The Seven Bowls

Introduction

Well, good morning!

If you’d grab your Bible and turn in it with me to Revelation chapter 15. We’re now a little over halfway through our series in Revelation…and you’ll start to notice that we’re gonna move just a little bit slower as we begin to really talk about the end times and what all that’s gonna look like. And so, what I really wanna do this morning…I wanna kind of do a recap of where we’ve been…some of the things we’ve looked at so far and allow that to kind of help us see where John’s taking us and what our passage is telling us today. And listen, toward the end of this sermon…I really wanna answer the question that seems to pop up the most when we come to difficult text like we’ve been looking at…like the one we’ll see today…I wanna answer the question, how do we praise God amidst His wrath?

Listen, when I heard the gospel for the very first time, I was about 15 years old…and I really struggled with this wrathful side of God. I just couldn’t grasp it…I couldn’t wrap my mind around why or how this ‘so-called’ all loving, all gracious, all merciful God would condemn people to an eternity in a place of torment. I couldn’t understand why on earth a God that’s capable of anything…a God that’s sovereign…why would He allow all this horrific stuff to happen, right? Like guys, I really struggled with that.

Of course, once I came to Christ…the Holy Spirit took up residence in me…He illuminated my mind…I began to see God for who He really was. I understood His holiness…His righteous. I mean at least enough to know that I was depraved…I was separated…I was sinful, right? I began to understand that man’s responsible for the consequences of sin.

But listen, after becoming a Christian, I’ll never forget the first gospel conversation I got into…I got that dreaded question we hate to heard…if God’s so loving, and if He’s so compassionate about the lives of those made in His image, why does He allow all this evil to happen? And guys, I don’t care how much of a theologian you are…I don’t care how long you’ve followed Jesus…its a tough question. And of course, we say things like, “Well, God doesn’t send people to hell…and God doesn’t actually bring harm to those that reject Him…its always the sinners’ fault,” right? And then listen, you say all that…and then you come to really difficult passages…one’s that talk about God’s election…one’s like this morning, that actually depict God pouring out His wrath. We see these really horrific…disgusting…just awful things happening in these two chapters. And then we sit back and we realize, God initiated all of that.

And if we’re honest, these are some of the pieces of theology that we struggled with when we were coming to know Jesus, and its things we struggle to understand and communicate even today. But guys, I wanna be clear…understanding the wrath of God…understanding why God pours His wrath out…its critical to our understanding of the gospel and its critical to our proclamation of the gospel.

And so, with that, let’s do a little exegesis of these two chapters…we’ll look backwards, where we’ve been…and then we’ll work to explain what it is John’s trying to show us in chapters 15 and 16. And then, we’ll talk about what all this means for us today.

Exegesis: How Do We Read These Chapters?

I. Review

And so, just to review…a couple of things to remember as we move into these next two chapters. Anytime we’re trying to interpret any book in the Bible, there’s just some really important hermeneutical rules we have to follow. We have remember, there’s not a single book in the Bible that was written directly to us…we weren’t the original readers…and while God uses it our lives today, to shape and mold us into the image of His Son…the only way we’re gonna get what the Holy Spirit intends us to get from it, its to first understand the original authors’ intentions in writing the book…and its to put ourselves in the original readers’ shoes…we have to understand their context…their society…their way of life so to speak…we have to immerse ourselves in their culture…understanding that nothing we read today can mean for us, that it never could’ve meant for them 2,000 years ago. And listen, that’s not just for Revelation…this is a hermeneutical rule that applies to every book of the Bible.

If we don’t start with the original context…if we don’t commit to learning what this would’ve meant for them…if we just jump automatically to how all this applies to us…not only are we gonna get all kinds of wacky, freaky, scary interpretations…not only are our views gonna be selfish in nature…but we’re gonna miss everything the author and the Holy Spirit wanted to communicate. You’re gonna miss the point.

