Deeper Commentary
CHAPTER 16
16:1 And I heard a great voice out of the temple, saying to the seven angels: Go and pour out the seven bowls of the anger of God into the earth- Rev. 15 has presented the scene of God's people victorious, described in terms of the Red Sea having returned to its place, and the people singing "the song of Moses". But that was achieved by the pouring out of the plagues upon Egypt, and now in Rev. 16 we are shown how that position of triumph was achieved. The bowls are all allusive to the plagues upon Egypt. It has often been observed that Revelation, along with much Bible prophecy, presents the concluding vision and then goes on to explain how that came about. That is so, but for the persecuted first audience of the visions, the idea was surely that they [along with us] are to focus upon the end point- and how that point is reached is incidental to the wonder of the end point. And that is of great comfort to those who are living through the judgments and sufferings which lead up to that end point.
The usage of "bowls" is to connect with the earlier vision of the golden bowls containing incense, which represents the prayers of the saints (Rev. 5:8). The idea is that prayer has direct result in God pouring out judgments on earth. See on :2.
The Old Testament basis for bowls used
for pouring out is in the bowls for pouring out found on the table of
shewbread (Ex. 25:29; Num. 4:7). But they were not for pouring out liquid,
but for the frankincense which was to be placed upon the shewbread and
burnt, in order to turn the bread into a memorial before God (Lev. 24:7).
The LXX calls these bowls "incense cups". The pouring out of the seven
last bowls of judgment is therefore portrayed in terms of incense /
prayer; because it is the prayer of the faithful, especially in the last
days, which brings forth these judgments which herald the coming of the
Kingdom. Our prayers trigger action by Angels in Heaven which result in
major events on earth. That is the sublime power of prayer.
Alfred Norris wisely observed in The
Apocalypse for Everyman: “But if Trumpets are warnings, Vials or
Bowls are outpourings. We have gone beyond mere disclosure, and again
beyond the sounding of the alarm, and have reached the point where there
is no return, nothing provisional: the end has come. God is pouring out
His final judgements on the world, and there can be no turning back. There
are a number of parallels in the Old Testament, where the verb shaphak
is used in just such a way of the ultimate emptying out of God's
irreversible judgements on His own or other people (see Psalm 69.24; 79.6;
Isaiah 42.25; Jeremiah 10.25; Lamentations 2.4; 4.11; Ezekiel 7.8; 9.8,
etc.; Hosea 5.10; Zephaniah 3.8)”. This is why in between the trumpets of
warning and the final vials, there is a final desperate appeal through the
preaching of the Gospel (Rev. 10:11; 11:3,6; 14:6,7). But after that, the
temple is closed and no man can enter it (15:5-8). Revelation stresses
God’s creative power- He is the creator of heaven, earth, sea and rivers.
In the vials, we see a reversal of His creative activity.
16:2- see on Rev. 8:7; Rev. 13:17.
Harmful and painful sores came upon the
people who bore the mark of the beast and worshiped its image-
This is after they have been appealed to, to rid themselves of this mark
(see on 14:9). There is no opportunity now for repentance (see on 15:8).
The sores recall the growths that appeared on the Philistines /
Palestinians who captured the ark (1 Sam. 5:6). The destruction of Dagon
in that passage perhaps looks forward to the image of the beast. Those who
bear the mark of the beast are within the territory of the beast- which is
exactly where the Philistines were. "Harmful" translates a Greek word
which in all of its 50 other occurrences means "evil" in a moral sense
(e.g. 2:2). Their punishment was appropriate to their own evil. We wonder
therefore if their usage of nuclear weaponry against Israel backfires upon
them, and they themselves suffer the tumours associated with nuclear
fallout.
16:3 And the second poured out his bowl into the sea; and it became like the blood of a dead man, and every living thing died, even the things that were in the sea- The allusion is to the turning of the Nile into blood so that all the fish died (Ex. 7:14-25). But this is far more intense- the whole sea becomes blood, not just a river; and absolutely everything in it dies, not just the fish. This is Divine judgment on earth such as has never been seen before. That is the simple message. And yet the plagues on Egypt were each designed to elicit repentance, and that is the case here too.
Notice how the blood is what kills the life. When blood is the symbol of life, in the Hebrew Bible; and there is salvation and life eternal through the blood of Jesus. Again we see how there is a complete inversion of values, and the Christian worldview is antithetical to that of the surrounding world system. There can be no compromise. Drinking this blood brings death; drinking the Lord's blood gives life, and His people thereby drink springs of living water (Rev. 7:17; 22:14).
I suggested on 13:1
that the earth / land referring to the territory promised to Abraham, the
"sea" refers to the areas immediately surrounding that territory- areas we
now know as Iran, Egypt and Turkey. The allusion is to how the waters of
Egypt were turned into blood (Ex. 7:17)- not simply as punishment in
itself, but as an appeal to let Israel go, to stop persecuting the
Hebrews. Which admirably fits the latter day scenario we have suggested.
The blood of a dead man is not liquid, but congealed. The picture is of
mass death in these areas which gave birth to the sea beast of 13:1.
Previously, a third part of the sea had become blood (8:8). But this
failed to elicit repentance, and so now the other two thirds become blood
too. The sea appearing blood red may allude to how a "part" of Israel were
to be burned as if sea burned by fire (Am. 7:4); what had been done to
Israel in 8:8 is now done to their persecutors from the neighbouring
nations.
