Prophecy
13
The Seven
Bowls –
Revelation 15:7 – 16:21
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Revelation
16:16
And he
gathered them together into a place
called in the Hebrew tongue
Armageddon.
{16} As
they prepared for war, the kings of
Earth found themselves in a great
predicament called Armageddon in the
Hebrew tongue.
Armageddon is
not a geographical location. The term
Armageddon consists of two Hebrew
words that are joined together to
create a colloquialism. This
colloquialism basically means,
“caught between the devil and
the deep blue sea.” In other
words, there is no solution, no
escape, no savior, and no place to
go. Literally translated, the words ‘ar means
mountain and mageddon refers to
Megiddo, a plain where Kings Ahaziah
and Josiah died.[25]
During the
days of Elijah, a defining contest
between Baal and Jehovah took place
on the top of Mt. Carmel.[26] When it
became clear that the prophets of
Baal could not call fire down to
consume the sacrifice, Baal was
proven to be a false god. When Israel
saw that Baal was a worthless god,
Elijah legitimately killed
Jezebel’s 450 prophets. In a
similar way, the kings of the Earth
will unite with the devil and his
demons to destroy Jesus when He
appears, but the wicked will find
there is no contest on the mountain.
There is no other God but Jehovah!
Jesus will throw the devil and his
demons into a lake of fire and Jesus
will destroy the rest of the wicked
by a command that comes out of His
mouth. Jesus will legitimately kill
His enemies. The word Armageddon is a
contracted word. The first portion of
the word points to a mountain top
experience and the second portion
points to the plain of Megiddo where
kings died. Anyone who fights against
an omnipotent God will die.[27]
Before we
leave this section, consider the
condition of the wicked kings during
the sixth bowl. They once were
confident and loyal to Lucifer, but
now they see that their loyalty was
misdirected and their confidence
misplaced. They were once part of a
powerful world government, but now
they are powerless and broken. They
were deceived and after their eyes
are opened, they will realize that
there is no chance of survival other
than to knowingly unite with the
devil. The wicked will look around on
Earth and see that everything is dead
or dying. They still suffer from the
boils, the oceans are dead, the
springs of water are poisoned, the
heat is unbearable, and their great
savior turns out to be the devil
himself. The planet they call home
has been ruined. It is as hostile to
life as sin is to happiness. The
kings wear a crude tatoo imposed on
them by their demonic leader, yet
they continue to oppose a God of
love, who is the Creator of Heaven
and Earth. Because their hearts have
been hardened by rebellion and
hatred, they will voluntarily unite
with Lucifer in an effort to destroy
Jesus when He appears. This is the
delusion and curse of sin.
Revelation
16;17
And the
seventh angel poured out his vial
into the air; and there came a great
voice out of the temple of heaven,
from the throne, saying, It is done.
{17} The
seventh angel poured out his bowl
into the air and from the temple, a
loud voice was heard saying: “It
– is – finished!”
When these
words echo through Heaven, the
angels, the elders, and the four
living creatures will become
jubilant. Finally, the Plan of
Redemption is consummated. The
knowledge of good and evil is
complete. The behavior and nature of
sin has been fully disclosed. A God
of love has given mankind every
possible opportunity for salvation.
From now on, no one can intelligently
question God’s love and
righteousness ever again. All that
remains on Earth is to destroy the
wicked and rescue the saints!
Revelation
16:18-19
And there
were voices, and thunders, and
lightnings; and there was a great
earthquake, such as was not since men
were upon the earth, so mighty an
earthquake, and so great. And the
great city was divided into three
parts, and the cities of the nations
fell: and great Babylon came in
remembrance before God, to give unto
her the cup of the wine of the
fierceness of his wrath.
{18} As
the Father, the Son, the glorious
angels and 144,000 servants of God
appeared in the distant sky, there
came huge flashes of lightning,
rumblings, deafening peals of
thunder, and a severe earthquake. No
earthquake of this magnitude has ever
occurred since man lived on Earth.
The whole world was leveled.
