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Revelation 15-16: Anticipating the Lord's Return
December 18, 2025 · 15 min
Explore Revelation 15 and 16 and the path to God's final judgment and the battle of Armageddon.
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Heavenly Vision and the Prelude to Wrath 0:10 Good morning. Welcome to Stand on the Word. Well, it looks like it's gonna be a beautiful day here in our nation's capital As we turn now to Revelation chapters 15 and 16, we're coming close to the0:22 end of our 2 year journey through the bible. And, again, I just wanna commend those of you who have been on this journey from the very beginning. And and by the way, we'll have on the website, f r c dot o r g slash0:33 bible. We'll have some resources there for you, including a certificate that you can download if you've completed the entire journey. Alright. Today, we are going to look at the seventh bowl of the seventh0:45 trumpet of the seventh seal as the stage is being set for the lord's return and his thousand year reign here on earth. Verse 16 of chapter 16, and they gathered them together to the place called,0:57 in Hebrew, Armageddon. Chapter 15 is kinda like a drum roll for the seventh trumpet. Alright? Building up that anticipation before the final judgment is poured out in these 71:09 bowls. Verse 1, chapter 15. Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous, 7 angels having the 7 last plagues, for in them the wrath of God is complete. And I saw something like a1:21 sea of glass mingled with fire, and those who have the victory over the beast, over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, standing on the sea of glass, having harps1:33 of God. They sing the song of Moses, a servant of God, in the song of the lamb, saying, great and marvelous are your works, God almighty. Just and true are your1:44 ways, oh king of the saints. Who shall not fear you, oh lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy, for all nations shall come and worship before you, for1:56 your judgments have been manifested. At this point in time, you can no longer deny the fact that there is a God because his judgments were poured forth on the nation.2:08 After these things, I looked and behold the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened. So this is it. The timeline of human history is coming to a close, and the stage is being set for the final2:19 judgment of the antichrist and those who follow him. Now these terrifying judgments culminate in the battle of Armageddon. And by the way, you'll notice that these plagues are reminiscent of the2:31 plagues upon pharaoh and Egypt back in Exodus. Verse 1 chapter 16, then I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the 7 angels, go and pour out the bowls of the2:43 wrath of God on the earth. Now the first 4 bowls were like the first 4 trumpets targeting the earth, the sea, rivers, and then the2:54 sun. Now let me read of the, fourth bowl. Verse 8, then the fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and power was given to him to scorch men with fire. And men were scorched3:06 with great heat, and they blasphemed the name of God who has power over these plagues, and they did not repent and give him glory. Now could this be the3:18 very kind of global warming that the United Nations now calls code red for humanity? Could this be that that quote, unquote crisis pointing forward to the future described here in3:30 scripture? Notice something vital here. Right? The remedy the remedy that Revelation presents is not technical innovation. It's not buying an electric vehicle. The3:42 Bible calls it repentance. That that that if men would repent, that's the reason God is drawing us back to him or to him. Yet Revelation shows3:53 that, Revelation shows that humanity does the opposite. Instead of turning to God, and we'll see this 3 times in this chapter, they blasphemy they blaspheme God.4:05 Why? Because if people are repeatedly told that this crisis is by man, from man, and can be solved by man, then they will never see the hand of God in any of it until it's too late. You know,4:17 Revelation reveals judgments are that are unmistakably divine. Yet those who are deceived by the antichrist and by the spirit of the antichrist already at work in this world cannot recognize4:36 humble themselves before God. They will harden their hearts, refuse to give him the glory that is due his name, and respond to his judgments, not with repentance,Plagues of Fire, Darkness, and Demonic Forces 4:48 but with defiance. That is why their reaction is not worship, but blasphemy. Then like the ninth plague on pharaoh, the fifth plague on the Antichrist and5:00 his followers is darkness. Verse 10. Then the fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and his kingdom became full of darkness, and they gnawled their tongues because of the pain. They blasphemed,5:11 there it is the second time, the god of heaven because of their pains and their sores and did not repent of their deeds. Now those that loved darkness, remember, they didn't when Jesus came and5:23 brought light, men rejected the light because they love the darkness. Those that love darkness will be consumed by it. It appears to drive them mad as they are rendered powerless and hopeless5:35 as these plagues are stacked 1 upon another, but it's not over. Look at verse 12. Then the sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates,5:47 and its water was dried up so that the way of the kings from the east might be prepared. And I saw 3 unclean spirits like frogs coming out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the5:59 beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. We, again, here see the unholy trinity, Satan's counterfeit. Alright? This is his counterfeit trinity. Satan, like the6:11 like God the father, the beast, like Jesus Christ, and the false prophet, like the Holy Spirit. You see, Satan simply repeats. He I mean, he makes copies of god's patents. He he puts out6:23 fakes. Alright? He's he's kinda like 1 of those sidewalk vendors in New York that, selling those knockoff Rolex watches for 25 dollars. But note that the beast, the antichrist,6:35 is the civil government ruler. The false prophet who points people to the antichrist is the religious leader. So there's this coming together of church and6:47 state. And so in this, we find a principle seen you've seen elsewhere in scripture, but clearly illustrated here, why separation of church and state is a good thing. Yes. You heard me right. The separation of6:58 church and state is what we should be pursuing in this church age in which we live. Now let me define separation of church and state. And by the way, if you've not, taken my7:10 God in government course, which is on our app, the