16:4 And the third poured out his bowl
into the rivers and the fountains of the waters, and they became blood-
This is referring to judgments within the earth / land promised to
Abraham; the surrounding sea has already been judged in :3. Again the
allusion is to the judgments upon water sources which was part of the
plagues upon Egypt in Ex. 7:19. That plague is alluded to in another
judgment upon Egypt found in Ez. 32:6, where Egypt is told that she shall
be covered with her own blood to the extent that her rivers will run with
her own blood. And that prophecy goes on to state that her sun, moon and
stars shall be extinguished, causing darkness (Ez. 32:7,8)- ideas to be
developed here in :8,10. It is unclear when this prophecy of Ezekiel had
its fulfilment. The initial context is of Israel trusting in Egypt for
help against the Assyrian. And latter day Israel may likewise look to
Egypt for help against the latter day Assyrian. But Egypt too, part of the
"sea", the territory immediately bordering the "land" promised to Abraham,
is to be destroyed. Water turning in the blood of death may refer to some
form of literal turning of water into the source of death- perhaps some
form of biological warfare against Israel ends up affecting all within the
land promised to Abraham. This is how God typically prefers to operate-
allowing wicked men to be destroyed by the backfiring of their own
devices, rather than by bolts of direct Divine judgment.
16:5 And I heard the angel of the waters
saying: Righteous are You, who is and who was, You Holy One, because You
did thus judge- Revelation abounds with examples of Angels talking
and co-operating with each other in order to execute God's purpose; just
as the Passover Angel hovered over the doors of the Israelites to as it
were stop the destroyer Angel from killing the firstborns there. Gen. 1:26
"Let us make man..." is another example of Angelic cooperation. Here
we have an Angel praising God on reflecting upon the wisdom of what has
been done. The judgments of the Holy One are effected in practice by a
specific Angel. This is the kind of thing we shall do throughout eternity.
There is a recognition by the Angel that the awful judgments performed on
earth at this point are a reflection of God's holiness and not of any evil
or caprice ("You Holy One").
That a specific Angel controls “the waters”
in an area is also implied by the way flood waters are described as
praising God (Ps. 42:8; 148:7), water trembling at God’s presence (Ps.
77:17; Hab. 3:10), and the deep waters mourning (Ez. 31:15). How else can
waters sensibly be personified as having such feelings, unless these
figures of speech are in fact based upon the real existence of a personal
“Angel of the waters”?
16:6 For they poured out the blood of the
saints and the prophets, and blood have You given them to drink. They are
worthy- As the blood of the "saints and prophets" was poured out, so
the Angel had poured out a bowl of judgment. The "saints" may refer to
Israel as well as Christian believers, those trodden down by the beast
(Dan. 7:25). The "prophets" could refer to those killed by the beast
system for their latter day preaching; for 'prophesy' is strictly just a
speaking forth of God's word, and not necessarily a transmitting of new
material by Divine inspiration. But perhaps the murder of the two
witnesses is in view, who faithfully prophesied throughout the
three-and-a-half-year tribulation before being killed (see on 11:3). The
pouring out of blood is the language of sacrifice upon an altar; perhaps
literally the saints and Christian preachers will be killed and sacrificed
by the jihadists. Which would explain why an angel from the heavenly altar
now speaks (:7).
16:7 And I heard another angel out of the
altar saying: Yes, O Lord God the Almighty, true and righteous are Your
judgments- As noted on :6, the jihadists may pour out the blood of
their victims literally on altars, as if in sacrifice. Which is why now
the angel associated with the heavenly altar agrees that the judgment of
these people is in truth and righteousness. It is not the expression of
the wrath of some capricious God; the judgment is appropriate and a
reflection of righteousness rather than of evil intent.
16:8 And the fourth poured out his bowl
upon the sun; and it was given to it to scorch men with fire- As
noted on :4, the judgment of the sun is mentioned in Ez. 32:7,8 as part of
the plagues upon latter day Egypt, whereby her water is turned to blood
and darkness comes upon her as a result of judgment upon her sun. But
before that happens, the sun becomes very hot and scorches those upon the
earth / land; or perhaps this specifically happens to latter day Egypt.
The language of scorching may suggest nuclear holocaust; if the attempts
to destroy the state of Israel by nuclear weaponry backfire, or the
weapons are turned against each other due to internal conflict, then such
a scenario is imaginable. And it would be appropriate to the way that God
prefers to let men judge themselves rather than judging by His direct
bolts of judgment. The "sun" might refer to some particular leader within
the beast's political leadership, which are often described as the sun,
moon and stars of a nation or coalition. And this is just how they are
used in Ez. 32:7,8 which is the source passage for these bowls of
judgment. Again we note that "it was given to it..." to scorch men. All
power is of God, the cataclysms of these very last days will not at all
mean that earth has come adrift from God and evil has found its own
momentum and power. All is and will be under His direct supervision and
control.
16:9 And men were scorched with great
heat- The scorching is
a plague, an illness. As noted on :8, this seems the language of nuclear
holocaust. In their time of destruction, they will realize that all this
is from God. But the tragedy of the rejected is that they will perceive
God's hand, "know Yahweh" by His judgments, but all too late. See on 1:7.
Now is the time for repentance; the rejected will be brought to the point
of recognizing God and His Son, but all tragically too late. Being
scorched with great heat from the sun is the language only used elsewhere
of the suffering of the faithful latter day remnant in Israel at the hands
of the beast (7:16). What the beast members did to God's people shall now
be done to them. Scorching by the sun is the idea used in the parable of
the sower concerning those believers who stumble because the sun of
tribulation and persecution scorches them (Mt. 13:6,21). This will have
particular reference to the tribulation. Some will fall away because of
it; but by doing so, they experience their final judgment. The
condemnation process will therefore be a giving of people what they have
themselves decided in this life. And those who scorch others and make them
stumble shall themselves be scorched at the last day.
