Revelation 15: 1) there is the sign of God’s judgment in heaven.
The scene in heaven strikes reverence in the human heart.
The scene in heaven is said to be a sign:
ð A sign that is great and awesome
ð A sign of seven mighty angels or messengers prepared to go forth for God
ð A sign of seven plagues that are said to be the last plagues
ð A sign of God’s wrath
This awesome sign in heaven is intended to stir people to bow before God who is just.
God is love, but God is also just. And His justice is ready to be executed upon earth. His wrath against all the ungodly and evil upon this earth is ready to fall.
God is ready to clean up the earth and to bring the reign of godliness and righteousness, love and joy, peace and glory. Therefore, man must prepare: repent and get ready before it is too late.
Matt 3:2
Luke 13:3
Acts 8:22
Is.55: 7
Rev 15:2-4 there is the reason for the judgment.
The beast or antichrist will slaughter believers.
This explains why the wrath of God is going to fall upon the earth in the last days. The beast, the antichrist, will launch the worst holocaust the world has ever seen. Literally millions of believers will be slaughtered during his rule upon earth. These verses show these dear believers in heaven.
Look at four things about them.
1. The martyred believers will be on the sea of glass that stretches out before the throne of God itself
ð See that the glass is mingled with fire. This symbolizes...
The fire of persecution these dear believers went through. The fire of judgment that is about to fall upon the ungodly and evil of the earth.
2. The martyred believers will be victorious over the antichrist. They...
ð will not worship his image (Rev .13: 15).
ð will not receive his mark (Rev. 13: 16-17).
ð will not receive the number of his name, the number of 666 (Rev. 13: 18).
ð
True believers in the end time will not follow the antichrist. They will refuse to worship the state and its leader. Therefore, the leader and his government will prosecute and kill the believers as revolutionaries against the government.
3. The martyred believers will possess harps. The harps are symbols of being soothed and given rest and of praising and worshipping God. God will soothe the hurt and pain of the martyred believers and give them rest, and they will praise and worship Him.
4. The martyred believers will sing two great songs of victory: the song of the Lamb and the song of Moses that was sung by the children of Israel when they crossed the Red Sea (Ex. 15: 1-19). Note what they sing.
a. They sing to the Almighty God, praising His works.
b. They sing to the King of saints or nations, to the justice and truth of His ways. (The more accurate Greek texts read nations or ages here.)
c. They sing to the Lord, to the fear and glory of His name.
. The persons who stand up for Jesus Christ against the temptations and trials of this life are the persons who will be in heaven. But to be in heaven we must stand up for Christ. We must never accept the marks of this world or be identified among the number of unbelievers. We must be diligent and bear only the marks of Christ.
15:5-8 Wrath, of God: there will be the judgment of God sent forth.
1. The door to the "temple of the tabernacle" is opened up (v.5). The "temple of the tabernacle" refers to the inner sanctuary of the tabernacle in the Old Testament, that is, to the Holy of Holies or the Most Holy Place.
The picture is this: the judgment of God will come from the Most Holy Place, from the very presence and heart of God Himself. His presence and heart will have been violated and polluted enough by sin and evil. Therefore, His presence and heart will be vindicated. God Himself will send forth His final judgment upon the antichrist and his ungodly followers.
2. The seven angels come out from the Most Holy Place, out from God’s own presence, and they are awesome creatures (v.6). The scene is terrifying, for
.
ð They hold the seven plagues in their hands.
ð They are dressed in pure and white linen, the symbol of the holiness of heaven. God’s holiness, His righteousness, and His justice are now to be exercised and brought to this world, to rule and reign throughout the whole earth. .
ð They have gold belts, the symbol of royalty and authority and power. God has the right and power as the Sovereign King of the universe to execute justice.
3. The seven angels are given seven gold bowls that are fitted with the wrath of God (v. 7).
The idea of bowls is that. There is no lid or covering on the bowls. They will be poured out upon the earth quickly and efficiently.
