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Let's turn in our Bibles once again to the book of Revelation and the end of chapter 15. It's a very short chapter. We left off last Sunday at verse 5. We'll read those couple of verses at the end of verse 15 and then the entirety of chapter 16. You'll see why as they all go together. And just to forewarn you to have your mindsets and the right mindsets and your heart in the right place the next couple of Sundays as we go through these chapters, 16, 17, 18, even 19, that they're all about judgment and wrath. and condemnation, God's power as judge of the living and the dead. And so we want to hear what God has to say to us in his word about himself being the judge and about, ultimately, the victory of God over all of the enemies of the world that have arrayed themselves against the Lord and against his Christ, as Psalm 2 says. They've done so for generations. So Revelation 15, verse 5 through the end of chapter 16, let's hear what God says to us. After this, I looked, and the sanctuary of the tent of witness in heaven was opened. And out of the sanctuary came the seven angels, the seven plagues, clothed in pure, bright linen, with golden sashes around their chests. And one of the four living creatures gave the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God, who lives forever and ever. And the sanctuary was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power. And no one could enter the sanctuary until the seven plagues of the seven angels were 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. So the first angel went and poured out his bowl on the earth and harmful and painful sores came upon the people who bore the mark of the beast and worshiped its image. The second angel poured out his bowl into the sea and it became like the blood of a corpse, and every living thing died that was in the sea. The third angel poured out his bowl into the rivers and the springs of water, and they became blood. And they heard the angel in charge of the water say, just are you, O holy one, who is and who was, for you brought these judgments, for they have shed the blood of the saints and prophets, and you have given them blood to drink. It is what they deserve. And they heard the altar saying, yes, Lord God, the Almighty, true and just are your judgments. The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun and it was allowed to scorch people with fire. They were scorched by the fierce heat and they cursed the name of God who had power over these plagues. They did not repent and give him glory. The fifth angel poured out his bull on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness. People gnawed their tongues in anguish and cursed the God of heaven for their pain and sores. They did not repent of their deeds. The sixth angel poured out his bull on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up to prepare the way 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 demonic spirits performing signs who go abroad to the kings of the whole world to assemble them for battle on the great day of God, the Almighty. Behold, I am coming like a thief. Blessed is the one who stays awake, keeping his garments on, that he may not go about naked and be seen exposed. And they assembled them at the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon. The seventh angel poured out his bull into the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple from the throne saying, it is done. And there were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, and a great earthquake, such as there had never been since man was on the earth. So great was that earthquake. The great city was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. And God remembered Babylon the great to make her drain the cup of the wine of the fury of his wrath. And every island fled away, and no mountains were to be found. And great hailstones, about 100 pounds each, fell from heaven on people. And they cursed God for the plague of the hail, because the plague was so severe. We can very easily imagine as we hear those words and as we think about how they come to pass in reality in the world around us in our own time, the great question of people, where is God in all of this? We've heard that question, no doubt. Where is God in all of this? A hurricane wreaks havoc. Where is God in all of this? A famine wipes out part of a nation. Where is God in all this? A militia erases the village off the map. Where is God in all of this? We've heard that question. We ourselves maybe have even asked it. In many ways, this question, where is God in all this, all the stuff, all the mess of the world around us, This question from our culture, especially, it evidences unbelief, the unbelief of the world around us. Because, of course, the question is not where is God, but when is God going to come and put an end to all of this? The question of where is God is the question of unbelief. Question that says there is no God and if there is, well, where is he? If he's so all powerful and so all good. This question evidences an arrogance, doesn't it? Who are we to question God and who are we to stand over him as his judge? Paul says in Romans 9, after that great discussion and great description of God's work of predestination and election, he says that we are like a piece of clay and God is the potter. And who are you, oh man, a piece of clay to respond to God? Why have you made me like this? The question of where is God in all of this is a question of arrogance. It's a question