who has set this up; and so, we do look pretty helpless. After all, Mr. Camping is not teaching at this time. Family Radio is not sending the Gospel into the world. When we look at this, what is going to come of these people beyond October 21?
It is so easy for people to think this. And yet here we are. We are just trusting the Lord. Therefore, where can we go? We are just going the way that God is leading us, and I think that He has a purpose in leading us in this way.
Well, I got off topic. In returning to Revelation 19 with the marriage supper of the Lamb, these are the slain enemies of God. This supper began on May 21 and one-third part of the world is presently dead. We had thought that the earth would be littered with bodies, and it is. It is spiritually.
Turn to Luke 11:44. This says:
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are as graves which appear not, and the men that walk over them are not aware of them.
So there are “graves which appear not.” Jesus even said in Matthew, “For ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones.”
In this case, Christ is the only One who can make this kind of judgment. Man cannot make this sort of judgment; and yet now, at this time, God is doing this in His Word. He is saying that He has slain the third part of men.
So 2,000 years ago, they were “as graves which appear not.” And what is the grave? The grave is hell, like a pit in the ground. Their grave does not appear, and so men follow them and fall into the pit, just as Christ said at other times that they are “blind leaders of the blind.”
If this was true then, we can see how this is true now with the third part of men. They are like walking dead men all over the earth. They are graves but their graves do appear because we know. We now know that they were bundled for the fire. Now is the time of judgment. It is the fire, and they are cast into the fire.
So May 21 was the first day of the marriage supper of the Lamb, but then there are “the rest of the men” and Revelation 19 speaks of them. We read in Revelation 19:21:
And the remnant…
This word “remnant” is the same word as “rest of the men” that is found in Revelation 9:20. It is loipoy in the Greek.
Revelation 19:21 continues:
And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.
So the fowls also devour “the rest of the men,” but this will not be until October 21. This is because that is when what will be known concerning the “rest of the men” will be made known.
For these five months, we do not know. We cannot say that these are slain yet. But on October 21 when God comes to take His people, then the rest of those who are not in the churches will have their judgment finalized and completed.
We also saw last time the weapon that God is using at this time. If you remember, Jeremiah 51:19 speaks of “the portion of Jacob,” and Jacob is often used by God to typify the elect. We read elsewhere, “Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.”
So Jacob is in view and He continues referring to Jacob in Jeremiah 51:20-23, which says:
Thou art my battle ax and weapons of war: for with thee will I break in pieces the nations, and with thee will I destroy kingdoms; And with thee will I break in pieces the horse and his rider; and with thee will I break in pieces the chariot and his rider; With thee also will I break in pieces man and woman; and with thee will I break in pieces old and young; and with thee will I break in pieces the young man and the maid; I will also break in pieces with thee the shepherd and his flock; and with thee will I break in pieces the husbandman and his yoke of oxen; and with thee will I break in pieces captains and rulers.
Ten times God uses the phrase, “with thee.” It is “with thee” that God will “break in pieces.”
With Jacob, God is going to destroy Babylon and destroy all of the unsaved of the world. This is because Jacob is the elect, the elect are all gathered in, all 200 million are found, all of the lost sheep, and this information is the judgment of God. This is the judgment that is now on the church, because God is done with them. This information will also be the judgment of God on the rest of the world by the last day when their judgment will be complete. This is the battle axe of God. This is the weapon that He uses.
We can see this in Obadiah. Obadiah is a little book after Amos and before Jonah. We read in Obadiah 1:18:
And the house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau for stubble…
So Jacob will burn Esau. The elect people of God are the weapon.
