The Seven Bowls – Conclusion

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5.   “The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and his kingdom was plunged into darkness. Men gnawed their tongues in agony and cursed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, but they refused to repent of what they had done.” (Revelation 16:10,11)   

 

The fifth bowl serves two purposes: First, Jesus unmasks the devil. (In this passage, the beast is a reference to the lamblike beast. See Revelation 13:11.) When the fifth bowl begins, the devil will have been masquerading as Almighty God for about a year (since the fifth trumpet). Second, God imposes painful and agonizing sores on those who have inflicted great suffering in the saints. Those sores will suddenly “pop up” on everyone who serves in Lucifer’s global government – from the lowest clerk to the ten kings. Even though their suffering will be off the chart, the wicked will still refuse to repent of their evil deeds. They will remain loyal to the devil to the bitter end. (This proves that loyalty can be totally blinding, since it even transcends intelligence.)

 

Here is a scenario: When the fifth bowl is poured out, Jesus silently turns everything upside down within Lucifer’s government. Suddenly, the devil and his angels, those glorious beings who deceived the whole world with blinding glory, become demons of darkness. The devil, who is thought to be Almighty God, is no longer the glorious being that he once was. His brilliant glory completely disappears, his throne room becomes pitch dark, and everyone in his evil government will be afflicted with horrible and painful sores.

 

People who have the mark of the beast (but not employees of the devil’s government) will watch this mind-boggling phenomena. They will ask each other, “Why would God suddenly lose his glory? Why would God curse everyone who works for him with these horrible boils?” An involuntary answer will soon form on their lips. “Uh oh…. The 144,000 were right! This is indeed the devil! This dark being is not God! We were deceived! But, we can’t call him ‘the devil’ or we will be killed just as the saints and the 144,000 were killed! What should we do now? Oh, no….” This is one of those moments in Earth’s history when the truth really hurts and nothing can be done about it.

 

6. “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.  Then I saw three evil spirits that looked like frogs; they came out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet. They are spirits of demons performing miraculous signs, and they go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them for the battle on the great day of God Almighty. ‘Behold, I come like a thief! Blessed is he who stays awake and keeps his clothes with him, so that he may not go naked and be shamefully exposed.’ Then they gathered the kings together to the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon.” (Revelation 16:12-16)    

 

The meaning of this bowl is not too difficult if you understand the context and setting of this future event. The drying up of the great river Euphrates is an ancient phrase that means the arrival of the two kings coming down from the North (the Father and Son) is unstoppable. In other words, ancient kings could cross through the riverbed of the Euphrates because the great river itself was no longer a barrier. I believe the sign of the Father and the Son will first appear in the sky during this time. This sign will be a small cloud drawing near to Earth. (Matthew 24:30) Remember, divine destruction in ancient times always came out of the North (Jeremiah 51:48; Job 37:22), but physically, because of the rotation of Earth on its axis, the Father and Son (the two kings) will appear from the East. (Matthew 26:64)

 

By the time the sixth bowl is poured out, the wicked will be suffering in the extreme. (The saints do not suffer from the seven bowls. (Daniel 12:1) Every wicked person will be wearing the devil’s inescapable tattoo. Even more, the world will know that the devil and his demons are not Almighty God and His angels, contrary to the devil’s claims. Wicked people realize they are looking at the embodiment of evil. Emotionally speaking, they will be at the point of utter discouragement. Everything they wanted to avoid during the Great Tribulation has happened to them. Then with his incredible deceptions exposed and the wicked recognizing who he really is, the devil plays the final card.

 

It is a pathetic situation. Even though Lucifer knows the outcome of this drama, he will demonstrate his evil character one last time by sending three miracle-working demons with a pack of lies to visit the ten kings of Earth. (Frogs catch their prey with their tongues.) Lucifer, who is the dragon, the lamblike beast and the false prophet, sends these powerful demons out. The Bible uses these three descriptors of Lucifer because these three caricatures describe him with perfection. As the red dragon who was cast out of Heaven, he is the original Antichrist. As the lamblike beast who rose up out of the Earth, he is the final Antichrist. As the false prophet who led the whole world astray, he is the father of lies.

 

Their message to each king will be simple and direct: “You have but one choice to save yourselves from the approaching cloud in the East. If you will join with us in destroying Jesus and the Father as they draw near Earth, we can defeat them. You have atomic bombs. We have power to work miracles. Do we have a deal? If so, arm yourselves for immediate battle.” The only option is to trust in human might and the miracle working power of these demons. They prepare for battle.

 

“They [the kings of the Earth] have one purpose and will give their power and authority to the beast. They will make war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will overcome them because he is Lord of lords and King of kings – and with him will be called, chosen and faithful followers.” (Revelation 17:13,14)

 

7.   “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!’ [I believe this voice comes from one of the four living creatures. See Revelation 8:13.] Then there came flashes of lightening, rumblings, peals of thunder and a severe earthquake. No earthquake like it has ever occurred since man has been on earth, so tremendous was the quake. The great city [Babylon the Great] 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 of about a hundred pounds each fell upon men.  And they cursed God on account of the plagues of hail, because the plague was so terrible.” (Revelation 16:17-21, insertions mine)

 

When the seventh bowl is poured out, the ten kings, encouraged and emboldened by the lies and miracles of the three demons, are armed and ready to destroy the Father and Son with all of the nuclear power they can muster. But, before they get the first missile in the air, the planet goes into a violent spasm. A global earthquake rips up the Earth and the devil’s empire is torn into three parts. * The islands and mountains are moved out of their places and Earth vomits from the nausea of sin. The cities of Earth collapse into rubble and hailstones weighting a hundred pounds each fall on the enemies of the Lamb. “They called to the mountains and the [falling] rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from (a) the face of Him who sits on the throne [the Father] and (b) from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of their [plural] wrath has come, and who can stand?’” (Revelation 6:16,17, insertions mine)

 

* Note: The phrase, “The great city split into three parts” is significant. It means the complete destruction of Babylon, the global city whose citizens make up the harlot. God will divide and totally destroy the city. No mercy will be shown to the evil empire. Throughout the Bible, language describes the use of one-third and two-thirds. For example, David killed two-thirds of the Moabites when they refused to pay tribute.(2 Samuel 8:2) God kills two-thirds of Israel when they refused to keep His covenant. (Ezekiel 5:12) In these situations, David and God mercifully spared a remnant. The idea in Revelation 16 is that there is no mercy for Babylon. Babylon will cease to exist. Three-thirds will be destroyed. (Revelation 19:21)   

“For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage each other with these words.” (1 Thessalonians 4:16-18)    

 

“Then I saw the [false prophet/lamblike] beast and the kings of the earth [composite beast with ten horns and seven heads] and their armies gathered together to make war against the rider on the horse and his army.  But the [composite] beast was captured, and with him the false prophet [who is also the lamblike beast] who had performed the miraculous signs on his behalf.

With these signs he [the lamblike beast] had deluded those who had received the mark of the beast and worshiped his image. The two of them [lamblike beast/false prophet and composite beast/ten kings/seven heads] were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur. The rest of them [the wicked of Earth] were killed with the sword that came out of the mouth of the rider on the horse, and all the birds gorged themselves on their flesh.” (Revelation 19:19-21) 

Jesus calls the saints from their graves. Together with the righteous living, they meet the Lord in the air while the wicked watch. Then, a sword comes out of the mouth of Jesus. The sword is the command, “death to the wicked.” The seventh bowl marks the end of human life on Earth for 1,000 years. The saints leave Earth to spend the next 1,000 years living with Jesus in their Father’s house. (John 14:1-3)  

 

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