El Shaddai Ministries

Pastor Mark Biltz: Okay, here we are at the Book of Revelation. Today we're going to cover Chapter 15 and Chapter 16. Let's start with Revelation 15, verses one and two. It's going to remind us of Revelation Chapter 4 and 5. If you want to connect the dots between Revelation 15 with Revelation 4 and 5, let's look at the connections here. We'll start where John says, "I saw another sign in heaven. It was great. It was amazing. There were seven angels with seven plagues, which are the last, for with them the wrath of God is finished."

"And I saw what appeared to be a sea of glass mingled with fire." Can you imagine this big sea of glass and there are flames coming up from it? Then he also saw all those who had conquered the beast and its image and the number of its name, standing beside the sea of glass. They all have harps in their hands. The harps of God are in their hands. These are people who were here on earth that conquered the beast, the image, and the number. These weren't people that were taken out, but people who were here.

Now remember Revelation 4 and 5 and this sea of glass. Let's go back and look. It says around the throne were 24 thrones. Seated on the thrones were the 24 elders, clothed in white garments with golden crowns on their heads. Then it says from the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings, and peals of thunder. I don't know about you, but I lived in Kansas where we had rip-roaring thunderstorms at night. It just scared the bejeebies out of you. You had this big bolt crack of lightning and this giant peal of thunder. I can't imagine what it's going to be like being in heaven with all that going on at the same time.

It says before the throne were burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God. Then before the throne was as it were a sea of glass like crystal. This is the same sea of glass we're looking at in Revelation 15 that we're finding in Revelation 4. Then Revelation 5 talks about it. Let's go to verses 8 through 14. "When he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the Lamb. Every one of them has a harp in their hand and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints."

Then it says they sang a new song. "Worthy are you to take the scroll and open its seals. You were slain and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe, language, people, and nation. You have made them a kingdom of priests to our God and they are the ones that are going to reign on the earth." Then I looked and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders. They heard the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads. That's 10,000 times 10,000 and thousands and thousands.

What are they singing with a loud voice? "Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power, wealth, wisdom, might, honor, glory, and blessing." Then on top of that, he hears every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea and all of them. They're adding to this chorus and they're saying to him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever. Then the four living creatures said, "Amen," and all the elders fall down and worship. As we're reading Revelation 15, I want you to see what is going on by connecting it back to Chapter 4 and 5.

Now let's go to Chapter 15 again and look at the next two verses, 3 and 4. What are they singing? The Song of Moses, the servant of God. It's also known as the Song of the Lamb. They're saying, "Great and amazing are your deeds, O Lord God Almighty. Just and true are your ways, O King of the nations. Who's not going to fear, Lord? Who's not going to glorify your name? You alone are holy. Every nation is going to come and worship you, for your righteous acts have been revealed."

This is important because when we look at the tribulation and the wrath of God, we're thinking these are horrible things. These are all righteous acts of God. In Deuteronomy 31:30, Moses spoke in the ears of all the assembly of Israel the words of this song until they were finished. That's the song they were to memorize because it's the song we'll be singing. In Revelation, they're ascribing greatness to God, saying how just and true he is.

Look at Deuteronomy 32, verses 3 and 4. It says, "I will proclaim the name of the Lord. Ascribe greatness to our God. He is the Rock. His work is perfect. All his ways are justice. He's a God of faithfulness without iniquity. Just and upright is he." Look at Psalm 92, verses 5 through 7. It talks about just how just and upright God is and how great he is. It says, "How great are your works, O Lord. Your thoughts are very deep. The stupid man can't even begin to know. The fool can't understand this. Though the wicked sprout like grass and all the evildoers are flourishing, they are doomed to destruction forever."

Psalm 111, verses 2 and 3. "Great are the works of the Lord. They are studied by all who delight in them. Full of splendor and majesty is his work and his righteousness endures forever." Over and over throughout the scriptures, they're ascribing greatness to God. Look at Jeremiah Chapter 10, verses 7 and 8. "Who wouldn't fear you, O King of the universe, O King of the nations? For this is your due. For among all the wise ones of the nations and in all their kingdoms, there is no one like you. They are but stupid and foolish."

