I think most people like a good fireworks display. My wife and I got to enjoy the Dover Day Fireworks just a few weeks ago from the front porch of the parsonage. Every fireworks display I’ve ever seen has a grand finale. That’s when multiple rockets are set off one after another at a frenetic rate so that the sky is filled with color and the sound of the exploding rockets reverberate
When the bowls are released, it’s going to be a grand finale in which these events occur at a frenetic pace in rapid succession.

The judgments in these vials are terrible. Words cannot describe the pain, the woe, the anguish, the misery they will bring; but they are “true and righteous.” These plagues are filled with horrors, but the sign itself was “great and marvelous” because through these plagues God would end the reign of terror by the Antichrist, the reign of Satan, and evil itself. God will fulfill His promise of vengeance for those martyr saints..

Chapter 15, besides being the shortest chapter in Revelation, is the preface to the final series of judgments so it is the grand finale, which come on the earth during the Great Tribulation. These judgments are the most intense and devastating of any that have preceded them. The seven bowls were directed to every part of the world: the land, the sea, rivers and lakes, the sky, and the beast’s (Antichrist’s) kingdom.
This chapter we said gives us the motives for the revealing of the wrath of God. The first was the vengeance of God the second is…

II The Holy Character of God vv 3-4

1. All of these saints exalt the character of God. He is creator, omnipotent, immutable, sovereign, worthy and absolutely perfect. He is righteous, He is true, He is holy. Therefore He must judge He will judge. A righteous, true, holy God must judge sin and sinners and a fallen world. God’s character demands inevitably that He judge. God’s holiness demands wrath. He has to hate sin, it is His nature.

This host of martyrs sings two songs, the Song of Moses that is recorded in Exodus 15 as the Israelites came out of Egypt and crossed the Red Sea. Moses wrote another in Deuteronomy 32. The Song of the Lamb is in Revelation 5: 9-13. These songs are the first and last songs, as described in Scripture, and both of them are a description of the deliverance of God’s people by divine power, based upon a blood redemption. It describe his holy character…

Note the song of the Lamb, this is not included in the Jewish traditional list which includes about ten different songs. Here are the saints redeemed out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation as well as from Israel. They’re gathered around the throne of God in heaven. They sing that, “for [thou] only [art] holy: It is a foolish person who will not repent and turn to God. God must judge sin!

2. In heaven they sing the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb (15:3), which ascribes praise to God for His works, His power as well as His holiness. What an incredible song. The elements of this song are the devastation of the ungodly and the triumph of the righteous. It is a song of victory. The song of Moses was sung at the Red Sea. The song of the Lamb is sung at the crystal sea.

The song of Moses was a song of triumph over Egypt. The song of the Lamb is a song of triumph over Babylon. The song of Moses told how God brought His people out. The song of the Lamb tells how God brings His people in. The song of Moses was the first song in Scripture. The song of the Lamb is the last. This chapter we said gives us the motives for the revealing of the wrath of God. The first is the vengeance of God the second is His holiness and the third is..

III The Testimony of God vv.5-8

1. In verse 5 “After these things I looked and the temple of the tabernacle of testimony in heaven was opened.” This marks a change in the vision John saw. After having looked through the transparent platform beneath the throne of God and seeing the saints, hearing them sing the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb, praising and extolling the character and purpose of God, something shifts. And after this he looks to see something else. The temple of the tabernacle of testimony in heaven was opened. That’s just another name for the Ark of the Covenant as first mentioned in Numbers chapter 10 and verse 11.

2. Tabernacle just means container, it can mean tent it can mean anything that contains something. The ark of the covenant contained the testimony. What testimony? The testimony of God, His revelation. So John looks into heaven and he looks right into the Holy of Holies, that’s the temple, right into the sanctuary, right into the inner chamber where God dwells, where the ark of the covenant is placed. That’s what he’s trying to say. I saw right into where God dwells.

3. Revelation 15:5 gives us the exact location of this scene, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven. One of the four beasts described so uniquely back in chapter 4, gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials fill of the wrath of God, who liveth for ever and ever (verse 7). These angels have the solemn responsibility of pouring out vials full of the wrath of God. The Greek for “wrath” is the word “thumou” it is boiling indignation or wrath. The word full indicates the immensity of these final judgments. Right out from the very presence of God, they are the executioners of the plan.

Time for them to execute the Final Imminent Wrath of God! This is the third reason the fulfilling of God’s testimony, His divine plan. We have reached a turning point of history when we come to these seven bowls of God’s wrath. God will then begin to set up his kingdom upon the earth.

4. After the angels receive their bowls filled with the wrath of God, the temple in heaven was filled with smoke from the glory of God. Smoke was symbolic for God’s glorious presence in the Old Testament tabernacle or temple (Ex 40:34-35; 1 Kings 8:10-11; Isa 6:1-4). This smoke also symbolize God’s wrath.
The glory cloud will remain in the heavenly temple unto the earth is completely purged, cleansed and prepared for the King and His Kingdom. The key to the third point is that our eternal God will not have sin and sinners destroying His universe forever. He is going to live forever, but He’s not going to allow sin to live forever. And so this is the unfolding of His plan.

4. At any rate it fills the great temple so no one can enter until the work of the angels is completed. Again, that is symbolic. What does it mean? I am afraid what it means is that it is too late to pray! By faith and by prayer we can enter into the presence of God in his temple, but here it has become impossible. The time has come when men can no longer repent. It is too late to pray when this judgment scene begins. Right now it is not too late. What about you?

Conclusion:
Remember, this doesn’t happen until the world has been warned and warned and warned and warned every imaginable, conceivable way. This proves the fact that for those who reject God’s grace only the final fury of fire which will consume His adversaries will be available to them, for there is no more grace to be offered.