Sermon 182

📖 Sermon 182 — Revelation 16:17–21

Date: December 26, 1965
Text: Revelation 16:17–21
Preacher: G. S. Kok
Subject: The Final Outpouring of God’s Wrath

INTRODUCTION

There is nothing so amazing as the lovingkindness, mercy, longsuffering, and patience of our God. Sometimes it seems as though His patience has no end. Year after year, people continue to experience His goodness as He sends them pleading ambassadors and warnings to repent and believe, yet they pay no heed. They stubbornly resist the Holy Spirit and go on in sin, refusing to receive Jesus Christ as their Savior.
But although God’s patience endures long, there comes a day when God says, It is done.
Then comes the final outpouring of His long-restrained but perfectly just wrath.
The apostle John describes that moment when the seventh angel poured out his bowl of wrath.

I. THE LAST GOLDEN BOWL IS EMPTIED

A. The last of the judgments treasured up as the wages of sin

1. It is poured out at God’s command.
2. Justice will be fully executed.

B. The bowl is emptied into the air

1. The air upon which all life depends.
2. The realm where the powers and principalities of the air — the satanic forces — operate.
3. Its effects reach every living thing.

C. Accompanied by the cry: It is done
The very words Jesus spoke on the cross.
One naturally asks: What is done?

1. The final outpouring of God’s wrath upon those who dwell on the earth.
2. The day of salvation — the day of grace — is ended.
3. The antichristian world is finished.
4. This is D-day for the unrepentant sinner who stubbornly rejected God’s calls.

II. ITS DISASTROUS CONSEQUENCES

A. A great universal upheaval

1. Heaven and earth are shaken.
2. Lightnings and voices and thunder.
3. The greatest earthquake ever to shake the world.
   Every mountain collapses.
   Every island flees.
   Nothing remains stable.

B. Great Babylon is broken completely

1. It represents the pride, glory, and stronghold of the ungodly world: The great Babylon that I have built.
2. The antichristian world collapses — economically, politically, socially. Even the great city is divided into three parts.
3. She must drink and drain the cup of the fury of God’s wrath.

C. Those who dwell upon the earth are crushed

1. Their entire life was wrapped up in the world.
2. Their only hope and joy lay in earthly pleasure and wealth.
3. Their world falls apart — and with it, they perish.

III. ITS EFFECT UPON THE UNGODLY

A. It strikes them like a crushing hailstorm from heaven

1. They had unjustly stoned the saints — now heaven stones them.
2. Hailstones weighing about 100 pounds fall upon them.
3. There is no shelter, no protection — utter helplessness.

B. They curse God

1. They do not blame the world or themselves.
2. They blame God — for they know this judgment is from Him.
3. They are not atheists now; they see clearly that God is sovereign over all history.
4. Yet there is no repentance.
   Their heads are crushed by the hailstones.
   Their hearts remain unbroken.
   They hardened themselves against every call to repentance.
   Now it is too late.
   It is done.

CONCLUSION

When will this happen?
In a sense, it happens every day.
Many died today on highways, during this Christmas season, who heard the gospel repeatedly, who experienced warning judgments again and again — yet continued to resist the Holy Spirit. Today, suddenly, their hour came. It was done.
How long before this happens to you, unrepentant sinner?
How long before the world you trust collapses?
How long before you fall into the hands of the living God?
It may be this very night.
Remember Christ’s words to the rich man who felt secure for years to come:
Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee.
For the last time this year — and possibly for the last time in your life — God calls you to repentance and faith, promising forgiveness and eternal life, and warning of the judgment for all who reject Him.
Will you heed His call?
Or will you resist until your heart turns to stone?