“Reveling the Revelation”
Chapter 16 – “The Wrath of God”
February 28, 2010
Revelation 16
Then I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, "Go, pour out the seven bowls of God's wrath on the earth." The first angel went and poured out his bowl on the land, and ugly and painful sores broke out on the people who had the mark of the beast and worshiped his image.
The second angel poured out his bowl on the sea, and it turned into blood like that of a dead man, and every living thing in the sea died.
The third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and springs of water, and they became blood. Then I heard the angel in charge of the waters say: "You are just in these judgments, you who are and who were, the Holy One, because you have so judged; for they have shed the blood of your saints and prophets, and you have given them blood to drink as they deserve."
And I heard the altar respond: "Yes, Lord God Almighty, true and just are your judgments."
The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and the sun was given power to scorch people with fire. They were seared by the intense heat and they cursed the name of God, who had control over these plagues, but they refused to repent and glorify him.
The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and his kingdom was plunged into darkness. Men gnawed their tongues in agony and cursed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, but they refused to repent of what they had done.
The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up to prepare the way for the kings from the East. Then I saw three evil spirits that looked like frogs; they came out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet. They are spirits of demons performing miraculous signs, and they go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them for the battle on the great day of God Almighty.
"Behold, I come like a thief! Blessed is he who stays awake and keeps his clothes with him, so that he may not go naked and be shamefully exposed."
Then they gathered the kings together to the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon.
The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and out of the temple came a loud voice from the throne, saying, "It is done!" Then there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder and a severe earthquake. No earthquake like it has ever occurred since man has been on earth, so tremendous was the quake. The great city split into three parts, and the cities of the nations collapsed. God remembered Babylon the Great and gave her the cup filled with the wine of the fury of his wrath. Every island fled away and the mountains could not be found. From the sky huge hailstones of about a hundred pounds each fell upon men. And they cursed God on account of the plague of hail, because the plague was so terrible.
We are on the downward side of our study in the Book of Revelation. On the time graft – we are right at the end of the seven years. We have studied the seven seals, the seven trumpets and this morning we are going to look at the seven vials or seven bowls filled with God’s wrath.
These vial judgments probably begin about six months before His coming. I believe the judgments span the last six months or so because their descriptions make it pretty clear that each vial affects the world for a certain length of time. The gathering of all the world armies to Armageddon after the sixth vial would appear to take some time even with the help of Satan’s angels. The judgments clearly occur in the last part of the 3 ½ years.
Last week I said that I don’t believe God takes any pleasure in this. The Bible says that God loves everyone. Jesus died for the whole world. The Bible says that God is not willing that any should perish. He wants all to come to repentance. God is a good and loving and kind Creator. I think this final act is very difficult for Him to do. He doesn’t take any pleasure or joy in it. Some people who do not have an intimate relationship or personal knowledge of God – think that God is punishing mankind and getting kind of a devilishly glee out of it. Nothing could be further from the truth. These are His children. These are His greatest creation. As God enters this last phase of time - the angels and saints encourage Him with praise - that He is doing what is right and just and holy.
This study has to do with your theology or knowledge of God. God is holy and just and righteous – as well as loving and kind and gentle. God can never be one without the other. God can’t be one attribute and contradict another. He always has to be true to who He is. For instance, God is love – therefore that means He has to hate. The bible says God hates sin.
“For You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness, Nor shall evil dwell with You. The boastful shall not stand in Your sight; You hate all workers of iniquity.” Psalms 5:4-5
“The Lord tests the righteous, But the wicked and the one who loves violence His soul hates.” Psalms 11:5
“You love righteousness and hate wickedness.” Psalms 45:7
"For the Lord God of Israel says That He hates divorce,” Malachi 2:16
“But to the Son He says: "Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your Kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness;” Hebrews 1:8
Do you understand if you love right – you must hate wrong? Do you understand if you love righteousness – you must hate evil? Do you understand if you are holy you must hate sin? If pure – you must hate impurity.
And what is the end result of hate? We think in terms of death. If you hate someone – you kill them. But death is simply a form of separation. If God hates something He must separate it from Himself – ultimately, forever. We call that place of separation from God by the name - hell. It’s the second death.
