REVELATION 16

KJV

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.

2 And the first went, and poured out his vial upon the earth; and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshipped his image.

3 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.

4 And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters; and they became blood.

5 And I heard the angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast, and shalt be, because thou hast judged thus.

6 For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink; for they are worthy.

7 And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments.

8 And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire.

9 And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory.

10 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,

11 And blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds.

12 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.

13 And 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.

14 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.

15 Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.

16 And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.

17 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.

18 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.

19 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.

20 And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found.

21 And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent: and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great.

Have you ever wondered what the World would be like without Jesus? Hitler freed Germany from their consciences and it brought the killing fields, the gas chambers and an industry of death. That was the darkest hour of the 20th century. Mankind’s unending fight with God at last brings them the freedom they always wanted, life without God. And what does life become without God? A living death, and a living Hell of unutterable blackness.

That’s Revelation 16. The end has come. In a very brief span of time, the long awaited moment has arrived. In seven swift strokes the desire of a world wanting no part of Jesus- is granted. God shows to us what life without Jesus will be like. These 7 bowls of plagues are for the lost. Revelation 16 is no less than a foretaste of Hell. Think of how the earth-dwellers in just a few moments begin an inexorable plunge toward Hell.

In 21 vivid verses John sees and records for us what happens when mankind joins fallen angels in living without God.

1. Human bodies oozing malignant sores,

2. Earth’s oceans become death washing up on every shore,

3. All water has the stench of corruption rising from every river, stream, faucet and well on the planet,

4. People’s bodies burning from a solar fire pouring down from the skies,

5. Then there is added to all that an instantaneous impenetrable darkness. And as all the earth-dwellers seethe with rage toward God, Satan’s trio of demons gathers the Earth as a vast army to fight God,  and toward Armageddon they go in hatred of the Creator.

6. Finally, as they gather, the earth convulses in the greatest quake ever, all cities are leveled, islands sink and 60 to 120 pound  hailstones raining down upon the Earth obliterating the monuments of Earth and the men that built them.

ENOUGH SAYS GOD! Let’s listen as we  read the Word of God. For the redeemed, the glory of Jesus shines from each plague. Revelation 16 is an art gallery with seven divinely inspired PORTRAITS OF CHRIST.    Against the darkened screen of Christ’s wrath poured out upon sin, are seven glowing pictures. Look at these riveting portraits of Jesus.  Pause with me before each one:

1. In v. 1-2: without Jesus is decay and corruption but with — Jesus has SANCTIFYING POWER as the One who cleanses and keeps (Jude 23-24)

2. In v. 3 without Jesus is death and hopelessness but with — Jesus has LIFE GIVING POWER as the One who gives abundant life (Jn. 10:10)

3. In v. 4-7 without Jesus is endless thirst but Jesus has SATISFYING POWER as the One who promises us we will never thirst  (John 7:37-39)

4. In v. 8-9 without Jesus life is a burning prison but with — Jesus has LIBERATING POWER as the One who sets us free (Jn. 8:31-36)

5. In v. 10-11 without Jesus is impenetrable darkness but with Jesus is ENLIGHTENING POWER as the One who gives us daily light and true spiritual sight  (Jn. 8:12; acts 26:18)

6. In v. 12-16 without Jesus is only enslavement to demon masters but Jesus has CONQUERING POWER as the One who always leads us into triumph  (I Cor. 2:14)

7. In v. 17-21 without Jesus is only hopeless destruction but with Jesus is SECURING POWER as the One who gives us our ultimate eternal security  (Rom. 8:31-39, Heb. 7)

So what is life like apart from Jesus? Without His power life is reduced to a living Hell.

First, sores ooze from their bodies as all the evil within starts to come out, a sign of inward corruption.

Second, the waters of the sea filled with life become a stench of dead blood a sign of man’s hopelessness apart from God.

Third, all the streams of water on Earth are poisoned; a sign of absolute desperation as water is imperative for life, as is Jesus.

Fourth, the sun that keeps life sustained on Earth flares up blazing and burning the planet.  A sign of false worship that started with sun worship is now powerless before the Creator.

Fifth, from the brightness of a fiercely blazing sun to absolute blackness in the realm of the beast. This is a sign of the spiritual darkness Satan brings.

Sixth, the waters of the great dividing river Euphrates dries up. A demon trio rounds up the army of the antichrist and Armageddon is their destination.

