Revelation 15 and 16 Revealed: Pastor Allen Nolan Sermon

Well, believe it or not, we're on the downhill slope racing towards the finish line. I personally think that we're going to be able to finish the book of Revelation before Thanksgiving, maybe sooner. In fact, tonight we're going to be able to cover an entire chapter, chapter 15. Of course, there's only eight verses in chapter 15, but that's not the point. The point is things are going to start moving along a lot faster now. So, turn to chapter 15. And what I want to do is I want to read all eight verses and do what I normally do, which is to go back and then study this section or this passage verse by verse. So look at Revelation chapter 15 and let's begin in verse number one.

I saw in heaven another great and marvelous sign, seven angels with the seven last plagues. Last because with them God's wrath is completed. And I saw what looked like a sea of glass mixed with fire and standing beside the sea those who had been victorious over the beast. and his image and over the number of his name. They had harps given them by God and sang the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb. Great and marvelous are your deeds, Lord God Almighty. Just and true are your ways, King of the ages, who will not fear you, O Lord, and bring glory to your name, for you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous acts have been revealed. After this I looked and he and in heaven the temple that is the tabernacle of the testimony was opened. Out of the temple came the seven angels with the seven plagues. They were dressed in clean shining linen and wore golden sashes around their chest. Then one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls filled with the wrath of God who lives forever and ever. And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power. and no one could enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were completed.

Now, as you can see, chapter 15 introduces the final series of judgments that are going to come upon the earth. The NIV refers to them as the seven bowls of God's wrath. If you have the King James version, it refers to them as trials. I'm sorry, not trials, but vials. Either way, it means the very same thing. God's wrath is getting ready to be poured out upon the earth, which we're going to see in chapter 16. The end result is going to be the fall of Babylon, chapter 17 and 18, and then finally the return of Jesus Christ, chapter 19. So, as you can see, we're getting very close to the end of the book of Revelation. What this is all coming to, the great climax.

Now, let's study chapter 15 verse by verse. Look at verse one. And I saw in heaven another great and marvelous sign. Seven angels with the seven last plagues last because with them God's wrath is completed. God's wrath is going to be poured out upon the earth in the form of plagues. Now I want you to underline that word. Underline the word plagues. Plagues is translated from the Greek word plague. In fact, our English word plague is transliterated from this word and it means the very same thing as the Greek word does. A plague refers to a widespread affliction or calamity. So, we know that seven different calamities or afflictions are going to come upon the earth. These seven plagues are the last plagues that will ever come upon the earth with one exception. What is that one exception? Well, Zechariah chapter 14 tells us that during the millennium, every nation is going to be required to travel to Jerusalem to worship the King of Kings. And any nation that doesn't do that will won't receive rain. They'll experience a drought, which is considered a plague, a calamity or an affliction that's going to come upon that nation. Turn to Zechariah 14 16-19. Notice what it says. In the end, now what does he mean in the end? When the end of this age, when the end of the world comes, the enemies of Jerusalem who survive the plague, the final plague. Now, this isn't the last plague of the seven plagues. This is really referring to when Jesus Christ comes and he speaks the word. So, go back to Zechariah chapter 14 and read the verses before uh before verse number 16. What you're going to find out is that when all of these armies come to the nation of Israel, there's going to be a battle throughout the land. At that point, when Jesus Christ comes, he's just going to speak the word. And what happens is unbelievable. Just go back and read it. But he says, "In the end, the enemies of Jerusalem who survived the plague, the final plague, will go up to Jerusalem each year to worship the king, the Lord of heaven's armies, and to celebrate the festival of shelters, otherwise known as the festival of boots. Any nation in the world that refuses to come to Jerusalem to worship the king, the lord of heaven's armies, who is that? Jesus Christ, will have no reign." Then he gives an example. If the people of Egypt refuse to attend the festival, the Lord will punish them with the same plague that he sends on the other nations who refuse to go, Egypt and the other nations will all be punished if they don't don't go to celebrate the festival of booths or the festival of shelters. But expl but excluding that one exception, these seven plagues are the last plagues that will ever come upon the earth.

Now, why? Well, verse number one tells us, look at the last part of verse number one in Revelation 15. It says, "Seven angels with the seven last plagues." Last, because with them God's wrath is completed. Now, this won't make sense unless you understand what the word completed means. Completed is translated from the Greek word to means to complete or to fulfill in the sense of achieving a specific goal. If you say that something is completed, to what you mean is that the goal has been achieved. If the goal has not been achieved, then whatever you're talking about is not completed. To it has not been fulfilled because the goal has not been achieved. Does that make sense? So what this is saying in verse number one is that these will be the last plagues to ever come upon the earth because through them the ultimate goal is achieved. Now what is the ultimate goal? The ultimate goal is to usher in the return of Jesus Christ. That's the thing that we're waiting for. In fact, when Jesus had been resurrected and in those last few days that he spent with his disciples, they wanted to know one thing. And that one thing they wanted to know is when is your kingdom going to be set upon this earth? And he had to go through and explain to them, wait a minute, there's going to be a period of time known as the church age. But after that, in that 7-year period of tribulation, I will come back and set up my kingdom upon the earth. So, the ultimate goal is the return of Jesus Christ. And that's exactly what happens at the end of these seven plagues. Jesus Christ returns and he sets up his kingdom upon the earth. And once the kingdom of God is set up, there won't be any more plagues with one exception. As I said, any nation dur during the millennial kingdom that doesn't travel to Jerusalem every year to worship the king is going to experience drought. But besides that, it will literally be a perfect world when Jesus returns and he sets up his kingdom here upon this earth. There will be no more plagues.

In fact, let me show you how great it's going to be during that thousand-year rule in which Jesus sets his kingdom up upon this earth. Turn to Isaiah chapter 11. I want to read verses 6-9. He says, "In that day," now what day is he talking about? In the day that the kingdom of God is set up upon this world, in other words, when Jesus returns and the kingdom of God is here on the earth, in that day, the wolf and the lamb will live together. The leopard will lie down with the baby goat. The calf and the yearling will be safe with the lion, and the little child will lead them all. The cow will graze near the bear. The cub and the calf will lay down together. The lion will eat hay like a cow. Now, if you go back and you study in the book of Genesis before the fall of Adam, what you'll find is that God created the animals to eat plants. They were not to eat other animals. But because of Adam's sin, it perverted the entire world. So, what we're going to find in this is that everything is going to revert back to the way it was before the fall of Adam. Notice what it says. The baby will play safely near the hole of a cobra. Yes, a little child will put its hands in a nest of deadly snakes without harm. You won't have to say, "Tommy, don't do that." Tommy can do that. Tommy can play in the street. No car will ever hit him. I don't know how it's going to happen, but it's going to happen. You can travel to Australia and you'll be able to actually swim with crocodiles. You can go where the great white sharks are and you can scuba dive with them and not have to worry because everything is going to revert back to the way it was before the fall. It will literally be a perfect world during the millennial kingdom. It's going to be just like it was before Adam and Eve fell.

