Seven Bowls of Wrath

Brief Background

For those who are just joining us, we are working our way through the book of Revelation. John the son of Zebedee was in exile on the isle of Patmos. Yeshua was revealed to him there, and John was commanded to write to seven communities in Asia Minor (modern day Turkey).

Last week we have discussed the “Song of Moses the servant of God, and the Song of the Lamb”, and the sea mixed with fire that surrounds the throne of Adonai. We ended with this verse: Rev. 15:8

Revelation 15:8 TLV

And the Temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from His power. No one was able to enter the Temple until the seven angels’ seven plagues were finished.

So, from this point on, the judgement of the world is determined, and Adonai will not relent.

First Five Bowls

As we go through the Bowls there are many similarities to the Trumpets and the last few Seals. While some people may see this as a repeat of the exact same events, the Bowls are more complete in the destructive judgement that they bring and like the previous judgements, point back to the judgements that Adonai poured out on Pharoah and Egypt. Let’s go ahead and read, Rev. 16:1-11 .

Revelation 16:1–11 TLV

Then I heard a loud voice from the Temple saying to the seven angels, “Go and pour out on the earth the seven bowls of God’s wrath.” So the first angel went and poured out his bowl on the earth, and foul and painful boils came upon the people having the mark of the beast and worshiping his image. Next the second angel poured out his bowl into the sea, and it became blood like that of a corpse; and every living thing in the sea died. Then the third angel poured out his bowl into the rivers and the springs of water, and they became blood. Then I heard the angel of the waters saying, “Righteous are You—the Holy One, who is and who was— because You have passed these judgments. For they have poured out the blood of kedoshim and prophets, and You have given them blood to drink— they are deserving!” Then I heard the altar saying, “Yes, Adonai Elohei-Tzva’ot, true and righteous are Your judgments!” The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and it was permitted to scorch people with fire. People were scorched with fierce heat, and they cursed the name of God—the One who has power over these plagues. But they did not repent, to give Him glory. Then the fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and his kingdom was plunged into darkness. People gnawed their tongues in pain and cursed the God of heaven because of their pains and their boils. But they did not repent of their deeds.

Prelude to the Bowls

Just before we go into the First Bowl, I would like to point out that all of these judgements are initiated by Adonai, by His voice from the heavenly temple. I have often quoted the verse from Peter’s first letter about judgement beginning with the house of God, but I want to read the surrounding verses. 1 Pet. 4:16-19

1 Peter 4:16–19 TLV

But if anyone suffers for following Messiah, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this name. For the time has come for judgment to begin with the house of God. If judgment begins with us first, what will be the end for those who disobey the Good News of God? Now, “if it is hard for the righteous to be saved, what shall become of the ungodly and the sinner?” So then, those who suffer according to God’s will—let them trust their souls to a faithful Creator while continuing to do good.

We read this passage as giving us comfort when we suffer for the sake of Yeshua, and I believe that is correct. However, this verse also contains two different warnings about the judgement of God. Did you catch them?

The first is the statement, “If judgment begins with us first, what will be the end for those who disobey the Good News of God?” It is perfectly correct for the world to expect us to act like the God that we represent, however, just because we may find ourselves being corrected and admonished, does not mean that the world gets away Scot-free. The second warning is an allusion to Prov. 11:31 “If the righteous is rewarded on earth, how much more the wicked and the sinner!” where Peter points our that if our salvation is “hard” then what hope do the ungodly and sinners have?

All people will be judged, the question is will we choose His judgement in our lives now, or will we wait until the day of sentencing? Yeshua put it this way, Matt. 21:44

Matthew 21:44 TLV

Whoever falls on this stone will be shattered; but the one upon whom it falls, it will crush him.”

We will either chose to fall on Yeshua, be shattered, and then have Him put us back together, or .... we will refuse to humble ourselves and have Him crush us to powder on Judgement Day.

Meaning of Bowl

The term “bowl” refers to a “libation bowl” such as the bowls that were filled at the temple with water, oil or wine, and then poured out before Adonai. This idea is seen throughout the temple practice, but also in the prophets.

