Today's going to be a bit of an odd sermon. I'm going to spend most of my time giving us a framework for reading a pretty big chunk of scripture. Basically, I'm going to try to give you a pair of glasses, so that you read it in a particular way, seeing the main points it makes. But this pair of glasses is going to take a bit of work to explain, and we are both going to have to work at this today.
As we've worked through the book of Revelation, we've maybe come to notice that there are kind of three different types of material. What John "hears" and "sees" can be divided up into three different groups. If you were good on a computer, you could enter them into an Excel spreadsheet as you go. If you aren't, you could set out three jars, and put Bible verses in each one as they show up. There's overlap between them; the groups can't always be cleanly divided. And it's not like the entire book can be split into three categories, I don't think (Revelation 12 doesn't nicely fit here). But I think, today, that it'd be helpful to set these out for you (put in outline):
(1) Group #1 would include passages that describe how God is right now, currently, judging the world. His wrath is actively being poured out on the world, right now, in his attempt to call people to repentance (Revelation 6:1-11; Revelation 8-9, esp. 20-21). These judgments have two distinctive features. (1) The first, is that they aren't as harsh as they could be (they are mitigated). God shows restraint, because God's goal with these judgments isn't to repay people for what they've done. And the reason God shows restraint, is because of their second distinctive feature: (2) The goal of these judgments is to come out of their compromise, and sin, and idolatry, and turn to him (Revelation 9:20-21; 14:7). So in chapter 6 (6:8), with the seven seals, we saw Death riding a pale horse. Death was given authority (divine passive) over a fourth of the earth to kill by the sword, famine, plague, and wild animals. It's a gory, terrible scene. But it could be worse. We are talking about fourths, and not everything. In the trumpets, in chapter 8, we see a heightening of judgments. It moves from fourths, to thirds (Revelation 8:6-13). That's even worse, but it's still not everything. But what we see, again, is that God is actively judging the world, in a way that doesn't simply kill everyone off. God's judgments, right now, are often softened to give people a chance to repent.
(2) Group #2 would include passages that describe the final day of judgment. A final carrying out of the wrath of God and of the Lamb. We've seen several pictures of this, as well (Revelation 6:12-17). God's wrath is bad now, but it will be far worse later (Revelation 14:9-20).
(3) Group #3 would include passages that describe the future for God's faithful people. Those who don't compromise, who are faithful and obedient, end up with Jesus, worshipping before the throne in heaven (Revelation 7; 11:15-19; 14:1-5, 12-13).
We can tell that Revelation isn't chronological, because these three groups have shown up repeatedly, out of "order." The point of Revelation isn't to explain in detail how the future will unfold, one step at a time. The point of Revelation is to encourage us to be faithful now. To be willing to suffer. To openly tell people about Jesus. To avoid giving our allegiance to the Beast, or bowing down to an idol.
So those are kind of the three main types of passages we read in Revelation. Last week, in chapter 14, we read about God's final judgment. Group #2 type passages. Those who worship the Beast will drink from the wine of God's fury (Revelation 14:10). They will suffer forever, in a never-ending Sodom and Gomorrah, with fire, sulfur, and smoke (Revelation 14:11). They will be harvested like grapes, with their blood flowing out from God's winepress (Revelation 14:19).
This week, we find ourselves traveling back in time, to the present, for a single verse. This is a Group #1 passage.
Let's read verse 1:
(1) And I saw another sign in heaven-- great and marvelous:
seven angels having seven plagues-- the last ones--
because by/with them the wrath of God was finished,
So we've seen seven seals (Rev. 6; 8:1), and seven trumpets (8:2-9:21), and seven thunders (Rev. 10:4). Here, we find out that there will also be seven last plagues. In the earlier examples, we saw how Revelation reloops back on itself, covering the same time period, but reaching a little farther, in different ways. They are more intense.
And verse 1 tells us that this is happening again. This series of seven plagues, will mark the end, for real this time, of the pictures of God's wrath. We will see that we are no longer talking about 1/4, or 1/3. God's judgments are described as affecting all of creation.
