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| Earl Gillespie |
A Study of The Book of Revelation
An Angry God.
THE THIRD
VIAL
Revelation
16:4-7
These verses are dealing
with the wrath of God. It seems as if God was in his house, (the temple)
seething with angry, but he was holding back and storing his wrath in vials or
containers. It does not say how long, but his angry had been boiling over. We can see by his action now he is an angry God. If we reflect back on the Old
Testament there are many instances that referenced God’s anger. Numbers 32:13
And the LORD'S anger was kindled against Israel, and he made them wander
in the wilderness forty years, until all the generation, that had done evil in
the sight of the LORD, was consumed.
There were times in his anger he threatens to wipe man from the
face of the earth, only to be appeased by the author of Grace. Moses often found himself pleading for the
children of Israel. Undissipated anger
is a dangerous weapon, years later it will flare up and destroy everything
around it. Deuteronomy 29:27 And the anger of the LORD was kindled against
this land, to bring upon it all the curses that are written in this book:
One could be tempted to ask why would God be so angry today.
Prayer services are being
conducted. New churches are being built,
tithes are being collected and the church is praising and thanking God for all
of his blessings. We are being preached messages of God’s great
love for us, how can he be so angry? Our
religious creed is based upon John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he
gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish,
but have everlasting life.”
A man was known to speak openly of his love for his wife. After raising
a family and growing old together he killed his wife because of certain indiscretions she made more than sixty years in the past. Families
are being torn apart because of lies told decades ago. Hidden anger expresses itself in churches and
most often at funerals. We should not be alarmed, Jesus said this would happen.
Jesus addressed seven letters to the churches and in those
letters he addressed the problems, and the solutions to the problems that the church would face throughout the church age. What have we done with
those letters? Do we teach them in
Sunday School? No! Those letters lay hidden in a book that we say need to be spiritualized because it is too graphic. We rather hear a
story of how Jesus came down through forty two generations to save us. God said in Luke 9:35, … This is my beloved
Son: hear him. When his son was killed
God was angry. When the saints were massacred,
God was angry. What are we doing to appease
the anger of an angry God? We have killed his Son and perverted his word. We have replaced the true Gospel with a perverted Gospel that allows us to collect reward and promise favors.
Mark 12:1-8 And he began to speak unto them by parables.
A certain man planted a vineyard, and set an hedge about it, and digged a place
for the winefat, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into
a far country. And at the season he sent to the husbandmen a servant, that he
might receive from the husbandmen of the fruit of the vineyard. And they caught
him, and beat him, and sent him away empty. And again he sent unto them another
servant; and at him they cast stones, and wounded him in the head, and sent him
away shamefully handled. And again he sent another; and him they killed, and
many others; beating some, and killing some. Having yet therefore one son, his Well
beloved, he sent him also last unto them, saying, They will reverence my son.
But those husbandmen said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill
him, and the inheritance shall be ours. And they took him, and killed him, and
cast him out of the vineyard. Now his
son is left outside. Revelation 3:20 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if
any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup
with him, and he with me.
Today we are dealing with
an angry God, a supernatural God who according to the Book of Revelation is
about to inflict a supernatural punishment
upon the earth and the inhabitants of the earth.
4. And the third angel poured out
his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters; and they became blood
.
5. 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
.
6. For they have shed the Blood of
saints and prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink; for they are
worthy
.
7. And I heard another out of the
altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments
.
In these verses we have the outline
of what will happen when the third angel pours out his bowl of the fury of God
upon this earth. Moses stretched out his hand upon the waters of Egypt, and all
the waters in the river were turned to blood. The fish in the river died, the
river stank, and the
The Egyptians could not drink the
water. There was blood throughout all the land of Egypt (Exodus 7:20, 21). In
Egypt, one river turned to blood; but in Revelation 16: 4 every river on earth
turns to blood, every fresh fountain of water turns to blood. The earth will
have nothing but blood to drink!
In
the name of all that is reasonable, if you are not saved can you afford to take
a chance on being left if the Rapture should take place in the next sixty
seconds? You do not know that it will not. I am not trying to prove that it
will - but I can prove that everything in the Bible that needs to be fulfilled
before the Rapture of the Church has been literally fulfilled, is being
fulfilled, before your very eyes this moment.
