REVELATION 16
As we will see, there are some parallels between the seven bowl judgments described in this chapter and some of the plagues in Egypt described in Exodus. There are even more striking similarities between these seven bowls and the seven trumpets described earlier in Revelation, yet there are also differences, and the bowl judgments are far more extensive and severe than anything else in the history of mankind.
The first angel pours the contents of the first bowl on the earth. After the first trumpet, hail and fire mixed with blood caused a third of the land, a third of the trees and green grass to be burned (Revelation 8:7). Human casualties would seem obvious, but we're not given any indication of how many there may be after the first trumpet. The first bowl, therefore, seems more comparable to the sixth plague in Egypt (Exodus 9:8-11) in which boils broke out on man and beast. Perhaps the ugly and painful sores which break out on those who worship the image of the beast may also be similar to the boils Job suffered (Job 2:7), though Job was innocent and the sores are not described as boils. It is possible that the worshipers of the beast may attribute these sores to some sort of natural phenomena, rather than to divine retribution. For instance, if the first trumpet (hail and fire mixed with blood) indicates a nuclear exchange, they may believe the sores are the result of exposure to radiation. As the bowls continue, however, it becomes obvious to them that these are judgments from God, though they still refuse to repent.
The second bowl turns the sea into something like the blood of a dead man. This is similar to the second trumpet, where a large burning mountain is hurled into the sea, causing a third of the sea to turn into blood, killing a third of the creatures in the sea and wrecking a third of the ships. If the results of the second trumpet were regional, the results of the second bowl are not. It is possible that no one has yet received the mark of the beast at the time of the second trumpet. In any case, the second bowl is much more severe than the second trumpet. This would not be a good time for a surfing safari or a new beach party movie.
Similarly, the third trumpet caused a star like a torch to fall on fresh water and a third of the rivers on earth turned to blood. Note again that the third bowl is similar, but it includes all fresh water sources. This is also similar, though much more extensive, than the first plague in Egypt (Exodus 7:20-21) which caused the water of the Nile to become blood. It is worth noting that the trumpet and bowl judgments are administered by angels, not by mortal and sinful men such as Moses and Aaron.
Both the angel and the altar remind us in verses 5-7 that these are not arbitrary or capricious judgments, but they are God's response to the murder of his people. It is always important to remember that the plagues and calamities in Revelation are brought about by the unjust suffering of the saints, and they are proportional to the deliberate disobedience of God.
The fourth bowl has no parallels I'm aware of. It is the opposite of the fourth trumpet, which causes a third of the sun, a third of the moon and a third of the stars to become dark. As the sun scorches earth's inhabitants, they are now fully aware that this is God's judgment, rather than a problem with greenhouse gases, and they curse and blaspheme God, rather than repenting. It seems likely to me that they no longer have the capacity to repent, having received the mark of the beast, but scripture doesn't make that absolutely clear. It's probably not an important distinction, since no repentance takes place.
The fifth bowl has no parallel among the trumpets, though it may remind us of the ninth Egyptian plague (Exodus 10:21-23. It may be that as a response to those who curse and blaspheme God when the sun scorches them during the fourth bowl judgment, God strikes the throne of the beast with darkness instead. It would be natural to assume that this darkness both immobilizes and frightens them, making it impossible for people to go about their lives normally. Their response is to gnaw their tongues and again to curse God, but not to repent. As I read this, I suspect people are in such agony due to their sores, the lack of fresh water and the darkness that they may feel somewhat nostalgic for the "good old days" of the locusts following the fifth trumpet, when they wanted to die, but were not able to do so.
The sixth bowl causes the Euphrates to be dried up, and it causes three demons to be released by the dragon, the beast and the false prophet, in order to gather their followers for what has long been called the battle of Armageddon. It is unclear what they believe they are gathering to do. Are the nations planning to go to war against each other, each hoping to capture the lion's share of the earth's diminishing resources, such as oil or fresh water? That would certainly seem to be apossibility, but it may also be that this is the fulfillment of the rebellion we read about in Psalm 2, which says that the nations plot and conspire against the Lord in vain, and the Lord will give the nations to his Son as his heritage.
