Louie Giglio - Repent!
Today, we’ve worked our way to Revelation 15, and I’d love for us to read this chapter and just work our way through where we are today. Welcome back to Revelation by the way, we’re jumping in at this exciting juncture, «Seven Angels with Seven Plagues». «I saw», key word in all of Revelation for us, «I saw in Heaven another great and marvelous sign, seven angels with the seven last plagues. Last because with them God’s wrath is completed. And I saw what looked like a sea of glass,» What looked like a sea of glass, «Mixed with fire and, standing beside the sea, those who had been victorious over the beast and his image and over the number of his name. They held harps given them by God and sang the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb».
Now, just a small note here, they overcame, they persevered. When the power of Satan through the structure of government led by the face and voice of this powerful, enemy-infused, influential person, the Anti-Christ, persecuted the name of God and the people of God they endured. And for that they were given harps by God so that then they could proclaim the one who had given them the ability to endure through it all. And they sang this song, «Great and marvelous are your deeds, Lord God Almighty. Just and true are your ways, you are King of the ages. Who will not fear you, O Lord, and bring glory to your name»?
Now, I just wanna stop for a moment and I want us to focus and think about that question, «Who will not fear you, O Lord, and bring glory to your name»? We’re gonna see who will not fear Him and will not bring glory to His name. «For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous acts have been revealed.' After this I looked, and in Heaven the temple, that is the tabernacle of the testimony, was opened,» Now, this phrase we’re gonna come back to it today but the tabernacle of the testimony. This is the picture of the moral fortitude of God. The tabernacle, the place where we meet with God, but the testimony is referencing back to the laws of God.
Laws that are not canceled out by the way, because we’re living in grace with Christ. He didn’t come to do away and abolish the law, He came to fulfill the law. But that moral fiber of God that was in the ten commandments that still exists today and it will forever because that is the character and the nature of God to be holy and to reveal His righteous acts. So, «I looked and the temple,» now described as the tabernacle of the testimony, «Was opened and out of the temple came the seven angels with the seven plagues. They were dressed in clean, shining linen, wore golden sashes around their chest. And then, one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls filled with the wrath of God, who lives for ever and ever. And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from His power, and no one could enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were completed».
But what is happening here is this is the final unfolding of the fullness of the wrath of God. Now, these are concepts that people struggle with inside the framework of Christianity, «How can this loving God, this gracious God, this merciful God, how can He be so full of wrath»? Well, the wrath of God simply is the holiness of God moving towards evil. And this is the reality of what is happening right now in the world. Leon Morris says, «The wrath of God is God’s strong and settled opposition to all that is evil, arising out of God’s very nature». «I looked and the temple,» that is the tabernacle of the testimony, «Was opened». And when it was opened the fullness of God’s wrath appears. We see when we move to Revelation 16, «The Seven Bowls». «And 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.'»
Now, a lot of people who are students of Revelation believe that these seven bowls are connected to the seven trumpets that we saw and connected to the seven seals that we saw. And you’ll see today that connection. The first poured his out on the land, same with the trumpets. The second poured his out on the sea, same with the trumpet. The next one on the rivers and springs, same as the trumpets. And as you move through it’s possible that were looking at seven things from a different facet and we’re seeing them in progressive ways. In the seals a third of things were destroyed, in the trumpets half things were destroyed, and now we’re about to see the fullness, 100% devastation of the wrath of God coming against all that is evil.
«The first angel went and poured out his bowl on the land, and ugly, painful sores broke out on the people who had the mark of the beast and worshiped his image. The second angel poured out his bowl on the sea, and it turned into blood like that of a dead person, and every living thing in the sea died. The third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and springs of water, and they became blood. Then I heard the angel in charge of the waters say, 'You are just in these judgments, O Holy One, you who are and who were. For they have shed the blood of your saint and prophets, and you have given them blood to drink as they deserve.'»
Now, there is no spite in this, this is just reality. There is no angst in this, there is no human will in this, this is just a statement of reality. «You are just in these judgements». Why? Because you’re the Holy One. You’re not doing this, they did this, I did this, we did this. You’re not the one devising this, you’re Holy God, and you’ve invited us into your holy ways and because we have refused to move into your holy ways we’re now getting what we deserve. Christ came into the equation and He stood in the way of the wrath of God for us to put our faith in Him. But for those who have no shield and no covering in Christ, God forbid, the fullness of the wrath of God is coming. All of it is coming. And, God isn’t to be called into question in this because He’s just in these judgments. The one who was and who is, why? «For these people they shed the blood of your saints and they shed the blood of your prophets».
