Revelation chapter 16 is where we want to turn this evening. We're going to read this chapter through. Revelation chapter 16, beginning at verse 1. Revelation 16, verse 1. We're continuing on here to think about these vials of wrath, seven vials of wrath that are going to be poured out. Revelation 16, verse 1. And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, go your ways and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth. And the first went and poured out his vial upon the earth, and there fell noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshipped his image. And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea, and it became as the blood of a dead man, and every living soul died in the sea. And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters, and they became blood, And I heard the angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast, and shall be, because thou hast judged us. For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink, for they are worthy. And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments, And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun, and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire. And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which had power over these plagues, and they repented not to give him glory. And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast, And his kingdom was full of darkness, and they gnawed their tongues for pain, and blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds. And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates, and the water thereof was dried up that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared. I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. Behold, I come as a thief, Blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame. And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon. And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air. And there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven from the throne saying, it is done. And there were voices and thunders and lightnings. And there was a great earthquake. such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake and so great. And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. And great Babylon came in remembrance before God to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath. And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found, And there fell upon men a great heel out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent. And men blasphemed God because of the plague of the heel. For the plague thereof was exceeding great. " Amen. We know the Lord will add His blessing to the reading of His Word this night to all of our hearts. We're going to bow together in prayer. and ask the Lord for His help as we come to His Word. Our Heavenly Father, we do thank Thee tonight that we have the opportunity of turning and considering Thy Word, that Thou hast revealed to us these things in Thy Word and sketched out, Lord, what these future days are going to hold, that we are not then taken unawares. We have read tonight those words, Behold, I come as a thief. And Lord, there is a need to be watchful. There is a need to be ready. There is a need to be understanding of these things, for these things have to do with thy coming. And we pray, Lord, that we might have insight and understanding from the Word of God and from the Holy Spirit who gave these things to us. Oh, grant that to be so tonight. Speak to all of our hearts, Lord. Let there be a word in season to us, each one. As we consider Thy Word, Lord, may we come to a greater understanding of it. May we be ready for those who have not made preparation. We pray, Lord, that even Thy Word tonight would show them how necessary it is to flee to Christ. It's imperative. Lord, it is not something that can be left off. We pray that, even tonight, there would be those that would hasten to Christ, whether in this meeting, whether listening in, watching online, or maybe someone who hears at a later time or watches at a later time. We pray that thou would take thy word this night and use it mightily. So hear our prayer. Be gracious to us now, we humbly pray. We ask in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. In the book of the Revelation, you read about seven seedles. That's where we started off a little while ago now. Back in Revelation chapter 6, the Son of God is coming to take possession of the earth that belongs to him. The earth is the Lord in the fullness thereof. And he is the deeds of evidence. Just the same way as you would have a title deed to your property that you might own, well, the Lord has the deeds to the world. But he is the creator of the world, and he owns the world. And that book that you read off back there in chapters 5 and 6, where the seals were taken off, are the evidence claim that the Lord has that he does indeed own this world. So we start off there thinking about those seven seals that are mentioned and they give us a broad overview of the coming events that are going to bring about the coming of the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then we moved on to think about seven trumpets, chapter 7, 8, and 9. And again, they are one complete vision that we take all together. And those chapters that have to do with the seven trumpets reveal to us God's chastening hand upon his ancient people. They have to do with the Great Tribulation, where his people are going to go through dark days in order to turn them. He says, I'm going to bring you into the crucible, and I'm going to heat it up, and you're going to call upon me in your need. So Revelation 7, 8, and 9 have to do with the seven trumpets. On to chapter 10 through to 13 is another section of the book. They introduce to us specific circumstances that we were called upon to think about. There was the two witnesses in chapter 11. There was the