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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