1. The document discusses the seven bowl judgments from Revelation 16, which represent God's wrath being poured out on humankind for their sins and refusal to repent. It analyzes each judgment and explains their symbolic and historical meanings. 2. A key point is that God uses discipline and judgments to turn people toward Him, but humans consistently choose not to repent and instead harden their hearts against God. 3. The conclusion exhorts the reader to accept Jesus Christ as their savior in order to be reconciled with God and receive salvation and eternal life, rather than face God's judgment alone.

1. Three Easy Questions

2. Three Questions when you read the chapter you wish to study:
1. What does the chapter say?
2. What does that mean – specifically – to me?
3. What am I going to do about it?
Some add an optional memory verse as a part of the process to help
them retain what God has said to them.

4. KV 7: The Righteous Judgements of Almighty God
1 - 12: ...and they did not repent...
13 - 16: ...blessed are they who stay awake...
17 - 21: ...men blasphemed God...

6. Remember – at least four six(!) levels to understand!
1. To the believers at that time in that place (Historical context)
2. To all the churches (Ecclesiastic context):
“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”
3. To all believers (Homiletic context):
“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”
4. To world historical events (Prophetic context)
5. The Symbolism and interpretation thereof (Symbolic context)
6. Geopolitical context (won’t say much here)

7. Some principles of Bible study:
 Take the text in context
 Be sure of literal or symbolic interpretations
 Don’t be afraid to ask the Author ;)
 Cooper’s first rule of Interpretation:
 If the plain sense of Scripture makes good sense, then seek no other
sense!

8. 10-15 Revelation 16
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
The
Gathering for
Armaggedon

9. The First Bowl Judgement:
“Loathesome and malignant sores”
This is a specific retribution on the people that
would take the mark of the beast (from Revelation
14) and those who worhip his image.
Is this literal or figurative?
Possibly both! – literal for beast-worshippers, but
figurative for those that will worship something else
before God – and that could be ANYTHING.
• Sports and other athletics
• Money or pleasure of self (hedonism)
• False religious practices (works-based salvation)
• Anything you can put ahead of God

10. The Second Bowl Judgement:
“The seas became as blood of a dead man…”
The Third Bowl Judgement:
“Rivers and Springs of Water became blood…”
We can kind of take these two together because
they are similar. One is salt water – a source of
food and means of transportation of goods – and
the other is fresh water – the thing that sustains
life.
These are again specific retributions to the society
that will not listen to God’s servants, His
messengers the prophets. Because the prophets
had their blood spilt, the spillers now have blood
to drink.

11. The Fourth Bowl Judgement:
The bowl poured on the sun…
This is the first of the corrective
judgements to make men turn.
(The previous three are more
punitive.)
People can choose how they
respond to God. Here it says that
men would NOT repent of their
deeds and give God glory.
Remember this, we’ll see it again
shortly, but slightly differently.

12. The Fifth Bowl Judgement:
The kingdom of the beast is darkened…
Another corrective judgement, meant to turn
humankind from their sins. Again, men choose
NOT to respond positively, choosing pain and
darkness over light and peace.
Verse 11 – “and they blasphemed the God of
heaven because of their pains and their sores; and
they did not repent of their deeds.”
Notice here that God was not looking for them to
give Him glory this time. I think we can take this
to mean that even in His wrath, God is merciful.
It’s like He says, okay, they won’t give Me glory
here, I’ll just expect repentance for this, so he can
instruct later…and humans still WILL not repent.

