The Bowls of Wrath - Part 1 - Revelation 16:1-11
INTRODUCTION:
Two Sundays ago in honor of our mothers we took a detour from the book of Revelation and looked at another letter written by the apostle John to a godly mother and her children. 2 John was written prior to John’s imprisonment on the island of Patmos where he received the visions he has recorded for us in the book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ.
Three weeks ago, we covered chapter 15 which was an introduction to the final seven bowls of God’s wrath about to be poured out on the earth. This morning we will begin looking at the bowls of wrath being poured out on the earth. We will not get through all of them this morning, but we will look at the first five of the seven. Some scholars believe that the bowl judgments are just a repeat of the seal or the trumpet judgments, and without a doubt there are some similarities between them, but there are many more differences then there are similarities, especially in the degree of devastation. The bowl judgments are worldwide, and more intense than any of the previous judgments. This is why they are called “the last” judgments.
If you remember the plagues that God sent on Egypt, you will see some similarities there as well. The seventh seal introduced the first trumpet, the seventh trumpet has now led to the first of the seven bowl judgments. Three weeks ago, the temple in heaven was filled with the smoke of God’s glory and power so that no one could enter the temple until the last judgments were carried out. Let’s pray and then get into chapter 16 this morning.
--PRAY--
SCRIPTURE:
Turn in your Bibles this morning to Revelation 16:1-11, the first five bowl judgments. Please stand if you are able in honor of the reading of God’s Word and follow along as I read.
Revelation 16:1-11,
“Then I heard a loud voice from the temple, saying to the seven angels, ‘Go and pour out on the earth the seven bowls of the wrath of God.’ So the first angel went and poured out his bowl on the earth; and it became a loathsome and malignant sore on the people who had the mark of the beast and who worshiped his image. The second angel poured out his bowl into the sea, and it became blood like that of a dead man; and every living thing in the sea died. Then the third angel poured out his bowl into the rivers and the springs of waters; and they became blood. And I heard the angel of the waters saying, ‘Righteous are You, who are and who were, O Holy One, because You judged these things; for they poured out the blood of saints and prophets, and You have given them blood to drink. They deserve it.’ And I heard the altar saying, ‘Yes, O Lord God, the Almighty, true and righteous are Your judgments.’ The fourth angel poured out his bowl upon the sun, and it was given to it to scorch men with fire. Men were scorched with fierce heat; and they blasphemed the name of God who has the power over these plagues, and they did not repent so as to give Him glory. Then the fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and his kingdom became darkened; and they gnawed their tongues because of pain, and they blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores; and they did not repent of their deeds.” (Revelation 16:1–11, NASB95)[1]
A LOUD VOICE (Revelation 16:1)
John opens this chapter saying that he heard a loud voice from the temple, remember two weeks ago that the temple was filled with the smoke of the glory and power of God and no one could enter it. This loud voice or as literally in the Greek, this great voice can be none other than the voice of God, since no one can enter the temple. God is speaking here to the seven angels who are holding the seven bowls of God’s wrath and the seven plagues.
God commands these seven angels to go and pour out the bowls of His wrath upon the earth. The time has come for the final judgments of God’s wrath to come upon sinful mankind. As all of God’s judgments, these seven bowls are supernatural acts of God, they must be viewed this way because there is no other way to explain them, the text does not accept a natural, scientific explanation. The judgments of the bowls will come far too rapidly for any explanation other than that they come from God Himself. Even those living on the earth will recognize that they are from God.
Remember the three things that I said we must understand as we begin to look at these seven plagues that are the last, because in them the wrath of God is finished. First, I said we must understand that the whole earth has gone mad after the beast, the Antichrist (except for God’s elect). They follow him, they worship him and his image as their god, they show their loyalty by receiving his mark. Second, we must understand that even as the nations prepare to invade Israel, these seven bowls are seven visitations from God in wrath on men while the Lord Jesus is yet absent from the earth. Third, we must understand that these seven bowl judgments are literal, there is no other reasonable interpretation possible.
