And one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God, who lives forever and ever. And the sanctuary was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power, and no one could enter the sanctuary until the seven plagues of the seven angels were finished.
– Revelation 15:7
There’s so much here in Revelation 15—a really sobering imagery specifically about the holy wrath and judgment of God coming upon a sinful world.
Revelation 15:7 is a picture of the gospel.
The picture here in Revelation 15:7 is that people can’t come into the sanctuary of God that’s filled with the smoke from the glory of God and from his power. They can’t come in until his wrath is fully poured out. There’s a lot that goes with this imagery.
But at the core, I just want to remind you, this is the gospel. You and I cannot enter into the presence of God unless the holy wrath, the holy judgment of God due our sin is fully poured out. This is what Jesus has done for us.
Oh, especially for those of you who might be listening to this on Christmas Eve, to think about why Jesus came. He came to endure the holy wrath and judgment that you and I deserve for our sin so that we could be saved from our sin. The holy justice of God due our sin poured out on his Son on the cross, so that we could be saved and welcomed into his sanctuary, so that we can have communion with God today, so that we can rejoice with everlasting joy in the presence of God through the payment of Jesus on the cross for us. We can come into God’s sanctuary because Jesus has endured the holy wrath and judgment we deserve.
Revelation 15:7 reminds us we were saved from wrath by Jesus’ sacrifice.
All the more, again especially if you’re praying this on Christmas Eve, all the more let’s praise Jesus for what he has done for us and take full advantage of the privilege we have to live in the presence of God, to commune with God, to walk with God, to be his temple, his Holy Spirit, his holy sanctuary, our bodies.
Oh God, we praise you for sending Jesus as a sacrifice for our sins. Jesus, we praise you for leaving your throne in glory to come to us, to be born a baby, human, fully like us, yet without sin, and to live a sinless life. We praise you for your sinlessness, and then we praise you for your sacrificial death on the cross for us. Jesus, we praise you for taking the full holy wrath and judgment due our sin, due my sin, on the cross so that I, we could be saved from sin, restored to relationship with you.
We could come into your sanctuary right now in all the different places where we are, commune with you. We just say, help us to experience this communion to the full today and every day in concentrated time in prayer and continual time in prayer. God, help us to live our lives of the overflow of your presence of being with you because of this glorious truth that we celebrate at Christmas of you with us.
Prayer for the Unreached
Oh God, we pray especially on this Christmas Eve for thousands of people groups who’ve never heard this good news about Jesus enduring the judgment due sin. All the 3.2 billion people who right now are under your holy judgment and in need of a Savior, God please cause the gospel to spread to all of them. God cause us as your church to live for the spread of the gospel to all of them.
Lord, may it be so that this time next year, if you tarry Lord Jesus, that this time next year, thousands of unreached people groups would’ve been exposed to the gospel through your church, through people who know your salvation proclaiming your salvation, giving of our resources for the spread of your salvation to the ends of the earth. God, may it be so. We pray all this according to your Word in Revelation 15:7. In Jesus’ name we pray, in the name of the one who makes communion with you possible, oh God. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
