Revelation Chapter 16

Verse 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.[1]

A great voice – In some translations it reads a loud voice. As we often see in Revelation, John hears a voice from heaven that is not identified, however, this time the voice comes directly out of the temple. It is best understood then, that this is the voice of God.

To the seven angels – These are the same seven angels with the seven bowls/vials we saw last chapter.

Go your way – They are now being commanded to pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth. These are the ending judgements of the great tribulation.

Each round of judgement have gotten harsher as we get closer to the second coming of Christ. In this chapters judgements, the final judgement will have a lot more finality with it than anything we’ve seen. As we read of the seven judgements, we will notice that each one begins by telling us what is affected.

Verse 2

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.[2]

The first went – This verse contains the judgements from the vial of the first angel.

Upon the earth – The angel with the first vial will target the earth.

Noisome and grievous sore – These sores are similar to those in the plagues of Egypt. Noisome and grievous tells us these sores are both ugly and painful.

Upon the men which had the mark of the Beast, upon them which worshipped his image – The wrath of God targets those who take the mark of the beast and give worship to him instead of worshipping God. In another similarity between this judgement and the Egyptian plagues, the plagues in Egypt affected only those of Egypt and not the Israelites. Likewise, this plague affects only those who took the mark and not the sealed of God.

Verse 3

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.[3]

Second angel, sea – This is the second judgement, and it affects the sea. This also corresponds to the first trumpet judgement which affected a third of the sea and killing a third of life in the sea. This judgement is much more final, killing all life in the sea. It is said to be poisoned, and the result looks like it is as the blood of dead men. I can imagine that there is some literal aspect to this as well, as every living creature being slaughtered at once may literally give off the appearance of blood.

Verses 4-7

4 And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters; and they became blood. 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. 6 For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink; for they are worthy. 7 And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments.[4]

Verse 4

Third angel, rivers and fountains of water – Also after the manner of the trumpet judgements, the third bowl judgement affects the drinking waters. As with the last judgement, where it was said only a third was affected, now all drinking waters become polluted/poisoned and are turned to blood.

Verse 5

Heard the angel say – After pouring out the judgement, the angel responds by praising God.

Thou art righteous, O Lord – In some versions, this is translated Holy One, and carries the idea that He alone is Holy. The angel then address God as which art, and wast, and shall be, which is a title for God introduced several times earlier in the book.

Because thou hast judged thus – The act of judgement is what prompts this worship, because God is judging and condemning the sin and evil ways of this world. In the next verse, it will be further declared why these acts and judgements are righteous.

Verse 6

For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets – This kind of resembles a “you will be punished in the way you sin” type way. What makes the judgements righteous is that they so readily were willing to shed the blood of innocent people, of the saints and prophets, Gods people. They wanted blood, and now they have blood.

Thou hast given them blood to drink – In response then to the blood which they shed is they now have blood to drink. The idea here is rather, they have death to drink. Just as when the sea turned a third blood, a third of life died, and then the sea turned complete blood and all life died, so then, blood represents death here, and they have death to drink. John does not record that there are any deaths from this plague, however, and that may be simply because the other plagues come so swiftly there is no time for death to occur because of this plague. In addition, with no water to drink, the other plagues would have to come quick, as there would be no reason to delay any further.

Verse 7

In this verse there is confirmation from Heaven, from the altar, confirming that the judgements of God are true and righteous.

Verses 8-9

8 And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire. 9 And men were bscorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory.[5]

Verse 8

Forth angel, the sun – The fourth plague affects the sun. Unlike in our trumpet judgements, which made the lights go out for a third of the day, this judgment turns up the heat, scorching, it says, the earth as with fire. We are discussing heat waves and temperatures that we have never recorded before.

Imagine this, for a moment if you will – In the last week or so, you have been given open and painful wounds all over your body, the entirety of the oceans food supply has perished, you have zero drinking water, and now, you are faced with the highest heat wave, hotter than any other day in earths history, and this heatwave is worldwide. By the way, we still have three judgements to go, but imagine this is what you have survived in the last week. Now that we have imagined this, let’s look at verse nine.

