Vision of the Ages: The Seven Bowls Part 1

The Final Judgement of the World

Revelation 15.1-19.5

We now come to the final cycle of visions in the book of Revelation. This cycle is structured by the image of seven bowls full of the wrath of God that is poured out on the world. After these bowls of wrath are poured out we are then given a more detailed view of the World Order, which is called Babylon, and why God’s wrath is being directed against it.

In the last cycle, we were introduced to the enemies of Christ and His Church. There is the ultimate enemy, which is the Dragon, or Satan, and two beasts that Satan uses to wage war on the Saints in the earth. Another adversary, Babylon, is mentioned in the last cycle but becomes the focus of the final cycle of visions. The final section of Revelation can be divided into two parts: the first part is the judgment of Babylon in 15.1-19.5. The second part is 19.6-22.5, which depicts several different perspectives of the end of the world.

In the previous section, when the enemies of Christ and His people are revealed, the cosmic enemies are shown first because these are the ultimate source of the opposition. The earthly or human part of the opposition is shown last. But when the enemies are judged the order is reversed and the human opposition from the World Order, or Babylon, is shown first. There is a practical reason for this reversed order in the final cycle: Babylon, or the wicked World Order, is the enemy by which the saints in the earth have been directly attacked. Opposition from the World is opposition from other people around us, which is quite close and personal. So, it is a point of encouragement to the people of God to see the judgment of the World Order first, since this has been the most direct, though not the ultimate, source of opposition. In the middle of the conflict, it is often difficult for us to see that the outcome of the war has already been decided. Sometimes it looks like the World has the upper hand and that the saints are losers. But God has not forgotten how the World has treated His people.

The vision that is depicted by the seven bowls of wrath helps us understand something about the nature of the World Order, or Babylon, and why God’s wrath is going to destroy it completely. If we understand the meaning of this vision we will also see the condition of our own hearts in relation to the World.

The Nature of the World

In this vision, the World is called Babylon:

Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the judgment of the great prostitute who is seated on many waters, with whom the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality, and with the wine of whose sexual immorality the dwellers on earth have become drunk.” And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness, and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was full of blasphemous names, and it had seven heads and ten horns. The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her sexual immorality. And on her forehead, was written a name of mystery: “Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes and of earth's abominations” (Rev. 17.1-5)

Babylon was a very real kingdom or empire that once dominated the ancient world, including the people of Israel. It was Babylon that carried the kingdom of Judah into captivity, as announced by God’s prophets, especially the prophet Jeremiah:

Flee from the midst of Babylon; let everyone save his life! Be not cut off in her punishment, for this is the time of the Lord's vengeance, the repayment he is rendering her. Babylon was a golden cup in the Lord's hand, making all the earth drunken; the nations drank of her wine therefore the nations went mad. Suddenly Babylon has fallen and been broken; wail for her! Take balm for her pain; perhaps she may be healed. We would have healed Babylon, but she was not healed. Forsake her, and let us go each to his own country, for her judgment has reached up to heaven and has been lifted up even to the skies. (Jer. 51.6-9).

God promised that Babylon would fall and that the people of Judah would return to Jerusalem to rebuild the city of God.

But all of that was ancient history by the time the Apostle John was on the Isle of Patmos writing the book of Revelation. The churches John wrote letters to were under the thumb of the Roman Empire. Now, Rome is ancient history for us. So, what does Babylon have to do with the Church today? Whatever the symbol of Babylon is referring to, it must be something relevant to the church in every place and every Age.

This section of Revelation is especially concerned with those things that will happen at the end of the world. Therefore, the symbolic Babylon must be something still with us today and will be with us until Jesus comes. Some interpreters of the book of Revelation believe that Babylon is a reference to Rome and the judgment of that evil empire that so violently persecuted the early Church. But this interpretation fails to do justice to the universal scope of this vision. Rome may have been the Babylon in John’s time, but there would be a Babylon that the people of God would have to continually face before the end comes.

What is seen in the visions here in Revelation is an image of the World, or worldliness. The World in this sense is not the created world of nature. This term refers to the world of humanity in a state of alienation and rebellion against God. Satan is the god of this World, and those who are a part of this evil system unwittingly serve the will of Satan rather than the will of God. Christians have been delivered from the evil system and brought into the Kingdom of God. The World system is marked by “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life” (1 John 2.15-17). In Revelation, the World system is called “Babylon” as a kind of theological shorthand. And in these visions, we see a glimpse of its nature so that the people of God know the challenges they are facing. Babylon is an enemy just like the Dragon and the Beasts.