of a person who thinks of him or herself as God, as judge, as almighty. Here in the book of Revelation, though, the resurrected, exalted, ascended, the Lord Jesus Christ gives John, the apostle, visions. so that he might comfort the church when it experiences the sufferings of the age in which we live, famines, wars, earthquakes, but also especially to comfort it when it suffers the persecutions that it experiences at the hands of ungodly and wicked governments, as we've seen. And he's given these visions, Jesus has, to John, not only to comfort the church, but to warn the world, to warn Unbelievers, these judgments are a warning that there is a great, final, lasting judgment to come. When the world experiences temporal judgments of hurricanes and floods and earthquakes and wars and famines and tragedies and death, these are merely drops from that great bucket of the wrath of Almighty God. If the world thinks, where is God and all this, now when it's only a drop coming out of heaven, what will they say when it's an entire deluge of wrath, judgment? Now we might be tempted to think that there are no such things, there is no such thing as temporal judgment. Now that the church and the world is under the new covenant, We might think there's only such thing as a final judgment at the end of human history. We might think that now God deals with the nations merely in terms of common grace. So everything is in a common grace sort of idea. And there are no judgments now. There's only a judgment come. We might be tempted to think that because it might lessen the blow, it might lessen the force, it might lessen the offense of what the scriptures teach us. But our Hatterberg Catechism, for example, just to put that to rest, to show us that yes, this is an idea that we believe to be true, that there are temporal judgments in this life and that foreshadow the final judgment to come. Our Hatterberg Catechism summarizes many old and New Testament passages such as the Psalms and the book of Romans chapter 1, when it asks this question in question 10, will God permit such disobedience of Adam and rebellion to go unpunished? Adam's original sin, which we ourselves have, will God allow it to go unpunished? Certainly not. He is terribly angry. about the sin we are born with, our original sin, Adam's sin, as well as the sins we personally commit. As a just judge, he that is God punishes them now and in eternity. There is a final judgment to come, but there are also in this age judgments, temporal judgments, partial judgments, judgments, judgments that are merely a drop from a bucket. They're all meant to warn the world of the judge to come. Revelation has been showing us then how God punishes the original and actual sins of our race. We saw in chapter six, the seven seals that were removed from that great scroll of God's will and purpose for the world. We saw in chapters eight and nine, the seven trumpets that announced those judgments. upon the earth. And now here in chapters 15 and 16, the seven bulls that actually pour out his judgments upon the earth. What do we learn here about God? We've already seen these judgments in chapter 6 with the seals Chapters 8 and 9 with the trumpets, it's the same judgment, the same judgments. What do we see here about God? I want you to see then, first of all, verse 5 of chapter 15 through verse 1 of chapter 16, that God is the source of judgment. God is the source of judgment. Secondly, chapter 6, verse 2 through 16, God is righteous in his judgment. God is righteous. in his judgments. Finally, I want you to see at the end of that chapter 16, those last four verses, 17 through 21, last five verses, God is patient in withholding final judgments. May God by the Holy Spirit then give us eyes and hearts to understand and to turn away from our sins and turn to God in repentance and faith. I want you to see then first that this vision reveals God as the source judgment. We are all too affected by our culture of nicety, political correctness, and so we spend our time defending God. We spend our time deflecting criticism of God for being unjust. We hear the accusations. We read the accusations. of the world, but this vision just proclaims it, notice. There is no explanation here. There is no answer given here. There is no apologetic here. There is no taking it into account the feelings of the nations. No, God is proclaimed here merely as the judge of all. It's just stated. Yes, we must show people the true nature of God and his word and his judgments, but we must proclaim it also. And note what John sees here. He sees the sanctuary, verse 5 of chapter 15. The sanctuary of the tent of witness in heaven opens. And here John is merging together Old Testament images of tabernacle, the tents, and the temple, the permanent place of Israel's worship. The sanctuary, that's the temple. The tent of witness, the tabernacle. He brings them all together. Where are they? They're in heaven, he says. Or where is it? It is in heaven. And we've already seen this idea of a temple, of a tabernacle, of a holy place, of a sanctuary. Where are the souls that have been martyred in this life? Where are they in the life that is to come? They are under the altar, chapter six said. The altar is a tabernacle, it's a temple language, isn't it? Where do the old white clad crowds worship God? In heaven, chapter seven has already told us, they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple. And so John sees a temple in heaven, like he's already seen. And this is further impressed upon us in this