Revelation 5-17: The Wrath of the Lamb

The New Bride we are told is the New Jerusalem. The New Covenant Israel. All people who have been saved through faith in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

So the book of Revelation is Covenantal.

It is about God putting away of the Old Covenant Harlot Bride, the Old Jerusalem, to make way for the New. The New Jerusalem coming down from heaven as a Bride adorned for her husband.

That’s the Church. The True Israel. The New Covenant people of God washed and sanctified by the blood of the Lamb.

And let me make it explicitly clear. The Church doesn’t replace Israel. It is the continuation and fulfillment of Israel.

The Church, Israel, the people of God are all people Old and New Covenant who were circumcised in heart through faith in the Messiah.

Old Covenant saints looked forward to the Messiah promised, New Covenant saints look back to the Messiah crucified and raised again.

But by rejecting Jesus the Jews of Jesus’ day broke covenant and turned their backs on God. Like Paul says in Romans 11, the natural branches were cut off from the Tree of Israel.

That’s why all the judgments in Revelation, all the Seals, Trumpets, and Bowls are ultimately about Old Covenant Israel.

They are covenantal judgments that ultimately describe what happened the Great Tribulation and Destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70.

The same Great Tribulation that Jesus talked about in the Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24.

And this covenantal judgment is poured out in the Seals, Trumpets, and Bowls in what all together Revelation calls the Wrath of the Lamb.

The Wrath of Christ for crucifying Him and persecuting His church.

But before we get to that wrath, and all that it entailed, let’s look at who that wrath was for. The Harlot Bride, Babylon the Great.

I. Harlot Babylon is Apostate Old Covenant Israel

After the last Bowl of God’s wrath, the Bowls that finish the wrath of God, John has his 3rd In the Spirit vision, which acts kind of like a reset. Still connected to the rest of the book, but something that gives us a whole new perspective.

And in that vision, John tells us who the Wrath of the Lamb was all about.

Revelation 17:1-6,Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the judgment of the great prostitute who is seated on many waters, with whom the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality, and with the wine of whose sexual immorality the dwellers on earth have become drunk.” And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness, and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was full of blasphemous names, and it had seven heads and ten horns.

The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her sexual immorality. And on her forehead was written a name of mystery: “Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes and of earth’s abominations.” And I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. When I saw her, I marveled greatly.

Babylon the Great. The Harlot Bride. Riding a 7 headed scarlet beast, drunk on the blood of the Saints.

Who is this woman.

Well like I said, she represents apostate Old Covenant Israel. The Old Jerusalem. Who rejected Christ and persecuted His church.

By crucifying Christ they broke covenant with God which is why all of these covenantal judgments are poured out.

Well how do I know that? How do I know John is talking about 1st Century Old Covenant Israel who crucified the Lord?

John explicitly tells us. Look at verse 18.

Revelation 17:18 And the woman that you saw is the great city that has dominion over the kings of the earth.

Remember, Israel was called to rule the nations. Under the Old Covenant she was the Kingdom of God on earth, and God called her to be a light to the nations. To rule by brining them into obedience to God.

And John specifically says she is the great city. That’s our clue. There is one time in Revelation where John defines what city that is.

Its in Revelation 11:8 And their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city that symbolically is called Sodom and Egypt, [and here it is] where their Lord was crucified.

Where was Jesus crucified? Jerusalem.

All the judgments in Revelation come into focus on the Destruction of Jerusalem, the Harlot Babylon, in 70 AD.

Or like Jesus said Truly, I say to you, there will not be one stone left here upon another that will not be thrown down (Matthew 24:2).

And with that information the rest of the passage clicks into place because all the facts John tells us about the Harlot points to the Priesthood of Israel.

She rides the Scarlet Beast. That’s Rome (Rev. 17:3-6).

Israel said We have no king, but Caesar!

John 11:48 the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.

Jerusalem most certainly rode the beast.

She is clothed in Purple and Scarlet with gold, jewels, and pearls.

