The
Seven Bowls – Conclusion
“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.
5.
“The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the
throne of the beast, and his kingdom was plunged
into darkness. Men gnawed their tongues in agony
and cursed the God of heaven because of their
pains and their sores, but they refused to repent
of what they had done.” (Revelation 16:10,11)
The
fifth bowl serves two purposes: First, Jesus
unmasks the devil. (In this passage, the beast is
a reference to the lamblike beast. See Revelation
13:11.) When the fifth bowl begins, the devil
will have been masquerading as Almighty God for
about a year (since the fifth trumpet). Second,
God imposes painful and agonizing sores on those
who have inflicted great suffering in the saints.
Those sores will suddenly “pop up” on
everyone who serves in Lucifer’s global
government – from the lowest clerk to the
ten kings. Even though their suffering will be
off the chart, the wicked will still refuse to
repent of their evil deeds. They will remain
loyal to the devil to the bitter end. (This
proves that loyalty can be totally blinding,
since it even transcends intelligence.)
Here
is a scenario: When the fifth bowl is poured out,
Jesus silently turns everything upside down
within Lucifer’s government. Suddenly, the
devil and his angels, those glorious beings who
deceived the whole world with blinding glory,
become demons of darkness. The devil, who is
thought to be Almighty God, is no longer the
glorious being that he once was. His brilliant
glory completely disappears, his throne room
becomes pitch dark, and everyone in his evil
government will be afflicted with horrible and
painful sores.
People
who have the mark of the beast (but not employees
of the devil’s government) will watch this
mind-boggling phenomena. They will ask each other,
“Why would God suddenly lose his glory? Why
would God curse everyone who works for him with
these horrible boils?” An involuntary answer
will soon form on their lips. “Uh oh….
The 144,000 were right! This is indeed the devil!
This dark being is not God! We were deceived! But,
we can’t call him ‘the devil’ or
we will be killed just as the saints and the 144,000
were killed! What should we do now? Oh, no….”
This is one of those moments in Earth’s
history when the truth really hurts and nothing
can be done about it.
6. “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 from the East. Then
I saw three evil spirits that looked like frogs;
they came out of the mouth of the dragon, out of
the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of
the false prophet. They are spirits of demons
performing miraculous signs, and they go out to
the kings of the whole world, to gather them for
the battle on the great day of God Almighty.
‘Behold, I come like a thief! Blessed is he
who stays awake and keeps his clothes with him,
so that he may not go naked and be shamefully
exposed.’ Then they gathered the kings
together to the place that in Hebrew is called
Armageddon.” (Revelation 16:12-16)
The
meaning of this bowl is not too difficult if you
understand the context and setting of this future
event. The drying up of the great river Euphrates
is an ancient phrase that means the arrival of
the two kings coming down from the North (the
Father and Son) is unstoppable. In other words,
ancient kings could cross through the riverbed of
the Euphrates because the great river itself was
no longer a barrier. I believe the sign of
the Father and the Son will first appear in the
sky during this time. This sign will be a small
cloud drawing near to Earth. (Matthew 24:30)
Remember, divine destruction in ancient times
always came out of the North (Jeremiah 51:48; Job
37:22), but physically, because of the rotation
of Earth on its axis, the Father and Son (the two
kings) will appear from the East. (Matthew 26:64)
By the
time the sixth bowl is poured out, the wicked
will be suffering in the extreme. (The saints do
not suffer from the seven bowls. (Daniel 12:1)
Every wicked person will be wearing the devil’s
inescapable tattoo. Even more, the world will
know that the devil and his demons are not
Almighty God and His angels, contrary to the
devil’s claims. Wicked people realize they
are looking at the embodiment of evil.
Emotionally speaking, they will be at the point
of utter discouragement. Everything they wanted
to avoid during the Great Tribulation has
happened to them. Then with his incredible
deceptions exposed and the wicked recognizing who
he really is, the devil plays the final card.
It is
a pathetic situation. Even though Lucifer knows
the outcome of this drama, he will demonstrate
his evil character one last time by sending three
miracle-working demons with a pack of lies to
visit the ten kings of Earth. (Frogs catch their
prey with their tongues.) Lucifer, who is the
dragon, the lamblike beast and the false prophet,
sends these powerful demons out. The Bible uses
these three descriptors of Lucifer because these
three caricatures describe him with perfection.
As the red dragon who was cast out of Heaven, he
is the original Antichrist. As the lamblike beast
who rose up out of the Earth, he is the final
Antichrist. As the false prophet who led the
whole world astray, he is the father of lies.
