Category: Bible studies

If you are not familiar with the name Zalman King, I am not surprised. Earlier in February of this year (2012), at age 69, he surrendered his life to the cancer that he battled for some time. He was an actor, director and a writer.  For a time in his life, he was something of a mogul when it came to pornographic dramas, and I am told that his writing reflects some fascination with the world of prostitution. He explored the subject in a series paid for by Playboy called “The Red Shoe Diaries”. I mention him, not because I was a fan – I wasn’t. Nor have I ever read, to the best of my knowledge, a single line written by the man. I mention him because of a short story I read about his life after his death.

It seems that for nearly twenty years, Mr. King’s fascination with prostitution led him to attempt a number of forays into story building based on that world – including trying to find a way to get people that were engaged in the illicit trade to open up to him about their dark and veiled domain. He concocted an idea that a columnist in the nearby city newspaper could ask people in the trade to write in their experiences under the cloak of secrecy. He took from that idea the basis of a series he wrote for a cable producer under the name of the secrecy column, “The Red Shoe Diaries”. I have called this lesson by that name today. However, if you were following from the last lesson, we are not speaking about sexual prostitution – but spiritual prostitution. We are using this crass terminology because God did. It was the way He revealed the fall of the false religious world that mimicked a relationship with Him that He longed to have restored.

In our scenario, God is the one writing in. He is the One telling secrets about the life – and death – of a harlot. He made clear the day and hour of her death, and even the reason behind His plot to take her down. In Revelation 17, we saw God cut down the harlot of false religion. In Revelation 18, He will open up the secrets that brought on such devastation.

Wait a minute! What’s so bad about religion? I mean, hasn’t religion helped in so much of mankind’s ethical development? Why would God hate religion so badly that He would call it names like WHORE, and destroy it with such fury that He would show real DELIGHT in its crushing? That doesn’t sound like the God I know. After all, that sounds angry, vindictive and downright MEAN, doesn’t it? Arguing that false religion has helped humanity in ethics is like arguing that weeds have helped our lawns be greener. God’s argument in His Word comes down to this: He is the only God. The rest of the characters vying for worship are imposters. Since He created all things for Himself, the rest was an elaborate rouse of rebellion against His purposes.

Key Principle: God will unmercifully CRUSH false religion because it has taken some of the best of humanity and deceived them with trickery, making them enemies of God and His messengers.

Before we get into Revelation 18, it is probably important to note that in the second half of the book of Revelation, God used many illusions from the Hebrew Scriptures that He expected you to recognize before you would get His real point. . Motifs of earlier passages were routinely borrowed and placed into the narrative, as God did a second time things He did earlier with others long before.

• For instance, in Revelation 10, John got sick to his stomach eating a scroll as he was re-commissioned to deliver sickening truths that were sweet to the taste, because they were Gods truth, but sickening when he attempted to “digest” them. This bears a striking resemblance to the commissioning of Ezekiel, where he was told to eat a scroll in Ezekiel 3.

• In Revelation 11, two witnesses of God in the Tribulation Period Jerusalem were called upon by God and supplied with the Spirit’s energizing and empowering- just as God said long before of a priest of the return from captivity named Joshua. The description as olive trees and lamp stands in Revelation 11:4 is very similar to the description of Joshua and Zerubbabel in Zechariah 4.

• In Revelation 12:1-2, Israel is described as clothed in sun, moon and stars – the same reference as in Genesis 37:9, the description of Jacob’s family from the dream of Joseph.

As we look into Revelation 18, we must keep in mind the motifs of the past in Scripture, they will help inform our understanding.

The Doom Announced (18:1-2a)

Our text opens with another announcement given by another Heavenly messenger: Revelation 18:1 After these things I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was illumined with his glory. 2 And he cried out with a mighty voice, saying, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great!”

The opening verses of the chapter reveal two things that set the whole scene:

• The Speaker is introduced: Another angel…having great authority: Perhaps this is a reference to one like Gabriel (whose very name means “Strength of God”) or Michael (Israel’s special guardian). All we know for sure is that the angel is Highly ranked in strength and authority.

• His Message is delivered: Finally, God is fed up with the competing voices of religious faith. They are drawn to a sudden close.

Why was He fed up? God is finally finished, because the enemy has deceived much of the world with false gods, while he has further deceived the west in the modern era with the notion that the various religions really aren’t all that different.

Saying that all religions are alike is like saying that any answer to a given mathematics problem is correct. The reason people aren’t able to see that in the modern western culture is that we have been educated and indoctrinated into a tolerance that suggests there is no absolute truth.

Can the explanations of the Baha’i, Buddhism, Confucianism, Hinduism, Islam, Jainism, Shinto, Sikhism, Taoism, Wicca, Neopaganism, Zoroastrianism, and Druidism all really be blended into one? What explanation would there be for the origin of man, the purpose of man, and the destiny of man. Where did they get it from. Even more important, if the Bible is correct and there really is only ONE GOD and He has made Himself known in the world in both natural and special revelation, culminating in His Holy Word – where did all the other ideas of “truth” come from? How can two opposing ideas like “There is no god but Allah” be paired off with pantheistic “god is in all and with all” philosophies. My point is this: Does it really make sense to believe they are all leading on one path to the Creator if they don’t all even agree that there is a Creator, and that we should be attempting to please Him? In the end God votes – and He said that His vote will be to crush falsehood and uphold truth.

The Destruction Explained (18:2b-3):

God carefully outlines the case against religions that have pulled men from a restored relationship with Him through Christ:

Revelation 18:2b“…She has become a dwelling place of demons and a prison of every unclean spirit, and a prison of every unclean and hateful bird. 3 For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the passion of her immorality, and the kings of the earth have committed acts of immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich by the wealth of her sensuality .”

Babylon is named as having been two things:

1)       Habitation of demons: the term habitation is a combined word in Greek from “katoikeó” (katá, “down, according to,” and oikéō, “dwell, reside”) – properly, settle down as a permanent resident, or “to be exactly at home” in a place. God argument is that the enemy and his evil forces have taken up residence in false religion. He created, they lied. He saved, they obscured. The doctrine of demons is nothing more or less than false religion.

2)       Prison for unclean spirits…birds: The term prison is used twice. It is the Greek term “phulaké” (foo-lak-ay’: as in a watching, guard room, or a prison). The term should probably NOT be considered a PRISON as in the place where THEY are incarcerated, but rather a place they stand guard on behalf of unclean spirits. The term for UNCLEAN is actually a term for the opposite of “clean or purged”. These are spirits with a DEADLY MIXTURE of truth and falsehood. The term “prison for unclean and hateful birds” is very similarly a GUARDIAN PLACE for MIXED BIRDS.

What is this all about? God’s description of religion and its demonic cohorts sound like the prophecies of Isaiah 13-14 of long before. In Isaiah 13, Isaiah was shown the fall of Babylon (in what appears to be to the Medes, Isaiah 13:17) but has deeper spiritual roots as we can easily see. Chapter 14 goes on to show God’s watch care for Israel, and then a poem interpreted to be the fall of Satan from Heaven.

Isaiah 13:1 The oracle concerning Babylon which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw. 2 Lift up a standard on the bare hill, Raise your voice to them, …4 … The LORD of hosts is mustering the army for battle. 5 They are coming from a far country, From the farthest horizons, The LORD and His instruments of indignation, To destroy the whole land. 6 Wail, for the day of the LORD is near! It will come as destruction from the Almighty. … 8 They will be terrified, …They will look at one another in astonishment, Their faces aflame. 9 Behold, the day of the LORD is coming, Cruel, with fury and burning anger, To make the land a desolation; … 10 For the stars of heaven and their constellations Will not flash forth their light; The sun will be dark when it rises And the moon will not shed its light. 11 Thus I will punish the world for its evil And the wicked for their iniquity; I will also put an end to the arrogance of the proud And abase the haughtiness of the ruthless. …”.

Don’t miss this truth! God has repeatedly said that false religion will be dismantled and each time He has used Babylon as the place He would judge:

Near the end of the book of Jeremiah in chapters 50-51, God says Babylon’s pervasiveness has reached the corridors of power and commerce around the world. For time and space sake, we can only offer a nibble sized sample:

Jeremiah 50:1 The word which the LORD spoke concerning Babylon, the land of the Chaldeans, through Jeremiah the prophet: 2 “Declare and proclaim among the nations. Proclaim it and lift up a standard. Do not conceal it but say, ‘Babylon has been captured, Bel has been put to shame, Marduk has been shattered; Her images have been put to shame, her idols have been shattered.’

After so many words, we may miss the point: God announced 700 years before Christ that Babylon was a deep problem, and that she would be decimated by His mighty hoards from Heaven. He promised it again 120 years later at the time of Jeremiah – as Israel was led into captivity. John was treated to reciting an OLD THEME. God has been aiming his sights at false world religions for a long time, and soon He will pull the trigger.

Enough of the “all roads leading to Heaven” nonsense. Enough of the sloppy liberal theology of Heaven without Hell, or the “easy believe-ism” of grace without obedience, or the labor-filled works without undeserved grace salvation – all of it will end up on the trash heap of Satanic and demonic ideology.

There is only one truth. God has sent His Son, and in Him is life. Apart from Him nothing was made that exists. Apart from Him nothing holds together, Apart from Him there is no eternal life.

That may sound harsh, but the truth often does to those who have learned to tolerate and stomach lies. Enough! God created. God spoke. God pronounces truth. His Word is reliable – and no other source of spiritual truth was authored by Him. We can try to sidestep that reality to win a larger following, but we will only have succeeded in watering down the truth –and truth MIXED is the cocktail of demons.

The Departure Invited (18:4-5)

In the middle of the angel’s announcement of Babylon’s long promised destruction, another voice chimes in to the declaration business. This voice calls to the people of God to leave the false faiths. Because we have taken the position that God’s focus in the Tribulation Period is upon the Jewish people, we want to compare this announcement to other words of Scripture.

Revelation 18:4 I heard another voice from heaven, saying, “Come out of her, my people, so that you will not participate in her sins and receive of her plagues; 5 for her sins have  piled up as high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.

