The Seven Bowls of God’s Wrath
The Heavenly Command
The “loud voice from the temple” occurs only here and in 16:17, stemming from the temple scene of 15:5–8 and continuing the emphasis on this as a sacred scene. It alludes to Isaiah 66:6 in the Septuagint, in which Isaiah tells the righteous remnant to “hear the voice from the temple” as the Lord “repays his enemies.” This is probably God himself speaking and commanding the angels to pour out the seven bowls containing his wrath. The wrath of God describes the contents of the bowls, and “pour out” is a technical verb for the drink offering (Exod 30:18; Lev 4:7, 18) or for sprinkling the blood in the covenant rite (Exod 24:6, 8). Jeremiah prays that God would “pour out his wrath on the nations” (Jer 10:25), so this depicts God’s wrath as a sacred drink offering and an act of temple worship.
The First Bowl: Terrible Sores
The wording “went and poured out” continues the sense of this judgment as a drink offering to God. The first bowl is poured out “on the earth.” The judgment falls only on those “who had the mark of the beast and worshiped his image” (also in 14:11; 20:4), continuing the theme that only the sinners, not the saved, are affected (3:10; 7:3–4; 9:4). This is part of the exodus motif that the people of God are spared from the outpouring of wrath (Exod 8:22–23; 9:4, 6). As mentioned in the introduction to Revelation 6, note the intensification of the seals (a quarter of the people) and trumpets (a third of the people), as the whole earth is affected. This reproduces the sixth Egyptian plague, in which terrible boils broke out on both people and animals (Exod 9:9–11). These are also the same as the sores that plagued Job (Job 2:1–13), but now it is the unrighteous who suffer. These are abscessed, ulcerous sores, handled today by antibiotics but a huge problem then. Still, medical supplies today would also be exhausted quickly, as those affected would be unable to walk, sit, or lie down without intense pain, and life in effect would come to a screeching halt.
The Second Bowl: The Sea Turns to Blood
In the second trumpet a burning mountain fell on the sea, and a third of it turned to blood (Rev 8:8–9). This plague (15:1) is much more severe, for now all the oceans “turned into blood like that of a dead person.” Death becomes a worldwide phenomenon, and “every living thing in the sea died.” The sea was the lifeblood of Rome, for its food supply but even more for commerce, since the majority of trade goods came by sea. This is tantamount to the destruction of all civilization. Such a disaster would bring down any economic system, today or in the first century. It is impossible to imagine the trillions of fish in the oceans of the world lying on top of a sea of blood. While apocalyptic imagery is symbolic, and there is certainly symbolism here, we must also remember that this took place literally at the exodus. This may well be both.
The Third Bowl: The Inland Waters Turned to Blood
This is actually closer than the second bowl to the first Egyptian plague, but again it is much more intense, as every lake and river in the world is turned to blood. The terseness of the wording here makes the universal nature of the judgment all the more powerful. The simple “they became blood” is all the more frightening for its simplicity of expression. It alludes to Psalm 78:44, “He turned their rivers to blood.” I live near Chicago among the Great Lakes, and it is hard to imagine them turned completely to blood. The devastation is beyond imagination.
A Hymn of Divine Justice
The central theme is the righteousness (dikaios) of God, but this Greek word also means “justice,” so this is affirming that the righteousness of God mandates the justice of divine punishment (see Psa 9:4, 8; 2 Chr 12:6; Neh 9:33). This could also be called a “vindication hymn,” for there is equal stress on the avenging of the blood of the saints.
This was probably the angel(s) who turned the water into blood in the previous judgments.
The angel sings in 16:5, “You are righteous/just in these judgments.” Throughout the Old Testament the rightness of God’s judgments is stressed. The judgment of the nations results from God’s holiness, and so they are at all times “just and true” (15:3; 16:7; 19:2). God is “righteous judge” (Psa 7:11; 67:4; Isa 11:4; 2 Tim 4:8), and this is the message behind this hymn. The title that follows (“O Holy One”) is another major assertion of the book, for every single act of God in Revelation flows out of his holiness (Rev 4:8; 6:10; 15:4). He is set apart and stands above the events of this world, yet his holiness demands that evil be removed from it. God’s holiness and his righteousness work together throughout Scripture (Deut 32:4; Psa 145:17; Jer 38:23), and both demand his just judgments to bring rightness back to his creation.
