Revelation 16: Pouring Out The Seven Bowls
Revelation 16: Pouring Out The Seven Bowls
v1-12 : First to Fifth Bowl
John hear a loud voice from the temple telling the seven angels to pour out the seven bowls of the wrath of God. Again, the angels cannot do anything without the commandments from God or higher level angels.
The first angel pour his bowl, and harmful (NKJ: foul) and painful (NKJ: loathsome) sore came upon those who bore the mark of the beast and worshipped his image. (v2) The "sores" in Greek refers to a wound or ulcer. This is similar to the curse God put on Egypt that causes boils on man and beasts. (Exodus 9:8-12) The things God hate the most is supporting evil and idol worship - both of them contradicts God's holiness and the only one who is worthy to be worshipped.
The second angel poured their bowl on the sea, and the third angel poured on the rivers and springs. All the waters turned into blood (v3-4). In Egypt, God turn the Neil River into blood, but not the sea. (Exodus 7:14-25) This is far worse. In Egypt the blood flowed into the land and nobody can drink the water and it was pungent. No river or sea creatures can survive this curse, removing a major food source from man. In Rev 8:8-11, only 1/3 of waters were contaminated, but this completes it.
The angel in charge of waters said: “Just are you, O Holy One, who is and who was, for you brought these judgments. For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and you have given them blood to drink. It is what they deserve!” (v5-6) Those at the altar responded: “Yes, Lord God the Almighty, true and just are your judgments!” (v7)
The angel and those at the altar praised God for His justice is fair, and also pure and appropriate. If there is an angel in charge of water, there will be angels in charge everything on earth, such as the wind, the fire, the air, the cities, the trees, the animals, and so on. All along, the angels of God had been assigned to make sure Earth and all the planets, and Galaxies are taken cared off - in order to sustain of life on Earth.
Stephen Hawking, a famous scientist at the level of Albert Einstein, said that the fundamental constants and conditions of our universe appear finely tuned to allow the existence of life. In other words, if certain physical parameters were even slightly different, life as we know it might not be possible. Yet, he is still an atheist when he died. His mind said the right things, but his heart refuse to accept the creator.
When the fourth bowl was poured on the sun, it became so hot that people was scorched by fierce heat. But instead of asking for mercy, they cursed God and did not repent. (v8-9)
“The wishful thinking of some that men would repent if they only knew the power and righteous judgment of God is shattered by frequent mention in this chapter of the hardness of the human heart in the face of the most stringent and evident divine discipline.” (Walvoord)
This change to the sun can only be done by God, for the sun's heat has been stable so far. While the temperature is increasing slightly over the years, scientists say that it will take a billion years before the sun heat increases significantly to boil the earth's ocean.
The fifth bowl was poured on the throne of the beast, and his kingdom was plunged into darkness. (v10) Again, God re-used His curse of Egypt on the kingdom of the antichrist. In the ninth plague of Egypt, total darkness covered Egypt for three days, and no one can see each other or move about. This meant that their candles and torches could not be lighted, and the stars and moon were hidden (Exo 10:21-23.) If the fifth bowl also bring such darkness, then even the electricity and batteries will not be working, which means torchlights, mobile phones, cars, TVs or even computers can't be turned on.
Even at the fifth plague, the people are still cursing God, instead of repenting. Their sores from the first bowl still give them intense pain and agony, and made them "gnawed their tongues." (v11)
To sum up, there are two possibilities how these things will happen. God has no problem putting a curse on man in how it was described. On the other hand, you can also imagine that these can be an outcome of a nuclear warfare we considered during the Trumpet portion. Painful sores from radiation, fishes that died in the sea, blood in the water from all the deaths, fierce heat when the atmosphere is destroyed or even directly from the nuclear blasts, and the nations turned into darkness when the power stations are destroyed.
v12-16 : The Sixth Bowl
The sixth angel poured the bowl on Euphrates river, and the water dried up, in order to prepare the way for the kings of the east.
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The Euphrates is a very long river (2,800 km), and flowed from Murat Mountain in Turkey, and flowed through Syria and Iraq where it combines with Tigris river to form Shatt Al-Arab river that flows into the Persian Gulf.
Why was Euphrates chosen? I believe it has to do with the ancient Babylon city, which was placed right at the tributaries of Euphrates. Babylon is 53 miles south of today's Baghdad in Iraq.
Babylon is mentioned 6 times in Revelation. In the old testament, Babylon was a great city filled with spiritual and moral corruption, who exiled the Jews to their kingdom. In the new testament, Babylon symbolizes a world system that rebelled and opposes God's Kingdom. Revelation 17 portrays Babylon as the "great prostitute" who seduces people into idolatry and immortality. At this time we need to assume Babylon represent the rebellion or a specific city, but we do not know where it will be located. Perhaps the antichrist will be living in Bagdad, and ruling his kingdom from there.
When Euphrates is dried up, it will be a major catastrophe to all human beings who depend on the water for drinking, fish and irrigation. All the cities of Iraq and Syria near to the Euphrates will be affected.
Some say that the "kings of the east" could be Saudi Arabia and China. In Rev 9:16, John saw the four angels who were in charge of Euphrates released an army of 200 million. Only China has such a large number of troops. Crossing the Euphrates is just a symbolic phrase, as any nations today can fly or sail to Israel, or even send missiles towards them. It just tells us that large countries from the East will be involved.
When the sixth bowl was being poured on Euphrates, John saw three unclean spirits "like frogs", came out of the mouths of the dragon (Satan), the beast (antichrist) and the false prophet. They were demonic spirits who can perform signs, and they went to the kings of the whole world to assemble them for battle with God. They assembled at the place called Armageddon.