This is actually the very term that God uses in Isaiah 13, which is another passage where God speaks about the end of the world. He says in Isaiah 13:1 that this is “the burden of Babylon.” Then we read in Isaiah 13:3-5:
I have commanded my sanctified ones, I have also called my mighty ones for mine anger, even them that rejoice in my highness. The noise of a multitude in the mountains, like as of a great people; a tumultuous noise of the kingdoms of nations gathered together: JEHOVAH of hosts mustereth the host of the battle. They come from a far country, from the end of heaven…
These verses are referring to all those whom God gathers, which are His people. It continues:
They come from a far country, from the end of heaven, even JEHOVAH, and the weapons of his indignation, to destroy the whole land.
All those whom He has gathered, which are His people, are “the weapons of his indignation.” This is what is going on today.
We also saw that this is the explanation for Psalm 137:9 where we read:
Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth [or breaketh in pieces] thy little ones against the stones.
The meaning of this is that the elect people who are blessed – because this word for “happy” is the word for “blessed” – are the ones whom God uses to bring about this final judgment.
Let us now go to Revelation 15. We are going to find the same thing. We are going to find the same information. Again, this is speaking of Judgment Day. Again, this is speaking of the people of God who are being used of God. Remember that the Bible tells us that the saints will judge the world. But the Bible also tells us that we have no need to fight in the battle.
So on one hand, we are the 200 million horsemen with fire and brimstone. We are completely identified with this. God is using us as a battle axe and a weapon. But this is the key. He is using us. We are not doing anything. We are not fighting anyone. This is what God has done in saving the complete number of His elect. This is the weapon and the battle axe. This is what defeats the enemy in this Day of Judgment.
In Revelation 15:1, it says:
And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God.
This speaks of “seven angels” and “seven last plagues.” The number seven indicates perfection, because the spiritual meaning of this number is perfection.
For instance, turn to Revelation 1:20. It says:
The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches.
We see multiple sevens because God is looking at the perfection of what is in view.
Look also at Revelation 5:6. This says:
And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts…
“The four beasts” is better translated as “four living creatures,” because this is speaking of God Himself. This is like what we read in Ezekiel, which also speaks of “four living creatures.” And so this is a better translation.
Revelation 5:6 continues:
…in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts [four living creatures], and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.
We see multiple sevens again. The horns have to do with strength. It is the perfection of strength. “Seven eyes” are the perfection of God’s eyesight or His ability to see all hidden things. He knows what is going on inside every person. The Bible says in the book of Hebrews, “All things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.” And so this is the perfection of His ability to see everything.
Then we read of the “seven Spirits of God,” which is referring to the Holy Spirit. This is the perfection of God’s Holy Spirit. Of course, He is absolutely perfect. And so seven has to do with the perfection of whatever is in view. And in Revelation 15, we read of “seven angels.”
We have talked about this a few times. The word for “angels” is not necessarily referring to angels. The context has to be checked out on this Greek word aggelos (pronounced ang-el-os), which is the plural form. It could be referring to an angelic being or it could be any kind of a messenger. As a messenger, it could be a man or it could be Christ Himself, “the messenger of the covenant.”
These words are interchanged the same in the Old Testament as in the New Testament. In this case, they are men. They are not angels. This is actually an impossibility. There is so much evidence that these “angels” are men that there is no way that we could ever think that these are angels unless we just went with the translation of the Word, because the King James translators translated it as angels, and we disregarded all of the evidence. We will see this as we go along.
So these seven angels, which we will refer to as messengers, are representing the perfection of the messengers of God, or the perfection of His message that He has for this world. These are the seven messengers “having the seven last plagues.” And so there are seven last plagues. There will not be anymore. This is it.
I think that many of us are at the point where we are weary enough with this world and with the things of this world; and so, we thank God that this is it. This is it. There will be no more plagues.
Some people look at this language and they think that there is no way that this could be referring to the believers or to the elect of God, as it speaks of seven messengers who are carrying seven last plagues. A little later, it says that they have “vials full of the wrath of God” and that they are going to pour them out on the earth, which almost sounds like terrorism. They are going to hurt the earth, and this just sounds evil.
