The Bowl Judgments

And then in the last week in chapter 13 we saw, or excuse me, in chapter 14 we saw the forecasting of the reaping that is to come. And so now in chapter 15 we jump back into really kind of the timeline of the judgment that takes place. Chapter 15 presents for us a prelude to the bowl judgments. It says in chapter 15 verse 1, Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous, seven angels who had seven plagues which are the last, because in them the wrath of God is finished.

Now he says he saw one more sign in heaven. And this particular sign that he sees in heaven are these seven angels. And he describes them in a very interesting way. He describes them, at least in our translation here, as great and marvelous. The idea behind those words and the description of these seven angels that he sees is interesting when you consider the fact that what they're holding is seven bowls of the wrath of God.

Again, the two different times that we see the word wrath used in this chapter. It's going to be that second word. It's going to be the word for wrath that's used in the Greek language. There's two different words that are used. One is orge and the other is thymos. Orge is a settled feeling of anger. That's what God feels all the time towards sin. It's that settled feeling of wrath upon sin.

That settled feeling of anger. But then there's this other word thymos, which is a passionate overflowing of anger. And that's the word that's used here. And so it's interesting that as he sees these seven angels holding these seven bowls of the wrath of God, And so it's interesting that as he sees these seven angels holding these seven bowls of the wrath of God, he sees the overflowing anger of God that he refers to as great and marvelous.

Because you and I, when we think about that, we neither think that it's great nor marvelous. But the words that are used there seem to carry with it more of an idea of awe-inspiring. Something that causes you to step back and take a deep breath because of what you're just about to see unleashed. And so he sees these seven angels come out and they have the seven plagues.

And he describes these seven plagues as the last. Because in them the wrath of God is finished. Some of your translations may say the wrath of God is complete. The idea behind that word is the idea of to reach an end or achieve a goal. To reach something that you've aimed at. In other words, everything that God has been aiming at with the wrath will find its completion in these bowl judgments.

And quite frankly, as we move into chapter 16, it does sort of take your breath away. Both with the speed and the severity of the judgment that will come on planet earth. But before he gets into the things that are going to take place, it's almost as if God says they're going to need a break before I tell them everything that's about to come. And so he gives us a little bit of a break as he, in this prelude, presents for us a group that is in heaven.

He says in verse 2, And I saw something like a sea of glass mixed with fire. And those who had been victorious, glorious over the beast and his image and the number of his name, standing on the sea of glass, holding harps of God. And they sang the song of Moses, the bondservant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvelous are your works, O Lord God, the Almighty. Righteous and true are your ways, King of the nations.

Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy. For all the nations will come. And worship before you, for your righteous acts have been revealed. Now he tells us that he looks and he sees something. He sees something that's like a sea of glass. Now we've seen something similar to this before, and it was just outside of the throne room of God.

And just outside of the throne room of God, there was something that was like a sea of glass, which caused us to look back to the tabernacle and the temple that dwelt on earth. You see, just outside of the tabernacle, there was the bronze laver that had water in it. Water that was for the purification of the priesthood. The priests, before they came in to do their work within the temple.

Now, water, oftentimes in scripture, refers to the word of God, because it has a cleansing power in our lives. And so there's something interesting for us to pay attention to here, because outside of the throne room of God, you see something that's like a sea of glass. I believe it's the exact same sea that's presented to us earlier in the book of Revelation. But there's something different about this sea.

Did you notice what was different about this sea? This sea was mixed with fire. I believe. What we're seeing here is the reflection of the judgment that's going to come upon earth. But I think that this sea of glass represents for us the word of God. Because who is standing on this sea of glass? Well, the ones standing on this sea of glass are those who had been victorious over the beast

and his image and the number of his name standing on the sea of glass, holding harps of God. Now, if this sea of glass is representative of the word of God and those standing on the sea of glass are those who have overcome, how have they overcome? Well, what were we told in Revelation chapter 12, verse 11? They overcame him by the blood of the lamb, by the word of their testimony, and because they did not love their life, even to the death.