woman with the man-child in chapter 12. There was the beast and the false prophet in chapter 13 that we were brought to consider. All of these details the Lord is showing to us because they have some relevance about those days prior to the coming again of the Savior to this world. Then we come to chapters 14, 15, and 16, and we're finishing off this section here this evening. And that, again, stands as a section on its own. Chapter 14 prepares the way for what follows. We were thinking about the 144,000 who are redeemed, standing with the Lamb upon Mount Zion. We thought about the grain harvest, and the vintage harvest, and the difference that there is on those two harvests as the Word of God reveals them to us. The Lord is going to separate between the wheat and the tares. And then He's going to gather the grapes into the winepress, so the wrath of Almighty God All those details are set out before us. And that brings us here now to where we are at present to think about the seven vials, or seven bowls, as I was explaining last Lord's Day evening. Maybe that word vial today would have us to think about something that's really small and maybe a very narrow neck on it, and it only trickles out. Well, that's not the idea in the word. The word is an idea more of an open pan that can be easily tipped easily tipped, and all its contents just tipped out in a moment. So it's not something that trickles out at a very slow rate as we might think something out of a vial. It's something here that is going to be cast out or poured out or tipped out all at once upon the earth. Now what we want to do tonight is to think about the details that are given to us here about the seven vials, seven last plagues they are called as well, going back to chapter 15 and verse 1. They are described as the wrath of God. A few points here before, by way of introduction, before we come to think about the seven vials themselves. And that's one point I certainly would draw to you. These are the wrath of God. There is the wrath of the Lamb that is yet to follow. The wrath of the Lamb takes place at the very moment He descends from heaven. We haven't got that far yet. We have got very close to it. There's been a number of times we thought we're almost there, and then the Lord takes us back and shows us other things that He wants us to know. And we've not got quite there. We're not going to get there till we get to chapter 19, to when He finally comes. And when He comes, the Scripture tells us there's going to be the wrath of the Lamb. We're thinking about the wrath of God, the wrath of the Father here. against sin and against ungodliness. So there is a distinction to make in that connection. It's also worthwhile to remember the four groups of individuals that will be alive on the earth at this particular time. There's going to be professing Christendom, that which is represented in some of those parables in Matthew 13, for example, where the Lord Jesus talked about the kingdom of heaven being likened unto certain things. For example, there was a net that was likened onto a trawler's net, where everything is just gathered up. And then there comes a day when those fishermen go through the net, and they cast away the bad, and they keep the good. So there's professing Christendom that's going to be divided among the wheat and tares, as we've already been noticing there a few evenings ago. Then there's anti-Christendom. There's the 10 kingdoms. That's mentioned in chapter 16 there, where we were reading tonight, verse 14. If you mark your Bible, I certainly would encourage you to mark this particular place. Because there in verse 14 of chapter 16, where we were reading, it says, and they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. The word world there is the word ecumenic. It refers to the Roman earth. It refers to the 10 kings of the Roman Empire that will be reconstituted. There's a different word. If the Holy Spirit wanted to use a word that refers to all the kingdoms of the earth, He could have used a word that refers to all the kingdoms of the earth, but He didn't. He uses a word that only refers to the Roman earth. That's the same word that appears in Luke chapter 2. there went out to command from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed. It was all the Roman world. It was the world that Caesar ruled over. He didn't have any authority on those barbarous nations that were outside the Roman Empire, he couldn't compel them to go back to the place of their birth and be registered in the census, as he did those all who were in his empire, as Joseph and Mary did. And they had to leave Nazareth and go back to Bethlehem and register. So if the Holy Spirit had wanted to use a word that referred to all the nations of the earth, there was a word that he could have used. But he didn't use that word. He used a word that refers only to the 10 kingdoms. of the Roman earth. They're going to be there. In fact, these vials of wrath are particularly destined for them, as we'll come to see. There's heathen nations in other parts of the earth that, in many ways, will be unaffected by what's happening here, outside the Roman earth, outside the kingdom of Antichrist. Oh, they'll be involved in some degree, but in many respects, they will not be. They're going to escape some of these judgments, many of these judgments that are going to fall, because as we'll come to see tonight, these judgments are specific upon the kingdom of Antichrist. And then the fourth group, so you have professing Christendom, you have Antichristendom, you've got the heathen nations in the other parts of the earth, and the fourth obvious category are the Jews, those who are in the land of Israel, those who are not. As we know tonight, There's a number of the Jews have gone back. Israel, back in 1948, became a nation again. And many have gone back, quite a number. Millions have gone back. But there's still many, as many