The End Times Series: Chapter 16
The Seven Bowl Judgments
The Seven Bowl Judgments
No introduction is needed for this chapter, since chapter 15 has already prefaced it. The time sequence of the seven bowl judgments is synonymous with the last half of the Tribulation.
The seven angels, each holding a bowl containing the judgments that are about to fall on the earth, seem reluctant to cast forth their bitter judgments. However, they are obedient to the voice of God when He speaks: “Go, pour out the seven bowls of God’s wrath on the earth.” These bowls constitute what the Lord Jesus referred to as the “great distress [KJV tribulation]” (Matt. 24:21), or the last forty-two months of the Tribulation period.
Wild and fanciful ideas have been offered through the years as a means of symbolizing or spiritualizing these judgments. There is no scriptural basis for such symbolism. In fact, four of these seven judgments occurred literally in Egypt among the ten plagues and have never been accepted by credible Bible teachers as anything but literal. In addition, part of the sixth judgment, that of drying up the Euphrates River and producing frogs, was also literally fulfilled during the history of Israel. Frogs were generated as one of the plagues of Egypt, and both the Red Sea and Jordan River were rolled back so that God’s people could walk forth on dry ground. Therefore, nothing new will be transpiring when God dries up the Euphrates River in order that the kings of the East may march over on dry ground. If the plagues of Egypt were literal (and they certainly were), why should we not expect these awful judgments likewise to be literal? We will now examine the judgments individually.
“The first angel went and poured out his bowl on the land, and ugly and painful sores broke out on the people who had the mark of the beast and worshiped his image” (Rev. 16:2). This first bowl judgment introduces grievous or painful sores upon human beings. Dr. Wilbur Smith notes that the same word used here for “sore” was used by the Old Testament translators of the Septuagint for boils in the story of the Egyptian plagues. For this reason many have called it the plague of boils. This judgment delineates two essential points:
1. The time-when Antichrist is worshiped. Further confirmation that the three judgments-the seals, the trumpets, and the vials-are sequential, not concurrent, as some Bible teachers suggest, is clarified in the time of this judgment. Antichrist will not be set up as the object of worship until the middle of the Tribulation period. This judgment will fall on the human race because of their worship of Antichrist, which can only occur after the middle of the Tribulation (see ch. 13). The time of this judgment, then, will probably commence within the first one to three months of the second half of the Tribulation period.
2. The recipients-beast worshipers. The selection from among the peoples on the earth is clearly seen in this passage: Only those containing the mark of the beast and worshiping his image will be selected for those awful sores. This indicates that God in His marvelous grace will not bring judgment on believers during this latter half of Tribulation, but will protect them as He did the Israelites during the plagues of Egypt. This further confirms our assumption that in the previous judgments, when He slays 25 percent and one-third of the world’s population, He will exempt believers.
“The second angel poured out his bowl on the sea, and it turned into blood like that of a dead man, and every living thing in the sea died” (Rev. 16:3). In this one short verse we encounter a catastrophe predicted for the earth that is almost beyond human comprehension. We have already seen that God will cause a third part of the sea to turn to blood during the second trumpet, but this second bowl includes the entire sea.
It does not take much imagination to see that when all living creatures in the seas die, they will float to the top, their decaying bodies discharging an unbearable stench and inaugurating potential disease. This judgment may well interfere with commercial shipping and send whole populations into confusion as people grope for an adequate supply of water, not to mention destroying what is left of the fish industry.
The third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and springs of water, and they became blood. Then I heard the angel in charge of the waters say:
“You are just in these judgments,
you who are and who were, the Holy One, because you have so judged;
for they have shed the blood of your saints and prophets,
and you have given them blood to drink as they deserve.”
And I heard the altar respond:
“Yes, Lord God Almighty,
true and just are your judgments.”
(Rev. 16:4-7)
The third bowl, a sequel to the second, carries with it an interesting explanation as to why God will permit it. God will destroy the only remaining sources of water, the rivers and fountains or springs of the deep, by letting them turn to blood. Whether this means literal blood is inconsequential, for if Christ can turn water to wine, He certainly can turn water to blood. What is significant is that it will become corrupt blood, which will breed disease and pestilence.
One of the basic needs of humankind is water. Unless God provides water from another source or engineers by some process can turn this corrupted water into pure water, the world will be in a state of riot and confusion, seeking this necessity of life.
The book of Revelation reveals interesting things from time to time about the activity of angels in this universe. It seems that, in addition to other functions we have already noted, a special angel is assigned to the waters. This angel will speak when his waters are turned to blood, proclaiming the justification for such an awful miracle, for Antichrist will have put so many Christian martyrs to death that he will deserve exactly what he receives. His quest for the blood of Christians during the first half of the Tribulation will result in his water supply turning to blood in the last half. This is God’s earthly vindication of the suffering martyrs from earliest times to the present, answering the prayers of the souls under the altar in Revelation 6.
