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The Seven Bowls – Conclusion

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“Then I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, ‘Go, pour out the seven bowls of God’s wrath on the earth.’” (Revelation 16:1)

Is it possible to reconcile God’s wrath toward man as seen in the seven bowls with God’s love for man displayed by Jesus on the cross? Yes, but it takes a few minutes! The Bible says, “…God is love.” (1 John 4:8) Webster’s Dictionary has nine definitions for the word “love.” Love can refer to “a deep devotion or affection,” or ‘a score of zero” in tennis. The word ‘love” can also mean unmerited kindness, generous charity, deep affection, sexual passion, secret benevolence, or loyal commitment. From a human point of view, these definitions are practical and realistic; however, they are inadequate when it comes to understanding God’s love, and the devil knows this. Since many of us do not correctly understand the principles of God’s love, the devil capitalizes on our ignorance to make God’s character seen evil and disgusting. For example, the doctrine of an eternally burning hell is a false doctrine that many Christians have naively accepted as truth. Through the centuries, I believe this doctrine has done more damage to God’s character than any other. I have heard people say, “I want nothing to do with a so-called God of love’ who would torture people with fire for billions and billions of years.” The root problem of defining God’s love is that God is infinite. His ways and purposes are higher and larger than our finite minds can fathom. No created being can understand God in totality and we cannot understand the totality of the vast dimensions of His love. However, we can understand and reconcile a number of essential truths about God because God has given us a means to do so.

 

The fact that the Bible exists today is a miracle. It is the oldest book in the world today. In terms of translation and distribution, it has no equal. Men have tried to destroy and discredit the Bible, but it remains intact because God sustains it. God wants us to know about our origin, the problem of sin, our accountability to Him and of His plan to save sinners and eliminate evil from the universe. God also sustains the Bible because He wants us to have a truthful report on His character, ways and love. God wants us to know Him and to submit the same principles by which He lives.

 

God tells us that He is changeless. (Malachi 3:6) This declaration is important because this means that everything we read in the Bible about God is consistent with divine love, even though we may not be able to reconcile everything we read at first. The Bible reveals that God is faithful, deeply affectionate, and unbelievingly generous. It also points out that God has wrath. He destroyed all the living creatures with a flood in Noah’s day and completely destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. God even destroyed His own people as a nation in A.D. 70. This may seem strange at first, but love compels God to destroy evil. For example, it was God’s love for future generations that moved Him to destroy a hopelessly decadent and totally defiant generation that lived on Earth in Noah’s day. Even though He destroyed the world with a flood, He gave each person a generous opportunity to be saved. Unfortunately, only eight people went into the ark.

 

Love’s Balance

 

The United States has different levels of government: federal, state, county, and city governments. This is because different groups of people require different levels of government so that everyone can live together harmoniously and in a beneficial way.  When government is based on righteous principles and properly managed, it becomes a wonderful servant of its people. When government is based on ego and the best interests of a few, government becomes a horrible master. When everyone within a government exalts religious principles, various levels of government will function together harmoniously. Federal, state, county, and city governments would be unnecessary if the population of the United States was twelve people. Man’s need for different levels of government is determined by the presence of different groups of people – more groups of people necessitate more levels of government.  The same design holds true in God’s universe. God has different levels of government and His managers and management are consistent with His laws of love. For this reason, God’s actions on a corporate level can appear to conflict with His enormous love for individuals*, but the problem lies within our understanding of God’s love. He is consistent and changeless. At all levels of government, God’s love is always expressed in a perfect balance of justice and mercy.

 

* Note: Consider this disturbing text: “This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘I will punish the Amalekites for what they did to Israel when they waylaid them as they came up from Egypt. Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy everything that belongs to them.  Do not spare them: put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.’” (1 Samuel 15:2,3) Many people read these verses and wonder how a God of love could demand this of King Saul. Why should men, women, children and infants be put to death for something that happened 500 years earlier? As a nation, the Amalekites had become totally defiant and rebellious toward God. Their cup of sin was full, and God – Who had given that nation 500 years of grace – demanded their total extinction so that their land could be given to Israel. This does not mean that every Amalekite child and infant will be lost!  God does not hold children and infants accountable for the sins of their parents. (Ezekiel 18) Do not forget, God sent Israel to destroy the Amalekites because the Amalekites had filled up their cup of grace with evil, and Israel also did the same thing! Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Israel about 400 years after King Saul. And the Romans did it again in A.D. 70. God imposes justice on all nations when His extended mercy does not produce repentance and reformation. God consistently follows this policy to cauterize the growth of sin and to give the land to other people whom He loves. Remember, God loves the whole world.

 

God directed Moses to build the Ark of the Covenant that represents a balance of God’s love and mercy. The “mercy seat” or “atonement cover” (representing God’s mercy) and the Ten Commandments (representing God’s justice) are inseparable and harmonious. Mercy and justice do not diminish nor negate each other. God’s love consists of both! These are the foundations of His government. (Psalm 89:14)

 

The Bible declares that a day is coming when the whole world will see the Ark of Covenant. Evidently, God took the Ark of the Covenant to Heaven for safekeeping sometime after Jeremiah hid the Ark from Nebuchadnezzar’s advancing troops. (605 B.C.) We know that the Ark of the Covenant is in Heaven because it will be shown to the world on the 1,264th day of the Great Tribulation – the same day the seven bowls begin. (See Revelation 11:19.)  God will visibly display the Ark of the Covenant in the sky because he wants each wicked person to understand the mercy he rejected, as well as the Royal Law, written in stone on Earth, that condemns him to become a recipient of the seven bowls. On the other hand, God wants all the righteous people to see the mercy they accepted and the law they have chosen by which to live.

