If its not worth doing, then don't do it!
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If its not worth doing, then don't do it! |
     
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The Grapes of Wrath Revelation 16: 1-21
We leave behind the glory, glory hallelujah's that open the fifth division of John's Revelation. In chapter sixteen we see before us seven images of the pouring out of our God's righteous wrath upon the unrepentant wicked during the entire millenic era. It is an image that is unpopular in our time. The old Battle Hymn of the Republic which celebrates the righteous indignation of our Father and our God with the sins of the worldly is no longer widely printed or sung. And yet, God's righteous wrath is a revealed fact of Scripture. As we turn to our chapter sixteen today we would do well to look back at the second portion of chapter fifteen to set the stage. There in verses five through eight we see the vision of this section turn back from the triumphant end of the age to our present dispensation. There the sanctuary of the tabernacle of the testimony is opened. In the Old Testament this is the sanctuary which contains the ark of the covenant, and the ark contains the testimony. This sanctuary is now opened, so that we may understand that the wrath which is about to be revealed is God's own wrath. The angels are given bowls that are full, this indicates the fierceness and unmitigated character of God's wrath. This wrath is everlasting for it proceeds from the ever living God. The sanctuary is filled with smoke: a symbol of the full and thorough operation of God's holy anger. This wrath is reserved for the worldly who ignore God's righteous claim to rule His own universe. We come now to our text for today. The chapter begins with the sound of a loud voice. It was loud because the Lord is filled with anger because of the impenitence of Satan's followers. As we look at these plagues we should notice their striking resemblance to some of the plagues of Egypt. Those plagues recorded in Exodus foreshadow all the manifestations of God's wrath upon the wicked. Throughout history, especially during this entire new dispensation, God is using every department of the universe to punish the wicked and impenitent persecutors of His people. In other sections of Revelation we have heard the warnings of the trumpets of judgment. In this section we see that those who refuse to listen are destroyed by the bowls of wrath. Now we should note that the many events of History may serve more than one purpose. While one particular event may call one person into Christ's kingdom, that same event may carry another away into hell forever and ever. These seven bowls are separated into a group of four and a second of three. The first four all relate to different spheres of nature while the last three relate to the conflict of the last days. These first four are related to ongoing disasters being recorded in history. They are similar to the events of the seals and the trumpets. But there is also a progression. As we have noted all along there are seven parallel sections in this revelation. And as we move from seals to trumpets to bowls there is an increase in intensity. While only fourths were affected at the breaking of the seals, there were thirds involved at the blowing of the trumpets. Here there is no limit, God's wrath is complete. Our first bowl affects the people of the land. The wrath of disease destroys not only this present life of the wicked, it also ends any hope for repentance and faith. This bowl contains bodily diseases of many types which individually may warn one person and call them to faith but the same disease may carry them away for ever. One Pastor spoke of his conversations with a young man who had caught aids. In the course of time this young man was converted by the power of the Holy Spirit and when he died he left this life for life eternal. The dreaded disease caught his attention and he repented of his sins. The same disease regularly carries away thousands who do not repent! The second bowl affects the sea. We know that the sea is used as an instrument of destruction. Just as all maritime calamities constitute warnings for the wicked, so also by means of some of these disasters the impenitent are hurled into hell. The author of Amazing Grace almost died at sea when he fell overboard in a drunken stupor. That event caught his attention and brought him to repentance and life eternal. The third bowl affects the wellsprings of life itself. The symbol here may be geographic in nature. Sometime when you are looking at a world map take special note of the great deserts of the world. There are the Sahara, the Gobi, the Middle East, the Australian Deserts, the American Southwest, and the Kalahari Desert. Of these at least four at one time sustained substantial populations. Within recorded history the northern Sahara and the Gobi were grasslands. Archeological research has noted the sudden disappearance of people in our own southwest! How did the Indians describe the permanence of their treaties? As long as the rivers flow and the grass grows. And so Empires rise and fall. That little drought of two years back. It consumed one third of American grain and food reserves. How very easily God could humble this American Empire with a