Revelation 16

let's turn down our bibles to the 16th chapter of the book of revelation [Applause] going back to chapter 15 john said i saw another sign in heaven great and marvelous there were seven angels having the seven last plagues for then in them is filled up the wrath of god so that is sort of an introduction to chapter 16. the seven angels that have the seven last plagues and it is declared that in them is filled up the wrath of god or this is the climax this is the culmination of the great tribulation period this this will bring to an end the time of man's governments we have the final government of man in position uh the antichrist ruling over the western powers and uh it is during the reign of this king that the lord of heaven will come and establish a kingdom that will never end so we're coming right up to the border of the glorious return of our great god and savior jesus christ this will complete the great tribulation period this will complete the wrath of god now in chapters 17 and 18. you will find that there is some fill-in as he gives us detail of the destruction of the religious systems of babylon and the commercial system of babylon that will be details that will be filled in of events that have already transpired but we have come and will come in chapter 16 to the final great battle the battle of armageddon the final conflict and it is during this conflict that jesus christ will return to the earth will set his foot upon the mount of olives and will establish the kingdom of god upon the earth so john tells us i heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels go your ways and pour out the bowls of the wrath of god upon the earth more literally they are bowls you think of a vial you think of a little test tube in a laboratory these are bowls of god's wrath that are to be poured out upon the earth so the first went and he poured out his vial upon the earth and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon men which had the mark of the beast and upon them which worshipped his image grievous and noisome sore this is sort of a running ulcerated type of sore a sword that there is no cure and a sword that causes great pain there there is a possibility that this could be that kind of flesh eating virus that is that people have already contracted in some places this flesh-eating virus the noisome and grievous sore we read in the book of zechariah that those that come against jerusalem that this is the punishment wherewith they will be punished their eyes will melt in their sockets their tongues in their mouth and there will be a grievous and noisome or running sore on their bodies it does describe the effect of ultra radiation from neutron bombs and there is of course that possibility that this is the result of fallout from neutron bombs but whatever be the cause it is the first boil bowl of god's wrath that will be poured out in these last seven that will complete the judgment of god the second angel poured out his bowl upon the sea it became as the blood of a dead man and every living soul died in the sea now in the trumpet judgments the second judgment fell upon the sea and one-third of the animals of the sea or the fish or whatever one-third of them perished in the trumpet judgments this kills everything in the sea i'll tell you what you won't want to be living in newport beach or huntington beach when the sea turns to blood and all of the life forms within the sea die and begin to float up on the beach the stench of it will be something horrible i don't know there's anything that smells worse than sea life that is rotting it's almost inconceivable the results of the sea dying the sea with its salt content is really sort of a great purifier of the pollutions of the earth the salt within the sea of course is is is a preservative of the waters and we are dumping all kinds of stuff into the seas right now of course we're aware of the problem in huntingdon beach so close to us the bacterial count of the water so high that a large portion of the uh beach has been closed in the state park as they try to find out the source of the sewage leak but when the salt no longer has that cleansing or purifying effect upon the pollutants the sea life dies the sea becomes as blood what a horrible thing that will be the third bowl the third angel poured out his bowl upon the rivers and fountains of waters and they became blood the fresh water supplies of the earth the streams the lakes turning to blood can you imagine the effect that that will have upon the inhabitants of the earth in that day water is basic for life and when the fresh water supplies are polluted to the extent that there will be a real scarcity of water be coming as blood now here's an interesting thing when this particular judgment takes place john said i heard the angel of the waters say the angel who is in charge over the waters he says thou art righteous o lord which art and waste and shall be because you have judged thus as he sees this judgment he declares the righteousness of god in the judgment for the reason is they have shed the blood of saints and prophets and you have given them blood to drink they deserve it god pouring out his judgment upon the earth that has rejected his son jesus christ who has abused and killed the prophets that god has sent the world that is in open rebellion against god shedding the blood of the saints when god turns the water into blood the angel more or less says right on how fair they've shed the blood of