Revelation 16 - Verse by Verse Bible Study

By Pastor Steven L Anderson

Video

January, 2013

Now in Revelation chapter , we're getting into the vials of the wrath of God. And in

chapter , the vials were introduced. And in chapter we're going to go through all

of the vials of the wrath of God as they're poured out. Now in verse number , the Bible

reads "And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, Go your

ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth. And the first went,

and poured out his vial upon the earth; and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon

the men which had the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshipped his image." And

before I get into the specifics of the seven vial that are poured out, I want to explain

to you a very important concept, and it's something that I'm going to be using throughout

the sermon tonight. And that is the fact that the vials of God's wrath and the trumpets

of God's wrath are going to be happening CONCURRENTLY, or happening at the same time. Alot of people

believe that first all the trumpets happen, and THEN all the vials happen. But that is

simply NOT the case. I'm not saying that the trumpets are exactly the same as the vials,

obviously they're two different things. But what I'm saying is that if you look at the

vial and the trumpets side by side, you can see that they go together, and they fit together,

and that they are happening concurrently. That is, during the time that the first trumpet

sounds, the first vial is going to be poured out. And during the time that the second trumpet

sounds, around that time the second vial is also poured out. Now, in order for you to

understand this, I want to just quickly give you and overview of the whole book of Revelation

just very briefly. Just so that you will understand why it is that the trumpets and the vials

overlap. If you start out in Revelation chapter , you're at the first century AD, with John

on the Isle of Patmos. Then in chapter and , you have the letters to the seven churches

in the first century AD. Then, when you get into chapter , you enter the "hereafter"

phase of the book of Revelation, where we get into the events where John is being shown

what will be hereafter. And in chpaters , , , , , , , ... We see a chronology

rolled out that is roughly in chronological order that basically goes through the events

of the tribulation. Then after the tribulation the sun and moon are darkened, and then Jesus

Christ returns to gather up his elect. And then chapter , we have the great multitude

appearing in heaven. Then in chapters , , and , we're seeing the phase where he

is pouring out his wrath, and that is the seven trumpets. Then when the seventh trumpet

sounds, there is a finality there, where he says "the kingdoms of this world are become

the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ, he shall reign for ever and ever." And it's

an ending point right there. So basically the first half of the book Revelation, chapters

thorugh starts out first century AD, then goes through the tribulation, then goes

through sun and moon being darkened and Christ's return, and then God pouring out his wrath,

and then Jesus is about to set up his kingdom. Well then in chapter , all of a sudden,

you jump back in time. through are in chronological order. But when you get to chapter

, all of a sudden you are at the birth of Christ. So then it goes through the birth

of Christ, which is first century AD, and then it goes through the tribulation in chapters

and there. And then in chapter , we have Jesus come in the cloud, he reaps the

earth of the elect. Then in chapter , a great multitude appears in heaven. And then

in chapter , we have him pouring out his wrath with the seven vials. And then he continues

his wrath into chapters and with the destruction of Babylon. And then it all culminates

in chapter with the battle at Armageddon which is followed by the millenium, great

white throne judgment, new heaven, new earth. So all that to say this. Chapters through

are in chronological order. But then in chapter , everything starts over with the

birth of Christ, and we go through the same story again in chronological order once again.

So the book of Revelation is chronological, but you have to cut it in half and it's two

different chronologies. And if you put those two different chronologies side by side, you

can see that the same things are happening. Basically the rapture is covered twice in

the book of Revelation. The tribulation is covered twice, the wrath of God is covered

twice. Because there are two halves, through and through . Well with all that being

said, if we put those chronologies side by side, the seven trumpets correspond with the

seven vials. Now, let's look at these and let's compare the two. Let's compare the vials

with the trumpets and see how they fit together. The first thing i want you to note is that

with each of these vials, they're poured out upon something specific. Glance down at your

Bible there in chapter , verse . Notice it says "the first went and poured out his

vial upon the earth". So the first vial is poured upon the earth. Look at verse , "second

angel poured out his vial upon the sea". Look at verse , "the third angel poured out his

vial upon the rivers". Look at verse , "the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the

sun". And on and on. Verse number , "the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat

of the beast". And then it says in verse , "the sixth angel poured out his vial upon

the great river Euphrates". And then in verse , the seventh angel pours out his vial into

the air. So each of these seven vials is poured out upon something specific. And you're going

to see how those judgments correspond exactly with the trumpet judgments. And I'm not saying

they're the same thing, because if they were the same thing, there would be no need to

have a separate trumpet and a vial. But they are different things that are happening concurrently.