The second thing…its that everything from Genesis chapter 1 to Revelation 22…it’s all about the person and work of Jesus. That’s the main idea. Every passage, every section of text…it all points to Jesus. (Even the one Wendy read in Sunday school last week). If your interpretation of any passage in the Bible is emphasizing anything over Jesus…you’ve missed it. Even last week, as we talked about the different beasts…it wasn’t so much about the different beasts as it was about the sovereignty and authority of Christ. It doesn’t matter what you think the beasts are…it doesn’t matter if you think there’s gonna be a microchip placed in people’s bodies as the mark of the beast…For the record, I think that’s missing an important hermeneutical step…but none of that matters…what matters, its what these passages are saying about Jesus and what He’s done and what He intends to do, right?

Next, the Bible, it can’t be interpreted outside of Scripture. This book, its infallible…its inerrant…its able to explain everything on its own. We don’t need outside sources to help us interpret any part of the Bible. We always have to use Scripture to interpret Scripture. It is sufficient.

And then lastly, the Holy Spirit, as He inspired these writings through these different authors…He wasn’t trying to over-complicate anything. He wants to make Christ known…He wants people to turn from sin and turn toward Christ. He wants people to hear these words and respond favorably. These chapters in Revelation, it can’t be pointing to some horrific fantasy land that no one’s capable of understanding…especially the original readers. Listen, we’ve read and we’ll continue to read…there’s a plain, simple, clear meaning in every passage, that all points to Jesus.

And so, with all that in mind…if you remember, in the very beginning…I mentioned that Revelation, it was an apocalyptic book, filled with prophetic pronouncements, that was written in the form of a congregational letter meant to be read aloud, in one sitting to all the churches during the first century. And if you remember, these believers…they were facing persecution…they were being killed and this letter, it was meant to be an encouragement and an exhortation to continue suffering…continue fighting for the kingdom of God. That was the purpose…it wasn’t to create confusion, it wasn’t to cause division, it wasn’t to promote some kind of speculation about Jesus’s return. It was meant to give them an unshakable hope in the midst of their suffering…it was meant to encourage unwavering holiness amidst a seductive culture…it was meant to refute deceptive ways…and ultimately, it was meant to fuel mission among the nations.

And as we saw last week, that battle…that spiritual battle between the dragon (Satan) and Jesus, it’s still waging…and as God’s people, we’re called to fight. We’re expected to suffer all for the kingdom. The meaning of Revelation, its still the same today. But listen, the hope we’ve saw…its that Christ, He’s conquered the dragon…the different beasts who terrorize our world today, they’re powerless. God is victorious. That’s been the message.

II. Observe

Which leads us to our passages today…what did chapters 15 and 16 mean to the original readers. Well, in taking everything we know…everything we’ve talked about. Understanding how its apocalyptic, prophetic, how its a congregational letter. I think the first thing to understand about apocalyptic literature, its that we never see anything in those genre’s of Scripture, chronological in nature. Meaning, they don’t happen one after another. It’s more about images being displayed, to initiate something in us.

As I mentioned last week, if we read Revelation chronologically, it drives confusion…mainly because up to this point, we’ve seen the world already destroyed like 3 different times now…and we’re gonna see that play out all over again in these chapters. It’s almost like when the pastor finishes his last point of a sermon and he says, “In closing, I have 3 more points for you,” right? I believe that’s what’s happening here…We have the 7 seals, the 7 trumpets, the 7 visions…and now we have the 7 bowls…and I believe its telling the same accounts from different perspectives, to highlight different things about God and how His people are to respond in light of that. In fact, in just a moment, I’ll show you how the 7 trumpets, almost to the “T,” lines up with the 7 bowls.

But listen, real quickly…the other thing…its that I believe from the opening verse of Revelation, John showed us how he meant all this to be taken symbolically. He told us there, that he was gonna use all kinds of symbols and images to portray this message. Now that doesn’t mean there’s nothing literal in the book, I just mean most of it has a symbolic meaning. All the 7’s, and 4,s, and 10’s…the 144,000…the 666 markings…I believe its all symbolically highlighting something important about the person and work of Jesus. And so, as we come to these two chapters…I think the same thing…its mostly symbolic…and it’s not chronological in nature. And the point of it, its all meant to help us understand God’s wrath. The 7 bowls…its all meant to show that God’s wrath, its complete and perfect (you remember what the number 7 means?). Completion! That’s why these passages begin with God’s wrath being finished in 15:1 and ends with it saying “it is done” in 16:17…which should remind you of Jesus’s statement on the cross.

