Why the Plagues?
I have exciting news. Plans are being laid to record a four-hour DVD miniseries entitled Simply Revelation: A Beginner’s Guide to the Most Challenging Book of the Bible. In this miniseries I will lay out the fruit of thirty years of intensive scholarly study of the Book of Revelation. But the goal of the series is clarity and simplicity, not obtuse depth. In harsher terms, this miniseries will be "Revelation for Dummies." The purpose is sound scholarship unpacking the essence of Revelation at a level that anyone can understand. Watch here for news of the recording dates and the publication of the DVD series, hopefully by mid-summer.
Please also note that today I read through all blog comments from the opening of this web site until now. I have responded to many of your comments and I appreciate each of your contributions to the web site.
In my previous blog I tried to answer a visitor’s question about the bowl-plagues of Revelation 16. This led me to some further thoughts that I would like to share here. In Revelation 15:8 the temple in heaven is filled with smoke from the glory of God. As a result of this glory, no one is able to enter the temple throughout the time when the bowls of wrath (Rev 15:1) are being poured out. In other words, the emptiness of the temple reflects a time when no one will be performing intercession from inside the temple. Mercy has ceased and probation has closed. The seven bowl plagues pour out the wrath of God unmitigated by any trace of mercy. Probation is over and the consequences of disobedience are lived out.
But if the bowl plagues come after the close of probation, no one is repenting any more. So what is the point of these plagues? If people can no longer repent it seems vengeful and capricious to torment them further. It is one thing to remove oppressors and abusers from the universe, it is quite another to drag them from torment to torment along the way. That sounds like cutting of a cat’s tail inch by inch. If the job needs doing you can get it done with a lot less torment than that.
The answer to the question may lie in a major underlying theme of the seven bowls: the justice or fairness of God. The actions of the seven bowls are not arbitrary. God is not some celestial sadist who enjoys the suffering of His creation. There is an ultimate purpose in everything He does. The crucial text is Revelation 16:5-7 (NIV): "You are just in these judgments, you who are and who were, the Holy One, because you have so judged; for they have shed the blood of your saints and prophets, and you have given them blood to drink as they deserve." In other words, the punishments of the plagues are appropriate to the crime. The wicked, as objects of God’s executive judgment, are receiving in kind what they have done to others.
You see, the justice and the fairness of God is the ultimate issue. How can God judge people for all eternity on the basis of a few years of up and down behavior? How do we know the wicked wouldn’t change if they knew God better or had the opportunities that the righteous had? Can we really trust the end-time judgment of God?
The plagues demonstrate that the wicked continue to oppose God no matter the circumstances. Sufferings that have led millions to cry out to God over the centuries only cause the opposition of the wicked to become even more pronounced and severe (Rev 16:8-11). Earlier plagues had brought people to repentance (Rev 11:13) but now the wicked have turned away so long and so completely that they are no longer capable of opening themselves to God’s salvation. At the same time, the sufferings of the righteous in the last days do not turn them away from God. The same sufferings have a solidifying effect on all. The righteous remain righteous and the wicked remain wicked.
The close of probation, therefore, is not an arbitrary decree on the part of God. It is simply a time when world affairs are so arranged that everyone makes a settled decision for or against God at the very same time. The plagues are not arbitrary, even though they come after the close of probation, because they also serve God’s purposes. To put it differently, the plagues of Revelation 16 demonstrate the truth of Rev 15:3-4: "Just and true are your ways." In other words, even though God’s judgment is based on what to us would be inconclusive evidence, it is completely fair and completely accurate. The pouring out of the bowl-plagues demonstrates to the universe that God knows what He is doing, whether or not we fully understand it or accept it.
I thank God and can trust a God like that. When I look at the cross and see my Saviour, it warns me against continuing in sin as I seethe consequences. It gives me hope and encouragement when I see that God is not only just but merciful in that He suffered for my sins so that I need not suffer the outpouring of the plagues.I can trust a God like that for what I cannot comprehend and my vote is for letting Him work out His salvation in me and whatever He wants me to do I know He will enable me.
Thank you for your insights. They are much appreciated and resonate with the Source.
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Good stuff, I really enjoy Jon's comments. The idea of justice and mercy meeting in God's judgment are so clearly revealed in scripture. I just wish more people would look at the concept of God ending all pain and suffering at the end of Revalation. I think them many would abandon the idea of an everlasting hell.
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Hello Jon and all,
You do understand that the Apocalypse and other texts were "unsealed" three years ago, just before the recent plague of hurricanes began? In other words, the
seven">http://www.geocities.com/sevenstarhand/twospirits.html">seven seals have already been loosed. There is no longer any need to guess what the symbology of these ancient Hebrew texts really means.
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Dr. Paulien,
Are you aware of any book or articles written by scholars in our church focussed upon the sacramental system in the RC, Orthodox and mainline churches? I have seen suggestions that this system defiles the heavenly sanctuary. But these assertion have not been explored with any depth.
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