Let's compare, and I want you to put a finger in Revelation , and a finger in Revelation

, because we are going to be going back and forth between the trumpets and vials,

seeing the similarities. So let's look at the first bial, first of all. It says "the

first went, and poured out his vial upon the EARTH; and there fell a noisome and grievous

sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshipped his

image." So the first vial judgment is that EVERY person who has taken the mark of the

beast gets a noisome and grievous sore on their body. They're covered in sores. Now,

look at Revelation chapter , verse number . It says "The first angel sounded, and there

followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and th

ethird part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up." Now look, these

are two completely different judgments, are they not? Not saying they're the same. Two

completely different judgments. One of them is causing the men that have the mark of the

beast to recieve sores all over their body. And I'll tell you what man, that is worse

than anything, when you have sores all over your body. Remember in the book of Job, when

God allows Satan to attack Job and afflict Job? And Job lost all his money, Job lost

all of his children, Job lost EVERYTHING. But if you remember, Satan said "you know

what? All that a man hath will he give for his life." He said "let me touch his body

now, and he will curse thee to thy face". Because Satan knew that the worst thing is

when you are going through horrible health problems. And so Job was afflicted with these

boils all over his body, these sores all over his body. And he's scraping himself because

of the itching and burning and pain from the sores. And that's when his wife tells him,

"dost thou still retain thine integrity? Curse God and die." Well, that's the type of a thing

that people are going to go through when the first vial is poured out. They're going to

have horrible sores all over their body. You know what I always think of whenever I read

this chapter? I think of those advertisements that tell you not to use meth. Who knows what

I'm talking about? These billboards that say "this is how you are going to end up if you

take meth". Well, this is how you are going to end up if you take the mark of the beast,

you know, they have all these sores all over their body. That's what's going to happen

when the first vial is poured out. Now the first trumpet on the other hand is hail and

fire mingled with blood. Basically fire and brimstone are going to be raining from heaven.

So these are two very separate, very different things. The only similarity in the first vial,

and the first trumpet, is that the first vial is poured out upon the earth, and the first

trumpet is fire being cast upon the earth. So the phrase "upon the earth" is found in

both. Not a real strong correlation, but as we go through these, you will see much stronger

correlations. Look if you would at chapter , verse , let's look at the second vial.

The Bible says "And the second angel poured out his vial upon the SEA; and it became as

the blood of a dead man: and every living soul died in the sea." Now go back to Revelation

chapter number . Verse , the Bible reads "And the second angel sounded, and as it were

a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the SEA: and the third part of the sea

became blood; And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died;

and the third part of the ships were destroyed." So both of these judgments are taking place

upon the sea. Obviously the trumpet judgment comes before the second vial judgment. Because

when the second trumpet sounds, a great mountain burning with fire is cast into the sea- or

that's AS IF what were happening- and then it says "the third part of the sea became

blood". "And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea and had life died, and

the third part of the ships were destroyed." When you get to the second vial, it says that

the vials was poured out upon the sea and it became as the blood of a dead man. And

every living soul died in the sea. So, what we see there, I believe, is that the second

trumpet shows us the beginning stages of turning the sea into blood. And then later on, by

the time the second vial is poured out, the entire sea has turned to blood. It would be

kind of hard to just isolate and turn part of the sea into blood, especially the third

part, without it eventually contaminating and killing everything in the whole sea, because

all the seas are connected. There is really no doubting that events repeat themselves

in the book of Revelation when you see the rapture in and . When you see the tribulation

laid out in chapter and then you see the tribulation laid out again in chapter .

And so this all fits if we put the trumpets and vials side by side, that they're both

taking place at the same time. Just two different aspects of God's wrath. The trumpets of his

wrath, and then the vials of his wrath. Look at the third vial. "And the third angel poured

out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters; and they became blood. And I heard

the angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast, and shalt be,

because thou hast judged thus. For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and

thou hast given them blood to drink; for they are worthy. And I heard another out of the

altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments." Go to Revelation

, verse , and we'll look at the third trumpet. So the third vial is poured out upon the rivers

and fountains of waters, they're turned into blood, and then the angel is basically praising

God for turning the rivers into blood, and saying "these people DESERVE to drink blood,

because they have shed the blood of saints and prophets. They are worthy." You know,

often we can look at God's judgment, or God pouring out his wrath, or God's anger, and

we can even look at the concept of a place like hell and say "it's just not fair!" But

you know what? According to God and his righteousness, it is fair to make people suffer who have

done wickedness. And these people that have murdered the saints and the prophets, these

people that have murdered God's people, and persecuted God's people earlier in the tribulation.

He is saying "they deserve to have blood to drink". They're worthy. And so we ought never

stand in judgment of God. We ought to have the attitude that this angel has, that's just

praising God for whatever he does, because whatever he does is right. And it's not our

place to stand in judgment of God and to say "well, God's being a little too harsh here

with this third vial, that's just taking it a little too far." No, God knows what he is

doing, and people get what they deserve. Look at the third trumpet. Remember the third vial

was poured upon the rivers and vials of the waters? Look at verse of chapter . "And

the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were

a lamp, and it fell upon"- What? "THE THIRD PART OF THE RIVERS, and upon the fountains

of waters; And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters

became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter." So

right there, we see that the first three judgments have lined up perfectly in the sense that

the vial was poured upon the earth, the trumpet judgment had something to do with something

coming upon the earth. The second vial had something to do with something being poured

upon the sea, the second trumpet had something to do with the sea. The third vial was poured

out upon the rivers and fountains of waters, the third trumpet sounds, and a judgment comes

upon the rivers and fountains of waters. See how they're lining up perfectly? Look at the

fourth vial. It says in chapter , verse , "And the fourth angel poured out his vial

upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire. And men were scorched

with great hear, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues:

and they repented not to give him glory." So here we see that the sun becomes very hot

and begins to scorch men with great heat. You say, "you believe in global warming?"