And every effort to stop the judgment and wrath of God will only result in their being splashed or spilt upon the antagonist. That is, nothing will be able to stop the bowl judgments of God.
There is the cup of salvation.
Ps.116: 13.
There is the cup of wrath and judgment.
Psalms.75: 8
4. The door to the temple of God, to heaven and salvation, will be closed.
No one will be able to enter heaven any longer, not until the seven judgments are completed.
This is a terrifying thought. When the final judgments begin to fall in the last days, the grace of God will be withdrawn and prayer for mercy will do no good.
The door to heaven and salvation will be closed. The judgment of God will be falling upon the antichrist and his ungodly and evil followers.
John.3: 36
Ro.l: 18
Ro.2: 8
Eph.5: 6.
Ps.2: 12.
Lam.3: 43-44
REVELATION 16
SEE BOWL CHART
16: 1 Voice of God:
There is a great voice shouting out, "Go, and pour out the wrath of God upon the earth." This voice must be the voice of God. God alone could give the order to end world history.
SEE that it is the wrath of God being poured upon the earth. This immediately tells us several things:
1. That God is just and righteous. Therefore, we can have confidence that God will right all the wrongs and injustices upon earth.
2. That God loves and cares for the earth. He will not allow ungodliness and evil to continue on and on without being stopped.
16:2 Judgment-Bowl: there is the first bowl judgment. It is poured out upon the earth.
What is the judgment?
Some kind of ulcerous sore. People will be afflicted with some kind of festering, cancerous sore.
The idea is...
That the sores will be harmful and malignant, open and foul painful and ugly and repulsive,
That the sores will cause agony and torture, giving no rest during the day or night.
That the sores will be incurable and that there will be no relief from the pain.
But Look a significant fact: the judgment is poured out only upon the antichrist and his followers, only upon the people, who receive the mark of the beast and worship him and his government.
16:3 Judgment-Bowl: there is the second bowl judgment. It is poured out upon the sea.
~ Imagine all the fishing industries and commercial outlets bankrupted and the effect upon the economy
There is an example of this in the red tide that sometimes strikes the coastlines of the world. When the red tide strikes, it pollutes the water, sometimes for mile after mile.
The pollution is sometimes so bad that millions of fish and other sea life are destroyed. Fishing and harvesting of sea life for food are affected for months and sometimes years when the red tide strikes a body of water
The point is this: the red tide shows us that the sea can be contaminated. In the end time God is going to contaminate the sea, the whole sea. It is going to be destroyed.
16:4-7 Judgment-Bowl: there is the third bowl judgment. It is poured out upon the fresh waters where the antichrist and his followers are concentrated.
ð Little water for drinking
ð No water for washing and bathing
John 5:30
Ro.2: 2
Ps.48: 10
Ps. I03: 6
Ps.119: 137
Ps.145: 17
Is.45: 21
16:8-9 Judgment-Bowl: there is the fourth bowl judgment. It is poured out upon the sun. Severe heat and radiation from the sun are going to scorch the ungodly and evil of this earth.
There will be a heat wave unlike anything the earth has ever known. The sun will bum and scorch people with a blazing, fierce heat.
They will be in misery and tormented and will fret and groan and be miserable. The idea is that the weather will be so hot that it will be like burning in a hot oven. .
The ungodly will still not repent. They will do what unbelievers have usually done when things go bad: curse and blaspheme the name of God.
It may be the hitting of one’s fingers with a hammer or an accident in a car.
No matter what it is, the response of the unbeliever is usually to curse and blaspheme. And in the end time it will be no different.
The ungodly and evil will not repent any more than they do today. They will only curse the name of God.
Acts 7:5
Dt.l: 43
2 Chron.24: 19
Jer.32: 33
Jer.44: 16
Zech.7: 11
16:10-11 Judgment-Bowl: there is the fifth bowl judgment. It is poured out upon the seat or throne of the antichrist.
