Revelation 16b & 17

12-16 17-21 17:1-6 7-14 15-18

12-16

There is a rare agreement among all historicist that the river Euphrates is pointing to Turkish power but that is where the agreement ends. Some believe that the drying up of the Euphrates is a symbolic decline of Turkish power and the three unclean spirits are paganism in the dragon, the papacy in the beast, and Islam in the false prophet. Some believe that the battle of Armageddon is not a literal place and battle but a metaphor for the spiritual conflict in the last days. Some historicist do see Armageddon as a real battle and associate it with World War 1 and others see the three unclean spirits as communism which arose at the end of WW1, when also the Turkish Empire was defeated and ceased to exist, Judaism and Islam which have been continuously hostile to Christianity and the final war of Armageddon will be the “consummation of the arms age”.

The preterist are spit on the river Euphrates, some believe this is symbolism of defeat and it is in reference to the downfall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century A.D. The reference being that when the Persians conquered Babylon in 536 B.C. they diverted the river Euphrates, which ran under the wall of the city in order to “dry up” the river and march their troops under the wall and take the city. They would liken this phrase to the more common saying of someone’s Waterloo, which was where Napoleon was defeated. While other preterist see this as another reference to the downfall of Jerusalem in 70 A.D.

As I mentioned earlier I believe that this plague is literal and makes it possible for the kings from the east to cross the river to move into position for the battle of Armageddon. The river Euphrates gets its waters from the snow on the mountains in that region, and as a result of the fourth bowl which intensified the power of the sun, this may have melted all of that snow and flooded the river and washed away all of the bridges and modern crossings and with all of the snow melted and the flooding done the river drys up and it is cross-able on land. Again this drying up of the river is not a kindness but paves the way for the “kings of the east” to travel to Megiddo or Armageddon and face their final defeat. The vision of the frogs coming from the mouths of the dragon, beast, and prophet many see as a parenthetical vision, about the main vision but not sequential and is showing the demonic means that the nations are deceived by the dragon, beast, and false prophet. The exact names of the “kings of the east” is not given but is generally thought of as the nations to in the Orient, east of the river, China, Russia, Mongolia, Japan, India, etc. Then there is an interjection of the third of seven beatitudes in Revelation, 1:3 and 14:13 the other two so far and 19:9. 20:6. 22:7 and 14 being the others. Jesus here is reminding all the faithful left to stay awake and be prepared for his return as an encouragement for the redeemed left on the Earth in these times. After this reminder from Jesus the bible names the place of the battle between God and man as Armageddon in Greek, Megiddo in Hebrew.

17-21

This last judgment is where historicist believe that it is a future event yet to come. The preterist believe that this is the fall of Rome in 476 A.D.

I believe that this is the last judgement of God before Christs return as a conqueror and to set up his millennial kingdom. The bowl is poured out into the air which is the realm of Satan, the prince of the power of the air, signifying that this is the end of Satan’s reign on the earth except for a brief time at the end of the millennium that is short and ends with the creation of the new heavens and the new earth for eternity. After the bowl of wrath is poured out a voice from the temple in heaven exclaims “It is done!” This can only be God the Father as his presence filled the temple and no one could enter it until all of the wrath had been poured out. This mirrors the words of Jesus on the cross, “It is finished” Jesus’s finished work paving the way for repentant sinners to be reconciled to God. After the last bowl is poured out there is a transformation of the earth, lightning, thunder, and the biggest earthquake ever, literally the whole earth will be shaken. The great city is Jerusalem and it is split into three parts to be reformed into Jesus’s city: Zechariah 14:4-11 “On that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives that lies before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west by a very wide valley, so that one half of the Mount shall move northward, and the other half southward. And you shall flee to the valley of my mountains, for the valley of the mountains shall reach to Azal. And you shall flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the Lord my God will come, and all the holy ones with him. On that day there shall be no light, cold, or frost. And there shall be a unique day, which is known to the Lord, neither day nor night, but at evening time there shall be light. On that day living waters shall flow out from Jerusalem, half of them to the eastern sea and half of them to the western sea. It shall continue in summer as in winter. And the Lord will be king over all the earth. On that day the Lord will be one and his name one. The whole land shall be turned into a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem. But Jerusalem shall remain aloft on its site from the Gate of Benjamin to the place of the former gate, to the Corner Gate, and from the Tower of Hananel to the king’s winepresses. And it shall be inhabited, for there shall never again be a decree of utter destruction. Jerusalem shall dwell in security.” All of the other cities of the sinful nations will fall down as God gives his wrath in full the Babylon, and the kingdom of the Antichrist. This could be at the same time as the great battle at Armageddon and Christ’s victory or before or right after but these events will be very close to one another.