And so, I want you to think about what we’ve seen so far, we’ve seen seven letters, seals, trumpets, visions, bowls. Starting in Revelation 6, we saw the opening of the seven seals, and at the end of the seven seals, at the beginning of Chapter 8, we see final judgment poured out upon the earth. But then, right after that, we see seven angels with seven trumpets, and judgment, it starts all over again, seemingly from the beginning.

That of course, leads to the end of Chapter 11, where with the seventh trumpet, final judgment again is poured out upon the earth, and then, right after that, we go back in time to the coming of Christ…the battle of Satan against God, His Son, His people in human history, with a dragon and beasts and a Lamb and harvest imagery on the earth. And all of that leads to today, where we, in a sense, start over again, with seven angels and seven plagues pictured by seven bowls of wrath, and this cycle, it repeats itself all over again. So these visions, they’re arranged in cycles like this, and with each cycle, things are intensifying.

Remember with the seals, a fourth of the earth was destroyed, and then with the trumpets, a third of the earth impacted. Now, with the bowls, it says all of the earth is affected. In addition, the seals and the trumpets often affected people indirectly, but here these bowls, they’re poured out directly upon the people of the earth. So there’s an intensification going on here with each of these seals and trumpets and visions and bowls.

To summarize, you have seven seals and trumpets and visions and bowls that are chronologically parallel to one another, but at the same time they’re intensifying as you progress, almost like a spiral, heading toward the final vision of wrath and judgment and salvation that unfold from this point on in Revelation. This leads to these seven bowls that recap or repeat what we’ve already seen, except with more all-encompassing devastation.

John tells us in Revelation 15:1 that these are the last plagues and “with them, the wrath of God is finished.”

By the time you get to Chapter 16, these plagues are described as “seven bowls of the wrath of God,” and as each of these bowls are poured out upon the earth, you see reflections of the plagues with which God struck the Egyptians back in the book of Exodus when He delivered His people from slavery. The imagery of bowls crystallizes the theme of wrath. In Old Testament prophecy, God’s wrath, its described as stored in a cup or a bowl, ready to be poured out upon His enemies who rebel against Him and His people.

So here in Revelation 16, that’s exactly what happens. Now again, there are different interpretations on when these things are actually gonna happen. Some say all of these judgments happened symbolically in the first century. Others say that these things are happening in all of history between the first and second coming of Christ (so these things are happening, in a sense, now). And then there’s others that say all of these things will happen only at a time in the future, yet to come.

I lean more toward the understanding that these visions are illustrating all that is going on between the first and second coming of Christ, but I also believe that in the days right before Jesus’s return, these things will clearly intensify in an even greater way.

Regardless of how you view this, the pictures and symbols are altogether devastating. In the first bowl, much like we saw with the first trumpet, the earth, its struck and sores come upon the people who bear the mark of the beast. We saw last week that this is a picture of those who have turned aside from the worship of God to worship the things of this world. It’s a picture of unbelievers. All who worship the things of this world, they’ll eventually experience suffering at the hands of the things of this world.

Then, in the second bowl, just like with the second trumpet, the sea, its struck, and “every living thing” in the sea dies as its water turns to blood. Just like with the parallel plague in Egypt, here God strikes down the entire economic life-support system of the world. In the third bowl, God pours out His wrath on the rivers, which also turns to blood. Sinners who’ve shed the blood of saints and prophets, they’re given blood to drink as God punishes the persecutors of His people.

The fourth bowl, its poured upon the sky, specifically the sun, as it scorches people with fire.

The fifth bowl unleashes torment on those who worship the beast, on idolaters who worship this world instead of God. They’re plunged into darkness, separated from the one true God and suffering in anguish. The sixth bowl is not a picture of judgment in and of itself as much as it’s a picture of preparation for wrath in the seventh bowl. Here we see in verse 13 the dragon, the first beast, the false prophet, the three we saw last week in Chapters 12 and 13. This unholy trinity here, they send out deceptive demonic spirits that call together the forces of this world to fight against God and His people. Again, its this gap between the 6th and 7th judgement. That’s what we’ve been seeing. It’s this battle waging.

