The Seven Bowls Of Wrath ~ Revelation Chapter 16 Greg Bahnsen {Part 55 of 63}

This morning we are in Revelation, chapter 16. Up to this point, we have seen that Satan has turned his hostility toward the Gentile church. In chapter 12, verse 17, we read that having been thwarted in his attempt to persecute Jewish believers in Jerusalem, Satan now turns his wrath toward the Gentile church. In chapter 13, in the first 18 verses, we're introduced to two beasts in particular, the Roman Empire and the Emperor cult in Asia Minor, who are in league with Satan himself. In this opposition to the Gentile church, the two beasts oppress believers, and yet they are followed by the unbelieving world. In the 14th chapter, in the first five verses, we're introduced to the opposition that will be mounting against the beast and his followers. And that opposition comes from Christ and his loyal saints, the 144,000. In the rest of chapter 14, we have an angelic preview of the judgment that now is going to fall. As Christ and the saints oppose the beast, we see what is going to transpire in this judgment of God. In particular, we see that the gospel will be proclaimed Babylon, which is to say Rome shall fall. Eternal torment awaits the beast followers. There's going to be an ingathering into the kingdom, the harvest of the earth. And then there's going to be vengeance for those who are outside the kingdom, the ventage of the earth. In chapter 15, we now know what is happening. Satan is persecuting the Gentile church. We know who's doing the persecution for him, the two beasts. We know who's opposing this persecution, the lamb and the 144,000. We've been given a preview of the judgment that will fall against Satan and the two beasts. And now the prelude to judgment comes. We're introduced to seven angels who hold the seven terminal plagues, we're told. And the redeemed sing the song of the Lamb and of Moses. And then God's temple is filled with smoke so that there is no longer any room for intercession. And now we come to chapter 16, and John says, I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, go ye and pour out the seven bowls of the wrath of God into the earth. Chapter 16, then, is the actual judgment that we've been building up to dramatically with the introduction to the characters, with the preview of the judgment, with the prelude to the judgment. Now, finally the judgment falls. God says, pour out the wrath. It's now time for the actual application of God's wrath fully his vengeance shall be seen in the earth. In Isaiah 66. 6 Isaiah 2 had heard such a voice calling from the temple, a dramatic voice from the temple, calling for vengeance. You might want to look at that as Old Testament background to this verse, Isaiah 66. 6. A voice of tumult from a city, a voice from the temple, the voice of Jehovah that rendereth recompense to his enemies. And so John 2 hears the voice of God calling now from the holy of holies pour out the bowls of wrath. Of course, this must be God's voice, because we've already seen at the end of chapter 15 that nobody is allowed in the temple but God. Now there'd be no longer any intercession. Now, as the bowls of wrath are poured out of the upon the Roman Empire, you will notice that the seven bowls bear certain resemblances or parallels to the seven trumpets of Judgment that came earlier in the book. The seven trumpets of God's judgment against Jerusalem, for instance, the first four trumpets, as well as the first four bowls, are directed against the earth, the sea, the inland waters, and then the heavenly bodies in succession, and in that order in each case. Moreover, at the fifth trumpet against Jerusalem and at the fifth bowl against Rome, darkness and pain accompany the judgment of God. At the sixth trumpet, hordes are released from the Euphrates river against Jerusalem, and at the sixth bowl of wrath, there are enemy hordes to be found at the Euphrates waiting to invade Rome, which I'll explain later. And then finally, before we get to the seventh trumpet of judgment and the seventh bowl of wrath, we find an interlude, although the interludes are of different lengths and with different degrees of detail between the two series. And then at the end, the outcome of the seven trumpets of judgment against Jerusalem and the outcome of the seven bowls of wrath against Rome is the same. No repentance is forthcoming. And so I certainly want to recognize these literary parallels, and I think it only enhances our respect for the book and. And its organization. However, we mustn't forget to see that there are also great differences between the trumpets and the plagues. For instance, there's a very definite four and three pattern in the Trumpets, four trumpets, and then three, and actually the three break down into two and one. There's a four, two, one pattern laid out very clearly in the case of the Trumpets, but that pattern is there in the case of the bowls, but not nearly so clear. For instance, in the case of the Trumpets of Judgment. By the way, as I keep talking about trumpets and bowls of wrath are plagues of wrath, I realize that I'm jumping back and forth in the book. And because there's seven of each, and because there's parallels between them, and because they're both judgments against wicked cities, it's easy for you to get these blurred. So you need to really be awake this morning to try to keep up with that. But remember, the trumpets come earlier and the bowls come later. That's what we're going to study today. The bowls of wrath or the seven plagues. Okay, this 4:3 or 4:2:1 pattern is very clear in the case of the Trumpets. For there you have four natural disasters and then three human woes. Remember, the eagle flying in midheaven says, and the three last woes are to come. Now that natural human. Four natural disasters. Three human disasters is emphasized in the Trumpets, and the first four are clearly against the natural realm. Whereas in the case of the plagues, it seems that all of the plagues are in some sense directed against the natural realm as well. There is a 4:3 pattern, but it's not nearly so distinct. Moreover, the 4:3 pattern is a little bit jumbled. When you look at the grammar, I realize that not all of us want to go into the kitchen for the meat and potatoes, but if you go into the Greek kitchen here and you look at the grammar of the passage in this particular case, John says that three of the bowls of wrath are poured into something, into the into the earth, and then into the sea, and then into the inland waters, and then the last four are poured upon something upon the what is it? It's upon the air, and it's upon the seed of the beast, and so forth. Well, what I'm saying is the four three division there gets a little bit blurred in this particular case. Moreover, and more importantly, the trumpets of judgment all seem to be somewhat partial in