This is global warming. You hear people talk about solar flares and things. Somehow God

is going to allow the sun to scorch men with great heat. And we're not talking about Phoenix

in the summer, where it's degrees. I don't know exactly what kind of temperatures this

is going to get up to, but it's going to get extremely hot, and men are going to be blaspheming

God, because of the great heat. Instead of repenting, turning to God and saying "you

know what? We were wrong, we made a mistake, we're sorry." Instead, they're just going

to blaspheme God, which has the power over the plagues, and they will not repent to give

him glory. Now, you say "well, just turn on the air conditioner." Well, first of all,

your air conditioner can only keep up with so much. On a really hot day in Phoenix, I'll

tell you right now, our air conditioner never keeps up. When it gets really, really hot,

it will run hours a day, and we can't get it as cool as we want it. But not only that,

keep in mind the judgments that have already happened. Fire and brimstone raining from

heaven, the sea being destroyed, the rivers and fountains of waters being destroyed. If

you think that people's power is going to be on at their house, you've got to be kidding.

I mean, infrastructure and society is going to have broken down at this point to where

there is not going to be any air conditioning. And I don't know how hot it's going to be,

if it's going to be , ... But it's going to be EXTREMELY HOT and people are going to

be in intense pain and cursing God that they're being scorched. And then obviously, it's going

to cause forest fires. Because even on just a regular hot day, if you're up in the woods

and it's a really hot day, the smoky the bear symbol will say "fire danger: extreme". Well

imagine the fire danger when the ambient temperature is a , ... I don't know how hot it's

going to get. But the hotter it is, the more likely it is that fires are going to be breaking

out and bursting, and men are going to be scorched with heat, and then there is going

to be fire burning, that's going to make things even hotter. Especially in the city area where

buildings are burning and so forth. So, the fourth vial was poured out upon WHAT? Upon

the SUN. So we should expect that the trumpet judgment is going to have something to do

with the sun also, right? Well go over to chapter , and let's see. Revelation chapter

verse . "And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the"- the what? "THE

SUN". See how they line up? Every single one of them. "The third part of the sun was smitten,

and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; so as the third part of

them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise."

And so I believe that these two things, although they are very different things, are going

to be happening around the same time in the same sequence. So it makes sense that if the

sun is having issues, it's darkened for a third part of the day, but then also it's

going to be scorching and flaring up on the times that its visible. Let's look at the

fifth vial. Chapter verse . "And the fofth angel poured out his vial upon the seat

of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for

pain". So the fifth angel pours out his vial upon what? The SEAT OF THE BEAST. What does

the "seat" mean? Well, "seat" is often used as "a throne". Or even we use in America,

the term "the county seat". "The county seat" is basically the governmental head of where

the county is administered. So the county seat would be like the capital of the country.

Countries and states have capitals. Well the county has a capital, it's called "the county

seat". The Bible talked about in the letter to the church of Pergamos, he said "I know

thy works and where thy dwellest, even where Satan's seat is", meaning that that is where

Satan rules from, that's where his throne is. And here it says that the vial is poured

upon the seat of the beast. Basically it's poured out upon the area that the beast, or

the antichrist is ruling from, "and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their

tongues for pain." Now this is a very important verse here. And the reason why this verse

is so important, is that this verse proves that the antichrist is still in power and

that this world is still considered his kingdom. You say, "why is that important?" Because

you say "well, Pastor Anderson, I'm seeing correlations between the trumpets and vials,

but I'm just not convinced yet that the trumpets and vials are happening concurrently. I still

think that all of the trumpets are going to happen, and then all the vials are going to

happen." Okay, but let me say this. When the seventh trumpet sounds, what does it say?

"The kingdoms of this world ARE BECOME the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ".

So if at the seventh trumpet the KINGDOMS of this world ARE BECOME- and that's plural,

"KINGDOMS of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall

reign for ever and ever." Now we're looking at this, and what does it say? The kingdom

of the beast. So have the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of our Lord and

of his Christ, when the fifth vial is poured out? NO. And so I'm telling you, this isn't

just a theory, or just "well, these are kind of similar." No, the book of Revelation only

makes sense when you realise through are in chronological order, then you start

over in chapter with the birth of Christ. And look, God's not trying to make it complicated.

We see Jesus being born at the beginning of chapter , isn't that a hint that we've gone

back in time? I mean that should be obvious to anyone that we've jumped backward in time.

And so when the fifth vial is being poured out, this corresponds to the time period of

the FIFTH trumpet, because they line up, side by side, the two halves of Revelation. And

so we see here, that the antichrist is still in power, he still is ruling from his seat,

and this world is still considered his kingdom, and his kingdom has not yet become the kingdom

of our Lord and of his Christ. Very clear. Not only that, but if you remember when the

antichrist fully takes power in Revelation , the Bible says "power was given unto him

to continue forty and two months", doesn't it? Well think about this... In the first

half of Daniel's th week, the antichrist is taking power. He is on the road toward

gaining power. But it's only in the midst of the week, that he takes complete power.

That's when he receives the deadly wound, and his deadly wound is healed. And then the

false prophet says "hey, we need to make an image to the beast". And that image is set

up, which is the abomination of desolation. That takes place halfway through the seven

years, or halfway through Daniel's th week. And it's at that point that the antichrist

is ruling over ALL kingdoms and nations, and people, and tongues. And it is at that time

that he has total power over the entire world. That's when the mark of the beast is instituted.

