THE SEVENTH BOWL WILL
SHAKE, RATTLE AND ROLL BUT
LEAVE PEOPLE FLAT
REVELATION 16:17-21
In the past few weeks we’ve been discussing the final judgments or
bowl judgments which will bring about an end to God’s wrath as
mentioned in Revelation chapter 15 and verse 1. All of the previous
judgments that came with ever increasing intensity consisting first of
the seven Seal judgments in chapters 6 through the beginning of
chapter 8 followed by the seven Trumpet judgments in chapters 8
through 11 now comes to finality with the seven Bowl judgments.
The scope of these Bowl judgments are universal in nature as opposed
to the trumpet judgments which were limited affecting a third of the
Earth. Now that we’ve dealt with the first 6 Bowl Judgments, we
come to the final bowl and if I could some it up I would say that, The
Seventh Bowl Will Shake, Rattle and Roll but Will Leave People Flat.
Verse 17 of this 16th chapter begins, “The seventh angel poured out
his bowl into the air…,” it is interesting to note that the previous 6
bowls had to do with the land, the water, the sun and sending
darkness on the throne of the beast or his kingdom. The beast we
have seen from previous chapters is Satan’s anti-christ whom he sets
up in order to magnify himself in a poor attempt to mimic the Godhead or Holy Trinity. Now, the final judgment is poured out into the
air. In Ephesians 2:2, the apostle Paul reminds us that Satan is the
“ruler of the kingdom of the air” as stated in the New International
Version of the Bible or “prince of the power of the air” as translated in
the King James Version. So it is very fitting that this final judgment
again is directed at the usurper and his kingdom, the one who would
set himself up in the very place of God. After the seventh angel pours
out his bowl into the air, we read, “And out of temple came a loud
voice from the throne, saying, ‘It is done!’” While the passage doesn’t
mention precisely whose voice comes from the temple, it does say
that is comes from the throne and therefore has the authority of the
throne. This completes God’s wrath, while the results of the plague
or judgment have yet to play out, it is pronounced finished, it’s over.
That is all! This may bring to mind another pronouncement by Jesus
Christ. Remember, after the spotless Lamb of God had willingly
offered himself up as the perfect sacrifice and was placed on the altar
of the cross of Calvary, he made this statement, “It is finished” as
recorded in John’s gospel. While the act of Jesus offering himself was
finalized at his death on the Cross, the ramifications of that perfect
act of submission, are still being felt to this very day. 2 Corinthians
5:21 offers this explanation concerning Jesus, “God made him who
had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the
righteousness of God.” We can become the righteousness of God,
people! Every last one of us, even though we “All have sinned and fall
short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). As the time came for Jesus
fulfill God’s redemptive plan for mankind, the time will come as
mentioned here in the book of Revelation when the time will come
for God’s wrath to be completed. Now, I’d like us to note that this
final bowl judgment has two distinct parts to it. The first part has to
do with:
1. The shaking, rattling and rolling – as I called it. After the
pronouncement, “it is done!” our passage tells us in verse 18,
“Then there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of
thunder and a severe earthquake. No earthquake like it has
ever occurred since man has been on earth, so tremendous was
the quake.” This shaking, rattling and rolling is divided into two
separate parts as well.
a. The word translated “rumblings” in the NIV is the Greek
word phone (pronounced phone-ay). It means a sound, a
tone. It can also be translated utterance as in speech or
voice and it is translated voices in the original King James
Version. Whether we take it to be rumblings as would be
present in a severe thunderstorm or whether this was
powerful voice mistaken for thunder which wouldn’t be
the first time the outcome is the same… pure awe. You
recall in John 12:28, 29 after Jesus predicted his own death,
he said, “Father, glorify your name!’ Then a voice came
from heaven, ‘I have glorified it, and will glorify it again.’
The crowd that was there and heard it said it had
thundered; others said an angel had spoken to him.” The
scene in Revelation chapter 16 will see the heavens ablaze
with lightning and shaking with thunder. I don’t know if
you have ever experienced a severe thunderstorm but as a
child growing up in the United States in central Illinois, I
saw some doozies. The types of storms where the lightning
would light up the entire sky from east to west and the
thunder would shake the ground and be felt in your bones.
I’m sure that is a poor comparison to what this final bowl
judgment will be like but it is this best that I can make in
my limited experience in light of an awesome, powerful,
eternal God. In the midst of the display of might in the
heavens the second part of the shaking, rattling and rolling
occurs on earth.
b. We see our text state that “a severe earthquake appears.
