Wednesday Night Bible Study of Revelation
Chapter 16:1-17
We will begin chapter 16 which give the judgments and their effects on mankind. This is an overview of what will take place in chapters 16 thru 19. It will introduce us to the awesome judgments about to begin during the Tribulation Period.
The notion of God’s wrath is not always a welcome subject to most Bible readers, but its reality as a clear-cut teaching of both Old and New Testaments is inescapable. The reality of evil, the reality of human freedom, the righteousness of God, and the longing of God to have creatures, who though distinct from Him as real creatures, nonetheless freely relate to Him in trust and love, make inevitable the notion and reality of God’s wrath. A righteous God responds to those who persist in their evil refusal to acknowledge their rightful Lord.
This is where many churches have failed. They do not teach and preach the holiness of God, His disgust and hatred for sin and the sinfulness of man. They seem to take the approach that it is just a sign of the times, which is true, but the sign of the times does indicate a certain fearful and awful judgement on the earth and its occupants that will not repent and give God the glory He alone deserves.
Each of these seven angels has a specific “target” for the contents of his vial. The earth-dwellers have already suffered from the seal and trumpet judgments, but this final series of judgments will climax God’s plan, leading to Babylon’s fall and Jesus Christ’s return to earth.
Verses 1 and 2 The first judgment “And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, Go your ways, and pour out the vials of wrath of God upon the earth. 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.”
That word for “noisome” is the Greek word kakos and it means “evil, wicked, a sinful affliction. The words grievous sore means diseased sore. So, we can see this first vial or bowl judgment will result in all those with the mark of the beast and worshipping him to receive a wicked and evil diseased sore on their bodies. By the way this will be much more severe, painful and bothersome than the boils that Job experienced.
This plague will be similar to the sixth plague in Egypt when Moses was trying to have the Hebrews set free. At that time, God afflicted the Egyptian people with tumors, festering sores, and itching skin. The whole land, all the Egyptians, and even the animals were affected.
The effect of the plague of boils upon the Egyptians was to harden their hearts, and a like effect will be produced upon the followers of Anti-Christ by the plagues that shall follow the pouring out of the vials, for we read in verse 9, that men will blaspheme God, and refuse to repent. From this we see that suffering alone does not lead to repentance.
The reason why the sixth Egyptian plague is the first here is because it was directed against the Egyptian magicians, so that they could not stand before Moses; and so here the plague is sent upon those who in the beast worship, had practiced sorcery. As they submitted to the mark of the beast, so they must bear the mark of the avenging God (contrast Revelation 7:3; Ezekiel 9:4, 6). We find in chapter 9:21 and later in 18:23, those practicing sorcery would not repent of their evil life-styles.
Verse 3 The second vial or bowl judgment “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.”
It should be noted here that it does say “as the blood of a dead man.” There are many scholars that use that phrase to show that this isn’t literally blood, but as blood. However, if we examine Exodus 7:19-21 we find that the water was indeed turned into blood. “And the LORD spake unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Take thy rod, and stretch out thine hand upon the waters of Egypt, upon their streams, upon their rivers, and upon their ponds, and upon all their pools of water, that they may become blood; and that there may be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in vessels of wood, and in vessels of stone. 20 And Moses and Aaron did so as the LORD commanded; and he lifted up the rod, and smote the waters that were in the river, in the sight of Pharaoh, and in the sight of his servants; and all the waters that were in the river were turned to blood. 21 And the fish that was in the river died; and the river stank, and the Egyptians could not drink of the water of the river; and there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt.”
We also should look at Revelation 8:8-9 where we found in an earlier lesson these words “And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood; 9 And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed.
God had no problem in turning water into actual blood in those instances and I don’t find any reason to doubt that He has done it again but on a larger scale.
The clue to understanding this is that we should not put the emphasis of understanding on “as of the blood of a dead man (“as of the blood”) but rather on the blood as of a “dead man.” In other words, it was or will be literal blood but it will be blood as of a dead man, stinking and decaying in rottenness. There is nothing wrong with blood, it is the life stream of every living creature. It is only when the creature dies that the blood becomes putrefying and rancid.
Then we also find in verse 4 a further argument for it actually being blood.
Verses 4-7 The third vial or bowl judgment; 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 o 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 judgements.
Just as the third trumpet made “a third of the waters” bitter (8:11), so the third bowl extends the judgment of the second bowl on the sea to rivers and springs and they became blood (16:4). John heard the angel in charge of the waters proclaim that God the Holy One is just in His judgments (verse 5). God’s work in turning the waters to blood is in response to the shedding of the blood of saints and prophets (verse 6). This is echoed by a word from the altar declaring the judgment is just.
I think that it is interesting to note that it mentions an “angel of the waters.” This would seem to imply that there are angels assigned to various components of nature. We saw in a previous chapter and verse where four angels held back the four winds of heaven (7:1).
