Revelation 16

 Revelation 16:1-2

God’s Final Judgment.

Bowls of Wrath

 

Beginning in chapter 16 are the 7 bowls of God’s wrath poured out! Here in chapter 16, we find the most intense / frightening / horrifying information in the Bible, apart from the verses on hell and eternal damnation. It is not pleasant to consider these verses, but it is God’s truth and He led us here, for terrible things are coming to this sinful world.

Here is the climax of the Great Tribulation, and for the saved it is nothing but good news for us and motivation to reach others and to know the signs of the times. Here is the pouring out of the 7 bowls of wrath from the throne of God Himself!

        For 6,000 plus years God has been offering grace, mercy, and salvation, but not in that day! Here in chapter 16 are God’s 7 final judgments on those who rejected Him.

 

Verse 1.

¹ Then I heard a mighty voice from the Temple say to the seven angels, “Go your ways and pour out on the earth the seven bowls containing God’s wrath.”

Verse 2.

² So the first angel left the Temple and poured out his bowl on the earth, and horrible, malignant sores broke out on everyone who had the mark of the beast and who worshiped his statue.”

 

The 7 bowls are poured out upon the earth 1 by 1. Each angel has a precise target: oceans, freshwater, sun, atmosphere, mark of the beast upon the skin of man. These are literal plagues, and God’s signature is all over them, compared them to Exodus’ plagues.

Compared with Exodus 9:8-10:

⁸ And the LORD said to Moses and to Aaron, take to your handfuls of ashes of the furnace, and let Moses sprinkle it toward the heaven in the sight of Pharaoh.

⁹ And it shall become small dust in all the land of Egypt and shall be a boil breaking forth with blains upon man, and upon beast, throughout all the land of Egypt.

¹⁰ And they took ashes of the furnace and stood before Pharaoh; and Moses sprinkled it up toward heaven; and it became a boil breaking forth with blains upon man, and upon beast.”

The plagues of Exodus became historical facts, and so will the plagues of Revelation!

          The 7 bowls are poured out upon the earth 1 by 1. Each angel has a specific target.

Bowl 1. Verse 2. Something like leprosy.

Bowl 2. Verse 3. “As blood.”

Bowl 3. Verses 4-7. Fresh water is the target of this plague.

Bowl 4. Verse 8. Greatest heat wave.

We will go through each of the 7 individually in coming weeks, for now, consider the three cups of salvation.

 

God’s grace, God’s mercy, God’s justice, they are all attributes of God!

Grace: Receiving something good from God which you do not deserve.

Mercy: Not receiving something bad from God which you do deserve.

Justice: Receiving exactly what you deserve.

There are three cups of salvation:

Cup of Grace. Matthew 26. As Christ prayed in the Garden.

Cup of Mercy. Psalm 116:13 “I will take the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the LORD.” The only way we can be saved is by His mercy.

Cup of Justice. Revelation 16:19-21. This cup is brim-full of God’s wrath.

 

Fill my cup, Lord with grace and mercy!

Four words to describe the judgment of God:

 

1.    Unwilling. God never judges willingly!

2 Peter 3 “The Lord is … not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”

If you are left behind after the rapture to suffer these horrible judgments, it will be against the will of God! He has never quickly judged, He is longsuffering, allows us time to choose / does not want robots / slaves forced to serve Him / wants volunteers! But God is holy, righteous, just, and eventually mankind cross ed the line!

 

2.    Unexpected.

Proverbs 6:12-15.

12 What are worthless and wicked people like? They are constant liars, 13 signaling their deceit with a wink of the eye, a nudge of the foot, or the wiggle of fingers. 14 Their perverted hearts plot evil, and they constantly stir up trouble. 15 But they will be destroyed suddenly, broken in an instant beyond all hope of healing.”

The rich farmer in Luke 12, was lulled into a false sense of security! God said, “You fool, this night your soul shall be required of you!” Ananias and Sapphira crossed that line and were suddenly slain!

 

3.    Unspeakable.

Matthew 24:21.

“For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.”

Words cannot describe it, it is unspeakable!

  

4.    Unnecessary.

You do not have to be there for these judgments, Jesus died in your place to save you! Do not die an unnecessary death by rejecting Christ, do not proclaim His death to have been unnecessary! You do not want to be here when God’s Bowls of Wrath are poured out, and the great news is you do not have to be!

The 1^st Angel/Bowl 1.

Verse 2.

² So the first angel left the Temple and poured out his bowl on the earth, and horrible, malignant sores broke out on everyone who had the mark of the beast and who worshiped his statue.”