their effect. One third of the earth was affected, 1/3 of the sea, 1/3 of the sun, etc. However, the plagues are in some sense full and universal. We read that every living thing in every island is affected by these plagues. And the reason I'm going through this, and I'm done going through that, is that if you read the commentaries in the book of Revelation, you're going to find any number of ingenious and subtle devices by which a recapitulation pattern is developed between the trumpets and the bowls. In fact, for most commentators, they like to find a recapitulation pattern in the seals and then in the trumpets and then in the bowls, and you can get. So that it's one for one. Each one of the seals represents in its corresponding member the the same trumpet in the same bowl. Or you can get a recapitulation pattern that says that you have the seven seals and the seventh seal is in fact the seven trumpets and the seventh trumpet is in fact the seven bowls. It's incredible the different kinds of schemes you can find. But it seems to me that for all of the similarities that are literary in nature, by the way, and not content so much, for all the similarities, the differences need to be paid attention. We need to pay attention to the differences so that these recapitulations patterns turn out, I think, to be rather subtle and strained. Now, something else about this chapter overall. I've Talked about this 4:3 pattern in the parallels it has with various things. But if anywhere in the book of Revelation, it should be clear that John's not trying to get us to think in literalistic categories, it should be in this chapter. Let me give you some examples. After God turns the sea and the inland waters to blood, verse 6 says, for they poured out the blood of the saints and prophets, and blood hast thou given them to drink, and they are worthy of it. Now, there's no way that we are to understand in some future apocalyptic day, God's going to turn all the waters of the earth to blood, and humanity is going to have to survive for some tribulation period on blood rather than water. That's just medically impossible. We don't expect God's going to change the digestive tracts of people so they can now take blood instead of water to live. This is gruesome imagery. It's not intended to be taken literally. I dare say if you try to take it literally, you will undo what John is trying to say. Verses 13 and 14. And I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits, as it were. Frogs. And so we have frogs coming out of the mouths of these things. And the frogs come out of the mouth of a dragon, a beast and a prophet. And who's the dragon? Well, the dragon. Satan. What is the frog? The next verse says it's a demonic spirit. So out of the mouth of the great demon comes a demonic spirit. We're not to take this literally. John is using literary devices. But we're not to take it in a literalistic fashion. And then verse 21, Hail. Great hail. About the weight of a talent comes down out of heaven upon men. The weight of a talent is anywhere between 60 and £120, usually in the range of £100. £100 hail coming out of heaven. No, John wants you to see something else. Not a literal storm, a cosmic storm from God, meteorites or something coming down out of heaven upon men. Rather, he's talking about the severity of the judgment. And we'll be getting to that in due time. You see, what John does is he uses in chapter 16, the language of natural disasters and calamities to communicate prophetic catastrophes for the Roman Empire. Just as such natural disasters would portray how gruesome a situation would be to be in that, so the Roman Empire will go through such a catastrophe when God judges it. Okay, chapter 16 then is the actual outpouring of judgment against Rome. There are parallels with other portions of the book. John is very structured in his literary device, but it's not to be taken literalistically. It's to be seen as prophetic language of judgment. Now, there are seven bowls. The first four bowls, if you don't get anything else out of today's lesson, get this, because this is the gist of it. The first four bowls are directed upon the empire as a whole. Natural calamity is symbolizing. The empire as a whole is going to be an upheaval. The last three bowls, 5, 6, and 7, are particularly against Rome. The fifth bull in verse 10 is. And the fifth poured out his bowl upon the throne of the beast, and his kingdom was darkened and they gnawed their tongues for pain. The throne of the beast, obviously, you see, that's the center of the beast's authority and power. That's Rome. It's the very throne from which the beast operates. Okay, so now directing against the city itself, judgment From God, the sixth bowl of wrath comes in verse 12. And the sixth poured out his bowl upon the great river, the river Euphrates, and the water thereof was dried up that the way might be made ready for the kings that come from the East. This is recalling the fall of ancient Babylon. How did ancient Babylon fall? It's a beautiful story. Jeremiah had prophesied this would happen, that God would dry up the waters of the, of the Euphrates river and that Babylon would fall as a result of that. Well, Cyrus, the Persian commander, came against ancient Babylon and was not able to lay siege to it. It turned out that the Euphrates river ran right through the middle of town. Okay, so you have a riverbed full of water now and the city on both sides of the river with walls keeping everybody out except for the riverbed. And so what did Cyrus do? Well, he did what some attempted to do at Vicksburg during the war between the States. He diverted the Euphrates river. And what happened? Well, the riverbed dried up and his army marched in over the riverbed and took Babylon. That's a great scheme. Well, that is what is being recalled here. Just as Babylon fell through the drying up of the Euphrates, God will judge you Rome. And then the seventh is the fall of the great city itself, verse 19. And the great city was divided into three parts, and the city of the nations fell. Babylon the great was remembered in the sight of God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath. And so the last three are particularly directed at the fall of Rome as a city, the great city of the nations. Okay, I think that is perhaps best. The best statement of the overall meaning of this chapter has been given by CB Caird in the Harper's New Testament commentary where he says the three final plagues are the dethronement of the monster, the invasion of his empire by demonic hordes from beyond, and the destruction of his capital city, Babylon. In other words, the theme of the whole series is neither the collapse of the physical universe nor the punishment of individual men for their personal contribution to the world's iniquity. Both of which come later when the record books