It's a pleasure to be with you here today.
You know, as I was preparing this message, I was reminded
that we often forget that when the Lord Jesus lived on the
earth and ministered through his incomparable preaching and
teaching, He did more than just explain what he would accomplish
through his death and resurrection.
He did more than just teach us how to worship the Father and
treat one another, including our enemies.
He did more than give us insight into the spiritual realm and the
eternal world. He also predicted the future,
and specifically, He told us in wonderful detail what the world
will undergo in the period just before His return.
Moreover, people often overlook that what Christ preached and
prophesied about the end of the world is expanded and given to
us in further detail in the very last book of the Bible, the Book
of Revelation. Which means that the recorded
words of Jesus in the Gospels regarding that era known as the
Tribulation period is, is just a summary of what would later be
fleshed out through the Apostle John in the final account of
Holy Writ. And before we look at this study
and these incredibly precise prophecies in the Book of
Revelation, I want us to be reminded about a certain comment
that Jesus Christ himself made about that era that is quite
sobering. So usually at this point I would
invite you to the Book of Revelation, but let's take a
peek in the book of Matthew in chapter 24 looking at verse 21,
Matthew 24, beginning in verse 21,
Jesus Christ says here, for then there will be great tribulation,
such as not been from the beginning of the world until
now. No and never will be.
And if those days had not been cut short, no human being would
be saved. But for the sake of the elect,
those days will be cut short. Now what does Christ mean when
he says those days? If those days had not been cut
short, no human being would be saved.
It's it's quite simple, though perhaps for some difficult to
accept. If the Lord did not in his
permission to unleash all these calamities and catastrophes
which are manifestations of his wrath and holy justice, if he
did not determine an end to them, if they went on
indefinitely, no one would be able to survive.
It would be absolute and complete annihilation.
And this speaks to the severity of God's wrath toward those in
that final generation. At the same time, it also
reveals to us that God's judgment will not be executed
arbitrarily. It will not be uncontrolled.
It will be calculated, it will be orderly, and it will end at a
determined point. And we are going to be reminded
of this as we look at the fascinating visions that amplify
what Christ taught in this very chapter in Matthew as we look to
Revelation chapter 16. So now let's turn to our main
text and read from verse one down to verse 9.
As many of you know, what we find here is the final sequence
of the Lord's judgment before he revamps and transformed this
very world through the reign of the promised physical Son of God
and his Kingdom. And this final sequence is known
as the seven bowls of God's wrath.
We've already examined the seven seals.
We already studied the seven trumpets.
But after this last series, there is no further judgement of
this magnitude to come. What you and I are about to
enter is the last of the last of God's wrath in the Tribulation
period. This is it.
This is a significant turning point in our study of the end
times, and we will not rush through this chapter because
there is much that it has to offer.
And one way of organizing these seven bowls of God's wrath in
our understanding is by realizing that they are
organized in three main parts. The first four bowls are
designated to affect the natural world.
The 5th and the 6th bowl will be directed towards the political
realm of that time, namely the Kingdom of the Antichrist and
the rulers of all nations. And finally, the 7th bowl is the
apex of all judgments. This is going to be poured out
symbolically as we're going to read in the next few weeks, and
it is going to be the final cleansing agent that will wipe
the world clean before Christ ushers in the fullness of His
Kingdom on the earth. And for the sake of time today,
we will consider the first four bowls this afternoon and see
what God will do in creation as He is wrapping things up.
The very closing moments of human history are before us in
this prophecy, and it should sober us, and it should remind
us of the great majesty of our God, among other things that we
will see today. So let's look at it, the first
four bowls beginning in verse one.
Then I heard a loud voice from the temple telling the seven
angels go and pour out on the earth the seven bowls of the
wrath of God. So the first Angel went and
poured out his bowl on the earth, and harmful and painful
sores came upon the people who bore the mark of the beast and
worshipped its image. The second Angel poured out his
bowl into the sea and it became like the blood of a corpse and
every living thing died that was in the sea.
The third Angel poured out his bowl into the rivers and the
springs of water, and they became blood.
