Revelation 16 - Four Questions About God's Wrath

Hey, I want to invite you to Revelation chapter 16 as we get ready to engage the passages of Scripture where we're at together today. Revelation chapter 16 is what we are at together as a congregation. We've spent a little over 20 weeks in working through the Book of Revelation and Revelation chapter 16 is really continuing on the idea of a theme of what we've been experiencing over the last couple of chapters. And we've been looking at the idea of the dragon and the beast and the destruction he wants to bring on really God's people to thwart God's plan in this world. And now we've transitioned as we've gotten to chapter 15, we're starting to talk about the wrath of God. Right. And I want you to, every Sunday after our service, when I go by the door and I say goodbye to all of us and hello to whoever walks in one of the things I've kept in mind is we're in this portion of Revelation is this is a heavy series of chapters that we've been going through. And so if you've been here for multiple weeks in a row, I look at you as the strong Christian, okay? Just see say you're not a fluffy Christian because we have been talking about the wrath of God for multiple weeks, and that's what we're going to look at together again today is looking at the wrath of God, particularly in the bowl judgments.

We're getting ready to engage bowl judgments. And if you've if you've read the book of Revelation, as you've gone through the series together, you'll know that Revelation does this way of talking about ideas in groups. And so typically when it talks about the idea of man, it often group four words together, four ideas together, because four is the number of man and three is the number of God. Right. So you think about the Trinity, father, son, Holy Spirit. That's the number three. When you look at the judgments of Revelation, you've got the seal judgments, the trumpet judgments, and the bowl judgments. So we've looked at three different types of judgments. When people look at these judgments and revelations, some people, some people view it as sort of a timeline. And each one of these judgments unfold as if you're going down a timeline. Other people look at this as a recapitulation, meaning that you have the trumpet judgments as soon as the trumpet judgments end, or the seal judgments as soon as those end, you have the trumpet judgments and they really overlay one another in what they talk about. So judgment, one of all three judgments, people note their similarity. So they think that these judgments are recapitulations. There is one unique thought to consider if you hold a recapitulation view, is that when you look at these bold judgments we're about to read, and I know I'm getting a little nerdy for a minute.

Don't worry. I'll give me 30 more seconds and I'll be done. When you look at these bold judgments, these bold judgments are a little more severe, not a little more a lot more severe than the trumpet judgments we just read about. I mean, when you when you read about the trumpet judgments, you see a third of the world under judgment or a third of the world impacted by the judgment, you read the bold judgments and you're like, oh, this is everybody. This is this is the whole world. This is what these judgments are talking about. So this is more extreme in their communication. And it's speaking really to the urgency, I think, about the wrath of God, which is what we're going to talk about today, the wrath of God. Not a typical conversation that you necessarily want to engage in with someone when you're. You're teaching them about the Lord. You know, it's not a topic where like. You know, if you had to do a Sunday morning message, I don't know. And you're thinking, what are all the subject matters we could talk about today? It's not. The wrath of God is not usually number one on the list. Right? It's. I don't even know if it makes the top ten. But I want you to know. In terms of the wrath of God, there is an important way to view this as God's people.

And it's an important subject to deal with. And in fact, sometimes when you talk to people about their theology, what they believe about God, about life, about anything in general. Sometimes people recognize, well, there is this thought of wrath, but I don't really like that subject, so I'm just going to pretend like it doesn't exist. We're going to talk about happy things, and sometimes you even ask people, what do you think about God? And they'll say, well, there's the God of the Old Testament, and there's the God of the New Testament. God of the Old Testament is full of judgment. God New Testament is full of love. And I love the love. God, I don't I don't like the judgment. God. So this is my picture of God. And they kind of describe this God as, grandpa God on a rocking chair. Just can't wait to see you to pinch your little cute cheeks tell you how lovable you are, right? That's the idea of some people's god. But I want you to know that God's not very helpful because that God can't really do anything to protect you. And it's the grace of God and the justice of God that make God who God is. And those aren't just the only characteristics about God. God is more than all of that. God is all of his attributes all the time.