still across the face of the earth, Jews who have not gone back. And that will be how it is when the Lord comes back to this earth. There will be some who will be in Israel. There will be other Jews that will still be in the nations around the earth. Just as it is tonight, just as it is tonight. Up until 1948, that wasn't possible at all. There was no place that the Jews called their homeland whatsoever. They were scattered all over the earth. And the Lord said they would have a homeland when He would come back, that there would be Jews in the land of Israel when He would come back, and some other things that haven't been fulfilled yet. There was even a very well-known commentator, Charles Hodge, very well-known, very respected commentator. And he said, there's no possibility that these things could be literal in the land of Israel. Sure, look at the Jews. They don't even have a homeland. He was writing before 1948. And it wasn't all that long until they did have a homeland. And they still have it tonight. And they still will have it until the Lord comes. So they're the fourth group of individuals that are going to be found. And remember what the Lord Jesus said in Matthew 24, that when Christians and any Jew that would take heed to what the Lord Jesus had said, when they see certain things around Jerusalem, they were to flee the city. Because we're going to read here tonight about some of the things that happened to that city. Jerusalem as a city. There's things that are going to be poured out upon that city of Jerusalem, and the Lord has said, for those who heed His Word and who flee that city, they will be spared these things. How important it is to take heed to His Word. The Lord has given us these things in His Word and many other commands and exhortations. And we would do well to take heed to His Word. It would spare us a lot of trouble. It will spare us going to hell if we were to take heed to His Word. when he warns of sin and the consequences of sin. One final thought I want to mention at this time before we think about these seven vials. The Lord sketches out all of these things. This is what's going to happen. The Lord knows what's going to happen, right down to the finest of details. And there are times we're going to notice it when we get to the end of this chapter. The Lord's going to introduce the subject of Babylon, and then in chapter 17 and 18, He's going to take us back, and He's going to sketch out all the details about Babylon in two chapters. And He introduces it here at the end of this particular chapter. We'll mention it when we get to the last two seals. There are minute details, and He has it all sketched out. The Lord knows what's going to happen. And then remember, too, the Lord knows what's going to happen to you as an individual and to me as an individual. The Lord knows how the world is going to end. The Scripture tells us how these things are going to come about. And it's not just a matter of stirring our curiosity. It's not just something for the curious. No, it's that we might be prepared, that we might be ready. We're going to see that tonight as well, because the interesting thing to notice here as well is that there's commentary made as we go along through these seven vials. There's an actual place here where the Savior speaks. He speaks in the first person. He says, I come quickly. I'm coming as a thief. where the Lord interjects, as it were, and He speaks Himself to people as if He's warning. So the picture that we have, in many ways, it's like the spokes of a wheel. They're all going in to terminate at the same point. And whether it's the seven seals, whether it's the seven trumpets, or whether or not it's the seven vials of wrath, they're all going to terminate with the appearing of Jesus Christ. That's the important point to keep in mind as we go through the book of the Revelation. The termination is the same. The stopping point, the end point, is the same at every occasion. And the Lord sketches it. When we go back to the seals, it was very broad, very broad there in chapter 6. And then the trumpets came along. Now we're thinking about the seven vials. And they all funnel into that one end point, the coming of the Lord Jesus. There is coming a moment when the clouds will part and he will appear. So everything is funneling into that. So there are things that we're going to notice tonight that are running alongside what we read in the seals and what we've read in the trumpets. They're running parallel. I would suggest to you that from what we read here in Revelation chapter 16, these vials are being poured out in the last three and a half year period prior to the coming of the Lord. Because when we get to the first one here, the starting point in verse 2, we read about those who have this vial poured out upon them, and they are individuals who have taken the mark of the beast and who have worshipped his image. Well, it tells us when that image is going to be set up. It's going to be set up 42 months, 1,260 days, 3 1⁄2 years prior to the coming of the Lord. Scripture is specific. We've already noted that in the book of the Revelation, going back to chapters 11 and 12 and 13. Those time markers were given to us there, 42 months, 1,260 days, 3 1⁄2 years, a time, times, and half a time. And in the Old Testament is how it is described. So if the very first vial is going to be poured out upon those who take his mark and who worship his image, well, those things then have to be in existence. So we've got a time marker to start off with. We know exactly when these things are going to start then. They're going to be in that period, maybe even shorter than three and a half years. But there's certainly going to be in that three-and-a-half-year period that's going to mark the end of this age, just prior to the coming of the Lord, because that's when Antichrist is going to set up his image. That's when the Jews are going to break