And I heard the Angel in charge of the water say, Just are you,
O Holy One, who is and who was? For you brought these judgments,
for they have shed the blood of Saints and prophets, and you
have given them blood to drink. It is what they deserve.
And I heard the altar saying, Yes, Lord God the Almighty, true
and just are your judgments. The 4th Angel poured out his
bowl on the sun, and it was allowed to scorch people with
fire. They were scorched by the fierce
heat and they cursed the name of God who had power over these
plagues. They did not repent and give him
glory. Father, we choose to give you
glory today. We choose to repent because we
know that in repentance we find life, we find forgiveness, we
find mercy. We pray Lord, that as we look at
these verses, you would captivate us, make these truths
real to us. Oh Lord, we're fully aware that
even looking at these horrifying prophecies we can allow our
minds to wander. Instead, we pray that every word
that will be shared would arrest us as we realize the reality of
who you are and rejoice in it. In Jesus name we pray.
Amen. Let's look at these bowls one by
one, shall we? We look at the first one in
verses 1 to 2, and we notice that this bowl, when it is
poured out, will be poured out on the earth.
Remember, the first four bowls deal with creation, deal with
the natural order. And this first Angel, without
hesitation, responds to the voice from the temple in heaven,
which is God speaking, and he lets out what seems to be a
plague that harms the body. It says here in verse 2 that the
Angel, the first Angel, went out and poured out his bowl in the
earth. And harmful and painful sores
came upon the people. The people.
Now, what are these sores? There's a lot of speculation,
but most likely we're talking about cancerous tumors.
We're talking about severe agitation to the flesh.
We're talking about something that will be of great magnitude
in terms of the pain and the distress and the discomfort, but
we have to be very careful. God is not, again, arbitrarily
just letting loose this act. It is aimed at a particular
group, and that group here in verse 2 are those who bore the
mark of the beast and worship its image.
This is quite interesting. We find here that the mark of
the beast is something that people will wear, will brand
themselves with in this period of human history as a way of
pledging their allegiance to somebody who will one day rule
the world and claim himself to be God.
And in doing so, they are actually trying to preserve
their own survival. Remember, the Antichrist is
going to coerce the masses to give their devotion to him.
And so in order to spare themselves from economic
distress and to ultimately escape the death penalty, many
people will bow their knee to the Antichrist.
And what's so startling is that whatever provision or promise
the Antichrist makes for these people who think that this is
the best choice that I have in this time of uncertainty and
calamity, this is the best option.
Well, ultimately he will fail to protect them and provide for
them in the greatest time of need when God's wrath shows up.
And there are a couple of very important truths that we can
draw from this. The first is that most people,
even today, not just then but now, make decisions without
accounting for judgment day. They don't factor in that final
day of accountability. So they plan and they purchase
and they pursue and they invest thinking that whatever I do in
this life is all to my existence.
And that's what people will do then.
But if you know the Bible, then you are aware that over over
again in the Scriptures we are reminded that yes, a majority of
people will in fact live to profit in this age alone while
forfeiting everything else in the life to come.
And we have to avoid that temptation.
In Proverbs 11 verse 4, the Holy Spirit says riches do not profit
in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from
death. Riches can offer a lot in this
world, but God shows us in the single verse, and we find it
throughout the pages of the Word of God, that riches can offer
you nothing when it comes to the most important thing about you,
what will happen to your soul? And that's what we find here, a
clear example of those who accepted the mark and who may
have counted themselves among the winners.
One of those Christians rejecting the mark of the beast
because of their allegiance to Jesus.
Is Jesus helping you now to survive?
Does Jesus put food on your dinner table for your family?
Antichrist does. Where are the answers in your
Christian faith? With all the disasters around
us, Antichrist seems to provide some help.
But whatever winning they think that they are enjoying is but
for a brief time. In fact, those who rejected the
mark, namely Christians, and suffered because of it end up
escaping something far more costly.
Many people make decisions without taking into account
Judgement Day. Secondly, we also find here that
this first bowl illustrates the painful outcome of false
worship, the results of placing your adoration, your devotion
towards something or someone else apart from God.
