1. THE GREAT VOICE (V-1)
1. “Great voice out of the temple. This is God’s commanding His angels to pour out His wrath on the people of the earth. Yes, God is capable of wrath.
2. THE FIRST VIAL (V-2)
1. The first bowl of God’s wrath comes on the people in the form of sores. The word for sores is the same word used for sores on Lazarus in Luke 16; and it is the same word, only intensified, that describes the plagued Egyptians in Exodus -12.
2. You will note that the sores only fall upon the Beast-worshippers. The wrath of God is never poured out on His people, only the wicked. The wrath of the world is always on the people of God – but the wrath of God- never.
3. THE SECOND VIAL (V-3)
1. This would be better translated “And it became blood as of a dead man.” What a terrible picture this
presents: the ocean filled with blood clotted putrescept blood that will kill all life in it. One thing we can
learn here is that the wrath of God is indescribably awful.
4. THE THIRD VIAL (Vs 4-7)
1. This plague affects the rivers and fountains, source of drinking and household supply. There will be no drinking water that is not contaminated by blood.
2. These two angels cry out and declare that God is righteous in this judgment and that God’s judgment are also righteous.
5. THE FOURTH VIAL (Vs 8-9)
1. There will be a hot summer this year. The sun will actually scorch men’s bodies – the heat of the sun will be greatly intensified.
2. But these people will not repent. They will blaspheme the very God who has power over the plagues. These people have sold themselves out to the devil and have received the mark of the Beast, and there is no hope for them.
6. THE FIFTH VIAL (Vs 10-11)
1. This plaque brings darkness over the whole earth. This is the extreme opposite of the last plague – from one extreme to another.
2. It would seem that these plagues follow one another in close order. One plague does not cease when another begins because these people are still suffering from the sores of plague number one when plague number five falls on them.
This chapter presents a horrible picture of the closing days of this age: men and women living with their bodies covered with sores, drinking bloody water, suffering intense heat, in a world turned into total darkness.
We might close this lesson by reading John 1:45.