The Fifth Vision - The Seven Bowls

Revelation 16:1-21

Then I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, "Go, pour out the seven bowls of God's wrath upon the earth." The first angel went and poured our his bowl on the land, and ugly and painful sores broke out on people who had the mark of the beast and worshiped his image. The second angel poured out his bowl on the sea and it turned into blood like that of a dead man, and every living things in the sea died. 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 Almighty, true and just are Your judgments!" 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. 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. 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 say 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 the Lord 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. 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 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.

"Then I heard a loud voice..." - The voice of command sounds forth, not from the "temple" (NIV) but from the sanctuary of the tabernacle (cf. Revelation 15:5). Although the speaker is not specifically identified, since no one could enter the sanctuary because of the presence of God's glory (Revelation 15:8) it can be safely assumed that the voice is that of God Himself. The phrase may be an allusion to the judgment proclamation ofIsaiah 66:6 - "Hear that uproar from the city, hear the voice from the temple! It is the voice of the Lord, repaying His enemies all they deserve." The sound that is heard is "a loud voice" (Greek - "phone megale" - literally a great voice). The phrase occurs twenty times in Revelation to describe a voice that speaks with power and authority. The sound of this voice causes things to happen. The command is addressed to the seven angels from the preceding chapter. They are instructed to immediately commence their work of judgment - "Go, pour out the seven bowls of God's wrath upon the earth." The perfect "seven" serves to emphasize the fact that God's judgment will be carried out completely without omission or exception. The image of the wrath of God poured out from the libation bowl of the sanctuary is drawn from the Old Testament. In Jeremiah 10:25, the prophet prays that God would vindicate His righteousness and holiness by the destruction of His enemies: "Pour out Your wrath on the nations that do not acknowledge You, on the peoples who do not call on Your Name." Earlier in Jeremiah, God had warned: "My anger and My wrath will be poured out on this place, on man and beast, on the trees of the field and on the fruit of the ground, and it will burn and not be quenched." (Jeremiah 7:20; cf. also Lamentations 2:4; 4:11; Ezekiel 22:21-22; 30:15-16; Zephaniah 3:8). The language of Psalm 79, which combines the image of God's wrath poured out upon that nations and the perfect number seven, closely parallels the imagery of the seven bowls: ""Pour out Your wrath on the nations that do not acknowledge You, on the kingdoms that do not call on Your Name...Pay back into the laps of our neighbors seven times the reproach they have hurled at You, O Lord." (Psalm 79:6,12).

Verse 2
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.

"The first angel went and poured our his bowl..." - The sequence and the substance of the plagues inflicted by the seven bowls closely parallels that of the seven trumpets (Revelation 8:6-9:20; 11:15-19). Both the bowls and the trumpets are clearly derived from the ten plagues which God inflicted upon Egypt in the days of Moses (cf. Exodus 7:14 - 11:10). A definite progression and intensification can be observed between the plagues of the trumpets and the plagues of the bowls. The trumpet plagues were partial in their impact (i.e - the killing of one fourth of mankind (6:8), the burning of a third of the earth and the trees, and the destruction of a third of the sea, the sea creatures, and the ships (8:7-8). The bowl plagues are universal without restriction or limitation of any kind. The trumpet plagues are largely indirect, that is, they impact mankind by striking his environment. The bowl plagues afflict and destroy man himself from the outset. These differences are indicative of the general progression within the Book of Revelation. Each of the seven visions, while covering largely the same ground, focuses more clearly on the last judgment and the eternity which will ensue. That same progression is indicated by the language used to describe the bowl plagues. The introduction to the vision of the seven bowls in chapter 15 had emphasized that these are "the seven last plagues" (Revelation 15:1), thus linking the plagues to the end of time and the last judgment. The progression they present serves to remind us that God's judgments throughout time will intensify and culminate in the end of time and the final judgment.

