Vii. The Seven Last Plagues (15:1-16:21)
VII. THE SEVEN LAST PLAGUES (15:1-16:21)
More than once John has taken us through the whole range of God’s judgments, as in the visions of the seven seals and of the seven trumpets (see note at the beginning of ch.5). Each time he was telling us something of what will happen in the end-time and something of what goes on in human history. Now under the imagery of seven angels pouring out the contents of seven golden bowls he does something of the same sort again. This time, however, there is a marked stress on finality. These are the last plagues. Judgment is complete. This does not mean that they have no relevance to our situation. While they refer especially to the End, yet ‘whenever in history the wicked fail to repent in answer to the initial and partial manifestation of God’s anger in judgments, the final effusion of wrath follows’ (Hendriksen).