Seven Plagues & Seven Bowls (Revelation 15-16)

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Good morning, and go ahead and grab your Bibles and turn to Revelation chapter 15. If you’re using one of the black pew Bibles there in front of you, it’s on page 1000 it’s Revelation, page number 1000 you’ve been with us for a while. We’ll be coming to that pretty soon, but page 1000 will be in chapters 15 and 16 this morning. Now in our home, we love to watch sports, and everyone has their favorite sports teams, and it’s a tough day in our home when those two favorites are playing each other, because now all of a sudden, there’s a little bit more at stake in the game. This happened this year in the AFC Championship game, because I have two passionate chiefs and Bills fans in my home, and on two separate occasions, both of my oldest sons came up to me and shared that they’re really struggling with this game because they really want their team to win, but they don’t want their brother’s team to lose, and those both can’t be true. All right, somebody’s going to win, somebody is going to lose, and they can’t have it both ways, where they both win or they both both lose, right? So, like, it’s going to happen. Somebody is going to be disappointed, somebody is going to get their way. And there’s a tension there, okay? There’s a tension there. Depending on what happens in the game, they’re going to probably subdue their cheers they would usually give by kind of like, keeping their hands down, voicing it just themselves. They’re excited that a good play happened, because every time that happens, that means their brother is disappointed. So you’re maybe not as joyful, at least show it as much in those moments. Now that’s for the casual fan. Now imagine those big moments where a brother versus a brother, or a sister versus a sister, and we’ve had this happen in sports. Venus and Serena Williams face each other many times in big matches, four times at Wimbledon, John and Jim Harbaugh face each other in Super Bowl. 47 two brothers coaching against each other in the biggest game. And of course, two years ago, the Kelsey brothers faced off against each other in the Super Bowl as well. So put yourself in their shoes for a moment, you are in the biggest game of your life, and your brother or sister is on the opposite side. You really want to win, but you also want your brother or sister to win too. And so there’s this tension there, and it ratchets it up in those big moments, because when victory is inevitable, when that Gatorade is going to be splashed on one of the coaches you know, in all your excitement on the other side, they are dealing with the greatest defeat upset of their playing career. And when you talk to these athletes, when they’re in these moments of competing against a brother or a sister, they talk about this tension that they feel this. That’s what they experience, even when they wake up in the morning the day of the game, because they’re going to look across the field and they’re going to see the one that they love, and they’re going to say, one of us is going to win, one of us is going to experience defeat. So what does this have to do with Revelation? What does this have to do with us? We’re far enough into the book of Revelation to know that this book, more than any other, shows us the contrast of those who are in Christ, Jesus and those who are not in Christ, Jesus, those who are in the family of God and those who are outside the family of God. So in a much greater way than sports, for those in Christ, we live with attention because we know we have victory in Christ. We know how the story goes, but because we know that, we also know what’s coming for those who don’t know Jesus. And so we wrestle with these feelings of like, I’m excited, and at the same time, I look at the people I love, and I say, I don’t think they’re going to be there with me. And so we live with this tension. There’s this mixture of joy and sorrow at the truths we read in this book. Maybe you’ve wrestled with those before, this wrath and judgment to come that we’ve talked about already. We’re going to talk about more today. And I love what da Carson says about this as we come to a book of Revelation, as we talk about these things and teach these things. He says Christians should not teach or talk about these things without tears in their eyes, because there’s nothing fun about judgment. There’s nothing for us to stand up and be puffed up about in these moments, but rather humbly fall on our faces before God. So it’s a tension that we will live with until those we love choose Jesus and we can celebrate with them, or until we see Jesus face to face, we will have this mixture of joy and sorrow, and we’re going to feel that whole range of emotions this morning in Revelation 15 and 16. So the question is, how will we live and what will we do? So let’s look first and read through Revelation 15, we’re going to see that victory comes for the people of God, I’m going to read all of chapter 15. I