Bible Commentaries
Revelation 16

Verse 1

Rev 16:1

Revelation 16:1

See Revelation 15:5-8

Revelation 16:1 And I heard a great voice out of the temple, saying to the seven angels, Go ye, and pour out the seven bowls of the wrath of God into the earth.--These words are a statement of the commission to the angels. They were spoken in the temple, indicating that the authority to execute their commis-sion is from God. The word "earth" here is to be taken liter-ally, for the angels who were to pour out the plagues were in heaven, and those upon whom they were to fall were dwelling on the earth. The part of the earth in each case corresponds with those affected. This verse is but a general statement of authority being conferred upon the angels; the remainder of this chapter is a detailed description of how that authority was carried out.

Commentary on Revelation 16:1 by Foy E. Wallace

(1) A prologue to the plagues—Revelation 16:1-14.

1. The voice of Revelation 16:1 is not that of an angel but of God himself. The seven angels were commanded to Go your ways-each had a special and separate work to perform, to pour out the vials of wrath. The vials corresponded with the cup of his indignation in Revelation 14:10, the contents of which were the components of the penal woes which were to descend on the subjects of God’s wrath. It was during this period of divine wrath that no man was able to enter into the temple to appear in the presence of God for the prayer of intercession to avert the destruction of old Jerusalem and the devastation of the old temple.

Commentary on Revelation 16:1 by Walter Scott

THE COMMAND FROM THE TEMPLE.

Revelation 16:1. — “And I heard a great voice out of the temple, saying to the seven angels, Go and pour out the seven bowls of the fury of God upon the earth.” The terms, “voice,” “voices,” a “strong voice,” a “loud voice,” and a “great voice,” have each their own special significance.

The word voice is variously used of Christ, of God, of angels, of the living creatures, of the altar, of the throne, etc. Wherever the word occurs, or to whom or to what it refers in the Apocalypse, there is implied an intelligent apprehension of the subject in question. Its metaphorical application as in Revelation 9:13 is no exception.

The plural, voices, occurs eight times, and with one exception (Revelation 11:15) is directly associated with judgment. It is one of the premonitory signs of coming wrath (Revelation 4:5; Revelation 8:5; Revelation 8:13; Revelation 10:3-4; Revelation 11:19; Revelation 16:18), and implies that the judicial dealing is not simply the exercise of arbitrary power, but is intelligently governed and directed.

Then we read of a “strong voice” (Revelation 18:2), of a “loud voice” (Revelation 5:2), and of a “great voice,” as in our text (see also Revelation 21:3). The adjectives respectively set forth the character of the voice, which, again, is in exact keeping with the nature of the announcement.

Revelation 16:1 — The Seer hears “a great voice out of the temple.” The sanctuary itself, the holiest spot in the universe, is roused to action. The demand for judgment on the apostate scene proceeds not from the throne, but from the holy of holies. God’s wrath burns fiercely, and its strength is derived from what His holy nature demands and necessitates (Isaiah 6:1-13). The voice heard in the temple may well be termed “great,” when the holiness of the place and the majesty of the Speaker are considered.

The completeness of the service in which these judgment angels are employed is signified by the number seven, the predominant and ruling numeral in the Apocalypse. These ministers of God’s wrath, although divinely equipped and commissioned, cannot act till God commands. “Go and pour out the seven bowls of the fury of God.” These broad-rimmed vessels had been filled in the sanctuary, not with incense, but with wrath — God’s righteous wrath. The voice which orders the execution of these seven plagues (Revelation 16:1) announces their completion when all are poured out (Revelation 16:17).

Revelation 16:1 — “Pour out,” not sprinkle; the expression refers to the fulness of divine wrath, each vessel overflows, and is to be poured out without stint or measure in succession till all are emptied. A similar phrase is not uncommon in the Old Testament (Zephaniah 3:8; Psalms 69:24; Jeremiah 10:25). These seven apocalyptic plagues seem like an answer to the prayer of the suffering Jewish remnant in the coming crisis. “Render unto our neighbors sevenfold into their bosom their reproach, wherewith they have reproached Thee, O Lord” (Psalms 79:12).

The scene of these plagues is “the earth,” not geographically but prophetically viewed, hence the course of judgment takes a wider sweep than that under the Trumpets (Revelation 8:1-13). Not the apostate Roman earth only, but the whole or the guilty scene within the range of prophetic vision is here given up to feel the vengeance of an angry God.

We are now about to witness these truly awful visitations of divine wrath successively inflicted out of the sanctuary, and from the Bowls, hallowed by temple use and service, now devoted to purposes of judgment.

Commentary on Revelation 16:1 by E.M.Zerr

Revelation 16:1. The great voice was out of the temple. That means it was from God, for we have learned in the preceding chapter that no man was able to be in the temple at this time. The seven angels have been given the vials of divine wrath, now the voice bids them empty their contents in the places deserving such treatment.

Commentary on Revelation 16:1 by Burton Coffman

Revelation 16:1

This is the famed chapter of the bowls; and what we have here is a "free adaptation, with modifications and amplifications,"^[1] of the series of trumpet judgments depicted in Revelation 8 and Revelation 9, which "the prophet wishes to emphasize by recapitulation."^[2] "These bowls are final but not complete."^[3] God’s saints are not harmed by them. What they represent is the total corruption of earth’s environment, not the physical environment which is here used as a symbol, but the moral, intellectual, religious, and spiritual environment. This perversion of the moral and cultural world of mankind will be the final culmination of evil upon the earth, presenting the true saints of God with their final and most effective challenge.

It is the literalism of scholars, quite unconsciously in many, it seems, that totally dismantles the efforts of some to understand this marvelous chapter. "These plagues cannot be interpreted in a literal sense."^[4] "It is difficult indeed to believe that any such happenings as these would take place in history."^[5] Some who see this, however, fail utterly to come up with an answer as to just what is symbolized. For example, Pieters, who enthusiastically accepted the principle that "literalism here is hopeless,"^[6] " did not even hazard a guess as to what the various bowl symbols mean, declaring that, "The true interpretation has not been found, and probably cannot be found."^[7] Roberson, another highly respected scholar, speaking of interpreting these bowls, wrote, "It may be that no attempt to do so will ever be successful."^[8] Such views are a little embarrassing to this writer who confidently believes that a valid understanding of what is symbolized by the bowls can be presented, an interpretation that is both logical and fully in harmony with what the rest of the New Testament teaches. This will be spelled out below.

These seven bowls are poured out, if not simultaneously, then nearly so; because, as Beckwith noted, "The pains and sores of Revelation 16:11 (in the fifth bowl) refer to the first plague,"^[9] thus showing that the plagues were operating co-extensively. We might refer to all seven bowls as ""Satan’s Propaganda Apparatus." But does not God send this? Of course. It is the divine judicial hardening of mankind due to sin and rebellion against God which is undoubtedly in view here, as several very discerning scholars have observed. "This means that the great and final interdiction of God has come."^[10] Exactly the same hardening is here which Paul discussed in Romans 1:24; Romans 1:26; Romans 1:28. "God gave them up." This means that God darkened their minds, hardened their hearts and delivered them over to the devices of Satan whom they preferred to serve. It is impossible to understand this chapter without due attention to God’s hardening of the entire pre-Christian world, because this chapter is a prophecy of exactly the same thing happening again before the Second Coming of Christ. That is the reason that the ominous shadow of the plagues of Egypt falls over these bowls, as so many have pointed out. See discussion of, "When God Gives Men Up," my Commentary on Romans, pp. 38-51, and "The Hardening of Israel," and also at pp. 392-395. The principle that God does what he allows and requires fully hardened people to do is clear. A good New Testament example is the command of Jesus to Judas, ""Get on at once with the betrayal" (John 13:27, a paraphrase). Thus, these bowls are actually the culmination of human wickedness; but they are also, in a very real sense, the judgments of God upon the incorrigibly evil. Wicked men, hardened finally by God himself, due to their obduracy and rebellion, at last "receive in themselves that recompense of their error which was due" (Romans 1:27). When God at last allows sinful man to walk fully and unrestrained in the evil ways he has chosen, the total pollution of the moral, intellectual, spiritual, and religious environment will happen again, just like it did in the case of the pre-Christian Gentiles; and that ultimate hardening of all mankind is the dreadful eventuality symbolized by these seven bowls. The repeated mention in Revelation 16:9; Revelation 16:11; Revelation 16:21 of the absolute refusal of people to repent proves this view to be correct. The chapter deals with the final and ultimate hardening of the human race.

^[1] James Moffatt. Expositor’s Greek New Testament, Vol. V (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1967), p. 446.

^[2] Ibid.

^[3] William Hendriksen, More than Conquerors (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1956), p. 190.

^[4] R. C. H. Lenski. The Interpretation of St. John’s Revelation (Minneapolis, Minnesota: Augsburg Publishing House. 1943), p. 463.

^[5] Michael Wilcock, I Saw Heaven Opened (Downers Grove, Illinois: Inter-Varsity Press. 1975), p. 154.

^[6] Albertus Pieters, Studies in the Revelation of St. John (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1954), p. 243.

^[7] Ibid., p. 244.

^[8] Charles H. Roberson, Studies in Revelation (Tyler, Texas: P. D. Wilmeth, P.O. Box 3305,1957), p. 118.

^[9] Isbon T. Beckwith, The Apocalypse of John (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1919), p. 681.

^[10] W. A. Criswell, Expository Sermons on Revelation in IV Vols. (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1962), III, p. 174.

And I heard a great voice out of the temple, saying to the seven angels, Go ye, and pour out the seven bowls of the wrath of God into the earth. (Revelation 16:1)

Go ye, and pour out ... In the chapter introduction, it was noted that these seven bowls are poured out quickly and almost simultaneously. Criswell commented on this:

The Greek indicates that these come one after the other in rapid succession. Just like that! When the judgment (or hardening) finally comes, it comes in a hurry.^[11]

Some interpreters apply these to the destruction of Rome, as Summers, for example, who saw them as, "The swiftly executed wrath of God ... on the Roman Empire";^[12] but whatever fulfillment occurred in that does not mitigate against the application of them in a much more extensive frame of reference to the final judicial hardening of the entire race of man. The fact of the totality of these judgments (all instead of merely one third, as in the trumpets) forbids our limitation of it to pagan Rome alone. What happened in the fall of Rome is a preview of what is yet to happen, or may indeed be in the process of happening now. Furthermore, there have been many fulfillments of this historically, Pharaoh being the great Old Testament example of it; and all such occurrences are types of these seven bowls of wrath which are the final, ultimate, and "last" manifestation of the same phenomenon. Many have associated these bowls of wrath, and for very good reasons, with the French Revolution.

^[11] Ibid.

^[12] Ray Summers, Worthy is the Lamb (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1961), p. 186.

Commentary on Revelation 16:1 by Manly Luscombe

Introduction: The previous chapter was a short introduction to what is coming here in chapter 16. As stated in the introduction to chapter 15, this chapter contains the most difficult section of the book. There is greater variety in the explanations and interpretations of this passage. In this chapter the bowls of wrath are actually poured out. We had seals opened to reveal God’s will. Then we heard the trumpets, which warned us of the plan of God. Now we are about to see the wrath of God as it is poured out. There does appear to be some similarity between the trumpets and the bowls of wrath.

1 Then I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, “Go and pour out the bowls of the wrath of God on the earth.” God (the loud voice from the temple) issues the final command. “Go and pour out the bowls of the wrath of God on the earth.” In very rapid succession these bowls are poured out. God is clear and direct. This is what he revealed would happen in the seals. This is what the trumpets warned would happen. Now it is about to happen. No one can say they were not warned.

Verses 2-11

Rev 16:2-11

3. THE FIRST FIVE PLAGUES DESCRIBED

Revelation 16:2-11

2 And the first went, and poured out his bowl into the earth; and it became a noisome and grievous sore upon the men that had the mark of the beast, and that worshipped his image.--This is what John saw, in the vision, but what this represents as a symbol is another thing. There is perhaps no part of Revelation for which expositors have offered more different explanations than the seven bowls of God’s wrath. That they represent punishments and calamities that were to befall the papal hierarchy is generally admitted, but the difficulty comes in trying to fix upon some historical events as the fulfillment of the symbols. If we are not able definitely to locate any event that is a sure fulfillment, we will still know that the symbols have been or will be fulfilled by some such events.

The general facts about which there can be no reasonable doubt are these: (1) That a general series of calamities would befall the beast and his devotees that would culminate in his destruction. To misunderstand these or misapply the items will not change this fact. (2) These plagues were to affect directly the man of sin--the apostate church. (3) As they were to accomplish his destruction, they would naturally begin when his power was ready to wane. This would indicate that these plagues would not begin to be poured out till after the 1,260-year period had ended. The record says (Revelation 13:4-5) that authority was given unto the beast to "continue forty and two months." These facts are certainly true, and would be sufficient for practical purposes, if no effort were made to find any historical fulfillment.

A noisome and grievous sore would be a physical malady that is particularly painful and tormenting. These words, doubtless, are to be understood symbolically--that is, some calamities would fall upon men that would be as disagreeable as the physical plagues mentioned. Surely there would be more calamities befall them than just one physical disorder. But whatever punishments were visited upon them, they would be as tormenting as a burning boil. Those to be thus tormented were men who had the "mark" and "image" of the beast. As already learned, this refers to those who have received the doctrines of the apostate church and practice them. See notes on Revelation 13:15-17. Naturally this means that whatever the plagues might indicate, the events would occur in countries predominantly under the influence of Catholicism, either religiously or politically, or both. It should be remembered that this beast power was united so closely in both religious and political forms that each sustained the other and a plague upon one affected the other.

As a matter of historical fact the Roman apostate church began the loss of her universal sway over the nations about the time of the French Revolution, A.D. 1789 to 1794. Of all the conflicting views presented by expositors this appears to be the most probable, and is the view of several. Elliott (Vol. III, pp. 351-375) gives this application of the plague in detail. France, being a strong Catholic nation, was a suitable place for the events to happen. The Standard History of the World (Vol. VII, p. 3384) thus describes the unhappy state of France in this period "During the Reign of Terror, in 1793-94, unhappy France--torn by factions, rent by civil war, invaded by civil enemies, threatened by famine, suffering from bankruptcy, cursed by atheism--presented a picture beyond our powers of description."

On page 3386 it is stated that "infidelity and atheism reigned supreme," and that the leaders of the Paris Commune declared they intended "to dethrone the King of heaven as well as the monarchs of the earth." The national convention decreed "the abolition of the Christian religion in France and the substitution of the worship of reason instead."

The same authority, same page, thus states the treatment received by the Catholic Church: "Gobel, the constitutional Bishop of Paris, and several other ecclesiastics were compelled publicly to apostatize from Roman Catholic Christianity and to accept the new worship of reason. While the cathedral at Notre Dame was thus profaned by being converted into a temple of atheism, the other Catholic churches were plundered and subjected to every kind of sacrilege, and the mass vestments and church ornaments and implements were carried through the streets in blasphemous processions."

The same writer says that the Reign of Terror cost the lives of more than a million Frenchmen. If such a moral and religious ulcer in the leading Catholic nation does not fulfill the demands of John’s symbolic plague, it would be difficult to find anything in history that does. It would be remarkably strange that a situation without a parallel in history for moral and religious corruption should not be made a part of the symbolic imagery depicting the rise and fall of an apostate religion. That the papacy began at that time the downgrade which will ultimately end in its destruction is most certainly true; hence, it is the most probable application for the fulfillment of the first plague

3 And the second poured out his bowl into the sea; and it became blood as of a dead man; and every living soul died, even the things that were in the sea.--John saw the second angel pour the contents of his bowl into the sea and it turned to the color of blood, and all living creatures in the sea died. It was not the warm flowing blood of a living being, but the dark coagulated blood of the dead. Very naturally this would destroy everything in the sea or upon the sea. This was only what John saw in the vision; what the symbol represents is the difficult problem the Bible student must try to solve. We have already learned (see preliminary notes on Revelation 6:1-8) that modifying facts sometimes require certain words in a symbol to be taken literally and others figuratively. "Many waters" (Revelation 17:1) where the harlot sitteth is said in verse 15 to be "peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues"; but the book nowhere gives a symbolic meaning for sea. To say it must be given the same meaning as "waters" in Revelation 17:15 is an assumption without proof. The words "earth" and "men" in the first plague (verse 2) are to be taken liter-ally; for, whatever the plague meant, it was to affect people here on earth. That is where they dwell. Some commentators have suggested different figurative meanings for the word sea; but, in harmony with the application offered for the first plague, it seems more probable that it is to be understood literally here. The meaning then will be: some great calamities would take place upon the sea which would affect the papal nations adversely, and become one of the things that would help to bring about the destruction of the apostate church. This view harmonizes with plain facts of history, even if the word sea should be given some metaphorical meaning.

Elliott’s commentary (Vol. III, pp. 378-380) describes the great naval war between France and England which began in the time of the French Revolution, 1793, and lasted more than twenty years. After naming about a dozen great engagements in which France and her allies lost heavily, Elliott says "Altogether in this naval war, from its beginning in 1793 to its end in 1815, it appears from James’ Naval History that there were destroyed near 200 ships of the line, between 300 and 400 frigates, and an almost incalculable number of smaller vessels of war and ships of commerce. It is most truly stated by Dr. Keith that the whole history of the world does not present such a period of naval war, destruction, and bloodshed."

Such facts surely would justify the language of the symbol: the sea "became blood as of a dead man." Sweeping the navy of papal nations from the sea in such decisive victories is fittingly described by the words, "every living soul died," of the creatures in the sea. As Mr. Barnes so often says in his commentary, if the Spirit had desired to describe these historical facts in symbols, more appropriate language could hardly have been chosen. Regardless of how the plague is to be understood, these were heavy blows against those who had the "mark of the beast."

4 And the third poured out his bowl into the rivers and the fountains of the waters; and it became blood.--It should be remembered that whatever application may be given these symbols, the plagues represent events that were to fall upon the beast power as punishments. They would have to be where obedience to papal authority was rendered, and upon the worshipers in that system. As in the first two visions, the words "earth" and "sea" probably indicate the places where those plagues would be most heavily felt, so here rivers and fountains of waters, doubtless, refer to another place where the third plague would fall. If so, then the events indicated would happen in a section where rivers abounded. The statement that the water became blood as a result shows that the plague is to be understood as referring to destructive wars. Because John saw these visions in regular order does not mean that the events signified by one had to be past before those of another could begin. Events depicted by several may have occurred at the same time in different places.

Again we refer to Elliott (Vol. III, pp. 382 to 388), who describes another series of wars from 1792-1805 which were fought in the territory of the three rivers, Rhine, Danube, Po, and their tributaries. It must be admitted that these wars were at an appropriate time, and of the right character, to be the fulfillment of the symbol. If these wars do not fulfill the requirements of the vision, then something of a similar nature would have to be located at some other time. Nothing seems more probable, and certainly this view does no violence to the symbol.

5 And I heard the angel of the waters saying, Righteous art thou, who art and who wast, thou Holy One, because thou didst thus judge:--The expression "angel of the waters" is not easy of interpretation. That angels were sometimes given power to use or control certain elements is clear from Revelation 7:1; Revelation 14:18. In the text it seems more probable that the angel referred to is the one who poured out the plague upon the waters, the thought being that the angel declared the righteousness of God in the punishments indicated by this plague. They indicated that God is a righteous Judge.

6 for they poured out the blood of saints and prophets, and blood hast thou given them to drink: they are worthy.--It is unnecessary to give any detailed account of the persecutions which the papal beast brought upon the true people of God. That this apostate church with her political power did shed the blood of saints we would know from what the angel here says, even if history recorded not a single instance. Since simple Christians and prophets (teachers of the word) had been killed, God allowed those persecutors to be given blood to drink --to suffer terrible bloodshed in the wars indicated. The angel declared that they were worthy--that is, they deserved the punishments they were getting because of their shedding the blood of saints.

7 And I heard thealtar saying, Yea, O Lord God, the Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments.--Under the fifth seal (Revelation 6:9-11) the martyrs were seen under the altar and they were crying with a great voice, asking how long till God would avenge their blood on those upon the earth. Here John hears another voice that appears to come from the altar endorsing the angel’s statement that God’s judgments are true and righteous. All this means that all the punishments indicated by these plagues that fell upon the apostate Roman church were a just and righteous retribution for sins against the church Christ established. It also placed the stamp of divine approval upon those who were martyrs for the word of God.

8 And the fourth poured out his bowl upon the sun; and it was given unto it to scorch men with fire.--The thing John saw was an angel pouring the contents of a bowl upon the sun which so intensified the heat that men were scorched. In the symbol the word "sun" is used literally; but in applying the symbol it must be used figuratively, for the reason that men do not live on the sun, as they do upon the earth or sea. Christ is referred to prophetically as "the sun of righteousness." (Malachi 4:2.) In a dream Joseph saw the sun, moon, and stars bowing to him. This was explained to mean his father, mother, and brethren. (Genesis 37:9-10.) As a symbol the sun represents a leader or prominent man. The simple and natural meaning of the fourth plague is that a great leader with irresistible power would bring great distress and suffering to men that might be likened to the burning rays of a scorching sun. The facts naturally indicate that he would be a military leader, and the sufferings would come through war.