StanFurm app, I have a I I teach on this extensively. And, you can find that at StanFirm app, our god and government course. But let me define the separation of church7:22 and state. And and because I'm not using it the way that the left uses it today. When you hear the secular crowd cry, separation of church and state, they're calling for a7:34 separation of God and government. Alright? This big distinction. And we can never, under any circumstance, agree with that because all authority has7:46 been given to Jesus on heaven and on earth, and that includes government. And as followers of Christ, we have been deputized to walk in that authority. So what does that7:58 mean? Well, to the the the church has a has a prophetic role in holding government accountable to the truth of god. Yes. Government is under the authority of god. So how8:09 do we do that? We preach and we teach the word of god. The pulpit should be proclaiming the word of God. We shouldn't expect politicians to take stands on moral and and and and ultimately spiritual8:21 issues that the pulpits won't preach about. You know, we should advocate for policies aligned with the word of God. We should vote for those who will who are aligned with the principles of God's word, and we should run8:33 for and hold public office, making decisions based upon not polls, but the principles of God's word. But the church must be very careful, and and this this8:45 is something even this moment, this very moment. Be careful not to be co opted by civil government trading our prophetic voice of accountability for political access and power.8:57 In fact, I'm actually working on a book on this topic that I hope to have out next year. Alright. Verse 14. For they are spirits of demons performing signs which go out to the kings of the earth and of the whole world to9:09 gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. Now here, the battle lines are being drawn for this confrontation, the war that will end all wars that we'llArmageddon, Final Judgment, and Call to Repent 9:21 see in chapter 19. Verse 15, behold, I am coming as a thief. Blessed is he who watches and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked and they see ashamed. Be ready. Gotta be ready.9:33 As they gather them together to the place called Hebrew in Hebrew, Armageddon. Now believers will not be here at this moment. The church is gone. There will be those that come to Christ during this time,9:45 but very few. This is at the final judgment. This is believed to be in the valley of Megiddo, the or Jazreel Valley where many, many ancient battles have been fought.9:57 Verse 17, then the seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple of heaven from the throne saying, it is done. You know, on the cross, when Jesus secured our10:09 atonement, he said, it is finished. It's done. Here, God on the throne declares it has come to pass. The day of the Lord has come. It is done. Verse10:20 18, and these were and there were noises and thunderings and lightnings, and there was a great earthquake, such a mighty and great earthquake as has not occurred since men were10:32 on the earth. This is significant. I mean, this is a shaking. This is, I mean, this is God's judgment upon the earth. Now the great city was divided into 3 parts, and the cities of the10:44 nations fell, and great Babylon was remembered before God to give her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath. Then every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. And10:56 great hail from earth fell upon men men. Each hailstone about the weight of a talent is 100 pounds. It's big. Men blasphemed, there we are, the third time, God because of the plagues of11:08 the hail since the plague was exceedingly great. So notice here 3 times here in Revelation 16, it says men blasphemed God instead of repenting. Now by the time11:20 the 7 seals, 7 trumpets, and 7 bowls had run their course, the world's deception and denial of God's existence finally gives way to the unmistakable revelation11:32 of his reality and power. Yet even then, even though after his judgments had manifested his presence and his power, rather than acknowledging God as11:44 God and turning in repentance, they accuse him of injustice. Their response is not humility, but willful rebellion, refusing, and rejecting God. And in11:56 rejecting the truth that they can no longer deny, they seal their own fate. Like Pharaoh, the heart of mankind will be so hard that12:07 final judgment, eternal judgment is all that is left. And and and and, folks, I'm gonna say there's not a place you wanna be. And so how do you keep from getting there? Well, repent and turn to the12:19 lord. And in fact, as Paul wrote to the Corinthians, he said, behold, now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. Father, we thank you for your12:31 word, the power of your word. And and, Lord, these are, just the the the description of what is coming. Lord,12:43 should make us sober, should should shaken us and and awaken us to the reality of of what is unfolding even today. And and may we make12:55 certain our relationship with you, and may we proclaim the truth of the gospel so that, lord, those that we know, those that we work with, even those we don't, just out of compassion for13:07 mankind, may we proclaim from, lord, the housetops the hope that is found alone in Jesus Christ, the salvation, the forgiveness of sins, and13:19 or the abundant life, the eternal life that is found in Jesus Christ. Thank you for your word. Thank you for the warnings. Thank you for your compassion. Thank you for your long suffering. Thank you for your mercy. Thank13:30 you for Jesus. And even as we, are in this time of year where we celebrate the birth of Jesus, we thank you for our savior, our lord, Jesus Christ. For it's in his name13:41 we pray. Amen. Alright. Again, thanks for joining me this morning. Let me encourage you, be thinking about who you can invite. We've got some resources available for you to even send an invitation, to13:53 others that might wanna join us on this journey. Simply text the word bible to 6 7 7 4 2. That's bible to 6 7 7 4 2 as we prepare to begin14:05 the next journey through the word of God coming January first. Until next time, keep standing on the word.14:14 Today's study comes from the Stand on the Word Bible Reading Plan, available for free at f r c dot o r g slash bible. By following along in just a few minutes a day, you14:26 can read through the entire Bible in just 2 years. Learn more and request the free reading guide at frc dot org slash bible.In this video 0:00 Heavenly Vision and the Prelude to Wrath4:45 Plagues of Fire, Darkness, and Demonic Forces9:15 Armageddon, Final Judgment, and Call to Repent
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