The Bowls of Wrath - Part 2 - Revelation 16:12-21
INTRODUCTION:
This morning as we learn about the sixth and seventh bowls of God’s wrath we will begin to see the gathering that must take place at Armageddon before the Lord Jesus Christ can return to claim His throne and rule victoriously and gloriously over the whole world from Jerusalem.
Let’s pray and get back into chapter 16 again this morning to finish it up.
--PRAY--
SCRIPTURE:
Revelation 16:12-21,
“The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river, the Euphrates; and its water was dried up, so that the way would be prepared for the kings from the east. And I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs; for they are spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them together for the war of the great day of God, the Almighty. (‘Behold, I am coming like a thief. Blessed is the one who stays awake and keeps his clothes, so that he will not walk about naked and men will not see his shame.’) And they gathered them together to the place which in Hebrew is called Har-Magedon. Then the seventh angel poured out his bowl upon the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple from the throne, saying, ‘It is done.’ And there were flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder; and there was a great earthquake, such as there had not been since man came to be upon the earth, so great an earthquake was it, and so mighty. The great city was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. Babylon the great was remembered before God, to give her the cup of the wine of His fierce wrath. And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. And huge hailstones, about one hundred pounds each, came down from heaven upon men; and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, because its plague was extremely severe.” (Revelation 16:12–21, NASB95)[1]
THE SIXTH BOWL (Revelation 16:12-16)
The first five bowls had a cumulative effect on those living on the earth, first the painful sores, followed by the fouled oceans, then the lack of drinking water, followed by intense heat and enduring it all in thick blackness and this all came rapid fire one right after the other. Unlike these first five bowls, the sixth bowl has no specific plague on humanity attached to it but prepares for what is to come.
The angel with the sixth bowl of God’s wrath poured it out on the Euphrates river. This is not the first time that the Euphrates river has been mentioned in Revelation. Earlier it was mentioned in connection with the sixth trumpet judgment in Revelation 9:14, when 200 million demons who were bound near the river were released. This river is considered the longest and most significant river in the Middle East and that is why it is called “the Great River.”
The Euphrates river begins in the snowfields and ice cap high on the slopes of Mt. Ararat which is located in modern Turkey. From there it flows about 1800 miles before emptying into the Persian Gulf. It was one of the rivers that flowed from the Garden of Eden, it also formed the Eastern boundary of the land that God gave to Israel. Along with the nearby Tigris river the Euphrates river is still the lifeblood of the Fertile Crescent.
Before the sixth bowl is poured out on the Euphrates river it will be very different than it is today or has ever been. First all of its water will have been turned to blood, then with the intense heat from the superheated sun in the fourth bowl the snow and the ice cap will melt which will flush the blood out into the Persian Gulf, but the vast volume of water from the quickly melting snow and ice will cause massive damage and flooding along its course. This will probably destroy the bridges spanning the river, and this is the reason for the sixth bowl. The angel dumps the sixth bowl on the Euphrates river and the waters of the river are dried up, so that the way is prepared for the kings from the east, or literally the kings from the rising sun. The eastern armies will need to get across the Euphrates river to reach their ultimate destination of Armageddon in the land of Israel. Why are they coming, possibly this is an uprising against the one world government and its inability to do anything about the plagues being inflicted upon them.
This drying up of the waters of the Euphrates by God is not an act of kindness to the kings and armies of the east, instead it is an act of judgment. The kings of the east and their armies will be entering a deadly trap. The evaporation of the Euphrates will lead them to their doom, just as the parting of the Red Sea led to the destruction of the Egyptian army in the exodus of Israel out of Egypt.
