eschatology, Scene in Heaven Before the Third Woe (Rev.15)

The "intermission" in the book of Revelation is over, and the last set of seven judgments (which is the third woe) is about to be released onto the earth.  This will begin the second half of the Tribulation (the last three and a half years of the Jewish Age).

John has a vision of heaven, where the ones who become believers during the Tribulation and have been martyred for their faith rejoice and praise God.  The term "sea" is used again to describe a very large group of people, except this particular sea of glass is "mixed with fire" - which different from the group (of pre-Trib. believers) seen in Rev.4:6 who are described as a "sea of glass, like crystal".  This only confirms that the rapture happens before the Tribulation and not in the middle!...

(Revelation 15:1-4)  Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous, seven angels who had seven plagues, which are the last, because in them the wrath of God is finished.

2 And I saw something like a sea of glass mixed with fire, and those who had been victorious over the beast and his image and the number of his name, standing on the sea of glass, holding harps of God. 3 And they sang the song of Moses, the bond-servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying,

“Great and marvelous are Your works, O Lord God, the Almighty; righteous and true are Your ways, King of the nations!
4 “Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify Your name?  For You alone are holy; for all the nations will come and worship before You, for Your righteous acts have been revealed.”

As heaven prepares to send out the last judgments onto the earth, we get a great sense of how much more intense things are going to get...

(Revelation 15:5-8)  After these things I looked, and the temple of the tabernacle of testimony in heaven was opened, 6 and the seven angels who had the seven plagues came out of the temple, clothed in linen, clean and bright, and girded around their chests with golden sashes. 7 Then one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God, who lives forever and ever. 8 And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from His power; and no one was able to enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were finished.

Today's takeaway:  FEAR GOD!!!  I am in awe when I read these verses!  God is not to be taken for granted.  And yet, as believers, we can run to Him as His children - for everything and anything...

(Romans 8:15)  For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!”

(Psalm 68:1-6)  Let God arise, let His enemies be scattered, and let those who hate Him flee before Him.
2 As smoke is driven away, so drive them away;  as wax melts before the fire, so let the wicked perish before God.
3 But let the righteous be glad; let them exult before God;  yes, let them rejoice with gladness.
4 Sing to God, sing praises to His name;  lift up a song for Him who rides through the deserts, Whose name is the Lord, and exult before Him.

5 A father of the fatherless and a judge for the widows, is God in His holy habitation.
6 God makes a home for the lonely;  He leads out the prisoners into prosperity, only the rebellious dwell in a parched land.

(Ephesians 1:3-14)  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love 5 He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, 6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. 7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace 8 which He lavished on us. In all wisdom and insight 9 He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him 10 with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth. In Him 11 also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will, 12 to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory. 13 In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14 who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.