Seventh, God unleashes the greatest quake of all time and more devastation occurs in that big one than in every other one combined. There are 5, 319 quakes  on record at present.

Jesus is the Ultimate Security contrasted to the utter insecurity of earth-dwellers

BOWL # 1 MALIGNANT SORES

THE HORROR OF LOCKED HEARTS

REVELATION 16:1-2

Revelation 16:1-2 Then I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, “Go and pour out the bowls of the wrath of God on the earth.” 2 So the first went and poured out his bowl upon the earth, and a foul and loathsome sore came upon the men who had the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image.

“The most terrible situation in life is when Almighty God is powerless to gain an entry into the citadel of the human heart, for God has given men the terrible responsibility of being able to lock their hearts against  Him.”

First a malignant sore oozes out the unmitigated corruption, the filth of their unrepentant souls. This is the fulfillment of Moses’ prophesy of Deuteronomy 28:27, 35  “The Lord will strike you with the boils of Egypt, with tumors, with the scab, and with the itch, from which you cannot be healed.  35 “The Lord will strike you in the knees and on the legs with severe boils which cannot be healed, and from the sole of your foot to the top of your head.

Einstein said, “it is easier to denature plutonium than to denature the evil spirit of man”.  So judgment will not produce repentance because only God’s kindness does (Rom. 2:4). What is the lesson in v. 1-2? Only Jesus has SANCTIFYING POWER as the One who cleanses and keeps (Jude 23-24)

BOWL #2 THE SEA  OF DEATH

REVELATION 16:3

Revelation 16:3 Then the second angel poured out his bowl on the sea, and it became blood as of a dead man; and every living creature in the sea died.

From time  to time, off the coast of California and elsewhere, a phenomenon known as “the red tide” occurs.  These red tides kill millions of fish, and poison those who eat contaminated shellfish.  In 1949, one of these red tides hit the coast of Florida.  First the water turned yellow, but by midsummer it was thick and viscous and countless billions of dinoflagellates, tiny one-celled organisms.  Sixty-mile windrows of stinking fish fouled the beaches.  Much marine life was wiped out, even bait used by fishermen died upon the hooks.  Eventually the red tide subsided, only to appear again the following year.  Eating fish contaminated by the tide produced severe symptoms caused by a potent nerve poison, a few grams of which distributed aright, could easily kill everyone in the world.  An unchecked population explosion of toxic dinoflagellates would kill all the fish in the sea.  The phenomenon is well known, but scientists do not know what causes the proliferation of these creatures or what normally limits it.  One theory is that it is caused when cobalt in an area reaches a certain density.  Using the sea as a dumping place for nuclear and other waste may one day raise the level of cobalt to the point where it triggers a dinoflagellate plague.  This may not fully explain what will happen when the second vial is outpoured, but it certainly illustrates it.  The disaster described is quite credible.

In v. 3 Jesus has LIFE GIVING POWER as the One who gives abundant life (Jn. 10:10)

BOWL # 3 JESUS – SATISFIER “TO THIRST

OR NOT TO THIRST” REVELATION 16:4-7

Revelation 16:4-7 Then the third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and springs of water, and they became blood.5 And I heard the angel of the waters saying: “You are righteous, O Lord, The One who is and who was and who is to be, Because You have judged these things. 6 For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, And You have given them blood to drink. For it is their just due.” 7 And I heard another from the altar saying, “Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are Your judgments.”

Water, the Wonder  Fluid; for a brew that’s colorless, tasteless, odorless, and calorie free, water takes a punch. It is the only substance necessary to all life. Many organisms can live without oxygen, but none can live without water. Life, and life to come can both be reduced to a simple common denominator. No life form known by us on earth can exist without water.  And no life form will ever be able to exist in eternity without the Water of Life! Many creatures can live without oxygen, but none without water.

God gives an unbelieving world a graphic picture.  No water, no life.  Why?  To portray a spiritual truth – Only Jesus is satisfies and can give the Water of Life!  Not to thirst can only mean come to Him. Revelation 22 ends with a call, lets turn there 22:17.Psalm 42:2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?  “Only Jesus can satisfy your soul”. And God promises to quench our thirst.