John’s vision of the sixth bowl judgment is not finished, he is allowed to see what is happening on the earth with the unholy trinity, and what he sees is like something out of a horror movie. John witnessed coming out of the mouth of the dragon, who is Satan, out of the mouth of the beast, who is the Antichrist, and out of the mouth of the false prophet, the world religious leader for the worship of the Antichrist and his image, out of their mouths came three unclean spirits like frogs. John goes on to tell us that these frog-like spirits are demons. So, from their mouths (symbolizing the source of influence) came foul, unclean spirits. Frogs were unclean creatures, these however are not actual frogs, but spirits of demons, they are sent out into the world to all the kings of the world to gather them together, and they are given miraculous signs which they can perform to authenticate their message to gather to the Antichrist for what John tells us is not the battle of Armageddon, but the war of the great day of God, the Almighty. The war in which God will show the world that He is the Supreme, Sovereign Lord of the Universe. These kings and their armies from around the world may be lured to Israel under the pretense of stopping a rebellion about to come from the kings of the east against the Antichrist but in reality, they will be coming to fight against God in Satan’s attempt to stop the reign of Jesus Christ on the earth.
But in the midst of all the horrors of judgment, deception, and war comes a word of encouragement to those who have put their faith in Jesus Christ during the Tribulation and are still living on the earth. The promise comes from the Lord Jesus Christ to those believers living on the earth. Jesus says, “Behold, I am coming like a thief. Blessed is the one who stays awake and keeps his clothes, so that he will not walk about naked and men will not see his shame.” (Revelation 16:15, NASB95)[2] These words of encouragement and grace will come from heaven before the seventh bowl of wrath is poured out to assure the believers living through this time that they are not forgotten. Jesus promises that He is coming, but His coming will be like a thief, it will be unannounced and sudden. Jesus then gives the third of seven beatitudes in the book of Revelation. He pronounces a blessing on those who stay awake, that is those who are prepared for His arrival even though it will not be announced. The imagery that Jesus uses is one of a soldier alert and on duty. Only a soldier who stays awake and keeps his clothes on is ready for combat. Jesus promises blessing for those whom He finds prepared when He returns.
After this brief verse of encouragement and blessing for those believers still alive on the earth at this time; the passage returns to the prophecy of the sixth bowl and the deceiving, demonic spirits will have returned from their mission of deceiving the nations and they will gather the deceived kings and their armies in a place called in Hebrew “Har-Magedon.” “Har-Magedon” means “Mount Megiddo,” because there is no specific mount with this name, it can refer also to the hill country that surrounds the plain of Megiddo about sixty miles north of Jerusalem. Many battles have been fought in this region, in English we call it Armageddon which will be the focal point of the of the war that takes place throughout the whole length of Israel. The forces of the Antichrist will assemble there.
THE SEVENTH BOWL (Revelation 16:17-21)
Then we read that the seventh angel comes forth and pours the seventh bowl of God’s wrath upon the air and John immediately heard a loud or great voice coming out of the temple in heaven from the throne. This is God’s voice that John hears again, and He declares, “It is done.” This declaration from God announces the climax of the final day of the Lord, the perfect tense of this statement describes a completed action with ongoing results. This seventh bowl is the final outpouring of God’s wrath on sinners in this present earth. The effects of this bowl will carry us all the way to the establishment of the earthly millennial kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ cried, “It is finished.” (John 19:30) when He died on the cross, which is similar to God’s declaration of “It is done” Jesus statement was that salvation had been purchased for repentant sinners, God’s statement was that doom was declared on unrepentant sinners.
John describes the dramatic affect the seventh bowl had on the atmosphere. There were sounds and peals of thunder and lightning. John had described these effects with some of the other judgments, but here it is so much greater, it is a very violent thunderstorm that John describes, the earlier ones were only previews of this one that will be world-wide in its scope.
Though the seventh bowl was dumped on the air, it will have a devastating effect on the earth. This final judgment on the earth will come in an earthshaking earthquake that will be the most powerful earthquake the world has ever known. John described it as “…a great earthquake, such as there had not been since man came to be upon the earth, so great an earthquake was it, and so mighty.” (Revelation 16:18b, NASB95)[3] So great and mighty will this earthquake be that it will renovate and reconfigure the earth in preparation for the millennial kingdom, it will restore it to something like its pre-flood condition.
The first effect of this mighty earthquake is that it will split the great city into three parts. The great city is the same phrase that John used in Revelation 11:8 as the great city of Jerusalem. That John sets this city off as distinct from the rest of the cities of the nations or Gentiles offers further evidence that this is Jerusalem. This severe earthquake will split Jerusalem into three parts, beginning a series of geographic changes to the city and the surrounding area that will be concluded when the Lord Jesus returns. The Old Testament prophet Zechariah and others talk about these changes. The purpose of the earthquake for Jerusalem is not to judge it, but to enhance it in preparation for the millennial kingdom.
