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In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
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 holy people and Your prophets, and You have given them blood to drink as they deserve.”
And I heard the altar respond:
“Yes, Lord God Almighty, true and just are Your judgments.”
Revelation 16:3-7
This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
In yesterday’s message, we saw how the first bowl of wrath that was poured out by its assigned angel brought immediate agony and suffering on all “people who had the mark of the beast and worshiped its image”. This terrible affliction came in the form of “ugly, festering sores” that “broke out” all over their bodies. The misery that Job, a devout God believer, had experienced in the Old Testament was now amplified and shared by a multitude of unbelievers.
Now, this was just the first of the seven final judgments that God was bringing on the earth and as we see in today’s message, the second and third wraths removed any viable water source. Look again at these words from verses 3 through 7 of Revelation, chapter 16:
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 holy people and Your prophets, and You have given them blood to drink as they deserve.”
And I heard the altar respond:
“Yes, Lord God Almighty, true and just are Your judgments.”
Before we get into the impact of the second and third judgments being poured out on the world, we need to go back in Revelation to chapter 8 and the judgment brought by the second of seven angels who each blew a trumpet that unleashed punishment from God. Here’s what we find there:
The second angel sounded his trumpet, and something like a huge mountain, all ablaze, was thrown into the sea. A third of the sea turned into blood, a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed. Vv. 8-9
With this, we know a third of the ocean was “turned into blood” and this led to “a third of the living creatures in the seas” to perish. Now, as the second angel poured out its bowl of wrath, the other two thirds of the ocean turned to blood “like that of a dead person”, killing the remaining sea creatures.
Can you even imagine this?
Approximately 70 percent of the earth’s surface is covered by ocean waters and after this second bowl of wrath is poured out, seventy percent of the world will be covered with a sea of blood, eradicating all living things within.
No more whales or sharks or dolphins. Nothing we know of in the sea will remain alive. And if this isn’t terrifying enough, we see that when the third angels pours out its bowl of wrath “on the rivers and springs of water” (that is, all other waters that weren’t ocean), they too would become blood. And so everywhere there once was water, there now would be blood.
Think about turning on your kitchen faucet to draw water to cook and all that came out was blood. Ditto for showering or washing clothes.
This is what it will be like for those unbelievers on the earth during these second and third judgments.
So why all the blood?
We go to our scripture passage and the “angel in charge of the waters” for the answer. For we read where the evildoers who rejected God and Jesus, instead choosing to persecute and maim and kill their prophets and disciples, would now drink the blood that they reaped, getting “as they deserve”.
Further, this penalty was proper and fair because it came from the Lord God Almighty whose judgments are always perfectly “true and just”.
A world full of believers left covered in gruesome, infected sores now left with blood where there was once water.
This is where things will be before the fourth bowl of judgment is poured out and we will see what comes with that in tomorrow’s message.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.
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