image of verse number eight, the sanctuary was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power. Imagine Isaiah six, the prophet Isaiah, When he saw the Lord high and lifted up, the train of God's robe filled the temple. It was filled with smoke. There was a great earthquake that shook its foundations. And he looked, and what did he see? My eyes have seen the King, he said. The Lord of glory. John sees The reality of that earthly temple that Isaiah once saw, that was merely a replica, that was merely a reflection, that was merely a sketch of the real temple in heaven where the true God of the universe exists. This is the same throne, the same temple, the same God, the same smoke, the same presence that we saw back in Revelation 4, where all the universe surrounds the throne of God and worships Him Why do I mention that? Because it's from this temple. It's from that throne. It's from that heavenly, holy place where God dwells. That we go on to read comes forth judgments. And out of the sanctuary, what is the sanctuary? It's a holy place. Who's the holy one? We just sang in Psalm number 99, the holy one of Israel is the Lord. Out of the sanctuary came the seven angels with the seven plagues. And one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels, seven golden bulls for the wrath notice of God. They're going out of the temple with God's wrath. The God who lives forever and ever. Then I heard, chapter 16, verse one, a loud voice in the temple telling the seven angels, go and pour out on the earth the seven bowls of the wrath of God. What does this mean? Don't we often speak about bad things happening to good people? Don't we often think or speak or feel Well, that was just a chance occurrence. That was just a freak act of Mother Nature. That was just a tragedy of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Don't we normally speak that way? Don't we think about earthquakes and wars and famines, and especially here we think about hurricanes and floods and fires in our own county? Random acts, chance occurrences, freak acts of nature, wrong place, wrong time. We think about these things as random and as chance, as fortune, as a lottery, where balls are being moved by air in a big bin and we just hope that our number is not called. But Revelation tells us the opposite, doesn't it? the things that happen in the here and now on earth that we describe as random, chance, wrong place, wrong time, bad things to good people. Revelation says, no, these are actually judgments from Almighty God's presence. These come from God himself. These come from God, who is the just judge. They come from God to punish, but to war. They might shock us or strike us. God sends earthquakes? God sends fires? God allows famines? God permits wars? Absolutely. He's the just judge of the universe. And He punishes now, in time, and He will also one day punish in eternity human beings for their sins that they were born with, as well as their actual sin. If you don't serve Jesus Christ today, you stand under this perfect judge's judgment. Things happen not out of randomness, or chance, or fortune, or lottery, or just because you happen to stand in the wrong place and a lightning storm struck. These things come from God and he's warning you. The response to this, of course, is I knew it. I knew it, you Christians actually do believe that God is a celestial satan, that God is an immoral monster who kills the innocent. I knew. Finally, you've said it. The Bible teaches it. But God also reveals something else here, notice, that he's righteous in his judgments. He's righteous, not unrighteous. not random, not capricious, not fly at the handle, angry, but righteous. John says elsewhere in 1 John 1, verse 5, God is light, in him is no darkness at all. God does not send judgments because he himself is a sinner, and that he has sinful anger, and that he just likes to punish, he likes to do this. He takes pleasure in the death of the wicked. God is not a judge that can be swayed by political winds. God cannot be swayed as a judge out of some selfish personal gain, taking a bribe. What's in it for me? What position can I get exalted to later on if I follow this crowd and if I make this judgment? God is the standard of right and wrong, of perfection, of judgment. We are the sinners. And so we read in verses five and six in chapter 16, notice, the acclamation of the angels and the saints in heaven. Just, notice, just are you, O holy one, who is and who was, for you brought these judgments. There's the direct action of God. For they have shed the blood of the saints and prophets, and you have given them blood to drink. It is what they deserve. And again, verse seven, yes, Lord God, the Almighty, true and just are your judgments. God is a righteous judge. God is a holy judge. He doesn't take bribes. He can't be swayed. He can't be moved. He doesn't allow cheating. He sees every action. He hears every word. He knows every thought. And notice how in these seven bowls of God's wrath, that just like we've already seen back in chapter six with the seven seals, and in chapters eight and nine, the seven trumpets, notice that they are chronicling for us the judgments of God, temporal judgments of God upon this world between the time of Jesus ascending to heaven and his returning back to earth. And we've already seen, as we see here again, that these judgments of God are described and depicted in Old Testament visions and images, such as the ancient plagues upon Egypt. Notice verse two, we see things here like painful