The Day God's Wrath Will Be Completed | Revelation Chapter 15

Worship Message No. 33 / April 19: Revelation Chapter 15

"Why is it that doing the right thing goes unrewarded?" 
Have you ever felt that question?
It seems like the more seriously a person lives, the more they lose out — and the more someone cuts corners, the more they gain.
What if God has prepared a final answer to this "injustice"?
Today, from Revelation chapter 15 — a short yet extraordinarily weighty chapter of the Bible — we will press toward that answer.

P: Conclusion (Point)
To put the message of Revelation chapter 15 in a single sentence: 
"God's wrath is the completion of justice — the end result of having kept overlooking evil."

It may sound difficult, but essentially it comes down to this: 
A judge has long held back and kept postponing the verdict, but has now reached the point of no return. 
Yet outside that courtroom, those who have already won their "acquittal" are already singing songs of praise.
This chapter simultaneously shows both "outside the courtroom" and "inside the courtroom."

Let me go a little deeper. 
Returning to the Bible, verse 1 says:
"I saw in heaven another great and marvelous sign" (Revelation 15:1, NIV)
The heavenly signs John had seen before were in chapter 12: 
"a woman" representing God's church (12:1), and 
"an enormous red dragon" representing Satan (12:3).

And as it is written:
"seven angels with the seven last plagues — last, because with them God's wrath is completed"
these are the final ones.
In other words, while it appears to be the closing scene, this chapter is actually something like a preview of "a world where righteousness is rewarded."

R: Reason
Why does wrath "reach completion" now?
Throughout the entire Bible, the length of God's patience is astonishing. 
In the Old Testament, no matter how many times the people of Israel turned against God, he kept sending prophets over the course of hundreds of years. 
In the New Testament, Jesus prayed from the cross, "Father, forgive them."

So then — why is this called "the last"?

It relates to the character of God that the Bible consistently depicts. 
God is love, and at the same time, God is righteousness (justice). 
If a righteous God were to leave evil unpunished forever, it would no longer be justice.

There is a Japanese saying: "Otentō-sama ga mite iru" — "The sun is watching." 
It expresses the sense that there is a presence who sees even when wrongdoing goes unnoticed. 
Revelation chapter 15 depicts the moment when that "watching presence" finally moves.

What I want you to notice is verses 3 and 4. The ones singing this song are described as "those who had been victorious over the beast." 
These are people who have experienced suffering. 
Yet they are not blaming God — they are praising him. Why? 
Because they know that God's justice did not make their pain meaningless.

E: Concrete Examples (Example)
Thinking about "righteous indignation" and "the long wait" in the real world
Example ① The Holocaust survivors and justice

After the Second World War, the Nuremberg Trials were held.
After millions of lives had been taken, judgment was finally rendered.
Among the survivors, some cried out, "Why wasn't it stopped sooner?" — while others said, "Only when the judgment was carried out did I finally feel vindicated."
The anguish of waiting for justice to be realized, and the sense of liberation when it is fulfilled — Revelation chapter 15 depicts those emotions at the scale of God.

Example ② The sea of glass and "peace in the midst of chaos"

"And I saw what looked like a sea of glass glowing with fire and, standing beside the sea, those who had been victorious over the beast and its image and over the number of its name. They held harps given them by God." (Revelation 15:2, NIV)
"The sea of glass" — an image of a transparent, still sea.
Yet "glowing with fire."
This appears contradictory, but many theologians interpret it as depicting how the believers, having passed through the "fire of trials," now stand in a place of quiet peace.
It is like the calm after a storm.

Even those who do not believe may have experienced something like this.
When you finally received a job offer after being rejected by a hundred companies.
When you overcame a serious illness.
When you made the final payment on a debt that took years to clear.
The stillness that follows is a kind of peace that those who have never struggled can never understand.
The people standing in chapter 15 are exactly those kinds of people.

Example ③ The meaning of the sanctuary being closed

"And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power, and no one could enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were completed." (Revelation 15:8, NIV)
No one can enter the temple.
This is an extraordinary state of affairs.
In Old Testament times, the temple was the place to draw near to God.
But now it is closed.
Why? Because the time for negotiation has ended.

In business terms, it is like "the closure of the settlement negotiation window."
You have sent letter after letter and received no reply — and then one day a notice arrives: "All future communications will be accepted only through legal proceedings."
That is the weight of it.

P: Conclusion (Point — restated)
What this chapter is saying to us today
Revelation chapter 15 declares unequivocally that evil does not continue forever — its reckoning will certainly come.
We are being asked: given the premise that at the end of history there will without fail be a "final accounting of justice," how will we live today?

"Are you, right now, before the temple closes — or after?"

The people singing in this chapter are "those who were victorious over the beast." 
They are people who believed in something, and suffered because of that faith. 
They are on the outside of the wrath. 
Because they had already entered into a relationship with God.

In Japanese there is the saying: "Koroban mae no tsue" — "A walking stick before you fall." 
It is the wisdom to prepare before stumbling, not after. 
Revelation chapter 15 speaks precisely about that "timing to take hold of the staff."

Finally, imagine the position of John, who wrote this chapter. 
He had been exiled to the island of Patmos, his companions had been killed, and he was being persecuted by the empire. 
And yet in the vision he saw, those who had "already gained the victory" are singing. 
For him, that was proof that his present suffering was not the end.

Whether or not you believe the Bible is each person's own decision. 
But at the very least, this much can be said: 
For those who do not yet believe, the "completion of wrath" depicted in Revelation chapter 15 is a chapter that can serve as an opportunity to ask: "Who is truly in the right?" and "What is the value that will remain at the end?"
What appears to be winning on the outside does not necessarily win to the very end. 
Revelation chapter 15 makes the opposite of that unmistakably clear.
Which side you are on — that can still be chosen, right now.

Ending Talk

Next time we enter Revelation chapter 16, the scene where the seven bowls are actually poured out. 
The descriptions are sobering, but even within them, a final message to humanity is hidden.