Mike Bickle delivers a powerful sermon on the seventh bowl of God's judgment as described in Revelation 16:17-21, emphasizing the dramatic and transformative nature of this final intervention in human history. He explains that the seventh bowl represents the most severe judgment, featuring a great earthquake and massive hailstones, which will lead to the permanent destruction of Babylon and a significant shift in the earth's topography. Bickle highlights God's decisive action against sin and injustice, assuring believers that this judgment is a necessary step towards establishing righteousness and love in the world. He encourages the congregation to marvel at God's wisdom and love revealed through these events, reminding them that the end of the story is ultimately one of hope and restoration.

Thank you tonight for the word of God, this awesome, terrifying, glorious revelation from your heart concerning human history. And I ask you, God, for supernatural revelation of this very significant timeframe in history that you established because of love. And I thank you for that. In Jesus' name, amen. Well, tonight we're on the 14th session of this series, and it's the final one. We were aiming for 12, but we ended up going to the two extra so it's 14 teachings on the seals and the trumpets and the bowls of Jesus' end time judgment. Now we're on the most severe and therefore the most effective judgment that Jesus has planned in human, in natural history. So you have to say natural history because human history will go on for billions of years. But natural history will end because the age to come brings in a supernatural dimension with the coming of the Lord. And so it's fair to say this is the most dramatic and radical and successful and effective intervention, negative judgment intervention of God in history, the seventh bowl. Revelation 16, verse 17 to 21. Now what it says, before we even look at it, is that there's something bigger going on. It's the song that we sing here at IHOP. I know the end of the story. This is not the end of the story because there's something bigger going on that's bigger than this weekend or this summer or this year. And Revelation 16 tells us, gives us insight into the negative dimension of what's going to happen. And this negative dimension actually is positive because it's God intervening in a thought through way. He has thought it through with detail and he's intervening in a radical, a way that will be effective to transform human history. It will create a shift in history where it will never go back to the way that it was before. This bowl tells us God cares. It tells us he's decisive. It tells us he's active, he's intervening. And this plan will succeed. Now, the thing that amazes me about the seventh bowl is like all the others, the Lord began, if you will, with a blank whiteboard. There's nobody in heaven that told him what the seventh bowl should be. He devised it entirely. So every single facet is a revelation about his wisdom and his love. And it has many implications that go beneath just a casual reading. It goes beyond, I mean, it goes beneath the surface. It goes beyond a casual reading. Every one of these dimensions of the great earthquake, natural history ends with a great earthquake and a hell storm. Those are the two features that are violent against the kingdom of darkness. The greatest earthquake in history and a hundred pound hell stones coming from heaven hitting the whole earth. And then the destruction of Babylon, the Antichrist empire, his capital city, I mean, is completely destroyed, never ever to rise again. And again, God began with a blank whiteboard, so to speak. And he devised the idea of a great earthquake. I would have never thought of that as the way to end natural history. He came up with the idea of a hundred pound hell stones. He came up with the idea of allowing Babylon, the city of Babylon, to exist and to survive throughout the whole great tribulation. But at the final moment, he destroys it suddenly and permanently. Many in the nations were beginning to believe the city was invincible, nothing could touch it. And God says, you wait, I have not forgotten Babylon. And in his final stroke, he destroys it suddenly and permanently, it's one of the cities that will never rise again in the millennial kingdom. Beloved, we know the end of the story. It's a great gift of God that he gave us the picture. Now, we meditate on the picture and we gain insight into God's wisdom, we gain insight into God's love, and we gain insight into how extreme, how extreme a measure was needed because of the measure of sin and iniquity that was abounding in the earth. Let's read it, Revelation 16, verse 17 to 21. And the seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air. Then a loud voice came out of the temple from heaven and from the throne. And the voice said, it's the voice of God, it is finished, it is done. Verse 18, there were noises and thunderings and lightnings and there was a great earthquake. Such a mighty earthquake, such a great earthquake. It's never occurred in the history of the planet earth. Verse 19, now it describes what happened with this great earthquake. The great city, which is the city of Jerusalem, was divided into three parts. It was not totally destroyed. The great city of Jerusalem, I mean, the great city of Jerusalem will be rebuilt in the millennial kingdom when the Lord returns. But it is divided in three parts. This is radical, this is very destructive. But the Lord, it was like, the Lord is planning it like the demolition of a great building, strategically demolished. The Lord is strategically dividing the city for his purposes. Moments later, when the millennial kingdom begins and the city of Jerusalem begins the restoration process. So you can be sure those three parts, those that are rebuilding the city will say, Lord, that was perfect. I mean, it was absolutely perfect. And he will smile and say, I know. It was strategy that I used that earthquake to shift the city and to reconfigure it. Then it became more intense than a great city falling into three parts. The cities of the nation fell. So there's an escalation of severity of the judgment. And then it goes on to the next level. The great Babylon, the great city of Babylon was remembered before God. The nations were beginning to think God forgot her or she was invincible. And God says, no, no, I have been storing up wrath for this one city in a particular way. And I will give her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of the wrath of God. What a sentence. The cup of the wine of