46: World News & Prophecy - Revelation 15-16

[McNeely] All right. Welcome back to Revelation. We are today going to go through chapter 15 and chapter 16. And with chapter 15, we are still in a kind of an inset chapter here, but transitioning back into the story flow of the book of Revelation. Chapter 15 is a bit short, just a few verses here as we go along. But we'll need to make a comment or two about understanding what we're seeing here.

So verse 1, John says, “I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous: seven angels having the seven last plagues, for in them the wrath of God is complete” (Revelation 15:1). So here we're picking up from chapter 11—again, the story flow—but then again we don't. But as John says what he sees here in chapter 15 and verse 1, he'll pick this up then really in chapter 16 when he—verse 1—where it says, a loud voice from heaven saying to the seven angels. But John sees something else here before we get into that.

So the seven last plagues are about to be poured out. And this is the final set of seven in our Rubik’s Cube that we handed out earlier of seven plagues, seven seals, seven trumpet plagues, comprising the seventh seal that has the seven trumpet plagues; the seventh trumpet plague then has the seven last seals or last plagues, as they're called here. “For in them the wrath of God is complete.” And it will be the full undiluted wrath of God, as we talked about in chapter 15, upon the earth. And that will be the final judgment upon the nations.

So at verse 2, John says, “And I saw something like a sea of glass mingled with fire, and those who have the victory over the beast, over his image and over his mark”—so we're still carrying this beast here into another chapter from chapter 13—but this is, he sees those that have the victory over the beast, his image and the mark, and “over the number of his name, standing on the sea of glass, having harps of God.” It’s a heavenly scene that he sees.

There's a reference to a type of a sea of glass back in Exodus that is pictured there.

But this is a bit different. And keep in mind it's in his vision. Verse 3 says, “They sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying: ‘Great and marvelous are Your works, Lord God Almighty! Just and true are Your ways, O King of the saints! Who shall not fear You, O Lord, and glorify Your name? For You alone are holy. For all nations shall come and worship before You, for Your judgments have been manifested’” (Revelation 15:3–4).

And so here is the scene through these first four verses here. And then after this, John is going to look and he says, “Behold, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened. And out of the temple came the seven angels having the seven plagues” (Revelation 15:5–6).

So he sees this heavenly temple. We've talked about that being the temple—the ultimate real temple—the heavenly temple. While on earth there have been two temples. We wait for the likelihood of a third temple to be built, or at least the beginnings of it. Time will tell us what that will be before the time of the end. But the first and second temple were built on the pattern of the heavenly things we're told in the book of Hebrews.

Let’s go back for a moment. I just want to talk a little bit about something here on the sea of glass, what John sees. Those who stand there with harps, and they are those that had the victory over the beast. And this is a scene that can be understood of heaven and the throne of God, and what John sees here. Keep in mind he’s having a vision. And all of these visions that John sees beginning in chapter 1, and particularly chapter 4 and 5—where he’s taken up through a door into heaven and he sees all these fantastic angelic, spirit, divine beings in heaven, chapters 4 and 5, and other things that begin to take place.

As I’ve said all along, John’s vision is a peek into eternity. Eternity. A man from the first century gets a peek into the eternal realm, the divine realm, where there’s not time or space.

And that’s about all the cosmology I really want to get into with you here today. But you should know a little bit about how the cosmos does work to appreciate what we see in Scripture. There’s no time and space at the throne of God or in the divine presence, or God lives in eternity. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Hebrews 13:8).

And time only applies to us on the earth because we have a sun and a moon, night and day, and a rotation of the earth on its axis and a revolution of the earth around the sun, creating a day, months, and the years—time. God doesn’t have time.

Understand that as we look at any of these scenes, and this one in particular, because sometimes people are prone to read certain things into Scripture to come up with ideas—sometimes called new truths—that may not necessarily be the case about, as we try to understand honestly, certain things about what God does tell us. But keep this in mind.

If we’re looking at those that have overcome the beast, they have the victory over the beast—over this entire system—well, keep in mind from John’s time forward, we have many, many people, saints, firstfruits, who gained the victory over this entire false system. And members that were martyred—we talked about that back at the time of the messages to the churches. And subsequent times, we’ve had people through the ages who have died in the faith, and who rest like a sleep, waiting to be awakened at the time of the trumpet. “And the dead in Christ will rise first” (1 Thessalonians 4:16), Paul writes. “Our bodies will be changed” (1 Corinthians 15:52). Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15 and the first resurrection.