And they cursed the Name of God who has the power over these plagues- It is the beast who is characterized by blasphemy (Rev. 13:1,5,6; 17:3). They preferred to follow the mindset of the world around them, rather than repent.
And they did not repent and give Him glory- This continues the allusions to the plagues on Egypt, in that Pharaoh is described as not repenting and therefore not giving God glory. In Rev. 14:7, the appeal has been made to repent and give glory to God ("Fear God and give Him glory! For the hour of His judgment comes, and worship Him that made the heaven and the earth"). The purpose of the bowls of judgment was to elicit repentance, and as with the plagues on Egypt, they could be cut short at any time if people repented. We note that glory is given to God by repentance; hence Achan was asked to give God glory by repenting ("give glory to Yahweh the God of Israel, and make confession to Him. Tell me now what you have done!", Josh. 7:19). The frequent appeals to nations to give glory to God are likewise appeals for repentance (e.g. Ps. 96:7). This is the true beauty of holiness: " Ascribe to Yahweh the glory due to His name. Bring an offering, and come before Him. Worship Yahweh in the beauty of holiness" (1 Chron. 16:29). A man standing at a tram stop repenting of a sin of three months ago as he recalls it... this is the beauty of holiness. Thus Judah were to give glory to God lest judgment come- i.e. they were to repent (Jer. 13:16; Mal. 2:2).
Admittedly the scorching by the sun is not featured in the recorded plagues on Egypt, although all the other bowls do allude to them. But we note that On or Heliopolis was 'sun city' and the allusion may be to a plague upon that city which is not recorded in Exodus. This may also be alluded to in Jer. 50:13 LXX. The idea may simply be that the latter day judgments are based upon those plagues, but are not exactly identical (thus there are seven of them, whereas there were ten plagues on Egypt; and the order bears no resemblance apart from the seventh bowl and seventh plague both including hail). Although we note that Israel were unaffected by seven of the ten plagues, and here we have seven plagues; perhaps suggesting that the faithful in Israel likewise will be preserved from these plagues.
16:10 And the fifth poured out his bowl upon the throne of the beast,
and his kingdom was darkened; and they gnawed their tongues for pain
because of the pain- This continues the allusions to the
plagues on Egypt; in this case, to the plague of darkness (Ex. 10:21-29).
That plague was specifically aimed at Pharaoh, who considered himself the
incarnation of Ra, the sun god. Likewise this plague of darkness is
specifically against the "throne of the beast", the leadership, the latter
day Pharaoh / Antichrist. Just as God had a remarkable desire for Pharaoh
personally to repent, so He even desires that Pharaoh's latter day
equivalent repents. When we likely would have just assumed that such a
person is not worthy of our evangelical attention. Such is God's desire
that literally all men repent.
As noted on :4, the judgment of the sun is
mentioned in Ez. 32:7,8 as part of the plagues upon latter day Egypt,
whereby her water is turned to blood and darkness comes upon her as a
result of judgment upon her sun. The beast has a throne and Kingdom, just
as the Lord has; the beast is an anti-Christ, a fake Messiah with a fake
Kingdom of God on earth. "The throne of the beast" could refer to his
capital city. His "kingdom" refers to his people, those recognizing him as
their king; for it is they, as persons rather than just an abstract
entity, who gnaw tongues for pain. His capital city or centre of rulership
could be in Jerusalem, or part thereof. The gnawing of tongues recalls the
Lord's pictures of condemnation as a gnashing of teeth. The faithful are
comforted that they shall no longer experience "pain" (21:4 s.w.),
suggesting that the pain these beast worshippers now experience is the
pain they inflicted upon the Lord's followers in the tribulation.
16:11 They cursed the God of heaven because of their pains and their
sores, and they did not repent of their deeds- As noted on :9, they
recognize all too late that there is indeed a "God of heaven", a phrase
often used at the time of Israel's exile in Babylon and whilst under
Babylonian dominion. Their "sores" could refer to the result of nuclear
radiation, brought upon them by the backfiring of their own devices
against Israel; see on :2.
16:12 And the sixth poured out his bowl
upon the great river, the Euphrates, and the water of it dried up, so that
the way might be made ready for the kings that come from the east-
See on 9:14,15,16 16:12 and Jn. 3:32 and 9:14,15,16 for the significance
of the Euphrates.