saw in heaven another great and marvelous sign, seven angels with the seven last plagues, last because with them, God’s wrath is completed. And I saw what looked like a sea of glass glowing with fire and standing beside the seed. Those who had been victorious over the beast and its image and over the number of its name, they held harps given them by God, and sang the song of God’s servant, Moses and of the Lamb. Great and marvelous are Your deeds, Lord, God Almighty, just and true are your ways, King of the nations who will not fear you, Lord and bring glory to your name. For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous acts have been revealed. After this, I looked, and I saw in heaven the temple that is the tabernacle of the Covenant law, and it was opened. Out of the temple came the seven angels with the seven plagues. They were dressed in clean, shiny linen and wore golden sashes around their chests. Then one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels, seven golden bowls filled with 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 could enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were completed. Victory comes for the people of God. John sees another sign. We saw him have a sign. Saw a sign last week in 12 through 14. We’ve seen him have other signs before. See these things, heard these things. So we’ve took it, looked at seven seals. We’ve seen seven trumpets. And now we get to these seven last plagues, the seven bowls that have the plagues. And so we’ve seen God’s judgment ratcheting up throughout the book of Revelation. And so there is a lot of similarity between the seals and the trumpets and these bowls, but there is some big difference too. So we have the recapitulation on one side. We’re like, all right, this kind of seems to be, I’m talking about the same thing, but it’s going a little bit deeper. It’s taken us a little bit farther, giving us a little bit of a different perspective on things. And as it takes us deeper, we also then see the differences that are very, very clear. So in the seven seals, we saw that a third of the Earth was impacted in the in those judgments. And then we went to the trumpets, and we saw, sorry, a quarter in the seals, we saw a third in the trumpets, and now we get complete wrath of God. That’s what chapter 15, verse one, says, because with them, God’s wrath is completed. So we’ve seen God’s judgment there, and now it’s ratcheting up to the very end. So these visions, these signs that John have has is also giving us this different perspective. So when the seals, we saw the perspective from the people of God these judgments. And then we got to the trumpets, and we saw how the rebellious see the judgments. And then today we get the perspective of heaven. How does heaven view God’s judgment on the earth? And we start off here in this vision with a glass, a sea of glass glowing with fire. We saw this sea earlier in chapter four, verse six, a sea of crystal is in front of the throne of God. But what’s key here is looking at who is standing beside the sea. And it says, standing beside the sea, where those who were victorious over the beast, the beast we looked at last week in chapter 13. And it says, when we think about these, these people like, who are they? Who is standing beside the sea having victory over the beast? Well, there’s two probably groups that are thought of in context of Revelation. The first one we see in chapter 12, verse 11, I’ll just read it for you. Can look back if you want. These were those who were martyred for their faith. Killed their blood shed because of what they believed in Jesus. It says this in chapter 12, verse 11, they triumphed over him, the accuser, by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony. So that’s one group, the martyrs, those who killed were killed for their faith. The second group would be those who were victorious by not being deceived by the beast. If you remember back to chapter 13, the beast is coming and deceiving the inhabitants of the earth, but those who did not give in to those lies are victorious. And then we see that these people are singing a song of victory. It’s a song of God’s servant, Moses and of the Lamb. So I ask you the same question I asked a few weeks ago with the seven trumpets. Where have we heard this before? If we go back to Exodus chapter 14, Pharaoh decides, I don’t want to let the Israelites go. I want my slaves back. And so he chases after them with his army, and he pins them between the army and between the Red Sea. And God parts the waters miraculously, so that the Israelites can cross over to safety. And when the Egyptians follow them, God’s hand is taken away, and the waters fall on the Egyptians in judgment, and the Israelites are beside the sea. Could you imagine being on this side, seeing what you just witnessed, and being able to walk across dry land, and now it’s covered with water again, and your enemy is no longer and so what do they do? They sing Exodus 15, which we just heard, read for. US.