That's halfway through Daniel's th week. And then the Bible says "power is given unto

him to continue FORTY AND TWO MONTHS." Now, that shows that the fifth vial is being poured

out within those forty and two months, because he is still in power, he still has his kingdom.

So therefore, when the Bible says that power is given unto the beast, or the antichrist,

to continue for forty two months, we're talking about basically the second half of Daniel's

th week, that's the forty two months that he'll be in power. And so here we see that

his kingdom is full of darkeness, "and they gnawed their tongues for pain, And blasphemed

the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores." Look, they still have the sores

from the first vial. It's not like "okay, the first vial is over, all the sores are

gone, now we're onto judging the sea. Okay, now the sea is fixed, let's go on to the rivers."

No, no. These judgments are compounding. And you say "well, that's not that bad, a judgment

of darkness." Well, darkness can exacerbate alot of the other problems. The fires... The

poison water... The water into blood... The sores all over their body... The Bible says

they are blaspheming God because of their pains and their sores, AND repented not of

their deeds. They're STILL not changing their ways. Now let's compare the fifth vial to

the fifth trumpet. Because remember, the fifth vial judgment, even though it kind of alludes

back to the fact, "hey, they still have their sores, they're still in pain, they're still

suffering from the other judgments that have been poured out. They're still being scorched,

the water is still messed up." The main judgment associated with the fifth vial is darkness

is it not? He says that when the vial was poured out upon the seat of the beast, his

kingdom was full of darkness. That was the judgment. Let's look at Revelation , and

let's see if darkness is the issue. Verse , "And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw

a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless

pit." Sometimes 'a star" in the Bible is referring to an angel. And this star that falls from

heaven unto the earth, to whom is given the key of the bottomless pit, in verse , is

identified as the angel of the bottomless pit, or Abaddon, or Apollyon. But look at

what it says. "The fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth;

and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit. And he opened the bottomless pit; and

there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and

the air were", were what? "DARKENED by reason of the smoke of the pit." So even though these

judgments are two different things, can't you see how they fit together? When the fifth

trumpet sounds- and it seems like the trumpet judgments always come right before the vials.

It's like first trumpet, first vial. Second trumpet, second vial. Third trumpet, third

vial. Fourth trumpet, fourth vial. Fifth trumpet, fifth vial. That's how it seems to play out.

Because look at this. When the fifth trumpet sounds, the bottomless pit is opened, or hell

is opened, smoke comes out of hell and what does it do? It darkens the sun in the sky,

which fits in perfectly with the fifth vial judgment, which is total darkeness. And watch

what it says. "And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was

given power. as the scorpions of the earth have power. And it was commanded them that

they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree;

but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads." These are locusts

from hell. "And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should

be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he

striketh a man. And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall

desire to die, and death shall flee from them." The Bible is telling us here that people are

going to wish that they were dead. They're just going to be BEGGING to be dead, because

they're going to be in so much pain, because they're going to be bit by these locusts that

basically have a sting like a scorpion. And it says in verse , "the shapes of the locusts

were like unto horses prepared unto battle, and on their heads were as it were crowns

like Gold". These are just basically metaphors, or illustrations about what they looked like.

"On their heads were crowns like Gold, and their faces were as the faces of men. And

they had hair as the hair of women". Notice the words "like" and "as", just to explain

that this isn't really what they were, but it's just what they looked like. He says "their

teeth were as the teeth of lions." And by the way, what does it mean when it says "they

had hair like the hair of women"? That they used a curling iron? No. It means that they

had long hair, because the Bible tells us that it is a shame for a man to have long

hair, but that a woman's hair is her glory. So when it says that they had hair like unto

women, it's saying that they had long hair, is what it's referring to. And then he says

in verse , "And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth

of lions. And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the sound of

their wings as as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle. And they had

tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was

to hurt men five months. And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless

pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon."

There is alot I'd like to say about that, but I've already covered it in Revelation

, so I'm not going to cover it again. There's more detail on that in the sermon on Revelation

. But what I want to point out though... Look back at Revelation again. Now that

we know all about what the fifth trumpet entails, the fifth trumpet is these... First of all,

the bottomless pit is opened, smoke comes out of the pit, blocks the sun, blocks all

the light, darkens the sky, darkens the sun... Just total black cloud covering the earth.

Then these locusts come out of the pit. And they're stinging men with scorpion like tails

for five months, and they wish they were dead it hurts so badly. Now compare that again

with the fifth vial that mentioned darkness. It says "And the fifth angel poured out his

vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness", and look, "and they

gnawed their tongues for pain." He doesn't really explain to us exactly WHY they're in

such pain, but if we compare it with the fifth trumpet, we understand where the pain is coming

from, don't we? Because it says that they blasphemed the God of heaven because of their

pains AND their sores, and repented not of their deeds. So sure they're in pain because

of the sores. But also, we know from comparing the two angles that they're also in pain because

they're tormented by these locusts that have scorpion like tails. Let me ask you this.

If there we unleashed upon the earth, locusts of the description that we saw in Revelation

, that had these breastplates like iron, basically these are insects that have an exoskeleton

that is so strong that basically... Have you ever come across just a really tough bug?