The sixth trumpet in Rev. 9:14 and the sixth
vial in Rev. 16:12,13 both refer to the Euphrates and are therefore
referring to the same events. We needn't get too fazed by issues of
chronological sequence in fulfilment. The trumpets and vials aren't
necessarily events which follow each other chronologically. This is the
assumption of a Greek-Latin mindset; but in the Hebrew thought which
underpins the New Testament, events can be described without attention to
sequence. The Old Testament prophecies therefore often appear to 'jump
around' in fulfilment, with no clear sequence in mind. Each vial or
trumpet can be a description of events which happen around the time of the
Lord's coming, but not necessarily in sequence chronologically. The
'continuous historic' school of interpretation is driven by this
insistence upon chronological sequence, but this results in seeking
unrealistic fulfilments of the earlier phases of the sequence. These
suggested fulfilments often do not hold true to actual history, and are
out of context with the main thrust of the prophecies, which concern the
situation in the land of Israel in the last days. The masses of aggressive
horsemen in Rev. 9 are the "kings of the east" of Rev. 16:12- rulers who
come from the East of Israel. This would easily refer to the way in which
the jihadist coalition and many of its fighters originated in Iran and
Afghanistan, East of the Euphrates, and then are released and allowed to
march towards Israel. The allusion is to how God allowed Cyrus to dry up
[or divert] the Euphrates, and Babylon fell as the Medes and Persians
under Cyrus approached from the East. The kings of the East are therefore
not believers, but the unbelieving enemies of Israel. I have elsewhere
pointed out that the jihadists see themselves as warriors coming from the
East to destroy Israel, as one of their own Hadith states: “The final
battle will be waged by Muslim faithful coming on the backs of horses…
carrying black banners. They will stand on the East side of the Jordan
River and will wage war that the earth has never seen before... The black
flags will come from the East, led by mighty men, with long hair and
beards". These "kings of the east" who are released from the Euphrates are
matched in Rev. 9:17-19 by John's description in first century language of
the most terrifying technology and aggression of the hordes of horsemen
who will be released upon Israel from the Euphrates: "They wore
breastplates the colour of fire and of sapphire and of sulphur, and the
heads of the horses were like lions' heads, and fire and smoke and sulphur
came out of their mouths. By these three plagues a third of mankind was
killed, by the fire and smoke and sulphur coming out of their mouths. For
the power of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails, for their
tails are like serpents with heads, and by means of them they wound". The
killing of a third of those in the earth / land surely connects with the
prediction of Zech. 13:8 that when Jerusalem briefly falls, two thirds of
the Jews will be killed. Presumably the other third are killed by other
methods- there is repeated teaching in Rev. 8 of how the 'thirds' of those
in the land will suffer in the final tribulation.
Dan. 11:40 speaks of the latter day "king of
the north" coming with horsemen and entering into the eretz, the
land, like a restrained mighty river that is now gushing and overflowing
its banks. This is absolutely the picture of Revelation 16: hordes of
horsemen surging from the Euphrates river towards Israel. For the "king of
the north" [historically this was Babylon or Assyria] to enter into the
eretz, the land promised to Abraham, he would have to cross the
boundary of that land at the Euphrates anyway. He firstly enters the
general eretz and then enters specifically the eretz of
glory (Dan. 11:41)- the land inhabited by the Jews. This is described in
Ez. 20:6 using the same Hebrew words- "a land... flowing with milk and
honey, which is the glory of all the eretz". The land flowing
with milk and honey hardly referred to the entire land promised to Abraham
up to the Euphrates, much of which is barren desert. The glory of the
eretz was and is Canaan. We can see the process starting- the
Islamists are taking over the wider eretz, and will then proceed
to focus upon entering into the glory of the eretz, the current
territory of Israel.
The allusion to the drying up of the Euphrates by Cyrus to bring about the
fall of Babylon and the return of the exiles. Babylon fell- but the exiles
generally didn't return as God intended. The fall of latter day Babylon is
mentioned three times in Revelation (Rev. 14:8; 16:17-19; 17:16,17); and
it's hard to work out when this happens; Rev. 16:17-19 places the
fall of Babylon after Armageddon and Christ's return, whilst Rev.
17:16,17 places it before Armageddon. I see no contradiction
here; it's just that the timing of the actual fall of Babylon and return
of Christ are events which depend on various preconditions which may or
may not be fulfilled by human freewill decisions. Such considerations may
explain why it remains unclear whether Christ returns at the time of the
6th, or 7th vial. The language of both vials has application to His
return, and yet some of it seems to speak of before His return.
Perhaps it's beyond the technique of Biblical exposition to reconcile this
language- it may simply be that the actual coming of Christ is dependent
upon various conditional factors, and the inspired language of predictive
prophecy is therefore appropriately ambiguous. Or take the way Revelation
consistently speaks of "the beast" as if there is only one- and yet we
read of three beasts, from the sea, the land and the abyss (Rev. 13,17).
Is it really that the beast changes form over time- or are there three
possible manifestations of "the beast" dependent upon various possible
factors in human response? This approach would explain why Revelation is
so hard to interpret if we insist on forcing all the events and pictures
presented into a strictly progressive chronological sequence.
Another take on this problem is that
Revelation is a kaleidoscope of images, some of them overlapping; there is
no attempt to give a chronological timeline of events, but rather rotating
images, some of which overlap at the edges with each other, giving
different angles and takes on the same events.
The drying up of the Euphrates in Rev. 16:12
is parallel with the four Angels being released in 9:14. Angels can
represent nations, as we find in Daniel- in that each nation has a
representative Angel in the court of Heaven. The Euphrates is literally
drying up- water flows are at their lowest ever in recorded history, and
it may be that the predicted water crisis in the Tigris-Euphrates
ecoregion is what drives the peoples of that area to look westwards
towards Israel, and to seek to resolve their problems by a united
jihad against Israel. The problem of water is acute in the region:
"There are thousands of new “water refugees” in Southern Iraq: people
displaced by the changes to their natural environment. “Many villages are
depopulated because of that. It has a terrible economic impact upon the
population”" (Bakhtiar Amin, Human Rights Minister of Iraq from 2004 to
2005, as quoted at
http://thoughtfulwander.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/marsh-arabs.html).
Historically, the literal drying up, or diversion, of the Euphrates was
what led to the fall of Babylon. It may well be that we are intended to
make this connection when we read in Rev. 16:12 of the drying up of the
Euphrates. The logical deduction is: 'So Babylon is about to fall'. And
the fall of Babylon is spoken of in Revelation as coming about at the
return of Christ to earth.
But it may not be simply that the Euphrates
dries up of its own accord. Now that the key dams could easily fall into
the hands of the Islamists, it could be that they like Saddam Hussein
before them, dry up the river in order to exert their power over others.