Those are the clothes of the Priesthood. Exodus 28:15-21 You shall make a breastpiece of judgment, in skilled work. In the style of the ephod you shall make it—of gold, blue and purple and scarlet yarns...You shall set in it four rows of [precious] stones…[and] They shall be set in gold filigree.

The name on her forehead, “Babylon the Great, mother of prostitutes and of the earth’s abominations,” contradicts what was supposed to be written on the Priest’s forehead.

They were supposed to have a plate of pure gold engraved with “Holy to the Lord” but now she was anything but holy (Ex. 28:36-38).

Talking about adulterous Israel, Jeremiah 3:3 says You have a harlot’s forehead. The same idea John is getting at here.

She carries a golden cup full of the abominations and impurities of her adultery which verse 6 tells us is the blood of the martyrs of Jesus because she is drunk with the blood of the saints.

That is undoubtedly Jerusalem Because Jesus said Matthew 23:31-35 You are sons of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers....I send you prophets and wise men and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and persecute from town to town, so that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on earth.

That also explains why she has made the nations that dwell on the earth become drunk.

She is constantly pushing Rome to help her persecute the church. And eventually Rome gives in and becomes drunk on the blood of the saints themselves.

And ultimately she is a Harlot.

Over and over and over again, the Old Testament talks about Israel being betrothed to God as her covenantal husband.

And the Bible uses harlotry language to describe Israel apostasy. Their breaking covenant with God to worship idols.

She is a Harlot because she commits spiritual adultery.

And there was no greater adultery than when Israel said we have no king but Caesar and crucified the Lord of glory.

Probably one of the most famous passages Israel’s harlotry and the judgment she deserves is Ezekiel 16.

And when you hear this, you can’t help but think John had to have had this passage on his mind when he wrote about the Harlot Babylon

This was about Israel.

Ezekiel 16:35-41 Therefore, O prostitute, hear the word of the Lord: Thus says the Lord God, Because your lust was poured out and your nakedness uncovered in your [harlotry]...I will judge you as women who commit adultery and shed blood are judged, and bring upon you the blood of wrath and jealousy. And I will give you into their hands, and they shall throw down your vaulted chamber and break down your lofty places.

They shall strip you of your clothes and take your beautiful jewels and leave you naked and bare. They shall bring up a crowd against you, and they shall stone you and cut you to pieces with their swords. And they shall burn your houses and execute judgments upon you.

And what happens to the Harlot Babylon in Revelation 17?

The Beast makes desolate, naked, and devours her flesh and burns her with fire (Rev. 17:16).

Exactly what Rome did to Jerusalem in AD 70.

Do you see the parallels?

Babylon was the prototypical picture for the Kingdom of Darkness and enemy of God and His people.

And by rejecting Christ and persecuting the Church, Jerusalem became the unthinkable.

They became an all new Babylon who broke covenant with the Lord.

When you consider everything John says to describe the Harlot in light of the Old Testament, everything about her points to Apostate, Old Covenant Israel.

That’s why I say all the judgments God poured out in the Seals, Trumpets, and Bowls of Revelation are all covenantal judgments

They are not arbitrary or random. They are covenantally focused. Why?

Because they are the curses God promised in Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28 for Israel breaking God’s Covenant and abandoning the Lord.

So let’s look at them.

And here’s what we are going to do. We don’t have time to look at all 21 judgments in detail.

So I am going to give you the Big Picture, theological idea behind each set of judgments.

What is that set of judgments emphasizing covenantally? That’s what I want you to remember.

The individual judgments are just going to be brief punches along the way.

And to do that, let me give you a helpful framework that might help you understand what’s going on.

Now this is unique to me, I’m not saying this is exactly what John had in mind when he wrote this book, but I do think its helpful.

If we stick with the theme of a Covenant Trial of God’s Harlot wife, you can think each set of judgments as a different aspect that trial.

The 7 Seals are Christ’s Covenant Lawsuit against Israel.

Its like the evidence that they have broken the covenant and deserve God’s wrath.

They bring the charges of crimes and the sentence of absolute destruction.

