Revelation 16

Seven seals, seven trumpets, and now finally seven bowls of the wrath of God...

When the Son of God suffered for sinners, He eventually came to the end of that suffering. We know that our Lord faced physical pain for us, but even the most detailed and accurate analysis of His bodily injury by the most knowledgeable eyewitness would not reveal to us enough of what Christ actually went through for us.

Jesus of Nazareth took the judgment of God that we deserved. The pouring out of these final seven bowls of the Lord's wrath upon the earth are only the beginning. The punishments of hell are eternal. These bowls are temporal. Somehow, in the death of Jesus, an eternal penalty, which is what we have earned, was given to Christ in a brief space of time. And when it was completed, He was able to say, “It is finished.”

Any suffering that we personally feel, witness in others, or read about in the Scriptures, is just a portion of what Jesus has faced for us. The seven final bowls being poured out on the earth, if we consider them rightly, may tell us more about the soul suffering of Christ for His people throughout the world than even the most detailed and accurate eyewitness account of His deprivation, torture, and death could ever accomplish. Perhaps this is why the gospel writers avoid detailed descriptions of the Lord's physical trials, stating the facts in the most plain and minimal way possible.

When the judgments of the Lord were poured out upon the Land of Egypt so long again, those who did not have the mark of the blood of the passover lamb on their homes experienced the death of the firstborn. In the day of the Lord's final judgment, there will be many who have submitted to a different mark, the mark of the beast, in order to avoid the trouble that would have come to them from insulting the powers of the world system that insisted on their worship. But when God comes to judge, that mark of the beast will bring no man safety. On the contrary, painful sores will come on the bodies of the those who have aligned themselves with the world's system of false worship.

In the days of Moses, the rivers of Egypt turned to blood. Now the seas themselves will become blood, and everything in them will die. There will be no relief from an alternate supply of water, for the rivers and the very springs of water that feed them will be come blood in that day. The angels who bring about these acts of divine justice will proclaim the righteousness of the Lord, and His dedication to the martyrs who have remained true to the Name of Christ, even at the cost of their lives. The world celebrated to shed the blood of the faithful. Now they shall have so much blood everywhere that there will be no fresh water left. “It is what they deserve,” comes the voice of the angel, and the very altar in the heavens where the martyrs safely abide in Christ, will testify that the judgments of the Lord are just and true.

Who can live through these great displays of God's righteous anger? The sun will bring forth the most fierce heat, and men who feel the pain will not repent. They will not give God the glory. They will curse the Name of God. Is this all too horrific to consider? This horror of pain and divine displeasure that seems like hell on earth was once centered upon one innocent Lamb for our sake. In that day so long ago our sins were atoned for. In the Day of Judgment that is coming, the system of darkness and evil in the world will be utterly and finally overthrown. The beast and his kingdom will be judged, and sent away into outer darkness. We may turn away our hearts at the thought of such devastation, just as we might have turned our eyes away from the cross, yet both God's judgment against His holy Son for our sake, and His destruction of the world system in one final death blow are necessary in order for the holy purposes of the Lord to be accomplished.

This great work of the Lord against the demonic and societal evil that so polluted His creation will provoke a desperate response among men and angels who hate the Lord and who love their own kingdom of idolatry and evil. They will bring the power of kings and kingdoms against God. They will perform signs to gather their host in a war that they could never win. They will feel the strength of their numbers, but the Lord Himself will come like a thief in the night. His people will wait for him in that desperate hour, and He will come.

When the final bowl of God's judgment is poured out on the earth from the Lord's heavenly throne, a loud voice from on high will announce, “It is done.” The sky will be filled with lightening. The earth will shake as never before. The cities of man will be split apart, and the Babylon of man's idolatry and oppression will have to drink the cup of the wine of the fury of God's wrath.

Will the people of the world repent in that day? No, they will curse God for the earthquake and for the massive hailstones that He sent upon the earth. This will be the response of those devoted to the beast.

The suffering of our Savior on the cross, the way that He took our judgment and accomplished our redemption, it should take our breath away. But when we see it in the truth of the Word preached to us, by the grace of God we receive His great love for us, we repent of our sin. We turn away from all the glory of Babylon, and we rejoice in the Jerusalem that is above. If we have to suffer in order to stay with the Lamb, so be it. If our blood must be shed, it is the will of the Lord. But one day His answer will come from heaven, and the beast of this world system will be crushed.