03.08 Sixth Division: The Seven Angels Having The Seven Plagues.
Sixth Division: The Seven Angels Having The Seven Plagues.
The Vials of Wrath.
Chapters 15-16.
Chapter 15.
1. The Seven Angels with the Seven Plagues.Revelation 15:1. And now the last seven angels appear. Seven seal judgments first, followed by seven angels with trumpets and next the last seven angels. With these seven angels who have the seven last plagues for the world, the wrath of God is completed. These great final manifestations of the wrath of God upon an apostate world are therefore conclusive. What wonderful order prevails in this book! What unfoldings of the future! What harmony with the previous portions of God’s Word! Surely a human mind—a genius—could never have put these things together in this manner. It is revelation.
2. Another Scene of Worship.Revelation 15:2-4. Before these angels go forth we behold another worship scene. Who are they? Not the twenty-four Elders, but they are the harpers which we saw harping and singing in Revelation 14:2-3. They are the martyred company worshipping in glory. Here we are told of their victory and their song, the song of Moses and of the Lamb. The song of Moses (Exodus 15) is the song of an earthly deliverance and the song of the Lamb concerns a spiritual deliverance. They are redeemed by power and by blood.
3. The Seven Angels Proceeding out of the Temple.Revelation 15:5-8. A wonderful sight it is. There is again an ominous silence similar to the silence in connection with the opening of the seventh seal. The silence is not mentioned. But the text shows an impressive scene of silence. Quietly the procession of these ministers of judgment file out of the temple. They are clothed in pure, white linen; this is symbolical of the righteousness which demands the judgment wrath about to be poured out. And the golden girdles with which their breasts are girded speak still more of divine righteousness. God in His righteousness must judge and now His wrath in completeness is about to be felt on the earth. The angels left the temple empty-handed, but the four living creatures give into their hands the bowls full of the wrath of God. Then the temple was filled with smoke, not the smoke from incense, but from the Glory of God. And behind that smoke is the fire of judgment. He is hidden in the thick darkness of His Glory (Exodus 19:18; Psalms 18:8; Isaiah 6:4).
Chapter 16.
4. The First Vial.Revelation 16:1-2. The great voice commands the seven angels to go on their way and to empty the bowls upon the earth (Psalms 69:24). And these vials of judgments affect not alone the Roman Empire, but the entire world, for the whole world is guilty before God. The first vial poured out produces a grievous sore upon the worshippers of the Beast. While it is undoubtedly true that we have symbols also in these vial judgments, it is nevertheless possible that some of these plagues may have, besides the symbolical, also a literal meaning. The sixth plague which came upon Egypt, the first judgment upon the persons of the Egyptians, was also a sore (Exodus 9:10-11). The worshippers of the Beast and of the image will be dreadfully afflicted. All the internal corruption will be outwardly manifested. There will be connected with it great agony and suffering; and as a sore is a vile thing to behold, we may think of the great vileness connected with the moral, apostate conditions in the earth, which God will permit to break out.
5. The Second Vial.Revelation 16:3. This is poured out into the sea. The sea represents the Gentiles. These will now experience the wrath of God. See the plague in Egypt (Exodus 7:17-25). That was a literal thing; but not so here. Some apply it to the continued carnage which will be one of the leading features of the final history of the times of the Gentiles. That it presents a state of the most unspeakable corruption and spiritual death is obvious. How little we can say of all these awful scenes of wrath coming upon the earth. It is far better to acknowledge our ignorance in some of these matters than to indulge in fanciful speculations.
6. The Third Vial.Revelation 16:4-7. Another scene in which the blood is prominent. The Apostates denied the blood, sneered at it as the Unitarians and Christian Scientists do in our own days, and now the angel of the waters saith, “Thou hast given them blood to drink, for they are worthy.” They have to feel the dreadful results of having rejected the Christ of God and accepted the man of sin. The children of Israel had to taste their own idolatry when Moses put the ashes of the burnt golden calf in the water and made them drink it (Exodus 32:20). They have to taste the vileness and bitterness of their apostasy. They reap what they sow. All the joys of life typified by rivers and fountains of water, are poisoned and corrupted. It is a retributive judgment of God falling then upon the earth.
7. The Fourth Vial.Revelation 16:8-9. The fourth vial is poured into the sun and men are scorched with great heat. Some also apply this literally, but the symbolical meaning is to be preferred. There can be no doubt but the powers of nature will also bear witness to the wrath of God. Famines, droughts, great floods, volcanic disturbances, great and widespread earthquakes and other physical phenomena will occur throughout these days of tribulation. However, the sun here is not the physical sun, but means, as under the fourth trumpet, the supreme authority governing them (the Roman Empire). Under the fourth trumpet great moral darkness came upon all; here it is fearful, fiery agony “scorched with great heat.” The government, Satan-ruled as it is, becomes now the source of the most awful torment to those who are under its dominion. God, in judgment and in His wrath, permits those terrible things to come to pass. Everything under these vial judgments will become more aggravated than under the trumpet judgment. And what will those do who are drinking the cup of wrath? They do not repent, but blaspheme. What an evidence of their hopeless condition!
