Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the Book of Revelation. Tonight is study #8 of Revelation, chapter 16, and we are continuing to look at Revelation 16:9:

And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory.

I will stop reading there. In our last study we saw that in the Day of Judgment it is God’s plan to bring about a severe testing program for professed true believers. This is why it says that “men were scorched with great heat,” as this ties in with all those in whom the seed has been sown upon their hearts. Keep in mind that in the second part of the Great Tribulation, the seed was sown upon the hearts of men all over the world when the worldwide proclamation of Judgment Day reached all the nations. Yet, when the “sun” rises with this great and scorching heat, there were many that blasphemed the name of God. Perhaps they did not do it directly, but insofar as the doctrine that came forth from the Bible, they spoke evil of it and they spoke evil of the messengers of God that carried the doctrine.

Then our verse goes on to say that they blasphemed the name of God, “which hath power over these plagues.” God is the one that shut the door of heaven. EBible Fellowship did not shut the door. God is the one that put out the light of the Gospel and removed the spiritual light of the sun, moon and stars and made the world dark. EBible Fellowship did not do any of this; we have no power to do these things. God is the one who ended His salvation program. God is the one that determined not to save sinners any longer, since May 21, 2011. EBible Fellowship had nothing to do with these things. That is way above us and way higher than anything we could ever dare to approach. This is God’s doing because it is Judgment Day, the day of the Lord. It is not the day of “man” and not the day of any person. This is the final judgment of God against sinful mankind and, of course, it is dishonoring to Him when some say that these things are coming from the minds of men when it is the Bible that confirms the Day of Judgment was May 21, 2011. It is the Bible that is putting forth all of this bountiful information confirming the nature of God’s spiritual judgment, and so on. God is the one that has the power and authority over these plagues.

The Greek word translated as “plagues” is “plege” and, of course, it is basically a transliteration from the Greek to the English. It is Strong’s #4127 and it is the word translated as “stripes” in Luke 12:47-48:

And that servant, which knew his lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.

The application of few or many stripes has to do with whether someone is a professed true believer. This is something we are coming to know – there can be “professed true believers,” meaning those that have gone a step beyond those in the churches by coming out of the churches and accepting important doctrinal teachings that the Bible was opening up at the time of the end. But in turning back from these things, we would have to say they are “professed true believers,” as an actual true believer will not go back from the true teaching of God’s Word.

But the plagues come upon all sinners: more stripes come upon the professed believer and fewer stripes for a person of the world. Yet, they are all experiencing plagues, which points to the wrath of God.

In Revelation, chapter 9, we read of the locusts, a picture of the true believers, going forth and carrying the message of God’s judgment. Just the fact that God has saved them all is also an integral part of this judgment. Speaking of the 200 million, which also pictures everyone God has saved, it says in Revelation 9:16-21:

And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them. And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone. By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths. For their power is in their mouth, and in their tails: for their tails were like unto serpents, and had heads, and with them they do hurt. And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk: Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.

We see it is Judgment Day. God is bringing plagues upon the wicked. The “third part” of men were killed, which points to all those in the churches that have been bundled as tares for the burning; as soon as Judgment Day came, they were spiritually destroyed because during the time God was saving in the second part of the Great Tribulation they were in the churches where they could not have experienced salvation; then on May 21, 2011 God ended His evangelization of the world and the Latter Rain ceased to fall. Even if they now came out of the churches, it would not make any difference because no one anywhere in the world is being saved, so, in effect, that killed the “third part,” or the corporate body.

But this passage goes on to say, “And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues,” and this would be those out in the world outside of the churches. But they also “repented not of the works of their hands” and then God lists some of their evil works. This is the condition of the world now, as it has been throughout the Day of Judgment, and it will continue until the judgment is complete – unsaved mankind will not repent.

Remember the Biblical definition of “repentance” is to turn from sin. True repentance involves salvation, because it is God that must first give the person a new heart and a new spirit and turn the sinner from the flow of sin that had previously come forth from his heart. Once God gives the person a new heart, that flow of sin stops and there is no more sin proceeding forth from the heart. The person still sins while living in this world because he still has a physical body, but God has given him a new heart and new spirit in which there is no sin – that is true Biblical repentance. So when God says that they repented not of their sins, we can understand that to mean there is no more salvation. There is no granting of repentance to a sinner because repentance is a gift of God that goes along with the gift of His faith and His grace and mercy. It goes hand-in-hand with salvation.

In our verse in Revelation 16: 9, it says at the end of the verse: “and they repented not to give him glory.” God has the entire world in view with this statement. It indicates that unsaved men are living in their sins in heart and body. They are opposed to God and they are in rebellion against His Law and they are not turning from their sins. None of them are turning from sin because God must turn them. Let us be reminded of the verses in Jeremiah that shows how absolutely essential it is for God to grant repentance and if He does not, there can be no true repentance. It says in Jeremiah 31:18-19:

I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus; Thou hast chastised me, and I was chastised, as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke: turn thou me, and I shall be turned; for thou art JEHOVAH my God. Surely after that I was turned, I repented…

Here is a prayer that could have been made during the time when God was still saving people: “Oh, Lord, I see my sin. I understand I am under your wrath and I am subject to your destruction. O, heavenly Father, turn thou me. Grant me repentance and I will turn.” In other words, he is saying, “Save me, O, Lord. Give me a new heart and I will then turn from the sins that are gushing forth out of my heart. After you have first turned me, then I will turn.” That is how the Bible defines repentance.