John heard a voice that said “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!” (v15) Paul said in 1 Thess 5:2 that ".. the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in that night", meaning that no one knows when Christ will come and there is no fanfare when He comes. We are to keep our "garments" on, that is, to be prepared for His coming.
Frogs are symbolic of the uncleanness, deception and plague in ancient cultures. The evil spirit's purpose is to deceive and manipulate all the leaders of the nations, so that Satan can rally them to fight against the army of God. They gathered in a placed called Armageddon.
Armageddon a Greek transliteration of the Hebrew phrase har məgiddô, which means “the mount of Megiddo”. However, the mount of Megiddo is not actually a mountain but a tell on which ancient forts were built and a location of many battles throughout history. The modern name for this site is called Tel Megiddo in northern Israel, which were mentioned several times in the Old Testament.
In Zechariah 12, this place was prophesied as the battle ground between the Lord and the nations. Here are some excerpts:
"On that day I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples. All who lift it will surely hurt themselves. And all the nations of the earth will gather against it.... Then the clans of Judah shall say to themselves, ‘The inhabitants of Jerusalem have strength through the LORD of hosts, their God.’ ... On that day the LORD will protect the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the feeblest among them on that day shall be like David, and the house of David shall be like God, like the angel of the LORD, going before them.... On that day the mourning in Jerusalem will be as great as the mourning for Hadad-rimmon in the plain of Megiddo. " (See Q&A for a note)
v17-21: The Seventh Bowl
When the seventh bowl was poured into the air, a loud voice came from heaven, saying "It is done!" Flashes of ligtnings, rumblings and peals of thunder and a great earthquake which is the largest in history shook the earth. The "great city" was split into three parts, and all the cities of the nations fell.
Who is this "great city?" Jerusalem were also called a "great city" in Rev 11:8, where the two witnesses "dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city that symbolically is called Sodom and Egypt, where their Lord was crucified." However, the in Rev 17:18, the evil "harlot" were also called a "great city" - "And the woman that you saw is the great city that has dominion over the kings of the earth.”
Based on the fact that this "great city" is destroyed and split into three parts, it could not be Jerusalem, as God would have protected it. Therefore, this is Babylon the Great, as the harlot was identified in Rev 11:5-6.
In fact, it says that God remembered "Babylon the great" and make it drink the cup of the wine of fury of His wrath. All the islands and mountains were all gone, and great hailstones - about a hundred pound each - fell from heaven on the people. Yet they still cursed God for the hail and the disaster was so severe. (v17-21)
Ezekiel also prophesied that God and Israel will win the war: "You shall fall upon the mountains of Israel, you and all your troops and the peoples who are with you; I will give you to birds of prey of every sort and to the beasts of the field to be devoured. You shall fall on the open field; for I have spoken,” says the Lord God. “And I will send fire on Magog and on those who live in security in the coastlands. Then they shall know that I am the Lord." (Ezekiel 39:4-6)
God surely has the power to bring all these disaster to the earth with His own hands. Another option He has is to allow for nuclear war. John had never seen such a large explosion, like the atomic bomb in Nagasaki and Hiroshima. John just called it a "great earthquake" and that all islands and mountains were leveled, and hailstones (probably debris of the explosions). Today, a nuclear bomb can be up to 60 times more powerful than what was dropped in Japan. No wonder islands and mountains disappeared!
This nuclear war is not impossible to happen, as Israel is known to have nuclear weapons. They were also hit by other countries with nuclear missiles, such as Russia, China, India and Pakistan. They may send nuclear missile to Jerusalem and broke it into three parts.
(Note: there is no mention of United States in the bible, but based on today's relationship, United States should be on the Israel side, if they still exist.)
The scary thing about nuclear bombs, other than killing millions of people instantly, is that there will be a nuclear fallout. A fallout contains debris and soil can mix with radionuclides (radioactive isotopes). This mixture is sent up into the air and then falls back to Earth. The small radioactive dust will fly around the world and contaminate those areas as well. The earth will become cold as the fallout covers the sun rays.
Radionuclides half-life are from 8 years to 30 years. This means radioactive radiation will be halved (50%) at 30 years, and will half again (25%) after the next 30 years. It will take hundreds of years before the place is safe to live in again.
However, I believe God will do a miracle to remove radioactive elements from the earth, so that the air will be cleaned up and be made healthy for life again. In addition, God will provide the "tree of life" so that "the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations." for those with radioactive sickness. (Revelation 22:2,)
Q&A
1. When will the Jews recognize and accept Jesus Christ as the Messiah?
In Zech 12:10 - it says "And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn."
This is a significant moment in the life of Israel. During this Armageddon war, Jesus will return again to save them. On that day, God will open the eyes of the Jews to recognize that He is the Messiah, and they cried when they realized that He was the one they crucified, and for the first time after 2000 they "mourn" for his death, and they weep bitterly over their huge mistake.
2. Is the Euphrates drying up today?
On February 9, 2024, Sara Novak wrote an article in DiscoverMagazine.Com about Euphrates are drying up. Here's an extract from the article:
"The Euphrates River has been one of the most important rivers throughout human history. Along with the Tigris River, it makes up the cradle of civilization, known as the Fertile Crescent. The river was critical to the development of some of the world’s first agricultural societies like the Sumerians and the Mesopotamians. In the Bible, the Euphrates was even mentioned as one of the four rivers that served the Garden of Eden.
But now, in the face of global climate change and human impact, the river is under threat, presenting conflict in an already white-hot part of the world.
Today, the river is a vital source of fresh water in a very arid part of the world, serving over 23 million people.
Levels are dangerously low and the concern is that the river will dry up completely by 2040."
Read: https://www.discovermagazine.
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