And you stomping on it, and it just lives, it just continues to live, and it just will

not die? I remember when I was a kid, we tried to drown bees. A bee would be bothering us,

and we would get it with the skimmer and try to drown it. We'd hold it under water for

minutes, and the thing just comes out, just "bzzzzzzzzz", and you're like "what in

the world? How do you kill this thing?" But sometimes you will get a bug with a serious

exoskeleton, and you're hitting it with a newspaper and beating it, and it justs lives.

It cannot die. Well obviously, those bugs have a pretty good exoskeleton. But he said

that these locusts are going to have an exoskeleton like iron. Meaning that you can try to stomp

on them and it's not going to help. "Oh man, get it!" It's not going to help, they're just

going to keep coming. But let me ask you this. If you were faced with these type of creatures,

these iron-like locusts that have these scorpion stings in their tails... Would you rather

face them in the daytime, or in total darkness? Think about it. What if you're in the dark,

and it's totally dark? Sun, sky, totally darkened, complete darkness and you're just basically

in complete darkness faced with these locusts. Can you imagine a more hellish outlook? I

mean, it's going to be similar to being in hell. You're burning and stinging from all

these scorpions, and you're in total darkness. It's really a horrific outlook, when you look

at these two things in tandem. Total darkness, and you're being tormented by these locusts

with scorpion tails. It's pretty bad. Let's look at the sixth vial. Verse of chapter

. "And the sicth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water

thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared. And I

saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of dragon, and out of the

mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. For they are the spirits

of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole

world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. Behold, I come

as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked,

and they see his shame. And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew

tongue Armageddon." So what is the result of the sixth vial being poured out, or what

is the result of the sixth vial judgment? Well, when the sixth vial is poured out, it's

poured out upon Euphrates. And the great river Euphrates is dried up, that the way of the

kings of the east might be prepared. And then in addition to the drying up of the river

to prepare the way of the kings of the east, also these three unclean spirits like frogs

come out of the mouth of the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet. Basically one unclean

spirit comes out of each of their mouths and goes out to work miracles and deceive the

kings of the earth into coming to this battle. Into coming to the battle of Armageddon. Basically,

rallying them all so that they can all be destroyed by Jesus Christ at the battle of

Armageddon. Basically just getting them all in one place so that Jesus Christ can just

demolish them all, and set up his kingdom, and defeat them all in one fell swoop. But

so much symbolism of this in the Bible. I was reading the book of Joshua. This reminded

me of Joshua. There are so many parallels between the book of Joshua, and the book of

Revelation. It's really interesting. If you look at the destruction of Jericho compared

to the destruction of Babylon. It's a whole other sermon in and of itself. But if you

remember all the nations at one point, they defeat this city, they defeat that city, but

then ALL the kings assemble and come and attack them at once. And it allows Joshua to defeat

alot of them in one go. And Joshua of course pictures Jesus. In fact, did you know that

the Old Testement Hebrew name Joshua, is the exact same as the New Testament name Jesus?

That's why it actually calls Joshua Jesus in Acts chapter . If you look it up in Acts

chapter , it talks about them coming into the promised land "with Jesus", and it's referring

to Joshua. Because you know how names change from Old Testament to New Testament, like

Old Testament "Elisha", becomes "Eliseus" in the New Testament. "Elias" in the New Testament

is "Elijah", "Noah" becomes "Noe", "Hosea" becomes "Osee", and on and on. Well, "Joshua"

becomes "Jesus" in Acts chapter , it actually uses that term. So there is really alot of

interesting stuff, that's a whole sermon in and of itself. And I encourage you to study

the book of Joshua with Bible prophesy in mind, and there are alot of correlations.

The trumpets... we could go on and on. But what I am saying here is that with this sixth

vial, the waters are dried up, and then also the evil spirits go out to gather them to

this battle. Now let's compare that with the sixth trumpet. Go to chapter number , verse

. So far everything has lined up pretty well, hasn't it? Well this to me, this is

a VERY strong correlation. This one is just undeniable, when you look at the sixth vial

and the sixth trumpet. Look at verse number of chapter . "And the sixth angel sounded,

and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, Saying

to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the

great river Euphrates. And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour,

and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men. And the number

of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number

of them. And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having

breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were

as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone. By these

three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone,

which issued out of their mouths. For their power is in their mouth, and in their tails:

for their tails were like unto serpents, and had heads, and with them they do hurt." Now,

honestly, when I was a child, actually this is the correlation that caused me to realise

even before I understood a whole lot about the book of Revelation, the thing that really

showed me the strong, strong correlation between the trumpets and the vials was the sixth vial

and the sixth trumpet. This one just jumped out at me. Because if you look at the sixth

trumpet, the first thing that happens when the sixth trumpet is blown, is that the four

angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates are loosed, right? And what is the

sixth vial? The waters of the river of Euphrates are dried up. So it's very easy to see how

these four angels are down in the bottom of the river Euphrates. They're bound in the

river Euphrates. And when the sixth angel sounds, they are loosed. Doesn't that fit

in perfectly with ALL the water of Euphrates drying up, that they might be loosed, that

they might come out. So you can see how these two things happen in tandem. Now, you say

"who are these four angels that are bound in the great river Euphrates, which were prepared

for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men?"