Verse 9

Yet they blasphemed the name of God, and refused to repent and worship Him – Ouch! Despite all they have gone through, the blasphemed the name of God who has power over the plagues. You can contrast this to the saints who lifted up their prayers to God that He use His power to protect them, verses those who are being judged by Him refusing to repent nor worship Him.

I would like to think if I had lived through this, I would reconcile my actions with these judgements and repent immediately.

Verses 10-11

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, 11 And blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds.[6]

Verse 10

Fifth angel, throne of the beast – This next judgement is directed at the beast and his kingdom.

Full of darkness – This has been difficult for interpreters in almost every commentary. Are we referring to darkness, such as in Egypt, that could be felt? Are we referring to elimination of artificial lights? Or perhaps, are we referring to darkness vs light in terms of enlightenment vs confusion? This becomes slightly difficult to interpret, because, unlike with the trumpet judgement that specifically states the sun, moon, and starts are smitten for a third, this makes no mention.

The best interpretation, using scripture as our guide, is a literal darkness over the beasts kingdom. We get this due to the fact that the devils proto kingdom, Egypt, experienced literal darkness, the land experienced literal darkness at the death of Christ, and the land experienced literal darkness in the trumpet judgements.

Verse 11

Just like the fourth judgement, John records here the people who have an inappropriate response to the judgement. Rather than repent of their evil, they curse the righteous God of heaven and continue in their evil ways. They are so occupied with their pain, they could not see the glory of heaven if it was before their eyes. Again, you would like to think that this much pain and suffering would awaken them to their sinful state, but they would rather curse God for bringing the judgement rather than change and escape judgement.

Verses 12-16

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. 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 sthe false prophet. 14 For they are the spirits of devils, tworking 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. 15 Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and cthey see his shame. 16 And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.[7]

Verse 12

The sixth angel, the great river Euphrates – The next judgment comes in great detail and will dry up the river Euphrates, preparing the way for war. There have been few times in the Biblical history where a body of water was dried up, for example, the Red Sea crossing, Crossing into the promised land in Joshua, and a diversion of the Euphrates when Cyrus temporarily dried a portion up to lay siege on Babylon.

It is unclear who the kings of the east refer to. In over a hundred commentaries, there are over fifty different ideas of who this could be. One possible explanation, based on the threats of the first century could refer to Parthians, who constantly threatened land but was always stopped by the natural boundary formed by the river.

The last time we saw the river mentioned, in the trumpet judgements, power was given to slay a third of earths population. The idea now is that the river will dry up and threaten the beast and his government. In the first century, the drying of the river would have been cause for the people to fear, but in the end times, this shall be cause for the devil to fear.

Verse 13

The unclean spirits to come from the mouths in this verse come from this unholy trinity. The last time frogs are mentioned in the Bible is in the exodus account during the plagues of Egypt. Frogs were considered unclean, prohibited as animals for food, and were slimy. I associate their slime with the phrase “slimy liar”.

Verse 14

Spirits of devils – More literally, they were demonic spirits. As the devils are already spirit, they cannot thus have spirits. They have a job to do, and that is to perform miracles with the purpose of arousing the kings of the earth and the population to enter into war. They will use lies and false miracles, even perhaps greater than the fake resurrection of the antichrist, to lead the worlds people into battle – although, I often wonder why deceit is needed to convince people to war in the culture of that day.

Great day of God Almighty – They battle they will enter into is the great day of God Almighty. This is the final day, when everything ends. On this day, Christ will confront the sinners and earth directly and physically as He goes to war with the nations of the world. (This battle will take place in chapter nineteen, but hardly any time will pass between this chapter and that. The next chapter is more a vision explaining the leading up to the battle to John and to us.)

Verse 15

In this verse, we see Christ speak directly and openly for the first time since the fourth chapter of the book.