And this will bring about the required fulfilment of the prophecy. We
recall how the King of Assyria, another prototype of the latter day
invader of Israel, boasted that he had dried up rivers and manipulated
water sources, and therefore Jerusalem too would fall into his hands: "I
have digged and drunk strange waters, and with the sole of my feet will I
dry up all the rivers" (2 Kings 19:24).
16:13 And I saw coming out of the mouth
of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of
the false prophet, three unclean spirits, that looked like frogs-
The
drying up of the Euphrates leads to unclean spirits like frogs going out
to deceive the nations and gather them to Armageddon. No particularly
convincing explanation of the figure of frogs has yet been come up with.
The suggestion that it refers to the spirit of the French revolution is
desperate; the passage clearly demands a latter day fulfilment, and it
would be hard to demonstrate that liberty, equality and fraternity came
from dragon, beast and false prophet. It would be impossible to argue that
e.g. the spirit of liberty came from the dragon, equality from the beast,
etc. The idea is surely that as a frog jumps, so the spirit or teaching /
influence of these entities spreads in leaps and bounds. But the
appropriacy of the symbol becomes apparent when we realize that the
Euphrates is fed by tributaries which feed into the Euphrates through vast
marshes. The marshes around the Euphrates are so vast that they have given
rise to the description of the locals there as 'the marsh Arabs'. Saddam
Hussein drained some of these marsh areas and cut off water to others in
his attempt to persecute the very groups which later fought against him
and radicalized into the Islamic State. In a literal sense, the hordes
pouring forth against Israel are the result of the Euphrates being
literally dried up. Wikipedia claims that "According to the United Nations
Environmental Program and the AMAR Charitable Foundation, between 84% and
90% of the marshes have been destroyed since the 1970s. In 1994, 60
percent of the wetlands were destroyed by Hussein's regime – drained to
permit military access and greater political control of the native Marsh
Arabs... After the 1991 Gulf War, Shia Muslims in southern Iraq rebelled
against Saddam Hussein who in turned crushed the rebellion and further
accelerated the draining of the Central and Hammar marshes in order to
evict Shias that have taken refuge in the marshes" [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tigris%E2%80%93Euphrates_river_system
and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesopotamian_Marshes
accessed 12.08.2014].
These huge marshlands are full of frogs! The
drying up of the Euphrates would be bad news for the frogs, who will have
to leap and bound further afield in desperation. And so the idea seems to
be that the Angel dries up the Euphrates, the hordes burst forth over that
border towards the earth / land promised to Abraham; and the teaching of
jihad against Israel, anti-Semitism in its final term, is spread
by leaps and bounds out of the Euphrates basin, leading people from
throughout the region and indeed the whole world, to come up against
Israel. We note that there are even jihadist fighters from as far away as
Australia fighting for the Islamists at the moment. Joel 3:9 speaks of
huge multitudes of people being 'awoken' and going up to Jerusalem. The
postmodern daze in which many people now live has created a desire for
reality, for action, for escape from the virtual world into something
truly exciting and passionate. And this is why well-heeled young white
Australians are getting caught up in Islamic extremism and heading off to
fight for them. Young unemployed males are now seeing the opportunity to
play their violent online games in reality... they are awaking from the
postmodernist haze of indifference. But sadly to the wrong reality. This
awakening is likely to continue and become ever more attractive, likely
fuelled by the media's hatred of Israel and desire to portray her as a
situation needing radical resolution.
“The beast” has "the false prophet" with him
as a kind of associated act (Rev. 19:20; 20:10), the scarlet beast has a
whore riding it, the sea beast has a horn which becomes its
representative, the earth beast has an image of the beast. These
associated acts indicate that each of these entities has an individual
controlling them- and this is the antichrist figure. The dragon is
described as having “his angels” with him during the fight against Michael
and His Angels- which suggests he is to be seen as representative of a
person. We note that the dragon was used in the Old Testament not as a
symbol of Egypt, but specifically as a symbol of the individual Pharaoh of
Egypt (Ez. 29:3); and likewise the dragon is used as the symbol of
Nebuchadnezzar personally (Jer. 51:34).
"The false prophet" is given no introduction;
he is introduced just as is the beast (see on 11:7). This may be because
we have here in Revelation a kaleidoscope of images, according to the
genre of apocalyptic. It is tempting to apply this term to the false
prophet Mohammad. But perhaps there will arise an individual who claims to
be a Divinely inspired Islamic prophet, the Mahdi. The dragon is still
around, giving ideological support even if he has been politically
destroyed in chapter 12, thrown out of political heaven as it were. And
"the beast" suggests that the sea and earth beasts of chapter 13 are
effectively one. The unclean spirits coming from their mouths are their
teachings, beckoning people worldwide to come to the land promised to
Abraham and fight against God's people. In the uprise of the Islamic State
we saw for the first time this kind of thing happening on a global level.
Babylon is the hold of these unclean spirits (18:2). Yet in the Gospels,
to say a man had an unclean spirit or demon was to say he was mad. There
will be a spirit of madness, extreme fanaticism, emanating from these
three sources of propaganda.
16:14 For they are spirits of demons, who work signs- I suggested
on :13 that the reference is to propaganda spread worldwide by three
separate jihadist agencies, which stir up a frenzy, a mania, which John
understood as the Gospel records do in terms of demon possession, a way of
expressing madness. They work signs, false miracles, as noted on 13:13 and
:14. So far, chapter 16 has been full of allusion to the plagues upon
Egypt; and Egypt therefore becomes a prototype of the beast system. Some
of the plagues upon Egypt were countered by false miracles from Pharaoh's
magicians, pointing forward to the false miracles which will be claimed by
the beast system of the last days.
