Friday, December 18 –
We come to the end of the
workweek and continue our reading in the book of Revelation. Today’s passage is Revelation 16:1 – 21. After you have read the Scripture, please come
back and we’ll take a second look together.
Jesus, Peter, and Paul had all written something in common – “the day of the
Lord will come like a thief in the night”.
When the end of time, as we know it, comes it will be suddenly,
unexpectedly, and decisively. John now
begins to see it first hand, as he sees seven bowls of God’s wrath, which
mirror the seven trumpet judgments before, begin to take place. We are beginning to read things connected
with the end of the world. What we read
has precedence, not only in Revelation with the seals and trumpets, but also in
the plagues of Egypt in Exodus. We saw
that God had prepared seven angels with seven plagues, which John sees as the
last acts of God’s wrath (15:1). God is
preparing to do what we might refer to as a complete renovation – first, destroy
the old, and then build the new.
“Then I heard a loud voice from
the temple telling the seven angels, “Go and pour out on the earth the seven
bowls of the wrath of God.” So the first angel went and poured out his
bowl on the earth, and harmful and painful sores came upon the people who bore
the mark of the beast and worshiped its image. The second angel poured
out his bowl into the sea, and it became like the blood of a corpse, and every
living thing died that was in the sea. The third angel poured out his
bowl into the rivers and the springs of water, and they became blood” (16:1-4).
We can see the similarity with
the plagues God sent to Egypt during the Exodus. Moses had appealed to Pharaoh to let Israel
“go” in order to worship God. Pharaoh
was not about to give up his slave labor so “he hardened his heart”, and
in his stubborn obstinance, “God hardened Pharaoh’s heart” also. The bowls are God’s judgments on a world that
had hardened their hearts against all things God. There’s a “now” and “not yet” significance to
these as they remind us that God had judged, and will judge evil to its
end.
It is angels who leave the
throne of God to pour out the judgments.
The first four bowls affect the natural world (16:1-9). The second two bowls (the fifth and sixth)
attack the power of Satan over the world.
The seventh bowl (16:17-21), as many of the seventh things had done,
begins to explain the end of all things which will continue through chapter
19.
The first bowl affects those
who “bore the mark of the beast and worshiped its image” (16:2). The sores are like the sixth plague in Exodus
9:8-12. When God’s judgments broke out
upon the Egyptians, they responded with hardened hearts, determined that no
matter what, they would not honor the Lord God.
They were deceived by their false gods, and so also with the first bowl,
the world of beast worshipers does not respond.
The second bowl is poured out
into the sea and turns the sea to blood, and everything in it dies (16:3). In the previous trumpet judgment, a third of
the sea was affected, but this one – mirroring the first Exodus judgment where
Moses struck his rod into the Nile and it turned to blood and everything in it
died – also leaves nothing in the sea alive. This is a blow against all of the economic
power of the Kingdoms of the earth.
The third bowl is poured into
the rivers and springs and they became blood, and everything in it also dies
(16:4). The natural order is being
turned upside down, and that which providing life is dying.
We look at this in a horrific
way as John did also. The world is
becoming ruined, and we wonder why God would do this? The angel speaks to clarify God’s purposes –
“And I heard the angel in
charge of the waters say, “Just are you, O Holy One, who is and who was, for
you brought these judgments. For they have shed the blood of saints and
prophets, and you have given them blood to drink. It is what they deserve!”
And I heard the altar saying, “Yes, Lord God the Almighty, true and just
are your judgments!” (16:5-7).
The judgment from God is
just. What did we think would happen to
the Caesars, Stalins, Hitlers, Maos of the world? Those who have struck the church with malice
will feel God’s just judgment. He did
not “do” this to them, they “did” this to themselves. As the judgments against Pharaoh was God’s
judgment of their false gods, so also now, at the end of time, God will strike
against the false gods – the beasts of Satan that people worship. Was there a way out? God, through Christ, has created a way to
know him and be saved, so there is no excuse.
