Father, we're grateful for this morning. We're grateful for this morning for so many reasons. Father, we woke up and you deigned to give us life once more. Father, we woke up and we saw the sunrise and we saw your goodness proclaimed in your creation. Father, we woke up this morning and we had been provided for in every way. And Father, all those things are good gifts from your hands. But Father, we rejoice, especially this morning, we come with thanks because you have gathered us together here in this place as Christ's people, as those who have been called out from among the nations and those who have been redeemed in Christ. And Father, we look on that in awe and with wonder because we know that's a gift that we could have never deserved. Father, we should not be called your people, yet those who are not called your people have become your people. And those who had no mercy have received mercy. And so, Father, we rejoice this morning. And Father, we want to continue to see your glory, to see the goodness that you have done on our behalf. That's why we turn to your word this morning. And so, Father, as we open your word, Father, I pray that you would glorify yourself through the reading and through the meditation of your word. Father, I pray that through the power of your spirit that our eyes would be open to see the glories of Christ, that our minds would be clear to understand the truths about Christ we will see in your word. And Father, that our hearts would be soft and that we would desire to follow after Christ as we understand him. Father, I pray for myself as I come to preach your word. Father, I pray that you would guard my words, that they would be the only things that are true and glorious about Christ. And Father, that they would be things that are beneficial to those who are here listening. Father, we do need your spirit in our midst for all these things to happen, so we pray that you would keep your promise to us. In Christ's name we pray, amen. So this morning, as I said, we will be in Revelation chapter 15. But like I do every week in Revelation, I'd like to take a step back and remember where we've been. And so as we look at Revelation 15, or as we look at the book of Revelation, this has been my summary statement, kind of the overarching theme of the entire book is this, that the Revelation of John is a Christocentric book. It's all about Christ, and it's a book that shows us the pattern of this world from Christ's first coming to his second coming. That's the premise of what the book is trying to show us. Or as I'll often use this phrase, from Christ to Christ. And so the purpose of the book is that John wants us to see the spiritual realities around us, to recognize the dangers that face us, but in the face of all that, to know that God is going to win. And so the call of Revelation, the exhortation is this. Revelation calls us then to wisdom. To look at the world around us and to understand it correctly. To perseverance, to know that things will be hard, but we can keep running in Christ. And ultimately, to worship. That's the call of the book of Revelation is to look at Christ. to see that he is glorious, and to worship now because we will get to worship forever. So as we've gone through Revelation, we're quite a ways in so far, and we've seen this alternating back and forth in Revelation. We said that the organization of Revelation was seven sevens, or rather six sevens and a seventh. And in between them, we have these interludes in between each of the sevens. And so we started with a prelude or a prologue where we saw Christ appear to John and declare that he is the one who walks among the seven lampstands. Then we saw seven letters to seven churches. The Christ who walks among the seven lampstands cares for his churches. And we saw warnings, warnings about dangers that would face the church, but a call to look at Christ, to love his command, and to love his promise as we go forward. But as we are called to look at Christ, therefore, the next interlude is the throne room of heaven. We're called into heaven to see a glorious image of Christ on the throne. First, we see God, the creator, sovereign over all things. But then we see Christ, the redeemer, the lion of the tribe of Judah, who looks as though he was a lamb that had been slain. And he is worthy to take the seals. And so we get this glorious vision of Christ, but that leads us into the seven seals. If he is worthy to take the seals to unwrap God's continuing purpose to this world, if he goes through and he opens the seven seals. And so we went through the seven seals, the second seven of the book of Revelation. And we saw what I called the general pattern of this world from Christ to Christ. There will be war and famine and plague and death that will happen throughout the time of history. And none of these things should surprise us. But in the midst of that, God is calling out a people. He is saving them for himself, and he will gather them together on the last day so that there will be a great multitude from every tribe and tongue and language and nation, which is the next interlude as we go through the seven seals. But then we entered into the third seventh, the seven trumpets. The seven trumpets, in many ways, paralleled the seven seals, except we saw an intensification, whereas in the seven seals, there was a third of the earth that was, I'm sorry, a quarter of the earth that was destroyed. In the seven trumpets, a third of the earth was destroyed. We thought about God's progressive judgment on this world. Yes, God will proclaim his judgment over all of history, but it will be as though the pains of childbirth that get more and more intense as time goes on. And so what should the church do as God continually judges this world? We saw the story of the two witnesses, the kingly office and the priestly office representing Christ that belongs to the church. So the church will not fail in her mission. She will be sustained by God until the end. and will proclaim the gospel until the end. But it also tells us that we shouldn't hope for an earthly victory because the world will defeat the church in an earthly sense, but the church will be raised up on the last day. So then we entered into the fourth seven. of the book of Revelation, which is the sevenfold saga of the woman and the dragon. We took a step back and said, okay, we've been looking at history, saw the general judgment of God on history, the progressive judgment of God on history, but let's tell the story. And so we told the story of the gospel with this image of the woman, the people of God, and the dragon, the ancient serpent that was the enemy of the people of God. And we saw that this child of the woman, Christ, had defeated the dragon, had cast him out of heaven, And he no longer had any power. And yet he had come to earth with great wrath and great fury to make war on the saints. And so we saw the story of the beast, the way that the dragon makes war on the saints and this earth. But the end of the story is the beast fail, and Christ wins. He gathers the people to himself again on Mount Zion, and they sing in victory. And so now we're ready for another interlude. We finished the fourth seven, so we're ready for another interlude, which we're going to see the saints beside the sea. The interludes always tie back to what happened. and tie forward to what's going to happen. So the saints were gathered on Mount Zion. We're going to see the saints gathered beside the sea again. And that's going to spring us into the seven bowls, the seven bowls of God's wrath. And that's what we're going to cover this morning, is chapter 15 and 16, the interlude and the next section of Revelation. So if you have your Bibles, go ahead and open them. We're going to read Revelation chapter 15 and 16. Or if you want to, I'll have it up here on the screen. You can follow along. Revelation chapter 15. Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and amazing, seven angels with seven plagues, which are the last, for with them the wrath of God is finished. And I saw what appeared to be a sea of glass mingled with fire, and also those who had conquered the beast in its image and the number of its name, standing beside the sea of glass with harps of God in their hands. And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, great and amazing are your deeds, O Lord God, the Almighty. Just and true are your ways, O King of the nations. Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship you, for your righteous acts have been revealed. 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 with the seven plagues, clothed in pure bright linen, with golden sashes around their chest. And 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 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 worshipped 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 I heard the angel in charge of the waters 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 the prophets, and you have given them blood to drink. It is what they deserve. And I 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 bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness. People nod their tongues in anguish and curse the God of heaven for their pain and sores. They did not repent of their deeds. The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up to prepare the way for the kings from the east. 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 bowl 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 a hundred pounds each, fell from heaven on people. And they cursed God for the plague of the hail, because the plague was so severe. So as we look at the seven bowls of God's wrath, this is going to be my proposition, my main point this morning, is that God's justice will not wait forever. God's justice will not wait forever. His patience with rebellious creatures will expire, and he will gloriously execute his final judgment, and his enemies will be completely destroyed. So, in the face of that, what do we do? We should hope in God's judgment. We should rejoice in God's judgment, and we should be certain that we will not be subject to God's judgment. So again, God's justice will not wait forever. His patience with rebellious creatures will expire. He will gloriously execute his final judgment, and his enemies will be completely destroyed. So we should hope in God's judgment, rejoice in God's judgment, and be certain that we will not be subject to God's judgment. So I have three points this morning. First, the prelude. We're going to see the glory of God's judgment in the prelude to the seven bulls. Then we're going to look at the temple. We get this vision of the temple as we enter into the seven bulls. We're going to see the finality of God's judgment. And then finally we'll see the seven bulls. We'll see the terror of God's judgment. Then we'll take a moment and think about ourselves. What does this mean for us as we look at Revelation chapter 15 and 16? So let's start with the first point, the prelude. We're going to see the glory of God's judgment. I want to be in Revelation 15, 1 through 4 for a minute. So it says this. Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and amazing, seven angels with seven plagues, which are the last. For with them the wrath of God is finished." So I want to just stop there. He starts off in Revelation chapter 15 looking at seven angels who bear seven plagues. So we're getting ready for the next seventh, but like in all of Revelation, in between each of the sevens there's this interlude. So we're not quite ready for that, but we're going to start telling a little bit about that. Seven plagues, and then it says something really interesting about these plagues. It says there are seven plagues, which are the last. The end, the final measure of God's wrath, for within the wrath of God is finish. And so the seven bowls are somehow an ultimate expression of God's wrath, the last word of God in judgment on his creation. In fact, that word finished is actually an interesting word. It's a word that we've heard several times in scripture. The most famous time is perhaps in John 19.30 when Christ says from the cross, it is finished. It's the word teleo. It's to be completed or paid off. In fact, this is the other echo of that statement. When Christ says, it is finished, he's saying the judgment of God has been paid off for the people of Christ. It is done. But now for those who are not Christ's people, God is going to pay off the judgment. He is going to exhaust His wrath and let it be paid off in them. And so that's what we're aiming at as we start into this Revelation chapter 15. But then before we go, like I said, we're going to have this interlude. We come back to the saints. And in Revelation 14, we saw that the saints, the 144,000, were gathered on the mountain of God. And as you recall, they sang together. In the face of the beast, and the second beast, and the war that the dragon was fighting against them, they gathered to sing the praises of Christ. But then we come and see them again. But this time, we see them around the ceiling. We've seen them, they're gathered together, this is a peaceful place. It's mingled with fire, it's mingled with the glory of God, but it's a peaceful place. And he saw this sea of glass, and around that sea of glass he saw those who had conquered the beast. They had experienced war and tribulation and persecution on earth, but now they were gathered to the side of the Lamb, and they were looking out and hearing the announcement of God's final judgment. And what were they doing? Again, they held harps of God in their hands. And they sing. I can't emphasize that enough. Revelation calls the saints to sing. In the face of whatever trouble that comes, the people of God ought to sing. When something bad happens, we ought to sing. When we have trouble in this world, we ought to gather together and sing. That's the call of the New Testament. It's a call of using the power of Christ against the enemy is to sing. And so once more, we see the saints gathered together, and they sing together again. But this time, they tell us what they're singing. It says they sing the Song of Moses. So if we go back, the Song of Moses was Exodus 15. Heath read that for us a few minutes ago. The Song of Moses happened after the 10 plagues in the land of Egypt. And then the Passover, and the people are rescued from the Egyptians. And at the end, Moses sings this song. They go through the Red Sea, and then Moses sings this song of victory over the enemy. And so the saints are gathered in the face of God's judgment. They gather together to sing in victory the Song of Moses. But it's not exactly the Song of Moses, because that's history looking at the past. It's something like the Song of Moses, but now it's called the Song of the Land, a greater song of victory that will be sung in the face of God's final judgment. And so then we get a snippet of their song. We get to hear what they're saying. They say several things. First, they say, great and amazing are your deeds, O Lord God, the Almighty. So the first thing, the saints gathered around the scene, they sing the power of God. God, your deeds are great. They are amazing. You are God, the Almighty. You have all power. You have all might. None will conquer you. But then the second phrase, just and true are your ways, O king of the nation. Not only, our king, are you powerful, but you are just. They sing the justice of God. Then they say, who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name? So they sing the glory of God. They sing his power, his justice, his glory. And then finally, they sing his holiness, for you alone are holy. So they focus on these four attributes, his power, his justice, his glory, and his holiness, and their conclusion is this, all nations will come and worship you. And so they finally end with worship. They hear the announcement of God's judgment, and they trace it through, and it ends them up again at worship. Because, and it says why they're singing this, for your righteous acts have been revealed. Those righteous acts that they're singing about are the announcement of God's final judgment against the world, the announcement that the seven bowls of God's wrath were about to be poured out, that the world was about to suffer the nth degree of God's judgment. And so as we look at this song, we can summarize it something like this. God's judgment demonstrates his power, his justice, his glory, and his holiness. And therefore, his judgment should lead the saints to worship. When they hear the