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The Seven Angels and the Seven Plagues
- The seven plagues complete the outpouring of God’s wrath.
- The sea of glass contains both water and fire, both of which are purifiers.
- I can see the fire as a companion to the water. Yes, the one does put out the other. But the water cleanses where the fire purifies. In other words, both purifies us of our sins.
- God is using the fire to purify earth and mankind. Water couldn’t be used again to purify the earth and mankind. God had promised us that.
- The glass sea is deep. That is fitting, considering the depth of God. Though the sea is deep, it is crystal clear. Those who have conquered the beast (Antichrist) and refused the mark of the beast will be standing beside the sea playing harps.
- We can only attain victory through faith.
- Because they have been victorious, they can sing a victory song to God.
- We are called to continuous worship.
- The Song of Moses and the Song of the Lamb are of victory.
- The judgments will come out of the temple – meaning they come from God.
- The final judgment is all about God judging the unregenerated world.
- Disciples get discipline through sanctification.
- The angels are the instruments that take the plagues from God to those who deserve judgment. The pure angels are going to deliver God’s judgment to the impure.
- Angels are first and foremost attendants to God. They are totally obedient to Him.
- In all this God is glorified. He is glorified by those who accept His Plan of Salvation. He is also glorified in the destruction brought on by the bowls.
- God is looking for a circumcised heart. He always has been.
Glossary
The First Four Bowls of God’s Wrath
- The judgments come from none other than God.
- The wrath of God is coming from God. God tells the seven angels to pour out the seven plagues on non-believers.
- God doesn’t give then step-by-step directions here. He already has done that. They already know what they are doing and have the plagues in their bowls.
- Each angel has their own game plan – their own bowl. They don’t have to make a team to get the job done. They are going their separate way to a specific place.
- Each bowl is different – not only in their contents. They do not have the same amount in them. Some are terrible, and some are extremely horrible.
- What does God have against non-believers? They follow the worldview instead of Him.
- The first angel’s judgment is for those who chose to follow Satan.
Saints will have to choose to not follow that worldview practice. Allowing themselves to be marked means they are choosing Satan over God. - The second angel’s judgment attack and kill all the sea creatures.
- The third angel’s judgment attacks rivers and springs.
The third angel gets that God is pouring out His wrath in the seven bowls, yes, to get retribution. But it is because of righteousness that He is doing it. He is getting justice – bringing order back to His creation so that all people receive the rewards He has for His children. - The fourth angel’s judgment attacks the sun.
- If the purpose is not repentance, then the purpose is not salvation. God will not give salvation without repentance – genuine repentance.
Glossary
The Fifth Bowl of God’s Wrath
- The fifth bowl attacks Satan himself.
- God attacks Satan at his point of authority.
- The Antichrist – at first – makes Himself appear to be the champion of the do-your-own-thing movement.
- God’s judgment puts Satan’s kingdom in what it is – darkness.
- Darkness isn’t an action or decision. It is the absence of God.
- The judgments will create great suffering. They will be their own tormentor because it was their choice to not obey God that put them in this predicament.
- Even with God showing His majesty over Satan, worldview people will not repent.
- They won’t be focusing on God.
- They will be focusing on the hard circumstances.
Armageddon – The Sixth Bowl
- Armageddon can be a scary word.
- A major battle – the last battle – is associated with it.
- God’s angel is the one who dried up the Euphrates. He did it on God’s order.
- Put that all together. The boundary between the Church and the world is now dried up. The world now has unimpeded access to the Church. God is the One Who ordered this access be given.
- The kings of the east identify as the opponents. They will be formidable opponents. They will have strength and versatility.
- But we can’t say that we don’t have warning. If we had no other book in God’s Word, Revelation is warning enough.
- The warning in the last part of the verse is loud and clear. We have to continue in His kindness – we have to be obedient. If we aren’t, we are a goat masquerading as a sheep.
- Only God can give us our clean spiritual condition – here referred to as garments – through salvation. We cover our nakedness by believing our sins are covered by Jesus’ blood. Because He covers our sins, we have white garments of righteousness.
- Our job during this lifetime is to try to keep the garments clean. We do that by not sinning and repenting when we do.
- God wants us ready, waiting, and clean.
- The battle will take place here on earth at a place called Armageddon.
- Yes, the Day of the Lord is going to be about our spiritual condition, but we first must address our physical condition.
- Satan may think he is running the show, but really God is. God has a plan, and he is working His plan – using Satan to accomplish it.
- Think this is a physical war? Think again. In other words, don’t google Armageddon on Google Maps. The place isn’t important. The battle is.
