Prophecy
13
The Seven
Bowls –
Revelation 15:7 – 16:21
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Revelation
16:10-11
And the fifth
angel poured out his vial upon the
seat of the beast; and his kingdom
was full of darkness; and they gnawed
their tongues for pain, And
blasphemed the God of heaven because
of their pains and their sores, and
repented not of their deeds.
{10} A
few days later, the fifth bowl was
poured out. Suddenly, a painful
plague afflicted everyone who worked
for the devil. His officials and
employees became dysfunctional
because of blindness. These people
had willingly closed their eyes to
the light of God’s truth
(presented by the 144,000), therefore
Jesus removed their eyesight. Because
Lucifer’s officials and
employees could not function, his
theocracy came to a sudden end. The
pain was so great that the only thing
the devil’s officials and
employees could do was gnaw their
tongues in agony.
{11} They
cursed the God of Heaven (Jesus)
because of the pain, but they refused
to repent for what they had done.
The fifth
plague will stun the wicked who are
not officials and employees of
Lucifer’s government. Suddenly,
they will begin to question the
identity of the glorious being who
claims to be Almighty God. Why would
He send a curse of painful blindness
upon his own officials and employees?
Why would he destroy his entire work
force and kingdom with painful
blindness? Why would he treat his
loyal followers with such horrifying
contempt unless he really
was an imposter? Could he
actually be the devil?
The fifth
bowl will force the wicked to admit
that the 144,000, who they ridiculed
and murdered as “false
prophets,” are true prophets of
Almighty God. The fifth plague will
force the wicked to admit that the
glorious being masquerading as
Almighty God is the devil, the
dreaded Antichrist. The wicked will
discover that he is the “false
prophet,” just as the 144,000
claimed. The wicked will be crushed
by unspeakable disappointment and
tormented with fear when they
realize, too late, that they were
duped. They were duped by a very
clever show of power and lies because
they refused to love the truth and so
be saved.[17] Instead
of putting their faith in Jesus and
submitting to the authority of a God
of love, the wicked temporarily
avoided persecution. They placed
their loyalty and trust in the father
of lies,[18] a
cunning devil who told them all kinds
of lies and performed endless
miracles to win their confidence and
loyalty.
Revelation
16:12
And the sixth
angel poured out his vial upon the
great river Euphrates; and the water
thereof was dried up, that the way of
the kings of the east might be
prepared.
{12} The
sixth angel poured out his bowl on
the great river Euphrates so that the
water in the river dried up. This
event prepared the way for the kings
from the East to appear.
A few words
of explanation about the drying up of
the great river Euphrates are
necessary. There is an important
connection between the sixth trumpet
(day 1,039) and the sixth bowl (day
1,315). When the sixth trumpet sounds
in Heaven on day 1,039, God will
release the four angels bound at the
great river Euphrates to kill a third
of mankind.[19] In
Bible times, the great river
Euphrates was a natural barrier for
the northern boundary of Israel. The
river was deep and it flowed fast
enough in the spring that invading
armies from the north could
not cross the river. Because divine
destruction is represented in the
Bible as coming out of the north,[20] the
language used in the sixth trumpet
(the four angels bound at the great
river Euphrates) indicates that Jesus
allows the devil to kill people. The
devil’s four angels will be
released at an appointed hour, day,
month, and year to kill one-third of
mankind.
Jesus permits
the devil to kill one-third of
mankind at the appointed time
(beginning with day 1,039) for the
following four reasons: First, food
and water rations will last longer if
fewer people are living on Earth.
Jesus wishes to sustain the wicked
long enough to fully demonstrate the
predatory nature of sin. Second, the
devil will find and eliminate almost
everyone who stands in opposition to
his theocracy. God allows the devil
to do this so that everyone can see
what a “carnal nature”
government looks like. Third, the
wicked, knowing that the mark of the
beast is evil, nevertheless will
commit the unpardonable sin and
receive the mark of the beast in an
effort to save themselves. This
demonstrates how sin deadens a
person’s conscience and shuts
out God’s voice to the point
that the carnal nature honors
self-preservation above principle.
Finally, Jesus will permit many of
His saints to perish during the sixth
trumpet so they can sleep through the
rest of the tribulation until the
Second Coming.
