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Many people have been asking and wondering if the BP Oil catastrophe in the Gulf is a fulfillment of Revelation 8:8-9 - "And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood; And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed," and/or Revelation 16:3 - The second angel poured out his bowl on the sea, and it turned into blood like that of a dead man, and every living thing in the sea died."
No, it isn't a fulfillment.
First: the Revelation judgments have not begun. They will not begin until after the Rapture, and Israel is returned to a state of covenant relationship with God (Romans 11:25). We in the church are not appointed to wrath (1 Thess 5:9), and the judgments of Revelation are wrath (Rev 6:16). God is clear on this point. I wrote an explanation with more scriptures, here, if you would like to delve into the subject more deeply.
Secondly, the verses say that the seas became blood and turned into blood. Not oil that looked like blood. John was familiar with the plagues of Egypt and knew that God had the capability of turning large bodies of water into actual blood. In Revelation, when John could not explain what he was seeing, he said things like "Then I heard what sounded like a voice" as described here in Rev 6:6. Other times, when he could exactly describe what was happening, he wrote "He called out in a loud voice" as in Rev 7:2. So writing the seas will be blood means the seas will be blood. Take the literal when it is plain.
Third, the Gulf of Mexico is a small body of water and the amount affected is only 35% of that. Most of the globe is water, 70%. There are approximately 140 million sq miles of ocean on our planet. The Gulf of Mexico is 600,000 square feet, and the amount affected by oil is 200,000 sq feet. So we are a long way from biblical proportions, even though the catastrophe is horrendous.
However, the horrendous catastrophe in the Gulf is an example of how quickly and devastatingly the LORD can and will render pressure on the people to repent, and during the Tribulation, to render wrath to punish. If we think this is bad now, then imagine how VERY bad it will be when a third of the earth's seas are dead, and later, all of them. I think the BP spill is the beginning of an ongoing event that can turn into a judgment during the Tribulation. But as of right now, it is not a fulfillment, it is merely a localized catastrophe of the kind we are told would be brought to bear on an unrepentant people.
In Haggai, the LORD told prophet Haggai to ask the people if they noticed the pressure He had brought to bear on them in His plan to make them aware of the need to return to Him. He had put a drought on the land, caused the rain not to fall, made their purses like sieves (the more they spent the more they wanted), made their exports decline, He put a drought on labor...He pressured them. Squeezed them. The LORD could be doing that now with the oil spill, pressuring America to return to Him and repent. The Lord is patient and long-suffering, pressuring His people increasingly to give them an opportunity to return to Him. When they don't, then He starts the judgments.
That said, though, the BP oil catastrophe is gut-wrenching to watch and experience as a nation.
Tar balls washing up on all five Gulf states now: More than two months after oil from BP's blown-out seafloor well first reached Louisiana, a bucket's worth of tar balls that washed onto a Texas beach means the crude has arrived in every Gulf state. In a development potentially related to the BP oil spill, a recent news report stated,“two baby sperm whales died [on June 23, 2010] after beaching themselves on Florida’s East Coast; ‘Infections and toxins are going to be the big killers of these animals’ says pathologist.” Christian Science Monitor reports that a dead sperm whale was found floating and decomposed. Forty-five dolphins have beached themselves on the Gulf shores as well.
This is beyond heartbreaking, but imagine when a third of the sea creatures die. Or ALL of them. I simply cannot imagine. You do not have to be here when those judgments come down, though. You can confess your sins to the Lord and ask Him to forgive. He will! And then you can be dining with saints at a heavenly banquet, and then rejoice with praise and shouts when the Lord remakes the earth and restores all the animals to perfect environments.
No, it isn't a fulfillment.
First: the Revelation judgments have not begun. They will not begin until after the Rapture, and Israel is returned to a state of covenant relationship with God (Romans 11:25). We in the church are not appointed to wrath (1 Thess 5:9), and the judgments of Revelation are wrath (Rev 6:16). God is clear on this point. I wrote an explanation with more scriptures, here, if you would like to delve into the subject more deeply.
Secondly, the verses say that the seas became blood and turned into blood. Not oil that looked like blood. John was familiar with the plagues of Egypt and knew that God had the capability of turning large bodies of water into actual blood. In Revelation, when John could not explain what he was seeing, he said things like "Then I heard what sounded like a voice" as described here in Rev 6:6. Other times, when he could exactly describe what was happening, he wrote "He called out in a loud voice" as in Rev 7:2. So writing the seas will be blood means the seas will be blood. Take the literal when it is plain.
Third, the Gulf of Mexico is a small body of water and the amount affected is only 35% of that. Most of the globe is water, 70%. There are approximately 140 million sq miles of ocean on our planet. The Gulf of Mexico is 600,000 square feet, and the amount affected by oil is 200,000 sq feet. So we are a long way from biblical proportions, even though the catastrophe is horrendous.
However, the horrendous catastrophe in the Gulf is an example of how quickly and devastatingly the LORD can and will render pressure on the people to repent, and during the Tribulation, to render wrath to punish. If we think this is bad now, then imagine how VERY bad it will be when a third of the earth's seas are dead, and later, all of them. I think the BP spill is the beginning of an ongoing event that can turn into a judgment during the Tribulation. But as of right now, it is not a fulfillment, it is merely a localized catastrophe of the kind we are told would be brought to bear on an unrepentant people.
In Haggai, the LORD told prophet Haggai to ask the people if they noticed the pressure He had brought to bear on them in His plan to make them aware of the need to return to Him. He had put a drought on the land, caused the rain not to fall, made their purses like sieves (the more they spent the more they wanted), made their exports decline, He put a drought on labor...He pressured them. Squeezed them. The LORD could be doing that now with the oil spill, pressuring America to return to Him and repent. The Lord is patient and long-suffering, pressuring His people increasingly to give them an opportunity to return to Him. When they don't, then He starts the judgments.
That said, though, the BP oil catastrophe is gut-wrenching to watch and experience as a nation.
Tar balls washing up on all five Gulf states now: More than two months after oil from BP's blown-out seafloor well first reached Louisiana, a bucket's worth of tar balls that washed onto a Texas beach means the crude has arrived in every Gulf state. In a development potentially related to the BP oil spill, a recent news report stated,“two baby sperm whales died [on June 23, 2010] after beaching themselves on Florida’s East Coast; ‘Infections and toxins are going to be the big killers of these animals’ says pathologist.” Christian Science Monitor reports that a dead sperm whale was found floating and decomposed. Forty-five dolphins have beached themselves on the Gulf shores as well.
This is beyond heartbreaking, but imagine when a third of the sea creatures die. Or ALL of them. I simply cannot imagine. You do not have to be here when those judgments come down, though. You can confess your sins to the Lord and ask Him to forgive. He will! And then you can be dining with saints at a heavenly banquet, and then rejoice with praise and shouts when the Lord remakes the earth and restores all the animals to perfect environments.
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