Revelation 16:1, “Then I heard a mighty voice shouting from the Temple to the seven angels, "Now go your ways and empty out the seven bowls of God’s wrath on the earth."
The glory of the Lord will prevail over all the nations and the nations will acknowledge that He is the Lord over all creation. All majesty and honor belongs to His holy name. The bowl judgments spark off the beginning of the end of the Great Tribulation which will be the time of God’s great anger, also known as the Day of the Lord. Today we will look at all seven of the bowl judgments, but first lets take a look at the background.
The only true beacon of hope and eternal life belongs only in Jesus Christ the Lord. The Lord is merciful and kind. While He is merciful and kind though His Word is still a book of judgment. It is important for us to understand this as we embark upon this journey through this the darkest hour of the tribulation, for the simple fact that the Old Testament clearly teaches the final day of the Lord especially in Joel 2:28-32; Zech 14:1, Mal 4:1,5).
The New Testament is full of such warnings as well, revealing God’s judgment of sinners. John the Baptist the forerunner of the Messiah, preached a confronting, even harsh message of judgment. He called some of those who came to him seeking baptism snakes (Luke 3:7) and threatened them with judgment, saying, “I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor; and He will gather His wheat into the barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire” (Matthew 3:11-12). John 3:36 warns, “He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” The apostle Paul spoke of “the God who inflicts wrath” (Romans 3:5), noted that “the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience” (Col 3:6), and described the terrifying time, "when the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power” (2 Thess 1:7-9).
The writer of Hebrew 10:26-31 added, “26Dear friends, if we deliberately continue sinning after we have received a full knowledge of the truth, there is no other sacrifice that will cover these sins. 27There will be nothing to look forward to but the terrible expectation of God’s judgment and the raging fire that will consume his enemies. 28Anyone who refused to obey the law of Moses was put to death without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29Think how much more terrible the punishment will be for those who have trampled on the Son of God and have treated the blood of the covenant as if it were common and unholy. Such people have insulted and enraged the Holy Spirit who brings God’s mercy to his people.30For we know the one who said, "I will take vengeance. I will repay those who deserve it." He also said, "The Lord will judge his own people."31It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”
The wrath of God will thus be revealed in His end time judgment on sinners yet this is one of the Old Testament messages the Prophets proclaimed that the coming wrath would be all consuming and God’s final justice would then be revealed, then the coming of His Son thus revealed. These rapid fire judgments will take place in a very short period of time, making the final hour of the Day of the Lord, for they are the final outpouring of God’s wrath on the unbelieving world before the return of the Lord Jesus Christ (15:1). These are the last expressions of the very same divine justice that thus has seen to be revealed in the seal and trumpet judgments which will now be the culmination of His divine wrath against sin, unrighteousness, and blasphemy that is rampant on the earth during this time.
The return of the Messiah is described in Chapter 19 immediately following these seven judgments. Chapters 17 and 18 go back in time to describe the destruction of Antichrist’s kingdom his worldwide political and religious empire of Babylon. Yet this can also be seen as the same interrupted recapulation that occurred in chapters 12-14 as well. Following these seven bowl judgments the Lord Jesus Christ will return destroy the world’s armies the Sword that proceeds out of His mouth destroy the armies during the battle of Armageddon and the other battles as well, and establish His universal rule on the earth. In fact the bowl judgments foreshadow the Battle of Armageddon. The drying up of the Euphrates River as a result of the sixth bowl will pave the way for the forces of the east to come to that destruction.
Since these judgments are the final culmination of God’s divine justice the bowl judgments will also be the most severe of all the judgments. Their severity stems from the fact of how God feels and how He opposes sin to those who willfully reject the promise and gift of eternal life through the blood atonement of God’s Son. This the culmination of God’s justice will then be a time in human history that will be a fitting time for God’s wrath to reach its apex for mankind’s rebellion against God will also be at its apex. Despite years and years of horrific judgments the sinners who willfully reject Christ (even though they will acknowledge God as the author of the judgments as they did in-6:15-17 of Revelation), sinners will stubbornly cling to their sin and persist in the rebellion (9:21). Not even the powerful preaching of the 144,00, the two witnesses, countless other believers, and an angel with the everlasting gospel from heaven bring them to repentance (vv.9,11). Instead the rebellion will show their defiance and rejection of God will only increase, for this rebellion of sinful mankind will bring the worldwide judgments of a holy God.
These bowl judgments are the last (15:1) but they had a previous history as well in the Old Testament not to mention Revelation. God brought plagues upon Egypt (Exodus 7-12), and the seven trumpet judgments (chapters 8-11). There are similarities and differences between the three sets of plagues. The first plagues were very localized affecting only Egypt. The second set of plagues destroyed one third of the world (8:7-12; 9:14,18). The final plagues will affect the entire world. All three sets of plagues include hail, darkness, water turned to blood, and an invasion from the east whether by insects, demons or men. The seven bowl judgments will gather together all the horrors from the previous judgments of God. They (the bowl judgments) will inundate the whole world, bringing it to the brink of utter ruin.
At the beginning of the judgments just as they begin to unfold John heard a mighty voice shouting from the Temple. That John heard a voice from the Temple in heaven is important because going back to Revelation 15:8b, “No one could enter the Temple until the seven angels had completed pouring out the seven plagues.” This then shows that this can only be God the Father as He is in the Heavenly Temple executing the divine judgment. This loud voice is the certainly that it is God since as was said nobody else could be in the temple. This loud cry of God the Father is reminist of Isaiah 66:6, “A voice of uproar from the city, a voice from the temple, the voice of the Lord who is rendering recompense to His enemies.” Megale (loud) appears half a dozen times in this chapter usually translated as great, again emphasizing the magnitude of the judgments recorded here. His loud voice is heard again after the seventh bowl judgments is poured out (v.17).
The seven angels were introduced to us back in 15:1,6-8. There they were given the seven bowl judgments containing the final judgments. Yet here the difference is that God tells them, “Now go your ways and empty out the seven bowls of God’s wrath on the earth."
One should duly note that these judgments are not from any man, but from God the Father who reigns over all creation. The text does not tolerate those who would wish only to have a scientific explanation to these bowl judgments rather that these judgments are in a future time not for us here today, but are here for us today to remind us that God is absolutely holy and righteous in His judgments, and as we shall see just and fair in His judgments as well. God extends His hand of mercy, so that all humanity will have a chance to experience His everlasting love yet those who love and comfort sin will always please themselves and not seek to the face of the Almighty.
The truth is that those who will not seek the face, of God fail to seek truth. Those who seek truth will seek the face of God. Those who want to find wisdom can only find it not in the study of philosophy, but only in the personhood and sacrifice of Jesus Christ. The depths of God’s wisdom far exceed that of what philosophy offers to mankind, but the reality is that the depths of God are beyond our natural compression. God’s mercy will have ended and God’s judgments will thus have started. May we all as we take a look into these judgments come with the sober truth in mind. God is still love, but God’s justice must reign supreme according to His holiness, for in His holiness, He hath foreknown us and foreseen everything we would do with our lives, both in rejection of His Son, and in acceptance of His Son. Let us go with the attitude before us that God is judging mankind and those who directly oppose Him, for His judgments will be just and fair according to His holiness to those who reject His Son.
Today we will look at the first bowl (16:2), the second bowl (16:3), the third bowl (16:4-7), the fourth bowl (16:8-9), the fifth bowl (16:10-11), the sixth bowl (16:12-16), and finally the seventh bowl (16:17-21).
Pastor Jenkins