Look closely at the words of Jesus concerning this terrible time of wrath in Matthew 24:3 As He was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things happen, and what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?” 4 And Jesus answered and said to them, “See to it that no one misleads you. 5 “For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will mislead many. 6 “You will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not frightened, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end. 7 “For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes. 8 “But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs. 9 “Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name. 10 “At that time many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another. 11 “Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many. 12 “Because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will grow cold.

Jesus’ first concern was the deception of the Jewish people in the Tribulation Period. It seems this oracle in Heaven had the same concern, and called for the people of God to get out of the way before God sent His judgment on false religions of the world.

The Devastation Encouraged (18:6-8)

The voices abound in the text! This one calls for Babylon to get what she deserves!

Revelation 18:6 “Pay her back even as she has paid, and give back to her double according to her deeds; in the cup which she has mixed, mix twice as much for her. 7  To the degree that she glorified herself and lived sensuously , to the same degree give her torment and mourning ; for she says in her heart , ‘ I SIT as A QUEEN AND I AM NOT A WIDOW , and will never see mourning .’ 8 For this reason in one day her plagues will come, pestilence and mourning and famine, and she will be burned up with fire; for the Lord God who judges her is strong.

The language might seem confusing here. There is a widow that thinks she is a queen. Think for a moment about the spiritual use of the terminology. God intended to have a marriage relationship of intimacy with men and women by faith. Religion posed as a harlot and offered what SEEMED like a relationship – but wasn’t. She thought of herself, not those who pined for relationship and ended up in her arms. She was in it for HER RICHES and HER EXALTATION. She thought of herself as pretty sophisticated, and even, on occasion believed some of her own delusions. She thought she was protected, hidden, and secretive. She will be exposed. False faith will be unmasked. Man made religion will be de-frocked. Isaiah’s prophecy concerning Babylon in 47:8-11 fits here beautifully. Listen to the words of the prophet:

Isaiah 47:1 “Come down and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon; Sit on the ground without a throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans! For you shall no longer be called tender and delicate. 2 “Take the millstones and grind meal. Remove your veil, strip off the skirt, Uncover the leg, cross the rivers. 3 “Your nakedness will be uncovered, Your shame also will be exposed; I will take vengeance and will not spare a man.” 4 Our Redeemer, the LORD of hosts is His name, The Holy One of Israel. 5 “Sit silently, and go into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans, For you will no longer be called The queen of kingdoms. 6 “I was angry with My people, I profaned My heritage And gave them into your hand. You did not show mercy to them, On the aged you made your yoke very heavy. 7 “Yet you said, ‘I will be a queen forever.’  These things you did not consider Nor remember the outcome of them. 8 “Now, then, hear this, you sensual one, Who dwells securely, Who says in your heart, ‘I am, and there is no one besides me. I will not sit as a widow, Nor know loss of children.’ 9 “But these two things will come on you suddenly in one day: Loss of children and widowhood. They will come on you in full measure In spite of your many sorceries, In spite of the great power of your spells. 10 “You felt secure in your wickedness and said, ‘No one sees me,’ Your wisdom and your knowledge, they have deluded you; For you have said in your heart, ‘I am, and there is no one besides me.’ 11 “But evil will come on you Which you will not know how to charm away; And disaster will fall on you For which you cannot atone; And destruction about which you do not know Will come on you suddenly…”

The Queen is about to made into a maid servant. She will be stripped of her power, and her secrets will all come out. The carefully held diaries of her indiscretions will become a source of public shaming. God will see to it.

The Demolition Regarded (18:9-10)

The world will watch what happens and be both broken and exposed in the process. Who knew that the diary of the prostitute would one day ;publicly be displayed. Politicians will grimace, and bankers will cry. It will all be exposed!

People will see the Political Impact (18:9-10)

Revelation 18:9 “And the kings of the earth , who committed acts of immorality and lived sensuously with her, will weep and lament over her when they see the smoke of her burning , 10   standing at a distance because of the fear of her torment , saying , ‘ Woe , woe , the great city , Babylon , the strong city ! For in one hour your judgment has come.’

People will see the Economic Impact (18:11-17)

Revelation 18:11 “And the merchants of the earth weep and mourn over her, because no one buys their cargoes any more — 12 cargoes of gold and silver and precious stones and pearls and fine linen and purple and silk and scarlet , and every kind of citron wood and every article of ivory and every article made from very costly wood and bronze and iron and marble , 13 and cinnamon and spice and incense and perfume and frankincense and wine and olive oil and fine flour and wheat and cattle and sheep , and cargoes of horses and chariots and slaves and human lives . 14 The fruit you long for has gone from you, and all things that were luxurious and splendid have passed away from you and men will no longer find them. 15 The merchants of these things , who became rich from her, will stand at a distance because of the fear of her torment , weeping and mourning , 16 saying , ‘ Woe , woe , the great city , she who was clothed in fine linen and purple and scarlet , and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls ; 17 for in one hour such great wealth has been laid waste !’ And every shipmaster and every passenger and sailor , and as many as make their living by the sea , stood at a distance , 18 and were crying out as they saw the smoke of her burning , saying , ‘ What city is like the great city ?’ 19 And they threw dust on their heads and were crying out, weeping and mourning , saying , ‘ Woe , woe , the great city , in which all who had ships at sea became rich by her wealth , for in one hour she has been laid waste !’

Just as Isaiah revealed in Isaiah 13:19-22, Babylon, the very jewel of kingdoms and the glory of Chaldean pride, will suffer the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah. She will never be inhabited or lived in through all generations; no Arab will pitch his tent there, no shepherd will rest his flocks there. But desert creatures will lie there, jackals will fill her houses; there the owls will dwell, and there the wild goats will leap about. Hyenas will howl in her strongholds, jackals in her luxurious palaces. Her time is at hand, and her days will not be prolonged.

Can you imagine? Great temples and shrines, ransacked of all wealth and openly scorned by all. Animals running through vast cathedrals and beautiful mosques. Churches filled with dust and soot, emptied of beauty and majesty. Nothing left of spiritual, emotional or financial value. Nobody is interested in what they used to do there… God stripped it like a carcass in the road. It’s death and rottenness became evident. Its stench, so well masked for generations since the tower at Babel now fills the nostrils.

The Determination Exposed (18:20-24)

More voices from Heaven cry out at the sense of justice. Directions are given to those above and below:

Direction to Heaven – Rejoice! (20)

In Heaven, those who have suffered at the hands of persecutors, those who have fought against inquisitions of angry men who served the enemy’s ends – they are called to begin praise. These are missionaries, apostles, Christians who have suffered bitter cruelties dealt by those in religious garb and smug expression. Their day has ended. The rejoicing is NOT simply an expression of revenge – it is a pent up pain of the many that were lost to the sorceries of the false faiths that beckoned to those blinded to their sorcery.

Revelation 18:20 Rejoice over her, O heaven, and you saints and apostles and prophets, because God has pronounced judgment for you against her.”

Every parent that has lost a child to some sect or cult knows the pain. Every child that has lost a father or mother on a field of service where they were butchered for their faith in Jesus will understand. All believers will be able to rejoice that the false doors, the false wooing of fallen and vicious men will be stopped.

Direction to Earth – Let It Be Done! (21-24)

The great stone will fall to the earth like the mountainous rock of Daniel 2, crushing down the mocking of Christ’s sacrifice played out in one false faith after another. Other roads will be closed. All other gates will be locked. Men will know there is only one truth – and that is found in the Creator and His Son’s sacrifice.

Revelation 18:21 Then a strong angel took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying, “So will Babylon, the great city, be thrown down with violence, and will not be found any longer. 22 And the sound of harpists and musicians and flute-players and trumpeters will not be heard in you any longer; and no craftsman of any craft will be found in you any longer; and the sound of a mill will not be heard in you any longer; 23 and the light of a lamp will not shine in you any longer; and the voice of the bridegroom and bride will not be heard in you any longer;

The violence destroys her. Her music stops playing. The organ falls silent. The violin is no more. The flute is hushed. Mills stop, workers cease, shops close. The hope of the future is cut off. There is no more wedding songs sung in her cathedrals. It seems like God is saying it over and over. Why?

The Decision Repeated (18:23b-24)

The unparalleled patience of the Creator in the face of mankind’s religious replacement and rebellion is finally brought to its end. Everyone knows the whole mockery was a farce. They see the lie – and they see the liars. Do not miss the end of the chapter, because in it is the great four secrets from the prostitute’s diary:

“…for your merchants were the great men of the earth, because all the nations were deceived by your sorcery. 24 And in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints and of all who have been slain on the earth.”

Did you see the four secrets?

• Spread by the greatest among men: Religion overcame the mightiest in her sorcery. Some good and gracious, many deeply moral and wonderfully happy men and women have been tricked by her.

• Nations followed in deception: Whole nations have been held captive by demonic lies. They have served painfully and sacrificially a god who does not exist. They have sacrificed peace with others and denied themselves both the pleasures of this life and the promises of the next – all before the altar of a liar. Wars were fought over lies. Good men and women were destroyed over lies. The future of whole peoples were struck down by sorceries of paganism.

• Sorcery was used: The term “pharmakeía” (from pharmakeuō, “administer drugs”) or “drug-related sorcery” is referred to “as the practice of magical-arts, etc.” (A. T. Robertson). People were DRUGGED into the fellowships of the damned. They were sometimes metaphorically, and sometimes literally “drunk” with religious faith. Like any addict, they surrendered their future as they made simple steps ahead. They had no idea how hooked they would get.

Don’t forget, twice man knew God in totality. Once in the Garden, and again on the Ark. People knew God, but someone in one generation strayed, and billions paid. How did it happen? I am almost certain false religion was the biggest culprit. People opened themselves to another explanation that was not the truth. When they did – the deception grew like an addiction.

• Persecution came from her deceptions: Just as she spat upon God’s redemptive plan and God’s redeemer – so she abused God’s children. That only raised His hand all the harder. God heard every cry of every martyr. He listened as a broken hearted parent when any of His beloved children were persecuted, tortured or harmed. Now He answered, once and for all. This immoral woman hurt His children, and she was never going to do it again!

God will unmercifully CRUSH false religion because it has taken some of the best of humanity and deceived them with trickery, making them enemies of God and His messengers.