If you will, these are the tribulation saints that were martyred during the tribulation and they were victorious over the beast. But you say, but Ryan, if they're in heaven and they've been martyred, they're the martyred saints, then how have they been victorious? Because they never gave in. Because they stood firm on the word of God. Listen, even if it cost them their lives,

I'm reminded of a group of young men who went into a fiery furnace way back in the book of Daniel. Do you remember what they told Nebuchadnezzar back in the book of Daniel when he said, you will bow down to my image? And they said, we will not bow down to your image. You can throw us in the fire, but God will save us. And even if he doesn't, we're still not going to bow down to your image.

You see, friends, that's real victory because at that point in time, for me to live as Christ and for me to die is gain. And they were victorious, over the beast because of the word of God and because they did not love their lives even to the death. Brothers and sisters, if we want to be victorious in the world that we're living in right now, it has nothing to do with your rights and has everything to do with whether or not you're going to stand firm on the word of God. It has nothing to do with whether or not you can make it through life without persecution. It has everything to do with can you

stand under the persecution because you're standing on the word of God. Because that's what these tribulation saints did. So they're standing there victorious. And as they're standing there victorious, they're holding these harps. Right? And the harps that they're holding are causing them to sing a song. And the song is described for us in two ways. Number one, it's the song of

Moses, the bondservant of God. And the second thing it tells us is that it's the song of the Lamb. Well, those seem to be two very different things, right? What is the song of Moses? That should be the first question you ask yourself. Well, it's interesting. If you were to go all the way back to the book of Exodus, when the children of Israel, and this is my favorite joke,

most of the adults, all went, made it across the Red Sea. After it had been parted for them, they made it to the other side of the Red Sea. When God had finished their redemption from the nation of Egypt, when he had set them free from the world, Moses sang a song. And the song that Moses sang was a song of the redemption of the nation of Israel. It was the first great redemption that God

worked for his people. If you will, it's the redemption of the Old Testament. But then there's the song of the Lamb. And what's the song of the Lamb? Well, the song of the Lamb is the redemption that God has won for us through the blood of Jesus Christ. And so, if you will, these tribulation saints are singing the song of redemption. The song of redemption that has been being

sung by the saints of God since the day that God set them free from the world, since God set them free from the nation of Egypt. These tribulation saints, brothers and sisters, are singing the song of redemption. The song of redemption. We see the words there. Great and marvelous are your works, O Lord God Almighty. Righteous and true are your ways. King of the nations, who will not fear you,

O Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy. All the nations will come and worship before you. For your righteous acts have been revealed. Well, after he gives us this brief interlude, this brief moment to catch our breath, we jump right back into verse 5 and notice what it says. After these things, after he saw this wonderful scene, I looked and the temple of the

tabernacle of testimony in heaven was opened. The seven angels who had the seven plagues came out of the temple, clothed in linen, clean and bright, and girded around their chest with golden sashes. One of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God who lives forever and ever. And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power.

And no one was able to enter the temple until the seven plagues. Of the seven angels were finished. If you will, John again gets this view into heaven. He'd first of all seen the sea of glass that was sitting outside of the throne room of God but then from within the throne room of God out ushers these three angels. Okay? Quick little funny thought. Are they floating or walking? I don't know.

Anyway, so they come cruising out and they're clothed in white. Speaks of their purity. They have these golden sashes on them. Speaks of the righteousness and the kingly nature of God because they're his representatives that are about to come to earth. And as they funnel their way out of the temple, the next thing that comes out of the temple is one of those four living creatures.

One of those four living creatures that was presented to us early on in the book of Revelation. And what does this four living creature do? It gives to each of them a bowl. If you're reading the old King James, it says he gave each of them a vial. A bowl that was containing the wrath. It says there's seven of them. It's complete. The complete wrath of God. And each of these angels

is to pour out their wrath upon the earth. And then I want you to notice what happens when they go out and they're given the bowls of the wrath of God. You notice what's not allowed to happen. No one can go into the temple after that. Why? Because the glory of the Lord had filled the temple. Because nothing would stop the wrath that was about to be poured out.

