The Seven Last Plagues Prepared

The Seven Last Plagues Prepared

The Seven Last Plagues Prepared is based on the book of Revelation, specifically Chapter 15. We will refer back to some of the verses listed below in Revelation 15, as well as other Bible references that help explain these concepts.

"1 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.

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 the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous 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.

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 gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials full of the wrath of God, who liveth 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."

Revelation 15:1-8  KJV

“Filled Up” Means There Is Nothing After It!

Revelation 15 is only eight verses long, and almost everybody reads straight past it to get to the plagues themselves in chapter 16. That is a mistake, because chapter 15 is where God tells us what the plagues are and when they fall. Without it, chapter 16 is just a catalogue of horrors.

Look carefully at verse 1: “seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God.”

Two expressions carry the whole chapter. Last means there is nothing after them…no further warning, no further appeal, no further opportunity. Filled up means the cup is finally full. For six thousand years God has been filling that cup drop by drop, and every single drop has been mixed with mercy. Now it is full!

“Already a few drops of God’s wrath have fallen upon the earth; but when the seven last plagues shall be poured out without mixture into the cup of His indignation, then it will be forever too late to repent and find shelter.”

Ellen G. White · Testimonies for the Church, vol. 5, p. 212

The Victors Are Already Standing!

Now notice something in verse 2 that changes the way you read the entire book of Revelation. Before a single plague falls, John sees a company who have already “gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name.”

Read that tense again. Gotten. Past tense. Finished!

The seven last plagues are not the test. The test is over before the first vial is tipped. By the time chapter 16 begins, every person on this planet has already made a final decision about the mark of the beast, and that decision is settled.

So please do not plan to make up your mind during the plagues. There will be no deciding then! The people standing on that sea of glass with harps in their hands decided now…which is to say, in the time you and I are living in at this moment.

“The prophet of Patmos beholds ‘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,’ and singing the song of Moses and the Lamb.”

Ellen G. White · Testimonies for the Church, vol. 9, p. 16

The Song Of Moses And The Lamb

Verse 3 says they sing two songs at once. Why those two?

The song of Moses was sung on the far shore of the Red Sea, by a nation of ex-slaves who had just watched the greatest empire on earth drown behind them:

"1 Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the Lord, and spake, saying, I will sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea.

2 The Lord is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation: he is my God, and I will prepare him an habitation; my father's God, and I will exalt him.

11 Who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods? who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?"

Exodus 15:1, 2, 11  KJV

The song of the Lamb is the song of a greater deliverance still…not from Egypt, but from sin itself, and not by the death of an army but by the death of the Son of God!

And look at what the redeemed actually sing about, at the precise moment when the plagues are about to be poured out: “Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints.” Not one voice in heaven objects to what is about to happen. Not one!

Is God’s Wrath Just A Temper?

This is where modern readers stumble. A God of love, they say, would never pour out plagues on anybody. So let us deal with that honestly, because the Bible does.

God’s wrath is nothing like human anger. Human anger is sudden, selfish and out of control. God’s wrath is judicial, reluctant, and always last. Watch how Scripture describes Him doing it:

"21 For the Lord shall rise up as in mount Perazim, he shall be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon, that he may do his work, his strange work; and bring to pass his act, his strange act."

Isaiah 28:21  KJV

His work…His strange work. Punishment is so far outside what God delights in that the prophet can only call it strange, foreign, unlike Him!

"11 Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?"

Ezekiel 33:11  KJV

“To our merciful God the act of punishment is a strange act. … The severity of the retribution awaiting the transgressor may be judged by the Lord’s reluctance to execute justice.”

Ellen G. White · The Great Controversy, p. 627

And consider the alternative for a moment. A judge who never punishes anything is not loving…he is complicit! If God finally did nothing about evil, then every victim of every atrocity in history would be told, in effect, that what happened to them did not matter. Love that never confronts evil is not love at all!

The Temple Of The Testimony Was Opened!

Verse 5 is easy to skim and impossible to overstate: “the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened.”

What is “the testimony”? God Himself defined the word when He gave Moses the pattern of the earthly sanctuary:

"16 And thou shalt put into the ark the testimony which I shall give thee.

21 And thou shalt put the mercy seat above upon the ark; and in the ark thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee.

22 And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel."

Exodus 25:16, 21, 22  KJV

The testimony is the Ten Commandments, written by the finger of God and placed inside the ark. So the seven angels with the seven last plagues come out of the very room where God’s law is kept!

That is not scenery. It tells you exactly what standard this world is being judged by, and it is the same standard the third angel warned everybody about long before.

Then look at how the angels are dressed in verse 6: “clothed in pure and white linen, and having their breasts girded with golden girdles.” That is priestly clothing! Even the angels of judgment come out of the temple dressed like priests. Judgment is not God breaking character. It is the last act of the same love that has been pleading with this world for six thousand years.

The Most Solemn Verse In The Bible

And now verse 8, which I believe is one of the most solemn sentences ever written:

“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.”

Read it again slowly. No man was able to enter.

While the seven last plagues are falling, the heavenly sanctuary is closed. There is no Priest taking cases. There is no Mediator pleading blood. There is no prayer of repentance being heard, because there is nobody left to hear it in that office. Probation has closed!

“When the third angel’s message closes, mercy no longer pleads for the guilty inhabitants of the earth.”

Ellen G. White · The Great Controversy, p. 613

Jesus said the same thing in the last chapter of the same book:

"11 He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.

12 And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be."

Revelation 22:11, 12  KJV

“Every case had been decided for life or death.”

Ellen G. White · The Story of Redemption, p. 402

Why This Is Not Cruel

Somebody always asks whether it is fair for God to shut the door at all. Think it through.

Probation does not close on a whim, or on a timetable, or before people have had their chance. It closes when everyone has decided…when the gospel has gone to every nation and kindred and tongue and people, when the warning of Revelation 14 has been given to the whole world, and when every last person has settled into the truth or into the lie. God is not slamming a door on somebody who was still reaching for the handle!

And ask yourself which would really be crueller: a universe where God finally ends the great controversy, or a universe where sin, suffering and death go on forever with no end in sight?

Prepared…But So Is The Deliverance!

The title of this study is “prepared”, so look at everything this little chapter says is ready before chapter 16 starts. The angels are ready. The vials are full. The temple is filled with smoke.

And so are the harps!

Two preparations run side by side through Revelation 15, and both of them are finished before the first plague falls. One company is prepared for wrath. The other company is already standing on a sea of glass, singing. The only question this chapter actually asks you is which preparation you are in…and both of them are being made right now!

How To Escape The Seven Last Plagues

“The word of God tells us how we may become perfect Christians and escape the seven last plagues.”

Ellen G. White · Testimonies for the Church, vol. 1, p. 125

Notice that the escape is not a secret. It is written down, in the plainest language in the Bible, and it was given as a warning in advance rather than an explanation afterward. God tells the whole world precisely what to avoid, and He does it before the plague, not after:

"9 And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand,

10 The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:

11 And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.

12 Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus."

Revelation 14:9-12  KJV

That is mercy, not threat! A God who wanted people destroyed would say nothing at all until it was too late.

And to the people who take the warning, He makes a promise that covers this exact hour:

"1 He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

2 I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.

3 Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence.

4 He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.

5 Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day;

6 Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday.

7 A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee.

8 Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked.

9 Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation;

10 There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling."

Psalm 91:1-10  KJV

Verse 10 says it plainly: “neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.”

Chapter 15 has shown us the angels receiving their vials. In the next chapter those vials are actually tipped over onto this world, one after another. See The Seven Last Plagues Poured Out!