According to the view taken of the preceding plagues, this one is probably another result of the French Revolution, and would naturally be expected to follow close after them. The military career of Napoleon Bonaparte came at the exact time to fulfill the requirements of this symbol. He was the most brilliant, successful, and scorching military sun the world had seen. His military talents were first recognized in 1793. After many successful invasions of other nations, he took the government of France into his own hands in 1799, becoming first consul for life. With unlimited power he became a constant menace to other nations. "Never before," says Elliott (Vol. III, p. 391), "had there been such a subversion of old dynasties, and changes in new ones, in the history of modern Europe." The nations that felt the scorching effect of his power were dominated by the papal system of religion. Surely no known historical event fits the symbol any better. It would certainly be remarkable if a career that so clearly affected the fortunes of the church would not be a subject to be depicted in a series of prophetic symbols. No other explanation seems as probable.

9 And men were ’scorched with great heat: and they blasphemed the name of God who hath the power over these plagues; and they repented not to give him glory.--Doubtless it would be impossible to learn how much suffering and bloodshed occurred in these wars. The natural effect that these calamities would have upon wicked men would be to cause them to blaspheme God for allowing such misfortunes to fall upon them. They would charge that he alone had power to bring them. If they admitted that God had power to bring the plagues, and they were suffering from them, that should have produced repentance, but it did not. This shows that those with the mark of the beast were too fully steeped in false teaching to yield; so they repented not.

10 And the fifth poured out his bowl upon the throne of the beast and his kingdom was darkened; --The preceding plagues were naturally preparatory to this one, which was a direct thrust at the very foundation of the system. The word "throne" means authority and this bowl was, therefore, intended to weaken the highest authority in the beast power. As the theory here accepted is that the beast represents the apostate or papal church, we conclude that the beast’s throne means the authority of the Pope. This plague was greatly to weaken that power, but not to destroy it. That would not occur till the seventh plague had been poured out. The "man of sin" is not to be destroyed till the Lord comes. (2 Thessalonians 2:3; 2 Thessalonians 2:8.) This blow against papal authority would leave the Pope’s subjects in distress and confusion, fittingly represented as spiritual darkness.

and they gnawed their tongues for pain, 11 and they blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores; and they repented not of their works.--The words "pains" and "sores" seem to refer to the effects of the preceding plagues, indicating that this one only intensified their distress and misery already felt from plagues suffered. Gnawing their tongues signifies great suffering and deep anguish. The plague had the same effect in these particulars as the fourth had.

If no fact in history could be found to correspond with this symbol, we would know that something had occurred, and the symbol was true. That events transpired during the French Revolution and soon after it that weakened the power of Rome and strengthened Protestantism is too well known to need reciting. The language naturally implies that the fifth plague was poured out not long after the preceding ones. Elliott (Vol. III, pp. 395-408) offers the most plausible explanation. Briefly stated, he refers it to the time when the "Pope’s temporal authority over the Roman state was abolished." After victories in northern Italy in 1796 and 1797, the French army under Napoleon was rushed toward Rome. The Pope (Pius VI) saved himself with a payment of some thirty million francs, and surrendered a hundred of the finest paintings and statues in the Vatican. But he lost his temporal power, was taken away as a prisoner, and soon thereafter died. In 1804 Pope Pius VII was summoned to Paris to crown Napoleon as emperor, or rather to give official sanction to his assuming the position. In 1801 Napoleon made an agreement with Pius VII by which the Roman Catholic Church was restored as the state religion of France, but Protestant worship was to be allowed. In 1809 Napoleon issued a decree, declaring the Pope’s temporal authority at an end, but allowed him the Vatican and the position of spiritual head of the church. This intensely exasperated the Pope, who excommunicated Napoleon. The Pope was then taken a prisoner to France, and the states of the church annexed to that empire. These facts surely fulfill the demands of the symbol well enough to justify their acceptance as the things meant. The authority of the Roman Pontiff had been both changed and limited.

Notwithstanding these sufferings, they repented not, but still worshiped the beast. Peace was restored and the Pope returned to his place in Rome in 1815. The preceding year he issued a proclamation, declaring himself "God’s Vicar on Earth." Soon after his return to Rome he refused tolerance to Protestant worship in France, and issued briefs against Bible societies, declaring the Scriptures themselves, unless accompanied with papal explanations, to be the gospel of men or the devil rather than of God. (See Elliott, Vol. III, pp. 418. 419.)

Commentary on Revelation 16:2-11 by Foy E. Wallace

(1) A prologue to the plagues—Revelation 16:1-14.

1. The voice of verse one is not that of an angel but of God himself. The seven angels were commanded to Go your ways-each had a special and separate work to perform, to pour out the vials of wrath. The vials corresponded with the cup of his indignation in Revelation 14:10, the contents of which were the components of the penal woes which were to descend on the subjects of God’s wrath. It was during this period of divine wrath that no man was able to enter into the temple to appear in the presence of God for the prayer of intercession to avert the destruction of old Jerusalem and the devastation of the old temple.

2. The subjects of the plagues were the adherents of the Roman empire in Palestine; and the judgments which commenced with verse two were commensurate with the Roman beasts and the worshipers of his image who were the recipients of his mark.

The significance of the seven plagues may now be summarized as follows:

(1) The noisome sore upon the adherents of the imperial beast: “And the first went, and poured out his vial upon the earth; and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshipped his image"—Revelation 16:2.

The object of this plague was the people in Judea and other provinces of Palestine who had submitted to the imperial decree of the emperor of idolatry in the form of his image-worship, which was the mark of the beast. The effect of this plague was signified by a noxious malodorous sore, a stench in the nostrils, the symbol of the civic posion of idolatry; and it was grievous as a spiritual contagion, being inimical to the ultimate degree to Christianity. In this role the emperor was the veritable embodiment of the antichrist of 1 John 2:18 and 1 John 4:3 and 2 John 1:7. The mention of “the last time” by John in this connection was comparable to Paul’s “present distress” 1 Corinthians 7:1-40, and similar allusions in other epistles in the same sort of reference to the grievous times connected with the end of Jerusalem and of the Jewish state.

3. The plagues followed the pattern of the experiences of the Israelites in Egypt, as indicated in Revelation 16:3-4; and Pharaoh Rameses, the oppressor of Israel, parallels Nero Caesar, the imperial persecutor of the church. It again presented the comparison of the old testament and new testament people of God--Israel and the Church.

(2) The sea of dead blood which putrified the society of imperial idolatry: “And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea; and it became as the blood of a dead man: and every living soul died in the sea."—Revelation 16:3.

In accordance with the definitions of the symbols in the first section, the sea represented society in various descriptions- tossed and troubled, or placid and peaceful. Here the sea became as the blood of a dead man--signifying the complete dissolution of the emperor-beast and his subject.

(3) The conversion of the rivers and fountains of waters into blood: “And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters; and they became blood” –Revelation 16:4.

The pollution of the fountains and streams of water resulted in epidemics of deadly disease. The sickening figure of the total contamination of the streams of water by the effluence of blood was symbolic of retribution for the blood of the martyrs. In chapter 6:10 the souls under the altar of martyrdom cried: How long, 0 Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? This plague symbol was the answer to the martyr-cry. It was the squaring of the account in this symbolic retribution of blood, the avenging of the martyrs. And Revelation 16:6 so declares: For they have shed the blood of the saints and prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink; for they are worthy. The statement “for they are worthy” means that they deserved the recompense of blood for the blood they had shed.

A similar pronouncement of judgment upon apostate Jerusalem was made by Jesus in Matthew 23:37 : “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!”

The plague meant that they were figuratively made to drink the blood which they had made to flow from the mass murder of the saints.

4. Each apocalypse had a separate attending angel in the superintendence of the scene enacted, and each angel personified the vision he represented, as Revelation 16:5-6 exemplifies, in the angels of waters of the sea, and of the altar of the martyrs; in each symbol the one represents the other.

5. The angel of the altar in verse seven reverted to the altar of martyrs in Revelation 6:9-10 and was in the role of sending the judgment which the martyrs petitioned, and of satisfying their avenging cry.

(4) The smitten sun that scorched blasphemous men with fire: “And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire"—Revelation 16:8.

This plague was the symbol of the punishment inflicted on the persecutors who had blasphemed God in the assumption of the powers and prerogatives of God by compelling the worship of the emperor’s image; and had thus branded the mark in the hands and on the foreheads of all who bowed in submission. This symbol portended the end of the activities of the emperor and his colleagues.

6. The power of the persecution was represented as broken in Revelation 16:10, when the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the throne of the beast--the seat of authority for action in Palestine, which came from the emperor. The kingdom of the beast was full of darkness in Palestine. The same metaphor was used by Isaiah (Isaiah 13:10) to describe the fall of ancient Babylon; and Jesus adopted the same figure of speech (Matthew 24:29) in foretelling the darkness that settled over the Jewish state in the fall of Jerusalem. The same use of the symbol was made here in Revelation 16:10.

(5) The vial of wrath poured upon the seat of the beast that darkened his kingdom: “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” –Revelation 16:10.

The king of the kingdom mentioned in this verse must be identified with the great red dragon of Revelation 12:9, personified as the devil and Satan.

The seat of the beast here was on the same principle of Satan’s seat, or throne, in Pergamos; mentioned in Revelation 2:13. It referred to his base of operations through his imperial agents. His kingdom was darkened by the exposure of the deceptions of his lying wonders, which resulted in his ignominious end. The subjects of this Satanic beast, who repented not of theirdeeds of idolatrous worship of the emperor-image, by which they blasphemed the God of heaven, suffered the same consequences.

7. The realm of the persecutor’s operations, by the wrath poured out of the vials, was subjected to the calamities narrated; and the minions of the emperor gnawed their tongues for pain--the symbol of retribution for the lies of deception and seduction their tongues had spoken; which was the method employed to brand the subjects of their deceit with the mark of emperor-worship. And in evidence of entire allegiance to the beast-power Revelation 16:11 declared that these representatives of Rome blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds.

Commentary on Revelation 16:2-11 by Walter Scott

FIRST BOWL OF WRATH.

Revelation 16:2. — “And the first went and poured out his bowl on the earth; and there came an evil and grievous sore upon the men that had the mark of the beast, and those who worshipped his image.” In the enumeration of the respective Trumpets each of the seven angels is referred to as “second angel,” “third angel,” “fourth angel,” and so on (Revelation 8:1-13), but not so here. The introduction is more brief, the ordinals as first, second, etc., being simply employed, and the word angel omitted.(Bengel, remarking on the omission of the word angel in the Vials, tersely adds, “The Vials make short work.”)

The plague here referred to as “an evil and grievous sore” reminds us of the sixth Egyptian plague (Exodus 9:10-11). This was the first of the plagues which attacked the persons of the Egyptians, and one under which the magicians, or wise men, specially smarted. It was a disgusting and loathsome disease (see Deuteronomy 28:27; Deuteronomy 28:35). There are two other New Testament references to this painful character of boil. Under the fifth Bowl it is mentioned in conjunction with other judgments (Revelation 16:11), and in Luke 16:20-21 we learn that Lazarus, dying amongst the dogs on the street, was covered with these painful and generally incurable boils or sores, but the soul of the pauper was waited upon by the angels of God, and carried up and into the bosom of Abraham — the reserved place of Jewish blessing.

The literality of the apocalyptic plagues (Revelation 16:1-21) is a moot question with some. It has been argued that because the Egyptian plagues were literal, so must these be, because of their general resemblance. Now, while strongly protesting against any limitation of divine power, or intruding on the region of sovereignty which God alone can and must necessarily occupy, yet we judge that the plagues of our chapter must be understood symbolically in keeping with the general character and design of the book. What is signified is a moral sore which will cause intense mental suffering. Physical suffering, no doubt, will also add to the anguish endured by men, but the chief and predominating feature will be judicial dealing with the soul and conscience — a suffering far exceeding any bodily infliction. It is called an “evil and grievous sore.” The word literally means a bad ulcer, that which produces and draws to it unhealthy humours, discharging these in a highly offensive form. Persons bearing the mark of the Beast and his worshippers — the active supporters of the apostate civil power then under the direct authority of Satan — are the sufferers under the first Bowl. It is God’s wrath on the adherents and devotees of the Beast throughout the prophetic earth. This truly awful judgment precedes the fall of Babylon (Revelation 16:19), whereas the everlasting torment of the Beast worshippers succeeds that great event (Revelation 14:9-10). We gather therefore that the pouring out of the first Vial is a precursor of the doom announced as the fourth subject in that interesting chapter 14 of grave and notable events.

THE TRUMPETS AND VIALS COMPARED.

Besides a general resemblance to the plagues of Egypt, the Vials and Trumpets strikingly correspond. In the first four of each series the sphere of operation is the same, namely, the earth, the sea, the rivers, the fountains, and the sun. But in the Trumpets the area affected is restricted to a third part, i.e., the Roman world. The effects produced under the Vials are different, and of a severer character, than those under the Trumpet judgments. Then the fifth, sixth. and even seventh Trumpets correspond in some general respects to the last three Vials. But in the Vials the range of the various plagues is in no wise limited to a fourth (Revelation 6:8) or third part (Revelation 8:1-13) of the prophetic earth. Wherever the evil is it is searched out and none escape.

SECOND BOWL OF WRATH.

Revelation 16:3 — “And the second poured out his bowl on the sea; and it became blood, as of a dead man; and every living soul died in the sea.” All the Vials are poured on the earth, not geographically but prophetically considered (Revelation 16:1). But the terms “earth” (Revelation 16:2) and “sea” (Revelation 16:3) both form part of the prophetic scene referred to in verse 1; that is, the term earth in Revelation 16:1 is of larger and wider import than the earth of Revelation 16:2. The latter is contrasted with the sea, and as a symbol denotes that special part of the prophetic earth then in ordered external relation to God, while the sea signifies that portion of the sphere of prophetic dealing, not organized, but revolutionary in character — the masses in general. It is important to lay hold of the force of these symbols and of their application in detail. The grand desideratum, however, is to hold in the soul and understanding the moral principles and teaching of the book. A detailed exposition, however interesting, and to some minds fascinating, should be subordinated to the moral element — to that which deals with the conscience and with God. The great moral principles of truth which run through all Scripture are meant to govern the heart and control the life.

The sea “became blood” is not a physical fact, as in the first Egyptian plague (Exodus 7:17-25), when the Nile, the justly celebrated river of Egypt, with its canals, streams, and tributaries, was turned into blood literally and actually. But in the Vial plague the sea becoming blood points symbolically to a scene of moral death. Christianity, or at least what then represents it, is abandoned. So complete and thorough is the apostasy that the blood (life, moral or physical, as the case may be) is “as of a dead man.” Here we have death in a double sense. First, spiritual death, as in Ephesians 2:5, even in the case of those naturally alive; second, by apostasy, the giving up of all religious profession — the open, public renunciation of all external relationship to God, as in Judges 1:12 — “twice dead,” even when physically alive.

“Every living soul died in the sea.” The masses of people within the bounds of the prophetic earth are signified by the restless sea, while those in special outward relation to God within that same sphere are signified by the solid earth. “Every living soul died.” Each mere professor makes shipwreck of faith, of conscience, of truth, and gives up every vestige of religious profession. The apostasy and alienation from God are complete, not one left, save those who are real and whose names are in the Lamb’s book of life.

It has been contended that a violent physical death is here signified by the term blood, but this, we judge, is a mistake. A sword symbolically sets forth death by war or violence, and that is absent here (Revelation 6:8; Revelation 19:15). The scene before us represents a general state of corruption and apostasy amongst the peoples and masses of mankind not in ordered relation to God, as also the open apostasy of “every” one. A pagan world we have read and heard of with all its disgusting and filthy practices. A papal Europe shrouded in moral darkness there has been, and that at no very distant date. But an apostate world, with its blasphemy, cruelty, and frightful misery, abandoned by God and given over to Satan, is the appalling picture in the Apocalypse, one most sure, and, moreover, not far off. The character of the times unmistakably points in that direction.

THIRD BOWL OF WRATH.

Revelation 16:4-7. — “And the third poured out his bowl on the rivers, and (on) the fountains of waters; and they became blood. And I heard the angel of the waters saying, Thou art righteous, Who art, and wast, the Holy One, that Thou hast judged so. For they have poured out the blood of saints and prophets, and Thou hast given them blood to drink; they are worthy. And I heard the altar saying, Yea, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous (are) Thy judgments.” In the third Trumpet, to which the third Vial corresponds, the rivers and fountains come under judgment. In the former, however, they become wormwood (Revelation 8:11); here they are turned into blood. In the former all national life, character, and source of thought and action are morally poisoned; in the latter the national corruption is of a deeper kind — moral death and complete alienation from God are the results. The “rivers,” the ordinary life of a nation characterized by known and accepted principles of government, social and political, its life-breath so to speak, as also “fountains of waters,” the sources of prosperity and well-being, are all turned into blood, symbolically of course. (See remarks on Revelation 8:10.) We would again remark that, allowing a certain parallelism between the Trumpets and Vials, the latter are, at the same time, of wider extent and more severe and searching than the former.

Revelation 16:5 — “The angel of the waters” seems at first sight an ambiguous expression. But when it is borne in mind the large part which angels occupy in the economy of the redemption of the inheritance the expression assumes a definiteness quite in keeping with other portions of the book. Almost every subject in the Apocalypse has its angel. An angel is the intermediary between Christ and John (Revelation 1:1); the seven churches have each their angel or moral representative, not a celestial being (Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22); an angel challenges the universe to produce one competent to fulfil the counsels of God respecting the earth (Revelation 5:2); the numberless throng of angels worship the Lamb (Revelation 16:11-12); angels control the elements (Revelation 7:1); an angel seals the servants of God (vv. 2, 3); each Trumpet and each Vial has its respective angel (Revelation 8:1-13; Revelation 16:1-21); angels are the combatants in the heavenly war (Revelation 12:1-17); an angel announces the Everlasting Gospel (Revelation 14:6); an angel proclaims the fall of Babylon (Revelation 16:8); an angel declares the awful doom of the worshippers of the Beast (Revelation 16:9); an angel comes out of the temple (Revelation 16:15); and another out of the altar (Revelation 16:18). If the winds, the fire, and the abyss have each an angel, the waters too have their appropriate and guardian angel. The peoples symbolized by the waters (Revelation 17:15) are controlled by an angel, all, however, under the governing hand of God.

The angel of the waters acquiesces in the divine judgment. It might be naturally supposed that he would deprecate judicial and retributive dealing in the sphere over which he presides. On the contrary, he justifies God, saying, “Thou art righteous.” The plague does not overstep by a hairbreadth the just measure of strict righteousness. Then the eternity of God’s Being, “Who art,” and His past relation to men and angels, “and wast,” are next affirmed. (See remarks in our Exposition on Revelation 1:4; Revelation 1:8; Revelation 4:8; Revelation 11:17.) “The holy One.” This peculiar word occurs but twice in the New Testament in relation to Christ: the other instance is in Revelation 15:4.

In the Authorized Version of Revelation 16:5 the words “O Lord” and “shalt be” are unnecessary interpolations, and are rejected by most critics, while the title the “holy One” is omitted (see R.V.).

Revelation 16:6. — “They have poured out the blood of saints and prophets.” This sentence conclusively proves the symbolic character of the plague. Apostate peoples and nations are referred to as “waters.” They had freely and wantonly poured out the blood of saints and prophets. In Revelation 11:18 the order is prophets and saints; here it is saints and prophets. In the former it is a question of public acknowledgment of service and faithfulness, hence the most responsible and distinguished company is first named; whereas in our text it is the martyrdom of all who stand for God, of all who witness for Him, negatively and positively, according to the principle in Luke 11:50-51. “Saints” (See remarks on Revelation 11:18.) is a common enough term in both Testaments, signifying true believers on God. “Prophets” designate those who truly witness for God in a dark and evil day.

Revelation 16:6 — “Thou hast given them blood to drink: they are worthy.” Water is the ordinary source of life and refreshment. Wine is the symbol of earth’s joy. Blood is the witness of death. In retributive justice, in holy righteousness, God judicially gives over the persecutors of His people to drink blood, to realise in their own souls and consciences death. The penalty is an awful one. The drinking of blood does not mean physical death, it is infinitely worse. The punishment is as horrible as it is righteous. It is really an instalment and foretaste of the horrors of the lake of fire. “They are worthy.” Not only is it a righteous judgment, but these apostates have fully earned their awful doom. “They are worthy” to have this terrible and judicial character of death inflicted upon them, to drink it, and thus fully know its bitterness.