declaration of God's judgment, they should worship. That actually applies in the face of a lot that greater Christianity goes for today. Christianity is often, in some ways, bashful or timid about God's judgment. They want to wash it away or make it as though it was not what it is. But instead, the people of God, when they hear that God is going to exhaust his wrath against the nations, they rejoice. They worship God. They say, yes, you are powerful and you are just and you are glorious and you are holy. And so we should worship God for his judgment. That doesn't mean we need to use it in a way that is mean or we use it as a cudgel, but we don't shy away from the judgment of God. We say it's a glorious thing for God to judge. He is just over this world. And so that's the prelude. God's judgment is glorious. The saints gather together once more, and they sing the praises of the Almighty. So he said the prelude, the glory of God's judgment, that then we see the temple. We get another scene before we enter into the seven bowls, and we're gonna see the finality of God's judgment. So we come to Revelation 15, five through eight. It says this, after this I looked, and the sanctuary of the tent of witness in heaven was opened. And out of the sanctuary came seven angels with the seven plagues. So now we're on the verge of the seven angels coming out. But then we get an interesting description. It says, they were clothed in pure, bright linen with golden sashes about their chests. And 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. So as we stop, before we get to the temple, we have the temple. We have seven angels come out. And these seven angels are clothed, as they say, in pure, bright linen with golden sashes around their chest. What we might expect is a warrior to come out, or something terrible or terrifying to come out. But we have something different. We have something pure and beautiful come out. And they're handed seven golden bowls, which, if we're talking about the wrath of God, we might not think golden bowls of God's wrath. But I think what we're supposed to see is that when God executes his wrath, again, it's a glorious thing. It's not a king who is capricious, who just lost control of his anger and is going to go about slanderously destroying people. It's a king who is upholding justice and righteousness, who is executing his kingly function and executing a royal role and saying, no, no longer can this go on. This is a glorious and beautiful thing that God's wrath would be poured out upon this world. But then we come to the temple, it says, the seven golden bulls 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. It's a glorious thing that God would execute his judgment, but it's also a terrifying thing. As God gets ready to execute his wrath against his creation, the very sanctuary fills with smoke. A glorious smoke, a powerful smoke, a terrifying smoke. But the end result of this smoke is this. No one could enter the sanctuary until the seven plagues and the seven angels were finished. Again, we get this word. We get this word finished, taleo, completed, paid off. And so God's getting ready to exhaust his final wrath on his creation. And it says, there's going to be no stopping this. There will be no pause. There will be no entry into the sanctuary until it's completely done. In fact, I want to contrast that with something. Hebrews 9, 11 through 14, it says, no one can now enter the sanctuary. We go back to Hebrews 9, 11 through 14. This is a proclamation of what Christ did. But when Christ appeared as a high priest to the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent, not made with hands, that is not of this creation. They're looking at the same tent, the tent in the heavenly places. It says, he entered once for all into the holy places. Exactly opposite of what it says in Revelation. Now in Revelation, the way is closed. You may not enter the temple until the wrath of God is poured out. But when Christ came, he entered the temple once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and cows, but by means of his own blood. And thus, he secured an eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. And so there's a contrast being made. Once the temple had been opened, once someone entered into that temple bearing his own blood to pour propitiation, to wash away the sins of his people, to appease God's wrath. But now that time is over. Now God is going to execute his judgment and he says no more. There'll be no more entry into my temple until my wrath is poured out. There's a sense of finality, a sense of there is no turning back. There will be a day when redemption is over and now it will be time for the wrath of God to pour out against the people who have rebelled against him. And so we come back to this and say, the sanctuary was closed. No one could enter into the sanctuary until the seven plagues of the seven angels were finished. and the wrath of God was completely poured out and exhausted. We have this note of finality. There is no more time. There will be a day when it is no longer called today, a day when you cannot hear his voice, a day when you cannot come in repentance and embrace Christ, because God's wrath will fall. We'll come back to that later. Actually, we'll come back to that now. So this is kind of a early application, but it's going into Hebrews 37 through 14. It says, therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the day of rebellion. Revelation is saying, there will be a day when that's no longer possible. So today, today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the day of rebellion. On the day of testing in the wilderness where your father's put me to the test and saw my works for 40 years. Therefore, I was provoked with that generation and said, they always go astray in their hearts. They have not known my ways. As I swore in my wrath, they shall not enter my wrath. Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called today, that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. So Hebrews says, now, as long as you're hearing this verse, it is today, come and repent today because that won't last forever. Revelation is giving us a vision of the day when it no longer lasts, when God's temple is closed and his wrath will be poured out. So we have the finality of God's judgment to Temple. So two short points and we'll spend most of our time actually on the seven bowls of God's judgment and we'll see the terror of God's judgment in Revelation chapter 16. So I'm not going to read the whole passage first. We already read it a few minutes ago. So I'm just going to go through. And what I want to do is kind of make notes on what the seven bulls are, and maybe some side notes on some things that happen around them. Then we'll make some conclusions at the end about what's being talked about here. So I want to start. We'll just go through the seven bulls. So it says, then I heard a loud voice from the temples telling the seven angels, Go and pour out on the earth the seven bowls of the wrath of God." Again, we're having this idea that God's wrath is now going to be poured out and whole upon his creation. So we have seven angels. 