covenant with him. That's when he's going to start to persecute them. The Great Tribulation is going to come about, because they've broken covenant with him, and he's turned to vent his fury on them. And there's going to be a time of tribulation. The Lord Jesus said, the like of it has never been seen before in this world. You think of all the times the Jews have been persecuted. There was an ex-footballer there this week that got into trouble because he used the word Holocaust to refer to a football match. And rightly so. Nothing that happens on a football field could ever be equated to what happened in the Holocaust. There's been times when the Jews have been persecuted horrendously. Their worst time of persecution is yet to come, yet to come. How sad and how tragic it will be when those days come. But we do have a starting point here. So we have a time marker as to when these vials, they've not been poured out as yet. There were some commentators and individuals, they thought it was Napoleon. You can go back and read some of the comments. Oh, there were those who thought it was Napoleon that was mentioned here in Revelation 16 and some of these files that were poured out upon the French armies and the time of the French Revolution and so on. There were individuals who had it all sketched out. These things aren't to do with the French. They're not to do with the British either. nor the Americans, nor the Chinese, nor the Russians. These things are going to focus on Jerusalem. And they're going to focus into that last period prior to the coming of the Lord. Because we've got a starting point right at the very beginning to make it abundantly clear when it is. The image of the beast has to have been set up. People have to have taken his mark. People have to have fallen down and worshipped that image. That hasn't happened yet. That hasn't happened. I think I mentioned the other night as well about that chapter in Genesis that we know so well about the image and the three Hebrew children refusing to bow down, being cast into the fiery furnace because they wouldn't bow down. Is that just something that only had relevance to the days of Nebuchadnezzar, or is that a picture of a future time, of another image that's going to be set up? and the command will go out, fall down and worship. And if you don't fall down and worship, you're going to be put to death. Is Daniel and the three Hebrew children, did you read off there a prophecy, a picture of what will happen in a future time? I believe it is. The events that the Lord records in history, the events of history that the Lord records in Scripture are selected by Him. If he was to fill in every piece of history, how big would the Bible be? He hasn't. He's selected what he's put in. And he's told us, because Paul tells us that in Corinthians, that what he has put in is for our admonition, to put something into our mind, to give us understanding of certain things. Not just to put something into your heart and my heart, Christian, or dear unsaved one either. Yeah, that's true about the Scriptures. It's to put something into our heart. But also, Paul says, it's to put something into your mind. It's to give you understanding of things. So, Paul says that these things were written for our admonition. That word, admonition, literally means put something into your mind. So, when you read in Daniel about the image set up and the command that was given and the three Hebrew children who refused to bow before it, is the Lord seeking to put something into our mind there? of a future day when there will be a command and there will be Jews who will say, I'm not going to bow. I'm not going to bow before any image. We're not idolaters. We don't worship idols. Didn't Hosea say that about the Jew? They have lasted for years and they haven't bowed down to idols. There was a time they were given to idolatry. They ran after idols. Days of Elijah and Elisha and so on. But then Hosea said they will continue many days without an idol. They will not bow down today to an idol. And there will come a command someday, and they will refuse, and that will be the trigger for the great tribulation. And there will be horrendous days to come as they refuse to bow before Antichrist. So this is an important chapter when we come to think about the vials, not only the nature of them, but all of these little details that are found in them. Let's come then very quickly. We want to go through these tonight and cover them. Verse 2 begins the first one. It says, And what you're going to immediately think of here is Egypt and the plagues. This is a replication of one of the plagues of Egypt, the boils. The plague of boils that came upon individuals. Was that literal? Did that actually happen in Egypt? Did those Egyptians actually feel and suffer those boils that they were afflicted with? Well, you can go back to Exodus chapter 9, verses 8 to 12, and you'll read about that. They most certainly felt them physically. It was a physical plague. And if the Lord has done it back then, He can certainly do it in a future day. He hasn't lost any of His power. We believe that. I wouldn't reckon anybody here would doubt that tonight. There's not one of us, I would imagine, who's going to question the Lord's ability, nor question how literal the plagues were in Egypt. Well, if it happened back there that the Lord smote a whole nation and spared His own people at the same time from those boils that came upon them as a punishment, as a chastisement, is He not going to be able to do it again? And He is, and He will. So you have this noisome grease and sore that falls upon all of those who take the mark. And there's evidently a distinction here because it's upon those who take the mark of the beast and who fall down and worship the image. So evidently there are going to be those who are not going to do that. We've already talked a little bit about that. There's those who are