I have some good news and some bad news for you this morning! Which would you like to hear first? Well, let me tell you the bad news: today I will be preaching another sermon about God’s judgment on the world. But the good news is that today we will finish the third and final series of seven plague judgments found in the Book of Revelation.

We have already seen the series of seven seal judgments and seven trumpet judgments and now, in chapter 16, we see the final series of seven bowl judgments. Some people believe that these series are separate and distinct from one another. Furthermore, they believe that they follow in chronological order, with the bowl judgments coming at the end of history. I personally disagree with this view.

I believe that the seven bowl judgments are not a new series but rather a recapitulation of the seven seal and trumpet judgments—that is, they are just different descriptions of the same judgments. Whereas the seals and trumpets were incomplete snapshots, the bowls are more complete pictures, providing greater detail to the judgments that take place throughout history, culminating with the final judgment at the end of history. The first five bowls in verses 1-11, like the first six trumpets, cover God’s judgments on the unbelieving world between the time of Christ’s resurrection and his return. The last two bowls in verses 12-21, like the seventh trumpet, describe the final judgment. Let’s take a closer look at these plague judgments!

 

God’s Preliminary Judgments throughout History (1-11)

The apostle John is still looking at the seven angels coming out of the temple in heaven carrying seven bowls, when all of the sudden he hears God’s voice from inside the temple commanding the angels to pour out the bowls of God’s wrath on the earth. The pouring out of each bowl by the angels is obviously a metaphorical representation of the execution of God’s judgment from heaven.

The bowl judgments continue the Exodus motif that we saw in the in the chapter 15 and in the trumpet judgments. Just as God reigned down plagues of judgment upon the Egyptians before the exodus, he reigns down plagues of judgment upon the world. Each of the literal plagues from Egypt is symbolically replicated here.

The first bowl is reminiscent of the sixth plague on the Egyptians, where ugly and painful sores break out upon those who bear the mark of the beast. Just as the “pouring of the bowl” is figurative for divine judgment and the “mark of the beast” is figurative for idol worship, so also the bowl’s effect of producing “painful and ugly sores” should be understood metaphorically. The sores represent some sort of physical suffering.

The second bowl is reminiscent of the first plague on Egypt where the waters of the Nile River turned to blood. Here the sea turning to blood and killing all of the sea life is symbolic of God punishing the world with famine and economic disaster. The maritime commerce was the lifeblood of the ancient world, and the sea turning to blood is a picture of the demise of the ungodly world’s economic life-support system.

The third bowl pictures another attack on the world’s economic system. The fresh water sources turning to blood is another metaphor for food shortage and famine, which implies great economic suffering.

This plague judgment is accompanied by an interpretive elaboration where the angel declares two grounds for God’s judgment. The first reason is that God is holy and just. Because he is absolutely morally perfect, he has the right to judge those who are not. The second reason is that the unbelieving world has persecuted his people. God is merely executing justice by giving these unbelievers what they deserve—they drink the blood of death because they have shed the blood of God’s saints and prophets.

Throughout this series on the Book of Revelation I have spoken often about the necessity of God’s judgment and wrath. If God is to maintain his attributes of holiness, righteousness, and justice, he has to hold people accountable for their actions. And the just judgment for unrepentant sin is God’s wrath. As I have said before, this truth ought to cause all of us to reflect on the condition of our souls. It ought to make us think about whether or not we have truly repented from our sins and have made a faith commitment to Jesus Christ. This is the only way to be saved from God’s judgment and wrath!

The fourth bowl is poured out upon the sun, and the sun was given power to scorch people. This plague also contains economic overtones, where the scorching sun is probably a metaphor for drought conditions that cause hardship and suffering.

The fifth bowl is emptied onto the “throne of the beast.” The throne represents the realm of Satan’s rule and reign. The sun was literally darkened over Egypt because of Pharaoh’s disobedience to God’s command and oppression of God’s people, but here the darkness is to be understood figuratively as spiritual darkness or separation from God. Those who effuse to repent or glorify God must endure the spiritual darkness that stems from the absence of God in their lives.