Well go back to Genesis chapter number . Believe it or not, this actually goes all

the way back to Genesis. And while you're turning to Genesis , I'm going to read to

you from Genesis chapter . The Bible says in verse number of Genesis chapter , "And

a river went out of Eden to water the garden", we're talking about the garden of Eden, "and

from thence it was parted, and became into four heads." These are the four heads of the

river that came out of the garden of Eden. And it says "The name of the first is Pison:

that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold; And the gold

of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone. And the name of the second

river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia. And the name of

the third river is Hiddekel: that is it which goeth toward the east of Assyria. And the

fourth river is Euphrates." So God specifically tells us about the river Euphrates being there

at Eden. Now go to chapter , and we remember of course that by the time we get into chapter

, Adam and Eve have eaten of the forbidden fruit, and because they have eaten of the

forbidden fruit, they are cast out of the garden of Eden, right? Let's look at that.

It says in verse of Genesis , "And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as

one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also

of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever: Therefore the LORD God sent him forth

from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. So he drove out

the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword

which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life." Now, if we study this and

we see that there are rivers, four heads of the river, one of them is Euphrates. He

puts these angels at the east of the garden of Eden. So he puts them in one place of the

garden of Eden. So it's not that if we have the garden of Eden... It's not that there

is one all the way at the north side of the garden of Eden, and one all the way at the

west side, and one all the way at the east side, and one all the way at the south side,

because it's a very big area. These four angels are only guarding the way to keep the tree

of life. Do you see that in verse ? It says that he put "Cherubims", PLURAL, "and a flaming

sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life." So they're basically

guarding the tree of life, are they not? And their placed specifically, look at verse

there, it says he placed them at the EAST of the garden of Eden. So they're all placed

at the east. So they're basically placed in one spot where they're located to guard the

tree of life. Well, it's plural. Does it say how many? It does not tell us how many. We

know it was more than one, because it says "Cherubims", PLURAL. But it says "Cherubims,

AND a flaming sword which turned every way to keep the way of the tree of life." Well

when we look at the term "every way", we know that throughout the entire Bible and just

throughout mankind's history, we always think of four directions. Because really, if we

want to, we could have divided it into six directions, or directions, or or . Obviously,

whenever the Bible talks about directions, we talk about four directions. What are those

directions? East, west, north, south. Those are the four directions. So, the fact that

there are Cherubims, PLURAL, and a flaming sword which turned EVERY WAY to keep the way

of the tree of life... If we have basically a Cherubim each way with a flaming sword,

basically lets pretend that this is the tree of life, okay? (gestures to the pulpit). Basically

we've got a cherubim turned this way with a flaming sword, and a Cherubim turned this

way with a flaming sword, and then we've got a Cherubim turned this way with a flaming

sword, and then we've got a Cherubim this way with a flaming sword... Then how many

are there? There are four. And it's amazing because these four cherubims are placed there

with a flaming sword, and it says that they are there to keep the way of the tree of life.

And really there is no scripture or no indication that they've ever been removed. They're just

left there to do that. And we know that that is the part of the world where the River Euphrates

was located. Now, let me ask you this. In chapter , are they under water here? Of course

not. No, because they are there with the tree of life. But they're very near the river Euphrates,

are they not? Because the Bible tells us that the river Euphrates went right through there.

Well now, think about the fact that there has been a worldwide flood that can move things

around. So if they're still in the same spot, but there has been a flood that can alter

things, not completely change the face of the earth, because there are still similarities

between the way the earth was before and after the flood. I mean, it didn't just completely

change the earth. But, it did change the earth didn't it? I mean, if that kind of water,

and that kind of Cataclysm takes place? Things are going to change. Alot of people believe

that the Grand Canyon was formed during that time. There are just alot of things that can

happen with that kind of fountains of the deep being broken up, and that kind of a worldwide

cataclysmic flood. Okay, it's very easy to believe where the river Euphrates currently

runs today, which is a major, major river, that these four angels now, God could have

worked it out in such a way where they would be hidden from view. And where they would

be concealed. And where after the flood to this day, they are now located at the bottom

of the great river Euphrates, at some point. Now, I'm not going down to look for them.

I'm just going to leave them alone. I don't want to mess with that flaming sword. But

I believe that they're down there. And I believe that someday, the Bible says they are bound

in the great river Euphrates. Someday they will be loosed from the great river Euphrates,

and they will go out and lead an army to kill one third of the human population. This is

going to be a serious army. This is going to be a serious judgment with the sixth trumpet

and the sixth vial. And so it makes perfect sense that when the sixth trumpet talks about

the four angels being loosed to go out and lead this army of TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND THOUSAND,

or MILLION, go out to slay the third part of men. It makes perfect sense, that would

tie in perfectly with the water of the river of Euphrates drying up, that they might be

loosed. See how the sixth trumpet and the sixth vial go together, hand in glove? Okay,

let's look at the seventh vial. Revelation chapter , and so I believe that the four

angels or the four Cherubims of Genesis chapter ... Otherwise you would be asking yourself,

"whatever happened to those four Cherubims of Genesis ?" There is so much of Revelation

that ties in with Genesis, just like in chapter , where there is the struggle between the

serpent and the woman that is prophesied in Genesis . And then in Revelation , we see

that struggle play out, between the serpent and the woman. But look if you would at Revelation

:. Let's get to the seventh vial. "And the seventh angel poured out his vial into

the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne,

saying, It is done." Now isn't that a statement of finality? And he says there "it is DONE."

