The Seven Bowls: A Righteous and Just Judgment
Revelation • Sermon • Submitted
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· 7 viewsOne day God will be glorified in justice as he pours out his wrath against those who have rejected and opposed him.
Notes
Transcript
Read Rev. 16:1-21
Prayer
Introduction: I want you to think of the best, most expensive, and most amazing gift that you could give anyone. What would it be? A new car; a new house; land; maybe a trust fund. Let’s pretend it’s a complete restored classic sports car! Now, imagine that you go and spend the evening with this special someone in order to present them with the gift, and then, finally, after everything is said and done, you head back home. ---- Fast-forward, now, to several months down the road to a sunny Saturday morning when you decide to drop in and check out how they’ve been doing with that gift you gave them. You’re expecting to see that sports car all shined up and waxed with the interior being absolutely spotless, but instead what do you find? ---- You find it parked inside a barn with chickens roosting in the grill and wharf rats making their home inside the car seats! There’s also a goat laying on top of the roof munching on leaves that came from a tree that fell through the unclosed barn door someone conveniently forgot to close. ---- You stand there in complete and total amazement. What are you going to do; what are you going to say? I mean think about it, the person you gave this gift to started out with a bang didn’t they! They were extremely grateful when you showed up at their house, and surely you would have thought they could have taken care of the gift you gave them! ---- (This is a really good place for the pregnant pause.) This quick story I’ve given you, although probably not the best example, makes me think of the first few chapters of Genesis. Mankind was given the earth and everything in it. He was given the command by the Creator to be fruitful and multiply, spreading the knowledge of God across the land from Eden until the earth was bursting at the seams, but what did we do? He started out well, but Scripture tells us that it wasn’t long until he chose the evil instead of the good; he chose what he wanted instead of what God had commanded, and because of it he paid the price of being banished from Eden. But even in his expulsion from paradise God cared for mankind, supplying needs and seeing to it that men and women young and old were given food to eat, shelter from the weather, and clothing to wear, but most of all God saw fit to supply mankind with a redeemer, Jesus Christ. ---- Because of this, what does mankind do? One would think he’d be overly grateful, but instead he spits in the face of God and then nails his Son to a cross, and all the while it’s still part of God’s plan of redemption! That brings up a lot of questions doesn’t it, about why everyone does fall on their knees in thankfulness and give their life to Christ. But the Scriptures clearly tell us that at our core, we’re all evil, doing all we can to shun God and follow our own path, and friends, when it boils right down to it, that’s why Revelation 16 is in your Bible. It’s placed near the end to show us that one day God will be glorified in justice as he pours out his wrath against those who have rejected and opposed him. I would like to take the next few minutes with you to look at this amazing and scary chapter in God’s word, and just a few quick truths it teaches us today. Let’s look at the first portion of the text which runs from Rev. 16:1 through 16:7. Unbelievers Will Face Judgement as a Witness to God’s Justice
16:1-16:7 “Unbelievers Will Face Judgement as a Witness to God’s Justice”
The first thing I want to point out to you about these verses is the rapid-fire succession of these final judgements. If you were to go back and read through the seven trumpets, you’d see that there at least looks to be some reprieve in them between the sixths and seventh trumpet judgements. In the seven bowls of chapter 16 (vials: KJV), that’s just not the case. Here’s one of the major things I think John is trying to get across to us, he wants to make sure we know that by this point in history, God has said, “Enough!”, and the time has come when unbelievers will face judgement as a witness to God’s justice. Now, hopefully you’ll pick up the fact that each one of the seven bowl judgments finds a referent point in the plagues God rained down on Egypt way back in the OT. The point, church, is that here we’re seeing what we might call the second exodus of God’s people, those who are followers of Christ. This time, however, that exodus is into the true and final promised land, to which the land of Canaan only pointed. ---- Take a look at the first bowl in v.2. We’re told that “2 … harmful and painful sores came upon the people who bore the mark of the beast and worshiped its image”. Now, I really want you to catch the fact that this plague, this judgement, only effects those who what? ---- Those “2 … who bore the mark of the beast and worshiped its image”. I