Now back to chapter 15. Let's look at verses 2-4. And I saw what looked like a sea of glass mixed with fire. and standing beside the sea, those who had been victorious over the beast in his image and over the number of his name. They held harps given them by God. See, that's where we get that picture. We see the angels in heaven, and they have harps. Where do we get that? From the book of Revelation. Anyways, and they sang the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the lamb. Great and marvelous are your deeds, Lord God Almighty. Just and true are your ways, King of the ages, who will not fear you, oh Lord, and bring glory to your name. for you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous acts have been revealed.

Now, if you remember, the throne of God sits on what looks like a sea of glass, remember all the way back in Revelation 4, uh, in in verse number six, we got a glimpse of what heaven is like. And in that glimpse of what heaven is like, we found out that the throne sits on what looks like a sea of glass. Turn back to Revelation 4 verse number 6. Notice what it says. Also, before the throne, there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal. In the center, what's it talking about? In the center of the sea of glass, around the throne were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes in front and in back. So what John is seeing here in Revelation 15 are the martyrs from the tribulation singing before the throne of God. Now we know they're martyrs because it says they were victorious over the beast and his image and over the number of his name. So we know that this group has gone through at least a part of the last half of the tribulation because they not only had to face the beast according to verse number two and three, but they had to face the pressure to worship the image and to take the name or to take the uh mark of the beast. But they endured and they were victorious. In other words, they did not worship the image and they did not take the mark of the beast. But in the process, in the process of refusing to do those two things, they were martyed. They were killed. Look back at Revelation 12 verse number 11. And they have defeated him. Who is him? The Antichrist, the beast. How did they defeat him? By the blood of the lamb and by their testimony. What does it mean? They believed in Jesus Christ. And because they believed in the blood of Jesus Christ, they spoke that out and they refused to worship the image. And they did not love their lives so much that they were afraid to die. In other words, they had a choice. You either worship the image or you die. You either take the mark of the beast or you cannot buy or sell and you won't have a job. And they said, you know what? Because of what Jesus has done, I cannot do that. And that was their testimony. And as a result of that, they died. You see, the saints in the tribulation will only be victorious if they refuse to worship the image and they refuse to take the mark. But in doing that, they're going to be killed. So, it's only in their death that a person finds victory over the beast.

Now, verse three tells us that these martyrs sang two songs before the throne of God. One was the song of Moses, the other was the song of the lamb. Now, the link between these two songs is interesting because most people want to know why in the world did they sing the song of Moses and what does it have to do with the song of the lamb because you see we are New Testament creatures. We kind of forget the Old Testament. You know, that was only symbolic of what was going to happen when Jesus Christ came. And so, when we get to the book of Revelation, it's like we throw the entire Old Testament out the door. But you need to understand that the majority of people that are martyed during the tribulation are Jews. They come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ and they have a deep understanding of the Old Testament. And so these martyrs when they're standing before the throne of God begin to sing the song of Moses, but they also sing the song of the lamb. But these two songs are linked together. What is the link? Well, think about this. The song of Moses celebrated the Israelites deliverance from Egypt. If you want to see the song of Moses, you can go and actually there's two that's referred to. One is Exodus found in Exodus chapter 15 and the other one is found in Exod and I'm sorry not Exodus but Deuteronomy chapter 32. Now the songs of Moses or the song of Moses celebrated Israel's deliverance from Egypt. And if you remember the Exodus story, God delivered Israel from Egypt and he brought them into the promised land. But the way that he did it is that he brought plagues upon the Egyptians. And when Pharaoh refused to give up, he destroyed Pharaoh along with his army. We remember the final plague in which all of the firstborn died. And everyone in Egypt cried out. And as a result of them crying out, Pharaoh said, "Just go." But when they realized that the Israelites were leaving with all of their spoils and they weren't going to have any servants or slaves anymore, Pharaoh said, "I can't allow this." And so he refused to give up. And so he chased after them. And what did God do? He destroyed Pharaoh along with his army. And that's exactly what happens in the tribulation. God brings plagues upon the beast and his followers. And when the beast refuses to give up, God destroys him along with his army. And then guess what? We as the saints get to inherit the promised land. We come back to the earth along with the kingdom of God. And that's the link between these two songs.

Verses 5, 6, and 7. After this, I looked and in heaven the temple, that is the tabernacle of the testimony was opened. Out of the temple came the seven angels with the seven plagues. They were dressed in clean shining linen and wore golden sashes around their chest. Then one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls filled with the wrath of God, who lives forever and ever.

Now, I want you to notice that these angels are dressed in shining linen robes and they have golden sashes around their chest. Sometimes we tend to forget that the Bible's just not putting these things to uh in the Bible to to make it sound good. No, if there's little details in the Bible, there's a reason for that. And so, when it begins to describe their dress, I take notice of that. Now, why in the world does it tell us that they were dressed in shining linen robes and they had a golden sash around their chest? Because that type of dress had meaning. Linen was the fabric that the priest wore. And let me explain why. Linen is the fabric of choice in warm weather because it's cool in the summer and it breathes so it remains crisp and fresh even in extremely hot weather. And if you ever travel over to Israel during the months of June, July, August, or September, let me tell you, it's extremely hot. It's kind of like Oklahoma is in August. You know, when we start hitting those 100 days and the heat index gets up to about 110 to 115, that's the way it is in Israel. And so the priests who had to do all of this work for the Lord, they're busy working inside the temple. I'm going to tell you, they would get extremely hot. And so linen was the fabric of choice. Now, the interesting thing about linen is the more you wear it, the softer and the more s supple it becomes. And that's why the priests wore it. You see, the priests were not supposed to sweat. Why were the priests not supposed to sweat? They weren't supposed to sweat because sweat represents work. Remember that one of the curses that came upon Adam was that he would have to earn his bread or work by the sweat of his brow. Sweat represents hard work, hard labor. Now, priests weren't supposed to sweat. And the reason they weren't supposed to sweat is because sweat represents work. And it's not by works that were justified. It's by the sacrifice of the lamb that we are justified. So as part of the symbolism of the sacrificial system, the priests weren't supposed to sweat. That's why they wore linen. So these angels are dressed in linen. In other words, they are dressed like priests. And what does that tell us? These angels minister in the presence of God. These aren't just any angels. These aren't the angels that normally come upon the earth. And they're our guardian angels. They're not sent out by God to do things normally. Their job is to minister in the temple in the presence of God. Wow. They're also wearing a golden sash around their chest. A golden sash symbolized royalty or an extremely elevated status. So these aren't just any angels. These are emissaries of Jesus Christ. Now does everyone know what an emissary is? An emissary is an agent who sent on a mission on behalf of another. But emissaries hold a very high position in government. So if you ever meet someone and they say that they're they are an emissary, it means that they hold a very high position in whatever government they're from. So immediately when we see these angels who come out and in their linen, that tells us that the normal position they have is before the presence of God. They minister in the temple that's in heaven. But not only that, with this golden sash around their chest, it tells us that these are emissaries. They have a very high position. So these high-ranking angels are carrying out God's will. This is something very special for them to do coming outside of the temple to carry out God's will upon the earth. And as they come out of the temple, one of the four living creatures hands each one a golden bowl filled with the wrath of God. The word filled indicates that they're filled to the brim with God's wrath. So, this tells us that the final plagues are going to be devastating. The earth is going to feel the full wrath of God. In fact, when you read this in the original Greek manuscripts, I shouldn't say the original Greek manuscripts, you know, we don't have that, but I'm talking about the original Greek text that comes from the original manuscripts. When you read it, it tells you that it's so filled to the brim that they have to be very careful that it doesn't pour out or or spill over. But the whole thought behind that is these are filled with the wrath of God. And when they're poured out upon the earth, the earth is going to feel the full wrath of God.