{19} The
great city of Babylon split into
three parts and all of the cities of
the nations collapsed. Jesus
remembered each deed committed by the
leaders of Babylon and He poured out
the wine of the fury of His wrath on
them.
Jesus will
divide the great empire of Babylon
into three segments for punishment.
First, Jesus will destroy
Lucifer’s throne and authority
by casting him and his angels into
the lake of fire. (That is, Lucifer
and his angels will lose the physical
bodies given to them at the fifth
trumpet. Jesus will strip them of
their physical bodies and return them
to the Abyss for 1,000 years.[28]) Second,
Jesus will throw Lucifer’s
government (that is, the employees
and officials of his theocracy) into
the lake of fire where they will
perish. Finally, Jesus will destroy
all of the citizens of the world, who
wear the tattoo “666,” with
white-hot meteorites. Babylon is
divided into the three parts so that
each part can receive appropriate
vengeance! The Lord will righteously
and completely dispense justice.
Revelation
16:20-21
And every
island fled away, and the mountains
were not found. And there fell upon
men a great hail out of heaven, every
stone about the weight of a talent:
and men blasphemed God because of the
plague of the hail; for the plague
thereof was exceeding great.
{20} The
earthquake was so powerful that every
island disappeared and all the
mountains crumbled.
{21} Huge
meteorites, weighing a hundred pounds
each, fell upon the wicked. As King
Jesus appeared in clouds of glory and
the wicked cried out for the rocks to
“fall on us and hide us from
them that sit on the throne.”[29] In
spite of God’s demonstration of
power and justice, the wicked
continued to curse Him because the
plague was so terrible.
The
Rules of Interpretation
Consider how
the Rules of Interpretation
(discussed in the Introduction of
this book) are observed in this
prophecy:
Rule
One says an apocalyptic
prophecy has a beginning point and
ending point in time and the events
within the prophecy occur in the
order given. This prophecy easily
conforms to Rule One because the
chronological order of the seven
bowls is self evident.
Rule
Two says a fulfillment
only occurs when all of the
specifications are met, and this
includes the order stated in the
prophecy. Again, this rule will
become self evident when the seven
bowls are poured out on the wicked.
Rule
Three says that
apocalyptic language can be literal,
analogous, or symbolic. To reach the
intended meaning of a prophecy, the
reader must consider (a) the context,
(b) the use of parallel language in
the Bible, and (c) if an element is
thought to be symbolic, the Bible
must interpret the symbol with
a relevant text.
The language used in this prophecy is
a mixture of literal, analogous, and
symbolic. The great river Euphrates
is used in an analogous way and the
term Babylon is symbolic. Babylon is
defined with relevant Scripture
in Revelation 17:5,15,18.
Rule
Four is not used in
this prophecy.
References:
- This
claim is based on five
underlying
presuppositions.First, the
Bible says the devil will not
honor a particular religious
body when He physically
appears. The devil will not
favor one religious system
and alienate the others. To
be consistent, he will oppose
them all. (2
Thessalonians 2:4) In
fact, when the devil
establishes his one world
church state (theocracy) he
will eliminate all of the
religions of the world
including their holy
days.Second, the Bible says
the core conflict during the
Great Tribulation will be one
of worship. (Revelation
13:15-18; 14:9-12)
Lucifer will have to
establish a day for worship
that does not have anything
in common with existing holy
days. For this reason, I
believe Friday, Saturday, and
Sunday will become ordinary
days.Third, the Bible says
that Jesus will open the sky
and show the Ark of the
Covenant to the inhabitants
of Earth at the close of the
seventh trumpet. (Revelation
11:19) I
believe He will do this for
several reasons. One reason
is to show the world that
literally, there is a higher law
than any law on Earth!
Another reason will be the
exposure of the “worship
commandment” which the
wicked refused to obey. The
worship commandment is the
fourth commandment. (Exodus 20:8-11) It
declares a weekly cycle of
seven days beginning with the
first day of Creation week.