three year drought like the one he brought upon King Ahab! The fourth bowl affects the sun. We are only learning how easily sun spots can contribute to our climate and electromagnetic fields. It has been written that three small nuclear explosions one hundred and twenty miles up in space would destroy our electronic capabilities by melting millions of transistors! Rebuilding these networks could take upwards of eleven years! While I don't understand all that is possible, one author once wondered if electrical generation was always possible on this planet? Certainly we must understand from these four bowls that the Lord our God is Sovereign and he has the natural means as well as the supernatural power to enforce His divine will. In the midst of life's smaller and greater disasters we are called to repent and believe that He is indeed Lord, God and King of His own creation. We come now to the last three of these bowls. Each of these sketches in themes which are continued and amplified in the following three chapters. As we look at these three let us be reminded that these especially are centered around the end times. These three have a heightened intensity as this present age draws to a close. Just as the Kamikaze were unleashed when American forces fought their way closer to the Japanese homeland, so do Satan and his cronies struggle more fiercely as God marches on towards His final settlement. The fifth bowl is reserved for the throne of the beast. As we noted earlier in another chapter the beast represents the humanistic governments of this world. History is full of examples where Empires have suddenly fallen apart and great and corrupt power has disappeared in the course of an afternoon. I am reminded of the abrupt dispersion of the power of the great Inca. There was a great and powerful King who wielded his authority for several thousand miles along the high ranges of the Andes until the greedy Spanish captured him one bloody afternoon. 162 Spanish soldiers under Pizarro took on an Incan Army of thousands and in the course of a pitched battle ended the reign of the 9th Inca who governed almost twenty million subjects! The sixth bowl is reserved for the united strength of all Satan's allies as they join the final battle against the Church. Into the midst of this hopeless earthly battle Christ returns. The last battle is called Armageddon. Let us not be confused with the literal plateau of that name in Palestine. This battle is a type not a geographic reference. The type of battle referred to is one in which God Himself brings the victory for His people. In this sense Armageddon is like every battle in which, when the need is greatest and believers are oppressed, the Lord suddenly reveals His power and defeats the enemy by His strong arm alone. The seventh bowl pictures the final judgment itself. Notice in verse seventeen the loud voice proclaims "It is done!" Where have we heard that phrase before? Was it not similar to the words of our Lord Jesus Christ when He hung on the cross? On the last day, God's wrath and judgment will also be complete. The seven golden bowls will be emptied completely. Just as John Steinback described the utter dislocation and disruption of the twenties in the American Mid-west as the grapes of wrath, so to will be the picture of the last day in earth's history. Unfortunately there will be no route 66 to take the refugees to California. This present age will end abruptly. The time of that ending we do not know. Therefore as we close we should pay particular attention to verse fifteen: "Behold, I come like a thief! Blessed is he who stays awake and keeps his clothes with him, so that he may not go naked and be shamefully exposed." Many of the Okies who fled the great American drought had nothing to take with them. They were impoverished, they were desperately poor. When the great and last day of the Lord comes, many there will be who have nothing to take with them into eternity. We do not know when our Lord will return. Are you ready? Do you have Christ's own righteousness to cover the nakedness of your great ability to sin? The scrolls of God's providence have been opened, the trumpets of God's call to repent from wickedness are sounding, the righteous judgment of the first four bowls are being poured out upon the wicked of this earth. Paul records in his first letter to the Thessalonians (1:10) that our hope is only in "Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath." There may be still a little time? But we do not know when Jesus will return. Will your friends, neighbors and relatives who you are praying for repent of their sins and place their faith in Jesus Christ? More personally are there any here today that know not where they stand for eternity? Let me earnestly declare that your only hope for salvation is in our Lord Jesus Christ who came, who suffered, who died for our sins. He rose again as the Scriptures report and is ascended into heaven, even to the right hand of God the Father. And just as our Apostle John records throughout the whole of the book of Revelation, Jesus is coming again. May you be found ready and waiting for His return. Amen.
Christ Covenant REFORMED (Presbyterian Church in America) Box 13926 -- Columbus, OH 43213 Rev 01a 01 April 90
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