Visions of Judgment: Where is Hope?
We are getting into the home stretch of our series, 7th in our 10 part series, chapters 15 and 16 of the 22 chapters in The Book of Revelation. This Revelation of Jesus Christ to His Church through this apocalypse.
We have made the point in our walk through Revelation that the literary form, apocalypse, is vitally important in our understanding of the text.
I’ve mentioned that I’ve been reading Eugene Peterson’s Reversed Thunder as part of my study. Allow me to read a few paragraphs as uses an interesting metaphor to describe how we might approach an apocalypse.
It is easy for us to approach the vivid imagery of apocalypse and hear only nonsensical noise. We, who are so accustomed to “facts and information,” have to retune our eyes and ears and understanding to benefit fully from the vision of this apocalypse.
I think that we’re finding, as we walk through this series together, that we can. With a bit of effort we can retune our ears and we can hear what the Spirit is saying to Christ’s Church.
This is the last episode in the scene that we entered back in chapter 4. The pastor/prophet/author John has transported us to the vantage point of heaven. Through the visions, we are getting a glimpse of how Heaven sees earth. We are seeing how timelessness views time.
In these 2 chapters we have another glimpse of the end.
The overwhelming theme of Heaven remains the same: worship.
As final judgment is about to be poured out, the redeemed are standing with God. Beside the glassy sea, victorious over the devil and his schemes, God’s people sing of deliverance, justice, holiness, and righteousness.
This is the passage that Glenn read earlier. It is an awesome song of praise to God.
Chapter 16 gives an account of this final judgment, the outpouring of God’s wrath.
Then I heard a loud voice from the templea saying to the seven angels,b “Go, pour out the seven bowls of God’s wrath on the earth.”c
2The first angel went and poured out his bowl on the land,d and ugly, festering sorese broke out on the people who had the mark of the beast and worshiped its image.f
3The second angel poured out his bowl on the sea, and it turned into blood like that of a dead person, and every living thing in the sea died.g
4The third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and springs of water,h and they became blood.i 5Then I heard the angel in charge of the waters say:
“You are just in these judgments,j
you who are and who were,k the Holy One,l
because you have so judged;m
6for they have shed the blood of your people and your prophets,n
and you have given them blood to drinko as they deserve.”
7And I heard the altarp respond:
“Yes, Lord God Almighty,q
true and just are your judgments.”r
Does this sound familiar? These bowls of God’s wrath mirror the ten plagues poured out on Egypt in Exodus. I’m confident that we will see that this is an important parallel to understand… this is a theme of deliverance and judgment that persists from the beginning through the end, from the Penteteuch through the Revelation.
8The fourth angels poured out his bowl on the sun,t and the sun was allowed to scorch people with fire.u 9They were seared by the intense heat and they cursed the name of God,v who had control over these plagues, but they refused to repentw and glorify him.x
Again, as we’ve seen before in the Revelation, judgment does not produce repentance. Those suffering God’s wrath, in this scene, plainly understand that God is in control, “but they refused to repent and glorify him.” Just like obstinate Pharaoh, who would not allow Moses to lead God’s people in worship, judgment only hardened hearts.
10The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast,y and its kingdom was plunged into darkness.z People gnawed their tongues in agony 11and curseda the God of heavenb because of their pains and their sores,c but they refused to repent of what they had done.d
Still no repentance.
We’ll have more to say about this, but notice here in verse 10 that this is a clash of kingdoms. Judgment is for the dragon (the devil) and those who choose his kingdom rather than God’s Kingdom.
12The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates,e and its water was dried up to prepare the wayf for the kings from the East.g 13Then I saw three evil1 spiritsh that looked like frogs;i they came out of the mouth of the dragon,j out of the mouth of the beastk and out of the mouth of the false prophet.l 14They are demonic spiritsm that perform signs,n and they go out to the kings of the whole world,o to gather them for the battlep on the great dayq of God Almighty.
15“Look, I come like a thief!r Blessed are those who stay awakes and keep their clothes on, so that they may not go naked and be shamefully exposed.”t
16Then they gathered the kings togetheru to the place that in Hebrewv is called Armageddon.w
With the sixth bowl of wrath, it is even more explicit that this is the final war between kingdoms. Evil spirits (demonic spirits), in a last ditch effort, control all who will follow.
In the midst of this, Christ again commends those who are on His side, “those who stay awake and keep their clothes on.”
With the kings of this world gathered together for war…
17The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air,x and out of the templey came a loud voicez from the throne, saying, “It is done!”a 18Then there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunderb and a severe earthquake.c No earthquake like it has ever occurred since the human race has been on earth,d so tremendous was the quake. 19The great citye split into three parts, and the cities of the nations collapsed. God rememberedf Babylon the Greatg and gave her the cup filled with the wine of the fury of his wrath.h 20Every island fled away and the mountains could not be found.i 21From the sky huge hailstones,j each weighing about a hundred pounds,2 fell on people. And they cursed Godk on account of the plague of hail,l because the plague was so terrible.
God’s wrath lays waste to the earth. “The cities of the nations collapsed.” Mountains are flattened. Those who cursed God are crushed with giant hailstones.
Judgment is complete; justice is done. The vision comes to a close.
