Sermon Tone Analysis

Good afternoon!

We are continuing in our series on the book of Revelation.

Look I know for most of us this study has not been easy.

And I don’t believe that it should be easy.

But we are almost done.

After today we have only six more chapters to look at.

And the last few are all super positive so just hang in there.

It is almost finished.

But Today we are going to be looking at Revelation chapter sixteen and the seven bowls of wrath.

At first we are going to see some similarities between the bowl plagues and the trumpet plagues.

However as similar as they are.

They are far from the same.

And I want us to be careful, because it is so easy for Christians to only see judgment upon humanity for worshiping the beast.

This is not untrue.

However, what we need to see today more than anything else is that the real struggle that is being shown is not between God and humanity.

The plagues that we are going to see poured out today are representative of the struggle between the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan.

What we are going to look at today is the outpouring of Gods wrath upon the beast, who seeks to deter Gods divine purpose within this world, and also upon those who have pledged their loyalty to the beast.

The First Bowl

The pouring out of the first bowl is found in verses one and two.

In verse one we read.

The loud voice from the temple appears to be God Himself Why do I say this?

Because he is the one who dwells within the temple.

Just makes sense to me, I think.

So what is contained within this first bowl.

In verse two we read.

Unlike the first plagues of both the seals and the trumpets that affect the environment and so indirectly affect mankind.

This one falls directly upon all of those who are faithful to the beast.

At this point we have seen that all of mankind has declared itself as either faithful to Christ Jesus or faithful to the beast.

And in the end it is only those who are faithful to Christ Jesus that will be spared from the outpouring of Gods wrath in the end.

I have mentioned several times throughout this series a very real truth that is revealed throughout the book of Revelation.

And that is that all of humanity throughout history has been choosing to follow either the one true God, Jesus Christ, or they have chosen to follow Satan.

There is no in between.

No one gets to sit on the sidelines.

Essentially if you choose not to follow Christ.

Then the default is Satan.

The Second Bowl

The second bowl is found in verse three.

In the first plague in Egypt the Nile was turned into blood, and we saw something similar at the sounding of the second trumpet where we saw a third of the waters of the seas become blood and a third of the creatures of the sea died.

This time there is no limitation placed upon the plague and every drop of water within the oceans and the seas of this world become blood and every animal living within them dies.

The Third Bowl

The third bowl is found in verses four through seven.

In verse four we read.

The third trumpet plague affected a third of the rivers.

This time, as we have already seen, there is no such limitation placed upon the third bowl.

We were told with the third trumpet that the plague brought death to people due to the bitter water.

We are not told here the immediate affects that this would have upon life.

However, if all the water in the world turns to blood I think we can guess what the aftermath might be.

And whatever we might imagine I suspect isn’t close to what this would really be like.

Then in verses five and six we read.

The angel of water or as the ESV puts it here the angel in charge of the waters is an expression that is found no where else in scripture.

However at this point we have seen several angels that oversee so to speak certain aspects of nature.

In chapter seven we saw the four angels who control the winds, and in chapter fourteen we were introduced to the angel who has power over fire.

This angel, the angel of the waters, declares that God is just to bring about such judgment upon humanity.

Why does he say this?

He explains.

Because they are responsible for the shedding of the blood of the martyrs.

And so he says, this is exactly what they deserve.

That’s the last line that the angel concludes with.

They deserve this judgment.

Then in verse seven connected to this proclamation we read.

This is the only time in the book of Revelation that we are told that the Altar speaks.

We have heard voices come from under the altar, and these voices were calling for vindication for those who had been martyred.

In another instance we see that the prayers of the persecuted saints rise up from the altar.

What we should see or perhaps hear in these words is that Gods judgment is neither arbitrary nor capricious.

Instead they are both true and just.

God’s judgment is an act of vindication for the persecuted church throughout time.

The Fourth Bowl

The fourth bowl is found in verse eight and nine and we read.

This bowl causes a plague of intense heat which burns people.

What I find most interesting about this bowl is that mankind recognizes the source of the plagues.

They know where the judgment they are experiencing comes from.

However, just as Pharaoh had hardened his heart against God.

So many in the end as well as today have hardened their hearts to the truth of the Gospel.

And as a result all that they experience in relation to God is anger and hatred.

This is exactly what we see today in much of our culture.

It is not some passive disdain that people have towards Christianity and the Church.

It is anger and hatred towards God and His church.

This is the hardening of their hearts towards God just as we see in our passage today.

People would rather curse God and refuse to repent and give God glory.

Because if they did then they would have to identify and admit to the sin within their lives.

The fifth bowl.

The fifth bowl Is found in verses ten and eleven and we read.

This bowl is poured out directly upon the center of the beast’s power.

This judgment is unique in that it is poured out upon the seat of government that has power over the world during the end times.

Which is interesting because I suspect that Government from the beginning has sought to solve all the worlds problems.

But that is not what government is meant to do at all.

Government simply maintains civil structure and order.

Period.

It never has been able to solve most of the problems that we face.

I mean honestly how much impact did our government have on the spread of COVID-19.

They like to think they did.

But they were pretty powerless in the face of the pandemic.

I digress.

This plague, the fifth bowl not COVID, plunges the kingdom of Satan into total darkness.

And this darkness is accompanied by something that causes significant pain and sores and men literally gnaw at their tongues because the pain is so great.

It is also possible that the extreme darkness and the anxiety and anguish that that would cause simply magnified the previous judgments that caused boils and searing heat.

It’s not exactly clear.

What really is important here is that again men recognize the source of their anguish as God Almighty and they curse God.

When what they really needed to do is repent of their sin.

Turn from their sin and the beast and turn to God.