And that ushers us directly into chapter 16. Seven bowls of wrath that are going to be poured out upon the earth. Notice what it says in verse 1. It says, Then I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, Go and pour out on the earth the seven bowls, the wrath of God. And that's exactly what happened. What happens? The first bowl of the wrath

of God that we see is the wrath that is poured out on the earth. Notice what it says in verse 2. So the first angel went and poured his bowl on the earth and it became a loathsome and malignant sore on the people who had the mark of the beast and who worshipped his image. Now as we go through these, I want you to take note of a couple of things. Number one is how closely some of these seem to be aligned with

the plagues that were experienced in Egypt in the book of Exodus. Interesting, isn't it, that what they sang in heaven while sitting on the glass seat was the song of the redemption of Moses. Right? The song of Moses about God's redemption from the nation of Egypt and the plagues, the wrath that's about to be poured out, very similar to the plagues from the nation of Egypt. That's the first thing I want

you to take note of. The second thing that I want you to take note of is that these are also very similar to the trumpet judgments, many of them only with an increased intensity. So the first thing that happens is this bowl is poured upon the earth and it became that loathsome and malignant sore on the people. Now I don't know how you picture this in your mind.

I always have a little bit of a cartoon slash poetic view of some of these things in my mind of an angel just pouring his bowl out on the earth and sort of fluttering slowly. As it flutters slowly down, strikes the earth. And as it strikes the earth some dust comes up and as the dust comes up it begins to get on the skin of the people. Again, it's probably not how this is going to work at all, but it's how my mind works, okay? The dust

jumps up and gets on the skin of the people and they're like, and then as soon as they look down at their arms they notice these sores begin to rise up on them. Another word that could be used for these sores is boils. Right? Something horrific that was all over their skin. And it was a horrific, painful feeling. As a matter of fact, we're going to find that this painful feeling is going to

last throughout all of these bowl judgments. Because when we get towards the end they're still going to be angry with God about the exact same sores they got in this first one. Now, if you've ever read the book of Job, you know that Job went through something very similar to this. He had boils on himself. One of the plagues, if you will, that Satan tried to unleash upon him to get him to

curse God. And do you remember how Job comforted himself with the boils that he had? He took shards of pottery and scraped them. Now, I don't know about you, but I've never thought to myself, you know what's going to feel really good? Is if I'll take a shard of pottery and begin to scrape my skin. How much pain do you have to be in to think that that is the thing that's going to bring you

a certain amount of comfort? But that's the experience that the people of Earth are going to have. They're going to be horrific, malignant sores that are all over their bodies. That caused them increased pain. Since we know that it's not going to go away, no matter what medicine they put on it, it still doesn't change it. No matter what ointments they use, it still doesn't seem to help.

And so these sores are poured out on them. But I want you to take note of who they're poured out on. They're poured out on the people in the verse 2 who had the mark of the beast and who worshipped his image. This wrath is going to be very specific to a group of people the ones who have worshipped the beast. Then we come to the second bowl. And this one's poured out

on the sea. Notice what it says in verse 3. The second angel poured out his bowl into the sea and it became blood like that of a dead man. And everything living in the sea died. The second angel poured out his bowl onto the sea. Again, you can just picture this angel doing one of these things and it flutters slowly down. It's enveloped into the sea and all of a sudden

slowly but surely maybe there's a little bubbling of the sea and it sort of starts to churn up a little bit and all of a sudden it turns into blood. Now there's an interesting description given to us of the blood here. It says blood as of a dead man. I have tried all day to find some form of spiritual significance to that. Nobody's addressed it. I want to know exactly what that means. One of these days that's going to

get answered for me. But the only thing that I can think is the blood of a dead man has stopped flowing. So there's no life in this whatsoever. It is just repugnant blood. Now if you remember when we talked about the trumpet judgments, the sea was one of the things that was struck and it was turned into blood. Only in the trumpet judgments only a third of the sea was turned into

