The
Seven Bowls – Part I
I saw in heaven
another great and marvelous sign:
seven angels with the seven last
plagues – last, because with
them God’s wrath is completed. (Revelation
15:1)
The seven last plagues
(the seven bowls) are a fascinating
study. Every discussion on the
character of God should include
Noah’s flood, the destruction of
Sodom and Gomorrah, the destruction
of Jerusalem, the death of Christ on
the cross, and the seven bowls
because of all the events highlight
certain components of God’s
character. Yes, a God of love has
vengeance. Paul wrote, “Do
not take revenge, my friends, but
leave room for God’s wrath, for
it is written: ‘It is mine to
avenge; I will repay,’ says the
Lord.” (Romans 12:19)
Vengeance is defined by Webster as
retribution (justifiable action) for
a wrong or injury. In this sense, the
seven last plagues will be
justifiable and they will be poured
out without mercy. The seven bowls
will be God’s response on people
who (a) willingly and
knowingly rejected God’s truth,
righteousness, and chose to do evil,
and (b) approved and /or participated
in torturing and hurting people who
stood for truth and righteousness.
The seven last plagues will be
indescribably painful and they will
befall every person who receives the
mark of the beast. Before we examine
these horrible plagues, here is a
short review.
I believe the seven
last plagues will last seventy days;
that is, each plague unfolds over a
period of ten days. The phrase,
“seven last plagues” suggests
the presence of “seven first
plagues.” Indeed, the seven first
plagues of the Great Tribulation
are called seven trumpets. First, the
seven trumpets are redemptive in
nature, whereas the seven bowls are
totally destructive. People can
repent and be saved during the seven
trumpets; however, salvation will not
be possible during the seven bowls
because the offer of mercy closes on
the 1,260th day of the
Great Tribulation. Second, the seven first
plagues are called “seven
trumpets” in Revelation because
these redemptive judgments are
designed to shatter the religious
paradigms of the world much like a
military trumpet shatters the silence
of early dawn with Reveille.
The seven trumpets will enable people
to thoughtfully and intelligently
consider the testimony of Jesus,
which the 144,000 will give. On the
other hand, the seven last plagues
are called “seven bowls”
because people receiving the mark of
the beast will be forced to
“drink and swallow” their
medicine, the bitter dregs of
God’s wrath that comes in each
bowl.
The seven bowls are
punitive in nature. God will force
the wicked to suffer, in part, for
the suffering they imposed upon His
innocent people. There will be no
mercy from God when the seven bowls
are poured out because the wicked
will knowingly reject the demands of
the Holy Spirit. Each of them
committed the unpardonable sin.
Furthermore, the people who receive
the mark of the beast will become the
property of demons and like them;
they will be cruel and violent. Get
this straight! There will not be any
“good people” having the
mark of the beast. When the seventh
bowl is completed, God’s wrath
will be completed. Earth will be left
in a desolate condition – the
saints will be with Jesus in Heaven.
All the wicked will be dead and birds
will eat their flesh. (Revelation
19:19-21)
Last, but not least.
When the seven bowls begin, the devil
will be on Earth masquerading as
Almighty God. The devil will sit on
his throne claiming to be God, and
billions of wicked people will
believe that he is God. The
Antichrist will urge his wicked
followers to continue destroying
God’s saints because he will
claim, ”they are of the
devil.” How clever! Understand
that billions of wicked people will
believe the devil is God and that the
God of the saints and the 144,000 is
the devil. Keep this twisted
deception in mind as we examine the
specific purpose and nature of each
dreadful bowl.
1. Revelation
16:2 – The fist angel went out
and poured his bowl on the land, and
ugly and painful sores broke out on
the people who had the mark of the
beast and worshiped his image.
The fist plague is the
outpouring of painful boils. Remember
Job’s boils –huge, tender,
inflamed, puss oozing sores –
all over his body? These sores will
befall every person who
receives the mark of the beast. There
are two great ironies here. First,
many people will receive the mark of
the beast thinking that they can
avoid further suffering, but the
first bowl inflicts a suffering on
them that is beyond description! Here
is the scenario: When the composite
beast (Babylon) rises from the sea,
it will demand obedience to its laws.
Anyone who dares to rebel against
Babylon’s authority will suffer
the severest penalties. During this
time of persecution, billions of
people will hear the testimony of the
144,000, which requires everyone to
reject the demands of Babylon, but
few people will have the courage to
stand for righteousness and truth.
Many people will capitulate to
avoid suffering and separation from
their families. They will obediently
submit to the blasphemous and
arrogant laws of Babylon. Then, when
the devil physically appears –
masquerading as God, the wicked will
easily submit to the devil’s
authority in an effort to save their
lives! However, their escape from
suffering will be temporary because
everyone who worships ‘the devil
and receives his mark” will
receive the first bowl! There will be
no escape from the first bowl.
Painful boils will cause the wicked
to writhe in relentless pain and this
is the second irony. When the first
bowl is poured out on the wicked,
they will be engaged in an intense
campaign to find and kill the few
saints of God who remain alive. The
first bowl painfully interrupts their
plans. Evil men and women, covered
with boils from head to foot will not
be able to stand or sit, mush less
chase after a few saints who are
hiding in remote places.