There is irony in this plague. Think about it.
You had this group, the masses, the nations, marking themselves
on their right hand or their forehead in order to pledge
their loyalty to this man. And when God pours out this
first of the last of judgments, He inflicts their bodies.
And when you look at this more carefully, you have to
understand that this disease that breaks out did not just
come for the afternoon. We get the impression from the
context that it was lasting, didn't just disappear after a
few minutes. Look at Revelation 16 verse 10
to get confirmation of that. It says here the 5th Angel
poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast and its
Kingdom was plunged Into Darkness.
People nod their tongues in anguish and curse the God of
heaven for their pain and sores. So by the 5th bowl the sores are
still there. They did not repent of their
deeds. Brothers and sisters, please
lean in and hear this. This is just one of the many
examples in the Bible that there is a kind of worship we offer
that brings us lasting peace, and there is a kind of worship
that we can engage in that invites lasting pain.
You know what's the difference? You know what makes a
difference? The object of your worship.
If you and I give our affection and our submission and our love
toward anything above God, it may provide immediate relief,
may give you a sense of pleasure, it may offer you the
identity in the wholeness that you've been looking for your
whole life. But whatever it may offer, I
tell you based on the authority of God's Word, it will always be
followed by sorrow, because the blessings of worship can only be
realized when they are directed towards the one who alone
deserves the worship. That's God.
You know many people are familiar with Psalm 16, verse
11. You have made note to me, the
paths of life at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
In your presence there is fullness of joy.
We love that it. It shows the endless pleasure
that God gives us in His presence, the uninterrupted joy
that is found in Him. And yet many people fail to
understand that David also said something about place.
Placing your sorrow and something apart from God or
placing your substance and your satisfaction is something apart
from God. In verse 4 of that same Psalm,
he says the sorrows of those who run after another God shall
multiply. That's often not quoted.
You chase anything else more than God.
You adore anything else more than God.
You serve anything else more than God.
What's guaranteed is the multiplication of sorrow.
That is just a part of God's order of things.
It is established in His law because you and I were created
to love Him supremely. So we all have the choice,
finding the fullness of joy and the the joy of of his presence
and his bliss and his fellowship that will never be taken from
us, that will never run dry, or the chase after anything else
that tries to persuade you. And sorrow will be met.
Certainly that's what we'll see at the end of times.
People will pursue the Antichrist thinking that he is
their answer and in the end they are met with sores and much
sorrow. Let's look at the second bowl in
verse 3. The second Angel poured out his
bowl into the sea, and it became like the blood of a corpse and
every living thing died that was in the sea.
So again the 1st 4 bowls deal with nature.
Now we go from something being poured on the earth and that
speaks namely about those who inhabit the earth, to now a
second Angel pouring out his bowl into the sea.
And all we have to mark from the second bowl is the fact that
every living thing died that was in the sea.
Now, why is that significant? I'll tell you one reason.
Yes, it illustrates just how devastating this blow will be on
the economy of this generation, but it also is another
confirmation of the way the Book of Revelation should be
interpreted. There are alternative views of
how we should unpack this set of prophecies, and one way that you
and I can ground ourselves in the proper way is by
understanding that Revelation is generally chronological, and so
this is one other proof text for that truth.
So we see that the sea is being harmed here, but this is not the
first time that the sea was affected by God.
This is the bold judgments. But let's rewind to the trumpet
judgments. Come with me to Revelation 8,
verse 8, and I'll tell you in a second why all of this is
important. Revelation 8, verse 8, it says
here the second Angel blew his trumpet.
These are judgments that happened some time before this
bold judgment. The second Angel blew his
trumpet and something like a great mountain burning with fire
was thrown into the sea, and a third of the sea became blood.
1/3 of the living creatures was in the sea that died, and a
third of the ships were destroyed.