want you to see this because it serves to illuminate the truth that this mark, whatever it is, whatever form it might take in the future, it’s not something you will unknowingly take. Why(?), because in order to take the mark, and for it to actually have any real meaning, you’ll have to offer worship to the beast. How believers are protected from this, differs from one interpreter to another. Some say we will be removed from the earth, while others say, no, we’ll be protected through it all. Either way, those who belong to Christ are promised God’s protection and that, my friends, should be of the utmost comfort to you! ---- Look at vv.3 and 4. In these verses God rains down more judgement on unbelievers, but unlike the first bowl, which was carried out by a sole angel, plagues three and four, which are carried out by the third and fourth angels, are both interconnected. How(?) Well, let me attempt to show you. First, notice that in v.3, the second bowl judgement affects the sea by killing off everything in it. The KJV nails it here by saying that “3 … every living soul died in the sea”. This death and devastation occurs because, just like in the Exodus plague, the water turns to blood, but take note of the fact that in v.3 this plague affects the sea (i.e. the ocean), that’s really important. Now, look at v.4. “4The third angel poured out his bowl into the rivers and the springs of water, and they became blood.” What aspect of the creation does this third plague affect? ---- It affects the fresh water sources which are necessary to sustain human life, whereas the second bowl judgement affected the sea, or in other words, the salt water. Herein lies the interconnectedness of the second and third bowl judgements. The sea, or the oceans of this world, are a vast avenue of human commerce, and that was especially the case for John’s first-century readers, just as it is still the case for us today in the twenty-first century, and what happens, church, if there is no commerce, no transport of goods and services via this vast international network? ---- Society, as we know it, crumbles. And when you add to that the complete lack of fresh water and its life sustaining properties what happens? ---- Death(!) on a scale unparalleled in human history, and that, friends, is a just judgement for those who have neglected and refused to worship the creator and have instead worshipped his creation! How can I say such a thing? Note what the angel (and the alter) say in vv.5-7, “5 … Just are you, O Holy One, who is and who was, for you brought these judgments. 6For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and you have given them blood to drink. It is what they deserve!” 7And I heard the altar saying, “Yes, Lord God the Almighty, true and just are your judgments!” (Appeal) Let me pause there to ask you, if what’s described in these verses were to begin tomorrow, would you be part of it? ---- If you can’t answer that question with an unequivocal and resounding “NO!”, or you’re not sure, then you need to make sure before it’s too late! How(?), by calling out to God, asking him to save you, and giving your life to Jesus Christ, he is your only hope! Let’s look now at vv.8-11.
16:8-11 “Even in Judgment, there is Still a Call for Repentance”
One of the most amazing things to me, when you read the book of Revelation closely, is that for all of the scenes of judgement you’re presented with, for all God is presented as the God who judges, he is at one and the same time presented as the God who continues to call people to come to him. One of the clearest places you see that is in vv. 8-11 because they show you that even in judgement, there is still a call for repentance. Here’s what I mean. If you take a look at the beginning of vv.8 and 10, what you’ll notice is that a given angel pours out his bowl and then something happens. In v.8 “8The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun and it was allowed to scorch people with fire”, and then in v.10, “10The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness”. In each of these instances you’d think people would be wholehearted repent, especially given what’s said about them being “scorched by the fierce heat” (v.9), and that they “gnawed their tongues in anguish” (v.10), but instead what do the people do in each instance? ---- Both vv.9 and 11 tell us that they “cursed (blasphemed) the name of God” and “did not repent”! So, what was sent to bring about the repentance and turning of unbelievers actually serves to cement them all the more in their anger and hatred for God. Note that that I didn’t say that it served to cement them more in their unbelief that God exists. Why do you think I said it like that? ---- Listen to what Paul says in the first chapter of Romans, “18For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse” (Rom. 1:18–20). Friend, you may well be listening to me today, and all the while you’ve been saying under your breath, “I don’t buy a word he’s saying, there’s no God out there who’s going to judge me!” But I would be willing to argue, on the