The next title pictures God as Lord over history, built on the threefold title of 1:4, 8; 4:8 (“the one who is and was and is to come”). As in 11:17, the third element is omitted. There is no longer any “to come,” because the final act of God has been inaugurated and the future has now arrived. God’s eternal reign has begun. Here the reason is that the final judgment has come. In the bowl judgments the final events of history have been enacted, and “future” is no more.
In 16:6, the hymn identifies what caused God’s mighty hand to fall on the enemies of God’s people: “they have shed the blood of your holy people and your prophets.” This goes back to 6:9–11, 15–17, for these are the sinners who martyred the saints there. “Shed” is the same verb as “poured out” in 16:1–4, where it was used of the pouring out of the bowls as a sacred offering to God. So the blood of the saints here is depicted as a sacrificial offering to God, exactly like the image of the souls under the altar in 6:9. This is an example of the motif of lex talionis in Revelation: They poured out the blood of God’s servants, so God is pouring out his judgments on them.
Finally, the altar responds (16:7) and affirms the justice of God’s response. In 6:9 the souls of the martyred saints cry out from under the altar, then the voice from the horns of the altar commands in 9:13–14. Now the altar itself speaks. The emphatic nai (“yes”) confirms the rightness of the judgment in 16:6 and anchors it in the person of God as “Lord God Almighty,” the primary title in the book (nine times; see 15:3). This affirms him as the omnipotent Divine Warrior and Lord of the universe. Also, in 15:3 the saints sing out, “Just and true are your ways,” while here the altar proclaims, “true and just are your judgments” (see also 19:2). The reversal of the order is deliberate and adds emphasis to both aspects. The true nature of God’s actions are grounded in his very nature as true, and this means that every judgment of this book is absolutely just.
The Fourth Bowl: The Sun Scorches People
Earlier in Revelation the sun symbolized the majesty of God in Christ (1:16), a mighty angel (10:1), and the woman/church (12:1). In the new Jerusalem there will be no more sun (21:23; 22:5). In the fourth trumpet (8:12) and here, the sun is directly involved in the judgment of sinners. In this instance we have a massive solar flare or mini-nova as God “gives” (another instance of edothē; see 6:2, 4, 8) the sun power to “scorch people with fire.” The saints were promised they would never again face the sun’s “scorching heat” (7:16), but their persecutors face much more than a sunburn!
The most grievous aspect is not the punishment but their reaction to it. As they are severely burned, they respond not with repentance but instead “curse [literally ‘blaspheme’] the name of God.” This fiery judgment is a particularly severe warning, and when they not only reject it but blaspheme in return, their guilt is obvious. This term is used only two places in Revelation—here and in 13:1, 6 (the beast)—so they are depicted as joining the antichrist in blasphemy. This is the very God who “has authority over the plagues,” namely who proved to the nations his power and justice via these judgments. So when they refused to “give him [the] glory” (14:6–7) he alone deserved, there was nothing left but the great white throne judgment of 20:11–15.
The Fifth Bowl: The Beast’s Throne in Darkness and Pain
In 13:2 the dragon gave the beast/antichrist “his power and his throne and great authority.” Yet it was a finite and temporary gift, for the dragon knew “his time is short” (12:12), and in 16:17 at the seventh bowl the throne of God will counter, “It is done!” This event in fact inaugurates the demise of the antichrist’s throne. The antichrist’s kingdom is short-lived, and the darkness into which it is plunged is a foretaste of the eternal darkness awaiting it. The readers of John’s day would have seen this throne and kingdom to be the Roman Empire, so we are to think of the antichrist’s reign as the revival of an unholy Roman Empire.
The beast’s kingdom is “plunged into darkness” in 16:10, reenacting the ninth Egyptian plague of total darkness covering Egypt for three days (Exod 10:21–29). As such it intensifies the fourth trumpet judgment, in which darkness reigned for a third of the day and night (Rev 8:12). It was called “a darkness that can be felt,” in which “no one could see anyone else or leave his place” (Exod 10:21, 23). The results of this bowl judgment are even more intense, for this darkness produces torment as people “gnaw their tongues in agony.” This is closely connected to Jesus’ metaphor for eternal punishment—“darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matt 8:12; 22:13; 25:30). These are idioms for intense pain, and the purpose here is to provide a harbinger of the final judgment.