The whole kingdom of the antichrist and his followers will be full of darkness. This is not referring to spiritual darkness, but to some phenomena that blots out the light and heat of the day.
This is a drastic change from the scorching light and heat of the fourth judgment.
ð Joel predicted this heavy, black darkness. Joel 2:1-2
ð Christ predicted that the sun and all other light would be darkened, stricken with pitch-black darkness. Matthew 24:29
The suffering will be excruciating and gnawing. The suffering of the sores, thirst, filth, and smell of water pollution, scorching heat, and now pitch black darkness will cause the antichrist and his followers to curse and blaspheme more and more.
The torment will be so painful and unbearable that they will be gnawing their tongue (v.lO). But they will still not repent of their ungodly and evil deeds. They will only become more and more stubborn and hardened in their wickedness and rebellion against God.
Thick, heavy, pitch-black darkness was also one of the judgments to fall upon Egypt (Ex.lO: 21-23).
16:12-16 Judgment-Bowl: there is the sixth bowl judgment. It is poured out upon the Euphrates River
Verse sixteen quickly: the purpose of this sixth judgment is to prepare the nations and armies of the world for the great battle of Armageddon. (V.l6).
It is a judgment of deception, not of affliction. Armageddon is the last great war of the earth, which will be instigated by the antichrist and his government.
Look at these six facts in this sixth bowl judgment.
1. The judgment dries up the great Euphrates River
The Euphrates is the longest and by far the most important river of western Asia.
It is 1780 miles long and ranges from 300 to 1200 yards wide.
Its depth ranges from about 10 to 30 feet.
From the Persian Gulf inland small vessels for about 1200 miles can navigate it.
How could a river of such enormous size ever be dried up?
2. The reason for the drying up of the Euphrates is to allow a great armed confederation of nations to form and march against Israel and to exterminate the Jews.
a. No matter how complicated weapons get, it takes a soldier to set foot on a land to conquer it.
b. A foot soldier is needed to conquer a nation when the conquerors want to preserve the land. Atomic weapons would only destroy the land and make it unusable for decades.
In the end time the nations or kings of the east will want to preserve Palestine for its land and enormous wealth.
Therefore, they will march against it with foot soldiers and weapons that will preserve the land itself. God will apparently help the advancement of the troops by seeing that the great Euphrates River is dried up when the march begins.
The point is this: when the antichrist and the confederation of nations under his power begin to march against Israel, the other nations of the world apparently become edgy and nervous. The reason may be...
ð The fear of a military move to conquer the world by beginning in Palestine.
ð The resources of the Middle East and the threat to those resources (such as oil).
ð The insanity of exterminating a whole people and nation like the Jews.
Rev.16: 12
Dan.2: 44
Is.2: 4
Is.11: 4
Joel 3:9-16
Zeph.3: 8
Zech.9: 10
3. There is the source or spirit behind the confederation of nations.
This verse says that all the nations of the earth are going to be involved in the great battle of Armageddon.
Armies will gather from every nation with each taking sides to protect its own interest.
4. There is the day of Armageddon.
The day when Scripture “the great day of God, the Almighty”, calls all this will happen This is the day the armies of the world will be destroyed, all the ungodly and evil of this world.
It is the day when Jesus Christ will return to rule and reign over the earth. When all the armies are gathered together for battle
5. There is the great warning of Christ to the people of the earth: Watch and be prepared.
6. The place of the great battle is called Armageddon or the great valley of Megiddo in Palestine
Matthew 25:13/ Luke 12:37/ 1 Thes 5: 5-6/ Rev 3:11/ Rev 16:15
16:17-21 Judgment-Bowl: there is the seventh bowl judgment.
It is poured out into the air or atmosphere. The very air that man breathes is affected; it is poisoned. The very breath of life is taken from him.
1. God’s thundering voice announces, "It is done." The judgment upon all the ungodly and evil armies of this world is seen consummated: all the armies of the ungodly and evil nations are wiped out by the judgment of God.