The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and the sun was given power to scorch people with fire. They were seared by the intense heat and they cursed the name of God, who had control over these plagues, but they refused to repent and glorify him.
(Rev. 16:8-9)
The consistency of the sun, in that it rises every morning and sets every evening, producing light and heat for us according to the seasons of the year, affords a great sense of security to all people. During the Tribulation, when the fourth bowl is poured out on the earth, the human race will contend with a sun-induced heat wave the like of which has never been experienced. Even though a third part of the sun will be darkened, that which is left will be so powerful that it will scorch people “with fire.”
We have all lived through acute heat waves at one time or other, but we endure them because night comes to cool things somewhat, and eventually the distressing season passes away. Even so, many deaths result through heart attacks or heatstrokes during such periods, and those not so afflicted are still miserably uncomfortable. Such will be the case during the Great Tribulation; but when we add the effect of this excruciating heat on the corrupt waterways and rivers, we find people almost tasting the torments of hell described by Jesus in Luke 1623-24, without water to satiate their thirst.
One would think that this experience will drive people to their knees in repentance to the God of creation. Instead, in this chapter is found the first of three occasions when people “cursed the name of God … but they refused to repent and glorify him.” This illustrates the most severe rebellion and hostility to God’s will found anywhere in the annals of human history.
The best commentary on this judgment comes from the pen of the prophet Malachi, who, when speaking of that same day, described it with these words:
“Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and that day that is coming will set them on fire, “says the LORD Almighty. “Not a root or a branch will be left to them. But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. And you will go out and leap like calves released from the stall.”
(Mal. 4:1-2)
God promises hope even in that dreadful time for those who “revere my name,” for there is “healing in its wings.” God in His marvelous grace seems in every age to provide supernaturally for those who put their trust in Him.
The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and his kingdom was plunged into darkness. Men gnawed their tongues in agony and cursed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, but they refused to repent of what they had done.
(Rev. 16:10-11)
The fact that the fifth bowl introduces darkness may be the singular expression of God’s mercy to the rebellious citizens of the earth during the Tribulation period. Following the great heat wave occasioned by the fourth bowl judgment, it may significantly give relief to human flesh.
This is a special judgment that seems to center on the headquarters of Antichrist, for it is poured out on “the throne of the beast, and his kingdom was plunged into darkness.” The seat of the beast will probably be the rebuilt city of Babylon during the Tribulation, the center of all commerce, religion, evil, and government.
Two things indicate that this darkness will prevail for some time on the earth: the predictions of other prophets, and the effects on human beings.
This judgment, a repetition of the ninth plague of Egypt, is to be understood literally:
Woe to you who long
for the day of the LORD!
Why do you long for the day of the LORD?
That day will be darkness, not light. (Amos 5:18)
Who can withstand his indignation?
Who can endure his fierce anger?
His wrath is poured out like fire;
the rocks are shattered before him.
… but with an overwhelming flood
he will make an end of Nineveh;
he will pursue his foes into darkness. (Nah. 1:6, 8)
That day will be a day of wrath,a day of distress and anguish,
a day of trouble and ruin,
a day of darkness and gloom,
a day of clouds and blackness.
(Zeph. 1:15)
Christ’s own prediction was: “But in those days, following that distress, ‘the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light.’“ (Mark 13:24).
The effects on people, described in Revelation 16:10 (“Men gnawed their tongues in agony”), indicate that the relief from the heat will soon produce an exasperating, frustrating darkness. If you have visited Carlsbad Caverns or Mammoth Cave, you know what true darkness really is when absolutely no light is available. We may forecast that human ingenuity in producing electricity may solve this problem, but we must remember that the water supply produces electricity, and with the tampering of the water supply, as seen in the second and third judgments, people may be incapable of continuing to draw electrical power and illumination from the rivers and bodies of water.
These judgments are so clearly supernatural that everyone will know that they descend from the God of heaven. But instead of falling down before Him to become the recipients of His mercy, people only “cursed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, but they refused to repent of what they had done.” They not only blaspheme God, but refuse to change their ways. Let it be understood that those who reject the Lord do so not because of philosophical doubts or unexplained answers to unanswered questions, but as a result of hardness of heart and love for sin.
The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up to prepare the way for the kings from the East. Then I saw three evil spirits that looked like frogs; they came out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet. They are spirits of demons performing miraculous signs, and they go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them for the battle on the great day of God Almighty.
“Behold, I come like a thief! Blessed is he who stays awake and keeps his clothes with him, so that he may not go naked and be shamefully exposed.”
Then they gathered the kings together to the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon.
