God will set all things right. He will gather His redeemed to Himself and vindicate the cries of His people for justice against evil. Today, W. Robert Godfrey looks to the coming day of judgment in the book of Revelation.
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Meet Today's Teacher:
W. Robert Godfrey is a Ligonier Ministries teaching fellow and chairman of Ligonier Ministries. He is president emeritus and professor emeritus of church history at Westminster Seminary California. He is the featured teacher for many Ligonier teaching series, including the six-part series A Survey of Church History. He is author of many books, including God’s Pattern for Creation, Reformation Sketches, and An Unexpected Journey.
Meet the Host:
Nathan W. Bingham is vice president of ministry engagement for Ligonier Ministries, executive producer and host of Renewing Your Mind, host of the Ask Ligonier podcast, and a graduate of Presbyterian Theological College in Melbourne, Australia. Nathan joined Ligonier in 2012 and lives in Central Florida with his wife and four children.
Renewing Your Mind is a donor-supported outreach of Ligonier Ministries. Explore all of our podcasts: https://www.ligonier.org/podcasts
We have to affirm the wisdom and justice of God in what He does. And tragically, if we start down the path of thinking that we are more loving than God is, we end up with a God who has no judgment at all. And that's what has happened in too much of the modern church. And we found ourselves in a mess. Throughout Scripture, a question is raised by God's people. Why do the wicked prosper, or at least seem to prosper? When persecuted, matted, or treated cruelly, we can know that God is just. And regardless of one's station in life, rich or poor, if they trust in Christ alone for salvation, they will be saved. And if they don't, the unbeliever will face the holy and righteous justice of God. This is the Wednesday edition of Renewing Your Mind. And today we're concluding three days in W. Rubbe of God-free series in the Book of Revelation. So I'd recommend taking the time to walk through all 24 messages when you request the entire series with your donation of any amount at renewingyourmind.org. But remember that this resource offer ends at midnight tonight to respond while there's still time. How should we think about the justice of God, and the future judgment that is coming for all those who don't take refuge in the Lord Jesus Christ? Here's Dr. God-free. Well, we're continuing to look at this fifth cycle, this very intense cycle of presenting aspects of what final judgment will actually look like. And it's curious how this develops. We have the fifth cycle that's very concentrated and intense and brief. And then a slightly longer reflection on that in the sixth cycle, and then quite an extended reflection on it in the seventh cycle. So the Lord, in effect, is giving us sort of the shorthand version here in the fifth cycle. And we've come to the fourth angelic appearance. It's a vision, John says, verse 14 of chapter 14, "I looked then and behold a white cloud and seated on the cloud, one like a son of man with a golden crown on his head, and a sharp sickle in his hand." Now we know this is the Lord Jesus and thrown in glory. "And another angel came out of the temple, calling with a loud voice to him who sat on the cloud, put in your sickle and reap, for the hour to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is fully ripe." So he who sat on the cloud swung his sickle across the earth and the earth was reaped. Now this seems very much an allusion to Mark chapter 4, where we find almost an exact parallel, Mark chapter 4 verse 26. And Jesus said, "The kingdom of God is as a man if he should scatter seed on the ground. He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows, he knows not how. The earth produces by itself first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. But when the grain is ripe at once, he puts in the sickle because the harvest has come. And so the picture of Jesus here in Revelation 14, I think, is of Jesus reaping his own harvest, the harvest of his own. This is Jesus taking his own out of the world before the final judgment falls on the world. So in effect, we're seeing two sickles here, the sickle in the hand of Jesus that reaps his own followers as a harvest. And then we go on to see another angel who came out of the temple in heaven, verse 17. He too had a sharp sickle. And another angel came out from the altar, the angel who has authority over the fire. And he called with a loud voice to the one who had the sharp sickle. Put in your sickle and gather the clusters from the vine of the earth for its grapes are ripe. And this now seems to be the judgment falling on the wicked, and this description is terrible indeed. So the angel swung his sickle across the earth and gathered the grape harvest of the earth and threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. The winepress is where the grapes will be crushed, and the juice of the grape flow out. Verse 20, "And the winepress was trodden outside the city, and blood flowed from the winepress as high as a horse's