Wrath & Rest – Revelation 15–16 (Apr. 19, 2026)

In kindergarten through third grade, they can go ahead and head out to their class now.

The rest of us, if you would, go ahead and open up your Bibles to Revelation 15.

We are making our way in this series through the book of Revelation.

If you don't have a Bible with you, no worries.

You can find this passage in your bulletin as well.

If you do have a Bible, Revelation's the last book of the Bible.

We're making our ways through it.

We really are sort of coming to the very culmination of the book of Revelation.

We're in a section right now of Revelation where we're going to see the culmination of God's judgment, of God's wrath.

This morning we're going to look at wrath and rest.

You know, last week, probably like some of you or many of you, our family headed out on spring break to Atlanta.

If you didn't know that this about us, we love baseball as a family.

We are pretty massive fans of the Atlanta Braves.

So this was an opportunity for us to go to their home stadium.

Their ballpark is our first time for seeing this ballpark, being there for us and the boys.

And uh, you know, it was it was great.

Um it was outstanding.

It was an incredible uh baseball field and experience, mostly.

Uh the first game was amazing.

Second game was rough.

Uh Braves did not play particularly well, which is always unfortunate if you're a huge Braves fan.

And then there were these two opposing team fans that were right behind us.

And I have to be honest, like, they got to me.

Like, legitimately got to me.

Number of reasons.

First, they were just super loud.

I mean, just screamed.

Um, and they screamed at things that like makes no sense from a baseball perspective.

Like a guy would just make a very routine play in the outfield, and they would stand up and just hoot and holler.

It was like nails on a chalkboard to someone like me.

And then every once in a while they'd make these sort of like snide, kind of mocking comments.

Like Braves would make an error and they'd be like, oh, stellar defense.

You can tell it got to me.

Like it legitimately, like it got to me.

My guess is you've probably had some of that sort of anger building into you.

If I can be honest though, like some of it was them.

Some of it's that I'm super competitive.

I'm one of those people who hates losing more than I love winning.

So I don't like when my team loses.

But mostly, and I wonder if some of you may relate to this, this is sort of like our family's trip out here.

Like, as a dad who planned this, like, I wanted this to be like the perfect vacation.

Like, this is my boy's first time to see the Atlanta Braves in person at their stadium.

I want everything to be perfect.

I want them to see these memorable, great games.

And this wasn't it.

And so I was frustrated.

And these fans chirping behind me just all the more added to that frustrating.

In some ways, I was blaming them for other things.

And it just built and built and built.

I mean, I legitimately had to pray my way through the end of the game.

Just to say, don't turn around, don't say anything.

Uh Jenny's ice cream at the end did help.

Always does.

That's how our anger often is, isn't it?

Our anger is often selfish.

It's self-centered.

Our anger feels wild.

It feels uncontrollable, untainable.

We have to work really, really hard to keep our anger at bay, to keep from losing it or flying off the handle.

That's how our anger is.

In fact, if we're really honest with ourselves, our our wrath, even, our anger, it's usually doesn't make the most sense.

Right?

We ignore, we look past things that really should probably make us anger.

Like when we see the greed of this world sort of uh put down those who are poor, we see power corrupt and abuse those who are weak, we turn a blind eye, but then when someone cuts us off in traffic, it's everything.

It's all open.

Or when somebody makes an idiotic post on social media, it's all we can think about.

Or when you have two annoying fans sitting behind you at a game.

It doesn't really make sense.

Our anger is not sensible.

Our passage this morning is gonna talk about God's wrath.

And I wonder if if some of us we struggle with God's wrath because we think God's wrath is like our wrath.

We judge his wrath by our wrath, our anger.

But here's what our passage is gonna say this morning, and I think it's gonna be a little bit hard for many of us.

Our passage this morning is gonna say that God's wrath is right.

In fact, I'll even go a step further.

It's gonna say that God's wrath is good.