I come as a thief – Christ reminds us that no one knows exactly when He is coming back. It will be as a thief, unexpected, and unannounced. Whenever you hear someone predicting when Christ will return, they should be dismissed. As we see signs of the end, we should refrain from predicting the day and instead focus on what Christ says next.

Blessed is he that watcheth – We should continue to watch and be prepared for the coming of the Lord that we may

Keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame – keep our garments. The garments here is being clothed in the righteousness of Christ. We should concern ourselves more with running the race and holding steadfast in Christ and not find ourselves naked and outside of Christ. We do not want to find ourselves ashamed when Christ returns.

Verse 16

There is no clear reference in the Old Testament or ancient writing as to where Armageddon is or what the phrase means. The closest name in the OT is Megiddo, but there is no clear evidence to link the two together.

Verses 17-21

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. 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. 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. 20 And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. 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.[8]

Verse 17

Seventh angel, into the air – The final judgement and plague on the earth is poured into the air. The air at this point is the only remaining substance vital to life that has not been attacked, and now too, it is being judged.

Voice out of the temple of heaven – This is the same voice from the beginning of the chapter. This is the voice of God out of temple.

Saying, it is done – With the seventh trumpet judgement, it was announced the ending judgements were coming swiftly and with the seventh bowl judgement, it is announced that it is done. With this judgement, which we will see in detail in a moment, the earths inhabitants will have received the wrath of God.

Verse 18

Voices, thundering, lightnings – We have seen this, and the earthquake mentioned next, happen several times. Each time, the severity of these events have become increasingly more drastic, until this final moment. Once again, these point to the events happening during the time God was present talking to Moses at Sina.

Great earthquake – One of the final events in the history of mankind is an earthquake so great there was none such as was not since men were upon the earth. This will be the greatest earthquake, and there shall not be a number on our scales so high as to measure this earthquake.

Verse 19

This verse describes the falling of Babylon and the gentile nations of the world. It says that Babylon came in remembrance before God. This statement is sad, and is an echo to the first time God remembered, with Noah, his family and the animals on the ark, the entirety of what remained of the earth. As God remembered Noah in mercy, He now will remember Babylon in wrath, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.

Verse 20

So great was this earthquake that every island fled (melted away) and the mountains shook so hard they toppled and were found no more. For the first time since the flood, when water covered everything and nothing could be found, now again, the islands and mountains are lost. Zechariah 14:10 says the land will be turned into a plain.

Verse 21

There fell great hail – These stones, about the weight of a talent, weigh nearly one hundred us pounds. This is crazy! One hundred pound chunks of ice falling from the sky, onto whoever and whatever has already survived poisoned food, poisoned water, sores, scorching heat, darkness, poisoned air, and this great earthquake. If there had been any chance in surviving a hit from these ice chunks prior, there would be little chance of anything surviving a hit from this ice now. These chunks of ice are likely as big as a small sedan, and will destroy everything in their paths.

And men blasphemed God – Many times a week I get asked the following question – How could you claim to follow a merciful God who condemns the souls of humans to hell for eternity? And this here explains why. A person, who is so caught up in their sin that they refuse to repent and continue to blaspheme God after all this, they will never repent. They will stay eternally sinful.

With the completion of this final plague, we are finished reading about the judgements poured out on the earth. Next week we will set the stage for the war between Christ and this world government and in chapter nineteen this war will finally take place.

[1] The Holy Bible: King James Version. (2009). (Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version., Re 16:1). Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.

[2] The Holy Bible: King James Version. (2009). (Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version., Re 16:2). Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.

[3] The Holy Bible: King James Version. (2009). (Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version., Re 16:3). Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.

[4] The Holy Bible: King James Version. (2009). (Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version., Re 16:4–7). Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.

[5] The Holy Bible: King James Version. (2009). (Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version., Re 16:8–9). Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.

[6] The Holy Bible: King James Version. (2009). (Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version., Re 16:10–11). Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.

[7] The Holy Bible: King James Version. (2009). (Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version., Re 16:12–16). Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.

[8] The Holy Bible: King James Version. (2009). (Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version., Re 16:17–21). Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.