We get to the fifth section or act of Revelation: "Punishment of the World" (15:5-16:21.) This short section shows how points in history come where evil-doers are so committed to their evil that they continue in it and must be brought down.
There are Seven Bowls of Wrath:
1. Painful sores on those who worship the beast.
2. The sea turning into blood.
3. The rivers turning into the blood because of the martyrs.
4. The sun and moon scorch people.
5. Darkness, but people still don't repent!
6. Three frog-like spirits that deceive the wicked
7. The final battle (Armegeddon)
As one reads these descriptions, one cannot help but be reminded of Moses, Pharaoh and the Ten Plagues. There's the sores, the water-into-blood, the darkness and the frogs.
Babylon also makes its appearance here, and, as we will see next week, is John's codeword for Rome. There's an important historical context here:
- The Israelites were in slavery in Egypt in about 1500BC
- They were in exile in Babylon around 586BC
- They were oppressed by Rome in the first century AD.
Egypt's army was destroyed in the sea ("it turned into blood like that of a dead man, and every living thing in the sea died" Rev16:3)
Babylon was defeated overnight when the Persians blocked the Euphrates (which had served as Babylon's moat) by night and marched in on dry land and sacked Babylon.
Rome was ultimately sacked by the Barbarians.
The point of this "Bowls Section" is to point out that evil may flourish, but it also self-destructs. Pharaoh's arrogance led to his destruction. Babylon was defeated overnight. Rome would still fall.
The bowls are poetic language and describe how evil festers, infects and self-destructs. If one imagines the smoke, flames, trauma and drama of the actual fall of oppressive regimes throughout history (be it Egypt, Babylon, Rome, or the Nazis), one could quite easily imagine the poetic images of seas and rivers of blood and scorching suns and moons.
The real heartache is that the wicked don't repent even when they receive clear warnings and must face their final Armegeddons.
The reassurance we have is that evil will not endure - it will face its Armegeddon.
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Theo Groeneveld theo@emmanuel.org.za
You can see past EmmDevs at http://emmdev.blogspot.com/