It's not just he's one and then he's another. He's all of these things. In fact, when you look at the book of Revelation and we're talking about the wrath of God, it specifically will say at the very beginning of the chapter, at the very end of the chapter, wrath. Right. And so you recognize and seeing this. Wait a minute. This isn't just God of the Old Testament. This is the God of the Bible. And so how do you deal with the wrath of God as a believer where you don't have to make apology for it? You don't have to excuse it, but you recognize its place and who God is and the life of a believer. And so as we look at Revelation 16, I really want us to kind of rise above this the plane of this chapter, surveying it all to talk about some ideas as it relates to God's wrath. We're going to look at four questions today regarding the wrath of God. And question number one is this how can a good God pour out his wrath? That's not grandpa God, is it? And usually I give you some blanks to fill in when I give you the answers. But today I just gave you four questions. I don't even give you blanks to fill in, and I just have four questions there. And however the Lord speaks to you in these questions, you get to use your artistic abilities, your free thinking and writing a response, right? I'm not just dictating you what to write down, but you can write down these responses as we work through it.

But how can a good God pour out his wrath? Now there's a lot of things we could elaborate on this topic. There's entire books written on this, but I want us to focus on just a few things in terms of an answer here in Revelation chapter 16, verse one. Let me just start by reading says. Then I heard a loud voice from the temple telling the seven angels, go and pour out on the earth the seven bowls of the wrath of God. So the first angel went and poured out his bowl on the earth, and harmful and painful sores came upon the people who bore the mark of the beast and worshiped its image. So here you are, the idea of God's wrath being communicated for us and important to engage in as you, as God's people are called to represent God in this world. And so the God you're representing is certainly a God who has justice. He has wrath. And so how do you do that as God's people, right. We even are called to emulate God in the way that we live in this world. And so one thing I want you to keep in mind is as you think about what does it mean to be a representative of the Lord in this world? That is a high calling, that is sacred, that is important, right? The Bible tells you and in first Peter three, or excuse me first Peter two, that you are you are the royal priesthood of God, right? So your royalty and representing the king and you hold the priesthood.

It doesn't matter, men or women, that you represent the Lord. So the idea of this priesthood, priestly position given to you is saying that you become this connecting point between heaven and earth, that you represent people to the Lord. And you communicate the beauty of God or in passages like Second Corinthians five, it tells you different than a priest. It uses the word ambassador. You're an ambassador of God calling people to reconciliation in the in the Lord. And so God is a he's certainly a God of wrath, which is important to know. And so does that mean that you then need to execute wrath in this world? As a representative, you get to be the hands and feet of Jesus, right? Is that what you're called to do? Well, obviously you take some time to study this in Scripture. You find out wrath belongs to the Lord, not to us. Right. In Ephesians 431 it says, let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you.

This idea of wrath is the word orge in Greek. It's important. And I'll tell you why in just a little bit. But it's saying, this is not your job. This is this is God's role. Because when you try to pour this out, you're an imperfect human human being. And the way it works for us is we sort of just can't take it anymore. And we blow up on people and all it really leads to is us being a poor representative of Jesus and then having to apologize to people on the back end. So the idea of wrath is not something that we are called to execute, but rather Romans chapter 12 verse 19 says, beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord. And so this is saying, look more than more than understanding God's wrath is to let God be God. This isn't your burden to bear. Now, in the idea of justice in the Bible, there are two types of justice there. There is this there's this vengeful justice. Right? And then there's this retributive justice, this restoring justice, that when someone is going through a difficult time, we come along and we help reconcile what's broken. We find someone that's in a position of vulnerability and we help them. That's a type of justice.