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 worshipped his image. So the first one is painful sores, being poured out against those who are enemies of God. We already saw that there was either two ways. You could either reject the beast and reject his mark, or you could follow the beast and take his mark. We talked about that earlier. So now it's saying, all who had not rejected the beast and followed after the lamb will have painful sores poured out on them. Then we have a a second angel who pours out his bowl on the sea, and it became like the blood of the corpse. And so we have the sea turning to blood, and this time it says, every living thing that was in the sea died. Everything died. We'll come back to that in a few minutes. Then we have a third angel who pulls out his bowl into the rivers and the springs of water, and they also became blood. And then we have a refrain. We've had the first three judgments. And although we've kind of seen these before, in fact, we have this parallelism between the plagues in Exodus, the seven seals, the seven trumpets, and the seven bulls. And we can kind of get inured to it, to not feel how devastating this is. But actually, as we read through this, we're supposed to look at this and say, this is completely devastating. What if the entire sea turned to blood and every fresh water in spring and lake and every water in the world turned to blood? We'd be in really, really bad situation. We wouldn't have really anywhere to turn. Turns out blood is pretty useless as a drinking material or for anything else we need to use it for. And so we're actually supposed to look at this and say, whoa, this is terrible. This is overwhelmingly bad, and so we have this refrain. We get the first three bowls, and then we have a refrain to remind us, yes, it is terrible, but God is right to do it. And so we have this refrain after we hear these first three judgments that are so terrible, God to make us quake. It says, just are you, O Holy One. This is right. You are right to do this. Just are you a holy one who is and who was, for you have 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. It is terrible, and yet it is right and just and good that God would do it. In fact, there's a harmonious judgment going on. Going back, it says, they shed the blood of the saints and the prophets, therefore God will give to them blood to drink. You have rejected my rule and destroyed my people. Therefore, you will feel that come back upon your heads. And the altar hears and responds in agreement, yes, Lord God, the Almighty, true and just are your judgments. And so as we see this, we see this, we're supposed to take this and say, wow, these judgments are terrible, and yet they are just and right. So we shouldn't read through this and miss the terror of the judgments of God. We can read through this and know it so well that we gloss over it and it doesn't affect us. But we're supposed to be affected to the point where we need this reminder. Yes, these are just for God to do that. Then I want to highlight one more thing. It says, just are you, O holy one, who is and who was. If you think back, this is a phrase we've heard before. Well, almost it's a phrase we've heard before. As we go through Revelation, God is the one who is and who was and who is to come, who is and who was and who is to come. We dropped off that last one. There's no more coming. He merely is the one who is and who was. This is a note, again, a finality. We come back. This is the end. There is no more coming for God. God has appeared and he is bringing his final step in creation to pass. He's pouring out his wrath on his creation to completely, as we'll see at the end, to completely undo His creation. He is the one who is now forever in eternity going forward and the one who was in eternity past. So that's the fourth angel. I'm sorry, the third angel. Now we get to the fourth angel. The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun and it was allowed to scorch people with fire. And so that's the fourth angel we have. The sun is somehow intensified that it burns down on the earth to burn up the surface of the earth. And they were scorched by its fierce heat. But now that it said, just and true are your judgments, yes, holy and true are your ways, O God. It's going to point out God's judgment is going to continue to fall. There is no turning back, but God is still right to keep judging. Because as God continues to pour out his judgment, there's not a soul that turns and looks to God. Instead, they curse the name of God, who had power over these plagues. They did not repent and give him the glory. Yes, true and just are your ways. Then we have the fifth angel. He poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness. We'll come back and think about these in a few minutes, but the fourth is the sun burns with scorching fire. The fifth, it plunges into darkness, and people nod their tongues in anguish, but again, they curse the God of heaven for their pain and their sores, and they did not repent of their deeds. Yes, God, true and just are your ways. We get to a sixth angel. He poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up to prepare the way for the kings from the east. So we're getting ready for the great battle of Armageddon in the book of Revelation. I'm going to say a few things about this, but I'm not going to say nearly as much as you might expect. Because actually, I'm going to say, that's not the point of the play. That's what we get stuck on, because that sounds exciting. Like, oh, there's this great battle coming. But that's actually not the point of the play. I'm going to skip over that, come back to it in a few minutes. But the point is this. 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. And actually, this, I think, is the point of the plague. It's not the drying up the river Euphrates, not the kings from the east coming. Those are ancillary, peripheral, secondary things that are going on. We'll come back to those in a few minutes. But it's the plague. There are three unclean spirits that grow like frogs coming from the beast. and the dragon. This is actually calling us again, like I've said many times before, the Old Testament tells us how to interpret Revelation, so we need to jump back. We actually already read this this morning, but this is actually pulling us back to the second place in Exodus, Exodus 8, 1-8. It said, Then the Lord said to Moses, Go into Pharaoh and say to him, Thus says the Lord. Let my people go that they may serve me. But if you refuse to let them go, behold, I will plague all of your country with frogs." What a weird plague. We could go back and talk about how this was a judgment on the gods of Egypt, a declaration that God was God and that Egypt was not God. But still, what a weird plague. So he would plague all their country with frogs. "'The Nile shall swarm with frogs "'that shall come up into your house "'and into your bedrooms and on your bed "'and into the houses of your servants and your people "'and into your ovens and your kneading bowls.'" It's not terrifying at first, but then you're like, what do we do with all these frogs? They're just everywhere. "'The frogs shall come upon you and your people "'and all your servants. "'And the Lord said to Moses, "'Say to Aaron, stretch out your hand "'with your staff over the rivers "'and over the canals and over the pools "'and make frogs come up on all the land of Egypt.'" So Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt, and the frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt. So we have the second plague, frogs coming up and covering the land of Egypt. But then we have this really interesting statement at the end. It said, but the magicians did the same by their secret arts and made frogs come up on the land of Egypt. Huh. wonder how they did that, we could go into that a long time. There's two times that it said that. It said that the magicians were able to replicate the waters turning to blood, and then they were able to replicate the frogs coming up on the land of Egypt. But then they tried to replicate the gnats, and for some reason they can make frogs, but they can't make gnats. I can't explain any of those things, nor will I try, but the purpose, I think, of the point, the point of this is, There was a deception going on. The magicians of Egypt could deceive the people of Egypt. The magicians of Egypt deceived the people of Egypt into thinking that their gods were real and the true God was false. In other words, the magicians of Egypt were playing into God's hand. God looked at Pharaoh and said, I have raised you up, that in you I might show my glory. And the magicians of Egypt just played right into that. They're like, yeah, let's let God show his glory. We'll convince the people that God is not God so that he can keep raining plagues down on the people. And so when we come back to Revelation 16, that's what it's pointing us back to. Three unclean spirits like frogs. Why like frogs? Well, because it's the second plague. The second plague was frogs. And what was the second plague? It was the magicians continued to deceive the people. The magicians played into God's hand. And so it continues. the three unclean spirits like frogs for their 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. So in the background, come back to this in a few minutes again, in the background it's