Then the altar speaks, not as in the Authorized Version, the angel of the altar, but the altar itself. The brazen altar is here referred to (Revelation 6:9), the altar of consuming judgment. The lives of God’s saints and witnesses had been sacrificed on the altar (so He regarded it), and their souls after death are heard underneath it crying to God for vengeance on their bloodthirsty persecutors. God hears the cry. For about six thousand years it might have seemed as if God slept or was indifferent to the cruel and heartless treatment of His people in all ages. But no! The long, lingering patience of our God has now come to an end, and the slumbering vengeance of Jehovah bursts forth. The cry of the altar is a vindication of the God of wrath. It exults in the holy and righteous character of these retributive judgments. In the first book of Scripture (Genesis 4:10) we hear the cry of the blood of the first of the martyred band; now in the last book (Revelation 16:7) we listen to the cry of the altar which had borne its testimony to the slaughter of God’s saints from Abel onwards. It is the appeal of the altar itself in the near approach of the final consummation of judgment under the seventh Vial. It is both an appeal to and a vindication of God in His true and righteous judgments (see Revelation 15:3; Revelation 19:2).

FOURTH BOWL OF WRATH.

Revelation 16:8-9. — “And the fourth poured out his bowl on the sun; and it was given to it to burn men with fire. And the men were burnt with great heat, and blasphemed the Name of God, Who had authority over these plagues, and did not repent to give Him glory.” There is a marked and striking parallelism between the first four Trumpets and the first four Vials. In both the order is the same. The great departments of nature, symbolic, of course, come under judgment, namely, the earth, the sea, the rivers, and the sun. In the Vials the whole prophetic scene is involved, whereas in the Trumpets the Roman earth is specially in view.

The previous visitation of the sun in judgment (Revelation 8:12), that is, the supreme governing authority, resulted in a scene of intense moral darkness, confined, however, to the revived Roman world. But the fourth Trumpet, both in severity and range, must pale before the greater horrors of the fourth Vial. There darkness, here intolerable agony; there an area of circumscribed judgment, here the judgment extends to the utmost bounds of Christendom; there the circumstances of men are in question, here men themselves in their own persons are the agonized sufferers.

Revelation 16:9. — “Burnt with great heat.” The power of the sun is increased to such an intense degree that men are scorched or burnt with its fire. It is not, of course, a physical judgment produced by the great celestial luminary; we must therefore seek to ascertain what is the moral significance and symbolic meaning of the sign. The sun as a figure denotes supreme government (see on Revelation 6:12; Revelation 8:12; Revelation 9:2; Revelation 12:1). We understand, therefore, that the great governing authority on earth becomes the cause of intense and frightful anguish to men. “Burnt,” or scorched, would naturally convey as much (Deuteronomy 32:24; Malachi 4:1).

Revelation 16:9 — We are next called to witness the effect of these dire plagues upon the consciences of men. Are they humbled and made repentant thereby? Are they crushed in spirit under the repeated and increasing severity of these judicial chastisements? No! They “blasphemed the Name of God.” What an answer on man’s part to the expressed wrath of the Almighty! How incorrigibly bad and thoroughly corrupt is the will of man! Had there been godly repentance the storm of divine wrath might have been arrested, for God “had authority over these plagues.” All were in His hand, and He possessed supreme control. God is the source of these apocalyptic judgments. We are not living in a world of chance, but in a world which belongs to God and which He controls, even down to the minutest circumstance of life. There was produced, not repentance, but increased hardness of heart; not glory to God, but blasphemy of His blessed Name. In this plague God and the creature stand out strongly contrasted.

FIFTH BOWL OF WRATH.

Revelation 16:10-11. — “And the fifth poured out his bowl on the throne of the Beast; and his kingdom became darkened; and they gnawed their tongues with distress; and blasphemed the God of the Heaven for their distresses and their sores, and did not repent of their works.” The seven churches (Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22), the seven Seals (Revelation 6:1-17; Revelation 8:1), the seven Trumpets (Revelation 8:1-13), and the seven Vials (Revelation 16:1-21) are each divided into two distinct groups. In the case of the churches the division is into three and four, whilst in the others the grouping is reversed, four and three. Number seven in itself signifies completeness, spiritual perfection. When separately numbered as one, two, etc., the various parts of the whole are distinguished, and when grouped into the two unequal divisions of three and four it intimates a special and characteristic feature peculiar to each group.

We have had in the preceding Vials the four great departments of nature symbolically represented, as the earth, the sea, the rivers, and the sun. But now we pass from the realm of nature to witness a characteristic and specific subject of judgment, i.e., the kingdom of the Beast, which is smitten in the center and seat of its power. The Beast himself, or the personal head of the empire, is, with his fellow in crime, the Antichrist, reserved for an awful doom (Revelation 19:20). But till then the civil and political power of earth established by Satan (Revelation 13:4; Revelation 17:8) is in its strength and center made to feel the stroke of divine judgment. The executive of the kingdom, not the subjects of it, is referred to here. The “throne,” the strength and glory of the kingdom, is overwhelmed with judgment. The impious and insolent challenge, “Who is like unto the Beast? who is able to make war with him?” (Revelation 13:4) is unmistakably answered here, and subsequently too (Revelation 19:19-21).

Revelation 16:10. — “His kingdom became darkened.” No doubt there is here an allusion to Exodus 10:21-23. There, however, the darkness was physical, here it is moral. It is difficult to realize in any conceivable degree the horror of such a doom. One main characteristic of the misery endured in the eternal abode of suffering, the lake of fire, is darkness and blackness (Matthew 25:30). That darkness is here foreshadowed with its accompanying consequences. “They gnawed their tongues with distress.” “This is the only expression of the kind that we have in all the Word of God, and it indicates the most intense and excruciating agony.” (Rev. Wm. Ramsay, “Lectures on Revelation,” p. 364.)

Revelation 16:11. — Under the distress caused by the former Vial men blasphemed “the Name of God;” here there is advance in an evil sense, they blaspheme “the God of the Heaven,” not His name merely, but God Himself. There is remorse and suffering in the morally darkened kingdom. The very knowledge that God is in Heaven and is the author and source of their misery, judicially inflicted, does not bow the heart in repentance. The will is yet unbroken. And “did not repent of their works,” the very deeds which God was answering in judgment were gloried in. They loved darkness and its evil deeds. Heavier strokes must yet descend.

Commentary on Revelation 16:2-11 by E.M. Zerr

Revelation 16:2. Noisome and grievous indicates something extremely objectionable and damaging. It should be remarked that the judgments against the wicked leaders in the corrupt institution were suffered immediately. They felt it through the humiliation of seeing their places of evil rulership brought down through the effects of the Reformation. But this was destined to be only a foretaste of the final judgment that will be pronounced upon them at the last day. The mark and image of the beast have been explained at Revelation 13:14.

Revelation 16:3. Blood of a dead man. When a man dies his blood dies with him and becomes poisonous. That which would come in contact with it would be killed. The blood of Christ was dead when it was poured out, hence it will kill the sins of the world if brought into contact with them. (See 1 John 1:7.)

Revelation 16:4. The mention of the earth and other parts of the creation are to represent them as symbols, denoting the completeness of God’s judgments against evil men. That is why rivers and water fountains are named in this verse.

Revelation 16:5. Angel of the waters is the one in the preceding verse. These angels form a unit (seven) and hence any principle held by one goes for all of them. The angel commended the action of the Lord for the righteous judgments inflicted upon the servants of the beast. Art, and vast and shalt be is the same as saying that God had no beginning and will have no end. Such a Being cannot do wrong hence his judgments against His enemies are bound to be just.

Revelation 16:6. The first part of this verse is literal, for the agencies of both Pagan and Papal Rome caused many righteous servants of God to shed their blood. Given them blood to drink is figurative and refers to the legal executions imposed on the wicked.

Revelation 16:7. This angel repeated the same commendation of God’s judgments that was expressed by the one in Revelation 16:5-6.

Revelation 16:8. The sun is a part of the creation which was commented upon at Revelation 16:4. It is specified in the present group of symbols because of the particular item it contributes to the welfare of humanity when it is used normally. It is the source of light and heat without which man could not live. But it is now used as a symbol of torment of fire by increasing the volume of the rays upon men. In Malachi 2:2 the Lord was making threats against some of His ancient people for their wickedness in which he says "I will curse your blessing." The thought is similar to the one of our verse. The sun is normally a blessing to the people of the earth, but it is used as a symbol of cursing.

Revelation 16:9. The intense heat caused men to blaspheme the name of God because of their suffering; that was because they recognized Him as being the cause of the affliction. But the very motive that caused them to blaspheme Him, should have had the effect of making them repent, for they must have known that a Being who can bring such tremendous revolutions in the universe is worthy to be feared and served.

Revelation 16:10. The seat of the beast means his throne or headquarters. The darkness is figurative and refers to some confusion or disarrangement of the affairs of the government. To gnaw the tongues for pain would be a naturalor literal performance, but it is another one of the many symbols used in this book, and represents the intense disappointment and humiliation of the leaders in Rome when they see their structure of oppressive power tumbling about them.

Commentary on Revelation 16:2-11 by Burton Coffman

Revelation 16:2

And the first went, and poured out his bowl into the earth; and it became a noisome and grievous sore upon the men that had the mark of the beast, and that worshipped his image.

And the first went and poured out ... The word for "sore" is "the same as that used to describe the boils and sores in the plagues of Egypt (Exodus 9:8-11)."^[13] Moffatt translated it as a "noisome and painful ulcer."^[14] "Noisome," of course, means "stinking." Before taking up the meaning of this, note that this plague fell only upon those identified with the beast.

Upon the men that had the mark of the beast ... "These evils (the bow]s) do not affect other men (the Christians)."^[15] A mandatory deduction here is that no literal destruction of the land is meant.

But what is meant? The earth itself, its populations out of which the land-beast arose, will become one vast propaganda factory advancing the teachings of the devil, with the result that all kinds of "stinking ulcers" shall spring up all over the world. Within a few blocks of where this is written, there are a dozen of them, as proclaimed by their gaudy neon signs: "Totally Nude Girls," "Adult Theater XXX Movies," "Bottoms Up Club," "Sylvia Sin’s Lounge," etc. If anyone does not believe such places are "stinking ulcers," let him ask the police of any great city. Tragically, there is no way to stop the pornographic, liquor, prostitution, and perversion palaces which today fill half the world. An angel of the wrath of God has poured out his bowl upon the earth, not upon a third of it, but upon all of it.

Scholars who think they can get rid of this prophecy by limiting it to ancient pagan Rome, or by dismissing it as, "merely a retelling of the sixth Egyptian plague of boils,"^[16] need to read it again. The things mentioned above are merely the tip of the iceberg. The printing and publication industries of the world are glutted with vicious, anti-God, atheistic, subversive, immoral, and destructive propaganda of every evil kind. Every grocery store has its magazine section devoted to the secularization and corruption of humanity. The movies and entertainment business have so far been corrupted that there is hardly any market for decent and helpful material.

Likewise, the art, and even the music of the world, have been lowered to a level of jungle rhythm, guttural screaming, and the mouthing of obscenities. The art forms of our day betray a ruptured, fractured, and broken culture.

All over the world, evil religious cults are springing up. What are these but more "stinking ulcers"? Recently, in Houston, "The Church of Atheism" was unveiled. Satan has so perverted the laws and opinions of mankind that such monstrosities are endowed with all of the rights and privileges that should belong to righteousness and truth.

The bitter delusions of Marxism are being peddled all over the earth by means of every device of propaganda and subversion ever invented by Satan. But why go on? It would take a library to describe what is meant by the bowl of the wrath of God being poured out upon the earth. How about all those learned men who see nothing here except some ancient historical event?

We do not offer this interpretation as meaning that "the end of time is upon us" or that the final judicial hardening of the race of mankind has already occurred. Nor, are the things we have pointed out intended as an affirmation, for it is not true, that all art, music, literature, publications, entertainment, etc., are evil. Thanks to the God of heaven through Christ, there are still many wonderful, beautiful, and uplifting things available in every one of these fields; and it could be that the complete fulfillment of this prophecy lies yet a great distance into the future, or that the things we have understood as pertaining to the whole world could be merely the astounding perversions that mark the decline of our own isolated culture in America. Therefore, we make no claim whatever that this bowl of wrath, or any of the others, is totally fulfilled by the aberrations noted.

However, our interpretation is that the bowls of wrath mean exactly the type of moral and spiritual pollution of the total human environment that we have attempted to point out. It is not merely that lust, vulgarity, pornography, violence, perversion, and obscenity are present in our culture. They have always been present in greater or lesser extent in every culture. What is alarming today is the toleration, acceptance, and justification of such things, even to the extent of their being advocated and encouraged by and political institutions; and that is what signals a frightening new aspect of such wickedness today. It could be later than we think.

The festering, malignant, noisome ulcers which are breaking out over the earth are represented as hurting the worshippers of the beast, the followers of Satan. How is this true? The parasitic and destructive nature of all satanic "sores" causes them to hurt all kinds of legitimate and constructive endeavors. The "stinking ulcer" of the late Jim Jones’ Communist Camp in Guyana literally destroyed everyone connected with it. Look what communism has done all over the world.

In the interpretation of this first bowl, we have also, in part, the interpretation of all seven, for they are concurrent, intermingled, mutually supported; and each one is but a part of the total corruption of mankind’s moral and spiritual environment.

^[13] William Barclay, The Revelation of John (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1976), p. 126.

^[14] James Moffatt, op. cit., p. 446.

^[15] Leon Morris, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries, Vol. 20, Revelation (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1969), p. 193.

^[16] Martin Rist, The Interpreter’s Bible, Vol. XII (New York-Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1957), p. 481.

Revelation 16:3

And the second poured out his bowl into the sea, and it became blood as of a dead man; and every living soul died, even the things that were in the sea.

And the second poured out his bowl into the sea ... This sea was the origin of the sea-beast described earlier, which was nothing other than the teeming populations of the earth. The earth of the first bowl and the sea of this bowl are therefore identical, their mention separately being due to the nature of the figure. The figure is the total physical environment (which necessarily includes the sea) symbolical in this vision of the moral, intellectual, and spiritual environment of mankind.

And it became blood as the blood of a dead man ... It is clearly the whole of earth’s people who are meant in all this. "Souls" do not literally live "in the sea." The figure here is an ocean completely turned into rotting, stinking blood; but, "When the entire sea is stinking blood, what about the land which it surrounds?"^[17] It is clearly the physical environment that is ruined in the figure; therefore, we look to the spiritual environment for the fulfillment. When man himself as a factor in his environment becomes popularly and generally devoted to selfishness, greed, lust, violence, and every form of evil, when the "in thing" for the vast majority is indulgence in sex, homosexuality, blasphemy, drunkenness, corruption, hatred, and irreligion, the human race itself becomes a "dead sea."

Thus, this bowl is merely another and extended phase of the first. We shall note some of the types of corruptions indicated. The universities and schools have taken up the task of preaching Satan’s lies, such as evolution, which leads undeniably to the conclusion that man is merely an animal with no more cosmic value than a worm or a rat. What has this done for the human moral and spiritual environment? Besides this, there are a thousand other evil postulations which are being swallowed, advocated and taught almost universally in our culture today, such as humanism, the self-sufficiency of man, the lie that his favorite sins of adultery, drunkenness, homosexuality, criminality, etc., are in no sense sins at all, but merely diseases which society is obligated to pay for and treat! Another lie is that man is not morally responsible for what he does, that society owes every man a good living with all of the conveniences and luxuries thrown in, that man is essentially good, that he is thoroughly capable of solving all of his problems, etc., etc. The great theological seminaries devoted unreservedly to the destruction of the Bible; the churches that ordain homosexuals, adulterers, and even atheists to their pulpits, and contradict the Scriptures in practically all that they either do or teach; the "love cult" that robs God of any other prerogative except that of loving us wicked sinners (what else is God for?) ... these are just a few of the evidences of man’s intellectual environment having been polluted. An angel of God has poured out the bowl of his wrath upon the sea!

ENDNOTE:

^[17] R. C. H. Lenski, op. cit., p. 467.

Revelation 16:4

And the third poured out his bowl into the rivers and the fountains of waters; and it became blood.

And the third poured out his bowl ... The figurative nature of this is evident in the truth that with both the sea and the land already ruined, there would have been no need to bother with the rivers and fountains. What can be meant? A vast number of earth’s great cities are located upon the rivers; and just as the rivers move downward to the sea, so the influences of earth’s great cities flow downward from them into all mankind. We interpret the blight upon the rivers and fountains as the ultimate blight upon the urban civilizations of the world which will change the influences descending from those great cities into blood. People cannot worship self and sensuality without degrading, at last, their joys, recreations, and all creative activity and reducing them to lower and lower levels. "When the public taste grows corrupt, the literature, for example, will become so."^[18]

Are not all of earth’s great cities today in trouble as never before? The proliferation in many of them of a vast army of the incompetent, idle, non-productive dependents upon the public charity, the erosion of authority by the rapacious greed of godless labor unions controlled by thieving, looting bosses in league with the underworld, the spread of lawlessness, official corruption, fiscal irresponsibility, and the encroaching malignant godlessness that has spread terror like a fog over every one of them ... such things appear to have crossed a boundary between what can be contained, corrected, and reduced, and to have become a demonic engine running away. As to which it is now, we do not pretend to know; but this prophecy reveals what it will be like when the angel of the wrath of god pours his bowl upon the rivers and fountains. There are today coming out of earth’s cities influences which spiritually are the blood of dead men. See comment on Revelation 11:13, above, in which the fall of urban civilization is a forerunner of the final judgment. In this context, Lenski spoke of the contamination of "such things as marriage, political science, public morals, and good taste being rivers and springs turned into blood."^[19] These are only a few examples of many that could be cited.

^[18] W. Boyd Carpenter, Ellicott’s Bible Commentary, Vol. VIII (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1959), p. 607.

^[19] R. C. H. Lenski, op. cit., p. 469.

Revelation 16:5

And I heard the angel of the waters saying, Righteous art thou, who art and who wast, thou Holy One, because thou didst thus judge:

And I heard the angel of the waters ... It is probably a mistake to tie this reference in with the extensive angelology of the Jews. What is probably meant is merely the angel who had poured out the bowl of wrath on the waters.

Righteous art thou, who art and who wast ... We might have expected the phrase "and who is to come" until it is remembered that this vision reveals the state of things when the coming of Christ has already begun.

Thou Holy One, because thou didst thus judge ... This with the next two verses is a kind of parenthesis to show that such terrible judgments are in no sense to be construed as unbecoming or out of character in the one true and living God who gave his Son for our redemption. No! These judgments are exactly what the God of love should do. "The pouring out of the bowls is not a series of arbitrary actions, but a solemn judgment."^[20] When people are fully determined and have decided that they will not obey God, nothing could be more just and honorable on the part of the Father than to turn them loose, give them up, harden their hearts, and deliver them completely into the hands of the devil whom they have chosen to obey. That is exactly the state of the situation prophesied here.

ENDNOTE:

^[20] Leon Morris, op. cit., p. 194.

Revelation 16:6

for they poured out the blood of saints and prophets, and blood hast thou given them to drink: they are worthy.

For they poured out the blood of saints ... Violence has a way of destroying itself through the operation of the divine law of retribution. Where were the saints and prophets of God murdered? Almost without exception, they were murdered in earth’s great cities, indicating that we are on the right track in our interpretation of the rivers and fountains. God will reward ruthless, barbarous, violent cultures with a liberal dose of their own medicine. They shed innocent blood; very well, God will give them blood to drink.

For they are worthy ... This carries the meaning that wicked, hardened men fully deserve the divine sentence of wrath being executed upon them. Conspicuous in the present day is the blurred sense of justice. There are many now who do not believe that anyone is worthy of punishment, no matter what were their crimes. The "Reign of Terror" in Paris during the French Revolution was brought about primarily from the reluctance or outright refusal of legitimate authority to punish criminals. "Had Louis XVI been the tyrant that the extremists accused him of being, there would have been no Revolution."^[21] "France had a revolution because she tolerated and invited every conceivable kind of dissension,"^[22] even that of the mob murder of duly elected assemblymen of the central government! A society that is incapable of taking care of its Murats will inevitably perish.

^[21] Stanley Loomis, Paris in Terror (Philadelphia and New York: The J. S. Lippincott Company, 1964), p. 102.

^[22] Ibid.

Revelation 16:7

And I heard the altar saying, Yea, O Lord God, the Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments.

A voice from the altar ... In connection with that altar, we remember the prayers of the martyrs for the execution of God’s judgment upon the wicked, and these bowls of wrath are the answer of those prayers.