Verse number eight, and the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power. and no one could enter the temple in the seven until the seven plagues of the seven angels were completed. I'll be honest with you, because Revelation is a book of symbolism, many times we'll read past this and it's like, "Oh, that's just a really neat thing, but we don't catch the symbolism and what it means." So, I want you to really emphasize verse number eight. If you don't mind, let me read it again. And the temple, talking about the temple in heaven, was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power. And no one could enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were completed. Now notice what this is saying. As soon as these seven angels leave the temple, the glory and power of God fills the temple like smoke. And no one is able to enter this temple in heaven until the seven final plagues are completed. Now this is not a unique situation. In fact, this very thing has happened twice before. It happened in the days of Moses. In Exodus 40 34 through35, when Moses made the tabernacle in which God was going to dwell in, the ark of the covenant was going to be placed in the Holy of Holies. After this had taken place, God's glory and power filled the tabernacle. It was like a cloud. Now, when you go back and you read it, we can see that you can either describe it as a cloud or you can describe it as smoke. But I want you to notice what it says. Then the cloud covered the tent of the meeting and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. Moses could not enter the tent of meeting because the cloud had settled upon it and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. It also happened in the days of Solomon. If you remember when Solomon built the temple, David was not allowed to. In fact, David collected all of the material that was necessary to build the temple. He received the instructions of the Lord in how to build it. Even though it was different than the tabernacle, it was still st set set up in the same basic structure. It was just more elaborate. And so when Solomon builds the temple, he then comes to dedicate it. And notice what happens. This is in first kings 8:es 10-11. And it came to pass when the priests were come out of the holy place that the cloud filled the house of the Lord. So that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud. For the glory of the Lord had filled the house of the Lord. But I want you to notice that each time this happened, the power and the glory of the god of the Lord was so strong that no one could enter into the temple and no one could stand to minister before God. All they could do was fall down and worship God.

Now what this symbolizes and this is very important is that no one or no thing can interrupt God's glory and power during this time. In other words, from the time that the seven angels begin pouring out the wrath of God until the return of Jesus Christ upon the earth, no one can interrupt God's plan. No one can go into the temple and interrupt what he's doing. No one can stand before his glory and power and even attempt to stop the judgments that are getting ready to come.

Now, I want you to understand how the Jewish mind would perceive this and see this when they see that from the time these angels go out with the seven bowls of God's wrath. And it says a smoke fills the temple and no one can enter the temple until those seven plagues are completed. They would understand that. Don't interrupt God. You can't interrupt him. what God has decided to do is going to take place and no one can interrupt his plans. It is going to happen. So from the time that the angels step out of the the seven angels step out of the temple until Jesus Christ returns, God is not deterred. He is not impeded. Nothing is interrupted. His will is going to be done. And that's chapter 15.

Now, next week, we're going to get into these seven plagues, and we're going to study chapter 16. And then we're going to receive the results of these plagues, which is chapter 17, 18, and 19. In chapter 17, and 18, what we're going to see is the fall of Babylon. We're going to see exactly what happens as a result of these seven plagues. And then in in chapter 19, we're going to rece. But it was these seven plagues that brings about the ultimate goal of God, which is the return of Jesus Christ. Revelation is by far the most difficult book in the Bible. Uh for those of you who have been with us the entire time and you feel like you have a good grasp on it, congratulations. You're probably in uh 1% of the population of Christians. You basically have tackled the book of Revelation and you understand it.

Now, whether you know it or not, we're getting very close to the grand finale, which is the return of Jesus Christ. In fact, one of the purposes of the seven vials of God's wrath is to set things up for Jesus Christ's return. As we'll see, when the sixth angel pours out his vial, the Eure the Euphrates River is going to dry up. Now, the reason the Euphrates River dries up is so that the kings of the east can get their armies to the battle of Armageddon. Look at verse number 12 in chapter 16. And then what we're going to do is we're going to jump down to verse 16. We're getting ahead of oursel, but I want you to see what the purpose or one of the purposes is of the seven vials of God's wrath. Notice what verse 12 says. The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up to prepare the way for the kings from the east. Now, let's jump down to verse 16. Then they gathered the kings together to the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon. And everyone is familiar with Armageddon, right? The battle of Armageddon. That's the end. That's what's going to bring this to a climax. Jesus Christ is going to return. He's going to defeat the beast and his kingdom and all of his followers. And he's going to set up the kingdom of God upon this earth.

So the sixth vial or bold depending upon whether you read the King James version or the NIV. Now, I happen to read it in so many different translations that sometimes I'll just interchange them. Sometimes you'll hear me refer to them as the vials of God's wrath because that's what it says in the King James version and that's what I grew up with. Other times I refer to them as the bowls of God's wrath because I also read the NIV. But the sixth vial or bowl prepares a way for the kings of the east to get to the battle of Armageddon. We also know that the judgments that are going to be poured out are poured out in rapid succession. In other words, one after another with very few days in between them. So once the first angel begins to pour out his vial, we're going to see a rapid succession of all of the angels pouring out their vials. So, if one of the purposes of the seven vials of God's wrath is to set things up for Jesus Christ's return and the vials are poured out in rapid succession, what does that tell you? It should tell you something. It tells you that this series of judgments takes place right before the return of Jesus Christ. In fact, Hilton Sutton believes that these judgments are poured out during the final month of the tribulation. So, I want you to understand that we are at the very end of the seven-year period known as the tribulation.

So, let's study the seven vials of God's wrath and let's see just how bad it's going to get right before Jesus Christ returns. So, turn to chapter 16 and let's begin in verse number one. Then I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, "Go out or go pour out the seven bowls of God's wrath on the earth." Now the great voice is coming from the temple. This this voice is God's voice. And the reason we know that is because in chapter 15 verse number 8, it says that the glory of God fills the temple. And because of the glory of God, no one could enter the temple until the seven bowls of the seven angels are poured out. So the only one in the temple at this time is who? God. Which means that the voice coming from the temple must be God's voice. So in verse number one, God's telling the seven angels to pour out the bows of his wrath upon the earth. In other words, it's time to wrap this thing up. It's time to get to the grand finale, which is the return of Jesus Christ.