the anger is one translation or the fierceness of his wrath. Verse 20, we're still talking about the impact of the earthquake. Every island fled away, which means it, the sea covered it is what that means. The water level in the sea rose to where the islands are covered. Now that might be temporary. It doesn't mean they are gone permanently, but they fled away because of the rising of the seawater. And the mountains were not found. And again, part of that is the rising of the sea. And part of that is the leveling of mountains. There's a tremendous shift in the geographical, the topography of the earth is radically shifted in the seventh bowl. Now it goes on, it moves off of the earthquake and its impact, which was verse 18, 19 to 20. And now it moves on to the second dimension of the seventh bowl, the great hell stone from heaven, hell stones and great hell fell from heaven upon men. And each of these hell stones weighed a talent that's approximately a hundred pounds. A talent was about a hundred to 120, 30 pounds, depending on which place was weighing them. But a hundred pounds is close enough. And some translations actually just put hell stones of a hundred pounds. Now these hell stones you think would have killed everybody, but men lived and they blasphemed God because the plague of hell, since the plague was extremely great. Okay, let's go to paragraph C. The context of the seventh bowl is the sixth bowl. We looked at that last week and in the sixth bowl, what was happening is that the nations of the earth were being gathered to Jerusalem. We're talking about all the nations of the earth, their armies were being gathered. And so that's what's happening. They're traveling and they're being set up in a military way in order to go to war against Jesus. We looked at that last week. The next event that follows after the seventh bowl, because the seventh bowl is disrupting all the military plans. I mean, they are getting organized, they're getting set up and they're not expecting that. The greatest earthquake in history that shakes every single city and hell stones that completely disorients the battle plans, completely disavows them or that's not the right way to say it, it makes them invalid. The battle plans, wait, everything's different now. And what happens is the next event after the seventh bowl is the battle itself. Jesus riding on the white horse, entering into Jerusalem in the battle context that Revelation 19 describes. Paragraph F, now those that are just new with us tonight, we never go through all the notes and we never finish them. So we'll skip a lot of the verses, but you can check them out later and get the notes on the internet if that interests you. Now, David talked about all of the whole great tribulation, the three judgment series. There's three judgment series, each of them have seven. There's seven seals, there's seven trumpets and there's seven bowls. So there's three judgment series with seven judgment events each. But particularly it's the seventh one with the earthquake and the great hell. Those are the two outstanding distinctive features of the seventh bowl is the greatest earthquake in history and the hundred pound hell stones. And the great impact is that it shifts the topography of the earth and it destroys permanently the city of Babylon so it will never ever rise again. Those are the two impacts. So the two features are the earthquake and the hell. The two great impacts is the city of Babylon never rises again ever. Many of these other cities will rise again that are falling. They will be rebuilt. But the great impact Babylon never will and it shifts the topography and it shifts the context. The whole social context of the earth is shifted by this earthquake and this hell storm. Well, David in paragraph F, Psalm chapter two verse eight and nine, David saw this a thousand years before Christ when he prophesied in Psalm chapter two verse eight and nine. Let's go ahead and put that on the screen if you would. David said, well, the father said, I will give you, speaking to Jesus, the nations for your inheritance. And here's what the father said to Jesus. And David overheard it and he recorded it by the Holy Spirit's inspiration that Jesus, when he inherits the nations, one of the first things he's going to do when the nations are finally his, and he does it in the most dramatic way in the seventh bowl, he breaks the nations. He breaks all the infrastructures of the nations. All of those that are built on unrighteousness, not all of the infrastructures of all of life will be, but whichever ones are built on sin, he will break them with a rod of iron. And this is most graphically described in the seventh bowl and he will dash the nations to pieces like a potter's vessel. So the picture is that a clay pot is on the table and a mighty soldier takes a rod of iron and he hits the brittle clay pot and it shatters effortlessly and it breaks into a thousand pieces, suddenly, instantly, effortlessly. It takes no effort for a great soldier to take a rod of iron and hit a piece of brittle pottery. It will instantly shatter in a thousand pieces. Now, interesting, we don't think much about this, but when Jesus comes back to openly manifest his leadership over the nations, one of the first things he does, this is in the negative sense, but he does it for positive reasons. He breaks the nations and he shatters them. He dashes them to pieces. Well, he's doing it through the earthquake and he's doing it through the hellstones. The infrastructure of society around the earth is being dashed to pieces because, well, only the evil part is being dashed to pieces. There will be parts, places in the earth where righteousness will have a stronghold, but it's talking about the evil that has been established. The infrastructures will be so infiltrated by the values of the Babylon false religion, the values of tolerance that seems so good that is built on an evil and filthiness and impurity in the name of humility and dignity and tolerance. And the infrastructures from the tax codes to the library systems, to the education systems, to the media, I mean, just all through society will be corrupt with the values of Babylon. And the Lord is saying this, it will be far more efficient and effective to bring the whole infrastructure down and raise it up from scratch. That'll be far more effective than trying to redo every single one of them. So he sends an earthquake that shakes all the great cities of the earth, causes the water level of the mountain of the ocean to rise so high that all the islands disappear for a season. All the