So after reading verse 1, we're all geared up for another series of pictures describing God's current judgments on earth, and their completion.
But what we see in verses 2-4, is another little interlude. We are given a picture of the church triumphant, of those who were faithful, and victorious, standing before the throne. In many ways, it's like an echo of Revelation 7, where the 144,000 stand before the throne, worshipping God. It's another Group #3-type passage like that, but with one key difference:
(2) and I saw [something] like a sea of glass, having by mixed with fire, (Rev. 4:6)
and the ones conquering from/through (?) the beast
and from/through (?) his image,
and from the number of his name standing by the glassy sea,
having harps from God,
(3) and they are singing the song of Moses-- the slave of God--
and the song of the Lamb, saying,
"Great and marvelous, your works [are] ("Great and marvelous" is focused), O Lord, God, Almighty.
(Psalm 98:1; 111:2; 139:14)
Right(eous) and true, your ways [are], O King Forever. (Psalm 145:17; Deut. 32:4; Jeremiah 10:7)
(4) Who wouldn't fear, O Lord, (Jeremiah 10:7)
and glorify your name?,
because only [you are] holy,
because all the nations will come and they will worship/bow down before you, (Psalm 86:9;
Isaiah 2:2; Jeremiah 16:19)
because your righteous deeds were revealed,"
So, in verse 1, we are told that God's last judgments are here, using the symbolism of seven plagues. But what we find ourselves seeing, instead, is another picture of God's holy ones, worshipping God in heaven. The plagues will come, starting in verse 5. But we have this interruption.
Why is this here? The answer is complicated, but I want to try to unpack it in three steps. I'm not sure I'm going to be able to pull this off, or that it will make sense. But I'm going to try.
STEP #1:
The group of people we see in these verses, are the ones who obeyed God's commands, and lived faithfully toward Jesus (Revelation 14:12). But what we need to see here, is the "when" (it's the same "when" as Revelation 6:10-11). When you look at verse 4, notice the future tense (h/t Paul Gardner, who rescued me here. Following him in this). These holy ones point out that fearing God, and giving him glory, is perfectly logical. Who wouldn't fear God? Who wouldn't glorify him? This group then looks forward to a future when all the nations "will" come, and they "will" bow down before God.
So who is this group?
This is not the full 144,000, the full church/Israel, standing together before the throne on the last day. This is God's people who have gone before us, right now, who have conquered the Beast and its image, and who were faithful up to death. This is the type of passage you could use at a funeral, to show people a glimpse of where you go, and what it looks like, when you die. Again, there's an IF here. IF that person in the casket conquered the Beast and its image, and was faithful up to death.
So. This group of faithful Christ-followers looks forward to a future when lots of people join them. Lots of people, all nations, will come and bow down before God. The group will get bigger, and they praise God for that.
Now, that still doesn't answer the question. Why do we see and hear this picture of heaven, right in the middle of the seven bowls? Why does God give us a sneak peek at what life looks like on the other side, for the saints who have faithfully gone before us? Why the interruption?
STEP #2:
Right now on earth, God's people don't always look blessed. It doesn't always look like God acts rightly toward his people, or like God has much of a plan. It looks like we get conquered, and that we lose. And there's a sense in which that's totally accurate. Revelation promises us that individual Christians, and maybe even individual churches, will be defeated on earth. We will be conquered (Revelation 11:7; 12:10). When we see this defeat from an earthly perspective, it's confusing, and painful.
But God lets us eavesdrop on the worship of the saints who have faithfully gone before us, as a kindness to us. From their perspective, God's righteousness is completely obvious. The path to being with God, runs through the sea of fire and glass. You have to pass through the tribulation. You have to conquer the Beast and its image, by nonviolently resisting. By accepting financial harm, and jail, and even death, for some. And if you live this way, faithfully up to the end, everything will make sense on the other side. God's wisdom, and faithfulness, and righteousness, will be obvious.