True and righteous are thy judgments ... It is startling to find some commentators of the opinion that the profound condemnations and punishments of this chapter are "unworthy of the kind of God revealed in the New Testament." Our own view is that such sentiments are unworthy of Christian commentators. People are not wiser than God, a delusion which these visions were designed to correct! Note, also, that these awful punishments of a world gone berserk in its rebellion against God are not capricious reactions of a peevish God who is annoyed with human "mistakes." Ah no! These are the just retributions which the wicked bring upon themselves. The only way in which such wicked men can be contained and corrected by God is in removing the restraints, giving them up (Romans 1:24; Romans 1:26; Romans 1:28), and throwing the derail switch at the head of the canyon.

Revelation 16:8

And the fourth poured out his bowl upon the sun; and it was given unto it to scorch men with fire.

And the fourth poured out his bowl upon the sun ... Can there be any doubt now, that the total physical environment of the earth is the figure here? What is the specific analogy? The sun in the physical realm is "the light of the world," even as Christ and his truth are the true spiritual light of people (John 1:9). When that which should be light is so polluted that it will only scorch and burn with fire, then the bowl of the wrath of God has been poured upon the sun. How ridiculous must be accounted any physical, literal interpretation of this. Lactantius thought that:

God will cause the sun to stand still for three days so that it (the earth) will catch on fire; whereupon the impious and hostile people of earth will suffer by excessive heat and burning.^[23]

"This fourth bowl has no parallel in the Egyptian plagues,"^[24] which certainly stops the writers who cannot find anything in this series except those plagues. Although there are certainly overtones and resemblances here and there to the plagues of Egypt, this vision is distinctly John’s. "Strange how little commentators venture to say with regard to this bowl!"^[25]

All of these bowls are represented as destroying, not merely injuring, the physical environment. Any one of them would have been sufficient to that purpose, but the absolute corruption and ruination of all of it are made overwhelming by the seven bowls. That the physical environment is not meant is made evident in the promise of Genesis 8:22, to the effect that the ordered seasons of day and night, summer and winter, seedtime and harvest shall not cease while the earth remains. We cannot believe that anything in this prophecy contradicts that promise.

And it was given unto it ... The sentence of judicial hardening is inherent in this. That the very light which should illuminate human life should be changed into scorching destruction denotes a condition mentioned by Jesus, "If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness" (Matthew 6:23).

What does this mean? It means that institutions of learning, and even churches and religious organizations, are teaching: evolution, humanism, communism, libertinism, a new morality, atheism, and a host of other lies. It means that churches are preaching the philosophies of men, the commandments of men, the prejudices of men, and the traditions of men instead of the word of God. It means that the prophetic voice of the Scriptures no longer disturbs what few church-goers are left, the great worldwide mission of saving souls having been replaced by "social programs," endowing the church with her new status of carrying the bedpan for the sick society, instead of proclaiming the true light of the fire of God’s word to a wicked world. Thank God, this picture is by no means true of all, but it is sufficiently true to raise the question of whether or not the angel of God has poured the bowl of heavenly wrath upon the sun. The general apostasy of Christianity is almost certainly indicated by this. Instead of being lamp-bearers of the true light, many are instead merely waving the smoking torches of human wisdom.

^[23] Lactantius, Of the Manner in Which the Persecutors Died, Divine Institutes, The Ante-Nicene Fathers (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1951), VII, 26.

^[24] James D. Strauss, The Seer, the Saviour, and the Saved (Joplin, Missouri: College Press, 1972), p. 204.

^[25] R. C. H. Lenski, op. cit., p. 471.

Revelation 16:9

And men were scorched with great heat: and they blasphemed the name of God who hath power over these plagues; and they repented not to give him glory.

And they were scorched with great heat ... The wars, revolutions, social unrest, bitterness and frustrations of our present times may only be a token of what is indicated by this. The less true light possessed by people from the word of God, the more they are scorched and burned by the fires of evil.

They blasphemed ... they repented not ... Eller and several others viewed this and a similar statement in Revelation 16:11 as, "a possible reference to the possibility of repentance";^[26] but the more likely view is that it is intended for us to see by the final and terminal nature of these judgments that, "Not for one moment did these men think of repenting."^[27]

^[26] Vernard Eller, The Most Revealing Book of the Bible (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1974), p. 148.

^[27] R. C. H. Lenski, op. cit., p. 473.

Revelation 16:10

And the fifth poured out his bowl upon the throne of the beast; and his kingdom was darkened; and they gnawed their tongues for pain,

And the fifth poured out his bowl upon the throne of the beast ... The kingdom of the world, marshaled by Satan against God and his truth, is the object of this judgment, particularly irreligious, atheistic, humanistic states. "This throne of the beast may aptly apply to the Roman Empire in John’s day, but its position varies at different times. Wherever the world-power is worshipped, there the beast has his throne."^[28] This prophesies the corruption of human governments into instruments of suppression, persecution, and destruction of God’s truth in Christ. Russia is an excellent example from our own times of what Rome was in John’s. This pouring out of the bowl upon the kingdom of the beast prophesies that the brutal godless governments faced by the first Christians will reappear at the end, or near the end-time. It should not be overlooked that the hardening of the pre-Christian Gentile nations is again to take place when "the times of the Gentiles" is fulfilled (Luke 21:24). When history has run its course, once more the judicial hardening of impenitent mankind will occur. Romans 1 is therefore a vital comment upon what is prophesied here.

And his kingdom was darkened ...

When men shut out the higher light, the smoke of their own candles soon obscures the whole heavens. When moral evil is mixed with intellectual light, the moral evil will be found the stronger.^[29]

Twice the Holy Scriptures reveal that, "It is not in man that walketh to direct his steps"; and the darkening of the true light, as by this bowl, results inevitably in the deterioration and ultimate collapse of godless states, always accompanied by the proliferation of woes upon mankind.

And they gnawed their tongues for pain ... Inevitable agony and suffering must follow the perversion of government to satanic purposes. Has such a thing happened? A government that legalizes and pays for murder by abortion, that extensively subsidizes drunkenness, adultery, bastardy, illegitimacy, idleness, incompetence, laziness, and corruption might indeed qualify as an example. Does such wisdom (?) solve the problems. No! There’s a lot of tongue-gnawing going on right now! "The pain arises from the darkness of their minds and their misgivings as to the future."^[30] Well, that’s only part of it. A state that departs from the principles of the word of God soon finds plenty of occasions for tongue-gnawing, because of the present conditions that immediately follow. "God is grimly vindicated when godless society proudly rises against the church and claims to provide a viable alternative, and then proves unequal to the task."^[31]

This satanic take-over of human government is but another environmental factor in the total picture.

^[28] A. Plummer, Pulpit Commentary, Vol. 20, Revelation (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1950), p. 395.

^[29] W. Boyd Carpenter, op. cit., p. 608.

^[30] A. Plummet, op. cit., p. 395.

^[31] Michael Wilcock, op. cit., p. 147.

Revelation 16:11

and they blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores; and they repented not of their works.

See notes on Revelation 16:9, which is very similar. The fact of the bowl-judgments being collective is seen in this mention of their sores, which are associated with the first bowl (Revelation 16:2).

Commentary on Revelation 16:2-11 by Manly Luscombe

2 So the first went and poured out his bowl upon the earth, and a foul and loathsome sore came upon the men who had the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. The first bowl is poured out. There is a great sore (boil) that rises on the beast. One of the 10 plagues on Egypt was the spreading of very painful boils. (Exodus 9:8-11). These sore boils were poured on the beast and those who worshiped his image. All who followed and obeyed the beast, as well as the beast itself are under the condemnation and wrath of God.

3 Then the second angel poured out his bowl on the sea, and it became blood as of a dead man; and every living creature in the sea died. Immediately the second angel moves forward and pours his bowl on the sea. Since the “earth” of the first bowl is described as the people who worship the beast, it is clear to me that each of these descriptions are not literal. We are not here discussing some great poison poured on the oceans. Rather, the sea represents the sea of humanity. Some would argue that this would make this bowl similar to the first. True. Both of these plagues are against the same people. The same is true with the 10 plagues against Egypt. All 10 plagues were directed against the same people. Every living creature died. All evil humanity, all those who worship the beast are harmed.

4 Then the third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and springs of water, and they became blood. The third angel is now center stage and pours out the third bowl of wrath. This bowl is poured on the rivers and springs of water. The water was turned to blood. Again, there is a similarity with the first plague in Egypt. The next verses will help us understand the meaning of this plague.

5 And I heard the angel of the waters saying: “You are righteous, O Lord, The One who is and who was and who is to be, Because You have judged these things. The angel declares that the judgment of God is righteous. God is Just. I made some extended comments on this matter in the notes in chapter 15. When God judges the wicked, all the saints will agree that the judgment was the only thing that a Righteous and Holy God could do. If God did not judge them in this way, He would not be a Holy and Just God.

6 For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, And You have given them blood to drink. For it is their just due.” Who are these under this plague? They are the ones who have shed the blood of the saints. God, in response to this violent bloodshed, gives them blood to drink. The angel also explains that this is “their just due.” They get what they deserve.

7 And I heard another from the altar saying, “Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are Your judgments.” A second angel affirms the righteousness of the judgment of God. Jehovah is Almighty. The judgments of God are correct and righteous.

8 Then the fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and power was given to him to scorch men with fire. Next comes the fourth angel with a bowl of wrath to pour out on the sun. It is clear that this is not taken as the literal sun in the solar system. The sun in this plague has the power to scorch men with fire. Therefore, this plague is on the same people as the previous plagues. When God issues judgment, wicked men will feel the heat. They will know that their end will be in a place of fire, smoke and torment.

9 And men were scorched with great heat, and they blasphemed the name of God who has power over these plagues; and they did not repent and give Him glory. When these men are burned with this great heat of judgment, they have two choicesè 1. They could weep, repent, seek forgiveness and plead for mercy from God. 2.The plague could just make them more determined and angry. This is what they did. They blasphemed the name of God. The refused to repent. Even while they are suffering the pain of this plague, they still do not give God the recognition that He is God. It is clear that there is no willingness to repent. God is longsuffering. God will be patient as long as men are willing to repent and correct their behavior. Here, they are not willing to repent. God cannot allow this rebellion to continue.

10 Then the fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and his kingdom became full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues because of the pain. Subsequently, the fifth angel pours out his bowl of wrath on the seat of the beast. The seat of the beast represents the place or territory of his power. When the wrath of God is poured out, the kingdom is thrown into darkness. In some way this darkness caused them extreme pain. They gnawed their tongues because of the pain. Many people have put their trust in physical kingdoms of this earth. It would be very painful if those kingdoms collapsed.

NOTE: If you can imagine this, visualize some nation invading the USA, conquering it, overthrowing our government, and placing all of us under the dictatorship of some ruthless leader of the invading army. Would you be in pain? Of course. This is the picture being painted by John’s brush.

11 They blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and did not repent of their deeds. They blaspheme God. They have done this wickedness and are angry that God is punishing them. They are not being falsely accused. They did the things for which they are being punished. The do not repent of their deeds. This is a clue that God could not allow it to continue. There was no reason or purpose to wait.

Verses 12-16

Rev 16:12-16

4. THE SIXTH PLAGUE DESCRIBED

Revelation 16:12-16

12 And the sixth poured out his bowl upon the great river, the river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up,--Expositors are divided, in the main, between two views concerning the application of this plague, both appearing probable. As both harmonize with known facts, and either might have been the thing intended, we should not be dogmatic in our assertions. One view is that it refers to the same world power that was symbolized by the sixth trumpet (Revelation 9:13-19)--the Turkish Empire from which arose Mahometanism. The probability here is in the facts that the Euphrates River is mentioned in both passages and that the "false prophet," mentioned in verse 13, presumably is Mahomet, the founder of this false system of religion. Elliott and Barnes both defend Mahomthis- view and give historical events to indicate that etanism about A.D. 1820 began a gradual loss of power, signified by the waters of the river Euphrates drying up. Probably the most plausible reason for this view is that such a great religious power as Mahometanism would hardly be left out of a system of symbols designed to portray the destinies of the church over a period when Mahometanism ruled so much of the world.

The other theory is that this plague was to affect spiritual Babylon, and this is based upon the supposed fact that the destruction of ancient Babylon furnished the imagery here. The intimation in Jeremiah 51:36 was carried out when Cyrus drained the river Euphrates and entered the city of Babylon through its bed. As Babylon in this book (Revelation 17:3-5) clearly represents the false or harlot church, the drying of the Euphrates may prefigure its gradual decline and final overthrow. In the first few words of this paragraph we have portrayed the coming of the final great struggle between sin and righteousness, error and truth, in which the right will prevail. The time covered is from the early part of the nineteenth century till the coming of Jesus.

that the way might be made ready for the kings that come from the sunrising.--Again commentators are much at variance about who the kings are and the purpose of their coming. The word "king" sometimes stands for kingdom. (see Daniel) Possibly it here means the nations east of the Euphrates. If so, the application to the Mahometan races may be correct, in which case the drying of the river may mean the gradual loss of Mahometan power and the consequent coming to the gospel by people in such countries. If applied to papal Rome, the same thing would be true. In either case any weakening of enemies of the truth will lend it strength and lead to final victory. This is a general fact regardless of any special views of the details here mentioned. That we are now in the general trend of events leading to the "war of the great day of God" is evident from this paragraph, but how long will it be till that day arrives must be left to the infinite wisdom and power of God.

13 And I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits, as it were frogs:--In this vision John saw the sources from which would come the enemies of the truth that will be united against it in the final struggle. They are enemies of the truth now, but will at last unite their forces in some way in a final desperate effort to destroy Christianity. Unclean spirits are in the next verse called "spirits of demons"--that is, evil spirits. They appeared to John as frogs, for which it is not easy to give a satisfactory reason ; hence, no effort will be made here. Naturally unclean spirits would come from an evil source and operate through evil means. The dragon is called the devil (Revelation 12:9) and described as the deceiver of the whole world. Whatever means or agencies are used to propagate evil, the devil is the original source; he operates through them.

As the devil’s first great persecutions against the church came through pagan Rome, the dragon here, doubtless, is a symbol for paganism, which may also be called idolatry. This would include any and all nations under the influence of idolatrous teaching. The application of the word "beast" in this verse depends upon whether or not the "false prophet" is to be identified as the second beast (Revelation 13:11-13), which we have already decided is papal Rome--the apostate church. If this identity be conceded, then "beast" in this verse must be something different from the Roman Church. Apparently nothing is left but to apply it to the political Roman Empire through which papal Rome exercised its power. If so, it would probably be the emblem for any and all corrupt political governments through which Satan can exercise his destructive power against the church. If the "false prophet" may refer to Mahomet and the system of Mahometanism, then the "beast" in this text would apply to the apostate church. Whatever may be the correct application of the three destructive forces, we are safe in saying that idolatry, corrupt political powers, and false religions in the name of Christ will be the combined forces Satan will use in his last effort to destroy Christianity. Coming from the mouths of the three indicates that these evil forces will be exercised through the teaching of false doctrines.

14 for they are spirits of demons, working signs; which go forth unto the kings of the whole world, to gather them together unto the war of the great day of God, the Almighty. --Thatthese false religious powers would claim to perform miracles in support of their teachings is what would naturally be expected. It is plainly prophesied of the apostate church. (Revelation 13:11-13; 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12.) By means of their false doctrines the nations of the world are to be so corrupted that they will be led to fight against the truth in the last war. When this time conies, which is here called the "great day of God," his wrath against evil on this earth will be finished. (15:1.) When this time will be is known only to the Father himself. (Matthew 24:36-39.)

15 (Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.)--Suddenly or unexpectedly will the time arrive for this final blow--it will be at the coming of the Lord. Paul said "the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night." (1 Thessalonians 5:2.) See also Revelation 3:3; Revelation 3:13. To watch for an event means to be constantly prepared for it. Those who are faithful till death (Matthew 24:13; Revelation 2:11) will be happy, for they will not be taken unprepared. To keep his garments is a figurative expression. It probably means that as one who puts off his garments takes the risk of having them lost, leaving him naked, so one who lays aside his righteousness will find himself exposed to shame when the Lord comes. This verse is a parenthetical expression in which saints are warned and exhorted to faithfulness.

16 And they gathered them together into the place which is called in Hebrew Har-Magedon.--This verse does not describe the war of the great day of God, but simply mentions the gathering together for it. It is entirely unnecessary to suppose that this language means that all forces of good and evil will meet at any one place to engage in a physical warfare. This is symbolic language and only indicates that in the final struggle the forces of good will prevail. At his coming Jesus will slay "with the breath of his mouth" the man of sin (2 Thessalonians 2:8), but how many or what means he will use is not revealed. He will only have to speak the word and events will transpire.

This verse mentions Har-Magedon as the place where this battle will be fought, but this is clearly a symbolic use of the term just as the final abode of the lost is called Gehenna, which literally means a valley east of Jerusalem where refuse was continually burned. Symbolically, it stands for torment and lamentation. It cannot mean that all the lost will dwell in that little place, but they will endure a continual punishment that is fitly represented by the perpetual burning in the literal Gehenna. In like manner Har-Magedon, referring to a famous battlefield where decisive victories were lost and won, figuratively describes the last decisive victory over the power of evil. The name means the mountain of Megiddo, but the battles were doubtless fought in the valley near that mountain. (2 Chronicles 35:22.) There Deborah and Barak defeated Sisera and his army (Judges 5:19), and Josiah was slain (2 Kings 23:29-30.) It was also referred to as a place of great mourning. (Zechariah 12:11.) Being such a noted place of Jewish wars, it becomes, like Marathon or Waterloo, emblematic of any decisive battlefield; hence, appropriately represents Satan’s final defeat in whatever way that battle may be fought.

Commentary on Revelation 16:12-16 by Foy E. Wallace

8. In the history of Israel the armies invading their lands had come from the river Euphrates, and that historical fact was used in Revelation 16:12 as the symbol of Judea being over-run from that quarter. The drying of the river Euphrates that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared represented the removal of all barriers which hindered the progress of the powers to strike the final blow of the war against Judah and Jerusalem. It was related in symbolism to the feat of Cyrus in the military operation to divert the same river Euphrates for the capture of the old literal Babylon. This historical basis may be reasonably regarded as supplying the outline of this imagery.

(6) The smiting of the Euphrates which evaporated its waters: “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 16:12.

It has been noted that the symbol of this verse was based on the history of Israel’s enemies invading Judea from beyond the Euphrates in their western aggressions. The drying of the river by the pouring of the sixth vial symbolizes obliterating all deterrents to the hordes overrunning Judea and besieging Jerusalem. An allusion to the Israelites crossing over the emptied bed of the Jordan was not outside the imagery, in which application judgment was executed on the nation there victorious but here apostate.

The verses that follow Revelation 16:13-16 describe the gathering armies for the final battle in the overthrowof Jerusalem, with the spiritual overtones of the conflict between the forces of Judaism and heathenism on one side, and Christianity (the church) on the other. Previous comments in verse 16 of this chapter on Armageddon make further discussion here unnecessary.

It is sufficient to add that the sixth plague was descriptive of the battle which destroyed this symbolic Babylon-- the apostate harlot Jerusalem, causing great mourning for Jerusalem among the Jewish tribes everywhere.

9. The incidents of Revelation 16:13-14 is an apocalypse of the prevailing conditions before and during the siege of Jerusalem--the symbolic description of the pervading influence of seducers, deceivers, false prophets, and pseudo-signs, insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect, as narrated in Matthew 24:11-24, and verified in the histories of Josephus and Pliny.

These demoniac spirits of seduction which were like frogs came out of the mouths of the dragon, the beast and the false prophet. The frog has ever been a symbol of magical signs and that amphibious creature was here employed to signify the combined effort of the imperial minions to deceive and seduce the dwellers of Judea and Palestine. It was this same demoniac spirit of Revelation 16:14 that inspired the kings of the earth (the provincial kings of Palestine) and of the whole world (the imperial rulers) to gather their armies for the battle of that great day of God Almighty. All the evidence necessary to sustain the claim that this day of God referred to the destruction of Jerusalem is the comparison with the prophecy of Zechariah (chapter 14) on the destruction of Jerusalem. The chapter begins with reference to the day of the Lord, and the entire chapter was a description of the siege and devastation of the city and the employment of high metaphors of peace and blessing that followed.

In further support of the parallel between Zechariah 14:1 and Revelation 16:14, the analysis of the Zechariah chapter from the author’s book, GOD’S PROPHETIC WORD, is here inserted : We shall not here read the chapter, but rather refer to its contents verse by verse. Zechariah 14:1-21 is almost universally used as “a second coming of Christ chapter” but it is a “destruction of Jerusalem chapter” instead.