mountains are leveled. And that's, I'm sure that is relative, from one area to another, it will be different. And Jesus will take the hellstones and dash the infrastructure of society, and then he'll start from scratch, except that, because again, there will be strongholds of righteousness, parts of the earth, those places, wherever God has established something born of the Spirit, it will continue. Top of page two. Well, let's begin with the bowl poured into the air. Now, this has left commentators a little uncertain because it doesn't clarify, what does this look like? The bowl is poured into the air. There's no great clarity, but we do know this. It is the most severe of the seven bowls. So we know that whatever it is, it's more severe than the scorching heat of the fourth bowl. It's more severe than the sores of the first one. It's more severe than the deep darkness that actually creates pain in the fifth bowl. What is it? Nobody knows. What some suggest, which I think is the best suggestion that I know of, you go back to Zechariah chapter 14, because Zechariah 14 is talking about the exact same timeframe of the seventh bowl. In Zechariah chapter 14, many of the features of the final battle and the final events related to the seventh bowl and the battle itself that ends the Armageddon campaign, they are described in Zechariah 14. And Zechariah 14 describes a plague. And it's a plague that strikes only the people who fought against Jerusalem. Doesn't strike anyone else. So it's possible that it's some type of germ that's carried in the air, that has a biological foundation to it, some kind of germ that's a judgment of God that's carried in the air, that's a guess. But we know the plague is real. But I'm suggesting the plague of Zechariah 14 might be the bowl that's poured into the air in the seventh bowl here. Let's read this, Zechariah 14, verse 12 to 15. Now just imagine this, this is real. This shall be the plague which the Lord will strike all the people who fought against Jerusalem. Their flesh shall dissolve while they stand on their feet. Their eyes will dissolve in their sockets. Their tongue will dissolve in their mouth and they're standing up. So it's instantaneous is the idea here. Verse 15, and such also shall be the plague on the horses, the mules, the camels, and it gives several other animals as well. You could read it in Zechariah 14, the whole account. So that's my guess. It's an educated guess. And others, I got the idea from others, but it seems right to me. Or at least the best from the Bible, interpreting the Bible is what I could figure out as the most severe of all the judgments poured into the air. Possibly something to do with germs carried in the air. Paragraph D, now there's a voice, the voice of God came out of the temple and the throne. Now that's an interesting, because only twice in the book of Revelation are the temple and the throne brought together in the same description, the same phrase. Now the temple speaks of the prayer and worship movement in heaven and earth, because there's worship and prayer going around the throne right now in the temple. And there's prayer and worship going on in the earth. And it's really one worship movement from the Holy Spirit's point of view. Those that worship in heaven are under the direction of the Holy Spirit. And those that worship on the earth, the Holy Spirit's wanting them to come under his full direction. It's one huge movement from his point of view, but the prayer and worship movement, the temple, and the throne, which speaks of the authority of God. So the prayer movement and the authority of God come into full, it's combustion, I'll say it that way. That's probably not the best word. But when prayer and authority meet in the perfect will of God, it explodes this intervention of God against the Antichrist. Combustion is not the best word, but it comes together in a holy synergism. How's that? Paragraph E. Now the voice, and I'm assuming it's Jesus, because he's saying the same thing that he said on the cross, it is finished. It's done. Now it's interesting that when he bore the wrath of God on the cross to accomplish our salvation, our redemption, he said it is finished. After three and a half years of ministry on the earth, he bears the wrath of God in his body. Now he's releasing the wrath of God after three and a half years of the tribulation at the end to transition history to his return. It is done. It's sure. It never has to be redone. It's not incomplete. It's not uncertain. It is totally effective. It is permanent. It will never, ever need to be redone. When God says it's done, it's done. So that gives us not just the assurance that victory's coming, but victory is permanent forever. Oh, it's done. The whole thing is over. Yes. Paragraph F. Lightning and thunder break out of the throne. It says noises, thundering, lightning. Now it's interesting that at the conclusion of each of the three judgment series, the seven seals, the seven trumpets, and the seven bowls of wrath, each of them are three distinct judgment series. And some commentators will put them together and say they're all saying the same thing in different ways. I don't think that's the right approach to it, though I appreciate the guys that write that. I think they're three clearly distinct judgment series. Each of them ends with a short season of an intensive storm that actually breaks out on the earth. And this intensive storm marks the escalation, the intensity, the shifting of God's purpose to the next degree of intensity. So after the seven seals, there's a storm breaks out. And the Lord's telling the earth, just like when Jesus died on the cross, there was a storm that broke out. It's a shifting of God's purpose, and it's escalating to the next level of God's purpose. And so that happens in each one of these shifts of the judgments of God. There's a intense, short season of storm activity on the earth. But it's terrifying, and this is not a small thing, because it's part of the judgment of God against the kingdom of darkness. So there's a terrifying dimension to it. In 1 Samuel, I don't have the verse here, that when the enemies came against Israel, the Philistines, God released thunder so terrifying that it confused the entire army, and the army was just in total confusion and panic, and they fled because of just the thunder. When God wants the thunder, He can confuse the army. Well, there's a great army gathering around Jerusalem, and thunder breaks out, and I guarantee you, there will be confusion and terror in that thunder and in that storm. It's a storm that starts at the throne of God because the thunder and lightning's around the throne, and that energy of God and that dramatic dimension of the thunder and the lightning, it breaks into the natural realm. Now, again, it happened at the cross, when Jesus died. It happened at Mount Sinai, when Israel came into covenant with God at Mount Sinai. The storm manifestations around the throne of God broke into the earth, signifying the radical shift in the escalation of God's purpose. So this is real, this isn't just figurative. I read some commentators, and they'll just kind of make it like poetry. I go, no, that storm's real. That will terrify the nations. Roman numeral three. Well, the first of the two features is the great earthquake. The second are the hailstones. Now, this is the big one. You know, people talk about, hey, was that earthquake the big one? There's a big one. No matter what earthquakes happen or no matter which one happens, you know, tomorrow or the next day, it's not the big one. Paragraph B, Haggai prophesied. This is about 2,500 years ago. He prophesied about the big one. Matter of fact, many of the prophets did. This is a major theme in terms of God's end time purpose because it's gonna remove the bad, and it's gonna clear the way for the good. It's not just removing the bad, it's clearing the way. I'm talking about in real time and space on the earth for new cities to be built and new structures to be put in place. It says in Haggai 2, verse six, I will shake heaven, that's the sky. Heaven means the atmosphere above us in this context. Sometimes heaven means the third heavens where God's throne is, but in this context, it means the sky. That means, you know, stars and sun and moon and signs and all kinds of disturbances. I will shake the heaven, but I will shake the earth. I will shake the sea. Beloved, when God shakes the sea, that's intense. Verse seven, I will shake all the nations, and they will come to the desire of all nations. That's one of my favorite titles of Jesus in the Old Testament. His name is the desire of all nations. Though one group of the earth is blaspheming him, they hate him, another group of the earth is seeing his glory and they desire him and they want to be a part of what he's a part of. And the saints that are around the throne are saying, great and marvelous. They're saying, your ways are marvelous. You fill us with marvel. We desire to be near you. So that's one of his names. He's the one the nations really desire, but they don't know it. But when he reveals his judgment, they will see him as the desirable God, the one they really do want. He's the answer to the cry in all the nations for justice. He's the one they desire. They don't know that. Verse 22, I will shake heaven. I will shake the earth. I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms. Now this is in its most complete sense, the literal antichrist kingdom. He will overthrow the throne, singular, that has all these empires, I mean all these nations attached to it, aligned with it. I will destroy across the whole earth the strength of the Gentile armies. Now it says kingdoms, but it's a wartime in context. I will destroy all of the military might of the Gentiles in one stroke. Now Haggai has prophesied that 2,500 years ago. And Israel, the devout Israel, those among the nations are God-fearers, and there's not so many of them, but there are some in the land for sure. They are really counting on Haggai too. They are counting on this prophecy coming to pass. Of course it will, the way it happens, we find out it's in the book of Revelation here at the seventh bowl. Now in Hebrews 12, the writer of Hebrews gives us an apostolic interpretation of Haggai too. So it's 500 years later, it's in the early church. One of the apostolic leaders, we don't know who wrote Hebrews. This passage gives an apostolic interpretation, meaning it not only, it tells us what Haggai too's about, but then adds some more details to it. So if you really want to tap into the Haggai too prophecy, which is really the seventh bowl, you want to study Hebrews 12, because it gives us some of the purpose behind the seventh bowl, because without some of these other passages, you might be left thinking, God, you're just, it just seems like you're mad, and that's all there is to it. He goes, no, I'm removing the bad and making a way for the good, in a way that's successful, in a way that's permanent, meaning it won't be a temporary fix, where in 100 years, all of a sudden, wickedness is raised up in the nations again. This is a successful, permanent change in the nations. In verse 26 of Hebrews 12, the writer of Hebrews is interpreting Haggai too. He goes, yet once more I will shake not only the earth, but also the heaven. In other words, he's quoting Haggai too. Now he's gonna interpret something. He goes, let me give you the behind-the-scenes insight. He goes, verse 27, when God says yet once more, what he means is, it's on God's mind. I know by the Holy Spirit, the writer of Hebrews is saying, God's gonna remove the things that can be removed. He's gonna remove the things that can't stand up under his scrutiny, and then the things that can't be shaken by the judgment of God, there will be things on the earth that cannot be shaken. There will be things that have been established in righteousness that the judgments of God will not shake them. Those things will remain. And some of those things will be on the earth when the Lord returns. And some of those things are the things that you're developing in your life right now. They're called eternal rewards. There are things that you're doing right now in these days that when the full judgment of God is released in the age to come, those things will remain and stand true. Your humility, your obedience, your godliness, those things will remain through the judgments. Even the judgment seat of Christ, your love and humility and servanthood will stand true and it won't be shaken. It will only be revealed. Verse 28, so the writer of Hebrews says, since this is what's going on, he goes, guys, let's go for it. Let's seek God with fear and trembling. Let's go all the way because it's inevitable that everything that's false is going to be removed. There's no point in going on a fantasy delusion about vanity that somehow you're gonna be this, that or the other in the flesh. Vanity and futility is gonna be exposed and removed. Let's build on righteousness, the Sermon on the Mount, the kingdom of God, and let's not take a few years kind of parentheses, kind of a little side journey to go do our own thing in the flesh. It's not gonna make it. It won't last. So let's not even go on a parentheses. Let's just go steady with God. Top of page three. See, this passage, the seventh bowl, as terrifying as it is, it assures me that God will decisively intervene and remove everything that's built on sinfulness and pride. He will confront it. So I go, you know, if it's that clear and it's that sure, why do I even wanna go there? Why don't I just build the things that remain? Again, humility, righteousness, obedience, servanthood, these kinds of things, building the word of God into my heart, those things will stand up when the transition of the age happens. We'll take those things with us. You won't take your resume with you. You won't take your money with you. You won't take your popularity with you. You won't take your mailing list, your CDs, your books. You won't take those things with you. You'll take your humility and your godliness and your righteousness. Now, in as much as those things were built by the Spirit, there will be remembrance and reward for those things, yes. But it's the life in the Spirit that will make it through the great shakings of which the seventh bowl is the most graphic example. Top of page three. Now, there's gonna be, this great earthquake's gonna hit Israel. Of course, it's gonna hit every nation. But there's quite a bit about the impact of the great earthquake on Israel. We know that the city's gonna be divided into three parts. That's one of the, Jerusalem will be one of the least severe cities. How do I wanna say that? Of all the cities of the earth, it will probably be shaken the least. Compared to some of the major cities of the earth, they'll fall completely. They'll be decimated. And some, like Babylon, will never rise again. Jerusalem will be divided strategically into three places, and there will be other things happening as well. But you can study the great earthquake that's gonna come to Israel. Now, interesting, paragraph D. Zechariah 14, verse four to five. In Zechariah 14, verse four to five, it says this. It's talking about the great earthquake. In that day, Jesus' feet will stand on the Mount of Olives. And the Mount of Olives will be split in two. Most of you know this passage. Now, you know the Mount of Olives is right there, Jerusalem. And it will split from east to west. It will make a very large valley. Now, look at this. Verse five. Then you shall flee through the valley. Like, what? When I first began to read this some years ago, I go, flee? Who would wanna flee through the valley? If Jesus is standing on it, I don't wanna run from it. I wanna run right to Jesus. He goes, yes, what it's describing is the unsaved remnant of Israel, because the church has been raptured at the seventh trumpet, just real, just days before this, actually. Before all these events take place. And the nations have gathered around the city of Jerusalem, and they're warring against them. And these, I call them the unsaved remnant, meaning they're going to be saved when they come face-to-face with Jesus and figure out who He is. They haven't died. If they die, they can't get saved after they die, but they haven't died. Jesus has come, they can still get saved. When Jesus came the first time, He preached, they could get saved. When He comes a second time, they could get saved. Some people are thrown off by that. They think, no, when the Lord comes, you can't get saved. They go, no, you're confusing that. When you die, you can't get saved afterwards, but as long as you're alive in the flesh, you hear the gospel, you can get saved. This age or in the millennial kingdom, they will be like that. Many will get saved. So these unsaved remnant of Israel, they haven't taken the mark of the beast. They were not followers of Jesus, therefore, they are not raptured, but they're being attacked by the Antichrist. And they're backed up against the wall. Their backs are against the mountain. They're trapped in a military way against the Mount of Olives, in the same way that Israel was trapped against the Red Sea. It's the same deal. Pharaoh's armies had them against the Red Sea. The Antichrist's armies have them trapped, a whole group of them. So the Lord comes in on the white horse, and they're going like, we don't, we're not fully connecting all the dots yet. We know you're powerful, that's obvious, but it's not like they become omniscient, automatic. They still don't fully grasp it. And Jesus commands the mountain, and it splits like Moses split the Red Sea. And they go, tense. You know what? We've got to connect, but not, they split through the valley, and they say, what was that? And because we don't, can't quite get it, verse five, then you will flee through the mountain. Zachariah goes, yes, you will flee, because when you read it, just like I did, I thought, flee! And he goes, yes, you will flee. I go, why would you flee if he is there? Because they haven't put it all together, and they're in the most intense military attack, and suddenly, not the Red Sea, but the mountain splits, but it's the same, it's a parallel deal. And then the Lord, my God, will come with all the saints, and they'll all connect, and just real soon after this, they'll connect the dots. But they haven't yet, they take off, and they're like, ah, that was intense. I'm encouraged, I don't know who that guy is, but I'm encouraged right now, because it seems like something good's about to happen. Well, they might know Zachariah 14. Maybe they will, maybe they won't, I don't know. Paragraph E, Jesus is marched up through Edom, says in Isaiah 63, we've gone over that a few times, and he arrives in Jerusalem at just the perfect time in this military context to cause the Mount of Olives to split in order that they can escape. That's the bizarre part that most don't get. They figure when the Mount of Olives splits, everything is over there. No, there's more dimensions to the battle that are yet to unfold. It's a part of the battle intervention by the captain of the host, Jesus. And they actually flee, they escape successfully, and they make note of it, and it ends up leading to their salvation in a real short amount of time. Now, paragraph F, Mark 11, I just have to throw this in. It's not that important to the seventh bowl. But when Jesus gave the famous teaching in Mark 11, verse one and verse 23, when Jesus gave the famous teaching, in Mark, look at verse 23, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, and he points to this mountain, and it just so happens in context, you can see verse one, he's pointing to the Mount of Olives. And they're going, wow, he's giving us a figurative teaching. He goes, I am. I'm talking about the mountains in your life, but what you don't know is I'm actually talking about this mountain. Wait and see. See Zechariah 14 and get the details if you can't wait till I return. But I love that. He points to this. Nobody gets it, I'm sure. He looks up, winks to the Father, fills the Holy Spirit, says, oh, Lord, I can see it now when I speak to this mountain, and it splits. Okay, back to the seventh bowl. So then what happens is in verse 19, there's three impacts, there's three of the consequence of the great earthquake, three of them are described. First, the great city, Jerusalem is divided into three parts, and then more intense, cities fall. That's worse than divided into three parts. And then more intense, Babylon is completely obliterated. So there's three different descriptions of the impact of this great earthquake found in verse 19. So the great city, Jerusalem, there's two great cities in the book of Revelation. Babylon is called the great city, and Jerusalem is called the great city. Because in paragraph G, history, from God's point of view, is the tale of these two cities. History unfolds as the conflict of Jerusalem and Babylon, and it's manifest through all the different conflicts, the major conflict of history from God's point of view has been a conflict between these two cities. And it comes to a head again at the end. Now, one reason we know that the great city is Jerusalem, because it's unnamed, because some say, no, it's Babylon. So they think that John's saying, Babylon will be divided into three parts, then the cities of the earth will fall, that's the next thing, and then Babylon will be remembered. I don't think he's saying that. I don't think he's repeating Babylon twice in this. This is a progressive description of intensifying judgment. And besides, in Revelation 18, when Babylon falls, it doesn't fall divided into three parts, it's suddenly and permanently and totally destroyed. It's not a three-part, and then it gets rebuilt later. It is suddenly destroyed, it is totally destroyed, and it is permanently destroyed. There's no three-part strategy in the fall of Babylon. So I believe it's talking about the city of Jerusalem. Okay, in paragraph H, I give a little bit more on that. The city of Jerusalem. Revelation 11, 13 tells us about the earthquake that happens to Jerusalem. It tells us a tenth of the city fell. It's divided into three parts, but it gives us a little more insight. A tenth of it means it completely collapses, a tenth of it. I mean, the earth caves in, the buildings fall in, but nine-tenths of it stays intact. So that's the least severe of the major cities. 7,000 people die. That's a large number, but compared to what's happening in the other cities, I'm assuming that's a small number comparative to the magnitude of this earthquake in other cities. And an interesting thing that happens, this is at the very end of the great earthquake that hits Jerusalem, is that people in the city of Jerusalem magnify God. We're talking about the Antichrist is raging against them, the raptures happen, there are God-fears that have not said yes to Jesus, so they'd have gone in the rapture, the seventh trumpet just days earlier, but they see all these things happen, and they begin to glorify God instead of blaspheming God like many others in the nations do. So there are people still responding to the Lord at the very end here. Now, Zechariah 14, verse nine to 11. Now, I know those that are just new at the whole study of the end times, you're thinking, well, I don't really care about all this stuff, but you really do. Let me tell you why you do. Because, again, Jesus began with a blank whiteboard, so to speak. This is an insight into how decisively and how thoroughly and successfully he's going to confront sin in human history. So it gives us insight into the one we love. That's number one. Number two, as we understand what the Bible says about the end times, because we don't want just conjecture. It's okay that you have a little conjecture as long as you call it conjecture. Like, I have opinions, but I call them opinions. Like, I'm not sure. Maybe it's this, maybe it's not. And it's okay to have conjecture as long as you identify it as opinions and conjecture. But whatever the Bible says about the end times, the more that you understand it, the more that the fog lifts in your understanding to see the whole big picture. I wanna know everything the Bible says about it because the more I know, the puzzle becomes clear then. The more I know about this, then the more I understand about other passages that some of these details are a part of. I go, oh, I get that Jerusalem earthquake. That makes more sense here in Isaiah 28 when I'm reading. And so if you're one that really wants to understand what the Bible says about it, you wanna get any fact that's clear and substantial because it clarifies other parts of the story, of the storyline of the end times. And again, if the Bible tells us the storyline, we wanna know it because God didn't waste time. He didn't say, you know what? I'm gonna give you some details. They're really irrelevant, but I'm gonna give them to you anyway because I just love to tell stories. That's not what's happening. God does love to tell us stories about His heart and about His love, but He's not just storytelling. He's giving us significant details that will matter to the church in that generation. So I wanna know it. And the more that I understand it, the fog lifts, the puzzle becomes clear, and all the other passages make more sense too. And because we love this man, Jesus, this is His plan. We care about understanding this. And I wanna know how decisive and how thorough and how intentional He is about intervening to confront sin. This is the Jesus we love. Of course, if you know nothing else, the very fact that He came to the cross tells you He's intentional about confronting sin. That was really intense that God became a man and went to the cross and took the wrath of God for us. Beloved, there's nothing more intentional and more radical than that. Well, in Zechariah 14, verse 9 to 11, I won't go through it, but it describes the topography of Jerusalem after the earthquake hits. It tells us some different dimensions, and I find it very, not just interesting, it is interesting, but it's more than interesting. It's insightful, and it's important information if you wanna know the whole storyline of what God's saying in the scripture about the end times. And I don't mean the whole, like every detail. I mean, if you wanna know the main