So because of God’s holy and loving nature – He must separate Himself and His followers from evil. But in this chapter He is giving His wayward creation one last chance. He wants to allow things to get so painful, so awful, so horrible - that maybe they will turn away from wickedness and turn to Him before it is too late. Love and holiness is the motivation, I suspect, is the reason for the wrath of God.
The first bowl is for those who are destined for hell. They had taken the mark of the beast and worshipped his image. That pretty much sealed their fate. Why is God giving them one last chance? I think it is because He must be true to His holy and loving nature. Even through they have passed the point of no return – in the final analysis no one can say He didn’t give them every opportunity to repent. No one can say, “If you would have tried just a little harder”. God, in His mercy, goes above and beyond to turn, even these people, to righteousness. So He allows the angel to pour out the first bowl – and horrible, ugly, painful sores break out on those who have taken the mark of the Beast.
The second angel is summoned and he pours out his bowl of wrath. This bowl causes the sea to coagulate like blood of a dead man. Every living thing in the seas dies. Think about that! What would happen if every living thing in the oceans died? Over half of our oxygen supply would vanish because most of it is made from the plankton in the sea. A major source of the earth’s food would be gone. A major source of our water supply would be gone. No more water to evaporate and make up those rain storms we need so much. If there is no oceans there is less food, less oxygen, and less water on the earth. Life would become increasing more difficult.
The third angel pours out his vial. The springs and rivers turn to a bloody substance. I suppose people have to live off of the bottled water that remains and soda pop and beer and whatever liquid is available. Imagine how valuable a bottle of water would be! Imagine how people would fight and steal and beg for water! It leaves a pretty ugly scenario.
The situation is so ugly, I think God has to take a break. Understand that feeling is not weakness. The Bible says Jesus wept. Feelings are an indication of love and compassion. In the last chapter we saw that God went into the temple in heaven and hid Himself in a covering of smoke and no one was able to come into the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels was completed. I think that this is so painful to Him that He has to be alone in His anguish over what is happening. Maybe He doesn’t want to see this. And heaven consoles Him.
"You are just in these judgments, you who are and who were, the Holy One, because you have so judged; for they have shed the blood of your saints and prophets, and you have given them blood to drink as they deserve."
And I heard the altar respond: "Yes, Lord God Almighty, true and just are your judgments."
The angels affirm that God is just and holy. They bring to remembrance that these people shed the blood of God’s people. They declare they are only getting what they deserve. The altar agrees. “Yes, Lord. You are true and just in your judgments.” And who is saying this? Revelation, chapter six tells us they are the souls of those who have been killed because of their Christian testimony. These martyrs are agreeing. The world is only getting what they deserve.
The fourth angel opens his vial. He pours it on the sun – and the sun flames up and causes the earth to feel an intense heat. This was not a ‘heat wave’. People were scorched! People were seared! Have you ever seared a steak or scorched something you were cooking? It will be something like that.
Now, you would think that someone in such pain – such agony would pray for help; maybe beg for mercy -but not these hard-hearted, evil people. They cursed God. They don’t pray – they don’t repent. It only made them more angry; more evil; more rebellious.
The fifth angels brings out his bowl of wrath. He pours it on the throne of the Beast. He pours it on the seat of the power of the Beast. That caused the entire kingdom of the beast to be plunged into absolute darkness.
Jesus said He was the light of the world. John in writing about Jesus said,
“This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.” 1 John 1:5
This plague takes all light out of the Beast’s kingdom. There is no Jesus in the kingdom of the Beast. There is no good; no justice; no mercy; no kindness – nothing that is of Jesus is left. And John says in sad amazement – “Still they would not repent!” Instead they gnawed their tongues in agony and cursed God even more!
The sixth angel poured out his vial on the river Euphrates. It dried up. The way is being prepared for the final great battle. And three evil spirits, looking like ugly frogs, come out of the mouths of the Beast, The False prophet and the dragon – the evil trinity. These demons have the power to do miracles and they go to all the leaders of the evil world to entice them to come to the final great battle between good and evil. Jesus blurts out one final warning from the debts of the temple! He says,
"Behold, I come like a thief! Blessed is he who stays awake and keeps his clothes with him, so that he may not go naked and be shamefully exposed."
