The Bowl Judgements (Revelation 15 & 16)

Prelude to the Bowl Judgments and the Song of Moses

Let's open up to the book of Revelation chapter 15. Tonight we're gonna be covering two chapters. So this will be 15 and 16. Chapter 15 is titled Prelude to the Bold Judgments. So remember in Revelation chapter six, it started out with the seal judgments and then that moved to the trumpet judgments and things are just getting more and more severe.

And now we've come to the final set of seven judgments known as the bold judgments. And the only thing worse than this, the only judgment more severe than this is when Jesus himself actually appears in the clouds and fights the battle of Armageddon.

So one commentator says this about chapter 15, chapter 15 introduces the seven bowls of God's wrath, God's final judgments at the end of the seven year tribulation period. The bold judgments come in rapid fire, staccato fashion, each one stronger in fury and intensity.

And I don't know what that causes you to think of, but to me immediately my mind goes to Revelation chapter 24 where Jesus talking about the great tribulation. Remember he compared that to a woman who's about ready to give birth.

And he talks about labor pains or birth pangs. So as childbirth is drawing near or in that case, it's compared to the return of Jesus as this drawing near the judgments increase in both frequency and intensity, just like labor pains when a woman is about ready to give birth.

So that's what's happening here. All of this is building up to the great battle known as Armageddon. So let's start reading Revelation 15, one through eight. John writes, then I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous, seven angels having the seven last plagues for in them, the wrath of God is complete.

And I saw something like a sea of glass mingled with fire and those who have the victory over the beast, over his image and over his mark and over the number of his name standing on the sea of glass having harps of God.

And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God and the song of the lamb saying, great and marvelous are your works, Lord God almighty. Just and true are your ways, O King of the saints. Who shall not fear you, O Lord and glorify your name for you alone are holy.

For all nations shall come and worship before you for your judgments have been manifested. And after these things, I looked and behold the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened.

And out of the temple came the seven angels having the seven plagues, clothed in pure bright linen and having their chests girded with the golden bands. Then one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels, seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God who lives forever and ever.

And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power. And no one was able to enter the temple till the seven plagues of the seven angels were completed. So we'll stop here. And like I said, the title of this chapter at least in the New King James Version it's titled Prelude to the Bowl Judgments.

Now, does anyone have anything else maybe in your translation, instead of calling them the seven bowls, it calls it something different?

Vials.

Vials?

Plagues.

Plagues, okay. Okay, so yeah, plague is used in mind, but also bowls. But the other word that I was thinking of is yeah, vials. So I think it's the King James Version that talks about the seven vials.

Okay, when you think of a bowl, what do you think? Yeah, you think of like maybe, I think of a cereal bowl, right? A vial, maybe something like a test tube, right? Well, it's not really either one. This is actually more what we would call a saucer.

So if you think of a cat drinking milk out of a, like a, it's not a plate, but it's like a shallow dish. I mean, that's basically what these are. But you know, the new King James says bowls, so I'm gonna call them bowls.

But yeah, it doesn't really matter what John is seeing is symbolic or however it works. Whatever's in these bowls, symbolic or not, it's being poured out upon the earth. This is God's wrath being poured out towards the end of the tribulation period.

So the scripture describes this, even though you might think of it as a terrible, horrible event, which I guess it is, but I mean, the scripture is describing this as like a glorious event. I mean, this is a wonderful thing from heaven's perspective.

So John or the Lord makes the comparison to when God used Moses to part the Red Sea. Remember, the Israelites went through the midst of the waters. And once the Israelites were on dry land, the Egyptian army followed them through the Red Sea.

And what did God do? He closed the water and destroyed the Egyptian army. And what did Israel do? Were they sad about it? Were they crying, oh, these poor Egyptians? No, they were rejoicing. I mean, they sang a song.

It was a great victory. It was a celebration. So I know some people would look at Revelation and kind of see it as a kind of a negative thing or that's what a terrible event. But like I said, from heaven's perspective, this is a very, very good thing.