Well, remember that earthquakes are evil and that tornadoes and hurricanes are evil, and yet God sends them. Any kind of judgment upon man that is harmful to man, even though it is just, is an evil thing.
But these plagues have actually been brought by believers all through history. For example, turn to Revelation 11 where we read about the two witnesses before their testimony finished. We read in Revelation 11:6:
These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will.
This is referring to the two witnesses and God says that they could “smite the earth with all plagues” throughout the church age. Of course, it was not them that did this. They did not do anything. It was the Word of God. It was the message that they carried. This Word brought plagues on man. It brought God’s wrath and God’s judgment.
This was true throughout the church age and this is true now, except this is now the last of these plagues. Revelation 15 says that they “filled up the wrath of God,” and this word “filled up” is the word “finished.” This is the same word used when Christ was on the cross and said, “It is finished.” This is it.
This is also the word used in Revelation 10:7. This says:
But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished…
There is nothing else after this. These are the last plagues.
Then it says in Revelation 15:2:
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.
The “sea of glass” is mentioned earlier in Revelation 4:6. It has to do with purity and holiness, with spotlessness, because Heaven has no sin of any kind. This sea is just typifying the glorious perfection, the glorious holiness of the Kingdom of Heaven.
Notice that we were talking about seven messengers or angels, and then it suddenly just transitions into those who had “gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name.”
This is very similar to Revelation 9 where it discusses the four angels or messengers. Without any introduction, it transitions into the 200 million; and we saw that they were one and the same.
The four messengers were the 200 million. Likewise here, the seven messengers are those who had “gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name.”
This language identifies the seven messengers with us, because “the beast” is a name that God gave Satan primarily for his rule during the great tribulation. He was the “man of sin” in the churches, and God’s people were called out of the churches because they would not worship the beast. They would not bow down to his image, which actually became the church itself. They would not compromise the faith of the Bible in any way, and God is recognizing this. Plus they came out of great tribulation, because the great tribulation ended on May 21.
This means that the child of God got the victory. The believer won. This is because May 21st was the day that Satan was put down. This was when all of the captives had been set free. This was a glorious and victorious day. And here, on the sea of glass, we find those who got this victory. They had overcome through Christ. Notice that it also says in Revelation 15 that they have “the harps of God.”
Let us go to 1 Chronicles 25. We read in 1 Chronicles 25:1:
Moreover David and the captains of the host separated to the service of the sons of Asaph, and of Heman, and of Jeduthun, who should prophesy with harps, with psalteries, and with cymbals: and the number of the workmen according to their service…
So there was prophesying, which is normally a word that identifies with declaring the Word of God. They prophesied with musical instruments.
When we read about music in the Bible or singing or performing or playing musical instruments, this spiritually represents bringing the Gospel; and here the seven messengers have the harps of God.
But I have to say that this is not relating to that silly picture that some have of people in Heaven floating around on clouds and stringing harps. No; this has nothing to do with that. This has to do spiritually with bringing the message of the Bible, with declaring the Word of God.
Then it says in Revelation 15:3:
And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb…
This is referring to two songs. This is a different song than the 144,000 sang.
Revelation 14:3 tells us:
And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth.
This goes on to say that these are the firstfruits to God. This represents all those saved during the church age. This says that they only sang one song, but those who got the victory over the beast have an additional song. They also have “the song of Moses.”
Let us go back to Deuteronomy 32 and we will see a portion of the song of Moses. Deuteronomy 32:35-36 says:
To me belongeth vengeance, and recompense; their foot shall slide in due time: for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste. For JEHOVAH shall judge his people, and repent himself for his servants, when he seeth that their power is gone, and there is none shut up, or left.
Then we read in Deuteronomy 32:43-44:
Rejoice, O ye nations, with his people: for he will avenge the blood of his servants, and will render vengeance to his adversaries, and will be merciful unto his land, and to his people. And Moses came and spake all the words of this song in the ears of the people…
So the song of Moses indicates vengeance and judgment; and this is what the seven angels are doing. They are bringing plagues. They are bringing the seven last plagues, because, as God says in Jeremiah 51, this is “the vengeance of his temple.”