The bowl of the first angel is poured out "on the land." The result of this judgment is that "ugly and painful sores broke out on those who had the mark of the beast and worshiped his image." The plague obviously parallels the sixth of the plagues of Egypt, the plague of boils which God inflicted upon the land (Exodus 9:8-12). It falls upon all of unbelieving mankind, described in the imagery of Revelation 13 as has been the case throughout this segment - "all those who had the mark of the beast and worshiped his image." The horror of this affliction is described in the Old Testament book of Job: "So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and afflicted Job with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the top of his head. Then Job took a piece of broken pottery and scraped himself with it as he sat among the ashes." (Job 2:7-8). The horrendous imagery does not describe a particular ailment but instead represents the totality of all the physical pain and suffering which sinful men will be compelled to endure throughout the latter days. All of the awful diseases, all of the physical pain and suffering leading up to and including physical death, all of the disfigurement and distortion of God's originally perfect design for immortal humanity which sin brought crashing down upon Adam's descendants, is represented in this gruesome image. It is, of course, true that believers must also endure all of these things here in time. But the physical suffering of those who are in Christ is transformed by the faith recognition "that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him" and "that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us." (Romans 8:28,18). That trust puts our physical suffering in an entirely different category. To be called upon to endure these horrors without the presence and promise of Christ is a tragedy which for the believer is blessedly unimaginable.

Verse 3
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.

"The second angel poured our his bowl on the sea..." - The first of Egypt's plagues saw the life giving water of the sacred Nile turned to blood (Exodus 7:14-24; cf. also the second trumpet - Revelation 8:8-9). This is not merely a transformation of color - the sea doesn't merely turn blood red. The water is changed into "blood like that of a dead man" - that is, black, coagulated and rotting with the cloying stench of death itself. In Egypt the trans-formation of the Nile to blood resulted in death of all the fish and a stench that permeated the entire country (Exodus 7:21). So also in John's imagery "every living thing died." The term "sea" (Greek - "thalassa") occurs 24 times in Revelation. In the majority of those instances it carries the symbolic connotation of the Old Testament in which the waves of the sea represent the seething chaos of sinful humanity. That would also appear to be the case in this instance. The transformation of the waters of the sea into the stinking blood of a corpse signifies the fatal dominion of death over fallen mankind.

Verses 4-7
The third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and the 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."

"The third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and springs of water..." - The third angel pours out his judgment bowl upon the world's fresh water sources. This corresponds to the third trumpet plague in which the burning star turned the world's water bitter (Revelation 8:10-11). In the first Exodus plague the blood pollution of the Nile spread to all the springs, wells, and water sources of Egypt despite the frantic efforts of the Egyptians to set aside some potable water (Exodus 7:19; cf also Psalm 78:44). The nature of the plague is clearly defined by the angel's comment which follows. Those who "shed the blood" of "saints and prophets" are to be punished in kind - "You have given them blood to drink as they deserve." Those who have dealt in death must now face the grim reality of death themselves (cf. Genesis 9:5-6). The sinful kingdom of this world is the realm of death. As the latter days draw to their inevitable conclusion, death's viselike grip upon the throats of her subjects will grow ever tighter. Violence and destruction, devastation and death will increase and intensify until finally there is no what left at all. This is only fair. The justice of God in bringing death to those who have dealt in death is undeniable. As the "Wisdom of Solomon" declares: "By what things a man sinneth, by these he is punished." Through His prophet Isaiah, God declares that those who have sought to devour Israel will be compelled "to eat their own flesh; they will be drunk on their own blood as with wine." (Isaiah 49:26) The punishment perfectly fits the crime ("lex talionis").

"The Lord of all history, in His even handed justice, has exacted from those who have shed the blood of saints and prophets, the very blood of those who have revered and proclaimed the sanctity of the life given by the Creator. They would have blood. God's justice commends the ingredients of their poisoned chalice to their own lips. He gives the bloodthirsty their due; they shall have blood to drink." (Franzmann, p. 108)

The angel who responds to God's judgment is called "the angel in charge of the waters." The language reflects the typical Hebrew insight that all of the elements of the natural world are controlled and directed by God's angels in the supernatural world. Elsewhere in Revelation we have heard of the angels in charge of the four winds (7:1) and of an angel who held power over fire (14:18). These angels are the agents of the divine Creator who sustains and maintains all that which He has made. In this instance the affirmation of God's justice comes from the angel responsible for the element afflicted by the judgment plague.