2. Nature breaks loose in the most terrifying devastation and horror imaginable. The most awesome and spectacular display of the power and glory of God is launched.
There will be violent storms and a worldwide catastrophic earth
Imagine an earthquake that will violently affect the whole world. The Amplified New Testament states it well:
"And there followed lightning flashes, loud rumblings, peals of thunder, and a tremendous earthquake; nothing like it has ever occurred since men dwelt on the earth, so severe and far reaching was that earthquake" (v.18).
a. The great city of Jerusalem will be shaken by the earthquake and divided into three parts, that is, destroyed. Babylon, the capital of the antichrist, will collapse and be broken up into three parts (v.19). Is, it will be utterly destroyed.
b. There will be whole cities throughout the nations of the world that will collapse into utter ruin
c. God will remember the great world capital, Babylon, and He will especially pour upon her cup and fierceness of His wrath (v.19).
d. Much of the earth will literally break up: some islands and mountains will disappear (v.20).
e. The storms will rain great hailstorms out of heaven weighing up to one hundred pounds (v.21).
3. There is the reaction of the ungodly and evil survivors around the world. They still blame and blaspheme and still do not repent.
We would expect repentance, but the ungodly and evil of the last days will be as hard and stubborn as the ungodly and evil are today.
Revelation 17:1
An angel approaches John.
Remember John is having a vision of the last day’s human history.
He has just been shown the great devastation of the last war, Armageddon
But then all of a sudden one of the seven angels goes over to John. This is one of the seven angels who had poured ~ wrath of God upon the earth.
The angel tells John to "come here, and I will show you the future judgment of false religion the earth." John walks over and sees one of the most amazing sights a person could ever witness: the description ~ judgment of false religion in the world. Reveals God to be when he follows an earthly religion and its rituals, ceremonies, and teaching instead of following Jesus Christ as revealed in the Scripture. When he molds and makes an image and worships it.
.
17:1 Deception-Religion, False: religious Babylon (false religion) sits upon many waters, that is, people and nations. What this means is explained in verse fifteen:
"And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues" (v.15).
The picture is that religious Babylon will fill the earth: many races and multitudes and nations and languages will be caught up in the worship of the false religion.
Millions will be caught up in the false religion of the end time. But think about today think about how many millions are following a false religion and worshipping idols around the world.
But closer to home: think how many profess Christ and yet do not believe or teach Christ and the Word of God.
17:2 Religion, False: religious Babylon (false religion) will be supported by the kings, that is, by the nations and governments of the world.
The governments of the world will encourage the worship of religious Babylon.
This is. course, referring to the worship of the state or government and secular society of the antichrist.
Remember: the argument for worshipping the state and secular society will be strong. The antichrist and his government will bring peace and economic recovery to the earth. He will also provide massive aid to help the nations and peer: of the earth during the natural disasters that are increasingly striking the earth
How many people prefer to belong to a religion or church that allows worldliness that does not teach and preach separation?
Ro.12: 1-2
2 Cor.6: 17-18
1 John.2: 15-16
. Many governments support major religions because of the good the religions do.
Religion helps the state in promoting law and order, loyalty to the state, peace, morality, and discipline.
17:3 Religious Babylon or the false religion of the state will receive its power from the beast, that is, from the antichrist.
The false religion in the end time will be supported by the antichrist and
His government
Note three facts.
1. Religious Babylon sits upon a scarlet colored beast. Sitting means that the false religion is supported and dependent upon the state.
2. The scarlet colored beast is the antichrist. It is he who is full of names that blaspheme God. This means that all the heads or governments under his authority blaspheme and rebel against God. The false religion will actually represent blasphemous governments. It will not be a religion at all; it will be the worship of the state itself.
