Jesus begins to Tread the Winepress of God Wrath (Rev.6:17)
Intro: Well morning friends and visitors. My name is Matt Johnson and we are currently studying the latter parts of the book of Revelation. Now these chapters are pretty intense because they are about God killing those people who have killed his people. So please pray…
PRAYER: Well friends, Revelation shows us that in the last days of the great tribulation Jesus will avenge the blood of his people. There comes a point in Revelation where THE TIDE TURNS. All of a sudden its no longer Jesus’ people 1) on the backfoot, 2) being persecuted and 3)dying as martyrs. From Revelation 16 on it’s A) the antichrists people, B) the kings of the earth and C) the people of the world who are on the backfoot and dying en-masse because Jesus is avenging his people’s blood.
Now this concept of THE AVENGER OF BLOOD comes from the Old Testament. The Hebrew word for the avenger of blood is “GOEL”. And the “GOEL” speaks of both 1) the Kinsman Redeemer and 2) the Avenger of Blood. The GOEL had 2 responsibilities. The “GOEL” was usually the first-born son in a particular tribe or family. If “a family member” fell into debt or slavery it was the goel’s job to pay the debt and set them free. But if “a family member was murdered or killed, “THE GOELS” job was to seek justice. The goels job was to be both the kinsman redeemer AND the avenger of blood.
Now as Christians we know Jesus was ultimately our kinsman redeemer. (GOSPEL). We all had a debt with God we couldn’t pay. Because of our sin – we deserved to die. But paying that debt ourselves would have destroyed us. So in love, Jesus came and died on the cross for our sins, to pay the debt for us. This means Jesus is our kinsman redeemer and if we accept him as our King – our debt with God is cancelled. Hallelujah. This is the good news of Christianity. You MUST know A) Jesus as your Kinsman Redeemer before you will really be able to trust him B) as your avenger of blood.
But Jesus is also THE AVENGER OF BLOOD and I want to show you some words about this from the Old Testament… (SLIDE 2; Num.35:18-21). Now in Numbers 35 there is a distinction between 1) manslaughter and 2) murder. The “goel” could kill for murder OR manslaughter – because God demands life for life. But if it was manslaughter (with no malice or intent) the person who accidentally killed someone could run to a city of refuge for mercy. (You can see on the right a map of Israel and there were 6 cities of refuge. Three on the left of the Jordan and three on the right).
Now each CITY OF REFUGE contained Levitical priests appointed as judges. So, if you accidentally killed a person – you’d run to a city of refuge. The priests would then organise A PROPER TRIAL AND the goel (the kinsman redeemer/avenger of blood) would be like the prosecutor. Now if the trial determined it was manslaughter – you’d be spared death. But you had to stay in the city of refuge UNTIL the current high priest died. This could be decades. It was like a life sentence. But if you were found guilty of murder – the avenger of blood would put you to death outside the city gates. What’s more, if you were ever found outside the city of refuge before your sentence was complete – THE AVENGER OF BLOOD had the right to kill you and couldn’t be found guilty.
Now in the end of Revelation Jesus is filling the role of our avenger of blood. Because A) Jesus was our kinsman redeemer, he is also B) our avenger of blood.
Point 1: The Earth-dwellers Blood is now Shed for the Blood of the Saints
Show: Rev.16.1-6 (Slides 3-5)
Explain: Well please know the 7 trumpets (in Rev.8-9) and the 7 bowls (in Rev.16) follow the exact same pattern. In both the trumpets and the bowls – the first impact is on THE EARTH, the second is on THE SEA, the third on the RIVERS AND SPRINGS, the fourth on THE SUN, the fifth effects the BEASTS KINGDOM, the sixth impacts THE EUPHRATES RIVER and the seventh produces EARTHQUAKES AND SERIOUS HAIL. But what was A) localised judgment in the seven trumpets is now B) universal judgment in the seven bowls. The seven trumpets only effected a third of the earth, a third of the sea, a third of the rivers and a third of the sun etc etc. But the bowls bring a judgment that now affects everyone and everything. It is total destruction…
The seven bowls are THE LAST of Gods judgments and they are now felt everywhere on earth. There is NO ESCAPING. God is no longer judging particular nations. He is judging the whole earth. In the Old Testament we find God bringing SIMILAR JUDGMENTS as Revelation 16 on particular-nations. This begins with Israel in EGYPT. EGYPT is enslaving the Jews and killing their firstborn sons. So, God comes in judgment on Egypt (AND there are definite allusions to Revelation 16). The rivers turning to blood, the weeping sores, the darkness and the frogs – all echo Exodus. But in Revelation God is NOT bringing judgment on Egypt.