Verse two, the first angel went and poured out his bowl on the land and ugly and painful soores broke out on the people who had the mark of the beast and worshiped his image. Now the word soarses is translated from the Greek word helas and it refers to a sepurated wound. Now does everyone know what suurated means? It's not a word that we use all the time but suurated means that it's oozing pus. So these are sores that are oozing pus. The NIV also refers to them as ugly and painful. Ugly is translated from the Greek word cacos which means pernicious. Pernicious means that these sores cause serious injury and can even lead to death. That's why the NLT in the New American Standard refers to them as malignant sores. It's like they spread and they get worse and worse just like cancer. So, if you read the New American Standard or you read the NLT, you'll notice that it refers to them as malle malignant sores. They just get bigger and bigger. And to top it all off, they're very painful. They hurt like the dickens. But these sores do not come upon everyone. They only afflict those who've taken the mark of the beast and who have worshiped the image of the beast. Those who haven't taken the mark are not afflicted with these swords.

Verse number three, the second angel poured out his bowl on the sea, and it turned into blood like that of a dead man, and every living thing in the sea died. Now, to John and to all of the Jews in John's day, the sea was the Mediterranean Sea, but the universality of the language implies that it means all of the oceans. And because most of the Earth's surface is actually covered with water, this is going to be a natural disaster such as the world has never seen before. Now, how many times have I made that comment? This is going to be a natural disaster such as the world has never seen before. But you know what? I can say that time and time again and it's true. And the reason I can say that and it's true is because each series of judgments is worse than the previous one. So when we saw the seals open and we got to the World War III and I told you this is going to be a war like the world has never seen before. It was true. And when we saw that the the famine came and we saw that all of a sudden a plague came and all of these people died and I said it is such as the world has never seen before and it was true. And then we came to the trumpets and we saw with the second trumpet that it poured it out and a third of the sea or a third of the oceans became as blood and a third of the sea creatures died. And I said, "This is a natural disaster such as the world has never seen before." And it was true. But each time I say it, it's true. But you need to understand that each series of judgments become more severe. They become more intense. So by the time we get to this series of judgments, it's unbelievable. Now, this plague turns the oceans into blood like that of a dead man. And I want you to notice that it doesn't just turn it into blood. It turns it into blood like that of a dead man. In other words, it won't be fluid, but it'll be thickened and congealed like dry blood. It coagul coag Let me say that again. Coagulates like a jelly. So, if you can imagine the ocean, if you would, you go to the ocean and now we get in there and we play all in it. But I want you to to to imagine it as if it was blood, like a dead man's blood. You see, as long as your blood is pumping through your body, it's liquid. And when you cut yourself, what happens? It pumps out and it's a liquid. But give it just a few minutes, it begins to congeal. It begins. It's no longer like a fluid, but it's it's kind of like a jelly. And that's what it's telling us. And then it goes further and it says that every living sea creature in the ocean dies. Now if you remember the second trumpet judgment turned a third of the oceans to blood and a third of the sea creatures died. But this plague kills every living sea creature. every whale, every shark, every fish, every crab, every lobster, all of your favorite seafoods, everything in the ocean that's alive dies.

Verse number four, the third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and springs of water, and they became blood. And I'm going to add a word also. Now, as a result of this plague, there won't be any fresh drinking water upon the earth anywhere. Every river and every spring turns into blood. Now, here's the interesting thing. It does not say that it turns into blood like a dead man. And the reason it doesn't say that is because it remains fluid. And we're going to find out one of the reasons that it remains fluid is because men will be forced to drink it. It's the only thing they're going to have to drink. So every river and every spring turns into blood. So you can't do what the Egyptians did when Moses turned the Nile River into blood. You see what the Egyptians did when he turned the river in to the Nile River into blood is they went and they dug wells and they got down underneath the the uh water table and that's how they got their drinking water. But you won't be able to do that when this happens. And the reason you won't be able to do this is is because every river, but not just every river, every spring, every creek, every bit of water, everything from a well, everything under the ta the water table becomes blood. And in order to live, people are going to have to drink that because they have no other choice. But you can also see why most scholars believe that this series of judgments happens in the last month or two of the tribulation. Because you couldn't live very long drinking this substance. You couldn't live very long drinking blood, but you would be able to live a little bit longer. And we're going to find out as we continue to go through these judgments. It just continually gets worse and worse and worse to the point that you're forced to do this.

Now verses 5, 6, and 7 tell us why God does this. Look at verses 5, 6, and 7. Then I heard the angel in charge of the waters say, "You are just in these judgments, you who are and who were the holy one, because you have so judged. For they have shed the blood of your saints and prophets, and you have given them blood to drink as they deserve." And I heard the altar respond, "Yes, Lord God Almighty. True and just are your judgments." In other words, this is justice. You see, because they poured out the blood of the saints and the prophets, God's going to pour out blood upon them. So, what he does is he deprivives them of drinking water. And in its place, he gives them blood so that they're forced to drink the very thing that they're guilty of. They were guilty of pouring out the blood of the saints. And so God has allowed this to go on not just for seven years. You need to understand something. God in his grace and mercy has allowed this wicked world to continue on. And it goes back and says that they killed not only the saints but the prophets. And it's not just referring to the two witnesses that come on the scene. It's going all the way back to Cain. And all of this time, God has been merciful and God has been full of grace. But all of that has been filling up until it comes to this point that now he looks at the beast and all the followers of the beast and they are the sum of all evil because they worship the dragon. And as a result of that, he says, "Because you poured out the blood of the saints, I will also pour out blood and you will be forced to drink what you're guilty of, which is shedding blood." Now, that's justice, people. And that's what the angel in charge of the water is saying. He's saying, "You enjoyed watching the blood of the saints being poured out? Then enjoy this judgment." And then he pours out this blood upon him. It's actually blood for blood. And now we're seeing a little bit of the Old Testament here. An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.

Verses 8 and N. The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun. And the sun was given power to scorch people with fire. They were seared by the intense heat and they cursed the name of God who had control over these plagues, but they refused to repent and to glorify him. This plague intensifies the son's heat. And as a result, it says that they are seared by this intense heat. I want you to underline the word seared because this is important. Seared is translated from the Greek word kadidso, which means to be severely burned. This isn't talking about a sunburn, people. This word cat matidso or katidzo means to be severely burned. We're talking about thirdderee burns. A firstderee burn actually causes redness and swelling in the outermost layers of the skin. What we know is the epidermis, the outer layers of the skin. A secondderee burn causes redness, swelling, and blistering. And the damage extends beneath the epidermis to the dermis, the lower layer of skin. But a thirdderee burn destroys the entire depth of the skin causing scarring. If severe enough, it actually damages the muscles. And if you get burned enough, it not only damages the muscles, but also the bones. Here's what's interesting. This word seared in the Greek actually refers to thirdderee burns. So the intense heat of the sun is actually giving people thirdderee burns. Now notice the response of the people instead of repenting. What do they do? They blame God. And it's true. God's the one who's causing these judgments to occur. And we just read that in verses 8 and N. God is the one who's doing this. But why is he doing this? He's doing this because of their sinfulness. God is judge is just in judging them and in dishing these judgments out because they are a just recompense for their sin. But instead of repenting, they continue to blaspheme God. Now, if you remember, up until this time, the only one that's been blaspheing God is the beast. Now, I'm not saying that people don't blaspheme God every day, but I'm talking about people as a whole. As we went through the book of Revelation, up until this point, the only one that's been recorded as blaspheming God is the beast. But now, it's not just the beast. The people are now taking on the character of the beast. And they're blaming God just like the beast did instead of blaming their own sinfulness. Instead of looking at themselves and saying, you know, we're to blame for this. God's doing this because of what we've done. They don't do that. They blame God and they blasphe him.