Each day the sun evaporates a trillion tons of water from the oceans and continents and pumps it as vapor into the atmosphere–the greatest physical force at work on Earth.  Each day the same amount of vapor condenses and falls as rain, snow, sleet, and hail, replenishing its sources.  But this is no natural lack of water. We cause our thirst by our sin. But in v. 4-7 we find Jesus has SATISFYING POWER as the One who promises us we will never thirst  (John 7:37-39)

BOWL # 4 THE ULTIMATE SUNBURN

REVELATION 16:8-9

Revelation 16:8-9 Then the fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and power was given to him to scorch men with fire.9 And men were scorched with great heat, and they blasphemed the name of God who has power over these plagues; and they did not repent and give Him glory.

Jesus is revealed in Revelation 16:8-9 as the promised Sun of Righteousness, the Liberator . The last words of the Old Testament pronounce a doom upon those who won’t allow Jesus to be their sunrise (Luke 178) upon them He becomes the burning sun. Look with me in Malachi 4:1-2 “For behold, the day is coming, Burning like an oven, And all the proud, yes, all who do wickedly will be stubble.  And the day which is coming shall burn them up,” Says the Lord of hosts, “That will leave them neither root nor branch. 2 But to you who fear My name The Sun of Righteousness shall arise With healing in His wings; And you shall go out And grow fat like stall-fed calves. Lk. 1:78 Jesus is the Sunrise. But, Revelation 16:8-9 He is spurned

“…The sun, in its normal state, pours  out a continuous stream of high-energy particles which race toward the Earth at a peak speed of three million  miles an hour.

So Jesus who would free us from doom, liberate us from damnation is rejected. What a contrast, burned up or blessed beyond description. That is your choice! So in v. 8-9 Jesus has LIBERATING POWER as the One who sets us free (Jn. 8:31-36)

BOWL #5 UTTER DARKNESS

REVELATION 16:10-11

Revelation 16:10-11Then the fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and his kingdom became full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues because of the pain.11 They blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and did not repent of their deeds.

Now God pours out a plague strikingly similar to the 9th plague upon Egypt in Ex. 10:21-29. Taste the Blackness of Hell Forever/Black as Hell – Jn. 8:12; (cf Ex. 10:21-29 gnawed tongues) Also, the scope of this bowl of judgment  is limited, focused upon the kingdom of the beast — that is, the revived Roman Empire of Western Europe.  This judgment encompasses a great area of the Earth, causing a sudden and unexplainable darkness  to fall. The events in the sky or beyond the sky, which caused these midday nightfall’s, might have been the same as that which caused three hours of darkness during the crucifixion of Christ.

Note three penetrating truths:

1. CLOSED HEARTS FACE JUDGMENT. So check to see if you have opened the door to Christ. “Perhaps  the most terrible condition of human life is when the almighty God is powerless to gain entry into the citadel of the human heart … for God has given men the terrible responsibility of being able to lock their hearts against Him.”

2. JUDGMENT THAT IS MOST HORRIBLE is the blackness of darkness in hell. Jesus stands in the way and only you can turn Him down or take Him in.

3. JESUS IS LIGHT AND SALVATION. Do you walk in light? Seek light?

SOME CLOSED HEARTS OF THE PAST

WHO NOW AWAIT JUDGMENT

So, closed hearts face judgment.

THE HORRORS OF ABSOLUTE DARKNESS

EMBRACING THE TRUE LIGHT OF THE WORLD

What’s the hope? Well if:

1. Closed hearts face judgment -Ask The Lord God Almighty to   open yours and reveal himself to you Thru His Word.

2. Judgment in hell is blackest darkness. Avoid it. How —

3. By meeting, embracing Jesus who is light and salvation.

* John 1:5 And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

* John 3:19 “And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

* John 8:12 Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”

* John 12:46 “I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness. What does meeting, trusting, receiving, and embracing Jesus as light and salvation mean?

* A TOTALLY NEW LIFE  Hold on —

In v. 10-11 Jesus has ENLIGHTENING POWER as the One who gives us daily light and true spiritual sight  (Jn. 8:12; acts 26:18)

BOWL #6 CALLED TO ARMAGEDDON

REVELATION 16:12-16

Revelation 16:12-16 Then the sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up, so that the way of the kings from the east might be prepared.13 And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs coming out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet.14 For they are spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out to the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.15 “Behold, I am coming as a thief. Blessed is he who watches, and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame.”16 And they gathered them together to the place called in Hebrew, Armageddon.