But “the dead know nothing” (Ecclesiastes 9:5). We don’t teach and we don’t understand and see from Scripture that the dead go to heaven or go to hell. Their spirit goes back to God—“the spirit returns to God who gave it” (Ecclesiastes 12:7)—the spirit in man with the Spirit of God. And God will put that into a resurrected body.

We’ve talked about that in regard to the nature of man and what happens at death. And so always keep in mind what we’re told in 1 Thessalonians 4:15 and many other scriptures about those who “sleep in Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 4:14), and that “we shall not precede those who are asleep” (1 Thessalonians 4:15), and that they are there.

Let me go a little bit deeper into this and let me give you another concept. Christ said in Matthew 22, verses 31–33 that God is the God of the living, not the God of the dead. “But concerning the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God, saying, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.” And when the multitudes heard this, they were astonished at His teaching (Matthew 22:31–33). God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.

Now turn over to Romans chapter 4, and let's read it in verse 17. “God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did” (Romans 4:17). Calls those things which do not exist as though they did.

That's in the context of Abraham and his faith. God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. How does God look at the dead? “Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of His saints” (Psalm 116:15). When we understand the purpose of human life, what happens at death, we then—you know, for one who has God’s Spirit, the firstfruit—they die in Christ, they’re sealed till the resurrection. They sleep till then. And that’s why God can say precious is that death, because He knows in their next waking moment they'll be resurrected to a glorified body.

God knows that whether it's Abraham or your parent, uncle, grandparent, someone who died in the faith, in the Church that you know, you loved—and you look forward to seeing them at the resurrection—it’s as if it is. But even though for us on the earthly realm, they're not with us. We miss them, but we know the truth, and we do not sorrow as those who have no hope (1 Thessalonians 4:13), because of what Paul says.

But God, who’s perfect in His thinking about this, is the God of the living.

Does that mean they're living before Him? No. It means that God knows that Abraham, and David, and Paul, and John, and Peter, and others—their death, as God is—they’re waiting for that resurrection, but they are, in a sense, that He knows that they are. Not that they're before Him, not that they're talking to Him, not that they’re in some heavenly existence.

But God, who in whatever He absorbs—the spirit in man and the Holy Spirit and this essence of converted spiritual life that dies in the faith—that spirit, He knows it.

And He understands it. He is the God of the living, not of the dead (again Matthew 22:32). And here He’s giving to John and to us as if it will be a time of rejoicing and a song—another one of these songs that are sung about God and His great and marvelous works, just and true are His ways, “You alone are holy,” He says. I mean, this sums up in essence everything about God there.

And so when we look at what we're reading here, we're seeing a vision into eternity that God gives to John—not of some dead saints in heaven now or from all other indications of Scripture in the future. And so now this does take place just at the beginning of the pouring out of these last plagues on the earth in the final, probably days, maybe hours, of this earth in the time of trial. We’ll see why when we look at that.

And here's this vision of hope—an impending judgment—because it's the seventh trumpet, and “at the last trumpet… the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed” (1 Corinthians 15:52). Now, when the dead rise, picture—think about this for a moment—you know, those who are the dead in Christ, “we will not precede those who are asleep” (1 Thessalonians 4:15). The dead will rise first, and we who are alive at His coming. And so, but together we go up into the air.

And then in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye (1 Corinthians 15:52), there’s a change. And then we will be forever with Him, and we know that Christ is going to come back. “And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives” (Zechariah 14:4). And there we will be with Him. We’re not going to be off into heaven with Him; the Scripture doesn’t tell us that. We’re going to come back, and we’ll be with Him where He is.

And we’ll read about that reigning—“they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years” (Revelation 20:4).

As we, you know, keep in mind the time flow that is moving here, when we are resurrected, here’s another concept to keep in mind: your body’s changed.

You cross the threshold into eternity from physical to spirit. And “we shall see Him as He is” (1 John 3:2). And we will have a glorified, resurrected spirit body—1 Corinthians 15 tells us that. But we will be spirit beings, not subject to time or space. We will be, in a sense, in eternity.

And see things we haven’t been able to see, and wonder, and it’s going to be great. It is where we want to be. But it’s like going into a whole different room as we cross that threshold—is why I use that term.