Later in Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel – we also find God pronouncing similar Revelation 16 type judgments on the Philistines, the Moabites, the Ammonites, the Edomites and the Babylonians. Now ironically, in the Old Testament God allowed these nations to attack Israel as a form of punishment or discipline when Israel was breaking Gods covenant. So God would allow the foreign nations to attack the Jews – as a kind of wake-up call. A kind of turn back to God for blessing. But inevitably THESE INVADING NATIONS were always cruel oppressors who took delight in shedding Jewish blood.
These foreign kings invading Israel also ended up putting themselves in the place of God. Pharoah claimed to be a god and opposed the true worship of Yahweh. The King of Tyre claimed that he was a god and opposed the true worship of Yahweh (Ezek.28:1-5). The Babylonian King – Nebuchadnezzar claimed he was a god and opposed the true worship of Yahweh (Daniel 3). I could give more examples. It always involved worship of the state in one form or another…
But the problem with being oppressed by foreign nations always began with covenant unfaithfulness to God. So, if the church FEELS like its beginning to be oppressed and our freedoms are being taken away – we need to begin by taking a long, hard look at ourselves. Are we being faithful to Gods covenant or do we need to repent? I think the western Christian church is one of the most lukewarm, unfaithful, sexually immoral churches to ever exist. SO THOSE WHO RECOGNIZE this is deserved we need to 1) call the church to repent, 2) remain faithful to Jesus ourselves and 3) know Jesus will eventually come as our avenger of blood. He will eventually bring justice for his people.
Apply: So in Revelation 16 Jesus is now coming as the church’s AVENGER OF BLOOD. But it’s not just ONE NATION in trouble. The whole world has joined together around antichrist – persecuting Jewish and Gentile Christians and so now THE WHOLE WORLD is now facing Jesus’ wrath in the form of – weeping sores; lots of blood; darkness, earthquakes and giant hailstones. Now verse 6 – gives us the framework for understanding ALL these terrible events. (Slide 5; Rev.16:6). This now theologically explains what is happening in the bowl judgments. Jesus is now filling the role of the avenger of blood. Jesus is taking the lives of those who have unjustly taken the lives of his people.
Let me show you that this avenger of blood motif does dominate the final pages of world history. (Slide 6; Avenger of Blood).
The point is – in Revelation 16 – Jesus is beginning to avenge the blood of his people. It’s now life for life. If you join in condemning and killing Jesus’ brothers and sisters whether Jew or Gentile, (or perhaps even the unborn in the womb) – Jesus will be the avenger of this innocent blood. Now what’s more scary, is that if the church has been raptured at this point (which I suggested was a possible interpretation of the end of Revelation 14) then there is now no city of refuge to which you can run. If there is no church, there is no city of refuge. THANKFULLY, for those who have spilled innocent blood, the church has not yet been raptured. SO, IF YOU HAVE KILLED SOMEONE whether A) accidentally or B) intentionally, whether A) outside the womb or B) in the womb – there is currently a city of refuge. If you run to the church, confess your sin and truly claim Jesus as your Saviour and Lord – HIS BLOOD shed on the cross will pay for THE BLOOD you have shed. PLEASE KNOW that if you have taken a life (and sadly 80,000 lives are taken in abortion every year in Australia) – Jesus’ blood is enough to cover your sin. Even the terrible sin of murder and abortion can be forgiven. But if you reject Jesus’ blood (and you do not repent of this sin) – you will pay with your own blood, life for life.
Point 2: The Earth-Dwellers Curse God and Refuse to Repent
Show: Rev.16:8-11 (READ)
Explain: Well the fact that A) the sun gets super hot AND B) the beasts kingdom is simultaneously plunged into darkness tells us that some of this is ENVIRONMENTAL and some of it is SPIRITUAL. You can’t have a super-hot sun and darkness at the same time…
But the Bible is clear that when we reject Gods commands one of the first consequences is that the environment get funky. Droughts, floods, severe storms and significant weather events have always been recognized as the judgment of God. We are the first generation in the history of the world to blame these sort of things on carbon emissions AND cows farting too much. (Now I’m sure the science is conclusive. Trust the science if you like). But the Bible is clear that environmental issues are pretty much Gods NUMBER 1 go to judgment when people disobey Him. God uses environmental issues like intense heat, severe storms, floods and 100 pound hail as wake up calls. Repent! Stop being idiots. Driving Tesla’s and getting solar panels is not the answer.
