Wait, Is This Some Sort Of Batman Soup? Nope. (Revelation 15:5-16:21)
GIST: The stage is set for sin to be taken care of once and for all…because our holy, loving, sovereign God takes sin and its destructive influence seriously.
This week, we’re continuing the conversation we started last week about Revelation 15. Last week, we just looked at four verses. This week… we’re going to look at a lot more than that ☺️. I want to try to walk through the rest of chapter 15 and all of 16 together today. Though that feels ambitious, it will also give us a more complete picture of what’s going on here.
In the first four verses of chapter 15, we saw a peek at God’s glory before seeing His judgment. We were reminded that His wrath is the outworking of His love that will come to calm the storms and make right all that is wrong. We also saw His people standing safe and singing praise to our amazing God of grace. The rest of chapter 15 will continue with that picture, and then chapter 16 will dive fully into God’s judgments being poured out. We’re going to look at this over the next two weeks, but we need to see the whole picture first. Because of that, there is a lot for us to see today, so let me give you our gist, then we’ll dive straight in: The stage is set for sin to be taken care of once and for all…because our holy, loving, sovereign God takes sin and its destructive influence seriously.
I. The Stage is Set (15:5-8)
"5 After this I looked, and the sanctuary of the tent of witness in heaven was opened, 6 and out of the sanctuary came the seven angels with the seven plagues, clothed in pure, bright linen, with golden sashes around their chests. 7 And one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God who lives forever and ever, 8 and the sanctuary was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from His power, and no one could enter the sanctuary until the seven plagues of the seven angels were finished." (Revelation 15:5-8)
Before we try to process the bowls of God’s wrath, we need to remember who He is. That’s how Revelation 15 started, and that’s what we’re seeing here as well. Look at the imagery here again.
The Sanctuary of The Tent: God’s Presence. This rings of God’s presence abiding with the Israelites as they sojourned in the wilderness.
7 Angels With 7 Plagues: God’s Message. Angels have transformed into so many other things in our modern context, but throughout Scripture they are seen as God’s messengers…which is what the word angel means. That reminds us that whatever is happening with these plagues, it is coming as a message from our God. And we’re reminded a little about who He is in the next images too→
Pure, Bright Linen: God’s Holiness. We’ve seen these pictures applied to other people in Revelation when they are reflecting or being covered by God’s holiness. His purity. This isn’t an evil message from a vindictive God. It comes from a place of righteousness…and power→
Golden Sashes: God’s Authority. We’ve seen this applied to God in Revelation imagery too. Specifically, it reminds us of His role as King of Kings! Then we see→
Golden Bowls Full of… God’s Wrath. We spent a lot of time talking about God’s wrath last week, so let me just recap today. God’s wrath is the outworking of His love. As we will see clearly in chapter 16, God is too loving not to intervene. He has let us follow the natural path of our sin because He’s not done saving people yet, but He is coming back to make all things right.
Smoke: God’s Glory & Power. We’ve seen this picture throughout Scripture as well. God’s presence descended on the mountain to meet with Moses. God’s presence filled the temple to consecrate it. This is a picture of God’s presence coming to us…and being→
Taken Seriously. Just like people did not enter the temple when His smoke filled it. People won’t see Jesus return and take Him lightly.
So, the stage is set→
II. For Sin To Be Taken Care Of (16:1-21)
I know this is a lot to walk through, but let’s read all of chapter 16 before we break it down together.
"1 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." 2 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. 3 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 was in the sea. 4 The third angel poured out his bowl into the rivers and the springs of water, and they became blood. 5 And 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. 6 For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and You have given them blood to drink. It is what they deserve!" 7 And I heard the altar saying, "Yes, Lord God the Almighty, true and just are Your judgments!" 8 The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and it was allowed to scorch people with fire. 9 They were scorched by the fierce heat, and they cursed the name of God who had power over these plagues. They did not repent and give Him glory. 10 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 11 and cursed the God of heaven for their pain and sores. They did not repent of their deeds. 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. 13 And I saw, coming out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs. 14 For they are 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. 15 ("Behold, I am coming like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake, keeping his garments on, that he may not go about naked and be seen exposed!") 16 And they assembled them at the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon. 17 The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple, from the throne, saying, "It is done!" 18 And there were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, and a great earthquake such as there had never been since man was on the earth, so great was that earthquake. 19 The great city was split into three parts, and the cities 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. 20 And every island fled away, and no mountains were to be found. 21 And great hailstones, about one hundred pounds each, fell from heaven on people; and they cursed God for the plague of the hail, because the plague was so severe." (Revelation 16:1-21)
What we see here is the→
Impact of Sin. Let’s try to break down the big picture of what’s happening here. First, we see sin leads to→
Destruction. That’s the message of the whole Bible. Sin might seem appealing. It might become incredibly popular in the eyes of the world. But it is always destructive. Even as I think about things I’ve witnessed this week, I’m reminded of this truth. Families torn apart. Young lives drug into so much pain. People full of such venom. Sin screws everything up. And God isn’t ok with that.