But when it comes to executing wrath, the Bible says this is God's job to do it. It doesn't mean that when something terrible is happening, you can't stand up for what's right and say, this needs to stop, but God ultimately executes justice. Now, if you read on in Romans 13, you'll find out in the very first few verses of Romans 13, God tells us that he gives government the ability or right to execute wrath or bring his justice. So government is there to protect people. It's intended to do that, at least if it lives according to the reason God's designed it. But here in Romans 12, it's telling you God. God is the one that executes his wrath. He's ultimately responsible for that. I saw this play out very practically one time as a as I watched a youth pastor at a youth event, there was a particular pastor back east that I was I knew was a friend, and he would go to these youth events that he held. And every spring he would do these events where he would say, okay, now kids, gather around, I'm going to tell you the rules. He didn't quite say it this way, but he would tell the kids, get around and he would explain the rules, and then he would look at him and say, But I'm not going to make a referee for this game. These are the rules.

You obey by the rules. And if you break the rules, I want you to know I'm not going to do anything about it because the wrath of God is worse anyway. So it's this way. This is what he was saying. Like, I could try to bear this burden and have to ref this whole thing, but God sees everything you're doing, so he's far better at it than I am, right? So the responsibility wasn't his. But it's a funny way to think about God's wrath. Like we try to pretend like we're God, as if we have to be judge, jury, and executioner of everything. But truly, even if something gets missed, even if you feel like it gets you get wronged, God sees it. And God will bring reconciliation to all things. And so when it comes to the idea of God's wrath, it's not our role to pour that out. This is certainly something God does. And some people have kind of misused this idea. I find this repeated sometimes towards, towards Christians or people will say, Doesn't the Bible tell you judge not. You're not supposed to judge. And then they'll maybe if they know a Bible verse at all, they'll reference Matthew seven or the sermon on the Mount. Don't you remember? It tells you not to judge. You shouldn't judge each other. And it's wrong to judge. And I just want you to know that that's not what this verse is saying at all.

In fact, if you try to execute that in your life, let me just tell you that is that is foolish. Some might say stupid, right. That's that is not something that God is calling us to in this passage. What it's what is being mindful of is it's understanding that we as human beings, we will judge. But when we when we do judge that we need to judge in the right way. So there's a type of judgment that's certainly wrong, which is diminishing the value of another human being made in the image of God because we disagree with them. So anytime we start ripping at the image of a human being and degrading them because we don't agree with something that's wrong and that type of judgment, whatever that is, that's wrong. But there's another kind of judgment that's important for our lives regularly. And that is that is a judgment that is discerning, a judgment that tries to walk with wisdom, where you may look at what someone's doing and you say to yourself, I you know, I don't dislike them. I don't think less of them. But what they're doing is rather ignorant. And I don't want to do that. Right. It's foolish. I don't want to follow that path. And so there's this kind of judgment that we look at things and we try to discern, is this righteous? Is this good? Is this right? Now in Matthew seven, he does give us the sobering idea in verse two of saying, for with the judgment you pronounce, you will be judged.

And with the measure you see it will be measured to you. Saying, look, let's not be hypocritical if you're going to look at someone else and think, this isn't right, you need to take time to really examine your own heart and the motives of your life. And so it's not about you just going around like an armchair quarterback, telling everyone else what's wrong with them, but taking the time to search your own heart and why you do what you do. So there is this place of judgment that is healthy and good. So Proverbs 16 verse 21 says, the wise of heart is called discerning. And they want to have that judgment to be able to understand. Like I sometimes I encourage us to say this. You need to have people in your life where they have the open invitation to answer this question. If you were me, what would you do differently? Because we all have blind spots. As a pastor, I appreciate those around me that given the opportunity to speak into my life now, I want you to know like I love our church. I love people that are a part of ABC. Call it home. That is not an open invitation for everyone to tell me your opinions of me.