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This fact puts them yet future, and the final result of these seven bowls of judgment is Jesus Christ will return and the destruction of the Antichrist and all who follow him will be swift and Jesus Christ will reign as King of the nations for a thousand years on this earth. Keep these things in mind as we move into verse 2, the command has gone forth from God from the temple, the last judgments of God are to be poured out.
THE FIRST BOWL (Revelation 16:2)
The first angel with the first bowl responds immediately to God’s command and went and poured out God’s wrath on the earth. As I said before these bowls are shallow saucers and they are not poured out gradually, but dumped all at once. The result of this bowl being dumped on the earth results in people being inflicted with sores. They are described as “loathsome and malignant” which translate two Greek words for evil. Used together as they are here, they stress that the sores will be festering, painful, and incurable. This Greek word for sore is the same that was used in the Greek translation of the Old Testament for the sores that came on the Egyptians as the fifth plague on Egypt.
These sores will bring unrelenting pain on those who have rejected Jesus Christ. Notice that there is a distinction made between those who have put their faith in Jesus Christ and those who worship the beast and his image and have the mark of the beast. It is only those who worship the image of the beast and have his mark that are afflicted with the sores. The beast whom they worship as a god is powerless to heal them of these painful sores.
THE SECOND BOWL (Revelation 16:3)
Still reeling from the first bowl being poured out, the second angel steps forward and dumps the second bowl of God’s wrath into the sea and it turns to blood like that of a dead man and every living thing in the sea died. The first plague in Egypt was the turning of the water in the Nile to blood, and the second trumpet turned a third of the seas to blood. But this bowl’s effect is so much more intense. The oceans of the world cover about seventy percent of the earth’s surface and this is all turned to blood.
Is this actual blood? The verse says that it became blood like that of a dead man. God could do this, the word that John uses that is translated became is the Greek verb “to be” or “to come to exist as.” Being that it was like that of a dead man seems to mean that it has thickened and everything living in the oceans of the world died. The stench of the blood and of the decaying bodies of every living thing in the seas will be unimaginable. John MacArthur writes, “The transforming of the world’s seas into putrid pools of stinking death will be a graphic testimony to the wickedness of man and a reversal to the day when God originally gave life to all sea creatures (Genesis 1:21).”[2] Ocean travel and transport will cease to exist at this point drastically reducing the transport of goods to the world’s ports. This will compound the shortages that already exist due to the earlier judgments.
THE THIRD BOWL (Revelation 16:4-7)
Still suffering from the effects of the first bowl, not having recovered from the fact that the oceans of the world are filled with blood and death; the third angel comes and dumps the third bowl of God’s wrath into the rivers and springs of water on the earth and they became blood. Already freshwater is in short supply because the third trumpet had poisoned a third of the world’s freshwater. The destruction of all of earth’s fresh water will cause unthinkable hardship and suffering. When the Nile was turned to blood they were able to dig around it to find water to drink (Exodus 7:24). Here we are not told if that is possible.
After this devastating bowl of God’s wrath is poured out into the rivers and springs of the world we are introduced to the angel of the waters, now whether this is the angel that poured the bowl of God’s wrath on the springs and rivers or this is another angel who is God’s overseer of the earth’s waters, we are not told, but this angel speaks and defends God’s righteous judgment. The angel speaks, “Righteous are You, who are and who were, O Holy One, because You judged these things; for they poured out the blood of saints and prophets, and You have given them blood to drink. They deserve it.” (Revelation 16:5b–6, NASB95)[3] God’s judgment of sinners is without a doubt righteous because He is the Holy One. He is the Holy One from eternity past and He is the Holy One now at the end times and for all of eternity. Because He is holy, His wrath against sin is terrifying and deadly, it is a just and appropriate response to sinners who have rejected Him.
John writes that he heard the altar respond in agreement with the angel of the waters, saying, “Yes, O Lord God, the Almighty, true and righteous are Your judgments.” (Revelation 16:7b, NASB95)[4] John may not have heard the altar, but the praise of the saints to God for answer to their prayers that God judge the wicked. The souls under the altar of those martyred during the Tribulation had asked God back in chapter 6:10, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” (Revelation 6:10, NASB95)[5] That judgment has come, and they give praise to God that His judgments are true and righteous.