Now, sometimes people in their quest to try to understand and piece all this together, we've seen in recent years people come up with differing ideas about what happens at that moment and what is being described here in Revelation 15.

And the idea of a marriage supper tends to be brought in, sometimes mixed in with concepts of, in a sense, a final tune-up or training period as a spirit being, and then coming back with Christ to this earth. And there are ideas out there in the larger Church of God community that posit that at the resurrection, when that happens and when it will be a little bit different than what we teach in the Church, this Revelation 15 could be teaching or saying that we're on that throne of—that sea of glass—the throne of God for a period of time. I've heard for three months. I've heard for ten days. It depends on which group and idea that comes up. And these are sincere people. These are sincere efforts to try to understand the Scripture.

One of the key ones is that it is during that time that the marriage supper occurs. Okay. Now, you've studied the marriage supper, and there are a few verses in the Bible that talk about this idea of the marriage supper.

We haven't read Revelation 19:7 yet, but when the marriage of the Lamb or the bride to the Lamb comes, it’s referring to it there. Matthew 22 is another key passage that talks about a wedding feast. “The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son” (Matthew 22:2). Matthew 22, beginning at verse 2 through verse 14, is a description of a king who arranged for a marriage of a son. He invited people, and it was going to be a big wedding (verse 4). And those that were invited made light of it, went their ways, and didn't come. Others treated the servants of the king badly.

And finally, the marriage supper—the wedding feast—comes, filled with guests in verse 10. And the king came in and saw some guests, and he saw a man there who didn’t have on a wedding garment. And he said, how did you come in? The man was speechless, and he said, bind him hand and foot, take him away. Cast him into outer darkness.

In chapter 25 of Matthew, there’s another reference—Matthew 25. And this is the parable of the wise and foolish virgins. I'll just read verse 10: “And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut” (Matthew 25:10).

Now, these scriptures give us a hint—a brief bare-bones description—of something called the marriage supper, the wedding feast, however you want to call it, at the time of the coming of the bridegroom, the time of the coming of Christ. It’s told in parabolic form. In Revelation 19:7, it's told in the explicit form of the return of Christ, and that will take place at that time. So we at least have that general time setting.

But some have tried to fit Revelation 15 into that and say that at the resurrection, somehow then that’s when the marriage supper will be, and some have gone on to try to fill in the details that it will be in heaven for maybe three months, and then a return with Christ at His coming as symbolized by the Feast of Trumpets.

And that has never been taught by the Church—Worldwide Church of God, Mr. Armstrong, or even in the United Church of God today. But others have come up with these ideas, and some hold to that. Sincere people, sincere ideas, but one that I think has several flaws to it.

It's not my intent to go through it all in detail here today, but what is being talked about? I think one of the key things to keep in mind is, as I’ve said, at the resurrection, when that occurs, we cross into eternity.

When does the marriage supper take place? Well, at the return of the Bridegroom or the Lamb—we know that in a general sense. We don’t know the hour. I went to a wedding last week, and I was told to be there at 11:30 on Sunday morning. All right? When you have your wedding, you're going to tell people to come at a precise day and hour. God doesn't give us that. He gives us a time setting, and He gives us some general ideas here.

Will it be before we touch down on earth? Will it be after we touch down on earth? Where will it be? The Bible really doesn't tell us. Now, some want to speculate and fit Revelation 15:1–2 into it, and that's okay. You can speculate on that. But to make that a concrete teaching or doctrine of fact, I think it can stretch it too far. What that wedding supper is, when and in what form, the Bible leaves a lot out.

Here’s the key: you want to be there. Whenever it is, and whatever’s served, you want to be there.

We're going to have a big graduation supper here when you guys all graduate. I've already chosen my dish and my dessert. You probably have as well, right? Not yet. Okay, you will. They give us faculty a little advance notice on that. And I know what time to be there.

But a lot of that about the marriage supper—we don’t know. Other than that, in general terms, there’s going to be something.

And here’s one thing I think that I do know: we will be spirit beings.

And we’re not bound by time and space.

And it might be as quick as that. It might go on as long as you want, but I've already used terms that won’t apply because it's in eternity. Do you get it?

And so sometimes we need to understand a bit of cosmology as we seek to understand theology—the things of God, the knowledge of God. And be strong where God’s strong, silent where God may be silent.

And so be careful with that. We have a lot of other different scriptures that talk about how God looks at time. “With the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day” (2 Peter 3:8).