The angel's affirmation of the righteousness and justice of God's judgment is immediately seconded by a response from "the altar." Earlier in Revelation 6:9 the souls of the martyrs were depicted beneath the heavenly altar. In Revelation 8:3-5 the prayers of the saints were signified by the incense arising at the altar. Now the altar itself, the personification of the prayerful desire of God's people for the vindication of His righteousness, testifies to the perfect appropriateness of God's judgment upon the wicked. It could not be otherwise for the Judge is "the Holy One," "Lord God Almighty," whose divine judgments are always "true and just."

Verses 8-9
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 there plagues. But they refused to repent and glorify Him.

"The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun...." - In Revelation 7:16-17 the elder described the blessedness of the redeemed in heaven with these beautiful words: "The sun will not beat upon them, nor any scorching heat, for the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their Shepherd; He will lead them to springs of living water." The serenity and comfort of that image is now reversed as the fourth angel pours out his bowl of divine judgment "and the sun was given power to scorch people with fire." Protection from the burning rays of the sun served as an effective image for God's providential care of His people in the harsh desert climate of Old Testament Israel. The psalmist assures Israel: "The Lord watches over you - the Lord is your shade at your right hand; the sun shall not harm you by day nor the moon by night." (Psalm 121:5-6). God promises His exiled people that when the Messiah comes - "They will neither hunger nor thirst, nor will the desert heat or the sun bet upon them." (Isaiah 49:10; cf. also Psalm 89:11; Malachi 4:2) John dramatically reverses this familiar picture as he presents the beneficent sun mutated into a fearful image of judgement which scorches the people with fire and causes them to be "seared with the intense heat." C.H. Little aptly describes the meaning and significance of the scene as he notes: "This presents to us a picture of all that makes life comfortable turned into intolerable burning and poured out unceasingly upon the enemies of God and the Lamb." (Little, p. 163) The imagery does not merely apply to the natural world, but to everything in life which was intended to bring man joy and satisfaction. All is perverted and destroyed by sin and life apart from God is reduced to misery and torment.

The response of sinful mankind in not repentance, but further defiance and blasphemy. The intensity of the plague is emphasized in the Greek text by repetition - literally, "they were burned, the human beings, with a great burning." Like Pharaoh of old, their hearts are hardened, and "they cursed the name of God who had control over these plagues but they refused to repent and glorify Him." Their obstinate blasphemy reflects that of the false god of this world to whom they have foolishly given their allegiance. "They have wholly taken on the character of the false god they serve." (Mounce, p. 297) Note well the progression evidenced here. Man's reaction to God's judgment is intensifying even as the plagues themselves rise toward the final judgment crescendo. We have progressed, if one can rightly call such movement progression, from mere desperation (Revelation 6:15-17), to impenitence (Revelation 9:20-21) on to the same defiant blasphemy which has characterized the beast himself (Revelation 13:5-6).

"The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast..." - With the outpouring of the fifth bowl of God's wrath, the focus of the attack upon the realm of the devil sharpens. Now the very "throne of the beast" itself is assaulted and "his kingdom was plunged into darkness." A throne is the official seat of the monarch. It represents the royal power and authority of the king. The language here recalls"the throne of Satan" in the letter to the church at Pergamum (Revelation 2:13), a reference to the seat of Roman power in the province of Asia and the center of the imperial cult throughout the province. "The throne of the beast" in this instance is no mere object or place. It is a symbol which represents the entirety of the antichrist's kingdom - all of his power and authority in this world. This is consistent with the vision of the beast from the sea which informed us that "The dragon gave the beast his power and his throne and great authority." (Revelation 13:2). Darkness was the ninth of Egypt's plagues (Exodus 10 :21-23). This was no ordinary absence of light, but a darkness so profound that "No one could see anyone else or leave his place for three days." (Exodus 10:23). . The "Wisdom of Solomon," from the Old Testament Apocrypha, presents the darkness that fell upon the land of Egypt as a symbol of the spiritual darkness of a nation cut off from God and lost in idolatry, a harbinger of the eternal damnation that was to come for those who had chosen to turn their backs on the light of God. The apocryphal book describes the abject terror and psychological torment of those who endured this supernatural darkness graphically and at great length :