The 7 Trumpets are God’s Covenant Judgment.

They proclaim the verdict and how the sentence is going to be carried out.

And the 7 Bowls describe the Covenant Execution or carrying out of that judgment.

That’s why the Seals start with 1/4 judgments, the Trumpets 1/3, and the Bowls total or absolute destruction.

Its a constant ramp up with warnings all along the way of repent or Perish ultimately culminating in the Old Covenant curses falling on the people of Israel.

Leviticus 26:27-28 But if in spite of this you will not listen to me, but walk contrary to me, then I will walk contrary to you in fury, and I myself will discipline you sevenfold for your sins.

7 Seals. 7 Trumpets. 7 Bowls. Sevenfold judgment for your sins.

So let’s start with the Seals, Christ’s Covenant Lawsuit against Harlot Babylon.

II. Seven Seals: Christ’s Covenant Lawsuit

Revelation 5:1 Then I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals.

The background for this scroll comes from Ezekiel 2:9-10 And when I looked, behold, a hand was stretched out to me, and behold, a scroll of a book was in it. And he spread it before me. And it had writing on the front and on the back, and there were written on it words of lamentation and mourning and woe.

So this scroll is a scroll of judgment. A scroll of lamentation, mourning, and woe.

But that’s not all. The Scroll is also a Last Will and Testament.

In the first century, when you wanted to pass on your inheritance you would do so with a 7 sealed scroll.

Sealed by 7 witness.

And here’s what’s interesting. In Hebrews 9:17, it talks about Jesus being the Mediator of a New and better Covenant.

And says that a will, the same word Jesus uses for the New Covenant when He gives the Lord’s Supper saying this is the blood of the covenant poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins (Matthew 26:28), and Hebrews says that will, that covenant, only takes effect with the death of the one that made it.

So this 7 Sealed scroll is also Christ’s Last Will and Testament of the New Covenant ratified, or put into effect through shedding His blood on the cross.

So on the one hand, this Scroll is lamentation, mourning and woe for anyone that rejects the New Covenant and holds on to the Old.

But on the other hand, it is also the “opening” of life, blessing, and joy, all the blessings and inheritance that come with salvation and forgiveness in the New Covenant.

That’s why He is the only one worthy to open the Scroll.

John says no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the Scroll, until he saw a Lamb standing as though it had been slain (Rev. 5:3-6).

And when Christ took the Scroll all of heaven sang Revelation 5:9 Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.

So the opening of this Scroll is Christ’s opening of the New Covenant. The beginning of the New Covenant age and the putting away of the Old.

It is the beginning of the reign and rule of Christ in salvation over all people’s, kingdoms, and nations.

That is why the seals mirror the birth pains and signs Jesus gave of the Great Tribulation in Matthew 24 which remember He said Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place (Matthew 24:34).

The first four are the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

The first one John says was a white horse! And its rider had a bow, and a crown was given to him, and he came out conquering, and to conquer (Revelation 6:2).

Now you might have heard this horse represents some future AntiChrist, but this is actually Christ.

He rides a white horse and comes out conquering and to conquer just like He does in Revelation 19.

We were already told that the whole reason was worthy to open the Scroll was because He conquered. Because He was faithful unto death and rose again.

And with the first seal of the New Covenant Christ rides out victoriously, crowned as a King to the conquer the world with the gospel of the New Covenant.

But to do that, the Old has to be put away so He leads other horsemen in His train.

You have the Red Horse of War and bloodshed. The Black Horse of Famine. And the Pale Horse ridden by Death who is given authority to kill with sword, famine, pestilence, and wild beasts of the earth.

This Fourth horse is all the curses of the Old Covenant rolled into one.

In Ezekiel 14:12-21 God announces these four disastrous acts of judgment and says they are so firm that not even the prayers of Noah, Daniel, or Job would save them.

Then the Fifth Seal is the prayers of the Martyrs who had been slain. How long, O Lord until you avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth? And they are given robes and told to wait just a little while longer.

Now here’s what I want you to see. War, famine, pestilence, and persecuted Martyrs.