Well, there you go—years and day. But that's kind of a rough generalization to help us at least understand that God doesn’t look at time as we do.

Personally, I've wondered—as I've kind of looked at people’s ideas—when I'm changed to a spirit being, is it then… and in the time it takes to get from wherever it is—how far up in the atmosphere do you think it will be? I don’t know. Back to earth? Maybe that's when it will be. I don't know. But this is my speculation.

And it might be quite long in the eternal frame of reference—long enough to get dessert. I hope—I want to stay long enough to get dessert. Okay? And I hope it’s a good steak, whatever it might be. Medium rare.

Nice, properly seasoned, expensive steak. Right. Well aged and a great dessert. So I want to be long enough to get through it all for whatever God intends. So my point is, there are ideas out there. And as people put this together, it just presents some interesting scenarios.

Here again, you know, look at—there’s an account by Paul. You know, Paul, back in 2 Corinthians 12, verses 1 through 6, Paul gives his account of an experience of the third heaven, the presence of God. And it seems he didn’t seek it out, but he received it from Christ. He even says, you know, a man in Christ back there. It’s given, you know—we’re not told about it other than that one particular example there. And he gives some of the barest bones details of his vision of God’s throne at that particular time. And he—his language indicates humility. He says, I don’t want to boast. You know, knowledge can puff up. 1 Corinthians 13 has something to say about knowledge.

“And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love” (1 Corinthians 13:13).

And so my point is, it’s going to be worth it when we get there. We’ll know it, we’ll understand it—all of it—in the totality. Our job today is to learn to sing the song.

It says there’s another song to learn, doesn't it? So I want to learn how to sing the song today.

I gave a message a year or two ago on Trumpets, and I went to this verse, and I used the idea that—you know what? Years ago, I heard a statement from some other smart guy. I used it: most people die before they learn to sing their song. Most people die without having learned to sing their song. And in that analogy, your song is your life, your best effort, your full potential.

And too many people die not having achieved it for whatever reason. And I heard that years ago, and I thought, wow, I don’t want to be that. I want to sing my song. I want all the verses to have been played out. Okay?

And so in regard to this, I want to learn to sing this song.

And only those who know it—you know, only you and I know the song that we have of our life, how we live it, what we’re capable of. We learn it as we live it. And it’s our life and nobody else’s. You’re writing the verses of your song with your life now. So am I. And it’s yours, not anyone else's.

And so if we carry by analogy over to this in a crude way, then we're going to learn a song here that is our song. Okay? And we're going to be singing a song of the Lamb. So look at that and learn it, live it, sing it in your own life. And let God fill in all the other details.

Let’s go on to verse 5: “After these things I looked, and behold, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened. And out of the temple came the seven angels having the seven plagues, clothed in pure bright linen, and having their chests girded with golden bands. Then one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God who lives forever and ever. The temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from His power, and no one was able to enter the temple till the seven plagues of the seven angels were completed” (Revelation 15:5–8).

And so in eight short verses we cover chapter 15, so we might as well just keep going into chapter 16 here and see what it has to say, because this is where these seven plagues are poured out.

“Then I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, ‘Go and pour out the bowls of the wrath of God on the earth’” (Revelation 16:1). This will complete God’s punishment and destruction of the entire satanic system of government and culture that began in ancient Babylon and will carry through to the time of the end. Satan’s kingdom through human agents, with a special focus on that leading city as it’s called Babylon.

So that kingdom, by God’s plan, must be destroyed. But those who are citizens of that kingdom, those kingdoms, must understand that God—who gave the commandments to mankind—is the source of that destruction. It’s His final judgment that is poured out on the idols, the false religion and powers that are there, and all the details that we have had. God very carefully chooses these seven punishments. They are directly related to the sins of this evil system as a whole that is focused on the flesh, pleasures, riches, status, celebrity, that people worship in an idolatrous fashion as a substitute for God.

You know, in 2 Timothy 3, verses 1 through 5, Paul prefaces this. He says, “Men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money… without self-control, brutal… lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power” (2 Timothy 3:1–5).

And Paul goes on there in 2 Timothy 3 to describe people obsessed with knowledge but lacking understanding. “Always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth” (2 Timothy 3:7). A totally, thoroughly deceived society. And God shows that He will be able to reach their blinded minds only by causing them to reap what they’ve been sowing. And they’ll not fully probably understand it until they come up in the time of the Great White Throne Judgment.