Verse 1: “Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee.” The symbolic “day of the Lord” here is the same expression precisely that is used in Isaiah 13:9 in reference to the destruction of Babylon. If the destruction of Babylon could be called “the day of the Lord,” why not the destruction of Jerusalem? That expression does not mean the second coming of Christ in either of these passages. Compare Isaiah 13:1-22 as a prophecy against Babylon, Isaiah 17:1-14 as a prophecy against Damascus, Isaiah 18:1-7 as a prophecy against Ethiopia, Isaiah 19:1-25 as a prophecy against Egypt, with Zechariah 14:1-21 as a prophecy against Jerusalem, and it can be seen that the assertions of the millennialists that Zechariah is prophesying the second coming of Christ and the millennium are wrong.

Verse 2: “For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.”

The historical accounts of the siege of Jerusalem by Josephus, Pliny, Horne and Clarke fulfill Zechariah’s descriptions. Reference to “nations gathered for battle” is a description of besieged Jerusalem, the houses rifled and the women ravished. The same description is found in Isaiah 13:1-22 (see verses 15 and 16), concerning the fall and destruction of Babylon. The comparison is forceful.

Verse 3: “Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations as when he fought in the day of battle.” Factually, all the nations were represented in the Roman army, and God afterward fought against them by means of the Northern nations. Read Zechariah 9:14-15 : “And the Lord shall be seen over them, and his arrow shall go forth as the lightning; and the Lord God shall blow the trumpet, and shall go with whirlwinds of the south. The Lord of hosts shall defend them; and they shall devour, and subdue with sling stones.” The visitations are figurative, of course, but nevertheless significant of the fact that all the nations referred to “against” whom the Lord “fought” were destroyed.

Verse 4: “And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.”

The prophetic declaration that “his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives which is before Jerusalem,” does not refer to the second coming of Christ but rather to the siege of Jerusalem. Jesus Christ stood with his feet on the mount of Olives when he uttered the doom of the city. The Roman general stood on the mount of Olives when Jerusalem was besieged. The formations of the battle lines, entrenchments and redoubts, the circumvallations of the Romans, all enter into the graphic description and portrayal of the prophet that the mount should “cleave in the midst” and “toward the north” and “toward the south.”

Verses 5-7: “And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with thee. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark: But it shall be one day which shall be known to the Lord, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light.”

Obviously, these verses are a metaphorical description of the mixture of divine mercy with justice. After the visitation there would be light--the diffusion of divine knowledge. This did follow the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Jewish state.

Verses 8-9: “And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be. And the Lord shall be King over all the earth: in that day shall there be one Lord, and his name one.”

The only consistent application of this language is a spiritual fulfillment in the gospel of Christ and the church. Who is ready to deny that the clause “in that day shall there be one Lord, and his name one,” refers to the present dispensation? There is one Lord, his name is one, and the Lord is “king over all the earth.” It finds its fulfillment in the church of Christ where there is neither Jew nor Gentile, but all one in Christ, and one Lord over all.

Verses 16-17: “And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem, shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles. And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain.” If these verses are not figurative, if they are to be taken literally, then all nations and families must literally go up to Jerusalem and literally offer animal sacrifices and keep the Passover, restore Judaism with all of its literal ceremonies, in order in fulfill the prophecy. That would be a complete re-establishment of old Judaism and everything that characterized it, all of which was taken away. But if these verses are not literal, then the application made of the whole chapter by the millennialists loses its force. These last verses refer to the expansion of the blessings of the gospel dispensation after the destruction of Jerusalem. Upon all who received the gospel, its blessings descended as rain; but to the unbelievers who rejected the gospel “upon them shall be no rain”--all such are barred from its promises and privileges.

The simple truth of the matter is that as Isaiah 13:1-22 is a prophecy on the destruction of Babylon, Zechariah 14:1-21 is a prophecy on the destruction of Jerusalem. It does not teach millennialism in “a sentence or a syllable.“--GOD’S PROPHETIC WORD, pp. 246-9.

Thus the downfall of Babylon in Isaiah 13:1-22, and of Jerusalem in Zechariah 14:1-21, Matthew 24:1-51, and in Revelation were described with identical symbolism. The evidence is preponderant that the gathering for the battle of that great day of God portended the over-running of Judea and the onslaught against Jerusalem by the Roman armies, set forth in numerous visional developments; which included the uprisings, insurrections and rebellions that diverted the powers of evil from the afflictions of the church.

(2) A parenthesis of beatitudes—Revelation 16:15.

Among the portents of persecution and catastrophe of the apocalypse, there are to be found declarations of consummate bliss and blessedness in a series of beatitudes. This cluster of precious and promising assurances to besieged, encompassed and beleaguered Christians shine through the text of Revelation with the brightest luster, like diamonds that flash and send forth a thousand rays as the sun falls upon them. These apocalyptic beatitudes, seven in number, are collated with comments in Revelation 22:14. One of these scintillating assurances mingled with ominous overtones is in this verse: “Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.”

The warning words of Revelation 22:14 are the interposition of another parenthetical beatitude comparable to Revelation 1:3 and Revelation 14:13. A blessing is pronounced on all that watch, for God would come in these events as a thief. The phrase as a thief does not indicate the element of surprise, but rather of preparedness. Jesus gave the signs of these events in Matthew 24:25 : “Behold, I have told you before”; and in Verse 33, “so likewise ye, when he shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.” This same event must have been the object of Paul’s exhortation to the Thessalonians, in 1 Thessalonians 5:1-4, in reference to “the day of the Lord,” saying that they were “not in darkness that that day should overtake you as a thief"-- that is, having knowledge of it, they would abide in preparation for the ominous events.

(3) The gathering forces of Armageddon—Revelation 16:16. The outpouring of the seventh vial into the air, verses sixteen and seventeen symbolized the sphere of life and influence in contradistinction with the earth as the place of nations, and with the heaven, which denoted the ruling authorities.

In this context the great battle of Armageddon was envisioned: And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon. The name Armageddon was derived from mount Megiddo, which was located in a valley now known as the plain of Esdraelon. It was the battlefield of nations in Jewish history. It was in this valley of Megiddo that Deborah and Barak overthrew Sisera and annihilated the hosts of Midianite oppressors. (Judges 5:19) It was in “this valley of Jehoshaphat” where he triumphed over the ambushments of the combined armies of Ammon and Moab and “the fear of the Lord was on all the kingdoms of those countries, when they had heard that the Lord fought against the enemies of Israel.” (2 Chronicles 20:22-30) In this valley (designated in later history as the plain of Esdraelon) the Jews and the Saracens and the Egyptians, the Druses and the Turks and the warriors of many hostile nations, pitched their battles; and thus the battlefield of mount Megiddo became a universal proverb.

Under the word Armageddon, the original Bible Dictionary of Philip Schaff states that it was “a name used figuratively in Revelation 16:16, and suggested by the great battlefield noted in the Old Testament and now known as the Plain of Esdraelon.” This figure in the text of the apocalypse was employed not for the physical location but for the battle imagery. The deepest affliction of Jerusalem could be symbolized in no stronger terms of mourning, as prophesied by Zechariah in Zechariah 12:11 : “In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon.”

The personage designated Gog in connection with this battle imagery, was the king of a country that sustained relations of hostility to Israel. The names Gog and Magog were used identically and are associated in Revelation 20:7-9 as a type of the enemies of Christ. It becomes evident that the symbolic adaptation of Armageddon rises above the physical slaughter that overwhelmed Jerusalem and Judah to the hostile forces of evil surrounding the church, personified as Gog and Magog. It was therefore symbolic of the battle against Christianity--the forces of Judaism on the one side and of heathenism on the other. But the Rider of the white horse was the Conqueror; the Son of man appearing on the white cloud was the Victor; the saints robed in white garments were the Overcomers; in all of the symbols and imagery of the visions and in surviving the persecutions, the church emerged in victory to make the kingdoms of this world (Revelation 11:15) become the kingdoms of the Lord and his Christ by the universal sway of the gospel.

This is consistent with the repeated emphasis of the early chapters of the apocalypse in the letters addressed to the seven churches, that the period through which they were passing was the tribulation era of the church.

Commentary on Revelation 16:12-16 by Walter Scott

SIXTH BOWL OF WRATH.

Revelation 16:12-16. — “And the sixth poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates; and its water was dried up, that the way of the kings from the rising of the sun might be prepared. And I saw out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the Beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. Three unclean spirits, as frogs; for they are (the) spirits of demons, doing signs; which go out to the kings of the whole habitable world to gather them together to the war of (that) great day of God the Almighty. (Behold I come as a thief. Blessed (is) he that watches and keeps his garments, that he may not walk naked, and that they (may not) see his shame.) And He gathered them together to the place called in Hebrew Armageddon.”

THE EUPHRATES.

“The great river Euphrates.” (See remarks on Revelation 9:14-15.) This justly celebrated river is the largest in western Asia, and figures largely in history and prophecy. It is first named in Genesis 2:1-25, and last mentioned in Revelation 16:12. The two apocalyptic references to it are expressed in exactly the same terms (Revelation 9:14; Revelation 16:12). The Euphrates formed the limit in the east of Roman conquest, and forms the eastern boundary of enlarged Palestine (“In the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river Euphrates” (Genesis 15:18). Thus the Nile on the west and the Euphrates on the east are the prophetic limits of the land. David and Solomon pushed their conquests on the eastern side of the kingdom up to the borders of the great Asian river, but they were unable to hold them for any length of time. Genesis 15:18 is of future and permanent application.) in the future. It has ever stood as a geographical barrier, a natural separating bulwark between the west and the east. The golden Bowl of the sixth angel is poured on the great river, so that its water was dried up. (An account of this remarkable and interesting river may here be given, geographically and commercially too, the largest and most important of the rivers of western Asia, and frequently referred to in Scripture. Its entire length, from its rise in the Armenian mountains to the Persian Gulf, is about 1780 miles. Its depth and width vary according to locality and season. From the month of March to May, owing to the melting of the snow on the mountains and the heavy rains, the river rises considerably, and hence both depth and width are greatly increased. There are two sources to this river, both found in the highlands of Armenia considerably apart. These form into streams which combine at a place called Kebben Maden. Here the river is about 120 yards wide. About 750 miles from its mouth it flows over a large alluvial plain, where it widens to about 900 yards. After flowing through mountains for about 45 miles, it emerges at Sumeisat, 1195 miles from the sea, and is navigable for light vessels the whole distance, while for the last 150 miles vessels of 500 tons can safely navigate the river. Up to the time of Elizabeth it was the commercial highway to India. At Bei the Euphrates is distant from the nearest shore of the Mediterranean about 100 miles, and is there said to be about 630 feet above the level of that great sea. At Kurnah, 90 miles above the Persian Gulf, it is joined by the Tigris, and is then spoken of as Shatt-el-Arab. Then the river, under this new name, flows steadily on till it empties itself by several arms into the Persian Gulf, the link between the Euphrates and the Indian Ocean. From Kurnah, the meeting place of the rivers, is an area of about 108,000 square miles, and its average breadth 600 feet. There is abundance of fish in the waters. Anciently the rivers Tigris and Euphrates were connected by navigable canals, which made Nineveh and Babylon the great centers of commerce for the eastern and western worlds. There were also numerous dykes, canals, aqueducts, and other artificial means for the irrigation of the poor and unproductive soil of the country, so cleverly planned as to equal in scientific skill anything produced by our modern engineers. Alexander the Great, in fixing his seat of empire in the east, so fully appreciated the natural and artificial advantages of the river that he personally superintended the repair and enlargement of those mighty works which had so greatly helped the Babylonian empire in its commercial greatness.) The barrier is removed by this act of judgment, so that the eastern nations can the more readily pour their armies into Canaan.

We gather from the object in view that the Euphrates, or part, will be literally dried up, miraculously no doubt. A somewhat similar judgment will be witnessed in the west (Isaiah 11:15). Both the Nile and the Euphrates are dealt with — the western and the eastern boundaries of the land of Palestine. There need be no difficulty in accepting the statement in our text in its full and literal sense. The future is brimful of wonders and startling events, and if the river divides the east from the west, that of necessity must be removed sufficiently to allow the eastern armies under their respective kings to cross the country and assemble in Palestine. The reason of divine judgment on the river is “that the way of the kings FROM (not “of” as in the Authorized Version) the rising of the sun (A beautiful Oriental and poetical expression, signifying the east, where the sun rises.) might be prepared.” These kings cannot be the Jews, a strange supposition. The mass of the Jewish people will enter the land from the west, while Ephraim or the ten tribes are restored chiefly from the north and south. Besides, it is not the kings of the east, but from the east, peoples on the eastern side of the Euphrates, that are in question.

We see no reason why the Turkish empire should be referred to in the naming of the Euphrates in either of the two texts where the river is named in the New Testament. Turkey is not referred to in the Scriptures at all. It needs no prophetic statement nor remarkable foresight to predict the falling to pieces of that most corrupt and the worst governed power on earth. Its dismemberment has commenced, and its complete and final overthrow is only a matter of time, and not a long one either. Palestine and adjacent countries, now part of the Ottoman empire, are rapidly coming to the front. This assemblage of opposing forces in the Holy Land is prefigured in that millennial chapter, Genesis 14:1-24. In and about Judea God will gather the nations and kingdoms to pour upon them His indignation and fierce anger (Zephaniah 3:8). Persia, Ethiopia, etc., are under the power of Russia and follow in the train of Gog, the last ruler of the Russian peoples (Ezekiel 38:2-6). Greece seems to act an independent part in the near crisis (Zechariah 9:13), but all these powers are politically hostile to restored Judah (Psalms 83:1-18; Zechariah 12:1-14; Zechariah 14:1-21). Egypt will be subordinate to and an ally of the Beast, and thus an object of attack by the king of the north — Israel’s determined political foe (Daniel 11:25; Daniel 11:29; Daniel 11:42-44). The Beast and Gog are opposing powers. Their policy and aims are widely different. The former is the would-be protector of the Jewish people; the latter their destroyer.

A SATANIC TRINITY.

Not only are natural hindrances and barriers removed, so that the great Asiatic powers might have the way prepared to take their allotted part in the conflict and confederacy of the last days, but Satan himself provides a “universal ministry” to effect the most gigantic combination of opposing forces ever witnessed. The sixth Bowl of wrath is not exhausted in the judgment on the Euphrates. There are “three unclean spirits,” termed the “spirits of demons,” likened to frogs — loathsome, filthy, disgusting, bred out of the mire and pestilential vapors and moral wickedness of the corrupt scene — these are sent out on their terrible mission. They are to influence by word, and sign, and miracle the peoples of the earth; to lure them on to the “war of (that) great day of God Almighty.” God is about to set His King on mount Zion (Psalms 2:1-12), so the might of the whole habitable earth is gathered to thwart and defeat the divine purpose. It is a universal gathering of the powers. A trinity of evil — the concentrated malignant influence of Satan — is employed to effect the gathering together of the kings of the earth. These spirits issue out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the Beast, and out of the mouth of the False Prophet. The mouth is regarded as the source and means of destructive agency (Revelation 1:16; Revelation 2:16; Revelation 9:17; Revelation 19:15; see also Isaiah 11:4). The dragon not only works actively to effectuate his plans, but his two prime ministers share in the work — the Beast and the False Prophet. The former is the vast apostate civil and political power of Rome; the latter is the second Beast of Revelation 13:1-18, here termed for the first time the False Prophet, as by his lies and influence he can the more readily act upon the peoples. We have here a combination of direct satanic power, apostate brute force, and malignant influence, all employed in this hellish work (compare with 1 Kings 22:1-53).

ARMAGEDDON.

Revelation 16:16. — “And He gathered them together to the place called in Hebrew Armageddon.” The pronoun he no doubt refers to God. He is behind the scenes and the actors in this judicial judgment and course of dealing. It is God Almighty, therefore, Who effects, in righteous retribution, this vast gathering of the nations, employing the dragon, His declared enemy, and the great apostate chiefs of earth to carry out His purpose. Why is the gathering place Armageddon? There the Canaanitish kings gave battle to Israel, but Jehovah fought with and for His people, and the signal victory granted to Israel is celebrated in glowing and triumphant strains by Deborah, the prophetess (Judges 5:19-20). Now one great object which the assembled nations have before them is to crush and overthrow Israel (Psalms 83:3-5), but God intervenes, and effectually destroys them and delivers His own, as He did in the early days of the Judges. The early victory is here alluded to as a pledge and earnest of the latter. It is not that the actual hill of Megiddo or its valley is to be the gathering center of the nations; its circumscribed area must forbid any such notion. But the simple meaning is that God will have gathered by satanic agency many of the nations of the earth to Palestine, their object being to overthrow and crush Israel, and fling themselves in their combined might against Jehovah. But, alas for them, they do so only to their own destruction. God pours upon the assembled nations His fury (see the prophets Joel and Zephaniah). It has been remarked that the valley of Jehoshaphat is the place of slaughter, and Armageddon the place of gathering by the nations. Both places, however, are intended to present in principle certain closing scenes in the last days. Both the mountain and valley point to a future assembling of kings and peoples in the land of Palestine, and probably in the vicinity of Jerusalem. There the great governmental question of the sovereignty of the earth is to be decided in the complete overthrow of the nations, and in the establishment of the world kingdom of our God and of His Christ; in the settlement, too, of Israel in perpetual possession of her land, and in headship and supremacy of the nations in the millennial earth.

RETROSPECTIVE VIEW.

But now we must retrace our steps somewhat. It will be observed that Revelation 16:16 naturally follows, and indeed completes the subject of Revelation 16:14, hence the passage between (Revelation 16:15) forms a parenthesis of great moral value. “Behold I come as a thief.” The kings and peoples gathered by satanic agency shall in the moment of apparent success and victory be suddenly surprised by the Advent of the Lord in glory (1 Thessalonians 5:2-3). The whole world will be asleep in midnight moral darkness, and congratulating itself on “peace and safety,” when suddenly the Lord Himself bursts in upon the scene, unexpectedly, as a thief in the night. That aspect of the Coming neither forms our hope not causes fear (v. 4). We are not of the night, nor of darkness, and hence can never be so overtaken. To us, ere the day breaks, He appears as the bright and morning star. Then the parenthesis closes with a serious word of much-needed instruction at all times, but especially at the moment and occasion of this latter-day prophecy. The believer who in that day “watches and keeps his garments” is pronounced “blessed.” It is not here a question of life or salvation, but of walk. How needful then, as at all times, to look carefully to one’s ways, lest there be exposure in sight of the enemy, and they see our shame and moral nakedness.

VIAL AND TRUMPET COMPARED.

In bringing our remarks on the sixth Vial to a close we would briefly note the correspondence between it and the sixth Trumpet. In both the Euphrates is named. In both, too, the Asiatic powers take their part in conflict; various other points of resemblance may be noted by careful readers. We may further remark that the sixth Vial in itself does not present a scene of conflict by the various powers, nor does it unfold a universal slaughter; it rather points to the general gathering of the peoples from all parts of the earth, so that they are there when the Lord comes in power (Revelation 19:1-21). Other Scriptures, however, enable us to fill in details. One or two statements to emphasize points of prophetic truth are important to grasp. Judea, especially in the neighborhood of Jerusalem, is the final gathering place of the nations and peoples of the earth. Most of the nations, particularly those in the north and east, seek to destroy the Jewish commonwealth, then politically restored and in measure upheld by the western powers. All the nations are more or less combined in undying hatred to God and to His Christ, and all are judged and punished at the Lord’s Advent in power (Revelation 19:1-21; Isaiah 66:1-24; Zechariah 14:1-21).

Commentary on Revelation 16:12-16 by E.M. Zerr

Revelation 16:12. The great river Euphrates has played an important part in God’s dealing with his people in their relation with the nations. The city of Babylon was situated upon its banks. When the time came for the overthrow of the first of the "four world empires" (the Babylonian), it was accomplished by diverting the stream from its regular channel. When that was done the water was lowered (was dried up) so that the soldiers of Cyrus (kings of the east) could march into the city and slay the man on the throne. All of this describes a literal event in history, but it is used to form the phraseology for the overthrow of another Babylon ("Mystery Babylon the Great"), which had been brought into existence by the union of church and state.

Revelation 16:13. Frogs are slimy, loathsome creatures and are used to represent three very loathsome powers and individuals. They are the dragon (Satan, Revelation 12:9), the beast (Rome) and the false prophet. The last phrase is singular in grammatical form but does not refer to any particular one of the false prophets. It means the group of evil workers who used their deceptive tactics to mislead the people all over the domain or the dominions of Rome.

Revelation 16:14. Devils means the demons by which the apostate church imposed upon the victims of their treachery. Working miracles is explained at Revelation 13:14, and it is the same that Paul predicts in 2 Thessalonians 2:9 as follows: "Whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders." Revelation 16:1. The great voice was out of the temple. That means it was from God, for we have learned in the preceding chapter that no man was able to be in the temple at this time. The seven angels have been given the vials of divine wrath, now the voice bids them empty their contents in the places deserving such treatment.

