The Judgemental Encore

     It is interesting that Rev. 15 opened with seven angels standing ready to pour out their bowls of wrath, yet the command to “go and pour” is not heard until the first verse of Chapter 16. What happened in between? The underlying theme of the entire Revelation: the mystery of Christ in His fullness. It is the timely ruling declarations of the King and His Bride (the heavenly Esther) seated as the heavenly court .
       Psalm 110 prophetically announced the Messiah’s reign. “The Lord said to my Lord, ‘Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool.’ The Lord shall send the rod of Your strength out of Zion. Rule in the midst of Your enemies!” (v.1)
      Isaiah 66 prophetically confirmed that Christ’s 1,000-year reign would begin with the rapture when He comes again at the dawn of the 7th Day. “The hand of the Lord shall be known to His servants,
and His indignation to His enemies. For behold, the Lord will come with fire and with His chariots, like a whirlwind, to render His anger with fury, and His rebuke with flames of fire” (Is. 66:14b-15).
       This supplemental vision of God’s judgments in Rev. 16 provides an encore performance of the trumpets we saw earlier in Rev. 8-9, as well as the second woe described in Rev. 11. They are recorded in a slightly different order with slightly different features described. Yet what we see matches the judgments prophesied in Ezekiel 38-39 concerning the 3½-year war.
       As the bowls are released, we see the people struck with terrible sores, the seas and fresh waters turning to blood, the earth scorched with unbearable heat, and a terrible darkness appearing in the sky that brings tortuous pain. Then the Euphrates River dries up, releasing evil spirits that perform deceitful signs that spark a worldwide war known as the Battle of that great Day of God Almighty.
        At first glance, verse 15 seems out of place. Does He come as a thief in the midst of the judgments being poured out from the bowls? No, John simply records what he hears Jesus saying concerning the Day of the Lord that dawns with the rapture and then initiates the wrath of that Day. To those who are not “in Christ,” the coming of that Day means they are robbed of something—the heavenly calling of being one with Him, being part of His Body, and reigning with Him for all eternity.
         It is as if Jesus is calling attention to the eternal consequences of mankind’s decisions. The sad part about this is that Jesus has already made salvation possible for every person. No one has to go through these judgments. But that reality is not up to God, for He has created mankind with a will to choose whom they will serve.
         As with the first two world wars, the battle does effect the whole world, but the fighting is centralized. In this case, in the Middle East. You may have heard this war called the Battle of Armageddon, primarily because of verse 6. This verse is the only place where we see this Hebrew name.
         It’s Hebrew nature has added to the confusion surrounding this battle. The place name is a misinterpretation of the Hebrew word that was used. Hebrew uses no vowels, and uses special markings (jots and tittles), making it hard to come up with a direct translation. For example, Yeshua, Jesus’ name in Hebrew, is translated as Jesus.
     The translators recorded it as Armageddon because of the accumulated archaeological mounds (tells) that were built up there over time. It simply refers to the Mount of Assembly, which is Mt. Zion and Jerusalem. This is why scholars cannot agree on the specific location for the translated place name and why they cannot find it throughout ancient history.
         As with the final 7th trumpet we saw in the overview, the earth is utterly shaken as a heavenly voice declares, “It is done.” There are noises, thunderings and lightnings. You may recall that I told you we would hear these earth-shattering noises again. They are the ruling declarations of the heavenly court against all evil!
        As before, they bring a great earthquake—“such a mighty and great earthquake as had not occurred since men were on the earth” (v. 18). The earthquake splits Jerusalem into three parts. This shaking of the heavens and the earth also causes many of the cities of the nations to fall. Islands disappear and mountains collapse. A great plague of hail destroys much of what is left.
        End-Time Lesson: We know from the Old Testament that the topography of Israel, and particularly Mt. Zion, is radically changed by these “noises.”  Jerusalem is not only broken into three pieces, it falls like so many of the world’s great cities. She receives God’s righteous judgment. She is given the cup of the wine of the fierceness of God’s wrath (v. 19).
         This passage is not referring to ancient Babylon as some assume. To understand why Jerusalem is referred to as great Babylon, we have to look back at Chapter 11. Moses and Elijah have miraculously appeared in Jerusalem to preach the Gospel and witness to God’s power and authority. You may recall that when their ministry is complete, they are allowed to be murdered, yet God miraculously raises them from the dead and they arise to heaven.
       Notice that the great city of Jerusalem, where Jesus was crucified, is spiritually called Sodom and Egypt, Old Testament locations where evil and debauchery reigned supreme. Here in Rev. 16 Jerusalem is also spiritually called Babylon, a Gentile city that followed after their own gods and reveled in temple prostitution.
         These unexpected place names simply call attention to why God has allowed this final war as a weapon of His indignation. Israel in general has rejected Jesus Christ as the Son of God, which ultimately means it has rejected its covenant relationship with God the Father. Worse yet, it has participated in the spread of modern-day Baal worship so prominent in the entertainment industry. This is the apostasy that we saw earlier. This is why God allows the consequence of their ways by allowing the invasion.   Thankfully, this is not the end of Israel’s story. Unlike the nations that surround her, Israel has come to see the error of her ways and cries out to God, who mercifully comes to their defense, in the person of Jesus Chriset, the Son of God coming again. Those who finally receive Him as the Messiah shall therefore be spared. She shall prevail by the grace of God.
        This judgmental encore straightens out the End-Time highway of God in that we do not have to return to fight the misnamed battle of Armageddon by human means. Once we are gathered together with Christ in Heaven, we simply use our two-edged sword of agreement with God’s will to release the trumpet/bowl judgments.