Then we come to verse 15, which seems oddly out of place in this chapter.
Revelation 16:15 "Behold, I am going to come like a thief! Blessed (happy, to be envied) is he who stays awake (alert) and who guards his clothes, so that he may not
be naked and [have the shame of being] seen exposed!" (Amplified Bible).
The idea that Jesus will come at an hour which we may not expect is not new to students of scripture. Passages in Matthew 24:36-44 and 1 Thessalonians 5:1-4 amplify the meaning of Revelation 16:15. Yet why is this verse here, in the midst of so many signs we can assume immediately precede Christ's return? One possibility is that this verse is written for Christians of all generations, not particularly for anyone living during the time of the bowl judgments. We are to watch for the signs of Christ's return, but never to think we are so smart and can assume it won't happen yet, because events X, Y and Z, which we are counting on have not yet taken place. As much as Revelation reveals to us, it also conceals the answers to many questions we may have.
One of the questions this verse brings up is whether or not Christians are still on earth during the time of these plagues. Has the church been completely exterminated during the tribulation, or did it not go through the tribulation at all? Because of the global nature of the bowl judgments (the sun, darkness, and the need for drinking water affect everyone), it seems unlikely to me that Christians are still on earth at this time. On one hand, the severity of the seals, the trumpets and the bowls, as well as the apparent need for the church age to end for Daniel's seventieth week to take place, all argue for a pre-tribulation rapture. God was unwilling to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah if he could find even ten righteous persons there, and the Hebrews were separated geographically from the Egyptians during the time of the exodus, so they were unaffected when God punished Phaaraoh and the Egyptians. Furthermore, the text of Revelation itself includes a warning at the end that the plagues in this book will be added to anyone who adds to the vision, which by implication would seem to indicate that God either removes or finds a way to exempt his people from these catastrophies.
Yet the book of Revelation frequently asks Christ's followers to be faithful until death or to the end (Revelation 2:10, 2:26, 13:10). The beast makes war on the saints and conquers them in chapter 13, so the beast clearly has people to conquer. Of course, pre-tribulation believers argue that the saints they conquer are only those who become Christians during the tribulation period. Perhaps, but the logic of having some going through the tribulation while others are removed from it does seem a bit weak, particularly because Matthew 13:30 and the passage in Matthew 24:36-44 seem to indicate that judgment of the wicked happens before rewards for the just. Basically, the prophetic puzzle consists of many pieces which we do not entirely know how to fit together, just as many Jews failed to understand the prophecies about Christ's coming. To what extent are God's people protected from the apocalyptic events in Revelation? I can't answer that question with certainty, and smarter people than me have debated that question for two thousand years. The only answer I can really give is found in 1 John 1:7, which tells us to walk in the light, as He is in the light. That's probably also the best way to have one's questions answered too.
Another of this chapter's mysteries involves the reference to Armageddon, which means Mountain of Megiddo in Hebrew. The problem is that Megiddo is in a valley, not on a mountain, which has caused some to speculate that Armageddon is not a real place, there will be no battle of Armageddon, and much of the language Revelation uses is symbolic.
Here I would suggest an alternate explanation. Mountain of Megiddo is probably not simply a geographic location, but a play on words, indicating there will be a battle in the valley of Megiddo which will produce a mountainful of casualties. I believe what will happen at Armageddon has already been described to us in chapter 14, verses 18-20, where the angel swung his sickle, and blood flowed as high as a horse's bridle for two hundred miles. Some additional history regarding the valley of Megiddo can be found in Judges 5, 2 Kings 9 and 2 Chronicles 35, but none of it is particularly relevant here.
Now we come to the seventh and final bowl, which produces lightning flashes, peals of thunder, the largest earthquake in the history of mankind, and extremely heavy hail. The earthquake here is so severe that it causes mountains and islands to disappear. Verse 19 says "the great city was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell." Which great city isn't specified, and we have to search through verses 9 and 18 of the next chapter in order to identify it as Rome. Revelation 17:18 also speaks of "the great city" and identifies it as the same city in Revelation 17:9, a city which sits on seven hills, which was a common poetic description of Rome in John's day.
