The Seven Bowls (Revelation): John’s vision of the seven bowls represents the Great Tribulation at the end of our age. This time of distress comes to a head with the battle of Armageddon. The warning is severe, but God’s judgments are both true and just. Blessed is the one who stays awake, beginning with the end in mind, for they will see the new Promised Land. Recorded on Jul 12, 2026, on Revelation 15-16 by Pastor David Parks.
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This sermon is part of the Revelation: All Things Made New series. Christians live in incredible tension. In Christ, we’re already saved, but we’re not yet delivered from this broken world. We’re being made holy, but we’re not yet perfected. We have love, joy, and peace, but we still long for justice, healing, and the death of death. How can we endure all this without giving in to complacency or compromise? In our series, we’ll pull back the veil of reality, exposing both a cosmic spiritual battle and the truth about how this story ends. One day, Jesus will return and bring a final end to evil. He will defeat his enemies and vindicate his people, wiping away every tear. Jesus will finally, fully establish his kingdom on the earth, making everything new. “Yes, I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!
Sermon Transcript
One of my favorite books on leadership is Stephen Covey’s classic, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. The second habit is: begin with the end in mind. Stephen writes, “Each part of your life—today’s behavior, tomorrow’s behavior, next week’s behavior, next month’s behavior—can be examined in the context of the whole, of what really matters most to you. By keeping that end clearly in mind, you can make certain that whatever you do on any particular day does not violate the criteria you have defined as supremely important, and that each day of your life contributes in a meaningful way to the vision you have of your life as a whole. To begin with the end in mind means to start with a clear understanding of your destination. It means to know where you’re going so that you better understand where you are now and so that the steps you take are always in the right direction.” (Covey, Stephen R.. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change (p. 105). (Function). Kindle Edition.) Today, we’re continuing our series on the book of Revelation called All Things Made New. And Revelation is all about the end—the end of our world, our current age, and more. And one of my goals for this whole series is to help you develop a better, clearer view of the end, so that you might know where you are now and how to live your life in light of what’s to come. We’ve said that Revelation was written by the Apostle John to seven churches in modern Turkey toward the end of the first century AD. And we’ve seen Revelation’s wild images, symbolic names/numbers, beasts, and more, but these are all part of the apocalyptic literary style, popular in their day. But despite its unusual style (for us), Revelation pulls back the veil of reality, revealing, from a spiritual perspective, why the world is the way it is today and where all this is headed—the end. Today, we’re considering the last set of seven judgments of God with the pouring out of the seven bowls right before the return of Christ. If you have a Bible/app, please open to Rev 15:1. We’ll only be addressing the Great Tribulation and the rapture, and we’ll introduce the Battle of Armageddon today, so it shouldn’t be too hard. But hopefully by the end, we’ll have a better idea of how Jesus would like us to begin.
Revelation 15:1–8 (NIV), “1 I saw in heaven another great and marvelous sign: seven angels with the seven last plagues—last, because with them God’s wrath is completed. 2 And I saw what looked like a sea of glass glowing with fire and, standing beside the sea, those who had been victorious over the beast and its image and over the number of its name. They held harps given them by God 3 and sang the song of God’s servant Moses and of the Lamb: “Great and marvelous are your deeds, Lord God Almighty. Just and true are your ways, King of the nations. 4 Who will not fear you, Lord, and bring glory to your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous acts have been revealed.” 5 After this I looked, and I saw in heaven the temple—that is, the tabernacle of the covenant law—and it was opened. 6 Out of the temple came the seven angels with the seven plagues. They were dressed in clean, shining linen and wore golden sashes around their chests. 7 Then one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls filled with the wrath of God, who lives for ever and ever. 8 And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power, and no one could enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were completed.” What is going on? Ok! So, chapter 15 introduces our final series of seven judgments of God against the world. Back in chapter 6, we had the opening of the seven seals, and then, starting in chapter 8, we had the sounding of the seven trumpets. And though there are a number of other opinions on how to interpret these visions, our position was that both of those sets describe the mess of this broken world between the resurrection and the return of Christ. In other words, the mess of our current age. But here, with the pouring out of the seven bowls, we’ll find that they follow the same pattern as the previous two sets of sevens, but everything crescendos as we approach the end of this age and the judgment of the earth. This is what is meant by the statement that they are the last plagues, “because with them God’s wrath is completed.” In other words, the end is near. But before we jump into the seven bowls, chapter 15 pictures the people “who had been victorious over the beast and its image and over the number of its name,” as John says in v. 2. This is another way of describing the great multitude of God’s people, standing in the presence of God, playing/singing “the song of God’s servant Moses and of the Lamb.” This is significant because throughout the book of Revelation, John repeatedly uses Exodus imagery. And just as Moses sang a song in Exodus 15 to commemorate when God led the Israelites out of Egypt through the miracle of the parting of the Red Sea, and the utter defeat of Pharaoh’s army, so here, John sees the saints singing a song after the greater Exodus of that future day when God will deliver his people, not from captivity in Egypt, but from captivity to sin and death. You see, we still need an Exodus. Now, to be clear, when you hear and believe the gospel, you are forgiven for your sins, reconciled to God, filled with the Holy Spirit, and have life everlasting; you are saved. But