Some scholar think Jesus is talking to those people in the tribulation who turned to Jesus. Clothes represent good works- so Jesus is telling them to continue to do good, they say.
I think Jesus may be talking to His children. I think Christians WILL go through the tribulation – but not the wrath of God. Remember in Revelation 12 we read where the woman, or the bride of Christ, -His people, are taken into a desert place or into the wilderness and protected from the dragon. I think Jesus may be talking to them here, and telling them to be patient. Just a little longer and He will come like a thief and snatch them away.
That thought is revealed in the Children of Israel in Egypt. Remember they were there in Egypt - but protected from the plague of darkness and many of the latter plagues. I think Christians may be on earth at this time, but protected in a sheltered place. Jesus tells them He is coming in just a little while. In the meantime, the enemy forces are gather at a place called Megiddo in northern Israel. In the Hebrew tongue it is called Armageddon. The finial battle preparation begins.
When the seventh angel pours out his vial in the atmosphere the greatest earthquake that ever was or that ever will be takes place on earth. All the cities of the world will fall. All high mountain ranges will dissolve and all islands will be moved or disappear. Even Jerusalem will be divided into three parts at that time. The mountain of the Lord will be raised as the highest place in the area - possibly in the whole world.
This total changing of the earth’s crust will allow fulfillment of the prophecies that speak about the desert land being watered and being lush during the millennial reign. Most deserts are caused by high mountain ranges. When the mountain ranges are dissolved most of the world will become fertile. This change of the crust will eliminate fault lines. There’s not going to be any major earthquakes during the millennium. There will be more gentle wind patterns without the mountain ranges, meaning less severe storms. The earth will become a paradise. Isn’t that like God? He always works out things for our good – if we let Him. In the meantime, with 100 pound hail stones falling on them, the wicked continue to curse God. They still refuse to repent.
When the seventh angel pours out his vial – God speaks from the temple. He says the same thing He said on the cross. “It is finished!” “It is done! It is over!” You can almost hear a sigh of relief.
I think God is relieved to be done with the wickedness in the world. He is relieved to be done with this probationary state we call life. Do you think you were created by chance? Do you think your life is simply the result of random events? It isn’t! You were created on purpose. In your mother’s womb, God knew you and loved you. You were formed for a reason. You are a part of God’s awesome plan. David said,
“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.”
Psalm 139:13-16
God says, “For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29:11-13
In a few weeks we will read in Revelations that God plans to make us rulers. We will reign with Him for a thousand years. I don’t know what all that means – but I know God created you for something more than this life. You are an eternal creation with a divine purpose. This life is a testing area – a proving ground. Theologians call it a probationary state. You know you were created for something more, don’t you? You feel like there is more to this life – than this. It is in our DNA. This life is simply to give us opportunity to become like Jesus. We are being transformed into His image – those who accept Him. And the first in this life will be last and the last in this life will be first in the kingdom. The last in this life, those the world looks down on because they aren’t as good looking or smart or talented, are being groomed for leadership. The trials and tribulation and even the temptation in life is opportunity. We have an opportunity to make choices – to exercise our free moral agency. That is one way we were created in God’s image. Due to the fall of man, we are born rebellious, but every person has an opportunity to choose life – to choose eternal life. Life is in God the Son. If we choose to believe on Him and make Him the Lord of our life – He will lead us to Christlikeness in this life – and glorification in eternity. This life is about choices and change. The plan is to be transformed in Jesus’ image and little at a time. Day by day we are choosing and changing.
Are you serving Him? Have you accepted Jesus as the Lord of your life? Have you repented of your sin and surrendered your will to do His? If you haven’t you can with a prayer of repentance that goes like this:
Dear Jesus,
Thank you for the wonderful plans you have for me. Thank you for loving me and believing in me. Thank you for dying for me to pay the penalty for my sins. Please forgive me for rebelling against you. Forgive me for doing my own thing and going my own way. I surrender my will to yours right now. From this point on, with your help, I will live for you.
SONG: Change My Heart