Just like He heard the cries of the Israelites in captivity, He isn’t deaf to our cries. These bowls, like we’ve seen before, are full of allusions to Exodus. Sores on sinners, Water turned to blood, Darkness over the “kingdom of sin”, Frogs, Hailstorms. The picture here is of widespread destruction. But don’t forget the context of Exodus. It’s all about rescuing His people.
Notice also that this is the first time there isn’t a pause between the 6th and 7th in our list of destruction. Why? This is the last time we’ll see this picture. There is no more delay. Sin touches the whole world. Cleaning it up will impact the whole world too, and that’s coming. By let’s not miss sight of this: we’re looking at painful purification. Nonetheless, what do we see in the face of all this painful purification? →
Rebellion. The Unholy Trinity (Dragon, Beast, and False Prophet) Amasses Troops Against God. The waters dried up preparing the way for an invasion. Those that defy God spew demonic spirits that are described as frogs plaguing the land. The idea is that they’re spreading the message against God and stirring people up for battle. The battle is to happen on the Great Day of God the Almighty at Armageddon which means the Mountain of Megiddo. This is an OT allusion as well. It was a valley where serval decisive battles were fought, so we have this picture that the most decisive battle of them all is about to happen. Why? Because even with all the warnings. Even with the outpouring of God’s love through Jesus Christ. Even in the face of the results of all our sins, there will be→
Unrepentance. This is repeated several times here, so let’s not miss this. So often people will put off accepting Jesus “until the time is right”. Until after they get to a better place financially. Until after the kids grow up. Until they have more free time. Until they finished wrestling with doubts…etc. The sad reality is this. When Jesus walked this earth, people saw Him and rejected Him anyway. When He returns, people will still reject Him. It doesn’t matter that they will see what their sin is leading them toward, people will continue to reject Jesus because they don’t want Him.
Now, notice this. We’re told there is a battle being set up, but what do we actually see? No contest. It seems as if this massive battle is about to take place. If this was a fictional narrative, the battle would be vast with casualties on both sides—until the “good” musters its last remaining strength and overcomes. This is not fiction, nor is the battle between essentially equal foes. The stage is set in verse sixteen, and in verse 17 God shows up…and it’s done!
Because even in the face of all that rejection, what we see happening so clearly in this passage is→
God Showing Up! That’s what verses 17-18 are all about, right? It’s the earthquake imagery we’ve seen repeated all throughout Revelation that symbolizes God’s entrance. In addition, this time its combined with the loud voice which has also been repeatedly connected to God speaking unmistakably. This time, the loud voice echoes what Jesus cried out on the cross: “It is done!”
Why?
God takes sin seriously and to redeem the world, He must judge sin. To clean up this mess, He has to get rid of the dirt. Sin, not people. To people, He offers salvation. He brings rescue, but still, so many run away from His grace because they want to try and save themselves. Let’s not miss this→
God is not vindictive. Brett Davis put it like this, and I love this picture: God is not Batman. Now, I’ve enjoyed a good Batman story from time to time as much as anyone, but—Lego Batman & Adam West aside—Batman isn’t a good hero. He’s brooding. He’s moody. He’s a hero seeking vengeance more than justice. Often, people will read passages like this in Revelation and get the same picture of God. He’s not coming looking for revenge. He comes bringing redeeming love. That’s why we see all these justice songs. Jesus is coming to rescue not avenge, but sin being torn away… hurts.
Now, there is more in this chapter we’ll have to come back to next week, but for today, let’s just hit a few→
TAKEAWAYS
Our world is messed up, but God is good. This world has been tainted by sin. Because of that, we will continue to see atrocities and pain. However→
Because of His incomparable love, He won’t leave us in brokenness. He’s not done. When He is, we’ll know!
He calls us to hope now. He is working now to redeem and rescue people. Even as you read these words, if you don’t know Jesus as your Savior— if you’ve never asked Him to rescue you from the sin that is controlling and destroying you—it’s not too late. No matter what you’ve done, no matter where you are, His love is enough. Please, don’t wait. Come to Him today.
He will return to bring ultimate hope—through the final judgment of sin. He’s coming back to defeat sin once and for all. We don’t like to think about future judgment. It’s definitely not “in vogue”. However, may we never forget that what we look forward to is Jesus coming to defeat destruction and pour out love. That’s not just a fairytale we tell in church. It’s real. Let’s pray.
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