Picture this as they’re sitting on that side, seeing God’s judgment, seeing his deliverance of them, and they sing this song in Exodus, 15 I will sing to the Lord, for He is highly exalted, both horse and driver. He is hurled into the sea. The Lord is my strength and my defense. He has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt Him. The Lord is a warrior. The Lord is his name. And I would encourage you to read that whole chapter. But to summarize, because we don’t have time for that, it basically says this, God in His justice judges wickedness and evil, and God, in His mercy and love, rescues, redeems and saves his people. That’s what the whole chapter is about. And the people see that like proof right in front of them that he has saved them and taking care of their enemy judged their wickedness. So that’s why this song here is called the song of God’s servant, Moses, because in here in Revelation, these are not direct quotes from Exodus 15. This is really like a best hits of the Old Testament, like a compilation of the greatest verses on God’s character and his works and what he has done for his people here in Revelation. But it’s also the song of the Lamb, because the Gospel story of Jesus Christ is a recapitulation of Exodus. Exodus is the Gospel story in the Old Testament. And now we come here and we think, Oh, the Passover lamb, his blood was shed and put across the door posts, and the Angel of Death, death passed over the people, and God rescued them out. And now we’re saved by the same Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, His blood shed on a cross, so that the angel of death would pass over us and we would be forgiven, redeemed and reconciled. And so we are both singing this song because we both experienced the good news, the good news of salvation from our slavery to sin, wickedness and evil. Now, when you get to a place like this in Scripture, you got to think like the only place where God is properly worshiped all the time is in heaven. It’s the only place where he is properly worshiped all the time, because everyone is singing the same song. Everybody knows what God has done for them. They see him rightly, and that’s one reason why I cannot wait to get to heaven, because a passage is like this. All the redeemed throughout history are singing the same song because we’ve all been saved. And guess what? Not one person up there is challenging God for His throne. Nobody. Everybody knows who the king is. We see him. We know him, we respect him and adore him. We revere him, and we acknowledge that He is the true king, and we can finally worship God for the first time in our life, rightly, without any hindrances, without any sin, without any imperfections or wrong views of God. That’s happening now will happen for eternity. And then John looks like we’ve seen so many times in Revelation. He looks and he saw in heaven a temple, or the tabernacle with the law, and it is open, and these angels are coming out of the temple with these seven golden bowls full of God’s wrath. The temple is filled with smoke from the glory of God and His power. We see this all throughout the Old Testament. When God shows up, when his presence is there, the smoke when his presence is there, we see things shake. There is a difference when God’s presence is around. Now, when John sees the temple is this, literal temples are going to be a temple in heaven, when we know there’s not going to be a temple in heaven. Revelation, 21 says this, I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord, God Almighty and the lamb are its temple. So what is this trying to show, again, this symbolism that we get here in Revelation. It’s saying, who was in the temple, who was in the tabernacle? It was God’s presence with his people. And so John is saying, I see God in His temple, and he is speaking. And what is he saying in this moment, it’s time for judgment. It’s his and his alone to command this judgment. It’s his wrath. So that’s why this is here to say no, this is, this is God who is bringing his judgment on the earth, the same God being sung about in verses three and four, who is marvelous, Lord, God Almighty, just true, king of nations, holy and righteous, and patient, by the way, but his patience will end when judgment comes. So all the images used here to describe this moment of what’s happening are for us to pay attention and to take God’s judgment seriously. And so here’s the tension again that I mentioned earlier, if you are a. Christian, the plagues of God’s wrath that we’re going to read about will not fall on you. They won’t the judgment wrath we deserve fell on Jesus Christ. And so we stand here victorious, saying this is not coming for us. And so we have joy in this moment when we will see Him face to face, but we also understand everything we’re going to read from this point forward in chapter 16. Chapter 16 is coming for those in our life, who we love, who don’t know Jesus, who continue to rebel, and so we’ve got that tension again, joy and sorrow. So let’s look first at the wrath that comes for the deserving. We’re going to look at chapter 16, verses one through seven. Then I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, Go pour out the seven bowls of God’s wrath on the earth. The first angel went and poured out his bowl on the land, and ugly, festering sores broke out on the people who had the mark of the beast and worshiped its image. The second angel poured out his bowl on the sea, and it turned into blood like that of a dead person, and every living thing in the sea died. The third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and springs of water, and they became blood. Then I heard the angel in charge of the waters say, you are just in these judgments, oh holy one, you who are and who were, for they have shed the blood of your holy people and your prophets, and you have given them blood to drink as they