"For when lawless men supposed that they held the holy nation in their power, they themselves lay as captives of darkness and prisoners of long night, shut in under their roofs, exiles from eternal providence. For thinking that in their secret sins they were unobserved behind a dark curtain of forgetfulness, they were scattered, terribly alarmed, and appalled by specters. For not even the inner chamber that held them protected them from fear, but terrifying sounds rang out all around them, and dismal phantoms with gloomy faces appeared. And no power of fire was able to give light, nor did the brilliant flames of the stars avail to illumine that hateful night. Nothing was shining through to them except a dreadful, self-kindled fire, and in terror they deemed the things which they saw to be worse than the unseen appearance. The delusions of their magic art lay humbled, and their boasted wisdom was scornfully rebuked. For those who promised to drive off the fears and disorders of a sick soul were sick themselves with ridiculous fear. For even if nothing disturbing frightened them, yet scared by the passing of beasts and the hissing of serpents, they perished in trembling fear, refusing to look at the air, though it nowhere could be avoided...But throughout the night, which was really powerless and which beset them from the recesses of powerless Hades, they all slept the same sleep and now were driven by monstrous specters, and now were paralyzed by their soul's surrender, for sudden and unexpected fear overwhelmed them. And whoever was there fell down, and thus was kept shut up in a prison not made of iron; for whether he was a farmer or a shepherd or a workman who toiled in the wilderness, he was seized, and endured the inescapable fate; for with one chain of darkness they were all bound...over those men alone heavy night was spread, and image of the darkness that was destined to receive them." (Wisdom of Solomon 17:2-10,16-17,21)

Darkness in Scripture is often a symbol of death, damnation and separation from God - "they will be thrown outside into the darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." (Matthew 8:12; cf. also Matthew 22:13; 25:30; 2 Peter 2:17; Jude 13) In Jeremiah 13 the prophet urges Israel to give glory to God lest - "He cause darkness and before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains, and, while ye look for light, He turn it into the shadow of death and make it gross darkness." (Jeremiah 13:16; cf. also Psalm 23:4) So also in this text the darkness into which the antichrist's kingdom is plunged is not merely the absence of physical light but the lostness, the anguish, the terror and the torment of those whose defiant sin has separated them from God and doomed them to death and eternal damnation.

"Men gnawed their tongues in agony and cursed the God of heaven..." - The cumulative impact of the first five plague is not humble repentance but obstinate, bitter rejection of the judgment of God. The imperfect tense of the verb "gnawed" denotes continuous ongoing action. The phrase"gnawed their tongues in agony" is intended to describe the most excruciating pain and anguish. But even in the face of this torment they will not yield nor turn from the way of sin. Like Pharoah and his heathen priests, they recognize this judgment as "the finger of God" (Exodus 8:19) but rather than bow before Him they curse His name and refuse to repent.

Verses 12-14
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.

"The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river..." - The outpouring of the sixth bowl of God's wrath depicts the final culmination of the age old conflict between good and evil, God and Satan. The imagery parallels that of the sixth trumpet vision in which four angels bound the mighty Euphrates River to enable the invasion of a grotesque horde of demonic riders to slaughter a third of mankind. (Revelation 9:13-19). This is not a prophecy of a specific war or physical battle. As the end of time draws near, Satan's opposition to God and the Gospel will grow increasingly desperate and increasingly successful. It will finally come to the point where the true church is driven to virtual extinction. The imagery of the vision depicts the crescendo of this intensifying warfare throughout the latter days.

The pivotal role of the Euphrates River in the history of the Israelite nation, its significance as the far north-eastern boundary of civilization, and the manner in which the prophets used the lands beyond the Euphrates as the symbolic abode of evil from which the enemies of God's people would arise have been previously noted (cf. pp.199-200). At this moment in history, the Euphrates formed the boundary between Rome and the great empire of the Parthians which posed a constant threat to the peace and security of the entire eastern Mediterranean basin. This may well be the context for the reference to unidentified "kings from the East." There was a popular legend, reported in the apocryphal "Sibylline Oracles," that the emperor Nero had not truly died but had fled to the East from which he would one day return leading hordes of Parthian warriors to retake his throne, bringing death and devastation to his enemies.