 

          Perhaps these sores will resemble leprosy? Picture of sin/God has used before as method of judgment.

Numbers 13, in the case of Miriam, Moses’ sister revolted against him, challenging his delegated authority from God, knew better than him, God judged her, His anger was kindled, He gave her leprosy to show outwardly what her sin was like inwardly.

2 Chronicles 26, in the case of king Uzziah committed sacrilege, invaded the office of the priest/tried to burn incense in the temple though’ not a priest, not qualified, not ceremonially clean, he was confronted and rebuked by the priests, but he challenged their authority, and he was stricken with leprosy.

Maybe not leprosy, some say may be a sore that is “nuclear fallout” in nature. Either way, God knows, it is poured out upon the worshippers of antichrist. (Since they bear the mark of the beast, they are easy to locate!).

 

The 2^nd Angel/Bowl 2.

Verse 3.

³ Then the second angel poured out his bowl on the sea, and it became like the blood of a corpse. And everything in the sea died.”

 

          Here is plague 2: “as blood.” All the salt water is affected, and every single soul in them dies! Earlier in the Great Tribulation a 1/3^rd of waters was affected, but it was just a warning, this is much worse! Imagine with me: the picture of the world’s shorelines lined and cluttered with decaying corpses of sea life/unbearable stench, so bad that when you breathe.

So, they have these sores, and no relief, and constant nausea. Since all waters are contaminated, ocean-going vessels will come to a halt. Back in chapter 6 (3^rd seal) it was a measure of wheat for a penny = a full day’s wage for 1 meal only! But now it is much worse!

The world today does not realize how dependent they are upon God, do we? The now-salty waters of the world are God’s cleansing agent for the filth of the world, but no longer!

 

The 3^rd Angel/Bowl 3.

Verse 4.

⁴ Then the third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and springs, and they became blood.”

Compared to Exodus 7:17-18.

¹⁷ Thus saith the LORD, in this thou shalt know that I am the LORD: behold, I will smite with the rod that is in mine hand upon the waters which are in the river, and they shall be turned to blood.

¹⁸ And the fish that is in the river shall die, and the river shall stink; and the Egyptians shall loathe to drink of the water of the river.”

             

Verses 5-6.

⁵ And I heard the angel who had authority over all water saying, “You are just, O Holy One, who is and who always was, because you have sent these judgments.
⁶ Since they shed the blood of your holy people and your prophets, you have given them blood to drink. It is their just reward.”

 

          Fresh water is the next target of this plague, the only resource left, and now it is being plagued! Jesus turned water into wine, but now God turns water to blood! There is poetic justice in this!

The antichrist has shed much blood of those who refused the mark, and many through the ages before them, and now they are reaping what they have sown!

Galatians 6 “Be not deceived, God is not mocked, whatsoever a man sows, which shall he also reap!”

Exodus 1. Pharoah declared male Jewish babies would be drowned, and that is how he and his whole army died!

Esther. Haman decided to exterminate the Jews, and he wanted to start by hanging Mordecai, he sneakily devised and started the plan into motion, and how did it end? He was discovered and hung on the very gallows he prepared for Mordecai!

There are many other examples we could look at.

 

Revelation 16:2-9.

God’s Final Judgment.

 

Verse 7.

⁷ And I heard a voice from the altar, saying, “Yes, O Lord God, the Almighty,  your judgments are true and just.”

 

Who is this under the altar? Martyrs! They cry out continually, how long until you judge them? Here they cry, “Lord, you have avenged us!”

          Now the fourth angel is seen:

 

The 4^th Angel/Bowl 4.

Verse 8-9.

⁸ Then the fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, causing it to scorch everyone with its fire. 

⁹ Everyone was burned by this blast of heat, and they cursed the name of God, who had control over all these plagues. They did not repent of their sins, turn to God, and give him glory.”

 

          Greatest heat wave in history, truly global warming! So unbearable that bodies will be scorched, a foretaste of hell right here on earth, with no water to drink, mind you! At the very least many thousands will die of thirst, heat exhaustion, skin sores, etc.

The sun refused to shine for 3 hrs. while Jesus was on the cross, but here it is intensified!

The Old Testament prophets talked of this plague:

Deuteronomy 32:24 “They shall be burnt with hunger, and devoured with burning heat, and with bitter destruction.”

Isaiah 24:6 “Therefore has the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore, the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left.”

Few left? Fact is no one would be left if God did not supernaturally control it.

Matthew 24:22 “And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved.”

Some think that means the Great Tribulation will be shortened, but no, not true, God said 7 years! The only interpretation is that some literal days will be shortened! Just think on this every day, yes, every day will get even worst for those on the earth.