being set up that there's going to be a final showdown between the world and God. And God's going to come and completely trounce the world and crush them. But just like the magicians did in Egypt, the beast, the second beast, and the dragon are able to deceive the people to make them still feel like they have a chance, like they were able to conquer God. And God is using their own deception against them to say, yeah, I'll let you guys gather yourselves together. I'll let you guys gather yourselves together and come fight me as though that was some danger to me. No, go gather yourselves, come together, present yourselves before me, and I will destroy you. And that's the purpose of the sixth angel, the sixth bull. They will deceive themselves to come up in battle against God. I'm gonna skip the parenthetical. There's a parenthetical, I'll come back to that in a few minutes, so verse 15. But then finally, we come to verse 16, and they assemble them at the place in Hebrew, it is called Har-Magedon. So this is a place where people start talking a lot about what's going to happen. I want to make a couple points here and then tell you I'm not going to tell you almost anything about this. And I'll tell you why I'm not going to tell you anything about this. The first is, when we get here, we have the kings from the east coming, the Euphrates is dried up, we have these massive things, we have frogs coming out of the beast's mouth. These are all things that seem relatively picturesque, not maybe literal, but maybe prophetic. They're pictures just like the pictures of the woman and the dragon. So that's the first thing. The second thing is, it tells us where they're going to go. And they go to Armageddon. Armageddon isn't a place name. It's literally Har-mageddon, which means the mountain or mountains, the mountain of Megiddo. If anyone knows the Old Testament, Megiddo is a plain. We talk about the plains of Megiddo over and over and over again. There is no mountain of Megiddo. For anyone who would know Old Testament geography, they would look at this and be like, what? They're going to gather at the mountain of Megiddo? Where is that? Now, thousands of years later, people have started to identify different things and call them. I'll just show you a picture. This is Megiddo. It's a great plane. One of the flattest planes you'll ever find. It's the coastal plane that comes up and actually penetrates a long way into the land of Israel. It's extremely flat. Actually, this little bump here in the foreground is the largest bump on the plain of Megiddo. That's actually the city of Megiddo, the ancient city of Megiddo. That's a tel. It's not even a hill. It's actually just where they kept building the city on top of each other. And that's the biggest area in the land of Megiddo. So I think what I'm trying to say here is that maybe we aren't supposed to be running after and trying to identify all these things, because John actually throws something in that says, you know what? You can't identify this. Go find a mountain of Megiddo, and then we'll start talking about what this battle looks like. He goes, until you can find that mountain, don't worry about it. So this is completely a side note, but because people will like to talk about the Battle of Armageddon and all these things that happened in Revelation, My side note on understanding Revelation and why I'm not going to tell you anything about this battle of Armageddon Three things. One, I think as we come to Revelation, we should be healthily skeptical of outlandish interpretations. We should be healthily skeptical of outlandish interpretation. People try to bring all the things together and say, this means this, and this means this, and this means this, and this means this. Even if, to some degree, those outlandish interpretations sometimes end up being true. That's what people like to run after. These are what itch our ears, and we want to figure out, well, what's going to happen on this last great day in the Battle of Armageddon? I don't know. I don't even know where a mountain in Megiddo is, so I'm not going to say anything. So that's the one thing. Be healthily skeptical of Atlantis interpretations. And the flip side of that, it's kind of the same point, the flip side of that, is be okay with some level of mystery. I don't know where a mountain in Megiddo is. I don't think I'm supposed to know where Mountain of Megiddo is. There isn't a Mountain of Megiddo. I'm okay if maybe, miraculously, there becomes a Mountain of Megiddo. I don't foresee that happening anytime soon, but I could be wrong. I don't know if there will be a literal last battle that happens on the plains of Megiddo or around Megiddo. I don't know. I'm okay if there does. I also think there might be other things going on here that I don't understand and I'm okay with that level of mystery because, and here's the big one, why I'm okay with that level of mystery, because that's not the main point. That's not the point of the sixth angel. The point of the sixth angel is the frogs that deceive the people and gather them to oppose God so that they can be destroyed on the last day. So focus on the main point of the text and don't get drawn into peripheral to ancillary topics. even if they're the most discussed topics in Revelation. People will go to the sixth angel and they'll want to talk about the battle of Armageddon. Like, no, that's not the point. Let's talk about the fact that God has sent a powerful deception emanating from the beasts and from the dragon to call people to oppose God so that his wrath can be poured out. Side note. So we come to this sixth angel, and this is what I think we're supposed to see, not arguing about what happens in some last day in some last battle at some place called Armageddon, but rather this, that God is raising up all the peoples of the earth, as he raised up Pharaoh, Exodus 9, 16. He says to Pharaoh, but for this purpose I have raised you up, to show you my power, so that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth. God's looking at all the peoples of the world and saying, I have raised you up, so that in you I might display my power, Exodus 10, one through two. Then the Lord said to Moses, go into Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart, and the heart of his servants, that I may show these signs of mine among them, and that you may tell in the hearing of your son and your grandson how I've dealt harshly with the Egyptians and what signs I've done among them that you may know that I am the Lord. That's the point we're supposed to get out of the sixth angel. There are demonic spirits that go out to deceive all the peoples of the world so that they come and do battle with God so that they can win. They are completely deceived and they play into God's hands. So I come back to Revelation 16 and come to the seventh angel. The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple from the throne, saying, it is done. It is done. Now actually, I would have expected, and this is what threw me down into a lot of Greek words, but I would have expected telestoi. It is finished, like Jesus said. Like it said in Revelation 15. This is actually a different word. And actually, apart from some other things, which I'll talk about in a minute, I might almost translate this as, it happened. Almost like that happened. But I think what they're doing is they're going back and saying, God will finish his wrath. And so we actually should take it that way. We've seen that Revelation 15.1, the wrath of God will be completed. Revelation 15.8, I think, where God says that no one will enter the temple until the wrath of God is finished, completed, paid off. And now we get to Revelation 16.17, it says it's done. And so like each of the last sevens, Each of the last seven ends up being the end. This one is very clear. It is the end. It's done. God's wrath has been poured out. And this is what the end of God's wrath looks like. And there are flashes of lightning, and rumblings, and peals of thunder. Same thing we heard at the end of the seven seals, and the end of the seven trumpets, the end of the seven bowls. And then it goes on. And a great earthquake, such as there had never been since man was on the earth, So great was that earthquake. The very world is falling apart. And