“The time has come for the fighting of that final war of the age, the name of which has become a byword among men since John first wrote it down–Armageddon!  God has chosen the Holy Land as the stage upon which two crucial events take place, one on a mountain, and one on a plain.  Mount Calvary and the Plain of Megiddo are the two altars of sacrifice that dominate the history of the world. We are told three things about the armies, which now begin their fateful march toward Megiddo .  The Holy Spirit  of God has chosen five capable authors to describe for us in clear and chilling language that most famous of all battles — Armageddon!  The five authors include David, Isaiah, Joel, Zechariah, and John.

In his little booklet entitled “Profiles of Prophecy”, Dr. S. Franklin Logsdon  writes, Is this the final  battle? No it isn’t. One more is in Revelation 20.

The location of the battle? Dr. Herman A. Hoyt  describes the location:2

Thus there would seem to be at least four important  names involved in the battle of Armageddon:

Marvin Vincent writes concerning Armageddon and its location , The reasons for the battle: What will draw all the nations of the world into the area of Armageddon?  They will gather themselves there for perhaps various reasons.  It would seem that the following are three  of the more important reasons:

   2. The drying up of the Euphrates River (Revelation 16:12).

Dr. Donald Barnhouse quotes Seiss  in describing this: Thus, when this watery barrier is removed tens of millions of soldiers from China, India, and other Asian powers will march straight for Armageddon and destruction!

1. The destruction of Jerusalem :

        *Their end is INESCAPABLE

2. Their defeat is ULTIMATE

3. Our King is UNCONQUERABLE

Are you triumphing? 2 Corinthians 2:14  Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. We are more than conquerors; Victory in Jesus. So, in v. 12-16  Jesus has CONQUERING POWER as the One who always leads us into triumph

BOWL # 7 “THE BIG ONE”

REVELATION 16:17-21

Revelation 16:17-21 Then the seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and a loud voice came out of the Temple of Heaven, from the Throne, saying, “It is done!”18 And there were noises and thunderings and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such a mighty and great earthquake as had not occurred since men were on the earth.19 Now the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. And great Babylon was remembered before God, to give her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath.20 Then every island fled away, and the mountains were not found.21 And great hail from heaven fell upon men, each hailstone about the weight of a talent. Men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, since that plague was exceedingly great.

 “‘It is done!’  Here is the perfecting of the judgments, the consummation  of God’s wrath, the final overthrow of all opposition.  Once before our Lord uttered similar words from the cross when He Cried, ‘It is finished’  (John 19:30), and at the time there was an earthquake (Matthew 27:51).  But then He was bearing the judgment for man’s sin.  However, the next time He speaks of a finished work, it will be the consummation of judgment upon all who have rejected Him.  It is the comprehensive finality of judgment upon the Earth and its inhabitants.

 “The judgments in these verses I take to be literal.  What is described here is both possibly and probable.  With the exception of the hail and lightning, man could produce the same effects with the multi-megaton bombs now in his possession.  Mountains will disappear and islands will be submerged.

     “The seventh angel tips the seventh bowl of judgment in ‘the air,’ the present headquarters of Satan (Ephesians 2:2), followed by thunders, lightning, and hailstones weighing upwards to one hundred pounds.  This is the final destruction of every religious, political, and educational institution that man has built apart from God.  It is the collapse of all man’s hopes and dreams.  But with all of this, men still refuse to submit to God’s rule.  Men boast of their scientific progress, but it will all come to naught.  All the men consider stable, they must watch crumble.  Many people marvel at such descriptions of the severity of God.  I marvel at the unconcern and wickedness of men’s hearts.”

Have you ever noticed a map of the Fault Lines of the earth? Note where they run: from Alaska to Chile, from Siberia to New Zealand, from the southern Med /Riviera to the Mideast like a fan across Asia and S. to the heart of Africa. And when those Teutonic plates move in 1 quake the power of 20,000  A-bombs is unleashed. With devastation like that ahead, only Jesus is ULTIMATE SECURITY. In just one quake the fall of 1985 in Columbia and Mexico 32,000 lost their lives.

What should this truth do to us? Perhaps set some PRIORITIES FOR us as CHRISTIANS? Remember God offers us in Heb. 12:25-29 an Unshakable kingdom. He also calls us in  2 Peter. 3:10-18 to an Unwavering focus. So we see Jesus in v. 17-21 Jesus has SECURING POWER as the One who gives us our ULTIMATE ETERNAL SECURITY  (Rom. 8:31-39, Heb. 7)

The end is coming. The world is going to fall apart. Mankind will cease to be, as we now know life to be. So what about it. What does God want now that we are listening? He wants us to worship His Son.