 

Since God’s love operates on different levels (mercy and justice for individuals, as well as groups of people), the Golden Rule becomes a profound statement for individuals. Jesus said, “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 7:12) The Golden Rule is a profound declaration of an everlasting principle. The Golden Rule means that God uses justice and mercy to judge us. “As we did unto others, the same will be done unto us.” God’s justice demands reciprocity. If we cheat someone out of something, then God will take it from us. If we steal from others, God will also take from us. However, if we make things right, God will not require anything further because restoration has been made. God’s keen sense of justice and mercy does not allow Him to ignore one evil deed. Conversely, if we have shown mercy and kindness to our enemies, He will show the same mercy and kindness toward us. If we forgive our debtors, He will forgive us. The Golden Rule is a sobering, but awesome rule.

 

Notice how the Golden Rule is applied. “If men who are fighting hit a pregnant woman and she gives birth prematurely but there is no serious injury, the offender whatever the woman’s husband demands and the court allows. But if there is serious injury, you are to take life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise.” (Exodus 21:22-25) When it comes to pure justice what could be more fair than injury for injury?

 

Most Christians read Exodus 21 and say, “Jesus abolished those laws when He died on the cross. He taught that we are to turn the other cheek.” Jesus did abolish the Levitcal system at he cross, but God’s everlasting principles of mercy and justice were not abolished at the cross. Jesus affirmed this. He said,  “For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” (Matthew 7:2) The Golden Rule stems from the fact that justice requires restitution and mercy requires forgiveness. God will not accept anything less. Notice how this works: If a person refuses to make restitution for the wrongs committed in this life, then God avenges the recipient of the wrongs by extracting restitution from the sinner at the end of the 1,000 years. If a victim shows mercy to those who harmed him, then God extends mercy to the victim when he is judged because he has shown mercy. Again, the Golden Rule is sobering, but awesome!

 

Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.” (Matthew 5:38,39) This command does not nullify the operation of justice or imply that Christians are to simply tolerate injustice!  Jesus made this declaration in His Sermon on the Mount to restore a balance to life, which the Jews had badly distorted. The Jews could not reconcile the concept of an eye for an eye and loving their enemies as themselves. When Jesus said that we are to turn the other cheek, He addressed two key points. First, we are to show kindness to our enemies as God shows kindness to us. (Romans 5:10) Second, we are supposed to forgive those who violate us* and wait for God to administer justice because He will certainly avenge every wrong act. (Romans 12:17-19) 

 

Note: Because this discussion is larger than the scope of this article, a few words for the sake of clarity. The Bible says that God has set up human governments. Their purpose is to temporarily deal with matters of justice and mercy. (Romans 13:1.2) Because the governments of this world are managed by finite human beings whose knowledge, commitment and understanding of righteousness are imperfectly balanced, human beings often fail to resolve matters in a totally fair way. The Bible teaches that in due time, everyone will stand before the judgment bar of Christ. (2 Corinthians 5:10) He, who knows our actions, reads our hearts and sees the motives will pass judgment on us. His righteous investigation will resolve and restore all matters to God’s perfect balance. If justice is necessary, then injury for injury will be applied. If mercy is necessary, then mercy will be applied. God gave us legal systems to seek temporary relief or justice. He also gave Israel a judicial system for this very purpose.

 

The human dilemma is that we cannot love our enemies, as God loves us, without a miracle occurring. Unless the Holy Spirit enables us to forgive people who have done us wrong, we cannot love or forgive them! The carnal nature cannot forgive an injury. The carnal heart is not a generous heart of love; instead, it is stingy, selfish, arrogant, and easily offended. The carnal nature is impetuous and prefers to speedily avenge itself for wrongs done to it. Ruled by passions, the carnal heart delights in speedy revenge rather than fairness. However, Jesus affirms that God, in due time, will ensure that justice is fully satisfied for everyone. “It is mine to avenge; I will repay. In due time their [your enemies] foot will slip; their day of disaster is near and their doom rushes upon them.” (Deuteronomy 32:35; also Romans 12:19, Hebrews 10:30)

 

Seven bowls

 

This presentation on the various levels of God’s love has been necessary because you must understand that the seven bowls originate form a God of love. When the time comes for the seven bowls to be poured out, God’s love for His suffering saints demands restitution. The wicked will be forced to drink the bitter experience contained in the seven bowls because they must suffer in proportion to the suffering they imposed on God’s innocent people. Even more, the wicked must also receive the consequences of willful and defiant rebellion against the clearest evidences of God’s will.  No king can tolerate open defiance and expect his subjects to maintain respect for his laws and throne.

 

Finally, the seven bowls also serve as a cosmic purpose. The universe will see the hatred that every defiant sinner has toward God when they are confronted with the righteous principles that govern God’s universe. By the time the seven bowls end, every wicked person would kill Jesus, if that were possible, because this is the response of the carnal nature when confronted with God’s sovereign authority. Therefore, when the seven trumpets end, God will use the seven bowls to avenge the martyrdom and torture of His saints, punish defiant rebels for high treason, and demonstrate the extremity to which a carnal heart will go by confronting the wicked with His higher authority.

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