Right. But I do want people in my life to come to me. If I if that was an invitation for everybody all the time, I would not get anything done in the week. But you do let people speak into your life for discernment and wisdom to recognize where your blind spots are, right? So the wise of heart is called discerning. But then Proverbs 12 one but he who hates reproof is stupid. Proverbs 12 one. I had a this summer at youth camp. Our teenagers. I love waking up in the morning at youth camp because our kids stay up all night and I get, like the first two hours of the day to myself. It's great. And but the first morning of youth camp this year, there was a spunky teenager, and she was full of lots of words. And she I found my quiet spot. And I'm just sitting there enjoying my morning, and she comes up and goes. I learned a new verse today and I'm like, oh Well, yeah. And she quotes to me Proverbs 12 one. And then she said, I learned that the whole point of this verse is don't be stupid. And so now every time I see this teenager, wherever we go, she looks at me and says, don't be stupid. Proverbs 12 one. Right. So if you've not memorized a verse recently, let me just give you Proverbs 12 one don't be stupid.

This the idea of what this judgment means. We need to have some discernment. But there's this thought that comes with God's judgment or God's wrath that's important for us to understand what what's unique about the wrath of God than simply just discerning. Right. How can a good God, how can a good God pour out his wrath? Well, when you read Revelation and you understand the wrath of God when it's being poured out, that Greek word for organ there are some verses in the Bible that I think are very important for you to hold on to God as God's people. The first is first Thessalonians chapter one, verse ten. I think this is in the notes if you grabbed him, or first Thessalonians five nine or excuse me, five five, five nine, or Romans five nine as well. So each one of those verses point out to you that God does not pour out his wrath on his people. Right? And what he's saying is Jesus doesn't beat up his bride. God's wrath has a point. But what God is doing with his wrath is certainly not beating up his bride. When God executes his wrath, it's not against his bride. Now, I want you to know in Revelation chapter 16, verse one, when we read the word wrath together, that this word for wrath in 16 one is not actually orgy.

You don't see the word orgy used until verse 19. This word for wrath in verse one is the word for fierceness of God. You get to the wrath of God when you get to the end of this chapter. But God's wrath is not poured out on his people. In fact, when you think about wrath, if we struggle with a wrathful God and we like the loving God. One thing that I like to point out to us as believers is, you know what happens to brothers and sisters in Christ around the world. Like even this past week, I was reading an article that 90 Christians at one time were taken out at the in the Congo and were executed for their faith in Christ. And it's often the persecution of Christians we don't hear publicized, but 90 Christians at one time. You kind of wonder, why wasn't this on headline news? Or just because you follow Jesus, you're taken out and killed. And when I think about brothers and sisters in Christ around the world that are facing that kind of persecution, the wrath of God is not something that they're worried about. The wrath of God is something they're comforted by. In fact, in Revelation chapter six, verse ten, if you remember, Revelation chapter six is written focused on martyrs, followers of God, who are martyred. In Revelation chapter six, verse ten, their question is God? How long? How much longer until your wrath is made known? Their question is actually the opposite that we might happen to ask in our comfortable suburban lifestyles.

We look at it like, why? Why does God have wrath? And they look at it like God, how much longer till it comes? And in fact, when you consider that idea in Scripture, even you see this repeated that this idea of God pouring his wrath not in, not as if it's unexpected, but God, why so patient with it? And second Peter three verse nine, it says, the Lord is not slow to fulfill his promises as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. When you think in terms of this verse, in light of the gospel story, you don't, you don't, you don't start to wrestle with God. Why do you why do you pour out wrath but rather God. How have you been so patient? I mean, think about what the gospel story is, that when God created us, he made us all in perfect relationship with him. And it's mankind that rebelled against God, shook our fists at him and declared ourselves to be God. It's man, God, mankind that moved away from him and brought the destruction of what earth became because we didn't want to be connected to the Lord, but rather we preferred to be called gods ourselves. And the life in the Garden of Eden was that you can become like God or you can become God.

