The Christ in Prophecy Journal

The Mighty Angels of Revelation 16 Burn the Earth

MP3: The Mighty Angels of Revelation 16
Hosts: Nathan Jones & Vic Batista

The Bowl Judgment Angels So Far

Vic Batista: In this segment of “The Truth Will Set Your Free Bible Prophecy Edition” with Vic Batista and Nathan Jones rebroadcast on The Christ in Prophecy Journal blog, we are picking up with our study of God’s mighty angels found in the book of Revelation. We’ll continue our look at chapter 16 which covers the Bowl Judgments.

I am excited about continuing this study because I think it will help equip those people who want to learn about Eschatology and Bible prophecy. But first, maybe for those who are new to Eschatology and Bible prophecy, or even to the book of Revelation, let’s briefly recap the sequence of events.

First in order of the end time events will be the Rapture of the Church, which happens just before the 7-year Tribulation begins. God’s judgments begin with the Seven Seal Judgments followed by the Seven Trumpet Judgments. Now we have gotten to the last of God’s 21 judgments, and those are the Seven Bowl Judgments which will occur near the end of those seven years.

Nathan Jones: The Prophet Daniel labeled the Tribulation as Daniel’s Seventieth Week, so we know from-the calculations in the book of Daniel that a time of judgment is coming upon the world that will last for seven years. The Tribulation is God’s coming wrath upon the world. For a seven year time period the world will endure 21 judgments. Jesus Christ Himself breaks the Seven Seals releasing the Seal Judgments. For the Seven Trumpet Judgments, the angels are ordered by God to trumpet out the next set of judgments. And finally, with the Seven Bowl Judgments, the angels pour down God’s wrath upon the world in the symbolism of bowls or vials.

Timing-wise in our study of Revelation, we are actually coming to the end of the seven years. With the Bowl Judgments we are probably 5.5-6 years into the Tribulation. Revelation 15:1 states that with the Bowl Judgments “in them the wrath of God is complete.”

Clearly, these will be the worst judgments mankind will ever face in all of human history, other than Hell, that is. The time period that we are looking at now has been nothing but horrific, and the earth has never suffered so much, and the people have never died en masse as quickly. With the Bowl Judgments, it’s truly the end of the world.

Vic Batista: There are a lot of stories out there about how the world is going to end. People are afraid of whoever is going to press the red button and unleash a nuclear holocaust. But, the Bible does tell us exactly how the end of the world is going to go down. Surely that time will be frightening, and it is sad, for it is a shame that humanity will continue to rebel against God and be ever so wicked. God the Just Judge will finally step into world affairs and deal with mankind’s depravity.

#God the Just Judge will finally step into world affairs and deal with mankind's depravity. Click To Tweet

There is a silver lining. The blessing of the Tribulation we’ve seen as we’ve been studying through Revelation is that many people will give their lives to Jesus Christ. So many people will surrender, repent, and get saved. Still, there will be many who will refuse to repent and will instead swear loyalty to Satan by taking the Mark of the Beast. These Bowl Judgments, especially the first one, is aimed particularly at those who are continuing in their rebellion against God and have set in their hearts that they will never ever relent. They choose to remain in their rebellion, which is a forever decision.

Jesus through His first Bowl Judgments sent loathsome sores on the people who we read in Revelation 13 have taken the Antichrist’s Mark of the Beast. This is the Antichrist’s loyalty mark visible with his name or number on the right hand or forehead.

In the Second and Third Bowl Judgments, the angels attack the seas and all of the oceans turn to blood, just like what happened to Egypt in the book of Exodus. Then the freshwaters are turned to blood, and catastrophically everything in them dies. With these judgments we are literally witnessing the end of the world.

Vic Batista: How frightening to look at these events! This is the wrath of God poured out on rebellious men. These judgments are not for the Church, though. We don’t believe that the Church will be on the earth during the Tribulation. We believe that we are going to be taken out and up to Heaven before those seven years begin. Someone who is a believer today, they really don’t have to fear God’s wrath of living in the Tribulation.

Nathan Jones: Not, at all! Christian are promised that we will be spared from the wrath of God. Revelation 3:10 makes this promise to the Church at Philadelphia, in other words, true believers in Christ. We are to be saved from the coming wrath. So, yes, the Church will be taken out in what is called the Rapture. We can read about the Rapture in 1 Corinthians 15 and 1 Thessalonians 4 and other verses. Rapture means to be “caught up” or “pulled up” and quite dramatically taken off this earth. Christians today have the blessed hope that we will be raptured up to Heaven before the wrath of God befalls this earth.

#Christians today have the blessed hope that we will be raptured to #Heaven before God's wrath. Click To Tweet

So, you are right, believers in Christ today will not have to fear the Tribulation. Those who have accepted Jesus Christ before the Rapture we will be raptured off the earth before the Tribulation, and so we will not have to live through these judgments. We’ll be safe in Heaven with Jesus.

Vic Batista: Absolutely! Christians today should not freak out when reading Revelation and think that these judgments are going to come upon them. No, these judgments are going to happen in a future time, limited to the time of the Tribulation. They are not happening now.

Prior to these Bowl Judgments, the earth and its inhabitants will have experienced some terrible disasters, right?