So I think that's the pull we are supposed to feel, when we see this picture in heaven. God encourages us to focus on our future hope. He encourages us to be faithful. He encourages us to conquer, by being conquered. But why is this picture here, between verses 1 and 5?
STEP #3:
I think the final answer to this question, is that it gives us a framework for reading the acts of judgment to follow (h/t M. Eugene Boring). [Bring a prop]. Think of it as a picture frame, that helps pull out themes, and colors, from a picture. Specifically, I think this framework has three main parts (put in outline):
(1) When God brings judgment on the world, it's designed to bring people to a place of repentance-- to push them to turn from idols, to fearing and glorifying the one true God/King. It's not simply punishment, or giving people what they deserve. God doesn't want any to perish. He wants all people to repent, and join the faithful (and become part of the 144,000). And this is something God seeks from outsiders, and from his compromised church. If we've compromised, and we aren't conquering the Beast, and we are bowing down to idols, then we don't end up with Jesus. We need to persevere, to join God's holy ones in heaven.
(2) When God brings judgment on the world, that judgment is righteous. In what way? (A) When God, right now, brings softened judgments on the earth, He's giving people time to repent. This is "right." We see this, and know that God is acting "rightly." (B) When God brings his final judgment on the world, He does so to rescue his own people, and give them a new home. On this earth, we will suffer, and be persecuted, and be killed. But that is not the end of God's story, or our story, because God will bring us to himself. So this is a song we can sing about now, in hope, and faith, and anticipation, but this is a song we won't fully experience until we've passed through the tribulation, and find ourselves with Jesus in heaven. We conquer, by being conquered. So the song in verses 2-4, encourages us to think about God's righteousness. God acts rightly, toward all of his creation. (and that maybe should've been the sermon title; God's righteousness is a thread that runs through both chapters).
(3) The third thing this framework does, is give all of Revelation 15-16 an Exodus feel. Let's reread verse 3:
(3) and they are singing the song of Moses-- the slave of God--
and the song of the Lamb, saying,
"Great and marvelous, your works [are] ("Great and marvelous" is focused), O Lord, God, Almighty.
(Psalm 98:1; 111:2; 139:14)
Right(eous) and true, your ways [are], O King Forever. (Psalm 145:17; Deut. 32:4; Jeremiah 10:7)
So this group of holy ones stands before the sea of glass, singing the song of Moses and the Lamb. We are supposed to find ourselves thinking about the Exodus, when God rescued his people from Pharaoh, from Egypt, and from their slavery. God's people worshipped on the far side of the Red Sea, after passing through the waters, celebrating their salvation and the defeat of their enemies (Exodus 15). What we see here, is a symbolic echo of Exodus. God's people today find themselves in the same situation, as God's people did when they were trapped between Pharaoh and the sea. On this earth, there's no easy escape from our enemy. But God creates a path through the sea of tribulation. No one is raptured out, or dodges this tribulation. You faithfully pass "through" it (Revelation 7:14), by staying faithful to Jesus, and obeying God's commands. Revelation is like a cosmic NT version of the OT story.
With this, we come to verse 5. I've spent a lot of time setting all of this up. But now I want to basically just read Revelation. As I read, just try to pick out three themes:
(1) God is right now, actively judging the world. He's treating the world now, like He treated Egypt when He rescued his people from slavery. So when you hear about the first six bowls being poured out, understand that these are active, current judgments. (That part is just like the seals and trumpets.)
(2) God's goal in judging the world is to bring people to repentance, so that they become part of his people. The first six bowls we will read are not as severe as they could be. They are not the final judgment. They are softened (mitigated) judgments, designed to bring people to their senses, and see the logic of fearing and worshipping God. They are not the full strength wine of God's wrath (Revelation 14:10).
