July 23, 2023

THE REVELATION SERIES: THE TIME HAS COME

July 23, 2023

Pastor Jonathan Falwell

 

The time has now come for an end to the judgments, to sin and wickedness, and to the Great Tribulation. God is ready for His children to join Him in heaven. Today, John sees visions of the seven destructive bowl judgments of God’s wrath, leading up to the battle of Armageddon. The earth was left populated by those who have no use for God. The bowls of God’s wrath carries out the commands of God as He cries with a loud voice, “It is finished”! This is the same cry Jesus made on the cross as He gave up His spirit, for a new beginning because of the resurrection, just as God is now ready for a new beginning with those who have eternal life!

 

Focal Passage: Revelation 15, 16.

The time has come:

  • Read Revelation 15:1. When we ended chapter 14, Jesus was sitting on a cloud; what was in His hand? The first half of the Tribulation is over, and the second half is about to start. Will things get better or worse for the last 3 ½ years? Why?
  • This vision begins with “another sign in heaven”; how does John describe what he sees? What do the angels have? What is terrorizing about the contents?
  • When Jesus was dying on the Cross, what did He cry out? The Greek for “It is finished” was a variation of teleo. This is the same word God uses for His wrath being complete, both here and in 16:17; what would that signify?
  • What are the groups of sevens we have had in the Book of Revelation?

It’s a time of worship:

  • Read 15:2-4. What does John see in verse 2a? Where else did we see a sea of glass? Here, what is mingled with the glass? What does the fire mean?
  • Who is on the sea of glass? Where did they come from? Why were they killed during the first half of the Great Tribulation? Why did they sing the song of Moses? Read Exo. 15:1-2. Why is coming out of the first three and a half years likened to Israel coming out of Egypt? What do they have in their hands? What will they do with them?

It’s a time of Judgment:

  • Read vv. 5-8. After the time of worship, what does John see? Is this the same temple as in Rev. 11? John set the scene for us in verse 1, now he describes everything much more fully. What exactly has happened with the angels? Who had come out and given them the bowls of wrath?
  • Could anyone enter the temple at this point? Read Exo. 19:18 and 1 Kings 8:10-11. Was this the same phenomenon that is in Rev.? How long was the glory and power of God going to last?

What is this judgment?

  • Read Rev. 16:1. What did John hear as chapter 16 opens? What does God say? Why is He ready to destroy the earth? When was another time that man’s wickedness was so evil that He destroyed everything? What about Sodom & Gomorrah?
  • In previous chapters, what other demonstrations of disaster have already hit the earth as judgments? Why are the bowl judgments going to be so much more terrifying?

FIRST BOWL: Loathsome Sores

  • Read verse 2. What type of sore came upon mankind? Who do the sores target? Read Exo. 9:8-9. Is this the same type of plague? Have you ever had a boil? How did it feel?

SECOND BOWL: The Sea Turns to Blood

  • Read vs. 3. What does the second angel pour out? What is the effect of this bowl? Does this include all oceans and seas? What happens to all the sea creatures? What else?

THIRD BOWL: The Waters Turn to Blood

  • Read vv. 4-7. What did this angel do? How was this like Exo. 7:17? Why will the angels break into praise? How do you think the martyrs of 6:9 feel now that they are avenged?

FOURTH BOWL: Men are scorched

  • Read vv. 8-9. What happens with this bowl? Some of the areas of the world have been experiencing great heat recently: what will it be like in the Tribulation? What did men do?
  • Read Luke 21:25-28. This is meant for the time of the end of the Great Tribulation. Why?

FIFTH BOWL: Darkness and pain

  • Read vv. 10-11. What was the kingdom of the beast (the Antichrist)? Read Exo. 10:21-23. How was this like Egypt? How did men react?

SIXTH BOWL: Euphrates dries up

  • Read vv. 12-16. What was the target of the sixth angel? Why does God want the Euphrates dry? How much of it has already dried by natural causes? When will it be expected to be dry, at the rate it is going? Does God have to rely on man’s prediction?
  • What is the unholy trinity (the dragon, beast, and false prophet) preparing for?
  • What is the blessing God pronounces upon those who love Him?

SEVENTH BOWL: The earth utterly shaken

  • Read vv. 17-21. What does God pronounce from the temple? What happens next? How much do the hail stones weigh? Can anyone possibly be left alive?

The bottom line:

It is God, and God alone, who deserves the adoration and praise for the victory over Satan, the Antichrist, and the false prophet. There is no self-admiration or “look what I’ve done” in the song of those who overcame—it is all because of the Blood of the Lamb. Everything that man would have counted gain on earth is now “counted as nothing but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus [our] Lord: for whom [we] have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that [we] may win Christ!” (Phil. 3:8).

 

By Sandy Day

July 23, 2023

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