Revelation 16 is an art gallery with seven divinely inspired PORTRAITS OF CHRIST.    Against the darkened screen of Christ’s wrath poured out upon sin, are seven glowing pictures. Look at these riveting portraits of Jesus.  Pause with me before each one:

* In v. 1-2: Jesus has SANCTIFYING POWER as the One who cleanses and keeps (Jude 23-24)

* In v. 3 Jesus has LIFE GIVING POWER as the One who gives abundant life (Jn. 10:10)

* In v. 4-7 Jesus has SATISFYING POWER as the One who promises us we will never thirst  (John 7:37-39)

* In v. 8-9 Jesus has LIBERATING POWER as the One who sets us free (Jn. 8:31-36)

* In v. 10-11 Jesus has ENLIGHTENING POWER as the One who gives us daily light and true spiritual sight  (Jn. 8:12; acts 26:18)

* In v. 12-16 Jesus has CONQUERING POWER as the One who always leads us into triumph  ( I Cor. 2:14)

* In v. 17-21 Jesus has SECURING POWER as the One who gives us our ultimate eternal security  (Rom. 8:31-39, Heb. 7)

On Mount Calvary grace redeemed the world by the sacrifice of God’s Son. On the plains of Megiddo vengeance offers up the armies of the world in a sacrifice of doom.

* Both are blood baths:

* Both are the descent of wrath upon sin;

* Both are brought about by God’s bitterest foes that work out, despite themselves, God’s perfect and sovereign will.

* Across both can be written the words of Peter, “The Gentiles, and peoples of Israel, were gathered together, for to do whatsoever they hand and thy counsel determined before to be done” (Acts 4:27-28).

* From each proceeds a supper:  one a feast of remembrance for the people of God, and the other a feast of retribution for the carrion.

* At Calvary there rang up to the gates of Heaven a victorious cry, “It is finished!”

* And at Armageddon there rings down to Earth an answering cry from the temple gates in glory, “It is done!”

* Both events shake the earth in Mt. 27:51-54 Quake + Christ’s Res.; Revelation 16:18 The Greatest Quake

* Both events attack and conquer Satan’s domain. At Christ’s death the graves opened and saints raised from death (contrary to Satan’s power) and in Revelation 16 the bowls are poured on the air the present headquarters of Satan

Christ spoke of earthquakes as “signs” of His coming again to receive His saints. He said, “There will be earthquakes in divers places” (Matthew 24:7; Mark 13:8), a fact now verified by the global distribution of earthquakes recorded on seismographs. Most noteworthy is Jesus’ statement that the earthquake sign is the “BEGINNING OF SORROWS” (Matthew 24:8; Mark 13:8). The word translated sorrows in many English Bibles is the Greek word for “birth pangs.” Just as we know from birth pangs that a pregnant woman is about to give birth to a child, Jesus says we know that the intolerable anguish of God’s judgment and the return of His Son is at hand. The 30-year cyclic curve of earthquake frequency in figure  is consistent with Jesus’ statement about birth pangs .”

The apostle Paul also develops the birth pang theme when he notes that the whole creation is “groaning in travail” (Romans 8:22) awaiting the new birth of the world. The apostle John speaks of a “great earthquake” associated with the opening of the sixth seal (Revelation 6:12), followed by the sign of the pregnant woman (Revelation 12:2), and followed by the greatest earthquake since men have been upon the earth (Revelation 16:18- 20). This future “Armageddon earthquake” will be associated with the return of Christ to Jerusalem (Acts 1:9-1 1; Zechariah 14: 1-1 1) and is described as inflicting severe topographic and geologic changes on a global scale . After God’s voice shakes the Earth mightily (Hebrews 12:26) and fully accomplishes these extraordinary geologic changes, His saints will receive a “KINGDOM WHICH CANNOT BE MOVED” (Hebrews 12:27-29).

Other References

I. Rene Noorbergen, A.D. 2000: A Book About the End of Time (New York, Bobbs-Merrill Co., 1984), p. 80.

2. Ibid. The statement comes from inside the front of the book’s dust jacket.

3. Lester Sumrall, “Famines, Pestilence, Earthquakes, as Man Rebels,” in Bob Anderson et al., Earth’s Final Days (Green Forest, AR, New Leaf Press, 1994), pp. 63-76.

“Only one life to live and soon is past

Only what’s done for Christ will last!”

Hoping to make the time I have left count for the glory of God.