Babylon is pictured in two ways in the vision: as a city and as a prostitute.

 

Babylon: The City of Man

Ancient Babylon was a city that was pagan and idolatrous. It was in every way a contrast to the city of Jerusalem, which was the only city on earth associated with the living God. God’s presence was represented in Jerusalem by the Temple, but there was no temple to Jehovah in Babylon. The city of Jerusalem came to represent the presence of God with His chosen people. Jerusalem was the City of God. In contrast, Babylon represents the City of Man. The City of Man could have other names as well: Babel, Sodom, and Egypt could also represent the idolatrous, pagan world that is the enemy of God and His people. We could say that the whole story of the Bible is a tale of two cities: The City of Man versus the City of God. This contrast between these two cities, or societies of people, is made very clear in the visions of Revelation. In this cycle, we have the vision of the wickedness and the judgment of Babylon, the City of Man, in stark contrast to the glory of the City of God, which is the New Jerusalem. These cities represent people, not places. These are groups of people who together form two different kinds of societies.

At the present, these two cities co-exist in the world. But this will not always be the case. One of these cities is destined for destruction and at the end of time, these two groups will be eternally separated from each other. Each person belongs to one city or the other. We want to make sure we are in the right city because the outcome of this struggle has already been determined.

The people of God had to spend some time in exile and captivity in Babylon. This is the very same situation for God’s people today: we are also in a kind of exile in the world. We are surrounded by paganism and idolatry. We are IN Babylon, but we are not OF Babylon. Babylon represents a major challenge to the faith of God’s people. We must be faithful while in Babylon, trusting that God will care for us and eventually deliver us. The prophets gave hope to the people of Judah that they would eventually come out of captivity in Babylon and return to the Promised Land. In the same way, the people of God in the world have the hope of salvation and of entering the New Creation. But during our time in Babylon, we must resist the paganism that is all around us, much like Daniel and his friends had to do. Babylon is hostile to the people of God and we are not promised an easy time. We do not fit in with the World’s godless agenda and they will not appreciate the presence of people with another allegiance. Jesus warned His disciples that the World would hate them because it hated Him and His Father. Becoming a Christian is kind of like joining a resistance movement. Christians are resisting and often protesting the ways of Babylon all the while calling people to join us and find something better than what this present, evil World offers us. God has given us an alternative to Babylon.

 

Babylon: The Great Prostitute

There is another image for the World here in Revelation, and it is somewhat shocking and difficult: The World is a great prostitute. She is pictured as a woman richly and seductively dressed, enticing potential lovers. The Prostitute promises intoxicating pleasure to her lovers and her appeal has been very successful. The Prostitute represents yet another strategy Satan has for recruiting the world to join his movement and oppose the people of God. The allure of worldly pleasures is a seductive offer than many people are not able to resist. The Devil was even bold enough to tempt Jesus by showing Him “all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.” Jesus was not fooled by this offer, but many men take the bait and are snared by the Prostitute. The woman is a PROSTITUTE and that means her pleasures only come at a price. The price for her affection is your soul. You cannot serve God and jump in bed with the Prostitute. Jesus warned us that we cannot serve two masters: we must choose between God and the unrighteous mammon of this world. There are those people who hear the good news about the Kingdom of God, but they are too distracted by “the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches.” It is a serious warning for those of us who live in the affluent West. Here in America, the seduction of the Prostitute has been one of Satan’s most effective strategies for recruiting servants. The elusive “American Dream” is nothing more than the siren call of the Prostitute dressed up in modern clothes.

These images are in Scripture to teach us even deeper, spiritual truths about our relationship to God. The World has no covenant relationship with God, which is why she is called a Prostitute. A Prostitute is not in a covenant relationship with a single spouse but will give her affection to any and every lover who comes along. Such is the idolatry of the world and its many spiritual lovers.

