UNDERSTANDING THE BOWL JUDGMENTS!

 Last week we looked at “the seven Trumpet Judgments.” Today, we are going to look at the Bowl Judgments that God will unleash on the inhabitants of the earth at the sound of the 7^th trumpet.

 

 “The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, which said: ‘The kingdom of the world has become the Kingdom of our Lord and of His Messiah, and He will reign for ever and ever” (Rev. 11:15).

With this trumpet the announcement of Christ’s reign is made as we move to the completion of this period. 

Each bowl will be released by a different angel, and each one will pronounce a different judgment upon the earth, and they will intensify as each subsequent bowl is released during the Great Tribulation. 

“And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God” (Rev. 15:1).

Why “last plagues?” “Last” because with them God’s wrath will be completed. So, this is going to be the final set of judgments, and when God unleashes them, all of His anger, all of His wrath will be unleased on the inhabitants of the earth, and there will be no other future wrath or punishment given.

This will also be God’s last and final attempt to try to get some of these hardened sinners to repent and turn to Him for eternal salvation. Yet they will refuse to repent and turn to God. 

These “bombshells” that God will be throwing at the inhabitants of the earth will be so supernatural and so severe that these people will know, without any shadow of a doubt, that it is really God that is doing all of these.

These extreme events really show us how hardened some people can become towards God, and there is nothing God can do to turn these people around without breaking the free will He has given to each and every one of us.

This is what will happen: Seven angels will be given seven bowls of God’s wrath, each consisting of judgments full of the wrath of God.

The seven bowls will be poured out one after the other on the wicked and the followers of the Antichrist after the sounding of the 7^th trumpet:

1. The First Bowl (Festering sores all over the body). In this first judgment, God unleashes a very foul and loathsome sore or boil to come upon all the people who have the mark of the Beast.

Imagine that these sores are similar to the sores that Job had. Jobs sore was from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head (Job 2:7).

Notice that this plague will not be released on any of His saints who are still living at this time. This verse also tells us that these are the judgments of God being “poured out” – hence the word “bowl” judgments.

“And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, Go your ways, and pour out the bowls of the wrath of God upon the earth. 2 And the first angel went, and poured out his bowl upon the earth; and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the people which had the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshipped his image” (Rev. 16:1-2).

2. The Second Bowl (All the seas become like blood). Here God causes the entire sea (all the oceans) to turn to blood, and every living creature will be killed as a result.

“And the second angel poured out his bowl upon the sea (oceans); and it became as the blood of a dead man: and every living soul in the sea died” (Rev. 16:3).

3. The Third Bowl (All the fresh water become blood). Here, God now comes after all the rivers and springs and also turns them into blood.

This will be a very serious situation because there will be no pure water all over the earth. This implies that if you dig a well, you will have a well of blood.

If you try to take a shower, you will be showering with blood. If you want to cook your food, you will have to cook it with blood.

Notice that an angel then will make the statement that the reason God is doing this is to pay back with vengeance all those who have killed His prophets and saints. He says that God is now giving them blood to drink since these people spilt the blood of His saints and that this is now their just reward.

After the 3^rd bowl judgment, there is going to be a heavenly praise break. 

“And the third angel poured out his bowl upon the rivers and fountains of waters; and they became blood.  And I heard the angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast, and shalt be, because thou hast judged thus. 6 For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink; for they are worthy. 7 And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments” (Rev. 16:5-7).

4. The Fourth Bowl (Extreme heat from the sun). God will allow the heat of the sun to scorch people on the earth with great heat. In this judgment, God will turn up the heat so that people’s skin will be scorched by the extremely hot temperature of the sun.

“And the fourth angel poured out his bowl upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire. 9 And people were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues…” (Rev. 16:8-9).

Now it is not only that there is no pure water anywhere to drink, but they are scorched with intense heat. But notice that after this event occurs, along with all the oceans, rivers and springs being turned into blood that the people will still refuse to repent and turn to God. “…and they repented not to give God glory” (Rev. 16:9b).

These people will still be blaspheming and cursing God throughout all of these instead of getting on their knees and asking Him for His mercy and forgiveness.

5. The Fifth Bowl (Darkness). In this judgment God will go directly after the Antichrist along with his kingdom.

“And the fifth angel poured out his bowl upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed (chewed) their tongues for pain, 11 And blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds” (Rev. 16:10-11).

This verse also tells us that these people are still being plagued by the boil and sores from the first bowl judgment, and that they are in extreme pain because of all this. Even after this judgment falls, these people will still refuse to repent and turn to the Lord. 

6. The Sixth Bowl (The Euphrates River dries up). In this judgment, two things will happen: first, the Euphrates River is allowed to dry up so as to prepare the way for the kings of the east (China and several other Asian nations) to come for the last and final battle on planet earth – the battle of Armageddon (Rev. 16:12-16).

The second thing that will occur is that three demons like frogs, who proceed out of the mouth of the devil, the Antichrist, and False Prophet, will be allowed by God to go out to all the kings of all the earth to gather and bring them to the battle of Armageddon

7. The Seventh Bowl (Severe earthquake and hailstorms). This is the last and final judgment, and in this judgment, the greatest and most severe earthquake that has ever hit our planet will strike (Rev. 16:17-21).

And then to top it all off, great hailstones weighing about 135 pounds apiece will be released on the inhabitants of the earth.

The Bible says that the cities of the nations will fell, but it does not specifically tell us which cities these are going to be. This earthquake is going to literally wipe out entire cities. The city of Babylon is apparently one of the cities that will be completely destroyed by this monstrous earthquake.

The voice from the temple in heaven shouting “it is done” is probably that of God the Father. His Son, Jesus Christ said, “It is finished” right before He died on the cross at Calvary.

Now God the Father is going to say the exact same words as His last and final judgment is thrown unto this earth. After this last judgment has passed, the only thing that will be left is for all the kings of the earth to march towards Jerusalem for the battle of Armageddon.

Jesus said, “Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame. 16 And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon” (Rev. 16:15-16).

We shall be looking at the battle of Armageddon next week, by the grace of God.

Today, you have the great opportunity to change your eternal destiny. You are not going to escape the bowl judgments because you are acting nice. You are not going to escape it because your name is in a church register. You will escape the trumpet judgments only on this condition: (1) you MUST be Born Again (Jn. 3:3), and (2) live a holy life (Heb. 12:14).  So hurry, and make peace with God right now! 

Watch out for the next edition of Good News from the Pulpit!

• Your friend: I. I. MADUBUNYI (Head Pastor)