not going to fall down and they're not going to bow that before that image and they're not going to worship it. And they're going to be spared. They're going to be spared this gruesome sore that's going to be poured out upon those who do. Would the Lord tonight seek to teach individuals that to continue on in sin and reject the Lord, reject His Word, side with His enemies, it's not going to work out well for you. It's not going to work out well. You see, the devil comes and tells the unconverted that, ah, but if you got converted, your life is going to be so much more miserable. You're not going to have the enjoyment. You're not going to have all of these things. The devil doesn't tell anybody the end. The devil never shows somebody this best customer, because they're lying in the gutter tonight, whether it's the alcoholic or the drug addict. bound and fettered by sin. The devil doesn't pray to his best customers on television because their lives are in misery. And the devil doesn't tell people how the end is, but the Lord does so that we might be warned. And here he is setting this out before us, that repetition of the sixth plague. Then on to verse 3, where we have the second of these. This is another of the plagues of Egypt. Psalm 105 tells us how God turned their waters into blood and slew all their fish. Well, in verse 3 here of Revelation 16, it says, Again, the point I've made about it being literal stands here, too. But if you go back to the second trumpet in Revelation chapter 8 and verse 8, we read there about the sea being affected. A third of it was affected. It was turned into blood. But here the whole sea is affected. This is somewhat a development. I said these run together. They all run into the same terminus, the coming of the Lord. So when we think about What is mentioned in the trumpets, the sea is affected to some degree, but here, with this subsequent vial of God's wrath that is poured out, the whole sea is affected. The whole sea is affected. So there is the utter destruction of life here in the sea, as this second vial is poured out. On to verse 4, brings us to the third of these, Moses commanded, One time in Egypt, he was to stretch out his hand upon the rivers, and you read something here similar to that in verse 4. The third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters, and they became blood. They became blood. So again, we've already got a pattern in the Bible for these. The plagues of Egypt, they were not one-offs. There's a significance in them even in a future day. But do you notice here what you have in this portion? Here's one of those places where there is this commentary as these are being poured out. So we've got to the third one. Less than halfway through, in verse 5 says, I heard the angel of the water say, thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast, and shall be, because thou hast judged thus. For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink, for they are worthy. And I heard another out of the altar say, even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments." Maybe somebody reading through this portion would stop and say, that's a terrible thing for God to do that. Imagine a God in heaven doing that, pouring out these judgments like that upon the earth. Maybe there's somebody that would read the Scriptures like that, and that's the thought would enter into their heart. Why would God do that? Is He not supposed to be a good God? Is He not supposed to be a gracious God, a loving God, a forgiving God? Yeah, He's all of those things, but He's also a holy God. He's also a holy God. He's a God who's going to mark sin, and He's taken note of their sins. Verse 6, it says, for they have shed the blood of saints and prophets. The Lord has noticed what they've done. They have martyred the saints. We've talked about that in previous chapters in Revelation. We've talked about the tribulation scenes, because there's a particular place where they're in view, those that were killed during the tribulation. And here's this vial of God's wrath that is going to be poured out upon them. And just in case there's somebody who says, oh, that's a terrible thing for God to do that. Here's an angel that says, just and righteous Lord are you. Thou art righteous, O Lord," verse 5. And then verse 7, true and righteous are thy judgments. God is just in what he does. There's a question asked, oh, much further back in the Scripture, shall not the judge of all the earth do right? Does God make mistakes? There's no miscarriages of justice with God. That often happens in the world. There's miscarriages of justice tonight. No justice system is perfect in this world. Not when it is administered by imperfect human beings. There's always going to be injustices in the world. When there's maybe people tonight in prison for crimes they didn't do. They've been wrongly convicted and maybe there's people who are out free and they ought to be in prison for crimes that they have committed. But that question is asked in Scripture, shall not the judge of all the earth do right? It's a rhetorical question. It doesn't need an answer in a sense. The answer is obvious. Most definitely, he will do right. God does not make mistakes. And here, When these judgments, these vials of His wrath are poured out upon individuals, there's just cause. God is administering His justice, and He is right to do so, and heaven justifies that. And it tells us that God is righteous, and He's true and righteous in all of His judgments, all that He does. So nobody can ever come and say, oh, that's unjust of God to do that. That would be a terrible thing for God to do. No, it wouldn't. It would be just justice, no more than what individuals deserve. And then that brings us on to Number 4, verses 8 and 9. The fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun, and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire. And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which