3. The beast with seven heads and ten horns is the antichrist. The seven heads are the seven nations that will voluntarily surrender to the control of the antichrist. He will have conquered three nations. The three conquered nations and the seven nations who voluntarily subject to his control give the antichrist the power of ten horns or nations.
That is, the ten horns refer to ten powerful nations that will be under his control.
He will have the power of the ten nations to support him in enforcing the state religion
The false religion will be dependent upon the power of the antichrist and the governments under his control.
It will be the power of these governments that will hold the false religion up before the world. The nations under the control of the antichrist will be the primary nations preaching the false religion of Babylon, that is, the worship of the state.
There are many who try to mix religion with the world. They base their religion and morals upon their desires, upon what they want to do out in the world. Their religion is determined by their desires for the world.
The world and its possessions and pleasures are put first, and then whatever religion is needed to salve their consciences is accepted.
I Cor 6: 19-20
Luke 21:34
Col 3:2
Tit 2: 12
James 4:4
17:4
The wealth and corruption of religious Babylon (false religion) in the end time will be tragic.
1. The false religion of the end time will be extremely wealthy. This is what the purple and scarlet clothing and the gold and precious stones and pearls mean.
Imagine a religion that is wealthy in the possessions of this world while so many in the world are in such desperate need!
There are 40,000 children who die from hunger every day, and that is only the child who dies from starvation.
This 40,000 does not include the adults. And remember: in the end time the needs will be far greater among the millions suffering from the devastation of the catastrophes that will be hitting the earth; from the holocaust launched by the antichrist.
Yet, the religion of the day will be wealthy and will even hoarding its wealth. What a lesson to all believers and churches!
Luke 18: 29-30/ Luke 14:33/ Luke 9: 23/ Matthew 19:21
2. The false religion of the end time will be corrupt. It will offer a cup to help the people of the world, but the cup is full of abominations and filth.
That is, what the false religion offers is idolatry, a polluted and corrupt worship.
All false religions feed people nothing but abominations and filth. The teachings and doctrines of false religion are disgusting and repulsive.
Tit.1: 16/ 2 Pt.2: 1-2/1 John.5: 21/ Det 11:16
17:5 The name of religious Babylon or false religion in the end time is not known to all people, Many do not know they are worshipping a false religion. The fact has to be revealed to them.
How true this is! Think how many millions are worshipping a false god or a false Christ, and I that differ entirely from the Christ revealed by the Word of God.
Religious Babylon will be the mother of many false religions and abominations upon the earth. She gives rise to many false teachings and deceptions, to many corruptions in the worship of God.
This tells us who religious Babylon is, goes back to the building of the tower of Babel in the Old Testament. Under a leader named Nimrod, man decided to build the ideal state or utopia.
Man turned away from God and set out to make himself secure by building a tower straight up to heaven.
. By men own works and self-effort.
. By men own goodness and self-righteousness.
. By men own rituals and ceremonies.
. By men own ideas of God and worship of God.
. By men own religion and benevolent services.
. By men own government and state.
. By men own community and society
.
In essence religious Babylon is the mother of all false religion. But there will be one major difference with the end religion: man’s dream for a one-world government and a one-world religion will become a reality. All the evil and wrong that exist in false religion will be combined into one religion in the end time, and it will sweep and consume the world.
The only way to achieve utopia or heaven is through Jesus Christ, NOT by our own efforts.
Matthew 6:33/Romans 10:13/Eph 2:8-10
17:6 The religious power and bigotry of religious. Babylon (false religion) in the end time will be fierce. The false religion will be the leader in launching the holocaust for the antichrist. Literally millions upon millions will be persecuted and killed because they refuse to worship the state and its leader, the antichrist.
Mt 10:17-18/ Mt 24:9-10/ Luke 21:12/ John 15: 20-21
17:7
That is false religion, is a mystery. How a body of people can claim to believe and follow God and yet honor and put leaders, governments, states, doctrines, and rituals above God is a mystery .
It is hypocrisy; it is counterfeit and false religion.
