Unpacking Prophecy: The Bowls and The Unholy Trinity
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I try each week to start with an illustration or a story that will set your mind and heart on the topic at hand. But talking about the throne room of God, the seal judgments, the trumpet judgments and today we will be discussing the final judgments the bowls and something known as the unholy trinity. How do I give an inspirational story when for the past few weeks all we have heard is horror? Then I came across this quote.
The Christian answer is because God’s holy wrath rests on evil. There is nothing unprincipled, unpredictable or uncontrolled about God’s anger; it is aroused by evil alone.
John Stott
God’s wrath is against those who are not saved by the blood of Jesus Christ. God’s wrath is against evil alone. We must study these prophecies, cause we are commanded to do so, but my focus stays on God mercy, grace and His Son who died for my sins, the evil that likes to attach itself to me. And it thrills my heart to see someone give their life to Christ like we did this past week. There maybe a great apostasy happening but we must never forget that the angels rejoice over one soul saved. And as my wife and Leighann like to sing…Hell lost another one. I hope that encourages you because we are going to transition into talking about the final judgments, the full wrath of God upon those who have decided to wage war against Him, the bowl judgments.
These judgments, when compared to the seals and trumpets, appear to be more intense and severe. The angels take the bowls that has been collecting God’s wrath upon evil and turn them upside down to ensure all of God’s wrath goes forth. Nothing is held back.
Then I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, “Go and pour out the seven bowls of God’s wrath on the earth.” The first went and poured out his bowl on the earth, and severely painful sores broke out on the people who had the mark of the beast and who worshiped its image.
This judgment is aimed specifically at those who have the mark of the beast. It is an affliction of grievous, malignant sores upon the human body. It is a fulfillment of what is said in
And another, a third angel, followed them and spoke with a loud voice: “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he will also drink the wine of God’s wrath, which is poured full strength into the cup of his anger. He will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the sight of the holy angels and in the sight of the Lamb, and the smoke of their torment will go up forever and ever. There is no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and its image, or anyone who receives the mark of its name.
We will see again that there are similarities to the exodus plagues. This one corresponded with the boils that the Egyptians had in
It will become fine dust over the entire land of Egypt. It will become festering boils on people and animals throughout the land of Egypt.”
This first bowl is no joke but it gets worst from here, let’s look at the second bowl.
The second poured out his bowl into the sea. It turned to blood like that of a dead person, and all life in the sea died.
We have talked about the effects of the previous judgments on the sea, but this one will finally kill off every living creature. The diseases and the stench will be unimaginable. Some scholars believe that it will be a result of red tide upon the seas.
Since the next bowl is similar let’s look at it here
The third poured out his bowl into the rivers and the springs of water, and they became blood. I heard the angel of the waters say,
You are just,
the Holy One, who is and who was,
because you have passed judgment on these things.
Because they poured out
the blood of the saints and the prophets,
you have given them blood to drink;
they deserve it!
I heard the altar say,
Yes, Lord God, the Almighty,
true and just are your judgments.
All remaining water on the earth will be turned to blood. This judgment is God’s answer to the martyr’s prayer that their lives will be avenged.
They cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, the one who is holy and true, how long until you judge those who live on the earth and avenge our blood?”
God tells them to rest and wait, but that they will be avenged. Here again as I have always said, God’s word never returns void. He does what He says He will do.
So we have seen sores on those who worship the beast, all the waters of the world turned to blood. What is next?
The fourth poured out his bowl on the sun. It was allowed to scorch people with fire,
This bowl is poured out and extraordinary heat goes out and scorches the people with fire. So much so they curse God because of it.
and people were scorched by the intense heat. So they blasphemed the name of God, who has the power over these plagues, and they did not repent and give him glory.
And you would think with that amount of heat, the sun will be bright and shining, Nope!
The fifth poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness. People gnawed their tongues because of their pain and blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, but they did not repent of their works.
Please note that most scholars believe that these judgments will be one right after the other or all happening at the same time. This bowl brings about darkness that envelopes the whole domain. It is very similar to the plague in Egypt.
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven, and there will be darkness over the land of Egypt, a darkness that can be felt.”