Glossary
The Seventh Bowl of God’s Wrath
- Some believe God will be fighting the battle of Armageddon, not Jesus. The Commander in Chief doesn’t just send His General out to fight the battle. He goes Himself. The original sin was committed against God, not against Jesus. Jesus was only — and yes, it is a huge “only” — sacrifice. God should be the One to defeat Satan. The offense was against Him.
- If the dragon and the woman’s battle is Jesus’ coming the first time, Jesus isn’t considered the glorified Christ. He does hand Satan a defeat for the battle, but the war isn’t over.
- In the fullness of His time, God will cease to allow sin to continue.
Sin has gone on a long time. Many of us ask why God allows this. The answer is simple. God knows not everyone will repent and submit to Him.
- But one day, God’s time will be fulfilled. We can’t gloss over the fact that the “… ‘It is done!’” (Rev. 16: 17 ESV) came out of the temple.
- God was going after Satan where he was. It matters not if this is where Satan actually lives. We are under his dominion if we are not a child of God.
- The presence of God is always marked by phenomena — lightning, rumblings, and thunder. This makes me wonder if this is Revelation 20: 12.
- Earthquakes in God’s Word represent significant changes.
Babylon the Great – earth and mankind – will have its day in court. - There will still be people cursing God on the Day of the Lord.
- A synonym for equity is justice. Justice is bringing order back to God’s creation so that all people receive the rewards He has for His children.
- We each have the opportunity to choose God. We each have the opportunity to exercise our free will to not choose God. That is where the equality comes into play. There will be consequences if we choose against God. That is where the justice comes into play.
Glossary
The Great Prostitute and the Beast
- Pagan religions had a lot to do with sexual immorality in the first century.
- But then, wasn’t that what they did when they prostrated themselves before any idol? They entered into an immoral relationship with another god.
- The world has entered into an immoral relationship with Satan.
- The world is depicted by a prostitute.
- The first evil is a political evil. She seduced the rulers of the earth so they would bow to her.
- The prostitute is given a seat of power.
- The prostitute is sitting on the Antichrist.
- The prostitute is described as a beautiful woman with beautiful clothes – purple and scarlet with jewels, gold, and pearl. But her attire represents worldly proclivity, the second evil. Her inclination to dress to entice the world shows the level of her sinfulness.
- The prostitute sounds successful by worldly standards. That was her goal.
- Disciples should not be seduced by the trappings of this world. We should strive to be pure as Jesus was.
- The third evil is religious intolerance.
- When we think of persecution of the Church, the prostitute, drinking the blood of saints doesn’t come to mind first.
- We have to have a genuine confession. We have to totally submit our lives to God. We have to obey Him – all His laws and commandments.
- Our faith needs to be transparent.
- Our faith in God has to be obvious. We can’t hide the fact that He is our Sovereign God.
- We can’t follow the worldview even though we privately say we are following God. Our lives have to follow our beliefs.
- If our faith is in our mouths and hearts, then it is in our lives.
Glossary
The Explanation of the Mystery
- At first, John admired the prostitute. Aren’t we like that? We see the bright and shiny, so we don’t dig down to see reality.
- Satan deceives us by presenting the nice and shiny for us to see. He “gives” us what we want. But what Satan gives us really isn’t what we want. It will end up being the exact opposite.
- The angel rebuked John.
- God punishes us when we need it.
- There are many times that the rebuke and the sanctification go hand in hand. It is a prime example of God’s love and God’s wrath being connected.
- The angel informed John that belief in God is the foundation for the wisdom needed to understand the mystery.
- The angel told John to take heart. The Lamb would overcome the chaos of the beast.
- As each one of us ABCD, don’t we overcome Satan?
- The description of the Lamb and the description of Lord of lords and King of kings both to fit Jesus.
- The Lamb shall overcome the beast, the opposer, once and for all. While He overcomes daily as mankind repent of our sins, He will not permanently overcome until He defeats the beast (Rev. 19).
- If we are going to be with the Lamb, as He makes war and overcomes, then we will be His army.
- God allows all things that happen to happen.
- The beast — the Antichrist — hates the prostitute — the worldview people. Satan doesn’t do what he does because he loves us. On the contrary, he hates us. God, on the other hand, has an everlasting love for us.
- If moral principles are expressions of our nature, we want them to reflect God’s nature.
- That is why we can’t have anything but a sincere conversion. Anything less does not control the destinies of our minds.
- We have to be open to viewing opposing viewpoints to see if our beliefs are right or wrong.
- Satan is trying to tear the Church down from the inside. If he can get us to think we are following God but disobeying Him, he is going to be all for that.
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Devotions in The Bowl series
