And the third angel poured out his bowl into the rivers and springs of water, and they turned to blood.The third poured out his bowl into the rivers and springs of water, and they became blood.And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters; and they became blood.And the third poured out his bowl into the rivers and the fountains of the waters; and it became blood.
3 sermons cite this verse
… Look at verse two. So the first angel went and poured out his bowl on the earth and it became a loathsome and malignant sore on the people who had the mark of the beast and who worshiped his image. These are horrendous afflictions that people will endure. Secondly, the second bowl, verse 3, the second angel poured out his bowl into the sea and it became blood like that of a dead man. And every living thing in the sea died. Just imagine what it would do to our ecosystem to have every fish, every mammal, the coral reefs, everything destroyed. The third bowl was the pollution of fresh water. Then the third angel poured out his bowl into the rivers and the springs of water, and they became blood. Now, look at the fourth bowl. Look at verses 8 and 9. The fourth angel poured out his bowl upon the sun, and it was given to it to scorch men with fire. And men were scorched with fierce heat. We don't know how this intensity occurred in the sun's rays upon the earth. Does God alter the tilt of the earth's axis? Does he alter the orbit around the sun? We don't know what happens. Could it be that he destroys the ozone that blocks out many UVA and UVB rays and people feel the full brunt of the sun's heat? He doesn't answer that question, but he does say people will be inflicted with terrible sores. All kinds of afflictions are going to occur during this time. They were scorched with fierce heat. Now, what do you think …
… trumpet judgment destroyed a third of the fresh water supplies, the rivers and streams. But this is much more severe. Again, we find it in verses four to seven. Then the third angel poured out his bowl into the rivers and the springs of water, and they became blood. Can you imagine what it would be like to have no fresh water available, what it would do to our world. You know, we're told that man can live 30 or 40 days without food, but you can only go a couple of days, three days without water. This is one reason we know at this point we are very close to the return of Jesus Christ because Jesus himself said, were the days of the tribulation not cut short, nobody would have survived. All of the fresh water supply is going to be destroyed. Verse 5, John says, and I heard the angel of the waters. What in the world is that? Well, apparently, you know, God has angels for everything. There's an angel in charge of the water supply in the world. He's the minister of water for the world. He's over the river supplies and the seas of the world. And this minister of water, the angel says, righteous are you, God, who are and who were, O Holy One, because you judged these things for they, that is the unbelievers, poured out the blood of saints and prophets, and you in turn have given them blood to drink. They deserve it. …
… of the final judgment to come. The New Testament will pick this up, Revelation 16. The second angel poured out his bowl on the sea and it became like blood. The third angel poured out his bowl into the rivers and springs and they became blood. So, this will be picked up in the New Testament as a symbolic picture of the Lord's judgment drawn from the imagery here of the first plague. And more immediately, this first plague was meant to foreshadow the worst plagues to come. So, as bad and as gruesome as this was, you can really see as the first of the 10 it's gross it's frightening it's inconvenient it's not nearly as bad as flies or gnats or sores or boils or or hail or locusts or darkness it's a massive week-long inconvenience but do you see what this first plague was meant to foreshadow as they get worse by worse by worse this is a terribly gross ordeal a massive inconvenience but it was supremely a warning it was to signal to the egyptians the land will flow with blood for all the guilty sinners who do not have a passover lamb This land will flow with blood, and it will be the blood of your absolutely most precious, most valuable, most sought-after resource, not water, your children. …