Revelation 16:15. This verse is in the nature of a parenthesis because it speaks of the coming of Christ, at which time all things on the earth will end. But the preceding verse mentions a battle that is to continue until that event, and the verse following our present one will go back to the beginning of that battle as to its coverage of time.

Revelation 16:16. Armageddon is the Greek word of the original text spelled with English letters. The literal meaning of the word as defined in Thayer’s lexicon is "destruction." It is the action referred to by "battle" in Revelation 16:14 which means war in general, not merely a single fight. This will be commented upon at length at chapter 20.

Commentary on Revelation 16:12-16 by Burton Coffman

Revelation 16:12

And the sixth poured out his bowl upon the great river, the river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way might be made ready for the kings that come from the sunrising.

And the sixth poured out his bowl ... upon the Euphrates ... Pieters thought that, "The interpretation of this has not been found, and probably cannot be found."^[32] Despite this, he mentioned an understanding of it that might well have the key to what is meant:

Dr. Grijdamus looks upon the Euphrates as the symbolical prophetic boundary between Christendom and heathendom.^[33]

This must be at least a part of the correct answer. One of the most hurtful and damaging corruptions of the spiritual environment is the breaching of barriers between the church and the world. Of course, that is not exactly what Grijdamus meant, but his comment suggested it. The extent of this breach is seen when a so-called Christian church ordains a homosexual preacher, throws a drinking party in the physical plant of the church itself, or teaches adultery and fornication under the guise of their being a "new morality." Plummer approached this view when he wrote, "It means that a barrier that wards off hostile hosts is lost."^[34] The making of sin to be popular and acceptable in churches themselves would indeed be exactly that type of removing barriers. Carpenter’s perceptive comment was:

There may come a time, after false principles have been taught, corrupt manners tolerated, and the light of better things darkened, when the public sentiment loses all sense of shame, and when the decorums of life, which have acted as a breakwater against the tide of outrageous evil, are swept away; then is the Euphrates dried up, and then may the hostile powers of evil, unrestrained by any considerations, unchecked by the popular conscience, cross boldly over and invade the whole sacred soil of human life.^[35]

Valvoord noted that, "as many as fifty different interpretations have been advanced regarding the dried up Euphrates,"^[36] but we are confident that the meaning lies somewhere within the sector indicated above.

That the way may be ready for the kings that come from the sunrising ... When the boundary between right and wrong, between the church and the world, is dried up, "the kings of the east" will come to exploit their advantage. These are not to be understood as allies of righteousness, but as enemies of it. But they come from the east, "the sunrising." In our interpretation, this merely means that they come from "beyond" the violated boundary. Forces of evil will enter and dominate what was once true religion. Their being called kings should not mislead us; their names are given in the very next verse.

^[32] Albertus Pieters, op. cit., p. 244.

^[33] Ibid.

^[34] A. Plummer, op. cit., p. 395.

^[35] W. Boyd Carpenter, op. cit., p. 608.

^[36] Valvoord as quoted by Robert H. Mounce, Commentary on the New Testament, Revelation (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1977), p. 298.

Revelation 16:13

And I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits, as it were frogs:

Out of the mouth of the dragon ... the beast ... the false prophet ... Ah! Here are the "kings of the east" mentioned above. Their purpose in crossing the boundary will quickly appear.

Three unclean spirits, as it were frogs ... "Their evil influence is shown under the figure of frogs, because it was by producing frogs that the magicians deceived Pharaoh (Exodus 8:7).^[37] The next verse tells us more about these frogs. "To say that they come out of the mouth of the dragon, the beast and the false prophet is to say that their words are like plagues, unclean, empty futilities and allies of the powers of darkness."^[38] The dragon, the beast, and the false prophet were accurately identified by Summers as "the devil, godless government and false religion."^[39] Lange called these frogs "the modern nightingales who announce the new springtime of mankind."^[40] From the dirtiness and slimey nature of the frogs, we may conclude that they are the devil’s propaganda agents, making a lot of noise like frogs, but being in themselves small, weak, dirty, and despicable.

^[37] J. R. Dummelow. Commentary on the Holy Bible (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1937), p. 1086.

^[38] William Barclay, op. cit., p. 130.

^[39] Ray Summers, op. cit., p. 189.

^[40] Lange as quoted by Lenski, op. cit., p. 477.

Revelation 16:14

for they are spirits of demons, working signs; which go forth unto the kings of the whole world, to gather them together unto the war of the great day of God, the Almighty.

With the barrier breached and Satan’s propagandists able to operate in the church itself, the ultimate crisis will soon arrive.

They are spirits of demons ... Their teaching is satanic, motivated by the hatred of God and of his truth.

Working signs ... Not merely the priests of the ancient emperor cult, but the Medieval apostate religion with its bleeding and speaking images, and its miracles, such as driving the snakes out of Ireland, are examples of the "signs" done by the frogs. The lying miracles of the man of sin are meant (2 Thessalonians 2:1-12).

To gather them together unto the war ... This refers to the kings of the earth who are thus gathered. Plummer identified these as, "those who sin and delight in the possession of the pleasures of this world."^[41] Thus, the frogs had the spirit of the devil, and the people had the spirit of the world. The result was a foregone certainty. They joined forces for the great spiritual battle. This brings us to the threshold of Armageddon.

ENDNOTE:

^[41] A. Plummer. op. cit., p. 396.

Revelation 16:15

(Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.)

There is no need to write this in parentheses as in our version. This warning of the Second Advent of Christ has the utility of emphasizing the spiritual nature of the conflict and the individual responsibility of Christians not to be taken unaware. This forbids our looking for any great deployment of world armies in this "war." Absolutely nothing in this whole passage justifies the notion of massive world armies deployed in some gargantuan military conflict. The war in view here is taking place in the hearts of people.

Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments ... This verse is the order of the day for the soldiers of Christ. It is not preparation for a literal battle of some kind, but a matter of prayer and watchfulness, and of "keeping" one’s garments of purity, morality, and fidelity to Christ. That a soldier metaphor is employed here seems certain. Bruce relates how:

According to the Mishna, the captains of the temple in Jerusalem went their rounds of the precincts at night, and if a member of the temple police was caught asleep at his post, his clothes were taken off and burned, and he was sent away naked in disgrace.^[42]

There could be another hint of the same thing in Revelation 3:17-18. "The kind of spiritual preparedness that Christ requires is the discernment which cuts through the deceptive propaganda of Satan and his henchmen."^[43] Of course, the great thrust of these verses is that, "the battle of the war" (Revelation 16:14) is a daily one in which "Christians are themselves engaged."^[44] It is a war going on in people’s hearts. What then is signaled or symbolized by Armageddon? See below.

^[42] F. F. Bruce, A New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1969), p. 657.

^[43] Robert H. Mounce, op. cit., p. 301.

^[44] A. Plummer, op. cit., p. 396.

Revelation 16:16

And they gathered them together into the place which is called in Hebrew [Har-Magedon].

ARMAGEDDON

Note that there is no "battle" of any kind mentioned here. "Not a word is said about the Lord God’s army."^[45] Why should Almighty God need an army? "There is no such place as Har-Magedon. The name is symbolic. It signifies a conflict, not carnal, but a spiritual conflict."^[46] Beckwith’s comment on this, described by Strauss as "the best anywhere,"^[47] states that "the name is unquestionably purely mystical, an imaginary name."^[48] "John means the place of the final struggle between the powers of evil and the kingdom of God."^[49] And where is any such place if it is not in the hearts of people?

The entire unscriptural concept of the so-called "Battle of Armageddon" as some kind of a super-colossal showdown on some earthly battlefield is totally illogical, and contrary to the whole teaching of Christ. Even writers who generally maintain their spiritual understanding of this prophecy have a tendency to "go literal" here. Why? Could it ever be supposed that the Almighty God will fight a literal battle on earth? Remember who God is. He needs no army.

Respect for the general opinions on this by many sincere people suggests that we list some of the places which have been suggested as the site of this battle:

The battle is to take place in Rome.^[50] All the armies and leaders are gathered in Palestine.^[51] It is every battle when need is greatest, and the Lord suddenly reveals his power, as when Sennacherib was slain.^[52] It will be on the greatest natural battlefield in the world, in the valley of Jehoshaphat to the north of Palestine among the hills of Megiddo.^[53] Etc., etc.

It is difficult to understand how such a literal earthly battle could decide either the victory or the defeat of righteousness. Even if such a battle were to take place, how could the place of a literal battle make any difference? Eller, with his usual humor, suggested that, "Some might like to know just where it is to take place in order to be able to sell tickets!"^[54] No actual place of this name is known, and the term is surely symbolical."^[55] "If one expects this to be a literal, material battle, he must expect Satan’s army to be headed by a committee of three frogs! Both figures are symbolical; neither is literal."^[56] This battle is between the truth in Christ and the evil propaganda of Satan, and the truth of Christ will win.

There is no waving of banners, no prancing of horses’ hoofs; the warfare is spiritual, so there is in sight no camp, no foe. It is a conflict that arises out of various opinions and diverse principles. It is a war of principles and of morals.^[57]

Har-Magedon ... is the way this word appears in our ASV; and it seems to be associated with the plain of Esdraelon in Israel."^[58] "There Israel achieved some of her greatest victories and suffered some serious defeats."^[59] It may not, therefore, be associated with either victory or defeat. Perhaps it suggests "the place of decision." That place, of course, is in the hearts of men, of every man, of all people.

^[45] R. C. H. Lenski, op. cit., p. 479.

^[46] Frank L. Cox, Revelation in 26 Lessons (Nashville: The Gospel Advocate Company, 1956), p. 97.

^[47] James D. Strauss, op cit., p. 266.

^[48] Isbon T. Beckwith, op. cit., p. 685.

^[49] George Eldon Ladd, A Commentary on the Revelation of John (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1972), p. 216.

^[50] J. W. Roberts, The Revelation of John (Austin, Texas: The R. B. Sweet Company, 1974), p. 131.

^[51] W. A. Criswell, op. cit., p. 176.

^[52] William Hendriksen, op. cit., p. 196.

^[53] M. R. DeHaan, M.D., Revelation (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1946), p. 211.

^[54] Vernard Eller, op. cit., p. 151.

^[55] Leon Morris, op. cit., p. 199.

^[56] Ray Summers, op. cit., p. 189.

^[57] W. Boyd Carpenter, op. cit., p. 609.

^[58] W. B. West, Article, Armageddon, in Gospel Advocate (Nashville: Gospel Advocate Company, 1978), February 23, p. 113.

^[59] Ibid.

Commentary on Revelation 16:12-16 by Manly Luscombe

Battle of Armageddon--We are now ready to study the sixth bowl of wrath. In the verses that follow, we will need to understand the term “Armageddon.” There is much confusion and dissension about this matter. The most common view of this battle is a literal one. It is commonly held that the forces of Satan and the returned forces of Christ will meet in a great literal battle fought in the valley of Megiddo. It is believed that Christ will win the battle, bind Satan, and establish an earthly kingdom in Jerusalem for a period of 1000 years. In order to understand the term and its symbolic meaning we must trace some history of Israel.

• · Armageddon is from the Hebrew term “Mountain of Megiddo” (In Hebrew, Har Megiddo) and refers to a very important mountain and the narrow valley below.

• · The narrow valley below Mt. Megiddo is the only passageway into Israel from the north. Syria and any nation north of Israel must march through this pass. As long as Israel could control this narrow valley, they could stop any invasion from the north.

• · At this location Gideon and his 300 defeated the Midianites. It was here that the Philistines defeated King Saul. Barak and Deborah defeat the Canaanite king, Jabin. Ahaziah was killed by Jehu here. As this location Pharaoh-Necho defeated Josiah. Do you get the picture? This was the location of many decisive battles. Israel won some and lost some. This is not a place that represents defeat or victory. It does represent a place of great and decisive battles.

• · Ray Summers observes, “Thus Megiddo fitly symbolized the worldwide distress of righteousness and evil engaged in deadly combat. This is not an actual material sword and spear battle. Such a thing would be at cross purposes with all the teachings of the New Testament, the ideals which Jesus held, his death on the cross, and all God’s purposes of grace.” (2, 189)

12 Then the sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up, so that the way of the kings from the east might be prepared. The sixth angel pours out a bowl of wrath on the river Euphrates. The river is dried up. This opens the way for the kings of the east to prepare for battle. IF we understand that this is symbolic, then it will be easy to see that the Euphrates was the boundary line. When there is a battle for territory someone draws a “line in the sand” and declares here is the line. We will not move. This is the boundary. The Euphrates is symbolic of the boundary between the righteous and unrighteous. This is God’s “line in the sand.” The water that separates the saved from the lost is the water of the gospel in baptism. In this passage the water is dried up. The gospel is not being heard. People are not obeying the gospel. The hearts of the masses are so hardened that they will not respond to the gospel. This is consistent with the previous plagues where the people were so hardened that they refused to repent. Here, if they would repent, they would be baptized. (Acts 2:38). There is a similar description of sinful men in Romans 1:1-32. In this passage God “gave them up” to their immoral desires. God, in effect, turned them loose and let them suffer the natural consequences of their evil deeds.

13 And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs coming out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. John next sees three unclean spirits. They are like frogs. NOTE: If the battle described here is literal, then the generals of the army are frogs. Here is another parallel with the plagues of Egypt - frogs. These frogs come directly from the mouth of the dragon, who is Satan. They come from the mouth of the beast (civil governmental power) and from the mouth of the false prophet (second beast of chapter 13). Here are the three “generals” in Satan’s army. Satan = evil personified; Beast = persecuting governments; False prophet = false religions. When you combine these three together you have the ways in which Satan seeks to harm, kill, persecute, destroy, and eliminate Christians.

14 For they are spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out to the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. These frogs / spirits / generals in Satan’s army, appear to have the ability to perform miracles. Of course, the miracles are done by fraud and deceit. Combine the power of Satan with persecuting governments and the power of false religions, and you have a force to be reckoned with. They gather their followers together for a battle. They know they will be battling against God. In their pride and arrogance, they think they can win. The great Day of Judgment is coming. As the song expresses it, “There’s a Great Day Coming.” Christians in every period in history have had to fight the battle of Armageddon. There will always be a struggle between good and evil. The battle goes on internally - between our flesh and our spirit. (Galatians 5:16-18) The battle goes on when we are faced with a temptation. Like Peter, “The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” But when the final battle is engaged - the Day of Judgment - God will be totally and completely victorious. We are told in Revelation 17:14 that there will be war against the Lamb and that “the Lamb will overcome them.”

15 “Behold, I am coming as a thief. Blessed is he who watches, and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame.” The forces of Satan may think they are ready for battle. They have not seen battle until the meet the Almighty God. Amos warned of the serious mistake of thinking we are ready or able to take on God. “Prepare to meet your God, O Israel,” (Amos 4:12) is not an invitation to get ready for a social fellowship with God. These words are a warning. Do you think you can meet God in battle and win? Jesus is coming. His coming is not going to be announced in advance. He will come in the same manner that a thief comes. When we least expect it. At the moment that we think He will not come. That is when he will come. In Matthew 24:36-51; Matthew 25:1-46, Jesus warns us to be always on guard, always prepared. We must constantly watch. Keep your garments clean. Don’t get caught with your pure white robe stained, blotched, or torn. Keep it always clean, always fresh. The Christians at Sardis were warned to “keep your garments.” (Revelation 3:4)

16 And they gathered them together to the place called in Hebrew, Armageddon. All these evil forces gather together. They think they are ready, but they are not. The Hebrew transliteration is “Har Mageddon.” Any time one mentions “Armageddon”, most will recognize the term and have some (usually mistaken) notion of what it means. Even movies have been made with this title. In Zechariah 12:11 this location is referred to as a valley of great mourning. This place is the “Mountain of Sorrows.” Thus, the symbolic meaning of this term is a place of great sorrow. The enemies of God will be gathered together in the place of great sorrows. The amount of sorrow they experience will be like a mountain. They will suffer immense grief. They will endure immeasurable amounts of pain. I share with you some statements from Paul Rogers work:

“What does Armageddon mean to us? It still represents the conflict between good and evil and we need not expect a literal battle to usher in the coming of Christ. There is a sense in which every man has his personal Armageddon, which is fought daily, on the plains of conscience. It will be fought ever day and every hour until time is no more. However, we can take courage, as did the early disciples in the fact that God will ultimately triumph. Like them, we are surrounded by error and evil, with false religions very much in the predominance. And yet we know “our labor is not in vain in the Lord” (1 Corinthians 15:58). When the struggle is over, God will place his flag upon the highest hill, and the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever (Revelation 11:15).” (3, 68-69)

Verses 17-21

Rev 16:17-21

5. THE SEVENTH PLAGUE--THE END OF TIME

Revelation 16:17-21

17 And the seventh poured out his bowl upon the air; --Other bowls were poured out upon the earth, sea, rivers, and sun. This one upon the air may be designed to show that by affecting all major parts of the material universe the complete and final overthrow of wickedness is indicated by the plagues. In Ephesians 2:2 Satan is represented as the "prince of the powers of the air." From this some expositors conclude that Satan’s defeat is the thing specifically meant. That idea, of course, is included in the other view. At any rate, this plague briefly describes the final struggle, and therefore brings the end of time. This is clearly indicated by the expression, "It is done," and the announcement in Revelation 15:1 that the seven plagues will finish the wrath of God. The language of the paragraph harmonizes with this thought.

and there came forth a great voice out of the temple, from the throne, saying, It is done:--his voice which John heard coming out of the temple and from the throne shows that it was God announcing the time of the end. It was so certain to occur that it was announced as if already done. This is an example of the past being used prophetically for the future. See Romans 4:17.

18 and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunders; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since there were men upon the earth, so great an earthquake, so mighty.--After the great voice announced "it is done," John heard voices, thunders, and the rumblings of the earthquake which, he said, would be greater than any that had ever been before. The scene was lighted up with the flashes of lightnings. Such a commotion of natural elements would fittingly indicate the end of the material world, and symbolize the destruction of that part of the religious world under the control of Satan. The end of the world could hardly be described in more forceful words. The scene will be one to strike terror to all wicked hearts.

19 And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and Babylon the great was remembered in the sight of God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.--Babylon being mentioned in the latter part of the verse indicates that the "great city" refers to Babylon. John saw, in the vision, the city divided into three parts. Since the symbol refers to the end of the world, and consequently the destruction of spiritual Babylon also, then the three-part division of the city could hardly signify anything more than the complete destruction of the papal church, the number three indicating fullness. With this view the cities of the nations would mean all lesser religious bodies that help to make up the sum total of false doctrines. They, too, will come to an end. Ancient Babylon persecuted God’s people and in turn was destroyed; so spiritual Babylon has persecuted God’s church since the apostasy arose and must be destroyed. God’s fierce wrath must in due time be poured out upon her.

20 And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found.--This is but a part of the picture which John saw, and graphically portrays another feature of the final change at the end of time.

21 And great hail, every stone about the weight of a talent, cometh down out of heaven upon men:--This may be said in allusion to one of the plagues in Egypt. (Exodus 9:22-26.) This indicates that the distress and torment of that day will be terrible. Hail of such size would produce great sufferings, and be terrifying in the extreme. Such undoubtedly will be the case when the awful scenes of the day of God’s wrath appear.

and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof is exceeding great.--The wailing and blaspheming of the wicked at the judgment will do no good ; it will be too late to reform and serve God. This chapter gives this summary statement of a succession of judgments upon wickedness in general, and the apostate papal church in particular. The false religions have been weakened by the earlier plagues, but the final overthrow, briefly depicted in the paragraph, will occur at the coming of the Lord. That which has been but barely hinted at here will be more fully described in the following chapters.

Commentary on Revelation 16:17-21 by Foy E. Wallace

(4) The voice from the throne—Revelation 16:17.

The great voice from the temple-throne that ordered the plagues, understood to be that of God Himself, now declared the end in verse seventeen--it is done--that is, the plagues had been accomplished, the mission of the seven angels had been fulfilled.

The pouring out of the vial into the air symbolized that the sphere of the influence of the wicked nations was destroyed by the wrath of God in the seventh vial--it was the destroying of them that destroy; and is the same of apocalyptic characters as Isaiah 26:13-14, prophesying the decease of the wicked lords who had oppressed Israel: "O Lord our God, other lords have had dominion over us . . . they are dead, they shall not live; they are deceased, they shall not rise; therefore hast thou visited and destroyed them, and made all their memory to perish.” No clearer explanation could be made of the visions in Revelation in the pouring out of the vials of wrath upon the nations that persecuted the Bride of Christ, the Lamb--his church.

(7) The last vial poured into the air, causing voices, thunders, lightenings and a great earthquake: “And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done. And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake; such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great”—Revelation 16:17-18.

As defined before, the symbol of the air represented the sphere of life and influence of the wicked nations. In Ephesians 2:1 Satan was named the prince of the power of the air-- not the actual exercise of power, but of influence--the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.