sores, like in Exodus nine. We see the sea and you see the rivers, the springs of water become like blood, like in Exodus chapter seven. The sun scorching people with fire, just like on Sodom and Gomorrah. Hail, fire, brimstone, scorching heat coming down. We see here also, notice, that the kingdom of the beast, verse 10, that is, as we've seen already, the worldly anti-Christian governments, they're plunged into darkness. Just like the darkness upon Egypt. We see here the drawing of the great river Euphrates to prepare the way for the kings from the east just as the prophets described the kingdoms of the Assyrians, the Babylonians from the east crossing the river to come and to judge Israel. Now let me just mention quickly this so-called battle of Armageddon. We see here the judgments of God, the justice of God. That's the point of the text. God is judge. He's righteous in his judgments. You must be warned and you must flee his judgment, flee to Christ. That's the purpose of the text. But what do most people think this text is about? They take this one little phrase, Armageddon, and make it into a great best-selling series, don't they? This so-called Battle of Armageddon here, like everything else here is used and is described in symbols, imagery, visions, Old Testament images brought to the New Testament to bring them to the reality. This is symbolic. Heresy, some would say, wouldn't they? How can you say the Bible is symbolic? Not literal. Well, what does it literally mean? Well, you have here, notice in verse number 12, you have the kings from the east, and don't we hear lots about China's 200 million man army? We hear about the revived Persian empire, Iran, and oh, that's gonna be the fulfillment of that passage, but notice. Notice how we can see this is a symbol, because we have verse 12, kings from the east, but those kings are also the same as kings of the whole world, verse 14. It's a symbol. Drawn from the Old Testament, just like Assyria and Babylonia would come against Israel, in the same way all the world is going to assault the church, but God will be her judge. Again, it's a symbol here because you have demons, like unclean animals of the Old Testament, frogs coming out of mouths, including the mouth of a dragon, a mythical non-existent animal. Verse 13 and 14. And we're told there, notice, that it must be symbolic, this cannot be quote unquote literal because the entire world's armies will gather at this place called Armageddon. Verse 16. Now there was a place, again this is why this is a symbol, there was a place called Megiddo. And that was a place where, in the book of Judges, chapters four and five, there was a great battle. The wicked attacked Israel at this place called Megiddo, and that's where God came to the aid of the Israelites. But notice, verse 16 does not call this place Megiddo, but Armageddon, or literally Har-Megiddo, which means Mount Megiddo. There's no such thing as Mount Megiddo. There is no mountain in that place. It's a plain. It's a valley. And the Old Testament prophets, for example, say that the final last battle would take place not at this Mount Megiddo, or Armageddon, as we have it, but the last battle would take place in the city of Jerusalem at Mount Zion. Ezekiel 13 and 39, for example, tell us that this final battle takes place in the mountains of Jerusalem, not on Mount Megiddo. It's a symbol. that brings together the story of the Old Testament judges, and God's deliverances from the Philistines in the days of the judges, and all these Old Testament prophecies of Jerusalem and Mount Zion, all to be used in John's great purpose, Christ's purpose, to say to us that God in the end will come to his people's aid. That's the purpose of this battle of Armageddon. To get back to the point, how is all this just? and righteous. All this plague, all these fires, this hail, these boils, water being turned symbolically to blood and so forth, death. How is this just and righteous? Notice verse two. God sends his judgment not upon the innocent, upon those, verse two, who bore the mark of the beast and worshiped its image, which we've already seen describes in first century terms, serving the Roman Empire and serving Caesar, worshiping the empire, worshiping Caesar, sacrificing to the empire, sacrificing to Caesar. In other words, is to worship ultimately Satan through the various ways and means and methods that the devil uses to get us to distract us, whether it's an empire, whether it's our bank accounts. whether it's an actual Caesar or whether it's your favorite sports hero. He gets our eyes taken off of him in heaven and down upon the base things of earth to serve and to worship him. In the first century, they had great Colosseans, of course, as you know, that could see tens of thousands. And then in those places, they would worship Caesar and they would offer incense to Rome. And then they would have great gladiatorial battles and so forth. It's not a coincidence that our own culture has a similar thing. Of course, there's not as much blood. There's not as much gore. There's no animals killing human beings. But where do we find the greatest crowds, the greatest excitement, the greatest zeal, the most amount of money spent in our culture? It's in sports, isn't it? This judgment is righteous and just because it comes upon those who worship not God, but worship ultimately themselves, their own desires, their own needs, their own personal ideas. And the unbelieving heart is a heart of hardness towards God. Notice that in verses nine and 11, that even when