These go to the kings of the whole world,
to gather them together to the war of the great day of God the Almighty-
The "whole world" could refer to the world of the land promised to Abraham
and its environs. But given the power of communication media today, there
may well be a global reference. Radical Islam may pressurize the whole
world system to give at least token support to their battle. The "war" or
(Gk.) battle is that for which the jihadist locusts of 9:7,9 are prepared-
by the propaganda from the three sources of :13. This is the final battle
against the Jews and Christians in the land spoken of in 11:7; 12:17 and
13:7, a kind of "final solution". But it is effectively a gathering
together to battle against the returned Lord Jesus (19:19; 20:8). The same
word for war / battle is used in all these references.
The previous invasions of Israel by her
neighbour typify those of the future, and they also mention this
'gathering together': Sisera's forces did this (Jud. 4:13), as did
those of Ammon (Jud. 10:19; 1 Chron. 19:7), the Amorites (Jud. 11:20), the
Arab powers with Assyria in Hezekiah's time (Mic. 4:11), Gog's forces (Ez.
38:7), the Arab-Canaanite tribes (Gen. 34:30) and especially the
Philistines (Jud. 16:33; 1 Sam. 13:5,11; 17:1; 25:1; 28:1; 29:1; 2 Sam.
23:11). This is quite some emphasis. Thus while we can expect to see
greater potential Arab unity developing around the Israel issue and
perhaps a common allegiance to a charismatic 'Nebuchadnezzar' figure for a
brief period, their complete meeting of minds will not be until the final
push against Jerusalem.
We need not be concerned that this appears to
happen after all the judgments upon the beast system which we have read of
earlier in this chapter. Revelation is a kaleidoscope of images; it is
simply not chronological. We are now being given to understand how
the situation came about whereby the beast system is so permanently judged
and destroyed, as explained in the preceding verses.
16:15- see on 1 Jn. 2:28.
Behold, I am coming like a thief! Blessed
is the one who stays awake, keeping his garments on, that he may not go
about naked and be seen exposed! -
This is a call to those Christians who have not come out and testified
under the beast's domination, thinking they can hide under the garments of
nominal acceptance of the beast. They must keep their white garments
around them. The paradox is that they will then be exposed as naked; they
are apparently clothed, but not in the distinctive white garments of
Christ, which publicize their position to all. His thief life coming is an
idea used elsewhere about His coming being like this to those within His
household who are unprepared. Clearly there will be true believers living
under the domination of the latter day beast within its territory, the
land promised to Abraham. This is a sober thought. Their numbers at this
time are small, but perhaps the witness of the Elijah ministry and various
gospel proclamations mentioned throughout the tribulation prophecies will
result in many converts.
1 Tim. 5:24,25 implies a 'going through' of the good and bad works of men,
with the added implication that it is done in the presence of others. Thus
they will "see his shame" (Rev. 16:15). “All that behold” the unfinished
spiritual building of the wicked “will mock him” (Lk. 14:29); and the
accepted will praise each other for their humility in taking the lowest
seat in ecclesial life (Lk. 14:10). The rejected will awake to "the
reproach and abhorrence of the age" (Dan. 12:2 Dr. Thomas' translation)-
as if they will be reproached by some. "When the wicked are cut off, [the
righteous] shall see it" (Ps. 37:34). The 12 disciples will judge the
tribes of Israel (Mt. 19:28). At judgment day, the children of the Jews
who criticized Jesus would judge them- "they shall be your judges" rather
than Jesus Himself (Lk. 11:19). "The wise shall inherit glory; but shame
shall be the promotion of fools" (Prov. 3:35) is looking ahead to the
judgment. But "shame" must be in the eyes of someone; therefore the
rejection of the wicked will be in the eyes of those who once knew them in
the ecclesia. The men of Nineveh will condemn first century Israel (Mt.
12:41); the folly of the rejected will be made manifest unto all men (2
Tim. 3:9). This is not so as to simply humiliate the rejected. It is so
that the faithful learn something too. This was all foreshadowed
in the way that Israel experienced their judgments in the sight of the
nations, so that God's principles would be taught even to the Gentile
world (Ez. 5:8,15). Indeed, the idea of God executing judgment on His
people in the sight of others is quite common (e.g. Ez. 5:8;
16:41). But we can learn the principles of God's judgments right now, from
His word.
A read through Rev. 16:13-16 makes it evident that the 6th vial concerns
the gathering of the nations to Armageddon; but right in the middle of
this section we read: "Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that
watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked"- clearly relevant
to the saints. It's as if the punishment of the unworthy believers and
that of the nations is to be connected. The collapsing of time at the
judgment would enable this to actually happen- the events used to punish
the world could fall upon the rejected from the judgment seat. These
unfortunate individuals will be threshed, as will the world be (Mt. 3:12;
Rev. 16:16). This is foreshadowed by the way apostate Israel were treated
like the surrounding Gentile world in the time of their judgments (Jer.
4:7). Thus in the 'judgment day' of AD70, the 'rejected' Jews were sent
back into Egypt as slaves. "They shall return to Egypt" had been God's
earlier prophesy (Hos. 8:13; 9:3). Their condemnation was expressed in
terms of an undoing of the redemption from the world which they once
experienced.
16:16 And they gathered them together into the place which is called
in Hebrew Har-magedon- Perhaps this is explaining how the earlier
judgment upon the throne / seat of the beast happens (:10).
"Megiddo" and the descriptions of Sisera
gathering his chariots and God drawing them into battle
(Jud. 5:19) must link with the nations being gathered to
Armageddon (Rev. 16:16). If this connection is valid, then "the
kings of the earth (land - of Israel?) and of the whole world" which
are gathered (Rev. 16:14) would primarily refer to the kings of the
Islamic world within and around the earth / land promised to Abraham,
Sisera of the latter days.