the saints and now you've given them blood to drink that's what they deserve now in verse 7 i heard another out of the altar say even so lord god almighty true and righteous are thy judgments now back in chapter six under the fifth seal there were those souls that were under the altar and they were saying how long o lord holy and true before you avenge our blood on the adversaries on the earth and they were given white robes and they were told that they were to wait a short season until the full number were slain even as they were slain they're crying for entrance into heaven but they are told that they have to wait for a short season there are more that are to be slain and it would seem that the voice of these who have been martyred cry out at that time also and they declare true and righteous are thy judgments that's one thing that you can be sure about god's judgments will be righteous god will not be unfair he will reward every man according to his works now during the time of the great rebellion against god headed up by this man of sin we find that he has power to put to death those that refuse to worship him or worship his image or take his mark so there will be probably millions that will be martyred during that time men who have enough sense not to worship him not to take his mark and not to worship the image that they make of him and so he will shed a lot of blood the blood of those who refuse to enter into his rebellion against god and thus when god turns the fresh water supplies to blood the acknowledgment of the righteousness of god's judgment verse 8 and the fourth angel poured out his bowl upon the son power was given unto him to scorch men with fire and men were scorched with the great heat now it is possible that the sun will go into a supernova there are other scriptures that make reference to the sun actually increasing in intensity seven times and the moon of course will be seven times as bright as it reflects the sun the possibility of a supernova or the possibility that god will move the earth a little closer to the sun it's a very interesting thing the position of the earth in relationship to the sun it's just the right distance to sustain life upon the earth any closer and the radiation of the sun would fry him in a lot quicker any further the earth would be a refrigerator so it's just the perfect distance now if god would move the earth towards the sun again the greater radiation and the greater intensity of heat that would come from the sun upon the earth we know that the planet venus the temperatures get so hot that there is the water is all dissolved into gases and life is impossible and so uh we are just goddess places at the right distance now there is a interesting prophecy in isaiah that talks about the earth reeling to and fro like a drunken man and being moved out of her place that is perhaps a a change of orbit that will bring the earth closer to the sun and it would have the same effect of this earth becoming superheated from the sun and so the fourth angel pours out his vial upon the sun power was given unto him to scorch men with fire and men were scorched with the great heat now at this point wouldn't you think that the people on the earth would begin to repent and cry out to god for mercy but what happens they blasphemed the name of god which has power over these plagues and they repented not to give him glory the book of hebrews speaks of after the hardness of your impenitent art if god has dealt with you and the dealings of god in your life have brought you to jesus christ rejoice the judgments of god are going to turn the hearts of men against god and in the midst of these judgments three times in this chapter we find them blaspheming god because of the things that are taking place here on the earth they repented not to give him glory and so the fifth angel poured out his bowl upon the uh throne of the beast and his kingdom was full of darkness and they nod their tongues for pain now it's interesting that in the 15th chapter talks about the seven last plagues and how that there is a parallel between the plagues that god brought upon the egyptians and these seven bowls of god's judgment there is also a parallel between these judgments in the seven bowls with the seven trumpet judgments only the trumpet judgments are not as severe the trumpet judgments only a third part of the ocean is affected and a third part of the fresh water supplies in the bowls of god's wrath it'll be complete all of the fresh water supplies in all of the oceans but now with the plagues that brought upon god brought upon the egyptians you remember that egypt was covered with darkness they had to have little lamps during the daytime but that darkness did not extend into the area where the israelites were living god made a separation there now here god is going to pour out this darkness or cause the darkness in the kingdom of the beast so there will be this strange and unusual darkness in the kingdom of the beast and his throne and his kingdom is full of darkness as they gnaw their tongues for pain and again they blaspheme the god of heaven because of their pain and their sores and they repent not of their deeds so the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river euphrates and the water thereof was dried up that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared the river euphrates has been called the great divider between the east and the west east of euphrates the eastern part of the world west of