8. The Fifth Vial.Revelation 16:10-11. Under the fifth trumpet we saw the star fallen from heaven. It synchronizes with Revelation 12:7-12 -Satan cast out of heaven. Then Satan fallen from heaven gave his power and authority to the Beast, the head of the Empire. Here the throne (not seat) of the Beast is dealt with. His throne and his kingdom is deluged with wrath. All becomes darkness. [Note: See the judgment plague upon Egypt. (Exodus 10:21-23)] The boast had been “Who is like unto the Beast? Who is able to make war with him?” (Revelation 13:4). Here God answers this boast with wrath. Then they begin to gnaw their tongues with pain. However, it is not yet the complete judgment of the two Beasts. That comes later.
9. The Sixth Vial.Revelation 16:12. Once more the river Euphrates is mentioned. It dries up when the sixth bowl is poured out so that the way of the kings of the East (literal: from the rising of the sun) might be prepared. We have hinted before at the correspondence between the trumpet judgments and the pouring out of the vials. This becomes now very marked for under the sixth trumpet the river Euphrates is also mentioned. There the forces which keep back hostile powers are removed and here the river is dried up. The historical interpretation is responsible for the theory that the Euphrates is Turkey. But is there anything in Revelation which would warrant the interpretation that this river means Turkey? We know nothing whatever. If the Euphrates really meant the Turkish power then the drying up of the river has been going on for a number of decades. But here it is not a gradual thing but a sudden event. Nor does this event take place as long as the true Church is here, but after the Church is removed. As already stated the Euphrates was the boundary of the Roman Empire and the land of Israel. It is a kind of barrier which separates the West from the East. This barrier symbolized by the river Euphrates is now completely removed, so that the kings from the sunrise can invade the land. This invasion is also seen in connection with the sixth trumpet. The nations must gather from all quarters in and about Palestine. We find much of this revealed in the Old Testament and it would be strange if the Revelation were silent on so important an event. Ezekiel describes a great invader, a confederacy of nations (Ezekiel 38 and xxxix). Gog, Magog, the Prince of Rosh [Note: This is the correct translation of “chief prince”] (Russia), Meshech. Tubal, Persia, Cush and Put are mentioned as forming this confederacy. The term “Kings of the sunrise” may even mean the far Eastern Asiatic nations, like China and We hear much of “the yellow peril” in our day. Certain statesmen predict that ultimately Russia will form an alliance with Japan, and, as one expressed it “then let Europe tremble.” The drying up of the Euphrates seems therefore to mean the removal of the barrier, so that the predicted gathering of the nations may take place (Joel 3:2). What began under the sixth trumpet is consummated when the sixth vial is poured out. It is an act of judgment-wrath, while at the same time these opposing nations are gathering for the great day of God Almighty.
Between the Sixth and Seventh Vial. A Parenthetical Vision.Revelation 16:13-16. Just as we had a parenthetical vision between the sixth and seventh seal, and between the sixth and seventh trumpet, so we find here a very brief one between the sixth and seventh vial judgment. Armageddon is not yet, but it comes now in view. Unclean spirits, like frogs, creatures of the slimy, evil smelling swamps and of the night, now proceed out of the mouth of the trinity of evil. The Dragon is Satan; the Beast the political head of the Empire and the false Prophet, the Anti-christ. Satanic influences, emanating from him and his two masterpieces are then at work; and they are of such a nature that we cannot fully understand them. They are the spirits of demons, working miracles. Doctrines of seducing spirits and demons, like Christian Science, Spiritism and Theosophy are already in the world. They are Satan’s instruments. But when the three unclean spirits come forth it will be far worse. It is a judgment also. Compare with 1 Kings 22:13-23. The kings are gathered for the battle which is to come. And it is God Himself who does this gathering. What will happen when they are gathered we see in Revelation 19 : A final warning is given of His coming.
10. The Seventh Vial.Revelation 16:17-21. The seventh angel pours his vial into the air. This is Satan’s sphere. His power and dominion is now dealt with in wrath. While Satan was cast out of heaven, he may still maintain part of the atmosphere immediately above the earth, thus upholding his claim as the prince of the power of the air (Ephesians 2:2). A great voice declares “It is done.” All what follows shows that the climax is reached. The judgment shown is sweeping everything. A great earthquake as under the sixth seal and the seventh trumpet takes place. The great city Babylon is divided into three parts; the cities of the nations fall. It is the hour of collapse, when the stone from above does its smiting work (Daniel 2). “It is done!” The Lord has come. The nineteenth chapter will furnish us the particulars.