Bible Study on Revelations 16 - The Outpouring of the Wrath of God
By Steve O Sterling
The outpouring of the wrath of God is severely warned against in the fourteenth chapter of the book of Revelation (Rev. 14:9-12). In your Bible study on Revelations 16 you will get details of what the wrath of God entails. It speaks of the punishment that will be meted out in the last days in the form of seven plagues to be poured out upon the earth. The fact that it is designated "the wrath of God" seems to indicate that this particular retribution will be something out of the ordinary.
In my analysis of this particular subject I made a scripture comparison between chapter 16 and other passages of scriptures and found that this kind of expression of displeasure on the part of God bears the following features:
• It is no different from the way in which the Lord responds to similar offences in the Old Testament.
• It is God's direct response to the widespread embracing of the new religious order to be implemented in the last days.
• It is a direct result of making void the laws of God.
• The inhabitants of the earth are so punished because they have made the ultimate decision to reject God outrightly.
In your Bible study on Revelations 16, you will see that the people of God were not in any way affected by this retribution. According to the scriptures, the curse of the plagues will only be directed at those who received the mark of the beast and worshiped his image (Rev. 16:2). Similar to the case of the seven trumpets (Rev. 8-11), when the seven angels pour out their vials, only those who have not the seal of God in their foreheads (Rev. 9:4) will be punished by these plagues.
In order for us to get a better understanding of this chapter, we need to do a Bible study on Revelations 13 to find out what the issue of the mark of the beast is really about why it attracts such a harsh punishment. That chapter is essentially about how the world will worship the beast and take his mark. The taking of the mark of the beast is the means of sealing ones loyalty to the beast in the same way that the seal of God in the foreheads of His people signifies that their allegiance to God is forever fixed.
During the time of the plagues, those who have made God their trust will receive his protection (Ps 91:10). But those who chose to cast in their lot with the beast and become his worshipers will be forced to lean on his unreliable protection in times of trouble. Under the protection of this apostate religious system, the worshipers of the beast by virtue of their possession of his ID mark will be able to gain access to social amenities and live the lives they are accustomed to. But that's as far as the protection goes because they are not guaranteed security from the curse of the seven plagues. By rejecting God they have rejected their only assurance of safety from this end-time affliction.
As it stands today, the world has not yet reached the place where God would see fit to impose a punishment of this magnitude. Thankfully, there are enough of us who are still calling upon His name and acknowledging His sovereignty over our lives. But the day will come when the vast majority even among the Christian fraternity will reject the commandments of God (Isa. 24:5, 6) and cause the world to descend into a new devil-worshiping religious culture. It is precisely for this reason why the Lord will remove His protection from this apostate world and leave the finally unrepentant to the buffeting of the seven last plagues.
An advanced Bible study on Revelations 13 (and beyond) that covers the subject of the plagues, among other end-time subjects, is now available for download.