The Seven Bowls of Wrath - Podcast
There's A Man Going 'Round Taking Names • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 14 viewsThe seven bowls of God's wrath
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Transcript
Welcome to this episode of Pastor’s Corner, I’m Thomas Hogan Senior pastor of Amazing Grace Church of the Nazarene in Walla Walla Washington.
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In this episode we are continuing our look at the Book of Revelation in the series, There’s a man going ‘round taking names.
Today we are in chapter 16 and 17 looking at the seven bowls of wrath.
So far we have read about seven seals, seven trumpets, and now seven bowls. 777
Isn’t that interesting? May not be anything but perhaps we see the trinity yet again. Like Holy, Holy, Holy, from chapter 4.
With the seven bowls there seems to be an echo to of Israel’s two exodus’. The first exodus was leaving Egypt for the promise land, and the second returning from captivity.
As with the other sets of seven there is a 4-2-1 sequence with two interludes.
So let’s consider the first four bowls.
1 And I heard a loud voice from the temple, saying to the seven angels, “Go and pour out the seven bowls of the wrath of God into the earth.”
2 And the first angel went and poured out his bowl into the earth; and it became a loathsome and malignant sore upon the men who had the mark of the beast and who worshiped his image.
3 And the second angel poured out his bowl into the sea, and it became blood like that of a dead man; and every living thing in the sea died.
4 And the third angel poured out his bowl into the rivers and the springs of waters; and they became blood.
5 And I heard the angel of the waters saying, “Righteous art Thou, who art and who wast, O Holy One, because Thou didst judge these things;
6 for they poured out the blood of saints and prophets, and Thou hast given them blood to drink. They deserve it.”
7 And I heard the altar saying, “Yes, O Lord God, the Almighty, true and righteous are Thy judgments.”
8 And the fourth angel poured out his bowl upon the sun; and it was given to it to scorch men with fire.
9 And men were scorched with fierce heat; and they blasphemed the name of God who has the power over these plagues; and they did not repent, so as to give Him glory.
The imagery here is an expression of God’s wrath. Those affected by the first bowl were the ones compliant with the Roman Empire and its way of life.
Gordon Fee, “What the empire dished out on those who refused to go along with its ungodly ways and policies, will be what they receive in king. This, of course, functions not as a warning to the empire itself, but to those believers who might be tempted to accommodate to it otherwise.”
The sea of the second bowl would be the Mediterranean, as that would be the sea in the mind of the seven churches.
I wonder i the image of blood would be coagulated? Or maybe a person whose blood had been spilled causing death? I am just not sure.
The empire spills the blood of God’s people and in kind God will execute judgment in kind on the empire for the slaughter of His people!
The third bowl continues the spread of blood into all water systems.
Symbolic of the amount of blood shed that the Empire has shed of God’s people.
The fourth bowl brings scorching heat!
Gordon Fee, “At this point John is affirming a common reality: that even though people wish to live totally part from God, nonetheless when things go against them God is to blame, who is thus to be cursed rather than loved.”
Things have been building, God has been dealing with His anger against individual who murder His people and reject Him. Now He is ready to deal with the Empire itself.
This is what is possibly meant by the throne of the beast. Thus also the kingdom of the beast would be Rome.
The emperor wanter to be god, worshipped, and now their tongues are burning.
Their time to repent has now ended, brought on by themselves for refusing to exalt the name of God.
Thus God’s judgment goes wright to the heart of the empire. The sixth bowl takes us to the Euphrates river, remember the Parthians?
Remember chapter 9 and the sixth trumpet?
N.T. Wright, “The deep-seated fear in Western Europe about the great enemy to the east, in their case Parthia.”
The Euphrates river formed the boundary line. A natural barrier, easy to defend, However, the sixth bowl dries the river and now these kings from the east can cross unhindered and begin their attack.
Possibly what is meant is that drying would give easy access to the heart of the empire and the place where the battle will take place.
We see the return of the Satanic Trinity, the dragon, the sea beast, and the earth beast who is now called the false prophet.
What the demonic spirits do next comes at no surprise, they preform signs to deceive and cause wonder.
They go to the kings of the earth with the intent of bringing them out to do battle against God Almighty.
On the heals of this the familiar call to the lambs faithful.
15 (“Behold, I am coming like a thief. Blessed is the one who stays awake and keeps his garments, lest he walk about naked and men see his shame.”)
Calling us back to the words of Jesus in Matthew 24:43
43 “But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have been on the alert and would not have allowed his house to be broken into.
and also the words of Paul to the Thessalonians
2 For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night.
Clearly something very familiar to John and the seven churches.
Thus all these assemble then in a place called Har-Magedon, in our day Armagedon.
Michael Gorman, “Despite the vast amount of speculation regarding the time and location of this battle, Revelation only mentions it in passing. The place is a city where numerous battles had taken place in the Old Testament. It is a logical setting for a symbolic battle of cosmic proportions and nothing more.”
Why would the rulers of the west be drawn into this conflict?
The answer lies in verse 14
14 for they are spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them together for the war of the great day of God, the Almighty.
They are deceived into fighting in this battle.
Nt. Wright, “Again there is an echo of the plagues of Egypt, since the unclean spirits the come out of the unholy trinity appear like frogs, able to hop to and fro with the specious stories and plausible arguments, persuading the great and powerful to commit themselves to a hopeless cause.”
Then goes the seventh bowl into the air, and a voice form the temple, from the throne, “It is done!”
I thought immediately of Jesus last words from the cross
30 When Jesus therefore had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And He bowed His head, and gave up His spirit.
This brings the whole work to conclusion. The great city, possibly Rome?
This city is split in three. The symbolism here lends itself not to the collapse of the physical earth, but to the collapse of the entire social political system on earth.
N.T. Wright, Terrible things will happen in human society for which the only fitting metaphor will be earthquakes and huge hailstone.”
The collapse reveals the lie which is at the heart of pagan society.
N.T. Wright,”The tectonic plates of different idolatrous human systems will move against one another one more time, and nothing will ever be the same again.”
Does this not also speak volumes to our own society and where we are headed today?
Do we think as a country that we will escape the wrath of God if we do not stop and turn back to him?
Certainly something to ponder.
I hope you have a wonder day and thank you for joining me in the pastor’s corner.