Think about this: we are already seeing in nature some things science cannot explain:

Frequency/intensity of earthquakes, 100-fold increase last century!

Famines/pestilences/diseases (Covid/monkeypox).

Hurricanes intensity even inland previously thought impossible

Luke 21:11 “And great earthquakes shall be in divers’ places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.”

Luke 21:25-26 “And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring;

Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.”

          Can you see the signs of the times? All God would have to do to create this development is to remove one layer of the atmospheric blanket He currently protects us with! You would think that would break men? But not so!

 

Verse 9b.

⁹ Everyone was burned by this blast of heat, and they cursed the name of God, who had control over all these plagues. They did not repent of their sins, turn to God, and give him glory.”

 

          They know there is a God, no doubt, He is proven Himself, yet in their agony the last thing on their mind is repentance, but rather they curse Him, hate Him! This is very revealing about the wicked heart of mankind!

Do not ever think that judgment brings men to repentance, it only rarely does! If God’s love does not bring them, His wrath likely will not!

          Those in hell are not begging to be saved, they curse, blaspheme God, gnash teeth (snarl in face of God!) Once you die your character is forever fixed!

Revelation 22:11 “He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.”

The unsaved continues to sin in hell, rebel all he can, and his hatred toward his judge continues forever!

This is a true description of hell! Verse 9.

A passage like this also ought to affect our prayers, call us to spend more time praying for names that are lost than those that have earthly problems. We would not wish these things in chapter 16 on our worst enemy, let alone family, friends, neighbours, co-workers!

A passage like this should affect us to ask people if they are saved, how they know, etc.!

 

The 5^th Angel/Bowl 5.

Verse 10-11.

¹⁰ Then the fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and his kingdom was plunged into darkness. His subjects ground their teeth in anguish.”

¹¹ and they cursed the God of heaven for their pains and sores. But they did not repent of their evil deeds and turn to God.”

Compared to Exodus 10:21.

²¹ And the LORD said unto Moses, stretch out thine hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness which may be felt.

 

A plague of supernatural darkness just like in Moses’ time in Egypt, so thick you could feel it / drive to insanity! This darkness will settle over kingdom of antichrist.

          This plague is God’s way of saying to the world: you could have followed the light, but you have chosen darkness

Christ is the “Bright Morning Star.”

Satan is the “Prince of darkness.”

 

Revelation 16:10-21.

God’s Final Judgment.

 

The 6^th Angel/Bowl 6.

Verse 12.

¹² Then the sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great Euphrates River, and it dried up so that the kings from the east could march their armies toward the west without hindrance.”

    

2 keys: River Euphrates / kings of the east.

          Why target the river Euphrates with a plague? The prominence of this river in the Bible is extraordinary: mentioned in Genesis, and here in Revelation, and elsewhere in the bible

It is the approximate location of the garden of Eden, and here the battle of Armageddon. The cradle and the grave! This is modern-day Iraq, Iran, Syria, ancient Babylon!

Israel is the nation most often mentioned in the Bible. But coming in a close 2^nd place is Iraq! However, that is not the name that is used in the Bible. The names used in the Bible are Babylon, Land of Shinar, and Mesopotamia. The word Mesopotamia means between the two rivers, more exactly between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers.

The name Iraq means country with deep roots. Indeed, Iraq is a country with deep roots and is an especially important country in the Bible. 

Here is why:
Eden was in Iraq = Genesis 2:10-14.
Adam and Eve were created in Iraq = Genesis 2:7-8.
Satan made his first recorded appearance in Iraq = Genesis 3:1-6. 
Nimrod established Babylon and the Tower of Babel was built in Iraq = Genesis 10:8-9; 11:1-4. 
The confusion of the languages took place in Iraq = Genesis 11:5-11. 
Abraham came from a city in Iraq = Genesis 11:31; Acts 7:2-.4 
Isaac's bride came from Iraq = Genesis 24:3-4.
Jacob Spent 20 years in Iraq = Genesis 27:42-45; 31:38. 
The first world Empire (Persian) was in Iraq = Daniel 1:1-2; 2:36-38. 
The greatest revival in history was in a city in Iraq (Nineveh, now Mosul, 3^rd largest city in Iraq) = Jonah 3. 
The events of the book of Esther took place in Iraq

The book of Nahum was a prophecy against a city in Iraq

The book of Revelation has prophecies against Babylon, which was the old name for the nation of Iraq = Revelation 17-18.