Some people think true repentance is if they can stop the outward flow of certain sins, like smoking or drinking or cursing or lying. Well, that would go along with true repentance of the heart. First we are given a new heart and then after we have been turned by God, we will turn and we will stop drinking, smoking, lying and cheating. But what men do is to “put the tail before the horse” and they think that if they stop drinking and smoking, and so forth, that will bring a new heart. But that is not true repentance. As so often is the case, people can stop an outward sin, but they do not address that inward flow of sin. Remember what it says in that passage in Matthew, chapter 15, where it says, “Out of the heart proceeds” all matter of iniquity and then God lists some ugly sins that come out of the hearts of men and defile them. So when some people go to Alcoholics Anonymous and they stop drinking, are they new creatures? No – they just changed an outward behavior. Some people go to Food Addicts Anonymous and they stop overeating, but did they become new creatures? No – they have just learned control through the help of others to curb their appetite and stop that particular negative behavior, but there is no true repentance or salvation. Changing any outward sinful behavior is not salvation. Salvation is of the Lord. Salvation is a work done by God within the sinner’s heart and when God is not doing that “work,” then there can no longer be true repentance. God has power over these plagues and they repented not to give him glory. That is one way we can look at it and it is a fact that men are not repenting in the Day of Judgment and this proves there is no salvation. If there were some true repentance, then God would not make this statement of a worldwide judgment. But since none are repenting, He can say, “they repented not to give Him glory.” That is one way of looking at it and it is a correct view.

Another way to look at it is that the failure of unsaved mankind to repent in the time of the wrath of God in the Day of Judgment serves to give glory to God. Yes, that is correct. The lack of repentance of men serves the purpose of giving glory to God. How can we say that? First of all, we can this because God says this in Revelation 16:9: “They repented not to give him glory.” The lack of repentance gives Him glory. But we can also see how that worked out with the plagues that came upon Egypt. I was going to go through a great deal of this information in the Book of Exodus, but I will try to condense it a little bit. For instance, it says in Exodus 8:8:

Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron, and said, Intreat JEHOVAH, that he may take away the frogs from me, and from my people; and I will let the people go, that they may do sacrifice unto JEHOVAH.

Then it says in Exodus 8:13-15:

And JEHOVAH did according to the word of Moses; and the frogs died out of the houses, out of the villages, and out of the fields. And they gathered them together upon heaps: and the land stank. But when Pharaoh saw that there was respite, he hardened his heart, and hearkened not unto them; as JEHOVAH had said.

Notice God brought a judgment, a plague, upon Egypt. Pharaoh requested the plague be removed and God did so, but Pharaoh hardened his heart. What did that mean? Pharaoh did not repent and he continued on in his sin. As a result of that, other plagues would come upon Egypt; the lack of repentance on Pharaoh’s part served to cause greater affliction and greater punishment for the people of Egypt. Plague, after plague, after plague came, leading to the plague of the death of the first born. More than that, it resulted in the death of Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea and it was all because Pharaoh kept hardening his heart; that is, he refused to repent; he refused to turn from the direction he was set upon and he refused to let the people of God go. Once he finally freed them, Pharaoh repented of that and went after them, which led to his final destruction and that brought glory to God. We read in Exodus 9:15-18:

For now I will stretch out my hand, that I may smite thee and thy people with pestilence; and thou shalt be cut off from the earth. And in very deed for this cause have I raised thee up, for to shew in thee my power; and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth. As yet exaltest thou thyself against my people, that thou wilt not let them go? Behold, to morrow about this time I will cause it to rain a very grievous hail, such as hath not been in Egypt since the foundation thereof even until now.

Then more plagues came and it said in Exodus 9:34-35:

And when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunders were ceased, he sinned yet more, and hardened his heart, he and his servants. And the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, neither would he let the children of Israel go; as JEHOVAH had spoken by Moses.

These were such terrible plagues but he would not humble himself. He continued to harden his heart, which eventually brought destruction against all of Egypt. When the Egyptian army died in the Red Sea, we read in Exodus 15:1:

Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto JEHOVAH, and spake, saying, I will sing unto JEHOVAH, for he hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea.

It is a wonderful song of victory, a triumphant song that lifts up the name of JEHOVAH for winning the war over Pharaoh and Egypt, which pictures the Lord Jesus Christ winning the war over Satan and his kingdom of the unsaved of the world. God gets the victory. The Lord God is triumphant. That is why Revelation 16:9 can say, “They repented not to give him the glory.” Their lack of repentance accomplished this. God will get the glory.

If we are correct and Judgment Day is 1,600 days in duration, then this entire period of time has served the purpose of God pouring out a spiritual judgment and publishing that information to the world, which serves to satisfy His Law’s demand for justice. Then at the end of the prolonged period of Judgment Day, God completely destroys the world and the sinners with it, and He gets all the glory. The failure of mankind to repent throughout the Day of Judgment leads to His ultimate exultation of God and the glorious day that will be the end of this world.