The hail described here would almost certainly destroy anything in its path, and even being indoors wouldn't be helpful if the hailstones ranged from fifty to one hundred pounds, as indicated by various translations. This would probably be more severe than the seventh plague in Egypt, which is described in Exodus 9:18-26.
This is the fifth and final reference to earthquakes in Revelation. For the seismically inclined among us, here is a brief earthquake recap:
Earthquake 1: After the opening of the sixth seal (Revelation 6:12-17).
Earthquake 2: After the opening of the seventh seal and immediately prior to the first trumpet (Revelation 8:5).
Earthquake 3: Between the sixth and seventh trumpets, after the two prophets ascended into heaven (Revelation 11:12-14).
Earthquake 4: After the seventh trumpet (Revelation 11:15-19).
Earthquake 5: After the seventh bowl (Revelation 16:17-21).
It is possible, though far from certain, that the earthquake described after the seventh trumpet and the earthquake described after the seventh bowl are the same one, but I suspect they are different events.
Some other interesting possibilities about this earthquake and what is happening at this point in time are found in Zechariah 14:2-4 and Zechariah 14:12-15, where the NIV translation says:
Zechariah 14:2 "I will gather all the nations to Jerusalem to fight against it; the city will be captured, the houses ransacked, and the women raped. Half of the city
will go into exile, but the rest of the people will not be taken from the city.
3 Then the LORD will go out and fight against those nations, as he fights in the day of battle. 4 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 of the mountain moving north and half
moving south."
Zechariah 14:12 "This is the plague with which the LORD will strike all the nations that fought against Jerusalem: Their flesh will rot while they are still standing
on their feet, their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths. 13 On that day men will be stricken by the LORD with great
panic. Each man will seize the hand of another, and they will attack each other. 14 Judah too will fight at Jerusalem. The wealth of all the surrounding
nations will be collected—great quantities of gold and silver and clothing. 15 A similar plague will strike the horses and mules, the camels and donkeys,
and all the animals in those camps."
Revelation 16:19 also mentions that the seventh bowl is also a plague on Babylon, but we will devote plenty of time to Babylon during the next two chapters.
The first angel pours the contents of the first bowl on the earth. After the first trumpet, hail and fire mixed with blood caused a third of the land, a third of the trees and green grass to be burned (Revelation 8:7). Human casualties would seem obvious, but we're not given any indication of how many there may be after the first trumpet. The first bowl, therefore, seems more comparable to the sixth plague in Egypt (Exodus 9:8-11) in which boils broke out on man and beast. Perhaps the ugly and painful sores which break out on those who worship the image of the beast may also be similar to the boils Job suffered (Job 2:7), though Job was innocent and the sores are not described as boils. It is possible that the worshipers of the beast may attribute these sores to some sort of natural phenomena, rather than to divine retribution. For instance, if the first trumpet (hail and fire mixed with blood) indicates a nuclear exchange, they may believe the sores are the result of exposure to radiation. As the bowls continue, however, it becomes obvious to them that these are judgments from God, though they still refuse to repent.
The second bowl turns the sea into something like the blood of a dead man. This is similar to the second trumpet, where a large burning mountain is hurled into the sea, causing a third of the sea to turn into blood, killing a third of the creatures in the sea and wrecking a third of the ships. If the results of the second trumpet were regional, the results of the second bowl are not. It is possible that no one has yet received the mark of the beast at the time of the second trumpet. In any case, the second bowl is much more severe than the second trumpet. This would not be a good time for a surfing safari or a new beach party movie.
Similarly, the third trumpet caused a star like a torch to fall on fresh water and a third of the rivers on earth turned to blood. Note again that the third bowl is similar, but it includes all fresh water sources. This is also similar, though much more extensive, than the first plague in Egypt (Exodus 7:20-21) which caused the water of the Nile to become blood. It is worth noting that the trumpet and bowl judgments are administered by angels, not by mortal and sinful men such as Moses and Aaron.