The souls “under the altar” in Revelation 6 are crying out, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?” Now is this time. This is the time, even though we are not being vengeful in any way. It is God who is saying this and not us. He is the One who, in essence, is saying, “Okay. You lived without concern for My people on earth. You lived your lives the way that you wanted to live them, and now it is time for the judgment.”
So the seven messengers are bringing the song of Moses as well as “the song of the Lamb.” We never stop singing “the song of the Lamb,” because this song says that we are saved by grace and by the faith of Christ and by the work that He has done. This is the song for all eternity. This song never ends.
Then it goes on to say in Revelation 15:3-6:
…Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints. 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. And after that I looked, and, behold, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened: And the seven angels [or messengers] came out of the temple, having the seven plagues, clothed in pure and white linen, and having their breasts girded with golden girdles.
These angels are identified right here. God tells us who they are not; this is for sure. They are not angels. I am sure that you saw this, too. This is because they are “clothed in pure and white linen.”
This is the same phrase that we see in Revelation 19 when we read about the Bride who comprises all of the elect, all of the people of God. It said in Revelation 19:7 that she “made herself ready.” Then we read in Revelation 19:8:
And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.
The “fine linen, clean and white” is not the righteousness of angels. Actually, Christ did not take on Him the seed of angels. He took on the “seed of Abraham.” He did not come to die for angels. For those angels that fell, there is no hope for them and there never was. He did not die for any of their sins. He did not die for Satan or for his demons. For those angels who remained in Heaven, there was no need of Him to die for them. They did not sin and God made sure that they never would, and so they did not need a robe of righteousness or a white covering. They were not filthy and polluted like us due to our sins.
So the “righteousness of saints” is this “fine linen, clean and white,” and the seven angels or messengers are clothed. It says again in Revelation 15:6:
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.
What kind of language is this? Who would wear a girdle? Who do we read about in the Bible that wears girdles? Earlier in Revelation 1, we read of Jesus wearing “a golden girdle,” but forget about the word “golden” for a minute and just think of this word “girdle.” We read in the Bible that it was the priests who wore girdles.
Let us go back to Leviticus 8:6-7. This says:
And Moses brought Aaron and his sons, and washed them with water.
Aaron was the high priest and his sons were priests. It continues:
And he put upon him the coat, and girded him with the girdle, and clothed him with the robe, and put the ephod upon him…
This was part of the attire of a priest.
So these seven messengers are coming out of a temple where priests would be found. Priests would serve God and minister to Him in the temple along with the Levities. The Levites would also minister in the temple.
And so these seven angels or messengers are clothed in pure and white linen, which indicates that they needed the covering of Christ’s righteousness. Secondly, they are girded with a girdle, which is something that a priest would wear.
We can look at one other thing, but there is just an overwhelming amount of evidence that these are not angels. Later in the book of Revelation, it is speaking of the Apostle John whom God is moving to speak. It says in Revelation 21:9:
And there came unto me one of the seven angels [or messengers] which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues…
So they are identified as being the same group. It continues:
…and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will show thee the bride, the Lamb's wife.
The vision of the Bride is given in Revelation 21, and then we move into Revelation 22 where it is the same vision really. It is a follow-up in this chapter. Then we see in Revelation 22:8-9:
And I John saw these things, and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which showed me these things.
This is one of the seven angels. It continues:
Then saith he unto me, See thou do it not: for I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book: worship God.
He is telling John to worship God and not to worship him.
What is he saying? He is saying that he is just like John. He is a man like John is. He is not an angel. He is a nobody. He is one of his fellow servants.
This was actually the second time that this happened. Earlier in Revelation, we read of John doing this again. He fell down and then a very similar statement was made, “I am thy fellowservant.”
