- Aug 9, 2015
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And 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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!