Revelation 15:5 Commentary and Bible Study

Here is something very significant – ‘the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened.’ John sees the place from which the seven last plagues are to issue, the dwelling place of God himself in heaven. This is called ‘the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony’. We know what that means, because elsewhere Scriptures tell us four or five times in the Books of Moses, and also in the Psalms. The testimony is the name given in the Books of Moses to the tablets of stone on which were written, the Ten Commandments, the law of God, the authority and the standards of God. The ark was called the ark of the testimony (Exodus 25:16; 30:26) and the testimony was inside it (Exodus 30:36). John is of course seeing the heavenly tabernacle here and not the earthly, which was only a pattern of the former. In heaven the tabernacle is the temple or dwelling place of God. This is the significance of the place from which these plagues come. God himself has sent them to the earth with all their destructive power. The holy of holies is entered; the ark is opened, and there are the Ten Commandments with all their authority to condemn unforgiven sinners. They are the expressions of his anger towards sin. The temple is now opened not to give worshippers access to the presence of God, but to allow the full force of God’s anger to go into the world. The seven angels with the seven last plagues emerge from the temple. Everything about them is perfect and precious, and yet they have a fearful task. They are clothed in pure and white linen to show their holiness. This is not the imputed righteousness of Christ which the saints wear, but their own intrinsic holiness. This reference to the clothing of the angels is very unusual, but it is spoken of to show the complete justice of the acts of judgment which they are about to carry out. They come from God and they identify with his holy law. They feel that indignation and that sense of offence at the sin of the world which makes them eager to avenge the Lord and to punish the earth for its rebellion. They have their chests girded with golden bands. They carry out their task with dignity, and reproach the world for sin which they themselves are so strongly averse to. Though they wait for the precise moment that God commands them to act, when they do act, it is with a vigour driven by zeal for the glory of God.