In stark contrast to the Prostitute is the Bride, the wife of the Lamb. There is another group of people in the world who are in covenant with God and are promised in marriage to Christ at the end of the Age. The Prostitute is promiscuous and defiled. The Bride is faithful and pure, which is why her garments are white. Until the Bridegroom comes, and the Marriage Feast begins, the Bride is to remain faithful to her Beloved and keep herself pure for Him alone. Just like a bride wants to make herself as beautiful as she can for her bridegroom on their wedding day, the Church is preparing to meet Christ and live with Him forever when He comes again. This is the whole goal of the Christian life. The Apostle Paul said to one of his churches: “I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ.” This means total devotion is required or there can be no relationship at all. There must be marriage faithfulness; there can be no spiritual promiscuity. God is jealous for the love of His people. The prophets had warned Israel about the dangers of spiritual adultery. Behind this image in Revelation is the explicit parable in Ezekiel about Oholah and Oholibah. These two girls represented the people of Israel and Judah who were in covenant with God yet lusted after other lovers and become defiled, unfaithful whores (See Ezek. 23). “They played the whore in Egypt; they played the whore in their youth.” This is how God views the unfaithfulness of His people!

This vision in Revelation serves as a warning both to churches and individual Christians who are being tempted by the spirit of worldliness. It seems that one of the seven churches of Asia had been seduced by worldliness. The Church at Laodicea was lukewarm about its relationship to Christ but said to itself “I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing.” Such is the complacent attitude of those under the spell of Babylon’s seduction. Unfortunately, the Church has often been seduced by worldliness. This is primarily how Satan has assaulted the Church in the Western World. We have not felt the hard hands of bloody persecution. Instead, we have felt the soft flesh of the Prostitute. When Martin Luther looked at the Church in his time, he wrote against its worldliness and corruption and called it Babylon. But the Church in every Age must identify the infiltration of Babylon. No Church is immune to the seduction of worldliness. And that is why the Scriptures contain such exhortations as: “love not the world, neither anything in the world.” The World is to the Church what Potiphar’s wife was to Joseph. In our hearts, we must run away from her deadly embrace.

The Wrath of God against the World

There are many similarities between this cycle of the seven bowls and the previous cycle of the seven trumpets. Both cycles depict God’s wrath against the World. Like the previous cycle, the judgments echo the story of the Exodus and the plagues that God sent on Egypt. But the previous cycle depicted only partial judgments. The seven bowls depict the fullness of God’s wrath. Here we are seeing the final judgment of the World Order and its ultimate collapse. Everything culminates with the pouring out of the seventh bowl of wrath:

The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple, from the throne, saying, “It is done!” And there were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, and a great earthquake such as there had never been since man was on the earth, so great was that earthquake. The great city was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell, and God remembered Babylon the great, to make her drain the cup of the wine of the fury of his wrath (Rev. 16.17-19)

God’s wrath is currently being revealed from heaven against the wickedness of the World Order. But the World endures. One of the most important aspects of the book of Revelation is the “now and the not yet” of the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God has broken into human history. The Christ has been exalted into Heaven. And yet, the Old Order is still here. Satan and his Kingdom of Darkness is still powerful in the world. There would be a period when the two kingdoms are in the world together, just like the field in Jesus’ parable that had wheat and tares growing up at the same time. The Jews expected the coming of the Kingdom of God would mean the immediate removal of evil. They expected that the evil Age would abruptly end and the Kingdom would begin. This is reflected even in the preaching of John the Baptist who told the Jews: “His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” But Jesus did not do that. Not yet. What really has happened is an overlapping of two Ages. The final Day of Wrath has been delayed. But the book of Revelation shows us that it is coming.

God sent prophets to Israel who proclaimed that a Day of Wrath was going to come on the world. This “Day of the Lord” would be a cataclysmic event for all the nations and would even impact the created order. God is going to bring all the nations of the world together and confront them and punish them for their wickedness and rebellion. At times it seems like the wicked World is having its own way, ignoring God and His law, and persecuting His people. But God is going to have His Day and will call the world to account for its deeds. There are several prophetic oracles about the coming Day of the Lord:

“Behold, the day of the Lord comes, cruel, with wrath and fierce anger, to make the land a desolation and to destroy its sinners from it (Isa 13.9)”.

“That day is the day of the Lord God of hosts, a day of vengeance, to avenge himself on his foes” (Jer. 46.10).

“Wail, ‘Alas for the day!’ For the day is near, the day of the Lord is near; it will be a day of clouds, a time of doom for the nations” (Ezek. 30.2-3).

“Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them on the day of the wrath of the Lord. In the fire of his jealousy, all the earth shall be consumed; for a full and sudden end he will make of all the inhabitants of the earth” (Zeph. 1.14-18).

