The first five bowls of God’s wrath

Sermon for Midweek of Trinity 11

Revelation 16:1-11

The vision of the seven bowls filled with the seven plagues of God’s wrath is actually very similar to the vision of the seven trumpets that we reviewed several weeks ago. We would need a whiteboard or something to place the comparisons side by side. If you’re interested, you can take your Bible and compare the two visions at home.

Tonight we heard about the first five bowls and the plagues that were poured out from them. But just as we did with the vision of the seven trumpets, so we’ll do here: we’ll recognize that the plagues poured out upon the earth, upon the sea, upon the rivers and streams of water, and upon the sun, are not to be taken literally. In other words, in the last days before Christ’s return, we don’t expect to see all unbelievers walking around with sores all over their bodies, nor do we expect all the waters of the world to be turned into human blood, or for all the sea creatures to die off, nor do we expect the sun to start setting people on fire, literally. That would all make for a thrilling sci-fi movie, but it isn’t what the Bible is talking about. In fact, I wonder if, the more they make movies to portray the events described in Revelation as literal, the less people will take to heart the true, spiritual meaning behind those pictures, which are meant to serve as warnings to unbelievers and as a great comfort to Christians.

The first [angel] went and poured out his bowl upon the earth, and a foul and loathsome sore came upon the men who had the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image.

Earlier, John saw a beast come up out of the earth. That was the Antichrist, the symbolic leader of the false Church. A plague is poured out on that Church in the last days. This first bowl is what gives it away that the plagues are spiritual, not physical. Because the only ones who receive these foul and loathsome sores are the ones who have the mark of the beast, who worship his image. That is, the unbelieving and idolaters, especially those who have attached themselves to the false Christian Church. True Christians, believers in Christ, are not plagued with these sores. So these must be sores on the conscience and on the rational part of the soul, punishments sent by God on those who disbelieve His Word and His Gospel, who are in love with the false teachings of the false-teaching Church that sits within the borders of the visible Christian Church. If the Gospel is twisted, then men no longer have the peace that comes from it, but their consciences are tormented, as by painful sores.

Then the second angel poured out his bowl on the sea, and it became blood as of a dead man; and every living creature in the sea died.

Earlier, John saw a beast come up out of the sea. The sea stood for the unbelieving nations of the world, out of which antichristian rulers arise. Now the sea is turned to disgusting blood. Unbelievers are already spiritually dead. But this plague seems to indicate the removal of everything that was good and wholesome among the societies of the world. Reason and rationality are gone. Good order is gone. Good will is gone. In the vision of the seven trumpets, something similar happened to the sea, except that only a third of the living creatures there died. Now in the very last days, it’s “every living creature.” The societies of the world, together with their governments, are utterly ruined. Does that sound like the world we live in?

Then the third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and springs of water, and they became blood.

There is nothing left to refresh and sustain the unbeliever when things come to this point. The Word of God, which is often compared to refreshing water in Scripture, no longer refreshes, because it has been so twisted and corrupted by men that the Christianity that’s preached in the world in the last days is no longer the Christianity of the Bible. The gospel that’s preached is no longer the true Gospel, but a false one that cannot save. As Paul wrote to the Thessalonians, God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

And I heard the angel of the waters saying: “You are righteous, O Lord, The One who is and who was and who is to be, Because You have judged these things. For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, And You have given them blood to drink. For it is their just due.” And I heard another from the altar saying, “Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are Your judgments.”

These judgments of God are just. The world wasn’t willing to be instructed by God’s Word. As Paul writes to Timothy, the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. And so God said, “Fine. Have it your way. You didn’t want My Word? You didn’t want the preachers I sent to you? Then I’ll see to it that you only hear false doctrine and that you only have false teachers, so that you are deprived of the only thing that could bring you to repentance and faith. This is justice.”

Then the fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and power was given to it to scorch men with fire. And men were scorched with great heat, and they blasphemed the name of God who has power over these plagues; and they did not repent and give Him glory.

The sun was given to give the earth heat and light, to be a blessing to man. This seems to be another picture of God’s Word, which is meant to be a lamp for our feet and a light for our path. But when God allows the light of His Word to be corrupted, when He allows false Christianity to fill the world with its false version of Christ and His Gospel, then it no longer serves to lead people to God. Men rejected the Gospel for centuries when it was purely preached. So now men don’t even have the wholesome witness of the Christian Church filling the world anymore, but only the false witness that doesn’t give true comfort or joy or peace but only a burning emptiness inside, because truth has been replaced with falsehood.

Then the fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and his kingdom became full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues because of the pain. They blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and did not repent of their deeds.

The throne of the beast represents the governments of the world that oppose Christ or twist His Word. Civil government was instituted by God to be a blessing, to promote a quiet and peaceful life. But when false and demonic delusions turn governments into promoters and defenders of “institutionalized robbery, militant atheism, atheistic evolution, murder of the unborn, pornography and countless other evils, what was intended to be a blessing becomes a curse and a source of pain and suffering,” as one commentator puts it, as people trip all over themselves and one another in the darkness of the reality they’ve created for themselves. And even though men have corrupted the Word of God and the Christian religion, the same men then turn around and curse the Word of God and Christianity as they’ve corrupted them.

But Christians are spared from all these plagues. Not that it’s comfortable living in a world that is living under the curse of God’s punishment, but the curse of false doctrine doesn’t touch those who hold to the truth of Christ. We don’t have to suffer any of the fear, or bitterness, or irrationality, or despair, or guilt, or ignorance, or confusion that the unbelieving world suffers. Because, by God’s grace, we still have the light of His Word. We still have the peace of His Gospel. We still have the guidance of His Holy Spirit. Where the truth of God’s Word is still proclaimed, there the plagues cannot fall.

So watch in society for the plagues John talks about here and how they’re manifested among those who reject the pure teaching of the Gospel. Take comfort in God’s protection, even as you witness that protection being removed from the unbelieving world. For the believer who clings to God’s Word and is watching out for false doctrine, the words of David in Psalm 18 ring true: The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I will call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised; so shall I be saved from my enemies. Amen.