Let's go back to Revelation 15, verses 5 and 6. John says, "After I looked and the sanctuary of the tent of witness in heaven was opened, out of the sanctuary came the seven angels with the seven plagues, clothed in pure bright linen with golden sashes around their chests." Remember Moses's tabernacle and Solomon's temple. Everything was patterned after the heavenly one. All of a sudden, the heavens open and they see the real Ark of the Covenant, the real Menorah, the living Torah. Out of the sanctuary came the seven angels with the seven plagues, clothed in pure bright linen. They all had golden sashes around their chests. These plagues are coming. We live in interesting times.

Look at Leviticus 26:21. God says, "Look, guys, if you walk contrary to me and you don't hearken to me, I am going to bring seven times more plagues upon you according to your sins." Here come seven angels with seven plagues. God says, "Look, if you guys don't obey me, I'm going to bring seven times more plagues." This is the Day of Atonement. Revelation 15, verses 7 and 8. One of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God who lives forever and ever. Then it says the sanctuary was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power. No one could enter the sanctuary until the seven plagues of the seven angels were finished. God is doing this alone.

What's interesting is we're reading this in Revelation 15, "No one could enter the sanctuary." Well, look at Leviticus 16:17. This is a Yom Kippur service, the Day of Atonement. It says, "No one may be in the tent of meeting from the time the high priest enters to make atonement until he comes out and has made atonement for himself, for his house, for all the assembly of Israel." God himself is making atonement for the nation of Israel.

Look at Jeremiah Chapter 25, verses 15 and 18. It says, "Thus the Lord, the God of Israel, tells Jeremiah, 'Take from my hand this cup of the wine of the wrath and make all the nations to whom I sent you to drink it. They're going to drink and stagger and be crazed because of the sword that I'm going to send among them.'" Jeremiah says, "I took the cup of the Lord's hands and I made all the nations to whom the Lord sent me to drink it. Jerusalem, the city of Judah, its kings, officials, to make them a desolation, a waste, a hissing, a curse, as it is this day."

That means not only is Jerusalem drinking this cup of wine's wrath, but every nation of the earth will as well. What do we find in Revelation 16, verse 1 and 2? John says, "Then I heard a loud voice from the temple telling the seven angels, 'Alright, go and pour out on the earth the seven bowls of the wrath of God.'" So what happens? We have the first angel. He goes and poured out his bowl on the earth. The first one is harmful and painful boils or sores. They came upon the people who had the mark of the beast and who worshipped its image.

I can't help but think of Exodus 9:8 and 9. Here we see that the Lord says to Moses and Aaron, "Take handfuls of soot from the kiln. Let Moses throw them in the air in the sight of Pharaoh and it'll become fine dust over all the land of Egypt and become boils breaking out in sores on man and beast throughout all the land of Egypt." We have a tie-in in the Exodus boils and here in Revelation boils.

Look at Deuteronomy 28:35. God specifically says the Lord, if you disobey, is going to strike you on the knees and on the legs with grievous boils of which you cannot be healed, from the sole of your foot to the crown of your head. Can you imagine having a grievous boil right on your knees and on your legs? Who can walk? First, the flesh is attacked. Now comes the sea. Revelation 16:3. The second angel pours out his bowl into the ocean, the sea. It becomes like the blood of a corpse. Every living thing died that was in the sea.

I can't help but think of Exodus 7:19 when the Lord tells Moses to tell Aaron to take your staff and stretch it out over the waters of Egypt, on their rivers, canals, ponds, pools of water, and they all will become blood, even in the vessels of wood and vessels of stone. We have the first plague on human flesh. The next one is on the sea. The third one is on the rivers. Not only are the seas affected, even the rivers, be they saltwater or freshwater, both are going to be affected.

The third angel poured out his bowl into the rivers and the springs of water and they became blood. I heard the angel in charge of the waters say, "Just are you, O Holy One, who is and who was, for you brought these judgments." These judgments of God that are coming are just judgments. They're deserved judgments. He says, "Because they have shed the blood of saints and prophets and you've given them blood to drink, it is what they deserve." That's right in the book. Then I heard the altar saying, "Yes, Lord God Almighty, just and true are your judgments." That's the Song of Moses.