The greatest problem with sexuality in the twenty-first century is that it is misdirected. We understand the impulses and benefits of sexual expression; but in our society, many of us just don’t seem to understand its real purpose. Intimate expression was NOT designed primarily for personal entertainment, but for a shared expression of love. A symptom of this is found in modern pornography, and many other perversions of the original design. The marriage bed was given as a beautiful picture of relationship and shared joy. Our world has taken the personal pleasure aspect and replaced the designed intent. As a result, many get the technique, but not the point. Why do I mention this? Because it is worth noting that for many of us, the very same thing could be said of our religious devotion. In fact, in Scripture, the notion of religious celebration is cloaked in sexual language. A real walk with God for Israel was called a “marriage” (in the Book of Hosea) to the Father in Heaven. For the church, the same terminology was used for a “wedding feast” to the Son (in Ephesians and Revelation). Likewise, the terminology of prostitution was used for false worship – because men substituted the purpose for the techniques.

Spiritually speaking, the “great harlot” of the Bible isn’t a literal woman, but a substituted system of religion in place of a relationship with the living God.

It is the attempt at “looking for love in all the wrong places” as the country singer reminds. It is the substitution of intimacy with our Creator, with the trappings of worship and tradition that focus us on the emotional benefits of relationship without the relationship itself. The more you think about it, the more terming “religion” as a “HARLOT” makes perfect sense in the Bible.

The world we live in may not favor the God of the Bible, but it truly IS a religious world. If we were frozen in time back in the year 2000 (just a few years ago) and our world was a single village of 100 people representing the whole earth, (based on the Center for World Missions):

• 33 of us would call ourselves some kind of “Christian” – though half of us wouldn’t consider the other half as truly so!

• 20 of us would call ourselves Muslims – though many Shia and Sunni would not both agree that this was completely true.

• 14 of us would call ourselves Hindus.

• 6 of us would call ourselves one of three kinds of Buddhists.

• 18 of us would be scattered over a series of smaller faiths and beliefs – including Animism, Judaism, Sikhs, etc.

• Only 12 of us would claim NOT to have a faith or a religion. This includes 3 of us that would claim “Atheism”, 2 that have a political philosophy that “makes religion more or less irrelevant”, and the last 7 percent include “statistical unknowns”.

What is perfectly clear is this: people are religious creatures. They LIKE to observe some kind of religion. They worship, celebrate and venerate – many of them – because it scratches an “itch” within. What God meant to be a hunger for relationship with Him, has become a prostituted relationship as people succumbed to the beckoning of one harlot after another…until the prophetic day God kills all the illicit lovers in one hour. Revelation 17 is the story of the day false religion is crushed.

Key Principle: The goal of the deceiver is to celebrate the acts of religion as an end in themselves, while distracting our eyes away from the One who is to be worshiped.

The Great Whore of “substituted faith” is soon to be defeated. The false system of religion that has infiltrated every corner of our world is running on short time. It is not one religion that God will bring to an end – but religion itself – not ONE belief system God wants to undo – it is EVERY false system. Revelation 17 focuses in on the story of that end.

Let me be clear: Religion without a relationship with God is the worship of devotion rather than the worship of God. It is the adulation of liturgy without the gaze into the face of the God who created us. It is the essence of truth-less faith, a sentimental ethic based on cobbled together human moral philosophies that keep revealed truths of God’s Word at a distance. Human religion is the exaltation of the feelings that come from a relationship – without the relationship itself – like the substitution of pornography over the marriage bed. God never called us to desire to worship for the act itself. He called us to worship HIM, because in Him is every significance to our very being.

As we dive into the story of the great harlot’s death, we should keep in mind that Revelation 16:12 spoke of the vial judgment about to be poured on the harlot – but this chapter and the next zooms in on the details. Babylon’s religious substitution and wayward political power will be finally ended in Revelation 19. We are in an expansion of the chapter we studied last time that is finished at Armageddon.

Despite its many words, there are only three parts to the chapter we are studying – a promise made by an angel to John, a vision shown to fulfill the promise, and an explanation of that vision. John is essentially shown what could be explained like a “YouTube movie” by an angel to help him understand the powerful destructions he witnessed in the bowl judgments of Revelation 16. After the movie, the angel had to coach John into the explanation of the movie. Let’s take a closer look:

The Promise (17:1-2)

Revelation 17:1 Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and spoke with me, saying, “Come here, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters, 2 with whom the kings of the earth committed acts of immorality, and those who dwell on the earth were made drunk with the wine of her immorality.”

Back in chapter 12 we were introduced to Satan, who was in the form of a Dragon, when he was hurled to the earth from Heaven. By chapter 13, the Dragon called for help from both the earth and the demonic world – a team that consisted of a beast from the sea, and a second helper – the beast from the earth. The beast from the sea was identified as the Antichrist, primarily a political leader The beast from the land was identified as the so called “False Prophet” – as his major function was to call attention to the antichrist and his political system, legitimizing it in tradition and religious trappings and pronouncements. By Revelation 16, John witnessed the overthrow of the Antichrist and his supporting religious system – but he didn’t really grasp all of what he saw. One of the avenging angels of God, fresh from the work of the destruction of man’s political and religious self-invented system, turned to John to help him understand the scene more completely. Perhaps the angel beckoned with an empty saucer still his hands. In any case, John knew the angel by his appearance.

The angel agreed to show John the identity and work of the harlot – by journeying in a vision to the center of her brothel. In the Bible, a spiritually alive and growing people can be named with the image of a virgin or chaste female; whereas a corrupt, idolatrous an unfaithful people can be pictured as a harlot. In many cases, the harlot represents a CITY (as Revelation 17:18 says is the case). That is not unusual, but the harlotry can be identified as a people that have organized themselves around a city, so as to be deeply identified with it (Isaiah 1). Have you noticed how religious organizations tend to be synonymous with a specific city?

• Who could argue that “Jews” and the “Jewish world” is not meant when we refer to Jerusalem?
• Who would not follow the idea of “Islam” when we speak of “Mecca”?
• Is it really a stretch to refer to “Catholicism” as “Rome”?

They aren’t alone. Buddhism, Sikhs, Shintoism and many other religious groups can be represented by key cities – though the references may be less familiar to the modern westerner. The point I am positing is this: the woman is more than simply a city – she is a religious tradition or way of life graphically identified by a city important to her adherents. The purpose of the angel’s call to give attention to the vision was to expose her identity and her complete corruption, along with uncovering her network of contacts with political powers through which she enticed the world to herself. It is clear that she is influential in many places and among many peoples.

The Vision (17:3-6, 18)

Revelation 17:3 And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness; and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast, full of blasphemous names, having seven heads and ten horns. 4 The woman was clothed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a gold cup full of abominations and of the unclean things of her immorality, 5 and on her forehead a name was written, a mystery, “BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.” 6 And I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the witnesses of Jesus. When I saw her, I wondered greatly. .. Revelation 17:18 “The woman whom you saw is the great city, which reigns over the kings of the earth.”

Off they went on the journey that I will refer to as a “movie”. Perhaps they broke all laws of time and space and actually entered into that place (that is certainly possible given the context) – but there is no need for me to see it only in that way. With the advance of over twenty centuries since John lived, I can sit in my living room at home and be transported on a screen to the deck of a ship in Pearl Harbor or the cockpit of a powerful F-15 thundering through the sky. John never saw TV. He never knew about HNN – “Heaven Network News”. He had no such way of understanding visions.

I suggested at the start of today’s lesson that the woman of the vision was false religion personified. How did I come to that idea? There are at least eight important descriptions of the woman in the passage we just read:

• She is called “the Great Harlot” – a false relationship that mimics a real one and leads to destruction of the real one. That seems to fit well.
• She “sits upon many waters” – but these are qualified in 17:15 as people groups. That means that she is something that impacts, effects and persuades to action a variety of people from a variety of places on earth, but she is unified – an identifiable force.
• She is “full of blasphemous names” – suggests that she is not called by ONE name, but rather by a variety of them. They all have one essential commonality – they distract from the truth of a relationship with the One true God, and are henceforth blasphemous.
• She has “seven heads and ten horns”: this seems strange, but the very same description was used of both the dragon and the antichrist – because the point is the same. The organized system of power is demonically empowered to deceive and distract from true worship. She is part of the devil’s deception system, as was the antichrist. She is under the organization, and it has specific rulers and characteristics.
• She is “clothed in purple” and “adorned with gold”: The expense of blue taken from the murex snail in antiquity left us with the term “royal blue” because of the extravagant expense. Who can deny the expense that has been poured into the great cathedrals and temples around the world?

From time to time I wonder about the lavish spending in the religious world. I want to tell you honestly that I love the great Cathedrals of Europe. I am captivated by the works of Michelangelo and the many commissions of Sixtus VI. I love the Renaissance and its reminder that beauty doesn’t have to begin when my body enters the coffin – my God loves beauty and decoration. At the same time, I have chosen to join and be ordained in a Brethren fellowship. I don’t know how to break the news to those who aren’t aware, but we meet in some of the most SPARTAN buildings in the whole religious world. Shocking artwork is if we put a colored carpet on a floor or a drape over a window. We are in the religious dictionary under “purely functional”!  Why do I not choose to ornately decorate a church building? Did not God have a very beautiful Temple built in Jerusalem? Are we forbidden to commission art in the church?

Let me be clear: ornate churches are neither right nor wrong. Art that helps people focus on God’s goodness and hope in Him serve an important purpose in much of the world. We have chosen a different path. We have chosen to put more of our resources into people ministry than in building beauty. We borrow less, build sturdy and work it hard. It is the philosophy of the growing family more than the rich and childless uncle. We will accept scars on walls before we will tolerate unused rooms, Funeral homes are easy to keep clean. Ministry is messy. We don’t need, nor do we seek, more complications that come with the higher and more artistic churches. We do, however, delight in visiting them!

I am concerned that church money be primarily used to reach and teach people – that resources be measured by whether or not they will aid in the purposes of preaching Christ and building disciple makers. All other uses of funds need to be subjected to that purpose.