So just like in the book of Exodus, they sang the song of Moses. They're gonna do that same thing here. And a new song, which is the song of the Lamb. Why are they singing? Because the beast or the Antichrist and his wicked, false one-world system has been annihilated.

So we're kind of jumping ahead a little bit in the story. Look at verses three and four. I'm saying this is a wonderful thing because look at what is said. "'Great and marvelous are your works, Lord God Almighty.

"'Just and true are your ways.'". So this isn't God losing his temper, just kind of flying off the handle and he just had a bad day and he took out his wrath on these people. No, they deserve it. I mean, that's the testimony of heaven.

"'Just and true are your ways, O King of the saints. "'Who shall not fear you, O Lord, and glorify your name? "'For you alone are holy. "'For all nations shall come and worship before you, "'for your judgments have been manifested.'".

So just as God is glorified because of his grace and we praise God because of his mercy and his salvation, God is also glorified when he judges evil. Okay, so God is glorified in both. Do you see that here?

Okay, any questions on that? All right, Psalm 110, verse one, which is the most quoted Old Testament passage in the New Testament, has David saying, "'The Lord said unto my Lord, sit at my right hand "'till I make your enemies your footstool.'".

In other words, God the Father is speaking to the Son, saying, you know, sit here at my right hand, stay here in heaven until I've conquered all your enemies. What does that tell us? Jesus, where's Jesus right now?

He's in heaven and he's going to stay in heaven until all of his enemies are conquered,.

Which happens right here.

And then he's gonna step foot on the Mount of Olives and then establish his kingdom. So the bold judgments are about to be poured out, verses five through eight. We don't have to read through it all again, but it sort of paints an ominous picture of what's to come.

Verse eight says, so this is the temple where? In heaven or on earth? Yeah, heaven. The temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power. So do you remember at times in the Old Testament where the tabernacle or the temple was filled with smoke?

Remember when that happened? Do you remember what that signifies, what that represents?

Presence.

Right, yeah, it represents God's presence. And because he is present in the tabernacle or later he was present in the temple, that's like God putting his stamp of approval on it. God is affirming and blessing this ministry at the tabernacle or temple.

Well, here God is putting his stamp of approval of about what's gonna take place here. Instead of a ministry to make reconciliation or a ministry of intercessory prayer, this is a ministry of waging war, basically.

And the smoke filling the temple shows that God is in it. God is there. He approves of it. He has sanctioned this action. And it's out of the temple that comes the wrath and given to the angels and they pour it out and the source is God.

The First Four Bowl Judgments: Sores, Blood, and Scorching Heat

Revelation 16. So let's get into the seven bowls. Revelation chapter 16, verse one. Then I heard, John says, a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, go and pour out the bowls of the wrath of God on the earth.

Okay, so what's the first bowl or what's the first plague?

Loathsome sores.

Loathsome sores. All right, verse two. So the first angel went out, he poured out his bowl upon the earth and a foul and loathsome sore came upon the men who had the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image.

So notice it's only the people who took the mark, who have this sore. Now I wonder, is there a connection between taking the mark, you know, on your right hand? It doesn't tell us, does it tell us where the sore is?

I don't think it does. Let's say they get the mark on their, well, they're one of these people that lost their arm so they don't have a right hand. So they get the mark on their, does the sore show up on the forehead?

Is it a result of the mark of the beast? I don't know, maybe not. But we know it's only those who worship the antichrist. They're the only ones affected by this sore. I was listening to a message on the way here by Chuck Smith and he was talking about Revelation 16 and he was just going on and on about this oozing sore and, you know, just kind of giving some graphic details that you probably don't want.

But yeah, it's sort of like a boil, I guess. Who's had a boil or seen, like this is very unpleasant to say the least. So it's only the followers of antichrist, the 144 ,000, if they're still on earth, they don't get the sore.

Anyone who's saved, like the tribulation saints, they're not gonna suffer from this sore. Only those who have the mark 666. Now the Greek New Testament, or excuse me, the Greek version of the Old Testament, the Septuagint, it uses the same word to describe the boils that plagued the Egyptians.