we are not yet resurrected, finally delivered from this broken world, or fully sanctified. So you are saved, and you still need to be saved by God. Saved from what? Saved from Babylon and her satanic and demonic influences. Saved from this body that gets tired, hungry, sick, and eventually dies. And saved from a world full of cancer and car accidents, and so on. So just as the ancient Israelites needed to be led through the wilderness on their way to the Promised Land, so we need to be led by God into the greater Promised Land of the new heaven and earth in the fully realized Kingdom of God. We’ll see it as we continue, but also, the judgments of God represented by the seven bowls are called plagues, just like in Exodus. Finally, Chapter 15 ends with one last reference to the end of the Exodus story, when the glory cloud of God’s presence filled the Tabernacle, or the Tent of Meeting, after the Israelites built it according to God’s instructions. Here, the heavenly temple was filled with the glory of the Lord God Almighty, the Holy One, the King of the Nations, and the One who lives for ever and ever (isn’t Revelation cool?). But all this Exodus language and imagery is saying that the Exodus story is a pattern/type, pointing forward to the return of Christ. And just as God was the main character of the Exodus, so he is in John’s visions of the future. But what does God do? “The LORD is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love” (Ps 145:8), but he has also promised to bring justice to bear against the devil, his demons, and all the wicked people of the earth.
Revelation 16:1–9 (NIV), “1 Then I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, “Go, pour out the seven bowls of God’s wrath on the earth.” 2 The first angel went and poured out his bowl on the land, and ugly, festering sores broke out on the people who had the mark of the beast and worshiped its image. 3 The second angel poured out his bowl on the sea, and it turned into blood like that of a dead person, and every living thing in the sea died. 4 The third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and springs of water, and they became blood. 5 Then I heard the angel in charge of the waters say: “You are just in these judgments, O Holy One, you who are and who were; 6 for they have shed the blood of your holy people and your prophets, and you have given them blood to drink as they deserve.” 7 And I heard the altar respond: “Yes, Lord God Almighty, true and just are your judgments.” 8 The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and the sun was allowed to scorch people with fire. 9 They were seared by the intense heat and they cursed the name of God, who had control over these plagues, but they refused to repent and glorify him.” Ok, whoa. The judgment and wrath of God, represented symbolically here by the bowls and plagues, are very severe and, frankly, disturbing—but we cannot say they’re unjust. God is not like us; his knowledge is perfect, and he knows even the thoughts of the human heart, so God knows not only what people have done but exactly why. God’s character is perfect; he is infinitely holy, so God is not vindictive, capricious, or random, and his judgments are not the result of a temper tantrum, a bad mood, or favoritism. He is all-knowing and perfectly good. In him there is no darkness at all. So God isn’t just a good judge; he is the perfect Judge. If this is still troubling to you, I would ask you this: What kind of world do you want to live in? A world of oppression, destruction, and death? If not, you too have judged the world and found it wanting. Coming back to the Exodus, you might’ve noticed that most of the plagues of the seven bowls are similar to the Egyptian plagues — sores, water turned to blood, and so on. We’ll see more as we continue. You might’ve also noticed that the elements of the first four bowls are identical to those of the first four trumpets: the earth, sea, rivers, and sun. But instead of representing the mess of this world between the resurrection and the return of Christ, there’s a crescendo, as we said. The end is indeed near. But beyond this, it’s hard to say exactly when these things will happen and where Christians will be at that time. The judgment is clearly against the unbelievers. But when God sent the plagues of judgment against Egypt, he was able to shield the Israelites from being affected. Maybe Christians are still in the world, but will be shielded in some way? The prophet Daniel wrote, “There will be a time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of nations until then” (Da 12:1), followed by the resurrection of the dead. Jesus said that “those will be days of distress unequaled from the beginning, when God created the world, until now—and never to be equaled again” (Mk 13:19). This distress before the end is known as the Great Tribulation. Back in chapter 7, John was told that the great multitude of God’s people had “come out of the great tribulation…[having] washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” (Re 7:14). I believe the vision of the seven bowls represents the Great Tribulation at the end of time. Now, some believe that Christians will be delivered from some or all of this distress—that God will rapture (Latin for “catch up”) his people to heaven to avoid this judgment. But there’s no rapture envisioned here. The passage that mentions a rapture is 1Th 4, but there it is just as likely to describe the “catching up” of believers who are still alive on the earth during the actual return of Christ. The last generation of Christians may have to wait until his return to be with the Lord. I would say this is most likely the case, given the repeated emphasis in this book on patient endurance. Things may get worse before they get better. But, before we move on, did you notice that even with all this divine judgment, there are still some people who refuse to repent? This is the first of three times in this chapter where the enemies of God not only refuse to repent but also blaspheme or curse him. They are as hardened toward God as Pharaoh was when he refused to let Israel go. But this is so heartbreaking because if they would but turn in humble repentance, all of heaven would rejoice and they would be saved forever! But there are some who choose not only to remain in their sins, but in their hatred of God! It’s not just that they do not believe; they hate the one who gave them life and breath and every good thing in this life. As disturbing as it might be, this is why the Lord is true and just in his judgments. So that’s the first four bowls. You might remember that the 5th and 6th trumpets moved from the mess of creation to demonic influences. Let’s see if the pattern is repeated here.