The book of Revelation is simply showing what the prophets already foretold. So, we should not think that wrath is just an Old Testament idea. In the book of Romans, which is the most extensive exposition of the Gospel in the New Testament, the Apostle Paul wrote: “But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed” (Rom. 2.5). The people who persist in wickedness and rebellion against God are storing up wrath for themselves on the Day of the Lord. The wrath of God is like water rising behind a dam that will eventually burst through and flood the world. The Gospel warns us about this wrath that is coming and urges repentance. God is being patient with mankind. But God’s patience should not be confused with tolerance.

God is always opposed to what is evil. Those who object to God’s wrath need to understand that God is opposed to evil because He is good! If God is good then He must be opposed to everything and everyone that is evil. The book of Revelation is making it clear that the wrath of God against the world order is right. The World deserves wrath because it is corrupt and evil to the core. God’s judgment of it is good, righteous and deserved.

The World has gathered together to oppose God and His Christ. Humanity declared war on God! God is not going to let the challenge to His glory and sovereignty go unanswered. The World’s rebellion is going to be crushed. Obviously, this is not something difficult for the Lord to do. God spoke the world into existence and another command from Him can easily unmake it. It is always wrong for us to fear men. God is the one we should fear. The wrath of Almighty God is the most terrifying force in the universe. The fact that the World does not fear the Lord and is willing to rebel against Him is a testimony to the power of sin in the human heart. The World is so set against God, even the plagues described in this vision do not bring about any change or repentance.

The Dragon launched the original rebellion against God and the World has joined in this cosmic rebellion. The World Order deserves the same treatment as the Devil because it has become his ally. Rather than worshiping God, the World has chosen to worship the Dragon and the Beast. If the Dragon and the Beast deserve the wrath of God, then so does the World. God is going to crush Satan’s kingdom and every other kingdom that aligns itself with him. There is no neutral ground in this cosmic conflict.

The strategy of the Dragon was to pursue and persecute the people of God. Satan used the people of the World to do his dirty work of opposing the Saints. Without any just cause, the World has persecuted and even slaughtered the people of God. The blood of God’s saints, prophets, and martyrs cries out for justice, just as the blood of Abel did at the beginning. God has not forgotten the blood of his people who have been killed by the wicked World. There will be a Day of Vengeance when God will repay the World for how it treated His people. At the present, we pray for those who persecute us. But when the Day of the Lord comes, the time for pity and compassion for the ungodly will be over.

There is an emphasis on love and tolerance in this culture of ours. People want to hear about love and acceptance, not judgment and destruction. But warnings about wrath abound in Scripture and we cannot ignore this reality. The Gospel is good news because we understand the reality of God’s wrath and that there is a way of salvation from its destruction.

The end of the world will be a cosmic reenactment of the Exodus: like ancient Egypt, the World Order will fall apart under the wrath of Almighty God. But there will be a group of people protected from the judgments who will sing a song of deliverance on that Day of Wrath just like Israel did at the Red Sea! The people of God have no reason to fear the end of the world or the wrath of God because they are kept safe by the blood of the Lamb, just as Israel was saved from death by the Passover blood of the lamb upon their doorposts. While there is still time before the final judgment, we are to make the necessary preparations for that Day.

The Destruction of the World

The language in this vision is in the present tense: Babylon IS fallen! It is as if these things have already happened. God is sovereign and He has decreed that these things will happen. The future is not in doubt.

The World will not change. Jesus did not come to change the World and the Church is not going to change the World. Not even these plagues can bring about a change in the World. Salvation is about coming OUT of Babylon “Come out of her, my people, lest you take part in her sins, lest you share in her plagues.” The Gospel calls us to leave the World Order and join the Kingdom of God, which is the only kingdom that will be left standing at the End. Babylon itself is destined for destruction.

Reasons for the Destruction of the World

In this vision, there are several reasons given for Babylon’s destruction and then we get to hear the reactions of two different groups of people to the destruction of the World Order. We are not left to wonder why God is judging the World. There can be no doubt about the World’s corruption and the righteousness of God in judging the great Prostitute. We are being assured here in this vision that God has not forgotten the evil of the World Order, though it sometimes appears to us that Evil is winning the fight. God will have the last word and justice will be done on the wicked World.

