The Wrath of God Revealed, part 2

The first entry in this series can be found here.
The previous entry can be found here.

I mentioned last week that as a culture, we love disaster, apocalyptic, end-of-the-world sorts of movies. And as much as they might draw inspiration from Revelation for some visuals (and disaster concepts, per Left Behind understanding), there is a critical point of Revelation that is absent from every disaster, apocalyptic, end-of-the-world sort of movie ever made.

In fact, in our passage today, John shows us three more specific portraits of the wrath of God, but he also includes something truly unique to Revelation’s portrait of the end-of-the-world:

The fourth poured out his bowl on the sun. He was given the power to burn people with fire, and people were burned by the intense heat. So they blasphemed the name of God, who had the power over these plagues, and they did not repent and give Him glory.

The fifth poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and his kingdom was plunged into darkness. People gnawed their tongues because of their pain and blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, yet they did not repent of their actions.

The sixth poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up to prepare the way for the kings from the east. Then I saw three unclean spirits like frogs coming from the dragon’s mouth, from the beast’s mouth, and from the mouth of the false prophet. For they are spirits of demons performing signs, who travel to the kings of the whole world to assemble them for the battle of the great day of God, the Almighty.

“Look, I am coming like a thief. The one who is alert and remains clothed so that he may not go around naked and people see his shame is blessed.”

So they assembled them at the place called in Hebrew, Armagedon.

Revelation 16:8-16

Similar to last time, we will look at the next three bowls of wrath, comparing them to the seals and trumpets, noting the overlap that should help convince us that Revelation is not a timeline of the end of the world. Today is the day of salvation! Don’t wait until tomorrow!

Bowl of Fire

The fourth poured out his bowl on the sun. He was given the power to burn people with fire, and people were burned by the intense heat. So they blasphemed the name of God, who had the power over these plagues, and they did not repent and give Him glory.

This bowl is related to the fourth trumpet judgment (cf. Rev 8:12). In both this judgment, and the one described there, the heavenly bodies (cf. the fourth day of creation; Genesis 1:14-19) are involved in the judgment on unrepentant human beings.

It is interesting that here we see people being burned, and in the next bowl, they are plunged into deep darkness (cf. John 3:19-21; 8:12; 12:35-36, 46). It is also worth noting that nowhere in this chapter are humans explicitly said to die. This connects to the fourth seal (cf. Revelation 6:7-8), because there we see Death and Hades riding out over the earth. It would appear that death has been temporarily made impotent at this point (cf. Revelation 9:4-6). In other words, between this and the next bowl, we are seeing a preview of hell.

Bowl of Darkness

The fifth poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and his kingdom was plunged into darkness. People gnawed their tongues because of their pain and blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, yet they did not repent of their actions.

This bowl is closely related to the fifth trumpet judgment (cf. 9:1-12). I would connect it to the fifth seal (cf. 6:9-11) as well, but that is unnecessary because all of the bowls are intimately connected to the fifth seal.

In the fifth trumpet, demonic locusts torment unbelievers for five months. The torment is so intense that those tormented attempt suicide, but death flees from them. When we looked at chapter 9, I held it up as a preview of the horrors of hell, so that you would flee to Christ for refuge. It’s no different in this passage. The darkness described here could very easily be a deep, spiritual darkness that leaves the sufferer longing for death.

No matter what, even if suicide is attempted and successful as a result of this bowl of judgment, refusal to repent results in hell. And all hell will be is an eternity of darkness, sores, and burning. Suicide won’t solve your suffering.

Trust in Jesus. You might continue to suffer physically for a while, but at least then, at the end of your suffering, you will experience eternal spiritual peace and joy. Don’t wait any longer!

Bowl of War

The sixth poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up to prepare the way for the kings from the east. Then I saw three unclean spirits like frogs coming from the dragon’s mouth, from the beast’s mouth, and from the mouth of the false prophet. For they are spirits of demons performing signs, who travel to the kings of the whole world to assemble them for the battle of the great day of God, the Almighty. . . . So they assembled them at the place called in Hebrew, Armagedon.

This bowl is closely related to the sixth trumpet (cf. 9:13-21) and seal judgments (cf. 6:12-17), though, a careful perusal of 6:12-17, comparing it with 16:12-16, will reveal that most of the sixth seal is actually better equated with the seventh bowl (which we will look at more closely next week). The best connection with the sixth seal is simply the phrase “the kings of the earth, the nobles, the military commanders” (6:15).

It connects to the sixth trumpet due to the presence of a demonic army there and the gathering of armies here. However, it is worth repeating that the demonic army of 9:13-21 simply delivers the “beautiful death” that those tormented by the demon locusts of the fifth trumpet desired. The fifth and sixth trumpets are closely related, whereas the sixth bowl stands alone.

For those who want to know how Revelation fits in with modern news headlines, the answer is seen in this sixth bowl. All of 16:12-16 is applicable to today, and it has been since Jesus was on earth. Jesus said the following in Matthew 24:6-8,

You are going to hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, because these things must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these events are the beginning of birth pains.

We’ve been seeing these sorts of “rumors” and “disasters” being described since Revelation 6:4. The repeated references to wars and earthquakes throughout Revelation serves to show that Jesus could return at any time. They are not for the purpose of creating timelines. If timelines of the end of the world were possible, then people could put off repentance until the late stages. But as there are no timelines, Jesus could return at any moment. He could have returned any time over the past 2,000 years. There is nothing else that needs to happen before He can return (except–I would argue–the unification of Christians and worldwide revival; but even this isn’t a guaranteed requirement; it’s merely my understanding of the Bible’s plot).

And when it comes to Armagedon, this is a reference to the death of King Josiah in 2 Kings 23:29. Odds are, the reference to Armagedon is connected to King Josiah. Perhaps, its a reference to the foolishness of the kings who go to battle there, since King Josiah lost his life in that battle.

Regardless, what’s most important is that this bowl is followed by a promise of blessing from Jesus (cf. 1:3; 14:13; 16:15; 19:9; 20:6; 22:7, 14):

“Look, I am coming like a thief. The one who is alert and remains clothed so that he may not go around naked and people see his shame is blessed.”

There are seven of these promised blessings in Revelation. This is the third. This one promises a blessing to the person who is prepared for the return of Jesus.

Are you ready for His return? The fact is, He’s returning, and we have no idea when it might be. If the person who is ready for Jesus’ return is blessed, then the person who is not ready for it is cursed. As we’ve seen in the past two entries of this series, it is not a pleasant thing to be under the curse of God.

Trust Jesus today! He took the curse of God Himself so you could escape! More than that: He took the curse so you could be blessed!

What are you waiting for?

In this with you.

Soli Deo Gloria
Sola Fide
Solus Christus
Sola Scriptura

Thanks for reading.

The next entry can be found here.

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