We explored the victorious song and the victorious judgment in Chapter 15. The production unfolded with a beautiful reminder to keep your eyes on Christ. And then the chapter ended with thedrama of the smoke filled temple just as the final curtain call is about to begin right here in  Chapter 16. And tonight, the stage is set for the finale of God’s judgment.

Visit drpaulamcdonald.com to learn more and explore resources and study guides offered as part of this bible study series.

Transcript
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Welcome to Exhale Bible Discovery.

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Each week, we'll take a deep dive into the Bible, going line by line and chapter by chapter to discover the truth that God has for us in His Word.

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Well, hello, everyone.

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This is Dr.

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Paula McDonald, and we are on Revelation, chapter 16.

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And last week, we explored the victorious song and the victorious judgment in chapter 15.

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The production unfolded with a beautiful reminder to keep our eyes on Christ.

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And then the chapter ended with the drama of the smoke filled temple just as the final curtain call is about to begin right here in Chapter 16.

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And tonight, the stage is set for the finale of God's judgment.

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For those who have chosen to deny Him at this point, the time has come for the enemies of God to be once and for all destroyed.

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And as difficult as this is for many to digest these final judgments, those are for them and for us who are in Christ.

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This is a time of victory for the kingdom of God.

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Vindication is finally happening, and the world will be rid forever of satanic rituals, abuse and disgusting dark acts that have ruled this Earth for way too long.

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And as we continue into this revelation journey, we shall soon see the beautiful unveiling of a new Earth and a new heaven.

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For now, let's buckle up for the tumultuous ride of the final bowl judgments here in chapter 16.

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And I have the discussion tonight in two segments.

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The six bowl judgments, which is verses one through 16, and then the 7th bowl judgment, which reverses 17 through the end of the chapter.

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So many of these bowls resemble the plagues of Egypt during Moses time that we've looked into before in previous lessons.

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And before Christ returns, god pours out his wrath on an unrepenting people.

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And during Moses time, the wrath of God was also being poured out on a hardened and unrelenting people as well.

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Verse one 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.

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And we've seen previously John referring to this loud voice coming forth to make an announcement.

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And here with this final old judgment, the voice announces the final instructions to the angels.

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And from the first chapter at 111, all the way through 21 five here in Revelation, I counted at least 22 times that we have heard or seen a reference to a loud voice.

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Well, these are proclamations or public official announcements, and they're made to get our attention.

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When we see the emergency broadcast system or here at Beep on our TVs or radios, it's typically to get our attention, and I know it gets my attention.

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And this is now what I would call a heavenly broadcast system that will get our attention and will get every person's attention who's on earth when this happens.

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Verse two.

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The first angel went and poured out his bowl on the land.

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And ugly, festering sores broke out on the people who had the mark of the beast and worshipped its image, while the first of the seven bowls is poured out and affects humans with these festering sores of these people who had the mark of the beast and remember the mark, are those people who have freely accepted Satan as their God.

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And just as believers in Christ are marked by Him, those who follow Satan are also marked by Satan.

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And so the imagery of festering sores or rotting, stinking flesh, it's indicative and a true reflection of the person who is rotten on the inside.

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The flesh or covering is being eaten away and is no longer a covering of protection.

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And so spiritually, these ulcers or sores show the ugliness that's going on beneath the surface, the stench of evil and darkness from deep within a person.

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Gross and now they are being fully exposed in a painful manner.

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And sores that do not heal are often indicative of an inner disease.

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They are outward signs that something inward is not right.

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So here in Revelation 16, the disease beneath the skin is sin.

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And there are many Bible verses throughout the Scriptures regarding flesh we're talking about in a spiritual sense.

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So I wanted to look at a few, starting in Genesis 224.

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That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.

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Matthew 26 41 Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.

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The Spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.

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John 556 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them.

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John 621 I am the living bread that came down from heaven.

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Whoever eats this bread will live forever.

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This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.

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Romans eight eight, those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.

