Truth Matters - Weekend, 12

This is Rodney from the Masculine Journey Podcast where we explored manhood within Jesus Christ. Your chosen Truth Network Podcast is starting in just a few seconds. Sit back, enjoy it, share it, but most of all, thank you for listening and choosing the Truth Podcast Network. This is the Truth Network. Welcome to the weekend edition of Truth Matters with Dr. Cheryl Davis.

Heard daily on this station at 8 20 a.m. and 5 20 p.m. 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. Coming up, the visions of John, the angels and their bowls, Armageddon, and more.

Let's join this week's extended edition of Truth Matters. The emptying of the second bowl results in the oceans of the world turning to blood, causing the death of every living creature in the sea. This judgment is similar to the second seal and the second judgment. If you remember, the second seal release was a fiery red horse in Revelation chapter 6 through 4 and the second trumpet announced a burning mountain that was thrown into the sea turning a third of it into blood. 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 chapter 6 through 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 water 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 freshwater springs. If you remember in the second vial, it was the sea that was turned to blood.

Now the judgment extends to freshwater springs, so there will be no freshwater 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 through 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're still not repentant. And actually this was foretold by Isaiah in verse 24 through 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's no water to drink, as the springs have been turned to blood, and there's 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're blaspheming the name of God when they've 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. Then the fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and his kingdom became full of darkness, and they gnawed their tongues because of the pain.

They blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and did not repent of their deeds. 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. For behold the darkness shall cover the earth and deep darkness the people, but the Lord will arise over you and his glory shall be seen upon you. If we move on to the prophet Joel chapter 2 verse 2, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness like the morning clouds spread over the mountains, a people come great and strong, the lack of whom has never been, nor will there ever be any such after them, even for many successive generations. And nay whom, chapter 1 verse 8, but with an overflowing flood he will make an utter end of its place and darkness will pursue its enemies. And even in Mark, Mark has 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, but in those days after the tribulation the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light. The stars of heaven will fall and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. 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 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 a parenthesis 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, Behold, I am coming as a thief. Blessed is he who watches and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame. They gather them together at the place called in Hebrew Armageddon. In the midst of the demons speaking and performing signs, the voice of God breaks through with a final warning.

Behold, I'm coming as a thief. Blessed is he who watches and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame. Those who will keep themselves unstained from the antichrist world system and will remain watchful for the Lord as who is about to come, they will be blessed. 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 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. Then the seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air and a loud voice came out of the temple of heaven from the throne of God saying it is done and there were noises and thunderings and lightnings and there was a mighty and great earthquake as had not occurred since men were on the earth. Now the great city was divided into three parts and the cities of the nations fell and great Babylon was remembered before God to give her the cup of wine of the fierceness of his wrath. Then every island fled away and the mountains were not found and great hell from heaven fell upon men.

Each hell stone about the weight of a talent. Men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hell since the plague was exceedingly great. 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 thundering lightnings much like the day that Jesus died on the cross. If you remember when he said 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 is 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. But really 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 or 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 blaspheme 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 a 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 BC 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 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 truthmatters 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. This is the Truth Network.