themes of the storyline. Now, paragraph J. Well, let's go to paragraph I, I guess. Great Babylon, we gotta mention that. Now, this is the Antichrist headquarters. The Revelation 18 elaborates on the city being shaken and burned with fire, because when this earthquake hits, it's gonna create fires everywhere. The whole city's gonna be a firestorm. Probably it's related to oil is going to be involved in the earthquakes and the fires, and I mean, that's a guess. But Revelation 18 gives us more insight into this city being suddenly, totally, and permanently destroyed, and fire is the main feature that's emphasized in Revelation 18. In Revelation 16, the passage we're looking at now, it's the earthquake and the hell. Revelation 18, it's the fire, because when the earthquake hits, the fires break out, and when the hell stones come, they will destroy other things that will create fires. See, the hell would be good, because it's water to put out the fire, but it's frozen water, so it doesn't help with the fire at all. It actually creates more trouble. Paragraph J, as I mentioned, the reason it says that Babylon will be remembered before God, that's a very key phrase, because Babylon will be the last major city to go down, of the Gentiles. The other cities have been affected. Babylon has withstood the seals, the trumpets, and the six bulls up to this point in time. Babylon has a testimony, she's invincible. When you read Revelation 18, she says, I'm a queen, I'm not a widow, I can't be defeated. She has this invincibility image about herself, and no doubt, she has propagated that image around the nations, but God's saying, just know, the fact she's stood through the Great Tribulation doesn't mean she's gonna make it through at the very last moment, at the final stroke of judgment, I'm taking her out. Suddenly, totally, and permanently, I have not forgotten Babylon. I have especially assigned her destruction in a way to shake the whole earth. She will have the, again, the image of invincibility, but God says, don't worry, don't worry. She is going down, and so the saints, in the early days, and the decades leading up to that, I believe we're in those decades. I think we could be three, four, five decades, maybe sooner, I don't know, but I feel like we're some decades away, but the saints, we don't need to invest our life in Babylon, in that value system, I'm telling you, it is going down, God has remembered Babylon, it is going down, I don't wanna invest my life into that value system at all. Top of page four, let's go to Roman numeral four, the Great Hellstones, the Great Hellstones. Well, they're gonna weigh about 100 pounds. Now, this is intense, I mean, it's just a real dilemma, because the hell's 100 pounds? I mean, what's, picture a big bowling ball. I mean, how much does a bowling ball weigh? Does anybody know? How much? Wait, one person. Eight? I thought like about 100, I don't know. They're big, I don't bowl, but I don't wanna get hit by one, that's for sure. Anyway, a bowling ball is real heavy, let's put it that way. This thing is heavier than that, they're coming down from the sky, 100 pounds, like blocks of ice, 100 pounds crashing down. They're destroying buildings and bridges and all kinds of houses and just the landscape, everything that's coming down worldwide. So people will run into shelters, but the earthquake is destroying the shelters. They go, whoa, the shelter looks horrible. They go back out, the hellstone's coming, go back in. Where are they gonna go? Let's go to the mountains and hide in the caves. No, there's earthquakes leveling the mountains. There is no escape, there is no way out, because if they go into shelter from the hellstones, the earthquake's bringing the shelters down or shaking them, they won't all come down, because men live through this, because men are still alive at the end to blaspheme God. So many survive this, but it's terrifying. Now, paragraph B, very significant. Moses' law, the law of Moses required, well, it's God's law, not Moses'. He's the one that communicated it. The law of God required that anybody that was a idol worshiper, which is the same thing as a demon worshiper, they must be stoned. And anyone that blasphemes God must be stoned. Well, if you've been following the study here in Revelation 16, there have been blaspheming God with greater intensity as the bowls unfold. So what's happening? Jesus is stoning the Antichrist worship system on a global level and eradicating it from the earth. Himself, as the lawgiver, is stoning the idolatrous Antichrist worship system and driving it off the earth. He's obeying his own laws. That's what's going on here. And the blasphemers, top of page five. Now, the interesting thing, paragraph D, Ezekiel 38, verse 22, Ezekiel 38, verse 22. The interesting thing in this passage in Ezekiel 38 is that there has been a drought in the land of Israel for three and a half years. And you can read that there in the notes in Revelation 11, verse six. It says the two witnesses, like Elijah did, remember Elijah called a drought in his contest against Jezebel, which is a picture of the heart of Babylon, a three and a half year drought. Well, the two witnesses call a three and a half year drought in their resistance to the Antichrist and his false religion. It's the same story being told again. There's been a three and a half year drought on the land. That drought is followed by a rainstorm. Now, I don't know that much, all the details of what that means, but three and a half years, no rain, and suddenly flooding rains coming. There's all kinds of dimensions, I'm sure. I mean, dynamics of complication. Look at it, says Ezekiel 38, verse 22. This is talking about that same hell storm. I will rain down on him, verse 22, on the Antichrist. I will rain down on his troops. I will rain down on many peoples. That means nations. Whenever it talks about many peoples, plural, it means the nations, the Gentile nations. The word peoples and nations is interchangeable in many places. I will rain down on many nations who are with him. Now, these are the people that are identified with the Antichrist. It will be flooding rain. It will be great hell stones. It will be fire and brimstone. I will rain down, I will do on those cities what I did on Sodom and Gomorrah. Because in Jude, verse seven, I don't have that in the notes, Jude, verse seven, Jude said, the Apostle Jude said that what God did in Sodom and Gomorrah was an example of what he's going to do again in history. And this is when he's going to do it, at the end of the age, in the seventh bowl. He's going to do again