The Bowl Judgments (Chapters 15-16)

Chapter 11

Chapter 15 sets the stage for the bowl judgments. Before John describes the judgments themselves, he describes something like a sea of glass mixed with fire upon which the tribulation saints were standing. Of course, they are now standing in heaven because they have just been raptured. Voila! Make sense? It is rather amazing how all the Revelation fits so perfectly into the post-tribulation position. This thing upon which they are standing is, among other things, meant to instill awe in the one watching. Imagine a thousand square miles of glass that is on fire.

Of course, this scene covers a lot more than a thousand square miles, but I am just attempting to get us to imagine the incredible scene John had the privilege of viewing. And I know there are some who have a hard time imagining it would be glorious to hold harps of God and sing the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb; so for you, I simply say, “This will not be your task in heaven.” I play the guitar. I have never thought about playing a harp. It is far too complicated an instrument for me during this lifetime. In the life to come, however, it seems these musicians are able to play these instruments because God makes it so. And remember, these are harps of God. No harp manufactured on this planet is comparable. So, I simply admonish you, don’t make the mistake of comparing this scene to anything on earth. It would be something like comparing apples to oranges.

This song is certainly worthy of reproducing here. Someone with more talent than me really should put it to music. It is a great praise song.

Great and marvelous are Your works, O Lord God, the Almighty;
Righteous and true are Your ways, King of the nations!
Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify Your name?
For You alone are holy;
For all the nations will come and worship before You,
For Your righteous acts have been revealed. (15:3b, 4)

It is after this scene that we see the seven angels who are about to unleash the final judgments of God on planet earth. Their judgments are called The Bowl Judgments. John sees the temple of the tabernacle open in heaven, and the seven angels, who will deliver the seven last plagues, come out clothed in clean, bright linen with golden chest sashes. One of the four creatures (see 4:6, 7), gives the seven bowls of the wrath of God, one to each the seven angels who will pour them onto the earth. One of the reasons I believe these plagues will only last a short while is the phrase, “. . . no one was able to enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were finished.”

I believe these judgments will only last 45 days, the period of time between the 1290 days of the antichrist’s final 3 ½ years and the 1335 days referred to in Daniel 12:11, 12. It is long enough to make life a living hell for those who remain on the planet, but short enough that some will actually survive it. Those who survive it who do not join with the antichrist against the forces of God at Armageddon (Rev. 16:6), will enter the millennial reign of Christ, during which time they will have that final opportunity I mentioned previously to accept the lordship of the Messiah (Zech. 14:9-21). Of course, they will not be members of the group we call the church because their confession of allegiance to the King of kings will not be based on faith as it was for members of the church age. They will choose to submit to his rule during His millennial reign, therefore, they will be part of his eternal kingdom.

It is also clear from Zechariah 14 there will be some who do not submit themselves to Jesus as Lord even when He is reigning visibly from His throne in Jerusalem during the millennium. That said, it is also clear that some will finally see He is the Sustainer and Creator of the universe and will voluntarily submit to His rule. These will enter eternity, but, as I already mentioned, not as do those who lived during the age of salvation by faith, i.e., the church age. Of course, it is obvious that living on the streets of heaven for eternity beats living one millisecond in hell. Frankly, I haven’t a clue what those who don’t acknowledge the lordship of Christ until the millennium will do in heaven; I just know scripture indicates they will not get the same reward as do those who entered by faith during the church age.

In verse 1 of chapter 16, we read that John heard a loud voice from the temple telling the seven angels to go and pour out on the earth the seven bowls of the wrath of God. The bowl of the first angel will cause a loathsome and malignant sore to erupt on those who have received the mark of the beast. Notice, this implies there will still be those on earth who have not yet received the mark of the beast. They are also obviously those who will not acknowledge Jesus as Lord in spite of the preaching they will hear during the last 3 ½ years of the tribulation. This is, to say the least, a stubborn bunch. My own conversion makes me glad Jesus is so patient. I must have had twenty different people try to share the gospel with me the year I finally listened to one of them. Some of those still on the planet after the rapture will likely help the saints who will not be able to buy or sell during the last 3 ½ years of the reign of the antichrist; so Jesus is not willing to give up on them.

The second angel poured his bowl into the sea. This time every living thing in the sea will die. All that is left of life in the oceans of the world will die in an instant of time. Imagine how that will smell after forty-five days. The third angel will pour out his bowl on all of the fresh waters; they will become blood. This is done as direct retribution for the blood of the saints the antichrist and his kingdom spilled during his reign (Cf. II Thes. 1:8 with Rev.16:5-7). The fourth angel will pour out his bowl onto the sun. This will be a cataclysmic event to top all cataclysmic events. The result will be that men who are exposed long enough to the sun will literally become living torches. Imagine the hottest day you have ever experienced and then add about forty degrees to that. For some that might not result in 184 degree temperatures. But try to imagine how hot that would be. Actually, I understand it gets to about 140 degrees in the Arabian deserts. Imagine 180 degree temperatures. Imagine watching humans burst into flames because they got caught out in the sun and were not able, for whatever reason, to get to shelter. Interestingly enough, those who are scorched don’t repent; those who survive will actually respond by blaspheming God.