Of course, these days we constantly hear about environmental problems and the world gives us their solution – buy more solar panels and stop burning coal. Now as I’ve said before I think we should be good stewards of God’s creation. But we also need to realise that much in the green revolution is actually penalising the poorer people of the world. Energy is becoming a luxury good. We also need to realise that when you go outside and 1) your being cooked alive one day and 2) 100-pound hailstones are falling on you the next – its not an environmental problem. God is angry. The solution is not a Tesla. Its REPENTANCE. The world actually knows the real problem.
As you can see (in verse 9) the people CURSE the name of God – who has control over these plagues. SORRY. Just read that again. WHO do they blame for the plagues? WHO do they know is causing the plagues? (Pause) That’s right God.
They know the intense heat is not really coming from carbon in the atmosphere OR cows farting too much. Even unbelievers know God is angry with them (because their own consciences are condemning them for their idolatry, sexual immorality, greed and bloodshed). But instead of repenting – they buy solar panels and curse God.
We see the same response with the 6th bowl of darkness. Now given that the sun is hot I suggest this is probably talking about spiritual darkness. In Ephesians 4 Paul explains darkness comes when people reject God. (Slide 9 – Eph.4:18). This is our world. We don’t know good from evil, truth from lie, man from woman. We kind of know murdering babies in the womb is wrong, but we don’t know why? We kind of know that letting men win all the gold medals in women’s sport is wrong, but again we can’t explain why. When we reject God there is no basis for absolute truths. Everything is just OPINION. So we then gnaw our tongues and suffer in silence because no one has anything intelligent to say.
Apply: Now remember in Revelation 2-3 we saw Jesus walk among the seven churches who were likened to the Jewish Menorah Lampstand. The seven churches were meant to be GODS LIGHT to the world. Now if Jesus just raptured the church last week (when he swung the sickle) and took us ALL to heaven – what is left? In the absence of light – what remains? DARKNESS. Now, I can’t be 100% sure when the rapture of the church takes place. But it seems to happen during this period, when Jesus is avenging our blood. Even in todays passage (verse 15) Jesus talks about coming like a thief in the night. Again, I think Jesus is saying that it is in these days of increasing darkness and when Jesus begins to avenge our blood the church can expect to be raptured. BUT PLEASE NOTE (when the church is raptured) there will be no more light in the world. It will be utter darkness. There will be no church to run to. No gospel preachers to hear and believe. And in that spiritual darkness – madness, anarchy and deception – will reign.
Point 3: The Earth-Dwellers Rally at Armageddon to Wage War on God
Show: Rev.16:12-16 (Slides 10-11)
Explain: Friends, as I explained a few weeks ago – we again see THE UNHOLY TRINITY of Satan, Antichrist and False prophet. At this point Satan is masquerading as our Trinitarian God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. But instead of leading people into eternal life, he is leading people into eternal death. As the 6th bowl is poured out the Euphrates river dries up – to make way for kings from the east. Now this has led many pastors to suggest Satan is going to gather his army from perhaps Iran, or Afghanistan. Recent suggestions have even included Russia and China. But I would like to share with you an idea.
The largest river in the GARDEN OF EDEN was the Euphrates river. According to the Bible the Tigris and the Euphrates brought the life giving waters that watered the earth. So the fact that the Euphrates river is drying up as Satan gathers his armies for Armageddon suggests that life is about to come to an end. Now when we get to Revelation 22 – we discover a new river of life is flowing from the throne of God bringing life to Gods new creation. So the Euphrates dries up to prepare for a new river life in Gods new creation.
Now as the Euphrates dries up (symbolizing the end of natural life) deceiving spirits now go forth from the mouth of Satan, the antichrist and the false prophet to bring the whole world together for war. Its not just kings from THE EAST. Verse 14 TELLS US the evil spirits gather kings from the WHOLE WORLD. So the kings are now gathering for another World-Wide War. But this war is now sheer MADNESS. It doesn’t make any sense – especially if the church has been raptured. I mean who is Satan gathering the kings of the earth to fight? (PAUSE).
We know the world is CURSING Gods name for all the plagues. So maybe the target is God. But even if you gather ALL THE ARMIES of the world – how many NUCLEAR BOMBS do you need to beat God? Did Satan learn nothing at the cross? (PAUSE).
I’m not sure that Armageddon will be a real war. What do people do when all hope is gone? What do people do when they are filled an uncontrollable rage, but there is no one to vent their rage against? (PAUSE) I suspect Armageddon may be little more than the pitiful act of a suicide bomber who in his own self-loathing takes out not only himself, but all those he can take with him. What a tragic thought. Now again, I can’t be sure. But I really can’t work out who the world thinks they are going to war against at Armageddon? It’s just madness. The last world war may be little more than a delusional cult-like suicide pact.