Apparently, this darkness is not a normal darkness. It is accompanied by some kind of agony that will cause people to gnaw at their tongues, yet they will still not repent of their sins. Kind of reminds you of a hard hearted Pharaoh in Exodus.
Sores, blood, heat, darkness…the sixth bowl
The sixth 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 unclean spirits like frogs coming from the dragon’s mouth, from the beast’s mouth, and from the mouth of the false prophet. For they are demonic spirits performing signs, who travel to the kings of the whole world to assemble them for the battle on the great day of God, the Almighty. “Look, I am coming like a thief. Blessed is the one who is alert and remains clothed so that he may not go around naked and people see his shame.”
Here we see the great Euphrates river finally dry up completely. This prepares the way for the kings of the East to come to the mountains of Israel for the battle of Armageddon.
This battle had be foretold all the way back in the OT.
Proclaim this among the nations:
Prepare for holy war;
rouse the warriors;
let all the men of war advance and attack!
Beat your plows into swords
and your pruning knives into spears.
Let even the weakling say, “I am a warrior.”
Come quickly, all you surrounding nations;
gather yourselves.
Bring down your warriors there, Lord.
God is baiting the Antichrist and drawing hin into a trap that will set forth the final judgment.
Then the seventh poured out his bowl into the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple from the throne, saying, “It is done!” There were flashes of lightning, rumblings, and peals of thunder. And a severe earthquake occurred like no other since people have been on the earth, so great was the quake. The great city split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. Babylon the Great was remembered in God’s presence; he gave her the cup filled with the wine of his fierce anger. Every island fled, and the mountains disappeared. Enormous hailstones, each weighing about a hundred pounds, fell from the sky on people, and they blasphemed God for the plague of hail because that plague was extremely severe.
The last bowl announces IT IS DONE! The greatest earthquake in the history of the world happens. This judgment happens at the same time as Christ’s second coming. we see this in both OT and NT prophecies.
On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which faces Jerusalem on the east. The Mount of Olives will be split in half from east to west, forming a huge valley, so that half the mountain will move to the north and half to the south. You will flee by my mountain valley, for the valley of the mountains will extend to Azal. You will flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of King Uzziah of Judah. Then the Lord my God will come and all the holy ones with him.
“Immediately after the distress of those days, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not shed its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
This worldwide earthquake will cause Jerusalem to split into three sections, preparing the way for the Millennial reign. This is the moment of the created new Babylon will be destroyed due to 100 pound hailstones. And still those who follow the beast will curse God.
This gives us a great opportunity to give a glimpse into who is the unholy trinity.
Well, the unholy trinity consist of the beast (Satan), the Antichrist and the false prophet.
The beast will have control of all three major entities that control mankind- religion, government and commerce. We see this described in Revelation 13, 17 and 18.
The Antichrist , which we do not know who it is,
For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work, but the one now restraining will do so until he is out of the way, and then the lawless one will be revealed. The Lord Jesus will destroy him with the breath of his mouth and will bring him to nothing at the appearance of his coming.
will be given the same powers as satan to deceive and cause people to see him as a god.
It deceives those who live on the earth because of the signs that it is permitted to perform in the presence of the beast, telling those who live on the earth to make an image of the beast who was wounded by the sword and yet lived. It was permitted to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast could both speak and cause whoever would not worship the image of the beast to be killed.
The false Prophet appears during the last half of tribulation and get people to worship the beast. There will be an idol made so that those who follow the Antichrist and the beast will be forced to worship as it was forced upon the Israelites in the book of Daniel.
But whoever does not fall down and worship will immediately be thrown into a furnace of blazing fire.”
Therefore, when all the people heard the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, and every kind of music, people of every nation and language fell down and worshiped the gold statue that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up.
Those who manage to survive the horrific chaos that is the Tribulation as believers will be ushered into the Millennial kingdom, which we will discuss more later, But those who continued to curse God and worship the Antichrist and the beast will be cast into torment and eventually into the Lake of Fire.
This leads us back to the need for all to repent and call upon the name of Jesus Christ. He alone is the way to eternal life. If you do it now, before the rapture of the church and before the seven years of Tribulation, you can avoid these horrors. It is my prayer that if you have not made that choice, make it now today before it is too late.