blood. This time the entire sea is turned into blood like that of a dead man. And I want you to notice what happens next. It says and every living thing in the sea died. Which to imagine all of a sudden whales floating to the top. All the fish. Can you imagine the horrific stench of the world at this point in time? Not only does it stink but you have boils all over your

body and you're in pain. You're in pain and everything smells really bad. You and the water all around you. It says then the third angel poured out his bowl into the rivers and the springs of water and that's what we see next is the next point the rivers and the springs of water and they became blood and they heard the angel of the waters saying righteous are you who are and who were oh holy one because you judged these things for they poured out the blood of the saints and the prophets and you have given them blood to drink they deserve it and I heard the altar saying yes oh lord oh lord oh lord the almighty and true or the almighty true and righteous are your judgments now this third angel is going to pour out his vial on all of the fresh water

he's going to pour out his bowl on all of the fresh water and all of the fresh water the rivers and the springs they're all going to turn in to blood that means that there's going to be no fresh water drinking sources now I don't know if you think about where your Ozarka bottled water comes from but it comes from the sink right and where does all of that sink water come from well it comes from a river or it comes from a spring or it comes from an aquifer all of those fresh water sources are going to be turned into blood meaning that there's going to be no what there's going to be no drinking water now I don't know how purification processes totally work I went on a backpacking trip here a few years ago some guy

brought this sweet thing that costs more than my entire tent and everything costs and you could screw it on the top of a Nalgene bottle and you could stick one end of it into like the dirty bottle and you could put it in the dirtiest nastiest water I know because I tried dirtiest nastiest water you could find and you pump this thing a whole bunch of time and it filters the water so that then you don't get those amoebas that give you the diarrhea right I mean it's amazing it's amazing what that thing is able to do I'm pretty sure you plunk that thing in the end of blood you do this you just get filtered blood I don't think that's going to filter out all the blood to make it to where it's drinking water no fresh water drinking sources

everything stinks you have boils all over you and now you're really thirsty friends this is the wrath of God being poured out you see when we're not willing to accept the wrath of God that was poured out upon Jesus Christ then we have to experience the wrath of God being poured out upon us it says all of those things were affected and they became blood but I want you to notice we're given this little caveat it says the angel of the water said righteous are you who are and who were a holy one because you judge these things in other words your judgment is absolutely right and your judgment is absolutely true because what is the one thing that we always question when we see the judgment of God come but Lord I thought you were good

but Lord I thought you were loving and kind how can a good God do this how can a good God bring judgment listen how can a righteous God not bring judgment because God is righteous and while God is love and while God is mercy and while God is gracious and God is kind and patient he is also the God who judges because he is the righteous God and he says true and righteous are you oh Lord they deserve this judgment why because they spilled the blood of the saints therefore all they have to drink is blood it goes on to say and I heard the altar saying yes oh Lord God the almighty and true righteous are your judgments and we come to the fourth and the fourth angel is going to pour his on the sun then the fourth angel poured out his bowl upon the sun

and it was given to him to scorch men with fire men were scorched with fierce heat and they blasphemed the name of God who has the power over these plagues and they did not repent so as to give him glory so this fourth angel pours out his upon the sun and the sun is given a different kind of power if you remember in the trumpet judgments a portion of the lights were dimmed you remember that part it says they didn't give forth their light the way that they did before this time it's intensified it's intensified to the level where everyone is scorched now there was a time in my life where I never got a sunburn I was just a person who I just tan really really easy but now I'm old and I'm bald right

and so you know what the first thing to get burned on me is my head and it's awesome because then my head peels and it's like hey I didn't think bald guys could get dandruff I'm like think again bro right because my head starts my head starts to burn it is the most painful thing in the world to burn your head because you know what happens when you take a hot shower dude bummer right that's all I had to say now amplify that because that's what's going on on earth at this point in time the sun begins to scorch the people so every time they go out they get the worst sunburn they've ever had before in their entire lives it was given to them to scorch men with fire and if we don't think that's enough in verse 9 it says it again