had power over these plagues. And they repented not to give him glory. Now, under the fourth trumpet, if you go back to chapter 8, verse 12, the heavenly bodies were affected there, but this is in a different sense now. There, the sun, one third of it was darkened. Here, its power and heat are increased, and the rays of the sun actually become flames. There's a complete change here in the sun. Remember, God created the sun and put it in the sky. It's at His command. It shines in the daytime at His command. The heat that comes from it is regulated just at His command. But there's coming a day when that sun is going to be heated further, and there's going to be a scorching. This is not the first time this thought is introduced. Moses spoke about it in Deuteronomy 32. Way back in Deuteronomy, you read about this in that song that was to be taught to the children of Israel. Deuteronomy 32 verse 24 is the verse, if you want to turn it up. Isaiah talks about these days. Malachi speaks about these days. We're going to turn to one, to Zechariah. Go to Zechariah chapter 14, please. And I want you to look at a particular verse because there's some people, I've read this, I've heard it referred to in the past. Some people even believe this is nuclear war that is mentioned here this particular place. It's verse 12 of Zechariah chapter 14, the last chapter of that prophecy. It's a chapter that has to do with the coming of the Lord. The chapter begins with the Lord descending upon the Mount of Olives And as we know, the angel said that, in like manner as he is gone, so he will come again. And he left the Mount of Olives. He's coming back to the Mount of Olives. And if you read on down through Zechariah chapter 14, there's a number of things that are going to happen. But if you come down to verse 12, this is what you read. And this shall be the plague, wherewith the Lord will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem. Here's those 10 nations, those 10 kingdoms of the Roman Earth. identified again. So this plague is for them. Revelation 16 and 15 calls them the plagues of the wrath of God. Zechariah uses exactly the same word. He directs it to exactly the same people. And that verse goes on, and this shall be the plague whereof the Lord will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem. Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and the tongue shall consume away in their mouth. And as I say, there's people, there's books have been written about this being nuclear war. This is not nuclear war. This is God pouring out the vial that's referenced in Revelation. This is not nuclear war. Man's not going to bring the world to an end. God is going to bring it to an end. And He has sketched it out in His Word how He is going to do it. And remember, the commentary is, Lord just and righteous are all your ways here. You're justified in doing this. You're pouring out your wrath upon a people who have slain your saints. And God has taken notice of it. And we read about the plague, and we read about who it is directed against here in Zechariah chapter 14 and verse 12. There's many other things in that chapter, as I say, that have to do with His coming. The very fact that He's coming to the Mount of Olives back there in verse 4 of this chapter tells us that, in that day, His feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives. Is He literally going to stand on the Mount of Olives? Yes. He is. That's where he's coming to. He's not coming to America, and he's not coming to Russia, and he's not coming to China. He's not even coming to Europe. He's coming to Israel. He's coming to the Mount of Olives. He's going to stand on the Mount of Olives. And when he comes, verse 12 of this chapter tells us that this plague will have been visited upon those individuals that have fought against Jerusalem. And this is not very much in keeping what you read here in Revelation 16, and this fourth vial that is poured out, scorched men with fire, and they are scorched with great heat. They blaspheme the name of God, which had power over these plagues, and they repented not to give Him glory. It will enrage them, It will enrage them more and more against God. But there's any number of references. Well, I've turned you to one. I could turn you to a number. As I say, Moses speaks about it. Isaiah speaks about it. Malachi speaks about it. There's many references to these things. Revelation and what you find in Revelation is not something that just appears out of nowhere. These things have been stated in the Word of God. since ancient times. And in the connection of that, go back to Revelation 7 and verse 16, and ask yourself the question, does the contents of this vial that we're thinking about, this fourth vial that's mentioned in Revelation 16, does it cast any light upon the statements here that you have in Revelation 7? And verse 16 speaks about they shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more. And then here's the word, neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. We didn't mention this going by at the time, because now we can go back and hopefully understand a little bit of what that statement means there in Revelation 7 and verse 16. The sun shall not light on them. Is it not a good thing to have the sun upon you? We can't live without the sun. We need light and heat. That enables us to live. That enables this world to function if it has got light and heat. But here's a verse of Scripture that says, among those of God's people who are going to escape these things, that the sun shall not light on them, nor any heat will come upon them. And as I say, we didn't mention it and stop there at that particular verse and those points at the time. But I would like to tie it in now with this fourth vial of wrath, and what you've read there in verses 8 and 9 about the fourth vial. Because I believe that gives an