God's wrath is good.

You know, the first hearers of Revelation, they would have rejoiced at these chapters.

They would have longed for these chapters.

They would have known that this was a message they needed to hear, a message of encouragement and hope.

And that should be true for us as well.

See, God's wrath is good, definitively good, because God is definitively good.

And Revelation 15 and 16 this morning is gonna show us that we actually need God's wrath.

Because it is good, and it also gives us rest.

Here's my main idea this morning.

We must embrace God's wrath if we are to know his rest.

We must embrace God's wrath if we are to know his rest.

Now, let me set a little bit of context for us.

We've been seeing as we move through Revelation these different cycles.

Uh, we've already seen two cycles of judgments, and this is the third cycle.

We saw the seal judgments in Revelation 6 through 8.

We saw the trumpet judgments in Revelation 8 through 11, and now this morning we're seeing the bold judgments.

And what we've argued is that these aren't sort of moving like this in time, but these are describing the same time, the same period, that actually everything in this section of Revelation is from Christ's coming to his return, from the cross to the consummation.

And so what we're seeing here and what we're being taught is not necessarily 21 different judgments, but actually the same judgments are being looked at from different perspectives.

You might imagine going to a basketball game and sitting in some different seats.

And they're also being sort of shown to us from some different purposes.

You might imagine seeing a basketball game as a fan, or maybe as an announcer, or maybe as a scout or a coach.

That's what we're seeing here.

The seal judgments, they showed us that even as Christians, that the time that we await for Christ will be filled with much difficulty and suffering.

The trumpet judgments were a warning, a reminder, a warning that sin and sinners will be judged.

But the bowl judgments, they show us the fullness of God's wrath against sin.

See, the seals affected a quarter of the earth.

The trumpets a third of the earth.

But this morning, our passage is gonna show us that the bowls affect the entire earth.

This is God's judgment in its most intense, its fullest sense.

So let's look at the passage.

I'm actually gonna read both chapters in full.

So follow along with me in your Bibles or in the bulletin as we read through this.

Here's what John says.

Then I saw another great and awe-inspiring sign in heaven: seven angels with the seven, see this word, last plagues.

For with them God's wrath will be completed, full.

I also saw something like a sea of glass mixed with fire.

And those who had won the victory over the beast, its image, and the number of its name, were standing on the sea of glass with harps from God.

They sang the song of God's servant Moses and the song of the Lamb.

Here's the song Great and all-inspiring are your works, Lord God the Almighty.

Just and true are your ways, King of the nations.

Lord, who will not fear and glorify your name?

For you alone are holy.

All the nations will come and worship before you because your righteous acts have been revealed.

That's what we're reading, his righteous acts being revealed.

After this I looked, in the heavenly temple, the tabernacle of testimony was opened.

Out of the temple came seven angels with the seven plagues, dressed in pure bright linen with golden sashes wrapped around their chests.

One of the four living creatures gave the seven angels seven golden bowls, filled with the wrath of God, who lives forever and ever.

Then the temple was filled with the smoke from the glory of God, the presence of God, and from his power.

No one could enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were completed.

Verse sixteen, or chapter sixteen is going to give us these plagues now.

Then I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, Go and pour out the seven bowls of God's wrath on the earth.

The first went and poured out his bowl on the earth, and severely painful sores broke out on the people who had the mark of the beast and who worshipped its image.

The second poured out his bowl into the sea.

It turned to blood like that of a dead person, and all life in the sea died.

The third poured out his bowl into the rivers and the springs of water, and they became blood.

I heard the angels of the water say, You are just, the holy one who is and who was, because you have passed judgment on these things.

He's just because he has passed judgment on these things.

Because they poured out the blood of the saints and the prophets, you have given them blood to drink.

They deserve it.

I heard the altar say, Yes, Lord God, the Almighty, true and just are your judgments.

The fourth poured out his bowl on the sun.