Remember, during the plagues of Egypt, this would be Exodus chapter nine, they had boils, right? And it's the same word here. So it's a boil. Who remembers years ago when we studied, who is here for the Exodus series?

I don't know, maybe half of you. If you remember back then, there were parallels between the plagues of Egypt and the plagues of Revelation. So they're not all the same, they don't perfectly line up, but there's definitely some similarities.

This would be one of them. So whatever God did to Egypt on a small scale, now it's like he's doing to the whole world. All right, so that's the first plague, loathsome sores. And the second bowl or the second plague in verse three, it says, the sea turns to blood, verse three.

And the second angel poured out his bowl on the sea and it became blood as of a dead man. And every living creature in the sea died. Now I can only imagine that this would cause the entire earth to stink.

Who's ever gone to the ocean and who likes the smell? You know, I mean, at first, it kind of smells good when you're at the ocean. Then when you leave the ocean and come home, it doesn't always smell as good.

But so some people think the ocean is smelly, I guess. And this is gonna really make things foul. If you remember back in chapter eight with the second trumpet, that judgment, remember a third of the sea was struck.

So with the trumpet judgment, it's a third of the grass, third of the sea, but now it's the whole thing. So all of the oceans turn to blood, you know, and there's some, is this the red tide? Is it literal blood?

Well, it says blood, I'm gonna interpret it as blood, but yeah, it's the entire ocean. So this is very serious. The third trumpet, just going back there, I remember it was the sea and then the fresh water was struck, a third of the fresh water, but now all of the fresh water is struck.

And as soon as it happens, John writes in verse five, and I heard the angel of the water. So apparently God has angels designated for land and sea and whatever. I heard the angel of the water saying, you are righteous, O Lord, the one who is and who was and who is to be because you have judged these things.

For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets and you have given them blood to drink for it is their just due. Put that in your own words, what are they saying?

These people.

It goes around, comes around.

Yeah, it goes around, comes around, they deserve it. Verse seven, and I heard another angel from the altar saying even so Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are your judgments. So the angels are crying out, shouting out to God, you know, saying to one another, or they're saying to God, Lord, you're just, they deserve it, you're right to do this.

And another angel's like, yeah, yeah, that's true. You know, like they're just affirming the just nature of all this. And I think it's important to point that out because again, there's people and maybe even we are tempted to read this sometimes.

You know, I know Christians are not beyond this that we can think maybe this is a little much or, you know, does God really have to do this, you know, this much? And no, listen, God is perfectly right in what he does.

If it seems extreme to somebody, you know, you're the one who's wrong and God is the one who's right. According to the Bible and according to reality. And the angels, that's basically what they're saying.

Now, why did the inhabitants of the earth deserve it? Why is this just? Well, he tells us. What's the reason?

They rejected this offer of salvation.

I mean, that's certainly true. The Lord gave them time after time after time to repent or turn to him and they chose not to do it.

Absolutely.

Specifically here though, it's status because they killed God's people, right? They shed the blood of the saints and of the prophets, verse six. So basically what's happening is the entire human race is held accountable for everything humanity has done to God and his servants, including the murder of Jesus.

So, I mean, this would go back all the way to Abel. The prophets, you know, Jeremiah, whatever prophet was persecuted, whatever Christian was killed. Even today, there's Christians and gulags and places in the world that are being harmed and arrested, beaten and killed.

And God is like, that's all piling up and God is going to step in one day and punish humanity for that. So they killed God's people and God is making sure that justice is served. Today in our system, justice is served.

Usually, I mean, for the most part, things are fairly decent, but there's a lot of injustice, isn't there? I mean, there is a lot of injustice. And sometimes even some of the worst criminals get off the hook.

I mean, there's people out there who have done horrible things and they're walking the streets. And sometimes the system knows they've done, and they still let them out and then they reoffend and they bring them in, they let them out again.

And I mean, that's not a just system, but God is going to make sure that justice is served. So the angels recognize the justice of it. I think as Christians, sometimes we try to get God off the hook. Have you ever seen Christian, maybe you've done this, maybe I've done this.

