Truth Matters Weekend 010822: The Visions of John, The Angels and Their Bowls, Armageddon and More

Welcome to the weekend edition of Truth Matters with Dr. Cheryl Davis.

Heard daily on this station at 820 AM and 520 PM. Truth Matters is a ministry of the Truth Project whose mission is to empower men and women in the Christian faith to teach Biblical truth in the culture and marketplace of ideas using the Bible as a sacred trust of truth in sharing the message of Jesus. Learn more about the ministry of the Truth Project at www.projecttruthmatters.com. The visions of John, the angels and their bowls, Armageddon and more.

Let's join this week's extended edition of Truth Matters. All of this is very similar to the plagues of Egypt where Moses turned the Nile to blood. Most of the fish died in Revelation 6.3-4. And the second trumpet announced a burning mountain that was thrown into the sea, turning a third of it into blood. Again, there is no break in between the action and we go to the third bowl where the waters are turned to blood. Then the third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and springs of water, and they became blood. And I heard the angel of the waters saying, You are righteous, O Lord, the one who is and who was and who is to be. Because you have judged these things, for they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and you have given them blood to drink, for it is their just do.

And I heard another from the altar saying, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are your judgments. In the third vial, the judgment now extends to the fresh water springs. If you remember in the second vial, it was the sea that was turned to blood. Now the judgment extends to fresh water springs.

So there will be no fresh water source on the earth to drink. But now we are given an explanation. In verse 6 it tells us, For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets. Notice the cry comes from the altar saying, True and righteous are your judgments. We are seeing the justice poured out that the martyred saints cried out for in chapter 14 and 15.

Next, again there is no break in the action. We go to the fourth bowl where men are scorched, and we get that in verses 8-9. Then the fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and power was given to him to scorch men with fire. And men were scorched with great heat, and they blasphemed the name of God, who has power over these plagues.

And they did not repent and give him glory. Really, we don't know how this happens, but men are just virtually scorched by the sun. Possibly the atmosphere changes around the sun and more heat penetrates the earth's atmosphere. That's a possibility.

This may be the height of carbon emissions having burned a hole in the ozone layer. But still, those that are scorched blasphemed his name. Which, that's interesting. Those that were scorched blasphemed his name. Even though they are experiencing judgment, they are still not repentant. And actually, this was foretold by Isaiah in verses 24-6.

So, I'm going to read that. Therefore, the curse has devoured the earth, and those who dwell in it are desolate. Therefore, the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men are left. That is Isaiah 24 verse 6.

Also, I'm going to read 42 verse 25. Therefore, he has poured out on him the fury of his wrath and the strength of battle. And it has set him on fire all around, yet he did not know. And it burned him, and yet he did not take it to heart. So, we see a similarity, historically, as these judgments here will turn the sea to blood. Men are scorched, or the people, or the inhabitants of the earth are scorched.

There is no water to drink, as the springs have been turned to blood, and there is no water in the sea either, as that has been turned to blood. But really, this just shows the hardness of their hearts by this time that they are blaspheming the name of God when they have been scorched and tortured. And moving on to the fifth bowl again, we do not see a break in the action. The fifth bowl is next in verses 10 through 11. Here, God changes his focus from the earth to the beast himself and the location of his throne. The center of satanic activity on earth is the target of the fifth bowl judgment, which is darkness. Darkness was one of the plagues upon Egypt through Moses, a darkness so intense that it could be felt. The prophets of the Old Testament spoke of darkness in the prophetic plan of God as a form of judgment, and we see that in a number of places. So we're going to read Isaiah chapter 60 verse 2. If we move on to the prophet Joel chapter 2 verse 2. And Nahum chapter 1 verse 8. And even in Mark, Mark is discussed as darkness being a form of judgment. And Mark chapter 13, 24 through 25, where it talks about the coming of the Son of Man. So again, it's talking about darkness as his method of judgment, even confirmed in the New Testament.

The inhabitants of the earth really have lived in darkness spiritually up until this point, but now they're going to live in darkness physically as a reflection of the condition of their heart. The sixth bowl judgment picks up in verses 12 through 14. Then the sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up so that the way of the kings from the east might be prepared. So remember this, it's a very key verse. And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs coming out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet.

For they are spirits of demons performing signs which go out to the kings of the earth and of the whole world to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. Here, this is a key river the Euphrates dries up. The sixth bowl is very similar to the sixth trumpet of Revelation chapter 9, 13 through 21, as it is affecting the river Euphrates.

This judgment is in preparatory for the battle of Armageddon. The river Euphrates is dried up, and you'll learn more about this in chapter 19. But God has twice dried up large bodies of water to accomplish his purpose. First, he pushed back the waters of the Red Sea, and that was allowed to Israelites to cross over. But second, 40 years later, he pushed back the waters of the Jordan so that the Israelites could cross over.

Here, he dries up the river Euphrates so that all the kings from the earth can come to the plain of Megiddo in preparation for the battle of Armageddon. All of the bowl judgments do not have parentheses in the middle. There's no break in between them.