And that’s what He’s going to accomplish with these seven final plagues.

So let’s look at verse 2: “So the first went and poured out his bowl upon the earth, and a foul and loathsome sore came upon the men who had the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image.” One more reference to that.

And so, their misguided worship—a form of godliness without substance. And that system will have a form of godliness, but it will be empty because truth is not there.

And that is where God is pouring this out. So the first plague turns that anguish back on its perpetrators. “The second angel poured out his bowl on the sea, and it became blood as of a dead man; and every living creature in the sea died.” Every living creature in the sea died. Not one-third, as we read earlier—every living creature in the sea. So blood like a dead man.

Christ is going to put this into the—and rub everyone’s face into it—the stench of the sea. Now, I want you to stop and think about this. Biologically speaking, ecologically speaking, this is total destruction that is beginning to be put out. And if you know anything about the hydrological cycle and what the oceans do to regulate and sustain life on this earth—when this happens, life will not be able to exist very long.

And so understand that and think about it when we try to think, How long will it take for these to be poured out?

We're not talking about months here. I think we're talking about—even a month—maybe only a few hours, relatively speaking, because Christ did say in Matthew 24 that “unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened” (Matthew 24:22).

And when you look at these plagues, the intensity of them would eliminate all life on the earth. You talk about an ecological disaster. You talk about global warming.

You talk about it—well, this is it. But it comes from God, not man or human behavior. And it will not destroy all life—Christ promised that. But it is going to be a time of intense turmoil and pain.

Verse 4: “Then the third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and springs of water, and they became blood.” Again, you get the Egyptian plagues brought into here, and it’s obvious in the connection.

“And I heard the angel of the waters saying: ‘You are righteous, O Lord, the One who is and who was and who is to be, because You have judged these things. For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and You have given them blood to drink. For it is their just due.’” Pretty strong language.

“And I heard another from the altar saying, ‘Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are Your judgments’” (Revelation 16:4–7).

It’s righteous because it’s God’s judgments. Remember, we talked at some point in the book of Acts about James and John, the sons of thunder, who wanted to call fire down on a Samaritan city that wouldn’t show hospitality to Jesus and His disciples. And Jesus said, no, no, no, no—we’re not going to do that.

But this is thunder here—but it’s God’s judgment, and it’s true and righteous because it’s His. And it’s in His way and timing, and it’s perfect. And there’s justice because God holds the keys of life and death, and He will resurrect, and people will have a chance to know the truth. And so we have it here.

Verse 8: “Then the fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and power was given to him to scorch men with fire. And men were scorched with great heat, and they blasphemed the name of God who has power over these plagues; and they did not repent and give Him glory” (Revelation 16:8–9).

You look at verses like this and you think, What's the use of preaching the gospel today and the truth? A message of repentance, strong as it can be.

If even these plagues don’t bring about a certain segment of mankind to repentance, what about our puny efforts? Well, God can work in whatever way He wants. His ways are marvelous and true. And God can call through the preaching of the gospel today—as He has demonstrated. But “many are called, but few are chosen” (Matthew 22:14).

Now, in this intense period, men will still not repent and give glory to God. Remember that Satan’s kingdom is founded on a form of godliness. We read that back in 2 Timothy 3. But it’s also—this is being poured out on Babylon. And Babylon is a system of religion that has changed times and seasons and laws.

As we studied about the mark of the beast, we saw how they changed the fourth commandment—the Sabbath day—and other holy days of God, into spiritual darkness.

And a pagan-inspired Christianity, a false Christianity, produces spiritual darkness.

And so here on this bowl—the sun—that men have inadvertently, even unknowingly, worshiped, even on the very day of the sun—Sunday—now is turned up and scorched. I don’t think it has to be turned up very much, again by what I’ve read in books like The Privileged Planet.

But just a few degrees can create this intensity where men are scorched with great heat—but not die—but for a short period of time. Blisters, heat, the sunburn of sunburns, whatever you want to call it, brings people to their knees.

God's turning it back upon mankind. Why is it important to know the truth and to live the truth? Because when this judgment comes, God’s going to be doing things that demonstrate to mankind, you have lived in darkness. You have lived in worshiping false systems. And I will turn those systems against you to make My point. And what is God's ultimate point? To bring many sons to glory (Hebrews 2:10). Remember that God—you know, the God of all the earth—Abraham said, “shall do right” (Genesis 18:25).