the city was split into three parts, and the city of the nations fell. The very cover, the surface of the earth is cracking and crumbling under the wrath of God. And God remembered Babylon the Great to make her drain the cup, to drain it to its bottom, to exhaust the cup of the wine of the fury of his wrath. And every island fled away, and no mountains were to be found. I don't know about you, but when I look at this, this looks like the complete dissolution of the earth. What Peter might call the burning up of the earth with fire. He said there will not come a flood because it's being stored up for a day with fire when the earth and even the very heavenly beings will burn. We're getting glimpses of that as the very earth falls apart. An earthquake like no other earthquake ever had been or ever will be. A city falling apart into pieces as the cross that it rests upon falls apart. Hailstones fly out of heaven to destroy the surface of the earth. And there's not even any mountains or islands. They're all completely crushed. The end. God's wrath has been exhausted. And great hailstones, about 100 pounds each, fall from heaven on people. still still as the very end of the wrath of God pours out of them they curse God for the place completely upon his rebellious creation. So, go back, review, summarize what we saw. We saw seven bowls of God's judgment. Bowl one was painful souls. Bowl two was the sea destroyed and turned into blood. Bowl three was the rivers and fresh water turned into blood as well. Bowl four was the sun scorches the earth. so that there was no place to find refuge, but they were burned. And so again, we split these into four, into two, into one. The sevens are split into four, two, and one as we go through. So we get these judgments on creation. God is undoing his creation in judgment. Then we get a fifth bowl, darkness. Darkness comes upon the kingdom of the beast. And then the fifth, I'm sorry, the sixth bowl is the Euphrates is dried up and deceitful frogs go out to gather the nations for battle. So the second, or the last two, I don't know how to say it. The fifth and the sixth are the judgments on the kingdom of the beast. God judges his creation and brings it to destruction. God looks at the kingdom of the beast and says, I'll plunge you into darkness and I will deceive you to the end that you think that you can rise up against me and defeat me. And then finally, the end. God's judgment has been completely poured out and the earth is undone. So that's what we see as we go through the seven bowls of God's judgment. But I want to show you something else. I went to Exodus a few times, but actually just like with the seven trumpets, we have strong parallels. We have in Revelation 16, two painful sores, sea turned to blood, fresh water turned to blood. We have the scorching sun, we have darkness, and the river's dried up as the sixth bowl before the final bowl at the end. Each of these, or almost each of these, are paralleled in Exodus again. The painful sores are a parallel to the sixth plague, the boils that came among the people of Egypt. The second and third bowls are again parallels to the first plague, the water being turned to blood. The only one that doesn't have a direct parallel is the scorching sun, but actually the scorching sun is the exact inverse of the fourth trumpet. The fourth trumpet was the sun was turned dark. The fourth bull is the sun is heated up to scorch the surface of the earth. And so there's even an intensification going on there, no parallel directly in the exodus. But again, the fifth bull, darkness comes upon the kingdom of the beast, just as darkness had come upon the land of the Egyptians. And then finally, we have frogs go out to deceive the people of the world, just as frogs went out and deceived the people of Egypt. And so we have this progression, the trumpets, and then the bulls go through and say, look at what happened to Egypt. Look at what happened to Egypt. The message of the trumpets is, repent now, because it's happening. The message of the bulls is, look at what happened to Egypt. They didn't repent, and they were destroyed. And that's what we're supposed to see as we go through here. And so we actually see this progression. We have these seven bowls. Go back to the seven trumpets. We have very similar. They're parallels as we go through. In fact, the second trumpet and third trumpet very, very closely parallel the second bowl and the third bowl. We get these parallels as we go through the sevens. But again, what we're supposed to see is what we talked about last time. We talked about there was a quarter of the Earth destroyed in the seals. And then we saw that a third of the Earth was destroyed by hell and fire. A third of the sea was turned to blood, and a third of the living creatures died. A third of the fresh water was turned to blood, and a third of the creatures there died. A third of the Earth was plunged into darkness, and a third of mankind was killed by these horse beasts that came upon the Earth. We thought about the intensification that goes through. But then we get to the bulls, and it's just complete. All the people were afflicted with painful sores, all those who had worshipped the beast and its image. All the sea was destroyed and every living creature died. All of the waters were turned to blood. The sun scratched the entire surface of the earth. The entire kingdom of the beast was plunged into darkness. All the kings of the earth were deceived and gathered together to fight against God. so that God's judgment could be made complete. And that's what we're supposed to see. We're supposed to see this progressive judgment of God that will intensify and intensify until it reaches the last day. And there's a final note that says, I am judging the earth. And so we get this progression. The seven seals, God's general judgment on history. As Jesus said, there will be wars and rumors of war. He goes through in Matthew 24 and talks about this is what the pattern of history will be. But I will not come back. Don't be deceived. And in there, in Revelation, as we see, he's a fourth of the earth is destroyed. Then we go to the seven trumpets. Yes, God's general judgment would be upon history, but it will get worse over time as God calls the nations to repent. The seven trumpets tell us, in whole, the nations will not repent. And yet it calls them, and there we see a third of the earth is destroyed. In fact, that's very, very strongly emphasized as we go through the seven trumpets. So finally, we get to the seven bowls, which is God's final judgment on history. where all of the earth will be destroyed, and every living thing will be killed. And with these, the wrath of God is complete. That's what we're supposed to see. That's the main point of the bowl of judgments. We could talk over and over again and try to penetrate what each of these means. I don't know. When they happen, I'm sure we might understand them. Or God's judgment will fall, and hopefully we're in Christ and won't even see it. I don't know. But the message of the seven bowls is God's judgment will fall. and will be terrible beyond our imagination, and his wrath will be exalted against those who rebel against him. So the seven bowls of God's judgment, and note that God's judgment will fall and destroy this world. So what does this all have to do with us? As we look at this, we are now clearly looking forward to the future when God's wrath will be exhausted. How far into the future, I have no idea. But what does this mean for us if we're looking toward a future when God's wrath will be exhausted against His creation? What does that mean for us? So I want to make three applications this morning. So the first application as we look at the promise of God's judgment is we should hope in God's judgment. We should hope in God's judgment. That is, we can recognize real wrongs done to us in this world and know that they will have recompense. We can recognize real wrongs done to us in this world and recognize that they will have recompense. Justice will not go unsatisfied. God will not overlook what should have happened, but God's wrath will be exhausted against all sin. So we come back, we get this first announcement that there will be seven angels with seven plagues, and with them they