Which of course, leads to the seventh bowl, where cosmic judgment is fully poured out across the earth. The history of this world comes to a close as a massive earthquake and hundred pound hail falls from heaven upon unbelievers on earth, the rulers and ways of this world finally “drain the cup of the wine of fury of God’s wrath.” This is the climactic final judgment.

Mark this down: God will one day pour out His wrath fully and finally upon the earth, and all who have turned from Him to worship the things and the ways of this world, they will drink His judgment forever. That’s the point of the seven bowls…that’s the picture John’s showing us here.

Application: How Do We Praise God Amidst His Wrath?

Which leads us to another question…how do we praise this God amidst His wrath? These seals and these trumpets…these visions and now these bowls…we’re seeing the wrath of God toward sin and the judgement of God toward sinners…And guys, its graphic…its frightening…its horrific. We see people hiding themselves in caves…we see them call for the mountains to fall on them…to crush them….we see people tormented by killer locusts…horses with fire from their mouths and terror from their tails. People, they’re punished with fire and sulfur in such a way that smoke rises from their pain. And now, we see all the imagery in this passage today. Guys, it’s horrific. And so, how do we praise amidst His wrath? I mean think about what eternity’ll be like…how will we joyfully worship Him while multitudes and multitudes of people are being tormented by God’s wrath in hell?

Well, real quickly…and I think this is our application for this morning…its by considering three things…who God is…who we are…and what the gospel’s all about.

I. With a High View of God

The only way we can worship God amidst His wrath…its by having a high view of God.

Just look at Revelation 15:3, John says:

Revelation 15:3 (ESV)

And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying,

“Great and amazing are your deeds,

O Lord God the Almighty!

Just and true are your ways,

O King of the nations!

I think we have to ask ourselves, we have to consider the greatness of God.

First, I think we have to understand God’s sovereignty…which of course this book’s been highlighting, right? Psalm 24:1, “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it.”

God is in control of everything. He’s sovereign over the past, He’s sovereign over the present, the future. He’s sovereign over the sun and the moon and the stars and the skies and the seas. He’s sovereign over every animal and every man and woman on the earth. He’s sovereign over Satan, the dragon, the first beast, the second beast, every other demonic spirit. He’s sovereign over the persecuted and the persecutors. He’s sovereign over suffering and death. From beginning to end, God is in control. He is Lord God the Almighty, and He alone governs everything in all the universe now and forever.

And listen, this is important because God sets the standards. I know we all look up to different people…but those people, no matter where they stand with God, they’re all finite…fleshly…sinful people. It doesn’t matter what Taylor Shift does or thinks…she can’t even keep a relationship…why on earth would we follow her? It doesn’t matter what Tom Brady thinks, he might’ve won the most Super Bowls…but guess what? He’s in the top 3 for the most losses. Why would we follow him? God sets the standard of right and wrong…and He alone is perfect in everything.

Second, God is feared by all. Revelation 15:4, “Who will not fear you, O Lord?” Look at the end of verse 3, for You are “King of the nations!” These verses, they have strong background in the psalms and prophets like Isaiah and Jeremiah and Zechariah.

“Be still,” God said in Psalm 46:10, “and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted in all the earth”. Psalm 86:9—10, “All the nations you have made will come and worship before you, O Lord; they will bring glory to your name. For you do great and marvelous deeds; you alone are God”. Isaiah 45:22, “I am God, and there is no other …. To me every knee shall bow”.

Guys, God is in control…God is sovereign…and God alone will be glorified…Revelation 15:4, “Who will not glorify Your name, O Lord?” Revelation 16:9, “Give Him glory.”

We also see that God’s holy in all His ways. Revelation 15:4, “For you alone are holy.” Meaning, He’s radically set apart from the world. He’s without error…without equal. He’s completely separate and perfect…He’s pure. He’s untouched by sin…He’s intolerable to sin. He stands above the world in absolute holiness…meaning, His love, its holy…His grace, its holy…His power, its holy…His knowledge, its holy…His wrath, its holy. God is holy in all His attributes…in everything He is and does. God is righteous in all His ways. Later in Revelation 16:5, the angel sings, “Just are you, O Holy One, who is and who was, for you brought these judgments.” Verse 6, “You have given people what they deserve.” Verse 7, “Yes, Lord God the Almighty, true and just are your judgments.”