bridle for 1600 stadia." Here is the very condensed sense of judgment. Being crushed, being crushed by a heavy weight of the wrath of God, outside the city. I think this is an intentional parallel with the death of Jesus. Jesus died outside the city to bear the judgment of God for his own. And now those outside of Jesus must die outside the city to bear their own judgment. That's the picture here. And the crushing is so intense that the blood flows from the winepress as high as a horse's bridle. So what is that, about four feet high? Maybe. And 1600 stadia, that's about 184 miles. So this is literally the vision of a vast river of blood that is flowing. And in a sense it's evocative of the plague on Egypt of turning the Nile to blood. That was a judgment on Egypt, but it was a provisional judgment. This judgment now comes as the final judgment and a terrible thing it is. And again, the whole purpose of this cycle is to remind us that judgment will come upon the wicked. They were called to repentance. They've heard about the delivery of the saints, but they turn their back. They persevere in their idolatry and rejection of God, and this terrible judgment falls upon them. So now we turn in chapter 15 to yet another cycle, the sixth cycle. And we're going to find, as we've seen several times before, their interesting connections of one cycle with another. Themes are picked up, and what we're going to see as we go along is that in this sixth cycle, a number of times there will be illusions to the plagues on Egypt. So just as at the end of the fifth cycle, there was an illusion to the turning of the Nile to blood. So we'll go along here in the sixth cycle and see a number of illusions to different plagues as we look at them and as we move along. But also, in our chiastic reading of this book, the sixth cycle ought to correspond to the second cycle. The seven seals ought to correspond in some ways to the seven plagues of the sixth cycle. And what we're going to see is they do correspond because what we saw so powerfully in the second cycle was the prayers of the saints under the altar asking how long, oh Lord, until we are vindicated. And what we're going to see now in this sixth cycle is precisely those prayers being answered. This is the vindication of the saints. This is the judgment now falling on the wicked and thereby declaring the saints righteous. And the particular tie between the two cycles is that in cycle two, the prayers of the saints are represented as incense in golden bowls. And now we see the angels in cycle six coming out of the temple bearing what? Golden bowls. And into those golden bowls are put the plague of the wrath of God. And so those bowls having emptied their prayers before the altar of God now are filled with God's answer to those prayers, these plagues that are visited among the nations. And that's why I think my approach to the structure of this is working because all of these correspond, now everybody thinks there's work, so you should remain suspicious. But there really does seem to be a fulfillment here in cycle six of what had been introduced in cycle two. So let's follow it along. This is chapter 15 verse 1. Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and amazing, seven angels with seven plagues which are the last for with them the wrath of God is finished. And I saw what appeared to be a sea of glass mingled with fire and also those who had conquered the beast and its image and the number of its name standing beside the sea of glass with harps of God in their hands. So here we are back in the heavenly temple here are elements of description that we found in cycle two. And here are the redeemed who have overcome the beast and its image. And they're praising God and they sing the song of Moses the servant of God and the song of the lamb. And here again we see old and new testament woven together. Old and new testament are never set apart or in opposition in this book. They are together speaking the message of God and of the United redeemed both of the old covenant and the new. And here's this glorious song, great and amazing are your deeds, O Lord God the Almighty. Just and true are your ways, O King of the nations, who will not fear O Lord and glorify your name for you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship you for your righteous acts have been revealed. So here's the song of the redeemed, it's a song celebrating God's power, God's sovereignty over all the earth, God's success in bringing people to himself from every nation of the earth and God's insistence that they will worship him. And here's the picture of worship and of praise and a wonderful song here or at least a saying that is being offered to the Lord. And it's amazing how all the songs in the book of the Revelation sound like Psalms. And this one certainly does as well. Verse 5, "After this I looked, and the sanctuary of the tent of witness in heaven was opened, and out of the sanctuary came the seven angels with the seven plagues, clothed in pure white linen with golden sashes around their chests, and one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God who lives forever and