deserve. When I heard the altar respond, Yes, Lord God Almighty, true and just are your judgments. So wrath comes for the deserving. The voice of God comes from the temple. The Judgment begins with the www poured out on the earth. And when we think about the bowls, okay, when we think about bowls being poured out, this imagery is important for us to understand God’s complete judgment. As adults, when we’re carrying a bowl, we’re trying to be very careful, and we might spill a little bit when a child gets a bowl, we’re worried that the whole thing’s gonna be dumped out. Because what happens as soon as they get the idea, hey, I’m going to flip this. Everything’s out, right? And that’s what God’s judgment is going to be. It isn’t just a little bit. At this point, we’ve already seen a little bit that was meant to tell people, wake up, pay attention, repent and turn to me, and at some point he says, No. Now it’s all coming out. All the judgment, these these bowls are being turned over and poured out, and everything will come with them. I think Dennis Johnson helps us understand what’s going on here in chapter 16, he says the escalation in the scope of destruction reveals that the bull cycle portrays history’s end when God’s patience will wait no longer and this common grace will be withdrawn from all who persist in unrepentant rebellion. The first four bowls impact the same areas we saw in the trumpets, the Earth, the seas, the rivers and springs and the sky. And it’s this escalated judgment, as we’ve seen, it brings pain and death for those who have the mark of the beast. So those who were deceived by the beast followed the beast, bowed their knees to the beast, gave in to all of his deception. They are the ones who received the judgment. The people of God are spared. Everything in the sea dies. The waters all turn to blood. And if you’ve been with us last week and this week, there’s so much blood, there is, we’re talking about judgment. And maybe if you’re here this morning, and the idea of God’s wrath is an obstacle to belief, an obstacle to going all in on Jesus, an obstacle to believing anything that’s in this book. I think most of us have been there, where you are, and then for some of us, we’ve been following Jesus for a long time, but we still don’t want to think of the loving God, the kind Jesus, who is a friend of sinners. We don’t want to think of him as ever getting angry, ever bringing judgment. But that’s not for us to decide, right? That’s what the book says he will do. So it’s important to pause here and consider the character of God, to understand the wrath of God. So is God wrath. And by that, what I mean is if we understand God’s absolute attributes to be the things that are always true of him, meaning, if God never created anything and it was just him for all time, what would his attributes be? Well, there wouldn’t be wrath. Why would there be wrath against himself? There couldn’t be because he’s perfect.
Before anything was created. God in eternity, Father, Son and Spirit, the Triune God had perfect love and holiness. He was all powerful, all present, all knowing, and on and on. We can go. But there was no wrath of God in the Trinity, the Father and. The Son and the Spirit, nothing there that would be wrath. So what that means then, is God’s wrath is an outworking of his other attributes of his character. So it is the right response to something that is true of God. That’s what God’s wrath is. It’s the right response to something that is true of God. And I like how Pastor Jeremy treats says this. He says his wrath is the rightful expression of His holy love in the face of sin and evil. God’s wrath arises from his holy love and opposition to wickedness. Wrath only exists where sin exists. Wrath only exists where sin exists. And so because of this holy love, God’s wrath comes as a response to wickedness, to evil, to sin, and God’s wrath is in response to the way that people have treated his name, the attacks on his name and his character, and also it’s against the sin and evil and wickedness that are destroying those He created, those he loves. And so we’ve got to have that in our minds, as we understand the wrath of God. It is His holy love, knowing that he is perfect, knowing how He created the world and how things are supposed to work. And so he responds in righteous anger, in his wrath, when those things are not happening. And remember what I said about heaven being the only place where God is properly worshiped all the time. Look at what the angel says in verses five through seven. Okay, verses five through seven, what we see here this angel. He doesn’t question God. He sees God. He knows God. And what does he say? You are just in these judgments. O holy one, you who are and who were. When the angels see God, they know who he is, and they don’t question his judgment like we do. God is just and holy where injustice happens, where unholiness happens, God can be trusted to bring the right judgment in those moments, because he knows how things are supposed to work. And then it would take somebody being around for all eternity to see and know everything that’s ever happened, to be able to weigh everything correctly, and then to be able to distribute justice accordingly, which is exactly who God is, and what the angel says here, he says, You who are and who were. We saw this phrase back in chapter 11. We’re used to hearing God who is right, the God who was and the God who is to come, but we don’t get the God who has come here. We just get you are and you were, because the future is now. Judgment is here. It’s not future anymore. It’s happening in this moment. So this is who you are. That is who you were, and it’s always been that way. And his judgment comes in this moment. So God is holy and just and loving, and so when others hurt those God loves, he responds right? He responds against that wickedness. He responds against that sin