Revelation 16b & 17a

Revelation 16:17 – 17:6

The Wrath of God: The 7^th Bowl Judgment

Last time, our conclusion of the study of Revelation ended with this passage:

(Rev 16:14-16) 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. {15} "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." {16} And they gathered them together to the place called in Hebrew, Armageddon.

This would lead one to believe that we are now ready for the battle of Armageddon, but that is not to be. Not until Revelation 19, so that battle is yet to be described.

We are ready for the 7^th angel!

(Rev 16:17 NKJV) 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, saying, "It is done!"

Then the seventh angel

poured out his bowl into the air . . .

(Eph 2:2 NKJV) in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience,

This is obviously a reference to the domain of Satan, so since there is reference to pouring the bowl into the air, it may well have reference to punishing Satan and ending his power.

"It is done!" What is the “It”

I believe it is the present world system.

God has finished it. Ended it forever!

(Rev 16:18-19 NKJV) And there were noises and thunderings and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such a mighty and great earthquake as had not occurred since men were on the earth. {19} 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 the wine of the fierceness of His wrath.

(Rev 18:10 NKJV) "standing at a distance for fear of her torment, saying, 'Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! For in one hour your judgment has come.'

So again, a mention of what will be spelled out in greater detail in Revelation 18:

What will happen to Babylon, and in that chapter, we will need to decide which “Babylon” is being referred to.

(16:18) . . . such a mighty and great earthquake as had not occurred since men were on the earth.

(Rev 16:20 NKJV) Then every island fled away, and the mountains were not found.

Is this because of the earthquake? Was it so great that the islands sank into the ocean and the mountains sank into the earth?

(Isa 2:19 NKJV) They shall go into the holes of the rocks, And into the caves of the earth, From the terror of the LORD And the glory of His majesty, When He arises to shake the earth mightily.

(Hag 2:6 NKJV) "For thus says the LORD of hosts: 'Once more (it is a little while) I will shake heaven and earth, the sea and dry land;

(Heb 12:26 NKJV) whose voice then shook the earth; but now He has promised, saying, "Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven."

(Rev 16:21 NKJV) And great hail from heaven fell upon men, each hailstone about the weight of a talent. Men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, since that plague was exceedingly great.

“Men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail,” -- Once again, no repentance!

The character of those who are going through this is clearly shown.

They curse God rather than try to get right with Him.

(Rev 17:1 NKJV) Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and talked with me, saying to me, "Come, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters,

“the great harlot” I take this to be spiritual unfaithfulness, not physical.

(Jer 3:8-9 NKJV) "Then I saw that for all the causes for which backsliding Israel had committed adultery, I had put her away and given her a certificate of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but went and played the harlot also. {9} "So it came to pass, through her casual harlotry, that she defiled the land and committed adultery with stones and trees.

People do not commit adultery in a physical way “with stones and trees.” These are idols made of stone and wood.

(Rev 17:15 NKJV) Then he said to me, "The waters which you saw, where the harlot sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues.

(Rev 17:2 NKJV) "with whom the kings of the earth committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk with the wine of her fornication."

I take “the harlot” to be the Roman Catholic Church.

“Kings of the earth” (governments) which have made alliances with her that are entirely improper. We hear much about “separation of church and state,” but this is the separation of church and state that should be enforced, and isn’t.

The church does not need to be making “deals” with the “Kings of the earth”

Someone who is drunk has little sense of reality. Her doctrine, wine, gives people an intoxicated sense that all is well when it isn’t!

(Rev 18:4 NKJV) And I heard another voice from heaven saying, "Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues.

This verse is in reference to Babylon, but I connect these two. If the connection is true, then He is telling His people to get out of Catholicism!

(Rev 17:3 NKJV) So he carried me away in the Spirit into the wilderness. And I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast which was full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.

“So he carried me away in the Spirit into the wilderness.” – John’s way of telling us that this is a vision that he is about to see.

According to their doctrine Christ is sacrificed over and over in the observance of their mass.

(Heb 10:10 NKJV) By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

“having seven heads and ten horns.”

(Rev 17:9 NKJV) "Here is the mind which has wisdom: The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits.

(Rev 17:4 NKJV) The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the filthiness of her fornication.

“adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls,” The wealth of the Catholic Church has been compared to the wealth of the United States. At one time their gold supply may have been greater.

“having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the filthiness of her fornication.”

I take this cup of abominations, etc. to be the same as the wine that was referred to earlier.

(Rev 17:5 NKJV) And on her forehead a name was written: MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.

MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT,

The Babylonian religion exalted the “mother-child” relationship, making the mother more important than the child.

(Rev 17:6 NKJV) I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. And when I saw her, I marveled with great amazement.

“the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.”

One source estimates that the Catholic Church is responsible for the death of approximately 68,000,000 Christians.

(Rev 17:6 KJV) And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.

(Rev 17:7 NKJV) But the angel said to me, "Why did you marvel? I will tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carries her, which has the seven heads and the ten horns.

You thought you were getting by with it!

In recent weeks and months, things have been brought to light in the news and in the courts of corruption in the Catholic Church that I’m sure many thought they had gotten by with.

That pales as nothing compared to the full exposure and full punishment that is coming on those in the wrong.

Is the book of Revelation “scary”? If you aren’t right with God, it certainly is.