How a body of people can claim to believe and follow God and - slaughter millions of people because the people do not believe as they do is a mystery. It is hypocrisy, counterfeit, false religion.
Yet this is just what John witnessed. He saw a picture of what false religion will be like in the last days of world history.
And the picture was horrifying. The religion of the last days will join hands with the government of the antichrist
17:7-14 There is the source of the power of religious Babylon, of false religion.
In the end time the source of power for false religion will be the beast or the antichrist
There is the greatness of the beast that supports false religion, the greatness of the antichrist (v.7b_8).
a. There is the great earthly power of the antichrist: seven heads and ten horns. The antichrist will have seven heads or seven governments who will willingly subject themselves to his rule.
But he will also have the power of ten horns or governments that support him. How? When he himself first comes to power, he will probably march against three governments and conquer them and absorb them into his own rule or nation.
b. There is the great supernatural power of the antichrist: he will be out of the bottomless pit, the very incarnation of evil itself or else be indwelt by some powerful evil spirit from the bottomless pit
c. There is the end or doom of the antichrist: perdition. The word means to be destroyed; to lose one’s well-being; to be wasted and ruined and given a worthless existence.
It does not mean that a person will cease to exist. It means a person will be destroyed and devastated and condemned to a worthless existence. He will suffer waste and loss and ruin forever and ever.
The antichrist will be a great man in the eyes of the world. He will rule the whole world, but he will be doomed: all because he never gave his life and heart to Jesus Christ.
No matter who the person is, if he stands as an enemy of the cross, he shall be destroyed. It does not matter who he is, either within or without the church, he shall suffer perdition, that is, utter destruction. Who is an enemy of the cross?
The person...
. who rejects the cross of Christ as the only way to God.
. who does not accept the death of Christ as payment for his sins.
. who does not believe that Christ died for him, that is, as the punishment for his transgressions.
. who does not believe that the penalty for his imperfection was borne by Christ on the cross.
. who does not approach God claiming that he is coming by the death of Christ-that is, that he wants
God to accept him in the death of Christ.
. who claims that there are other ways to approach God-ways other than the cross of Christ.
. who considers the cross of Christ to be foolishness.
. who opposes and curses Christ and His cross.
. who persecutes and attempts to stamp out Christ and His cross.
. who denies and questions that Christ died for his sins.
Matt 25:46/Mark 3:29/Luke 3:17/ Romans 2:8-9/ 2 Th 1: 7-9/ Heb 10:29-30
The impact of the antichrist: he will amaze the world
2. There is the power of the beast that supports religious Babylon or false religion (v.9-14). The power is
The great earthly power of the antichrist: he sits on seven mountains and embodies seven great kingdoms
17:15-18 There is the destruction of religious Babylon.
The antichrist and political alliance turn against the religious movement of Babylon.
Remember: religion will be used by the antichrisr
gain and hold the loyalty of the masses allover the world. A state religion will be established: every citizen will be fore. to give his first loyalty to the state. It will be the state that will give people so much; therefore, the state will expect fu loyalty. But note: the antichrist and the government will turn against religion and utterly destroy religion. Note three s~
nificant facts. .
1. Religious Babylon (false religion) will gain enormous power in the end time (v. 15). Religion will sit upon, that ~ be supported by, multitudes and nations and languages. The idea is that practically everyone will be worshipping the.ima~
of the beast or state in the end time. j
2. Religious Babylon (false religion) is utterly destroyed by the antichrist and his alliance (v .16). Why? The ans
is given in the above point-power and money.
~ Just imagine all the money that it costs to keep a world-wide religion going: all the control and persOl
needed and offices and other resources to oversee and make sure the citizens do show loyalty to the state.
~ Just imagine all the wealth that a world-wide religion would possess through contributions and through 1
property it would hold.
~ Remember the devastation that is taking place all across the world during the great tribulation, the enmous cost and great sums of money needed to meet the needs of cities and nations.