Verses 10 and 11. The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast. And his kingdom was plunged into darkness. Men noded their tongues in agony and cursed the God of heaven because of their pains and their soores. But they refused to repent of what they had done. Now, I want you to notice that this bowl is poured out upon the throne of the beast. The word throne in the Greek is actually thronos. That's where we actually get our word throne. is transliterated from this Greek word but it specifically says that this bowl is poured out upon the thronos or the throne of the beast and that's very important because what this tell is telling us is that it's his kingdom that's affected now some scholars say that the kingdom of the beast is worldwide so the whole world is going to be affected but if you remember 10 kings are going to give the the beast their authority, but they will still remain as kings over their kingdoms, which mean that it means that the beast kingdom is really a distinct kingdom. Look at Revelation chapter 17. We're going to read verses 10 through13. If you remember when we were studying the beast, we kind of jumped ahead and we got a head start in chapter 17 and 18 because chapter 17 and 18 are actually innotes. It's kind of an appendix to let you know what's going on, what all has happened and we're going to get there next week when we talk about that. But I want you to understand that we've already looked at this when we were studying the beast. Now notice what it says beginning in verse chap or or uh verse number 10 in chapter 17. This calls for a mind with wisdom. In other words, it's this cause for understanding. The seven heads on this beast are seven hills on which the woman sits. They are also seven kings. The word there, the word kings in Greek could mean kingdoms. So they are also seven kingdoms. Five have fallen. Do you remember the five that have fallen? Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greek. And then he goes on, one is what kingdom existed when John wrote this? Rome, the Roman kingdom. The other has not yet come. But when he does come, and he's referring to when the kingdom does come, the kingdom must remain for a little while. The beast who once was and now is not is an eighth king. He belongs to the seven and is going to his destruction. The 10 horns you saw are 10 kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but who for one hour receive authority as kings along with the beast. They have one purpose and will give their power and authority to the beast. Now, did you notice what this said? If you didn't, I'm going to kind of sum it up. The beast belongs to the seventh kingdom, the revived Roman Empire. But he's also considered to be an eighth king. In other words, he has his own distinct kingdom. Does that make sense? So he has his own kingdom and he's over the revived Roman Empire, but eventually he gains control over it all, but he still has what's considered to be his own kingdom. So I personally believe that the fifth bowl is poured out upon the throne of the beast. In other words, it's poured out specifically upon his kingdom, also known as the eighth kingdom. Now, it could be upon the whole world, but I don't believe that. And I'll tell you why. I believe that the fifth bowl is meant to be a testimony to the world. In a sense, it's an object lesson. In order to prove that the kingdom of the be the kingdom of the beast is a kingdom of darkness, God is going to bring physical darkness upon it. It's what we would call an object lesson. The kingdom of darkness has become dark. In other words, God's getting very specific. If you noticed, he does a lot of explanation as to why these judgments are being poured out. He didn't do that with the seals. He didn't do that with the trumpets. But now, when it comes to the last series of judgments when he turns all of the fresh water into blood, he explains exactly why he does it. You poured out the blood of the saints. I'm gonna pour out blood and I'm gonna force you to

drink what you're guilty of. He now comes in and says, "I want you to understand the beast kingdom is dark. I'm going to give you a little object lesson. I'm going to bring darkness upon his kingdom." But you know what's interesting? It doesn't change anything with his followers.

Verse 11 tells us that men cursed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, but they refused to repent of what they had done. But notice what else verse 11 says. They cursed God because of their pains and their sores. This tells us that they're still in pain from the sun burning them and they still have their sores. So these plagues are actually overlapping each other. In other words, the sores from the first bowl don't go away when the second bowl is poured out. They are going to remain until Christ returns.

So all of these people who are gathered at the Valley of Jezreel, which is where Armageddon is, all of these people who are there that's going to be involved in the battle of Armageddon, they've got all of these pus oozing sores all over them. They've got third-degree burns and they're still cursing God. They're there from the time that was poured out all the way until Christ returns. The water that turned into blood, it's going to remain blood until Christ returns. The intense heat from the sun, it's going to remain intense until Christ returns. Which implies that the darkness over the beast kingdom remains until Christ returns.

Now, I do want you to understand that verses 10 and 11 can also be interpreted metaphorically. And I just want to mention that because some of you might be reading a commentary or maybe someone's book on Revelation and it's going to refer to this as being interpreted metaphorically. In other words, that the darkness that comes over the beast and his kingdom means that their minds are blinded to the truth. And let me explain why so many scholars believe that. The Greek word for darkness is skotos, skotos, which literally means to cover with darkness. But it can also be used as a metaphor. And if it's used as a metaphor, it means to blind a person's mind to the truth. In the old days or in John's day, they would say they were covered with a darkness or a great darkness came upon them. And they would use the word skotos. And if they used it metaphorically, what it meant was their minds were blind to the truth. So some scholars believe that when the fifth bowl is poured out, all of the people who follow the beast, their minds become blind to the truth. From this point on, they cannot see the truth. And that's one of the main reasons why they choose to fight against the Lord at the battle of Armageddon.

Now, I don't believe that. And the reason I don't believe that is because all of the other bowls are interpreted literally. So why wouldn't the fifth bowl be interpreted literally? I believe in consistency. If I come along and I see that this first one is going to happen literally and the second one's going to happen literally and the third one's going to happen literally and the fourth one's going to happen literally, what do I expect about the fifth one? That it's going to happen literally. So, I want you to understand that from my perspective, I believe that the beast kingdom will experience a dense darkness. It will be God's personal testimony. And because these things are happening in either the last month or two of this tribulation, possibly just the last month, you're not talking about a long period of time, but wherever the kingdom of the beast is, it's dark. And everyone knows this has got to be from God. And if you go back and study the Egyptian plagues, they happen literally. And if you remember, there was darkness where Pharaoh and the people of Pharaoh were. But in the land of Goshen, where the Israelites were, it was not dark. God has the ability to do that and I believe he's going to.

Verse 12, the sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates and its water was dried up to prepare the way for the kings from the east. Now, as I've already said as we began this sermon that the purpose of drying up the Euphrates River is to prepare a way for the kings of the east to move their armies to Israel in order to fight in the battle of Armageddon.

Jump down to verse number 16. Then they gathered the kings together to the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon. Armageddon. So as you can see, the whole purpose of drying up the Euphrates River is to prepare the way for these kings to get to Israel to take their entire army. And it's not just China, but it's all of the kings of the east, all of the kingdoms that are there. We're going to find out a little bit later that all of the kingdoms of the world are actually going to be coming to Israel to fight in this great battle known as the battle of Armageddon. But I want you to understand just drying up the Euphrates River is not enough. It's not enough to get the kings to actually move their armies. So something else is going to have to be done in order to get the kings to move their armies to Israel. They're actually going to have to be enticed to come.