Yet again the sinners “blaspheme the God of heaven” and “refuse to repent” (16:11). As Pharaoh continually hardened his heart against God, so the earth-dwellers become more and more adamant in their hatred of God and his people. The pain did not drive them to their knees but stiffened their spines against God. Note the emphasis upon “their deeds” (NIV, “what they had done”). As in 2:22 (“their works”) and 9:20 (“the works of their hands”), this focuses not just on their mindset but on the actions that result. People’s thoughts always flow out into the way they live their lives. God will act on the basis of the way people have enacted his laws in their lives.
The Sixth Bowl: Preparation for the Final War
This bowl consists of the drying up of the Euphrates (16:12), the gathering of the kings of the earth for a final battle (16:13–14), a parenthetical warning from Christ (16:15), and the gathering of the kings for Armageddon (16:16).
The Euphrates is called the “great river” because it was the largest river in that part of the world (2,000 miles long). Here the Euphrates dries up, reenacting the drying up of the Red Sea so Israel could cross to safety (Exod 14:21–22; see also Josh 3:13–17). Isaiah saw in this a prophecy that the Euphrates would dry up to allow the righteous remnant to escape their enemies (Isa 11:15–16; 44:27). The Euphrates was the eastern boundary both for the land God gave Israel (Gen 15:18; Deut 1:7–8) and for the Roman Empire.
Euphrates dries up (16:12). Rather than the demonic horsemen of chapter 9, the drying up of the Euphrates here allows “the kings of the east” to cross. Geographically, these would be the Parthians, a series of warlike tribes that inhabited the territory of ancient Babylon. First-century readers would be thinking of a Parthian invasion of Rome, a possibility that would strike fear into all Romans. However, this is not an invasion, for these kings join the forces of the antichrist against the Christians, likely alluding to Gog and Magog in Ezekiel 38–39 (see Rev 20:7). This is not a war against Rome; it is just the opposite. These kings cross the boundary not to destroy Rome but to join Rome. The kings from the east coalesce into the kings of the whole earth, and this becomes preparation for Armageddon (16:16).
So the message is symbolic, describing the final war that is the subject of this judgment in 16:14, 16. It depicts the entire world joining the antichrist in his war against the followers of Christ, and these kings here become the 10 kings of 17:12. The positive crossing of the Red Sea as a deliverance of God’s people is reversed here in the drying up of the Euphrates to make way for an invasion that seeks the annihilation of God’s people.
False trinity calls rulers (16:13–14). Here, in a sense, the false trinity finally reacts to the series of divine judgments poured out upon their empire. They are now gathered together for the first time. The dragon (12:3–9, 13–18) is Satan, the supreme antagonist of God and his people. The beast (13:1–10) is the antichrist, the earthly persona (in effect, son) of the dragon. The false prophet (13:11–18) is the religious head of the new occult one-world religion intended to focus all humanity on allegiance and worship of the dragon and the beast. This is the “great apostasy” of Mark 13:6, 22; and 2 Thessalonians 2:3. Jesus predicted false prophets as signs of the end of the age in Matthew 24:11, 24 (see also 2 Pet 2:1; 1 John 2:18; 4:3).
In calling the world’s rulers to join them, the false trinity sends “three impure spirits that looked like frogs.” Frogs were unclean creatures featured in the second Egyptian plague (Exod 8:1–15). The mouth to the ancients symbolized royal proclamation, so this is an official summons from the counterfeit “king of kings” to the world’s rulers. These are the “kings” who commit adultery with the great prostitute (17:2) and reign under her rule (17:18), the “ten horns” who submit their authority to her (17:13).
The purpose is to “gather them for the battle,” namely the cosmic war (19:19—there will be a second battle after the millennial reign, 20:8). This end-of-the-world battle was predicted in the Old Testament (Ezek 38–39; Zech 12–14; Joel 2:11; 3:2) and here is described as “the great day of God Almighty” (also Rev 6:17, “the great day of their wrath”). It is “great” because it culminates the plan of God that existed “before the creation of the world” (Matt 25:34; Eph 1:4; Rev 13:8; 17:8). Then Almighty God will prove his sovereign power and bring this world to an end.
Christ issues a warning (16:15). The importance of this warning is seen in the fact that Christ the Lamb speaks directly and abruptly to them. It is undoubtedly occasioned by the unparalleled danger the saints are facing in light of this final war. Alertness is desperately needed, and the danger of failing to persevere has reached new depths. The image of Christ “coming like a thief” is a New Testament theme (Matt 24:43; 1 Thess 5:2–4; 2 Pet 3:10) stressing the unexpected nature of the second coming and the danger of being unprepared.
