Revelation 15

¹ Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and amazing, seven angels with seven plagues, which are the last, for with them the wrath of God is finished. ² And I saw what appeared to be a sea of glass mingled with fire—and also those who had conquered the beast and its image and the number of its name, standing beside the sea of glass with harps of God in their hands. ³ And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, “Great and amazing are your deeds, O Lord God the Almighty! Just and true are your ways, O King of the nations! ⁴ Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship you, for your righteous acts have been revealed.” ⁵ After this I looked, and the sanctuary of the tent of witness in heaven was opened, ⁶ and out of the sanctuary came the seven angels with the seven plagues, clothed in pure, bright linen, with golden sashes around their chests. ⁷ And one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God who lives forever and ever, ⁸ and the sanctuary was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power, and no one could enter the sanctuary until the seven plagues of the seven angels were finished.

Revelation 16

¹ Then I heard a loud voice from the temple telling the seven angels, “Go and pour out on the earth the seven bowls of the wrath of God.” ² So the first angel went and poured out his bowl on the earth, and harmful and painful sores came upon the people who bore the mark of the beast and worshiped its image. ³ The second angel poured out his bowl into the sea, and it became like the blood of a corpse, and every living thing died that was in the sea. ⁴ The third angel poured out his bowl into the rivers and the springs of water, and they became blood. ⁵ And I heard the angel in charge of the waters say, “Just are you, O Holy One, who is and who was, for you brought these judgments. ⁶ For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and you have given them blood to drink. It is what they deserve!” ⁷ And I heard the altar saying, “Yes, Lord God the Almighty, true and just are your judgments!” ⁸ The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and it was allowed to scorch people with fire. ⁹ They were scorched by the fierce heat, and they cursed the name of God who had power over these plagues. They did not repent and give him glory. ¹⁰ The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness. People gnawed their tongues in anguish ¹¹ and cursed the God of heaven for their pain and sores. They did not repent of their deeds. ¹² The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up, to prepare the way for the kings from the east. ¹³ And I saw, coming out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs. ¹⁴ For they are demonic spirits, performing signs, who go abroad to the kings of the whole world, to assemble them for battle on the great day of God the Almighty. ¹⁵ (“Behold, I am coming like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake, keeping his garments on, that he may not go about naked and be seen exposed!”) ¹⁶ And they assembled them at the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon. ¹⁷ The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple, from the throne, saying, “It is done!” ¹⁸ And there were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, and a great earthquake such as there had never been since man was on the earth, so great was that earthquake. ¹⁹ The great city was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell, and God remembered Babylon the great, to make her drain the cup of the wine of the fury of his wrath. ²⁰ And every island fled away, and no mountains were to be found. ²¹ And great hailstones, about one hundred pounds each, fell from heaven on people; and they cursed God for the plague of the hail, because the plague was so severe.

Is it possible that a human heart could become so hardened that even in hell it would refuse to repent? Is it possible that a human heart could become so hardened that even drowning in an ocean of divine wrath it would refuse to say, “I am sorry!”?

In January of 1994 Christian philosopher William Lane Craig debated philosopher Raymond D. Bradley at Simon Fraiser University in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, on the question, “Can a loving God send people to hell?” At a certain point in the debate, William Lane Craig responded to the objection “that God is unjust because the punishment [i.e., hell] doesn’t fit the crime.” Craig’s response is fascinating.

But is the objection itself persuasive? I think not:

1) The objection equivocates between every sin which we commit and all the sins which we commit. We can agree that every individual sin which a person commits deserves only a finite punishment. But it doesn’t follow from this that all of a person’s sins taken together as a whole deserve only a finite punishment. If a person commits an infinite number of sins, then the sum total of all such sins deserves infinite punishment. Now, of course, nobody commits an infinite number of sins in the earthly life. But what about in the afterlife? Insofar as the inhabitants of hell continue to hate God and reject Him, they continue to sin and so accrue to themselves more guilt and more punishment. In a real sense, then, hell is self-perpetuating. In such a case, every sin has a finite punishment, but because sinning goes on forever, so does the punishment.

2) Why think that every sin does have only a finite punishment? We could agree that sins like theft, lying, adultery, and so forth, are only of finite consequence and so only deserve a finite punishment. But, in a sense, these sins are not what serves to separate someone from God. For Christ has died for those sins. The penalty for those sins has been paid. One has only to accept Christ as Savior to be completely free and clean of those sins. But the refusal to accept Christ and his sacrifice seems to be a sin of a different order altogether. For this sin decisively separates one from God and His salvation. To reject Christ is to reject God Himself. And this is a sin of infinite gravity and proportion and therefore deserves infinite punishment. We ought not, therefore, to think of hell primarily as punishment for the array of sins of finite consequence which we have committed, but as the just due for a sin of infinite consequence, namely the rejection of God Himself.

3) Finally, it’s possible that God would permit the damned to leave hell and go to heaven but that they freely refuse to do so. It is possible that persons in hell grow only more implacable in their hatred of God as time goes on. Rather than repent and ask God for forgiveness, they continue to curse Him and reject Him. God thus has no choice but to leave them where they are. In such a case, the door to hell is locked, as John Paul Sartre said, from the inside. The damned thus choose eternal separation from God. So, again, so as long as any of these scenarios is even possible, it invalidates the objection that God’s perfect justice is incompatible with everlasting separation from God.[1]

There is a lot to think about there, but the central point of Craig’s argument seems to be this: the objection to hell seems to depend upon the assumption that those in it are deeply repentant and want out, but we have no reason to think that those in it are deeply repentant, though they very likely do want out.

In other words, what if the great nightmare of hell is that its inhabitants’ hard-heartedness increases with their agony for all of eternity, thereby giving more and more justification for their being there? What if those who have utterly rejected the Lamb do nothing but grow in their hatred of the Lamb, thereby continuously increasing their sin?

If you think that such is not possible, I hope you will listen closely to Revelation15-16, for here we see a picture of (1) the outpouring of great wrath and (2) ever-increasing hostility toward God on the parts of those receiving the outpoured wrath. We will approach these chapters under two categories:

• A Question in Song.

• An Answer in Pain.

A Question in Song.

Revelation 15 is a musical introduction to the outpouring of the bowls of wrath in Revelation 16. Revelation 15 is setting the stage. And, in the midst of this preparation, the people of God ask an important question in song.

¹ Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and amazing, seven angels with seven plagues, which are the last, for with them the wrath of God is finished.

There is an ominous note of finality to this: “seven plagues, which are the last, for with them the wrath of God is finished.” The seven bowls represent the final outpouring of judgment against rebellious humanity that leads us to the final events of the age. Now, a song:

² And I saw what appeared to be a sea of glass mingled with fire—and also those who had conquered the beast and its image and the number of its name, standing beside the sea of glass with harps of God in their hands. ³ And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, “Great and amazing are your deeds, O Lord God the Almighty! Just and true are your ways, O King of the nations! ⁴ Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship you, for your righteous acts have been revealed.” ⁵ After this I looked, and the sanctuary of the tent of witness in heaven was opened, ⁶ and out of the sanctuary came the seven angels with the seven plagues, clothed in pure, bright linen, with golden sashes around their chests. ⁷ And one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God who lives forever and ever, ⁸ and the sanctuary was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power, and no one could enter the sanctuary until the seven plagues of the seven angels were finished.

There, on the edge of the “sea of glass mingled with fire,” the people of God play harps and sing. They extol the greatness and the glory of God! And then they ask a question:

⁴ Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship you, for your righteous acts have been revealed.

There is a note of amazement in this question. It is as if the people of God are saying, “Surely— after the unsealing of the seven seals and the blowing of the seven trumpets and the signs of judgment from God and the displays of God’s power—surely now all people will believe and fear and glorify Your name! Who will not fear?! How could anybody not call on the name of the Lord now?! Surely no heart can be so hardened that it would turn away from the Lamb even now!” And following this, a declaration of the coming universal acknowledgment of God’s glory: “All nations will come and worship you, for your righteous acts have been revealed.”

They are asking this question, but their focus is on the Lamb. It is because Jesus is so glorious and His mercy is so great that they cannot conceive of any continued rebellion against Him. Leon Morris writes:

Before leaving this song notice that, though it is sung by the victors, there is no word in it about themselves or the way they overcame. Those who triumph in Christ fix all their attention on him. ‘Heaven is heaven because in it at last all self, and self-importance, are lost in the presence of the greatness and the glory of God’ (Barclay).[2]

Amen! That is certainly so! And yet, at the conclusion of the song, we see the answer: there are those who still oppose the Lamb. There are those who still rebel against Heaven. Thus, the “seven angels with seven plagues” (v.1) are given “seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God who lives forever and ever” (v.7). Scott Duvall notes that these “‘bowls’ (phialē) are probably the broad shallow vessels used to carry offerings and libations (e.g., Exod. 25:29; 27:3). They appear twelve times in the New Testament, all in Revelation (5:8; 15:7; 16:1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 10, 12, 17; 17:1; 21:9).”[3] More judgment is to come! Amazingly, there are those who are yet to believe!