men were scorched with fierce heat for some reason the intensity of the sun gets even greater is this going to be some sort of a fire what do you want to call it lessening of the canopy that's around the earth right now lessening of the ozone layer whatever it is that allows more of the sun's heat in or is this God just turning up the temperature on the sun whatever it is the sun will no longer be something that brings comfort and warmth to people it'll be the thing that scorches them and as it scorches them you would think at that point in time they would go I got no drinking water the seas are all blood I got no water I got nasty sores all over my body and now I have the worst sunburn I've ever had in my entire life

and you know what I can't even do take a cold shower because all the water's blood you would think they would go Lord I'm so sorry for the sins that I've committed Lord I'm so sorry I know this is your wrath being poured out on me but what do they do instead they blaspheme the name of God who has the power over these plagues and they did not repent so as to give him glory you know what I find interesting in verse 9 it says that they blasphemed the name of God who has the power over these plagues you know what that tells me it tells me that at that point in time people will understand this is God but we're at war with God we're opposed to God and they shook their fist at him and they blasphemed him and they refused to give him glory by repenting

they wouldn't do it they'd have no part of it it kind of reminds you a little bit of Pharaoh right a little bit of Pharaoh who refused to repent he may have feigned repentance but he refused well it goes on from there to the fifth angel it says then the fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast and his kingdom became darkened and they gnawed their tongues and they gnawed their tongues because of the pain and they blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores see and they did not repent of their deeds now things take a little bit of a different turn in this next one right it says the fifth beast or the fifth angel pours out his bowl on the throne of the beast and his kingdom is darkened

now the question I have is this and only one commentator said it but it did bring up an interesting thought they said if you remember a plague very similar to this happened in Egypt the plague that happened in Egypt when the children of Israel were there was literally a plague of darkness only it wasn't like ah things are peaceful right like there's something about the evening time when the sun finally goes down I like to really sit out on my back patio and look at the stars and just kind of think about life get lost a little bit in my thoughts in the evening time like that but this wasn't like that there's no light sources there's nothing it was darkness matter of fact in the book of Exodus it said there was a darkness that you could feel

that's how dark it was and it was dark everywhere except in Goshen where the children of Israel were which BT doves I want to see what that was like is it like dark light dark light anyway that's my own thought but that's what it was like there what Warren Wiersbe in his commentary says it's going to be the exact opposite it will be light everywhere else except wherever the Antichrist has set up his throne now whether that's true or not I don't know and he said that's not true he's the only commentator that I read that said that but it is an interesting thought but what I want to point out is this it says he poured it out on the throne of the beast and his kingdom became darkened here's why I think this is kind of interesting

if we were to jump ahead and do I think it's Revelation chapter 19 it might be in Revelation chapter 20 it talks about the fact that when we are in that new heaven and new earth that there will be no need for us to be darkened there will be no need for the sun the reason why there will be no need for the sun there's no darkness, no night because Jesus is there he is the source of light and so we won't need that any longer and isn't it interesting that this Antichrist this beast and his kingdom have now been made dark because they are truly darkness in and of itself so whether it's just something that happens wherever the Antichrist is Antichrist sets up his throne or whether it's worldwide there is this darkness it's almost like God said

if that's what you want then that's what I'll give you I don't know if you've ever been in a place where there's literally no light sources but it's a terrifying feeling there's been two times in my life where I've been in a place like this one is in the cave at Silver Dollar City if you've ever been there they take you down in that room quick sidebar story my wife's not in here so I can't get in trouble for telling this and I'm going to tell you I don't know if she can hear me in the nursery or not so we'll deal with that later but when her and I were dating we sponsored a trip to Young Christians Weekend and we sponsored this trip to Young Christians Weekend of course we were just dating so we had to follow the we're not married rules

even though we're college age kids and no PDA no public display of affection so we're not allowed to hold hands I can't put my arm around her can't give her a little smooch nothing like that so we followed that rule but we were down in the cave and we wanted to show you what it was like with the lights completely out in the cave so the lights completely went out in the cave and I went and then they turned the lights on and all the kids went ah we see you anyway that's one time when it was completely dark and it's just it's almost a terrifying feeling right to have to be that way but the time that really got me the most is when I worked at Prairie View Christian Camp it was a warm summer evening and a thunderstorm rolled in