and that evil, just like he did with the Israelites. He will do for us. He responds in righteous anger, and his treat goes on to say, he says, The wrath of God moves beyond the emotion of anger to the action of righteous judgment. That’s what’s happening here. The wrath of God moves beyond the emotion of anger to the action of righteous judgment. And the judgment of blood comes upon those who have shed blood, the blood of the prophets of old, to the Christians of this time, to the Christians who are being slaughtered right now in other countries, for all Christians who walk the face of the earth and will walk the face of the earth. And so they are getting here what we see in verse six, what they deserve, and God’s perfect judgment, the punishment fits the crime. And so for us, we need to really be honest with ourselves for a moment, no matter where you are, we need to be honest with ourselves and ask this question, what do you deserve from God? What do you deserve from God? And to do this, we have to strip away all the excuses. We have to strip away blame. We have to humble ourselves before God, before his perfect, holy standard, and say, What do I deserve from God and what do you end up with? I’ll tell you what I end up with. I’m standing before you right now 100% confident that I deserve all the wrath of God, all of it, all of his judgment on my life. And there’s all sorts of reasons for why that is. I’ll give you two because I know what’s going on in my mind and my heart, and none of you. You, but God does every single moment. He knows what I’m showing and what’s actually going on inside. The second reason I know this is because I know what my life would be like. I can see my life if my sin was left unchecked. I see my tendency to sin and my temptations, and I could see if the Spirit wasn’t in my life where I would naturally go. And so for those two reasons, I know I stand here totally deserving of God’s wrath and His judgment. So ask it a different way. Do you really think you deserve heaven? A lot of people do, do you think you deserve heaven? Do you really think you deserve to stand before the perfect and holy God of the universe according to His perfect standard? And if you answer, no, you don’t deserve heaven, chances are you’re already a Christian. Because we all have to get to this point, right? We all have to get this point where we say, No, I don’t deserve this. And so we throw ourselves at the feet of Jesus and say, we repent, we believe, we turn from our ways, and we want to follow, you know what Christ has done on our behalf. And then, as Christians, we don’t get puffed up thinking, Oh, God’s wrath. Can’t touch us anymore. Look how great we are. Instead, we humbly bow and in never ending gratitude come before Him and praise God for the work he has done in our life, not to be prideful, but to be humbled and in awe of his work, the miraculous work he’s done in our lives. And maybe you answered that question, do you really think you deserve heaven? Maybe this is the first time in this moment you said, No, I can see that I don’t deserve it. Then that is good news, because that is the Holy Spirit in your heart right now saying you don’t deserve it. And as you already heard this morning, we can continue to see in this book, that’s why Jesus came, so you can repent now turn your life over to Jesus, see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, and you can call on his name and be saved. But if you answered yes, I do deserve heaven. Or if you know people in your life, so the chances are better for a group like this. We have a lot of people in our life who would say, yes, they do, but they are deserving. We’re going to hit this tension again. Okay? Because this last part addresses those people. We’re going to see that wrath comes for the unrepentant. We’re going to finish the chapter starting in verse eight, the fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and the sun was allowed to scorch people with fire. They were seared by the intense heat, and they cursed the name of God who had control over these plagues, but they refused to repent and glorify Him. The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness. People gnawed their tongues in agony and cursed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, but they refused to repent of what they had done. The sixth angel poured out his bowl in the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried, dried up to prepare the way for the kings from the east. Then I saw three impure spirits that looked like frogs. They came out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet. They are demonic spirits that perform signs, and they go out to the kings of the whole world to gather them for battle on the great day of God Almighty. Look, I come like a thief. Blessed is the one who stays awake and remains clothed, so as not to go naked and be shamefully exposed. Then they gathered the kings together to the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon. The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and out of the temple came a loud voice from the throne saying, it is done. Then there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder and a severe earthquake. No earthquake like it has ever occurred since mankind has been on Earth. So tremendous was the quake. The great city split into three parts and the cities of the nations collapsed. God remembered Babylon, the great, and gave her the cup filled with the wine of the fury of His wrath. Every island fled away in the mountains could not be found from the sky. Huge hail stones, each weighing about 100 pounds, fell on people, and they cursed God on account of the plague of hail, because the plague was so terrible. So before we dive in to this last section, I want to read from John three. John 318, through 19 says this, whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only son.