It was allowed to scorch people with fire, and people were scorched by intense heat.

Fire and heat are a sign of God's judgment.

So they blaspheme the name of God, who has the power over these plagues, and they did not repent and give him glory.

The fifth bowl poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness.

Darkness is a sign of judgment.

People gnawed their tongues because of their pain, and blaspheme the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, but they did not repent of their works.

The sixth 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.

Then I saw three unclean spirits like frogs coming from the dragon's mouth, from the beast's mouth, from the mouth of the false prophets.

This is what we saw in Revelation 13.

For they are demonic spirits performing signs, who travel to the kings of the whole world.

They're gonna deceive the whole world to assemble them for the battle on the great day of God the Almighty.

An interlude, Jesus likely.

Look, I am coming like a thief.

Blessed is the one who is alert, who's awake, and remains clothed, remains in me, so that he may not go around naked and people see his shame.

Verse 16, so they assembled the kings at the place called in Hebrew Armageddon.

We're gonna look at the battle of Armageddon in weeks to come.

Then the seventh poured out his bowl into the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple from the throne, saying, It is done.

There were flashes of lightnings, rumblings, and peals of thunder.

A severe earthquake occurred like no other since people have been on earth, and so great was the quake.

The great city, Babylon, split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell.

Babylon the Great was remembered in God's presence.

He gave her the cup filled with the wine of his fierce anger.

We saw some of that in Braden's passage last week.

Every island fled, and the mountains disappeared.

Enormous hailstones, each weighing about a hundred pounds, fell from the sky on people, and they blaspheme God for the plague of hail, because that plague was extremely severe.

First point that I want us to see this morning is that God's wrath is good.

Now, even after reading those two chapters, maybe you have questions about that.

First, I think what is very obvious is that God has wrath.

Look again at verse one of chapter 15.

Says that he sees another great and awe-inspiring sign.

There were seven angels with seven last plagues.

For with them God's wrath will be completed.

God has wrath, and these bold judgments, these seven plagues, are actually expressions of that wrath.

They're pouring out his wrath in judgment.

These are judgments from God.

And the text makes that explicitly clear.

Look at verses five through eight.

This is the purpose, uh, what's happening here.

This heavenly temple or tabernacle is open.

This is the dwelling place of God.

This is from God.

And what comes out of the temple, but seven angels.

And how are they described?

Look at it, dressed in pure white linen with golden sashes around their chest.

Do you remember how Jesus was described in chapter one of Revelation, verse 13?

Here's how it was: dressed in a robe with a golden sash wrapped around his chest.

See, the point is that we are to see these angels as representatives of Christ.

They're dressed like Christ.

They come with Christ's authority, they're his messengers, and they're given these golden bowls filled with wrath, these plagues that they are to pour out on the earth.

Here's the picture.

These seven angels with these seven plagues are pouring out the wrath of God.

Now, don't miss the significance of that word plague.

You know, the word plague is a pointer to the Exodus.

That should be what immediately comes to our mind when we hear that and think about what happened in the Exodus.

In the Exodus, God poured out his wrath and judgment on Pharaoh and Egypt.

But what we're reading, and this is so important as we read the Old Testament, is that that not only was a historical reality, it was, but it also foreshadowed something greater to come.

There is a greater judgment like that of uh Pharaoh in Egypt to come, and that's this judgment that's being described here.

See, that's the remember the number seven is a number of completeness or fullness.

This is the fullness of God's judgment, the fullness of his wrath.

But what does it mean that God has wrath?

How should we understand this idea of God's anger or wrath?

I think many of us, like I said in the intro, I think many of us think about our own wrath or anger.

Many of us probably, even as we uh think about God's wrath, we're tempted to picture something like the character anger from inside out.

If you remember this guy, you just panted, screaming, red face, flames from his head, uncontrollable, lashing out in anger.

Friends, that is not what God's wrath is.

I think this definition is helpful from theologian Christopher Morgan.