The fifth angel goes right to the heart of the problem. He pours out his bowl on the throne of the beast and his kingdom will become darkened. Tim LaHaye and David Jensen place this event at the mid-point of the tribulation in their Left Behind series. And they indicated the entire region of Babylon (the city in Iraq), will be darkened for 3 ½ years. Of course their book is a novel, not an exposition of the book of Revelation, but, once again, it belies their pre-tribulation predisposition. I apologize for continually beating that dead horse, but one has to stretch so many verses and entire sections of scripture out of context that don’t fit when he teaches the pre-tribulation rapture theory. Too many verses just don’t match chronologically or theologically into that position. Even a superficial reading of Matthew 24 makes it clear the rapture occurs at the end of the tribulation. The fact is when this judgment is poured out, the entire planet earth will be darkened; and the sores to which the text is referring are described in 16:2. And, once again, the amazing thing is that even then, those who are part of the anti-Christ’s kingdom will not repent of their deeds.

When the sixth angel pours out his bowl of the wrath of God, the Euphrates is dried up to prepare the way for the kings from the east. I’m not sure anyone has really done this passage justice. Contextually and theologically this must be a reference to all or most of the eastern block of countries, i.e., Iraq, Iran, China, Pakistan, Afghanistan, India, and Russia. I don’t know which or if all of these countries will be included. No one does, in spite of what some preachers might claim to know. What is clear is that it seems these kings are not at all happy with the way things are going under the rule of the anti-Christ. They are not coming to challenge God; they are coming to challenge the anti-Christ who has established his headquarters in Jerusalem. Verses 13 and 14 really do make that rather obvious. This battle of Har-Magedon (transliterated Armageddon), is between the anti-Christ and the nations of the east who refuse to acknowledge his right to rule the world. It is called the war of the great day of God, the Almighty because it is the war of wars on planet earth.

I have previously mentioned the death toll at Hiroshima and Nagasaki compared to the death toll of Sennacherib’s army in II Kings 19. This battle of Har-Magedon is likely called the war of the great day of God because more people will be killed in it than in all the wars previously engaged by man in his entire history. The fact that it takes place at a place called Har-Magedon seems to cause most bible expositors to believe it is a battle between God’s forces and Satan’s. That battle won’t take place until after the millennial reign of Christ (see Rev. 20:7-9). Again, my pre-tribulation rapture theorists brethren have to twist scripture to fit their theory, though it fits the post tribulation theory like the proverbial glove. This battle is clearly between the anti-Christ (16:12-14) and the armies of the East. When the anti-Christ realizes the kings of the East are gathering to wage war against him, he calls the nations which support him to the battle. The three unclean spirits that come out of the mouths of the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet indicate the desperate condition Satan knows he is in. These spirits of demons perform signs which go out to the kings of the whole world to convince them to gather with him against these kings of the East who dare to challenge his authority.

Verse 15 is like a super-imposed markup on the screen of an x-rated movie. “Behold, I am coming like a thief. Blessed is the one who stays awake and keeps his clothes, so that he will not walk about naked and men will not see his shame.” It reminds me of the many parabolic warnings in Jesus’ teachings, especially the one found in Matt. 24:42-51. The point is that you don’t want to get caught with your hand in the proverbial cookie jar. Keep on the alert. If you find yourself still on planet earth when the bowl judgments are being poured out, wake up and get it together. If you are a member of any military anywhere in the world, become an instant conscientious objector. Refuse to go to the battle between the kings of the east and the anti-Christ. Everyone gathered there for both sides will perish.

The angel who has the seventh bowl provides us with some insight about the outcome of the battle of Har-Magedon. When he pours out his bowl upon the air, John hears a loud voice from the temple saying, “It is done.” Just try, if you can to imagine this plague. It begins with flashes of lightening and sounds and peals of thunder. Then, the most devastating earthquake ever to hit the earth occurs. Remember, we have already read about three, and each has likely gotten progressively more devastating than the former. Verse 18 makes it clear this is the earthquake by which to measure all earthquakes. IT IS THE MOST POWERFUL EARTHQUAKE TO EVER HIT PLANET EARTH. Six things result from this quake: 1. The great city (Jerusalem) will be split into three parts; 2. The cities of the nations will collapse (from the earthquake); 3. Babylon the Great will be remembered (revenge will be taken); 4. All islands and mountains will disappear; 5. One hundred pound hailstones will strike planet earth; 6. Man will respond to the hailstones by blaspheming God.