• She has “her golden cup full of immoralities”: If the immorality truly is, as the Biblical prophets of old used it, a spiritual departure from relationship with God into idolatry and false religion, can we not see how full false religion has become of itself? There are whole libraries and universities dedicated to the intricate study of things that do not lead to truth as defined in the Scripture.
• She is called “Babylon the Great”: To recognize this point of the identification may take additional explanation. The Biblical record of Babylon begins with the “Tower of Babel” story that was physically identified as having been located on the “plain of Shinar” (Genesis 11:1-9). Based on the “Table of Nations” record in Genesis, it appears that some descendants of Noah – sons of Ham, came to that plain under the leadership of a man named Nimrod (son of Cush through Ham, great-grandson of Noah) to build a monument to themselves for the glory of man.

Some rabbinic commentaries suggest that Nimrod means ’to rebel’, others are more along the lines of ‘foolish’ – both seem fitting to the record of his chief accomplishments. As “a mighty one on the earth” and “a mighty hunter before God” he had an auspicious beginning, but did not appear to end well. His name became synonymous with a kingdom of enemies of God, as in Micah 5:6:

“And they shall waste the land of Assyria with the sword, and the land of Nimrod in the entrances thereof: thus shall he deliver us from the Assyrian, when he cometh into our land, and when he treadeth within our borders.”

It is worth noting that “Babel” means ’gate to or of God’ – and the story is one of human desire to build a way to God with their own hands – the very definition of RELIGION. Behind EVERY false religion is the denial of God’s PLAN, together with trust in man’s own strength and abilities. In Genesis 10, concerning Nimrod and the “beginning of his kingdom” (Heb: “reshit memelketo”) were the founding of the towns of “Babel, Uruk, Akkad and Calneh in the land of Shinar (Genesis 10:8-12). It appears that Babel later became known as Babylon. One author noted: “Two hundred sixty times in Scripture the Babylon is used to represent the system of false religions that spun off the first one in Genesis.” (sermon central illustrations).

• The woman is described as: “drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of those who bore testimony to Jesus”:  To make sure we are not left with only a vague view of well-meaning but misguided religious people, we are instructed that the harlot was caustic to the cause of Christ. There is one thing that the vast calls to a religion of tolerance will not tolerate – that is Christians spreading the Gospel of Jesus.

In 2011, Al Mohler, the Southern Baptist scholar wrote: “Christians — especially those enjoying the safety of the West — often think of martyrdom as a part of the distant Christian past. But a recent barrage of headlines dispels that notion in a hurry. Over the past several weeks, Christians in Iraq suffered a series of church bombings, and experts in the region predicted a virtual evacuation of that nation’s Christian population. …The murderous terrorism against Christians in Iraq amounts to a form of religious cleansing. Meanwhile, oppression of Christians in Egypt, the most populous Arab nation, intensified with a January 1 bombing of the Saints Church in Alexandria. Twenty-one worshipers were killed and another 100 were injured. … In Pakistan, rioters took to the streets to insist that the nation’s draconian blasphemy laws stay in place — effectively allowing only Muslim practice and preaching. As The New York Times reported, “A crippling strike by Islamist parties brought Pakistan to a standstill on Friday as thousands of people took to the streets, and forced businesses to close, to head off any change in the country’s blasphemy law, which rights groups say has been used to persecute minorities, especially Christians.” There is no way we can determine the exact theological beliefs of these worshipers in Egypt, Iraq, and Pakistan, but there can be no question that they are suffering and dying in the name of Jesus Christ. They deserve our earnest prayers and advocacy. They also remind us by their witness that Christ has enemies — and so do His followers. The blood of the martyrs does indeed cry out their witness for Christ…”

God wants a relationship with men based on His Word – not based on the power play of religious men and women that have learned to control the flocks of the hapless. Religion has been no friend to truth. It has provided a means for a few to take from the many – enriching some while enslaving a host in dungeons beneath them. It has led people on the “wide path that leads to destruction” – even fleecing their pockets on the way down. It has enticed the masses throughout history – and drugged them– leaving them with neither with the promise of eternity in the loving presence of the Savior in the world beyond, nor the deep and intimate joy of a walk with Him this side of Heaven. It is counterfeit currency of the spiritual realm, and it is both presently destructive and predictably damning.

The Explanation (17:7-18)

John saw the demise of the system of the enemy, but he couldn’t understand all of the players. He wasn’t comprehending exactly what he was seeing.

Revelation 17:7 And the angel said to me, “Why do you wonder? I will tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carries her, which has the seven heads and the ten horns.

The angel could apparently tell by the look on his face. Fortunately for us, the angel made it even plainer in an overt attempt to explain. One commentator mentioned, interestingly enough, that “This is the last question in the book of Revelation.” From here, answers are provided:

The Beast (Revelation 17:8 and 11)

Revelation 17:8 “The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is about to come up out of the abyss and go to destruction. And those who dwell on the earth, whose name has not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, will wonder when they see the beast, that he was and is not and will come….11 “The beast which was and is not, is himself also an eighth and is one of the seven, and he goes to destruction.

The beast came from the pit, as did his empowering spirit – that is, the Devil that called him forth. The antichrist is of Satanic origin. The surprising detail is that He poked his head out into human history before Revelation 13. His spirit was on earth before – an issue I believe was made clear in Daniel 11, where before verse 36 Daniel wrote about Antiochus IV the ancient Seleucid Ruler, but after verse 36 the description appears to depict a later manifestation – the Antichrist. He “was” before – but he “is not” again until the end times and his release from below. He will be a WONDER to mankind – likely because of his miraculous healing we described in previous lessons.

His Seven Heads (Revelation 17:9-10)

Revelation 17:9 “Here is the mind which has wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits, 10 and they are seven kings; five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; and when he comes, he must remain a little while.

Revelation 17:9 opens with a cautionary note – this description will take “wisdom”. Spiritual understanding will be required to grasp the complex nature of this identity. Simple connection can easily be made:

• Between the Devil’s description as having “seven heads and ten horns” as in Revelation 12:3,
• The Antichrist with his same description in Revelation 13:1,
• The woman’s beast of burden that carries her – described in Revelation 17:7.

In other words, it is simple to match each description and summarize that they are all ONE SYSTEM, founded by Satan and spread by the Antichrist. They bear along the woman of false religion. Simple enough, but that is not a complete view. There is more detail given.

The seven heads refer to both land masses (SEVEN MOUNTAINS) and to rulers and political systems (SEVEN KINGS) according to 17:9-10. This multi-headed beast is a layered symbol – not simply one thing but a nexus of more than one –  a long derived and carefully sculpted system. The beast possesses the seven heads, but exists apart from them. They are the “FACE” of the beast, but not – strictly speaking – the beast itself. He is not simply one of the horns or heads – he is seen in their face and power. In fact, his specific direct rule represents an eighth kingdom (Rev. 17:11).

I recognize a great number of men have made the point that ROME was built on seven hills. As a guide overseas, I can tell you that a number of cities are set on seven hills. Among them, Paris, Istanbul and even Jerusalem may be said to be upon seven hills. To conclude the Catholic Church or Rome is in the passage is, in my view, wholly inadequate. This would omit that the identity is BOTH something spread over seven hills and were systems of RULE. Incidentally, the “seven hills” could easily be a way of saying WORLD WIDE long before John could have known that there were seven land masses or continents on the face of the globe. If the “waters” in the end of chapter 17 are people of the whole earth, why can’t the lands be the continents of that same earth?

Additionally, a number of taken in hand to write that the seven are kingdoms counted off between Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome, etc. That may be true, but we need to be careful about what is included. If God was counting kingdoms, let’s not forget that in the west we tend to neglect Dynastic China – a not quaint development of its own. If the number is to count kingdoms, let us be clear that the count must be based on those kingdoms that have some direct interaction with Israel – or some other explanation of that sort (as in Daniel’s telling of kingdoms in prophecy).

The Horns (Revelation 17:12-14, 16-17)

Revelation 17:12 “The ten horns which you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but they receive authority as kings with the beast for one hour. 13 “These have one purpose, and they give their power and authority to the beast. 14 “These will wage war against the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, because He is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those who are with Him are the called and chosen and faithful.” …16 “And the ten horns which you saw, and the beast, these will hate the harlot and will make her desolate and naked, and will eat her flesh and will burn her up with fire. 17 “For God has put it in their hearts to execute His purpose by having a common purpose, and by giving their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God will be fulfilled.

The story of the horns looks at first glance to be a bit complicated, but it really isn’t. If you read it carefully you will see:

• Each horn represents a king and kingdom. These ten kings and kingdoms form a confederacy (a subject we have seen before in the fact that the Antichrist gets people together on the issue of Jerusalem for a time).
• Ultimately, the power of the group is subservient to the purposes of the confederacy, which is directed by the Antichrist.
• One chief purpose will be to fight the Gospel, and anyone who has the message of the Redeemer.
• Jesus will defeat them – a fact we will see graphically in Revelation 19!
• The governments will USE the world religions – but in truth will HATE the world religions. In fact, at their first opportunity, they will rape the false religious world to take her power and wealth. Increasingly, all world religions will find themselves surrendered to objectives of the political confederation. Those who oppose it will be shattered.

The Waters (Revelation 17:15)

Revelation 17:15 And he said to me, “The waters which you saw where the harlot sits, are peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues.

People the world over are drawn to religion and tradition. They are religious because God created them to be worshipers. If they will not worship the true God, they will worship someone or something else. We may look around and we think America is becoming less religious. Actually, in many ways she is becoming more religious – only less Christian.

The Main Idea

It is easy to get lost in all the detail. The fact of the matter is that the chief goal of the deceiver is to celebrate the acts of religion as an end in themselves, while distracting our eyes away from the One who is to be worshipped.

When Pope John Paul invited the world religious leaders together for a day of prayer at Assisi, a huge united under a huge plastic tent to mix Christian hymns and Buddhist chants before reading commitments to work for peace in 11 languages from Arabic to Hebrew to Farsi and Punjabi. According to the Associated Press, the gathering was one of the largest ever of “Christian groups, bringing together Catholics, Baptist, Lutherans, Quakers and Mennonites, among others, along with Orthodox Christians headed by the ecumenical patriarch, Bartholmew I.” But “Christians” were only one of 12 religions represented. While they and the Jews were praying to Jehovah, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhist, Sikhs, Shintoist, and African witchdoctors were all besieging their respective deities.

