BOWLS OF JUDGMENT
Revelation 16:1-12`zz (Rev.3.3)
Introduction
Diamond is the hardest substance. It will yield to the hammer and chisel of the jeweler.
Jewelers use diamond saws to cut and finish these precious stones. The human heart in
many ways is much harder than any diamond. It is wishful thinking on our part to
imagine that if mankind only knew the awesome power and the righteous judgment of
God, we would all repent in sackcloth and ashes. Man's refusal to repent under the
harshest of penalties becomes very apparent in this chapter. God is going to initiate some
divine discipline. The world has been ruined by man and sin and has been ruled by the
antichrist.
God takes vials or shallow bowls that were used in the Temple to pour forth
judgment. I believe the time period is very short. This judgment is what Jesus referred
to when he said "If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive". Each of
these judgments is an intensification of an earlier judgment. That seems to be a Biblical
principle. Sin brings judgment. Awful judgment. Repentance can lessen judgment, stall
judgment, defer judgment, but not eliminate judgment. For Christians, sin is judged on
the cross of Calvary. For those who reject grace, they automatically invite judgment.
Modern warfare (and recent events in the Gulf) tell us that cruise missels are very
accurate in their targets. Each of these angels has a divine target, each picked by God to
fulfill a task. God's judgments are not arbitrary or capricious. God does nothing by
accident. The people of the earth have suffered greatly under the seal and trumpet
judgments. But now God's judgment is coming to a close, the Beast's kingdom will be
overthrown, Babylon will fall and Jesus will return to the earth.
The judgments remind us of the judgments in Egypt; boils, water turned to blood,
hailstones, frogs etc. This leads me to believe like the ancient judgments, these are not
figurative but literal judgments.
The First Bowl of Wrath (vv.1-2)
1. Only those who have submitted to the beast and rejected the warnings of the first
angel will receive this punishment (14:6-7). Rev.16:10-11 seem to suggest these sores
are not going away (people are still in pain). William Newell used to say; "If men are not
won by grace, they will never be won". Boils appear on those who have accepted the
antichrist. Apostate Jews and Gentiles all receive the sores.
2. "God is engaged in germ warfare upon the followers of antichrist. . .These putrefying
sores are worse than leprosy or cancer. This compares to the sixth plague in Egypt, and is
the same type of sore or boil"(Ex. 9:8-12-Reveling through Revelation p.36)
3. For the most part, the whole world is infected with this plague. Pain effects our
disposition. It is hardest to get along with each other when we are in unrelenting pain.
Pain makes cooperation difficult. God promised unending torment for those who took
the mark of the beast. Now on their forehead and hand, a rancid boil, a cancerous
ulcerous sore. The sores on the outside reveal the corruption of the character. These
painful sores are a judgment on the sins committed in the flesh. Like AIDS, it breaks
down the system and makes people open to other life threatening diseases. AIDS was
unknown just a few years ago. This fast acting mutating virus has the potential to destroy
all human life on earth. I believe AIDS is type of judgment, calling on us to look at our
selves, our behavior, our culture and society. Repent---because if we don't--we invite
judgment.
These painful sores were a downpayment on future judgment.
The Second Bowl of Wrath (v.3)
1. The second and third bowl judgments parallel the first plague in Egypt (Exod.
7:14-25). The first bowl judgment will take place on the sea, the second on the inland
water systems. There is a phenomena known as Red tide, which scientists have
observed in the Caribbean and Gulf. There is a microorganism, which grows under
certain conditions and left unchecked destroys all life in the area.
2. It should be remembered that, chemically speaking, the composition of sea water is
almost identical to that of blood, so that only a relatively small modification would be
necessary. Of course, the red color of blood flowing in human veins is imparted to it by
the hemoglobin in the red corpuscles transmit oxygen and other materials to all the cells
of the body so that, truly, "the life of the flesh is in the blood" (Lev. 17:11). In no way
could sea water substitute for the blood of a dead man. It is merely a chemical solution, a
water containing iron and other chemicals, which give it a blood -red appearance, but
there is no longer life therin. In fact, it brings death to every living creature in the sea.
3. (v.3) Dr. Charles Ryrie writes; "The second bowl is poured on the sea, with the result
that the waters become blood and every living thing in the sea dies. The 'as' is misplaced
in the Authorized Version, the correct reading being 'became blood as of a dead man.'
The vivid image is of a dead person wallowing in his own blood. The seas will wallow in
blood. Under the second trumpet, one third of sea creatures died (8:9); now the
destruction is complete. The stench and disease that this will cause along the shores of
the seas of the earth are un-imaginable" (Revelation p.97).