And so we usurped the position of God. And in that rebellion, what we experience is the destruction of sin. And at that particular moment, God was completely just to wipe us off the face of the earth. But instead of doing that, he offered us a promise hope and grace. His mercy. And while we are running away from God, shaking our fists, God was pursuing us in his grace to the point that he became flesh and he bore our sins on the cross. And so second Peter chapter three, verse nine is reminding of us of just how patient God is, how patient God has been throughout history, how patient God has been in your own life. And so when you look at the wrath of God, what it's saying is to examine the wrath of God, really in light of the patience of who God is. That both of those characteristics are important to consider as you approach this theology. It's not it's not just reading Revelation. And there's just this wrath, but it's taking a step back and putting this wrath into perspective of how long God has been patient with all of humanity. And if I just made it more specific, how patient he's been with you. So when you think in terms of God's wrath, it's important for us to consider that in light of the justice of who he is being executed.

Now, I'll elaborate more on the importance of this question as we get into question number two here. But number two is this. Why does God's wrath soften some hearts and harden others? Why does God's wrath soften some hearts and harden others? When you look in verse three, it says, the second angel poured out his bowl into the sea, and it became like the blood of a corpse, and every living thing died. That is, that was in the sea. The third angel poured out his bowl to the into the rivers and the springs of the water, and they became blood. If you remember the first, the first judgment that's being made known, it was really some people have speculated, as people were covered in boils and sores, like how that would happen. And the thought is, well, it probably happens through a food source and somehow that's infected all the people. And so now, because the land is covered in this infection, people go to the sea and when they get to the sea, they find out that they can't take anything out of the sea. And then the rivers are taken away as well. And then I heard the angel in charge of the waters say, just are you, O Holy One, who is and who was for you brought these judgments, for they have shed the blood of the saints and the prophets, and you have given them blood to drink.

It is what they deserve. And I heard the altar saying, yes, Lord God the Almighty, true and just are your judgments. So you say, see, as God is pouring out his judgment, his wrath, that they're recognizing that injustice has happened to God's people. And so God is certainly bringing that into account here. And then in verse seven, you see the softening of hearts, followers of the Lord, the way they described God in this moment, out of the altar. In chapter six, we saw those that were martyred were seen under the altar. And now here in verse seven of chapter 16, they're crying out from under the altar, Lord God Almighty, true and just are your judgments. Those two characteristics are important to consider with God, right? The truth and justice of God. So in terms of wrath. This is significant for us to understand in light of who God is, that he is true and that he is just. In order to be just, you need to know true justice. You need to know the truth. That's why we would be so terrible at executing justice. We don't always know what's happening in the motive of people's lives, why they do what they do. And so we just kind of judge that from the external. And we're not completely aware of everything, but God is. And so what makes this justice so great is that he knows the truth.

He is the truth. And if he knows the truth, he's not really going to be a good God if he doesn't execute his justice. And so both of those things are essential in what we're talking about here in the wrath of God. And in recognizing that there is this place of this should be of comfort for us as people to realize God is better at being God than me. And knowing that he is perfect in his patience, in his justice and the truth. If I'm going to trust anything in pouring out perfect justice in this world, why would it not be the Lord? And so here you see some individuals with a soft heart towards God and the way he's executing his plan. But this is not everyone in Revelation. In fact, as you go on further, it says the four angels poured out his bowl on the sun and it was allowed to scorch people with fire. As you read each of these judgments, you recognize that God is really covering the whole earth, a physical and spiritual. These judgments are going against all of that. And they. Verse nine, they were scorched with fierce heat, and they cursed the name of God who had power over these plagues. They did not repent and give him glory. The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness.