"Then a great king will flee from Italy like a runaway slave unseen and unheard over the channel of the Euphrates...and when he runs away beyond the Parthian land, many will bloody the ground for the throne of Rome...Then the strife of war being aroused, will come to the West, and the fugitive from Rome will also come, brandishing a great spear, having crossed the Euphrates with many myriads." (Sibylline Oracles, 4, 115-150)

"Then I saw three evil spirits that looked like frogs..." - The Satanic anti-trinity - "the dragon," "the beast" and "the false prophet." - now come forward as their hosts are mustered for battle (cf. Revelation 12 & 13). This is the first use of the name "false prophet" (Greek - "pseudo prophetou") in reference to the beast from the earth (Revelation 13:11ff.). It will recur in Revelation 19:20 and 20:10. It serves to highlight the central role of deception and false doctrine in the realm of the Antichrist. The nature of the impending conflict is clearly indicated by the demonic spirits which spring forth from their lips. This is not merely a military engagement or campaign. This is spiritual warfare waged in the hearts and minds of men. The goal of the anti-trinity is not merely domination but damnation. In the imagery of the vision, the demons "looked like frogs." The allusion is to Egypt's second plague (Exodus 8:5). Frogs were unclean animals which were to be detested by the people of God (Leviticus 10:10-11, 41). Frogs and toads have historically been associated with Satanism and witchcraft. These are not actual frogs but hellish creatures "that looked like frogs." The frog-like creatures represent the deceptive speech ("they came out of the mouth") and false miracles that comprise the arsenal of hell - "They are spirits of demons performing miraculous signs and they go out to the kings of the whole world to gather them for battle on the great day of God Almighty." The "miraculous signs" of these demonic spirits are the "lying signs and wonders" which St. Paul had warned would characterize the realm of the Man of Lawlessness (2 Thessalonians 2:9-11). The choice of frogs, jumping out of the mouths of the anti-trinity, may also be linked to the frog's characteristic croaking sound which is loud but meaningless. In rabbinic tradition, the frogs' croaking represents the confusion and consternation brought about by deception. This view originates with the plague of frogs in Egypt. The plague of frogs was one of the two plagues which the Egyptian magicians were able to duplicate. The rabbis taught that the magicians were only able to accomplish this feat with the assistance of the demon goddess Heket, the Egyptian deity of birth and resurrection, represented by a frog. This connection serves John well because of the resurrection imitation which figures prominently in the beast visions of Chapter 13. "The deceptive activity is appropriately portrayed as frog-like, since the evil triumvirate are attempting to deceive people about the purported fact of the beast's resurrection (Revelation 13:1ff.)." (Beale, p, 833) The anti-trinity sends forth its legions of demons to deceive and deny so that the minds and hearts of men might be held in bondage to evil and sin. They will enlist the support of all the powers of this world, social, political, economic, intellectual, and spiritual - "the kings of the whole world." The time will come when their victory seems nearly complete, when they are poised to eliminate the church altogether and destroy the people of God once and for all. Our Lord warns: "For false christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect - if that were possible." (Matthew 24:24). But at the very moment which seems to hold their greatest triumph our Lord will return and "the great day of God Almighty" will finally come. This is the day of which the prophet Joel had written:

"Blow the trumpet in Zion; sound the alarm on My holy hill. Let all who live in the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming. It is close at hand - a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and darkness...The day of the Lord is great; it is dreadful. Who can endure it?" (Joel 2:1-2,11)

Many of the prophets had foretold a time when all the might of sinful men, from every nation upon the face of the earth - "the whole world" - will gather together against God and His people. Zechariah prophesies:

"A day of the Lord is coming...I will gather all the nations to Jerusalem to fight against it...Then the Lord will go out and fight against those nations as He fights in the day of battle. The Lord will be King over the whole earth. On that day there will be one Lord, and His Name the only name." (Zechariah 14:1-9)

God's spokesman Zephaniah warned the nation of Judah:

"The great day of the Lord is near - near and coming quickly. Listen! The cry on that day of the Lord will be bitter, the shouting of the warrior there. 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, a day of trumpet and battle cry against the fortified cities and against the corner towers." (Zephaniah 11:4-16; cf. also Ezekiel 38-39; Micah 4:11-12 Zephaniah 3:8-9; Psalm 2)