It's clear, isn't it? There's an escalation taking
place here, and there are some who propose otherwise, and it
really confuses the simplicity of the unfolding of these
prophecies. All I'm saying is take this
text, tuck it away in your heart if you're ever challenged by a
viewer perspective of this book that calls you to abandon the
simple timeline of it, because understanding how this all flows
has greater implications of how we view the end times than we
might think. So things are getting worse.
Things are getting more intense, things are leading up to the
culmination of the age. OK, but is there any practical
insight with the second bowl? Absolutely.
You ready for this? It's simple.
God's patience has virtually run out.
Time is up. The reason why he only affected
1/3 of the sea and 1/3 of virtually most of the natural
world and the trumpet judgment is because he still gave them a
chance. He didn't completely obliterate
it, He still dispensed mercy. But they they keep rejecting it.
And so now you come to this moment and you realize he's
actually removing everything. Enough is enough.
Human history is coming to a close, and the world is being
prepared as it is being cleansed, for the Son of God to
renew it and to cover it with His glory in a way that humanity
has never experienced. How does that impact you and I?
Here's how it does. This future reality reminds us
of just how fragile our world is, just how flimsy you and I
are. Have you ever just gone about
your day and thought to yourself, who's holding all of
this together? Well, in Genesis, you and I
learned that with a word, God spoke everything into existence.
And in Revelation, we learned that with a word, He can bring
an end to absolutely everything with a word.
And today, according to Hebrews, all of our systems are in order.
We get to go fishing. We get to have food, we get to
have clear skies, we get to have rain.
The sun is placed exactly where it needs to be positioned not to
destroy us because God upholds it with the power of his word.
And there's a time coming with with that same word.
He'll say destroy it and it will be destroyed and nobody can stop
it. Be humbled today.
I'm humbled. I'm borrowing my next breath
from Him. My heart is beating because of
His mercy, and so is yours. All these politicians and all
these people in power thinking that they can actually determine
things. You are at the mercy of Almighty
God. You can't even tie your shoe
without God's permission. And so God is humbling these
sinners, but it doesn't mean that the Saints can't be
humbled. We must be humbled and we must
remember your God. We come to the third bowl in
verses 4 to 7. This is something very unique in
comparison to the other bowls. It says here in verse 4, the
third Angel poured out his bowl into the rivers and the springs
of water, and they became blood, very similar to what happened
with the sea. But then there's this
interruption. An angel's about to speak.
And the reason for that is because we go from the sea to
different bodies of water being contaminated, namely rivers and
springs of water. So what?
What kind of practical implications does this have?
People can't have drinking water anymore.
That's a problem. For obvious reasons.
The basic necessity for survival is now removed from the world.
And the readers perhaps looking at this, maybe you're thinking
this and you're wrestling now because you're trying to
reconcile this God who claims to be a God of love and compassion.
And we haven't even get past the third bowl and he's already
removed water from people's lips.
He's cut off the refreshment, the replenishment, their fuel.
We know there are some parts of the world now where people don't
have access to clean water. Imagine the entire world being
stripped of that gift. Nowhere to go, no supply, no
nation that is a safe haven. No matter where you look, the
news breaks out. There is nothing for us to
drink. Imagine the carnage.
Imagine the added frustration of those who are already trying to
deal with their sores and businesses that have been run to
the ground because the sea is now poisoned.
And now, before you can even blink, there is nothing for me
to put to these dry, calloused lips.
Who is this God? And we're ready to sit on the
judgment seat and analyze him and accuse him.
And an Angel speaks to his defense.
The Holy Spirit knows how we're thinking and he knows
potentially what we're dealing with in our own hearts.
So notice what happens at this point.
There's an answer, verse 5. And I heard the Angel in charge
of the water say, just are you a holy One who is and who was for
you brought these judgments, for they have shed the blood of
Saints and prophets, and you have given them blood to drink.
It is what they deserve. Simply put, God is not doing
this out of cruelty. He's not being unpredictable.
He doesn't have sudden mood changes, and he just felt like
doing this because he's sadistic.