And so, what’s all this mean? Well, it means how dare us ask questions like “was that really just? Was that really necessary? Was that fair? Are we sure God really made the right call?” How idiotic of us to say that. He created us…He gave us life…and why on earth would we proclaim Him to be eternal and think for a minute that our millisecond of life has given us greater knowledge or wisdom than God Himself…which of course, actually brings me to the second point.

II. With a Humble View of Man

A lot of us struggle with a high view of God because ultimately we struggle with a humble view of ourselves.

We have to ask ourselves, “Why does God judge the world like He does in these two chapters?” Well the angel said it 16:6, “You have given people what they deserve.” Why do they deserve this wrath. Because ultimately, they thought they knew better than God. You can point the finger…you can blame the dragon or the beast or whatever…but this is the main reason I see this book symbolically…Satan’s not the reason for our sin problem, we are! Sin didn’t enter the world when Satan fell, it entered the world when Adam and Eve rebelled against God…and since that time, the Bible, its been very clear…we’re all sinful…we all fall short of God’s glory…we all do what God hates. And the reason for that, its because every one of us, we struggle with our own self glory. Its the same problem as Adam and Eve in the garden…all sin, its rooted in our desire to be glorified above everyone and everything else.

The biblical truth, God’s not sending people to hell. John 3:16, it says:

John 3:16 (ESV)

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

But listen, I love verse 17 even more:

John 3:17 (ESV)

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

You can say what you want about God and His wrath, but the reality is…God’s revealed Himself…He’s done everything to give man the chance to turn to Him. The reality, its that we still struggle with being our own gods. We think we’re greater…we think we know more…we think we can argue with God and His Word…we think we define the terms…we think we can change or alter or add to what it says. We think we’re God.

But guys, we’re to blame here…we’re depraved and at every possible moment, we look for ways to rebel against God. That’s why Paul says what he says in Romans 1:

Romans 1:18–19 (ESV)

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.

So first off, God’s made Himself known…He’s revealed Himself to all man in some way. And yet, while mankind knows God…it says they suppress the truth. They think they know better than God…essentially, they think they are God.

And listen, you can sit back and say, “Well, thank goodness that’s not me!” When’s the last time the Lord pushed you to do something? When’s the last time He made it clear that He wanted you to do something and you just didn’t do it? You know what you’re doing? You’re suppressing truth because you know who He is and what He’s capable of and the power that surrounds God…You know what you’re telling Him when you go against what He makes abundantly clear? You’re telling Him that you’re God! And honestly, I think that’s even worse than those that don’t know Jesus.

We struggle with certain doctrines in the Bible, like God’s wrath or God’s election…because ultimately, if we’re honest, we think we can do it better or we think its not just or right or holy. Who are we to question God?

Not only are we all depraved…sinful, separated…not only have we all rebelled against a good and gracious God, a God who’s given us life…but let me remind you of our origins.

Genesis 2:7 (ESV)

then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.

Dear friend…the Bible’s clear…you came from dust and you’ll return to dust. The only hope we have…its in the saving work of Jesus and His ability to bring to life again what will die and decay.

I think Paul sums it up the best in Romans 9, but just to summarize look at verse 20.

Romans 9:20–21 (ESV)

But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use?

Now, there’s a lot going on there…but here’s the main idea…God’s sovereign, He’s in control…He created everything…He has all power. We have to stop robbing Him of those things…and simply start praising Him…trusting Him that no matter what we see, no matter what we go through…it all works out for the good of those that love Him (Romans 8:28). We’re not in control…nor will we ever be.

III. With a Hopeful View of the Gospel

Which brings me to my last point and I’ll close with this. You’ll never understand the holiness of God…the justice of God…His wrath…if you don’t see it through the lens of the gospel. Why is He depicting all of this? Why do we see this scene over and over again here Revelation? Because guys, while God’s sovereign, and while He’s holy and righteous…while He’ll be glorified in the end…while He’s almighty…He’s a lot of things…but guys, above all…even through this horrific imagery…God is love.

