Resilient – A Revelation Daily Devotional – Day 37
Cedar Creek Church September 2, 2025

Day 37 – September 2

Read or listen to the audio version of the Bible Reading and Daily Devotional.

Read Revelation 16

The Seven Bowls of God’s Wrath
1Then I heard a loud voice from the temple telling the seven angels, “Go and pour out on the earth the seven bowls of the wrath of God.”
2So the first angel went and poured out his bowl on the earth, and harmful and painful sores came upon the people who bore the mark of the beast and worshiped its image.
3The second angel poured out his bowl into the sea, and it became like the blood of a corpse, and every living thing died that was in the sea.
4The third angel poured out his bowl into the rivers and the springs of water, and they became blood. 5And 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.
6For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets,
and you have given them blood to drink.
It is what they deserve!”
7And I heard the altar saying,
“Yes, Lord God the Almighty,
true and just are your judgments!”
8The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and it was allowed to scorch people with fire. 9They were scorched by the fierce heat, and they cursed the name of God who had power over these plagues. They did not repent and give him glory.
10The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness. People gnawed their tongues in anguish 11and cursed the God of heaven for their pain and sores. They did not repent of their deeds.
12The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up, to prepare the way for the kings from the east. 13And I saw, coming out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs. 14For they are demonic spirits, performing signs, who go abroad to the kings of the whole world, to assemble them for battle on the great day of God the Almighty. 15(“Behold, I am coming like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake, keeping his garments on, that he may not go about naked and be seen exposed!”) 16And they assembled them at the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon.
The Seventh Bowl
17The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple, from the throne, saying, “It is done!” 18And there were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, and a great earthquake such as there had never been since man was on the earth, so great was that earthquake. 19The great city was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell, and God remembered Babylon the great, to make her drain the cup of the wine of the fury of his wrath. 20And every island fled away, and no mountains were to be found. 21And great hailstones, about one hundred pounds each, fell from heaven on people; and they cursed God for the plague of the hail, because the plague was so severe.

We have seen the seals of judgment opened and the trumpets of judgment sound, and now we reach the final stage of God’s wrath in the form of the bowls we first saw in Chapter 15. This judgment is certainly darker and brings finality to God’s justice. It’s easy to feel our minds drift toward the darkness of this text and perhaps even find questions surfacing about God’s goodness in light of the harshness we read about today.

This quote from theologian J.I. Packer gives a great framework for understanding the wrath and judgment we encounter in Revelation 16. He says, “The root cause of our unhappiness seems to be a disquieting suspicion that ideas of wrath are in one way or another unworthy of God. God’s wrath in the Bible is something which people choose for themselves. Before hell is an experience inflicted by God, it is a state for which a person himself opts by retreating from the light which God shines in his heart to lead him to Himself.”

Much of this concept is contained in today’s text. How, in the midst of unimaginable pain and judgment, can people continue to rebel against and curse God? Sin has a way of distorting reality. Much of Revelation is a lesson in things not being as they seem. Sin, which always leads to death, ushers people forward in that journey by blinding those caught in its snare to the direction it is truly leading.

Notice that many of these judgments, poured out from these bowls, are simply the fruition of or just retribution for the sin that caused the judgment. For example, water is turned to blood in response to those who have spilled the blood of the saints. Yet, even with this clear correlation, the kingdom of darkness is plunged into darkness, and all hope seems gone, humanity continues to worship the wrong things. Why?

There are, undoubtedly, too many possible answers to that question to list here, but a few to consider are humanity’s relentless pursuit of comfort, pleasure, and power. Each of these pursuits somehow roots itself with the ability to perform and protect in a way that ensures they are not removed from life. The part of humanity that rejects God chooses pain in pursuit of pleasure that, Revelation 16 reveals, will never be obtained. It is hard to stop the chase and see the lie for what it is, but that is the goal of this dark and heavy symbolic message.

It is well to notice that God’s mission to rescue and redeem continues to the bitter end. Even in this pain, the opportunity to repent and trust is still there. That truth and calling are available today. Resiliency is found in continual introspective examination in partnership with God’s Word, illuminated by God’s Spirit, that leads to repentant hearts that are awake to the lies and refuse to participate in choosing to live under wrath while joy is offered.

Pray: God, may today’s darkness and severity call me to examine my heart. Make me dependent on the work of Your Spirit to continually find and repent of every area of my life where I am trusting in things other than You. Amen.