The first thing you and I encounter at this point that
we're trying to make sense of how these events and how these
acts reflect His heart of mercy and grace is that He's also
just. He's holy and to affirm God's
righteousness in these acts, the Angel brings to our attention
something that we probably have forgotten, that those who are
facing such suffering deserve it.
They have massacred Christians across the world in a way that
the church has never seen. The greatest slaughter of
believers will take place during the Tribulation period.
It will be spearheaded by this Antichrist fellow, and it will
be performed by those who are his followers.
They will hunt down Christians. They will RIP apart families.
They will wreak havoc on a scale again that is unprecedented.
Verse 6. For they have shed the blood of
Saints and prophets. So what does God determine?
You shed innocent blood. Here's blood to drink.
You killed innocent people, you're guilty.
And I will let you drink blood because you poured it out.
It is what they deserve. Listen, you and I don't want
what we deserve, because what would be our do is absolutely
terrifying. But thanks be to God, as I speak
today, the same one who offers this blood to drink gives us
something that we don't deserve. You know this very well, don't
you? It's not blood that poisons us
but heals us. It's not blood that causes us to
die but makes us alive. It's not blood poured out in
judgement. It's blood poured out for the
forgiveness of our sins. This imagery here of blood being
offered to drink takes us back to that night when Jesus Christ
was betrayed and he looked at his own who would indeed forsake
him. And he says in Matthew 2627,
after taking the cup, giving it thanks, he gave it to them,
saying, drink it, drink it, all of you.
For this is my blood of the covenant which is poured out for
the forgiveness of many. And tragically, there will be a
generation as revealed in Revelation 16, who have rejected
the blood of this covenant offered by the Saints and the
prophets who will be preaching and witnessing at this time and
will instead be forced to drink the blood of God's wrath.
And verse 7 says, and I heard the altar saying, the altar is
personified. They should bring us back to
chapter 6 when the martyrs in heaven cry out to God for
vengeance. And they said, Lord, when?
When will you vindicate us? And the Lord assure them in a
short time that time is here. Delayed prayer doesn't mean
denied prayer. These Saints wanted God to
defend them and deal with their enemies, and God came at the
right time. God always comes at the right
time. I know this is a very sobering
prayer request. Take that for any prayer
request. He never forgets your cry.
He never forgets the unfairness, the persecution, the injustice
that's been committed against you.
He loves you. He cherishes you more than you
can imagine. You shed blood.
OK, here's blood to drink. But we come now to the 4th bowl.
We saw the first Angel pouring out on the earth.
We saw the second one pouring into the sea, the third one
pouring into the rivers and springs of water.
And now we come to the 4th Angel in verse 8, and we read the
fourth Angel poured out his bowl on the sun and it was allowed.
Notice that phrase. It was allowed.
Again, we're going back to the authority of God here.
It was allowed. You know, the sun needs
permission from God to shine. The sun needs permission from
God to radiate a certain level of heat and to remain a certain
size. The sun needs God's permission,
and it was allowed to scorch people with fire.
So we come here. We realize that God seems to be
cornering the world. This judgment is becoming
comprehensive. The earth, the sea, the springs
of now, the sun, and the description of the sun's deadly
rise and temperature reminds us of Isaiah's prophecy about the
end times. You don't have to turn that, but
maybe mark this in your margins. And Isaiah 26 verse 24, verse 6.
Isaiah 24 verse 6 says therefore a curse devours the earth and
its inhabitants suffer for their guilt.
Therefore the inhabitants of earth are scorched and few men
are left. And combining what we've seen
thus far in these bold judgments, we can sense just how
tormenting this unparalleled heat wave will be.
There's no water to drink now. There is no seat to cool off in.
They're already being agitated by whatever is breaking out on
their skin, and this rapid sequence of unexplainable events
impacting the entire planet will cause even these worshippers of
the Antichrist to acknowledge this has to be God.
This is not. This is not happenstance.
This is not random. This is being orchestrated by
God. This is supernatural.
And don't get too excited, because although they will
recognize God as the power behind these plagues, they will
they will fail to admit the reason for them.
Look at verse 9. They were scorched by the fierce
heat. The atmosphere itself will be
like an oven. And they cursed the name of God
who had power over these plagues.
