In this blog we are going to look at Revelation 16:17-21 – the last bowl judgment. Before we do, lets review some of the previous bowl judgments. These seven bowl judgments will occur over a period of three and a half years. These judgments, as with the others, God is demonstrating His glory and sovereignty and power, that the world might know that He, the LORD, is God, and there is no other. Furthermore, some of these judgments are similar to the seven trumpet judgments, except these bowl judgments are way more severe. In addition, with the bowl judgments, nature will be affected, but man will be the target. Moreover, the completion of these bowl judgments will mark the end of history as we know it. And that with these seven bowl judgments we see the sovereignty of God over creation; meaning, God can make creation do as He will and pleases; and we witnessed just how hard the human heart can truly be.
We have discussed six of the seven bowl judgments. In the first bowl judgment, God targeted every person who had accepted the mark of the beast and worshiped the image of the Antichrist with harmful and painful sores we call boils. In the second bowl judgment, God poured out His wrath on the ocean causing the entire ocean to turn to blood, which caused every sea creature to die; thus making the entire ocean a graveyard of death. In the third bowl judgment, God poured out His wrath on all fresh water causing every creek, stream, river, and swamp to turn to blood; this was God’s way of avenging those who have died for preaching and believing in the Word of God, and that Jesus is the Christ. In the fourth bowl judgment, God poured out His wrath on the sun causing the sun to become so hot it scorched people. In the fifth bowl judgment, God limited the outpouring of His wrath on the ten kingdom empire of the Antichrist, causing a darkness so dark it caused pain and agony and misery and torment. In the sixth bowl judgment, God poured out His wrath on the Euphrates river causing it to dry completely up which will make way for the nations of the world to make war on Israel in the battle of Armageddon, which will be the war to end all wars. And that brings us to the seventh bowl judgment in Revelation 16:17-21.
Observation 1: The seventh bowl judgment is God’s wrath poured out into the atmosphere.
The Bible says in verse 17, “The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air…” This statement has a couple implications behind it. First, the word “air” here, according to its Greek word, indicates that the atmosphere that we live in and breathe and surround us will be affected. However, it does not indicate that John is talking about pollution here; what John is writing about – as you will soon see – is far greater than the pollution of our atmosphere. The word “air” actually implies that this judgment will be unlimited in what is affected. In other words, this judgment will take place everywhere; it will occur in every place and in every part of the world; everyone will be affected by the outpouring of this judgment; it will be universal. Some scholars even think that believers will be affected by this; and I am inclined to believe that as well.
Observation 2: The seventh bowl judgment brings an end to the outpouring of God’s wrath.
The Bible says in verse 17, “…a loud voice came out of the temple, from the throne, saying, ‘It is done!” The words “It is done” is a declaration coming from the temple of Almighty God affirming three things: 1) that God’s plan, which He put together before the world began, has come to its conclusion; 2) His wrath against evil is complete; and 3) His kingdom has entirely come. In other words, when God has concluded pouring out His wrath with the seventh bowl judgment Revelation 11:15 will be fulfilled – “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.” – which refers to the day the dead shall be judged, the servants of God will be rewarded, the evildoer shall be destroyed, and God and Jesus will reign over the world eternally.
Observation 3: As God’s wrath is poured out into the atmosphere the sky above will erupt with great emotion.
The Bible says in verse 18, “And there were flashes of lightning, rumblings (your Bible may say voices or sounds, instead of rumblings), peals of thunder…” What John is recording is the hearing of angelic voices or rumblings in heaven, followed by thunder and lightning within the atmosphere of earth. The NLT words it like this: “Then the thunder crashed and rolled, and lightning flashed.”
So the question is: what’s happening? What’s the cause for all this excitement? Well, when Jesus returns the Scriptures tell us that he will return as the thunder rolls and the lightning flashes; but that is not what is happening here. As Dr. Herbert Carter rightly points out, usually the rolls of thunder and the flashes of lightning indicate a coming judgment. And that is exactly what is happening here; the flashes of lightning and the peals of thunder are indications that something great is about to happen; except the greatness we are talking about here is in regards to something considerable in degree and power and intensity; and we’re not talking about the return of Jesus.
So what are we talking about? What’s all this excitement and emotion about?
Observation 4: As the angels are speaking, the lightning is flashing, and the thunder is rolling, the earth below begins shaking.