This is the third beatitude, after 1:3 and 14:13. The problem is like that of the two weak churches: spiritual sloth as at Sardis (“stays awake” = 3:2) and shameful nakedness as at Laodicea (“remains clothed” = 3:18). Both images are spiritual failures and demand readiness for Christ’s return. This warning pictures the sinful churches being exposed by God, with nakedness a symbol of judgment. This imagery is found in the Old Testament: Isaiah went about “stripped and barefoot” as a prophetic parable of the judgment Israel was facing (Isa 20:1–4), and Ezekiel depicts Israel as an adulterous wife about to be handed over to Assyria to be stripped naked for her sins (Ezek 23:29). So the believers are warned to remain faithful to Christ and remain ready for his return.
Kings gather (16:16). The false trinity called the kings and their armies to the final battle in 16:13–14; now they gather at the place for the battle. “Armageddon” literally means “Mount” (har) “Megiddo” (megiddon), but the problem with identifying this place is that there is no “Mount Megiddo.” Megiddo is an ancient city in northern Palestine in the Valley of Jezreel or Esdraelon. It is ringed by hills, but it is only a city and a plain. Many suggestions have tried to make “Armageddon” a literal reference to this place, such as that this is a general reference to the whole area, not just the town. But it is hard to imagine how an army the size of the one described here could ever gather in so small an area.
So most likely this is symbolic. The symbolism might be based on the etymology of the word itself, perhaps “mountain of assembly” (= Mount Zion in Isa 14:12–14) or “marauding mountain” (= Babylon). But that is rather speculative. Instead we should begin with the connection of Megiddo with warfare, since so many battles were fought there (Judg 4–5, 7; 1 Sam 31; 2 Kgs 23; 2 Chr 35). It is also associated with the obstinate opposition of the world to God and his people, with the primary background being Gog and Magog (Ezek 38–39) and the mourning of the apostate nation in Zechariah 12:9–14, who here represent all the nations who have broken covenant with God. Thus the message in the name “Armageddon” would be that all who stand against God will mourn as they face God’s wrath. It stands for the assembly of all the sinful nations arrayed against God and his people as they come together in defiance to make war against God and the Lamb.
The Seventh Bowl: Cosmic Judgment
This bowl effectively brings history to a close and concludes both the time of silence at the seventh seal (8:1) and the arrival of the final kingdom in the seventh trumpet of Revelation 11:15–19. It is likely that the storm theophany of this judgment is the same one as that in the sixth seal (6:12–14).
This bowl is poured out “into the air” and completes the earthly judgments on the land (16:1–2), water (16:3–4), fire (16:8), and air (16:17). The voice comes “from the throne,” which makes this the only place where heaven, temple, and throne are juxtaposed in judgment. This is the supreme eschatological moment when all the forces of God come together to finalize God’s plan for this world and remove evil so that eternity can begin.
The voice of God from the throne proclaims the eschaton in electrifying simplicity with one word in the Greek: gegonen! This term means “it has happened” or “it has come to pass,” and God’s final kingdom has now arrived. This culminates the process launched with Christ’s cry on the cross, “It is finished” (John 19:30). The stages of inaugurated eschatology, the initiation of the end-times process, have now been consummated. This does not mean that there are no events yet to take place, for there is still the return of Christ, his earthly reign, final judgment, and the coming of the new heaven and new earth, namely the events of Revelation 19–22. That final end is stated in 21:6 when God repeats, “It is done.” The two declarations frame the final events. The declaration here in 16:17 concludes the judgments that initiate the end (the seals, trumpets, and bowls), and 21:6 concludes the eschaton itself with the new creation.
Following the announcement of the end, there is a storm theophany and earthquake in 16:18–19a. A theophany is a manifestation of God in which he physically appears in an event. This is also called “the shaking of the heavens” (see the commentary 6:12–14) and takes place often in Scripture, with the seminal event at Sinai (Exod 19:16–18) and several repetitions (Isa 13:9–13; Ezek 32:6–8; Joel 2:30–31). This is the last of several cosmic storms in Revelation (4:5; 8:5; 11:19) and has the most extensive coverage of the four. The lightning, thunder, and earthquake are part of the Sinai imagery and a new exodus theme, with this signifying the launch that leads to the final exodus at the return of Christ.