We sort of act like we're God's PR people. We're trying to get God off the hook a little bit. Like, okay, I know God in the Bible, he flooded the entire earth and killed every person on earth, but people come up with excuses like maybe it was just a localized flood and maybe not as many people died as you think.

Like I've heard professing Christians make excuses to why maybe God really didn't do that or maybe it really wasn't as bad. I just don't see that in the Bible. I mean, it shows us that here's what God did.

And if you don't like it, tough, because this is right. So God doesn't need PR.

Okay, Marcus.

Let's not forget that the worst thing that ever happened in all of human history was that God had to pour out his wrath on his own innocent son. And all this ugliness that we're talking about somehow was placed on him.

This is no small matter. And when you talk about people that need to be saved, they need to understand how horrible a future they need to be saved from.

Right, absolutely.

Yeah, so the Bible just proclaims it is what it is. Just like Romans chapter nine, there's Paul's response. You know, who are you, oh man, to question God?

That kind of thing.

But yes, mankind crucified God's only son. Just think about it from this perspective. If mankind did to me what they've done to God, if mankind did to your kids what they did to God's son, I don't know about you, but I wouldn't have much, I wouldn't show much mercy if that happened.

You could say you would, but probably not. I mean, the whole planet is in rebellion to God. Again, rejected his son, spit on his son, crucified his son. What if somebody did that to you? I mean, so again, this is just what God is doing.

But at the same time, God is merciful. He gives anyone and everyone an opportunity to be forgiven. So God is at the same time merciful alongside the wrath. Okay, so here's a verse on that. Psalm 103, eight through 10.

The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in mercy. Because I think we need to give both sides. It says, he will not always strive with us, nor will he keep his anger forever. He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor punished us according to our iniquities.

I mean, if God truly was harsh, as some people claim, he would have wiped out the human race a long time ago, and there'd be nothing left, okay? But he doesn't do that. He's patient. He's far more patient than any of us will ever be.

And he's long suffering. Second Peter 3, nine. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some count slackness, but his long suffering toward us in that, what? He's not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

So one more verse, something that we shouldn't forget when reading and studying the book of Revelation. Ezekiel 18, 23 tells us that God takes no delight in the death of the wicked. Another way you can look at this is it's absolutely necessary.

God is, I hate to put it this way, but he's out of options. Like these people are not gonna change. They're not gonna turn. They're just shedding more and more blood, and God is stepping in to do something about it.

All right, now we see the fourth bull. Men are scorched. Verse eight, and I sort of see these judgments as sort of like a foretaste of what's coming later in Revelation 20 with the judgment of the lake of fire.

But verse eight, then the fourth angel poured out his bull on the sun, and power was given to him to scorch men with fire. And men were scorched with great heat, and they blasphemed the name of God who has power over these plagues, and they did not repent and give him glory.

So I had pointed this out last week. I'll do it again. The people of this earth, during the tribulation, they know full well that this is the Christian God who is afflicting them. They know the source.

They know it's the God of heaven. So the picture here is like men shaking their fists in the air, cursing the God of heaven. They know what they're doing. They're not doing this in ignorance. All of this could have been avoided.

All they have to do is bend the knee to King Jesus, but they refuse to do it.

Why?

I mean, hatred causes people to do irrational things, right? Have you ever known someone, they have such a strong dislike for, maybe it was you for the season of your life. You had such strong dislike for somebody.

I mean, it made you say and do some things you're probably not proud of, right? Hatred can blind people like that. And that's like the human population. They're just blinded by their hatred of God. So it causes God to punish them here with scorching, scorching heat.

Now, what does the Bible say about, as far as fire or heat about God? Our God is what? Yeah, a consuming fire. There's one quote, the same sun that, what is it? The same sun that melts the wax, hardens the clay or something like that.

You know, the fire, God is a consuming fire. Either the fire will act as a purifier for God's people,.

Right?

He will purify us. The dross will be separated. The gold will be purified. So either this causes people to become more godly or if you're resisting God, it just, yeah, it consumes, it burns a person up.