These are all the beginning of the Birth Pains Jesus mentions in the Olivet Discourse.

Luke 21:10-12, 16 Then he said to them, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences....But before all this they will lay their hands on you and persecute you…and some of you they will put to death.

The Four Horsemen are all right there. Clearly tying the Seals of Revelation to the Great Tribulation Jesus said would take place in that generation.

But that’s not all. The Sixth Seal is opened and Revelation 6:12-13 There was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood, and the stars of the sky fell to the earth.

Just like when Jesus said in Matthew 24:29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken, this is prophetic language describing the DeCreation of Israel as a nations.

It’s God’s way of saying I’m going to wipe you off the face of the earth.

In fact the Sixth Seal and Matthew 24 are both a direct reference to Isaiah 13:9-10 Behold, the day of the Lord comes, cruel, with wrath and fierce anger, to make the land a desolation and to destroy its sinners from it. For the stars of the heavens and their constellations will not give their light; the sun will be dark at its rising, and the moon will not shed its light.

And do you know who Isaiah was talking about? Babylon. Which is why Jesus and John both use similar language to the DeCreation of Israel, Harlot Babylon.

And look at this. Part of this Sixth Seal is people hiding in caves and calling out to the mountains and rocks Revelation 6:16-17 Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?

This draws for us a straight line from the Seals of Revelation to the Fall of Jerusalem and the Olivet Discourse.

Here’s how. When Jesus carried the cross some women in Jerusalem wept for Him.

And Luke 23:28-31 “But turning to them Jesus said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For behold, the days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren and the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’ Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us,’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us.’”

The same language from Revelation 6. But Jesus also said blessed are the barren and the breasts that never nursed.

That takes us back to Matthew 24:19 And alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days!

So this lament for women and calling out for the mountains to cover all are all talking about the same thing. The Fall of Jersualem in AD 70.

Personally, this is some of the greatest evidence that Revelation is John’s Olivet Discourse because it would make no sense for him to say the same things Jesus does but apply them to something completely different.

And then, after the Sixth Seal, the 144,000 representing the church are sealed and protected from the wrath of God, and then the Seventh Seal opens and there is silence in heaven for about half an hour (Rev. 8:1).

This half hour is the Temple hour of prayer when their would be silence and God’s people would offer prayers to the Lord.

And the silence tells us all God hears is the prayers of the Martyred Saints.

How long, O Lord?

And after this silence, God renders a guilty verdict for this Covenant Lawsuit.

An angel carrying a golden censure used to offer the prayers of the saints as incense to the Lord, fills the censure with fire from the Altar, and hurls the prayers of the saints in judgment down to the earth leading to the 7 Trumpets.

Point number 3...

III. Seven Trumpets: God’s Covenant Judgment

Revelation 8:6 Now the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to blow them.

Why Trumpets? Trumpets announce something. They are used to make a proclamation.

And these Trumpets make a proclamation of God’s Covenant Judgment against Israel.

They should remind you of the walls of Jericho.

Jericho was the first city Israel conquered in the Promise Land after the Exodus. The first fruits of God’s covenant promise to give Abraham the Land of Canaan.

And after they marched around the city seven days, and when they blew the Seven Trumpets, and the walls of Jericho came tumbling down.

Now Christ, King of the New Covenant Israel, conquers Jerusalem, the New Jericho, as the first fruits of conquering the whole wide world with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

So with these Seven Trumpets, the walls, so to speak, come tumbling down leading the way for total annihilation in the Seven Bowls that are yet to come.

The 1st Four describe the verdict: Judgment and wrath. And the last 3 are woes that describe how that judgment is going to take place.

The First Trumpet is hail and fire, mixed with blood.

A terrible rain of God’s judgment and wrath.

The hail reminds us of Egypt when God threw great hail stones on the Egyptians in one of the plagues that led to the exodus.

The fire, Sodom. A place of sin and Debauchery.

A little bit later in Revelation 11:8 John talks about the great city where our Lord was crucified, so obviously speaking of Jerusalem, and says symbolically it is called Sodom and Egypt.