Their
message to each king will be simple and direct:
“You have but one choice to save yourselves
from the approaching cloud in the East. If you
will join with us in destroying Jesus and the
Father as they draw near Earth, we can defeat
them. You have atomic bombs. We have power to
work miracles. Do we have a deal? If so, arm
yourselves for immediate battle.” The only
option is to trust in human might and the miracle
working power of these demons. They prepare for
battle.
“They
[the kings of the Earth] have one purpose
and will give their power and authority to the
beast. They will make war against the Lamb, but
the Lamb will overcome them because he is Lord of
lords and King of kings – and with him will
be called, chosen and faithful followers.” (Revelation
17:13,14)
7.
“The seventh angel poured out his bowl into
the air, and out of the temple came a loud voice
from the throne, saying, “It is done!’ [I
believe this voice comes from one of the four
living creatures. See Revelation 8:13.] Then
there came flashes of lightening, rumblings,
peals of thunder and a severe earthquake. No
earthquake like it has ever occurred since man
has been on earth, so tremendous was the quake.
The great city [Babylon the Great] split
into three parts, and the cities of the nations
collapsed. God remembered Babylon the Great and
gave her the cup filled with the wine of the fury
of his wrath. Every island fled away and the
mountains could not be found. From the sky huge
hailstones of about a hundred pounds each fell
upon men. And they cursed God on account of
the plagues of hail, because the plague was so
terrible.” (Revelation 16:17-21,
insertions mine)
When
the seventh bowl is poured out, the ten kings,
encouraged and emboldened by the lies and
miracles of the three demons, are armed and ready
to destroy the Father and Son with all of the
nuclear power they can muster. But, before they
get the first missile in the air, the planet goes
into a violent spasm. A global earthquake rips up
the Earth and the devil’s empire is torn
into three parts. * The islands and mountains are
moved out of their places and Earth vomits from
the nausea of sin. The cities of Earth collapse
into rubble and hailstones weighting a hundred
pounds each fall on the enemies of the Lamb. “They
called to the mountains and the [falling] rocks,
‘Fall on us and hide us from (a) the
face of Him who sits on the throne [the
Father] and (b) from the wrath of the
Lamb! For the great day of their [plural] wrath
has come, and who can stand?’” (Revelation
6:16,17, insertions mine)
* Note:
The phrase, “The great city split
into three parts” is significant. It
means the complete destruction of Babylon, the
global city whose citizens make up the harlot.
God will divide and totally destroy the city. No
mercy will be shown to the evil empire.
Throughout the Bible, language describes the use
of one-third and two-thirds. For example, David
killed two-thirds of the Moabites when they
refused to pay tribute.(2 Samuel 8:2) God kills
two-thirds of Israel when they refused to keep
His covenant. (Ezekiel 5:12) In these situations,
David and God mercifully spared a remnant. The
idea in Revelation 16 is that there is no mercy
for Babylon. Babylon will cease to exist. Three-thirds
will be destroyed. (Revelation 19:21)
“For
the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with
a loud command, with the voice of the archangel
and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in
Christ will rise first. After that, we who are
still alive and are left will be caught up
together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord
in the air. And so we will be with the Lord
forever. Therefore encourage each other with
these words.” (1 Thessalonians 4:16-18)
“Then
I saw the [false prophet/lamblike] beast
and the kings of the earth [composite beast
with ten horns and seven heads] and their
armies gathered together to make war against the
rider on the horse and his army. But the [composite]
beast was captured, and with him the false
prophet [who is also the lamblike beast] who
had performed the miraculous signs on his behalf.
With
these signs he [the lamblike beast] had
deluded those who had received the mark of the
beast and worshiped his image. The two of them [lamblike
beast/false prophet and composite beast/ten kings/seven
heads] were thrown alive into the fiery lake
of burning sulfur. The rest of them [the
wicked of Earth] were killed with the sword
that came out of the mouth of the rider on the
horse, and all the birds gorged themselves on
their flesh.” (Revelation 19:19-21)
Jesus calls the saints
from their graves. Together with the righteous
living, they meet the Lord in the air while the
wicked watch. Then, a sword comes out of the
mouth of Jesus. The sword is the command, “death
to the wicked.” The seventh bowl marks the
end of human life on Earth for 1,000 years. The
saints leave Earth to spend the next 1,000 years
living with Jesus in their Father’s house. (John
14:1-3)
|