Rev. 16:14-16 and Rev. 19:19 appear to be based upon the ideas of the
'gathering together' of Israel's local enemies outlined in the commentary
on Rev. 16:14, and also upon
Zech. 12:3. "The kings of the earth"
can be interpreted as in Zech. 12:3;” of the whole world" may refer to the
world in relation to Israel (as in Dan. 2), or possibly to the fact that
all nations literally will be incited to attack Israel, kidded by the
beast that some "final solution" to the Middle Eastern problem is
necessary. 'Armageddon' meaning 'the valley of Megiddo', takes us back to
Zech. 12:9,11: "I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against
Jerusalem... in that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem,
as... in the valley of Megiddon". The conclusion from this is that
although a minority within Israel have repented before their victory in
the valley of Jehoshaphat (the same area in terms of prophecy), according
to the typology of 2 Chron. 20 and other passages, their full realization
of the enormity of their sin of crucifying Jesus only comes home to them
on seeing His complete rout of their enemies. Thus their returning to
Jerusalem with joy (2 Chron. 20:27) will be preceded by, or mixed with,
tears of pent-up emotional release. The similarity of the 'gather
together' language has led us to associate the following:-
- The gathering together of Israel's Arab enemies against her at
various times
- The gathering of the Arab nations into a valley near Jerusalem (2
Chron. 20:16, A.V. mg.) for destruction in Hezekiah's time
- Joel's prophecy of all nations being gathered into the "valley of
Jehoshaphat" (3:2)
- The gathering together of the Arab nations into the 'valley of
Megiddo' (Rev. 16:16) to fight Israel in the last days.
It could be objected that the valley of Megiddo is in the North of Israel
whilst that of Jehoshaphat is in the South, near Jerusalem. However, the
other similarities of language and context are so great as to suggest that
they must refer to the same place. It may be that Megiddo having been the
scene of many previous Arab battles in Israel's history, it is being used
symbolically in Rev. 16:16 rather than as a literal geographical
reference. Back in Rev. 16, the sixth vial has described how the nations
will be gathered to their place of judgment in Armageddon. The seventh
vial then records the destruction of Babylon, who receives "the cup of the
wine of the fierceness of his wrath" in the form of huge hailstones (Rev.
16:19,21). This equates the nations who are gathered to Armageddon with
Babylon, which heads up the coalition elsewhere known as the beast. The
cup of the wrath of God alludes to Zech. 12:2,3, where the peoples from
the jihadist nations also are "gathered together" and have burdened
themselves with Jerusalem are made to drink "a cup of trembling" by reason
of doing so. The punishment with giant hailstones recalls how Israel's
enemies were destroyed in the time of Joshua/Jesus (Josh. 20:11). This
confirms our interpretation of 'Babylon' as having a Middle Eastern
context.
The unclean spirits or teachings released
from the beast and his publicity agents gather the nations together to
Armageddon. “Armageddon” (Rev. 16:16) is from the Hebrew har-magedon.
Har means ‘mountain’. The assumption has been made that
magedon´is the same as ‘Megiddo’; but the problem is, Megiddo is a
plain and there is no mountain there. Also, the word magedon
would be spelt slightly differently if it were simply the place name
Megiddo. The suggestion has been made and well argued that magedon
is a form of the Hebrew mo’ed, and would literally mean “the
mount of assembly / gathering”- the title of Jerusalem in Is. 14:13 [see
Meredith Kline, ‘Har Magedon’, Journal of the Evangelical Theological
Society 39/2 (June 1996) pp. 207-222, available online. He explains
the presence of the ‘g’ on the basis that the Hebrew consonant ayin
is often represented by the Greek gamma]. Rev. 16 says that
all nations are gathered to Armageddon, but elsewhere we read of all
nations being gathered to Jerusalem. The two localities are surely
identical, quite apart from the linguistic arguments. We can expect,
therefore, far more focus specifically upon Jerusalem. For this is to be
the centre to which all are gathered. This makes perfect sense if we see
magedon as a Greek rendering of the Hebrew mo’ed- the
nations are gathered to the mount of gathering. The king of Babylon /
Assyria so wished to come to the “mount of assembly / gathering” (Is.
14:13), and it was that desire, and executing it, which was effectively
his gathering to judgment. And so it will be with the Islamist obsession
with Jerusalem- their gathering there will effectively be their gathering
to judgment. Associating Armageddon with Jerusalem would more naturally
fit with the upcoming description of "the great city", Jerusalem, being
judged by an earthquake (:19).
16:17- see on Rev. 15:2.
And the seventh poured out his bowl upon
the air- This could be purely
symbolic, as if absolutely everything will now be affected, and there will
now be a complete takeover of power above the earth. But this is perhaps
another allusion to the plagues upon Egypt; for Moses sprinkled handfuls
of ashes into the air which turned into a dust cloud in all the air,
bringing forth sores and boils (Ex. 9:8,9). Perhaps literally the air will
be full of thunder, lightning and death, as stated on :18.
And there came forth a great voice out of
the temple, from the throne, saying: It is done! - Now finally all is finished. But the Lord made a similar pronouncement
from the cross. It is only John who records Him saying then: "It is
finished" (Jn. 19:30). The second coming will be our meeting with the Lord
who died for us. To come before Him then will be in essence the same as
coming before His cross. Rev. 16 describes the events of the second
coming, and yet it is full of allusion back to the cross: “it is done",
the temple of heaven opened (16:17); an earthquake (16:18), a cup of wine
(16:19). The believers undergoing the final tribulation will have
fellowshipped the Lord's crucifixion sufferings, that they might know His
resurrection life once they are over.