(3) What God is seeking in these verses, from those who read these verses, is that a renewed commitment from us (that's their rhetorical effect). In the end, these verses are actually addressed to the church, and not the world. God wants to make sure that we end up in the right place. When we read about these judgments, we are supposed to understand that they might fall on us, if we compromise, or backslide. If we want to end up with God, we need to fear Him, and give him glory. We need to be part of the group who obeys God's commands, and tells people about Jesus (Revelation 13:10; 14:4, 12, 13). So these chapters are not just a warning to outsiders; they are a warning to us. So don't hear this as a warning for other people. Hear this, as a warning to you.
Verse 5:
(5) and after these things, I looked,
and it was opened-- the temple of the tent/tabernacle of the testimony in heaven--,
(6) and the seven angels came out-- the ones having the seven plagues from the temple--,
being dressed in clean, bright linen,
and having been girded around their chests with golden belts,
(7) and one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls,
being filled with the wrath of God-- The One Living forever and ever--
(8) and the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God
and from his power,
and no one was able to enter into the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were completed, [Exodus 40:34-35; 1 Kings 8:10-11; h/t Koester)
(16:1) and I heard a great/loud voice from heaven calling to the seven angels,
"Go,
and pour out the seven offering bowls of the wrath of God toward the earth," [Psalm 69:24; Jeremiah 7:20; 10:25; Ezekiel 7:8; Zephaniah 3:8; h/t Koester for the verses]
(2) and the first angel went,
and he poured out his bowl toward the EARTH, [Exodus 9:8-12]
and there were sores, evil and painful, upon the people-- the ones having the mark of the beast,
and the ones worshipping his image,
(3) and the second one poured out his bowl toward the SEA,
and it became blood, like that of a dead person,
and every living soul died-- the things in the sea [so sea creatures are called "souls"-- soul means something like "living," or "living thing"], [Exodus 7:20-21]
(4) and the third one poured out his bowl toward the RIVERS AND SPRINGS OF WATER,
and they became blood, [Exodus 7:14-19; Psalm 78:44; Psalm 105:29]
(5) and I heard the angel of the waters saying,
"Righteous, you are-- The One Who Is and The One Who Was-- the Holy One--
because these things you judged, [Nehemiah 9:33; Daniel 9:14]
(6) because the blood of the holy ones and the prophets, they have poured out, [Gen. 9:6; Revelation 11:10; compare 1 Kings 19:10; Nehemiah 9:26]
and blood, to them you have given to drink.
Deserving/worthy, they are,"
(7) and I heard from the altar one saying, [Revelation 6:9= the saints; getting what they asked for?]
"Yes, Lord, God, The Almighty, true and righteous, your judgments are ["true and righteous" is focused],"
(8) and the fourth one poured out his bowl upon the SUN,
and it was given to him to burn up the people with fire,
(9) and the people were burned up by the great heat, [contrast Revelation 7:16; Isaiah 4:6; 49:10]
**and they blasphemed/disrespected/cursed the name of God-- The One Having authority over these plagues--**
**and they didn't repent to give to him glory,**
(10) and the fifth one poured out his bowl upon THE THRONE OF THE BEAST, [so, Rome, but the beast has had many thrones?],
and his kingdom became darkened, [Exodus 10:21-29; Psalm 107:10; Ezekiel 32:7-9]
and they were biting their tongues because of the pain,
**(11) and they blasphemed/disrespected/cursed the God of heaven because of their pain,
and because of their sores,**
**and they didn't repent from their works,** [Revelation 9:20-21; contrast 11:13; Leviticus 24:16; Job 2:9]
(12) and the sixth one poured out his bowl upon THE GREAT RIVER-- the Euphrates--,
and its water was dried up, [Exodus 14:21; Joshua 3:14-17; 2 Kings 2:8, 14]
in order that it would be prepared-- the road of the kings from the East--,
(13) and I saw [coming out] from the mouth of the Dragon
and from the mouth of the Beast, [Beast #1]
and from the mouth of the false prophet [=Beast #2]
three unclean spirits like frogs. [Exodus 8:1-7]
(14) For they are the spirits of demons doing the signs
that are coming out [present tense] to the kings of the whole inhabited world, to gather them for the war
on the great day of God the Almighty.