This vision serves as a source of comfort and encouragement for the people of God who often suffer in the world. The People of God do not suffer in vain. We must also remember in the light of these revelations that we must not take vengeance for ourselves when the world mistreats us. “Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord’” (Rom. 12.19). God’s people are known as peacemakers in the world.

People who continue to sin against the Lord will pay a terrible price for their disobedience. Let us be clear about this. People will suffer the wrath of God for the wicked things that they did. The World will be judged according to its works. “Pay her back as she herself has paid back others, and repay her double for her deeds; mix a double portion for her in the cup she mixed.” If we want to be a part of the Kingdom of God our works must change. Everyone is sowing something by their works and eventually, we will have to reap what we have sown in this life. There is nothing in Scripture that gives the hope of salvation and eternal life to people who persist in willful disobedience.

The World Order has always lifted itself up against the knowledge of God and sought to assert its own agenda over the will of the Lord. We can trace this all the way back to the ancient Tower of Babel when men gathered together to build the prototype of the City of Man to make a name for themselves. The World Order has no interest in the glory of God but always seek their own glory. “As she glorified herself and lived in luxury, so give her a like measure of torment and mourning.” Furthermore, the World Order has always sought to be independent of God, as if they are in control of their own destiny. There is a kind of arrogant self-assurance that undergirds the World Order as if they themselves are gods rather than mortal men. Eventually, God is going to permanently bring down the lofty pride of life and humble those who think they can live without God and in defiance of His will.

It is one thing to be corrupt. But it is quite another thing in the eyes of God to actively try to corrupt others and pull them down into ruin. The Prostitute ruins men’s lives and damns their souls. For this reason alone, she deserves to be destroyed. “For all nations have drunk the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality, and the kings of the earth have committed immorality with her.” There is an image of the corrupting influence of the World in the book of Proverbs:

The woman Folly is loud; she is seductive and knows nothing. She sits at the door of her house; she takes a seat on the highest places of the town, calling to those who pass by, who are going straight on their way, “Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!” And to him who lacks sense she says, “Stolen water is sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant.” But he does not know that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of Sheol (Prov. 9.13-18).

Folly, the opposite of Divine Wisdom, is like a prostitute who lures fools into her bed. She promises pleasure but only brings death. Like the Prostitute that she is, the wicked World Order has actively sought her lovers and lured them to their destruction. The World appears to offer men every advantage and pleasure but it is really causing harm to humanity and taking them away from what is truly good. Because of her corrupting influence, God will destroy her, along with all her corrupted lovers.

 

Reactions to the World’s Destruction

These sections in Revelation are patterned closely after passages from the Old Testament prophets responding to the judgment of God on pagan cities of the ancient world that harassed Israel and were especially wicked. The ancient city of Tyre was going to be overthrown and the prophet Ezekiel depicts the lamentations of the mariners who had grown wealthy from her trade:

At the sound of the cry of your pilots the countryside shakes, and down from their ships come all who handle the oar. The mariners and all the pilots of the sea stand on the land and shout aloud over you and cry out bitterly. They cast dust on their heads and wallow in ashes; they make themselves bald for you and put sackcloth on their waist, and they weep over you in bitterness of soul, with bitter mourning. In their wailing they raise a lamentation for you and lament over you: ‘Who is like Tyre, like one destroyed in the midst of the sea?’ (Ezek. 27.28-32)

There are those who mourn the fall of Babylon because they had benefitted personally from her. The merchants and rulers of the earth grew wealthy and indulgent on her luxuries, despite her wickedness: “And the kings of the earth, who committed sexual immorality and lived in luxury with her, will weep and wail over her when they see the smoke of her burning.” “And the merchants of the earth weep and mourn for her, since no one buys their cargo anymore.” The love of money and all the pleasures that it buys was the besetting sin of the World Order. It is no wonder Jesus warned His disciples about the dangers of materialism: “Do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things”. If you want to test how much of a hold Babylon has on your heart, you can ask yourself how devastated you would be if you lost all your wealth and material possessions. “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

But those who have suffered under Babylon’s rule will rejoice when they see it fall. The saints have no sentimental feelings for the World and will be glad to see it gone. We are looking forward to the new heavens and a new earth wherein dwells righteousness. Because we have already made our exit from Babylon in our hearts, we will be able to merge with the Eternal Order and acknowledge that God’s judgments are just and true.