People gnawed their tongues in anguish. Look at this. And they cursed the God of heaven for the pain and sores. They did not repent of their deeds. It goes on and repeats the same thing again in verse 21. So some hearts are softened. Another hearts raise their fists to curse God. Why is it? Why is it that some hearts are softened and some hearts are angry to the Lord? And it's interesting when you look at these angry individuals, they operate as what I call functional atheists, where they're acknowledging there is a God. They just hate the God that they're acknowledging, and they're certainly not surrendering to him. Now, James talks about this with demons in James chapter two verse 19. It says, even the demons believe this doesn't change their lives, right? They're not surrendering to the Lord. They acknowledge there is a God, but they're just not giving themselves over to it because they would rather take that position than let the Lord have it. So here's some with soft hearts, some with hard hearts. Why do why do some hearts soften and others harden? Well, I would argue it depends on the underlying posture of the heart before that suffering takes place. I think sometimes people read this question as if it's the adversity that made the heart go that way. But I would tend to argue that it's actually more than making a heart go a direction, that the adversity that heart is experiencing is actually amplifying or revealing the posture of the heart before that adversity ever took place.

And when you think about it, if you know, if you have this hard heart to God, it really, I think, becomes evident when we go through adversity. If we are a self-reliant individual that is entitled, that sees your relationship with God as more of a transactional experience, where God I do this and so you're obligated to do that. And so if I've done this, you better do that. And if I don't, if you don't give me what I expect of you because, well, I'm entitled to it, I'm going to be ticked. And Okay, so there's this transaction of God. You're here to serve me. I'm not here for you. And this is what I'm owed. So you better give it. And when you don't get it, you get angry. And so the result of this is the difficulty of a circumstance brings to light or amplifies where that heart already was versus the individual who has the softened heart is one who is, whose life is shaped by humility, by trust, by. Recognize any anything good that they have in life is surely by the grace of God. God didn't owe him anything, and the fact that they have breath in their lungs is a gift from the Lord.

And so when it comes to understanding what causes one heart to soften and one heart to harden, it's more of understanding. It's those circumstances that draw out where our heart was truly resting to begin with. It's why when you read passages like the Lord's Prayer in Matthew six, God, give us this day our daily bread, right? It's acknowledging I'm not owed that Lord, but rather I do want to trust in you for it. And it's only because of your grace that I have it. And so God doesn't have to give us anything. But he's been patient towards us when it comes to this idea. It's helping us recognize, like my actions are really a demonstration of something much deeper resting within me and my circumstances. Help me discover that. That's why sometimes I say you know, the Bible very clearly says in Psalms 127, children are a gift from the Lord. And also, one of the greatest refinements to your walk in life is found in the intimacy of relationships that you have starting in your own home. And we think sometimes we're perfect, great people. And then when we get with people 24 hours a day, seven days a week, our weaknesses sometimes go to the surface. And your response to that could be to blame them or to recognize I'm in charge for how I choose to react. And when I respond in a poor way, it's evident that there's something deeper wrestling within me.

So question number three, then, is how to move forward in a broken and fallen world. In Revelation, he goes on further and says this the sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great Euphrates, and its water was dried up to prepare the way for the kings from the east. And I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast. Now the mouth of the false prophet, and the unclean spirit like frogs. So you've got the false trinity, which we've looked at. And in Revelation 12 and 13, the idea that Satan always mimics what God has in the true Trinity, and this Euphrates is drying up, and the kings from the east are marching down this like it's a road now. And the kings from the east are symbolic of all of those people groups that warred against Israel, Babylon, Assyria, the Persians, they all came from this direction. So it's this picture of all those that have fought against God's people throughout time. And now they're coming down this river. And I saw coming the dragons and the beasts. Verse 14, for they are demonic spirits performing signs who go abroad to the kings of the whole world to assemble them for battle on the great day of God the Almighty. In verse 15, behold, I am coming. God says, like a thief, blessed is the one who stays awake, keeping his garment on, that he may not go about naked and be seen exposed, and they assemble them at the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon.

It's interesting this really the word Armageddon. This is really the only time it's in Scripture. And theologians debate as to what's happening here at Armageddon, whether God is allowing the armies that are going to fight against him to come to this place, or he's actually gathering his own people here at this place. Either way, showdown is about to happen, right? And you look at this verse, you can take this verse literal. Or we can extrapolate from this a spiritual lesson. Right? If you take this literal verse 15, what it's telling you is it is not a good idea to ever sleep naked. That's what he's saying here. So in a literal sense, never sleep naked. Put your clothes on. And in a in a spiritual sense, what he's saying is make sure your life is ready. One day you're going to see Jesus face to face. And we don't want that to be a moment of shame, but a moment you look forward to and rejoicing. The King of all glory has pursued you with his life to give you the opportunity to be with him for eternity, to represent him and what you do to walk with a life giving relationship in him right now.