on the cities of the earth what he did in Sodom and Gomorrah. It's going to be flooding rain, hell stones, fire and brimstone. Again, you might be struck with the cruelty of this, but these are reprobate, meaning they have blasphemed the Holy Spirit. They're in a position of hardness of heart. They have no desire to repent. They hate Jesus with a perfect hatred. They will not repent. They blaspheme him. And what I see in this is not cruelty. I see resolve to act in the case of justice and love, to remove evil off the earth so that love and righteousness can fill the earth. They must be removed because they're acting in their own free will. Jesus won't put his hand in their heart and turn the switch and make them decide they have chosen to hate him perfectly. And he says, because you've chosen that, you must be removed. And because you won't remove of your own free will, I will drive you off the planet and everything associated with you so that love and righteousness can fill the earth for a thousand years. And then after the thousand years on forever and ever in the new heaven and new earth, righteousness and love will fill the earth. This is about a decisive intervention, him doing something against injustice and against evil and against everything that sins against love. Paragraph E, I'm just gonna take you through this real quick. You're not gonna really, just if you have the notes, you can follow along. Other than that, you're gonna get a little bit lost here. Paragraph E, because I wanna be done in the next two, three minutes here. Isaiah 42. Look at verse 15 at the very end of Isaiah 42. When Jesus comes back, this is related to the second coming, he's gonna lay waste the mountains. I mean, that's intense. Can you imagine what it means to lay waste the mountains? It's the seventh bowl here. When Jesus comes back like a mighty man of war, he's gonna destroy all the mountains. That's how much he's gonna shake the earth. Paragraph F, Isaiah 28. I'm not even gonna read it. It's a great one. Put a note, great one. Read this later. Top of page six. Let's look at paragraph H, which is Job 38. Let's look at the passage, Job 38, verse 22 to 23. Here's what God asked Job. He says, Job, I got a question. Because Job was challenging God's wisdom. He goes, have you entered the treasury of snow? Or have you seen the treasury, or one translation says the storehouse of hell? Job goes, I don't even know there is a storehouse for hell. He goes, verse 23, I have reserved the storehouse of hell. The treasury of hell, I've reserved it for the time of trouble. I've reserved it for the day of battle. The Lord has reserved 100 pound hell stones for the day of battle when he confronts his enemy on a global level. He goes, Job, remember that. I am storing up something for the great day of battle. Wait and see. Well, there's lots of verses here for your own personal study and edification. So I'll just end with that. Let's stand before the Lord. We're done with the 14 sessions now on the seals, trumpets, and bowls. And how I feel after 14 sessions, I trust Jesus more, I love him more, I'm fascinated more, and I don't wanna be on the bad side at all. I don't want nothing to do with darkness. I don't wanna flirt with it. It is a bankrupt system. I promise you, you already know that. The system of the flesh, pride, and sin, and lust, it is bankrupt. There is no future in it. Let's not go on a little two, three, four year of eight kind of parentheses, then come back and repent. Let's not even do it. It's a bankrupt system. Let's just open our hearts before the Lord here. Father, we come before you. I just wanna encourage you just to close your eyes for a moment. Just be before the Lord. You say, Lord, I wanna know your word. I wanna love you. I wanna be fascinated. I wanna marvel at your ways. Who are you? Who would have thought of these things? So Lord, we set our heart before you. We say we're yours. Just wait on the Lord for a moment here. Go ahead and let the instruments begin. Just gonna wait on the Lord. Holy Spirit, I ask you to stir us. There's a verse in Revelation 15. It says, great and marvelous are your ways. They're talking about the seven bowls. When the saints said, marvelous are your ways, they're talking about the seven bowls. They're marvelous. They make me marvel. I ask you for a spirit of marvel about you, Jesus, to touch us when we read Revelation 16. Father, I ask you for a spirit of marveling about the Son of God. I wanna say now what we will say then. Great and marvelous, marvelous are the things that you have planned. Let me understand them from your point of view. Lord, I ask you for a spirit of revelation. I ask that we would marvel at Revelation 16. I wanna marvel at your wisdom and your love in this chapter, the seven bowls. Beloved, you don't wanna just throw Revelation 16 away and just say, well, I'm not gonna get around to that because it's too intense. The saints in heaven marvel when they think about the theme of Revelation 16. It's what it says in Revelation 15.3. I wanna invite those of you that you feel struck by that phrase I said about marveling. You're saying, that's got a hold on me. I wanna marvel before these truths, and it's not the truths. It's the revelation of Jesus who's behind the truths. That's who we wanna marvel at. If you're saying that has struck a chord in me right now, I want the spirit of revelation. I wanna marvel. I want to invite you to come stand up on these lines up here to receive prayer. We're gonna wait on the Lord. Just gonna let the instruments continue for a few minutes. Lord, I wanna marvel. I wanna read the seventh bowl, and I wanna be fascinated by you. Just go ahead and stand on the lines there to get on the carpet so we have room for everyone. We got them at the sides. Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit, I wanna marvel at Jesus. I don't wanna wait until then. I wanna marvel now when I read this chapter. I ask you for the spirit of power to come on this earth waiting before you. I ask that the fog would lift. I ask you that the fog would lift, that the marvel of Jesus take root in our heart when we read the seven bowls. Holy Spirit, we would see the man behind the plan. We would see Jesus, the Holy Spirit. I'm gonna release your fire, Rick. I wanna marvel before Jesus. Ask you for the spirit of power, the release of your glory to touch our spirit. Let me see what you see, Father. When you look at your son before these troops, I wanna see what you see, Father. I wanna feel a little bit of what you feel. Come release your power right now. Come release your glory.