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By skipping chapters 15-18 of the Revelation we’ve missed the most “Mature Audience Only” content in the book. Regardless, please allow me a moment to bring us up to speed. Chapters 15-16 tells of seven angels pouring out the seven bowls of God’s wrath upon the inhabitants of the earth who worship that first beast who came out of the sea from chapter 13. The Beast supporters are smitten with painful boils. Then the entire sea and all the rivers and streams turn to blood and everything in them dies. Then the sun gets really hot and scorches everything. And, astonishingly and true to form, the Beast worshippers don’t turn to God but rather curse him. There’s a point to all that as we learned from the Seven Trumpets series: God could pour upon humanity the most unimaginably horrible yet deserved wrath and we still wouldn’t turn to him. So, there must be a means other than the infliction of ultimate suffering to get humanity to be what God created it to be and there is, the message and mission of the love of God in Christ embodied in the church. The message and mission of the Church, the heavenly Jerusalem, is next week’s sermon.
That was just the first four bowls of God’s wrath. The fifth bowl affects the Beast’s power to reign and his kingdom is thrown into darkness. A Dark Ages full of plague and ignorance and suffering and poverty. If you’ve lived long enough, you may have noticed that Empires seem to think that war and its accompanying industry is the only way out of dark times, especially economic dark times. So…the sixth bowl brings a demonic deception that convinces all the kings of the earth to gather for war in the Valley of Armageddon in Northern Israel, which is not big enough to host such a thing. They gather for war, but it doesn’t seem to happen. Jesus show’s up as we read today.
The seventh bowl of God’s wrath starts with a voice coming from God’s throne saying, “It’s done”. There’s a great cataclysmic upheaval of everything that resembles very much the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 AD that destroyed Pompeii and other cities, and which also had a dramatic psychological effect throughout the Roman Empire. John wrote Revelation within fifteen years of that event. Instead of lava and fireball rocks falling from the sky, this bowl’s disaster involved hail, horrible hail, the worst hail imaginable. And as you might guess, instead of repenting, the people cursed God. Again, there has to be a better way to hold humanity accountable than the total destruction of everybody and everything by disease, war, and natural disaster which incidentally actually arises as the consequences of the way of Empire.
Chapters 17-18 are an extended sort of lament concerning the Fall of Babylon. All empires fall. It’s interesting to note how Babylon’s fall affects things globally particularly in the area of economics and particularly among the wealthy who lament it greatly. I think this is so because Empire is built on economic exploitation. You can’t have Empire without wealth and the ultra-wealthy who build Empires don’t come by their wealth honestly. They have exploited someone along the way. It’s also interesting that John describes Babylon (Rome) as a whore and the trade relationships that Babylon has with other nations as prostitution and adultery. You would think that Rome did its business on Jeffery Epstein’s Island under the secrecy of his sealed ledger. Babylon (Rome) did eventually fall. After a couple of centuries of debauchery and scandal which led to gradual decline, Alaric I of the Visigoths (a former ally) made a week of it in 410 AD and sacked Rome. That event kicked off a period of time known as the Dark Ages which lasted for six centuries.
And so we turn to Chapter 19 with a big sigh of “Finally”. God acts and takes rightful vengeance for those who have suffered on his behalf. It’s now time to feast if you’re a buzzard. Remember back how all the kings of the earth were demonically deceived by Beast 1 and Beast 2 into gathering for war at Armageddon? We were left hanging with the thought that this was going to be the world war to end all world wars. But as we learn here the war isn’t between the kings themselves but rather between the Beast with his followers and Jesus, the King of King Lord of Lords, with his followers. This scene has the makings of some pretty gory Hollywood stuff. The computer graphics/AI people would have a field day with it…but it doesn’t pan out that way.
So, do yourselves a favour and don’t read this literally. Jesus is not going to show up someday with a double-edged sword sticking out of his mouth hacking all those who won’t follow him to pieces. That’s what Empire literally does, but not Jesus. This is symbolic. The sword in Jesus’ mouth is the Truth, and particularly the Truth of God’s love in Christ Jesus and its embodiment in the communities of people who loyally follow him. It is by Truth-telling that the Beasts are taken captive and finally thrown into a lake of fire. The rest of their armies are slain by the truth. They are forced by the Truth to own up. Again, please don’t read this as a literal bloodbath. It’s a grandiose description of what happens when we are confronted by the Truth of the Love of God in Christ.
Chapter 20 gives us a vision of an event of ultimate accountability. Everyone is held accountable for everything we have done or left undone. The Dragon (Satan) and the two beasts are thrown into the Lake ofFire. The ultimate powers of deception will be put to their deserved end. Moreover, everyone whose name is not written in the Book of Life is also thrown into the lake of fire. There’s quite a bit of discussion as to what the Book of Life is and we don’t have time for it. The point here is that everyone is held accountable for their lives and everyone will be confronted with the love of God in Jesus Christ.
There’s a lot more that can be said here but I think the point should be kept simple. The only way out of this world of Empire that ends well is Truth-telling, with letting oneself be held accountable by the Love of God in Jesus Christ experienced by the cutting sword of the presence of the Holy Spirit. This Truth cuts through all the deception Satan and his beasts have to offer and binds them and their power over us.
God’s big “Finally” comes through being honest with ourselves and each other and proclaiming the Truth of God’s Love in Christ Jesus embodied in the Holy Spirit-filled communities of those who follow him. In these interesting times when Empire seems so inexplicably powerful with seemingly no apparent way to hold it accountable, Truth-telling the love of God to those who follow the Beast is the way that will win out in the end. We will suffer for the Truth, but telling the Truth is the only thing that ends well.
