Revelation 16:1-7 “Then I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, “Go, pour out on the earth the seven bowls of God’s wrath.” So the first angel went and poured out his bowl on the earth, and loathsome, malignant sores broke out on those who had the mark of the beast and worshiped its image. And the second angel poured out his bowl into the sea, and it turned to blood like that of the dead, and every living thing in the sea died. And the third angel poured out his bowl into the rivers and springs of water, and they turned to blood. And I heard the angel of the waters say: “Righteous are You, O Holy One, who is and who was, because You have brought these judgments. For they have spilled the blood of saints and prophets, and You have given them blood to drink as they deserve.” And I heard the altar reply: “Yes, Lord God Almighty, true and just are Your judgments.”
The final plagues have come and they are truly horrible, almost beyond description. Some of these plagues seem very similar to those that afflicted the ancient Egyptians.
1. Malignant sores break out on all those worshiping the beast. As far back as Deuteronomy 28, God warns the Israelites that if they forsake worshiping Him to go after other gods, terrible things will happen. “If you are not careful to observe all the words of this law which are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and awesome name—the LORD your God— He will bring upon you and your descendants extraordinary disasters, severe and lasting plagues, and terrible and chronic sicknesses. He will afflict you again with all the diseases you dreaded in Egypt, and they will cling to you. The LORD will also bring upon you every sickness and plague not recorded in this Book of the Law, until you are destroyed. You who were as numerous as the stars in the sky will be left few in number, because you would not obey the voice of the LORD your God.” Deuteronomy 28:58-62
2. The sea turns to blood and everything in it dies. Many times, there have been recorded instances of huge “red tides” of algae that have decimated the oceans wherever they have appeared. Why not a world – wide catastrophe?
3. All fresh water sources turn to blood as well, forcing those left upon the earth to literally drink blood in punishment for the martyrdom of the saints and prophets.
How can an altar speak? Remember that every part of heaven has angels assigned. The voice coming from the altar is the angel of the altar bearing witness to the greatness of God.
8 – 12 “Then the fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and it was given power to scorch the people with fire. And the people were scorched by intense heat, and they cursed the name of God, who had authority over these plagues; yet they did not repent and give Him glory. And the fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness, and men began to gnaw their tongues in anguish and curse the God of heaven for their pains and sores; yet they did not repent of their deeds. And the sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up to prepare the way for the kings of the East.
4. Next the ozone layer that has protected the earth is ripped away, leaving people at the mercy of the sun’s rays. All the time that those who remain on the earth are suffering, not once do they praise God but they rather curse Him!
5. The fifth angel pours his bowl directly on the throne of the beast, plunging its kingdom into darkness. Could this be dust storms and air pollution stirred up as a result of the destruction of the ozone layer and unopposed sunlight?
6. The Euphrates River dries up completely! In the past, armies have diverted the Euphrates, most notably to conquer ancient Babylon. But now with the scorching heat of the sun beating down on the earth, the Euphrates goes completely dry, leaving the countries on the west side of it exposed.
The amazing thing is that as each of these plagues further devastate the earth, those who worship the beast refuse to worship God but curse Him instead. There is no point in cursing someone if you refuse to believe that they exist, so obviously those worshiping the beast believe in God. But these poor people are so deceived that nothing matters to them anymore apart from their suffering and they persist in worshiping the beast.
In the last book of the Narnia Chronicles, C.S. Lewis describes a group of dwarves who refuse to believe in Aslan, the Christ figure, but who persist in chanting that “the dwarves are for the dwarves!” While those around the dwarves are entering into heaven, the dwarves cannot because they refuse to believe.
“Why are we studying such a gloomy book at Christmas?” you might ask. “Revelation is about as grim a book as the Bible possesses. Perhaps our problem is that we have sentimentalized Christmas to the point of the absurd. Jesus did NOT come as a baby so that He could adorn sweet greeting cards 2000 years later. Nor did Jesus confront Satan, death, hell and the grave so that He could simply be made the subject of a few carols, tuneful as they are. Jesus was born as a human baby for one reason: he was to be the sinless blood sacrifice that would pay for the sins of all those who would believe in Him. The red of Christmas originally stood for the Blood of Jesus. And the Green of Christmas stood – and stands – for eternal life. The message of Christmas is that Jesus has made a way for all sinners – and we are all sinners – to have eternal life, if we will accept what He has done for us and will believe in Him. Jesus has given the very best Gift of all – eternal life. But we can choose to accept or reject that gift. The decision is up to each one of us.
PRAYER: Father God, thank you for sending Jesus to live as a man, to die on Calvary, and to defeat death and the grave so that we might have eternal life. Help each of us to accept that greatest gift. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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