Which brings us to verses 13 and 14. Look at verses 13 and 14. Then I saw three evil spirits that look like frogs. They came out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. Now notice that the word mouth (stoma) in the Greek, it's repeated three times. It's very important. They are spirits of demons performing miraculous signs and they go out to the kings of the whole world to gather them for the battle on the great day of God Almighty.

Now the reason that these evil spirits are coming out of the mouths of the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet is because they are seducing spirits. They're going to seduce the kings to follow the beast and to fight the Lord of heaven. You see, the beast and the false prophet are going to have to convince the kings of the east to come to the battle. And why are they going to have to convince the kings of the east to come to the battle? Because they're not a part of the revived Roman Empire. You see, most people don't understand that the kingdom of the beast is the revived Roman Empire. It's those nations that are around the Mediterranean Sea. But not every nation of the world is going to be a part of the revived Roman Empire. But we do know for a time that these kings for an hour, and what hour is that? The hour of the great day of the Lord. They're going to give their authority and their power to who? The beast. And so in order to get them to give their power and their authority to him, there's going to be seducing spirits. There's going to be demonic spirits who's going to use the words of the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet to entice them to come. That's why I call them seducing spirits. They seduce the kings into bringing the armies to Israel to fight against the Lord of heaven. They seduce these kings to give him their authority and their power for one hour. And they do the job. These seducing spirits do exactly what they're supposed to.

Verse number 14 tells us that these demonic spirits gathered the kings of the whole world to Israel. Not just the kings of the east, but the kings of the whole world. And they all gather in Israel for what is known as the great battle of the Lord, the great battle of Armageddon.

Verse 15, "Behold, I come like a thief. Blessed is he who stays awake and keeps his clothes with him so that he may not go naked and be shamefully exposed."

Now, who's doing the talking here? If you have a red letter Bible, you know exactly who's doing the talking. What does a red letter Bible do? A red letter Bible puts the sayings of Jesus in red. So, if you have a red letter Bible and I say, "Who's speaking here?" and you look at your Bible and you see that it's written in red, you go, "Jesus is speaking here and Jesus is speaking here." So, I want you to notice that this is very interesting because we're almost to the very end of the tribulation. We're getting to the grand finale. We're getting to the very end of the book. And right here in the middle of describing what's going to happen when the sixth bowl is poured out, all of the sudden Jesus interrupts the vision. This is out of context. There's no reason for this to be placed here. It doesn't go along with the vision. It has no place here. What in the world is Jesus doing? I'll tell you what he's doing. Jesus is actually warning us not to be on the earth when this happens. He's warning us not to miss the rapture. You don't want to be on the earth when all of these things are happening. So to make a dramatic impact on us, Jesus interrupts this vision. He interrupts the description of what's going to happen when the sixth bowl is poured out in order to warn us. And what is the warning? The warning is this: "I am going to come like a thief. You better be ready because if you're not ready, you're going to be left behind. Not only are you going to be ashamed that you were left behind, but you're also going to be in the sense of this naked being ashamed, you're also going to be without any clothing, without any protection. All of the sudden, you find yourself faced with seven years of tribulation that you didn't have to go through." What Jesus is telling us is when you don't think that I'm coming, that's exactly when I'm going to come back for my church. And if you are not ready, these very things that we're teaching on and all of a sudden you've been engrossed in. We're talking about the first vial of God's wrath, then the second one, then the third one, then the fourth one, then the fifth one, then the sixth one. And all of us get caught up when we're talking about Armageddon. All of a sudden, Jesus interrupts it and says, "Let me give you a warning. You're going to be right here if you're not ready when I come back for the church." And then just as quickly as he interrupts the vision, it's over. And the vision resumes. It picks up right where it left off.

Look at verse number 16. Then they gathered the kings together to the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon. Har means mountain and Megiddo of course was a little place. So supposedly the mountain of Arm of of Megiddo. And here's what's kind of interesting. If you go to Israel with me on this trip, we go, we'll go to Armageddon and you'll find out that it's not a mountain at all. It's a 70-foot tell. In other words, different cities have been built upon this place. It's a very strategic place in the Jezreel Valley. If you can control Megiddo, you can control so many different places. So every king and every civilian that civilization that's been there has built a city there and each time it got destroyed, they just built another city on top of that. But it came to be known as the mountain of Armageddon or the mountain of Megiddo. So that's why it's called Armageddon.

Now, here's what's interesting. Verse 16 tells us that everything is set up at this point for the grand finale. Everything is set up at this point for Jesus Christ to return. All that is left is for the seventh bowl to be poured out and then everything is going to fall like dominoes. And so I decided to stop right here because next week we're going to look at the seventh bowl. And what's kind of interesting is we look at this seventh bowl. We don't understand that as soon as this thing takes place, there's going to be these things that happen and then all of the sudden we're going to have this battle because the sixth bowl brought all of these kings to Israel. But we're not going to get to the battle of Armageddon until chapter 19 because chapters 17 and 18 are kind of like an appendix or an end note to kind of fill you in on everything so you know what's been happening and what happens as these things occur.

Last week we covered six of the seven vials of God's wrath in chapter 16. And if you don't mind, I want to quickly review the six that we covered. The first vial causes horrible sores to break out on everyone who takes the mark of the beast. The second vial turns all of the oceans' waters into blood. And not just blood, but blood like a dead man. In other words, it's congealed and all of the living sea creatures die. And it says all, there's not anything that survives in the oceans. The third vial causes all of the rivers and the springs to turn into blood so that all of the earth's drinking waters are contaminated. The fourth vial increases the intensity of the sun. So anyone who goes out into the sun is not wearing proper protection, they receive third-degree burns. The fifth vial is poured out upon the throne of the beast and his personal kingdom is plunged into darkness. The sixth vial dries up the Euphrates River in order for the kings of the east to be able to move their armies to the valley of Armageddon.

Now, that should have been a clue that we're very close to the grand finale. And what is the grand finale? It's the return of Jesus Christ. So, when we saw that God was preparing a way for the kings of the east to be able to move their armies to the, and I'm going to call it the valley of Armageddon. I'm going to give you the technical term for it a little bit later, but let's just call it the valley of Armageddon. When we see that, we understand that the return of Jesus Christ is very close. And I'll be honest with you, the only thing that's really left to do is to pour out the seventh and final vial, which is what we're going to study tonight.

So turn in your Bible to Revelation 16:17-21 and let's study the seventh and final vial. Verse 17: "The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air and out of the temple came a loud voice from the throne saying, 'It is done.'" So once the seventh angel pours out his bowl, this loud voice from the throne shouts, "It is done." Now we know that this loud voice is the voice of God. And the reason we know that is because in chapter 15, verse number 8, it tells us that the glory of God filled the temple that's in heaven. And that no man could enter the temple until the seven bowls of the seven angels were poured out. So the only one in the temple at this time is God. So this voice that's coming out of the temple must be God's voice.

Now, what does God mean by "It is done"? Well, the word "done" is translated from the Greek word ginomai. And of course, it means exactly what we think it is. It's done. It's finished. But more importantly, this is written in the perfect tense. The perfect tense denotes completed action with the results continuing on until sometime in the future. So, what this is saying is that once the seventh vial is poured out, the judgments are done. They're finished. They've all been poured out. There's no more to come. But the results of those vials being poured out will continue into the future for some time.

