God Confirms Truth | Daily Devotion
Then I heard a mighty voice from the Temple say to the seven angels, “Go your ways and pour out on the earth the seven bowls containing God’s wrath.”
2 So the first angel left the Temple and poured out his bowl on the earth, and horrible, malignant sores broke out on everyone who had the mark of the beast and who worshiped his statue.
3 Then the second angel poured out his bowl on the sea, and it became like the blood of a corpse. And everything in the sea died.
4 Then the third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and springs, and they became blood. 5 And I heard the angel who had authority over all water saying,
“You are just, O Holy One, who is and who always was,
because you have sent these judgments.
6 Since they shed the blood
of your holy people and your prophets,
you have given them blood to drink.
It is their just reward.”
7 And I heard a voice from the altar, saying,
“Yes, O Lord God, the Almighty,
your judgments are true and just.”
8 Then the fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, causing it to scorch everyone with its fire. 9 Everyone was burned by this blast of heat, and they cursed the name of God, who had control over all these plagues. They did not repent of their sins and turn to God and give him glory.
Revelation 16:1-9 NLT
God disciplines and punishes people in the perfect way to get their attention—Revelation 16:7, Hebrews 10:26-31. Here in Revelation 16, we see God’s wrath poured out on sinful mankind, in the seven bowl judgments. Yet, the people still refuse to repent because their hearts are hard. They will spend eternity in hell, a place void of God’s presence and glory—2 Thessalonians 1:9. A place of constant torment – their personal fear heightened to a severity and intensity of unbearable weight because they refuse God and His divine holy ways.
Christian! People do not have to experience this wrath. God in His love, knew we would need a Savior to save us from the repercussions of our sin – the destruction of self and others. So, He sent His one and only Son, Jesus Christ, to walk this earth perfect, dying a horrific death for us on the cross—2 Corinthians 5:21. Jesus bore the wrath we deserved on the cross. His shed blood, covered our sins past, present, and future—Hebrews 9:22. He was buried in a tomb, but He didn’t stay dead! He rose again on the third day—1 Corinthians 15:3-4, and He is now sitting at God’s right hand—Hebrews 1:3. Jesus is alive! He stood in the gap for you, providing a way for you to stand justified in God’s sight, just as if you never sinned.
Today, He lives to intercede for you before the Father in heaven – Hebrews 7:25. He loves you so much!
Friend, have you been playing with sin, thinking you could get away with it? Did you get caught? Have people been blind and unaware to what you have done? Does it matter to you? Do you need to repent and rededicate your life to Jesus Christ?
Do you see those around you wasting their gift of life here on earth because they don’t care? They don’t care what happens, they are bored, they have internal issues that they have not dealt with rightly to identify their real issue – which is often a desire to be loved. How do I know? It’s God’s second greatest command. Love your neighbor as yourself. This command means we need to be loved purely. If God commands it – we need to love purely, and we need to be loved purely. And it’s this lack of love found in a selfish world that leads people to a point of not caring about what happens. But when people experience the love of Jesus Christ through Christians, they realize there is hope for change – their difficult situation will not always remain because of Jesus Christ. He is the catalyst for positive change. They do not have to provoke outcomes, to see, they can seek the One who alone opens their eyes to what is right before them – a loving community.
Stubborn pride is a heart and mind issue and we will see this in those who remain in the Tribulation at this time, who refuse to repent. God gives a freewill to choose to love Him or not love Him. Stubborn pride refuses God’s love, grace, and forgiveness in defiance, desiring their will and way. It’s a lack of wisdom, ending in eternal destruction. But the love of God allows people to make this choice, while severely correcting evil behavior with divine judgments – as a holy, righteous, loving God is to correct evil behavior, or He would counter His character.
John tells us the first bowl judgment is poured out on the earth, targeting everyone who took the mark of the beast and who worshipped the statue – all who idolized Antichrist, refusing Jesus Christ – they experienced horrible open sores that would not heal.
Many know wound care, and the difficulty in keeping open sores from becoming infected and the dangerous deadly painful truths regarding infections. For instance, if someone has an open wound they are more likely to get the MRSA blood infection, this happens in healthcare settings, with the infection entering their bloodstream. Open wounds also draw maggots. I was in Haiti years ago with a youth ministry and a little boy was brought to me because I had the first aid kit and when I looked closely at the wound on his leg, I noticed little maggots crawling all over the wound. I was informed the wound was approximately two weeks old, but it had remained open and fresh because the maggots kept eating away every bit of the healing. I’m not going to lie, I was not the one who ended up helping him. I got help and stood there helping the person who took care of it. Sometimes the wisest step is to simply recognize what is beyond your ability.
So these open wounds will not only be painful, they will probably be infested with maggots and will be very difficult to take care of, which will elevate emotions such as anger and tears and will cause a lot of psychological duress and interpersonal issues. And this is in addition to the psychological duress the people will already be experiencing from the previous judgments.