Your eternal life doesn't start the moment you die. It starts the moment you trust in Jesus. And we should look forward to the day where we finally get to see him face to face. And the way that we do that is you definitely need to put your clothes on. But the way that we do that is making sure that we're properly clothed, we're prepared. And sometimes when we think about the destruction of life, we think, man, what's it even worth? Why even invest? Why do and we sort of can get discouraged by seeing brokenness around us. And what he's saying here by putting your clothes on is saying no matter. No matter if other people acknowledge you or not, the Lord sees. And if and if your life if Jesus matters, that should be all that matters to you as living your life for an audience of one. That no matter if anyone ever acknowledges this Lord, I just I being loved so much by you, I want to love you. And so I just want to honor you in the midst of darkness as a light for you. And so this is the idea of keeping keeping your clothes on. Is in a broken world, Is learning to just walk with Jesus faithfully, no matter what others might be doing against me that could be contrary to him. So that question number four, what is the point of God's wrath? What is the point of God's wrath? Sometimes we get so focused on, oh my gosh, there's wrath.

What are we going to do that we really need to take a step back in terms of the whole book of Revelation and consider it God, what is the point? And the point isn't the wrath itself right? The point has never been about the wrath, but rather this. This was achieving something that God, God has promised us and God longs for, which is ultimately his glory. But it's to your benefit. Verse 17, the seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple and from the throne, saying, it is done. It's interesting. When the seventh bowl is poured, it tells us it goes into the air. And you know, when you think about this in terms of judgment, you have the land and the And the sea and the water and the air. Everything is covered. But I would say more than just that's happening here. That in terms of the idea of this air in Ephesians chapter two verse two, it tells us that Satan is the prince of the power of the air. So it's really judgment over all things that are contrary to the Lord. And then the Lord says it is done. And we've heard a similar phrase that Jesus spoke at the cross.

It is finished. And Jesus is first coming when he talks about it is finished. It's what is necessary for your life and mine to find freedom in him. Now when Jesus went to the cross, he bore the wrath of God. The sin that you owed against the Lord, that you were a rebel against God, and you were in the path of God's wrath. But Jesus stood in your place. And when he said, it is finished, he's saying the payment that was required for your life to find mercy, grace, peace, freedom. Jesus bore that wrath and Jesus's second coming. He's bringing his judgment against all of creation that remains in rebellion against him. So it is it is done in the great city was split into three parts. In the city of the nations fell and God remembered Babylon the Great to make her drain the cup of the wine of the fury of his wrath. And every island fled away, and no mountains were to be found, and great hailstones, about 100 pounds each, fell from heaven on the people. And they cursed God for the plague of the hell, because the plague was so severe. So here we are looking at God's judgment. But what's the point? Can I tell you the reason? We know that the point isn't just simply God's judgment is because Revelation continues on. And what God's ultimately after is the refinement of all of his creation.

In Second Peter chapter three verse nine, we looked at God being patient towards us. But if you read on in verse ten, it tells us that God is going to refine everything. It's a beautiful thought when you consider that, you know in the Lord God could have completely been just and judging me and that would have been it. But rather than discard me. He renewed me. He took what was broken and he made a completely new creation in him. And same thing with this world. Rather than just obliterate this world, God's plan for this world is not to completely destroy it, but under the heat of his wrath, to refine it, to make it new once again. God isn't wasting things, but rather God is going to use this earth to recreate it. And so when you look at the book of Revelation, this is why it ends. The very last verse says it like this the grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. That's what God's interested in restoring what was broken because of the rebellious heart of man bringing sin into this world. God wants to bring us back to the state of really, the Garden of Eden, experiencing the joy of what it means to walk with Jesus. Now, he's not going to force everyone into that, but he does give you the opportunity to experience it with him. So when you think in terms of God's wrath.

