Contents
V. The World in Agony (15:5-16:21)
A. Setting: The Tent of Witness (15:5-16:1)
B. The Pouring out of the 7 Bowls (16:2-21)
| 15:5 | And after that I looked, and, behold, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened: | V. The World in Agony (15:5-16:21)
Introduction and Setting A. The Setting: 15:5-8 Vs. 5: - "temple of the tent of witness" - John is standing in front of the same thing he was standing from of in 11:19: the heavenly ark God. This time his attention is to be caught by of signs of God's wrath. We know this "temple of the tent of witness" is the heavenly ark from what we remember of the Exodus Story: after leaving the Red Sea, the Israelites came to Sinai. Later, the two tablets of the law were placed in the ark inside the Tent of Testimony. This is a reflection of the Exodus' Tent. |
| 15:6 | And the seven angels came out of the temple, having the seven plagues, clothed in pure and white linen, and having their breasts girded with golden girdles. | Vs. 6: "The 7 angels with the 7 bowls of plagues" - These are the same two angels who blew trumpets earlier. But while the faithful saw what happened as trumpet calls signaling that God was to deliver them (as the ancient Israelite slaves in Egypt were delivered), those who oppose God's will, will see these "trumpet calls" in the same way as the Egyptians saw the signs..... as plagues. |
| 15:7 | And one of the four beasts gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials full of the wrath of God, who liveth for ever and ever. | * |
| 15:8 | And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled. | Vs. 8: "smoke from the Glory of God"
- God's power and glory has often - been described as smoke in scripture.
(Exod 40:34; 1
Kings 8:10; Isa 6:4)
"No one could enter the temple" - This is confusing in light of 15:3-4, until you remember that this vision is a flashback: we are seeing something we have already seen from different perspectives. |
| 16:1 | And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, Go your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth. | Vs. 16:1 - "a loud voice... of the wrath of God" = the same loud voice of God we have heard before in Revelation. |
| 16:2 | 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. | B. The Pouring out of the
7 Bowls
The First Four Plagues (16:2-9) 16:2: Plague to the Earth (Boils on people) All who accepted the mark of the beast are marked by God in a painful way. God does not leave unmarked those who rebel against him. It is a fact of life that the mark of the beast (symbol of idolatry) becomes a sore (symbol of our punishment). In the long run, it is still true that "what gets your attention, gets you". |
| 16:3 | 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. | 16:3: Plaque to the
Sea (Blood)
This plague is the second trumpet vision - only described in stronger terms. This is not life blood, this is the blood of dead man: coagulated blood. Like the plague to the Egyptians, this is a warning to "let God's people go", and "repent of your rebellion against God". |
| 16:4 | And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters; and they became blood. | 16:4-7: Plague to rivers
and springs (Blood)
This too is a call to "Egypt" (the world) to repent as the blood of the martyrs which has been shed becomes a contamination to the world's water. |
| 16:5 | And I heard the angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast, and shalt be, because thou hast judged thus. | * |
| 16:6 | For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink; for they are worthy. | * |
| 16:7 | And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments. | * |
| 16:8 | And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire. | 16:8-9: Plague to the
Sky (Burning Heat)
The difference between this plague and the 4th trumpet is that the Christians only have the light darkened a little while the rebellious against God are scorched Just as in Egypt, those in rebellion against God do not repent instead they curse God while knowing that He is the cause. |
| 16:9 | And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory. | * |
| 16:10 | 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, | 16:10-l1: Plague to
the Beast's throne (Darkness)
This is the "Plague parallel" of the 5th Trumpet (the first woe). "the throne of the beast" = the seat of world rule which opposes God. For John, this throne is the Roman Empire which ruled practically the whole known world of his time. "Kingdom in darkness" - This is most likely a reference to what had happened to the empire after Nero killed himself. It was a time of civil war, doubt, suspicion, terror and hysteria throughout the empire until Vespasion finally was acknowledged emperor. "gnawed their tongues in anguish and cursed God for their pain and sores" This is a symbolic reference to a spiritual anguish deeper than physical pain. In Wis. Sol. 17:21 it is said of the victims of the Egyptian plague of darkness: "harder to bear than the darkness was the burden of their own selves". While Christians saw "locusts with the faces of people" (evil human voices that serve Satan) all their persecutors saw was "darkness", civil war and hysteria). |
| 16:11 | And blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds. | * |
| 16:12 | 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. | 16:12-16: Plague #6:
Plague to the Euphrates (Armageddon)
This plague parallels the 6th trumpet. What the Christians saw as the 4 angels of the Euphrates releasing the two-hundred million horsemen to roam the earth with deadly powers (an attack on the empire which refuses to find its security in God alone), the Pagans will see as Armageddon. Vs. 12: "drying up of the waters" = a prelude to the empire's doom (as in Jer 50:38). "prepare the way for the Kings of the East" = to allow the invasion from the East to happen easily. The Romans lived in constant dread of the Parthian menace. This army will be seen as a human one to Pagans - but Christians know what it will really be from the 6th Trumpet. |
| 16:13 | And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. | Vs. 13: "Frogs" - these frogs signify
that this is an attack of the same order as the Egyptian plagues: a call
to the rebellious to cease rebelling against God.
"from the mouth of the beast and the mouth of the false prophet" This is the first mention in Rev. of the False prophet. People usually identify this false prophet with the Beast of the Land - and that is obviously who this prophet is. But then people usually go one step further and claim the Beast of the Sea, therefore, is the Anti-Christ. That's wrong. From 13:11 we know the Beast from the Land is the Antichrist. "three foul spirits like frogs" = a) the seductive propaganda of the imperial cult; b) the Emperor's claim to be divine; c) the river of lies from the dragons mouth. |
| 16:14 | For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. | Vs. 14: "go abroad to the Kings of the world
to assemble them for battle" The question here is: to assemble the
Kings of the world for battle on the side of Rome against something else
or to assemble the kings of the world for battle against Rome itself?
Remember that the angel is smoothing the way for these Kings from the East to invade, and Rome feared invasion from the East. These Eastern Kings are joining with the Kings of the world against Rome. |
| 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. | * |
| 16:16 | And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon. | Vs. 16: "they assembled them" - the Kings
of the East assembled the Kings of the world (no other explanation of this
makes sense).
"Armageddon" |
| 16:17 | 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. | Scene 7: Plague 7 (16:17-21)
Plague to the air (Devastation)
Vs. 17: With the emptying of the 7th bowl, God's wrath is finished, as has been said previously in 15:1. But this 7th plague is not described in detail, just as the 7th trumpet was not described in detail. "the voice from the throne" = God's voice |
| 16:18 | 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. | Vs. l8-20: At first glance, this is very peculiar;
everything on earth is destroyed, yet people are still cursing God.
Vs. 18: These are all signs of God's presence and wrath that we have seen before in Revelation. This is the "inhabitants of earth's" last chance to repent (14:6-7 - see Companion) |
| 16:19 | And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath. | Vs. 19: "the great city" = the world
powers as we have also seen before. (14:8
- see Companion)
"Babylon" = the world powers which God makes to drink the cup of his wrath (14:9-11) - see Companion) |
| 16:20 | And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. | Vs. 20-21: In these two verses we
are given a tiny glimpse at the utter destruction of everything (the 3rd
woe). The glimpse is tiny, but it is greater than the glimpse given in
the 7th Trumpet (11:14b-l8).
How can it be that God's wrath is over - yet people still curse him? Because 17:1-20:3 (the 6th major division of Revelation) at last gives a full description of the third woe (11:14b-l8) and of God's winepress (14:17-20). |
| 16:21 | And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent: and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great. |