(15) LOOK! I am coming like a thief. [same function as Revelation 13:9-10; 14:12-13]
Blessed is the one being alert/ready, and the one keeping his clothing,
so that, naked, he isn't walking ("naked" is focused),
and they see his disgracefulness, [a warning to us, not outsiders]
(16) and He gathered them to the place being called in Hebrew, "Har-Magedon,"
(17) and the seventh one poured out his bowl upon the AIR,
and a great voice came out of the temple from the throne saying,
"It has happened,"
(18) and there were lightnings and sounds and thunders, [8:5; Exodus 19:16-18; Ezekiel 38:20]
and a great earthquake, there was (6:2; 11:13, 19),
such as hasn't ever happened from when humans have been on the earth-- so great [was] the earthquake in this way--
(19) and the great city was [split] into three parts,
and the cities of the nations fell,
and Babylon the Great was remembered before God-- to give to her the cup of the wine of the fury of this wrath,
(20) and every island fled,
and mountains weren't found (same as 6:14; a relooping, describing same events),
(21) and great/large hailstones weighing about a talent (100 pounds?) come down from heaven upon the people, [11:19; Exodus 9:24]
**and the people blasphemed/cursed God because of the plague of hail,
because very great, its plague was. ["very great" is focused]**
The idea of chapters 15 and 16 is that God, right now, is actively judging the world. God is treating the world now, like He treated Egypt in the book of Exodus. I'm not sure I want to press all of the symbols literally, but I think it's safe to say that God uses things like extreme heat, eclipses, polluted water, war (Har-Magedon), and hail. These things aren't climate change. They aren't Mother Earth being angry with us-- Pelosi was wrong. They are God's acts of judgment, and people are supposed to be able to see them as such. When disaster strikes, people are supposed to stop, and think about God, and what He wants. They are supposed to turn from their idols-- money, stuff, social status, patriotism-- and turn to God. God wants you to wave his flag.
And if we read chapters 15 and 16 as a whole, what we see is that SOME people will do this. The song of the holy ones was optimistic. People from all nations will come, and they will fear God, and they will bow down to God (Revelation 15:4; cf. 11:13).
But the rest of chapters 15 and 16 was pessimistic. Many people will understand that they are seeing God's judgments, and that they are being given a chance to repent. But just like what happened in the book of Exodus, they will strengthen their resolve, and refuse to repent (Revelation 9:20-21). And in the end, those people don't simply continue to worship idols, and sin. They do the unthinkable-- they turn to God, directing their voice upward. But they do so to curse God (16:9, 11, 21; Job 2:9). They become hardened, in their rebellion against God.
When we look at these chapters, or when we look at the world, we see that throughout this process, God is completely fair and righteous. God does the right thing. He gives people a chance to repent. He warns them that not everyone ends up in heaven, bowing down before Him.
But He also leaves it up to people, to make their own decision about how they will live. God's acts of judgment are not so severe, and harsh, that people are forced to become part of his people. People are free to say "no" (h/t Craig Koester). So there's nothing coercive about God. God respects people's free will. He doesn't force anyone to choose Him. In this way too, God acts rightly toward all people.
And all of this is true for us, especially. God acts rightly toward us. Some of us, right now, are living compromised lives. Perhaps we tell ourselves that God will always love us, regardless of how we live. Perhaps we tell ourselves that we are eternally secure, regardless of our idolatry. Perhaps we tell ourselves that we will end up with God, even if we don't conquer the Beast, or his image.
If that's us, on the final day of judgment, everyone will say that God was entirely fair, and righteous toward us, as well. God gave us plenty of warning, that He expects faithfulness. God told us to make sure that we aren't naked, on that day (Revelation 16:15). And God gives us time, as long as today is called today, to turn to Him.
So use your time well. Take advantage of God's kindness, and patience, and softened judgments, to turn to him now. Repent from your works. Bow down to God now, so that you get to join the holy ones in heaven, bowing down to God later.
