18th July 2024 – Revelation 16:1-21

16 Then I heard a loud voice from the temple telling the seven angels, “Go and pour out on the earth the seven bowls of the wrath of God.”

So the first angel went and poured out his bowl on the earth, and harmful and painful sores came upon the people who bore the mark of the beast and worshiped its image.

The second angel poured out his bowl into the sea, and it became like the blood of a corpse, and every living thing died that was in the sea.

The third angel poured out his bowl into the rivers and the springs of water, and they became blood. And I heard the angel in charge of the waters say,

“Just are you, O Holy One, who is and who was,
    for you brought these judgments.
For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets,
    and you have given them blood to drink.
It is what they deserve!”

And I heard the altar saying,

“Yes, Lord God the Almighty,
    true and just are your judgments!”

The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and it was allowed to scorch people with fire. They were scorched by the fierce heat, and they cursed the name of God who had power over these plagues. They did not repent and give him glory.

10 The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness. People gnawed their tongues in anguish 11 and cursed the God of heaven for their pain and sores. They did not repent of their deeds.

12 The sixth angel 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. 13 And I saw, coming out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs. 14 For they are demonic spirits, performing signs, who go abroad to the kings of the whole world, to assemble them for battle on the great day of God the Almighty. 15 (“Behold, I am coming like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake, keeping his garments on, that he may not go about naked and be seen exposed!”) 16 And they assembled them at the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon.

17 The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple, from the throne, saying, “It is done!” 18 And there were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, and a great earthquake such as there had never been since man was on the earth, so great was that earthquake. 19 The great city was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell, and God remembered Babylon the great, to make her drain the cup of the wine of the fury of his wrath. 20 And every island fled away, and no mountains were to be found. 21 And great hailstones, about one hundred pounds each, fell from heaven on people; and they cursed God for the plague of the hail, because the plague was so severe.


The final victory in the book of Revelation thus corresponds to the victory on the shores of the Red Sea, in which God was vindicated and His people delivered. And the parallel extends even to the rejoicing of the Church over the downfall of evil. Nor must we be squeamish about the thought of the glorified saints rejoicing in the judgments of God. There is a divine perspective from which judgment is seen to be good, and proper, and righteous, and something to rejoice in, and something to agree with, not to be ashamed of. There is a certain irony in the fact that it has been left to a generation which has produced the H-bomb and the monstrous horror of Hiroshima to bleat piously against the concept of a holy God who punishes iniquity and visits with His wrath the continued impenitence of men. The fact that men in our day shrink and recoil at the very idea of God being a God of judgment is a measure, not of our superior spirituality but of the confusion and distortion of all our thinking. And we must be very careful, when we disagree with this, lest we should be taking sides on the question of judgment against God, as many do. The attitude which expresses itself thus, 'We should never do such a thing', besides being manifest hypocrisy in face of modern man's inhumanities to man, simply indicates the blurring of the absolute distinction between right and wrong, good and evil, which in itself is evidence of the final issue of sin in the minds and hearts of men. God not only does such things, but He is right to do so, and He brings glory to His Name by doing them. As such, they are worthy subjects for praise and rejoicing among His ransomed saints. It is only because we are sinners, and almost incapable of being angry without sinning, that we find this difficult to accept. One day, however we shall see that God's judgments are as much the expression of His love, and just as much to be gloried in, as His salvation.