The Bible says in verse 18, “…and a great earthquake such as there had never been since man was on the earth, so great was that earthquake.” It’s important for you to remember that this judgment will be universal; meaning that the earthquake will be global. And it will be the greatest earthquake that has ever happened in the history of the world; man has never seen anything like it and will see nothing like it until this time.
To gain some appreciation of the magnitude of this, the most powerful earthquake to ever strike our planet was in southern Chile on May 22, 1960 and was recorded at a magnitude of 9.5, and lasted for 10 minutes. It left 2 million people homeless, injured 3,000, killed 1,655, and did $550 million dollars in economic damage, which would equate to $4.8 billion in 2020. It then triggered a tsunami which hit New Zealand, Japan, Hawaii and the Philippines killing many.
Now, if we listen to our scientist on this subject, specifically the United States Geological Survey, it is impossible for what they would call a megaquake to happen; and that is unlikely for an earthquake larger than the one in Chile would occur. My friends, there are times when science agrees with Scripture and times Scripture and science oppose one another; these are one of those times. I don’t believe they have read their Bible; and if they have, I don’t think they understand that God can and will do as He pleases with His creation; and I do not think they have the right to say what can or cannot happen; all things are possible with God and for God.
This earthquake that John speaks of in verse 18 will make the one that occurred in Chile in the year 1960 look like a cupcake. I am under the impression that every fault line and tectonic plate the world has will strike thus causing a mega earthquake across the globe; and it will occur because God wills it to.
So how great will this earthquake be? Let me give you 4 results of this earthquake based on my observation of the text.
Result 1: This earthquake will be so great, the Bible says in verse 19 that it will cause the great city of Jerusalem to be “split into three parts.”
Why is this significant? I confess I do not fully know the significance of Jerusalem being split into three parts as a result of this earthquake. However, it may be a prelude to Jesus’ second coming.
According to the prophet Zechariah in Zechariah 14:4, when Jesus returns he will do so at the Mount of Olives, which will have been split in two parts causing one half of the mountain to shift northward and the other half southward, creating a valley in between. It is believed that perhaps what the prophet Zechariah is seeing is a result of the great earthquake. If that is true, this earthquake does not just serve as God’s wrath, but also to fulfill the prophecy of Zechariah 14:4, and thus prepare for the glorious return of King Jesus.
Result 2: This earthquake will be so great not only will Jerusalem be split into three parts as a result, but verse 19 tells us that “the cities of the nations fell.”
What John is seeing are cities from nations all over the world falling in heaps of rubble. He is seeing great cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, Chicago, New York, Orlando, Tampa Bay, Miami, Wilmington, Oklahoma City and more be destroyed; and that’s just some in the United States. This will be global, cities on every continent will come to ruin and be nothing more than a large pile of debris.
The damage from this world wide earthquake or megaquake will be absolutely catastrophic. It will injure millions. It will kill millions. It will cause an insurmountable amount of economic damage to the likes we have never seen before. And as a result, this earthquake will cripple the one world economy which the Antichrist will lead, because the damage will be so great commerce will be impossible.
Result 3: According to verse 19, while every city in the world will be affected, there will be one city that will be affected greater than them all – the city of New Babylon.
The Bible says, “and God remembered Babylon the great, to make her drain the cup of the wine of the fury of his wrath.” Now if you recall, I told you in weeks past that as we speak today they are in the process of rebuilding the Babylon of old. It’s a project called The Future of Babylon Project. And while the Bible does prophecy of its rebuilding, which we are seeing in our lifetime, the Bible also prophecies its destruction, which shall come in the latter half of the Tribulation, towards its conclusion.
In fact, according to verse 19, the New Babylon that is being rebuilt today will one day become the special object of God’s fierce and ferocious and furious wrath. No place in the world will experience this global earthquake as New Babylon will. And while Revelation 18 goes into far greater detail about this, what you need to know is God will target New Babylon with this earthquake specifically, He will single out the city of New Babylon for its destruction. Of course the logical follow up question would be why? Why would God target New Babylon?
Let me give you two answers. First, it’s because this New Babylon will be the headquarters of the Antichrist and from there he will lead the world and its economy; thus God will further cripple this one world government and its economy by destroying its headquarters. Secondly, it’s because of the great wickedness that will occur there and spread across the globe. This New Babylon, as you will see in the next chapter, will be the epicenter of sin; and it will influence the rest of the world. But God will bring it to ruin with this megaquake.