If we take these cataclysmic events one by one, we cannot help but realize they are the judgment of judgments. They are the most awful things God can think of to do to show mankind His dissatisfaction with their choice to reject Him and His provision for their sin in His Son. It is not a pretty picture. It is not something that any of us should wish upon our worst enemy. It is something we should seriously consider when thinking about why we should be evangelizing our neighbors. I can’t imagine hating anyone enough to want them to undergo the five devastating things those who dwell on the earth will undergo when the seventh angel pours out his judgments. Jerusalem will be split into three parts. Obviously the first two events indicate there will be an earthquake that will encompass the entire planet. The same earthquake that splits Jerusalem (the great city) will all the cities of the nations to fall. All of those magnificent buildings we have been building for the past 4,500 years will crumble into the dust.

Those of you who have seen the pictures of the World Trade Towers demise should have a tiny picture of what it will be like when entire cities all over the world vaporize at least as quickly as did those two buildings. To think how we shudder at the loss of two buildings, and then to imagine every building on the planet will suffer the same fate at the pouring out of the seventh bowl judgment of God. It is more than my mind can handle to realize that mankind’s response to all of this will be to blaspheme God. It is such a precious but poignant picture painted by verse 19, “And Babylon was remembered before God, to give her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath.” When I have the unpleasant task of driving through big cities in America, I am forever amazed at the number of giant multistory buildings each contains. There are literally thousands of towers of Babel scattered all over the world. And the amazing thing to me is that we call them magnificent feats of engineering while God calls them towers of Babel. What we choose to call progress, God chooses to call an attempt to be equal to Him in power and majesty. We humans are forever trying to accomplish something, anything that will prove we are a match for our creator.

Personally, I could return to riding horses, digging wells by hand, and using candles to see at night without any sense of loss. I often think what we call progress is nothing more than a selfish depletion of non-renewable resources just so we can have conveniences that have done little more than make us fat and complacent. The washing machine has made it possible for the housewife to wash her clothes and watch the latest edition of some disgusting soap opera that promotes divorce and lauds wives who chase after other women’s husbands. The internal combustion engine has made it possible for us to get everywhere faster so we can spend more time drinking and partying all the while depleting millions of gallons of non-renewable resources (petroleum) each hour of each day around the world. Oh yeah, that’s progress for you. I’m quite sure God does not look upon such things as progress.

God’s final outpouring of judgment on the final series of judgments is one hundred pound hail stones that will pelt the earth. I’ve never seen them, but I’ve been told we have had golf ball sized hail stones land near my home in Montana. I’ve seen them the size of big marbles. I suspect one hundred pound hail stones would have to be at least six to eight feet in diameter. It would be interesting to find someone who could determine the approximate physical mass of a hailstone that weighs a hundred pounds. The point for us to contemplate here is that these hailstones will be like none that have ever been seen before. I’m sure it is safe to say that anyone struck by one of these giants falling from heaven will not live to talk about it. Imagine tens of thousands, even millions of these giant one hundred pound projectiles falling from the sky striking and demolishing anything missed by the earthquake, instantly killing anyone unfortunate enough to be caught out in the open. Of course, there aren’t many buildings that could withstand these hundred pound cannon balls, so I’m not sure there will be a safe place to hide when this judgment comes. It seems rather clear that’s the idea. God is going to destroy those who have destroyed (depleted the natural resources of) the earth. When these judgments come, it won’t be a time for repentance. It will be a time for running and hiding from the great day of the wrath of God.

Now is the time to repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus. If you haven’t done so yet, there might not be too many more opportunities for you to do so. You could get up from reading this commentary, walk outside, and get fried by a single bolt of lightening, and that would be the end of all opportunities for you to repent. No matter what you may have been told by a heretic Catholic Priest, Mormon Elder, or any member of any other sect. If anyone tells you you have a second chance to get saved after you die physically, they are lying to you, and you won’t be able to use the excuse that they lied when you stand before Jesus at the Great White Throne Judgment (Rev. 20:11-15). You will be judged by your deeds and God’s word makes it clear if you haven’t accepted His provision for you in His Son, none of the deeds you did while alive were acceptable in His sight (Is. 64:6). This is not an expose on hell so all I will address about that topic here is that everyone who is not redeemed by the blood of Jesus will go there for eternity. While the bible clearly teaches that everyone will not spend eternity in the same part of hell, no part of it will be where anyone would choose to spend eternity. Every corner of it will filled with unbridled pain, agony, and torture. And remember, if you are reading this and have not chosen to follow Jesus yet, you had your chance. If you choose to ignore God’s call, and die in that condition, take your punishment like son of hell you have chosen to be.