In the imagery of the prophets the details and the locations of the battle sites vary widely indicating the symbolic nature of the prophecies and their universal application. Joel places the conflict in the Valley of Jehoshaphat (Joel 3:2); Zechariah indicates that the battle will occur on the Mount of Olives east of Jerusalem (Zechariah 14:4). Ezekiel sites the assault of Gog and Magog on the mountains of Israel (Ezekiel 38:21; 39:2). Elsewhere in Revelation John places the battle outside of the walls of Jerusalem (cf. Revelation 14:20; 20:8-9). These are not literal geographic sites but historically significant places which become universal symbols. This is not an individual battle fought out on a particular battlefield. It is instead the final settlement of the age old conflict when all the enemies of God and His people will finally be called to account . The conflict is not isolated to one nation or to one group of nations - it involves all of humanity. This battle will not be localized in one place, but every place across the entire face of the earth. The vaunted strength and power of the enemies of God will disappear as they stand in terror before the Almighty Judge.

Verse 15
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.

"Behold, I come like a thief!..." - In the midst of these prophecies of doom upon the unbelieving world, John inserts a parenthetical word of exhortation and benediction. It is Christ Himself who declares "Behold I come as a thief!" (cf. Revelation 3:3-5). The image is familiar. Jesus had warned His disciples: If the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be ready because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect Him." (Luke 12:39-40; cf. Matthew 24:43) St. Paul reminded the Thessalonians: "You know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night." (2 Thessalonians 5:2). St. Peter uses similar language in his warning - "But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare." (2 Peter 3:9) The image is obviously intended to emphasize the sudden unexpectedness of the coming of the great Day of the Lord. It is followed by the third of Revelation's seven beatitudes - statements of blessing - "Blessed is he who stays awake and keeps his clothes with him, so that he may not go naked and be shamefully exposed.". "The kind of spiritual preparedness that Christ requires is the spiritual discernment which cuts through the deceptive propaganda of Satan and his henchmen." (Mounce, p. 301) The only defense when the Lord comes again will be the pure white robes of Christ's righteousness, cleansed for us in His blood (Revelation 7:14). Apart from those precious garments of salvation, the shameful deeds of all men will be exposed before the righteous Judge. The image of nakedness and shameful exposure as the consequence of idolatry and spiritual unfaithfulness may be an allusion to Ezekiel 16:36-39 where the prophet compares the idolatry of Israel to the adultery of a prostitute and warns that appropriate punishment will be forthcoming:

"Therefore I am going to gather all your lovers, with whom you found pleasure, those you loved as well as those you hated. I will gather them together from all around and will strip you in front of them and they will see your nakedness...Then I will turn you over to your lovers and they will tear down your mounds and destroy your lofty shrines. They will strip you of your clothes and take your fine jewelry and leave you naked and bare." (Ezekiel 16:35-42)

Verse 16
Then they gathered the kings together to the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon.

"Hadad-rimmon was a city near Jezreel on the plain of Megiddo...At Megiddo pious king Josiah was slain by Pharaoh Necho. He was the first king of Judah to fall in battle and leave his country at the mercy of foreign conquerors. His death was a catastrophic loss for Judah for with him had passed away the last bulwark against the flood of wickedness which now swept through the land and carried it to its destruction. The entire nation lamented Josiah's death and by official decree an annual day of mourning was appointed, still observed when the Book of Chronicles was written (cf. 2 Chronicles 35:24). Hadad-rimmon is named as the place or one of the places of such mourning perhaps because it afforded a view of the battlefield, or, Josiah may have died here, when, mortally wounded, he was being rushed to Jerusalem (2 Kings 23:29 ff.; 2 Chronicles 35:22ff.)" (Laetsch, p. 485)

John chooses this ancient place, whose name was laden with historical and emotional significance, as the symbolic site for the climactic confrontation in the age old conflict between God and Satan. G. K. Beale correctly points out:

"Like the place names "Babylon" and "Euphrates," so "Armageddon" does not refer to a specific geographic locale, but the whole world. The battles in Israel associated with Megiddo and the nearby mountain become a typological symbol for the last battle against the saints and Christ, which occurs throughout the earth." (Beale, p. 838)