John, the author of Revelation, he writes in 1 John 4:8:

1 John 4:8 (ESV)

Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.

These scenes, they’re meant to do two things…they’re meant to motivate believers to be a part of the Great Commission…understanding that the souls of those they love, they’re at stake. And its meant to persuade unbelievers to turn to Him.

Because of God’s nature…He can’t be in the presence of sin…its impossible. And guys, He can’t set all things right…He can’t get rid of sin…without punishing those responsible for sin…those who initiated sin (that’s part of His just nature). Again, this is why its so important that we stop blaming satan for our sin problem and start taking ownership. God desires restoration…but with that…it involves removing everything sinful and everything that bought that sin on. God can only bring about peace by eliminating sin and all those that’s given into it.

But guys, you have to see this…He’s not done so yet…these events in these two chapters, they’ve not fully happened yet…and they haven’t happened yet because God is love. There’s still time for people to hear the good news…that Jesus died for them…that Jesus took on their punishment…that He wore the weight of our sin…that He experienced God’s wrath on our behalf.

God sent a child—His Son, Christ Jesus—born of woman, who lived a righteous life of obedience to God on this earth and then died a sacrificial death for sinners on the cross. That’s the message of Christianity. That’s what the cross of Christ is all about.

What happened at the cross? Why’s the cross so significant? Why’s the cross of Christ the central event in all of human history? Because at the cross, God expressed His wrath toward sin. God poured out His righteous judgment on sin. And at the same time, at the cross, God endured His wrath against sin. Jesus drank the cup of God’s wrath in our place. And in this, at the cross, God enabled salvation for sinners.

One writer said this, “The cross demonstrates with equal vividness both God’s justice in judging sin and God’s mercy in justifying the sinner.” 2 Corinthians 5:21, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” There’s no news in the world greater than this. We stand before a holy God in our sin, deserving of holy, eternal wrath. Yet God sent His Son in our place as our substitute. He lived the life we couldn’t live. He died the death we deserved to die. He conquered the enemy that we couldn’t conquer.

So what do we do in response to that? Those who aren’t followers of Christ, repent and receive the mercy of God before it’s too late. Hear the words of Revelation 16:15. Jesus says, “Behold, I am coming like a thief!.” The point, its if you know a thief’s coming, you get prepared. You don’t go to sleep, you don’t continue on with business as usual, you act.

Unbelievers who aren’t followers of Christ, repent today.

And in a sense, the message, its the same for believers who aren’t following Christ today in some area as well, or areas of your life. Those who are followers of Christ, walk in purity. This is what this image of being clothed and unexposed means. Don’t be caught in sin as He comes back. Be found hating sin as God hates sin.

Walk in purity, witness with urgency. Jesus is coming, judgment is coming, proclaim the gospel. And listen, worship with sincerity.

And so we come back to our original question: how do we praise God amidst His wrath? With all sincerity and joy in His character. It’s right and good and fitting for us to praise God for His wrath.

His wrath, its evidence not only of His greatness, but also of His goodness. I mean think about it. God’s love without wrath would be indifferent. If you love your wife, you’ll hate all that threatens her harm. If you love your kids, you’ll hate all that seeks to hurt them. If you love Jewish people, you’ll hate the Holocaust. Can you be indifferent in matters of love? Love requires wrath, in this sense. It’s good for God to hate that which destroys you and me.

God’s justice without wrath would be ineffective. If justice can’t be carried out, executed, if it has no authority, then you have powerless justice, which we’ve already talked about. The beauty of the Godhead is that all of these attributes come together. God’s love, His justice, His wrath…together they’re indescribable. And so therefore, we worship.

Closing

And so listen, as our praise team comes back up…that’s what I want you to do as we close our service…WORSHIP! Maybe that means you just need to seek the Lord this morning in prayer…maybe that means you need to sing with your hands raised to God…maybe it means you need to repent and believe…but listen, would join us in worshiping this morning?

[Prayer]