The Last Days
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Lesson 62 | 04/26/26
Revelation 16:17-21 | The 7th Bowl
Today we will finish chapter 16 and the final 7th bowl that is poured out on an unbelieving world. And it is in this final bowl that we see the focus of God’s wrath... on mystery Babylon, that great harlot who seduced the world. These 7 Bowls of Wrath complete God’s Judgement on the system of the Beast; 7 plagues, πληγὰς, or strikes/blows specifically against the pride and power of man and the system they worship. Let’s read the final verses describing this 7th Bowl, Revelation 16:17-21. This final Bowl is being poured out right at the end of the 7-Year Tribulation. In fact, since chapters 17 and 18 are another interlude that goes back to the beginning of the Tribulation to give us more details, we could continue reading into chapter 19 seamlessly, Revelation 19:1-4. These seven plagues are specifically against the harlot Babylon, Revelation 18:4-5; 17:1-6. By way of review, let’s quickly review these 7 Bowls Judgments:
Let’s pick up in verse 17 at the final 7th Bowl Judgment. While many of the kings of the earth and the earth dwellers who follow them are gathering together from the east across the Euphrates River, God sends His final plague on the system of Babylon.
Revelation 16:17 Bowl #7
Wrath of God is Done
Great Earthquake and Hail
Next week we will continue into chapter 17, but along with these chapters, we will be spending time in the book of Ezekiel to understand the complexities of this last system of men
Homework... read chapters 17 and 18 again along with Ezekiel chapter 8.
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- Bowl #1- Mankind (earth dwellers, bringing down the haughtiness of pride)
- Bowl #2- Sea (merchant and trade)
- Bowl #3- Rivers and springs of water (life force)
- Bowl #4- Sun (greatest source of energy)
- Bowl #5- Darkness over the kingdom of the Beast
- Bowl #6- Euphrates dried up (preparing the way to their destruction)
- Bowl #7- Air- (Satan is the prince of the power of the air)
Let’s pick up in verse 17 at the final 7th Bowl Judgment. While many of the kings of the earth and the earth dwellers who follow them are gathering together from the east across the Euphrates River, God sends His final plague on the system of Babylon.
Revelation 16:17 Bowl #7
Wrath of God is Done
- This is the final Bowl that brings the system of the world down to its knees
- The angel pours the bowl into the air
- This is a strike against the domain of Satan,
- Eph 2:2 prince of the power of the air
- Eph 6:12 spiritual wickedness in heavenly places
- This is a strike against the domain of Satan,
- The angel pours the bowl into the air
- God is diffusing His Glory into the air, 2 Cor 2:14-16
- To the world, God’s Glory is the aroma of death and they blaspheme His Name
- Loud voice from the throne… “It is Done!”
- Γέγονε- it has become
- Similar to the meaning of Amen, γένοιτο so be it,
- His promises have come to pass
Great Earthquake and Hail
- We have seen this type of Judgement before, but this is final.
- It is the greatest earthquake the world has ever seen
- The great city is Babylon, Rev 14:8, the system of the beast ruled by the demons of old
- Just like when God confused the language at Babel and divided them, Gen 11:8-9
- Here God divides Babylon and destroys it and the cities of the nations fell…
- Great Babylon was remembered before God…
- These last 7 bowls of wrath were targeted to bring down the system of men, Babylon the Great
- 100lb hailstones causing utter destruction, Rev 18:21.
- Babylon is a major component to the Judgement in the 7-Year Tribulation
- This is why John spends two chapters detailing who and what this Mystery Babylon is
- Even though Babylon doesn’t appear in this book until Rev 14:8, she has been there from the beginning and in fact is a major player in the organization of this 7th Kingdom and the system of the Beast.
- Chapters 17-18 gives us a detailed description of Babylon the Great.
- In which we will discover that this great harlot is united with the antichrist and the system of the beast
- She is the one riding the beast, controlling it, as it were, but in the same way, the beast is the power behind her control.
- It is their partnership together that unifies the entire world against God.
- Stephen describes the Jews being swept away into this system of Babylon, Acts 7:41-43.
- Peter describes Rome as Babylon, 1 Peter 5:13.