Revelation 16:10-21 (NIV), “10 The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness. People gnawed their tongues in agony 11 and cursed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, but they refused to repent of what they had done. 12 The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up to prepare the way for the kings from the East. 13 Then I saw three impure spirits that looked like frogs; they came out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet. 14 They are demonic spirits that perform signs, and they go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them for the battle on the great day of God Almighty. 15 “Look, I come like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake and remains clothed, so as not to go naked and be shamefully exposed.” 16 Then they gathered the kings together to the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon. 17 The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and out of the temple came a loud voice from the throne, saying, “It is done!” 18 Then there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder and a severe earthquake. No earthquake like it has ever occurred since mankind has been on earth, so tremendous was the quake. 19 The great city split into three parts, and the cities of the nations collapsed. God remembered Babylon the Great and gave her the cup filled with the wine of the fury of his wrath. 20 Every island fled away and the mountains could not be found. 21 From the sky huge hailstones, each weighing about a hundred pounds, fell on people. And they cursed God on account of the plague of hail, because the plague was so terrible.” This is God’s word. So, the answer is yes: just like the trumpets, the 5th and 6th bowls addressed demonic influences. We also find more references to the Exodus plagues involving darkness, frogs, and hail, along with Exodus imagery of God coming down on Mount Sinai, accompanied by an earthquake, thunder, and lightning with the 7th bowl (trumpet and seal). But before the end of the Great Tribulation, there is one last battle, known as the Battle of Armageddon. The demonic influence of the words of the dragon and the beasts (words that will later be defeated by the sharp sword of the word of Christ) convinces the kings of the earth to gather their forces for a battle against God. The problem is that it’s not clear whether this battle will be physical or spiritual in nature, how it might affect any Christians alive on earth in that day, or exactly how it relates to the battles in chapters 19 and 20. If that’s not enough, even the name “Armageddon” is difficult to understand. You see, in Hebrew, Armageddon means “Mount Megiddo.” But the problem with that is that having grown up in Judea, John would’ve known that Megiddo is a plain, not a mountain. If we look at a map, we can see that the plain of Megiddo is southwest of Nazareth, where Jesus grew up, and the Sea of Galilee. Now, the plain of Megiddo was the site of several battles in Israel’s history, so it’s likely that John is using the name symbolically, as he already has with Balaam, Jezebel, Babylon, and others in Revelation. In this case, Megiddo wouldn’t be a literal location but would represent the site (mountain?) of the last battle. We’ll come back to this battle in chapter 19. But for now, what is the point of the seven bowls? Well, you might remember that with the seals and trumpets, there was something of an interruption between the 6th and 7th seals/trumpets. And in each case, the interruption revealed the main point. The pattern is repeated once again with the bowls, but what was the interruption? It was a declaration of Jesus in v. 15. Now, we know it was Jesus speaking in John’s vision because back in chapter 3, Jesus told the church in Sardis that if they did not wake up, he would come like a thief. Interestingly, in that context, Jesus immediately began talking about their clothing as well. But Jesus says there’s a blessing in being awake and ready for the end to come. We do not and will not know the exact timing of the return of Christ. So we must remain ready. Part of getting ready is doing what we’re doing today, studying this strange, apocalyptic letter of Revelation. From the beginning of our series, we said it’s hard work, but it’s worth it. Long before Stephen Covey wrote his little book, Jesus knew the power of beginning with the end in mind, which is why Revelation is in the Bible. It clarifies our destination, which allows us to better aim the trajectory of our lives. If this is where everything is headed, what are we doing running after things that will barely matter next year, let alone in eternity? Blessed is the one who stays awake. Remaining clothed (and not exposed as naked) refers to the good works of the believers. These are not good works that earn our salvation (as we saw back in chapter 3), but rather the good works done in obedience to Christ because we are saved. We put on the clothing of the righteousness of Christ every time we choose to love God with our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love our neighbor as ourselves. We stay clothed every time we choose to share good news and make disciples of Jesus. We stay clothed every time we are busy helping meet the needs of the people around us as the hands and feet of Jesus. This world may not last forever, but the people around us will. And if this is the end (of our current age, at least), then let us begin. Let us pray.