He says, God's wrath is his holy revulsion against all that is unholy, his righteous judgment against unrighteousness, his firm response to covenant and unfaithfulness, his good opposition to the cosmic treason of sin.

If I could put it more maybe more simply, God's wrath is his good and right hatred and opposition to all sin and wickedness.

That's what God's wrath is.

Now, let me say something that I think is helpful.

This is why many theologians do not speak about wrath as an attribute of God.

I don't think it would be right to say that God is wrath.

So we would say that about other things.

The Bible says that often.

It says God is just, God is holy, God is love, but it never says that God is wrath.

I think that's really important because wrath is actually the outflow of his holy love.

It is his right response to sin.

Which means if there is no sin, there is no wrath.

There is a real sense in which all eternity passed, God had no wrath because there was no sin.

He had love, he had holiness, he had justice, he is inherently love, holiness, and justice.

But not wrath.

No, his wrath comes out of his love, his justice, his holiness.

See, he hates sin, he opposes all wickedness, he punishes evil because he is loving, just and holy.

Just think about that for a moment.

If that is true, then that means to deny God's wrath is to deny his love, to deny his justice, to deny his holiness.

How can God be loving and not protect those he loves from harm?

How can God be holy and not punish evil?

How can God be just and stomach sin?

Be okay with it.

Friends, I can't say this more sincerely.

We want nothing to do with a God who has no wrath against sin and evil.

That is no God.

See, I think it's helpful though for us to realize, even as we dig into this passage, that God's wrath is not just a problem for us.

In fact, many of the first readers of Revelation, they also had a problem with God's wrath, or at least tempted were.

They also sometimes wondered if God's wrath was unfair, if God's wrath was unbalanced.

But they did so in the complete opposite sense.

They thought God's wrath was lacking.

They longed for God to judge.

They prayed that his wrath would come.

Do you remember the prayer of the saints in Revelation 6, verse 10?

Revelation 6:10

Here's what it says They cried out with a loud voice, Lord, the one who is holy and true, how long until you judge those who live on the earth and avenge our blood.

Amidst intense persecution and injustice in Rome, God's people wondered this.

Lord, will you ever actually show yourself true and holy in judgment?

Where is your wrath against sin and evil?

Do you know that even in this vision, John is hinting for us this sort of connection between uh God's wrath and the people's prayers?

Look at the middle of verse 7 of chapter 15.

It says, seven golden bowls filled with the wrath of God.

Now you might just read through that and not think much of that, but that's not the first time we've read of golden bowls.

Golden bowls are actually in Revelation chapter 5, verse 8.

Revelation 5:8

Here's what it says Each one had a harp and golden bowls filled with incense.

What are these, uh, what is that incense?

Which are the prayers of the saints?

So we have these two pictures, these angels who are carrying golden bowls filled with the prayers of the saints, and now the same golden bowls being carried filled with the wrath of God.

What's the connection?

Is that in some way, at least in part, this judgment is actually the answer to God's people's prayers.

You know, there's an interlude right in the middle of chapter 16.

Look at verse 7, that helps us understand this judgment.

There's a lot in here that are that's doing this.

And the pinnacle statement, verse 7, says this I heard the altar say.

Now, when you hear that altar, what who?

What?

Well, that the martyrs, the martyred saints that were praying, they were before the altar described.

This is likely their own voice and statement.

What do they say?

Yes, Lord God the Almighty, true and just are your judgments.

They're saying these judgments are profoundly good, God.

Suddenly the question for us is why don't we long for God's wrath?

Why don't we long for his judgment?

And I wonder if maybe some of us are tempted to think, well, we're just more advanced.

We're more evolved, ancient people, they were bloodthirsty, vengeful, and we've moved past that now.

But I think if we thought even A little bit we would say, well, that's probably not true.

No, I think at least in part, the reason we don't is because we have not seen the persecution and evil that they have.

