Bowls Of Wrath

As Christians, we often wrestle with the contradiction between justice and mercy. We value forgiveness while also firmly believing misdeeds deserve consequences. However, this isn’t a contradiction—it’s a duality of love we inherited from our Heavenly Father. The worst people can and should be forgiven, as God has forgiven us. But at the same time, evil must be stopped.

God exemplifies this aspect of His character when He finally wages war against evil. He has spent most of Revelation trying to shake the world awake to the reality of its sin. Most people have ignored Him, and now, time is up.

Nevertheless, God still sends three more angels to give them one last chance. He tells them everything they need to know to their faces, trying to convince them to turn and be saved (Revelation 14:1-12). Their refusal is the end. God is full of mercy, but he doesn’t leave evil unpunished.

After taking His faithful away to a safe place, God pours out His bowls of wrath on those who committed themselves to serving evil (Revelation 16:1-6). These bowls are similar to the bowls of blood and wine used in Temple worship. They create worldwide plagues that utterly crush evil and its followers like grapes in a wine press (Revelation 14:14-20). And just like that, the war against evil is over.

So, how do we balance mercy and justice? We don’t have to do much at all. Our job isn’t to seek justice personally. Instead, we should patiently wait for God to do it for us, as He promised (Romans 12:17-19). In the meantime, we must focus on clothing ourselves in Jesus’s light (Revelation 16:15), following His way of life, and teaching others to do the same.

Watch the full sermon here.