“Then the fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and his kingdom became full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues because of the pain.” Now darkness, heat, and then darkness. “They blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and did not repent of their deeds” (Revelation 16:10–11). Spiritual darkness brings about a plague of total darkness.

Verse 12: “Then the sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up, so that the way of the kings from the east might be prepared.” We read this earlier back in chapter 9 when we were talking about another movement of armies beginning to gather and to mass here at the river Euphrates, coming from the armies of the east. And so here now we have the final culmination of that, quite possibly.

“And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs coming out of the mouth of the dragon”—which you know is Satan—“out of the mouth of the beast”—the political leader—“and out of the mouth of the false prophet,” the spiritual leader. And so demonic spirits inhabit these people, these beings. It is the work of Satan and his minions. “For they are spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out to the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty” (Revelation 16:13–14).

So this is a gathering of armies into and toward Jerusalem, the Middle East, coming from all these quarters here.

And verse 15 is an interesting statement: “Behold, I am coming as a thief.” Shades of 1 Thessalonians 5 and other statements made by Peter and Christ. “Blessed is he who watches, and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame.” Here is then a blessing in the form of watching. And what have we been talking about all through our studies of Daniel and Revelation? Learn to watch. Discern the times.

That includes just understanding the world and how it works and the way it is—where we may be in God's timeline. It means also watching our own life and being prepared. And here Christ pronounces a blessing on those who watch and keep His garments, lest they walk naked and they see his shame.

We've already had discussion about those garments being garments of righteousness—holy living, holy conduct. So we're alert, we're aware. We understand the plan of God. We understand there's a judgment coming. And we live our lives with that guiding us. It doesn't obsess us. It doesn't cause us to fear. We live a positive, joyful, hope-filled life. But we know that God's way works. God's way will bring about happiness.

We also know that for those in the Church, firstfruits in preparation for that coming, we are under judgment now (1 Peter 4:17). And so we live righteously so that we are clothed fully and we're not naked. Remember what Christ said to the Church at Laodicea? “You are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked” (Revelation 3:17). “You do not know that you are naked.”

You've all heard the story of the… well, what's the story? You know what I'm talking about. The emperor who had no clothes.

And there was a little boy that said, “He's naked! He’s naked!” But the emperor paraded around thinking that he was all clothed in the best and the finest. Well, we don’t want to be like that emperor—thinking we've got righteous garments on, thinking that we're holy in that sense. No, that’s not the way we want to be. We want to have the garments of righteousness and be clothed in that way and not have the judgment poured upon us.

“And they gathered them together to the place called in Hebrew, Armageddon” (Revelation 16:16). Now, in the next class, I'm going to give you a little bit of a slideshow about Armageddon. And we'll talk a little bit more in detail about what Armageddon is and what is being talked about.

But briefly, armies are gathered at a place called Megiddo, which is actually in the north of Jerusalem and west over toward the coast, about right over in here. And then they move upon Jerusalem. And the final battle, Scripture tells us—what is called here, where they are gathered together to a place called in Hebrew, Armageddon—that is in the area of Jerusalem. But I’ll give you a slideshow because I’ve been to that place of Megiddo. You can go there too. Here we go to Israel. We’ll talk a little bit more about that.

Verse 17: “Then the seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, ‘It is done!’” And “there were noises and thunderings and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such a mighty and great earthquake as had not occurred since men were on the earth.”

“Now the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. And great Babylon was remembered before God, to give her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath.” “Then every island fled away, and the mountains were not found.” “And great hail from heaven fell upon men, each hailstone about the weight of a talent. And men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, since that plague was exceedingly great” (Revelation 16:17–21).

And so the seventh bowl is poured out. This then heralds the descent of Christ. And we’ll have another two inset chapters—17 and 18—and come back to this at chapter 19. But Babylon will be remembered and destroyed.

So we're going to talk one final time about Babylon. But all of this is accomplished by God's judgment here, and this modern system will be completely destroyed.

So the next couple of classes, we’ll talk about that. And before we do, I want to go back and revisit the sixth bowl and this matter of Megiddo and Armageddon, so you understand that a little more fully, and can appreciate what is being described here with all these armies being gathered together to the battle of the great day of God Almighty.

So we'll pick that up in the next class and keep moving through the book of Revelation.