Both the angel and the altar remind us in verses 5-7 that these are not arbitrary or capricious judgments, but they are God's response to the murder of his people. It is always important to remember that the plagues and calamities in Revelation are brought about by the unjust suffering of the saints, and they are proportional to the deliberate disobedience of God.
The fourth bowl has no parallels I'm aware of. It is the opposite of the fourth trumpet, which causes a third of the sun, a third of the moon and a third of the stars to become dark. As the sun scorches earth's inhabitants, they are now fully aware that this is God's judgment, rather than a problem with greenhouse gases, and they curse and blaspheme God, rather than repenting. It seems likely to me that they no longer have the capacity to repent, having received the mark of the beast, but scripture doesn't make that absolutely clear. It's probably not an important distinction, since no repentance takes place.
The fifth bowl has no parallel among the trumpets, though it may remind us of the ninth Egyptian plague (Exodus 10:21-23. It may be that as a response to those who curse and blaspheme God when the sun scorches them during the fourth bowl judgment, God strikes the throne of the beast with darkness instead. It would be natural to assume that this darkness both immobilizes and frightens them, making it impossible for people to go about their lives normally. Their response is to gnaw their tongues and again to curse God, but not to repent. As I read this, I suspect people are in such agony due to their sores, the lack of fresh water and the darkness that they may feel somewhat nostalgic for the "good old days" of the locusts following the fifth trumpet, when they wanted to die, but were not able to do so.
The sixth bowl causes the Euphrates to be dried up, and it causes three demons to be released by the dragon, the beast and the false prophet, in order to gather their followers for what has long been called the battle of Armageddon. It is unclear what they believe they are gathering to do. Are the nations planning to go to war against each other, each hoping to capture the lion's share of the earth's diminishing resources, such as oil or fresh water? That would certainly seem to be apossibility, but it may also be that this is the fulfillment of the rebellion we read about in Psalm 2, which says that the nations plot and conspire against the Lord in vain, and the Lord will give the nations to his Son as his heritage.
Then we come to verse 15, which seems oddly out of place in this chapter.
Revelation 16:15 "Behold, I am going to come like a thief! Blessed (happy, to be envied) is he who stays awake (alert) and who guards his clothes, so that he may not
be naked and [have the shame of being] seen exposed!" (Amplified Bible).
The idea that Jesus will come at an hour which we may not expect is not new to students of scripture. Passages in Matthew 24:36-44 and 1 Thessalonians 5:1-4 amplify the meaning of Revelation 16:15. Yet why is this verse here, in the midst of so many signs we can assume immediately precede Christ's return? One possibility is that this verse is written for Christians of all generations, not particularly for anyone living during the time of the bowl judgments. We are to watch for the signs of Christ's return, but never to think we are so smart and can assume it won't happen yet, because events X, Y and Z, which we are counting on have not yet taken place. As much as Revelation reveals to us, it also conceals the answers to many questions we may have.
One of the questions this verse brings up is whether or not Christians are still on earth during the time of these plagues. Has the church been completely exterminated during the tribulation, or did it not go through the tribulation at all? Because of the global nature of the bowl judgments (the sun, darkness, and the need for drinking water affect everyone), it seems unlikely to me that Christians are still on earth at this time. On one hand, the severity of the seals, the trumpets and the bowls, as well as the apparent need for the church age to end for Daniel's seventieth week to take place, all argue for a pre-tribulation rapture. God was unwilling to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah if he could find even ten righteous persons there, and the Hebrews were separated geographically from the Egyptians during the time of the exodus, so they were unaffected when God punished Phaaraoh and the Egyptians. Furthermore, the text of Revelation itself includes a warning at the end that the plagues in this book will be added to anyone who adds to the vision, which by implication would seem to indicate that God either removes or finds a way to exempt his people from these catastrophies.