In Revelation 8:10-11, a third of
the rivers be came wormwood and many died because of the bitterness; but here the blood is
universal. As the judgments come nearer the end, they become more severe, and they are worldwide.
All of this terrible thing will begin in Jerusalem, but it will spread to the four corners of the earth.
No water to drink! Have you ever been thirsty? REAL thirsty?
When the angel poured out his vial
upon the rivers and fountains and they became blood, the angel of the waters
said: “Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast, and shall be, because
thou hast judged thus,” The angel of the waters was in perfect
agreement with God’s divine judgment. He justifies God’s act by saying, “For
they have shed the Blood of saints and prophets”; therefore, “Thou hast given
them blood to drink; for they are worthy .” Then another angel from the altar
of God said, “Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments .”
The angels are saying, “Amen! Lord God Almighty, you are right! Let them drink
blood. They shed the Blood of the saints; give them blood to drink! They are
worthy, they deserve it!”You may rest assured, sinner or saint, you will
receive from the hand of God in judgment, exactly what YOU deserve - no more,
no less. You will get what is coming to you. Men deliberately spurn God’s love
and refuse His mercy, therefore men of perdition deserve what's coming to them.
God has stretched out His hand, they
have paid no attention. Men perverted God’s counsel; they turned his church into a den of thieves,
they will not listen to His reproof. Therefore,
God will pour out His fury upon them and He will laugh at their calamity. Read
Proverbs 1. Men who take pleasure in sin and ungodliness must be damned even
those who stand in the pulpits across the land and preach a perverted gospel.
(II Thessalonians 2:8-12; Deuteronomy 32:39-43; Isaiah 28:21).
THE FOURTH
VIAL
Revelation
16:8-9: 8.
Verse 8, And the fourth angel poured out his
vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire
Verse 9, And men were scorched with great
heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and
they repented not to give him glory
In Revelation 8:12 the heavenly
bodies were affected. “One-third” were blacked out. But here it is altogether
different. The power of the sun is increased until the terrific heat and blazes
of fire from the sun scorch and burn the
backs of men, roasting them. What a horrible thought! God takes His mighty
hand, pushes the sun so near the earth that the sunrays scorch the backs of
earth’s inhabitants! God created the sun, and it would be a small thing for Him
to put it close enough to earth to scorch men. The increase in the earth temperature
today could be just a prelude of things to come. Both Moses and Malachi spoke of this day, Deuteronomy
32:24 They shall be burnt with hunger,
and devoured with burning heat, and with bitter destruction: I will also send
the teeth of beasts upon them, with the poison of serpents of the dust. Malachi 4:1). Hear this solemn declaration:
“The earth mourneth and fadeth away, the world languisheth and fadeth away, the
haughty people of the earth do languish. The earth also is defiled under the
inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance,
broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore the inhabitants of the earth are
burned, and few men left ” (Isaiah 24:4-6). Remember again: “Except those days
be shortened, there would be no flesh saved.”
Some Bible teachers spiritualize
this fire. God pity them! When this angel pours out his vial of wrath, the sun
is smitten and sends forth rays that are so hot they burn men as if a blowtorch
were turned on their backs. The dwellers of the earth will be
scorched with terrific heat. They are oppressed, burned, killed by the strong
rays of the sun. They are smitten with sunstrokes, overwhelmed with heat,
suffocated. And yet some Bible teachers spiritualize this judgment when the
fourth angel pours out his vial of the wrath of God! God help them! I am glad I
will not be standing in their shoes at the judgment of God. God, in this one of
the last plagues, takes the beautiful, life-giving, earth-warming sun and turns
it into a giant ball of tormenting fire. Can you imagine it? Can you picture it
in your mind? Can you picture men and women with their backs, faces, arms,
legs, a mass of giant blisters . . . parched, dried skin burned with intense
heat . Can you imagine a sight like that? You would think that everyone on earth would
fall on their faces and cry out to God for mercy and beg God to save them - but
according to the Word of God, those who are burned “repented not to give Him
the glory .” Instead of repenting, they blasphemed God for sending such plagues
upon them.
When men know God but refuse to
glorify Him as God; when men change the truth of God into a lie; when men
refuse to keep God in their knowledge, God gives them up. Read carefully Romans
1:18 ff. The most dangerous thing in this world is for a man to know the way of
God, hear the way of truth, and boldly refuse to follow God in truth.
When God pours out his anger upon
this earth I want to be "outta here"!
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