We looked at Revelation 15:8 last time, but I want to go back to it. It says, “And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from His power; and no one was able to enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were finished.” We have this picture of the holy of holies so to speak, the tabernacle of God in heaven, that is so filled with the glory of God that no one can enter it until these plagues have been poured out which happens in Revelation 16. What I would like to discuss this time is that this type of thing has happened before, and that there is connection with events in the Old Testament that give us a better understanding of what is happening here.
First, I want to go back to Exodus once again. We find that the people have come out of Egypt, and they are at Mount Sinai when the Lord is giving the Ten Commandments. When the Lord is going to give the Ten Commandments something very similar to what we see in Revelation 15:8 happened in Exodus 19:18-21 which says, “Now Mount Sinai was all in smoke because the Lord descended upon it in fire; and its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked violently. When the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and God answered him with thunder. The Lord came down on Mount Sinai, to the top of the mountain; and the Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up. Then the Lord spoke to Moses, ‘Go down, warn the people, so that they do not break through to the Lord to gaze, and many of them perish.’” This is an awe-inspiring, awesome moment when the glory of God came down in a unique way on the mountain where the Ten Commandments are going to be given in Revelation 20. He is giving an expression of His greatness, and of His glory. Smoke is mentioned there and is in a sense hiding the glory of God because no one could possibly stand to see Him in all of His glory and all of His essence. The people, however, could understand what was going on because of the thunder, noises, and the smoke. Moses is to warn his people not to try to break through to see more of His glory as that would be deadly for them to do so.