are opened in front of the Great White Throne. But the ending of persecution through the removal of the persecutor. God had promised to deliver his people. And God is saying in chapter 16, I will deliver you from the persecution of the Roman Empire because I will remove the persecutor himself. I'm going to judge Rome. Now, if you lived in that day, that would really be something to steal you up in your face and encourage you. If you could believe it, God is going to judge the Roman Empire. Here's a little church meeting in catacombs, in far away corners and in hiding, fearing for the lives of the saints and being persecuted. John is on Patmos. Paul has died. Peter has died, beheaded, both in Rome. And now God tells John to tell the church and I will take care of the persecutor. I'm going to see to it that Babylon, the great falls. Well, if you could believe it, you could be sure that would keep you steadfast in your faith and it would. It would make you able to endure the type of persecution that lied ahead. But if you couldn't believe it, then you might be willing and in fact tempted to compromise and have the mark of the beast. So these judgments serve A very moral purpose, as well as telling us of what's going to happen in the future. Greg, did you have a question? The historical events in Rome happened about the same as, like, as far as the river drying up. No, no, it's not intended to be taken literally. Like I said, the great hailstones aren't literal, the frogs from the mouth aren't literal, the drinking of blood's not literal, and the drying up of the Babylon river is not literal. In the case of Rome, what that is, is they. That's to help you harken back to Babylon, ancient Babylon, which is the prototype for Rome to come. Ancient Babylon fell through the drying up of the Euphrates. And so God says, now to the new Babylon, you too will have the Euphrates dried up. Okay, which is a way of saying, you know, that when UCLA played in the playoff games this year, UCLA met its Waterloo. Well, obviously it didn't go to Waterloo, and it didn't have, you know, armies and the Russians and all that sort of thing, but it met its Waterloo in a literary sense. And so you roam are going to have your Euphrates river dried up, too, which is a way of saying you will fall just like ancient Babylon did, just as surely. Okay, let's go through the chapter now rather quickly, see if we can do all of chapter 16 today. And the first angel went and poured out his bowl into the earth, and it became a noisome and grievous sore upon the man that had upon the men. Excuse me, that had the mark of the beast and that worshiped his image. This verse tells us that those who bear the mark of the beast will also bear in their bodies the mark of God. And God gives to men boils and abscesses. Boils and abscesses. Of course, open sores. Running open sores was the sixth plague on the Egyptians in Exodus, the ninth chapter. But more importantly, as we're going to find, John is using not only the Exodus literary device, talking about the plagues on Egypt, but boils and abscesses are a curse of the covenant. As we see in Deuteronomy 28, verses 27 and 35, God says, and those who will not walk in my word and according to my law, shall have the boils of Egypt upon them. Okay, so you have the boils of Egypt. Remember how God judged the pagan city of Egypt. Those boils will be upon you, Israel, if you violate my covenant. And now John tells you, see, in this cryptic language that an Old Testament Jew would understand, he tells Rome and boils and abscesses shall be upon you, you pagan city. In the third verse, the second angel pours out his bowl into the sea, and it became blood as of a dead man. And every living soul died the things that were in the sea. This, of course, parallels the first Egyptian plague where Moses turned the Nile river into blood. However, John adds some gruesome detail to this. He says the blood turns like to the blood of a dead man. I don't want to sicken you today, but you see, when we don't take care of corpses with traditional, well, not traditional, but modern devices for embalming and so forth, draining of the blood out of the body, then the blood in the body coagulates and rots, and it's ugly and it's a sickening smell that accompanies it. And John says, and that's what God will do to your seeds. He'll turn it to rotting, coagulating blood. And then all the things living in the sea die. Of course, in the fourth verse, the third bowl of wrath is poured out, this bowl into the rivers and the fountains of the waters so that they become blood. Okay? Now, in the case of the third trumpet, going back in the book of Revelation, the inland waters were polluted there too, but they were just made bitter like wormwood and gall. However, here the inland waters are made as to blood, even as the sea is made into blood. And I think the reason for that is John is saying God will spread the death blood through your water system as well. This apparently is what the Jews understood that God did in the case of Egypt in the turning of the Nile to blood. Look at Psalm 78, verse 44. Psalm 78 is recounting the Exodus experience at great length for the Jews, reminding them of the faithfulness of God. And verse 43, how he set his signs in Egypt and his wonders in the field of Zoan and turned their rivers into blood and their streams so that they could not drink. The Nile river was turned to blood, and that apparently polluted all the streams through Egypt. And so likewise, John says God will turn your sea to blood, and he'll turn all your inland waters to blood as well. He will spread death throughout the empire. Well, that's been kind of gruesome already, hasn't it? What's John saying? Saying open, ulcerous sores are going to break out upon mankind in the Roman Empire, those who have the mark of the beast, the sea is going to turn to blood, rotting, coagulating, dead man's blood. And that's going to spread through all the water supply so that nobody will be able to drink. One might think that John's gone a little overboard, that John has perhaps taken his own personal vengeance and his own wrath against Rome out in the name of God. But John, God speaking through John, will allow no such speculation. Verse 5 says, and I heard the angel of the waters. Again, John doesn't believe in the mythological idea of angels assigned to all the natural elements. The angel of the waters is the angel just mentioned, the one who poured out his bowl upon the waters. And I heard this angel of the waters saying, righteous art thou who art, and who wast thou, Holy one? Because thou didst thus, judge. For they poured out the blood of saints and prophets, and blood hast thou given them to drink. They are worthy. And I heard the altar saying, yea, O Lord God, the Almighty. True and righteous are thy judgments. Over and over and over again we have