the euphrates the western part and it has been referred to historically as the great divider of the earth it is a river that comes from the mountains of turkey flows about 1800 miles and it is navigable for around 1200 miles a great river and the source of life for the babylonian the fertile battle babylonian plains god is going to dry up it could be that this will be the effect of the sun having seven times the intensity that the uh glaciers there in the high mountains of turkey will be melted and uh that uh remember during the first part of this period of time the seven years when the two prophets of god the two witnesses shut up heaven that it doesn't rain for three and a half years a drought but also an interesting byproduct of the sun increasing in intensity could possibly bring about the melting of the polar ice now it is estimated that if the ice caps on the poles were melted that the level of the ocean would rise 200 feet which means that we would be under water here los angeles would be under water new york would be underwater and it is possible that this will be one of the effects of the sun's intensity increasing seven-fold also it would cause of course greater evaporation in the oceans and you would have more moisture suspended in the atmosphere and the when you start thinking of all of the different effects that could happen as a result of this intensity of the sun uh it is quite interesting to just uh for the scientists to play with this and and they have and there are some good books that deal with these issues of the potential of these things taking place however god does it the river euphrates will be dried up to prepare the way for the kings of the east now we do read here in the next few verses how god is going to basically gather together the nations of the world for this final conflict the battle of armageddon and drawn into this battle will be the kings of the east the tremendous population the majority of the people of the world live in the east china india japan and they will move towards the west to meet in this final gigantic battle in the book of daniel as it speaks of the antichrist of his ruling over the western nations it does speak of him beginning to move into africa his forces are coming into africa to conquer this great continent no doubt in order to have the vast natural resources that exist in africa after he has passed through egypt with his troops and is moving through ethiopia it says tidings out of the north and the east will trouble him and he will turn his forces from the conquest of africa bringing them back to face the forces of the north and the east and they will meet of course in the valley of megiddo where god will gather together the nations and the people of the nations for this final great battle and so john says verse 13 i saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon the mouth of the beast and the mouth of the false prophet your trinity of evil the dragon satan his man the antichrist and the false prophet these unclean spirits demon spirits coming out of their mouths like frogs and these spirits of devils working miracles and they go forth unto the kings of the earth and the whole world to gather them to battle of that great day of god almighty and so these demonic powers will control the leaders of the world to bring their armies together for this great battle of god almighty behold the lord says i come as a thief blessed is he that is watching and keeps his garments lest he walks naked and they see his shame and he gathered them together into a place called in the hebrew tongue armageddon or the mountain of megiddo there in the northern part of israel or the central part of israel just east from haifa you have the esralan valley in which many of the great wars in history have been fought and this is where the vast hordes will be gathered for this final conflict the battle of armageddon this is where the blood will flow to the horse's bridle for the space of 1800 furlongs which we mentioned could be square miles rather than linear it is interesting that verse 15 just doesn't seem to fit it just seems to be an interjection that sort of interrupts the flow going from verse 14 it naturally flows into verse 16. they are spirits of devils working miracles which go forth to the kings of the earth and the whole world to gather them to the battle of that great day of god almighty and he gathered them together into a place called in the hebrew tongue armageddon this is such a monumental and horrendous event that defies the imagination of man it boggles our minds to conceive of perhaps billions of people gathered to fight it just is mind-boggling so that as this horrible event is being described the lord sort of gives a word of encouragement to his people as they are looking as we are looking at these events the events of these seven bowls the final plagues that will bring the culmination of god's wrath and judgments upon the earth again jesus is saying behold i come as a thief blessed is he who is watching over and over again as jesus was describing to his disciples the signs of his coming in the end of the age you remember matthew 24 as they were passing through the temple grounds the disciples were remarking on the size of the stones that herod had used in building the temple and jesus said to his disciples as they were walking and looking at these huge stones the day is coming and not one of these stones will be standing on another that seemed like a totally impossible