Thus, the angels with their bowls of wrath take their places above the earth. What comes next is agonizing to hear.

An Answer in Pain.

If the question was asked in song (“Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy.”), the response is given in pain. In Revelation 16 the bowls are poured out.

¹ Then I heard a loud voice from the temple telling the seven angels, “Go and pour out on the earth the seven bowls of the wrath of God.”

Let us consider the bowls of wrath in order and let us see their intensity. They are great judgments indeed. Duvall writes that “[t]he verbal thread ‘great’ (megas) occurs eleven times in chapter 16 to emphasize the cosmic magnitude of the battle between God and the forces of evil.”[4]

• Bowl #1: ² So the first angel went and poured out his bowl on the earth, and harmful and painful sores came upon the people who bore the mark of the beast and worshiped its image.

Notice in bowl 1 that the sores of judgment mark the flesh in response to the mark that these had received from the beast. In the judgments to come, notice too the similarities to the plagues of Egypt in the Exodus.

• Bowl #2: ³ The second angel poured out his bowl into the sea, and it became like the blood of a corpse, and every living thing died that was in the sea.

• Bowl #3: ⁴ The third angel poured out his bowl into the rivers and the springs of water, and they became blood.

After the third bowl, here in the middle of these judgments, there is a kind of angelic intermission and a statement of vindication for the judgment that has come.

⁵ And I heard the angel in charge of the waters say, “Just are you, O Holy One, who is and who was, for you brought these judgments. ⁶ For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and you have given them blood to drink. It is what they deserve!” ⁷ And I heard the altar saying, “Yes, Lord God the Almighty, true and just are your judgments!”

As if anticipating objections to this staggering display of wrath, the “angel in charge of the waters” says (1) that God is just (v.5), (2) that the judgments are from God (v.5), and (3) that those receiving these judgments have brought this upon themselves through their rejection of the Lamb and violent persecution of God’s people. In other words, these judgments are not unjust. They are not undeserved! Then we are back to the remaining bowls.

• Bowl #4: ⁸ The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and it was allowed to scorch people with fire. ⁹ They were scorched by the fierce heat, and they cursed the name of God who had power over these plagues. They did not repent and give him glory.

• Bowl #5: ¹⁰ The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness. People gnawed their tongues in anguish ¹¹ and cursed the God of heaven for their pain and sores. They did not repent of their deeds.

• Bowl #6: ¹² The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up, to prepare the way for the kings from the east. ¹³ And I saw, coming out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs. ¹⁴ For they are demonic spirits, performing signs, who go abroad to the kings of the whole world, to assemble them for battle on the great day of God the Almighty. ¹⁵ (“Behold, I am coming like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake, keeping his garments on, that he may not go about naked and be seen exposed!”) ¹⁶ And they assembled them at the place that in Hebrews is called Armageddon.

We take note here of the assembling of “the kings of the whole world…at the place that in Hebrews is called Armageddon” in verses 14-16, an event to come.

As we approach the seventh bowl let us remember our argument from earlier in this series that:

• the first six elements of the three sets of seven in Revelation (i.e., seven seals, seven trumpets, seven bowls)—in other words the first six seals, the first six trumpets, and the first six bowls—seem to be (a) chronological depictions of judgment and (b) judgments increasing in intensity;

• the seventh element of the three sets of seven—in other words, the seventh seal, the seventh trumpet, and the seventh bowl—appear to be descriptions of the same event, the final moment leading to the return of Christ (as evidenced by their common depiction of “flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, and a great earthquake”).

Now, the seventh bowl:

• Bowl #7: ¹⁷ The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple, from the throne, saying, “It is done!” ¹⁸ And there were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, and a great earthquake such as there had never been since man was on the earth, so great was that earthquake. ¹⁹ The great city was split into three parts, and the cities of the nation’s fell, and God remembered Babylon the great, to make her drain the cup of the wine of the fury of his wrath. ²⁰ And every island fled away, and no mountains were to be found. ²¹ And great hailstones, about one hundred pounds each, fell from heaven on people; and they cursed God for the plague of the hail, because the plague was so severe.