These judgments fit with who Israel has become.

And the blood of course is the blood of the saints. Pointing to the first century judgment on the Jews of Jesus’ day for crucifying christ and persecuting the church.

Jesus said on you shall come all the righteous blood of the earth (Matthew 23:35).

The Second Trumpet is a great burning mountain thrown into the sea turning the sea to blood.

The burning mountain reminds us of the Old Covenant at Mount Sinai.

Exodus 19:18 Now Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke because the Lord had descended on it in fire. The smoke of it went up like the smoke of a kiln, and the whole mountain trembled greatly.

And Jeremiah 51 calls Babylon a burnt or fiery mountain and then in verse 42 it is thrown into the sea never to rise again (Jeremiah 51:25, 53-64).

With the Second Trumpet The Harlot Babylon gets the same treatment.

The Third Trumpet poisons the waters with a star named Wormwood.

Wormwood means bitter and in the the Old Testament God makes Israel drink it for their idolatry and apostasy (Jeremiah 9:13-15, Jeremiah 23:15, Deuteronomy 29:18, Deuteronomy 32:32).

Instead of drinking the Living Water of Christ, they will only drink the poisoned water of God’s judgment.

The Fourth Trumpet has de-creation language again, and then come the woes.

The Fifth, unleashes demonic locusts that looked like horses prepared for battle and tails like scorpions.

They are allowed to sting only those people that do not have the seal of God and when they sting them, they torment them for five months where people seek death but do not find it.

Well what are these?

Remember what Jesus said Matthew 12:43-45 When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, but finds none. Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when it comes, it finds the house empty, swept, and put in order. Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there, and the last state of that person is worse than the first. So also will it be with this evil generation.

This is not a passage about generic demonic possession.

Jesus is saying what is going to happen to Israel, this evil generation, for rejecting Him after three years of cleaning house and casting out demons.

I think these demons are demonic terror and insanity unleashed on the people of Israel as the Romans march on the city.

That’s the connection to how the locusts look. Their like soldiers.

And Israel sees the Romans and longs for death, death any other way than this. But they do not find it.

And interestingly the five months the locust are allowed to torment the people is precisely how long the seige of Jerusalem lasted before the walls eventually fell (Wilson, When the Man Comes Around, 106).

The Sixth Trumpet is an angel who releases four angels bound at the great river Euphrates leading a great army numbering twice ten thousand times ten thousand.

Sometimes you hear this as a 200 million person army, but literally this is twice a myriad times a myriad. Another way to say a gazillion.

An overwhelming power and force.

The Euphrates acted as the northern border of Israel where enemies would commonly invade to attack.

And at the seige of Jerusalem Rome brought four Roman legions from the Euphrates, the 5th, 10th, 12th and 15th.

These pagan armies were most definitely led spiritually by four great demons, so these four angels led myriads and myriads across the River Euphrates to lay seige to Jerusalem (Gentry, He Shall Have Dominion, 410).

Then the Seventh Trumpet was a proclamation: Revelation 11:15 The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.

And woe because Satan was thrown down and his time was short.

And that takes us finally to the Seven Bowls of God’s wrath and Covenant Execution of Harlot Babylon.

IV. Seven Bowls: God’s Covenant Execution

Revelation 15:1, 16:1 Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and amazing, seven angels with seven plagues, which are the last, for with them the wrath of God is finished...Then I heard a loud voice from the temple telling the seven angels, “Go and pour out on the earth the seven bowls of the wrath of God.”

God pouring out his wrath is a common phrase in the Old Testament to talk about God’s judgment against covenant breakers and those that persecute his people (Ezek. 14:19; Jer. 10:25, similarly Ps. 69:24, Zeph 3:8)(Beale, Revelation: A Shorter Commentary, 329).

And the word John uses for pour is the same word Jesus used in Matthew 23:35 when he said on you will come all the righteous blood shed, or poured out, on the earth.

So these Bowls of wrath are filled with the blood of the righteous saints and because the Harlot Babylon made herself drunk on their, God is going to pour it out in judgment until she drowns on it.