In Revelation 16:8 and 9, we now have the fourth angel pouring out his bowl. Guess where it goes? On the sun itself. It was allowed to scorch people with fire, so the heat is going to be extremely intense. They were scorched by the fierce heat and they cursed the name of God who had the power over these plagues. Get a load of this. They did not repent or give God glory. That's why it's the goodness of God that leads men to repentance. The wrath of God will never lead anyone to repentance. We see here God is pouring out his wrath and they don't repent. That's why I believe a lot of this preaching trying to get people to repent by preaching the wrath of God never works. It's the goodness of God that leads men to repentance.

In Revelation 16:10 and 11, the fifth angel pours out his bowl on the throne of the beast and its kingdom is plunged into darkness. People gnaw their tongues in anguish and they curse the God of heaven because of their pain, their sores, and again they did not repent of their deeds. In verses 8 and 9, they did not repent when the sun is scorching them. All of a sudden, the sun goes out. Now they're plunged into darkness and again they did not repent. They're complaining because it's too bright. Now they're complaining it's too dark.

Again, I can't help but think of Exodus 10:22 when Moses stretches out his hand toward heaven and there was pitch darkness in all the land of Egypt for three days. Now we have the sixth angel. Revelation 16, verse 12 through 14. The sixth angel pours out his bowl on a specific river, the river Euphrates. Now all of its water dries up. The purpose is to prepare the ways for the kings of the East to come marching over.

Then John says, "I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs." Frogs are coming out of their mouth. He says they're demonic spirits. Look at this. These demonic spirits are performing signs and they go to the kings of the whole world to assemble them for battle on the great day of God the Almighty. Here we see the Satan, the dragon, the beast, the false prophet, and they're all performing miraculous signs. This is why you don't follow miracles.

This false prophet is going to perform all kinds of signs. Look at Deuteronomy Chapter 13, verses 1 through 3. If a prophet or dreamer arises among you and he gives you a sign or a wonder and the sign or wonder that he tells you does come to pass, most people think then it's got to be true. Not so. Listen to what it says. If he then tells you, "Hey, let's go after other gods which you have not known and let us serve them," you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for the Lord your God is just testing you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul. Are you going to go follow after signs or are you going to fall in love with the Lord and do what he says?

The false prophets are going to do all kinds of miracles, so you don't want to follow miracles. Let's look at First Kings. This is an incredible verse. First Kings Chapter 22, verse 21 through 23. A spirit came forward and stood before the Lord saying, "I will entice him." The Lord said to him, "How will you do that?" He said, "I will go out and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all of his prophets." You know, a lying spirit can be put in the mouth of the prophets. He said, "You are to entice him and you shall succeed. Go out and do so." Now behold, the Lord has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all of these your prophets. The Lord has declared a disaster for you. We have to know true prophets from false prophets.

This takes us back to Revelation 16, verse 15 and 16. This is what is so important. Here God talks about how the false prophets are going to be doing all kinds of miraculous signs and wonders and he's going to be telling all kinds of lies or fake news. Then listen to this. Revelation 16:15 and 16. "Behold, I'm coming like a thief. Blessed is the one who stays awake, keeps his garments on, that he may not go about naked and be seen exposed." They assembled them at the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon.

The important thing is God is not coming as a thief to his people. He only comes as a thief to the wicked. That's so important. Look at First Thessalonians 5. We need to realize he doesn't come as a thief to the church that is awake. Revelation 16, verse 17 and 18. We now have the seventh angel pouring out his bowl. His bowl just goes out into the open air. Then a loud voice comes out of the temple from the throne. What does it say? "It is finished. It is done."

Then come flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, and even a great earthquake, it says. It says this earthquake is going to be so great, never since man has been on the earth so great was the earthquake. I don't know how many of you have been in an earthquake. It is very troubling. I've been in a couple of earthquakes, but to have one so great where in Isaiah every wall falls to the ground, that's a pretty great earthquake. There's a time coming when we will be rocking and rolling.

This takes us back to Zechariah Chapter 14, 3 through 4, where the Lord goes out to battle against all those nations, referring to Armageddon here. It says on that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives that lies before Jerusalem on the east. The Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west by a very wide valley. One-half of the mount will move north and the other half south. I believe this is the great earthquake that's talking about in Revelation, this one in Zechariah 14, when his feet land on the Mount of Olives and the earth just splits. It's going to be huge.