This angel of the waters praises God for this judgment and explains that it is a fair one. The people of the earth have shed blood, so they must drink blood. We see this law operating throughout the Bible. Pharaoh drowned Hebrew boys, so his army was drowned in the Red Sea. In the Book of Esther, Haman built a gallow to hang Mordecai, and Haman and his sons were hanged on it instead! Note that in verse 7, the souls under the altar are now satisfied; God had answered their prayers and vindicated them (6:9).
The bloody waters will be God’s response to the shedding of the blood of the Tribulation saints and the Old Testament prophets. The Old Testament plainly says, “You shall not murder”, and Jesus clearly said, “All who take the sword will perish by the sword.” It is a hard truth, but these unbelievers will get what they have coming to them. It is bad enough to ignore the Bible, but it is even worse to turn one’s back on the mercy of God at the same time. Those who shed blood will be forced to drink it.
William Malgo writer for “The Midnight Call] says this “We can only grasp the full extent of this judgment when we consider the reason for it. If the voice of the blood of one single person who was murdered [Abel] cries to the Lord, how much louder must the blood of all the innumerable murdered people cry to heaven?” Think of the many murders in Indianapolis only.
Verses 8-9 The fourth vial judgment “And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun, and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire. And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory.
The first three judgments affected mankind due to the plagues of gruesome sores, and the affliction of the waters of the earth.
The judgments from the fourth and fifth angels involve the heavens and yet still affect mankind. The fourth angel causes the sun to scorch men. This is a sharp contrast with the trumpet judgment in 8:12, where a part of the sun was darkened. In this case, God allows the sun to burn men, to give them, as it were, a foretaste of hell. This is the day Malachi promised would “burn as an oven” (Malachi 4:1–2). Did sinners repent? No! Such is the hardness of the human heart! This just shows how much mankind loves their sin. It is an addiction that they cannot get rid of and neither do they desire to.
The Bible Knowledge Commentary says this “This judgment focused the intense heat of the sun. In response people cursed God and refused to repent (cf. verse 11). By contrast, the fourth trumpet (8:12) darkened a third of the heavens but did not include additional intense heat. It is clear from this and other prophecies that dramatic changes in climate will occur in the Great Tribulation.
I might add this, “global warming” will indeed be real and not be the result of human causes.
Verses 10-11. The fifth vial judgment “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 tongued for pain, and blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds.”
This judgment was directed toward the beast’s throne, imposed darkness on the earth, and inflicted painful sores on people. Again, they cursed God and refused to repent. This is the last reference in Revelation to a failure to repent. Man’s failure to repent has brought these judgements on themselves.
The fifth bowl is similar to the fifth trumpet (9:1–11) in that both will bring darkness, but the fifth trumpet has to do with demon activity as well as physical pain.
The throne of the beast is the one spot where Satan’s power resides on earth. Up to this point, nothing will touch the throne of the beast, but now God will center on Satan’s earthly seat of power.
This bowl judgment is similar to the fifth trumpet and the ninth plague upon Egypt, with one exception: it will cover the entire earth. The darkness will be so thick that it will cause intense psychological pain to people already in physical agony due to festering boils and burning flesh. This will cause them to gnaw their tongues due to pain. This is a preview of the outer darkness of hell that unbelievers will suffer (Matt.25:30). It is also a preview of the intense heat of hell and the lake of fire that is their future. They will continue to blaspheme the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores and will not repent of their deeds. Multitudes will want to take a cold shower and wash their painful sores, but they will only be able to shower in blood. Those involved in the blood bath of Christians will experience the wrath of God by bathing in blood or not bathing at all. Neither option is good. If mankind will not be covered by the blood of Jesus in mercy and grace, they will be covered by blood in judgment.
The sixth vial judgment verses 12-16 “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 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 the false prophet. 14 For they are the spirits of devils, working 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 they see his shame. 16 And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.
Taken as a whole, the sixth bowl of the wrath of God is preparation for the final act of judgment before the Second Coming, and is the later stage of development related to the river Euphrates, anticipated earlier (Rev. 9:14). The time factor between the sixth trumpet and the sixth bowl is comparatively short.
There is much in these verses that we need to key in on. From here to the end of this chapter we see many differing thoughts and teachings. We will go slowly so that these different thoughts can be explored. Of course, we need to remember that it is not what man thinks but what God says and does that matters. We may not be sure just how God will accomplish His outworking in the last days but we can be sure that it will be accomplished just as He says it will.
So, let’s begin with verse 12; the drying up of the great river Euphrates. To begin with, there are some scholars that take the River Euphrates as symbolic of a different river. Some say that it is in reality the river Tiber. Their reasoning is that Babylon is the symbolic name for Rome and that this then would equate the river Euphrates in a symbolic way to the river Tiber. While there may be some credence to Rome being symbolically the ancient kingdom of Babylon, there is no reason to equate the Euphrates River with the Tiber River.