There's certainly a black and white to it, right? You belong to Jesus or you don't. But there's also a part of our lives we realize, even though I may belong to Jesus, sometimes I don't live like it. Sometimes I may acknowledge Jesus with my lips. But my heart, my heart belongs to this broken world. And so there's this place that sobers us up when we think about God's wrath to say, what am I doing? Why am I living for something that doesn't matter at the end of the day? Why have I not really leaned into the Lord with all that I am? And even more than this, I want to leave us with this last thought. And in first John chapter four, verse ten, it says in this is love. So here's how you this great experience of love, not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. So it's saying, you want to know what real love is like. You gave God every excuse in the world, not not to pursue you, not not to love you, not to respond to you, but to do nothing but bring his judgment and wrath. But rather than do that while we are shaking our fists to God and our sin, he loved us and he pursued us, and he was the propitiation for our sins. Now, I know when you read this word propitiation, this is not a common vernacular for our vocabulary.

You might read that and think, what? What is this? But I think one of the greatest illustrations I've seen on The propitiation was a story I heard from Henry Ironside. Henry Ironside was telling a story of a, of a caravan of individuals that were tracking out West during the days when they had the great land grabs. And here are this group of people from the East. They decided they were going to go on that journey out west to hopefully participate in one of those land grabs, to get their own homestead, to claim for themselves and have this place to live. Really looking forward to it. And these people from the East, they start journeying out West, and they begin to discover, because they've never really been west of the Mississippi before. So here they are going on this journey, and they begin to describe there's something lacking out West that people in the East have a little bit more of. And it's called rain. Right. And as they come across a hill and come to this next ravine, they see that the land before them is completely engulfed as far as the eye can see. And the caravan becomes worried, and suddenly the wind shifts and starts blowing in their direction. And now they're extremely worried, and they wonder how they're going to be spared by these flames, because it's bearing down on them.

And then they remember the closest river that they had crossed was still two days behind them. And these flames will be on them quicker than they can get back to that river. What are they going to do? They feel like they're going to die. And then all of a sudden one of the individuals has this idea. They say to them, with the wind blowing, I think we should light the ground behind us, the ground that we just passed across. Let's set it on fire. And people are a little panicked as to whether or not this will work. But the guy is very confident. He says, let's burn the land that right behind us, the land that we just crossed. And so they did. They took an attempt. And people are still somewhat in a panic, but they don't know what else to do. So they light this ground on fire, and then all of a sudden, the man who ordered the ground to be lit on fire, he says, okay, now everyone move onto this land. Now that this fire has shifted a little bit, let's move on to this burnt ground that we just set on fire. And everyone's still worried, is this actually going to work? Because that fire that across this whole land is now getting closer to us. It's bearing down on us.

It's probably going to kill us. And the man is confident it's absolutely going to work. And come to find out, as the fire gets to that now fire break, the fire dies out and everyone's life is spared. Guys, can I tell you when it comes to the idea of propitiation, this is exactly what Jesus did for you on the cross. He is the propitiation for your sins. He bore the furious wrath of God that your life could be spared. God's judgment will happen. The question is, who is in the path of that wrath? It can be you or it can be Jesus on your behalf When it's Jesus on our behalf. The wrath of God for us is not a place to be feared, but a place to be comforted. Because that wrath of God is poured out for your protection. It's his mercy made known in your life. It's the reconciliation of all things wrong that have ever happened to you. It's God protecting his people so that when you think of the martyrs in Revelation chapter six verse ten, God, how long they know where they stand before Jesus, and they know that wrath is for their protection because of what Christ has done. The wrath of God is not something to take lightly, certainly, but for us as God's people. It is nothing to be ashamed of, because for us it is the victory of Jesus made known.