Now, how far into the future will that be? How long will the results of these seven vials be felt into the future? They will be felt all the way until Jesus Christ returns. Now, I want you to think about the ramifications of that. Those who've taken the mark are going to have sores until Jesus Christ returns. The water in the oceans are going to remain like the blood of a dead man until Jesus Christ returns. All of the fresh water will remain contaminated until Jesus Christ returns. The sun's rays will still be intense. And if you go outside and hopefully you won't be here, but if a person goes outside without the proper protection, they will get third-degree burns. The beast's personal kingdom is going to remain in darkness until Jesus Christ returns. Does that make sense? Good.

Now, let's see what happens when the seventh vial is poured out. Turn to verses 18 through 20. It says, "Then there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peels of thunder, and a severe earthquake. No earthquake like that has ever occurred since man has been on the earth. So tremendous was the quake. The great city split into three parts. And the cities of the nations collapsed. God remembered Babylon the great and gave her the cup filled with the wine of the fury of his wrath. Every island fled away and the mountains could not be found."

Now, once the seventh vial is poured out, an earthquake occurs. And as it says, unlike anyone before it, no man has ever seen an earthquake like this. It's so powerful that five things are going to occur. Number one, the great city is going to be split into three parts. Number two, the cities throughout the world are going to collapse. Number three, Babylon is going to be completely and totally destroyed. Number four, islands will disappear. They will literally sink into the sea. And last but not least, mountains are going to be removed.

Now, the great city that splits into three parts is Jerusalem. And we know that because in Revelation, Jerusalem is always referred to as the great city. Turn to Revelation 11, verse number eight. And I want to give you an example of that. It says that their bodies will lie in the streets of the great city. Notice that phrase. Their bodies are going to lie in the streets of the great city which is figuratively called Sodom and Egypt where also their Lord was crucified. Now, of course, this verse is talking about the two witnesses that are murdered. Those two witnesses are Moses and Elijah. And it says that their bodies will lie in the streets of the great city. And then it goes further and it says where the Lord was crucified. Now, where was the Lord crucified? Jerusalem. In Jerusalem. So we can see that the great city that was split into three parts is Jerusalem. Now, in the book of Revelation, there are times when Babylon is referred to as a great city or that great city. But every time that it's referred to as a great city or that great city, it's mentioned. But whenever you see it just or see the phrase used a great city and no specific name is mentioned, it always refers to Jerusalem. And that's how we know that Jerusalem is the city that's split into three parts. That's very interesting because we're seeing that we're close to the grand finale. In fact, when this earthquake occurs, it's at the grand finale. You see, I personally believe that when the seventh vial is poured out, that's when Jesus Christ returns. I believe that when his feet touch the Mount of Olives, that's when this great earthquake is going to occur.

Look at Zechariah 14, verse number four. It says, "On that day," talking about the day that Jesus Christ returns, "On that day, his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will split apart, making a wide valley running from east to west. Half of the mountain will move towards the north and half towards the south." So when Jesus Christ returns, the Mount of Olives is going to split in two. The instant that his feet touch it, half of the mountain is going to move to the north and the other half is going to move to the south. And it's going to create a very wide valley. And according to Ezekiel chapter 47, a river is going to begin to flow underneath the temple mount. It is going to come out of it and it's going to flow through this valley that is created by this earthquake. And this river is going to flow all the way to the Jordan Valley and into the Dead Sea. It's going to cause the Dead Sea to become fresh water.

Now, when the Dead Sea becomes fresh water, that implies that due to this earthquake, there's going to be such a change in the topography of Israel that the level of the Dead Sea is actually going to rise, allowing its water to flow to the Red Sea. Now, I want to read this to you. It's quite long, but I think it's interesting. If you have your Bibles, go ahead and turn with me to Ezekiel 47. I'm going to read verses 1-12. It says, "In my vision, the man brought me back to the entrance of the temple. There I saw a stream flowing east from beneath the door of the temple and passing to the right of the altar on the south side. The man brought me outside the wall through the north gateway, and he led me around to the eastern entrance. There I could see the water flowing out the south side of the east gateway." Now, where is this flowing out of? The eastern gate of the old city. It's on the south side. But I want you to get a picture because the temple faces east. So, when this water begins to flow from underneath the temple mount, it's going to flow through the eastern gate and it's going to go through this valley that was created. And remember what it tells us in Zechariah, the valley runs east to west. It's going to clear a valley all the way to the Jordan Valley. Let's go a little bit further. There I could see the water flowing out through the south side of the east gateway. Measuring as he went, he took me along the stream for 1,750 feet. And then he led me across. The water was up to my ankles. He measured off another 1,750 feet. He led me across again. This time the water was up to my knees. After another 1,750 feet. Now, do you see what's happening? They're measuring off 1750 feet. They're crossing across or crossing across the river. And then they go another 1750 feet. And this time they cross the river again. So we keep on going after another 1750 feet. It was up to my waist. Then he measured another 1750 feet. And the river was too deep to walk across. It was deep enough to swim in, but too deep to walk through. He asked me, "Have you been watching, son of man?" Then he led me back along the riverbank. When I returned, I was surprised by the sight of the many trees that were growing on both sides of the river. Then he said to me, "This river flows through the desert into the valley of the Dead Sea."

Now, if you've ever been to Israel, and I hope you get a chance to do this, on the back side of the Mount of Olives is the desert or the wilderness of Judea. It literally becomes desert. And so all of the sudden you have Jerusalem and to the west of it, it's all nice and there's lots of fruit and it's just a wonderful place. But once you go to the other side, the eastern side of Jerusalem, it starts the wilderness of Judea and it's desert. So this valley that's created is going to flow through this desert. That's why when he walks back and he's starting to see all of these trees, it's unbelievable to him because God has all of the sudden created this garden of Eden in a place that was once desert. And he says, "The waters of this stream will make the salty waters of the Dead Sea fresh and pure. There will be swarms of living things wherever the water of this river flows. Fish will abound in the Dead Sea, for its waters will become fresh. Life will flourish wherever this water flows. Fishermen will stand alongside the shores of the Dead Sea. All the way from En Gedi to En Eglaim." In other words, En Gedi is a little stream where David went. In fact, again, if you go with me to Israel, we'll stop at En Gedi. We'll literally walk up to where these nice little waterfalls are. You can actually swim inside of it. But it's almost like this is an oasis in the desert. But it's telling us that it's no longer going to be a desert. This water is going to create this land of Israel to be one of the most beautiful places since the Garden of Eden. And he goes further. Fish of every kind will fill the Dead Sea just as they fill the Mediterranean. But the marshes and swamps will not be purified. They will still be salty. It's kind of interesting, but a lot of the chemicals come out of the Dead Sea and that around it. I was kind of taken aback because this last time I went to Israel, we went down to the pillar of salt where supposedly Lot's wife turned into a pillar. Not supposedly, she did turn into a pillar of salt, but supposedly this was it. It's just a little thing there and you have these huge mountains. And our guide said, "Go on up to the mountains and touch them." He says, "They're salt." I said, "The whole mountain?" He said, "Yes." And literally, we went up there and that's what they are. You just can't believe it. But all of this is going to remain with these chemicals and you're going to be able to have them, but where the water flows, it's going to be purified. Then it says, "The marshes and swamps will not be purified. They will still be salty. Fruit trees of all kinds will grow along both sides of the river. The leaves of these trees will never turn brown and fall, and there will always be fruit on their branches. There will be a new crop every month, for they are watered by the river flowing from the temple. The fruit will be for food and the leaves for healing."

