Revelation 16:1-21
Please read your Bible text: Rev 16:1-21
‘Then the seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air. And a mighty shout came from the throne in the Temple, saying, “It is finished!”’ Rev 16:17
Revelations 16 is a panoramic view of God’s wrath in judgment to be poured out from the seven bowls each in succession. This is probably toward the tail end of the second half of the seven years of the Great Tribulation. God’s wrath poured out in judgment on Satan, his antichrist, and inevitably also with him, the unbelieving, godless, and corrupted world is been brought to completion. Hence the mighty shout from heaven, “It is finished!” when the last of the final seventh bowl of God’s wrath is being poured out. Let the reader knows that this is going to happen to this world and is going to happen soon. The destruction and suffering on earth are going to be of catastrophic proportion beyond any ones’ imagination.
A Pre-View of Doomsday –vv1-4, 8-21
The Great Tribulation is also described in the Bible as the days of God’s wrath. God’s wrath is seen in a series of seven bowls, pouring out in succeeding degrees, each with increasing intensity. First, painful malignant sores break out on every human. This is the first bowl. Hardly have they cope, then the second bowl, the sea becomes blood, and marine life dies. Then follows by the third bowl, the rivers, streams, and spring become blood, and there is no freshwater. With little or no water to drink, comes the fourth bowl, the sun becomes scorching hot like burning fire, aggravating the already dried and parched earth. Then the fifth bowl, unexplained darkness and pain, and men will curse God instead of repenting. Next, the sixth Bowl follows with 3 demonic beings released to lure and instigate all the superpowers of the earth to gather them, ready for battle. This will be the final world war to be fought in the apocalypse battle of Armageddon, all nations against one tiny ‘ISRAEL’. The seventh Bowl shakes the cosmos, earthquakes of unseen magnitude, cities of many nations and mountains will crumble, and all islands disappear. To top it all, hailstones weighing about 32 kilograms each comes crashing down from heaven.
A Sure-View of God’s Justice –vv5-7
The angel affirms God is just for sending this terrible judgment – v.5. The voice from the altar (v.7) in heaven speaks of the voices or prayers of the martyrs. They too appraise God’s justice. It is hard to believe the angel who rejoices over one sinner who repents is now happy over the destruction of the unsaved humanity! If we tend to feel soft at heart over the loss of human life in the days of God’s wrath and to some extent, question God’s love, then perhaps our thinking has been so warped by a lifetime of living in this world of saturated evil. God’s love is not soft or slipshod but strong and active for justice.
God is just for pouring His wrath in destruction for He recompenses for the martyrs of the saints. God is just for destroying the Devil, the antichrist, and terminates the corrupt system of the world. God is just for having served warnings, time and again for people to repent before finally releasing His wrath to destroy. One day when we stand on God’s side of heaven and see the evil from His vantage point – then we will all agree with the angels – that God is just for the judgment He sends in the Great Tribulation.
A Hind-View into Satan’s Scheme
Satan (the devil) is a schemer to deceive by faking the deity of God. Just as the Father God has Jesus Christ the Son and the Holy Spirit to bear witness and points us to Christ – Satan fakes as the Father (but he is the father of lies) with the antichrist as the Son and the false prophet as the Spirit to bear witness and points the world to the antichrist.
Satan also attempts to fake the millennium rule of Christ. He does it through a confederacy of human superpowers, in establishing a one-world rule with the antichrist on the throne. Today, all the news about a central government (a new world order), a universal religion for all, and one common market or monetary system are merely the stage for Satan to put up the antichrist. But God in His justice will put an end to Satan’s scheme. Knowing his time is almost up, Satan in his final straw – send out demonic spirits to instigate the superpowers of the world to fight against God’s people (Israel) in the plain of Megiddo – catastrophic warfare capable of mass destruction with nuclear power.
When the last of the 7 bowls, is poured out – a mighty shout came from the Throne in the Temple (Heavenly Temple), saying: “It is finished” – v.17. I believe this shout comes from the glorified Jesus Christ. After all, it was the same Lord Jesus Christ who cried the same cry on the cross. On the cross, Jesus cried “Finished” when God’s wrath was completely unleashed on His body for our sins. But now Christ cries “Finished” because God’s Wrath has been entirely meted out on Satan and his cohorts. God’s justice is finally vindicated, and evil is finally ended.
Think: There are two “Finished” cries — first, on the Cross, my sins are done for – lastly, on Doom’s Day, Satan is done for!
Prayer: Father, May the thought of your soon coming to set things right and to establish the Kingdom rule purifies our heart. Keep us occupied with You, Lord Jesus till the day we see you face to face. Prepare our hearts to face the coming tribulation with courage and faithfulness unto You. We pray many who chance on reading this devotion will find faith and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.
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