They took the people of God and they killed them. And He’s saying now, «You want their blood, you get it, and you’re gonna drink just as you deserve». Make no mistake, there is a reckoning coming for everyone. «And I heard the altar respond, 'Yes, Lord God Almighty, true and just are your judgments.'» The one thing we can count on as the Revelation is open to us is that everything that happens is going to be true and just. No one is gonna go, «Well, that didn’t seem fair. Well, that didn’t seem right. Well, that doesn’t add up». Everything when it is opened to full understanding is going to be true and just. You know, we want justice on this earth. We’ve come through tumultuous years in our nation where we called out for justice.
How did we do that? You don’t pull every single person that’s marching in a street or taking a stand and say, «Why are you here today»? All the people are there because there’s something in humanity that says there is a moral standard. And I want to call us up to that standard, that’s why I’m here today, that’s what really was in the heart of every person, right? All of us who are calling for justice are just echoing the fact that there is a just One. And, that justice is gonna be in full force once Satan and the political powers that he manipulates and the Anti-Christ, who he exalts, try to destroy the way of Christ, the just One will appear.
«The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and the sun was given power to scorch people with fire. They were seared by the intense heat and they cursed the name of God, who had control over these plagues, but they refused to repent and glorify Him». Which is ultimately what repentance is, it’s turning my life around. That word means to change my mind or to change my way, to change my way of life, to change my way of thinking, to change my direction from a non-God glorifying way to a God glorifying way, that’s what repent means. And even though these people were scorched by the sun, they refused to repent and to glorify Him. Now, whether we’re living in the end times or not, you start to add it up and think, «I don’t know, I can see a scenario where people are being scorched by the sun. I can see that on the horizon right now». Maybe this is more real than we want to believe.
«The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and his kingdom was plunged into darkness. Men gnawed their tongues in agony and cursed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, but they refused to repent of what they had done. The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up to prepare the way for the kings from the East». Here’s the Euphrates River. You got it now? Awesome. And you can kinda see what’s going on here. Obviously, or maybe not so obviously, this is Israel and Israel is the center point of this Revelation unfolding. The river you can see running through Turkey, Syria, and Iraq. And the river is substantial, except for now it’s drying up and the Iraqi ministry of water projects that the Euphrates River will be completely dried up by 2040, at the rate it’s going. So, that what? So, that kings from the east, which is over here, can come.
Who’s coming? Not sure. You got Iran, you’ve got Russia coming down, you’ve got enemies, and somehow they’re coming… when the river dries up. And the river is drying up right before our very eyes. So Revelation, to go back to chapter 16, is not some random text, it is God’s word happening in real time. The great river Euphrates and its water was dried up to prepare the way for kings from the east. «Then I saw three evil spirits that looked like frogs. 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». So, the dragon, the system, and the Anti-Christ now all have these frogs coming out of their mouths. And, «They’re spirits of demons performing miraculous signs and they go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them for the great battle on the great day of God Almighty».
Now, this is getting intense, right about here. And so, Jesus appears and speaks into the story, «Behold, I come like a thief. Blessed is he who stays awake and keeps his clothes with him so that he may not go naked and be shamefully exposed.' Then they gathered the kings together to the place that is in Hebrew called Armageddon. The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and out of the temple came a loud voice from the throne, saying, 'It is done! ' Then there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder and a severe earthquake. No earthquake like it has ever occurred since man has been on earth, so tremendous was the quake. The great city split into three parts, and the cities of the nations collapsed. God remembered Babylon the Great,» we’ll see this in the next chapter, «And gave her the cup filled with the wine of the fury of His wrath. Every island fled away…»
That to me sounds like waters rose, «And the mountains could not be found. From the sky huge hailstones of about a hundred pounds each fell upon men and they did not repent, instead they cursed God on account of the plague of hail, because the plague was so terrible». They’re getting what they deserve. We’re getting what we deserve and yet they refused to repent. They refused to repent. They could still repent. The fullness of the fury of the wrath of God is being poured out, seven bowls, the completeness of the wrath of God. This is it, all the wrath of God is now poured out and in the midst there’s still time to repent, but they refused to repent. Now, I just wanna make sure we’re all on the same page here. We moved into a place in life, where in some minds becoming a Christian has been reduced to saying a prayer, and we even do that at Passion City Church.