Especially those of us who are in this room.

There are Christians in our world right now who have seen incredible evil.

But most of us have not.

These people, these early Christians, they had seen a darkness that I pray none of us will see.

Some of us forget what the Emperor Nero, who is back in the backdrop often in Revelation, what he did to Christians.

He would actually have dogs tear them apart.

He would crucify Christians.

He would actually burn Christians alive, and he would place them like lampposts in the middle of gardens for the entertainment of the Roman people.

This was the evil, the reality that they face face to face nearly every day.

Friends, we don't long for judgment because in some ways we haven't seen the darkness and evil in the same way.

And I also think we have become very adept at ignoring that evil that is there.

See, they wondered, will God judge?

We wonder, should he judge?

We struggle to wonder if God's wrath really is good.

We think, I often think this is the case, isn't God's wrath extreme?

Isn't it over the top?

Well, Braden did a great job of this last week, and Revelation 16 is very clear here too, that his judgments are true and just.

Let's just look at two key things from these judgments in chapter 16.

First, as Braden pointed out, God's judgments fit the sin.

Look at these first three bowls.

They so clearly highlight this.

The first bowl is painful sores or boils on the skin.

But who receives that judgment?

Look at verse 6 or chapter 16, verse 2, the end.

On the people who had the mark of the beast who worshipped its image.

Those who worshiped the beast, who committed idolatry and rebellion against God, they were marked by the beast.

We saw that in Revelation 13.

And that mark promised a sense of security and prosperity in the kingdom of the beast.

And now, in this judgment, God marks those same people by his judgment.

And that mark of the beast in Revelation 13, it was on the skin.

And so what is this mark of judgment on these people?

It is boils and painful sores on the skin.

It is just and true.

But I think this is even more clearly in the next two bowls.

The next two bowls are foreshadowed by the first plague in Egypt, when the Nile was turned to blood.

But this time it's the entirety of the sea, all the rivers and the springs.

Now it's hard to know precisely what is being considered here.

What is this gonna look like and be?

But verse six helps us a ton.

Look at what verse six says.

Because they poured out the blood of the saints and the prophets.

These are those who followed the beast.

If you remember that anyone who did not take the mark of the beast was to be killed, that's what's happening here.

It says, You have given them blood to drink.

They deserve it.

They must drink the true spoils of their deeds.

They must come face to face with the blood that they shed.

God's wrath is measured.

It is just, it is true.

But secondly, I think we see the rightness of God's wrath in the last four plagues as well, especially when we look at the reactions to these plagues.

After the fire and heat of the fourth bowl, look at verse 9, chapter 16.

So they blaspheme the name of God, who has power over these plagues, and they did not repent and give him glory.

To blaspheme is to revile or to vilify.

The name of God is a way of talking about the character of God or the nature of God.

To blaspheme the name of God is to make God a villain, to curse God.

That's what they're doing here.

And note the repetition throughout these last four judgments.

Similar to Pharaoh in the Exodus, we see a hardening of their hearts.

After darkness falls over the beast's throne and kingdom in the fifth bowl, look at their reaction at the end of verse 10.

People gnawed their tongues because of their pain and blaspheme the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, but they did not repent of their works.

They'd rather increase their pain than repent of their sin.

Now notice finally, God clears a path for them to gather all against him.

And there's this great battle that is to come, this battle of Armageddon, and then the final bowl brings the finality of God's wrath, and it's pictured in the severest of natural disasters, lightning, thunder, the worst earthquake imaginable, a hundred-pound uh hailstones.

And notice the very final of this chapter.

What is their response?

The end of verse 21.

They blasphemed God for the plague of hell, hail, because that plague was extremely severe.

See, I think sometimes our problem with God's wrath, or at least our struggle, is that we imagine that his wrath or his anger is maybe poured out on an innocent person, or maybe on a unsuspecting or broken or humble sinner.

But that's unsustainable in light of this passage.