The transformation of the earth continues as the mountains are leveled and the islands disappear, and what is an island but the top of a mountain in the sea. The earth in the millennial kingdom will be restore to resemble closer to the pre-flood state, and the leveling of the mountains may leave Jerusalem as the highest point on the reshaped earth which is fitting for the city of Christ reigning. During this restructuring there will be a great hailstorm never before seen with the hail that falls from the sky weighing 100 pounds, and the unrepentant continue until their end to curse God.

There is one last interesting note on the hail from the preterist perspective, there is a passage from the historian Josephus that during the seige of Jerusalem the Roman legions used catapults to hurl white stones into the city that weighed about 100 pounds. The translation in the KJV is great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent. The Greek word translated talent or 100 pounds means being about the limit of what a man could carry 90-135 pounds.

17:1-6

Here one of the seven angels that poured out he bowls of wrath speaks to John and shows him another vision, this vision in this chapter and the next is showing in more detail the Antichrist’s empire and fall of his kingdom and is not in chronological order after the final judgement. The harlot spoken of is not an actual prostitute but a metaphor for the false religion and idolatry from the Antichrist. That the great harlot sits on many waters is referring to that the cities in ancient times were located near a source of water, the ocean, a river, lake, or spring. Babylon was located on the Euphrates river and is referred to as “you who dwell by many waters” in Jeremiah 51:13 The harlot sitting on many waters is in a position of authority like a king on his throne and is not referring to a geographical location as explained in verse 15, Revelation 17:15 “And the angel said to me, “The waters that you saw, where the prostitute is seated, are peoples and multitudes and nations and languages.” The harlot’s influence is great over all of the earth and all of the other rulers or “kings” and all of the earth follows her in acts of immorality. Then the vision changes to a wilderness, the word translated as wilderness describes a deserted, desolate wasteland like the region where modern Babylon is located. Here John sees a woman, the harlot, sitting on a scarlet beast, the Antichrist. That she is sitting on the beast indicates that he is supporting her and they will coexist for a while until the beast replaces the world’s false religions and idolatry for his own worship aided by the false prophet. Scarlet is the color associated with luxury, splendor, royalty, and also of sin and blood. This beast will be splendorous and royal, and also bloody and sinful, full of blasphemous names. The seven heads and ten horns show the extent of his alliances these heads and horns are further described in verses 9 and 10.

The harlot is clothed in royal attire, purple and scarlet with gold and jewels showing her attractiveness to the world as the embodiment of the fleshly attractiveness of sin and immorality to the unredeemed which is in the cup she holds. On her head is written what she is the mother of harlots and of the abominations of the earth. John MacArthur says that the word mystery should be part of her title to indicate that Babylon in this context does not refer to a geographical location but is the symbol of all worldly resistance to God and is great because of its far-reaching influence, an influence so great that it is called the mother of harlots and of the abominations of the Earth. She is drunk with the blood of the martyred saints and the denial of the witness of Jesus Christ, the rejection of God. When John saw this vision he wondered greatly, meaning he was confused, shocked, and frightened by what he saw of the contrastingly magnificent figure of the woman and what her intent is.

7-14

The angel showing the vision to John, sees his wonder/confusion and asks him rhetorically why as he is about to explain the woman, the beast and its horns and heads. The beast is the Antichrist and he was, and is not, and is about to come again refers to his faked death and resurrection mentioned earlier in chapter 13, after this staged resurrection he will be indwelt by a demon out of the abyss. This will cause all of the unbelieving world, those whose names have not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, to marvel and place the Antichrist in an even higher position but he is bound for destruction. The angel then tells John, and by way of his writing us, to pay close attention to what comes next, the seven heads are seven mountains or hills, which some associate with Rome because Rome was famous for being built on seven hills, but the seven mountains are further said to be seven kings, so the mountains are used metaphorically to represent rulers or powers as mountains are often used in the Old Testament to mean. Five of these rulers or empires have come and gone one of them is around, and the other is going to arise. The five that have come and gone may be Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, and Greece. The one that is there at the time of John is Rome and the one that will come after is the Antichrist’s world empire. The angel then says that the Antichrist’s empire will only be around for a little while, the time of the tribulations. That the beast was and is not, is himself also and eighth is referring to the Antichrist is the seventh but after his faked resurrection and demonic possession he will be the eighth in the sevenths body and both will be destroyed. The ten horns are ten kings or rulers under the Antichrist and their authority will be brief, one hour meaning a short time, and their purpose is to give authority to the beast, the Antichrist and do his will, including waging war against Jesus Christ at the battle of Armageddon where they will be utterly defeated because Jesus Christ is Lord of lords and King of kings.

15-18

The Antichrist, the false prophet and the other rulers will replace the worlds false religions and idolatries, eating the harlots flesh and burning her with fire, with the worship of the Antichrist as a god. They will completely destroy all practices of false religions, including atheism with his worship and those who follow him, which will be the entire unrepentant world, will take his mark willingly and knowingly.

Verse 18 is probably referring to the rebuilt city of Babylon as the capital of the Antichrist’s world empire which will be shown in more detail in the next chapter.