(Rev. 16:12-16)
The sixth bowl judgment comes in two parts: (1) the drying up of the Euphrates River, which will be a preparation for the “battle on the great day of God Almighty”; and (2) the tremendous demon forces that will bring the rebellious armies of the world to the Valley of Megiddo for the purpose of opposing the Lord.
The Euphrates River, one of the most prominent rivers in the Bible, since the dawn of human history has stood as a natural barrier between East and West. To those of the Western world, the peoples living east of the Euphrates River have been shrouded in darkness, while all the time their numerical superiority has been building up. The Euphrates River is the eastern border of the land God gave to Abraham (Gen. 15:18). It is about eighteen hundred miles long and so large that it forms a natural barrier against the armies of the world. Most people are not particularly conscious of the fact that it served as the eastern border of the Roman Empire. The sixth bowl judgment will dry up that river to make way for the “kings from the East.”
The Kings From the East
The booming population explosion of the nations of the East has produced a new interest in Bible prophecies concerning “the kings from the East.” Actually, there is little information on the subject. The literal rendering of the expression is “the kings from the sunrising,” a reference to the kings from the Oriental nations of the world. Since it refers to them en masse, it indicates that they do not amalgamate or lose their identity (for they are “kings”), but instead form a massive Oriental confederacy. This confederacy may be preparing to oppose Antichrist, whose capital lies in Babylon, but because of the lying tongues of the demons we are about to study, they will be brought across the Euphrates River on the side of Antichrist in opposition to Christ.
One of the many signs that indicate we may be approaching the end times and the fulfillment of these prophecies in Revelation is the rise of China and her massive army. Not only does she have a population of more than 1,200,000,000, but she can field an army that some estimate at two hundred million. However, since 50 percent of the world’s population will have been killed by this time, it will be much smaller. What is important is that in preparation for the movement of the armies of the world to go down into the Valley of Megiddo against Jesus Christ when He returns in His Glorious Appearing, China is already moving in the political direction that will make it possible for her to do what Revelation indicates she will during the Tribulation: march over the Euphrates River to participate in the Battle of Armageddon. Such an action would have been considered impossible just sixty years ago. Today it is not only feasible, but with her Communist-inspired obsession to take over all of Asia and perhaps even the entire world, it may be feasible. Just another suggestion that “the time is near.”
Three Froglike Deceiving Spirits
The second part of the sixth bowl judgment reveals the three unclean froglike spirits that will come from the mouths of the devil, the Antichrist, and the False Prophet. These deceiving spirits, by working miracles before the “kings of the whole world,” will trick them into coming together for the “battle on the great day of God Almighty.” After the five preceding judgments of God, the earth will be in such a chaotic shambles economically, socially, and religiously that kings of the earth will not be prepared to do battle with anyone. Only by this supernatural spirit of deception on the part of Satan, the Antichrist, and the False Prophet will they be able to summon the kings and the armies of the world to the final conflict against God and His Christ. The timing of this event must be the very last days of the Tribulation, since the next bowl concludes the Tribulation with the destruction of Babylon.
Armageddon
“The battle of Armageddon” is an expression often used to describe the decisive battle between Antichrist and his God-hating forces of the earth and Christ, who will consume them with the power of His mouth (Rev. 19:11-16). Actually, it is more proper to call this “the battle on the great day of God Almighty” because that is the scriptural expression. It takes place in Armageddon, which means “the Valley of Megiddo.”
The Megiddo Valley, located close to the center of the land of Palestine, offers one of the most breathtaking sights my wife and I encountered in our trip through the Holy Land a few years ago. Napoleon Bonaparte is said to have stated with deep emotion after his first sight of this great valley, “This is the ideal battleground for all the armies of the world.” Little did he realize that this prophecy had preceded him, that it will be the world’s great battleground. Actually, it has already served as the battleground of many major wars. There Barak defeated the Canaanites (Judg. 4:15), Gideon defeated the Midianites (Judg. 7), and Saul and Josiah both met their deaths. Dr. M. R. Vincent in his Word Studies in the New Testament notes:
Megiddo was in the plain of Esdraelon, which has been a chosen place for encampment in every contest carried on in Palestine from the days of Nabuchodonozor, king of Assyria, unto the disastrous march of Napoleon Buonaparte from Egypt into Syria. Jews, Gentiles, Saracens, Christian crusaders, and anti-Christian Frenchmen; Egyptians, Persians, Druses, Turks and Arabs, warriors of every nation that is under heaven have pitched their tents on the plain of Esdraelon, and have beheld the banners of their nation wet with the dews of Tabor and Hermon.30
What could induce the kings of the earth to concentrate their forces on that one spot in such an enlightened generation? The only answer is the devastating power of the lying, froglike spirits that go forth from the satanic trinity of Satan, the Antichrist, and the False Prophet during the last days of Tribulation. Dr. Clarence Larkin makes a significant statement:
The power of a delusive and enthusiastic sentiment, however engendered, to lead to destruction great hosts of men is seen in the Crusades to recover the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem. If a religious fanaticism could, at nine different times, cause hundreds of thousands of religious devotees to undergo unspeakable hardships for a religious purpose, what will not the miracle working wonders of the “froglike demons” of the last days of this Dispensation not be able to do in arousing whole nations, and creating vast armies to march in all directions from all countries, headed by their Kings, for the purpose of preventing an establishment of the Kingdom of the King of Kings in His own Land of Palestine?31
Christ’s Challenge to Tribulation Saints
Verse 15 is our Lord’s challenge to any saints still living during the closing days of the Tribulation. He will come as a thief to the ungodly world not prepared for Him, and as He challenges believers of all generations to be faithful, so in those closing days He will challenge His servants whom He has supernaturally preserved from the effects of the previous judgments to continue faithful to the very end. This little parenthetical thought reminds us again of the faithfulness of our God to all those who look to Him for the manifestation of His mercy and grace.