Meaning that the seven vials have been poured out. God has finished this phase of his wrath.

And it says "And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake,

such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great." So

what have we seen so far, with the events of the seventh vial? We've seen voices, we've

seen thunders, lightnings, and a great earthquake, right? And it's such a great earthquake, it's

unlike ANYTHING that's ever been upon the earth, "so mighty an earthquake and so great."

" And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell:

and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine

of the fierceness of his wrath." So, part of the events of the seventh vial, is that

the judgment against Babylon is initiated. He is going to go into great detail on the

judgment of Babylon in chapter . Now, how long, does anybody know? How long does the

judgment of Babylon take in Revelation ? One hour, right? So the one hour destruction

of Babylon, the one hour judgement upon Babylon is going to take place within the scope of

the seventh vial. That's why it's brought up in the context of the seventh vial being

poured out. He says that "And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found.

And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a

talent: and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof

was exceeding great." So what do we see, if we take all the judgments of the seventh vial

and add them up? We've got voices, thunders, lightnings, earthquake and great hail, right?

Hail, earthquakes, lightning, thunder are the main events there. And the big thing that

they're blaspheming God about. The big thing that's making them suffer is which aspect?

The hail. Now, the Bible says that the hail... Every stone was about the weight of a talent.

You say, how much does that weigh? Well, different cultures and different nationalities have

had different talents throughout history. But if I were to just throw out an approximate

number that will get you in the ballpark, what most nations consider to be about "a

talent", you are looking at POUNDS. So IMAGINE a hailstone that weighs pounds

coming down from heaven. Imagine the damage that that would do. Think about this. When

things fall, they reach terminal velocity when they fall from that height. They are

going to reach what? . metres per second? Is that right? But anyway, it's going to be

coming down fast. So it's not just that it weighs alot, but I mean it's coming down FAST!

That's going to just go through the roof of a house, that's going to go through the roof

of a car. That's going to go through just about anything. That's going to be just slamming

down on things. Read it! It says "There fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every

stone about the weight of a talent". You're not going to be able to dodge this! A sixty

pound hailstone, coming down from the sky? How are you going to escape that? And if it

hits you, you're dead. Or you're maimed. Or your car is going to be gone. You're house

is going to have a big hole in the roof. This is going to be a very very serious judgment,

which makes sense, if it's the grand finale, if it's the seventh vial. If this is the last

plague, the last of the seven plagues. It's going to be something big, right? Well, it's

these giant hailstones that weigh sixty pounds each, slamming down. And look, it says they

are falling upon men. They are hitting human beings. And so this is a very, very severe

judgment. And the earthquake is so bad that every island fled away, and the mountains

were not found. Now, let's compare that with the seventh trumpet, right? Because we see

that these things correspond. Just as there is a finality of "it is done", with the seventh

vial, there is also a finality of the seventh trumpet. It says in verse number of chapter

. We are in Revelation to see the seventh trumpet. "And the seventh angel sounded; and

there were great voices in heaven". Now wasn't the first thing brought up with the seventh

vial, voices? It says " and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of

this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign

for ever and ever." Remember when the fifth trumpet sounded? It was still the kingdom

of the beast, remember that? Well now, with the seventh vial, now the kingdoms of this

world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ, as opposed to the fifth

vial, where it was still the kingdom of the beast. And it says "he shall reign for ever

and ever." Talking about the millenial reign, and of course, that we shall reign after that.

And then it says "And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats,

fell upon their faces, and worshipped God, Saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty,

which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and

hast reigned. And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the

dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants

the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest

destroy them which destroy the earth." Now at this point, he hasn't really got into what

the judgment is. All we have heard is alot of voices saying things, just telling us about

the judgments. We're going to get into what the judgments ARE of the seventh trumpet,

in verse . But before we do, I want to just point out the fact that when he says in verse

number , "thy wrath is come"... He says "the nations were angry, and thy wrath is

come", and many will point to that term "thy wrath is come", and they'll try to compare

it to the verse in chapter or Revelation where it says "the great day of thy wrath

is come". And they will try to say "see, the seventh trumpet and the sixth vial, they line

up, they're the same thing." Well, you need to go back and listen to the sermon on Revelation

. Because I put that theory to bed once and for all. There is no way in the world that

the seals do not come before the trumpets. All the seals come before all the trumpets.

And my sermon on Revelation proved that conclusively. But what I want to point out

is the collosal difference between "thy wrath is come", and "the great day of thy wrath

is come". You see, "the great day of thy wrath", is one particular day, the day of the Lord,

which is prophesied ALL throughout the Old Testament. ALL throughout the New Testament.

It's a very pivotal day where the sun and moon are darkened. The day of God's great

wrath, the day of the Lord, the day of his wrath. That day is one specific day. And so

in Revelation , when they say "the great DAY of his wrath is come and who shall be

able to stand?", they're talking about that very specific DAY, the day of the Lord. But,

is that the ONLY day of God's wrath? NO! Because he pours out his wrath over the course of

several years, does he not? So, the great DAY of his wrath, or the "day of the Lord"

INITIATES his wrath. That is the special DAY of his wrath. BUT, doesn't his wrath continue

after that? Because what about all the trumpets and all the vials that come after that, that

are ongoing. I mean the fifth trumpet alone takes five months. And I believe that all

of the trumpets and vials take a similar amount of time. And it's obvious when you read what

they entail, that they are ongoing judgments that take a period of time. And so, there

is a period of God's wrath that spans many years and months. So basically, look at it

this way. If we were to put it out on a timeline, we have this period, God's wrath, the wrath

of God... And it covers all the trumpets and vials. It covers all of these horrific judgments

that he is going to pour out. But at the very BEGINNING of that period of the wrath, is

the "great day of his wrath", the day of the Lord. So the day of the Lord is the first

day of him pouring out his wrath. But it's not the only day of him pouring out his wrath.