The bowls represent devastating and total judgment against those who worship the beast, reject the Lamb, and war against Him. It is a truly terrifying scene: sores, seas/rivers/springs of blood, the death of all the creatures of the sea, fire, heat, darkness, dry river beds, anguish, the gnawing of tongues, and the drawing out of demonic spirits that resemble frogs.

I ask you: after hearing all of this, how should we answer the original question from Revelation 15—“Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name?” Who will still not believe? Surely there are not still those who would refuse to believe!

Now let us look again. Let us look more closely at the woes of Revelation 16. Perhaps we missed this. Look, and listen:

• ⁹ They were scorched by the fierce heat, and they cursed the name of God who had power over these plagues. They did not repent and give him glory.

• ¹⁰ The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness. People gnawed their tongues in anguish ¹¹ and cursed the God of heaven for their pain and sores. They did not repent of their deeds.

• ²¹ And great hailstones, about one hundred pounds each, fell from heaven on people; and they cursed God for the plague of the hail, because the plague was so severe.

Three times the point is made: even in the fires of judgment the rebellious heart of man can grow more and more hardened.

Dear church, I ask you this: what is it about our sin that makes us love it so? How can it be that a people in the very midst of judgment will still refuse to let go of their sin and lay down their arms and say to God, “I am sorry. Forgive me.”? How can the human heart be so blinded and so seared? How can the human conscience still curse God when He is offering one more chance for salvation?

“Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name?”

Apparently, many will not fear and many will not glorify the name of Jesus.

There is a haunting scene in Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre in which Mr. Rochester is encouraged by Jane to repent and yet refuses to do so, despite Jane’s warning. In this scene, Mr. Rochester is unhappy and miserable at his core, yet he refuses to show any remorse.

“Dread remorse when you are tempted to err, Miss Eyre: remorse is the poison of life.”

“Repentance is said to be its cure, sir.”

“It is not its cure. Reformation may be its cure…but where is the use of thinking of it, hampered, burdened, cursed as I am? Besides, since happiness is irrevocably denied me, I have a right to get pleasure out of life:  and I will get it, cost what it may.”

“Then you will degenerate still more, sir.”

“Possibly, yet why should I, if I can get sweet fresh pleasure?  And I may get it as sweet and fresh as the wild honey the bee gathers on the moor.”

“It will sting—it will taste bitter, sir.”[5]

Yes, it will sting, it will taste bitter. And, no, remorse is not the poison of life. Remorse is the door to freedom. Remorse and repentance bear the fruit of joy, but joy with no guilt. In Christ there is pure joy and freedom! In Christ there is life!

Beware a heart hardened by sin! It may yet become so hardened that you will mock God even in the midst of judgment. Even in the flames of hell a damned soul can raise a fist of defiance. Deep down we all know it is true. Deep down we all feel the force of Satan’s argument in Milton’s Paradise Lost: “Better to reign in hell than to serve in heaven.”

But that is a lie! That is a terrible lie! No, there is joy in falling at the feet of the Lamb, at the feet of Jesus! There is forgiveness there!

What we need before us now is a picture of grace, a picture of mercy, a picture of hope. And so I conclude with the homegoing of the prodigal son in Luke 15. Here, the rebellious son who had insulted his father and forsaken his family and wasted his life up to that point decides to go home and throw himself at the mercy of his offended father. Watch what happens:

²⁰ And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. ²¹ And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ ²² But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. ²³ And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. ²⁴ For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate.

“And they began to celebrate.”

Here is what remorse and repentance will bring you. Here is what embracing the Lamb of God will bring you.

If you can hear this, there is yet time, if only for a moment. If you have breath, you still have a glimmer of hope. Do not go further into darkness. See that speck of light? See it there in the darkness? That is King Jesus and He waits with open arms for you!

 

[1] http://www.reasonablefaith.org/can-a-loving-god-send-people-to-hell-the-craig-bradley-debate

[2] Morris, Leon L. Revelation (Tyndale New Testament Commentaries) (p. 183). InterVarsity Press. Kindle Edition.

[3] Duvall, J. Scott. Revelation (Teach the Text Commentary Series) (p. 222). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

[4] Duvall, J. Scott, p.226.

[5] Charlotte Bronte.  Jane Eyre.  (New York:  Doubleday, 1997), p.162.