11-Preparing for War

Decoding the Apocalypse

Pastor Mike Cooke

Revelation 15-16

1.The Sea of Glass and the Song of Moses (15:1-4)

A.The Sea is symbolic of God’s deliverance and judgement

1)God parted the Red Sea so the Israelites could escape (Ex 14:21-22)

2)God closed the sea to destroy Pharaoh’s army (Ex 14:27-28)

3)Daniel speaks of a river of fire flowing from God’s throne (Dan 7:9-10)

B.The Song of Moses celebrated their deliverance:

1)“I will sing to the Lord,for he is highly exalted.Both horse and driverhe has hurled into the sea. The Lord is my strength and my defense;he has become my salvation.” (Ex 15:1-2)

2)“Who among the godsis like you, Lord?Who is like you—majestic in holiness,awesome in glory,working wonders?” (Ex 15:11)

3)“All the nations you have madewill come and worship before you, Lord;they will bring glory to your name.For you are great and do marvelous deeds;you alone are God.” (Ps 86:9-10)

C.The Decapolis, where the Christians fled, bordered the Sea of Galilee

2.In the OT military judgement is poured out like a cup (15:5-8)

A.“Awake, awake!Rise up, Jerusalem,you who have drunk from the hand of the Lord the cup of his wrath,you who have drained to its dregsthe goblet that makes people stagger.” (Isa 51:17)

B.“Take from my hand this cup filled with the wine of my wrath and make all the nations to whom I send you drink it. When they drink it, they will stagger and go mad because of the sword I will send among them.” (Jer 25:15-16)

C.“You will drink your sister’s cup,a cup large and deep;it will bring scorn and derision,for it holds so much.You will be filled with drunkenness and sorrow,the cup of ruin and desolation,the cup of your sister Samaria.” (Ezek 23:32-33)

D.“I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that sends all the surrounding peoples reeling. Judah will be besieged as well as Jerusalem.” (Zech 12:2-3)

3.God protected His People during the Plagues on Egypt (16:1-11)

A.The Plague of Sores (Exod 9:10)

B.The Rivers Turned to Blood (Exod 7:20; Rev 8:8-10)

C.The Plague of Darkness (Exod 10:22; Rev 8:12)

D.On the unrepentance of the Jews in Jerusalem:

“But for Caesar, he excused himself before God as to this matter, and said that he had proposed peace and liberty to the Jews, as well as an oblivion of all their former insolent practices; but that they, instead of concord, had chosen sedition; instead of peace, war; and before satiety and abundance, a famine. That they had begun with their own hands to burn down that temple which we have preserved hitherto; and that therefore they deserved to eat such food as this was.” (Josephus, Wars of the Jews 6.3.5)

4.The gathering of the Kings of the East (16:12-16)

A.In 540 Cyrus the Great came from the East, diverted the Euphrates River so his men could enter the city of Babylon and conquer it

B.On the sixteenth day,Ugbaru, governor ofGutium, and the army of Cyrus, without battle they entered Babylon. Afterwards, after Nabonidus retreated, he was captured in Babylon. (The Naboninus Chronicle)

C.The Megiddo Plain was a common staging ground for battles (Judges 5:19; 6:33; 2 Chr 35:22; Zech 12:11)

5.Lightning, Earthquakes, Hailstones are images of final judgment (16:21)

A.Then the Lord rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah—from the Lord out of the heavens. (Gen 19:24)

B.So the Lord rained hail on the land of Egypt; HAIL fell and LIGHTNING flashed back and forth. It was the worst storm in all the land of Egypt since it had become a nation. (Exod 9:23-24)

C.Out of the brightness of his presence clouds advanced,with HAILSTONES and bolts of LIGHTNING.The Lord THUNDERED from heaven;the voice of the Most High resounded. (Ps 18:12-13)

D.Suddenly, in an instant,the Lord Almighty will comewith THUNDER and EARTHQUAKE and great noise,with windstorm and tempest and flames of a devouring fire. (Isa 29:5-6)

E.In my zeal and fiery WRATH I declare that at that time there shall be a great EARTHQUAKE in the land of Israel . . . and all the people on the face of the earth will tremble at my presence. The MOUNTAINS will be overturned, the cliffs will crumble and every wall will fall to the ground . . . I will execute judgment on him with PLAGUE and BLOODSHED; I will pour down torrents of rain, HAILSTONES and burning sulfur on him and on his troops and on the many nations with him. (Ezek 38:19-22)

F.On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be SPLIT in two from east to west . . . You will flee as you fled from the EARTHQUAKE in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the Lord my God will come, and all the holy ones with him. (Zech 14:4-5)