Here's a people who hate their creator.

Absolutely hate their creator.

And in the midst of suffering the judgment of their sin, what do they do?

They continually blame God and not themselves.

Here's a people who, rather than turning from their sin and uh in light of its consequences, they only harden their hearts all the more.

The severity of these consequences should have shown them the severity of sin, but they ignore it.

And instead think the problem is with God and not them.

They think God is severe.

Friend, I wonder maybe if you're here this morning, that's been a problem for you.

Maybe you're not even a Christian this morning, and problem part of it is that you have always thought the problem is God.

The problem is other people, the problem is circumstances, and the problem is never me.

The problem is never my own sin.

But, church, I think this is a warning for us too.

We must be careful too of thinking that God is the problem.

Think about it even this way of thinking that God's wrath is a problem.

I mean, we too are so tempted to think that our sin is small and insignificant, and to think that God's judgment is over the top.

Here's one of my prayers for us this morning I hope that we would see the blasphemy that is present in our blaming of God too.

Because it's there.

And I pray maybe even more so that what we would see and believe and know deep in our soul is that our God is indeed good.

All his ways are only good.

And that includes his wrath and his judgment.

We must embrace God's wrath if we are to know his rest.

And that brings us to our second and last point.

God's wrath brings us rest.

God's wrath brings us rest.

It's not good simply because it is just and right, that is true, but it's also because it accomplishes something.

It brings wrath.

God's wrath is actually necessary in order for us to have rest.

If he does not punish sin, then there will be no rest.

So flip back to chapter 15 and look at the first part of the vision that John receives, verse 2.

We're gonna just look at this verse uh pretty deeply.

He says, I also saw something like a sea of glass mixed with fire, and those who had won the victory over the beast, its image, and the number of its name were standing on the sea of glass with harps from God.

Now, here's what's so important for us to know that this is not the first time, again, that we've seen this phrase sea of glass.

Let me show it to you.

Revelation 4.

Uh, John is taken up to the heavenly throne room.

And there he gets this amazing vision of God the Father Almighty on the throne, and Jesus, the Lamb of God, who is at his right hand.

But notice what is before the throne in that vision.

Revelation 4, 6 says this something like a sea of glass, similar to crystal, was also before the throne.

See, sea of glass is almost like a marker for us.

When John shows us sea of glass here, we're immediately to think back, oh, this is the throne room of God.

This is right before the throne.

And who then is standing before the throne?

Look again at verse 2.

Those who had won the victory over the beast, its image, and the number of its name.

It's those who did not worship the beast, those who did not take his mark, those who remained faithful, those who endured, even endured through much, much suffering.

This picture of those standing before the throne of God on the sea of glass, it's a picture of us.

It's a picture of the church.

One day we will stand before the throne of God in heaven and we will do so in victory.

We will do so as conquerors.

Church, this is so amazing to me.

Think about this just for a moment.

Who is it that conquered the dragon and the beast?

It is definitively Jesus.

But whose victory is described here?

Ours.

We participate in the victory of Jesus.

Friends, what is true of Jesus, this is what we talked about on Easter, is true of us.

Friends, I think there's even another teller here.

Notice what we are doing in this vision on the glass sea.

We're standing.

Now you might think, well, that's part of it, you either stand or sit.

Well, why is it significant that we are standing?

Well, it's because the last time that there was someone in Revelation who was standing before the throne of God, it was the slain lamb.

And the point of the fact that the lamb who was slain was standing is that he raised from the dead, that he was no longer slain.

And the point of us here standing here is that we will one day also raise from the dead.

That we will actually, Jesus' resurrection ensures our resurrection.

See, there's a reason why throughout Revelation we keep getting these visions.

And they're frequent.

We get these glorious visions of heaven.

We get these visions of the dwelling in the presence of God, of rich rewards, of victory, of resurrection, of singing, of worship.

Why?