The Valdez oil spill and the Gulf war oil spills wrecked the ecological systems in
those areas. Can you imagine what this will do?
The Third Bowl of Wrath (vv.4-7)
1. Notice several things about these verses: The third bowl is in part an answer to the
prayers of the martyrs under the altar at the begining of the tribulation. Their prayer at
that time was 'how long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood
on them that dwell on the earth?" (Rev. 6:10). These verses indicate that God has
assigned a special angel as superintendent on earths waterworks. When we compare this
with Revelation 7:1, where we are told that four other angels control the worlds winds,
we realize that even during the hellishness of the tribulation, this world is still controled
by God.
2. The forces of antichrist have shed the blood of the saints. In popular folklore and
fiction the living dead drink the blood of the living. God is in effect saying, it is only
right that your thirst for blood should be satisfied. "In God's government, the
punishment fits the crime. Pharaoh tried to drown the Jewish boy babies, but it was
his own army that drowned in the Red Sea. Haman planned to hang Mordecai on
the gallows and exterminate the Jews; but he himself was hanged on the gallows,
and his family was exterminated (Est. 7:10;9:10). King Saul refused to obey God
and slay the Amalekites, so he himself was slain by an Amalekite (2Sam.
1:1-16)." (Warren Wiersbe p.610). What is it that you are refusing to give up? What is it
that you refuse to repent of? Failure to repent is an invitation to judgment.
Somehow they will still be able to treat this water and live. The water will be bitter,
repulsive, but perhaps through special treatment, drinkable. Sin is often difficult to
swallow. Human survival will be more difficult than it has ever been. No movie maker
has ever been able to catch the horror of what this will be like.
3. The inland springs and fountains often reffered to the wisdom of men. I believe
there is a literal judgment and a figurative judgment. The wisdom and foolishness of men
are judged. The teachers, philosphers, religious leaders, the so-called mind shapers are
really mind benders. The polluted waters of man's wisdom has crept to far into the
churches and threatens to poison the fresh waters of God's revelation.
I want to draw your attention to something else: THE ALTAR speaks. "The altar is the
symbol of redemption, of the substitute sacrifice, of the shedding of innocent blood that
removes the penalty of sin from the guilty. In the day of judgment, when it is to late to
pray, even the altar, the symbol of God's mercy and grace, will declare that God is just in
meting out consequences and judgment to those who have earned it" (Ray Stedman p.
279)
(v.5) a special note: Men whine and complain about God's judgment. But God always
acts with perfect righteousness. Men will think, how could God force us to drink blood
to survive? THE VERY DEFINITION of righteousness is that which God does--God is
merciful he is willing to forgive man's wickedness because of Jesus.
The Fourth Bowl of Wrath (vv.8-9)
1. ". . .and they did not repent and give Him glory". The failure to repent in their
lives as well as our own lives is a further invitation to judgment. Two of the most
powerful and insightful passages about man's total depravity can be found in Revelation
9:20,21, and 16:9. Both of these sections spotlight the world's attitude toward God
during the tribulation (See 9:20-21). What do these verses prove? They prove that in
spite of horrible wars, of terrible famines, of darkened skies, of raging fires, of bloody
seas, of stinging locusts, of demonic persecutions, of mighty earthquakes, of falling stars,
and of cancerous sores, sinful mankind will not repent.
2. The beast and false prophet have called down fire from heaven. Now God will call
down the heat of the sun. All life on the planet depends on the Sun. In a real sense all
life on earth depends on God who made the sun and controls it. Remember the water
systems have been devastated, now their thirst cannot be satisfied. You would think
this would bring people to the place of absolute dependence upon God! One Bible writer
describes the earth like a pig roasting on a spit.
3. See quotes from John Phillips pages192-193.
The world is aware that this awful judgment is from God. Yet they refuse to repent.
Only God can control the sun. Only God can control the circumstances of your life! Do
you for a moment think that the circumstances of your life are not ordered from God!
The folly of unbelief has so gripped their hearts that they are unable to repent.
Their hearts are so hardened they cannot even be melted by a solar flare. Albert
Einstein once made the comment that "It is easier to denature plutonium that to denature
the evil spirit of man".
The melting of the polar ice caps will flood the coastal cities. I believe the ice cap on
Mount Ararat will dissappear and Noah's long lost ark will be uncovered as a mute
witness that God's word is true.