So either way, God is putting this out. It's the same event, but whether or not you're a Christian, whether or not you're an unbeliever, whether this is a good thing or a bad thing depends on your reaction to what God is doing, basically.

The Fifth Through Seventh Bowl Judgments and the Gathering at Armageddon

The fifth bowl is darkness and pain. Then the fifth angel, verse 10, poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast and his kingdom became full of darkness and they gnawed their tongues because of the pain.

It's just my personal opinion, but I've always found this to be like the most troubling verse in the whole Bible. They gnawed their tongues because of the pain. Just the imagery, it's horrible, right?

Remember how Jesus talked about hell as outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. So the fifth angel pours out his bowl on the throne of the beast. Where's the throne of the beast?

We're gonna get into this in the next lesson, probably from chapter 17. And there's some people who give different answers. So if your answer doesn't line up with what I think, that's okay, but I'll just give you a chance to maybe guess or your educated guess.

Where is the capital of the empire? The beast or the antichrist? Where's his capital city? Where is his throne?

Rome.

Okay, you say Rome.

Washington DC.

Marcus says Washington DC. I think he's kidding.

This current earth.

Okay.

Babylon.

Babylon, all right. So you don't really think it's DC in the end times though.

No, no.

Okay.

That's a swirl.

Yeah.

All right, yeah. These are the two positions I'm most accustomed to hearing. Rome. So I mean, during John's lifetime, the Roman empire was controlling the world and we've talked about revived Rome. So I personally believe, and I think this is gonna come out next week, that Rome is the capital of his empire.

Mark says Babylon. Now Babylon today is in modern day Iraq and it's like out in the desert. Like Babylon has never really been rebuilt as a city. Some people think ancient Babylon will be rebuilt in the end times.

I think Saddam Hussein attempted to start the rebuilding project, but because of desert storm, he wasn't able to complete it. There is one other viewpoint that Jerusalem is the headquarters. After all, he's the antichrist and he's gonna pretend to be Jesus and Jesus rules from Jerusalem.

So there's some people who think, and if the temple is there and it's rebuilt, I mean, that would make sense. So those are sort of the three viewpoints, but I'm more partial to Rome. But we can agree to disagree on that.

We'll talk more about it next week. Anything else on that before we go move on? I mean, at the end of the day, I'm not sure how much it matters, but verse 11, they blaspheme the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores and they did not repent of their deeds.

Okay, so when God punishes his children, why does God just, well, he disciplines us, right? He punishes his children for what? For the sake of correction. Because here's the thing about a believer, when a believer is chastened by God, they might not do the exact right thing immediately, but a child of God is gonna turn and do the right thing.

But when God punishes the wicked, I mean, they're not turning. So it's just punishment for the sake of punishment,.

Basically.

Verse 12, the sixth bowl, the river Euphrates is dried up. It says, then the sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates and its water was dried up so that the way of the kings from the East might be prepared.

This could be a great army that marches in from perhaps China or even India. I mean, there's some evidence to suggest it could be, what is it, a 200 million man army that marches in from the East. And because the river dried up now, they have a clear shot.

It could be that. Because what we know God is doing, he is going to use demonic influence, which, I mean, let's face it, human beings can be demonically possessed, influenced as it is. But it's gonna be that much more intense in the end of days so that world rulers will be under this deception.

And God is going to allow that to cause all nations to move against Jerusalem, okay? So, and it's God using the demons to do it, to gather them all together in one place. Verse 13 speaks about this. And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs coming out of the mouth of the dragon, that's Satan, out of the mouth of the beast, that's the Antichrist, and out of the mouth of the false prophet.

For they are spirits of demons performing signs which go out to the kings of the earth and of the whole world to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. So God is smart. God has a strategy.

He's gonna get all of his enemies together in one spot. For what reason? Just to wipe them all out in one fell swoop. Verses 15 and 16, Jesus speaking, he says, "'Behold, I'm coming as a thief. "'Blessed is he who watches and keeps his garments "'lest he walk naked and they see his shame.'.