Paul reminded us that the world is depraved, alienated from God, and
unless they turn from the false worship to Jesus, the sin will overcome them. “For
the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and
unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness (Rom. 1:18)…For
even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but
they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened (Rom. 1:21)… for all have sinned and
fall short of the glory of God, and are, [must be], justified by his grace
as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus (Romans 3:23-24). It is a foolish modern culture
that espouses that there are many ways to heaven and hardens their heart about
sin and the need for redemption.
“The fourth angel poured out
his bowl on the sun, and it was allowed to scorch people with fire. They
were scorched by the fierce heat, and they cursed the name of God who had power
over these plagues. They did not repent and give him glory” (16:8-9).
The last of the four natural
orders is the Sun that is supernaturally affected. The bowl allows the Sun’s rays to get like
fire, and the plague hits those who – instead of repenting – curse the name of
God and refuse to repent. It was Malachi
who prophesied this – “For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven,
when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble. The day that is coming
shall set them ablaze, says the LORD of hosts, so that it will leave them
neither root nor branch” (Malachi 4:1).
One would think that the nature
of these first four would bring people to their knees, crying out for mercy,
but it does not. The fifth and sixth bowls
strike at the power base of Satan, the beast’s rule, and the Kingdoms of the
Antichrist’s world. The fifth bowl is
poured out the throne of the beast plunging the beast’s world into darkness
(16:10-11). Like Pharaoh, when the
plague of darkness came upon the land (Exodus 10:21-23), the beast’s kingdom
hardens their hearts and curse God.
Now the sixth angel pours out
his bowl and the river Euphrates dries up, that the kings from the east might
come. What does that mean? It means that warfare is imminent. The forces of evil mimic the Trinity of the
God – the dragon, the beast, the false prophet, with three unclean spirits like
frogs (16:13-14). They are demonic
spirits who take their fight into the world to assert their control over all
things – but they do not realize they will soon be confronted by the armies of
heaven and perish and God reminds John that it will soon end –
“Behold, I am coming like a
thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake, keeping his garments on, that he may
not go about naked and be seen exposed!” And they assembled them at the
place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon” (16:15-16).
There is a specific place in
northern Israel that is called “Megiddo” which has been historically a place of
many battles, ancient and otherwise. You
probably have heard of the battle of Armageddon, and we will see that a final
decisive battle is fought between the forces of heaven and the forces of
Satanic evil (19:11-21). There is much
dispute about the nature of what John sees.
John witnesses the river Euphrates dry up so that the way is made clear
for armies from the east. Speculation of
Russia, China, the middle eastern nations of Iran, Pakistan are contemporary
versions of nations who could seek to conquer and control the world, but again,
we have to admit that generations of believers have come and gone since John
saw this, and many different versions of nations have existed in that
time. The “now” of this for John was the
threat of the tribes of the east that eventually did destroy Rome. The “not yet” is future – we know that – as
John begins to witness the end of all things.
What is crucial for us, today, in reading this is the words John hears –
“Blessed is the one who stays awake”.
Be diligent in serving Christ Jesus as Lord. His Kingdom will never end, and faith in
Christ is our only hope in a world that lives in decay.
The seventh angel tosses the
contents of the last bowl into the air and the voice from the Temple declares “It
is done” (16:17). What follows in
the form of flashes of lightning, thunder, earthquake, cities falling down,
nations dissolving, islands and mountains collapse, massive destructive
hailstones fall (16:18-21) – it is all part of God destroying a fallen world,
in order to make all things new. Much of
this will follow in the succeeding passages that lead to the very end in
chapter 19.
We realize how much God abhors
the evil of sinful humanity. We ought to
realize that at the end, even as at the end of our lives at death, that all of
the money, wealth, power, authority, intellect, education, freedom, knowledge
will not save a world that has lived for self – even though it was Satan that
was always behind that self. How do we
escape that judgment? Like Noah, the Ark
is Jesus…flee into Him.
Peace
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