confirmation that what God is doing is exactly what those who are suffering deserve. The angel of the waters tells us that God is righteous in his judgments. There's a great parallel, it turns out, between what the angel of the waters says here and and the song of Moses and the lamb in chapter 15, verses 2 to 4. Notice that each begin with a declaration of the righteousness of God. Designate him as the Eternal One, the One who is holy. And then they say these things because of the judgmental action that has fallen. Look at verse three of chapter 15. Great and marvelous are thy works, O Lord God the Almighty. Righteous and true are thy ways. Thou King of the ages. Thou who shall not fear, O Lord, and glorify thy name. For thou only art holy for all the nations shall come and worship before thee, for thy righteous acts have been made manifest. And then in chapter 16, after these judgments begin to fall, we're reminded God is doing what is right and upright and just and fair. Also, it's quite clear that the writer here is alluding to Old Testament passages such as Psalm 119, Psalm 119, verse 137. Righteous art thou, O Jehovah, and upright are thy judgments. This is the place to maybe stop and do just a couple of minutes of discourse on the pervasive theme in the Bible on the righteousness of God's judgments, the righteousness and uprightness and fairness and appropriateness and worthiness and the fitness of God's judgments. God in the Bible never is shown to act unfairly or arbitrarily or in a capricious fashion. The Bible stresses almost you almost get tired if you're trying to do a study. This sort of thing of how often you. It's just repeated over and over and over and over and again. This is what these people deserve. This is what they deserve. This is what they deserve. God never does things because you see, like some Greek God, he just has a fit of rage and decides to do something. You know, we do that with our children sometimes, right? We get carried away. We punish them beyond the measure of their offense and that sort of thing. God doesn't do that. The Bible says God always gives exactly what is required. No more and no less. He's upright. He's a God who follows rules, if you will. He is principled. He does things not pragmatically. He doesn't do things out of a runaway emotion. He always does what is right and just. Verse 6 shows us the appropriateness of what God does when he judges. For they poured out the blood of the saints. God will give them blood to drink. You see here, there's blood for blood. In fact, in Revelation 17:6, we read, and I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. All right? And so they spill the blood of the saints. They drink the blood of the saints. Metaphorically speaking, God will give you blood to drink in return. What is that a reflection on? I mean, there's hardly any way you can avoid what John is reminding you of in the Old Testament. Blood for blood, eye for eye and tooth for tooth and wound for wound and burning for burning and stripe for stripe, life for life. Okay? In God's law, we see that the judgments that God gives to mankind for certain offenses against his law are always upright and just. The punishment matches the heinousness of the crime. It's fitting. It's the punishment of an eye for the offense of an eye. Now, of course, this is speaking in terms of metaphor and symbol. It's not literal. If I were to strike somebody in black in his eye, the punishment wouldn't be that he blackens my eye in return. In fact, Jesus says, you turn the other cheek. Rather, the punishment must match the crime is the point. And so when there's blood guiltiness, life is involved. When there is depriving your neighbor of his goods, then you must pay compensation. When you have stolen something from him, then there's restitution. God never judges too severely. God never judges too lightly. It's always blood for blood, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. And the Bible is saying this over and over and over. Again, you see, there's an entire developed theology of penology in the Bible, and we don't pay much attention to that. And the only attention that I've seen given to it in recent years has come out of this theonomic controversy, for better or for worse. In fact, just this last week, I was discoursing with a committee studying the whole question of God's law and its binding nature today. And somebody was attempting to take the position. That's right. All of God's law, all the principles of God's law are binding today. But when God gives punishments in the Old Testament, that doesn't establish any principle. That only says that people should be punished in some form. Well, I explained to the person that I understood what was being said, I understood the position and in a sense could sympathize with it. It was an attempt to be true to Jesus statement, we must live by every word that proceeds from God's mouth. Okay, so if God says, for instance, homosexuals must die, then we want to live by that word from his mouth. Homosexuality should be a civil offense and should be punishable by the civil magistrate. But, said my opponent, not by death, because that is just the particular in Israel, it's not the principle. Well, in response, I had to point out that throughout the Bible there's a developed theology of punishment. God never punishes in an inappropriate way. God doesn't take people who have traffic fines and execute them. And he doesn't take murderers and tell them they must be in jail or prison for three years and then be released on parole. See, God always gives an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. And so to the man who steals $10, he returns $10 with restitution, the fine attached to the man who kills, he himself must be killed. God always uses an equitable standard of justice. In Hebrews 2, this is absolutely enforced. Or else the whole argument of the author of Hebrews is really lost for the lack of this initial premise. We read, therefore, if the word spoken through angels proves steadfast, the word through angels is the mediation of the law on Mount Sinai. If the law of God proves steadfast and every transgression and disobedience received what. What was appropriate to a very unique situation many years ago, and every offense received what was appropriate as a foreshadowing of the final judgment. The arguments of many theologians today, those punishments were not intended to be taken as a model for civil discourse. No, the author says, every transgression and disobedience receives the just recompense of reward. God never threatens a punishment which is not appropriate to the crime. God always gives what is justice in a particular situation. And of course, we all have to believe that. If we believe that we must flee from the wrath to come, we believe that we lay hold on Christ for salvation because God will