1For we know that if the earthly house of our tent is dissolved, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal, in the heavens. 2For most certainly in this we groan, longing to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven, 3if indeed being clothed, we will not be found naked. 4For indeed we who are in this tent do groan, being burdened, not that we desire to be unclothed, but that we desire to be clothed, that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. 5Now he who made us for this very thing is God, who also gave to us the down payment of the Spirit.
6Therefore we are always confident and know that while we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord; 7for we walk by faith, not by sight. 8We are courageous, I say, and are willing rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. 9Therefore also we make it our aim, whether at home or absent, to be well pleasing to him. 10For we must all be revealed before the judgment seat of Christ that each one may receive the things in the body according to what he has done, whether good or bad.
11Knowing therefore the fear of the Lord, we persuade men, but we are revealed to God, and I hope that we are revealed also in your consciences. 12For we are not commending ourselves to you again, but speak as giving you occasion of boasting on our behalf, that you may have something to answer those who boast in appearance and not in heart. 13For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God. Or if we are of sober mind, it is for you. 14For the love of Christ compels us; because we judge thus: that one died for all, therefore all died. 15He died for all, that those who live should no longer live to themselves, but to him who for their sakes died and rose again.
16Therefore we know no one according to the flesh from now on. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know him so no more. 17Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new. 18But all things are of God, who reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ, and gave to us the ministry of reconciliation; 19namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not reckoning to them their trespasses, and having committed to us the word of reconciliation.
20We are therefore ambassadors on behalf of Christ, as though God were entreating by us: we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21For him who knew no sin he made to be sin on our behalf, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
This is a short chapter of just eight verses. In these, we see that the number seven is used seven times. Seven is God’s number for completion. What is to take place is the total completion of God’s wrath on the earth. The word used here for “wrath” in Greek is a powerful word. It is (θυμός – thymos/thumos). You can recognize it in the word “thermos,” which means “heat.” It is something beyond mere anger. It is unusual. It speaks of a passionate, overwhelming “flash point”, an explosive kind of anger. It is a seething, boiling, burning kind of anger. The text tells us that in these plagues, the wrath of God is “complete”. Interestingly, the word “complete” is related to tetelestai [God’s work of redemption is done], the last word Jesus uttered from the cross. The word used here is ἐτελέσθη (etelesthe), meaning that in these judgments God’s wrath will be perfected, finished, and completed. God’s judgment will be over. God will vindicate His people.
John looks into heaven and sees all the saints of God as victorious. That’s all the believers in Jesus throughout history, standing on a sea of what looks like water mixed with fire. He sees the saints of God standing victoriously above all of humanity. They are on something “like” a sea of glass and fire, and they are holding harps. I think the description of “fire” describes what these saints have been through. They are standing victoriously, having passed the test. The mention of harps is interesting to me. I guess this is where the idea of people sitting around in heaven playing harps comes from. And they are having a great big huge praise and worship service. Two or three songs of Moses are recorded in the Torah and the Ketuvim. We find a song of Moses in Exodus 15, Deuteronomy 32, and Moses also wrote Psalms 90. One song of Moses is recorded as being sung after the children of Israel have crossed the Red Sea. The song begins, “I will sing unto the Lord for He has triumphed gloriously, the horse and rider thrown into the sea.” Moses sings of God’s faithfulness in triumphing over the enemies of God and His people. (see Exodus 15:11).
God will indeed avenge the blood of His servants. He will avenge the blood of righteous Gentiles along with His own righteous people. This revenge is part of what is happening during the time of these bowls of wrath. John sees seven angels clothed in bright linen coming out of the temple's inner shrine. This is the place where the Ark of the Covenant is housed. Each of these seven angels is given a bowl of wrath. The presence of God saturates the temple in smoke and glory and will remain so until the end of the wrath is completed. I have to admit, when I read this, all I could think about was that scene from Indiana Jones: “In Search of the Lost Ark”. The Nazis have tried to use the Ark to somehow harness the power of God in their quest for evil. When they get out in the desert and open the Ark, holy angels come out of it, clothed in linen robes, and they annihilate the Nazi goons. These plagues, these bowls of wrath, are God pulling out all the stops. These seven angels came out of the area where not only the Ark of the Covenant was placed, but where the Menorah, the Showbread Table, and the Altar of Incense rested (Exodus 35-40). Reader, the only normative instruction to be found in this passage is that we don’t want to experience anything of the wrath of God. In Scripture, you and I are given repeated opportunities to avoid the wrath of God. It is in accepting Jesus and His work on the cross that the wrath of God passes over us. He that knew no sin was made sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Corinthians 5:21 paraphrased).