Revelation 16: The Seven Bowls of God's Wrath

SLIDE 1 Revelation 16: The Seven Bowls of God's Wrath

These bowls of judgment are the third woe described in Revelation 11:14 we think at the end of the 7 years, immediately before Jesus' return.

¹Then I heard a loud voice (God) from the temple telling the seven angels, "Go and pour out on the earth the seven bowls of the wrath of God."

SLIDE 2²So 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.

This relates to the sixth plague of boils on Egypt. Ex. 9:8

SLIDE 3³The 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. This photo shows the bloom of red algae on a beach in Sydney.

Similar to the first plague Moses carried out God’s judgment to turn the Nile river into blood.

Revelation 8:8-9 described a partial contamination of the sea. Here the contamination is made complete (every living creature in the sea died).

SLIDE 4⁴      The third angel poured out his bowl into the rivers and the springs of water, and they became blood. This photo shows the pollution in the Yangtze River. ⁵ 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. ⁶For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and you have given them blood to drink. It is what they deserve!" ⁷And I heard the altar (probably saints under the altar) saying, "Yes, Lord God the Almighty, true and just are your judgments!"

Justice requires that the guilty be punished, and those who refused to accept Christ’s payment for their sins will pay with their own lives. They refused the gift of Living Water, and now will be given death to drink.

SLIDE 5⁸The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and it was allowed to scorch people with fire.⁹ 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.

Earth is just the right distance from the sun. God provided the sun to warm us and make our crops grow. He provided is SON for our redemption of sin. In this plague God uses the sun to inflict His judgments. The creation that supports life will now scorch and torture those who did not repent.

SLIDE 6¹⁰The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness. People gnawed their tongues in anguish¹¹ and cursed the God of heaven for their pain and sores. They did not repent of their deeds.

This judgment only affects the kingdom of the beast. He is the prince of darkness, there is no light in him.

Ephesians 6: 12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

The darkness of the fifth bowl is a preview of Hell itself, which is described by Jesus (Matthew 25:30“into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.').

SLIDE 7¹²The 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.¹³ And I saw, coming out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs.

You can imagine not many artists want to tackle this scene. But as I previewed some Medieval literature it seems merge the beasts with their images of dragons.

 SLIDE 8 As we look at this map notice how the Euphrates is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of Western Asia. In May of 2014 the Turkish government recently cut off the flow of the Euphrates River, threatening primarily Syria but also Iraq with a major water crisis. Al-Akhbar (News)found out that the water level in Lake Assad(a man-made reservoir) has dropped by about six meters, leaving millions of Syrians without drinking water.

SLIDE 9 ¹⁴ For they are demonic spirits, performing signs, who go abroad to the kings of the whole world, to assemble them for battle on the great day of God the Almighty.¹⁵ ("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!")¹⁶ And they assembled them at the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon.

Once the Euphrates has dried up, the mountains flattened there will be a perfect place for the battle of Armageddon.  The word "Har-magedon" comes from the Hebrew. The word "Har" means "mountain" refers to an ancient site of many battles in Judges and Kings called "Megiddo." Megiddo a hill town above the fertile Jezreel Valley, its strategic position overlooking the one of the main routes used for travel between Egypt, Syria and Mesopotamia. It was of strategic importance because it occupies a valley through which armies could march on their various campaigns. Because of the many history-changing battles fought there, Megiddo became a symbol, sort of like our own Alamo or Pearl Harbor.

SLIDE 10⁷The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple, from the throne, saying, "It is done!"¹⁸ And there were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, and a great earthquake such as there had never been since man was on the earth, so great was that earthquake.¹⁹ The great city was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell, and God remembered Babylon the great, to make her drain the cup of the wine of the fury of his wrath.²⁰ And every island fled away, and no mountains were to be found.²¹ And great hailstones, about one hundred pounds each, fell from heaven on people; and they cursed God for the plague of the hail, because the plague was so severe.

SLIDE 11This reminds me of the images from the cross. But from noon, for three hours until the death of Jesus, there was darkness (Matthew 27:45). John 19:30 "It is finished," and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. Matthew 27:51 And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split.

Leviticus 24:16 Whoever blasphemes the name of the LORD shall surely be put to death. All the congregation shall stone him.

"Evil communications corrupt good manners" (I Cor.15:33).

Roaming in the woods, some boys found a nest containing two linnet fledglings, which they managed to capture and take home. Securing some plain, wooden birdcages, they put one of the linnets in each and hung them on either side of a canary. They explained to their mother that they hoped the linnets, being so young, would learn to imitate the canary, instead of cheeping as linnets ordinarily do. The mother smilingly questioned the likelihood of the plan succeeding.

The next day the boys entered the room, and exclaimed, "Mother, come here, our canary is cheeping like a linnet!"

And so it was. The canary had to be separated from the wild birds of the wood and kept under cover for a time before he regained his song. Surely there is a lesson here for all Christians. Fellowship with the world does not lead the godless to take the way of the Lord, but generally results in the believer losing his joyous song and taking on the speech and manners of the world.