Lesson 51
Revelation - Study of Things to Come
Revelation 16 The Bowls of Wrath
SCIENCE AND THE BIBLE
1. God is eternal and creation is temporal.
- all things are from either God or creation; space, matter,
creation
2.
Therefore, space, matter, time, energy, material and immaterial are sustained
by God.
- Why? are part of creation.
- 2 Pet 3:5 -
earth sustained by the Word of God (perfect tense).
3.
God controls every part of His creation, at every place, at every time.
Therefore all of creation is constantly being controlled by God. Rom
4. God is not bound by any higher law than
Himself.
5.
Science can only generalize about how God works in some of His creations, in some places, in some times.
6.
Therefore, any scientific law talks about what God did at certain places and
certain times, not about how He must act at all places and all times.
7.
Therefore, any scientific law does not bind God and is not a law for God but
only a normal expression of man for the usual condition.
- ex: gravity
8.
If God reveals that He acted in some way, at some point, at
some time contrary to how He usually acts, this supersedes any scientific law.
9.
Therefore, although science can be trusted in most cases, and should be, however
when we have outside authoritative revelation from God we are bound to trust
the word over normal beliefs.
10. Must know the Word of God
and subordinate everything to it!
Intro Chapter 17-18
It is an expansion of the events associated with the seventh
bowl judgment.
What is revealed is additional
information concerning the destruction of
The issue with these 2 chapters that is crucial to an
understanding of
Do these 2 chapters refer to 2 distinct Babylons;
Or are the 2 chapters a unit
presenting different aspects of one
1. Distinctions
- There are
basically 4 major distinctions we need to deal with, to recognize.
Different settings; Different
destroyers; Different responses; Different character
#1. Different settings:
- These 2 chapters are 2
visions presented by 2 angels to John. 17:1, 18:1
- "After these things" in 18:1 is
used by many to indicate that these 2 chapters are talking about 2 different
Babylons; presenting 2 different pictures.
- Question is, does the use of "and after
these things,"
- One problem: the mere presence of
- It can simply be indicating the time sequence in
which the visions were revealed to John.
** Documentation:
Temporal use: 4:1a; 7:1; 7:9; 15:5; 18:1; 19:1
Eschatological use:
** Thus I believe that we
must conclude that in 18:1 the presence of
It only shows that the events revealed to John by
the 2nd angel were shown after he had viewed the vision of the woman on the
beast, ie. ch-17.
#2. Different destroyers;
- The
- If these distinctions are valid, than any attempt
to view the chapters as a unit is doomed to failure.
- These 2 chapters are more similar than many
expositors believe. Some comparisons show I believe that they don't have
different destroyers.
Comparison of Destroyers
Chapter
17 Chapter 18
Object
of "
destruction the
great city" (17:5,18) (
Instrument
of "the ten horns which you (not given)
destruction saw,
and the beast" (
Means
of "will burn her up
with "she will be
burned up
destruction fire" (
Source
of "God has put it in
their "The Lord God who
judges
destruction hearts to execute His her is strong" (18:8)
purpose"
(
When
these 2 chapters are viewed synthetically the alleged distinction between
destroyers melts away.
In
its place stands a unified whole with each chapter presenting a different
aspect of one great destruction.
#3 Different Responses
- The focus here is the response to the destruction
ascribed to men.
This
difference is reflected by the kings of each chapter.
- 1st the response of ch-17 is in
- In ch-18 the response is observed in 18:9 great mourning.
Question?? Are these two passages
talking about the same group of kings?
- In 17:12-14 the kings in view are the "ten
horns" the kings who will make up the rulers, the leaders of the nations
that come together to make up the RRE.
- In 18:9-10 it is the "kings of the earth" these are the
leaders of the other nations around the world, and must be distinguished from
the 10 kings who joined with the Beast.
- This view, I believe, is consistent with the particulars of the text but still seeks to harmonize the two chapters.