Well, it's to remind us that that is our future.

That and even in some ways, that that even comes back and takes hold now.

That even when we gather to worship on these Sunday mornings, we're participating in that worship to come.

It is a reminder to us that death is not the final word.

That this life in this world is not all that there is, that there is actually life after death.

And in fact, that there is a glorious future for all those who are in Christ.

And what is the key point in this passage of that future?

It's rest.

Why a sea of glass?

What's the point of that image?

Well, think about what the sea reminds us of.

The sea throughout Scripture is a symbol of chaos, it's a symbol of evil.

If you even think about the book of Revelation, where is it that the beast arose out of?

It is from the sea.

Where was the dragon Satan as he rose this beast out of the sea?

He was standing by the sea.

The sea is a picture, a symbol of chaos and evil, of that which is wild and untamed and destructive.

But one day we will stand on a sea that is glass, a sea that is conquered, that is calm, that is clear.

First picture, I hope maybe you go there too, is if you remember Jesus when he's on a boat with his disciples and the storm is raging.

Waves are coming over the sides of the boat, and their death feels certain, and they are terrified, and Jesus is sleeping.

And so they wake Jesus in full terror, and Jesus merely stands up and shushes the sea, and what happens?

Becomes flat like glass.

Because he is the one who can conquer the sea, because he is the one who can bring true and lasting rest and peace.

I know many of you went to Florida in the last couple weeks.

We've seen pictures, we were jealous.

Um, and you probably spent some days at the beach, and I wonder maybe if you had a day at the beach when the ocean was just flat.

Perfectly calm.

Maybe, maybe if you didn't get that opportunity, at least picture it.

Just so, and it's crystal clear, it's smooth.

There is this peacefulness of it.

That's the image here of our future in Christ.

We live right now in a world that is full of unrest.

Our lives are packed with chaos.

Everything to us seems so confusing.

And yet one day we will know a calm, clear, peaceful future with Christ.

Friends, that's the picture here.

Now, how does that come back?

Look again at verse 2.

This is key for us.

I saw something like a sea of glass mixed with fire.

That's not in Revelation 4.

What's the point?

Well, fire is a symbol of God's judgment, of God's justice.

And it's hard to know exactly what the point is here, but I think with the context, we can see it more clearly.

It is actually God's justice and his judgment that makes the sea flat.

It is his judgment against the chaos and evil of this world that actually brings rest.

Here's why I think it is so important that we see the Exodus backdrop behind the entirety of these two chapters.

Because the Exodus helps us to see and understand what God is doing.

See, if you remember back to the Exodus, the Israelites, God's people, they found themselves under ruthless slavery to Pharaoh and Egypt.

They found themselves under a king and a kingdom that mocked the one true God.

A king and kingdom that worked them harshly, that almost starved them, a king and kingdom that actually ridded them, uh this nation almost of an entire generation of sons.

And the people of God in Egypt, they longingly prayed for God's judgment and justice and deliverance.

And God delivered them.

But you know what God didn't do?

He didn't just simply take them out of Egypt, he actually judged Egypt.

He actually delivered them through plagues, through judgment.

That's the picture that we are getting even here.

They had longed for rest and for victory, and God gave them that through judgment.

And in the end, they stood on the other side of a sea that was made flat.

And they watched God destroy Pharaoh and his army.

And what did they do on that other side of the sea?

They sang the song of Moses.

John now says in this same passage here, what do the people do who are standing on a sea made flat in light of the judgments of God that have brought their deliverance and rest?

What do they do?

They sing the song of Moses, except they don't just sing the song of Moses.

They actually sing it in fullness because they know the chorus, because they sing the song of the Lamb.

They know that what's pictured here in Revelation 15 and 16 is a far greater exodus by a far greater Moses.

This is the true and everlasting redemption of God's people, and he does it through judgment.

Here's what Revelation 15 and 16 does for us it shows us how judgment, how God's wrath actually brings rest to us.

