The Grand Sign and Seven Angels (Rev 15:1)

The Sign of the Son of Man

The Third Woe of the Seventh Seal begins in Revelation 15:1, immediately after the Second Woe Harvest in Revelation 14:14-20. In this verse, John "saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous." Joseph Smith described this same sign in JS-M 1:32-33, 36. He said the sign will appear after the final abomination of desolation, which will occur in Jerusalem during the 3½ days when the bodies of the Two Witnesses lie unburied in Jerusalem. (Rev 14:7-9). Then, "after the tribulation of those days, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken, then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven, and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn; and they shall see the Son of Man coming the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory." (JS-M 1:36)

The Grand Sign is the final sign given in heaven before Christ's Second Coming. There will still be many signs on earth as the seven Vial Plagues of the Third Woe cleanse the earth both physically and spiritually to become a paradisiacal and terrestrial earth as it was before the fall of Adam. We don't know exactly what the Grand Sign is or what will cause it to be seen by all people on earth (D&C 88:93), but Joseph Smith said: "Then will appear one grand sign of the Son of Man in heaven. But what will the world do? They will say it is a planet, a comet, etc. But the Son of Man will come as the sign of the coming of the Son of Man, which will be as the light of the morning cometh out of the east." (TPJS, 286-287)

The Angels with the Seven Last Vial Plagues

At the same time John saw the Grand Sign in Revelation 15:1, he also saw "seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God." These plagues during the Third Woe are the reason why the tribes of the earth shall mourn in Matthew 24:30 after the "Grand Sign" is given.

The Third Woe will be very short in duration lasting only days, and sometimes the events occur in hourly succession leading up to the Second Coming. Even though these last seven Vial Plagues occur very rapidly, it takes John six chapters to describe these plagues from Revelation 15:1 to 20:3.

Orson Pratt talked about the literal nature of the seven angels of the Third Woe, saying: "And the time will come, when the seven angels having the seven last trumps will sound their trumps literally, and the sound thereof will be heard among the nations, just preparatory to the coming of the Son of man; and all the judgments foretold by John, which are to succeed the sound of each of the seven trumpets, will be fulfilled literally upon the earth in their times and seasons." (JD, 18:227)

The seven last angels identified in Revelation 15:1 are the same angels who fly through the midst of heaven and cry with a loud voice in D&C 88:92-9, saying: "And angels shall fly through the midst of heaven, crying with a loud voice, sounding the trump of God, saying: Prepare ye, prepare ye, O inhabitants of the earth; for the judgment of our God is come. Behold, and lo, the Bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him. And immediately there shall appear a great sign in heaven, and all people shall see it together."

For a deeper dive into the seven last angels seen by John when the Sign of the Son of Man is given in heaven, check out my podcasts from April 19 and 21, 2026.

April 19, 2026 — Podcast

April 21, 2026 — Podcast