In this symbol the great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne was not the voice of an angel, but of the Great God Himself. The great voice said: It is done. The time for the end of the judgments had come; the time for fall of the Harlot City; and the time for the punishments to follow on both Jewish and imperial persecutors of the church; all of which was signified by the distant rumbling of voices, thunders and lightnings. The earthquake everywhere used in the apocalypse symbolized the shaking of nations; and the effects of the fall of Jerusalem were not limited to Judea and the Jews--the mighty influence of the terrible events had a solemn impact of worldwide significance.

With the removal of Judaism from the path of the church the way was opened for the universal expansion of Christianity, and the Lord’s words in Matthew 24:31 were fulfilled: “And he shall send his angels (emissaries) with a great sound of a trumpet (the proclamation of the gospel), and they shall gather together his elect (those converted by the gospel) from the four winds (every direction), from one end of heaven to the other (the remotest bounds of the habitation of men). And it was done.

(5) The fall of Jerusalem and citadels of oppression—Revelation 16:18-21.

The upheavals of Revelation 16:18 in the visions of voices, and thunders, and lightnings . . . and a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the face of the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great, were the symbols of the fall of Jerusalem and the attending effects of the devastation of Judea, all of which resulted in the shaking of the nations of the empire itself; and though Jerusalem had fallen, the thunders and lightnings and earthquakes were not over until the persecuting nations received full measure of divine wrath from the cup of his indignation.

History verifies the revolutionary reactions in governments symbolized by thunders and lightnings, culminating in wars between the nations of the empire in the coup d’ e tat of the conflict for power between the rulers, as in the wars of Nero Caesar. There is no need of leaving the ten epoch period of the persecutors signified in chapter 2:10 for the fulfillment of these symbols. As was true of the signs in Matthew 24:34, it was true of these symbols also: This generation shall not pass till all these be fulfilled.

As the prophecy of Zechariah 14:4 foretold the city of Jerusalem as cleft in the midst before its fall, so verse nineteen sees that the great city was divided into three parts. It envisioned the partitioning of the city by the circumvallations of the Roman armies, as in Zechariah 14:1-21; and as suggested in the comments by Adam Clarke on the Zechariah prophecy and verified by the history of Josephus.

The further statement that the cities of the nations fell signified the collapse of the citadels of oppression and the strongholds of evil influence in the operations of the beast and false prophet in their lying wonders and pseudo-signs of deception and seduction. The great Babylon that came in remembrance before God was the apostate Jerusalem, that faithful city turned harlot of Isaiah 1:21 designated in Revelation 11:8 as the spiritual Sodom and Egypt where also our Lord was crucified. In the remembrance of her apostasies God gave unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath in divine retribution for her harlotry.

In the process of this unrelenting succession of inexorablejudgments, Revelation 16:20 declared that every island fled away, and the mountains were not found--that is, all the seats of authority and power of the Jewish theocracy faded away and disappeared. The fall of Jerusalem and the demolition of the temple effected the complete abrogation of Judaism and the abolition of the Jewish state.

In the ultimate dispensation of judgment on the city and the land of the Jews and their state, Revelation 16:21 stated that there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven . . . and men blasphemed God because of the plaque of hail. This downpour of hail was preternatural--for the plague thereof was exceeding great--it was beyond normal evulsions from the elements; it was strange and inexplicable in its proportions. It signified the wrath of God which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation --described in the prolepsis of Revelation 14:10. But the adherents of the satanic beast were not moved to repentance by any of these manifestations of divine judgment; rather, in complete allegiance to the evil powers they blasphemed God in steeped and stubborn resistance to His will.

The statement of Revelation 16:19 that Jerusalem was divided into three parts, had a further significance than the partitioning of the city by the Romans as described by Zechariah 14:1-21. The apparent application of the symbol was to the three sources of Jerusalem’s afflictions: pestilence, sword and exile. The prophecy of Ezekiel on the siege and destruction of Jerusalem described these three parts in the following words: “Thou shalt burn with fire (pestilence) a third part in the midst of the city, when the days of the siege are fulfilled: and thou shalt take a third part and smite about it with a knife (sword): and a third part thou shalt scatter in the wind (exile); and I will draw out a sword after them.” There could be no closer relation between the fulfillment of a prophecy and an apocalypse than Ezekiel 5:2 and Revelation 16:19. Again the Old Testament and the New Testament furnish accumulative evidence that the symbols of Revelation were fulfilled in the lives and experiences of the people to whom the apocalypse was addressed.

Commentary on Revelation 16:17-21 by Walter Scott

SEVENTH BOWL OF WRATH.

Revelation 16:17-21. — “And the seventh poured out his bowl on the air; and there came out a great voice from the temple of the Heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done. And there were lightnings, and voices, and thunders; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, such an earthquake, so great. And the great city was (divided) into three parts; and the cities of the nations fell; and great Babylon was remembered before God to give her the cup of the wine of the fury of His wrath. And every island fled, and mountains were not found. And a great hail, as of a talent weight, comes down out of Heaven upon men; and men blasphemed God because of the plague of hail, for the plague of it is exceeding great.” The events described under the previous Vial were preparatory to the final outpouring of God’s wrath on the apostate civil power, and on the yet more guilty Babylon of ecclesiastical fame and history, the religious corruptress of the earth. We have just witnessed the providential judgment of God on the “great river Euphrates,” and the universal gathering of the nations under the marvelous energy of Satan infused into the three frog-like (Impudence and uncleanness are characteristic of the frogs. These filthy creatures, born out of the waters and stagnant pools of Egypt, were peculiarly obnoxious to the cleanly Egyptians. The palace of the monarch and the hovel of the peasant were equally infested with the loathsome reptiles, whose croaking sounds added to the general misery (Exodus 8:3-14). Frogs and serpents were by the ancients classed together in the expression of what was loathsome and morally disgusting. Frogs were regarded by the Greek writers and poets as the proper inhabitants of the Stygian lake, or river of hell.) spirits of demons. The world has been warned, “Behold I come as a thief,” and saints solemnly counselled to walk with undefiled garments, hence all was fully prepared under the sixth Vial. There is, therefore, no further delay. The seventh golden Bowl is now poured out, exceeding in magnitude and severity anything hitherto witnessed since man began his sorrowful history outside Eden.

Revelation 16:17 — “The seventh poured out his bowl on the air.” This judgment falls upon the moral life-breath of the world. The air, essential to natural life, is symbolically visited in judgment. The realm of Satan is really the sphere of this awful plague (Ephesians 2:2); only we gather that the “air,” as used in this prophecy of the consummation of judgment on the organized systems of evil, denotes the ruin of all right moral influences and principles which act upon men — the destruction of the moral life of all individual, social, religious, and political society. It is a far-reaching and permeating judgment.

Revelation 16:17 — The temple and throne unite, and He Who dwells in the one and sits on the other announces with a great voice, “It is done.” The end has come. Details of Babylon’s overthrow are unfolded in the two subsequent chapters. Here the mere fact is stated, particulars are reserved. The close of providential dealing has come, and there remains but the last and most awful stroke of judgment inflicted by the Lord in Person at His Coming. The wrath of God is closed up in the pouring out of the seventh Vial, to be followed by the more awful exhibition — open and public — the wrath of the Lamb.

Revelation 16:18. — “There were lightnings, and voices, and thunders.” (On these signs of judicial dealings, see remarks on Revelation 4:5-6, and on Revelation 11:19.) These symbols (in a threefold form) of almighty power in judgment occur four times. The term “voices” intimates that the execution of judgment is intelligently directed. The order in which the symbols occur differs somewhat from that in the Authorized Version. The transposition of the words in this formula of divine visitation has, no doubt, its special significance in each case; they are calculated to strike terror to the hearts of men. In addition to those signs and tokens of Jehovah’s wrath upon the guilty scene “there was a great earthquake,” which in magnitude and dire results exceed anything recorded in history — “such an earthquake, so great.” There will be physical earthquakes in divers places (Mark 13:8). But the vast and unparalleled upheaval under the seventh Vial is not that of the elements of nature, but symbolizes a violent disruption of all government, the total collapse of authority from the highest down to the lowest. Under it thrones totter and fall, crowns are broken, scepters are shivered; the whole framework of society is overthrown. It will be a revolution unexampled in the history of the race. The fact that this mighty convulsion is stated separately from the usual formula, “lightnings, voices, and thunders,” marks its specialty and its magnitude.

Revelation 16:19. — The disastrous effects of the mighty earthquake are next briefly and tersely stated. “The great city (Rome (Revelation 17:18) is thus dethroned from its sovereignty over the kings of the earth. Rome, the empire which then is the vast civil and political organisation of earth, is “the great city.” Rome represents the civil, and Babylon the religious organisation of that day; both established by Satan.) was (divided) into three parts.” That is, the vast and consolidated power of Rome, from its center in the seven-hilled city on the Tiber on to its utmost extremities, is broken up into a tripartite division, while its utter ruin follows in due course. The break-up and dismemberment of the empire in its political and social organization is what is signified. Satan’s gigantic confederation is smashed.

Revelation 16:19 — “The cities of the nations fell.” The seats and centres of Gentile commerce — the political world apart from and outside the Roman earth — are involved in the general ruin, which overtakes all human combinations. From the building of Babel (Genesis 11:1-9) till the day and hour of the seventh Vial human progress in civilisation, in religion, in social and political government, in the arts, in science, in literature, has been the aim. Here we witness judgment on all that men have built up in these and other spheres of life, from the days of Cain (Genesis 3:1-24), when the world system without God was inaugurated, and from Babel (Genesis 11:1-32), when human combination, secular and religious, took its rise. What a blow to the pride and ambition of man!

DOWNFALL OF BABYLON.

Revelation 16:19. — But the chief subject of judgment is now singled out — one more hateful to God than all others. “Great Babylon (The literal Jerusalem is grandly described in Isaiah 60:1-22; the mystical Jerusalem is the subject of Revelation 21:9 — 22: 5. The literal Babylon is fully described in Jeremiah 51:1-64; the mystical Babylon occupies chapters 17 and 18 of the Apocalypse. In all respects Babylon is the contrast to the former, both in its historical and spiritual character.) was remembered before God to give her the cup of the wine of the fury of His wrath.” Babylon is a name and word of ominous signification. It is the full-blown development of all antichristian elements, of all that is opposed to God. It is the concentration of all mere human religion. The city and tower which men built on the plains of Shinar — the former the civil center, and the latter the religious center of gathering apart from God have in the days of the Apocalypse attained the zenith of greatness. Popery is not Babylon, pure and simple, but is part of it. In guilt Babylon towers over all, and hence its judgment is commensurate with its sin. Undoubtedly it is the mystical Babylon that is referred to, and not the great Euphratean city which was doomed to eternal destruction (Jeremiah 51:62-64). It is the false church, the corruptress of the earth, the mother or source of all that is religiously vile. The very name of Christ which she bears, and the assumption of being His body and bride, intensifies her guilt. Her title, “great Babylon,” points to her vast assumption of religious power. The anger of God burns fiercely on this awful counterfeit and travesty of what should have stood for Him in grace, in holiness, and in testimony to the truth.

The details of Babylon’s judgment, her relation to the apostate civil power, and many particulars are unfolded in the two chapters which follow; while her utter doom, celebrated in Heaven in triumphant strains of gladness, is the subject of Revelation 19:1-4.

Revelation 16:20. — “And every island fled, and mountains were not found.” (Under the sixth Seal “mountain and Island were moved out of their places” (Revelation 6:14), here the greater severity of the judgment is intimated in their complete disappearance, “not found.”) Detached or isolated interests and governments, as islands separated from the mainland, are overwhelmed in the universal catastrophe; while seats of authority and stability, as mountains, are dissolved. Ruin is everywhere, and on everything, however seemingly firm and stable. Everything that God has not established must go in the general wreck. Such, then, are the effects of the mighty earthquake.

Revelation 16:21. — But, in addition to this, the general horror is intensified by a hurricane of divine judgment, which descends upon men with irresistible and crushing force, a storm of divine wrath, which even the guilty world will have to acknowledge as heaven-sent: “A great hail as of a talent weight.” (“The Jewish talent was 125 lbs. The Egyptian and Greek talents were about 86 lbs. The former is the weight of the hail in our text, and intimates the crushing, overwhelming character of the visitation.) We have already, more than once, been told of a hailstorm, singly, and in conjunction with other destructive agencies (Revelation 11:19; Revelation 8:7).(*See remarks on Revelation 8:7; and on Revelation 11:19.) But this exceeds in weight and intensity the previous hailstorms. As hail descends from Heaven, and is sharp, sudden, and disastrous in its effects, so the judgment here. The nature of it is not explained, but its severity and its source from Heaven are truths unquestionably graven on the face of the prophecy. (Few persons can form a conception of the terrible character of a great hailstorm. Here is an account of one which occurred at Constantinople in the month of October, 1831, written by one who witnessed it: “After an uncommonly sultry night, threatening clouds arose about six in the morning, and a noise between thunder and tempest, and yet not to be compared to either, increased every moment, and the inhabitants of the capital, roused from their sleep, awaited with anxious expectation the issue of this threatening phenomenon. Their uncertainty was not of long duration; lumps of ice as large as a man’s foot, falling singly, and then like a thick shower of stones, which destroyed everything with which they came in contact. The oldest persons do not remember ever to have seen such hailstones. Some were picked up half an hour afterwards which weighed above a pound. This dreadful storm passed over Constantinople and along the Bosphorus, over Therapia, Bojukden, and Belgrade; and the fairest, nay, the only hope of this beautiful and fertile tract, the vintage, just commenced, was destroyed in a day! Animals of all kinds, and even some persons, were killed, an innumerable number are wounded, and the damage done to the houses is incalculable. The force of the falling masses of ice was so great that they broke to atoms all the tiles on the roofs, and, like musket balls, shattered planks.”) (“What would it have been if the ice masses had been fifty or one hundred times larger?” — From “Seiss on the Apocalypse,” page 101. )

Has this crowning act of divine judgment wrought repentance? Is the will broken and the heart crushed under the mighty hand of God? No! Man is unchanged, unless the Spirit of God, in mighty sovereign grace, converts and saves. The moral effect of this awful judgment is stated in the plainest terms, “men blaspheme God” — not glorify Him, as we might naturally expect — “because of the plague of hail, for the plague of it is exceeding great.” How patient is God! How perverse the creature!

Commentary on Revelation 16:17-21 by E.M. Zerr

Revelation 16:17. The seventh angel was the last of the group that was to pour the vials out upon the earth. The voice came out of the temple which signifies that it was a voice of authority. The voice made the brief announcement that it is done, meaning that the revolution signified by the "seven last plagues" was accomplished. The great revolution thus symbolized was the Reformation of Luther and his fellow workers that resulted in breaking up the union of church and state.

Revelation 16:18. Thunder, lightnings and earthquake in symbolic language refers to great commotions in the public affairs. Such a mighty movement as the dissolving of church and state was enough to bring forth these demonstrations about the temple, for it meant so much to the interests of the cause of God who occupies the temple.

Revelation 16:19. The great city means the institution composed of the union of church and state, as it is used here and some other places, not merely church or state singly. It is in that sense that the name Babylon is used in this verse, because the literal city of Babylon had been destroyed centuries before (Isaiah 13:19-22), and the apostate church of Rome as a religious institution is not to be destroyed until Jesus comes again (2 Thessalonians 2:8). But Babylon as the union of church and state was dissolved by the Reformation never to be restored. Divided into three parts. This partial destruction has been indicated a number of times and has been explained to mean that God does not completely extinguish every institution He condemns. Came in remembrance before God means he remembered the evils that city had done to His people. Give unto her the cup, etc., is the same figurative sense of wine that has been commented upon in Revelation 14:19-20.

Revelation 16:20. Island insymbolic language means inhabited spots and mountains denotes units of government. John saw these flee away in the vision which was symbolical, and the meaning is on the same subject that has been under consideration through many of the passages, namely, the downfall of the political power of Rome.

Revelation 16:21. Weight of talents varied according to the different standards and they were at least fifty pounds on an average. To drop a hail stone of that weight as a symbol of God’s wrath would give some impression of the greatness of that wrath. Blasphemed God means they spoke very evil words against Him, because of their disappointment and humiliation over the loss of their political power.

Commentary on Revelation 16:17-21 by Burton Coffman

Revelation 16:17

And the seventh poured out his bowl upon the air; and there came forth a great voice out of the temple, from the throne, saying, It is done:

And the seventh angel poured out his bowl upon the air ... Let it again be noted that the physical environment of the whole earth is indicated in every one of these bowls, in their aggregate, taking in everything that is significant in that environment; but, since the great promise of God (Genesis 8:22) has assured the stability of that environment as long as the earth stands, we are forbidden to literalize these symbols, and must therefore interpret them as indicating the wrath of God poured out upon the moral, intellectual, cultural, spiritual, and religious environment of the earth. The vicious propaganda of the frogs, as do all the other judgments, fits neatly into this interpretation.

We may not suppose, of course, that John had in mind any thought whatever of radio, television, etc.; but in his day people would merely have said that the very air people breathe was contaminated with evil, and it was true. Evil in the Roman empire at the time of the emergence of Christianity was one sprawling, intricate, well-organized system of wickedness. Marriage was corrupted; slavery was the rule everywhere, there being 60,000,000 slaves in the pagan empire; the black arts of magic and witchcraft enjoyed ambassadorial status at every great seat of authority on earth, as did Elymas at Paphos (Acts 13:8). The temples of Bacchus and Aphrodite Pandemas glorified and exploited sex, drunkenness, and other evils, as did also the other pagan temples all over the empire, supported and maintained by the clergy of the pagan priesthood. Thus, the fulfillment of this bowl upon the ancient empire must be admitted as true; and yet there is something here in addition to that and far-removed from ancient Rome.

So it is not strange that these words perfectly describe the pollution of the air-waves today by the excesses of radio and television. The very air, which is an essential of human environment, is in a sense contaminated. The angel of God’s wrath seems to have poured out his bowl upon the air. If so, the total pollution of the air our children breathe may yet occur. We may only pray that the gathering storm may be dissipated and that decency and morality may replace the steady diet of violence, sex, drunkenness, frivolity, and general wickedness of the "air" programs, which many right-thinking people are rightly opposing. However it may be for this generation, the hardening of people and the pouring of the bowl of God’s wrath upon the air surely indicate the coming of a time (when, we do not know) of the near total destruction of man’s moral environment.

We have now seen all the bowls poured out. What do they mean? A very perceptive person suggested that they mean that "a time will come when all the evil in the universe shall unite to oppose truth and righteousness, making it seem for a time that all is lost." This would certainly seem to be true; but evil shall not win; right shall prevail. God’s answer to the first general hardening of mankind (Romans 1) was the First Advent of Christ; and his answer to the second and final general hardening of the human race will be the Second Advent of the Lord Jesus Christ, an event that follows very closely the pouring out of these seven bowls of wrath.

A great voice from the throne ... It is done ... This does not refer merely to the seventh bowl. "The singular refers to the whole series of plagues now completed."^[60] This signals the onset of the final judgment described at once.

ENDNOTE:

^[60] Charles H. Roberson, op. cit., p. 124.

Revelation 16:18

and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunders; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since there were men upon the earth, so great an earthquake, so mighty.

Lightnings ... voices ... thunders ... earthquake ... Later, John will relate a more vivid and detailed account of the final judgment. "The account here simply presents the climax of what is substantially the same event."^[61] "This section ends like the preceding ones with a very vivid description of the terror of the final judgment."^[62] "A brief summary (Revelation 16:18-19) is given of what actually falls as the last extremity of God’s wrath"^[63] namely, the final judgment. Tenney pointed out that the phenomena cited in this verse, lightnings, voices, thunders, earthquake, etc., are "also present in Revelation 4:5; Revelation 8:5; Revelation 11:19."^[64]

^[61] Ibid.

^[62] William Hendriksen, op. cit., p. 198.

^[63] A. Plummer, op. cit., p. 397.

^[64] Merrill C. Tenney, Interpreting Revelation (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1957), p. 34.

Revelation 16:19

And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and Babylon the great was remembered in the sight of God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.

And the great city was divided into three parts ... This is the first of three very important observations revealed in this verse, and they should not be confused.

1. The great city divided into three parts is clearly connected with the "Jerusalem-Sodom-Egypt" of Revelation 11:13, where was prophesied the collapse of the urban world. Many have missed this. Moffatt’s view that the great earthquake "shatters Jerusalem into three parts and utterly destroys pagan cities"^[65] is undoubtedly wrong. Moffatt failed to understand that the Jerusalem Sodom-Egypt of Revelation 11 is a figure of urban civilization, and the reference here can have no application at all to the literal Jerusalem. There is no prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem anywhere in Revelation. John of course knew Jesus’ prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem; but when Revelation was written, the concern of the Christians regarded Rome, not Jerusalem. Incidentally, this is almost certain proof of the writing of Revelation before Jerusalem was destroyed.