Lest we single out only one religious leader (and, in fact, a dead one), let us be clear that many groups exist to promote the religious spirit of unity and tolerance. The “Coexist Foundation” says, according to the Anglican Bishop of London: “This work is a vital test of our determination to find new ways of managing conflict in the new world order.” That group has as its council the Dean of Her Majesty’s Chapels Royal and Sheikh Ali Goma’a, The Muslim Grand Mufti of Egypt, as well as Rabbi Dr David Rosen, the former Chief Rabbi of Ireland.

Their symbol, seen on T-shirts all over is:

 – An Islamic crescent in the place of the “C”

– The peace symbol in the place of the “o”

– A male/female symbol in the place of the “e”

– The Jewish Star of David in the place of the “x”

– A Wiccan/pagan symbol in the place of the “i”

– An Asian Ying-Yang (peace symbol) in the place of the “s”

– A Christian cross in the place of the “t”

This is the essence of the message of today’s religion – BELIEVE for yourself. Don’t persuade – that isn’t tolerant. Don’t missionize – that isn’t kind. Just take what YOU want for yourself- and leave everyone alone. COEXIST. Don’t press your children to believe anything.

What a contrast to what the Bible teaches! The Bible makes the transmission of faith from parent to child a “natural part of everyday life” (Dt. 5-7). The Bible calls for believers to get out and share their faith, because men and women are LOST without a real relationship with God found ONLY in Jesus Christ.

Coexist teaches NO MISSION, NO PERSUASION – it is all about YOUR COMFORT. It has been with us so long, that many identify faith as so PERSONAL that it shouldn’t be considered in the CHARACTER JUDGMENT we evaluate a person’s fitness for public office. It is “personal” – as if it won’t have as much an impact on their decision making processes as their spouse. Think about that: our faith orientation is like our marriage. If it is a marriage to a different god than in the Word, it is an expression of dedication to spiritual prostitute. Now we are back where we started our lesson.

Do not be deceived! God doesn’t say simply that the AMOUNT of your dedication in worship is His goal – but the OBJECT of your worship. It is not simply that YOU ARE RELIGIOUS. People make the perilous assumption that we can put much trust in a rock, stone, or tradition made by men – and God will be equally pleased.  It is not true, and it is not even logical. Much belief that an aspirin will cure cancer will not make it true. If the object of one’s faith is false, then the faith is of no benefit.

We must remember that God is properly the object of our worship. His provision for our salvation is Jesus alone. If we have learned to judge ourselves by the standard of “how we treat our fellow man”, can we not also recognize that God will judge us by “how we treat God”? When I dismiss the sacrifice of God’s Son, when I chose either to ignore, replace, or lash out against the Ever Holy, Ever-Just, Ever-knowing God – my very Creator… do I not place myself in peril?

Psalm 2 offers a biting insight: 2:2 “The kings of the earth take their stand, and the rulers take counsel together against the LORD and against His Anointed… 4 He who sits in the heavens laughs, The Lord scoffs at them. 5 Then He will speak to them in His anger, and terrify them in His fury, saying, 6 “But as for Me, I have installed My King upon Zion, My holy mountain.” 7 “I will surely tell of the decree of the LORD: He said to Me, ‘You are My Son, today I have begotten You…10 Now therefore, O kings, show discernment; Take warning, O judges of the earth. 11 Worship the LORD with reverence, and rejoice with trembling. 12 Do homage to the Son, that He not become angry, and you perish in the way, For His wrath may soon be kindled. How blessed are all who take refuge in Him!”

Hide in Him. You will find real security there – and you will find it nowhere else in the end. The other relationships aren’t a real marriage.

Ah, the sounds of summer! I remember the sounds of “kick the can” in my old neighborhood – a child with closed eyes counting loudly down from 100 to 0. We had what seemed like a massive number of kids growing up together on Billings Avenue, a prolific Italian Catholic neighborhood in South Jersey. Summer meant FUN! Yet, one of my most profound memories was not of the sunny days, but rather the stifling heat as the sun set outside the bedroom I shared with my older brother growing up. On those hot and muggy summer nights, life seemed long and uncomfortable. Central air conditioning was not yet popular, and certainly not yet affordable for the Smith family. Long and sometimes loud times of talking, laughing, joking and getting into trouble between bedtime and midnight were standard fare for the Smith boys. “If you two don’t knock it off, I am coming up there with the belt!” That was the familiar sound of my dad, who was sounded certain that we were going to need more than talk to get us in line. Why did he delay? Because he wanted us to listen, change our behavior, and receive grace in spite of our earlier bad behavior. Why did he eventually come up with the belt? Because it was the only way we would ever learn. This was the scenario for early discipline in my life. Dad says that I recall it as being more harsh than it actually was – but no matter. Our relationship has not only survived, but thrived in adulthood.

Now, let me change the story from a memory to a hypothetical – this time an entirely different scenario. In this scene, my brother Russ and I are still in our bunk beds on that hot, summer evening – but we are not alone. Seeing the open window, an evil man climbed up the low back roof to our old home, and got into the upstairs of the house. How should my dad respond? Should dad deal graciously with him, as he would to instruct a wayward son – or should he come forcefully and stand in strength of right – to remove him from the house by whatever means necessary? Most of us have no problem understanding defense of home and family – standing up for what is right. My father’s impulse to discipline his children is not the same as his deliberate and forceful stand to secure what is right – nor should it be. Most of us would do it, but many of us seem to be less clear when our Heavenly Father reveals that He plans to do exactly that.

Let me explain. The Bible says that God made the world, and God made man. Man rebelled against God, and decided that he would be the master of his own life. In doing so, man abandoned the place of blessing as a son and took up a rebel position against God – actively abandoning His rightful rule and helping God’s enemy. The Bible describes lost man as being “at enmity with God”. Lest someone be deceived – no one is ambivalent to God. Either you are surrendered to His leading, or you are resisting it. Either you want to know and follow God, or you want to run your own life. Even passive resistance is a choice to be un-surrendered. Our forgetfulness of God and His longing to walk daily with us, is a type of passive rebellion.

Remember, in the Bible, there are two kinds of people – those who know God and those who need to know Him. The first group is called in the Bible “God’s children” – the second group is called “lost”. The process of adoption – going from “lost” to a “child of God” is an open door, but costs our deliberate intent to surrender of our will to our Loving Master for entrance. He paid the price to settle our sin debts, but insists that we surrender our future to Him. Let me be clear: There is no Biblical plan that assures Heaven to the self-willed and self-led man or woman. Grace is no blanket for arrogance and self-reliance, despite the number of voices that try to theologically justify life-long disobedience as an option of permanent carnality among the children of God.

Among God’s children, there are two kinds of people – those who are surrendered and those who need to stop walking as disobedient children. It is possible to be a child and be disobedient – but doing so removes our sense of security concerning our salvation. We forget that we have been saved from our sins, and walk about unsure of the relationship – a God induced state to draw us back to Him (2 Peter 1). Thus, as God’s children we are disciplined – the process of pain that is designed in order to mature us to be yielded. At the same time, the Bible clearly and graphically says the lost are not disciplined – but in the end they are punished. They are like the man who broke in to my house – set for evil and repulsed by force. The sin and rebellion of their lives, and the failure to ask the Redeemer to pay the penalty for them, makes punishment inevitable. God’s purpose in that punishment is not redemption, but a graphic demonstration of both His Supreme power and ultimate justice. (In the Bible, hell is NOT a prison for re-training, but unending separation and destruction).

In the Biblical story, we are coming to the end of the lost – the wrath and punishment – and that is our story as we open to Revelation 16-19 in the next few lessons. It is a heavy passage, and careful preparation is essential. We must be sure we understand what God revealed He will do – adding nothing and subtracting nothing. Pastor Sid Litke offered some excellent words concerning the final disposition of men and women. He noted the Bible teaches three truths concerning life after death:

(1)   Everyone will exist eternally either in heaven or hell.

The prophet Daniel heard about the afterlife from an angel: Daniel 12:2 “Many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt. 3“Those who have insight will shine brightly like the brightness of the expanse of heaven, and those who lead the many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.”

Jesus spoke to Jerusalem aristocracy about the afterlife in real terms: John 5:25 “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. 26“For just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself; 27and He gave Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man. 28“Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice, 29and will come forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment.”

Revelation 20:14 “Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. 15 And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”

(2)   Everyone has only one life in which to determine their destiny.

The writer to the Hebrews reminded of Christ’s second coming in 9:27 “And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment, 28 so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him.”

(3)   Heaven or hell is determined by whether a person puts their trust in Christ alone to save them.

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life”…and later in verse 36 “He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”

With that in mind, let’s examine the final story of wrath in the next several lessons. In Revelation 16, some key truths are unfolded… These truths are not speculations, for they are gleaned from His Word. At the same time, these truths are under steady and heavy attack – both in the world and now increasingly within the church!

Key Principle: God told us the story of final judgment against the rebellious earthly system of men because He wanted us to know and face important truths.

First, a brief walk through the details of the story…

The End Begins:

Revelation 16:1 Then I heard a loud voice from the temple, saying to the seven angels, “Go and pour out on the earth the seven bowls of the wrath of God.”

Angels don’t hunger to pour out punishment, but they don’t hesitate, either. They have to be COMMANDED loudly, and that command comes from the very holy place of God’s Heavenly Temple. The call to judgment is the call from the Creator. The power behind the judgment is the pent up sense that wrong must be righted.

Seven Bowls Spilled Out:

The text released in rapid succession each of the first six judgments, and then offered a pause – just as it did in the case of the seals in chapter 6 and the trumpets in chapters 8 and 9. The first two had no commentary added, just the judgment angel and his effect:

• Revelation 16:2 So the first angel went and poured out his bowl on the earth; and it became a loathsome and malignant sore on the people who had the mark of the beast and who worshiped his image.

It appears that those who took the physical mark of the beast and the number of the name of the man and system were stricken with a terrible malady, manifesting itself in sores. It was directed against them specifically, and may have been a byproduct of the taking of the mark itself – some kind of severe infection or reaction to the process of the marking. There simply is little detail about what will be obvious in that time.