prediction so when they got over to the mount of olives the disciples said lord when is this going to happen and what will be the signs of this and of your coming and of the end of the age and so actually there are dual signs that they're asking for signs of the destruction of the temple of jerusalem and the time of his coming the end of the world as far as world governments are concerned when he comes to establish god's kingdom upon the earth so if you don't recognize that they are asking for dual signs the destruction of the temple and of his coming you can get mixed up in the prophecies of matthew 24 as jesus begins to tell them the signs of the destruction of the temple and the signs of his coming and the end of the age but having given them the signs of his coming in the end of the age he of course deals with the great tribulation period that is coming a time of great trouble he said such as the world has never seen before or will ever see again now that's what we've been reading about here in revelation since we got into a chapter six we've been reading about this time of great tribulation such as the world has never seen before or will ever see again and having given these signs to his apostles he then said now learn a parable of a fig tree when it is yet tender and puts forth its leaves you know that summer is nigh and even know that my coming is at the door now throughout the old testament the nation of israel in an allegory was likened unto a fig tree and the fig tree was uh sort of scripturally a symbol of the nation of israel and jesus is saying when you see the fig tree begin to bud forth and put forth its leaves you know that summer is nigh and of course we have seen the birth of the nation of israel in may of 1948 which was the sign that things are wrapping up from that time we have been moving towards the beginning of the great tribulation period and we see as jesus said concerning the last days that evil days will wax worse and worse jesus also predicted that in this period of time because the iniquity of the world will abound the love of many will wax cold today man has greater accessibility to filth than he has ever had in the history of man the x-rated videos the internet and all of the opportunities to fill your mind with pollution and men are filling their minds with that pollution jesus said as it was in the days of noah so shall it be at the coming of the son of man we read concerning the days of noah that everyone was doing that which is right in his own eyes and that the imagination of man's heart was only evil continually and we are coming to that place again where the imagination of man's hearts are only evil continually we're getting into the realm of virtual reality in the computer age and all of the potential for evil that the virtual reality will bring and so the imagination of man's hearts being only evil continually we've been moving more and more in this direction the world is on a spiral down evil days waxing worse and worse and so since the birth of the nation of israel we've seen this downward spiral as the earth is getting ripe and ready for the judgment of god how long god will let it go i don't know no man knows but i cannot conceive of god allowing it to go much further than it's already gone i believe that as jesus said when you see the fig tree begin to bun forth know that summers and i even know that my coming is at the doors and i believe that the coming of the lord for his church is at the doors i believe that we're right there and i think that god is giving us wake up calls for those who are listening i think that what has happened in turkey this week is just another wake-up call as the bible tells us of the great earthquake that is coming we'll get that in just a few moments that was just a localized earthquake but imagine something like that only of greater intensity the whole earth shaking the whole world's shaking all of the major cities shaken that's what we're going to be reading about in a few minutes time has come for us to get very sincere and diligent about the things of the lord and so as these things are being detailed for us the lord speaks up and he says to them behold i come as a thief blessed is he that is watching and he keeps his garments lest he walks naked and they see his shame we are clothed in the righteousness of jesus christ blessed is he who keeps his garments keeps his trust and faith in jesus christ and so the nations are gathered together into a place called in the hebrew tongue armageddon armageddon or harma ghetto and the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven from the throne saying it is done i believe that this is the voice of our lord and is announcing this is it the judgments are complete the time of man's rebellion is over the time for the lord to come and establish god's kingdom upon the earth the new earth the new age the time has come it's done the rebellion against god it's over the kingdom kingdom of darkness it's over and the time has come that glorious day and there were voices and thunders and lightnings and there was a great earthquake such as was not since men were upon the earth so mighty and earthquake and so great an earthquake that will be unparalleled in the history of man now there have been severe earthquakes throughout history and of course we we've just experienced this past week a very severe earthquake there may be as many as 30 000 people or more that have been killed in the earthquake who have not yet been