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Welcome to this lesson! Let’s pray:
Father,
As we go on with the study of the seven vials, please continue to give us a message which fills us with confidence and hope in Your promises, just as You have so far.
We thank You in advance, in the precious name of Jesus Christ.
Amen.
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Revelation 15:1; 16:1
And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God. (...)
And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels,
«Go your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God on the earth.»
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After the close of probation, the wrath of God will show itself through the pouring out of seven vials, containing seven plagues which will strike unrepentant men.
In this lesson, we will study the third vial.
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Revelation 16:4
And the third angel poured out his vial on the rivers and fountains of waters.
And they became blood.
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After turning the sea into blood and greatly paralyzing the economic activities of this world, the wrath of God will turn the rivers and fountains of water into blood.
This plague will pose a very short-term threat to the survival of every living being on earth.
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Revelation 8:10,11
And the third angel sounded.
And there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell on the third part of the rivers, and on the fountains of waters.
And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood.
And many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.
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The correlation between the judgments of the trumpets and those of the seven vials is still present here.
The third trumpet and the third vial both strike the rivers and fountains of water, making them undrinkable.
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Revelation 8:10,11
And there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell on the third part of the rivers, and on the fountains of waters.
And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood.
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Revelation 16:4
And the third angel poured out his vial on the rivers and fountains of waters.
And they became blood.
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Here again, the impact of the vial is far greater than that of the trumpet.
In fact, whereas the trumpet struck only «the third part of the rivers» and «the third part of the waters», the third vial strikes «the rivers and fountains of waters».
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Revelation 15:2,3
And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire.
And them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.
And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God.
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As we have seen in our last lessons, the seven vials remind us of the plagues which struck Egypt, in the time of Moses.
This link between the two series of divine punishments was already announced in the scene introducing the seven vials.
In fact, this scene presents the redeemed singing the song of Moses, to praise God for having saved them from the enemy.
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Exodus 7:19-24 : The rivers and fountains of water also turned into blood.
And the Lord spoke to Moses, «Say to Aaron, “Take your rod, and stretch out your hand on the waters of Egypt, on their streams, on their rivers, and on their ponds, and on all their pools of water, that they may become blood; and that there may be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in vessels of wood, and in vessels of stone.”»
And Moses and Aaron did so, as the Lord commanded; and he lifted up the rod, and smote the waters that were in the river, in the sight of Pharaoh, and in the sight of his servants.
And all the waters that were in the river were turned to blood. And the fish that was in the river died; and the river stank, and the Egyptians could not drink of the water of the river; and there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt. (...)
And Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, neither did he listen to them; as the Lord had said. (...) And all the Egyptians dig round about the river for water to drink; for they could not drink of the water of the river.
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Revelation 15:1; 16:2-4
And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous, seven angels having the seven last plagues. (...)
And the first went, and poured out his vial on the earth. (...)
And the second angel poured out his vial on the sea. (...)
And the third angel poured out his vial on the rivers and fountains of waters.
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From the scene introducing the seven vials, to the third vial, the action has moved from one place to another, following this itinerary:
- heaven;
- earth;
- the sea;
- the fountains of water.
This sequence is not the result of coincidence. Its purpose is to remind us of two important messages...
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Exodus 20:8-11
Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
Six days shall you labor, and do all your work: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God: in it you shall not do any work. (...)
For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day.
Why the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.
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First, the sequence «heaven, earth, sea, and fountains of waters» invites us to return to our Creator, and to keep holy His day of rest, the Sabbath.
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Revelation 14:6,7
And I saw another angel fly in the middle of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice,
«Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come.
And worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.»
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Second, the sequence «heaven, earth, sea, and fountains of waters» reminds us that it is all the more important to return to God our Creator since the hour of His judgment has come.
Now, let’s note what follows...
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Revelation 16:4-7
And the third angel poured out his vial on the rivers and fountains of waters; and they became blood. And I heard the angel of the waters say,
«You are righteous, O Lord, which are, and were, and shall be, because You have judged thus. For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and You have given them blood to drink; for they are worthy.»
And I heard another out of the altar say,
«Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are Your judgments.»
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Indeed, the message of the sequence «heaven, earth, sea, and fountains of waters» is immediately confirmed by the third vial, proclaiming the carrying out of God’s judgment!