Nathan Jones: There are 14 other judgments that will have already happened before the Bowl Judgments. Why, just in the first four Seal Judgments alone a one-world leader whom the Bible calls the Antichrist will come to power through peace, but will wage a world war in order to consolidate his kingdom. Between that war and the aftermath of disease, famine, and animals going wild, a fourth of the world’s population will be killed. By the time we get to the middle of the Tribulation, a staggering half of the world population will have died. When you look at those numbers today, at seven billion people we are talking about 3.5 billion people dead in just the first 3.5 years!

The Fourth Bowl Judgment Angel

Nathan Jones: We read about the Fourth Bowl Judgment in Revelation 16:8-9:

“Then the fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and power was given to him to scorch men with fire. And men were scorched with great heat, and they blasphemed the name of God who has power over these plagues; and they did not repent and give Him glory.”

Vic Batista: What an incredible scene that’s unfolding here! Where I live in Southern Florida, most people don’t like to live here in August because the heat and the humidity are so awful. But, that’ll be nothing in comparison to what is going to happen during the Tribulation at the Fourth Bowl Judgment.

Nathan Jones: No, nothing. I don’t know what happened to the atmosphere, but it’s no longer protecting the earth. Maybe the ozone layer is destroyed due to nuclear radiation or directly by the judgment of God. Something about the sun has changed or the earth is no longer protected by something like the ozone layer anymore. Maybe the power of the devastations the earth has endured actually moves the planet closer to the sun.

It could be that it’s not whatever is protecting the earth from solar radiation is stripped away, but that the sun produces more solar flares. It says the Fourth Bowl Judgment Angel poured out his bowl upon the sun. So, it seems more like the judgment is due to the activity of the sun rather than the earth losing any type of protection. Still, when we read in Revelation about the wars and the destruction of the earth’s surface during that time, it could be that the protective atmosphere is almost gone as well. We can only speculate.

Imagine standing in front of an x-ray machine without a lead vest. That is what will be happening. The people are no longer protected anymore. The sun scorches the earth. Imagine how the scorching will cause the destruction of the greenery across the planet, as well as the evaporation of water, so there will be no rain. The land animals are literally going to burn up.

Whatever will have happened to the sun, it’s so bad that it also scorches the people by its fire. The whole earth starts setting on fire. Even more tragically, instead of people falling on their knees and begging God for relief, they instead hold up their fists and shake them as they blaspheme the name of God. These people are so depraved that they refuse to repent and give God the glory that’s His just due. Instead of reacting to God and repenting and declaring, “I give up!” The people refuse to repent.

Vic Batista: Isn’t that incredible? When I was younger I performed some experiments with a magnifying glass focusing the sun. I tried to burn through a piece of paper. Likewise will be the intensity of this judgment as the heat will be so intense that it is going to scorch the people to death.

Nathan Jones: God will scorch mankind just like kids burning ants with a magnifying glass. The result will be that almost the entire ecosystem of the earth will be destroyed by the sun and its solar flares and heat. The end result is a tremendous heat burning the earth.

#Fourth Bowl Judgment: #God will scorch mankind like kids burning ants with a magnifying glass. Click To Tweet

Here in Texas it get to be over 100 degrees throughout the summer. Imagine whole portions of the earth enduring 120-130 degrees. As the earth is being burned up the people are hiding wherever they can find shelter. And, instead of repenting and calling out to God for help, they instead are blaspheming God. Crazy!

Vic Batista: How amazing that God wrote about the Tribulation in His Word so that people in advance could know what is coming and prepare. Sometimes you have to wonder just what it takes for the human heart to turn to Christ. One of the many things that I love about the Bible is how it shows us the grace of God that leads to salvation. But, at times when the Bible isn’t read, God says, “Hey, you know what? I’ve given you plenty of opportunities to repent, but now I am going to have to be heavy-handed here because I have to judge sin, and so you need to repent now before it’s too late.”

Nathan Jones: The Bible provides the world it’s opportunity to get our hearts right with God before it’s too late. God isn’t just punishing evil during the Tribulation, though He will be doing plenty of that. The second thing He is trying to accomplish is to get people to repent and give up sovereignty of their messed up lives and to stop their evil ways that are hurting both themselves and hurting other people.

The #Bible provides the opportunity to get our hearts right with #God before it's too late. Click To Tweet

And yet, these people still refuse to come to Christ. Their hearts are so hardened like Pharaoh’s that they won’t give up. Even when God ratchets up the calamities to almost the point of the destruction of the entire planet, you would think a normal person would cry out to God to relent and have mercy, but these people instead are cursing God and shaking their fists at Him. The Fourth Bowl Judgment shows how totally depraved these survivors of the Tribulation really are.

Vic Batista: That is why Romans 1 says that God gives people over to depraved minds, because they choose to not to turn to God and instead choose to follow their own evil ways.

In the fortieth segment of our series “The Mighty Angels of Revelation,” the fifth of the Seven Bowl Judgment Angels of Revelation 16 will bring the pain by turning the lights out on the Antichrist’s kingdom.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

RELATED ARTICLES

ABOUT AUTHOR View all posts Author Website

Dr. Nathan E. Jones

As the Internet Evangelist at Lamb & Lion Ministries, Nathan reaches out to the over 4.5 billion people accessible over the Internet with the Good News of Jesus Christ. He also co-hosts the ministry's television program Christ in Prophecy and podcast The Truth Will Set You Free.

LEAVE A REPLY

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *