Revelation Chapter 16 Verses 1 – 2

 The loud voice coming from the temple ordering the final judgement

upon the earth can only be the voice of God. We read last week that the

temple was filled with the glory and power of God and no one was able

to enter the temple till the seven plagues of the seven angels were

completed. And so, there is no doubt that his command comes from

God. And, I would submit to you that this is God the Son.

 Jesus said in John 5:22-23, “The Father judges no one, but has

committed all judgment to the Son, that all should honor the Son just as

they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor

the Father who sent Him.” The authority to release these final

judgments resides with the Son alone. Why? Because this is the,

according to verse 1 of Chapter 15, this is the finality, the completion,

the comprehensive wrath of God which was taken, consumed, entirely

by Jesus on the cross.

 The first of the seven judgements involves a foul and loathsome sore

upon those who had taken the mark. They took the mark in the moment

because it was the earthly compulsion! In the moment it was the

rational, obvious thing to do! Be killed, be labelled a problem, make

problems for yourself, or take this mark. But that momentary submission

to what was wrong has landed them this reward.

 Sores, boils, grievous rashes are interesting ailments. They are typically

an outward showing of an inward issue. And this is an accurate picture

of what I’ve referred to in the past as the illogical logic of sin.

 “I couldn’t buy or sell. If I didn’t worship the image, I would be killed.

Surely God understands.” The truth is, surely you don’t understand.

“Don’t take the mark,” the angels cried out to man in Chapter 14.

“Refuse the mark,” the 144,000 would testify throughout the entire

world. The two witnesses of Chapter 11, the clear Word of God…, And

yet…they did.

 What more can be done? Once sin has been chosen, what more can be

done? The moment of inconvenience, humility, accountability, the

moment is won and yet grievous sores will come. They will come upon

your life; they will even come upon those closest to you. Here’s the

thing about this time though. Today, you take someone who has settled

into something of the flesh and you tell them they are self-centered, self-

focused, self-protective and not ok with God and it shocks them! HA!

Not now…, now the inward issue is visible on the outside to all…

Revelation Chapter 16 Verse 3

 71% of the world is ocean. All the water turned to blood. All of the

creatures in the ocean perish. The beautiful beaches of the world are

peppered with decaying flesh. What would the earth smell like at this

time? What would be the situation of the oxygen in the air when 50%-

80% of the Earth’s oxygen is produced by Phytoplankton!? The

sentiment of men on earth is, “I’m hurting and I can’t breathe.” This is

a clear picture of the reward of choosing poorly! Where you end up

today emotionally, spiritually, when you have not trusted in the Lord.

Revelation Chapter 16 Verse 4 - 6

 At this point, where is water for mankind? This is a real physiological

problem. Humans need water for survival. At this time, people on earth

will kill each other over a Dasani!

 Notice also, this angel of the waters proclaims the righteousness of

God, as the wrath of God. We’ve heard this theme over and over. From

the four living creatures, from the twenty-four elders, from the

angels…, that as these things come upon the earth and the people in it,

justice, righteousness, truth characterizes every action of God even if it

looks like this.

 It is something to wrestle with for sure. But there will never be someone

who has any reasonable right to question anything God ever did or ever

did not do even though specific individuals especially during the Great

Tribulation upon the earth, don’t get what they want. The righteousness

of God supersedes and transcends man’s understanding and man’s

opinion. Because God is God and we are not.

 One of these statements of God’s truth and righteousness comes from

the alter here in verse 7. This is where Adam failed…but Jesus did not.

Adam faced with losing everything on this earth or losing his right

standing with God chose the earth. Jesus chose His right standing with

God. Why? Not because He was better, although He was. Not because

He was superior to Adam, although He was. He took the cup of God’s

righteous punishment, He went to the cross and traded all of His life in

faithfulness…, because of how much YOU are loved by God. We might

forget that in a time of trouble… We shouldn’t…

 In our times of trouble there can be a tendency within us to question the

fairness of God…, but the altar, the place of sacrifice, the cross…will

clear all that up for us. If you don’t see this then you’ll go through your

life blessing God on the mountain tops and cursing Him with unbelief in

the valleys.

 Yes, you could be treated poorly, yes you could get the short end of the

stick, yes you could be taken advantage of…, but what am I due? The

Bible says in Romans 5:8 that God demonstrated His love for you that

while you were still in your sin, Christ died for you. Is that fair? Is

that right? That is the very definition of right…, in fact we call

it…righteous…

 Life in proper perspective is every situation of your/my life viewed

through the lens of the cross of Jesus Christ. That you and I are anything

that we are today only because of grace. Only because of forgiveness.

Only because of love. The same love that poured forth from Him will

begin to pour forth from you and you will endure with great strength

…and in your heart of hearts, not just your mouth, but in your actions,

you will live out, “True and right are Your decisions and plan for my

day Lord God Almighty” as you meet Him again at the altar which for

me and for us, is to stand and speak with Him at the cross…

Revelation Chapter 16 Verses 8 – 9

 Perhaps this is describing some sort of supernova and finally man-

caused global warming is true! And check this out…this is the fourth

bowl, right? We’ve seen foul and loathsome sores, the sea becoming

blood and every sea creature dying, the rivers and springs of water

becoming blood and now the heat is turned up. Just when you most

need water, it is not there. Don’t let the enemy make this your life…

Revelation Chapter 16 Verses 10 – 11

 The throne of the Beast is Babylon. We’ve discussed that as we’ve

studied through Revelation and we’ll see that again as Babylon is finally

cast down in Chapter 18. And it’s interesting because they gnawed their

tongues. It was at Babylon, the Tower of Babel that tongues were

divided. Where the people, as one, used their tongues to proclaim, “We

don’t need God. We’ll build a tower to heaven. We will be our own

god.”

Revelation Chapter 16 Verse 12

 The river Euphrates is significant in the Bible. It is mentioned 25 times

and serves as one of the original borders of the land promised to

Abraham and here we see it dried up so that the way of the kings from

the east, or literally, the kings of the land of the rising sun, might be

prepared. Prepared for what? For them to come… For the eastern

countries like China and North Korea to bring their million-man armies

to fight against the Lord at the place called in Hebrew, Armageddon.

We’ll see that in just a moment.

Revelation Chapter 16 Verses 13 – 14

 John says these demons look like frogs, …odd. And these frogs are

spirits of demons, performing signs, and yet look, they go out of the

mouths of the unholy trinity. Here’s the takeaway, words are incredibly

powerful. Use them for good. And in the end of the end, people will be

so desperate, that the narrative of the enemy will be enough for them to

rally on him and gather to attempt to fight God!

 One moment on the fact that John sees frogs. Why not make them

something a little more practical or pleasant, right? I suggest to you

that Satan’s ways are a surprise to some folks. He can use money,

jobs, opportunity, relationships, valid and justified needs…we think he

uses things that are plainly evil, gross, warty, croaky…., frogs…frogs?

 Here’s the principal. The enemy can use anything he wants to destroy

you if you have an ear for him. He causes them to square up against God

ALL MIGHTY!? Idiots! And the only way to fight back is to know the

Word of God and then to DO IT in the moment!

Revelation Chapter 16 Verses 15 - 16

 Weird, odd…why would Jesus refer to Himself as a thief? Seems

strange. But it’s not. He’s encouraging us. Us today, right now,

reading His Word, seeing all of this horror and destruction. He’s

reminding us that at this point the church is long gone. Gone all the

way back in chapter 4 at the rapture prior to the start of the time of Great

Tribulation upon the earth.

 How can I know for sure? Where do I get that conclusion from? 1

Thessalonians 5:4 tells the church that this day will not come upon it,

you and I, as a thief. Yet here Jesus says, “I come as a thief.” Why?

Seems odd. Not really. 1 Thessalonians 5:9 says that if you are sons

and daughters of the light, if you are His, have chosen Him, then God

did not appoint us to wrath but rather salvation through Jesus Christ.

 And so here, these folks left upon the earth, He comes as a thief. They

don’t expect Him. They don’t fear Him. They aren’t prepared!

Revelation Chapter 16 Verses 16 – 21

 For the third and final time, three times, John hears the men of the earth

curse God. This time because of the plague of hail which is interesting

because the Old Testament punishment for blasphemy was stoning.

Each one of these hail stones around 100 pounds!

 The entirety of the Bible is filled with stories, scenes, lessons,

history, context and characters that all tell one story. The Gospel of

Jesus Christ. And so, there are types, pointers, shadows, symbols, all of

it…, as you go through each individually relevant passage and as you

study and learn the Word of God, connections pop up everywhere

giving you deeper understanding!

 God is methodically reversing and covering everything that

happened to Jesus in these final judgments. The final judgment paid

in finality by Jesus, rejected…, so all of those things being unwound

and exacted upon the world…

 John 19:1 simply says, “So then Pilate took Jesus and scourged Him.”

Scourging is the act of severe whipping as a brutal form of punishment

often used to force a confession. The scourge would often have pieces

of metal or bone attached at the ends designed to cause deep wounds

and severe tearing of the skin. The first bowl judgment of the wrath of

God is the opening of the skin of those that have taken the mark and

worshipped the beast.

 The second and third bowl judgments are the turning the waters of the

world to blood. Water is the symbol of life. Life enabling, life

sustaining. Jesus said in John 14:6, “I am the Life,” and Colossians

1:16b says, “All things were created through Him and for Him.” And

just as the blood of Life Himself was poured out for the sins of the

world, the sustaining element of life during the final judgment of the

earth is once again revealed as blood.

 The fourth bowl is the judgment of fire. Fire is the great refiner, the

great purifier. And refinement in perfection, and purity in perfection

was undone as He hung on the cross for my sin, but now, refinement

and purity, justice returns and they blaspheme God for it…, just like

they did when Jesus was put on the cross.

 The fifth bowl, darkness and pain in the darkness. Matthew, Mark and

Luke all record that when Jesus was on the cross there was an

unnatural and unknown darkness over all the earth from the sixth hour

until the ninth hour. Only to be concluded with Jesus calling out, “My

God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” That darkness endured by

Jesus, the separation of the Father, now exacted upon the earth that

rejects Him…

 The sixth bowl, the Euphrates dries up… The center and source of all

life on the earth, preparing the way for the armies of the kings of the

earth to gather for final battle against God. The symbology is the heart

of Jesus pierced and felled by the spear of the Roman Soldier and in

that final blow, the source of living water dried and the veil separating

man from God torn. On one hand, no more separation from God’s

perfect love and acceptance and on the other hand pure exposure to

God’s righteous and final justice.

 And finally, the seventh bowl. Total victory for God, total defeat for

Satan. As Jesus cries “It is finished” in both scenes and the judgment is

poured out on the air who has her prince… And everything is gone…

 These final judgements happened once before and once before is an

option for us to accept. And the risk and reality is that the option of

having them happen once again remains…, yet ahead, at the end of the

age.