Psalm 75:8 For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup with foaming wine, well mixed, and he pours out from it, and all the wicked of the earth shall drain it down to the dregs.

And God pours out this wrath in great plagues that are constantly calling back to the plagues of Egypt.

Why? Because the book of Revelation is like a new and greater Exodus, a redemption and deliverance of Christ’s people, the Church, behind a new and greater Moses who like a new and greater Joshua (Jesus’ name in Hebrew) leads them into a new and greater Promise Land of eternal life and salvation.

And here’s the big idea behind these Egyptian plagues that fall on Jerusalem. Remember they were already called spiritually Sodom and Egypt.

But ultimately the Egyptian Plagues are the quintessential sign under the Old Covenant that Israel had rejected God and broken His Covenant.

Deuteronomy 28:58-60 If you are not careful to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and awesome name, the Lord your God, then the Lord will bring...upon you...all the diseases of Egypt.

And God says His Covenant judgment will be so bad verse 66 Your life shall hang in doubt before you. Night and day you shall be in dread and have no assurance of your life. In the morning you shall say, ‘If only it were evening!’ and at evening you shall say, ‘If only it were morning!’ because of the dread that your heart shall feel, and the sights that your eyes shall see (Deuteronomy 28:66-67).

They will literally wish their life away under God’s curse and judgment.

And that’s what the Seven Bowls are. Complete annihilation and destruction.

The First is painful sores like that of Egypt, just like God promised in Deuteronomy 28:27 The Lord will strike you with the boils of Egypt, and with tumors and scabs and itch, of which you cannot be healed.

Then the Second and Third are the sea and rivers turned to blood where everything dies.

This is exactly what happened in Egypt because Pharoah had flooded the Nile with the blood of Hebrew baby boys (Ex. 1:22).

The Sea could be symbolic for Rome and the Gentile world to say they were affected by the judgments too because they also shed the blood of the saints under Nero.

Or the Rivers and the Sea turning into blood and like the blood of a corpse might be God’s way of saying everywhere there is life giving water flowing in the Land, death and judgment are going to flow instead.

Either way this a just punishment because the ones that shed the blood of the saints are now forced to drink it themselves.

The Fourth Bowl is the scorching Sun which scorches people with fire.

Psalm 36:7 How precious is your steadfast love, O God! The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings.

The Scorching Sun is a reversal of God’s covenantal blessing where Israel is no longer under the shadow of His wings, and yet they still don’t repent but curse God.

The Fifth Bowl is darkness poured out on the throne of the Beast.

Even Rome doesn’t escape judgment. During the year of the Four Emperors, Rome was thrown into insanity just like Israel was.

And here’s the irony. John says they gnawed their tongues in pain, but they still used those same tongues to curse God and not repent of their sinful deeds.

The Sixth Bowl is the Battle of Armageddon which really just describes the destruction of Jerusalem.

The word Armageddon means Mountain of Meggido, but in the Old Testament, Meggido was a plain that was famous for catastrophic military defeats (Wilson, 190-191).

So Meggido became a byword for an utter collapse or defeat like how we talk about Napoleon’s Waterloo.

But there is no literal Mount Meggido.

Instead, John is saying Mount Zion, Jerusalem, becomes Mount Meggido. A Mountain of total collapse and defeat.

Finally the Seventh Bowl.

This finishes the judgment.

There was a great earthquake that splits the city into 3 parts.

The Earthquake is the shaking away of the things that can be shaken, the things of the Old Covenant so that what cannot be shaken, the New Covenant Kingdom of Christ might remain (Hebrews 12:26).

As for the three parts Ezekiel 5, God talks about splitting Israel into thirds for judgment.

A 1/3 will be killed with the sword, a 1/3 with pestilence and famine, and another 1/3 would be scattered to the nations.

When Jerusalem Fell no one escaped. The city was made desolate.

Like Jesus said, Where the corpse is, the vultures will gather (Matthew 24:28).