This is the verdict. Light has come into the world, but people love darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Matt Chandler summarized this by saying no one is under God’s wrath who doesn’t choose to be this is important for us to note as we get into this last section of chapter 16, so we understand what’s happening here. Here. So let’s start by just looking at the bowls, seeing what these different judgments are. The fourth and fifth bowls are poured out. The people are scorched by intense heat. They gnaw their tongues because they are in such pain from their sores. Then we get darkness. Mentioned. Darkness and revelation also means death and judgment. The Beast’s throne, which was given to him by the dragon, is plunged into darkness. The Beast will be judged. The Beast does lose. The Bible also uses darkness to describe Hell, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, similar to the gnawing that we see here. So we can’t necessarily point to what this judgment is exactly, but it doesn’t sound pleasant, right? I mean, this is horrific. There’s nothing about this that we think, Oh, that doesn’t sound that bad. But what doesn’t happen is it doesn’t lead to change for the people experiencing it, either. So hold on to that. We’re going to come back to that in a minute. Then we get the sixth bull. The sixth angel, pours out the wrath on this great river, Euphrates. We saw the Euphrates back with the trumpets. Euphrates is an important river throughout Scripture. In the trumpets, the angels, these four angels, were released to go into humanity and kill a third of humanity now we get the Euphrates being dried up so that the Kings can cross over from the east and attack. Who are they attacking and why? Well, in verse 13, we see the unholy trinity. Again. If you were with us last week, we were introduced to them, this unholy trinity out of their mouths come what look like frogs. So remember, the word is used is like, like frogs, not literal frogs, but it’s a reminder that the frogs were a part of the plagues in Egypt, and they wreaked havoc on the nation. And here, these demonic spirits come out of the mouths of this unholy trinity seeking to cause havoc once again. And where do they come from? They come out of the mouths of the dragon, the beast and the false prophet. What does it mean when things come out of the mouth in Revelation, words are spoken. So words are coming out of this unholy trinity, this dragon, this beast, this false prophet, they’re speaking deceptive words to the people, to these kings, to these nations, all those who are opposed to God. And they also perform many signs that show, hey, we have power. You should follow us. Does this not take you back to Egypt again with Pharaoh’s magicians trying to do the same things that Moses and Aaron did. Just say, Hey, we got these things we can show you. And so through their actions and through their words, they deceive the people and convince them to fight against God and God’s people. Now I can’t stand in God’s word here and say exactly what the deceptive words that they were speaking is but as I think about how Satan works and the lies that he tells, how he twists the truth, there’s an element here where the people are deceived into believing that they could actually win against God. They could actually stand before God, if they just get enough people, they could probably win. I mean, they’ve already been shedding the blood of God’s saints. So what’s a few more? So they’re deceived, fooled into believing they can actually win. And then you think, okay, verse 16 is going to happen. But no, we get verse 15. We get this little break in the action. And if your Bibles are like mine, these words might be in red. Okay, and I believe this is right. I do think this is the words of Jesus in this moment, because he’s uttered these words before when he says, Look, I come like a thief, Blessed is the one who stays awake and remains closed so as not to go naked, to be shamefully exposed. Look at Matthew, 2442 through 44 Jesus says, Therefore, keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. But understand this, if the owner of the house had known at what time the night of night, the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come in an hour when you do not expect him. So Jesus is saying, in this moment, we you don’t know when I’m coming back like a thief. Jesus, in comparing himself to a thief and they wanting to do bad, he’s saying, You don’t know when a thief is going to come. And so just like that, you don’t know when I’m going to come. So instead of, you know, kind of toying around with sin and and kind of doing your own thing and then just getting ready at the last moment, no, he says, Be moment. No, he says, Be ready all the time. Be ready for me. And then he gives the third of the seven benedictions in Revelation. He says, Blessed are those who are ready. Blessed are