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And in Ephesians 612, for our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, the authorities and the powers of this dark world, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

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There's a lot of talk about flesh, but in each of these verses, it's not talking about your real flesh that's on your skin.

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It's using it as a symbolic meaning.

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And so if you look at it as believers, we are covered in a spiritual flesh.

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And those who reject Christ, well, their flesh is no longer a covering of protection, but actually a covering of sin.

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Have you ever thought about it that way? Well, then verse three says, the second angel poured out his bowl on the sea, and it turned it into blood, like that of a dead person, and every living thing in the sea died.

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Well, the second bowl now is affecting the seawater.

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And back in Revelation eight eight through nine, the second trumpet sounded and a third of the sea became blood.

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Remember that? And now, here in chapter 16, the entire sea becomes blood, meaning none of it is spared.

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And here in these final judgments, we have been watching the ramping up of the destruction and wrath of God.

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It is almost finished.

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We're getting towards the end.

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So, verse four, the third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and springs of water and they became blood.

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And again, as we saw earlier in Revelation 811 of the third trumpet at the fresh water is again being destroyed, and this time all of it.

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And I think an interesting note is how a huge percentage of our own bodies are made up of water.

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Water is precious to life.

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We are surrounded by water in the womb before birth.

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Our blood circulates as a fluid through our veins.

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Our lymphatic system removes toxins, is fluid filled out of our lungs.

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With each and every breath comes moisture in water droplets.

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Water is the most important element for life on earth.

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And likewise the spiritual water from Christ is the most important spiritual element we must have for eternal life.

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And for those who reject his spiritual water, in the end, God s going to destroy all the water.

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He created water for life.

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And he alone brings forth eternal life only through His Son.

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So before the fourth and 6th bowls are poured out, we again find another pause in the action with another beautiful song of praise, which is very similar to the song of praise that we saw in the last chapter 15.

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And this time the angel is praising God who is just in his judgments.

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Verses five and six say then I heard the angel in charge of the water say you are just in these judgments, O Holy One, you who are and who were and is to come, for they have shed the blood of your holy people and your prophets, and you have given them blood to drink as they deserve.

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Before I get to that last part, I'm going to focus a minute on the praise part.

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God is being praised for being just, holy and a non created, forever enduring person of the Trinity.

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But the next part of this verse, this last part, is very powerful, especially in light of what has been uncovered by many people just very recently, but sadly has been going on since the dawn of time and for centuries we have read about the horrors of human and child sex trafficking and just sacrifice in general from the Mayans and the Aztecs, the Egyptians, the Israelites, the Canaanites.

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Numerous people groups have engaged in human sacrifice and many of us think that was something that was happening a long time ago.

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When I read this verse, in light of what I know now, it about blew me over, you guys.

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And so what I'm about to share may be an eyeopening time for many of you, but you can go research this stuff on your own, and I encourage you to.

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But before you do, you need to be preyed up and read up because it's difficult.

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However, we need to be awake to what's happening.

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And so the craft of human and child sacrifice, it's been an ongoing underground operation worldwide for centuries and it's still extremely prolific today.

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The problem today is that although it's been going on right under our noses, we have been duped by leaders, governments, and institutions who have been engaging in these evil practices right before our eyes.

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But you know what the good news is? The world is awakening to these horrors that have been going on and people are finally coming out of their slumber.

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And I was led to Romans eleven eight.

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God gave them a spirit of stupor eyes that could not see and ears that could not hear to this very day.

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As you guys know, there are a lot of evil people engaging in evil things because they are blind, they are deaf, and they are not good in their hearts.

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Romans 13 1112 do this knowing the time that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep.

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You believers, you are to awaken from sleep.

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For now, salvation is nearer to us than when we believed.

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The night is almost gone and the day is near.

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Therefore, let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.

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So you guys, even believers have been asleep.

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And I'm just going to say it and lay it out there because for the most part, most churches have not broached these tough topics.

