Revelation 15King James Version
Seven angels having the seven last plagues. They sing the song of Moses and the Lamb: Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty.
A great and marvelous sign appears in heaven: seven angels holding the seven last plagues, which will complete God's wrath. John sees the victors over the beast standing on a sea of glass mingled with fire, holding harps of God and singing the Song of Moses and the Song of the Lamb, praising God's just and true ways. The temple in heaven opens and the seven angels emerge carrying the plagues, clothed in pure linen with golden sashes. A beast gives them seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God. The temple fills with smoke from God's glory, and no one can enter until the plagues are finished.
Before the final bowl judgments, John sees the victors who survived the beast standing in heaven singing, establishing that the plagues are not the end of the story for those who overcame.
3: "Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints." The song the victors sing is not a song about their own endurance but about God's character, specifically his justice, sung by the people who paid the most to prove it.
The smoke filling the temple from God's glory echoes the smoke filling the tabernacle and temple at their dedications in Exodus and 1 Kings: moments when God's presence became so immediate that priests could not enter. The temple is inaccessible until all seven bowls are poured out, a dramatic staging of completion that will not be interrupted.
The victors over the beast, singing before the throne; seven angels in priestly dress carrying the seven last plagues; one of the four living creatures handing out the golden bowls; the temple in heaven, which fills with smoke and becomes inaccessible.
The Song of Moses was sung at the Red Sea after Israel escaped Egypt. Singing it here places the bowl judgments in the same theological frame as the Exodus: God's people delivered from empire, the empire's forces destroyed behind them. The sea of glass mingled with fire recalls the Red Sea and also the sea of glass in chapter 4, now transformed by fire, perhaps by everything that has happened since.
For when you need to know that enduring something terrible for the right reason is not wasted. The victors in this chapter are not remembered as victims. They are standing with harps, singing about God's justice, and they are the proof of it.
1And 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.
2And 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.
3And 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.
4Who 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.
5And after that I looked, and, behold, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened:
6And 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.
7And 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.
8And 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.