justly doom us to hell forever. Not for a period of refining, you see, not for a purgatory period, but forever. Why forever? Because that's what sin deserves in the eyes of a holy God. God is too holy to look upon transgression and pollution and corruption and sin. And so forever we must be consigned to the flames if we won't lay hold of the sun. So we all believe that. When it comes to eternal judgment, why should we depart from that? When it comes to God's historical judgments, why in history would God become capricious? Why would he depart from operating according to a rule or a standard of equity and justice and truth? Well, obviously he doesn't. And John tells us that. Whereas John's interest is not so much in the capital crimes of the Old Testament, which is what I'm using for illustration today, John's point is that in history, as God judges the Roman Empire and gives blood to drink, this is righteous and appropriate. And it's just note Isaiah 49, 26. We'd expect that God would do this to those who make martyrs out of his holy people. For Isaiah himself had said in the 49th chapter of his prophecy, verse 26, God says, I will feed them that oppress thee with their own flesh, and they shall be drunken with their own blood as with sweet wine. And all flesh shall know that I, Jehovah, am thy Savior and thy Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob. Yes, it's gruesome to think about this kind of literary language being used, but look at the beauty of the passage. All flesh will see and all flesh will know that I'm your Redeemer, and I deliver you. And no man you see strikes out against my people without having to come under my just recompense. And so if they want to drink the blood of the saints, blood they shall be given to drink. Note the use of the ironic. The ironic use, excuse me, of the word worthy here, verse six. They poured out the blood of saints and prophets. In blood hast thou given them to drink. They are worthy. Exios in the Greek usually means somebody's done something good and therefore he's worthy to receive this reward. And God is here using it in the ironic sense. This is what they deserve. They're worthy of this sort of thing. By the way, in verse six, the mention of saints and prophets. Real quickly I should mention that that doesn't refer to two separate groups. That rather refers to the saints as a whole, the Christian believers and the prophets, as a way of designating the leaders in the Christian church. In Acts 11, in Acts 21 and in First Corinthians 14, the use of the word prophets is found for leaders in the Christian church. Then verse seven. You see, we've already gone through all this, but now John says it again. And I heard the altar saying, the altar is talking. Obviously, that's a personification. The altar earlier had stood for the testimony of the martyrs in chapter six and the prayers of the saints in chapter eight. And so the corporate witness of the martyrs and the saints is that God's judgments are true and righteous. Why is it said again? Because the Old Testament law called for two witnesses of confirmation. And John is stressing this legality, this whole legal and righteous and upright standard of God. And so God gives the two witnesses necessary in a literary fashion, showing that Rome has deserved everything. It's going to get. All right. The fourth trumpet now comes. Excuse me, the fourth bowl. I'm getting confused myself. The fourth poured out his bowl upon the sun and was given unto it to scorch men with fire. And the men were scorched with great scorching. And they blasphemed the name of God, who hath the power over these plagues, and they repented not to give him the glory it was given to the sun. The emphasis there is on God's sovereignty that it should scorch with great scorching. There's a cognate use of words in the Greek there. Now, obviously, fire in the Bible is a symbol of judgment. You find that in 1st Corinthians 3 and 2 Peter 3, but in particular at Deuteronomy 28:22, the scorching of the sun is taken as a curse of the covenant again. And God will scorch mankind, the Israel of His choosing, if they don't follow his covenant. Notice that this stands in contrast to the blessedness of the saints who in chapter seven, verse 16, we read, they shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore, neither shall the sun strike upon them, nor any heat. God, you see, God, our Redeemer, is the shade on our right hand. God doesn't allow the sun to strike his people, but he scorches those who oppose us with the sun. Again, the curses of the covenant falling now you see why John stopped before he went on to this plague to stress the righteousness of God. We have it clearly in mind. God's doing what's right. And now when the Roman world is scorched with sun, do they say we deserved it? God was righteous. Do they repent? No. The Bible says they blasphemed God. All right, now, verses 10 and 11. And the fifth poured out his bowl upon the throne of the beast. Now we come right down to the to the very heart of the empire, right there, to the center of its power and authority. And Rome itself is going to have a bowl of wrath poured on it. And his kingdom was darkened. And they gnawed their tongues for pain. And they blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores. And they didn't repent of their works. Again, the Egyptian plague is recalled here. The darkness of the ninth Egyptian plague and the responsive men. Men in this non electrical age, you see, where darkness meant everything stops. And nobody knows what's going to happen to them. And people stay in their houses so that they might be protected. And in the midst of this total darkness, men gnaw their tongues. Have you ever bitten your tongue? I imagine most of us have. It's no fun. Now the Bible says the pain that God's going to bring upon the empire is so great that men will gnaw their tongues. They will chew on their tongues for the pain. Those of you who have either been in a hospital under circumstances of great distress or have worked in those situations know that often enough people do in fact gnaw on their tongue when they're in extreme pain. And John says that's what will happen. Men will not repent with their judgmental pain. But again, they'll blaspheme God. That's exactly what the beast is said to do. In chapter 13, verses 5 and 6, the beast is given a great mouth of blasphemy that he might blaspheme the name of God and the temple of God in heaven. Interestingly, John says here that it's the God of heaven who brings this torment upon them. God of heaven is the phrase we find in Daniel the second chapter, verse 44, where God is said to sovereignly destroy the kingdoms of the earth in order to establish his own eternal reign. And I think John is hearkening back to that. God is now destroying the fourth world empire of that prophecy of Daniel chapter