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We have been hidden in our safe little cocoons while horrible atrocities have been going on in plain sight.

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And as we are awakened and remember Revelation 1111 and God breathed life into them and they stood on their feet and those around them were terror filled.

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You guys, it is imperative that Christians wake up right now.

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We must open our eyes and not hide our heads in the sand.

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When we learn about these tough topics, our instinct, yes, is to turn the other way and say, no Lord, please don't let it be so.

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However, in these times we must, must, must stay read up and prayed up as we boldly ask the Lord to guide us into truth.

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And as you learn more, your heart is going to hurt.

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However, the horrors that are happening to the children around the world, this whole topic deserves to be exposed and the evil people to be stopped.

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When I arrived at this verse, my heart nearly dropped out of my chest.

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As verse six states, you have given them blood to drink as they deserve.

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And I clearly saw the meaning to the times that we're in right now.

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And five years ago, I would not have seen the clarity of the meaning of this verse.

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That I do right now, because you guys, these evil, satanic people, they desire the blood of our children.

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And now here's God turning the sea and the fresh water into blood so that they're going to have all the blood that they've wanted all this time.

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How interesting that God takes the one thing that they've been desired and now he pollutes the water into that thing they've wanted.

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How perfect.

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God is good and he is in control.

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So, verse seven, and I heard the altar respond, yes, Lord God Almighty, true and just are your judgments.

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So in this next verse, it's as if the heavens, they're breathing a sigh of relief as they say, yes Lord, finally you are avenging our children.

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You are destroying the evil regime once and for all.

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And you guys, the more people that know this, the more that we can rise up, stand up, speak up and stand together, because when we do, we will be a force to be reckoned with and that those around us will be terror filled.

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So the following verses go into the next three bold judgments.

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Verse eight unveils the fourth bowl.

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So, verses eight and nine.

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The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun.

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And the sun was allowed to scorch people with fire.

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They were seared by intense heat and they cursed the name of God, who had control over these plagues, but they refused to repent and glorify Him.

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The first bowl we read about affected man's flesh with the boils.

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And now here again in the fourth bowl, it's affecting man's flesh.

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Well, God's light, the beautiful sun that once gave life to Earth through photosynthesis, is now going to be used to burn those who have refused Him.

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It's almost as if God is saying, well, you rejected the light of Christ, therefore I will now destroy you with an intense light.

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Christ and his truth are the true spiritual light of people.

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John one nine, there was the true light which coming into the world, enlightens every man.

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They tried to extinguish his light when they crucified Christ, and today they are still trying to devour Him.

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And his light diminish it and turn people from his light.

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And here in the end, God is saying, you rejected my life.

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Here you go.

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You will now not be able to escape this light.

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And with the first bold judgment, the flesh is decayed and diseased.

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And now with this fourth bowl judgment, the flesh is burned up, the covering is gone, and all are completely exposed.

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And as they are exposed, they still continue to curse God.

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They refuse to bow before Him.

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What hardhearted and stubborn people who are set in their own way of destruction, they simply cannot give up their proud stance against God, despite it all.

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And I bet you you know somebody just like this.

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Verses ten through eleven, the fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast and its kingdom was plunged into darkness.

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People gnawed their tongues in agony and cursed the God of Heaven.

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Because of their pains and their sores, they refused to repent of what they had done.

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So now the exact opposite of the light comes into play here in the fifth bowl judgment, which plunges the world into complete darkness.

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This means spiritually too.

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It's not just a physical thing.

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And so imagine when you are enveloped in complete spiritual darkness, there is absolutely no more love, no more goodness, no more kindness.

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I can't even imagine it.

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And when you've ever been in a cave and they turn off all the lights, when you're at the belly of the cave and you can't even see your own hand in front of your face, it's very strange imagining a world where you can't see any goodness or love or kindness.

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The good part of man, it's going to be completely removed, so it will be extremely dark.

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And yet once again they dug their heels in and refused to say, Yes, Lord.