Every judgment adds to the previous judgment. It is not one judgment, then the plate wiped clean ready for the next. Therefore, the people will be under severe distress with the added weight of judgment, reeling psychologically, physically, socially, and spiritually from the non-stop very severe situations.
Some might believe this is cruelty, but it’s not actually – because it’s not a manmade plan. There is only one God and He alone is holy, and His ways are to draw us to Himself. It’s not a power play. It’s God’s ordained way. God is not confusing, humans are confusing. God does not make mistakes. Every human makes mistakes. These people who are alive at this time are very evil people who abused many and continued defying the living God, refusing to recognize their sins and repent.
Then John says he saw the second angel who poured the second bowl judgment out onto the sea, turning the sea to blood.
Remember the second trumpet judgment, when God turned 1/3 of the sea to blood? That was a warning. This bowl judgment turned the rest of the sea to blood and everything in the sea died.
Then the third bowl judgment was poured out onto the rivers and springs – the fresh water – similar to the third trumpet judgment that turned 1/3 of the fresh water bitter. This time, the judgment turned the fresh water into blood.
John says he heard the angel who had authority over all water say, “You are just, O Holy One, who is and who always was, because you have sent these judgments. Since they shed the blood of your holy people and your prophets you have given them blood to drink. It is their just reward.”
This angel shows to be a defender of God’s people.
Then a voice from heaven confirmed the word of the angel, saying, “Yes, O Lord God Almighty, your judgments are true and just.”
God is just and His ways are confirmed by more than one messenger – the truth of circumstances is confirmed by more than one messenger.
God confirms truth, always.
These evil people who killed God’s holy people are probably sadistic. They loved hurting God’s holy people – they enjoyed murdering Christian saints – and so God gives them blood to drink as a just reward. God’s corrections always match the severity of the crime. They loved seeing the blood of the Christian saints that much. They thirsted for the blood of Christian saints, probably hunting down Christians, planning their evil schemes against them so much so God said, “Here you go, all you have to drink is blood.” This is telling of how evil minded these people are, revealing their evil hard hearts. When they killed these Christians, they did not care about the suffering they caused. They loved it.
I personally love God’s defense of His own. He’s really funny.
This evil happens today. People don’t care about the cost they bring onto others. They don’t care if they hurt or kill. But we Christians can rejoice when we are persecuted, for a great reward awaits all the persecuted in heaven – Matthew 5:12.
The apostle John then says the fourth angel poured out his bowl onto the sun, causing it to scorch everyone with its fire. Therefore, in contrast to the fourth trumpet judgment that struck one third of the sun, one third of the moon, and one third of the stars so that it became dark, causing freezing temperatures, this fourth bowl judgment targets the solar system also but causes extreme heat and fire, burning people by the blast of heat. The people on earth become so angry with these burning temperatures that they curse the name of God, knowing God is in control over these plagues.
This burning heat got their attention, however they still refused to repent.
There are different times in life when we feel the heat, so to speak – and it really does hit a person psychologically. It often confronts pride. How are you going to handle this—becomes the question. Ultimately, when God allows this type of situation, He is opening eyes to Himself and our need for Him – we are to go to Him in dependence, not take matters into our own hands or curse His name in anger and defiance because He allowed something difficult; for our self-efficacy holds no lasting power and our cursing holds no power over Him and is fruitless.
The act of cursing reveals the desire for power over that which brought on the situation that upset them. It reveals pride in a heart and a desire for control over the person who allowed it. The fact that these people curse God’s name when they felt the blast of heat, reveals that heat opened their eyes to God and His power. Their act of cursing reveals recognition of the power of God’s name, while seeking power over His name. It’s telling of a heart that desires to conquer, thus not recognizing God is Sovereign and the truth that states they do not match God in strength. However, it is foolish as we know God gave Jesus Christ the name above all names – the power in His name is witnessed in creation, as everything was created through Him. The power in His name is witnessed in Wisdom, the way of knowledge, for He is wisdom incarnate. The power in His name is witnessed in truth for He is Truth. Therefore, nothing created has power over the name of the Creator. It’s a lack of knowledge in the foolish defiant who refuse to submit to the One who created them in His image. The lack of knowledge, however, is not due to the knowledge not being present. The lack of knowledge is due to pride, stating "I don’t need Him."
Many will suffer eternally in hell, living in severe torment and anguish due to their defiant heart and mind saying, “I don’t need Jesus Christ.” When they could live in paradise at peace, if they simply recognized their sin and their need for a Savior.
Will you pray with me?
Abba, You see every defiant heart today, not caring about their life or the lives who they are hurting. We ask Lord for You to reach the hardest heart, drawing them to a saving relationship with Jesus Christ for we know that when one person accepts Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, many are saved – the abused are no longer abused, people no longer are lied to, people are not stolen from and so forth. There is increased trust, not distrust, when people know Jesus Christ as Savior. So, we ask for Your will to be done on earth today, in Jesus’ name, Amen.