In John’s vision, the seven bowls of God’s wrath are about to be poured out:
“Then I heard a loud voice from the temple telling the seven angels, ‘Go and pour out on the earth the seven bowls of the wrath of God.’ So the first angel went and poured out his bowl on the earth, and harmful and painful sores came upon the people who bore the mark of the beast and worshiped its image” (Rev 16:1-2).
The believers in Jesus who rejected the mark of the beast have been “promoted” by rapture to heaven with God the Father and God the Son, and are now watching from above. The earth is now populated only by those bearing the mark of the beast on their foreheads. With the coming of the first angel’s bowl of wrath, they are now covered with horrible painful sores, the effects of which must be overwhelming. But the wrath of God has only begun:
“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” (Rev 16:3).
A major portion of the food supply for these remaining rebels has just been killed, and finding food likely will quickly become much more difficult.
“The third angel poured out his bowl into the rivers and the springs of water, and they became blood. 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 have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and you have given them blood to drink. It is what they deserve!’ And I heard the altar saying, ‘Yes, Lord God the Almighty, true and just are your judgments’” (Rev 16:4-7)!
This third bowl offers cause for pause. We are seeing here Old Testament justice. We are seeing “an eye for an eye” (Leviticus 24:17) and “vengeance is mine” (Deuteronomy 32:35), brought on these sinners by godly “turnabout is fair play!”
We are seeing people who have made a conscious decision to take the bad fork in the road to disunity from God, rather than the good fork to perfect unity. They have not heeded the warnings from God, who truly wanted to save them through the blood of Christ, but it is now too late.
Coincidentally, as I write this, we are heading into Super Bowl LVI (56 for those of you who dislike Roman Numerals). But I love thinking about God’s Super Bowls, which are far more important than a football game!
Hurry back in a couple days for God’s Super Bowls 4 through 7 and see if you agree! Then enjoy the football game.