In Premillennial theology, Armageddon must be a literal battle which will occur on the actual ruins of Megiddo at the end of the seven year tribulation period. This pernicious misunderstanding of the Biblical prophecies has resulted in a endless series of erroneous applications to current events. Dwight Wilson, himself a premillenarian, describes the pattern in this way:

The premillenarians' history, however, is strewn with a mass of erroneous speculations which have undermined their credibility...The current crisis was always identified as a sign of the end, whether it was the Russo-Japanese War, the First World War, the Second World War, the Palestine War, the Suez Crisis, the June War, or the Yom Kippur War. The revival of the Roman Empire has been identified variously as Mussolini's empire, the League of Nations, the United Nations, the European Defense Community, the Common Market, and NATO. Speculation on the Anti-Christ has included Napoleon, Mussolini, Hitler, and Henry Kissinger. The Northern Confederation was supposedly formed by the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, the Rapallo Treaty, the Nazi-Soviet Pact, and then the Soviet bloc. The "kings of the East" have been variously the Turks, the lost tribes of Israel, Japan, India, and China. The supposed restoration of Israel has confused the problem of whether the Jews are to be restored before or after the coming of the Messiah. The restoration of the "latter rain" has been pinpointed to have begun in 1897, 1917, and 1948. The "end of the times of the Gentiles" has been placed in 1895, 1917, 1948, and 1967. Russia as "Gog" has been an impending threat since the Crimean War, both under the czars and the communists." (Dwight Wilson, Armageddon Now!, pp. 216-217)

Verses 17-21
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.

"The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air..." - The out-pouring of the seventh bowl brings us to the completion of God's judgment, the Last Day and the end of time. Like its predecessors - which struck the land, the waters, and the heavenly bodies - this plague is directed at one of the basic components in the world of nature, "the air." In the verses which follow the details of the plague are provided, the lightning, thunder and earthquake of Sinai (cf. Exodus19:16-19) along with the hail which was Egypt's sixth plague (cf. Exodus 9:13-35). The imagery also parallels that of Ezekiel's description of the final judgment:

"In My zeal and fiery wrath I declare that at that time there shall be a great earthquake in the land of Israel. The fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the beasts of the field, every creature that moves along the ground, and all the people on the face of the earth will tremble at My presence. The mountains will be overturned, the cliffs will crumble and every wall will fall to the ground. I will summon a sword against Gog on all My mountains, declares the Sovereign Lord. Every man's sword will be against his brother. I will execute judgment upon him with plague and bloodshed; I will pour down torrents of rain, hailstones, and burning sulfur on him and on his troops and on the many nations with him. And so I will show My greatness and My holiness, and I will make Myself known in the sight of many nations. Then they will know that I am the Lord." (Ezekiel 38: 19-23)

"And out of the temple came a loud voice from the throne..." The unidentified voice from the throne within the temple is probably that of God Himself (cf. Revelation 21:5-6). The declaration from the throne announces that God's judgment purpose has been realized and fully accomplished. All that is necessary has been done. Now the end can come.

"The perfect is like that one word of Jesus on the cross "telesthai!" It has been finished! The tense means that the climax has come to be and so remains now and evermore...The perfect means that what has been developing during a long time in the past has now occurred as in a final explosion. The sword of Damocles which has for so long a time been trembling on a thread now breaks the thread, and, point down, plunges into Babylon." (Lenksi, pp. 482,483)

"Then there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder..." - The language closely parallels that of the theophany at Sinai: "On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lighting, with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast...The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, the whole mountain trembled violently." (Exodus 19:16,18; cf. Revelation 4:5; 8:5; 11:19). These physical phenomena are the signs of the coming of the holy and majestic God and His righteous judgment. The earthquake which signals the end is of a magnitude unprecedented in the long history of humanity - "No earthquake like it has ever occurred since man has been on earth, so tremendous was the quake." The words recall those of our Lord: "Those will be days of distress unequaled since the beginning of the world until now - and never to be equaled again." (Mark 13:19; cf. Daniel 12:1).

