Revelation 15:8, commentary and pictures

This verse belongs to the prophecies of Revelation 12 to 18 that are being fulfilled while the last message of warning is to be heard by all, standing just before the very last call to the churches in chapter 18 and before the destruction and reign of Christ pictured in chapter 19. When the seven angels receive the seven last plagues, God's glory and power fill the temple with smoke and no one can enter it until the plagues are completed, marking the period in which the final judgments are carried out. The temple filled with smoke means the Father in the midst above the cherubim sheds His glory down upon the ark and the train of His glory fills the temple.

The verse shows Jesus finishing His work in the most holy place of the heavenly sanctuary and leaving it. He passes through the holy place to the door to confess the sins of Israel upon the head of the scapegoat, tarries a moment in the outer apartment, puts on the garments of vengeance and takes His seat upon the great white cloud, which is entirely separate from the holy and most holy and from the sanctuary, and moves out. Jesus leaves the sanctuary in heaven and then the seven last plagues are poured out, with no one able to enter the temple until they are fulfilled.

No man being able to enter the temple means there is no man, no high priest, no priest, no intercessor and no mediator between guilty man and an offended God, with no one left to present sacrifices, confessions, or prayers before the Father, for Jesus has ceased to plead for Israel and His mediation and intercession have ended. Through the time of trouble there will be no high priest ministering in the sanctuary, and during the seven last plagues the sanctuary is closed and no High Priest is there to mediate. The seven last plagues are poured out only after Jesus leaves and His officiating and intercession close. They cannot be poured out while He officiates and can be withheld no longer afterward, for then there is nothing to stay the wrath of God. They are the wrath of God and the Lamb that breaks with fury upon the shelterless head of the guilty sinner who slighted salvation and hated reproof and causes the destruction and death of the wicked.

As He leaves, the tinkling of the bells upon His garment is heard and a cloud of darkness covers the inhabitants of the earth. While He stood between God and guilty man a restraint was upon the people, but when He steps out from between man and the Father the restraint is removed and Satan has entire control of the finally impenitent. The sins confessed while He was in the most holy place are placed upon Satan, the originator of sin and the scapegoat, who must suffer their punishment, and while the plagues are falling the scapegoat is being led away into the land of forgetfulness. In that fearful time of trouble and anguish after the close of mediation the saints live in the sight of a holy God and in His presence without an intercessor or mediator, with every case decided for life or death and every jewel numbered. Those covered with the covering of Almighty God live in His sight without a mediator, while those not covered have nothing to shelter them and feel the plagues.

Before He leaves He accepts prayers and confessions, pardons transgressions, and blots out the sins of those who are holy and righteous, but afterward their characters remain fixed and they are sealed with the seal of the living God. Those sealed and protected through the time of trouble must already reflect the image of Jesus fully, which requires preparation beforehand, so the work of rescuing souls must be done before this time. At the voice of God the saints will be mighty and terrible as an army with banners, but they will not then execute the judgment written. The execution of the judgment waits until the close of the one thousand years.