Word Biblical Commentary, Volume 52B: Revelation 6–16 (Comment)

The use of the term [“to pour out”] in connection with,... “libation bowls,” is clearly based on cultic practices, but its meaning has been extended figuratively to refer to the pouring out of the wrath of God. Precedent for this is found in LXX Jer 7:20, ...“Behold, my wrath and anger will be poured out upon this place.” Similarly, we read in LXX Jer 10:25, ... “Pour out your wrath upon the nations,” and in LXX Jer 14:16, ...“and I will pour out upon them their own evils.” These texts indicate that Jeremiah is using the language of ius talionis; i.e., those who “shed” (i.e., “pour out”) blood will have the wrath of God and their own evil deeds “poured out” on them. LXX Lam 2:4 uses the same metaphor for divine judgment: ...“He has poured out his wrath like fire.” Similarly, LXX Lam 4:11 says, … “He poured out his furious anger.” The same imagery is found in LXX Ezekiel. The phrase, ...“to pour out wrath/anger upon,” is found in Ezek 7:8; 9:8; 14:19; 20:8, 13, 21; 21:36[MT 21:31]; 22:22; 30:15; 39:29.

So, we see that God’s pouring of wrath is against those who have poured out innocent blood. This is a like for like judgement. Adonai is fully right in bring these judgements against those who have rejected Him. And yet as we will see, His desire is still that all people should humble themselves and repent.

The First Bowl

Coming back to Revelation, there are both similarities and difference between the Bowls and the Trumpets/Seals. The first four Bowls affect the earth, the sea, the rivers and then the sun. This is the same order as the Trumpets; however the type of plague is either different or larger in magnitude.

The first Bowl, poured out on the earth, produces boils on those of the kingdom of the Beast. This is a flash back to Adonai’s 6th judgement against Pharaoh, Pharaoh’s Magicians and all the Egyptians, in Ex. 9:10-11

Exodus 9:10–11 TLV

So they took soot from the furnace and stood before Pharaoh. When Moses threw it heavenward, it became boils erupting with sores on both men and animals. Moreover, the magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils, because they were on the magicians, as on all the Egyptians.

Just as with the Magicians, this plague in Revelation is specifically against the worshipers of the beast.

The Second and Third Bowls

Unlike the Seals and the Trumpets, the Bowls seem to immediately follow each other without much time between them. We will see this more clearly in Vs. 11. The second Bowl, similar to the second trumpet, is poured out upon the sea. Except instead of killing only 1/3 of the sea life, this plague of turning the water to blood, kills “every living thing” in the sea.

The third bowl does the exact same thing to the streams and rivers. Both of these plagues are similar to the second and third Trumpets, but represent a much larger judgement. With the Trumpets we were told that only 1/3 of the waters were made bitter, whereas here we see that the plague affects much more. Of course, both of these bowls refer back to Ex. 7:17-18

Exodus 7:17–18 TLV

This is what Adonai says: ‘By this you will know that I am Adonai. Behold, I will strike the waters that are in the river with the staff that is in my hand, and they will be turned to blood. The fish that are in the river will die, the river will become foul, and the Egyptians will hate to drink water from the Nile.” ’

In the book of Exodus, we see that this plague affected Egypt for an entire week, and that the people were required to dig new wells along the Nile to get fresh water. The angel of the waters acknowledges that what Adonai has done is right. Just as we showed the comparison between the pouring our of Adonai’s wrath, so also there is a link with the water turned to blood. The angel cries out that Rev. 16:6 “For they have poured out the blood of kedoshim and prophets, and You have given them blood to drink— they are deserving!””

There is a reference back to Isaiah the prophet. Isa. 49 speaks of Israel as the light to the nations, and then Adonai talks about how He will restore Israel. There are some beautiful promises here, such as Isa. 49:14-16 , where he said,

Isaiah 49:14–16 TLV

But Zion said: “Adonai has forsaken me, Adonai has forgotten me.” “Can a woman forget her nursing baby or lack compassion for a child of her womb? Even if these forget, I will not forget you. Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of My hands. Your walls are continually before Me.

I love this passage, and when Yeshua stood with his Talmidim just after he was resurrected, he said, Lk. 24:39 “Look at My hands and My feet—it is I Myself! Touch Me and see! For a spirit doesn’t have flesh and bones, as you see I have.””

But the prophet Isaiah does not stop with the blessings of Israel, he also goes into the judgements against the wicked nations that have oppressed Israel and says, Isa. 49:26

Isaiah 49:26 TLV

I will feed your oppressors their flesh. They will be drunk with their blood as with sweet wine. Then all flesh will know that I, Adonai, am your Savior and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.”

From God’s perspective, this is seen as a just retribution for the blood that was shed by the surround nations, and in the same way the Angel, in Revelation, is recognising that the punishment on the earth, is deserving because of the blood of the martyrs and the prophets.