THE FOURTH BOWL (Revelation 16:8-9)
As the fourth angel come forth he does not pour bowl of God’s wrath that he has out on the earth, but instead he dumps it on to the sun. The sun will be superheated by God so that it is able to scorch men with fire. Searing heat exceeding anything in human experience will burn men so severely that it will seem that the atmosphere is on fire. Again, this plague seems to be directed to those who have the mark of the beast and worship his image, because in the Greek it literally says, “and it was given to him (the sun) to scorch the men with fire.” This article used with men implies that those saints living on the earth at this time do not suffer from this plague, and possibly it does not affect animals, but only those who worship the beast.
Another possible consequence of this intense heat is the melting of the polar ice caps causing the oceans of blood to rise and submerge coastal regions miles inland with the putrid waters of the dead oceans. This could cause widespread damage and loss of life, just adding to the misery of the already devastated planet.
Some believe that if only sinful man knew the power and righteous judgment of God they would repent, but if they did not repent when God’s grace was offered, they will not repent at His judgment. The people affected by this plague of the sun recognized that it was God who has the power over this plague and all those they have suffered before it, but they do not repent before God, instead they blaspheme His name. Until this point we have only read in Revelation of the Antichrist blaspheming, here those following him adopt his wicked character and refuse to repent which would give glory to God as the just and righteous Judge. Instead they blaspheme His name even though their so-called savior, the Antichrist cannot do anything to alleviate the pain and suffering caused by these plagues.
THE FIFTH BOWL (Revelation 16:10-11)
The fifth angel came forth with the fifth bowl of God’s wrath and he dumped it on the throne of the beast and darkness came to the kingdom of the beast. It is best not to try and determine where the throne of the beast is, it is best to see it as a reference to his kingdom. Does this darkness extend all over the world? Are there pockets of light where the saints of God are? We are not told, when God brought darkness on the land of Egypt, the area where the Israelites lived was not darkened. We are not told here if God will make a distinction between those who are His and those who have rejected Him to follow the Antichrist.
For those who have rejected Christ the cumulative effect of the painful sores, the fouled oceans, lack of drinking water, the intense heat, all engulfed in thick blackness, will bring unbearable misery. This will not even bring repentance of those who have rejected Christ. We are told that they gnawed their tongues because of the intense, unending pain of the sores they were afflicted with, and they blasphemed the God of heaven for afflicting them with the pain and with their sores, but they did not repent of their wicked deeds. They recognized that the pain and the sores and all that had happened was judgment from the God of heaven, but they did not repent. This is the last reference in Revelation to the unwillingness of man to repent. The final two bowls which we will look at next week, these final bowls contain the severest of all the judgments, and will set the stage for the return of Jesus Christ to put an end to hardened, unrepentant and defiant sinners.
CONCLUSION:
This morning we have begun to look at the final or the last judgments of God on unrepentant mankind, on man who has turned his back on God even when acknowledging that the judgments they are experiencing are from the God they have turned their back on. They have refused to repent of their sin and recognize that God is the Sovereign Almighty Creator and Sustainer of the universe, and because they refuse to recognize this they will die in their sin and go into an eternity of intense suffering in the Lake of Fire. What they do not realize is at the Great White throne judgment they will recognize who God is and they will recognize the sacrifice that was made for them in the death of Jesus Christ, but it will be too late. Philippians 2:9-11 tells us that because of the sacrifice Christ made on our behalf, “For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:9–11, NASB95)[6] I praise God that I will be making this confession because I recognized who Jesus Christ was while I was still alive on the earth and I agreed with God that I was a sinner (I repented of my sin) and believed that Jesus died in my place taking God’s wrath for me on Himself and that He was buried and three days later rose from the dead proving that God’s wrath for my sin was satisfied because of my faith in Jesus Christ death and resurrection. I freely make this confession in Philippians now and throughout eternity, I thank God that I will not have to make it when it is too late as those who will be at the Great White Throne judgment because they refused to repent when they were alive on the earth.
[1]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. La Habra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[2]MacArthur, John, Because the Time is Near : John MacArthur explains the book of Revelation. Chicago, IL : Moody Publishers, 2007
[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