two, that his own eternal reign might be established in the earth. All right, we come to the sixth bull in verse 12, and the sixth poured out his bowl upon the great river, the river Euphrates, and the water thereof was dried up, that the way might be made ready for the kings that come from the sun rising or from the east. The Euphrates river separated the Roman Empire from the the Parthian kingdoms with their calvary and bowmen to the east of the Roman Empire. And so here we're told, Rome will have the Euphrates river dried up, just as ancient Babylon did, so that Rome will fall. Interestingly enough, it is indeed through the roaming hordes east of the empire that Rome eventually did fall. And so, although the Euphrates wasn't literally dried up, from that region again came the downfall of God's people. The God who had dried up the Red Sea, that his people might be delivered from the enemy, and the God who dried up the Jordan river in Joshua 3, that his people might enter the Promised Land is a God who will now dry up the Euphrates so that the enemies will have free reign against his enemies. This kings of the East, I should point out, is rather obvious reference to the roaming tribes of the Parthians east of the Euphrates River. But if you read the commentaries, you'll find at least 50 different interpretations for the kings of the East. Why is that? Well, spawned in the, in the heyday of premillennialism, you see, it's the attempt to find some literalistic newspaper account of history in advance. And so we must find out who the kings of the east are. We know who Gog and Magog are, of course, allegedly, you know, the Bear of the north and all this sort of thing. So now if we can find out who the kings of the east are, we can start reading 20th century newspapers in the light of Revelation. Well, it doesn't work out too well. I think the reference is obvious. In John's own day, we are told that these kings destroy rome in chapter 17, verses 12 and 13. And the 10 horns that you saw are the 10 kings who have received no kingdom as yet, but they will receive authority as kings with the beast for a short time, for one hour, okay? They of one mind give their power and authority unto the beast. And then verses 15 to 18, and he saith unto me, the waters which thou sawest, where the harlot sitteth are peoples and multitudes, nations and tongues. And the ten horns which you saw and the beast, these shall hate the harlot, which is the city of Rome. It turns out, these shall hate Rome and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, flesh, and shall burn her utterly with fire. For God did put in their hearts to do his mind, and to come to one mind, and to give their kingdom unto the beast until the words of God should be accomplished. And the woman whom thou sawest is the great city which reigneth over the kings of the earth. See, the kings are going to now turn upon the city of Rome eventually and make it fall. All right, so then we've seen six of the bowls of wrath against the Roman Empire, symbolically through natural calamity, and then poured right out upon the city of Rome itself, the throne of the beast, the judgment of God, The Euphrates river dries up so that just like ancient Babylon, Rome shall fall. And then comes this interesting passage that we have to spend some time with this morning. Verse 13. And I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the. The false prophet, three unclean spirits, as it were frogs, for they are the spirits of demons, working signs which go forth unto the kings of the whole earth to gather them together unto the war of the great day of God the Almighty. Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watches and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked. And they see his shame. And they gathered them together into the place which is called, in Hebrew, harbinger, Magadan. Now, some commentators take this as a topical expansion of verse 12. Okay, we have the Euphrates river dried up so the kings of the east can come through. And what we have is an expansion on that leading up to the war of what is usually called, in English, Armageddon, although there's a reason why it oughtn't to be called that. Others say this is an interlude that is just as in the case of the seals that came earlier and the trumpets that came earlier, there was an interlude put between the sixth and the seventh member of the sequence. And so here is an interlude between the sixth bowl of wrath, the seventh bowl of wrath. The reason John may have thought of going to this theme of Armageddon or Har Magadon is because, as he has already indicated, Rome should be preparing for war. The Euphrates river is going to be dried up. So also there's going to be a war of the great God the Almighty, of the great day of God the Almighty. So there's a common theme there. However, the battle of Har Magaddon is not fought in chapter 16. I don't believe, and most commentators don't believe even premillennialists. By the way, we may interpret the battle differently, but literarily speaking, it appears that the battle of Har Magaddon is not fought to chapter 19. At verses 19. And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth, remember, and their armies gathered together to make war. And now we find out that the war is against him who sat on the horse, that is Christ the warrior. And against his army, the church. And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet. Those who wrought signs in his sight remember the frogs going out with the lying wonders and the mark of the beast, and them that worshiped his image. Those two were cast alive into the lake of fire that burned with brimstone, and the rest were killed with the sword of him that sat on the horse, which sword came forth from his mouth, and the birds were filled with their flesh. Okay, this seems to be the battle. Then finally John sets the stage. He says, rome's going to fall. Now, by the way, before we get to the actual fall of Rome, in the seventh bowl, the battle of Har Magadon is waiting in the wings. And then chapter 19, he finally fills in the details and the outcome of that war. But now, what is the battle of Har Magaddon? John tells us that these evil spirits come forth from the mouths of these three, and they go to the kings of the earth and deceive them to come to battle. You might recall here the Old Testament story where Ahab had a lying spirit sent to his prophets so that they might convince him to go to war, when God intended for the war to be the downfall of Ahab. And it seems to me that that is reflected on here. These lying spirits make the kings of the earth think that they can war up against Christ and his saints, and yet it's for their downfall. There's an emphasis in the Bible on this idea of the rulers of the world being set in opposition to Christ and to his people, but only for their