1. Revelation 15:8 (ESV)
  2. Exposition

Why could no one enter the sanctuary until the seven plagues were finished?

Revelation 15:8 (ESV)

8 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.

The seven angels pour out their bowls one after the other (Revelation 16:1–21). Even when one angel remains in the sanctuary with his bowl of God’s hot anger, smoke from the fires of God’s righteous judgment invariably continues to fill the temple. That wrath is too intense to permit admissions.