This is related to the great river Euphrates because this is the water boundary between the Holy Land and Asia to the east. While the implication is that the water is dried up by an act of God, the fact is that dams have been built across the Euphrates River in this century to divert water for irrigation so that there are times even today when there is little or no water in the Euphrates. The Euphrates River is frequently mentioned in Scripture (e.g., Genesis 15:18; Deuteronomy 1:7; 11:24; Joshua 1:4). However, I do not believe that the drying up of this river is due to man-made efforts but rather it will be an act of God on nature.
The next topic is the “kings of the east.” The Bible Knowledge Commentary reports that in a survey of 100 commentaries of the Book of Revelation reveals at least 50 different interpretations of the identity of these kings of the East.
Over the years, I have been taught that these kings are from China. It has been reported by the Chinese leaders that they could field an army of 200 million men. This number of course relates to chapter 9: 14-16. But there is a fly in the ointment. We find that the word here is “kings” plural. There is only one king in China, and that is the chairman of the Communist Party. However, it should be noted also that there are many other nations of the East besides China. Of course, there is Japan, Korea, India, and other smaller nations such as Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, and all of Indonesia; and we need to remember that God says that He will bring all nations against Israel.
The second thought is that these “kings of the East” are nations directly east of Israel; Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Jordan, etc. that have Islamic people and ideals and the hatred to do away with Israel. Here again, much speculation that we will not know until the Lord returns for us in the rapture.
Verses 13-14 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 the false prophet. 14 For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world to gather them to the battle of the great day of God Almighty.
“The unclean frogs” John was then given a symbolic and comprehensive view of the preparation for the final bowl of God’s wrath. He saw three evil spirits that looked like frogs coming out of the mouths of Satan (the dragon) and the two beasts (Antichrist and the false prophet.
One need not speculate on the identity of the three frogs, for verse 14 explains that they are spirits of demons performing miraculous signs. These demons go throughout the world influencing kings to assemble for the battle on the great day of God Almighty. This is proof that demonic influence under the direction of Satan, undermines the Governments of the world.
This verse is where we get the term “False Prophet.” We can only speculate about the froglike appearance of these demons. It should be noted that the Egyptians worshiped Heka, a frog-headed goddess. She is one of the oldest goddesses who was said to have demonic powers.
The second plague on Egypt during the days of Moses was a plague of frogs. We know, too, that frogs are connected with the occult. Witches are often portrayed with frogs and use them in their spells. Frogs breed in mire and muck and are a symbol of uncleanness.
Demons are real and will be very busy during the Tribulation Period. This provides insight as to why militant Muslims believe they can trigger the Battle of Armageddon and win. These demonic spirits will even persuade this county to betray Israel and join in the battle.
Verses 15-16“Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame. And He gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.”
Christ’s return is often compared to the coming of a thief. It implies suddenness and unpreparedness as far as unbelievers are concerned. Just as Christians are not to be surprised by the Rapture of the church (1 Thessalonians 5:4), so believers at the time of the Second Coming will be anticipating His return. Blessing is promised to the one who is prepared for the coming of the Lord by being attired in the righteousness or clothing which God Himself supplies.
There are two thoughts on this; that yes, there will be some believers that manage to escape the fury of the Anti-Christ and his people. This then will be directed at those at that time;
And two, this is a warning to those alive during the age of grace or the church age. This warning is aimed at the rapture and we should all be living like Jesus could come at any moment.
Satan, knowing that the second coming of Christ is near, will gather all the military might of the world into the Holy Land to resist the coming of the Son of Man who will return to the Mount of Olives (Zechariah 14:4). Though the nations may be deceived in entering into the war in hope of gaining world political power, the satanic purpose is to combat the armies from heaven (introduced in chapter 19) at the second coming of Christ.
Verses 17-21 belong in content to chapter 17. We will begin there next week with verses 17-21.
I would like to point out that even though man’s sin is great and hateful in God’s sight, man will not repent. It says that they will not repent in verses 8,9 and 11.
Of course, this is relating to unsaved people in that time period. We know from scripture that God commands that all unsaved people to repent and be saved.
However, is repentance for saved people also? Do Christians need to repent of known sin? Do our sins somehow not offend a holy and righteous God?
Does the indifferent, luke-warmness, self-satisfied attitudes toward the church by many Christians not offend Jesus that died and gave Himself for it and purchased it with His own blood?
Does not the lackadaisical, spiritless, lazy and compromising approach by many pulpits not offend God?
Listen to what Spiros Zodhiates writes in his notes; The Christian’s faithfulness to his or her tasks and responsibilities in the world is considered of such paramount importance that the same metaphor, the “outer darkness” was used by the Lord to indicate the punishment of the unbeliever for his rejection of God’s salvation is used of the believer who does not live in obedience to the light he has received. In the case of the unbeliever, it will be a punishment of fire and burning, in the case of the believer, it will be weeping or expressing sorrow over not having used the opportunities God provided. Though his tears will be wiped away, he will nonetheless suffer a loss of reward.” Unquote.
If anyone thinks there is no need for the churches to repent, perhaps we need to go back to chapters 1 thru 3 to see what the message was for six of the seven churches.
Maybe it is time for us to repent too?