Get a load of this. This takes us to Revelation 16, verse 19 through 21. The great city, referring to Jerusalem, was split into three parts. The cities also of all the nations fell. Can you imagine entire cities of the nations are going to fall? This is why I want to be in the Sukkah at that time and not be on the top of a high-rise building. It says God remembered Babylon the Great to make her drain the cup of the wine of the fury of his wrath. Every island flees away. No mountains were to be found.

Then get a load of this. There were great hailstones. How big were these? How many of you have had your car pummeled by hailstones? When I lived in Kansas, a lot of car damage due to hailstones. Guess what? These hailstones are 100 pounds each. Can you imagine getting a hailstone 100 pounds pounding on your head or on your car? They fell from heaven on people and what did they do? They cursed God for the plague of the hail because the plague was so severe.

Isaiah 51, verse 17. "Wake up! Wake yourself up! Stand up, O Jerusalem, you who have drunk from the hand of the Lord the cup of his wrath, who have drunk to the dregs the bowl, the cup of staggering." But then again in Jeremiah 25, 15 and 17, the Lord God said to me, "Take from my hand this cup of the wine of wrath and make all the nations drink it." So all the nations are going to drink it.

We see in the end of days Jerusalem for the last several thousand years has drunk the wine of the cup of wrath of God's fury. What's happened to them over 2,000 years is going to be condensed within seven years, happening to the rest of the world. In Exodus 9, verse 23 and 24, we make the connection where Moses stretches out his hand toward heaven and the Lord sends thunder and hail and fire runs down to the earth. The Lord rains hail on the land of Egypt. There was hail and fire flashing continually in the midst of the hail, very heavy hail, such as had never been in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation.

Again, there are all these parallels between the plagues in the Exodus and the plagues in Revelation. But here's the thing. Just as we read in Revelation, we find the same thing happened in Egypt. In Exodus 9:34, when Pharaoh saw the rain and the hail and the thunder had ceased, he sinned yet again, hardened his heart, he and his servants. In other words, there was no repentance.

What we need to learn from all of this is that it's not the wrath of God that leads men to repentance. The wrath of God is to be just. It's to pay people back, reward them for their deeds. They're going to get rewarded for what they have done. It's so important for us as believers to listen and obey. We need to understand God's ways, just like Moses in his Torah portion said, "God, I want to understand you."

Rather than us thinking we have a God who is so mean and hard and he demands so much with these horrible commandments like love your neighbor, we need to realize that no, all these commandments are for our good. We need to return back to a Torah understanding of who God is if we want to make a difference in this world. It's one thing for us not to get the plague. It's another thing for us to be able to stand in the gap and intercede for other people and they can now come to us for help. I want all of you not to be in fear with what's going on in the world. Know this is just a practice run for what is really the big game that's coming. I just pray each one of us that we can learn to run at this time, so when the horses come, we can keep up and run with the horses as well.

Let's stand and let's pray and ask that the Lord would just really touch all of us. Before I do, Jill, will there be a closing tape song or are we just going to go to the Priestly Blessing? Just the Priestly Blessing. Okay, what we're going to do, we're going to close in prayer and then when we're done, we're going to have Josiah, who sang the Priestly Blessing last week, sing the Priestly Blessing for us again. But for now, let's pray.

Avinu Malkeinu, our Father, our King. I just pray right now as families all over the world are listening to this message, they would gather their family together, give them big hugs and love and kisses. Father, that they would know the importance of following your Torah, following your word. Lord, I just pray right now that you truly would bless your people and keep them. Father, shine your face on them and be gracious to them. Lift up your countenance upon them and give them peace above all measure. Father, again, I just want to thank you for all those from all over the world live-streaming with us who sew into this ministry, Father, that together we can all stop this plague through our prayer, communal prayer. In Yeshua's name, amen.

All right. Well, may the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you his peace. We will see you next Shabbat, but know our offices are open all during the week. Our store is open. Feel free to call. We love you. Take care. We'll see you next Shabbat.