This shouldn’t really be surprizing as earthquakes have
accompanied the previous judgments. Revelation 6:12;
8:5; 11:13, 19 all mention earthquakes. What we see in the
judgments of the book of Revelation is an increasing in
intensity and severity. The earthquake in chapter 11:13
caused a tenth of the city of Jerusalem to collapse. Coming
bake to our passage in chapter 16 and verse 18 we read the
absolute and unprecedented severity of this specific
earthquake. The passage reads, “No earthquake like it has
ever occurred since man has been on earth, so tremendous
was the quake.” How severe you ask? Look at verse 19, 20
“The great city split into three parts, and the cities of the
nations collapsed. God remembered Babylon the Great
and gave her the cup filled with the wine of the fury of his
wrath. Every island fled away and the mountains could not
be found.” Now commentators vary on which “great city”
is split into three parts. It is my belief and I hold to the
view that the city of Jerusalem is in view here as the entire
topography of Jerusalem and the area around it will change
in preparation for the battle of Armageddon which was
introduced in verse 16 of this chapter. The Old Testament
mentions some of the changes that will take place in
Zechariah 14:3, 4 where we read, “Then the Lord will go
out and fight against those nations, as he fights in the day
of battle. On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of
Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be
split in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with
half of the mountain moving north and half moving south.”
This earthquake may be a simultaneous event with the
Lord Jesus returning and touching his feet on the Mount of
Olives which will cause this extreme seismic movement of
the land in and around Jerusalem. While some hold the
great city to mean Babylon, Babylon is specifically singled
out as being remembered by God and her punishment will
be gone into in great detail in chapters 17 and 18 of
Revelation. The statements of “every island fled away and
the mountains could not be found,” could very well speak
to the severity of this massive earthquake which might
have planetary effects or it could be hyperbole speaking in
general of the extreme devastation caused by the
earthquake and the judgment executed upon Babylon. I
mentioned that the seventh bowl judgment has two
distinct parts to it. The first part being the shake, rattle
and roll which we just discussed. The second part of the
judgement is what a titled:
2. Leaving people flat – that is the condition, I assume will occur
when 100 pound weights are dropped from the sky upon men.
Verse 21 tells us, “From the sky huge hailstones of about a
hundred pounds each fell upon men. And they cursed God on
account of the plague of hail, because the plague was so
terrible.” In the original Greek the weight of the hail was
measured as a talent per stone. A talent was the amount of
water required to filled a Greek amphora which was a container
used to measure liquid. Throughout history, the weight of a
talent has varied depending on the culture. The Greek’s talent
was 26 kg or 57 lbs, the Roman talent was 32.3 kg or 71 lbs, the
Egyptian talent was 27 kg or 60 lbs and the Babylonian talent
was 30.3 kg or 67 lbs. Ancient Israel adopted the Babylonian
talent but later revised the mass so in New Testament times, a
heavy common talent could weigh up to 58.9 kg or 130 pounds.
Can you even begin to image the scope of this plague? A quick
search on the internet revealed that the largest recorded hail
stone in the United States occurred in Vivian, South Dakota on
July 23, 2010. It measured 8 inches or 20 cm in diameter or
length and 18.62 inches or 47.3 cm around, weighing in at 1.93
pounds or 0.88 kg. The heaviest authenticated hailstone ever
measured was 2.25 lbs or 1.02 kg– it fell in Bangladesh on April
14, 1986. Although there have been unsubstantiated reports of
much larger hailstones. A hailstone 20 feet long and wide was
said to have hit near a farm house and reported in the Edinburgh
New Philosophical Journal in 1849. But can you imagine seeing
hailstones failing which would weigh 100 pounds each?
Undoubtedly, the result in being hit by one of these would be
immediate death or at the very least severe injury depending on
how squarely it hit. What would be the result of this last part of
the plague? A turning towards God, repentance, a feeling of
sorrow and desire to give the credit and reverence due the
Creator of the Universe? No, the last sentence of our passage
sums it up. “They cursed God on account of the plague of hail,
because the plague was so terrible.”
So ends the last bowl judgment and with it the wrath of God is
completed. Yet the book of Revelation has more to say regarding the
results of the bowl plagues and the carrying out to completion the
battles which the bowl judgments started in motion. In the coming
final 6 chapters of Revelation, we’ll see the culmination of God’s
redemptive plan for mankind and history as recorded in scripture. It
will also point to a future eternal time where mankind will receive the
consequences of their actions and decisions, whether that be to
“confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart
that God raised him dead” so that you will “be saved” (Romans 10:9)
or to reject and disown him so that, as Jesus said in Matthew 10:33,
“But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my
Father in heaven.” Let’s turn to Jesus, let’s acknowledge our need for
him. The apostle Peter was very clear speaking of Jesus when he and
John were brought before the Sanhedrin in Acts 4:12 when he said,
“Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under
heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” The love of God is
still available to all who will accept it. A day will come as mentioned
in 2 Timothy 4:3, 4, “For the time will come when men will not put up
with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will
gather around them a great number of teachers, to say what their
itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the
truth and turn aside to myths.” However, that day hasn’t come yet.
The apostle Paul reminds us in 2 Corinthians 6:2, “For he says, ‘in the
time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.’
I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.”
Accept and enjoy Jesus. He wants to give us life abundantly now.
Don’t let the plagues coming to a world at opposition with God cause
you grief of fear. For those who have acknowledged Jesus is Lord and
accepted his substitutionary death on the cross as a means of being
brought back into a right relationship with God, remember the
comforting words of Jesus in John 14:27, “Peace I leave with you; my
peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let
your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” Also Jesus said John
16:33, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have
peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have
overcome the world.” We are more than conquerors through Jesus!