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.