God only sends a drop of judgment and he allows, as we'll see, for time for repentance, they cursed the name of God. They cursed the God of heaven and they still do that. We know that, we've heard that. And as you read those refrains that are so full of disappointment that we've heard these things in our own lives amongst friends and family, they did not repent, verse nine, and give him glory. Verse 11, they didn't repent of their deeds. God is sending judgments, but why won't you see that? God is sending punishment upon sin and sinners. Why won't you turn? Because the heart of man is desperately wicked and deceitful above all things. Man is like a leopard who cannot change his spots. He's like an Ethiopian who cannot change the color of his skin, the prophet says. That's how they are born, sinners. They must be transformed by the grace of Almighty God. And notice as well here in this judgment that are these just and true and righteous judgments, the pace of judgment in the bulls in chapter 16, the pace quickens. Between the sixth and seventh seal, there is an interlude of a whole chapter. There's a pause. Between chapters eight and nine, before the seventh and final trumpet was blasted, there was a time of interlude, there was a time of patience, a time of peace. But here in chapter 16, at least as the literary genre takes place, there is no pause between the sixth and final bowl of wrath. In other words, God is saying that there is no more delay. And if you are unrepentant, if you will not give glory to the God of heaven, if you serve yourself through whatever thing it is that you love more than God, you must repent because the time for God's final judgment is near. There is no pause, there is no respite. Don't wait for tomorrow, he's saying. because there very well may not be a tomorrow. That leads to a final point, just a very quick point to make. That God is also patient here. Verses 17 through 21, you see the final judgment. There's no pause in the unfolding of the bowls, the pouring out of the bowls, there's no pause. But yet God still is being patient, isn't he? because that final outpouring, the final bowl of God's wrath, the second coming of Jesus Christ, the judge of living and dead, has not yet come. And Jesus' second coming is described in verses 17 through 21 just as it was in the seals and trumpets. Verse 17 says, it is done. Verse 18, all the imagery that we've already seen, the lightning and rumblings and thunder and earthquakes, We've seen it already throughout the book. That describes the second coming of Jesus Christ. Verses 20 and 21, the islands flee away, the mountains are not found, there's a great hailstone that weighs 100 pounds, they're falling on people's heads. Judgment, the final judgment. Verse 19, again, foreshadows what we'll see in the chapters to come with the destruction of Babylon. The great city was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell, and God remembered Babylon the great. to make her drain the cup of the wine of the fury of His wrath. Babylon is, again, a symbol. Babylon is the same as the kings of the East, the same as the kings of the whole world, symbolizing all the world. All those that stand opposed to Jesus Christ are Babylon, one of the great ancient enemies. And in fact, this final judgment here echoes ancient prophecies. The prophet Jeremiah said that Babylon would be desolate forever, would not rise again. And here John uses the imagery of Babylon to describe the coming of Jesus Christ. But yet God is patient, isn't he? All this judgment is coming. All this punishment, justice, outpouring of fury, wrath is coming. As sure as Jesus Christ lived, died, and rose again, so sure will He come again. All this is on the horizon. There is no delay. Yet God shows you His patience. God was patient with all of us as the entirety of the world, wasn't He, when He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to live, to die, to rise. us not deserving it, us not even wanting it, us hating God by nature. Yet God was patient and God was gracious and God sent his only son to die in our place. And God is patient towards you today. He has not sent this final judgment. Here we are. How ought we to respond then in repentance, in humility, serving God? giving Him glory, turning away from ourselves to Jesus Christ, the remedy. And if we turn to Jesus Christ, we can be assured that on the cross, the wrath, that cup of wrath that is described here as being poured out upon the world in the end, that cup has already been poured out upon Christ. So if we trust in Jesus Christ, we will not undergo that outpouring of the wine of the fury of His wrath, On that day, we will only see his smile. He will say to us, well done, good and faithful servant, enter the kingdom. On that day, we will not be covered in the blood of fury and wrath, but covered in the white robes of a spotless righteousness that Christ himself gives to us. God is a patient God. He's a just God. All judgments come from him, but he's a patient God. Will you turn? Will you repent? Will you embrace his offer of rescue from his judgment to come? Let's give him thanks and pray.
God Pours Out the Bowls of His Judgment
Serie Opening Up Revelation
- God is the Source of Judgment (15:5–16:1)
- God is Righteous in Judgment (16:2–16)
- God is Patient in Withholding Final Judgment (16:17–21)
ID del sermone | 329151828514 |
Durata | 36:33 |
Data | |
Categoria | Domenica - AM |
Testo della Bibbia | Rivelazione 15:5 |
Lingua | inglese |
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