It's significant, because it's what starts his wrath. So, in Revelation we're saying

"the great day of his wrath is come", because we are on that exact day. But when he says

in chapter , "thy wrath is come", basically he is referring to ALL of the wrath. Not just

the day of his wrath. Because look, if God wanted to, couldn't he have said "the great

day of thy wrath is come" in chapter ? But that wouldn't make any sense, because it had

already come years before. But does it make sense to say "thy wrath is come?" Absolutely,

because we are covering ALL of his wrath, saying "it is come". And of course, the verb,

"is come", I talked about it about it more when we were earlier in the book of Revelation,

when it said "the day of the Lord is come." "IS COME", means that it is past tense, but

that it just now happened. So in chapter , the great day of his wrath had just come,

had just happened. Well in chapter , his wrath has now come in it's totality, just

now at this point. So don't let somebody try to say "oh, see this says the day of his wrath

doesn't come until chapter ." NO. Chapter does not say "the day of his wrath", it

just says "thy wrath is come". And we know that his wrath is poured out over a long period

when we look at the events of the vials, and when we look at the events of the trumpets.

They are both ongoing. So I just wanted to make that point quickly. Look at verse ,

"the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they

should be judged, AND that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets,

and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great." Now I don't understand

how anybody could say that the judgment seat of Christ is going to take place years and

years before this. He says here that this is when the time has come for the saints to

be rewarded and to receive their reward. This is when Jesus is going to set up his throne

on this earth, and we will be called before the judgment seat of Christ, and we will be

given authority, and we will be given reward. And he'll say "be thou over ten cities, or

be thou over five cities, or whatever." And that will be our reward. So now, let's look

at the judgment of the seventh trumpet. Quickly review. What was the judgment of the seventh

vial? It was voices, thunderings, lightnings, an earthquake, and hail. But the hail was

sixty pounders. It was a very serious hail. Let's see if the seventh trumpet matches up

with the seventh vial, shall we? Because in chapter verse it said there were voices,

thunders, lightnings and a great earthquake. And then in chapter , it said there was

a great hail. Now look at verse of chapter . "And the temple of God was opened in heaven,

and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament: and there were LIGHTNINGS,

and VOICES, and THUNDERINGS, and an EARTHQUAKE, and great HAIL." Now look, it's the EXACT

same thing. There is NO difference. Voices, lightnings, thunderings, earthquake, great

hail... Now is it crazy to believe that these are both the same event? I mean it's the same

thing! The only difference in these two things is that the order is reversed between the

lightnings and the voices, or the thunders and the lightnings. But all five items are

there. Now, if that were the only piece of evidence, then okay, maybe it is, maybe it

isn't. But when you look at how ALL SEVEN of them line up perfectly, and when you look

at how all seven of these judgments mesh together perfectly, the seven trumpets and seven vials,

and when you look at the fact that with the seventh trumpet, all the kingdoms of the world

BECOME the kingdoms of Jesus Christ, but with the fifth vial it's still the kingdom of the

beast... Look, God tells us eveything for a reason. You think God just happened to accidentally

tell us, "oh, by the way, it's the kingdom of the beast, it's the seat of the beast."

He could have just said "well the fifth vial, I am going to pour out darkness upon the face

of the earth." But he chose to mention the fact that it was the kingdom of the beast,

because he wants us to understand that it is impossible that the vials would follow

the trumpets, the vials CANNOT follow the trumpets because at the seventh trumpet, the

kingdoms have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ, and at the fifth vial,

they are not yet! Because it is still the kingdom of the beast. But if you get it right

and put them side by side, trumpets and vials, going off first trumpet, first vial, second

trumpet, second vial... And again, people will say "you're saying that the trumpets

and the vials are exactly that same!" No I'm not. They're different. Different judgments.

But they're happening at the same time. They go first trumpet, first vial, second trumpet,

second vial, third trumpet, third vial, etc. And I think by the time you get to the seventh

trumpet and the seventh vial, they are identical. I mean, there is no difference. Show me a

difference between lightnings, thunders, voices, earthquake and great hail. It's the same judgment.

So basically these two things converge. Boom, boom, boom, boom, BOOM. And that's how it

goes. And so let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father we thank you so much

for your word. And these are horrific judgments that we're reading about with your wrath.

Thank you that Jesus Christ has spared us from the wrath to come. Thank you that we're

not appointed unto wrath but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. But also, thank

you for judging the wicked people of this world. Thank you that we don't have to get

all mad and angry and take vengeance. You've told us, vengeance belongeth to you, that

you will repay. So we don't have to get all upset when we see the wicked prosper or when

evil men do us dirty. We can know that they will get what's coming to them someday. No

question about that as we read this chapter. And

in Jesus' name

we pray, Amen.