• Revelation 16:3 The second angel poured out his bowl into the sea, and it became blood like that of a dead man; and every living thing in the sea died.

On the heels of the pouring out of the sores came a second calamity – the fouling of the sea. It is impossible to know if the sea referred to is only the Mediterranean – called “Mare Nostrum” or “our sea” by the Romans of John’s day. It may refer to all seas, but it surely, at least, referred to that one, so familiar to any first century Roman.

By the third “wrath pourer” – we have a bit of commentary from Heaven and earth about the judgments. From here, the formula appears to be “judgment delivered” followed by comments either from other beings, or by the author himself, about the weight, significance and justice involved in the judgment.

• Revelation 16:4 Then the third angel poured out his bowl into the rivers and the springs of waters; and they became blood. 5 And I heard the angel of the waters saying, “Righteous are You, who are and who were, O Holy One, because You judged these things; 6 for they poured out the blood of saints and prophets, and You have given them blood to drink. They deserve it.” 7 And I heard the altar saying, “Yes, O Lord God, the Almighty, true and righteous are Your judgments.”

The third wrath bearer was sent to foul fresh water rivers and springs – making the polluted and of no use. The commentary suggests that this was in response to the bloodshed of martyrdom in the final age. The angel reaffirmed the righteousness of God in the judgment – a point we will return to later – because even the church today finds it hard to do. We emphasize God’s love and grace, and hesitate to annunciate the equal eternal truths of God’s power and justice. The God of the modern church often sounds more a passive paternal Santa Claus – not an absolute Sovereign and Righteous judge.

• Revelation 16:8 The fourth angel poured out his bowl upon the sun, and it was given to it to scorch men with fire. 9 Men were scorched with fierce heat; and they blasphemed the name of God who has the power over these plagues, and they did not repent so as to give Him glory.

The fourth angel was directed toward daylight with its intensive sunshine. The searing heat pressed upon man – and his response was to hurl insults to God, as though He had no Divine right to inflict them. Lost man, at his core, believes God (if He exists) – certainly possesses no special right over him, for he has been educated past both Creation and a Creator – and feels no responsibility to recognize rights of God. Further, in his political ideals of democracy and inherent disdain for slavery, he has been “enlightened” to the point that he can no longer be called upon to please an owner. Modern man has liberated himself from God – the only trouble of such a state of self-made position is this: It is not true to reality. Believers need to be careful not to adopt these attitudes… God has rights. Through most ages of western history, this case would not have had to be reminded.

• Revelation 16:10 Then the fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and his kingdom became darkened; and they gnawed their tongues because of pain, 11 and they blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores; and they did not repent of their deeds.

Yet another angel was directed to pour out wrath- this time against the place of the evil one that caused the mark on man. The response of people was to “gnaw on their tongues” because of the pain. The term for PAIN (ponos) is the word for distress. The darkness was not painful, it was disconcerting and distressing. The bit upon their tongues; but did not do so long enough to cease wagging them in front of God. They did not change. They would not change. They felt wronged when the Master of Creation insisted that they were not His equal, nor His judge. They argued like the sound of the violator when caught by the policeman. In guilt, there is often a good reason – or so the perpetrator argues.

• Revelation 16:12 The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river, the Euphrates; and its water was dried up, so that the way would be prepared for the kings from the east.

The sixth angel folded back the waters of the rivers that had defined civilization since the end of the Neolithic age – Mesopotamia. The basins of the two rivers – Tigris and Euphrates – yielded the Sumerians, the Akkadians, the Babylonians and Persians. Some of man’s greatest early achievements were founded in them. The base sixty system found on the face of our modern watch has its foundation in Babylon. The angel caused the river system to stall, offering passage from the east to the Holy Land without land obstacle. From this, the author offers three observations:

The first observation was the enemy’s response to the removal of the obstacle – to incite war against God and His people. The enemy drew man’s national forces together. They were not one world government – but rather separate nation states that were drawn by one authority to fight. Some demonic arm twisting was offered to persuade men around the globe that the fight was in their own self-interest.

Revelation 16:13 And I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs; 14 for they are spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them together for the war of the great day of God, the Almighty.

The second observation was an added remark that seems to have been the collaborating Savior’s quote. He was one of the writers noted in Revelation 1, and He interjected this: Get ready, because the time is very short. I suggest this was directed to any who are alive in that moment – that they should see the days as nearly over.

Revelation 16:15 (“Behold, I am coming like a thief. Blessed is the one who stays awake and keeps his clothes, so that he will not walk about naked and men will not see his shame.”)

Finally, there was a marker to reveal the nature of the final struggle and its locale – a war in the Near East. Let me be clear: the end of all rebellion will be fought on Near Eastern soil. For this, many of my Muslim friends and I agree. The end is in fire, and the place of the war is in that part of the world.

Revelation 16:16 And they gathered them together to the place which in Hebrew is called Har-Magedon.

• Revelation 16:17 Then the seventh angel poured out his bowl upon the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple from the throne, saying, “It is done.”18 And there were flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder; and there was a great earthquake, such as there had not been since man came to be upon the earth, so great an earthquake was it, and so mighty. 19 The great city was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. Babylon the great was remembered before God, to give her the cup of the wine of His fierce wrath. 20 And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. 21 And huge hailstones, about one hundred pounds each, came down from heaven upon men; and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, because its plague was extremely severe.

The seventh angel is called upon to do his work – the great finishing sound that appears to yield the quake that devastates the earth. So much can be said of this event, but there is an expansion of it when we look carefully at Revelation 19, so “stay tuned”.

Step back for a moment, because the final pummeling of the earth in the wrath of God is a horrid scene for lost humanity. We cannot simply dispassionately offer a report like a newsman at the scene of a horrendous natural disaster. God has reasons for revealing the wrath end of man.

Five Truths from the Final Judgment

Let me suggest there are at least five lessons that I see in this reckoning of wrath. Each is significant, but for time economy, we will touch them lightly:

Truth #1: Wrath is not God’s desire, but it is His responsibility – so we should be understanding.

A father must both discipline and protect. A government must aid provision as well as defend right. God is BOTH a King and a Father. He has no desire to harm man, but rebellion cannot be rewarded nor overlooked. For this reason, wrath is inevitable and Hell is both eternal and irreversible to those who will not yield to His authority. The Bible is not silent on this:

• Revelation 14:11 “…the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever and they have no rest day and night”
• Revelation 20:14 “This is the second death, the lake of fire” 15 “If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire”

Truth #2: Evil has an end – so we should be encouraged.

We must take heart that wrong will be righted, that injustice will be remembered. Every victim can rest assured that this life may let “the heathen rage and the people imagine a vain thing” – but there is coming a day when all the wrongs will be paid for entirely. I do not seek to evoke a hunger for revenge in us, but simply to acknowledge on behalf of anyone who has ever cried out to God: “It is not fair! Don’t you see that?” He did. He saw it. He will make it right. Count on it and take courage – God misses nothing.

Truth #3: Effect has a cause – and we should not be deceived.

The revelation of wrath closes a Biblical loop between cause and effect that is part of God’s Holy Plan. We have to admit to a problem. People don’t connect punishment with anything positive in modern life, but there is a benefit to knowing the punishment before the crime is committed. The knowledge of punishment is both a DETERRENT and an EDUCATION to reality – everything has consequences. Heaven’s story is incomplete without the revelation of God’s wrath. Why? Because disconnecting the penalty of judgment from the mutiny of man removes the real sense of the heinousness of sin.

• When we disconnected sex from pregnancy, people took it as a way to make wrong behavior more convenient. Birth control was not, in my view, immoral in and of itself – but it did seem to quickly have the net effect of promoting promiscuous behaviors. When pregnancy was a more likely result, more care to maintain purity seems to have been inferred – because cause and effect were connected. Now health care professionals, faced with a deluge of sexually transmitted diseases, seek to move on to eliminating other symptoms of our wrong choices. One day, perhaps, they will wake up to the fact that there are psychological and spiritual effects that cannot be passed over with a simple pill.

• When we disconnected educating our children from parents to outsourcing, many people divested themselves of the responsibility to pass on values. Again, public education is not immoral in itself, but it has contributed to the sense of the responsibility of raising a child being shifted to the state and common society – and not back onto the shoulders of nuclear families.

• When we disconnect our marriage commitment from our parental duty, we quantifiably diminished natural child bonding and balanced child rearing. People now make a proud statement that “I didn’t want to stay together just for the children.” I keep asking, “Why not?” When did our personal pleasure become more important than taking responsibility for the decision to bring children into the world and raise them in a stable home environment, providing both a father and mother – God’s obvious biological plan for the home? Why is selfishness and lack of self-control in learning to get along with your chosen spouse now a celebrated value among adults that are trying to train children not to exhibit the very same trait of selfishness? We need to admit that our children KNOW that love is a choice. If we choose to stop loving our spouse, we can choose to stop loving our children – and they already know that. Their security, in part, IS drawn from our commitment to marriage.

• When we systematically disconnect work from sustainability – that is, pay people for not working, we can easily slip from aiding the downtrodden to de-linking cause and effect. In the end, people can end up seeing greater benefit from the freedoms they feel in NOT working. The net effect is not a more energized and creative work force, but a lazier and less motivated one – that possesses even higher expectations from their society to provide for their needs. We need to reassert that WORK IS GOOD, and as Paul reminded Timothy – the “hardworking farmer is the one who benefits first and most from his labor.” (2 Tim. 2).

Truth #4: Second chances are not guaranteed – so we should be warned.

This week thousands of Americans will file for extensions for taxes. A system that was designed as a failsafe has become a regular part of American expectation – there should always be a way for me to get another chance, because my circumstances are not the same as everyone else. I am not arguing against the measure of grace afforded by the US government, nor am I suggesting an extension is a sin – only that we can slowly begin to adopt an attitude from it.

God’s absolute right as Creator to insist that all things belong solely to Him must not be diminished in the grace message of salvation through Christ alone. God is not my buddy – He is my King. He is not just my friend – He is Righteous altogether. The Bible defines what God considers His responsible duty – to stamp out all effects and power of sin and rebellion. John wasn’t embarrassed to report that is exactly what He will do. He knew and wrote of God’s absolute right to judge and crush all rebellion.