understanding of that statement. There are those who are going to escape. God's people are going to escape. The Lord is going to make a distinction. It will be seen to be beneficial to have lived for Christ. and to know Christ. Just the same way as it was beneficial to be an Israelite in Egypt when God started to visit that land with plagues, for all their persecution that they had endured, it was going to be seen to be a beneficial thing to belong to the Lord. Let me give you another verse of Scripture, one I would imagine you know very well. We sing it often in our Psalms. Psalm 121, verse 6, "'The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night.'" What does that mean? The sun shall not smite thee by day? How does the sun smite anybody? Yeah, maybe you can say, well, sure, that's the eastern sun, the heat of it. But does it have a fuller fulfillment? than just something that would happen in an individual's life. Is it tied in with what we read off here in this fourth vial? We need to move on if we're going to cover these last three here. Number five, verses 10 and 11. It's true the effects of these judgments do overlap each other. The sores of the first plague are still felt during the second and the third, and even here under the fifth. And again, What is given to us here proves as to when these are going to come upon individuals and the fact that they're going to come upon the same group of individuals. Because in verse 10, it reads there about this angel pouring out the vial upon the seat of the beast. The Beast is a title for Antichrist. We have discovered that from Revelation 13. And his kingdom is full of darkness. Well, Egypt was smitten with darkness. And the Bible says it was a darkness that could be felt. And there was light in Goshen. The Israelites had light. God is able to even make a distinction between light and darkness in the one land. And we believe it. Every one of us, as I say, I don't doubt anybody here tonight that would say, oh, that wasn't true. That didn't happen in Egypt, where God actually sent darkness, and then He sent light to Goshen, and the Israelites had light, and the Egyptians were in complete darkness. And the Lord here says, I'm going to do the same. I'm going to do it again at a future day. And I'm going to smite Antichrist's kingdom. I'm going to smite the seat of the beast. Babylon. Because that introduces a subject now that is going to appear in these next verses. Babylon is going to be smitten with darkness. Again, God is going to make a distinction between those who are His own. And again, I could do the same, as I suggested there with the previous one, take you to reference after reference in the Old Testament where this thought is found. Let me give you a few. Isaiah 60, verse 2. Behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people. Read that in the context of Isaiah 60. And what is it referring to? It's referring to this very vile Joel. In Joel chapter 2, the day of the Lord cometh, a day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness. The sun shall be turned into darkness, the moon into blood. What about Nahum? Nahum chapter 1 speaks there about the darkness shall pursue his enemies. All of those things are going to have a literal fulfillment. I've only quoted, I haven't even quoted the whole passage there out of those places where I have mentioned that they are to be found. Again, there's multiple verses in Old Testament. John isn't speaking about something new here. He's just setting it out in order and giving us a better understanding of exactly when all of this is going to come to pass. On to number six. There's three things that are highlighted there. First of all, the great river Euphrates, verse 12. is going to be smitten and dried up, preparing the way for the kings of the east to come and to attack Babylon. We'll pick this subject up at another time, but just to highlight these three things at this present time. And again, I repeat, I could take you to Isaiah and Jeremiah and Zechariah, where these things are stated beforehand. This is not something new on the part of John. The prophets have said these things. But there's going to be a smiting of the river Euphrates. That great river runs through Iraq. It was the border of Mesopotamia. You think about Abraham, leaving Ur of the Chaldees, going to Haran. He traveled up that land of Mesopotamia. Mesopotamia means the land between the rivers. That's literally what it means. Potamia is the word for river, Latin for river. It's the word we get hippopotamus from, river horse. Now hippopotamus is a river horse. Hippo is the Latin word for horse. Potamus is the Latin word for river. And you put the two of them together and you get a hippopotamus. You put the land, the word for in the midst, Mesopotamia, and you get the land between the rivers. And on one side it's Euphrates, on the other side it's the Tigris. We know exactly where the Euphrates is. Babylon is built on the Euphrates River. This is the seat of the beast that is mentioned here. And it's going to be brought into darkness, gross darkness. It's going to be like the darkness of Egypt when the Lord smites it with this plague. So that great river is going to be smitten. It's going to dry up. Historians say that in history it is one of the most difficult rivers ever to cross. Armies have found it one of the most difficult rivers in history to cross. There's been great armies that have sought to cross it, Grecian armies particularly, and spreading east. But history has found, has recorded that it is one of the most difficult rivers to ford. And there's going to be Kings from the east that are going to come against Babylon, we're told. That's taught to us in the prophets as well. That's not something new. How are they going to get over that river? How are they going to attack Babylon when that river has been one of the hardest rivers in history to ford? God is going to dry it