They come very rapidly behind each other. But in verses 15 through 16, there is a parenthetical warning between the sixth bowl and the seventh bowl. Let's read verses 15 through 16. It says, And really, that is the theme of the tribulation, is that there's going to be a choice whether we worship the Antichrist or worship God. Worshipping God will come at a tremendous cost, but those that worship God will be redeemed and will be blessed.

But the invitation is accompanied by a warning by those who do not watch. And it's interesting that the Lord has a parenthetical warning, even though through all these bowl judgments, they still continue to blaspheme his name and they do not repent. This just shows the never-ending mercy of God as even though he sees the condition over heart, even though they seem to be going deeper and deeper into darkness with each bowl judgment. So let's move on to the seventh bowl judgment in verses 17 through 21. This final bowl judgment brings the tribulation to a conclusion. This is the great final battle of Armageddon, which we will still discuss in Revelation chapter 19. Jesus Christ returns to earth to fight and win the battle against Satan. But to say it is done reminds us of the statement of Jesus as he hung on the cross, to signify the conclusion of God's judgment upon him for the sins of the world. And we find that in John chapter 19, verse 30. So when Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, It is finished, and bowing his head, he gave up his spirit. There will be thunder and enlightenings, much like the day that Jesus died on the cross.

If you remember, when he said, It is finished, there was a great earthquake, and people were resurrected and came out of their graves. We actually went very quickly through those bowl judgments, so I'm just going to summarize those one more time. The first bowl is the loathom sores, which were an abscess, which we said was an outer manifestation of an inward heart problem. The sea turns to blood, then the third bowl, the waters turn to blood, where the fresh springs are polluted. Men are scorched by the sun, and here we see that they are reluctant to repent, even under this bowl judgment. The fifth bowl is darkness and pain. The sixth bowl is the river Euphrates that has dried up, that is preparing for the battle of Armageddon. The parenthetical warning in between the sixth and the seventh bowl, which I think shows God's never-ending grace and mercy, even in the midst of judgment. And we see the seventh bowl, where the earth is utterly shaken, and the tribulation comes to an end, and the battle of Armageddon occurs. These were pretty gruesome.

I think the earth will be completely changed and regenerated after this, as we see the tribulation being so severe. What breaks my heart is to see the issue of man and the heart of man, and not being able to repent. So the Bible goes through the first bowl judgments very quickly, so I would like to just summarize them again as they seem to go in rapid succession. So the first bowl, in summary, was the loathom sores, as we said before, that this is an outward sign of an inward problem. The second bowl is that the sea was turned to blood.

The third bowl, the fresh water springs, were turned to blood. The fourth bowl, the men were scorched by the sun, and what is so serious about this one is that they still blaspheme the name of God, who had power over these plagues, and they did not repent of their sin and give him glory. The fifth bowl was the judgment of darkness.

The sixth bowl, the Euphrates River, was dried up in preparation for the battle of Armageddon. But there is a warning in the middle between the sixth and the seventh bowl, and I think this just shows us God's never-ending grace, even in the midst of judgment. And the seventh bowl shows where the earth was just utterly shaken, and the battle of Armageddon happens at this time.

And even then, men blasphemed God because of the plague of hell, since that plague of hell was so great. So here, these are the last events before the second coming of Christ in chronology, and I would like to reassure you as this is victory as far as judgment for those that were martyred, the church that is redeemed, and this is the Lord reclaiming the earth for himself, as we see that these bowl judgments are carried out directly by him. Here, we see about three chapters where we talk about Babylon, and as I promised before on the last couple of episodes, that we will discuss Babylon. In the next couple chapters, we are going to discuss and going to cover Babylon, as we have covered Babylon before in the book of Daniel. As I said before, technically, there are two Babylons. If I was to title this, I would title this the end of world religion, but in the first Babylon, the historical city of Babylon, which was the center of the Babylonian empire, the people who destroyed Jerusalem and carried the southern tribes of Israel into captivity in 586 B.C. And we read about this city in the book of Daniel, as Daniel was one of those prisoners that was taken over and then turned into a eunuch, as he became an advisor for King Nebuchadnezzar. So that is the first Babylon that we know, the ancient city of Babylon. The second Babylon is really probably the far most important for purposes of this study, is that it is a system of religious thinking that was characterized by the Babylon of old, but which also touches our lives today.

So next time, we will get into the end of world religion in chapter 17, as we have talked before about Babylon. I'm Dr. Cheryl Davis. Thank you for listening to Truth Matters. You've been listening to the weekend edition of Truth Matters with Dr. Cheryl Davis. Truth Matters is a ministry of the Truth Project, a North Carolina based ministry dedicated to teaching biblical truth and sound theology to those inside and outside of the church. If you'd like to listen to these messages on demand, go to ProjectTruthMatters.com and click on the podcast link. Dr. Davis is also available to speak to your ministry group or church function. She can be reached by email at CherylDavis at ProjectTruthMatters.com. Or if you'd like to send a letter, the address is Project Truth Matters, Post Office Box 159, St. Paul's, North Carolina 28384. You can hear Truth Matters devotionals on weekdays at 8 20 a.m. and 5 20 p.m. Until next time, let's all work together to teach a biblical truth to assist, equip, edify, and encourage one another, and bring the gospel to the world, because truth matters. .