16:18 And there were lightnings and
voices and thunders, and there was a great earthquake, such as has never
occurred since men came upon the earth, so great an earthquake, so mighty-
The lightning and thunder may be literal, and the result of the bowl
poured into the air (see on :17). The Lord likens His second coming to
lightning (Mt. 24:27; Zech. 9:14). The earthquake would be that associated
with the second coming, when the Lord sets foot upon the mount of Olives
in Zechariah 14.
16:19 And the great city was divided into
three parts, and the cities of the nations fell, and Babylon the great was
remembered in the sight of God, to give to her the cup of the wine of the
fierceness of His anger- The allusion is to the earthquake of Zech.
14 at the point of the Lord's return. This makes the great city Jerusalem,
and yet the great city is mystical "Babylon" in 17:18. The fall of
Jerusalem in AD70 was but a small fulfilment of what is envisaged here;
although we note that Jerusalem at that time was divided into three
opposing camps by internal strife- John, Simon and Elazar (Wars
5.1.1,4). The division of the Jews and Jerusalem in particular into three
parts for judgment is all Old Testament language (Ez. 5:2,12; Zech.
13:8,9). We are thereby encouraged to see Jerusalem as the great city
which is judged. And yet it is paralleled with the fall of Babylon. The
latter day Babylon entity will have made Jerusalem its capital, and this
shall fall. This earthquake is that of 11:13, where after the tribulation
of the believers and Jews in the land for three and a half years, "the
tenth part of the city fell"; and clearly the city in view is Jerusalem,
the "great city... where also our Lord was crucified" (11:8). Perhaps the
tenth part of the city destroyed by the earthquake refers to the
encampment of "Babylon", perhaps a mosque complex built on the temple
mount. For the abomination which will bring about the desolation of the
temple mount will be placed there (Dan. 12:11; Mt. 24:15), and this surely
refers to something like a mosque complex or other visual symbol of
jihadist Islam. The language of Babylon and the whore has some first
century application to the Judaist 'satan' which was enthroned in
Jerusalem until AD70, and the language used in chapters 17 and 18 is often
allusive to Old Testament prophecies about Israel as the whore. In the
latter day application to the "Babylon" entity, this all still is
appropriate, in that "Babylon" will make her throne on the temple mount,
in Jerusalem.
Perhaps the three parts refers to how three
different subdivisions of the beast entity are enthroned in Jerusalem; for
the call to come and fight there comes forth from three different
entities, each with essentially the same message (:13).
The subdivision of the final invader into
three groups will recall the original Assyrian battle plan whereby the
Assyrian army was split up under three leaders, Tartan, Rabsaris and
Rabshakeh. Previous invasions had this feature too:
- "The spoilers of the Philistines / Palestinians (raided Israel) in
three companies" (1 Sam. 13:17).
- The Israelites fought their Ammonite enemies "in three companies",
perhaps because there were three groups of Ammonites (1 Sam. 11:11).
- The account of Gideon's victory over Midian, a clear type of the
latter-day invaders, has a triple emphasis on Israel attacking them in
“three companies" (Jud. 7:16,20,22) - perhaps for the same reason.
- The Chaldeans (Babylonians/Assyrians) attacked Job, symbolic of
faithless Israel, in three bands (Job 1:17). The book of Job has many
other links with the Assyrian invasion.
16:20 And every island fled away and the
mountains were not found- On 13:1 I suggested that the earth / land
is the territory promised to Abraham, and the "sea" refers to the nations
immediately bordering that land; areas we now know as Turkey, Egypt and
Iran. The "isles of the Gentiles", islands within that "sea", would
therefore refer to the nations of the world; mountains likewise refer to
nations. But they flee away, retreating from the scene in the land, having
been urged to come and get involved in the "final solution" of the Jewish
/ Jerusalem / Middle East problem.
The nations in this confederacy will turn
against 'Babylon' in the ultimate 'time of the end'; through them God's
judgment against her is administered. Babylon "gathereth unto him all
nations", but "shall not all these take up a parable against him, and a
taunting proverb against him, and say, Woe to him... shall they not rise
up suddenly (and) bite thee... and thou shalt be for booties unto them?"
(Hab. 2:5-8 AV). First of all the islands (nations) flee away from Babylon
(Rev. 16:20), the birds and animals scatter from under the big tree as it
starts to totter. But fleeing away suggests they are not all caught up in
her judgment; the same word is used in Mt. 3:7 of fleeing from the wrath
to come in repentance. This is in response to the Lord's command to flee
[s.w.] Jerusalem (Mt. 24:16).
16:21 And great hailstones, each about
the weight of a talent, came down out of heaven upon men, and men
blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail. For the plague was so
severe- There may have been a limited fulfilment in the catapults
throwing stones of this size upon Jerusalem in AD70; Josephus
records them as being a white colour, similar to hail, and weighing about
a talent. But this all speaks
of the final judgment of God against Israel's enemies in Jerusalem; again
the allusion is to the plagues on Egypt for their abuse of the Hebrews,
this time to the plague of hail. And again as noted on :9 and :11, these
people recognize that all this is from God, they come to know "that I am
Yahweh", but all too late. The Hadith speaks of extreme rain as a judgment
to come upon the land in the last days: "Then Allah would send rain which
no house of clay or (the tent of) camels' hairs would keep out and it
would wash away the earth" (Book 41.7015). It is a feature of Divine
judgment that the thing men greatly fear comes upon them. The jihadist
beast will find itself the victim of the very features of Divine
condemnation which their own writings say will come upon the condemned.
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