The Fourth Bowl

The fourth Bowl directly affects the sun, but instead of darkness as with the fourth Trumpet, we see that the intensity of the sun increases to the point of scorching many people. Now several times I have stated that Adonai’s desire is that all people should humble themselves and repent. In Vs. 9 we see that instead of repenting people decided to curse the name of God. Why is it that people resort to cursing God instead of repenting? Even today we know that people use the Name of God and the name of Jesus as a curse word. Why does no one ever use Budda, or Allah or one of the Hindu deities as a curse word? Has anyone ever used your mother’s name as a curse word? Why not? It is extremely disrespectful. And unlike after the Two Witnesses in Rev. 11:13 where the people, “were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven” here we see that the people would not repent and give God glory. They have the opportunity to repent, but refuse to do so.

The Fifth Bowl

The fifth Bowl is Darkness, but unlike the sixth Seal and the fourth Trumpet, it is not universal darkness. What we see is that the darkness is complete, but only for the kingdom of the beast. This is very similar to the plague of darkness against Pharoah. Ex. 10:21-23

Exodus 10:21–23 TLV

Then Adonai said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven, and there will be darkness over the land of Egypt—a darkness that may be felt.” So Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven, and there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt for three days. They could not see one another, nor could anyone rise from his place for three days. Yet all Bnei-Yisrael had light within their dwellings.

Remember earlier I said that the Bowls seem to be much closer together? Here in Vs. 11 we see that while the people are plunged into darkness, they are Gnawing their tongues in the pain of the boils. The boils were back in the first Bowl. So, we can see that they are still around at this time. And once again we see repeated that the people refused to repent of their deeds, and chose instead to curse the God of Heaven for their pain.

Application for Today

Forgiven, Not Innocent

How do we apply this to our lives? We first need to have a correct understanding of Judgement. Judgement can be either good or bad, depending on which side of the judgement you are. For the 7th Seal, Rev. 8:1-5, we see that the angel hold a golden incense burner that is filled with the prayers of the kedoshim. That incense burner is then hurled to the earth and produces the plague. In the case of the Bowls, they are filled with the wrath of Adonai against sin. In Gen. 15:13-17 we see that Adonai was not ready to punish the Amorites and the Canaanites, because their iniquity was “not yet complete.” The same it true for the Bowls. The wicked iniquity of the world is filling up these bowls of wrath, and one day they will be full and Adonai will pour out the judgements that those sins deserve. There is no nation on earth that is innocent, but there are people who have been forgiven. That is a huge distinction.

Targeted Judgments

While many of the judgments in the Bowls seem to affect the entire world, we must acknowledge that these judgements will be specifically targeted against the kingdom of the Beast. There may be some events that affect all of us who remain. For instance, it looks like we will have be on a non-seafood diet for a while, and there will be a major shortage of clean water, but the boils and the darkness specifically states that it will be against the worshipers of the Beast’s Image and the final Anti-Messiah empire.

Repent and Glorify God

The purpose or hopeful goal of all the judgements in Revelation, in fact the goal of all judgements is to bring people to Adonai. Moses said the exact same thing to Israel in Lev. 26:14-39, specifically I would like to highlight Lev. 26: 21

Leviticus 26:21 TLV

“if you keep walking contrary to Me and will not listen to Me, then I will multiply the plagues on you seven times like your sins.

Here in this chapter and in the parallel passage of Deut. 28:15-68 Adonai lays out the punishment of Beni Yisrael when they do not follow Adonai’s ways. Too many times people want to apply the blessings of Israel to themselves, but forget the curses that result from disobedience.

Some may say, “Well that is just the Mosaic Covenant, we are under the New Covenant!”

True, as the author of Hebrews says, Heb. 8:6

Hebrews 8:6 TLV

But now Yeshua has obtained a more excellent ministry, insofar as He is the mediator of a better covenant which has been enacted on better promises.

The problem is, that the author of Hebrews also says this of the new and living way through Yeshua. Heb. 10:26-31

Hebrews 10:26–31 TLV

For if we keep on sinning willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but only a terrifying expectation of judgment and a fury of fire about to devour the enemies of God. Anyone who rejected the Torah of Moses dies without compassion on the word of two or three witnesses. How much more severe do you think the punishment will be for the one who has trampled Ben-Elohim underfoot, and has regarded as unholy the blood of the covenant by which he was made holy, and has insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know the One who said, “Vengeance is Mine; I will repay,” and again, “Adonai will judge His people.” It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Therefore, today, while there is still time, we must repent, and glorify the Lord God our maker, and come to Him through the provision made by Yeshua.