They did not repent and give him glory.
So instead of reflecting and maybe thinking all of this is
the fruit of our rebellion, our wickedness, this widespread
destruction is because of us, they choose instead to blame God
and point the finger to the heavens and blasphemy His name.
Can we just like sit back and try to digest this?
At the same time, the fact that a lack of repentance is being
highlighted here on a positive note shows us that God was
hoping for it. That even though He is taking
everything absolutely away from them, he's longing for them to
realize the foolishness of their sin, their mistrust in a man who
claimed to be God, and to surrender to the true God.
And they refused. So after all the preaching of
the Saints during the Tribulation, the mighty miracles
performed by prophets, the supernatural messages of angelic
beings, God tries with a final attempt by enforcing pain and
amplifying it to jolt this generation from their sinful
craze. And instead of being humbled,
they harden their hearts. I know this might be hard for
our sanctified minds to imagine and comprehend, but there are
many people now, not just that now, who love to sin.
They love to sin like more than you think.
They love to injure people and murder.
They enjoy raping women. They take delight in kidnapping
young girls and trafficking them.
They take no issue in abusing their bodies with drugs and
drunkenness and sexual immorality.
They prioritize themselves above everybody, including God, and
they think they're on the right for that.
There are people in the masses who are enthralled and who can't
imagine living outside of pitch darkness, and they absolutely
loathe the idea that there would be a God who'd call them to
repent of such things and would choose rather a brutal,
torturous death than to submit to him.
I know, I know, it's hard for us to imagine.
A lot of us in here come to this church three times a week, and
this is our world. And that's great.
It should be. We are followers of Christ.
This is our home, But Revelation gives us insight into just how
depraved and warped sinners are. And you and I would be no
better. Apart from the grace of God,
they love it. They love it so that when a God
of purity and holiness comes and steps into their world and shows
them the true way, they hate him for it.
I remember when I first got saved, I was so excited.
I mean, I, I realized I'm forgiven.
I realized I'm not going to be condemned.
And I was like many of you who were first safe hungry.
I wanted to know as much as I can.
I tried witnessing to people and they would give me pushback and
objections. I'm like, listen, I don't have
the answers, but I'll get back to you have my word on it.
So I would watch debates and teachings and I remember this
still obviously still marked marked me.
I remember reading a comment, I think it was a discussion
between atheists and Christians on a panel and I was looking at
what people were saying on the YouTube and one of the comments
said this. It actually like took my breath
away. But then I come to the Bible and
I realized, no, it's true. One person said a very simple
thing, but it was so weighty. He wrote the following I rather
go to hell than be in heaven with your God.
I want to tell you something. There are more people who
believe that and want that than you think.
I know our sanctified minds can't think about it.
No way. Yes way.
Most of the world in the end, will curse God as He is judging
them. They don't even plead for mercy.
They don't ask for just some reprieve with whatever energy
they have left. They want to blasphemy Him.
If you were here last week, you remember that in chapter 15 we
made the case how John was mirroring the events of the
Exodus in his description of the last days.
And he did so in part to communicate how in the same way
God delivered Israel from the tyranny of Egypt, bringing them
into the Promised land by using plagues and judging the wicked,
their oppressors, He will also usher in the Church from this
world into his everlasting Kingdom by judging the wicked.
But the, the parallels didn't end at the end of chapter 15.
They go on. In fact, maybe you've, you've
picked up on this, that some of the plagues that we've already
looked at in these bold judgments are similar to the
plagues in Egypt, right? Boils and rivers turning into
blood. And the comparisons continue,
and they go deeper than even that.
I want to argue that in chapter 16, the stubbornness of the
evildoers and those who oppressed and and came against
the true people of God is reflective of the stubbornness
of the Egyptians while they were trying to adapt to the plagues
that were being poured out on them.
And I want to give you just one example of that.
And this is where we're going to end.
If you would come with me to Exodus 7 and look at the first
plague with me beginning in verse 20, not just similar
plagues, but similar stubbornness.