Yet the book of Revelation frequently asks Christ's followers to be faithful until death or to the end (Revelation 2:10, 2:26, 13:10). The beast makes war on the saints and conquers them in chapter 13, so the beast clearly has people to conquer. Of course, pre-tribulation believers argue that the saints they conquer are only those who become Christians during the tribulation period. Perhaps, but the logic of having some going through the tribulation while others are removed from it does seem a bit weak, particularly because Matthew 13:30 and the passage in Matthew 24:36-44 seem to indicate that judgment of the wicked happens before rewards for the just. Basically, the prophetic puzzle consists of many pieces which we do not entirely know how to fit together, just as many Jews failed to understand the prophecies about Christ's coming. To what extent are God's people protected from the apocalyptic events in Revelation? I can't answer that question with certainty, and smarter people than me have debated that question for two thousand years. The only answer I can really give is found in 1 John 1:7, which tells us to walk in the light, as He is in the light. That's probably also the best way to have one's questions answered too.
Another of this chapter's mysteries involves the reference to Armageddon, which means Mountain of Megiddo in Hebrew. The problem is that Megiddo is in a valley, not on a mountain, which has caused some to speculate that Armageddon is not a real place, there will be no battle of Armageddon, and much of the language Revelation uses is symbolic.
Here I would suggest an alternate explanation. Mountain of Megiddo is probably not simply a geographic location, but a play on words, indicating there will be a battle in the valley of Megiddo which will produce a mountainful of casualties. I believe what will happen at Armageddon has already been described to us in chapter 14, verses 18-20, where the angel swung his sickle, and blood flowed as high as a horse's bridle for two hundred miles. Some additional history regarding the valley of Megiddo can be found in Judges 5, 2 Kings 9 and 2 Chronicles 35, but none of it is particularly relevant here.
Now we come to the seventh and final bowl, which produces lightning flashes, peals of thunder, the largest earthquake in the history of mankind, and extremely heavy hail. The earthquake here is so severe that it causes mountains and islands to disappear. Verse 19 says "the great city was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell." Which great city isn't specified, and we have to search through verses 9 and 18 of the next chapter in order to identify it as Rome. Revelation 17:18 also speaks of "the great city" and identifies it as the same city in Revelation 17:9, a city which sits on seven hills, which was a common poetic description of Rome in John's day.
The hail described here would almost certainly destroy anything in its path, and even being indoors wouldn't be helpful if the hailstones ranged from fifty to one hundred pounds, as indicated by various translations. This would probably be more severe than the seventh plague in Egypt, which is described in Exodus 9:18-26.
This is the fifth and final reference to earthquakes in Revelation. For the seismically inclined among us, here is a brief earthquake recap:
Earthquake 1: After the opening of the sixth seal (Revelation 6:12-17).
Earthquake 2: After the opening of the seventh seal and immediately prior to the first trumpet (Revelation 8:5).
Earthquake 3: Between the sixth and seventh trumpets, after the two prophets ascended into heaven (Revelation 11:12-14).
Earthquake 4: After the seventh trumpet (Revelation 11:15-19).
Earthquake 5: After the seventh bowl (Revelation 16:17-21).
It is possible, though far from certain, that the earthquake described after the seventh trumpet and the earthquake described after the seventh bowl are the same one, but I suspect they are different events.
Some other interesting possibilities about this earthquake and what is happening at this point in time are found in Zechariah 14:2-4 and Zechariah 14:12-15, where the NIV translation says:
Zechariah 14:2 "I will gather all the nations to Jerusalem to fight against it; the city will be captured, the houses ransacked, and the women raped. Half of the city
will go into exile, but the rest of the people will not be taken from the city.
3 Then the LORD will go out and fight against those nations, as he fights in the day of battle. 4 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 of the mountain moving north and half
moving south."
Zechariah 14:12 "This is the plague with which the LORD will strike all the nations that fought against Jerusalem: Their flesh will rot while they are still standing
on their feet, their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths. 13 On that day men will be stricken by the LORD with great
panic. Each man will seize the hand of another, and they will attack each other. 14 Judah too will fight at Jerusalem. The wealth of all the surrounding
nations will be collected—great quantities of gold and silver and clothing. 15 A similar plague will strike the horses and mules, the camels and donkeys,
and all the animals in those camps."
Revelation 16:19 also mentions that the seventh bowl is also a plague on Babylon, but we will devote plenty of time to Babylon during the next two chapters.
posted by TAPIOCA at 12/09/2006 02:29:00 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home