will be the last, because God's wrath will be exhausted. And then we turn around and we look at the saints. We see that those who had conquered the beast are gathered beside the sea of glass. And actually, this is the interlude. The interlude ties back to the previous seven and leaps forward to the next seven. So we have to go back to the previous seven. Those who conquered the beast, how did they conquer him? It said they conquered the beast because they loved not even their lives unto death. Those who will go into captivity, captivity they will go. Those who will be slain by the sword, by the sword they must be slain. This is a call for the perseverance and endurance of the saint. And so now the saints are gathered together beside a sea of glass, and they hear the note of God's judgment. And what do they do? Again, they sing. They sing and say, God has remembered us. God is going to bring down upon our enemies the judgment that they tried to bring down upon us. What was unjust on this earth will be paid back at the end, and the saints rejoice. They sing together, and specifically, they sing the song of Moses. and the Song of the Lamb. So let's go back and read the Song of Moses again. Let's hear what the Song of Moses was rejoicing in. Exodus 15, starting in verse 1. I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously. The horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea. The Lord is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation. This is my God, and I will praise him. My Father's God, and I will exalt him. The Lord is a man of war. The Lord is his name. Pharaoh's chariots and his host he cast into the sea, and his chosen officers were sunk in the Red Sea. The floods covered them. They went down into the depths like a stone. Your right hand, O Lord, glorious in power. Your right hand, O Lord, shatters the enemy. In greatness of your majesty, you overthrow your adversaries. You send out your fury. It consumes them like stubble. At the blast of your nostrils, the waters piled up. The flood stood up in a heap, and the deep congealed in the hearts of the sea. Here's where I really want to focus. The enemy said, I will pursue. I will overtake. I will divide the spoil. My desire shall have its fill of them. I will draw my sword. My hand shall destroy them. The enemies of God and the wind of Egypt spoke this against the Israelites. The enemies of God speak this against the people of Christ. And what is God's answer? You blew with your wind. and the sea covered them. They sank like lead in the mighty waters. God, you looked upon our distress, and you brought destruction up against our enemies. So the answer is, who is like you, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders? You stretched out your right hand and you swallowed them. You have led them in your steadfast love, the people whom you have redeemed. You have guided them by your strength to your holy abode. So the people of God hear the announcement of the judgment of God, and they say, it's good. We can rest. We can turn the other cheek. We can let wrongs happen to us in this world. We can endure when persecution comes. We continue to testify to Christ when we are threatened because we know at the end all justice will be repaid. All judgment will fall upon those who refuse to turn and worship Christ. God's justice will be perfectly exhausted. And so first application, we hope in God's judgment and we endure and we testify and we persevere because God will judge. Second, we should rejoice in God's judgment. God's judgment displays His power, His justice, His glory, and His holiness. We ought to look at it and say it is worthy of worship. It's not something to be shrunk back from. It's not something to be ashamed of. It's something to say our God will judge, and He will demonstrate that He is just and holy, and He will show His righteousness to the nations. We saw that that was the same song in Revelation 15. Great and amazing are your deeds, your deeds of judgment, your deeds of terror, your deeds of undoing the very earth that is in rebellion against you. O Lord God, the Almighty, just and true are your ways. It is what they deserve. O King of the nations, who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy, and the world will now know that. All nations will come and worship you, for your righteous acts have been revealed. God's judgment demonstrates his power, his justice, his glory, his holiness, and therefore should lead to worship. So we should hear the promise of God's judgment and say, our God is worthy of worship. Sing together with me. So, we hope in God's judgment, God's justice will be exhausted against this world. We should rejoice in God's judgment. He is displaying who he is as he judges this world. But then finally, there's a note of warning. We should be certain that we are not under God's judgment. We should be certain that we are not under God's judgment. Or, to flip it on the other side, we should redouble our surety that we are found in Christ, as the wrath of God is proclaimed. I skipped over a parenthetical. I said I would come back to that. 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. I love Revelation. In the midst of all the different arguments we could have about Revelation, all the confusing things, Revelation actually keeps telling us over and over again what it wants us to do with it. It's like, OK, guys, we got super confusing right now. Let's take a moment and stop and say, OK, what do we do with this? This is what you do with it. Blessed is the one who stays awake. Sorry. And this is actually in response to what just happened. There are demonic spirits who perform signs. They deceive all the nations. They gather all the kings together to assault God, to defy his rule. In echo of Psalm 2, why did the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain against God, and against his anointed one, saying, let us burst their bonds away from us. There are demonic spirits. There are deceptive things in this world that would call us away from God. And so the call is, blessed is the one who stays awake. So let's focus on this for just a minute. This will be our last application. First, in the midst of all this, in the midst of telling us about this battle of Armageddon, which we could argue about a lot, and I'm completely unconvinced I know anything about it, We get this statement, behold, I am coming like a thief. God actually just stops and says, you know what? Don't worry. You don't need to predict what Armageddon is. In fact, if you try to predict what Armageddon is, you're going to miss it. You're not going to get it right, because you're not going to be able to predict when this happens in this world. You're not going to be, I'm coming like a thief. Something that Jesus said over and over again, I'm coming like a thief. Don't be watching the signs in this world. Instead, be waiting ready now, because they may come at any moment. Behold, I'm coming like a thief. Don't get diving in and try to understand prophecy so we can predict what happened. No. Be ready now. Instead, blessed is the one who stays awake, who's ready now because your Lord may appear now. Blessed is the one who is ready to meet the Savior when he comes to exhaust judgment on the world, specifically the one who keeps his garments on. We could go to all sorts of passages. We have this great parable of the wedding feast that Jesus tells, where he invited all these people from around, all the great people of the earth, and they didn't come. So he said, you know what? Go send out my servants, the highways and byways, and find those who weren't worthy to come and invite them in. And he gathers a great crowd from those who weren't worthy. But at the very end of that parable says, at the end, there was a man who was found without having his wedding garments on. He was found not being worthy to be found in the wedding. There are wedding garments given to all those who entered into the wedding, but this man didn't have wedding garments on. He didn't belong to the wedding party. He didn't accept the invitation in the way that it was given. He says, right now, as you hear the judgment of God, think about that story. Make sure you have your garments on. Make sure that you have been found in Christ and that your life is demonstrating that you have been found in Christ. Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts. In fact, that's where I want to go again. That's the call of the seven plagues, or the seven bulls, is therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts, as we were doing on the day of testing in the wilderness. If today you can hear His voice, if today you can hear His voice and know that you have been running against God, you have been going all to your own way, and you have not bowed the knee to Christ. He says, today, turn and repay. Where your fathers put me to test and saw my works for 40 years. You can be around the people of God. You can look as though you're the people of God. You can experience great periods of what looks like salvation. But in the end, he looked at them and said, they will not enter my rest. Therefore, I was provoked with that generation and said, they always go astray in their hearts. They have not bowed their knees to me. They have not followed after me. They have not known my ways. As I sworn my wrath, they shall not enter my rest. So then he addresses the believers, take care brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. As we hear the judgment of God poured out, we know that there will be a day when there is no turning back, when there is no repentance, when there is no redemption to be found. So today, if you hear his voice, make sure there is not in you an evil, unbelieving heart that would cause you to fall away from the living God. But instead, exhort one another every day, as long as it is called today, that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. We hear God's voice today, we repent today, and then finally, we gather together as a people of God so that we can look at each other and say, no, turn away from sin and embrace Christ, because there'll be a day when we can't do that anymore. Exhort one another, as long as it is called today, so that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence from to the end. The same application Revelation makes over and over again. Persevere to the end. Hold fast to Christ until the end. Keep going until the end. And you will share in his reward. So we hope in God's judgment. We rejoice in God's judgment. But we hear the proclamation of God's judgment and say, that could be me. Am I sure that I am found in Christ? Am I sure that I am running after him? Are we exhorting each other? Am I exhorting the one next to me to make sure that it is not them that will fall away? So, two kids' questions at the end. Kids, here's your kids' questions. What will happen at the end? We could have long treatises about what will happen at the end, but we could make the answer really short. God's patience will be exhausted, and his wrath will destroy all rebels. All the rest is just fluffery around the outside. God's patience will be exhausted, and his wrath will destroy all rebels. So, what should we do at the announcement of God's judgment? We should repent and rejoice. God's judgment is coming. Repent now as long as it is called today, but rejoice. God will bring all things right again. He will destroy evil and purify the earth once more. With that, let's close in prayer. Father, as we hear the announcement of your judgment, we do tremble. Father, as was said so long ago, it is a fearful, fearful thing to fall into the hands of an angry God. but father we're grateful that we don't have to fear that if we're in christ we're grateful that you have said there is no judgment against us father that we can hear christ's words on the cross and say our judgment was finished there so father i pray that you would give us eyes that can see clearly father to identify whether we have truly embraced that whether that has been made ours the power of your spirit And if so, I pray that you would give us a heart that rejoices in your judgment, that hopes in your judgment, that sees your justice and your holiness and your power and your might, and says you are God Almighty and we bow before you. Father, we pray that you would bring these things to pass, that you would accomplish your plan in this world, that you would renew all things, that you would destroy all evil, that you would make all things righteous as you yourself are righteous. Father, we hope in that as we gather this morning. Christ, we pray. Amen. So, I'll open it up for any questions or comments or other discussion. Yep. Just a minute. I definitely see the truth of what you're saying about opening God's judgment in a day that's coming in all rights and all walls, and we may rise even without our veil. I'm just thinking about examples such as the example of Stephen emulating Christ Yeah, so and that's what I meant is that we don't have to hold that in a trying to think of the best word to use, but in a vengeful way, as though we demand that God exhaust his judgment against this world in a way that makes us feel right. And so I think that we can hold both of those together, that yes, we can pray that God would forgive those who mistreat us because his judgment will fall. And so when we talk about God's judgment falling, we have to remember that God's judgment falls in one of two ways, either at the cross of Christ or on the last day. And we can hope, even in the face of our enemies, that God's judgment will fall for them at the cross. We hope in God's judgment, knowing it will be completed and exhausted in its full, but it could be exhausted at the cross of Christ. And so we hope in that. But then we come back and say, vengeance is mine, declares the Lord. I will repay. And that's the answer Paul gave us. Why do we not repay? Because God will. We don't know how. We know it will either be at Christ or at the last day. But we rest in that, that God will repay. Anything else? Yeah? I looked at Joshua 10 when another similar case where kings are all gathered together to fight against Israel and hailstones are part of the battle, and the Lord fought for the people. I'm seeing interesting similarities there, and we have that in Revelation. Yeah, that's a great parallel. So in the middle of the book of Joshua, it's actually getting towards the end of the campaigns, and now instead of going through individual cities, we just talk about all the kings gathered together, but we have This huge conglomeration of the people of Canaan coming, and God throws hailstones down at them. The Israelites couldn't fight. They couldn't finish the battle, so God finished the battle. He threw hailstones down at them and destroyed them. Exactly. Great parallel. Anything else? Yeah. Can you go back to the slide that says applications? Sure. The very first one where it says, we should hope in God's judgment we can recognize real wrongdoings to us in this world and know that they will be recompensed. Is that really important in the sense that wrongdoings to us as opposed to wrongdoings to God? To His glory, not ours, so not our recompense, but to His. Because although we do and can suffer in this world, It's not the big picture? No. And so if we're talking about relative importance, I would 100% agree with you. God's glory is infinitely more important than whatever recompense would happen for us. But we also go through scripture, and over and over again, even that exact phrase, why do we turn the other cheek? Why do we do good to those who do evil towards us? Why do we pray for enemies? It says over and over again, vengeance is mine. I will repay. And so there's this note that we are to hope in that, to say, you know what? Hoping for justice is a good thing. Hoping for things to be made right. When things happen wrong to me, I shouldn't simply rejoice in that as the wrong will be good. And that is fine. I hope that justice will happen. That the right will be made right. And then I set it aside and say, God will do that, not me. I don't need to fight for that. Hoping for justice is a good thing. I don't need to fight for it. I can hope that God will judge at the end. Which one's more important? Obviously, God's glory by infinite degrees. But the scripture does call us to hope in that as well, to say, this is a reason that you can turn the other cheek, a reason you can endure, a reason that you don't have to fight back, because all things will be made right. Anything else? OK, I'll sit down.