This is the first time an earthquake is called “great” in the book, though the hailstorm in 11:19 was “great.” The comment that nothing “like it has ever occurred since humankind has been on the earth” is reminiscent of the Olivet Discourse, when Jesus spoke of the days of tribulation as “unequaled from the beginning, when God created the world, until now” (Mark 13:19). Both go back to Daniel 12:1 in the Septuagint, “a tribulation such as has not happened from the beginning of nations until now.”
The earthquake is so severe that “the great city split into three parts” (Rev 16:19), recalling 6:14 where it shook “every mountain and island from its place.” As I said at 11:8, the great city is an amalgamation of Rome with apostate Jerusalem and in essence is the capital city of the antichrist’s empire. Primarily it is Babylon/Rome (as in 18:10, 16, 18, 19, 21). The “three parts” indicates the totality of the devastation, and the added comment that “the cities of the nations fell/collapsed” shows the worldwide impact of this judgment. It anticipates the great white throne judgment of 20:11–15 as every city and person of the evil empire “falls,” as in the fall of Babylon the Great in 14:8; 18:2–3.
The reason for the complete destruction of the seventh bowl is given in 16:19b: “God remembered Babylon the Great” and her crimes against everything holy and good. In Scripture, to remember is to act. God in this sense has those crimes brought to his mind by the angels who bear the bowls and bring the prayers of the saints to him (8:2–5). As God remembers the suffering of his people and the depraved deeds of the nations, his wrath is kindled (14:10–11) and pours forth in just retribution (16:5–7; 18:6). The sins of Babylon the Great are being paid back in full.
The effects of the cosmic storm continue unabated in 16:20–21. As already noted, this recapitulates the storm of the sixth seal, where “every island and mountain were removed from its place.” Here the islands “flee” and the mountains “disappear.” This continues in 20:11, where we are told, “The earth and the heavens fled from his presence, and there was no place for them.” Such disappearances are common in apocalyptic literature (Isa 2:12–18; 45:2; 1 Enoch 1:6–7; 4 Ezra 15:42) and make way for God’s restoration of peace and order in his creation.
The hailstorm in 16:21 provides another judgment motif (8:7; 11:19), drawn from the seventh Egyptian plague and signifying divine judgment on the enemies of his people (Exod 9:13–35, see Josh 10:11). These hailstones weigh about 100 pounds, which would be a hailstone 17.6 inches in diameter. The Guinness record for the largest hailstone in recorded history is 2.25 pounds on Bangladesh on April 14, 1986, and the largest in US history fell on Coffeyville, Kansas on Sept 3, 1970 (1.671 pounds, 5.26 inches in diameter). If a literal event, this is the worst storm in the history of the world.
Yet once more the sinners refuse to repent (see Rev 2:21; 9:20–21; 16:9, 11). Instead, they blaspheme God for the judgment he has sent. Their blasphemy is because “the plague was so terrible,” that is, the pain was incredibly severe. They focused not on the message regarding their own guilt or on the proof of God’s sovereignty and power, but only on their present pain. They are still narcissists who care only about themselves and their pleasures. So they blame God and not their own actions that lay behind the just penalty for their sins. Here are no more opportunities to repent. They are at the end of their ropes, and destruction is their only future.
As the final of the three judgment septets, the bowl judgments intensify the seals and the trumpets and end at the eschaton. Here the justice of the divine judgments is evident, as the world that has turned against God and his people receives exactly the justice it has earned with its vile deeds. God is in charge and allows evil to come full circle, participating in its own destruction. Still, God gives all humankind an opportunity to repent; he is merciful as well as just. These judgments are redemptive in that, like the Egyptian plagues, they disprove the earthly gods and show that God alone is sovereign. There is salvation only in him. Now God’s earthly judgment is complete, and all that remains is the final destruction of the evil empire. The Day of Yahweh and of the Lamb is soon to arrive.
This final set of seven judgments culminates and intensifies the others, affecting the whole earth and bringing to completion the earthly judgments of God. It contains the same themes as the others—the absolute justice of God, his sovereignty over creation as he dismantles his created order and makes way for the “new heaven and new earth” of 21:1, the redemptive nature of his judgments as they give the sinners a final chance to repent, the total depravity of those who refuse to repent. So the central portion of the book (Rev 6–16) comes to an end, and the final events are initiated. All that remains is the final destruction of the evil empire of the beast (chapters 17–18) and the final events that end world history and lead into eternity (chapters 19–22).