Revelation of John 15 · The Lantern

Then I saw another great and marvelous sign in heaven: seven angels with the seven final plagues, with which the wrath of God is completed.

"And I saw another great and wonderful sign, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is completed the indignation of God." For the wrath of God always strikes the obstinate people with seven plagues, that is, perfectly, as it is said in Leviticus; and these shall be in the last time, when the Church shall have gone out of the midst.

Everywhere he uses the number seven, signifying that the injustices done brazenly during the seven days of the present age will be held back by the seven plagues and the seven angels. After these, the future life of the saints, symbolized by the glass sea, will commence.

And I saw another great and marvelous sign in heaven. With the order again restored, about to narrate the same plagues of the final persecution, he wanted the listener to be attentive by saying: A great and marvelous sign.

And I saw something like a sea of glass mixed with fire, beside which stood those who had conquered the beast and its image and the number of its name. They were holding harps from God,

That the foundation and strength of hope and faith is fear. In the cxth Psalm: "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." Of the same thing in the Wisdom of Solomon: "The beginning of wisdom is to fear God." Also in the Proverbs of the same: "Blessed is the man who reverences all things with fear." Of the same thing [in Isaiah: "And upon whom else will I look, except up…

[He saw] the water of baptism made holy by the fire of the Holy Spirit. Or, in view of the character of fire, this water has been made red through martyrdom.

And those who have conquered the beast and its image, etc. Those who conquer the beast's deceits appear to stand by the fiery baptism, striving, according to the Apostle, to contend for the faith once delivered to the saints (Jude 3).

and they sang the song of God’s servant Moses and of the Lamb: “Great and wonderful are Your works, O Lord God Almighty! Just and true are Your ways, O King of the nations!

The harps, as has often been said, signify the sweet-sounding hymn of the saints to God. And he says, let us sing that song of Moses, the one which he sang when the host of Pharaoh was drowned, "let us sing to the Lord, for he has been gloriously glorified; he cast horse and rider into the sea; he became to me a helper and a cover for salvation." (Ex.

From the song of Moses we learn the hymn sent up to God by those who were justified by the law before [the coming of] grace. From the song of the Lamb we learn the thanksgiving of those who lived in holiness after the coming of the Christ.

Great and marvelous are your works, Lord God Almighty, etc. This song is found in both Testaments, where the Lord, both true and merciful, is sung by all ages as the judge to be worshipped. He repeats what he had proposed, saying:

Who will not fear You, O Lord, and glorify Your name? For You alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before You, for Your righteous acts have been revealed.”

After this I looked, and the temple—the tabernacle of the Testimony—was opened in heaven.

And out of the temple came the seven angels with the seven plagues, dressed in clean and bright linen and girded with golden sashes around their chests.

Then one of the four living creatures gave the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God, who lives forever and ever.

These then are the seven angels taken from one of the four living creatures, before whom there is much said, the wrath of God in seven golden bowls. Golden is well said; for the wrath of God is honorable too, bearing good and advantage in itself rather than justice, even if those punished are made to faint.

The angels take the golden bowls filled with the wrath of the Lord from the four living creatures, as it also says in Ezekiel. This shows that eternally in heaven the knowledge of God's plans is shared by those who are preeminent to those who are of second rank, even as the great Dionysius says.

And one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels, etc. These are the bowls which the living creatures and elders, who are the Church, bear with odors, who are also the seven angels.

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.

And the temple, he says, was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power. The smoke is an emblem of divine wrath. For it is written, "smoke went up in his anger." (Ps.

From the smoke we learn of the frightful, terrible and tormenting character of the wrath of God. We are taught that the temple is filled with this wrath, which comes at the time of judgment against those who are worthy of it, and especially against those who obey the antichrist and do the works of apostasy.

And no one was able to enter the temple, etc. No one can be incorporated into the members of the Church unless he hears the mysteries of faith from the preachers and learns that Jesus is appointed by God as the judge of the living and the dead.

Revelation of John15