ever. And the sanctuary was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power, and no one could enter the sanctuary until the seven plagues of the seven angels were finished. So they're coming out of the tent of witness out of the tabernacle in the wilderness, out of the place where God met with Moses and spoke with Moses. And so they're coming from the very presence of God with these golden bowls of plagues that will now be visited on the earth. So here is this very, very powerful picture of what is happening in heaven and how in response to this worship in heaven, there comes forth this judgment now upon the earth from the seven bowls of wrath. So chapter 16, where we look at the actual pouring out now of these bowls and how powerful again this image really is, then I heard a loud voice from the temple, that's the very voice of God, telling the seven angels go and pour out on the earth the seven bowls of the wrath of God. There's a commission here, kind of, almost parallel to the Great Commission. The Great Commission was go and tell about the salvation that God brings to all mankind who respond, and here is a kind of antithesis of the Great Commission. Go and take the judgment to those who would not listen and would not respond. So the first angel went and poured out his bowl on earth, and harmful and painful sores came upon the people who bore the mark of the beast and worshiped his image. So here's the first bowl, and it's a bowl of sores. This seems intentionally parallel to the plague of boils visited on Egypt, as we see that in Exodus chapter 9. One might say perhaps not the worst judgment that could fall on somebody, but clearly a painful and annoying judgment, and there's a certain irony in this judgment. Have you noticed that? These are people who were marked with the mark of the beast, and now God's going to mark them with a lot of other marks that are going to be far less pleasant, these sores that break out on them. And again, this is probably meant to be symbolic. We're probably not to look for a day of specific sores, but a judgment on people who preferred the mark of the beast to the mark of God, and now will be marked with God in a negative rather than in a positive way. That's what's being described for us here. Then verse 3 of chapter 16, the second angel poured out his bowl into the sea, and it became like the blood of a corpse, and every living thing died that was in the sea. So here is this pouring out of a plague upon the sea and turning the sea to blood, and here again we hear something of an echo of the turning the Nile to blood in Exodus chapter 7, but here the plague is more universal. It's not just one river in one nation, but now it's all the sea that is being condemned, and here at last death is being worked in this judgment so that everything in the sea dies. This is the final judgment, you know, in cycles two and three. We saw a judgment on a quarter of the sea and a judgment on a third of the sea. These were judgments in history, but now we have this final judgment that everything in the sea is put to death. Verse 4, the third angel poured out his bowl into the rivers in the springs of water, and they became blood, and now the attack is on the fresh water, the water necessary to sustain life on earth. And I heard the angel in charge of the waters say, "Just are you, O Holy One, who is and who was, for you brought these judgments. For they, that is those being judged, for they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and you have given them blood to drink. It is what they deserve." Wow, wow. If this makes you uncomfortable, that's okay. We're moderns, we're not bloodthirsty, most of us most of the time, unless we watch football maybe, but I mean that's a whole other question. We're not used to the kind of longing for judgment that we find frequently in the Bible, and then we have to ask ourselves, is that a failing in the Bible or is that a failing in us? That's a rhetorical question, because this is one of the great issues. Will God be just in his judgment? And it's almost as if John anticipated that because we go on in verse 7 and read, and I heard the altar saying, "Yes, Lord, God the Almighty, true, and just are your judgments." Now, when the altar says that, what does it mean? It means the souls under the altar that we saw in the second cycle. Those who were martyred for Jesus Christ, those who died for Him, those whose blood was shed, they're not sentimental about this. They think there ought to be a judgment for those who have rebelled against the judge of heaven and earth. There ought to be a judgment on those who have rejected the God who blessed them and gave them so many benefits in this life. And sometimes that is hard for us to contemplate because when we think of a God of that justice, we often think about our own sins. And then we think, can I find mercy before such a God? Or perhaps we think of family members and friends who don't know the Savior and we worry about them. And that's appropriate. We should pray for them. But this book reminds us that we don't have a right to mitigate the just judgment of God. We have to affirm the wisdom