With the armies of the world gathering together in the Valley of Megiddo, the Lord will give one last challenge to His saints; then the time will be prepared for the final judgment to be poured out on the earth.
The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and out of the temple came a loud voice from the throne, saying, “It is done!” Then there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder and a severe earthquake. No earthquake like it has ever occurred since man has been on earth, so tremendous was the quake. The great city split into three parts, and the cities of the nations collapsed. God remembered Babylon the Great and gave her the cup filled with the wine of the fury of his wrath. Every island fled away and the mountains could not be found. From the sky huge hailstones of about a hundred pounds each fell upon men. And they cursed God on account of the plague of hail, because the plague was so terrible.
(Rev. 16:17-21)
When the seventh angel pours out his bowl into the air a voice will be heard from the Temple of God before the throne, conveying a most welcome message: “It is done!” It is most welcome because it signifies the consummation of the Tribulation, the conclusion of the day of God’s wrath on the ungodly, the end of the time of Jacob’s trouble.
This final judgment of God will appear in the form of the world’s greatest earthquake, one that “has [never] occurred [like it] since man has been on earth.” It will destroy “the great city,” meaning the city of Babylon, the capital of the world at that time, splitting it into three parts. In addition, “cities of the nations collapsed,” meaning that the cities of the world will be wiped out. In addition, every island will vanish and the mountains will not be found. This will indicate a complete renovation of the earth, which may be a fulfillment of 2 Peter 3:10, which predicts that the entire earth will be destroyed and “the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.”
If this were not enough catastrophe, great hailstones, weighing about 135 pounds each, will come down out of heaven. It is difficult for us to conceive of hailstones that large or of the devastating effect they will have on the people they will hit. Dr. David L. Cooper draws attention to “what the Lord said in Job 38:22, 23. He has filled His armory full of hail and snow ‘against the time of trouble, against the day of battle and war.’“ More details of this catastrophe will be seen in Revelation 18 under the detailed destruction of the city of Babylon and in chapter 19 with the coming of Christ on the white horse to conquer the earth and subdue it.
Humanity’s Perennial Rebellion Against God
Already we have seen people refuse to repent on two different occasions in the face of these judgments. The last thing to be noted in the present passage is the hardness of the unsaved, unregenerate heart: “And they cursed God on account of the plague of hail.” It is hard to conceive of human beings so rebellious that they will lift their faces in final defiance to God even in the face of such disaster. All hopes and dreams will be ended with the ultimate consummation because people will have chosen to worship Antichrist.
In conclusion, it is important for us to understand the purpose for all this judgment. The citizens of the Tribulation who take the mark of the beast and worship his image will break the first four of the Ten Commandments. Jesus said that we are to love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our mind; “this is the first … commandment.” Exodus 20 lists the commandments: (1) Have no other gods before me; (2) you shall not make for yourselves an idol; (3) you shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God; (4) remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.
None of these commandments will be kept by the inhabitants of the Tribulation. The judgments of God on humankind will appear primarily because instead of worshiping Him, they worship Antichrist. Instead of worshiping God in spirit and truth through His Son Jesus Christ, they will fashion an image and fall down and worship it. Instead of worshiping in speech and word, they will “curse God.” God has said, “I will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.” The fact that they do not remember the Sabbath day or any day is further confirmation of their unregenerate, atheistic, godless hearts. Every individual who refuses to acknowledge the coming judgment of God on the unregenerate should study this chapter of Scripture. It not only clearly depicts God’s intended plan for the coming Tribulation people, but also reveals His plan to judge people for eternity.