And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters; and they became blood. And I heard the angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast, and shalt be, because thou hast judged thus. For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast 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 thy judgments. And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire. 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. And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain, And blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds. And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.
(Revelation 16:4-12) KJV
I know a lot of people find it hard to reconcile the idea of a righteous God with vials of plagues being poured out upon the earth. It’s in a similar vein to the idea that a loving God wouldn’t send people to hell.
I can understand the confusion, but it is not confusion on God’s part, it is our attempt to apply human values to something that we don’t fully understand. Let’s take hell, for example. The description is truly horrifying. Just read Luke 16:19-31. Why would a loving God send someone to hell? The answer lies in understanding the purpose of creation. God knew before the beginning of time that creating this physical reality from the hydrogen and oxygen in water would result in a system with inherent impurity. That’s why God designed the system as a means to permanently separate the corruption from the incorruptible so that it could be destroyed. The plan of redemption through faith in Jesus Christ is how we come out on the pure side, and don’t get lost with the corruption. As such, hell is the default state for all life. God is not being mean by sending people there, he has shown his uncompromising love for us by becoming human and living among us so that we may be saved from it.
In a similar way the vials of plagues being poured out on the earth aren’t really plagues. They are all of the energy of destruction that God has held back from the earth so that we can live lives of relative peace and security. Take the solar flares described in the passage as an example. Why aren’t they happening now? Why haven’t they been a regular occurrence since the beginning of time? They have, but God protected us from them and designed systems to mitigate the effects of these phenomena. The problem is that in order for this physical reality to pass away and the next one be brought in, all of these systems are going to break down and the energy will be released. God is angry, and righteously so, but this anger must be vented so that we can go forward into a new reality where we are all at peace.
I know it’s hard to understand, but God isn’t being mean. Time simply runs out.
Matty (Headwind) 