The fourth commandment also
declares the seventh day of
each week (Saturday) to be
God’s holy day. When
Jesus reveals the Ark of the
Covenant, everyone on Earth
will plainly see the defiance
manifested toward God’s
higher law. Thus, God’s
lawful condemnation of the
wicked will be clear and
inescapable.Fourth, the
length of the Great
Tribulation will be 1,335
days. The Two Witnesses will
testify for 1,260 days and
after lying in the street for
3.5 days, the 144,000 will be
resurrected on the 1265th day
of the Great Tribulation.
This means the seven last
plagues will be seventy days
in length, perhaps with ten
days allotted to each plague.
God’s clocks are based
on the number seven. (Seven
days per week, seven months
in the religious year, seven
years in a week of years, and
seven weeks of years in a
Jubilee cycle and seventy
weeks in one “Great
Day.”) On the other
hand, man’s numbering
system is based on ten. We
count in terms of tens,
hundreds, and thousands of
years, or ten years per
decade, ten decades per
century, and ten centuries in
a millennium. Ancient
civilizations in Egypt and
China followed ten day weeks
for centuries. After the
French Revolution, France
enacted a ten day week for a
few years (1793-1805) trying
to overthrow the influence
and power of
Catholicism.Finally, if the
devil does change the weekly
cycle to ten days, people who
worship on God’s seventh
day will be easily identified
because God’s Sabbath
rest will land on different
work days within a period of
ten days. In fact, some ten
day weeks will have two
seventh day Sabbaths in them!
Thus, Satan’s
establishment of a ten day
week will physically flush
out the remnant of the woman
who keep the fourth
commandment of God.In
summary, it seems possible
that a ten day weekly cycle
may be forthcoming at the
time of the sixth trumpet
because a new day for worship
will not favor any religious
system on Earth, it defies
God’s seventh day
Sabbath, and clearly exposes
those who keep it. Of course,
time will tell. Return
- Revelation
16:21; 19:19-21 Return
- 1 John 4:8,16 Return
- Exodus 22:1,3,4 Return
- Leviticus
4:27-29 Return
- Genesis 19:15 Return
- Exodus
21:23-25 Return
- Revelation
18:6 Note: A
double portion of restitution
is required when malicious
intent is premeditated and
carried out. Exodus 22:4-9 Return
- Romans 12:19 Return
- If
a murderer is caught and
executed for his crime, the
demands of the law (life for
life) have been met. However,
restitution for the suffering
caused by the crime (to the
victim and the family of the
victim) has not been met.
Restitution must also be paid
in full. God’s law
encompasses punitive
(punishment) action as well
as compensatory damages
(restitution). If a murderer
should confess and repent of
his sin before his execution,
his death will satisfy the
punitive requirement of
God’s law and the
compensatory requirements for
suffering will be transferred
to the scapegoat (Lucifer) at
the end of the 1,000 years.
On the other hand, if a
murderer does not repent of
his sin and he dies a natural
death, the murderer will
suffer in the lake of fire at
the end of the 1,000 years
according to the amount of
compensation required of him.
(1 Corinthians
6:2,3)
Then, he will die the second
death because the penalty for
his sin remains upon his own
head. Return
- Hebrews 10:30,31 Return
- Revelation
11:10 Return
- Hebrews 13:8 Return
- Genesis 4:10; Revelation
11:18; 15:4 Return
- Exodus 24:17; Deuteronomy
4:24; Psalm 97:3; Hebrews 12:29 Return
- Obadiah 1:15 Return
- 2
Thessalonians 2:8-12 Return
- John 8:44 Return
- Revelation
9:13-15 Return
- Isaiah 41:25; Jeremiah 1:14; 46:2-6; Ezekiel 26:7 Return
- Job 37:22
(NIV) Return
- Revelation
19:19-21 Return
- Matthew 26:64; Revelation
6:15-17 Return
- Revelation
17:16 Return
- 2 Kings 9:27; 23:28-30; 2 Chronicles
35:20-24 Return
- 1
Kings 18 Return
- Revelation
19:19-21 Return
- Revelation
20:1-3 Return
- Revelation
6:14-17 Return
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