The Wrath of God Revelation 16
How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me? Ps 13:1-2
Revelation 16:1-7 Then I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, Go, pour out the seven bowls of God s wrath on the earth. The first angel went and poured out his bowl on the land, and ugly, festering sores broke out on the people who had the mark of the beast and worshiped its image. The second angel poured out his bowl on the sea, and it turned into blood like that of a dead person, and every living thing in the sea died. The third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and springs of water, and they became blood.
Then I heard the angel in charge of the waters say: You are just in these judgments, O Holy One, you who are and who were; for they have shed the blood of your holy people and your prophets, and you have given them blood to drink as they deserve. And I heard the altar respond: Yes, Lord God Almighty, true and just are your judgments.
The Wrath of God 1.The Righteousness of God (1-7) 2.The Sinfulness of Men (8-14) 3.The Rejection of Grace (15-21)
1. The Righteousness of God (1-7) Ch 15:1 I saw in heaven another great and marvelous sign: seven angels with the seven last plagues last, because with them God s wrath is completed. 5 After this I looked, and I saw in heaven the temple that is, the tabernacle of the covenant law and it was opened. 6 Out of the temple came the seven angels with the seven plagues.
plagues of Egypt: water becoming blood, frog, death of the fish, hardness of heart darkness, Judgment of rebels lightning, thunder, hail, sores,
The trumpets and the bowls 1. the earth (cf. 8:7 with 16:2), 2. the sea (cf. 8:8-9 with 16:3), 3. the rivers and fountains of water (cf. 8:10-11 with 16:4) 4. the sun (cf. 8:12 with 16:8) 5. darkness (cf. 8:12 with 16:10) 6. the Euphrates river (cf. 9:13-14 with 16:12) 7. lightnings, thunders, and earthquakes (cf. 11:19b with 16:17-21)
crescendo 4 th seal pale horse (death): ¼ of mankind 7 trumpets 1/3 of the earth, sea, rivers, sun, mankind 7 bowls universal
Mat 24:7-8 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains.
Megas: large, great, huge, or loud great voice (vss. 1 and 17), great heat (vs. 9), great river Euphrates (vs. 12), great day of God Almighty (vs. 14), great earthquake (2x vs. 18), great city, Babylon, the great (vs. 19), great hailstones (vs. 21) and great plague (vs 21).
thlipsis (tribulation) severe constriction, narrowing, or pressing together In this world you will have tribulation. (Jn 16:33).
Then I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, Go, pour out the seven bowls of God s wrath on the earth. The first angel went and poured out his bowl on the land, and ugly, festering sores broke out on the people who had the mark of the beast and worshiped its image. The second angel poured out his bowl on the sea, and it turned into blood like that of a dead person, and every living thing in the sea died. The third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and springs of water, and they became blood.
Then I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, Go, pour out the seven bowls of God s wrath on the earth. The first angel went and poured out his bowl on the land, and ugly, festering sores broke out on the people who had the mark of the beast and worshiped its image. The second angel poured out his bowl on the sea, and it turned into blood like that of a dead person, and every living thing in the sea died. The third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and springs of water, and they became blood.
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Then I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, Go, pour out the seven bowls of God s wrath on the earth. The first angel went and poured out his bowl on the land, and ugly, festering sores broke out on the people who had the mark of the beast and worshiped its image. The second angel poured out his bowl on the sea, and it turned into blood like that of a dead person, and every living thing in the sea died. The third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and springs of water, and they became blood.
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Then I heard the angel in charge of the waters say: You are just in these judgments, O Holy One, you who are and who were; for they have shed the blood of your holy people and your prophets, and you have given them blood to drink as they deserve. And I heard the altar respond: Yes, Lord God Almighty, true and just are your judgments.
2.The sinfulness of Men (8-14) a God without wrath brought men without sin into a kingdom without judgment through the ministrations of a Christ without a cross. H Richard Niebuhr about ultra liberal Christianity
2.The sinfulness of Men (8-14) The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and the sun was allowed to scorch people with fire. They were seared by the intense heat and they cursed the name of God, who had control over these plagues, but they refused to repent and glorify him. The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness. People gnawed their tongues in agony and cursed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, but they refused to repent of what they had done.
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. Then I saw three impure spirits that looked like frogs; they came out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet. They are demonic spirits that perform signs, and they go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them for the battle on the great day of God Almighty.
2.The sinfulness of Men (8-14) The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and the sun was allowed to scorch people with fire. They were seared by the intense heat and they cursed the name of God, who had control over these plagues, but they refused to repent and glorify him. The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness. People gnawed their tongues in agony and cursed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, but they refused to repent of what they had done.
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. Then I saw three impure spirits that looked like frogs; they came out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet. They are demonic spirits that perform signs, and they go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them for the battle on the great day of God Almighty.
Romans 1:18-32 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God s invisible qualities his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.
Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator who is forever praised. Amen. Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.
Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. Although they know God s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them. Romans 1:18-32
I reared children and brought them up. But they have rebelled against me. The ox knows its master, And the donkey its owner s manger, But Israel does not know, My people do not understand Isaiah 1:2-3
3. The Rejection of Grace (15-21) Look, I come like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake and remains clothed, so as not to go naked and be shamefully exposed. 16:15
Then they gathered the kings together to the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon. The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and out of the temple came a loud voice from the throne, saying, It is done! Then there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder and a severe earthquake. No earthquake like it has ever occurred since mankind has been on earth, so tremendous was the quake. The great city split into three parts, and the cities of the nations collapsed. God remembered Babylon the Great and gave her the cup filled with the wine of the fury of his wrath. Every island fled away and the mountains could not be found. From the sky huge hailstones, each weighing about a hundred pounds,[a] fell on people. And they cursed God on account of the plague of hail, because the plague was so terrible.
Look, I come like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake and remains clothed, so as not to go naked and be shamefully exposed. 16:15
What can we do now? 1.PRAY 2.PREACH 3.PERSEVERE