up. He's going to dry it up. He says that. That's going to be one of the plagues. But He's going to smite the river, and He's going to dry it up. So that's the first thing that is noticeable there. The unclean spirits will vent their fury against the Jew and against Jerusalem, desiring to wipe them out as a people. And all they're going to do is gather them to the battle of the great day of God Almighty. We've talked a little bit about that at the end of chapter 15. About that, or 14, the harvest of the vintage. Do you remember a similar thing in the days of Elijah? Remember the lying spirit that was put into the prophet's mouth, the prophets, the false prophets, to go and tell Ahab to do a certain thing? Again, why is that little detail given to us over there in 2 Kings? Because it's going to be repeated someday. There's going to be a lying spirit in the false prophets. and they're going to gather people just. They think they're gathering to destroy Jerusalem and wipe them out for one final time. The very name of God is going to be wiped out from Israel. The psalmist talks about that, wiping out their name, because they've got God in their name. Israel has God in their name, and there's those that want to wipe Israel's name out. Never mind get them out of the land. Never mind take over their land. They want to wipe out the name of Israel, because it has got the name of God in it. And all they're doing is just gathering them for judgment. But it'll be a lying spirit that will do it. And here's this exhortation to be watchful. at this particular place. Verse 15, "'Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watches and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame.'" Here's the Lord stepping in and giving a warning, "'I.'" It's in the first person, so it's the Lord that's speaking, "'I come as a thief.'" It's Jesus Christ that is speaking, "'I come as a thief. '" Verses 17 to 21 give you the last of these vials. Verse 17 is a summary. The seventh angel poured out his vial into the air, and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven from the throne, saying, it is done. The wrath of God is over at this point. The wrath of the Lamb is just beginning. There's more to come. But the wrath of God is done, and there's a voice that comes from heaven. It's interesting, this vial is just poured out into the air. And then it comes down onto the earth, verse 18. There's voices, thunders, lightnings. There's a great earthquake, the like of which has never been seen before. If you go back to chapter 6, and here's the point I was making at the start, where the seven seals, the seven trumpets, the seven vials all terminated the same point. Because if you go back to Revelation chapter 6 and verse 12, you read there about a great earthquake. It's the same earthquake. It's the same earthquake, all funneling into the same terminus here that's going to bring about the coming of the Lord. I'll finish here now. Verse 19, there are certain cities that are mentioned there. First of all, the great city. It mentions it divided into three parts. The great city is the city of Jerusalem. So, it's divided into three parts. Remember what I said, too, that those who take heed to the words of the Savior will have left Jerusalem. They will know it's time to get out of Jerusalem when they see certain things, Matthew 24. So, all who have believed on the Lord will have left the city in obedience. The city is smitten because it will have been taken by the enemy. So, there's this great city. Then there's the city of the nations. that are mentioned, and then Great Babylon is mentioned as a separate city. And these three groups, there's Jerusalem, there's the cities of the nations, there's Great Babylon that come up in remembrance before God, and their portion is received. Verse 20, if you go back to chapter 6, you'll find a parallel reference to the islands moving and the mountains fleeing away. We're in the same time. We're in the same territory here. These things are all coming together. The end is nigh. The Lord is about to appear. The final one there is mentioned about the heel. And again, you know that that was one of the plagues of Egypt. There's a great heel that comes out of heaven upon these individuals. Remember what it says, the Lord is just and righteous in all that He does. God will mark sin. If there's one thing I would like you to take away tonight from this meeting, it is that truth. God does not overlook sin. He marks it, and He's going to deal with it. He's going to deal with it, and the judge of all the earth shall do right. And nobody is going to say, Lord, that was too harsh. He shouldn't have done that. The Lord will be just in all that he does. May the Lord bless his word tonight. We'll bow together in prayer. We're not going to sing a closing hymn. The closing hymn was to be, I Must Needs Go Home, by the way. I better get the right hymn. 293, yes. 293 was to be the closing hymn. I must needs go home by the way of the cross. There's no other way but this. I shall ne'er get sight of the gates of light if the way of the cross I miss. And surely in the light of what we have read tonight, we need to get to the cross. We need to get to the cross. Let's bow in prayer. Father, bless these things that we have been dwelling upon tonight. We pray, Lord, that we might even desire to study them out somewhat more, find out what the prophets have said on these things. Lord, Thy Word is full of every one of these points that we have stopped just a little tonight to observe. And we pray that we might be ready, prepared. Let not that day come upon us as a thief. O Lord, how tragic, having Thy Word and hearing Thy Word, and yet that day to come upon us in such a fashion. Oh, may we be ready. May we have been to the cross. So bless thy word now and part us with thy favor. As we go our separate ways, we humbly pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.