I am a tall, skinny guy with a metabolism through the roof. There is no reason I am so skinny, and it is not for want of trying. I loves me a cheeseburger, fries, pizza, bacon, and a whole host of other junk food. If it were up to me, I would have a steady diet of donuts, greasy food, and little exercise. Fortunately, I have a wife who loves me and wants me to live a long life, so she enforces a more balanced diet for the family than I would choose for myself. Also, I have been told by people wiser than me that my metabolism will catch up to me some day, and just eating right isn’t enough.
So, in addition to a more balanced diet, I have also taken up running. I hate running. It is miserable. It is agonizing. My own personal Hell would be running in a windy snowstorm (which, by the way, I have done). What motivates me to run is signing up for races. This gives me a tangible goal to set for myself and if I am running for a worthy cause, it makes the training slightly less miserable. Once race day arrives, I have found I actually like the atmosphere, but the best part of running any race, for me, is getting done.
There is something truly satisfying about crossing the finish line. All of the training I have put myself through suddenly seems worth it. Hopefully, it will pay off in the long run (no pun intended!) when I am 60, still tall and skinny, and still with a metabolism through the roof. A friend once told me that, for her, crossing a marathon finish line is not about anything other than “the thrill of conquering the beast!” I think her words are a fitting metaphor for the book of Revelation.
Throughout Revelation, “Conquering” has been a continual theme. In chapters 2 and 3, Jesus makes promises to “those who conquer.” The “Lion of the Tribe of Judah has Conquered” (5.5). In 12.11, a loud voice in heaven declares that God’s people have “conquered” the accuser “by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony.” And in chapter 15, those who have “conquered” are seen standing by a sea of glass—a fitting image in connection to the Exodus from Egypt. In fact, like the seven trumpets, the seven “Bowls” of God’s wrath described in chapters 15-16, also correspond to the Egyptian Plagues.
So far, there has been a progression of revelation, each new sequence of “seven” portraying something new. The “seals” introduced judgment in the broadest of terms. That is, in general, bad guys are persecuting God’s people and in general, those bad guys will receive the punishment they deserve.
The “trumpets” equated the Christians’ situation in Rome with ancient Israel’s situation in Egypt. That guy “Caesar” is nothing more than another “Pharaoh”, and you remember what God did to him! Just like God sent those plagues to Egypt, he will do the same thing to Rome. By connecting these two events, the author makes clear that though life seems miserable right now, deliverance is coming for the “Conquerers”. There is a New Exodus on the horizon.
The seven “visions” were meant to show the readers that the driving force behind God’s enemies is demonic. These visions first reiterate that those enemies will be punished. Second, the “visions” are also a warning to those within the church: compromising your beliefs and behaviors in order to appease Caesar and Rome may save your physical lives, but you will eventually suffer the same fate as Caesar himself. With this, Christ’s words ring true: What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? (Matt. 16.26).
This final set of seven “bowls” rehearses what has gone before, only now on an escalated level. Whereas the previous sequences show that judgment of the ungodly is coming, just like it had to Pharaoh and Egypt, and compromising “believers” will not go unpunished, the seven bowls show that the judgment to come will be swift and thorough.
Chapter 15, the conclusion to the seven “visions” and the introduction to the seven bowls, shows a sea of glass with those who have “Conquered” standing on one side, singing the “Song of Moses.” The seven bowls themselves parallel the seven trumpets creating another intentional link to Exodus. As the first trumpet rained hail, fire, and blood on the earth, so the first bowl is poured out on the earth. Ironically, God “marks” the people with “harmful sores” after they had already received the “mark” of the Beast.
The second trumpet showed the sea becoming blood and sea creatures dying, and the second bowl is poured out on the sea resulting in the death of every living thing in it. The third trumpet and bowl each have a direct effect on rivers and fountains, making the water supply undrinkable while the sun is effected in the fourth trumpet and bowl. Some of the finer points in the fifth trumpet and bowl are different, but they have the same general effect: darkness over the kingdom and torment among the people.
The sixth bowl is unique. Like the sixth trumpet, it describe warfare originating at the Euphrates, but contains some peculiar images. The river is dried up, but a body of water drying up is not new. In the past, God had simultaneously punished his enemies and delivered his people by drying up bodies of water. The obvious example is the Red Sea where Pharaoh’s army was drowned immediately after God had separated those very waters to free his people. The Jordan River was also dried up in Joshua 3, allowing Israel to walk through and subsequently destroy Jericho. Oddly enough, it happened again when Cyrus diverted a river in order to cross, enter ancient Babylon unexpectedly, and defeat it (Isa. 44.27-28).
Similarly, the drying up of the Euphrates symbolizes the destruction of latter-day Babylon. There is not a literal river being dried up, nor are there literal kings marching westward. Instead, this is an image of impending doom for the enemies of God.
Another peculiar image is of “demon-frogs” sent by the impostor-trinity. They summon the kings of earth to gather at the same place at the same time (Armageddon) in one final military revolt against God, Christ, and his followers. Perhaps those kings think they are being gathered to annihilate the saints once and for all, but as Revelation 19.11-21 shows, they are being gathered to meet their own judgment at the hands of Jesus. Taken together, the sixth bowl foreshadows the complete demise of those forces which revolt against God.
Finally, like the seventh trumpet, the seventh bowl pictures a loud voice from God’s throne with visions of lightning, thunder, earthquake, and hail. When “it is done!” cities are destroyed, island flee, and mountains disappear: if even the natural elements cannot survive the wrath of God, what hope is there for his enemies?
One thing worth noticing when reading Revelation 16 is that the judgment of God is exhaustive. Only one-quarter of the earth’s population was effected by the seal judgments. That was increased to one-third with the trumpets, however the bowls effect everything. When God’s judgment comes, it will be thorough and complete.
Yet one of the more beautiful pictures, though rather subtle, is described even before the bowls are introduced. It is that Sea of Glass, mingled with fire. Even before assuring his readers of just punishment meted out against God’s enemies, the author reminds them, again, of the Exodus. When Pharaoh and Egypt pursued Israel through the Red Sea, Israel made it to the shore safely, only to witness the two walls of water come crashing down upon Pharaoh’s army. Thus, Egypt had been defeated while Israel “stood beside the sea” singing the Song of Moses (Exodus 14-15). In the same way, God’s people are also seen standing beside the sea, singing a Song of Moses, celebrating a New Exodus, not from Pharaoh, but from Caesar, the Dragon, the Beasts—really, from any of God’s enemies who attempt to persecute God’s people.
This image of standing beside a Sea of Glass is similar to crossing a finish line after a marathon. It is a promise that those who endure persecution by God’s enemies, having refused to compromise their beliefs and behaviors, will have finally “Conquered the Beast.” God has given us access to everything we need to remain faithful to him and when it is all over, we will be able to sing with those who likewise have “crossed the finish-line”:
Great and Amazing are your deeds, O Lord God the Almighty!
In a way, the images here are a stunning reminder of Paul’s words to the Romans:
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, ‘For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.’ No, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us (Rom. 8.35-37).
Life can be miserable, and agonizing, and even a personal Hell. Yet God has given us what we need to persevere. As Moses and Israel stood by the sea, celebrating God’s great deliverance for them, so too will we all one day stand by the sea, experiencing the thrill of having conquered the beast.
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