those who are ready for the return of Jesus, who stand ready when he comes. And. Yeah, and if that’s true of you, will, you will not experience any of the other stuff that’s here because you’re ready for Jesus and His return. So it’s an encouragement and assurance to us that this final battle is not ours. He’s coming for us. This final battle is God’s right? It’s God’s battle. Vengeance is his, it’s his judgment. So these are encouraging words for us as believers. And then verse 16, we immediately get back to that tension again. This is great news for us, but here’s what’s coming for those who are on repentance, what’s true of those in verse 16, one of the commentators said they’re deceived into thinking they will kill God’s saints, only to find out they are facing someone else, God and His judgment. And here we read about a place called Armageddon, which, in Hebrew, means mount of Megiddo. And so when we’re reading apocalyptic literature, it’s full of symbolism, again, as we’ve talked about many times. So when we read the word Armageddon, we must read it with this kind of figurative view in mind, because it says mount to Megiddo. But Megiddo is actually a plain. It’s not a mountain. So why use mount? Well, what happens on mountains in Scripture? Really important moments, right, where God shows up and so that part of this is saying, like there’s, there’s something big coming, especially in salvation history. So to call mount Megiddo means something important that we need to pay attention to. Attention to is coming and then throughout Israel’s history, Megiddo, or the area around Megiddo, had both physical and spiritual battles taking place, some of the most significant ones in the history of Israel, things like Elijah on Mount Carmel and the prophets of Baal saying whose God is real, Deborah, defeating the Canaanites in Judges chapter five, these things are happening on Megiddo or around Megiddo. And so what is happening here is John is saying something big is going to take place. Something important in the history of the world is going to take place. So pay attention. Now that’s all we get about Armageddon here. We’re going to talk more about this kind of final battle in a couple weeks. For now, we’re going to leave that there. Then we come to the seventh bowl that is poured into the air, and the voice from the temple comes again, and God’s voice says, it is done. It is done. And with it follows what we’ve already seen before, all the lightning, all the thunder and the earthquake. And this earthquake is greater than any earthquake ever in the history of the world. And hail falls from the sky weighing 100 pounds each. I did some research. The heaviest hail that they have is 2.25 pounds, 100 pounds, the great city of Babylon is split in three, the islands and the mountains are gone. So when God says it is done, it’s done like all of those images are meant to say, This is it. This is everything. This is final judgment. The bowls have been poured out. It’s fulfilling what we already saw in chapter 15, verse one, seven angels with the seven last plagues last because with them, God’s wrath is completed, worldwide judgment. So let’s return to where we started in this last section, to John chapter three. Because you would think that all these things happening, people would turn but John three says Light has come into the world, but people love darkness instead of light, because their deeds were evil. As I mentioned already, no one is under God’s wrath that doesn’t choose to be here’s how the people respond to God’s judgment throughout bowls four through seven. All of these are warnings, a chance to see what he’s doing and repent and turn and trust and change. But in the four through seven bowls, this is how the people respond. They curse God because of what he did? They curse him. They gather for battle against him, and they refuse to repent. Every single time, the people are acting like the one they are following, because we saw Satan last week. Knows that he loses, has lost, and what does he do? He knows his time is short, and he still digs his heels in. He throws a temper tantrum, tries to bring down as many people as he possibly can with him, and we can be deceived and come to