And then verse 19 God remembered Babylon the great, to make her drain the cup of the wine of the fury of his wrath And great hailstones, about one hundred pounds each, fell from heaven on people; and they cursed God for the plague of the hail, because the plague was so severe(Revelation 16:19-21).

The Harlot city is stoned to death with hailstones each weighing a talent each.

Now in the Old Testament, this was obviously one of the great plagues of Egypt

And also Joshua 10 tells us that when Israel fought the Amorites, God sent great hailstones to kill the pagan idolators for polluting the land just like Israel in AD 70.

That’s the Old Testament background.

But, interestingly Josephus gives us this historical detail.

You’ll remember, Josephus was an eyewitness to the Jewish Wars and destruction of Jerusalem. He was not a Christian and had no interest in proving Christianity.

And When Rome took Jerusalem they catapulted the city and just listen to what Josephus says in Jewish Wars book 5, chapter 6, paragraph 3.

Now the stones that were cast were the weight of a talent [that’s a 100 pounds]…[and] as for the Jews, they at first watched the coming of the stone, for it was of a white color.

Hailstones, weighing about 100 pounds each.

Summary

All of these judgments are curses of the Old Covenant because of Jerusalem’s, Harlot Babylon’s rebellion and apostasy.

Under the Law a Harlot wife was to be stoned to death, and if the Harlot was a priest’s daughter, she was to be burned with fire.

That’s exactly what happened to Israel at the hands of the Romans.

She was stone with white hailstones and Revelation 17:16 The beast hated the prostitute and made her desolate naked, it devoured her flesh and burn her up with fire, for God had put it into their hearts to carry out this purpose…until the words of God are fulfilled.

What words?

The words of Christ in Matthew 24:2 Truly, I say to you, there will not be stone left here upon another that will not be thrown down.

The destruction of Jerusalem was a monumental moment in the history of Redemption. In God’s plan to save the world.

With it, the shadow of the Old Covenant was put away once and for all, and the New Covenant age stood on its own without the Old Covenant weighing it down anymore.

I tell you the truth, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father (John 4:21).

The only way to worship the Father is through the the Way, the Truth, and the Life, Jesus Christ.

He is the True Temple and the ultimate once for all sacrifice that takes away the sins of the world.

With the Destruction of Jerusalem The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever (Revelation 11:15).

Jesus inaugurated the Kingdom in His sinless life, sacrificial death, and bodily resurrection.

He received the Kingdom and sat on the throne when He ascended into heaven and sat down at the right hand of the Father.

And when He judged Jerusalem He established his Kingdom once and for all over all other kingdoms that ever were or ever will be by showing the world what would happen if they rejected Him and persecuted His church.

Conclusion

By way of conclusion let’s make one quick application.

Christ took the curse of the Old Covenant to bring us into a new and better Covenant that forgives all our sins.

All these judgments fell on Jerusalem because they broke God’s Covenant because the Old Covenant had a fault.

Not in itself. God gave it and it was perfect and good.

But the fault was in us. Israel knew the Law but they could not keep it. They still had dead stony hearts.

But Christ came and answered the fault of the Old with the New.

He obeyed the Law on our behalf. He kept the covenant when we never could.

He fulfilled all the righteous requirements of the Law, that because of sin became a curse for us.

Not only that, but He answered that curse as well.

Galatians 3:13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree.

On the cross, Christ paid our debt of sin. He took our sin on Himself and He gave us His righteousness.

He justified us before God and declared us righteous in every way according to the Law.

And we will never face the curse of the Covenant because all of its blessings are secured once and for all in Christ.

He gives us new hearts that love God and love His Law, fills us with the Holy Spirit to empower us for a life of obedience, and forgives all our sins and remembers them no more.

All the blessings of the New Covenant that God has promised to us and to every person that puts their faith in Him can never be lost because they don’t rest on our obedience and righteousness according to the Law.

They rest on Christ and Him alone.

Let’s Pray

Scripture Reading

Revelation 19:6-9 “Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure”— for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.””

Related Media

Related Sermons