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The true and righteous judgment punishes the oppressor of God’s people:
«For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and You have given them blood to drink; for they are worthy. (...) Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are Your judgments.» (Revelation 16:6,7)
«True and righteous are His judgments: for He has judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and has avenged the blood of His servants at her hand.» (Revelation 19:2)
«Your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that you endure, (...) [are] a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, (...) seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you, (...) when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.» (2 Thessalonians 1:4-8)
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Revelation 13:15-17
And [the beast coming up out of the earth] had power to give life to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.
And he causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: and that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark.
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In the lesson «The Time of Jacob’s Trouble», we have seen that, after the pouring out of the first two vials, Satan will lead men to believe that God’s people are the cause of these calamities, since they refuse to observe Sunday as day of rest.
A death decree will then be issued against these believers who remain faithful to God and His commandments.
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Revelation 16:4-6
And the third angel poured out his vial on the rivers and fountains of waters; and they became blood.
And I heard the angel of the waters say,
«You are righteous, O Lord, which are, and were, and shall be, because You have judged thus.
For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and You have given them blood to drink; for they are worthy.»
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Since God will protect His people during the plagues, this death decree won’t have any effect.
However, this additional effort to annihilate the faithful believers will really fill the «vial» of God’s wrath to the brim, and this is why the judgment of the third vial is pronounced with such power.
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Revelation 13:10
He that leads into captivity shall go into captivity.
He that kills with the sword must be killed with the sword.
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Matthew 7:2
For with what judgment you judge, you shall be judged.
And with what measure you mete, it shall be measured to you again.
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So, the seven vials of the wrath of God are judgments carried out on the basis of reciprocity: impenitent men are treated just as they have treated God’s people.
The third vial is the most eloquent example of this reciprocity.
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Revelation 17:5,6
And on her forehead was a name written, «Mystery, Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth.»
And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.
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Revelation 18:21,24
Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all. (...)
And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain on the earth.
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In fact, Babylon was found guilty of shedding the blood of the prophets of God, the saints, and the martyrs of Jesus...
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Revelation 16:4-6
And the third angel poured out his vial on the rivers and fountains of waters; and they became blood.
And I heard the angel of the waters say,
«You are righteous, O Lord, which are, and were, and shall be, because You have judged thus.
For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and You have given them blood to drink; for they are worthy.»
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... and, consequently, the judgment of the third vial, based on the principle of reciprocity, gives Babylon and all those who support her blood to drink.
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The reciprocity of the third vial’s judgment is also described elsewhere in the Bible:
«Rejoice over [Babylon], you heaven, and you holy apostles and prophets; for God has avenged you on her. (...) And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain on the earth.» (Revelation 18:20,24)
«The nations were angry, and Your wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that You should give reward to Your servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear Your name, small and great; and should destroy them which destroy the earth.» (Revelation 11:18)
«Why, behold, I send to you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them you shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall you whip in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city: that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth.» (Matthew 23:34,35)
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Revelation 6:9,10
When [the Lamb] had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held.
And they cried with a loud voice, saying, «How long, O Lord, holy and true, do You not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?»
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Revelation 16:5-7
You are righteous, O Lord, which are, and were, and shall be, because You have judged thus. For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and You have given them blood to drink. (...)
True and righteous are Your judgments.
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The righteous judgment of the holy and true Lord, at the time of the third vial, will also answer the request of the martyrs in the fifth seal, as we have seen in the lesson «The Souls Under the Altar».
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Revelation 21:6
I am Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End.
I will give to him that is thirsty of the fountain of the water of life freely.
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John 7:37
Jesus stood and cried, saying,
«If any man thirst, let him come to Me, and drink.»
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The third vial, like the previous ones, also bears a symbolic message.
In fact, before the period of probation comes to an end, each of us is invited to accept Jesus Christ’s living water which leads to eternal life.
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John 4:14
Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst.
But the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.
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John 6:35
And Jesus said to them, (...)
«He that believes on Me shall never thirst.»
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This living water, which Jesus offers us today, symbolizes a life revived through the work of the Holy Spirit within us.
This water, «springing up into everlasting life», will completely quench our spiritual thirst.
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Jeremiah 2:13
They have forsaken Me the Fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.
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Proverbs 14:12
There is a way which seems right to a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.
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Unfortunately, men reject the living water that God offers them, preferring to follow their own way, which will inevitably lead them to death and loss.
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Revelation 17:1,2
There came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying to me,
«Come here; I will show to you the judgment of the great whore. (...) The inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.»
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Revelation 18:2,3
Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen! (...)
For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.
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As a spiritual beverage, men choose the wine of Babylon, that is, an intoxicating mixture made up of seductive but deceitful doctrines.