"The great city split into three parts and the cities of the nations collapsed." - Prophets and apostles had foretold the coming of a global earthquake as the Lord returns in judgment. "He stood, and shook the earth; He looked, and made the nations tremble. The ancient mountains crumbled and the age-old hills collapsed." (Habakkuk 3:6) "On that day, His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half the mountain moving north and half moving south." (Zechariah 14:4; cf. also Hebrews 12:26-27). In the imagery of St. John "the great city" and "the cities of the nations" are the specific object of divine judgment. The "great city" is "Babylon the Great" - the personification of all the wickedness and corruption of mankind - "the satanic powers opposed to Jesus and His Church...in particular political economic, and social orders, and pagan spiritual philosophies which under the dragon's influence attempt to destroy God's saints on earth." (Brighton, pp. 428-429). The representative role of "the great city" in this context can be seen by the defining phrase "the cities of the nations collapsed" which immediately follows. Babylon the Great is not one city it is every city. This destruction is not local it is global. In Revelation 11:13 only "one tenth of the city fell." Now the destruction is complete. John uses the phrase "split into three parts" to describe the totality of the city's collapse. The image of a three part division for total destruction is an idiomatic Hebrew expression. Lenski explains the Hebrew idiom:

"The language is idiomatic; it does not mean that great rents in the earth divided the city into three parts, but that the whole city and every structure in it fell in a heap in utter ruin. Every structure collapsed, one wall falling to the right, another to the left, the roof and the floors falling down between them. Three parts indicates this form of disintegration." (Lenski, pp. 483-484)

In this instance the language may be drawn from Ezekiel 5 where the Lord separates the citizens of Jerusalem into three parts to emphasize their total destruction - "A third of your people will die of the plague or perish from famine inside you; a third will fall by the sword outside your walls; and a third I will scatter to the winds and pursue with drawn sword." (Ezekiel 5:12).

"God remembered Babylon the Great and gave her the cup filled with the wine of the fury of His wrath." - The concept of God's punitive remembering emphasizes that God cannot forget or overlook the sinful wickedness of men. His righteous punishment for sin is inevitable. Hosea warned the northern kingdom of Israel - "They do not realize that I remember all their evil deeds. Their sins engulf them: they are always before Me." (Hosea 7:2) "They offer sacrifices given to Me and they eat the meat, but the Lord is not pleased with them. Now He will remember their wickedness and punish their sins." (Hosea 8:13) "They have sunk deep into corruption as in the days of Gibeah. God will remember their wickedness and punish them for their sins." (Hosea 9:9). Jeremiah issued a similar warning to the southern kingdom of Judah: "This is what the Lord says about His people: They greatly love to wander; they do not restrain their feet. So the Lord does not accept them; He will now remember their wickedness and punish them for their sins." (Jeremiah 14:10) In the same way the final reckoning cannot be avoided. The day will finally come when God will ultimately and permanently render justice to all mankind. On that great day those who misunderstood the patience of God as forgetfulness will be condemned (2 Peter 3:3-16). The title "Babylon the Great" occurred previously in Revelation 14:8. The designation is drawn from Nebuchadnezzar's proud boast "Is this not the great Babylon I have built!" (Daniel 4:30). The image of God's judgment upon Babylon the Great as bitter wine poured out from a goblet is also drawn from Revelation 14:8,10.

"Every island fled away and the mountains could not be found." - The message of universal judgment is reinforced by the image of cosmic upheaval. Virtually identical language is used in Revelation 6:14 and 20:11to describe the demise of the old order. There will be no escape or refuge for the sinner from the awful justice of the holy God - the most distant island nor the tallest mountain. On that great and terrible day only those who stand by grace upon the Rock of Ages shall prevail.

"From the sky huge hailstones of about a hundred pounds..." - The sixth plague of Egypt is replicated on a massive world-wide scale (cf. Exodus 9:13-35). The image is one of nature gone mad, raining death and destruction down upon the world of men. But the response of condemned mankind to this irrefutable demonstration of the power and the glory of God is only further defiance, rage and blasphemy - And they cursed God on account of the plague of hail, because the plague was so terrible." Even as damnation approaches there is no regret, remorse or shame. For sinful man God is always to blame.