and when this thunderstorm rolled in lightning struck a transformer out there and it killed every bit of light that was in that place and so there were no stars there was no moon and there were no outdoor lights well a bunch of kids were inside of the dining hall which by the way because they did all of their things in there they put curtains up all around the dining hall so that it wouldn't let natural light in during the day when they were doing their when they were doing their sessions of teaching so a bunch of kids were in there and they were like hey one of you guys has to go get all those kids out of there and so I walked in and I have a flashlight with me because we went everywhere without flashlights because it was our goal

to find our way around the dark we were teenagers anyway so I go in and it's like dude someone could be standing right here and I would have no idea because it was zero source of light anywhere in that place so I walk in and I'm like oh my gosh this is the most terrifying feeling in the world it's one of those you reach out your hand but you came to see your hand in front of your face I want you to imagine what that would be like only you also are covered in sores and you're dehydrated perhaps you have the worst sunburn you've ever had in your entire life that's the worst sunburn you've ever had in your entire life the wrath that's going to be poured out upon the earth and I want you to notice what happens you would think again

that they would be going man we're so wrong but everything became darkened notice what happens and they gnawed their tongues because of pain that's a significant amount of pain I don't think I've ever been in that much pain and they blasphemed God because of their pains and their sores and they did not repent of their deeds then comes the sixth thing the sixth angel the sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river the Euphrates its water was dried up so that the way would be prepared for the kings from the east and I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet three unclean spirits like frogs for they are the spirits of demons performing signs which go out to the kings

of the whole world to gather them together for the war of the great day of God the almighty behold I am coming like a thief blessed is the one who stays awake and keeps his clothes so that he will not walk about naked and men will not see his shame and they gathered them together to the place which in Hebrew is called Har-Mageddon now this sixth bowl that's poured out is poured out on the great river and it describes as the river Euphrates it's not the first time we've seen it in the book of Revelation not the first time we've seen it in the Bible but the Euphrates river was a great river at that point in time and it was considered a place of a certain amount of security for the kingdom of Rome from the kings from the east

because it would have been a hard river to cross because it was such a great river so it was considered a security barrier barrier for the nation of Rome and so as John sees this take place this bowl is poured out and something strange begins to happen to the river the river begins to be dried up only it's dried up for a specific purpose the specific purpose for which it's dried up is to create a path for the kings from the east because all of these kings are going to come against the nation of Israel all of these kings are coming and then do you take note of the next thing that took place it says and I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon and the beast and the false prophet three unclean spirits like frogs now if you're into horror movies

this is right up your alley or sci-fi right so there's this show that I'm watching right now don't judge me it's called The Blacklist and I'm just about all the way done with this crazy show it's a fascinating show I don't know that I can fully recommend it because there's a great deal of violence in this show but it's a crime solving show and I really get into that sort of thing and there's this one episode where this is the most made up thing in the world somebody's killing people by implanting bugs inside of their body they cause them to eat the larva of a bug and when the larva produces it it pours all of these bugs out of their mouth and all of a sudden the way that they're killed is these bugs come out of their mouth and I'm like

that's the craziest thing I've ever seen in the world until I read that can you I just can't imagine in my sci-fi mind I'm like they open up their mouth like and then they say ribbit right I don't know if that's what happens or not but this frog it's actually a demon that's like a frog and I've been trying all day to figure this one out too what makes it like a frog no one's answered that for me yet perhaps I just haven't read the right commentaries yet no one's answered as to why it's a frog we know that the Egyptians worshipped frogs that's part of the reason why remember when one of the plagues that God poured out upon the nation of Egypt is that frogs were everywhere right frogs all over the place perhaps that's why but these demigods