God really wants us to know something. He is making this very, very clear. The seven messengers are not angelic beings. They are those who had “gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name.”
They are the people of God right now. They are us. We are these seven messengers that God is showing us in Revelation 15.
We have heard Mr. Camping say that reading the Bible is like reading the newspaper. Well, this is like looking in the mirror. They are us. He is talking about His people today who came out of great tribulation and who are still alive upon the earth. We are likened to angels.
This is just like what Jesus said to Nathanael. We read about this in the book of John, or the Fourth Gospel, chapter 1. This is when Nathanael easily believed that Christ was the Messiah, which we all really should easily believe because this is the truth. We should all quickly, as Nathanael, humble ourselves.
It says in John 1:50-51:
Jesus answered and said unto him, Because I said unto thee, I saw thee under the fig tree, believest thou? thou shalt see greater things than these. And he saith unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter [or from now] ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.
This is referring to the messengers of God, and we understand this explanation. We understand that when God saves somebody, they ascended into Heaven and were seated in heavenly places in Christ and then they were immediately dispatched back to earth as a messenger for the Gospel. This was the whole history of the New Testament Era up until just recently.
Actually, it looks like God is using these seven messengers one last time, but it is not for grace. It is not for bringing a message of salvation. It is for the purpose of bringing the seven last plagues.
Returning back to Revelation 15, I would like to just look at verses 7 and 8. Then we will look at a couple of passages and close for tonight. It says in Revelation 15:7-8:
And one of the four beasts [or living creatures] gave unto the seven angels [messengers] seven golden vials full of the wrath of God, who liveth for ever and ever. 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.
The temple is filled with smoke. Where did the seven messengers come out of? They came out of the temple, but they also came out of the smoke.
Does this remind us of anything? This reminds us of the locusts in Revelation 9 who came out of the smoke of the bottomless pit. Because this smoke identified with Judgment Day, they came out of this smoke. These seven angels also come out of the smoke of the temple.
So let us look at this language. Number one, they are men. They are God’s elect. They are saved because they are clothed in pure and white linen. Number two, they are girded with golden girdles; and it looks as though they are performing a priestly duty. This is what we all do because we are a “royal priesthood,” which applies to every one of His elect, all of whom are priests in God’s sight spiritually. And they are coming out of a temple. They also are standing on a “sea of glass.” Then there was this smoke that filled the temple.
Let us go back to Exodus 40. I think that we will see the first of two historical precedents that God has given of Revelation 15. The only thing is that we are only going to really have time to take a couple of these similarities and also one very big bit of information from this and then from something in Chronicles if we have time.
This is speaking about the tabernacle, and so it says in Exodus 40:30-35:
And he set the laver between the tent of the congregation and the altar, and put water there, to wash withal. And Moses and Aaron and his sons washed their hands and their feet thereat:
Before they went into the temple, they needed to be washed. They could not go into the temple with any kind of dirt.
It continues:
When they went into the tent of the congregation, and when they came near unto the altar, they washed; as JEHOVAH commanded Moses. And he reared up the court round about the tabernacle and the altar, and set up the hanging of the court gate. So Moses finished the work.
This is the important point. The tabernacle was finished.
It continues:
Then a cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of JEHOVAH filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter into the tent of the congregation, because the cloud abode thereon, and the glory of JEHOVAH filled the tabernacle.
They completed all of the work for the tabernacle. Then the glory of the Lord entered in and Moses was not able to enter into it.
Read Revelation 15 again. There was smoke that filled the temple and then it says in the last verse of Revelation 15 that “no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.” And so this matches in this sense.
We will have to go into 2 Chronicles later where we read of Solomon finishing the temple. We will see very similar language and actually a few other things that identify with Revelation 15.
I think that you probably can see where this is going. This is speaking of the completion of the tabernacle and the completion of the temple. Then the temple is filled and no man can enter into the temple while the plagues are being poured out.
We are going to have to stop here.