What to Do With God's Wrath | Revelation 15
Series: Revelation: The Best is Yet to Come
Title: “What to Do With God’s Wrath”
Scripture: Revelation 15
(Main commentary helps listed at the end)
Bottom line: The display of God’s holy justice in saving his people and winning their praise is meant to make us want to be among the redeemed, not the condemned.
Intro/Opening story:
Our youth are back from a week of camp. Their theme was “The darkness and the light”. They broke it down over 4 days:
Let there be light: The God who creates (Creation)
The light came into the world: The God who cares (Incarnation)
You are the light: The God who calls (Sanctification)
Light the darkness: The God who commands (Mission)
In Revelation 15 we see God leveraging evil to judge evil justly. It feels very dark because the world will be covered in darkness.
But God’s people will still be called and commanded to shine brightly in that darkness as God unleashes his holy and just wrath on all humanity that persists in rebellion to him.
I love this quote: “Jesus didn’t give the Church the book of Revelation so we’d build ourselves bigger bomb shelters, but so we’d would build longer dinner tables” - @RayOrtlund
Today, we will see the precursor to the bowls of God’s wrath coming in Rev 16.
3 “I saw” or “I looked”:
I. God’s wrath will be finished. (15:1)
Plagues remind us of the Exodus from slavery in Egypt. Bowls will be more plagues.
When we think of wrath, we tend to think of losing control. God doesn’t lose control or his temper.
II. Victorious worship by the nations. (15:2-4)
Songs of deliverance
From slavery in Egypt
From slavery to sin
Actions of God
Titles of God
Fear God and bring glory to his name. Why?
He alone is holy
All nations will worship him
For his righteous acts have been revealed
III. God’s glory and power will be displayed. (15:5-8)
We broke the covenant law.
He is holy and must punish sin.
He will reveal his power and glory through his holy justice on sin.
Not social justice.
Biblical justice.
Conclusion
Early church documents show that the day of a person’s martyrdom was called the day of his or her victory because they didn’t succumb to the pressure of compromise. —Darrell Johnson. P. 225
“The victory comes in facing the worst the beast can throw at us and remaining faithful.” —Darrell Johnson, p. 225
Who’s side are you on?
The question is never, “Will I be a disciple?”
The question is always, “Who’s disciple will I be?”
Let’s pray.
Other Illustrations:
Funny: “Everybody is talking about the apocalypse like there’s no tomorrow…”
“Keep your eyes on the clouds and the crowds.” —Greg Stier
Live in light of his imminent return.
“Jesus didn’t give the Church the book of Revelation so we’d build ourselves bigger bomb shelters, but so we’d would build longer dinner tables” - @RayOrtlund
Other thoughts wrt joy and circumstances and Jane / Nightbirdie
“Sow a thought, you reap an action;
Sow an action, you reap a habit;
Sow a habit, you reap a character;
sow a character, you reap a destiny.”
-E. Stanley Jones
The Framed Picture of Revelation 11-16
144,000 sealed—6 trumpet plagues (7-9)
True Prophet John (10:1-11)
Persecuted Church (11:1-14)
Christ is King (11:15-19)
Persecuted Church (12:1-13:10)
Satan’s False Prophet (13:11-18)
144,000 sealed—7 bowls of wrath (14-16)
Notice the symmetry and how it purposefully points to the most important truth in the book of Revelation. Just another way God reinforces the idea that he’s purposefully revealing himself to us for our good and his glory.
Other notes:
Main commentary help:
Exalting Jesus in Revelation by Daniel Akin
Revelation by Jim Hamilton
Revelation by Paige Patterson, New American Commentary series
Breaking the Code by Bruce Metzger
2020 Sermons by Matt Chandler
ESV Global Study Bible
Bible in One Year by Nicky Gumbel
Bible Knowledge Commentary
The Book of Revelation, NICNT, Robert Mounce
The Outline Bible, Wilmington
Bible in One Year reading plan, Nicky Gumbel
Exalting Jesus in 1 Kings by Tony Merida
Discipleship on the Edge, Darrell W. Johnson