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We're continuing our look together through Revelation chapter 16. This is day
five of our look through this chapter. We've been walking through, looking at
what this chapter has to teach us about who God is, God and His judgments.

And we've learned together that God is a God who is patient in His judgment. He
is a faithful God. We've learned together that God is a God who is just in His
judgments.

We've been reminded together that God is a God who is holy in His judgments as
we walk through this week. As we get to the end of this week, there is something
that God says as these judgments come to an end that is shockingly, amazingly
revealing about what these judgments are all about. This is one of those moments
in the book of Revelation that can turn your thinking entirely upside down, or I
say right side up.

It does mind. Let me read for you what happens at the end of this seventh
judgment, and then read on to the end of the 16th chapter. Revelation chapter 16
verse 17.

The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and out of the temple came a
loud voice from the throne saying, "It is done. " Then there came flashes of
lightning, rumblings, peelings of thunder, and a severe earthquake. No
earthquake like it has ever occurred since man has been on the earth.

So tremendous was the quake. The great city split into three parts, and the
cities of the nations collapsed. God remembered Babylon the Great and gave her
the cup filled with the wine of the fury of His wrath.

Every island fled away, and the mountains could not be found. From the sky, huge
hailstones of about a hundred pounds each fell upon men, and they cursed God on
account of the plague of hail, because the plague was so terrible. Here you see
at the end of this chapter the end of these judgments, and at the end of these
judgments you still see mankind cursing God, not looking to Him.

And one of the reasons they curse God is because they don't understand the
judgments of God. Because they see life just from a selfish standpoint. All
they're looking at is what they can get out of life for themselves, how they can
use others to meet their own selfish needs.

If you can see the plan of God, you see this judgment entirely differently. One
of the most amazing moments in the book of Revelation is seeing what God says at
the end of these judgments. He says, after all the judgments are done, in verse
17, He says the words, "It is done.

" That's one word in the Greek language. It is done. Now you and I, we hear
those words in English, and we think they mean it's over.

It's finally over. But here's where our thinking gets turned around. This word
does not mean it's over.

This word means it is created. It means it is made. These words that God speaks
here, they are creation words.

The Greek word here has the same idea as our word Genesis. It doesn't mean it's
over, the judgments are finally over. It means it is being brought into
existence.

That's a new way of thinking. You see, these judgments that are happening, these
are one of the great creation events of God. As you look throughout the Bible,
you see these creation events of God happening, and they have these words, these
kinds of words, every time around them.

It is done. In fact, let me focus with you on four specific creation events of
God that we see throughout the Bible. We see creation in the book of Genesis,
chapter 1.

We see redemption in what Jesus did for us on the cross. We see judgment in what
we're seeing here in Revelation 16 and the previous chapters. And then in
Revelation 21, we're going to see a new creation come about.

Here's the amazing thing. With each of these, there is this "it is done"
statement with creation. Genesis chapter 2, verses 2 and 3, the Bible says that
the seventh day God rested, he'd finished his work that he'd been doing, and so
on the seventh day he rested from all his work.

Why? Because it was done. It was created.

God blessed the seventh day and he made it holy because on it he rested from all
the work of creating that he had done. This is a creation event. God made this
world, and then he said it is done, and he said it is good.

And then there is the creation event of redemption. I say creation because in
that, God created a new relationship with himself through what Jesus did for us
on the cross. Jesus died for us on the cross so that you and I can be forgiven.

He restored our relationship with God. And when Jesus had completed all that he
was to do for us on the cross, he'd completed the plan of salvation in dying for
us on the cross, you remember what he said. One of his last words on the cross
was the word "it is finished.

" It is done and now it is finished. A little different meaning of that word.
That word means it is paid, it is paid in full, but still the same idea of it as
being brought into existence, it is being completed.

There is the third creation event of God that's found here in Revelation chapter
16. God pours out his wrath upon all the earth. The earth is judged.

And at the end, God says it is being brought into existence. What does that
mean? You see, in the judgment upon this earth, God is not trying to finish
something.

He is starting something. The whole book of Revelation is about, you remember at
the very beginning, it is about the gaining of our inheritance as the children
of God. But in order to gain our inheritance, God has to chase evil out of this
world.

So he is restoring this world to all that it should be, all that it can be
because of who he is. The Bible tells us in Romans chapter 8 that the whole
creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. That all
of creation is suffering under the judgment of God because of my sin, because of
your sin.

But the judgment of God will bring about this creation event where there will be
a new heaven and a new earth. Without judgment, there is no new heaven and new
earth. Now you say, "Well, God could have done it differently.

That's not how he chose to do it. He could have chosen to create differently at
the beginning. He could have chosen anything to do differently.

He is God. But he has chosen through judgment and restoration to bring this
earth, to bring us back to himself. " If God wanted to just create something
brand new, he could have wiped the slate clean.

He could have destroyed this earth entirely with no judgment upon it, just
snapped his fingers and it would cease to exist. But that's not his plan. That's
not his purpose.

His purpose is restoration. His purpose is redemption. His purpose is to bring
us back to himself.

And so judgment, this is a new way of thinking. Judgment is a part of the
creation events of God. You have creation.

You have redemption. You have judgment. And then hold on.

We're going to get to chapter 21. And when we get to chapter 21 and God creates
a new heaven and a new earth, you know what he's going to say? The same thing he
says here.

He's going to say, "It is done. " As you and I walk through Revelation chapter
14 and 15 and 16 together, there is no doubt that there are some dark chapters
here, some dark moments. But do not miss the incredible hope.

These chapters are not about destruction. These seven bowls of wrath, they're
not about blind destruction that comes upon this world. They are about certain
justice.

There are two truths to remember in what God is doing here. When life is unfair,
remember that God is telling us that one day evil will be finished. Remember
that.

Without a doubt, God says, "It is done. " One day evil will certainly be
finished. And then don't forget a second fact.

Don't forget that one day as believers in Christ, we will overcome. Absolutely,
certainly, without a doubt, we will overcome all the injustice, all the
unfairness, all the things that you look at in this world and you think, "God,
why? " We'll understand it all.

One day. One day, Revelation chapter 14, the sealed 144,000 are going to stand
on Mount Zion in heaven and praise God for eternity. One day, Revelation chapter
15, the martyrs will be standing in glory.

And even those who've lost their lives for their faith in Christ will be
praising God for all eternity. One day, Revelation chapter 16, God's judgment
over all evil will be finished. And God says, "It is done.

" Let's pray together. Father, instead of worrying about it, help me to realize
what you are doing, to see with new eyes today. We will overcome.

Evil will be finished. When life is not fair, you are fair and your justice will
prevail. I can trust you.

In my tiny slice of life that I see, I don't see the breadth of what you're
doing, but you are a creator God. And in everything you do, you are working as a
creator God in your creation, in your redemption, in the new heaven and new
earth, and even in your judgments, you are a creator God. Thank you, God, that
you created me.

Thank you that you've restored me to relationship with you through Jesus Christ.
And thank you for the new heaven and earth that we have to look forward to in
you. In Jesus' name, I thank you, amen.

Well join us next week. We're going to continue to focus on, in a more personal
way, on the way that God works to create something new, even out of judgment, as
we look at a place, a city called Babylon the Great.