Truth #5: Warning is a blessing – so we should be changed.

Without cause and effect, Grace is indistinguishable. We can only understand the sacrifice of Jesus and our undeserved salvation BECAUSE we know what SHOULD HAVE HAPPENED to sinners like us. We rebelled and continue to live in varying shades of rebellion – and we know it. Our nature is to grow downward into the mud of self. When God acts in wrath, He openly repays rebellion. When God writes about it ahead of time – He offers GRACE and invites CHANGE!

John thought this sign was something “great and marvelous” because it ended the war introduced in the Garden of Eden. Seven angels dumped out saucers of wrath. As they were emptied – all of man’s insurrection was crushed, and God’s holy right over His wayward Creation was publicly and permanently restored. All legal requirements were satisfied. All opposition was stopped… that day is coming soon. You don’t have to face God’s wrath – He has warned you today.

Paul reminded the first century believers at Thessalonica:

1 Thessalonians 5:1 Now as to the times and the epochs, brethren, you have no need of anything to be written to you. 2 For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. 3 While they are saying, “Peace and safety!” then destruction will come upon them suddenly like labor pains upon a woman with child, and they will not escape. 4 But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day would overtake you like a thief; 5 for you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness; 6 so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober. 7 For those who sleep do their sleeping at night, and those who get drunk get drunk at night. 8 But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation. 9 For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we will live together with Him.

God told us the story of final judgment against the rebellious earthly system of men because He wanted us to know and face important truths.

Perhaps you’ve seen the famous French sculpture’s work called “The Thinker.” The first cast of the statue (originally referred to as “the Poet”) from 1902 was part of Auguste Rodin’s larger work ‘The Gates of Hell” – an ornamental door for a proposed Palace of Decorative Arts. Critics believe they know what the thinker was thinking about. The nude man (probably a nude Dante), stripped of all his adornments as the day he was born – contemplated in mute amazement the end of lost man. He sat before the gates of hell –contemplating the wrath of God and an un-yielding man’s fate. Perhaps we should sit beside him for a moment, and ponder it as well.

The red light never went on before – except during the drills and tests. This time the buzzer sounded, and the red light blared in the control room. Men scrambled to stations as they looked anxiously at dials and fiddled nervously with switches and dials. The pressure valves were stuck shut, and the water behind the massive dam was now piling up. There was no relief for the pressure, and the back pressure on the wall was already well into exceeding tolerances. Transfixed, each man, on his own station – the control room quiet was shattered by the loud crackle of the Motorola handset. “Engineer six, what is your status?” the com signal echoed. “Holding, five. Pressure building. No surface fissures…. Wait…cancel that. I am seeing the beginning of cracks…Yes, five, she is losing integrity. Repeat… she is losing integrity…” The men knew it was a matter of moments from the largest disaster anyone in that room had ever seen.

There is a moment – just after the bullet is fired, but before it strikes the target. There is a moment – just after the beautiful crystal glass has slipped from your fingers – and before it shatters on the ceramic tile floor… the story of this chapter of Revelation IS that moment. This is the story of judgment and wrath hanging in the air above the physical universe. This is a glimpse into the throne room before the final rush of God’s complete and total victory over mutinous humanity. It is the moment before the dam broke above the on the feeble defenses of the arrogant. It isn’t the story of the destruction – that will come. It is the story of the moment before – the moment just before the deluge.

The glimpse into this moment is very revealing. It reveals the feeling in the room as judgment is set to fall. It reveals the swift nature of the end of rebellion and sin. It reveals something about how God feels about sin and rebellion. Most of all, it is given to the church because it uncovers a strange encouragement – God knows how hard the mutiny has been on all of us.

Key Principle: Opening Heaven’s window and pulling back the curtain on this moment before judgment is unleashed should help us understand two essential truths: First, we must accelerate sharing the message of God’s escape from wrath. The Gospel offers the way of escape. Second, seeing Heaven frozen in that moment should encourage us – God knows the effects of sin have been hard for us to navigate.

This Polaroid of Heaven exposes a moment that shows God’s judgment as holy and as necessary as the revelation of His coming rewards. Heaven’s story is incomplete without the revelation of God’s wrath. Why? Because disconnecting the penalty of judgment from the mutiny of man removes the real sense of the heinousness of sin – and diminishes God’s absolute right as Creator to insist that all things belong solely to Him. Strangely, the Bible writer doesn’t so squeamish about God’s rights and man’s mutiny. The Bible defines what God considers His responsible duty – to stamp out all effects and power of sin and rebellion. John wasn’t embarrassed to report that is exactly what He will do. He knew and wrote of God’s absolute right to judge and crush all rebellion.

Read with me the few verses that show the picture of this moment before destruction:

Revelation 15:1 Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous, seven angels who had seven plagues, which are the last, because in them the wrath of God is finished. 2 And I saw something like a sea of glass mixed with fire, and those who had been victorious over the beast and his image and the number of his name, standing on the sea of glass, holding harps of God. 3 And they sang the song of Moses, the bond-servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, “Great and marvelous are Your works, O Lord God, the Almighty; Righteous and true are Your ways, King of the nations! 4 “Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify Your name? For You alone are holy; For ALL THE NATIONS WILL COME AND WORSHIP BEFORE YOU, FOR YOUR RIGHTEOUS ACTS HAVE BEEN REVEALED.” 5 After these things I looked, and the temple of the tabernacle of testimony in heaven was opened, 6 and the seven angels who had the seven plagues came out of the temple, clothed in linen, clean and bright, and girded around their chests with golden sashes. 7 Then one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God, who lives forever and ever. 8 And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from His power; and no one was able to enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were finished.

John thought this sign was something “great and marvelous” because it ended the war introduced in the Garden of Eden. Seven angels were paraded out with saucers of wrath. It wasn’t the size of the saucer, but the fact that when they were emptied – all of man’s insurrection would be crushed, and God’s holy right over His wayward Creation will be publicly and permanently restored. All legal requirements will be satisfied. All opposition will be stopped.

Don’t rush through the passage. Take a moment and think about the picture we see. We must be careful to recall three important principles in the background – the “wall setting” of the picture we want to gaze upon:

1. The small size of the chapter is not an indication of the importance of the principle exposed in the writing – because it is by far the shortest chapter selection from this book. It is important to remember that good writing expresses the author’s thought process well – great writing does it with an economy of words and stark clarity of imagery. The Gettysburg address wasn’t long, but it was powerful enough to shape an army.

2. The chapter represents a moment in time when the pressure that was pent up over thousands of years on earth was relieved by an explosion. This is a frozen frame of the moment before the break. There was a crack in the surface of the great dam of human history. The conditions were all fulfilled, and the stage was completely set for the small fissure to explode, ending in a massive flood of destruction. The just demands of God’s Holiness pushed down for all the generations since Adam will be completely satisfied in a public display. God will get to sign the end of His story by crushing evil and replacing it with His holiness.

3. Finally, this moment was recorded for seven churches, and later for believers throughout the ages. It isn’t the revelation of a theoretical time – it is the exposure of the coming day. In the next chapters we will see the undoing of every rebellious human institution: religion, economy and philanthropy. Man will fold in on himself as the wall of wrath tears through all that he built in the village below the dam of God’s pent up wrath. Why would God tell this story? Doesn’t He realize that a vengeful God will not be nearly as popular as a, “ALL TOLERANT ONE”?  He does, but He has a bigger plan… more on that later in the teaching.

Look again at Revelation 15. We are staring at the snapshot of those who have been victorious over the beast standing together in celebration of God’s character. They are singing the “Anthem of the Rescued” in the presence of God. Just as the saints stand before the temple of God, the bowls of wrath are poured out on pagan and rebellious humanity – those who follow the beast. The massive day of battle destroys the military might of man. The fall of Babylon  – the economic, political and spiritual systems are also pummeled and destroyed in an hour. Satan’s centers of control are unraveled – and this is the moment that unleashed it all. Is that not part of what the Tribulation is about? Remember the Tribulation has several purposes in the Bible:

• First, it is to get the stubborn nation of Israel to bow in trust to her estranged husband – the Father in Heaven that selected her as His own special love.

• Second, it is God’s final evangelistic run at mutinous mankind – with a team of 144,000 witnesses that will gather the last of the great harvest among the nations.

• Third, it is to dislodge and destroy the godless, pagan system at its peak – in the hands of the Antichrist and his false prophet on the way to exposing and castigating the Dragon that empowers their work.

God back to the verses, one by one. Look carefully at the words of this chapter’s opening:

Revelation 15:1 Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous, seven angels who had seven plagues, which are the last, because in them the wrath of God is finished.

John wrote that he saw “another sign”, connecting it with the sign of the war between the dragon and the woman in Revelation 12 – the attempts by Satan to destroy Jesus, and then the Jewish people in human history. The word for sign is “SEMION” a distinguishing marker or event. This word occurs seven times in the book of Revelation – all beginning in 12:1 and ending at the end of the Tribulation in 19.. (12:1,3; 13:13,14; 15:1; 16:14; 19:20). As one commentator put it: “This is verbal art”.

Revelation 15:2 And I saw something like a sea of glass mixed with fire, and those who had been victorious over the beast and his image and the number of his name, standing on the sea of glass, holding harps of God.

When John wrote that he saw something like a “sea of glass”, he referred to an image building on the transparent crystal platform or pavement God’s heavenly throne sits upon, referred to in Revelation 4:6. He saw God’s magnificent throne – lest anyone would mistake where all judgments of the Tribulation initiate. God is in command of the end, and He was at the beginning.

Surrounding the throne in this snapshot are those who had victory over the beast. They fought his mark, the number of his name, and they gave all for the Kingdom of God – surrendering even their lives. It may be hard to be a believer today in a culture that is turning its back on the face of Jesus – but it will be MCUH HARDER then. They will know suffering and death. They will give all for the cause, because they love the Savior more than they love anything here on earth. Don’t forget that the WORD VICTORY is that which described those who were KILLED. Faith was the victory and death was not a failure – it was their graduation and HOPE.

Can we say that Jesus is more important than our life? Is Jesus more significant to you than fortune, fame, power and pleasure? Is the delight of Jesus bigger in your heart than the delight of your children, your spouse – your SELF? They lived that truth! The end of the verse says that the singers held harps before God. Their lives supplied the sheet music of praise in the Heavens!