- John describes the system of darkness as the world system, 1 John 2:15-16.
- Babylon is the culmination of the things of the world
- The lust of the eyes
- The lust of the flesh
- The pride of life
- This is Babylon
- Babylon is the culmination of the things of the world
- Babylon began as a world dominating kingdom led by Nebuchadnezzar, but the visions shown to Daniel describe a kingdom far more than just a physical kingdom in the east.
- The statue of Nebuchadnezzar gives us this bigger view describing the kingdoms of the world, Daniel 2:31-45.
- The statue is that of the system of Babylon that even started before Nebuchadnezzar with Nimrod
- Babel was the origination of all false religion.
- From Babel (from the Nephilim of Genesis 6) has come the demons and fallen angels controlling the kingdom of men for thousands of years which will culminate into a final 7th Kingdom... One World Order
- A kingdom that represents the properties and characteristics of all the previous world dominating kingdoms all wrapped up into one system... Mystery Babylon
- Led by the antichrist, the Beast
- Empowered by ten kings who sit as kings without a kingdom possessed by demons, (very likely transhuman)
- and controlled by this governing force called the great harlot, Mystery Babylon.
- The tree in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream shows us another glimpse of this kingdom of darkness, Babylon the Great, Daniel 4:19-27.
- The great tree symbolizes a dominion/kingdom reaching to the ends of the earth, v.20
- The beasts of the field enjoyed its shade
- The birds of the air dwelt in its branches
- It was food for all the earth
- The tree was chopped down, but its stump and roots were left
- Indicating other kingdoms that would rise from its roots
- not just the kingdom of Babylon, but all the kingdoms of men that would come from her... specifically the 7 Kingdoms
- Indicating other kingdoms that would rise from its roots
- The tree became a beast until 7 times passed over
- Indicating the 7-Year reign of the antichrist, the beast
- At the end all the world will know that the Most High rules over the kingdom of men, v.25
- Does this tree remind you of a parable that Jesus taught?
- Matthew 13:31-32- the tree is the church that has grown monstrously big that now the enemy, the birds, have lodged in her branches
- This was the warning to the church of Pergamos not to marry the world, Rev 2:14-16.
- This flows into the warning to the church of Thyatira not to be infiltrated by the spirit of Jezebel, Rev 2:20-23.
- The great tree symbolizes a dominion/kingdom reaching to the ends of the earth, v.20
- Babylon is not just a political kingdom, it is not just a kingdom of wealth, its not just a kingdom of power, it is also a kingdom of great spiritual and religious influence.
- It is my belief that this Babylon, the great harlot who deceives the world will be the Catholic Church
- A great world dominating power who is in bed with the enemy, namely the beast
- In fact, she is riding and controlling the system of the world in partnership with the world and its leader
- This system will be led by demons, fallen angels, and even Satan himself and the whole world will follow after her
- Peter by the Spirit, prophetically used Babylon as another name for Rome in 1 Pet 5:13
- The 4th Beast in Daniels dream and the two legs of Nebuchadnezzar’s statue represent the Roman Empire with the Catholic Church as its head
- A great world dominating power who is in bed with the enemy, namely the beast
- When the Roman Empire fell in 476AD to the Germanic Barbarians, the Catholic Church became even stronger.
- The uncivil Germanic Barbarians conquered the Empire, but through the manipulations of the Catholic Church by spiritual influence, they stepped in and took control of both civil and spiritual authority.
- By the threats of their spiritual authority as being the voice of God, they used this for selfish gain of money and power
- We see this happening now, and their influence will continue to grow and become more powerful into the 7-Year Tribulation
- The uncivil Germanic Barbarians conquered the Empire, but through the manipulations of the Catholic Church by spiritual influence, they stepped in and took control of both civil and spiritual authority.
- It is my belief that this Babylon, the great harlot who deceives the world will be the Catholic Church
Next week we will continue into chapter 17, but along with these chapters, we will be spending time in the book of Ezekiel to understand the complexities of this last system of men
Homework... read chapters 17 and 18 again along with Ezekiel chapter 8.
PREVIOUS LESSON 61 ← GO TO → NEXT LESSON 63