basis of the word of God, Scripture, that deep down inside, in the most secret recesses of your heart, you know what I’m telling you is the truth. You know that one day you’ll have to answer for all that you’ve done. Oh, and by the way, that also goes for anyone out there who might be what you’d term as a “so-called” follower of Christ (i.e. that’s those who might think the world has a monopoly on defining what’s right and wrong). Some people might not like this, but it needs to be said that Paul was crystal clear with what he wrote in 1 Cor. 6:9 and 10, “9 Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; Neither the sexually immoral not idolaters not adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders 10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God” (NIV84). That, my friends, is what’s known as a vice list, and each one of those things are a sin because they’re all willful choices people make in rebellion against God! (Oprah doesn’t dictate what sin is, God does!). But listen to what Paul says next in 1 Cor. 6:11, “11 And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of God” (NIV84). Listen to me, come in real close, because this is something you need to hear and understand, if you love your sin so much as to shun God and stay in it, there will come a time when he completely gives you over to it, and that’s what you see when you read the end of Rev. 16. (Appeal) Now, ask yourself the question, “Is that what I want, to hang on to my sin and fall under the judgement of a holy and righteous God?” I’m here today offering you a one-way ticket out of it, but you have to call on the name of Christ and be saved! ---- Let’s finish with vv.12-21. In the end evil be defeated, so make sure you finish well.
16:12-21 “In the End Evil will be Defeated, So Make Sure You Finish Well”
In these verses you read about the 6th and 7th angels pouring out their bowls. Now, let’s just be upfront and say here that we could spend a lot of time talking about these verses, especially v.16 which mentions “Armageddon”, and I would encourage you to read up on that subject. That said, I’m not going to tell you exactly what I think about this battle of Armageddon. I say that because the popular interpretation of this battle that you see by so-called prophecy experts and in some really famous study Bibles is based more on a system of theology than what’s actually written in the text of Scripture itself. Nevertheless, vv.12-21 do point us to one clear point, and that’s this, in the end evil will be defeated. Look at what v.17 says, “17 The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple from the throne, saying, “It is done!” Now, I don’t know how much clearer you could be than that, “It is done” (lit. it has come to pass), judgement has come. Verses 18-21 finish up this section by giving a horrifying but brief description of a massive earthquake and enormous hailstones falling from the sky on people. Certainly, this is a scene you don’t want to be part of when it happens, and that’s why it’s really important for you to make sure you finish what you started, and that you finish well. I’d like to conclude with a brief illustration.
Illustration / Appeal / Conclusion: According to Tim Franklin in the Chicago Tribune, in the 1996 summer Olympics in Atlanta, the U.S. women’s softball team lost only one game, and it was a game they should have won. Here’s why.
In the fifth inning, with the score tied 0–0, U.S. player Dani Tyler clubbed a home run over the fence. She took her home run trot around the bases, and when she reached home, amid the excitement and congratulations and high-fives from her teammates, she failed to tag home plate. When she reached the dugout, the opposing team of Australians tagged home, and the umpire at first base agreed that she had stepped right over the plate.
Tyler had to return to third base, where she was stranded. The score remained 0–0 until the end of regulation play.
The U.S. scored a run in the top half of the tenth inning. Then in the bottom of the inning, one strike away from defeat, an Australian player hit a two-run homer to win the game for Australia. The loss was an emotional blow to the American team, and especially to Dani Tyler. “I just can’t believe I missed it,” she said after the game. “I didn’t know anything about it until I was in the dugout.”
How easy it is to feel that if we have started well, the job is done. We knock the ball over the fence and assume the rest will take care of itself. Not so! How we finish is crucial.
-Let me ask you today, how do you plan to finish? Maybe you stated well, maybe you were on fire for Jesus at first, but now that flame is almost ready to go out. Don’t let that happen to you, come to Christ, return to Christ, while there’s still time because a day is coming when God will be glorified in justice as he pours out his wrath against those who oppose him.[1]
Invitation
Closing Prayer
[1] Craig Brian Larson, 750 Engaging Illustrations for Preachers, Teachers & Writers (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2002), 175–176.