Each of these first five bowl judgments take place throughout the church age, from the time of Christ’s resurrection until his return. God has been pouring out his wrath upon unbelievers in the forms of physical pain, economic disaster, and spiritual darkness for the past 2000 years and it will continue until Jesus comes back.

This chapter helps us to make sense of so many disasters and hardships that have taken place throughout history, and it helps us understand what is going on in our world today—from the bubonic plagues of the past to modern disease epidemics like HIV, cancer, and whooping cough are evidence of God’s judgment. Natural disasters like earthquakes, hurricanes, tornados, tsunamis, floods, wildfires, and droughts that affect the world’s food sources are evidences of God’s judgment. Economic collapses such as the Great Depression in America in the 1930’s to the crisis in Greece today are evidence of God’s judgment upon the evil world.

Remember in the Exodus story—Pharaoh hardened his heart and refused to believe that the plagues came from the God of the Hebrews. Likewise, many people today believe that these crises and catastrophes are accidents or coincidences—they refuse to accept that they come from God. But just as Pharaoh finally learned who was in ultimate control of the world when the waters of the Red Sea wiped out his entire army, the whole world will see that God is sovereign when these preliminary judgments come to an end and God’s final judgment begins when Jesus returns.

God’s Final Judgment at the End of History (12-21)

With the pouring of the sixth bowl, God gathers together the ungodly forces in order to punish them. This is a picture of the famous battle of Armageddon that will take place during the final judgment when Jesus returns. Just as God dried up the Euphrates River to allow King Cyrus and his princes from the east to conquer Babylon in ancient times, he is now seen as preparing to conquer Satan and his demonic cohorts. The pouring out of the bowl sets in motion actions by the false trinity—the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet—to deceive the people of the earth and gather them for battle on the great day of God Almighty.

Some people think that the final battle between good and evil will be fought in a place called Armageddon (the plain of Megiddo in modern Israel), but they fail to see figurative language used here. It is not a physical battle, but a spiritual battle where God judges and punishes the false trinity, their demonic agents, and the people who worship the beast.

Likewise, the seventh bowl also depicts the final destruction of the corrupt world system, which follows on the heels of the great spiritual battle of Armageddon. When God’s voice speaks from the temple throne, saying, “It is done!” it signifies that God’s wrath is consummated. This is reminiscent of Jesus’ final words from the cross, “It is finished” which represented a completion of redemption.

The lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, the earthquake, the city splitting, the islands and mountains falling away, and the huge hailstones falling from the sky are all graphic metaphors for God’s final judgment upon the world system.

This section of the Book of Revelation is meant to remind us that the final judgment is coming. The metaphors are meant to evoke terror and fear and make us stop in our tracks. Jesus himself interjects in verse 15 with a reminder that he comes like a thief. We need to be spiritually awake and ready for his return at all times.

When Jesus returns, he will bring final judgment upon the unbelieving world! Are you ready for Christ’s return? Have you been spiritually awakened by receiving Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior?

Allow me to conclude by sharing a song that was composed by John Newton, the author of “Amazing Grace.” It poetically summarizes all of Revelation 16.

The gathering clouds, with aspect dark, A rising storm presage;
O! to be hid within the ark, And sheltered from its rage!

See the commissioned angel frown! That vial in his hand,
Filled with fierce wrath, is pouring down Upon our guilty land!

Ye saints, unite in wrestling prayer; If yet there may be hope;
Who knows but Mercy yet may spare, And bid the angel stop!

Already is the plague begun, And fired with hostile rage;
Brethren, by blood and interest one, With brethren now engage.

Peace spreads her wings, prepared for flight, And war, with flaming sword,
And hasty strides draws nigh, to fight The battles of the Lord.

The first alarm, alas, how few, While distant, seem to hear!
But they will hear, and tremble too, When God shall send it near.

So thunder, o’er the distant hills, Gives but a murm’ring sound,
But as the tempest spreads, it fills, And makes the welkin sound.

May we, at least, with one consent, Fall low before the throne
With tears the nation’s sins lament, The churches, and our own.

The humble souls who mourn and pray, The Lord approves and knows;
His mark secures them in the day When vengeance strikes his foes.