"'And they gathered them together to a place "'called in Hebrew, Armageddon.'". So the word Armageddon, it is a biblical term. Where is or what is Armageddon? You say, well, it's the great, you already say it's the great battle, that final battle.

The Plains of Megiddo.

Yeah, the Plains of Megiddo. Anyone ever been there? Okay, so two people have traveled to Israel. You've seen the Plains of Megiddo.

Yes, I have.

Okay, how long, is it 90 miles or am I just thinking of something else? Actually, let me read this. It's big. The Hebrew name, Armageddon is the Hebrew name for Mount Megiddo, which is 60 miles north of Jerusalem.

Does that sound about right?

Yeah. Okay.

"'The battle will rage on the nearby plains, "'the site of Barak's victory over the Canaanites "'in Judges 4, also Gideon's victory "'over the Midianites in Judges 7, "'says that Napoleon called this valley "'the greatest battlefield he had ever seen.

"'But the battle of Armageddon will not be limited "'to the Megiddo Plains, for it will encompass "'the entire length of Palestine.'". This past week, we had the solar eclipse, and I think we talked about this a little bit in Sunday school, how anytime something like that happens, you know, the TV preachers have a field day and they start making predictions, and the rapture's gonna happen, and this is a sign of this, this, this, and of course, none of it ever pans out, and they just keep on doing that kind of stuff.

But what was my point in bringing that up?

What was it?

I'm talking about Megiddo or the valley.

Yeah.

How it's not just gonna be confronted.

Okay, yeah. So what was the problem with this as being a sign of prophecy, the eclipse? Well, it was only visible over the United States. Just to hear, the point is, just to hear them talking about it, you would think that the United States of America is the object of Bible prophecy.

They were just going on and on about the United States, and guess what, folks? The United States is not even mentioned in Bible prophecy. We have no idea. America could be totally neutralized by this point.

It's all about what? What nation?

Israel.

It ain't the United States. It's all about Israel. So it's not just this one plane. I mean, it's really the whole land of Palestine or Israel. That's ground zero during the tribulation, not the U .S. All right, the seventh bowl.

The earth is utterly shaken. We're almost done. Verse 17. Then the seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple of heaven from the throne saying, it is done.

And there were noises and thunderings and lightnings. And there was a great earthquake, such a mighty great earthquake as had not occurred since men were on the earth. Now the great city, which here is Jerusalem, was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell.

And great Babylon was remembered before God to give her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath. Then every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. So this is describing events at the very end of the great tribulation where the earth's landscape is radically transformed in preparation for the millennial reign of Christ.

So even the city of Jerusalem is gonna be totally reworked for the millennium. Verse 21. And great hail from heaven fell upon men. Each hailstone weighed about a talent, which is what? 75 pounds, 75 pounds.

Can you imagine hail that's seven pounds, nevermind 75 pounds? And men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail since that plague was exceedingly great. You can just imagine the devastation of a hailstorm of that magnitude.

It would destroy a city. All right, so this concludes chapter 16. Next week in chapter 17, hopefully we'll finally learn the identity of Babylon and its religious counterpart. There's Babylon, the world system, and then the religious arm of Babylon known as Mystery Babylon.

So this is the false church or the false one-world religion. And this will be the advice next week coming from heaven about Babylon. God says to his people, he says, come out of her, my people. So just remember that God wants us to be set apart.

In this age, during the tribulation, all believers in the Lord are to be set apart.

Why?

Because this world is perishing. What's gonna happen to this world? We're reading about it. The only thing that abides forever is that which is of God. Let's pray. Lord, we're thankful for your mercy.

We're thankful that we, because of your grace, are able to escape these things. It's not directed at us. And more than that, Lord, you promise to save your people, not just spiritually, which you do, but Lord, you deliver your people physically.

You've done it many times in the past. You're gonna do it again. So Lord, encourage us through your word. Use us as you see fit. We thank you that you've blessed us the way you have. So help us to be a blessing to others, to be a herald of the gospel in these last days before Christ returns.

And we ask it all in Jesus' name.

Amen.