Tuesday, August 20, 2019

Reasoning Through Revelation. Day 61, The Seven Bowl Judgments, Part Three

Today the seventh bowl of wrath is poured out, but the Lord has something to say first to the inhabitants of the world in those days.

"Look, I come like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake and remains clothed, so as not to go naked and be shamefully exposed." (Revelation 16:15) The event known as the Second Coming of Christ is soon to take place. The people of the earth who haven't accepted Christ as Savior are issued a warning: His arrival will be sudden. They think life will keep going on as usual, day after day, but the end is near. They think there is no day of judgment, but it's on its way. Jesus uses the symbol of a thief, not because He's going to steal anything, but because His arrival will be unexpected for those who don't believe in Him or who don't think they have any need of Him.

No one expects a burglar to show up, but we take precautions against burglars. We put locks on our doors and windows. We install security systems and place signs outside warning thieves that alarms will go off if they break in. We leave lights on if we're going to be away after dark so that thieves will think the home is occupied. But the people of the end times (and many people of our own times) are living like they need to take no precautions regarding the eternal destiny of their souls. They aren't awake and alert, as Christ warns them to be in verse 15. They've turned a blind eye and a deaf ear to the truth of the gospel. He tells them to be clothed, meaning clothed in the righteousness of Christ, because so many of them are still wearing the "filthy rags" of their own righteousness. (Isaiah 64:6) What's going to happen if they don't accept the sacrifice Christ made on their behalf? What's going to happen if they don't stand before a holy Judge clothed in the righteousness of Christ? Their sins will be shamefully exposed, as the Lord warns in verse 15. Instead of having Christ to stand up for them as their defense attorney and Savior, they will stand alone in front of a holy God with every wicked thought and every sinful deed exposed for all to see.

If I had to insert a list right here of everything wrong I've ever thought or done, I'd just slink away and seclude myself for the rest of my life. I'd be too ashamed to face any of you ever again. Most of the worst of my mistakes happened before I came to Christ, but I sure have messed up in some ugly ways even after coming to Christ. If I didn't have Him to stand up for me and say, "Her sins are covered by My blood. It's as though they never happened.", I'd just want to crawl in a dark cave somewhere and never emerge. I'd want to hide my mistakes from the world and from Almighty God. But we can't hide a thing from God. We might get away with being "fake" in front of other people, but we can't fool God. When I have to face the righteous Judge someday, I won't face Him alone, and that's why I can sleep peacefully at night. The Lord pauses before the seventh bowl is poured out so He can issue a very urgent warning. Time is growing extremely short at this point in Revelation. People don't have much longer to repent. They need to make things right with the Lord now. Then, even though they are living through the worst era of the whole history of the world, they can face the day of judgment without fear. They can look forward to an eternity living in the light and love of the Lord Jesus Christ.

At the time the Lord issues the warning of verse 15, armies are gathering for a great war. "Then they gathered the kings together to the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon." (Revelation 16:16) We will be taking a detailed look at this battle in Chapter 19, but right now the troops are still assembling. The people of the world need to recognize the signs of the times when they see these armies gathering for war. I think there are people who will realize this is the battle of Armageddon, foretold in the Scriptures, and they will turn to the Lord. I don't think He would keep issuing a call to repent if it wasn't still possible for people to repent. The Lord is not a deceiver. He wouldn't offer mercy and forgiveness if they weren't available.

The Lord's warning is given right before a massive natural disaster takes place. "The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and out of the temple came a loud voice from the throne, saying, 'It is done!' Then there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder and a severe earthquake. No earthquake like it has ever occurred since mankind has been on earth, so tremendous was the quake. The great city split into three parts, and the cities of the nations collapsed. God remembered Babylon the Great and gave her the cup filled with the wine of the fury of His wrath. Every island fled away and the mountains could not be found. From the sky huge hailstones, each weighing about a hundred pounds, fell on people. And they cursed God on account of the plague of hail, because the plague was so terrible." (Revelation 16:17-21)

People often turn to the Scriptures, to prayer, and to the Lord during times of disaster. Remember how many people flocked to churches and synagogues in the days following the terrorist attacks of 9/11? Nothing gets our attention quicker than some terrible, unexpected disaster. Even though the disaster of Revelation 16 is severe, it's a display of God's mercy. He's using it to get the attention of the citizens of the earth. He's trying to shake them out of their complacency. A day of reckoning is coming and He doesn't want them to be unprepared. He wants them to repent and accept the sacrifice His Son made for them, so that when they stand before the judgment seat, they stand there clothed in the righteousness of Christ. He wants them to be declared blameless, not guilty.

But instead we find people cursing the name of God. The text of verse 21 appears to indicate that they know there is a God and that this disaster is from Him, but we could also argue that some are just using His name in vain. A lot of people do that today: they use the name of God when they curse. Not everyone who uses the name of God believes He exists. In the same way, people use the name of Jesus Christ as a curse word, but their use of His name doesn't mean they believe Jesus of Nazareth is the Son of God. If they did believe that, it would be difficult for them to abuse His name.

We can't be certain which city the "great city" of verse 19 is, but since John is a Jewish man we can easily see him referring to Jerusalem as the great city. Some scholars think the city in question is the city where the Antichrist has his capital, and if so then there may be another city in view here. We will be discussing that in greater detail soon in our study when we take a look at what "Babylon the Great" means. In our passage today, we see that the Lord intends to make Babylon the Great drink the cup of His wrath, and when we move on into Chapter 17 tomorrow we are going to learn that the word "Babylon" is used symbolically to represent something that is corrupt. There is nothing more corrupt than the false church of the end times, and she will be represented not as a woman wearing a crown (like the nation of Israel in Chapter 12), or as a beautiful bride (like the church), but as a drunken prostitute.







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