 

Plague 6. The waters of the Euphrates are dried up! 1,800 miles long / over ½ mile wide many places / 30 feet deep many places! Dried up for specific reason: kings of the east!

          Almost all Bible scholars agree this is a reference to an Asian coalition, led by none other than red China! This is a full-scale invasion of the west, coming from the east, unprecedented in history!

The Euphrates has been like an invisible line, a barrier. The Euphrates River is the far eastern border of the land God promised to Abraham. God keeps His promises! But here in the tribulation all bets are off!!

          Now an army of 200 million soldiers is mobilized, and on the move! China may lead the way, but throw in some others:

Arab/African Confederacy = Daniel 11 “Kings of the south”!

Russians = Ezekiel 38-39 “Gog and Magog” in Daniel called “Kings of the North”!

Conservative estimates say there will be at the very least 300 million soldiers involved, probably more! No wonder the Bible says the blood will flow for 200 miles as deep as a horse’s bridle! It will take 7 months just to bury the dead!

 

Verses 13-14. “Working miracles.”

¹³ And I saw three evil spirits that looked like frogs leap from the mouths of the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet. 

¹⁴ They are demonic spirits who work miracles and go out to all the rulers of the world to gather them for battle against the Lord on that great judgment day of God the Almighty.”

      

          Have you noticed how miracle-hungry our world has become? We are obsessed with the supernatural: faith healer, new age mysticism and the occult / tv shows on angels, ufo’s / area 51 The people of our world are being set up / the pump is being primed / there is a concerted effort in the spirit world to give people a limitless appetite for miracles so this unholy trinity will be viewed as miracle-working gods!

 

Verse 15. 

¹⁵ “Look, I will come as unexpectedly as a thief! Blessed is all who are watching for me, who keep their clothing ready so they will not have to walk around naked and ashamed.”

 

Here in the middle of all of this we have this warning! 

 

Verse 16. 

¹⁶ And the demonic spirits gathered all the rulers and their armies to a place with the Hebrew name Armageddon.^”

 

          The battlefield is ready, and the greatest fight this world has ever seen.

 

The 7^th Angel/Bowl 7.

Verses 17-21. 

 

The atmosphere is the target of this final plague.

Verse 17. 

¹⁷ Then the seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air. And a mighty shout came from the throne in the Temple, saying, “It is finished!” 

 

I like this because it destroys the very last trace of Satan’s abiding place! 

Ephesians 2:2 “prince of the power of the air.” This plague destroys every nook and cranny of Satan’s dwelling place! Air is the preferred method of war today, bombs and rockets from miles away in the air.

        This plague is tied to Armageddon, so it is reasonable to think this is a massive air exchange / full scale nuclear war perhaps, with most or all nations of the world emptying their weapon stockpiles. And the result is this huge earthquake.

          Verse 17 reminds us of what Jesus said on the cross: “it is finished” every sin was paid for / judged, and if you get in on that it is finished, you will not have to face this judgment!

 

Verse 18. 

¹⁸ Then the thunder crashed and rolled, and lightning flashed. And a great earthquake struck—the worst since people were placed on the earth.”

 

What else in the natural realm could cause this kind of earthquake than that?! This is tectonic / cataclysmic / seismic / volcanic, all rolled into one! Then every major city of the earth is leveled! Capitals only? Or anything with skyscrapers / height?

 

Verse 19. 

¹⁹ The great city of Babylon split into three sections, and the cities of many nations fell into heaps of rubble. So, God remembered all of Babylon’s sins, and he made her drink the cup that was filled with the wine of his fierce wrath. 

 

Imagine the great cites of the world being leveled to the ground / judged in one fell swoop!

 

Verse 20.

²⁰ And every island disappeared, and all the mountains were leveled.”

 

The mountains also disappearing, sinking into the heart of the earth.

The climax includes the raining down of hailstones in weight over 100 lbs. each!

 

Verse 21. 

²¹ There was a terrible hailstorm, and hailstones weighing as much as seventy-five pounds fell from the sky onto the people below. They cursed God because of the terrible plague of the hailstorm.”

Compared to Exodus 9:22-23.

22 And the LORD said to Moses, stretch forth your hand toward heaven, that there may be hail in all the land of Egypt, upon man, and upon beast, and upon every herb of the field, throughout the land of Egypt.”

23 And Moses stretched forth his rod toward heaven: and the LORD sent thunder and hail, and the fire ran along upon the ground; and the LORD rained hail upon the land of Egypt.”

 

They blasphemed despite all of this! As they will in eternity!

 

We would not wish these things on our worst enemy, much less those close to us, in our circles!

 

          This is the end of chapter 16.