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Verse twelve.

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The 6th angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates.

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Its water was dried up to prepare the way for the kings from the east.

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And here the 6th bowl is a bit different from the first five bowl judgment as this one specifically mentions a river that is dried up, allowing for a crossing.

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Well, we know Moses parted the Red Sea in order for the Israelites to move to safety away from the Egyptians.

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And now this is another very different crossing that's being prepared.

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And when Christians and light are no longer a part of the equation, the division of good versus evil will no longer be the case, as there will simply be evil.

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And that opens the pathway for those who wish to follow destruction and the evil pathway.

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And whether this crossing is what many call the end times Armageddon, the invasion of evil is now no longer being held back on the earth.

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Verse 13 then I saw three impure spirits that look like frogs and 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.

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As strange as this verse sounds, it is very symbolic.

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In Exodus, we saw the Pharaohs magicians with the frogs, causing many to believe in their powers.

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And now the representation of the false prophet, the beast, we see these frogs again, and with these frogs they bring lies, deceit, power of darkness.

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And here they are in the midst of darkness.

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And I just think it's funny that we normally don't think of frogs as anything kind of scary.

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They're just little frogs.

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So I just think it's funny that it's written here that here now these frogs are coming out of the beast.

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And really I just love to think of them as Satan's small minions who croak about the earth.

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We have them right now promoting all kinds of false propaganda, false belief systems, just, evil, cunning, deceit, just are croaking away, aren't they? In verse 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 that great day of God Almighty.

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So verse 14 now confirms that these creatures are demonic spirits.

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They are being unleashed as this is their last ditch effort to recruit their army against God.

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And how humorous that in John's vision, these creatures resemble the lowly frog.

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And so here is Satan's army.

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He's amassing his army and they are like frogs.

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The next two verses gives us another pause.

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So we had the first three bowls and now here's another pause in the action.

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And we've been able to see this pattern not only in this chapter, but in the entire book of Revelation.

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We'll see a truth and then a pause and a truth and a pause.

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And so here in verse 15, here is another praise pause.

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Look, I come like a thief.

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Blessed is the one who stays awake and remains clothed, so it's not to go naked and be shamefully exposed.

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This is the third beatitude of Revelation.

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And remember when we discussed earlier about being awake here? This is fully confirmed in verse 15.

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This beatitude clearly tells us that those who stay awake and remain clothed will not be exposed.

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When we keep our spiritual selves and our spiritual garments on, we will not fall prey to the lies of the enemy and all of those croaking frogs.

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We will have eyes to see and ears to hear the truth.

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Verse 16 then they gathered the kings together to that place in Hebrew called Armageddon.

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And this place, Armageddon, has caused many to seek its whereabouts over the years.

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Perhaps though, it's just metaphorically discussing the great battle that is currently going on between God and his army and Satan and his frog army.

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And we know battles have erupted all over the globe throughout history and even today, we're experiencing one.

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Much time has been spent on trying to determine this location of Armageddon, but the real focus should be on the battle that's going on right now between good and evil.

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And this is where we must continue to place our focus.

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And that is being on the winning side of God.

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Trying to pinpoint places and names of people only puts our focus elsewhere.

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It is now that we must keep our eyes fully directed upon our Savior Jesus Christ, no matter what is going on around us, like what the news is shouting every day regarding the war in Ukraine.

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We must not lose our focus on our personal missions right here.

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Sadly, however, so many people are focused on world events that they forget the issues right happening beneath our feet of child sex trafficking, drugs entering our country, and widespread Satanic worship going on everywhere while being in prayer for our Christian brothers and sisters around the world is very essential.

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God still has you and I right here where we are for such a time as this.

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And so your truth bomb for this section is god is going to destroy every evil thing and person on this earth before Christ returns.

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And your call to action are you keeping your eyes glued on Him despite the distractions of world events, health scares, and agendas that are meant to pull us away from seeing God's truth? Okay, we're in the last division, the 7th Old Judgment.