Now that we
have considered the sixth trumpet,
let us jump forward to the sixth bowl
(about nine months later). When the
sixth bowl is poured out, Jesus will dry
up the great river
Euphrates. This analogous language
describes the elimination of the
natural barrier that protected the
northern boundary of Israel. In other
words, at the sixth bowl, Jesus will
remove all protection from the
wicked. Divine destruction will
descend out of the north and nothing
can prevent the wicked from being
totally destroyed. Notice the wording
in this NIV text: “Out of the
north He comes in golden splendor;
God comes in awesome majesty.”[21] When
Jesus arrives, He will kill every
wicked person by casting them into a
lake of fire or by the sword that
comes out of His mouth.[22] The
phrase, “the kings from the
East,” is plural. It refers to
the fact that the Father and the Son
will come together at the Second
Coming.[23] Any
object approaching this planet
appears in the east because of our
planet’s rotation. (For example,
the Sun appears to come up in the
east because of rotation.) Therefore,
the Second Coming is said to come
from the north (the arrival of divine
destruction) and from the east (the
physical appearing of two kings,
Jesus and the Father). The Holy
Spirit will already be on Earth,
sealed within each saint.
Remember,
when the fifth bowl is poured out,
Lucifer’s employees and
officials will be unable to function
because of blindness. The devil will
be unmasked and his theocracy will
collapse. The wicked will be forced
to admit that Lucifer is the devil
and they will loathe him and his
failed government.[24] In a
desperate and final attempt to lead
the world into total destruction,
Satan will employ demonic sophistry
one last time and the kings of the
Earth will actually believe his last
lie!
Revelation
16:13
And I saw
three unclean spirits like frogs come
out of the mouth of the dragon, and
out of the mouth of the beast, and
out of the mouth of the false
prophet.
{13} I
saw three demons that looked like
frogs. They came out of the mouth of
the great red dragon, out of the
mouth of the lamblike beast and out
of the mouth of the false prophet.
Three times
in the book of Revelation, Lucifer is
caricatured. He is the great red
dragon that attempted to murder baby
Jesus and failing to do so, He
persecuted the saints of God for
1,260 years (a period of time also
called “The Dark Ages”). As
the lamblike beast, he is the
Antichrist that leads the world
astray and kills a third of mankind.
Masquerading as Almighty God, he is
the false prophet (the great liar)
which leads the wicked into
destruction. The devil is described
as three entities in the book of
Revelation because he uses three
disguises to accomplish his evil
plans. I believe that the demons in
verse 13 are described as frogs,
because frogs catch their prey with
their tongues.
When the
kings of the Earth discover that the
glorious being they worship is
actually the devil, they will hate
him and refuse to have anything to do
with him. Therefore, to bring them
back into the clutches of his
control, the devil will send his most
powerful demons to the kings of the
Earth with a simple message. They
will perform amazing miracles and
then tell the ten kings that Jesus
will appear in the sky in about ten
days. They will warn the kings that
their only hope for survival is to
unite with Lucifer and his army so
that together, everyone can make war
against Jesus when He gets close
enough to Earth.
Revelation
16:14
For they are
the spirits of devils, working
miracles, which go forth unto the
kings of the earth and of the whole
world, to gather them to the battle
of that great day of God Almighty.
{14} Lucifer
sends his demons throughout the world
to deceive the kings and gather them
for battle when the Lord returns.
Lucifer’s
miracle working demons will deceive
the kings of the world with lying
tongues and this will set the stage
for a battle that will culminate with
the destruction of everyone having
the mark of the beast. Ironically,
the wicked received the mark in order
to survive, but now, the mark dooms
them to certain destruction.
Revelation
16:15
Behold, I
come as a thief. Blessed is he that
watcheth, and keepeth his garments,
lest he walk naked, and they see his
shame.
{15} While
Lucifer’s demons were uniting
the kings of Earth, Jesus spoke a
word of encouragement to His waiting
saints. “Behold, I am on my way.
Do not be discouraged. You will soon
be blessed, therefore, stand firm in
your faith and remain alert. Do not
fret over Armageddon! I will strip my
enemies of their weapons so their
nakedness and shame will be
exposed.”
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