Before we get into Revelation 15-16, I want to emphasize something about the two beasts from Revelation 13 that I should have earlier. Over the past 100 years or so, particularly within Evangelical-Dispensationalist circles, there has been somewhat of an obsession of trying to figure out who the beast is. This obsession is based on an assumption that Revelation is John’s prediction and “God’s blueprint for the future end-times/tribulation period.” Therefore, if your assumption is that Revelation is “end-times history told in advance,” you’re going to try really hard to figure out who the beast is. Over time there have been some quite extraordinary claims: Hitler, Stalin, Ronald Reagan, the Pope…and yes, even Katy Perry (well, technically, this crazy picture is claiming she’s riding the beast at the Super Bowl). Such an endeavor is futile, because John isn’t predicting some future end-times beast/one world ruler/head of the European Union figure. He is simply describing the anti-Christ of his day: the emperor of Rome.
That being said, this does not mean that Revelation has no relevance for today. Quite the contrary—it has tremendous relevance. By describing Domitian as the anti-Christ beast of that time, John is essentially giving us a description of how we should view any leader at any time in history who goes about trying to destroy God’s people. In this sense, we can say that tyrants like Hitler and Stalin, and currently ISIS, embody the beast of Revelation. Or in other words, Revelation 13 is applicable to tyrants like that, but John wasn’t predicting the rise of Hitler, Stalin, ISIS…etc.
Hopefully that is clear. Now, on to Revelation 15.
The Preparation of the Seven Bowls of Wrath
Given everything that John has shown us up to this point, chapter 15 gives us a picture of the seven bowls of God’s wrath being prepared. After these are poured out, God’s wrath will be completed. But the overall image of the chapter is something that screams out Old Testament imagery: it is the scene of Israel during the Exodus, just having crossed the Red Sea, just after God had delivered them from the Egyptian army. The scene, though, is in Heaven. This is the heavenly perspective of the redemption of the saints, seen in the light of the Exodus. Here is what we see in 15:2-4:
- The saints who had been victorious over the beast are standing beside the sea
- The saints are singing the Song of Moses (Exodus 15:1-18)
The imagery of the sea should be self-evident by now. It is the Sea of Chaos (Genesis 1:1), the sea that the children of Israel passed through (Exodus 14), the sea from which the four beasts of Daniel 7 came, and the sea of the dragon and the beast—all rolled into one.
But how were the saints victorious over the beast? Weren’t they killed and conquered by the beast? The answer is yes. But this scene shows the ultimate oxymoron of the Christian faith. Jesus Christ brought eternal life through death and crucifixion. In the same way, Christians are victorious over the beast by letting themselves be conquered by the beast—but they’re not really conquered, because they will share in Christ’s resurrection. A crucified Messiah is the savior of the world; and his followers overcome the beast by letting themselves be conquered by him—and this is how salvation comes to the world.
Finally, the “Song of Moses” here is a condensed version of the complete “Song of Moses” in Exodus 15. This simply reinforces the point: the historic Exodus from Egypt and the destruction of Pharaoh’s army foreshadowed the ultimate New Exodus from sinful Babylon, and the evil, dragon-given power of the beast.
Verses 5-8 show a picture of yet more Old Testament imagery: the tabernacle was the tent where God’s Presence dwelled with the children of Israel while in the wilderness during the Exodus (Exodus 25:8). The temple in Jerusalem was also the place where God’s Presence dwelled among Israel once they inhabited the Promised Land (I Kings 8:10-13). The picture of the temple being filled with smoke from the glory of God echoes Exodus 40:34-35, as well as I Kings 8:10-13. The point is this: we get a glimpse of God’s glory, yet things are not complete. Now that God has trampled the grapes of wrath, He still has to pour out the seven bowls of that wrath upon the earth. And in Revelation 16, we see just that.