this place. There’s a teaching out there that says Hell is a place where people are crying out to God to be saved, and he won’t, but the clear teaching of Scripture is exactly what we see here. The more God brings his judgment and his wrath to have people change, many will still have their fists raised to God in defiance, cursing words on their lips. You. Refuse to repent. T Carson says this about hell. Says this is what hell is like, an ongoing cycle of sin, rebellion, judgment, sin rebellion, judgment, world without end, because we all have our chance to repent right now, I don’t know if you’ve been around stubborn people. Maybe you are one, but you know how maddening that can be, right? When you give them warning after warning, you tell them this is going to happen, this consequence is going to happen, and you just keep saying it over and over again in one day, you follow through, and they still look at you in defiance, no change, nothing, just sitting there like I just want you to learn. I just want you to turn and change your ways. And that’s what God has been doing throughout history. This is who I am. This is what I can do. I just want you to turn and say, this way isn’t working, and follow me. And follow me. Some people love the darkness more than the light, and it will always be that way for all eternity. But here’s the thing, for you and for me, we have no idea if that’s true of these people. We don’t know, because I’m sure many of you, at one point your heart was so hard, people thought you couldn’t be saved, and you’re here because God can do what God does, all right? He can work and he can soften hearts, and so we don’t know. So we continue to pursue those people in our life. This is the tension we constantly live with. We know who we are. We know we have victory in Christ. We see the other side. And what drives us to them is we want to see them know Jesus, because we want to celebrate and sing the songs with them. It isn’t because we just want to be right. It’s because we believe this is the truth, and we want them to believe the truth and see Jesus change their life. So this is the tension we’re going to live with on this side of heaven. Now, what’s the point of all this, the big idea this morning is pretty simple. Pretty simple, repent and glorify God before his just wrath comes completely. And finally, repent and glorify God before his just wrath comes completely. And finally, as we close, God says at the seventh bowl, it is done. If you’re here this morning, checking out Christianity. See what Jesus is all about. See what the Bible teaches. You heard. We’re in Revelation trying to understand judgment. We’re so glad that you’re here, and you need to hear these words, because God says, at one point, judgment will come and it will be done. But that doesn’t have to be for you. There is a time when his patience will run out, when He will make all things right, which will include judgment on the deserving, judgment on the unrepentant, and salvation and victory for those who are in Christ, Jesus, in this moment, you can turn you can repent of your sin and start following Jesus, giving glory to him for saving you. And all of us would plead that you would with you to do that today, we can have great confidence in the Word of God here, because Jesus uttered similar words when he was on the cross. Before he breathed his last, he said, It is finished. You see, Jesus came that first time to make a way for us to be saved. And his work was completed on the cross and in the empty tomb, he came as Savior of the world to serve, not to be served, to forgive us, taking judgment and wrath of God on himself, the judgment we deserved so that we can enter in be reconciled into this perfect relationship with him. But it’s very clear in Scripture, at His second coming, he will come as Judge So repent and glorify God before that day. And for the rest of us here, we must heed Jesus’s warning to be ready for His coming. Means We must continue to repent, right? We must continue to repent because the tension for us is we’re still pulled back to the old way of life. We’re still pulled back to that old way of living, and so we need to continue to repent and trust in the finished work of Jesus. Don’t let the devil get a foothold. Live lives worthy of the gospel that we’ve been called to, and as we live in this tension, we continue to call others into a life of repentance and faith in Jesus. One more time from Don Carson, he says, We are never more than poor beggars telling others where there is bread. We are never more than condemned prisoners who have found pardon and who. Want others to enjoy the same. That’s our plea. We know where the bread of life is. We know who can set us free repent and glorify Him, because the time is coming. Well, his judgment will come completely and finally. So let’s be faithful in proclaiming the good news. Prepare ourselves, because one day we’ll all join together and sing the song of God’s servant, Moses and of the Lamb. Let’s pray,
Lord, we come before you humbly, humbly, because we know that there is nothing that we could do to deserve a relationship with you, to deserve being saved. It is all your grace, your love for us, your sacrifice through your Son, Jesus, Christ on that cross, taking the full cup of your wrath, satisfying your wrath for us. So Lord, I pray that every person here would hide themselves in Christ, Jesus, and that you would change us, make us NEW and use us through your spirit to call others to repent of their sins and to call on your name, Jesus. We love you. We pray this in Your name. Amen.
Amen.