Now, what in the world would cause this change of topography in Israel? Well, he's already told us it's going to be this huge earthquake such as the world has never seen where mountains are removed and valleys are popped up and valleys are created. So, I personally believe that when the seventh vial is poured out, that's when Jesus Christ returns and his feet touch the Mount of Olives causing this earthquake to occur.

Jump down to verse 21 because the earthquake is not the only thing that happens. It says, "From the sky, huge hailstones of about a 100 pounds each fell upon men, and they cursed God on account of the plague of hail because the plague was so terrible." So, not only does an earthquake occur when the seventh vial is poured out, but there's also these huge hailstones that are actually rained down upon men from heaven. These hailstones weigh approximately 100 pounds. It's basically a talent. A talent is about 100 pounds. Now, Grant Osborne says that hailstones of this size or this weight would be about 17 to 18 inches in diameter. Now, Lisa, if you don't mind, throw me that basketball because I want you to get a picture of how big this is going to be. The diameter, I'll act like I played, which I never really did. But anyways, the diameter of this basketball is only nine inches. This is only half the size of the hailstones. So if we went out another nine inches, can you see how big these hailstones are going to be? They're going to be like a large beach ball. So I want you to imagine a hailstone that's the size of a large beach ball. Something that maybe is like a medicine ball, but it weighs a 100 pounds.

Now to give you some perspective on the size of these hailstones, let me give you some statistics. The largest hailstone or hailstones in recorded history fell on Bangladesh on April the 14th, 1986. It killed 92 people. Those hailstones weighed only 2.25 pounds. The diameter would be about 5 1/2 to 6 inches. But people, that's about 98 pounds less than what John is describing here. The largest hailstones that were ever recorded in the United States happened pretty close to where we live. It fell in Coffeyville, Kansas on September the 3rd, 1970. They weighed 1.67 pounds and they had the diameter of about 5.62 inches, the size of a softball. Now, I want you to imagine hailstones weighing 100 pounds, about the size of a large beach ball falling. They would go right through roofs. If it happened right now, literally, our roof could not support it. It would just come down and begin to just actually go and just tear everything up that it hit. People, they would not dent cars. They would smash cars flat. If they hit a person, they die. No ifs, ands, or buts. It would literally be like huge rocks falling from the sky.

But believe it or not, this is just punishment. In fact, what's interesting is all through the book of Revelation, whenever the angels begin to praise, the thing that they praise God for is not what we will praise him for as the church. It's not what the martyrs are going to praise him for as martyrs. They can only praise God from their perspective. And from their perspective, everything that God does is just and holy. So this judgment where these huge hailstones are raining down upon the earth is actually a just punishment. And why is that? Does anyone have an idea? Let's go back to the law. What did the law say? The law said that blasphemers should be stoned to death. Turn to Leviticus 24, verse number 14. It says, "Take the blasphemer outside the camp. All those who heard him are to lay their hands on his head and the entire assembly is to stone him."

Now remember, before the seven vials of God's wrath occurred, when the other judgments were taking place, the beast cursed and blasphemed God. But it did not say that all of the people did. But once the vials begin, once the sores come and once the people start getting burned, and once the water starts turning to blood, it says that everyone who has the mark begins to blaspheme God. And what does the law prescribe for that? They are to be stoned. So at the end of the tribulation, God is going to carry out the law and he is going to stone the blasphemers from heaven. They're going to be stoned to death by these 100-pound hailstones. And you would think that by this time anyone that survived would repent, but they don't. Everyone that survives is still anti-God, still blaspheming.

Now, if you don't mind, I want to quote from Clarence Larkin, and I'm going to quote from his commentary on the book of Revelation. It's quite lengthy, but I still want to read it if you don't mind. Clarence writes, "It must not be forgotten that the seventh vial covers the whole period from the time the seventh angel pours out its contents until Christ returns to the Mount of Olives. For the earthquake that splits the Mount of Olives and upheaves the land of Palestine, levels mountains, submerges islands, and destroys the cities of the nations along with the city of Babylon is caused by the touch of Jesus Christ's feet on the Mount of Olives at the revelation stage of his second coming." And then he quotes Zechariah 14:4. "And the great hail in all probability will not fall until the time comes in the crisis of the battle of Armageddon for the destruction of the allied armies of the antichrist. Hailstones will be the missiles used by the armies of God."

Now, I don't know if God's going to use his missiles, but he's actually going to carry out the law by bringing this down. But my point is this. Most conservative scholars believe that when the seventh vial is poured out, Jesus Christ returns. And when his feet touch the Mount of Olives, that's when this huge earthquake such as man has never seen before as long as man has been upon the earth, it's going to occur. And the hail is going to occur simultaneously with this earthquake. So, in essence, the battle of Armageddon is almost over before it ever begins because this happens and it just begins to pour out. When we get to Revelation the 19th chapter and Jesus comes upon his white horse and we see that we're coming with him. It says the sword comes out of his mouth and it's by the word of his power that these people are destroyed. But here's what's interesting. The Antichrist is captured alive. He does not die, and neither does the false prophet. And they are thrown alive into the lake of fire.

But anyways, I want you to understand that at the end of chapter 16, we have come to the return of Jesus Christ. At the end of the seventh vial, that's when Jesus Christ is going to return. Now, that doesn't happen or we don't read about that until chapter 19. So, what happens in chapters 17 and 18? Again, we're going to be filled in on other things that were taking place. He's going to give us more information on how the beast rose to power and exactly what happened in the middle of the tribulation and then what took place after that and then how Babylon is going to be destroyed and everything that took place there. So, we're going to be studying the mystery of the woman that rides the beast. We're going to be studying the mystery of the beast. We're going to see the glory of Babylon. And then we're also going to see its fall and the destruction that takes place when the seventh vial is opened. So you need to understand we have come at the end of chapter 16 with the seventh vial to the end of the tribulation where Jesus Christ returns. But all of a sudden we need to take a break and we need to fill you in on a few more things which is chapters 17 and 18. And then we're going to get back to the point in chapter 19 and we're going to see the return of Jesus Christ.

Now, the reason I tell you this is because I want you to see that we're there. We have gone through the book of Revelation. Now, again, chapter 17 is one of the most difficult chapters in the book of Revelation. But just like I told you when we studied the beast, I'm going to make it so simple that a grade schooler could understand it. Or I'm going to try to, but I think I can. By the time we're through, you're going to understand the mystery of the woman who rides the beast and who this woman represents and what she does to help the beast and how the beast turns on her and what takes place when he turns on her.