2. "And the cities of the nations fell ..." This explains what was meant by the dividing of the city into three parts; it also illuminates the same figure of "a tenth of the city fell" in Revelation 11:13, where it was God’s tithe of all wicked cities; here it is "a third," a very significant part, but not the majority that fell. Both figures regard urban civilization, and ’"the breaking into three parts means its complete breakup."^[66] "The cities of civilization, the achievement of man’s demon-driven pride, will ... collapse?^[67]

3. "And Babylon the great was remembered in the sight of God ..." "This is the society and the philosophy represented by the two beasts, which in due course will be called Babylon."^[68] We consider this comment by Wilcock one of the most discerning encountered anywhere. The Babylon described here is not pagan Rome only, but "Babylon the Great," embracing also that image of pagan Rome that became in time apostate Christianity. Therefore, both the land-beast and the sea-beast (pagan Rome and apostate Christian Rome) are here meant. They are here spoken of as one, since one was an image of the other, and both operated from the same seven hills. The expression "Babylon the Great" is no doubt "the symbol of the whole satanic structure."^[69] Again from Wilcock, "Bowl seven sweeps away time and history, and replaces them with eternity."^[70] "Both the preceding and the succeeding verses here must be referred to the judgment day."^[71]

To give her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath ... This refers to the complete destruction of the city.^[72] Such awful judgments should not blind us to the fact that, "If God were not to punish unrighteousness, the concept of a moral universe would have to be discarded."^[73] Although some interpreters have held that, "The utmost limit of this prophetic passage was the end of the Roman world,"^[74] many of the ablest expositors have been able to see the deeper meaning that, "The fall of pagan Rome is but one illustration of the overthrow of Babylon."^[75] "Each age has its Babylon."^[76] We reproduce here a summary of Lenski’s wonderful comment on this as it applies to our own times:

How proudly the anti-Christian propaganda builds the Babylon of today! Godless science imagines that the structure cannot fall. Its walls are granite. The Scriptures are only childish stories, myths. How can Papal Rome ever fall? It is built on Peter and overshadows the world. The outmoded "thought patterns" of Scripture have long crumbled into dust, and the scientific religion of reason alone endures. Fall? The very idea is preposterous. But the word of the Lord says, "like the chaff which the wind driveth away" (Psalms 1:4); "the multitude of the strangers shall be as small dust; yea, it shall be at an instant suddenly (Isaiah 29:5); but the WORD OF THE LORD endureth forever."^[77]

We will not debate the proposition that John himself knew the full scope and depth of his prophecy, for he probably did not know. To limit the book of Revelation to the human knowledge of the apostle John is to lose sight of it altogether as "the word of the Lord"; and this is where so many fail. The prophets of the Old Testament did not understand all that they were inspired to write, as was mentioned by the apostle Peter (1 Peter 1:10-12); and it is very likely that the same was true of the New Testament writers. We believe this prophecy to be of God through John, thus being significant and relevant to every moment of the entire Christian dispensation, first to last. See in my Commentary in 1Peter (pp. 172-175) for a discussion of the phenomena of the sacred writers not understanding what they wrote.

^[65] James Moffatt, op. cit., p. 449.

^[66] Leon Morris, op. cit., p. 201.

^[67] Michael Wilcock, op. cit., p. 150.

^[68] Ibid., p. 141.

^[69] Ibid., p. 150.

^[70] Ibid.

^[71] A. Plummer, op. cit., p. 397.

^[72] J. W. Roberts, op. cit., p. 132.

^[73] Robert H. Mounce, op. cit., p. 304.

^[74] G. B. Caird, The Revelation of St. John the Divine (New York: Harper and Row, 1966), p. 209.

^[75] W. Boyd Carpenter, op. cit., p. 610.

^[76] Charles H. Roberson, op. cit., p. 125.

^[77] R. C. H. Lenski, op. cit., p. 484.

Revelation 16:20

And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found.

Every island ... mountains were not found ... For ages, such convulsions of nature have been understood as symbolical references to the fall of nations and governments; but in the holy Scriptures, "such things are invariably associated with the final judgment";^[78] and that is the way we understand them here. The removal of the earth itself is to be accompanied by a mighty earthquake (Hebrews 12:27-28). Therefore Ladd may have been exactly correct in viewing the last three verses of this chapter as "a renovation of the entire created order and the ushering in of a new heavens and a new earth."^[79] Whatever is the exact implication of the language here, it would seem to be certain that the final judgment day itself is the occasion in view.

Barnes and other historicists see in this chapter such various things as: successive historical blows by which the Papacy will fall, the French Revolution, the Napoleonic wars, the successive revolutions that came after Napoleon, and various other events, even the battle of Armageddon! To us, however, that entire system of interpretation is erroneous. Some of the things "seen" by such. interpreters in Revelation are surely there; but no blueprint of the future is to be found. Revelation has been fulfilled, is being fulfilled, and is yet to be fulfilled. Is not this exactly the meaning of what John said in Revelation 1:19?

The great hail ... This is to be viewed as another element in the great convulsions of nature coming at the end of time.

Men blasphemed God ... In the judgment? Yes. The hardened will not change, whatever may be their experience. This vision stops short of revealing what God will do with such per sons, but later episodes in the prophecy will make it starkly clear.

^[78] A. Plummer, op. cit., p. 397.

^[79] George Eldon Ladd, op. cit., p. 218.

Revelation 16:21

And great hail, every stone about the weight of a talent, cometh down out of heaven upon men: and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof is exceeding great.

About the weight of a talent ... No such hail was ever seen, nor could be it the result of ordinary natural processes; therefore, it must be related to the extraordinary phenomena attending the onset of the final judgment. At the time when mankind shall have completed his destruction of the moral and spiritual environment of the earth, God will destroy his physical environment also and summon all people to accountability before the judgment seat of Christ.

Men blasphemed God ... How strange is the thought that hardened sinners will not stop their blasphemy even in the judgment. How could it be supposed that the Father will accommodate to that type of persistent wickedness in any other manner than that of the final and complete destruction of it?

Commentary on Revelation 16:17-21 by Manly Luscombe

17 Then the seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, “It is done!” The seventh and final angel pours out his plague in the air. It seems to me that the “air” would cover everything. The entire world is under the plague. A loud voice from the temple, from God, says, “It is done.” This is a similar phrase to the words of Jesus on the cross. “It is finished.” The total, complete, and final wrath of God has been poured out. All the wicked, all the false teachers, all the persecutors, and all the immoral have been defeated.

18 And there were noises and thunderings and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such a mighty and great earthquake as had not occurred since men were on the earth. This verse describes the final drum roll. Thunder, lightning, an earthquake; these are the signals that it is all over. The world will end. All the saints are safe with God. The wicked have suffered the wrath of God. Other passages dealing with the end of time indicate fire, thunder, and stars falling. An earthquake like this has never been seen on earth. This might explain the great chaos. If the planet is literally coming apart, the molten lava coming to the surface would create the great fire of 2 Peter 3:10-12.

19 Now the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. And great Babylon was remembered before God, to give her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath. The “great city” is the same as several terms used in the book of Revelationè Great city – Revelation 16:19, Great whore – Revelation 17:1, and Babylon the Great – Revelation 17:5; Revelation 18:2. In connection with these terms are usually terms of immoral behavior. Drunk with wine, harlot, and fornication are the trademarks. It seems clear to me that this great city represents immorality in the world. In addition to persecuting governments and false religions, we also have immorality seeking to lead Christians away from faithfulness to God. Divided into three parts is similar to the “third part” of the trumpets. Remember, the number 3 is the number of God, things divine, deity. God completely destroys the city by cutting, severing, and dividing it into three parts.

20 Then every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. Most commentators believe that “island” represents the individual leaders of these nations. The previous verse mentions the cities of the nations. Mountains are used to represent kingdoms or nations. Combine these two and you have God’s judgment on the kingdoms and on the kings. On the nations and on their civil rulers. For the early church the judgment of God’s wrath is poured out on Rome AND on the Emperor.

21 And great hail from heaven fell upon men, each hailstone about the weight of a talent. Men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, since that plague was exceedingly great. A great hailstorm, with each hailstone weighing about 100 pounds, is falling from the sky. V. E. Howard suggests that the weight of a talent is about 100 pounds. (4, 110) Again, there is no repentance. There is no plea for mercy. All God hears is more blasphemy. This reaffirms the view that God’s judgment is just. Men were so hardened that they would not repent even when tasting the wrath of God. Instead of seeking mercy and forgiveness, they curse and blaspheme God.

Sermon on Revelation 15-16

Pouring Out of God’s Wrath

Brent Kercheville

In chapter 14 we read about the coming doom for the Roman Empire. Three angels have predicted its judgment: “The hour of judgment has come” (Revelation 14:7), “Fallen, fallen in Babylon” (Revelation 14:8), and “Drink the wine of God’s wrath poured full strength” (Revelation 14:10). The sickles were swung over the earth, reaping the righteous and wicked. The wicked are described as being thrown “into the great winepress of the wrath of God” (Revelation 14:19).

The other image to keep in mind from chapter 14 as we approach the fifteenth chapter is the warning of death for the Christians. The people of God are told to endure, calling for them to continue to keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus (Revelation 14:12). But the gloomy doom is predicted: “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” Chapter 15 of Revelation describes the preparations being made for the fulfillment of these prophecies of the coming doom against the Roman Empire.

Back Into Heaven (Revelation 15:1-2)

The first two verses of chapter 15 turn attention to the throne room of heaven. In the new sign that appears, John sees a sign that is great and amazing. He sees seven angels with seven plagues. There are two important things we are told about these seven angels and the seven plagues they carry. First, these are the last of the judgments. Once these judgments are completed then the earth will be at rest. We are not going to have any more “sevens” in judgment. The seven bowls of wrath will be the last of the judgments. The second important thing to observe is why these are the last of the judgments. God’s wrath is finished with these seven bowls.

Standing beside the sea of glass mixed with fire are those who had conquered the beast and its image and the number of its name. Conquering does not come by warring militarily with the beast but by remaining faithful and pure to the Lamb. These are the 144,000 of chapter 14 singing the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb. Just like the new song, the song of Moses was a song of victory. Such are the words of their song.

The Song of Moses and the Lamb (Revelation 15:3-8)

The song the conquerors sing praises God for his great and amazing deeds. His ways are just and all must fear him and glorify him. Chapter 14 has revealed God’s righteous acts as God is about to judge the beast for its sinfulness and killing of the people of God. Just as Israel praised God by the sea after he delivered them from Pharaoh, so the conquerors praise God for defeating the beast. This is another use of prophetic certainty. The beast is defeated even though it had not happened yet.

The door to the temple is opened again. I think the TNIV has a good rendering of this image. “After this I looked, and I saw in heaven the temple—that is, the tabernacle of the covenant law—and it was opened.” (Revelation 15:5 TNIV; NIV 2010)

We then see the seven angels each receiving a golden bowl full of the wrath of God. Bowls of wrath is an image used by Isaiah to describe God’s wrath coming to punish sinners.

Wake yourself, wake yourself, stand up, O Jerusalem, you who have drunk from the hand of the LORD the cup of his wrath, who have drunk to the dregs the bowl, the cup of staggering. (Isaiah 51:17 ESV)

Thus says your Lord, the LORD, your God who pleads the cause of his people: “Behold, I have taken from your hand the cup of staggering; the bowl of my wrath you shall drink no more; (Isaiah 51:22 ESV)

Revelation 15:8 reminds us that these judgments are coming from God. The sanctuary is filled with smoke because God is about to act (Exodus 40:34-35;2 Chronicles 5:13).

The Bowls Poured Out (Revelation 16:1-16)

A loud voice commands the seven angels to pour out their bowls of wrath on the earth. As we read the bowls of wrath consider the similarities to the plagues poured out on Egypt in the days of Moses. The first bowl brings harmful and painful sores on those who have the mark of the beast and worship its image. The lack of description about this plague tells us that we are not to find literal details or meanings in these symbols. This chapter is simply revealing the pain and suffering that God is unleashing on those who are worshiping the beast rather than the Lamb. The sores parallel the painful boils of the Egyptian plagues.

The second bowl turns the sea to blood killing everything living thing in the sea. This judgment reminds us of the Nile turning the blood in the Egyptian plagues. The third bowl turns the rivers and springs of water into blood. The second and third bowls probably picture the economic devastation that God’s wrath will incur. One of the reasons for these judgments is given in Revelation 16:5-7. They are killing God’s servants and this wrath is deserved.

The fourth bowl pours out pain on the worshipers of the beast. Rather than repenting, the people curse God. They did not repent or give God glory. Thus, the judgments continue. The fifth bowl pours out judgment on the throne of the beast. It is “lights out” for the Roman Empire. The kingdom is plunged into darkness. Its day in the sun is over. Rather than repenting, the people curse God all the more and did not repent.

The sixth bowl is the first bowl that gives us any details. The brevity of the first five bowls is astonishing. The sixth bowl gives us more information about the judgments to come. The sixth bowl dries up the Euphrates River. This is an imagery of a coming war and being overthrown by a rival nation. The drying up of the Euphrates River is how Cyrus conquered Babylon (Isaiah 11:15; Isaiah 44:27-28; Isaiah 50:2; Isaiah 51:10). The kings coming from the east also has a couple prophetic references in Isaiah (Isaiah 41:2; Isaiah 46:11). The sixth bowl envisions a nation coming from the east to battle.

Revelation 16:13 shows the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet will do everything for survival. The unclean spirits remind us of the deceptive nature of the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet. The unclean spirits also remind us of their immorality through their paganism, idol worship, and Caesar worship. These three are full of uncleanness. The imagery of demons (unclean spirits) is used in the New Testament to speak of idolatrous worship.

No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. (1 Corinthians 10:20-21 ESV)

Finally, we see in the sixth bowl the assembling of the kings of the earth at the place called Armageddon. This is the only place in scriptures where the word of Armageddon occurs. Many false teachings have been made about the event of Armageddon. However, all that is revealed is that this is the place they will gather. The text does not say that there will be a battle there.

So what does Armageddon mean? It literally means “mount of Megiddo.” Now there is not a mount of Megiddo but we do read in the scriptures about a valley of Megiddo and cities of Megiddo. When we go through the Old Testament we see that several decisive battles occurred at Megiddo. Most interesting to me is the reference to the kings who went into battle and died. In 2 Kings 9:27 we see that Ahaziah, king of Judah was slain. In 2 Kings 23:29 and 2 Chronicles 35:22 King Josiah is slain in battle. Judges 5:19 speaks of kings fighting by the waters of Megiddo but failing to take the spoil. When we put all of these images together, we see that the work of Satan through the Roman empire and its religions will dry up and fail. They may assemble for battle but it is a decisive loss for Satan and the Roman empire. Gathering in Armageddon is a symbol of their destruction and judgment. We must remember that these bowls are images of God’s judgment, not information about the victory of Satan or the beast.

Revelation 16:15 therefore gives a call to preparation for the people of God. God’s judgment will come like a thief. Be prepared. Stay awake. Do not be caught by surprise.

The Seventh Bowl (Revelation 16:17-21)

The seven angel pours his bowl and makes the important declaration: “It is done!” The end has come for this world power. God’s cataclysmic wrath has come. A great earthquake describes is desolation since that is the way many cities were destroyed in ancient times, sometimes never to be rebuilt or inhabited again. The great city falls and the cities of the nations also fall. God fulfills his promise, making the nation drink the cup of God’s wrath full strength. The empire has fallen. The devastation was great and the people curse God from the plagues.

Chapters 17-18 are going to explain the details of this judgment that were summarized in chapter 16. The next two chaptersare not new images of judgment but a fuller explanation of how this judgment will come and what its impact will be when the devastation comes.

Life Lessons

1. God’s judgments come like a thief. Notice Revelation 16:15 again. “Behold, I am coming like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake, keeping his garments on, that he may not go about naked and be seen exposed!” No nation thought they would ever fall. No world power thought that they would be taken over by another. Yet history shows that nation after nation has risen and fallen. We must always be prepared to remain true to Jesus even if it becomes the time for our nation to receive judgment for its sins. Sometimes we think that we know if God would judge the United States of America. But God’s judgments come unexpectedly.

2. God’s final judgment will come like a thief. We must be prepared to remain faithful in the face of any national calamity. We must also be ready and prepared for the return of our Lord.

Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you. 2 For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. 3 While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. 4 But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. 5 For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. 6 So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. 7 For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. 8 But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. 9 For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him. 11 Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing. (1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 ESV)

LESSON 20.

THE SEVEN BOWLS OF WRATH

Read Revelation 15, 16

1. What great and marvelous sign was seen in heaven? Ans. Revelation 15:1.

2. Who was seen standing by the sea of glass? Ans. Revelation 15:2.

3. What song did they sing? Ans. Revelation 15:3-4.

4. What was opened in heaven? Ans. Revelation 15:5.

5. Who came out from the temple? Ans. Revelation 15:6.

6. What did one of the four living creatures give to the seven angels? Ans. Revelation 15:7.

7. With what was the temple filled? Ans. Revelation 15:8.

8. What were the seven angels told to do? Ans. Revelation 16:1.

9. Tell what happened when the first bowl was poured out. Ans. Revelation 16:2.

10. How was the sea affected by the pouring out of the second vial? Ans. Revelation 16:3.

11. Into what was the third bowl poured? Ans. Revelation 16:4.

12. What did the "angel of the waters" say? Ans. Revelation 16:5-6.

13. What statement came from the altar? Ans. Revelation 16:7.

14. Tell of the pouring out of the fourth bowl. Ans. Revelation 16:8-9.

15. On what was the fifth bowl poured, and what effect did it have? Ans. Revelation 16:10-11.

16. On what was the sixth bowl poured? Ans. Revelation 16:12.

17. What came out of the mouths of the dragon, the beast and the false prophet? Ans. Revelation 16:13.

18. Who were these "spirits"? Ans. Revelation 16:14.

19. For what great battle were they preparing? Ans. Revelation 16:16.

20. What timely admonition is given here? Ans. Revelation 16:15.

21. Tell all that occurred at the pouring out of the seventh bowl of wrath. Ans. Revelation 16:17-21.

E.M. Zerr

Questions on Revelation

Revelation Chapter Sixteen

1. From where did John hear a voice?

2. What did they say to the seven angels?

3. Tell what followed the first one.

4. Upon whom did it fall?

5. On what did the second angel pour his vial?

6. How did it then become?

7. State the effect this had.

8. On what did the 3rd angel pour his vial?

9. With what effect?

10. Whom did John hear speaking?

11. Tell what he said.

12. Why did he praise the Lord?

13. Whose blood had been shed?

14. By whom bad it been done?

15. What had they been given to drink?

16. From where did Jobn bear another voice?

17. To whom did he speak?

18. What praise did he ascribe?

19. On what did the 4th angel pour his vial?

20. This gave him what power?

21. What did this cause the men to do?

22. Over wbat did He bave power?

23. What did these men refuse to do?

24. Upon what did the 5th angel pour his vial?

25. What became dark?

26. Tell what their pain caused them to do.

27. What did they do toward God?

28. Because of wh&t did they do so?

29. Did this bring repentance?

30. Where did the 6th angel pour his vial?

31. What did it do to the waters?

32. For what people was this an advantage ?

33. How many spirits did John see?

34. What kind of spirits were they?

35. From where did these spirits come?

36. Of what beings are they the spirits?

37. What was their work?

38. To whom do they go forth?

39. To what event were these to be gathered?

40. In what manner will Christ come?

41. What is promised to the one who watches?

42. And what must he keep?

43. Lest what?

44. To what place did the spirits gather the people?

45. Where did the 7th angel pour his vial?

46. What came out of the temple?

47. From what part of the temple?

48. What did the voice say?

49. Tell what else could be heard.

50. What also happened at this time?

51. Compare it with former ones.

52. What happened to the city?

53. Tell what happened to other cities.

54. To what place was Babylon brought?

55. For what purpose was this?

56. What happened to the islands and mountains?

57. Tell what fell upon men.

58. What did it cause them to do?

Revelation Chapter Sixteen

Ralph Starling

The 1st plague was poured on the earth with vengeance.

A grievous sore upon the beast and his image.

The 2nd plague was upon the sea,

Bringing death for it was bloody as could be.

The 3rd plague was bloody rivers and waters,

Because the saints & prophets had become martyrs.

The 4th plague gave the sun power

to scorch men with great fire.

The 5th plague was darkness and pain for the beast.

For to blaspheme God he continued to insist.

The 6th plague dried up the Euphrates

To make way for the kings of the east and the beast

To fight the lamb of heaven

In the war called Armageddon.

The 7th plague was upon the air.

"It is done" the angel declared.

7 plagues---God’s power and authority was shown,

Still many replied, hatefully, they’d "go on their own!"