Revelation 16 reminds men of the completeness, the inescapability, the eternality of God’s wrath against unatoned sin. Yet it reveals something even more dreadful. Those hardened against grace, are hardened even more in judgement. As bowls are emptied, men experiencing God’s righteous judgement express no sorrow, no remorse, no repentance. The penitent thief, standing under judgement declared, “do you not fear God since you are under the same sentence of condemnation, and we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward for our deeds.” But men experiencing the bowls of God’s wrath “cursed the name of God, did not repent and give him glory.” They were hardened. Hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. Hardened because they saw only a God of wrath and fury, not the God of grace and mercy.
What about you? Has disappointment with life, or perhaps with God himself, hardened you? Can you feel yourself growing more and more this way? Is hardening in your mind, attitude, and relationships metastasizing into your spiritual life as well? Is God only a God of wrath and fury to you, or do you know him as a God of grace and mercy? Join us this week as we examine Revelation 16 and consider its warning against “spiritual cirrhosis.”
River City Reformed Church 