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Revelation 14:9,10
If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of His indignation.
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Having rejected God’s living water, and preferred the wine of Babylon, men will soon have to drink the wine of the wrath of God, contained in the seven vials of His anger.
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Amos 8:11-13
«Behold, the days come,» said the Lord God, «that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord.
And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it.
In that day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for thirst.»
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So the vials will cause not only a physical, but also a spiritual thirst.
It will no longer be possible to quench this thirst, since God’s Spirit will have withdrawn from the earth.
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Isaiah 65:11-14
«But you are they that forsake the Lord. (...) When I spoke, you did not hear; but did evil before My eyes, and did choose that wherein I delighted not.»
Therefore thus said the Lord God,
«Behold, My servants shall eat, but you shall be hungry: behold, My servants shall drink, but you shall be thirsty: behold, My servants shall rejoice, but you shall be ashamed: behold, My servants shall sing for joy of heart, but you shall cry for sorrow of heart, and shall howl for vexation of spirit.»
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Whereas the third vial deprives impenitent men of fountains of drinkable water, God’s people will be protected and supplied with pure water.
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Judges 15:18,19
And [Samson] was sore thirsty, and called on the Lord, and said,
«You have given this great deliverance into the hand of Your servant: and now shall I die for thirst, and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised?»
But God split a hollow place that was in the jaw, and there came water out of there.
And when he had drunk, his spirit came again, and he revived.
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The Word of God gives us other examples of people miraculously supplied with drinking water.
Samson was one of them.
And we can find another very interesting example, earlier in biblical history.
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Exodus 17:3,5,6
And the people thirsted there for water; and the people murmured against Moses, and said,
«Why is this that you have brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?» (...)
And the Lord said to Moses, «Go on before the people, and take with you of the elders of Israel; and your rod, with which you smote the river, take in your hand, and go.
Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb; and you shall smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink.»
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After the deliverance of the Red Sea, which reminds us of the second vial, God miraculously supplied His people with drinking water, making it come out of a rock, which now reminds us of the third vial.
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Nehemiah 9:15
[You] brought forth water for them out of the rock for their thirst, and promised them that they should go in to possess the land which You had sworn to give them.
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1 Corinthians 10:1,4
I would not that you should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, (...) and did all drink the same spiritual drink.
For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.
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Before entering the Promised Land, God’s people will go through the desert during the pouring out of the seven vials.
But water, both physical and spiritual, will be supplied.
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Isaiah 48:20-22
Go you forth of Babylon, flee you from the Chaldeans! With a voice of singing declare you, tell this, utter it even to the end of the earth; say you,
«The Lord has redeemed His servant Jacob!»
And they thirsted not when He led them through the deserts: He caused the waters to flow out of the rock for them: He split the rock also, and the waters gushed out.
«There is no peace,» said the Lord, «to the wicked.»
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So, the same deliverance which was granted to the Hebrew people who came out of Egypt will be granted to spiritual Israel, God’s people, at the fall of Babylon.
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God will deliver His people from the thirst caused by the third vial:
«These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. (...) And He that sits on the throne shall dwell among them. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more, (...) for the Lamb which is in the middle of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them to living fountains of waters.» (Revelation 7:14-17)
«They shall not hunger nor thirst; neither shall the heat nor sun smite them: for He that has mercy on them shall lead them, even by the springs of water shall He guide them.» (Isaiah 49:10)
«Seek not you what you shall eat, or what you shall drink, neither be you of doubtful mind. For all these things do the nations of the world seek after: and your Father knows that you have need of these things. But rather seek you the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added to you.» (Luke 12:29-31)
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Isaiah 33:14-16
The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness has surprised the hypocrites.
«Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?»
He that walks righteously, and speaks uprightly; (...): he shall dwell on high: his place of defense shall be the munitions of rocks: bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure.
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Let’s persevere in Jesus Christ.
If we cling to God and His will, He will cover us and protect us.
The third vial, just like the other six, won’t affect us, for God will guarantee drinking water to each one of us.
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Let’s pray before closing this lesson:
Lord,
Your Word declares, «The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.” And let him that hears say, “Come.” And let him that is thirsty come. And whoever will, let him take the water of life freely.» (Revelation 22:17).
This wonderful invitation is still given to us today, and we sincerely thank You for it.
Please help us to always choose Your living water, rather than the poisoned wine of Babylon, so that we may inherit eternal life. In Jesus Christ we pray.
Amen.
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