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This is 17 through 21.

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So here we are.

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This is the finale of all endings that's about to commence.

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Verse 17.

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The 7th angel poured out his bowl into the air, and out of the temple came a loud voice from the throne saying, It is done.

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And it's interesting to note that this last bowl is poured into the air.

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Do we not have airwaves full of propaganda and hate filled agendas, disgusting pornography and worse? It makes sense when we view this verse in light of the rhetoric that's out there that's so twisted.

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Everything that God created and mandated is being perverted on our airwaves.

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Even our children are being highly indoctrinated to accept these perversions as normal and okay, verse 18.

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Then there came flashes of lightning, rumblings peels of thunder, and a severe earthquake.

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No earthquake like it has ever occurred since mankind has been on earth, so tremendous was the quake.

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And the end of the verse says, It is done.

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Just like when Jesus was on the cross and he took his last breath, he said, It is finished.

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John 1930 when he had received a drink, Jesus said, It is finished.

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And with that he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

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Now, right before Jesus comes again, now God says, It is done.

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And he's clearing the way to wipe out the evil so that Jesus can come back.

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Verses 19 to 21.

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The great cities split into three parts.

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Cities of nations collapsed.

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God remembered Babylon the Great and gave her the cup filled with wine, a fury of his wrath.

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Every island fled in the mountains could not be found from the sky.

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Huge hailstones, each weighing £100, fell on people, and they cursed God on account of the plague of hail, because it was so terrible.

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Matthew 27 51 52 reminds us that at the moment when Christ passed, he took his last breath.

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It says, at that moment the curtain of the temple was torn from top to bottom.

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The earth shook, the rocks split, and tombs broke open.

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The reference to this great city splitting into three parts points to the complete destruction of all governments and establishments that have been set up by man.

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It could be church, government, education, all of those institutions.

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None will be standing when God finishes anything that was used to reject Him, harm his people and corrupt others.

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Will be brought down, so also being brought down, or all of those nonsensical man made aid doctrines such as a godless science, the almighty medical and pharmaceutical regime, darwin's theory of evolution, abortion rights, gender equality, critical race theory, racism, and on and on and on.

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These institutions will be wiped out forever and ever.

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Amen.

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And not surprising at all, those still in opposition to God continue to say, we don't love God.

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We don't want to follow Him.

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Well.

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So your final truth bomb is god is in charge of his earth, and he alone has the right to take it down when he deems it time.

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And so your call to action is knowing he's in control.

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What is he urging you to do at this time? What is he urging you to do as time is nearing for all the destruction of evil? Who do you know who needs a strong dose of the truth of Jesus right now? So, to summarize this chapter, we saw the seven bold judgments poured out.

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We received a third beatitude, reminding us to stay away, and we saw the word great so many times.

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I saw six particular ones in verse nine great heat.

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Twelve great river 14.

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Great victory, great day of victory, 18.

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Great earthquake 19.

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A great city, 21.

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Great hail and plagues.

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But the word great reminded me of the hymn great is Thy Faithfulness.

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Great is Thy faithfulness.

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Morning by morning new mercies I see all I have needed thy hand hath provided.

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Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord unto me.

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So as difficult as this chapter appears to be, our God is great.

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He is the Almighty who rules the world and everything in it.

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He is sending His Son again, but knows he must first make this world a place where it is fitting for His Son to reign forever and ever.

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So imagine a world where injustice is no longer happening, where evil is absent.

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Jesus is coming back, just as he promised.

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And when he does, those of us who have stood with Him will enjoy a new world that we cannot even begin to fathom.

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So the summary sentence is god's judgment is just, and great is his faithfulness.

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Father god, thank you so much for how you continue to open Your Word so that we can understand this book of revelation.

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It is so clear, Father, and we have nothing to fear as we keep our eyes on you, Jesus, and it's in his name we pray.

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Amen.

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Be sure to visit my website, dr.

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Paulamcdonald.com.