own destruction, especially in the second Psalm, is that found in Psalm 2. Why do the nations rage in the peoples meditate? A vain thing. A vain thing. Just as the vanities and deceptions and the lying wonders of those frog demons lead them to believe. The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against Jehovah and against his anointed saying, let us break their bonds asunder and cast away their cords from us. How does God respond to this? In fear and trembling? No. He who sits in the heavens will laugh and hold them in derision. Then he'll speak to them in his wrath, and vexed them in his displeasure. Yet I have set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. Where is the Lamb found in the Book of revelation? Upon Mount Zion with 144,000 saints. I'll tell of the decree Jehovah said unto me, you are my son, this day have I begotten thee. Ask of me, and I'll give thee the nations for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth are thy possession. You'll break them with a rod of iron, and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. We know very well of the second Psalm, while it intends to speak of the spread of God's kingdom and the kingdom of his Son throughout the earth, applied in particular to the opposition of the rulers of the world to Jesus Christ. Look at Acts 4, verses 24 to 31. And they, when they heard it, lifted up their voice to God with one accord, and said, o Lord, thou that didst make the heaven and the earth and the sea, and all that in them is who by the Holy Spirit, by the mouth of your, of our Father David thy servant did say, why did the Gentiles rage and the peoples imagine vain things? The kings of the earth set themselves in array, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against his Christ. For of a truth in this city, against thy holy servant Jesus, whom thou didst anoint both Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel were gathered together to do whatever thy hand and thy counsel foreordained to come to pass. And now, Lord, look upon their threatenings and grant unto thy servants to speak thy word with all bonds, boldness. And in fact this passage ends if you look at verse 31, they were filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spake the word of God with boldness. Why are they praying this way? They're saying, God, we know that the rulers of the world were ganged up against your Christ, and now they are breathing out threatenings against us. And just as you delivered him, deliver us so that we might speak with boldness. In First Corinthians 2:6 8, Paul tells us that the rulers of this world, because of their lack of wisdom, crucified God's Son. You see, they were deceived with lying wonders. He says, we speak wisdom, however, among them that are full grown yet a wisdom not of this world, nor of the rulers of this world, who are coming to nothing. But we speak God's wisdom in a Mystery, even the wisdom that hath been hidden, which God foreordained before the world worlds unto our glory, which none of the rulers of this world hath known. For had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. All right, the rulers of the world have once teamed up against Christ, they have teamed up against the early Church. And Paul says they don't have the wisdom necessary to see that God is using this for their own destruction. And John is playing on the same theme in Revelation 16, I believe, where he tells us that these deceptive demonic spirits are gathering the kings of the earth to war against the Lamb and the saints. I'm going to run out of time here very quickly, but I think I would be remiss not to point out, so that you don't fall into the same kinds of mistakes, what happens when a premillennialist, you see, looks at this and it's so obviously a reference to the Roman Empire and the situation of the Church in John's own day. Here we have mounts again in the new international commentary telling us that the dragon, the beast and the prophet, they're the ones you see that have the false demonic spirits. Leave them to gather the kings to the battle of Har Magaddon. He says, obviously those refer to Satan, the Roman Empire and the Emperor called Upjohn's day. But he goes on to say that they are historically conditioned symbols which must be interpreted in a way which transcends the limitations of their origin. You all understand that what he's saying is John had to speak with symbols of his own day, but the reality goes far beyond what John thought it did. Unless you think that he's not saying such a thing which demeans John as an apostle of Jesus Christ and his understanding of his own prophecy. I'd like to read just a few more words from his commentary, for I think this is a dreadful way to treat Scripture. Doubtless John would interpret the visions in the light of his own historical situation. Rome would be the beast, and the provincial priesthood which enforced the imperial cult would be the false prophet. What he could not know from his vantage point was that the dissolution of the Roman Empire was but a model of the ultimate collapse of all worldly opposition to the kingdom of God. The task of the contemporary interpreter, who obviously is in a much better position than inspired John, is to read the symbols in the vocabulary of the first century and then understand them in reference to their final and complete fulfillment. And yet it's John in chapter 17 that is given an angel who says, I will explain to you the mystery. Why must we think that John was limited by his own horizons? And what he couldn't see was what we can see? And we must interpret his words in a broader scope than he because our eschatological scheme demands it. I'll give you an example of this in the very next page. He says, for John at least, the illusion would be to Rome as the center of satanic power and oppression against the fledgling Church. For John at least, it would be. But for us who know better, it's at the end of the age. Well, I don't think so. I think the battle of Harmageddon was rep prepared many years ago and we've been fighting it over the centuries. What is the war of the great day of God the Almighty? Notice that while we call that the battle of Armageddon, which is really Har Magadan, it's not really the battle of Armageddon at all. That's the place where the battle takes place. The war has given its own title in verse 14. He gathered them together unto the war of the great day of God the Almighty. What is the great day of God the Almighty? It's this age in which we live where God has come and he's brought judgment upon His Son. He's in gathering the elect through His Son into His kingdom. His kingdom spreading over the earth. He's judging his enemies and he's preparing for final doom. This is the great day of God, the Almighty. And that war of the great day of God the Almighty. We're in the midst