15:3 And they sang the song of Moses, the bond-servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, “Great and marvelous are Your works, O Lord God, the Almighty; Righteous and true are Your ways, King of the nations!

The song of Moses is a rescue anthem – a song of thankfulness for God’s miraculous guidance, skillful and timely protection and wondrous provision for His people. Moses saw it. The Lamb knew it.

• Great and marvelous are Your works (megala kai thaumasta): huge and awe inspiring are your accomplishments – remember “No one stands over the Grand Canyon to boost their self-image!”
• Righteous and true are Your ways (dikaiai): totally just are your plans or paths.

There is no debate about what comes next. The pressure was about to break from Heaven, and the choir was well contented that it was neither hasty nor reactionary – the priestly dressed angels knew their jobs and the clock was now counting down.

15:4 “Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify Your name? For You alone are holy; For ALL THE NATIONS WILL COME AND WORSHIP BEFORE YOU, FOR YOUR RIGHTEOUS ACTS HAVE BEEN REVEALED.”

The purpose of the judgment was clearly stated – to get people to RECOGNIZE GOD AS GOD. Man should revere the name of their Creator. Whether in the university classroom or the science laboratory – the mystery of life should be tied up in HIM. He alone is distinct from all others. No man can hold that place in another man’s heart. No man can hold the throne of his own heart for himself and not be judged.

• God alone is to be honored as highest.
• God alone is to be worshiped.
• God alone will be seen in the final acts of judgment.
• Men’s strength will collapse.
• Their armies will evaporate.
• Their economic strategies will dissipate into the air.
• Their lofty arrogance and pagan slurs will vanish in the heat of God’s presence.
• The Creator will once again be the One and Only God – and that was cause for the choir to sing aloud!

15:5 After these things I looked, and the temple of the tabernacle of testimony in heaven was opened, 6 and the seven angels who had the seven plagues came out of the temple, clothed in linen, clean and bright, and girded around their chests with golden sashes.

John saw angels coming from the Most Holy Place of Heaven’s Tabernacle (the heavenly reality modeled in history by an earthly Temple and the Tabernacle before it). The seven angelic reapers of judgment stepped out of their Temple service – dressed as priests. The work of judgment is HOLY WORK. It is the work of rescue and restoration. It is the work of reconciling the universe to its Creator.

15:7 Then one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God, who lives forever and ever.

The bowls of judgment are a specific type – the phiales – or flat lipped bowls. These are shallow saucers that were familiar items associated with various functions of the temple worship, such as wine and blood sacrifice. The picture was of a wide plate with a rim – something that could be quickly emptied. It is the swiftness of the judgment that will shock men on earth. In one hour, Babylon will fall flat before God.

The word wrath (thumos) used here is a boiling or flaming anger. Instead of the common word orge (anger from a settled disposition). Thumos is used only 11 times, and 10 of the 11 are in Revelation. It is God’s overflowing anger towards sin contained in the bowls.

15:8 And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from His power; and no one was able to enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were finished.

John described a moment right after the angels came out of the Temple, saying that great smoke from the power and presence of God filled Heaven’s Temple so that neither angels nor human beings could go back into worship until the completion of the judgment. No created being, for that stretch of time, will have access to the presence of God on His throne until the end of the Tribulation judgment – for God will not be dealing with people in mercy but in judgment.

When the Tabernacle (Ex. 40) and First Temple (1 Kings 6-8) were dedicated, God’s glory and presence was seen in the smoke that filled them. Now it was different. This was no mere display. Commentator William MacDonald offers: “The fact that no one can enter the temple until these seven plagues are completed may mean that no priestly intercession can now delay God’s wrath.”

That’s the story. A choir singing, a parade marching, smoke billowing…Heaven on the edge.

Earlier I asked why this moment was frozen in time and recorded for seven churches, and later for believers throughout the ages. Why show the believers of the ages the eventual overthrow of every rebellious human institution? Should we feel relieved that God finally got even? No, I don’t think that is the purpose at all.

I think we don’t understand how God feels about the destructiveness of sin, and how He longs to see the conditions that we have come to accept as NORMAL stomped out completely. He looks at us through the eyes of that child services worker that interviews the repeatedly raped child who acts like it is perfectly normal. He is enraged by our pain, and longs for the end – but He must elect to wait until the whole story unfolds showing who He is to all creation. To intrude early would undo all the work that went in to making the story clear.

God hates sin the way a child of an alcoholic hates that bottle. It destroyed everything. It took the fun out of life and the joy out of the relationship. God hates sin, and cannot wait to crush it!

He hates sin because it KILLED the joy He had walking with US, and eventually it KILLED HIS SON to supply the blood that transfused us with new life. All that keeps us hopeful is that He is ready and able to crush it. Keep your eyes on the sky – He is growing restless to pull us free from its grasp.

It seems we have not only become dulled to God’s feelings about sin in our modern world, but we have also lost our distaste for HELL. The UN has had much to say about a population explosion – but there is one place where the explosion of population should deeply concern and sicken us – the population of HELL. It was said that D.L. Moody reduced hell’s potential population by as many as two million. Billy Graham may have also done that. Yet, hell is still getting too many, and God offers this warning that wrath will come, to remind believers of the need to get busy with the Gospel. Hell is real. Wrath is coming. Judgment is not a fairy tale.

There is yet a third reason that the wrath of God is so carefully choreographed for the believer in this book –zand it is this thought that I want to finish on… It also relates to sins devastation. It is not about those who are going to hell, but for the benefit of those who have already been living in it here on earth. It is to answer the tears of God’s people that have walked through the fires of fallen humanity. It is to encourage you.

That’s right! God told the story of the moment before judgment so that you would be encouraged when things are working against you in this life:

• When you are honest and the boss fires you but keeps the liars – the fall flexes its muscle.
• When you are betrayed though you have been faithful and right – demons dance.
• When you eat right, exercise, drink proper amounts of fluids, and then get news of a disease that is beyond your control and beyond the doctor’s expertise – the weeds of the garden are taking root in your life.

Many people have tried to decide why bad things happen to good people. All of them have noticed that it is hard to face trouble when you don’t know where it is HEADING. An old Roman sailor’s proverb says, “When the pilot does not know for what port he is headed, no wind is the right wind.” In times of trouble, I can open God’s Word and see the end of the tunnel. It is a long tunnel – and many lives hang in the balance – but it is an encouragement that GOD KNOWS THE END of the story, because sin will be crushed from His holy Temple – and delivered by His holy corps of angels.

Here is the perseverance of the saints. God wins. God ends the pain of sin. God crushes its power and finally removes its pain. Separation from loved ones – gone.  Persecution from angry men – finished. Reason rallies spewing hatred toward God and His followers – silenced.

• Go to the religions of the east, and learn of an endless cycle of reincarnation – punishment and reward as we climb the ladder through thousands of lifetimes – how exhausting and entirely impersonal. It is a scenario of living life trying not offend the thousands of gods and demi-gods on my way to the next rung of the ladder. The end for us is not attaining perfection; it is falling into the arms of the Perfect One.

• My Muslim friends may answer the question of “bad things” by saying, “Allah has willed it, and you must learn to accept his will.”

• My Jewish friends may echo Rabbi Harold Kushner’s book entitled, Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People? It became a NYT best-seller. His answer was that “God is limited in His power, and therefore He is not a participant in our lives. Instead, He is a spectator watching us with interest.” He says, “God wants to see good things happen to His people, but He is not always able to arrange it.“

How very sad! His conclusion is a less than able God in need of our forgiveness of Him for His shortcomings. The Rabbi says that it is our turn now to forgive God for His failures.

Our story ends differently. It ends with a powerful God that makes no apology for His Sovereignty. His choir sang the anthem of His Supremacy. His love for His fallen drove Him to action.

In Max Lucado’s book, The Applause of Heaven, the author tells about a young man, Robert Reed, who has cerebral palsy. He writes: “He can’t brush his teeth or comb his hair or bathe himself. He can’t dress himself, or button his shirt. He has to depend upon other people to do that for him. He can’t take a walk. He can’t go from one place to another by his own power. But his handicaps did not rob him of graduating from high school, & finally earning a degree from Abilene Christian College.” The writer says that Robert Reed decided that he would study to be a missionary. He taught a couple of years in a Junior College in St. Louis. and took five trips to different mission fields. Finally he settled in Lisbon, Portugal. Robert Reed found a hotel owner who would rent him a ground-floor room. He found a restaurant owner who would feed him after hours each day. He found a tutor who would teach him the language. And every day he wheeled out to the city park & passed out Christian literature to people who walked by. He spoke to them in his voice that sounded like a record player whose batteries are about to run down. He told them about the love of God through Jesus Christ. In 6 years Robert Reed won more than seventy people to Jesus. One of them was a young girl by the name of Rosa, who later became his wife. Lucado recalls, “I sat in an audience of thousands & watched as strong men grabbed his wheelchair, with him sitting in it, & lifted him to the platform so that he could speak to this vast audience of people….I watched him as he took his stiff fingers & tried to turn the pages of his Bible. And along with thousands of others, I wiped away tears of admiration. Here is one who could have complained, one who could have been bitter, one who could have asked `Why me?’ One who could have asked, `Why do bad things happen to God’s people?’” “But instead,” he said, “Robert Reed read in his drawn out way the Words of God & gave his testimony. And when he came to the end of it, he lifted up his bent hand & arm & said, `I have everything I need.’” Lucado adds, “His shirts are held together with velcro. But his life is held together with the joy of God.”

Lift up your head and see the power of God. Sin will be defeated. Death’s separation will be erased. Cancer will be a word long forgotten. Divorce will be a word from the ancient past. Rape, incest, murder, pornography, theft, cheating, lying –all will be erased from our existence – a distant memory of a war fought on far away fields long before. God hasn’t forgotten to rescue us – the pressure is building and Heaven’s dam is about to burst.

Opening Heaven’s window and pulling back the curtain on this moment just before judgment is unleashed should help us remember – God knows the effects of sin have been hard for us to navigate… and He hates sin. Don’t despair – sin is on short time as Heaven’s death row is emptied.