Weekly Sermons

God’s Wrath is Completed on Earth

Today’s passage reinforces something taught many times in the Bible:

Earth as we’ve known it, degraded by sin, will cease to exist. But earth as it should have been, enlivened by God’s presence, is coming!

The Three Purposes of the Seven Year Tribulation:

1.        Judge the satanic system that has filled the earth with sin

2.        Re-gather a spiritual Israel that will be ready for Christ’s rule on earth

3.        Give everyone on earth several last chances to repent before it’s too late

You might want to picture the judgments of the seals, the trumpet, and the bowls as the bulldozer on “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” that removes what should not be there before God makes earth Paradise again.

Read Revelation 15-16     God’s Wrath is Completed on Earth     Let’s Pray!

Heaven Rejoices in Anticipation of the Bowls being Poured Out          15:1-8

This great and awesome sign goes with the two signs John had seen in chapter twelve. There he saw the great sign of God’s protection and dealings with Israel. He also saw the sign of the havoc Satan would cause during the last three and a half years of the tribulation.

During the days of the tribulation, many people will turn to Christ and then be killed for their faith. But far from being worse off, they’ll be very much alive in Heaven with God! 

Interestingly, Heaven doesn’t seem to struggle with God’s righteous judgment the way we do down here with our sinfully divided hearts! 

I hope you understand that the supreme attribute of God is His holiness!  Every other attribute of God, including His love, is to be understood in terms of His holiness. The only proper response to His holiness is to glorify Him!

God’s holiness will not allow sinners to go on defiling earth. Heaven is out of the question for those who won’t repent. That only leaves Hell for them, a place that only had to be for the Devil and his demons (Matthew 25:41).

The Bowl Judgments are Poured Out                                     Chapter 16

 

Some believe these judgments will be spread out over the last three and a half years of the tribulation. We don’t know! My guess is they happen in rapid succession, right at the very end of the tribulation, before Christ comes back.

We are called in this age of grace to love the sinner but hate the sin. I’m afraid too many of us love the sinner AND love the sin.  May it never be! 

The Euphrates is a key river in the Bible.  When God told Abraham and later Moses the boundaries of the Promised Land, He had the Euphrates as the Eastern border, with Babylon being on the other side of it. 

Behold, the day of the Lord is coming…For I will gather all the nations to battle against Jerusalem…Then the Lord will go forth and fight against those nations…                                                                                                     -Zechariah 14:1-3

 

For the day of the Lord upon all the nations is near; As you have done, it shall be done to you; your reprisal shall be upon your own head.   -Obadiah 1:15

“The unifying factor in all these passages is that the coming in view results in a loss for those who are not ready.”  -John Walvoord, Revelation, p 238

“Every sin will be pardoned by Christ or punished in Hell, but it will never be overlooked. Nobody’s sin is ever overlooked. All sin is dealt with!”                            -Adrian Rogers, Unveiling the End Times in Our Times, p 185