Apply: Now what can we learn from THE LOCATION OF ARMAGEDDON. The root word behind Armageddon is Megiddo. The location of Megiddo gets mentioned 12x in the Bible AND the Valley of Jezreel (also Megiddo) a further 30x in the Bible. (Slide 12). If you look at THIS MAP of Northern Israel – you’ll see that Megiddo or Armageddon is actually a long relatively flat valley. It is THE ONLY PLACE where you can get from the Mediterranean Sea in the West to the Jordan River in the East without crossing over mountains. Now if you do the research historians – will tell you that MORE WARS have been fought in this valley than any other place on earth. About 34 major wars. The most recent was called the Battle of Megiddo (or Armageddon) between British troops and the Ottoman Empire in 1918. So it would be most appropriate if the war to end all wars took place where the most wars have happened.
Now this is Tel Megiddo or Armageddon (Slide 13). TEL in Aramaic and HAR in in Hebrew both mean mountain. But Tel Megiddo is a man made mountain – with layer built on top of layer of civilization. Mt Megiddo is a UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE SITE because it shows like 30 layers of civilization dating from around 5000BC all the way up to around 150AD. So in John’s day this mountain in Israel kind of represented the history of the world. At the lowest and oldest levels there is a huge pagan temple that confuses archaeologists because its technical expertise is really too good for people from the early Bronze Age.
The temple is built on 12 large foundation stones and it shows the worshipers practiced blood sacrifice. Historians are still not sure whether this was human or animal sacrifice. Now this temple predates Judaism and it predates the Pyramids in Egypt. In fact the base of Armageddon predates most things on earth. On a biblical time-scale it looks like people started to worship pagan gods at Mt Megiddo in the days of Noah. And for thousands of years armies fought to set up their pagan temples on this mountain. Then Jesus came to Galilee and it’s like ALL PAGAN WORSHIP on Armageddon just stopped.
About 200 meters to the south of Armageddon, most of the way down the hill, there is one of the oldest Christian churches on earth. They date it to the first century AD. A few years ago they ripped up the floor to discover a beautiful MOSAIC completely intact (Slide 14). The mosaic says “The God loving Askeptous has offered this table to our God – Jesus Christ as a memorial.” The mention of a table and memorial points to the Lords Supper (and remembering that Gods Son – the Lords Jesus – loved us so much he died for us).
So on the side of Armageddon one of the oldest, most significant pagan spiritual sites on earth – is a small church acknowledging that Jesus is the true King. Now did John know this when he wrote Revelation? I don’t know… It’s like Mt Megiddo itself is telling the story of Revelation. Despite Satan’s best efforts to climb the high places, sit on Gods throne and receive the worship of Gods people – when everything is said and done – Jesus is still the true King. Is it just coincidence that one of the oldest churches now stands alone on the site of one of the oldest pagan spiritual sites on earth. Has the battle of Armageddon already been won? Of course, we know the answer is yes. When all THE MUSIC STOPS and the SOLDIERS GO HOME – the name that will still be above every name is Jesus. I find it incredible that a UNESCO archaeological site actually testifies to the message of Revelation. What brought an end to 5000 years of pagan worship – JESUS!
But this battle for Armageddon seems to have begun in the Old Testament. In 1400BC DEBORAH AND BARAK fought a major war in the Jezreel Valley to bring an end to Baal worship on Mt Megiddo and promote true worship of Yahweh. It appears THE JUDGE GIDEON also fought a major battle in the valley of Jezreel to put an end to Baal worship on Mt Megiddo. GIDEON who was also the first avenger of blood in the Bible and he killed Zebah and Zalmunna at Mt Megiddo for killing members of his family. So if Gideon the first avenger of blood slayed his enemies at Mt Megiddo, it would be most appropriate if Jesus the last avenger of blood slayed our enemies at Mt Megiddo. The battle for pagan worship vs true worship of Yahweh on Mt Megiddo seems to have continued in Northern Israel throughout the Old Testament. But it all came to an end at the first coming of Jesus and Mt Megiddo is now just an archaeological site. Although the spiritual forces of evil still rage perhaps we need to see that the battle for Armageddon has already been won.
So as finish today I want to remind you that our biggest fight is not with Satan per se, but perhaps with taking matters into our own hands. As the world turns on the church and begins to persecute us – our flesh wants to fight. We want revenge. We want justice now. So friends, please remember Gods words in Romans 12 (Slide 15; Rom.12:19, 21)
