David Pawson - Revelation Part 4b

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THOUGHTFUL THOUGHTS 26.6.26 BY JOHN DUNNING. REVELATION, Part 4b.

REVELATION Ch. 16-18. “Through mud & blood to the green fields beyond.”

CATCH-UP…

Seven angels with seven plagues - Revelation 15…

1-8 Last time we saw that the seven plagues are the wrath of God being poured out.

The seven plagues provide warnings to man to repent before it’s ultimately just too late. Warnings are running out. (Compare the warnings God gave through the prophets, to Israel before finally being sent into exile.)

Now moving quickly on then, to Revelation chapters 16-18…

We have to use our minds with Revelation…

The order so far …

A). We had 6 out of the 7 the Seals in Ch. 6: 1-6, followed by an interval…

B). We had 6 out of the 7 Trumpets in Ch. 8: 1-6, followed by an interval…

C). In this study we come to the 7 Bowls of God’s Wrath…

1). INTRODUCTION 

Now we arrive at the 7 ‘Bowls’ in Ch. 16 with no more intervals!

With no more intervals, all the 7s happen together…

At Bowl 7, the earthquakes all join together. Those left hanging now join together…

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2). The Seven “Bowls” of God’s wrath… CHAPTER 16…

The next lot of troubles are called “Bowls”.

i). The first bowl brings boils on man.

ii). The second bowl turns the sea blood red.

iii). The third bowl turns fresh water blood red.

iv). The fourth bowl brings massive sunburn on mankind.

That is followed by more ‘woes’…

v). The fifth bowl brings a darker darkness to the earth.

vi). The sixth bowl brings “Armageddon”, (v.16). It is still not quite the absolute end as there is one final massive earth-shattering event to come …

vii). The earthquakes that have been left hanging twice, now join in with the final seventh bowl, in a gigantic worldwide earthquake, the like of which has never been seen before. Now all the sevens are complete.

A). vii). No more “pausing!”... The pause button on the seventh ‘Seal’ is now released… 

RESULT? An  earthquake results.

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B). vii). No more pausing… The pause button on the seventh trumpet is also released… 

RESULT? The world’s biggest ever earthquake.

C). vii). The seventh bowl joins in without any pause – in a gigantic earth shattering earthquake. 

With all of the number “sevens” happening together, bringing about one final devastating earthquake, it brings about the end as we know it.

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3). The ‘evil one’ does his worst… Revelation 17:1-14a…

At first reading the pictures John sees in his visions seem incomprehensible, but the pictures are explained for us…

It is important to read Revelation 17-18 as we go through them, if you wish to understand them... For example:-

3a). The meaning of ‘the waters’ in 17:1 is explained in 17:15 as meaning the people who follow the beast. 

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3b). The ‘woman’ in v. 3 is explained in 17:15 & 18 as meaning Babylon. This city of Babylon is the H.Q. of the beast, where people of the earth even support a city that murders believers; (v.6).

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3c). In v. 3, Babylon, (ie identifies as a woman), gets carried away by an addiction to the evil one, (the beast). 

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3d). Babylon has seven heads, which is interpreted as representing seven kings (ie see v. 10) on seven mountains, (v. 9). They will be followed by the ultimate evil ruler, which is the beast, (v.11.) 

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3e). Babylon also has 10 horns, which represents another 10  kings, (see v.12). 

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3f). They each have a short reign whilst serving under the beast who is their emperor, (12-13).  

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3g). All of the above rebel against the Ram (or Lamb) of God, (v. 14a). 

i). Note that believers in Jesus are still being murdered during this time called the tribulation, we can see that they have not been secretly caught up into heaven before the time of big trouble, (tribulation), as a popular heresy says. This verse proves that believers have NOT been secretly snatched up into heaven as telly evangelists claim! Believers are still being murdered during the time of big trouble, (tribulation).

ii). Note that we see a separation between God’s people who will not serve the evil one, and those who do support the evil one; (Compare that with what happened in Germany in world war two, when most Germans were quite content to go along with Hitler’s Satanic plan of the holocaust. Now imagine the persecution of Christian believers on a global scale, like that.) 

4). Other notes…

The city John saw is a city as corrupt as Sodom and Gomorrah. 

The beast is behind all the evil, and he will rule but then disappear from the scene for quite a while, but then later reappear again as the ruler yet again for a time. 

Those who are NOT in Jesus’ “Book of Life” will be impressed by the beast’s  tricks.

5). Revelation 17:14b–18. The end is near!

It takes just six words to state that all God’s enemies are defeated. The kings of the empire rebel against the emperor’s HQ, which is Babylon, (v. 16-18), which they do by burning it down. 

Then we see from v.14 that the beast and all his allies go to war against Jesus. It takes just one sentence to state that they simply drop dead. What were they thinking?! Previously, the armies had been so impressed with themselves that they imagined that they could win against God! They thought more highly of themselves than they ought to have done! The Lamb of God will cause the kingdom of the evil one to simply collapse. 

6). Revelation 18:1-24. God has the last word…

6a). In 18:1-3 an angel announces the end of the kingdom of the evil one, like a ‘town-cryer’. 

6b). In 18:4 we see another angel calling for the people of God to come out of the city, to avoid being caught up in the coming judgement, which is a death sentence: (Compare  Sodom & Gomorrah).

6c). From 18:5-24 we see the list of the city’s crimes read out and the judgement made against it before everything is just simply razed to the ground in a pile of rubble.

7). EPILOGUE

Jesus is saying we can prepare for the time of big trouble by expecting it, and therefore by not giving up. We must NOT get the wrong idea, thinking the world is out of God’s control. These prophecies are because God knows what is coming, so when Satan over reaches, he will lose and then something new will come… because G

That is an appropriate place to pause our journey through Revelation. 

God is in control. God knows the future… and Jesus wins! So, keep on trusting Him!

Feel free to share this study with your friends…

This is John Dunning signing off from “Thoughtful Thoughts” for another week.

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PS. See more on the ‘suffering church’, at;- https://barnabasfund.org/nz/pray/daily-prayer/#previous-dates

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This is the Bible audio for this week’s homily…

https://www.biblegateway.com/audio/mclean/kjv/Rev.16-Rev.18

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If you would like to know how to find peace with God, listen to the podcasts at this link…

https://www.inspirational.org.nz/pages/johns-devotionals-podcast

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