and justice of God in what He does. And tragically, if we start down the path of thinking that we are more loving than God is, we end up with a God who has no judgment at all. And that's what has happened in too much of the modern church. We are wiser than God. We are more loving than God. So we've corrected God's Word and we found ourselves in a mess. And as hard as this is to really redirect our feelings and our judgments, this is what this book is intended to help us do. And again, I'm not saying it's necessarily easy or what we necessarily immediately respond positively to. But I think part of the whole purpose of this book is to slow us down and make us think and make us reflect, make us re-evaluate and say, "All right, who's right? God or me? Should I be more sensitive to God's feelings as the offended creator or insist on my own feelings?" So here we have this challenge to us. And what we have to particularly meditate on, I think, is the insistence of Scripture, as hard as it is for us always to fully realize, is that the judgment is what they deserve. That's what's said here explicitly in verse 6. It is what they deserve. Again, I think part of our squeamishness is we don't want what we deserve. And what God says to the whole world is you don't have to have what you deserve if you take refuge in my son. But if you refuse my son, whom I've provided for sinners, what can you expect except the just judgment for sinners? And that's what this book is teaching us over and over again. The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and it was allowed to scorch people with fire. They were scorched by the fierce heat, and they cursed the name of God who had power over these plagues. They did not repent and give him glory. Now, this again is just reinforcing all of these points. I think, again, we shouldn't think primarily in terms of sequins, one judgment after another. This is just judgment falling on them, and this is different ways of describing the judgment falling on them. And the conclusion is what is so really crucial here. In spite of the judgments they saw and experienced and felt and suffered under, they cursed God. They cursed God, sort of like Job's counselors, right? But curse God and die if you're suffering. Well, it doesn't do any good to curse God, and they did not repent and give him glory. Now, who does this remind you of? It's intended to remind you of Pharaoh. That's exactly what happened with Pharaoh, right? He saw again and again and again the power of God, the splendor of God. The amazing thing is this is presented to us, and it's a symbol, so we have to be careful with what we do. But this is presented to us really as final judgment falling slowly, so there's still time to repent. And even though that is true, there is no positive response here. There is no turning to God. There is no recognizing of any fault. Far from seeking God, they cursed God. That seems so often the way of the world. Those who are radically self-centered think if anything goes wrong with them, the world's out of whack. How could this happen to me? Now that they've been reading the papers and watching television and seeing it happen to everybody else around the world, and that didn't bother them. But if it happens to me, how can that be right? Oh, we understand that, don't we? I mean, we're inevitably more concerned about ourselves and our immediate surroundings than about the world that is so big, but it's a fault with us. I had a professor once who said, "True Christianity is being able to read statistics with sympathy." I'm not sure that's a full definition of true Christianity, but there's a measure of truth to that. It's terrible to read all the time about people being shot and not feel a thing about it, and then suddenly if it's down the block, as it was for us in California a couple of weeks ago, suddenly it has a whole new horror to it. And we know that's just understandable. We can't bear infinite sorrow and weight and grief, but does suffering drive us to God or away from Him? This says for these people, suffering drives them away from God, not to Him, and that's the tragedy. And for God's people, our suffering should drive us closer and closer to God. That was W. Robert Godfrey, concluding a three-day study in the book of Revelation on this Wednesday edition of Renewing Your Mind. If you'd like to work through the entire book of Revelation, today is the final day to request his 24-message study, Blessed Hope, with your donation of any amount at renewingyourmind.org, or when you call us at 800-435-4343. Along with the DVD edition, you'll have streaming access in the free League in Your App, and you'll have lifetime access to the Digital Study Guide, making it even easier to use this for an adult Sunday school class, or in your small group Bible study. Give your gift of any amount today when you click the link in the podcast show notes or when you visit renewingyourmind.org. Thank you for your generosity, and remember that this offer ends at midnight. From Revelation to the Psalms, that's where Dr. Godfrey will be taking us tomorrow here on Renewing Your Mind. [MUSIC PLAYING] (gentle music)