Exodus 7, verse 20. Moses and Aaron did as the Lord
commanded in the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his
servants. He lifted up the staff and
struck the water in the Nile, and all the water in the Nile
turned into blood. Why did the Nile turn into
blood? This was the first thing that
was done to get Pharaoh's attention to let God's people
go. Do you know why?
Because earlier in Exodus, Pharaoh made a decree.
Any Hebrew boy that is born to the Israelites throw them into
the Nile. You get the picture?
You shed blood, here's blood to drink.
Did we just see that in Revelation?
You shed blood, here's blood to drink.
Same God, same God. His justice isn't wavered.
But what I want to draw your attention to is how the
Egyptians responded to this judgment.
This might actually make you chuckle a little bit.
Look at verse 24 and all the Egyptians dug along the Nile for
water to drink, for they could not drink the water of the Nile.
What a picture. Can you envision it?
So their main supply and source of water is contaminated?
And what's the response of those who depended on it, who realized
that this was a miracle? They dug along the sides to say,
OK, if we can't, we'll go to the Nile.
Let's go to something else. What would be the same thing to
do? OK, there's a message behind
this. Maybe God's trying to get our
attention. Clearly He is demonstrating our
guilt and what we've done against Israel and their
children. But instead, what you find here
is that they pivot. It's a resilience, but it's a
scary 1. Instead of being humbled,
they're willing to endure the consequence of their sin.
Instead of looking up and saying, OK, God, we hear you
loud and clear and we we understand the error of our
ways, what do you ask of us? They look down and they try to
find a way to have their own way.
And then you read through Exodus, and you read through the
Old Testament, and you read through the New Testament, and
then you come to the last book of all, and you realize in God's
final plagues that human nature has not changed.
And it could be even today that as we come to a close in this
message, that you find yourself enduring things and instead of
going to the fountain of life, you are digging holes, trying to
find your own water. It will not satisfy.
It will not bring the answers that you were looking for.
You worship something or someone else, including yourself, more
than God. Sorrows are promised to
multiply, but all those unnecessary sorrows can come to
a halt once and for all if you come to Christ.
Unfortunately, and I've said this in Revelation before,
please give me permission to say it again.
Some people can only understand the language of pain before they
wake up and realize who Christ is their need for a savior.
I don't want you to be that person.
I don't God doesn't want to notice that he's already done so
much. This is the last.
This is the last resort here by touching everything.
It was after so many other attempts to get to get them to
see his greatness and his glory. And so my genuine desire for for
the person here today who maybe stumbled into this place out of
curiosity. Or maybe you feel like you've
found success in evading things and tiptoeing around the truth
and sustaining your kind of way of life and what you want to do
in the sins you want to keep while still, you know, giving
respect to God in the church. You can't maintain that for
long. Just give up, just surrender.
Take this cue and realize this is more than just prophecy.
This is this is a realization afresh of who God is today.
And I choose to hear Him loud and clear.
We ask, Lord, that you would help us hear you loud and clear.
And Lord, as heavy as a message as this was, you intended to be
heavy. So, Lord, we've done our best to
not try to lighten this message. Lord, as we continue in
revelation, we have listened to a lot about judgement, but at
the same time, you have provided rays of hope in it and through
it. We've seen your kindness.
We've seen your patients. And so look, even now, as we try
to absorb all the things that were explained from these
prophecies, help us land in your mercy, Lord.
For the Sinner who doesn't know you hearing this message, may
today be the day where they become a child of God.
For the children of God here who are pained by these things, and
rightfully so, may they also rejoice in knowing that they are
not destined for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our
Lord Jesus Christ who died for us, so that whether we are awake
or asleep, we might live with him.
Thank you that we get to live with you.
We can no only everlasting joy in you.
Glory be to your name, O God. We now stand, and we choose to
be like this Angel. And in the midst of facing and
trying to comprehend judgment, we can say, just are you, O Lord
Holy are you, O Lord, you as the judge of the all of all the
earth will in fact do right. In Jesus name we pray, Amen.
Let's stand church.