So let me just apply that for a few minutes.

Think about this.

God does not sit idly by watching sin wreck and ruin our world.

No, God even now judges sin.

His wrath is on the wicked, and one day it will be in full.

And here's what that means for us is that we don't need to cower before the evil and darkness of this world.

Church, that is such an encouraging thing.

I think some of us live with so much fear.

We are so afraid of what is to come.

Revelation 15 and 16 reminds us that evil will not win, that God's wrath will extinguish all sin, that evil has an expiration date, that God is not sitting by, He is patient now so that more and more people will come.

But He will ultimately defeat evil.

And so we don't need to fret and worry.

But you know what else this means?

It means if God's wrath is true, it means that we don't need to take matters into our own hands either.

I love Paul's words from Romans 12.

Here's what he says Friends, do not avenge yourselves.

Instead, leave room for God's wrath, because it is written, vengeance belongs to me, I will repay, says the Lord.

When we're wronged, when we're persecuted, when when real evil is done against us, we don't have to repay it.

We don't have to get what's ours, we don't have to get revenge.

But that is only true if God's wrath is real.

If God actually is going to judge evil and wickedness and church, revelation is clear.

He will.

When we have a boss who is terrible, when we have uh maybe peers in our school that mock us for being a Christian, that make fun of us, that hurt us, when we uh face evil and hardship in the world, we can bless those who persecute us.

We can actually love our enemies.

That is only possible if God is going to get justice.

And he will.

Friends, God's wrath is so good.

It actually allows us to have patience, to show love, to be faithful.

But you know what?

I think finally, and most importantly, the reason we struggle with God's wrath is because we know that we deserve it.

That if God is going to make an end to all sin, then that means He needs to make an end to us.

And here's where the good news of Jesus is so incredibly good.

Look at the uh Revelation 16 again, look at verse 17.

The last bowl is poured out, and what is said?

Then the seventh poured out his bowl into the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple, the dwelling place of God from the throne, saying, It is done.

Now that voice from the temple, from the throne, may be Jesus himself, saying, It is done.

The wrath of God is completed.

God has judged.

But what it brings to my mind is another time that it is done was uttered in the midst of the pinnacle of God's wrath, and in fact, maybe by the same person.

Jesus on the cross, suffering the fullness of the wrath that we deserve for our sin, said, It is finished.

Now, what is finished when Jesus says that?

Certainly his work for our redemption.

But what is finished is the wrath for our sin.

If you're a Christian in here, God has no wrath for you.

Even in light of all that you've done, there is, there is, we have been just as rebellious.

We have turned our backs on God.

We know sin to the very depths of who we are.

And yet God has no wrath against us.

Why?

Because Jesus took it.

Jesus actually consumed it all in our place for us so that we could know rest.

This is why Paul says there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Because Christ has taken our condemnation.

Church, this is the very pinnacle of rest.

We are at peace with our Creator.

Our sin is forgiven fully.

We are right with God.

All that is Christ is ours.

I mean, do you know that?

Do you know that sort of freedom?

If you could walk through your days going, my sin, my failures, my flaws, all the ways that I disappoint so many people, that is not ultimately my future.

That is not ultimately what's most true about me.

It is what Christ has done.

That is rest.

So if you walked in here this morning and you thought, wait a second, can I ever actually be forgiven?

Can I actually ever know rest, real peace?

We have to know that your biggest problem is with God.

And it's your sin.

But you also have to know that the God who is just also became the justifier.

And he's the one who took your sin for you.

Turn to him.

Church, this is why we should never balk at God's wrath.

We don't need to make excuses for God's wrath.

Friends, his wrath is good.

We should be thankful for God's wrath.

There is a sense, and we should rejoice in the God who has wrath against evil and sin, and we should rejoice all and the more in the God who then took it for us.

Friends, we must embrace God's wrath if we are to know his rest.

Let's pray.