uncovered the toll has now risen to i understand above 12 000 but uh there are still several thousand missing and presumed to be under the rubble but it's just a little little shaking compared with the earthquake that is coming the lord said once again i will shake the earth so that everything that can be shaken will be shaken and only that which cannot be shaken will be left so violent an earthquake the whole earth going into violent shaking the major cities of the earth can you imagine what this violent quaking will do to los angeles we saw what happened in the northbridge earthquake that was just a minor little tremor compared with what is coming an earthquake such as has never been before and the great city that would be jerusalem is divided into three parts and the cities of the nations fell great babylon came into remembrance before god to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath and every island fled away i suppose that includes hawaii too and the mountains were not found tremendous cataclysmic upheaval as we were talking of some of the things last week we suggested the possibility of the polar axis of the earth being shifted once again it is interesting that the physicists estimate that somewhere around every 5 000 years or so there is a shift of the polar axis and this they have uh concluded from the strata and uh they believe that the last polar axis shift perhaps took place around 5000 years ago which would pretty much correlate with noah's flood and that great flood could have been caused by a polar axis shift where new mountains would be thrust upward where the ocean floors would be changed and as areas would sink the waters would come in forcing again the great weight of the water forcing down the the the platelets and others being thrust upwards mountain ranges being formed the whole geographical change of the surface of the earth every island fleeting away the mountains were not found the cities are leveled and their fail there fell unto or upon men a great hail out of heaven every stone about the weight of a talent now a roman talent was about 50 pounds and talent in the israel was about 110 pounds so i was in fort collins addressing our tank troops up there a few years ago and as i was speaking this thunderhead came over and hailstones began to fall just a little smaller than golf balls and in about 20 minutes of time there was about six inches of hailstones all over the field when the hail started to fall we started to seek cover we jumped into the tanks and the armored personnel carriers there and we crowded in and listened to that hail just pound on the metal of the tanks it was something fierce but can you imagine of course the cars that were out there ended up dimpled but can you imagine hailstones of say 80 90 pounds i mean they'd come right through the roof they would level this place there you know there is no roof that could stand up to that kind of assault there fell upon man the great hail out of heaven every stone about the weight of a talent and men fell on their knees and cried out to god for mercy no you would think so wouldn't you you'd think that they'd be saying uncle about now but instead men blasphemed god because of the plague of hail for the plague thereof was exceeding great what will it take to turn a person's heart from their sin you know there is a interesting passage of scripture that says know ye not that it is the goodness of god that leads a man to repentance as the book of hebrews speaks of the hardness of the impenitent heart is only reserving or building up for the day of judgment that is coming how important though that we realize that the lord is coming for those that are ready he likens his coming to a wedding where the virgins have gathered with the bride and they're waiting for the groom to come and it says they all slumbered in now in and we mentioned it this morning in the eastern culture of those days and it has continued in some areas up to the present day but in those days weddings were a tremendously important occasion they lasted as a rule for a week or more where the fellows would be gathered in one house the girls would be gathered together in another house with the bride the fellows with the groom and they would have their gowns they would be all set but they never knew it was sort of a game they never knew just when the groom was going to come and in this sort of game there was always the endeavor to catch the bride and her maids by surprise so often they would come at midnight or they would come at three o'clock in the morning and hopefully catch them unprepared catch them napping and so with the girls it was always that endeavor to be ready to be able to get ready in a moment to have things all set so that whenever they came they'd be ready for the groom to come according to the custom before the groom would come he had to send a fellow in front of them crying out behold the bridegroom cometh go out to meet him and so jesus gave the parable taking this typical wedding customs and said there were ten virgins five were wise five were foolish and they were all slumbering and sleeping and the cry went forth behold the bridegroom cometh and so the virgins awoke and they found that some of them five of them found that their lamps had gone out and so they said to the wise virgins oh give us some of your oils so we can get our lamps going and they said oh we can't do that because we might not have enough for ourselves and you you better go see if you can buy some and while they were gone the groom came and they that were ready went in and when the other virgins came back they knocked on the door and they said open to us and the lord said sorry we don't know you and and that was the custom if if the wedding party wasn't ready once they went into the wedding feast the door was shut it wasn't opened again to further guests the importance of being ready and that's the parable that jesus used in light of his coming for his church back to verse 15. watch for if the good man of the house had known in which hour the thief was coming he would have been watching watch keep your garments spotless from the things of the world lest you be caught unprepared for the lord to return it's very serious business we're living in the last days and tragically there are those that have been caught up in the worldly pressures and they're not watching they're not ready they'll be found naked when the lord returns and there is many indications that they will not be taken in the rapture people who have gone back to the beggarly elements of the world those who have been once delivered have tasted of the things of the heavens and the gifts of god who have turned back and what a tragedy in these last days as we're coming down to the wire that there are so many people that are unprepared for the rapture of the church jesus coming for his bride god help us because when the door is shut the only entrance will be by coming out of this great tribulation period but you'll be facing a world that is experiencing the judgment of god against sin doesn't mean you're going to be lost forever but it means that salvation will be something extremely difficult it'll be by martyrdom at that time but if you don't have the strength and the grace to live for god now with the power of the holy spirit how in the world do you think you'll ever have the strength to die for him at that time much easier to live for him now rather than to count on dying for him then may god help us time is short let's live for jesus christ father we come now to the end of the judgment period we see the nations gathered together in the valley of ezra jezreel we see man's final attempt to thwart the kingdom of god men gathered together blaspheming the god of heaven the lord we see you coming in power and in great glory and we see your kingdom coming and your will being exercised over the earth as you reign with a rod of iron over the kingdoms of man lord we ask that we will be ready and that we will be accounted worthy to escape these things that are coming upon the earth lord we want to be standing in that company back in chapter 5 who are there before the throne of god singing praises to the lamb his worthiness to take the scroll and loose the seals because he was slain as has redeemed us by his blood out of all of the nations and tribes and tongues and peoples lord help us to realize the solemnity of these things and may we live lord a life that is pleasing in jesus name amen so we stand jesus said watch ye therefore and be ye ready for in such a time as you think not the son of man is coming again he could come before you get up tomorrow [Applause] morning and you that are ready have been clapping but what about the rest of you what if he does are you ready you don't know when the sound is going to go forth behold the bridegroom cometh but it'll be too late to put oil in your lamp at that time some of you the fire's gone out of your relationship your love has grown cold you're in a lukewarm position and the lord is speaking to our hearts tonight by his spirit to get right or get left and it's so important that we make sure that we are right and we are ready that's why the pastors are down here at the front of the church tonight they're here to pray for you if you're not certain that you're ready they'll pray for you that god will just work in your life and help you to make that commitment to jesus christ this evening to live for the lord to surrender your life to him fully completely may the lord be with you and watch over you and he's coming soon it's interesting in these codes and i i don't really put much in it but some fellow has thought that he is figured out by the codes the bible codes he's come to a date sometime in september of this year for the coming of the lord now as i say i don't put much stock in that because in such a time as you think not the son of man is coming the fact that he thinks that it sort of disqualifies that date that he has set but i do believe he's coming soon i do believe he could come in september or any time between now and then we don't know but the important thing is that we're ready whenever it happens may we be ready by god's grace i will serve you because i love you you have to me i was nothing until you found me you have given life to me heartaches broken people ruined myself you have given life to me and now on behalf of the word for today the broadcast ministry of pastor chuck smith we thank you for joining us in today's broadcast for more of pastor chuck's studies and biblical teaching resources visit our website at pastorchuck.org you can contact the word for today at the word for today p.o box 890820 temecula california 92589 or email us at infopastorchuck gmail.com we'll return with more of our verse by verse bible study in our next broadcast with pastor chuck

Channel: Chuck Smith TWFT

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Length: 60min 33sec (3633 seconds)

Published: Mon Jun 21 2021