Sermon Notes - Revelation 16:1-21 - The Bowl Judgements - Littleby Baptist Church - November 21, 2021

1.     Isaiah 59:1-2

a.      Our God is not too weak to save, and He hears our pleas.

b.     But He is a Holy God, and our sin will separate us from Him.

c.      That was true when God gave these words to Isaiah.

d.     It is true today.

e.      It will be true when the Seventh trumpet is blown.

2.     Our God is Holy and Righteous, He is perfect and cannot be around our sin.

a.      Hopefully everyone here knows that we are sinners.

b.     That through the death and resurrection of Jesus, all have a path to salvation.

c.      Through Jesus there is victory over sin.

d.     Without Jesus, without repentance, wrath will come.

3.     Last week we transitioned from the overview and Jesus harvesting His followers to the timeline of events.

a.      We came back to the time of the Seventh Trumpet.

b.     We saw the Seven vials or bowls being handed to the Seven angels who will pour out the wrath onto the world.

c.      We saw the Heavenly Holy Temple of God be filled with smoke, with the Glory of God.

d.     A somber moment as a Holy God brings judgement on those who have failed to accept the free gift of His Son and the pardon that comes with it.

4.     Revelation 16:1 – The wrath begins.

a.      God’s glory has filled the temple, no one can enter it until the seven plagues are completed.

b.     That means the only voice that can come from the temple is God the Father.

c.      These judgements are about to be poured out by God’s command.

d.     They are greater, more severe, and more intense than anything that has come before.

e.      We have talked about some rough things happening to those who walked the earth during the first 15 chapters.

                                                    i.     They all pale in comparison to what we are about to look at.

5.     Revelation 16:2

a.      Those who had chosen to take the mark of the antichrist and worshipped his image, were hit with this plague.

b.     A judgement for choosing Satan in place of God.

c.      Which does mirror the 6^th plague against Egypt in Exodus 9:10-11

                                                    i.     Several will mirror the judgement that was brought upon those in Egypt.

6.     Revelation 16:3

a.      Similar to the 1^st plague in Egypt, Exodus 7:19-21

b.     And the Second Trumpet in Revelation 8:8-9.

                                                    i.     Since these bowls do not start until the Seventh Trumpet is blown, the timing would not make sense for them to be the same event.  

7.     Revelation 16:4

a.      Similar to the Third Trumpet found in Revelation 8:10-11, but there it made the rivers like wormwood, poisionous, here they became blood.

b.     Painful sores, the seas turning to blood, the fish died, now the rivers and springs of water have turned to blood, so there is no water to drink.  

c.      A horrible situation to be in, and it will only get worse.

8.     Revelation 16:5-7

a.      God is Just!

b.     He is Holy!

c.      The one who is and the who was!

                                                    i.     No longer is to come, as He has arrived.

d.     The angel proclaimed that God’s judgement is Just because those being punished shed the blood of the saints.

                                                    i.     Not everyone who took the mark of the beast personally killed one of God’s saints.

                                                  ii.     Matthew 10:40-42 – If one welcomes a prophet or a righteous person, they share in his reward.

                                                iii.     If one supports a murderer of saints, if one pledges to serve the antichrist, do they share in his punishment?

                                                iv.     Revelation 14:9-11, sounds like the Bible tells us they do.

9.     Revelation 16:8-9

a.      The Fourth Bowl brings intense heat.

b.     A heat so strong that people will be scorched.

                                                    i.     I have been sunburnt pretty bad in my life, but this heat will kill them.  

c.      Reading that the people will not repent and give the true God glory is not surprising at this point.

d.     This is the Wrath of God, it will not be falling on the saints.

10.  Revelation 16:10-11

a.      Those that chose Satan over Jesus are being punished.

b.     The antichrist and all his followers are being punished.

c.      The throne given to him from Satan is being directly attacked.

d.     The kingdom that he rules is plunged into darkness.

e.      Could be Darkness as in the absence of light, or as in confusion and chaos.

                                                    i.     Darkness none the less.

f.      People gnawed at their tongues because of the pain they were in, they blasphemed God, and did not repent.

                                                    i.     Sadly, not surprising this close to the end and to those experiencing God’s Wrath.

11.  Revelation 16:12

a.      With the sixth bowl being poured out the path is made clear for the kings of the East to cross over the Euphrates into the Holy Land.

b.     In a survey from 100 commentaries of the book of Revelation, they found 50 interpretations of who the kings of the East were.

c.      The simplest way to look at this is that the kings of the East will come from the East or the Orient to participate in the final world war.

d.     The Orient is Japan, China, Korea, Hong Kong, and Taiwan- 1.7B people, more than 20% of the population of the world today.

                                                    i.     If half to 2/3rds of the population of the world has been wiped out by this point, the 200M person army foretold in chapter 9 would be 25-35% of the Orients remaining population.

                                                  ii.     Less than half of their expected population, well within reason.

12.  Revelation 16:13-14

a.      Satan, the antichrist, and the false prophet cough up demons.

b.     The demons travel to the kings of the world, perform miracles and get them all to come battle the kings of the East.

c.      The Great War is coming.

13.  Revelation 16:15-16

a.      Christ will come like a thief in the night.

                                                    i.     Not for those who believe and are watching for the signs.

                                                  ii.     Those who do not know Jesus will not be prepared, they will be caught off guard, and will suffer for it.

b.     The armies are gathering.

14.  Revelation 16:17-20

a.      Bowl poured out and the voice of God, the only one in the temple, says ‘It is done!’ – Wow!

b.     Lightning

c.      Thunder

d.     Severe Earthquake

e.      Cities collapsed.

f.      Every island fled.

g.     Mountains could no longer be found.

h.     100-pound hailstones fell.

i.       Those who were left blasphemed or cursed God.

j.       The Seventh Bowl brought harsh judgement on the earth and those in it.

15.  Re-read verse 19.

a.      The city of Babylon gets a concentrated dose of the wrath of God.

b.     Revelation 18 tells us that the city will become a home for demons, unclean spirits, and so forth.

c.      This verse and others like it support the argument that Babylon is a physical place.

d.     It could be the old ruins rebuilt, Jerusalem, Rome, or some other city.  

e.      More to come about Babylon in chapters 17 and 18.

16.  Matthew 24:36-39

a.      No one knows when the Church will be taken away.

b.     No one knows when Christ is coming.

c.      We all have choices to make.

d.     Do we believe that Jesus is Lord?

e.      Do we believe that God’s future judgment is real?

f.      Ultimately that is the choice before every person that walks this earth. To follow and Jesus and live accordingly or follow Satan and experience wrath.  

17.  Our God is Righteous and Holy!

18.  His Word is True!

19.  If we trust in His Word, if we Follow Him, we will have a glorious eternity.