demonic beings come out of their mouths and they're like frogs that come out of them but there's something specific that these demonic things that come out of the mouths of these of the dragon and the beast and the false prophet do it says verse 14 they are spirits of demons and they perform signs and they go to a specific place they go out to the kings of the whole world only for a specific reason why to gather them for the war of the great day of God the Almighty let's get to it verse 15 for one quick second I'll put it right back in just a minute and they gather them together to the place which in Hebrew is called Har-Mageddon the valley of Jezreel as it's also referred to as the perfect place for a battle matter of fact Napoleon Bonaparte

referred to it as the perfect place for a battle many battles were fought there Deborah and Barak fought against their enemies for the nation of Israel in the book of Judges there Gideon fought against the Midianites there Saul was actually killed in the valley of Jezreel what we know as Armageddon it's a place known for great battles that have taken place there and all of these kings are going to gather against the nation of Israel in this valley and this battle was described for us a couple of chapters back in chapter 14 where it talked about the blood going up to the bridle of a horse and really a lot of commentators pointed out the same thing to call it a battle is maybe not really the proper term that we should use

it really should be referred to as the war of Armageddon because it wasn't just a singular battle this was a war it's fought and God allowed this to take place to bring all of these kings together to fight and that battle of course will be won by none other than God himself as Jesus coming quickly like a thief blessed is the one who stays awake and keeps his clothes so that he will not walk about naked and men will not see his shame he says hey listen I'm coming quick stay ready stay ready because I'm coming quickly well that brings us to the seventh bowl it says then the seventh angel poured out his bowl upon the air and a loud voice came out of the temple from the throne saying it's done and there were flashes of lightning

sounds and peals of thunder and there was a great earthquake such as there had not been since man came to be upon the earth so great an earthquake was it and so mighty the great city was split into three parts and the cities of the nations fell Babylon the great was remembered before God to give her the cup of the wine of his fierce wrath and every island fled away and the mountains were not found huge hailstones about 100 pounds each came down from heaven upon men and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail because its plague was extremely severe again this is how I picture this I don't know if this is how it's going to happen or not I just pictured this angel taking its bowl and throwing it up into the air and it disperses everywhere

and as soon as it disperses everywhere you can look and go what is that that I see floating through the air and all of a sudden the most massive thunderstorm you've ever seen arises and you know a little something about thunderstorms here right we're about to find out tomorrow this massive thunderstorm thunder and lightning and all of this and then something crazy happens the worst earthquake to ever hit planet earth now to me that carries a little bit more weight given the earthquake that hit Turkey and Syria here a few weeks ago or a couple months ago because to me that's one of the worst natural disasters I've ever seen hit with the amount of sheer death that there was but this is going to be so great that nothing has ever been seen

like it on the earth as a matter of fact this earthquake was so great that the great city which I believe is speaking of Jerusalem here was split into three parts and the cities of the nation fell and of course Babylon the Great's mentioned here because the cup of God's wrath was given to Babylon the Great but then in verse 20 we see something else take place with the topography it says and every island fled away I don't know if that means that they get sucked into the ocean or if the earthquake was so great that it changed the topography so much that they were covered with water if you remember the tsunami that hit quite some time back now I think it was around 2009 that tsunami that hit that absolutely just wiped out the islands right

and perhaps the earthquake is so great that it causes a tsunami that just utterly wipes out the islands whatever it is but then there's one other thing about the topography that's seen and the mountains were not found I don't know what that means does that mean that the mountains just went away whatever it is it's cataclysmic and it absolutely changes the topography of the earth and if that's not enough if the earthquake didn't shake the earth enough it says in huge hailstones about 100 pounds each I don't know why but for a long time when I was a real little kid this was the only thing I really knew about the book of Revelation is that there were going to be 100 pound hailstones and as somebody who grew up in Kansas all I could think was

that's a really big hailstone Amir Sirfati in his book and I've never thought of equating it to this he said imagine baby hippos I thought and that will always be what I think about now when I think about 100 pound hailstones is little baby hippos just right just hitting the huge chunks of ice just falling out of the sky listen I've driven through some crazy hailstorms before and to hear that stuff hit your windshield and watch it crack your windshield is the most terrifying thing in the world because for some reason I got stuck out on a highway in the middle of it and I just remember thinking Lord get me home because if this thing starts breaking my windshield the glass is coming all over me and this is a really bad situation and those hailstones