Unlike Jerusalem that was enhanced by the earthquake, the cities of the nations fell at the shaking of the earth. Babylon the great is also singled out as she is remembered before God, and He will give her the cup of the wine of His fierce wrath. Babylon will be the capital of the Antichrist’s empire and it will suffer especially God’s wrath which we will look at in more detail in chapters 17-18.
The final effect of this great and mighty world-wide earthquake will be to drastically change the landscape of the earth preparing it for the millennial reign of the Lord Jesus Christ. John writes in verse 20, “And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found.” (Revelation 16:20, NASB95)[4] If you remember the sixth seal when it was opened (Revelation 6:12-14) every island and mountain were moved out of their places. That was the beginning of this topographical change to the earth, here in the seventh bowl of wrath it is finished with the islands of the world’s oceans disappearing, an island is an underwater mountain and they will either be flattened or pushed into some other land mass. The mountains of the earth will be flattened so that cannot be found. Our Scripture reading this morning described some of this topographical change that will culminate at the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. The last two verses of our Scripture reading in Zechariah 14:10-11 states, “All the land will be changed into a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem; but Jerusalem will rise and remain on its site from Benjamin’s Gate as far as the place of the First Gate to the Corner Gate, and from the Tower of Hananel to the king’s wine presses. People will live in it, and there will no longer be a curse, for Jerusalem will dwell in security.” (Zechariah 14:10–11, NASB95)[5] Jerusalem will stand above all the other land around it because all will be made like a plain. The earth will be drastically altered before the return of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Those who somehow escape the devastating effects of the earthquake will face another fierce effect of the seventh bowl of God’s wrath, huge hailstones will be hurled to the earth from the heavens. John states that these hailstones that came down on men were about 100 pounds apiece. This phrase translated, “about one hundred pounds” is a Greek phrase that describes the most weight a normal man could carry anywhere from 90 to 135 pounds. The heaviest hailstones ever recorded were about two pounds, these will be 50 times heavier. Many people will be killed by these massive hailstones because of inadequate cover or no cover due to the devastation caused by the great earthquake.
The survivors of this hailstorm will blaspheme God because of the plague of hail, because this plague was extremely severe. It is amazing to see that tortured by judgments from God and recognizing that the judgments are from the God of heaven, humanity remains hardened against God. This truth should cause those who believe that signs and wonders will convince people to believe the Gospel to understand that if they are hardened in their heart against God then signs and wonders will make no difference. This is a sad reminder that some will never repent and turn from their evil ways. But we do not know who those people are, so we must continue to pray for people and be a witness to those God brings in our path.
CONCLUSION:
These final two bowls of wrath are poured out very near the end of the Tribulation. The seventh bowl will conclude in the glorious appearing of Jesus Christ who will quickly defeat those who turn from battling one another to wage war against Christ. The battle of Armageddon will quickly turn into the war of the great day of God, the Almighty. First, however, we must learn about Babylon and its destruction. Chapters 17-18 are a parenthesis for us to learn about the fall of Babylon.
What can we take away from this message for ourselves? First, we can thank God that we will not be here on the earth during this terrible time of judgment, if we have repented of our sins and put our faith in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and we belong to Jesus Christ through salvation we will be resurrected or raptured before any of this judgment begins.
If you have not repented of your sin, and have not put your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, believing that He died on your behalf, paying the penalty for your sin and that He was buried and three days later rose from the dead proving that God accepted His payment for sin. If you have not done this I urge you to do so today before it is too late and God’s grace is ended and His awful wrath begins. Listen to the words of the author of Hebrews, he wrote in the end of Hebrews 4:7, “TODAY IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE, DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEARTS.” (Hebrews 4:7, NASB95)[6] Put your faith in Jesus Christ today!
[1]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. La Habra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[2]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. La Habra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[3]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. La Habra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[4]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. La Habra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[5]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. La Habra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[6]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. La Habra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995