of right now, and when we get to chapter 19, I'll try to show you that interestingly in verse 16. And they gathered them together into the place which is called in Hebrew, Harmagan. Again, John presupposes the knowledge of Hebrew on the part of his readers. He did that when he named Satan Apollyon. He did that when he gave the name of the number of the beast, which in Hebrew he says is 666, or I take it in Hebrew is 666 to be Nero. Well, what is Har Magadon? The word har, as some of you seminary students will know, is the Hebrew word for mountain. And so Har Magadan really means the mountain of Megiddo. Megiddo was a symbol of destruction, a symbol for disaster in the Old Testament. Look at Zechariah 12:11 while you're turning to that. Megiddo was a city on the north side of the Carmel ridge of mountains. And it commanded the strategic location between the coastal plain there in Israel and the valley of Esdraelon. And So in Zechariah 12, verse 11, we have reference to this strategic place. In that day shall there be great mourning in Jerusalem, as the morning of Hadrodermon in the valley of Megiddon. It was in Megiddo you see, that Israel's Canaanite enemies were destroyed by Deborah and Barak, where Ahaziah fled and died the evil king. And so here we have Megiddo. The battle or the mountain of Megiddo is the place for the battle of the great day of God the Almighty. There's only one problem. It's a problem for every interpreter. Megiddo is not a mountain, it's a plain. Why does John call it the mountain of Megiddo? Well, I think it would be sufficient to say, John's telling you, don't take this literalistically. I'm using the symbols of the Old Testament Testament. And in Zechariah, the Old Testament had said that God would destroy the enemies of his people upon the mountains. Okay, and what will be the outcome? It's the outcome as though it were Megiddo, where all these great battles in Israel were fought and won. And so upon the mountain of Megiddo God will destroy his enemies. It's not literal Megiddo, it's not the plains of Megiddo, but it's in the Old Testament, you see, it's in terms of the Old Testament outlook model that John is speaking. It may be that John is referring to Mount Carmel, you see, the whole Carmel ridge, the mountain of Megiddo, meaning the plain and the mountains or something like that. But clearly he doesn't want it taken literalistically. Well, in the midst of this, if you give me just a couple of minutes, we'll finish the chapter. In the midst of this, John says, Verse 15, See, I come as a thief. Actually, it's Jesus speaking. See, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watches and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame. Why, in the build up to the battle of Har Magiddon and the battle of the great day of God the Almighty. Does Jesus remind us that he comes as a thief? Well, in Revelation 2, verses 5 and 16, and especially in Revelation 3, verse 3, we see that this is not a reference to the second coming of Jesus Christ. We only have time to look at 1. Revelation 3, verse 3. Remember therefore, how thou hast received, and didst hear and keep it and repent. If therefore thou Shalt not watch. I will come as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee. Here's a judgment upon the church in Asia Minor in John's own day. If you won't be diligent and watch, I'll come as a thief, and I'll destroy you. In the midst of of the battle of the great day of God, which is what we're living in, Jesus says, you be watchful, you be alert. You don't be like those upon whom the day of God's judgment comes as a thief. And he says, we must be clothed so that we won't be in shame. In Revelation 3:18, that very theme of being clothed and not having your shame show is used. And in particular, in Mark 13, verses 15 and 16, Jesus says that in the day in which he comes, it's like a man taking a snooze on the top of the rooftop, and he has to leave so quickly that he can't return to get his clothes. Here Jesus says, you be watchful and alert. Don't you fall asleep in the midst of the battle. You keep your clothes near at hand so you don't have to flee naked and ashamed. The seventh bowl of wrath is poured, poured out in verses 17 to 21. It's poured upon the air. The atmosphere around the air is judged, and God declares, all is over now. Rome has finally fallen. Verse 19. The great city was divided into three parts, means utterly destroyed, and it was given to Babylon to be remembered in the sight of God, so that she might drink the cup of the wine of his fierce wrath. And then John says that, you see, hail came down upon the people, and the hail was about the weight of a hundred pounds for each stone. In the Old Testament, it turns out that hail was used by God to fight off and ward off the enemies of Israel. Joshua 10:11, Ezekiel 38, 18 to 22. But here John saying, it's not just like that Old Testament hail. This is a hundred pound hail. Why? Well, because of the It's a dramatic judgment. It's far greater than anything the Old Testament anticipated. But perhaps there's a historical referent too, and with this we'll close. It turned out that it was common in the military prowess of the day for armies to use catapults and great stones that weighed, as Josephus said, about a talent. And the great stones that they used were white in color. And so the flinging through the air of these great stones about the weight of a talent being white might remind John you see, of the hundred pound talent like hail that's going to be used in the fall of Rome. So perhaps there's that historical reference too. Well, I'm sorry to rush the last few verses, more could be said, but if we're going to get to these crucial chapters 19 and 20 where all the debate is, before I finally have to move from this area, we're going to have to do this for a couple more weeks. That's the seven bowls of wrath and the Roman Empire John says, shall fall. Let's close in prayer. Lord, please steel us in our faith. Enable us to see that you are with us even to the end of the age. That you don't allow men to oppress us and to persecute us and even to take our lives. That you don't allow your people to suffer without you suffering with them and without you bringing vengeance against their tormentors. Lord, enable us to see that if we don't stand with you and if we aren't willing to undergo torment for you, that we will have to undergo the torment that you will bring against our oppressors. Lord, we pray that you would make us faithful then, that you'd make us watchful and alert so that even in this day of great battle between the kingdoms of the world and the kingdom of your son Jesus Christ, we would be found diligent servants who really advance the kingdom in this world, who see victory, who are those who overcome and enjoy the benefits of eternal life. For it's in Jesus name we pray. Amen.