were probably only about golf ball size I can't imagine a baby hippo hitting my car right I mean that is it's awe inspiring you can't survive that nothing can survive that the plant life can't survive that your house can't survive that people won't be able to survive that and of course notice what happens because of the hardness of man's heart it says and men blasphemed God because of the plague of hail because it's plague was extremely severe tough chapter to read tough chapter to talk about because of the intensity of the wrath that God pours out but as we finish up this chapter there's four things I want you to take away from this four things I want you to hold on to as we have talked about this chapter number one victory comes

through standing strong on God's word remember those saints that we saw in the very beginning the ones who had made it through the tribulation the ones who had perhaps been martyred for their faith but they were victorious over the beast because they stood strong on what God's word has to say my friends it's true for us as well if we are going to be victorious in the world that we're living in right now we have to stand strong on God's word and it doesn't matter whether you live in a big city or a small city evil's coming for us and the only way that we can stand strong against that evil is if we're standing strong on what God's word has to say because listen all of the ground is sinking sand right what did Jesus tell us what did Jesus tell us

in the sermon on the mount he says there were two men and the two men built houses the first one built his house on the sand and the winds came and the storm blew and it beat against that house and that house fell and great was its fall the reason why it fell is because it wasn't built on anything strong he said but there was a second man a wise man and he built his house upon a rock he's the one that hears my word and does it and the sand and the same winds came and the same storm came and beat against the house in the exact same way but his house stood because it was built firmly upon the rock brothers and sisters you better know what you believe and you better be able to stand on what you believe because there's a shaking that's coming

the storms are coming matter of fact May 27th there's a storm there's a storm coming and we better be willing to stand upon the truth of what God's word is what God's word has to say number two sing the song of the redeemed listen I brought this up a lot in the book of Revelation but I think it's so ultimately important for you that you be able to sing the song of the redeemed that you be able to every day sing to God about the great salvation that he has worked in your life that you take that time and say Lord I'm just going to praise you for the salvation that you brought I don't feel like it today I don't feel like praising you today I don't feel like singing to you today but you know what your salvation is good today as it has been any other day

because you have redeemed my soul from the pit of emptiness you've redeemed my soul from death and I'm going to sing to you today and I'm going to encourage you to do something this is what my pastor up in Johnson County Rick Jardine used to always encourage us to do he'd always say you should write your own praise songs you should write your own song for the redeemed listen you don't ever have to sing it for anybody you don't ever have to play it for anybody it doesn't have to make sense to anybody but you it doesn't have to be musically good it doesn't even have to sound good but it's your song because it's the redemption that God has brought about in your life number three God is righteous in all of his ways I love that that verse

is included in there in verses 5, 6, and 7 where it says righteous and true are you oh God because as we read about all of the judgment of God you know what the first thing that we tend to question about God is is righteousness and his goodness and listen he's righteous in all of his ways he is just to forgive because he took our sacrifice upon the cross he took our sin upon the cross and he is just to judge because if we are not willing to accept that sacrifice then we have to accept the judgment he will be one of two things he'll be our savior or he'll be our judge but he will always be righteous in all of his ways and then number four be ready because he's coming quickly be ready because he's coming quickly what's quick I don't know

but you should be ready every day because he's coming quickly and I think that the world continues to show us I think that the events of the world continue to show us Jesus is coming quickly amen would you bow with me father we come to you and we thank you we thank you as always that you have let us know these things before they happen because you love us so much because we're your friends a friend tells his friends what he's about to do and so Lord help us to be ready help us to be prepared Lord help us to keep our clothes clean so that we will not be ashamed Lord let us be like those five wise virgins whose lamps were full of oil Lord may that oil of the Holy Spirit always be full in our lives Father we thank you and we praise you for who you are

in Jesus name amen be blessed