The Fifth Bowl of Wrath (vv.10-11)
1. The concentration of this plague appears to be on the "throne" of the beast--that is on
the ten-nation or ten region coalition of the Beast. Again we read the tragic words "and
repented not of their deeds". Darkness reminds us of the 5th trumpet (9:2) and the
ninth plague (Exod. 10:21-23). Where is the "throne"? Could he be headquartered in
Jerusalem in the rebuilt temple? Will it be Rome? Or Babylon? When God sent the 9th
plague the land was dark except Goshen where the children of Israel lived. Here their is
light for the world and darkness for the beast!
2. This is not the first time such a thing has happened. At noon on May 19, 1780, the
entire region of New England was covered by darkness--a day known as the dark day.
The mysterious blackout lasted for several hours. On March 19, 1886 a similar zone of
darkness moved across central Wisconson, causing the sky to turn from a bright blue to
midnight black in a matter of seconds. Similar occurences have taken place in Memphis
Tennesee (12-1904), Louisville Kentucky (3-1911) And also other places and times
around the world. All these had two things in common (1) no explanation (i.e. eclipse, or
other known phenomena) and (2) most of the people were filled with terror thinking the
end of the world had come. We know in the Bible three hours there was a total blackout
in Jerusalem (during the crucifixtion of Christ)
3. Some Bible scholars say the darkness is a visible reminder there is a moral
blackout. The light of God's truth and righteousness. This is a "taste" of what outer
darkness will be like.
The Sixth Bowl of Wrath (v.12)
1. In this judgment we hear what I believe is the voice of the Lord. In judgment listen
for the voice of Jesus.
Here the God of heaven uses a kind of psychological warfare upon His enemies. He
conditions them to gather themselves together in the near future at Armageddon. The
river Euphrates (in modern Iraq) is 1800 miles long and some places 3600 feet wide. It is
thirty feet deep. This river has been the dividing line between western and eastern
civilazation since the dawn of mankind's history. It served as the eastern border of the
old Roman Empire. Thus, the Euphrates becomes both the cradle and the grave of man's
civilazation. Here the first godless city (Enoch, built by Cain; see Gen. 4:16, 17) went
up, and here the last rebellious city will be constructed (Babylon, built by the Antichrist;
see Rev. 18).
2. Isa 11:15-16 "The LORD will utterly destroy the tongue of the Sea of Egypt; with His
mighty wind He will shake His fist over the River, and strike it in the seven streams, and
make men cross over dry-shod.There will be a highway for the remnant of His people
who will be left from Assyria, as it was for Israel in the day that he came up from the land
of Egypt.
Zech 10:11
He shall pass through the sea with affliction, and strike the waves of the sea: all the
depths of the River shall dry up. Then the pride of Assyria shall be brought down, and the
scepter of Egypt shall depart.
3. Many historians refer to the great barrier of the river Euphrates. When this water
barrier is removed, tens of millions of soldiers from China, India, and other Asian powers
will march straight for Armageddon and destruction.
The middle east is powder keg ready to explode. Japan has risen from a defeated and
humiliated country in 1945 to one of the economic superpowers. China, the sleeping
giant has arisen from slumber and is now both a nuclear and physical threat. I believe
what is taking place is a preparation for judgment. People are fond of quoting Rudayard
Kipling's line "East is east, and West is west, and never the twain shall meet". But that is
not the entire quotation: "Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall
meet, Till earth and sky stand presently at God's great judgment seat".
Kipling knew. Armageddon will bring east and west together.
Saddam Huissen is back in the news. We have unleased bombs against him. Our leaders
are accusing him of illegal troop movements and human rights violations. I do not know
what is true or accurate, whether his movements are justified or our actions appropriate.
But I do know this. In 1991 Duning the Gulf War, the Euphrates was an impassable
barrier that Saddam was caught on the wrong side! They attempted to retreat and was
found on the opposite side of the river. They were faced by the combined armies of 30
nations, with the Euphrates at their backs. There will come a time when that river will
dry up and the armies of East will flock over in hoardes so innumerable that it will bogle
the mind.
Something else: Nations think they are in control of their own destiny. Not so. Unseen
and invisible forces are driving events. In this passage we see three evil spirits, in the
appearance of frogs, are vomited from the unholy Satanic trinity; the red dragon, the
scarlet beast, and the false prophet. With demonic miracles they deceive the nations,
deceiving and manipulating them in the final battle prior to Christ's reign. This will be a
time of unexplainable terror and destruction. All the nuclear arsenols of the world will be
unleased. Like kids playing in a basement, waist deep in gasoline, they will pull out
their books of matches, braging about who has the biggest pack. But it will take
only one match to blow the whole basement to kingdom come.
The armies of the world, 200 million warriors will take a blood bath in the Holy Land. At
first the war will be with each other, then they will unite and turn on the lamb.
Failure to repent brings judgment. God has both the ability and authority to judge.