13. The Sixth Bowl Judgement:
The Euphrates River dries up…
This allows the “Kings of the East” to
cross in strength. (Lit. “Kings of the
Rising Sun,” perhaps China, Land of the
Rising Sun? I am less sure than I would
like, but it makes some sense given what
is going on internationally these days.)
And this brings us to a VERY brief set of
parenthetical events…)

14. The Sixth Bowl Judgement:
“…three unclean spirits like frogs…”
Verse 13 tells us that these three spirits came out of the
Dragon, the Beast, and the False Prophet, and verse 14
clarifies that these are demonic spirits on a mission. What
mission you ask?
• They perform signs (v. 14)
• They persuade the world’s Kings to go to war with God
• They gather them together in the Valley of Megiddo (v.16)
And then we have in parentheses verse 15: ("Behold, I am
coming like a thief. Blessed is the one who stays awake and
keeps his clothes, so that he will not walk about naked and
men will not see his shame.") (Many think this is a reference
to the pre-wrath harpazo event).
And it goes right back to the main show…

15. The Seventh Bowl Judgement:
The bowl poured out on the air…
This completes the wrath of God on
humankind. (v.17 – “It is done.”)
This causes lightning storms, and the
greatest earthquake ever.
• Jerusalem split in three parts
• The cities of the nations fall
• Every island “flees away”
• Every mountain is leveled
• 100-pound hailstones fall
And humans still blaspheme God and
curse His name, failing to repent in the
face of His great power and wrath,
choosing their own darkness instead.

16. 1. God’s discipline in the lives of men can be punitive as well as
corrective in nature. (There are consequences to our choices.)
 (e.g., David’s first child from Bathsheba died – temporal consequence)
2. We can choose how we respond to God’s discipline in our lives.
There is a principle here – we reap what we sow. That is
another way of saying that when you choose the action, you are
choosing the consequence. God in His mercy lets us know
ahead of time the right action.
3. The right action is to place your trust in Jesus for your salvation
as opposed to your own works or resources.

17. 4. There is a limitation to the offer of God to redeem you. God is
patient and longsuffering, but that will ultimately end, and
that’s what this chapter is about.
Common objections:
But I’m a good person! And see how dictatorial God is being here!
Really? You think you can dictate your morals to God, who you
accuse here of being dictatorial? The clay cannot tell the potter how
to make itself. And are you REALLY that good of a person?

18. Let’s test how good of a person you really are according to God
using the 10 commandments.
 Have you ever told a lie? (9th commandment)
 Have you ever stolen something? (8th)
 Have you ever taken the Lord’s name in vain? (3rd)
 Have you ever murdered anyone? (6th)
 Have you ever committed adultery? (7th)
So according to your own words, you are a lying, thieving,
blaspheming, murderous adulterer, and we only looked at 5 of 10
commandments.

19. We know that we have violated God’s holy standards, each of
which carries the sentence of death. We are condemned to eternal
separation from God.

20. Jesus Christ, God the Son, became human with one specific
purpose – to pay that penalty on our behalf and redeem
humankind to God!
Ever hear THIS Bible verse? “For God so loved the world, that He
gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not
perish, but have eternal life.” (John 3:16 NASB)
He came to redeem, or RECONCILE (an accounting term) our lives
with God. He did that by dying on the cross in our place.

21. We can learn four very straightforward truths from John 3:16:
1. God loves us and has a plan for your life! Otherwise why
bother to send Jesus?
2. There is an issue – our SIN separates us from God, and we just
looked at that.
3. Jesus paid the price for OUR sin – and in believing that, we
receive God’s pardon personally.
4. It is a gift that is yours for the taking.
But how do we take that gift?

22. Two things are required:
1. Repent
2. Believe
“…that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe
in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be
saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in
righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in
salvation.” (Romans 10:9-10)

23. And you don’t need to go anywhere to get it! Jesus comes to you,
and brings everything needed for your own situation.
“Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice
and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him,
and he with Me.” (Revelation 3:20 NASB)
Through Christ’s work on the cross, we are offered companionship
instead of condemnation. We would be fools not to take that offer.

24. This is where it all begins – and the even better news is that from
this point, God will always be with you. This DOES NOT mean
you will not have troubles and trials – you may have more! But
God will use them to make you the person that He made you to be.
So:
1. Do not flee God’s discipline in your life.
2. Turn to Him and give Him glory during discipline.
3. Choose now for Jesus – it is a limited-time offer.