We titled this sermon Visions of Judgment:
Where is Hope?
We’ve quickly recounted the judgment…
now where exactly is hope?
I’ve been thinking about this with a simple little outline:
• No Hope
• Have Hope
• Are Hope
First – No Hope. The judgment described here is comprehensive and inescapable. For those who put their trust in anything or anyone other than God, there is simply no hope.
The dragon/beast/devil, all his demons, every false prophet, and all their followers are vanquished. They are defeated. They have no hope.
The list of places in which we could place our hope is inexhaustible.
• Government / Messiah canidacy
• Safety and Security
• Commerce
• Education
• Family and Friends
If our ultimate trust lies anywhere other than in our God, we are without hope.
Of course, we have hope.
This is a battle between kingdoms… even a battle between kings. It is our King (the God of all creation) declaring final victory over all other kings and kingdoms. With no effort, really, only God’s decision, our King puts an end to all others.
In the battle, there are those who stand with God, and those who fall. There are those who worship, singing:
Great and marvelous are your deeds,m
Lord God Almighty.n
Just and true are your ways,o
King of the nations.1
And then there is everyone else.
The plagues of Exodus surrounded God’s people in Egypt, even the final judgment of death was all around, yet God delivered His people. Death passed over. God’s people may have suffered for a time, as those who stood in opposition to God took it out on the worshipers… but in the end God’s people were marvelously, and miraculously, delivered.
So it is here. Judgment is for evil, and those who persist in evil. Judgment is for those who do not worship, placing their trust in themselves, vainly making their own way.
But for those who worship,
those who had been victoriouse over the beastf and its imageg and over the number of its name
those who choose to trust God and be His worshipers… for us there is a place with Him.
Remember the first hearers and readers of these words. These Christians were among those living the good life in cities of significance along Roman trade routes. The pax Romana was a time of peace and prosperity for most… for those, that is, that choose to live according to the Roman way, worshiping the Roman Gods (and the Roman rulers), trusting in the Roman system.
But for those who stood firmly with God, who worshiped the only true God, who placed their ultimate trust in God… there was persecution. Everything from being merely ostracized or barred from commerce, to martyrdom.
These chapters are words of hope to them, and to us.
Even the harshness of the punishment, the total destruction in the judgment, contains hope. There is vindication. The quality of the salvation is depicted, at least in some way, in the horror of the alternative. Fierce judgment reflects the beauty of salvation. Those who suffer find hope in knowing that justice will come.
Let’s go ahead and slip the big question in here: So what? We see that the lines are drawn and the sides are clear. We can, once again, consider the choices that we make. We can, once again, declare our gratefulness to God that, by His grace, we are His. We are on His side.
We are grateful worshippers.
If you find yourself here today without the assurance of this hope, make today your day. Trust in God. Look to Jesus and you will find this hope.
But finding ourselves on the side of the Lord, resolving again to place Him at the highest place in our lives and trusting in Him above all else… so what? What about today? What about now?
We live among those with no hope. Family, friends, neighbors, and even nations go on vainly with no hope.
We have hope, for sure… but we should not escape that, in a very real way, we are hope.
Although not clearly specified in these two chapters, the context of the book of Revelation, and the context of the entire Bible, reveals that the only hope for those with no hope is in our witness.
A just God will judge all who place their trust in themselves, or in any other scheme or system. Only those who worship will stand. Only those who have placed their trust in God, only those who are able to stand with God because of what Jesus has done on our behalf, only those will be delivered from judgment.
So the witness of our worship must be compelling.
When we are prosperous, the grace of our prosperity expressed through generosity must reveal the goodness of our God.
More importantly, when we suffer, the faithfulness of our God must be revealed. The hard truth is… our witness through suffering and endurance is far more powerful than our witness through prosperity and blessing.
We serve a King, Jesus, who was coronated on a cross. Suffering is a powerful testimony that stands in stark contrast to the ways of this world. Faithful endurance in trial and tribulation, grace under persecution, dispensing justice whenever possible… these are the kinds of witness that draw people away from destruction. Truth spoken clearly with grace, resolute allegiance to the ways of God drawn from the Word of God… this witness is powerful.
The picture is clear. Given to our own ways, we will self destruct through self worship. We so readily and easily fall into the system of this world. But the easy way, what may even seem natural, is the path to vanquishing judgment.
The only hope this world has is in Christ. And the only way people will see that hope, the only way they will be delivered from judgment, is if they see that hope through His Church.
They won’t learn from their mistakes. The pain of self-inflicted wounds does not cause them to turn to God.
They won’t learn from judgment. We’ve seen it over and over again that judgment only hardens the unrepentant.
The only hope this world has is to be drawn to the Christ who can save them through the witness of a worshiping Church.
For those who have no hope, we who have hope, are their only hope.
Father, give us grace today. Thank you for the hope that is ours. Give us courage to share that hope, to be that hope, to those who have no hope. To those who have a sense of hopelessness, help us to show them that You are the source of hope to the hopeless. And for those around us, the many who surround us, who are deceived, vainly thinking that they have found hope in some other place or person than You… give us grace to reveal the True hope that only You can provide. Whether through prosperity or pain, blessing or suffering, Father help us to provide a compelling witness through our lives of worship.