Result 4: This earthquake will be so great not only will Jerusalem be split into three parts, not only will it do damage to cities across the planet, not only will New Babylon be specifically targeted, but in addition to all that verse 20 says that “every island fled away, and no mountains were to be found. And great hailstones, about one hundred pounds each, fell from heaven on people.”
What John is describing is violent volcanic eruptions around the world. This week as I was doing some research, I googled how many volcanoes there are in the world? The answer was surprising: according to the website Volcano Discovery it’s unknown how many volcanoes actually exist. Nonetheless, according to the United States Geological Survey there are currently 1,350 active volcanoes; 161 of them are right here in the United States. Also according to the USGS, there are an estimated 1 million underwater volcanoes, which they say many are near extinct.
However, when the time comes for this earthquake to occur, it will be so great it will cause ancient volcanoes that have been thought to be dead and dormant to come back to life in the most violent ways. It will cause dormant volcanic flows beneath the surface of the earth to come back to life. It will be so great it will cause volcanoes across the globe to spew hailstones weighing 100 pounds each to fly through the air, which then will fall on man and kill them. And I would assume there would be many other consequences from these volcanic eruptions; as you may or may not know, when a volcano erupts it affects our earth’s atmosphere in many ways.
But now that you have heard that, let me ask you: how do you think the people will respond to that? Over the last three and a half years they have had no fresh drinking water, been afflicted by boils, been afflicted by a darkness that was so dark it could be felt, the Euphrates has dried up, and now an earthquake like they have never seen before causing violent volcanic eruptions, do you think that will be enough to get mankind to humble themselves before Almighty God, repent of their sins, and give Him glory?
Observation 5: According to my observation of the text, the answer is no.
You would think so. Instead, according to John in verse 21, “they cursed God for the plague of the hail, because the plague was so severe.” Now, what this tells us is that they know who God is, they know He exists, because they blame God for the severity of the judgment. But rather than humble themselves before the God who can save them, repent of their sins, and give God glory, they would rather blaspheme His holy name. Again, my friends, that is how hard the heart of wicked man can be. Man, because of their hard-heartedness and love for their sin, would rather blaspheme the name of Almighty God, even in the midst of such suffering, than be saved. They will see firsthand the hand of Almighty God, they will acknowledge God is the reason for these occurrences, and yet they will still refuse to turn from their sins and believe in Jesus for their salvation.
It is similar to today. God put all this information in a book we call a Bible so that people might believe upon His only Son, Jesus Christ, and be saved from His wrath.
But instead of adhering to what is in the book, people turn up their noses to it. Instead of adhering to what is in the book, they would rather pursue their sin. Instead of adhering to the book, they would rather discredit it and regard it as foolish or fictional or irrelevant for us today. My friends, we are talking about the wrath of Almighty God here; it is coming, and the Bible is the only piece of literature that has the information by which we might be saved from it.
And I know I may sound like a doom’s day prophet – I’ll take that risk – but I want to urge you all to become a student of Scripture, especially of prophecy, and take it seriously. Because for those who do not there will be wrath to pay and the only person there will be to blame is yourselves. Listen to me: God does love you, and loves you enough to give us His word which details how we might escape His coming wrath, and that is only through Jesus Christ, according to the Scriptures.
As I close, I want you to understand why God does all that He does with these judgments. 1) He’s not doing it just to be mean or rude or cruel. 2) He’s doing it to show that He alone is God and will not share His glory with any other; especially with the Antichrist. 3) He’s doing it to show that He alone is sovereign over all creation, and does with creation whatever He wills, and whenever He pleases. 4) He does it to bring judgment on the wicked. 5) He does it so that sinners might see the awesomeness of His power and thus repent of their sin;
But what this text is telling us is that even though some will see the greatness and the majesty of God’s great power, they will still reject the good news of the gospel. And I pray that none of you are so hard-heated and so in love with your sin, that you hear what I am telling you and you see the glory of God all around you, and yet still refuse to truly receive Christ and live your life in subjection to him.
My appeal to you all who are reading this, is this: if you are not saved, get saved. Get saved by repenting of your sins, believing upon the Lord Jesus Christ, and living your life in total surrender to him. Don’t wait until just the right time before you turn to God by faith in Jesus Christ; there is no better time than now. Do it now while you still have the chance.
The Bible says in Romans 10:13, “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” That’s a promise folks, and God is faithful to uphold every promise He makes. What that means is if you call on the Lord Jesus to save you, and you are wanting to turn from your sinful ways, and you believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead for the forgiveness of your sins, and you are willing to confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, you will be saved.