In Revelation 15, God is now sending out the final parts of his wrath upon the peoples of the earth, bringing judgment upon them for their sin. John says that he sees seven angels, each carrying a bowl which are plagues and is the wrath of God. I noticed something simple, yet important I think, with regard to these angels. He says that they come out of the temple in heaven carrying these bowls:
After this I looked, and I saw in heaven the temple —that is, the tabernacle of the covenant law —and it was opened. Out of the temple came the seven angels with the seven plagues. They were dressed in clean, shining linen and wore golden sashes around their chests. Then one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls filled with the wrath of God, who lives for ever and ever. And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power, and no one could enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were completed.
Revelation 15:5-8
Why is that important that they are coming from the temple? The temple in heaven is where the presence of God is found. The temple is where the throne has been placed. The temple is where God is, and it is directly from the temple that we see that the wrath will come. To me, this says a few important things:
First, it is God himself with whom we are contending. It isn’t as if God is allowing evil to come to bring punishment. No, God it is God who is carrying the judgment and the wrath of his punishment and there is no one who will be able to stand up to that wrath. When we say that we have been saved, we mean that we have been saved from the wrath of God. Jesus’s death was the wrath of God poured out on Jesus instead of us, giving every person an opportunity to come back into a good and right relationship with God once again, leaving behind our rebellion and sins and standing clean before God as a result of Jesus’s sacrifice for us.
Second, speaking of sacrifice, under the Old Covenant with Moses, the tabernacle, and subsequently the temple is the place where the sacrifices were offered. The same location, therefore, from which we see the sacrifices offered so that God would provide mercy for his people is the same location from which we see come the justice of God. This is important to understand that there is no mercy without justice because mercy offers a type of scandal of injustice. The grace and mercy of God is that he offers us, in Christ and through Christ, a gift that we do not deserve. We deserve the justice of God, but he offers us grace and mercy. It is truly scandalous, but this is the love of God, that he offered himself through Jesus so that we would not one day need to face his wrath.
Third, and finally, we see that the temple fills with smoke from the glory of the Lord. Similar to the time that the temple that Solomon had built filled with smoke because of the presence and glory of God, we see this happen again as the wrath of God goes to be poured out. It says that no one can enter the temple, and no one will be able to enter the temple, until the seven plagues, the full wrath of God, had been poured out. This means that the time has come. There will be no more intercession, no more pleading. There will be no more asking for mercy or patience. The time is finished.