2. Revelation
16:3 – The second angel poured
out his bowl on the sea, and it
turned into blood like that of a dead
man, and every living thing in the
sea died.
The second bowl is
awesome. Every living thing in the
oceans of the world dies. I can think
of a threefold possibility why God
would pour out His wrath on the
oceans of the world. First, the
oceans are Earth’s source of
fresh water. The Sun evaporates
millions of square miles of ocean
each day. This sterile vapor rises
and becomes clouds. Winds move the
clouds over land and distilled water
falls in the form of rain as
condensation occurs. By turning the
sea into a substance like the clotted
blood of a dead man, there will be no
more rain. Earth itself will die
without this regular cycle of water.
Earth is doomed; the stench of death
and decay will be everywhere. Second,
because a third of the trees and all
of the green grass (including crops)
were burned up during the first
trumpet, seafood will likely become a
main source of food during the Great
Tribulation. If so, the destruction
of everything that lives in the
oceans means total famine. Again,
life on this planet is doomed beyond
recovery. Last, two-thirds of the
world’s population lives near an
ocean. When the wicked behold this
awesome judgment, you would think
that some would question the powers
of their God. This silent plague
speaks with deafening authority. It
says, “The glorious and majestic
being which you worship is not God.
He cannot protect you. He can not
prevent the destruction of
Earth.”
3. Revelation
16:4 – The third angel poured
out his bowl on the rivers and
springs of water, and they became
blood. Then I heard the angel in
charge of the waters say: “You
are just in these judgments, you who
are and who were, the Holy One,
because you have so judged; for they
shed the blood of your saints and
prophets and you have given them
blood to drink as they deserve.’
And I heard the altar respond:
‘Yes, Lord God Almighty, true
and just are your judgments.’
The third bowl will
force people having the mark of the
beast into a sickly spiral that
ultimately leads to an agonizing
death. There will be no recovery from
this plague. Human beings cannot go
very long without water. Everywhere
the wicked look for water, but find
blood instead. Picture this if you
can. Millions of thirst-driven people
drinking blood in order to survive!
It is a repugnant thought, but it is
a true picture. Helpless people will
turn to their God, the Antichrist,
for miraculous help, but none will
come. Lucifer will be powerless to
turn the blood into water. Jesus will
not have any mercy upon these
demon-possessed people. Every person
was given a lengthy chance to know
God’s will and worship Him.
However, they will fully aligned
themselves with the forces of evil;
therefore, they must suffer the
consequence. The angel that delivers
this horrible judgment declares God
to be fair for giving bloodthirsty
people blood to drink! Even the
martyred souls under the altar agree
saying, “True and just are your
judgments.” (Of course, martyred
souls do not actually talk, but
personification allows their innocent
blood to cry out for justice, as did
Abel’s blood. Genesis 4:10)
4. Revelation
16:8,9 – The fourth angel poured
out his bowl on the sun, and the sun
was given power to scorch people with
fire. They were seared by the intense
heat and they cursed the name of God,
who had control over these plagues,
but they refused to repent and
glorify him.”
At this point, thirty
days have passed since the seven
bowls began. The misery index is
climbing fast and the wicked people
on Earth are struggling in a great
quandary. Why doesn’t our God
(actually, the Antichrist) stop this?
They reason, “Our God can do
anything! He even called fire down
from the sky, therefore, he must
immediately stop these awful
judgments.” Then, the
fourth bowl is poured out. It is
possible that the fourth bowl will be
caused by a catastrophic solar flare
from the Sun or perhaps a very
brilliant gamma-ray burst coming from
the direction of the Sun. Either way,
the net effect is intense, searing
heat. Think about this plague for a
moment. If the ambient temperature
stays above 150 degrees for several
days, what would be the effect? There
will be no electricity on Earth at
this time since Earth was badly
broken up when the seventh trumpet
occurred. (Revelation 11:19) So,
there will be no mechanical relief
from the heat. Furthermore, all of
the oceans and rivers smell like
blood. Billions of dead sea creatures
have washed up on the shores. There
is no water to drink; only blood
which smells so badly it causes
people to vomit.
In this setting, the
Bible predicts two interesting
things. First, the wicked will curse
God of the 144,000 and the saints
(who they believe is the devil). They
will do this because Lucifer
(masquerading as Almighty God) and
his angels will tell the wicked
people of Earth that these plagues
are from the devil! Think about this:
When God becomes the devil and the
devil becomes God, Lucifer’s
deception is complete! Second,
even though the wicked are suffering
in the extreme, the Bible says they
will refuse to change and repent,
revealing the depth of their
degradation. They cannot change
because there is no desire within
them to change. Torture does not
change the heart! At this time, every
wicked person has committed the
unpardonable sin and the Holy Spirit
has abandoned them. This brings
us face to face with a very stark
fact: Unless we give the Holy Spirit
an opportunity to change us, we
cannot come to repentance or
reformation on our own. The carnal
nature will not permit it.
We will
conclude our study on the seven bowls
in the next
article.