Do you wanna put your faith in the finished work of Jesus? That might happen today, if you do, here’s how, call on Jesus, tell Him that you wanna confess your sin, receive from Him the thing that He has done to bring you mercy. We lead people in that prayer, but I want you to understand it’s not necessarily the end in that moment. In fact, it’s not the end in that moment at all, not necessarily. Well, how do we get there? Well, we got to that prayer moment by Romans 10, «That if you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord.'» Not confess with your mouth, by the way, «I wanna become a Christian». Not confess with your mouth, «I need help». Not confess with your mouth, «I believe that you died and were buried and rose from the dead». No, I’m confessing that Jesus is Lord. That means I’m turning from anything that isn’t Lord to Lord. «And if you believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart you believe and are justified, it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved».
So, yes you can become alive in Christ by believing in your heart and confessing something with your mouth. But make no mistake, we cannot reduce becoming a Christian to inviting Jesus into our heart. «Oh, I’m deciding to accept Jesus». Well, that’s a great framework to come fully to Jesus and turn away from everything that is not Jesus to follow Jesus. That’s why Jesus was preaching, «Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is near». Change your way of thinking. Strong’s adds to this definition by saying, «Change the inner man, particularly with reference to acceptance of the will of God». In other words, following Jesus is about turning away from everything but Jesus. And this is the invitation that He’s giving to you and me today, repent. It’s interesting to me that in this chapter the key word that we see down here at the end is, as the seventh bowl is poured into the air, a loud voice came out of the temple from the throne and it said, «It is done».
The wrath is done. We see in chapter 15, if we could just dial back for a moment, «These are the last plagues, last because with them God’s wrath is complete». And then, we see down at the end, «No one could enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were completed». Now, this word completed and complete comes from the same root word as «Tetelestai», which is the word Jesus spoke on the cross when He said, «It is finished». One Greek word, three English words, «It is finished». What is finished? The price has been paid. The exchange has been made. A sufficient sacrifice has been offered so that a way can be made for people to enter into the presence of a Holy God. In that moment when Jesus said, «It is finished,» the veil in the temple was torn in two from top to bottom, from Heaven to earth.
A way was made for sinful man to enter into the holy place of God. It is finished. Even you can enter into the Holy place of God through the finished work of Jesus. But in this context, when it says, «It is finished,» the door is opened from the temple of the righteous tabernacle of the testimony and the moral fiber of God, in full, comes out on all evil. The only gospel that mentions that Jesus said, «It is finished,» from the cross is John’s gospel. Who in the Spirit on the Lord’s day is caught up into Heaven and hears out of the temple, «It is done». He instantly makes the connection. He instantly knows I’ve heard that somewhere before. «I know that word, and I know the weight of that».
John, he recorded it is finished from the mouth of Jesus. To be chosen by God decades later in his life, now in his 80's, persecuted for his faith, imprisoned in a rock quarry on Patmos he hears that again, «It is done». It is done. And, the message today is, which one of the it is finished are you living under? Because you will live under one, the finished work of Jesus, or the other, the finished wrath of God. It’s God’s desire that you would have mercy. You say, «Louie, this sounds terrible, this seven bowls of wrath». It is terrible. And, God isn’t necessarily providing a way out as much as, please hear this, as He’s providing a way in. He’s providing a way into the shelter that is Jesus, into the life that is Jesus. Darrell Johnson said, «There is no refuge from the judging God, but there is refuge in the judging God».
2 Peter 3:8 and 9, «Beloved do not let this one thing escape your notice,» Peter writing about these very things that we’re seeing in the Revelation today. «With the Lord a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. But is patient with you not wanting anyone to perish but everyone to come to repentance». Spurgeon says, «I always hear of the person who says, 'I can’t believe God would have that kind of response to my little sin.'» To which Spurgeon said, «If your sin is so little, then give it up». Today the invitation from a loving God of grace and mercy is, do you love Jesus more than you love your sin? And if you do, turn today. You may need help in turning, you may need to take the hand of a friend in turning, you may need a community in turning.