A Commentary in Simple English on Revelation

CHAPTER 16

The Seven Bowls filled with the Great Anger of God

John told us about seven seals; then he told us about seven trumpets. He could not tell us what the seven thunders said. Then he told us about seven 'visions' which he saw. Now he adds to his 'story' seven bowls. The picture of the bowl is simple. What is in it is poured out. Nothing is kept back. So this is a picture of God's judgments. And God keeps nothing back. But John says quite a lot more than that in this chapter.

Before we look at the shape of the chapter, there are one or two things that we should say: -

1 None of these plagues kills people. The second plague kills all that lives in the sea.

2 The angels aim them. Most of all, the angel aims the fifth bowl at 'the throne of the wild animal' (verse 10). The angel aims the sixth bowl at the river Euphrates.

3 Some writers compare the seven plagues with the seven trumpets. [16.1]

But although some things are alike, others are very different.

4 It is better to say that the bowls destroy the system, which the 'wild beast' has set up in the world.

5 The first three angels empty their bowls into something. The other four empty their bowls onto something. John's Greek makes this clear, although English Bibles do not. [16.2].

6 John also uses the Greek word for 'become' about eight times in the chapter. It is used four times in verse 18. It was a word that was special to John. (See 1:18 and John 1:14 - 'the Word became flesh').

So the shape of this chapter is different. Usually John's 'sevens' are made up of 4+2+1. There is often a 'break' between 4 and 2, and sometimes between 2 and 1.

This chapter is made up like this: -

Verse 1 'Everything is ready!' -'Go'!

Verse 2 The first bowl

Verse 3 The second bowl

Verse 4 The third bowl

Verses 5 -7 Break - An angel and the altar speak

Verses 8 and 9 The fourth bowl

Verses 10 and 11 The fifth bowl

Verse 12 The sixth bowl

Verses 13 -16 Armageddon and God' warning

Verses 17-21 The seventh bowl

So this chapter is built up from 3+3+1, not 4+2+1

Verses 1-4 The first three Bowls:

In verse 1 John hears a great voice. This comes from the inner temple. It must be the voice of God Himself. No one else can go into the temple (16:8; Isaiah 66:6). The angels with their bowls are ready. Now God tells them to go. They are to empty the great anger of God into the world (Isaiah 51:17).

So in verse 2 the first angel empties his bowl into the land. It 'became' very bad, filthy sores. Only those people who had joined in the false worship had these sores. (See Job 2:7.) Such sores (or 'boils') often open in our skin. They let out poison from our body. So perhaps there is a picture here. There is poison in men. It is the poison of sin. The sores let it escape. (See also Exodus 9: 8-12.)

Then in verse 3, the second angel empties his bowl into the sea. The sea becomes like blood. Fish can no longer live in it. Nor can anything else. Usually the sea moves about with tide and storms. Now nothing moves. This sea is very different from the pure sea of 15:2. That sea shone with the fire of God. By the side of that sea the people of God sang for joy. God had saved them! The sea now came between them and their enemies. But this sea, in verse 3, has no life. It is dead. Verse 4 tells how the third angel pours his bowl into the rivers and springs. (See 8:10.) They too become blood. (See Exodus 7:14-24.)

Verses 5-7 The Two Voices

The angel of the waters (verse 5) might well complain about this! Instead he says that what God has done is right. God is right when He judges. He is the one who is pure. John uses the word 'hosios' again. Men often are not right! Men were not right when they killed Christians (verse 16). 'The prophets' may mean the prophets of the Old Testament. But it may mean the prophets of John's time who had been busy in the churches in Asia.

The other voice that replies is the voice of the altar. This must be the altar of 6:9-11. The souls of Christians who have died for their faith are safe under it. Perhaps it is the angel of the altar who calls out (14:18).

Verses 8-12 The next Three Bowls

So after this break John tells us about the next three bowls. The fourth angel (verse 8) empties his bowl onto the sun. Usually the prophets speak about the sun becoming dark. (See 6:12 and 8:12.) But here the opposite happens. The sun becomes so hot that people cannot bear it. They speak against God while the church praises Him (15:3,4). Compare Mark 4:6. Then in verse 10, the fifth angel empties his bowl onto the 'throne' of the 'wild animal'. The wild animal pretends to be a king, so he has a royal seat from which he rules his kingdom. (See Exodus 10:21-23.) There is darkness. (See 8:12; 9:2; Isaiah 8:22.) People thought that the wild animal would rule the world and that he would bring good times for everyone. They were wrong. No one can save them. God will not, because they do not turn from their sins.

So we come to the sixth angel. He empties what is in his bowl onto the river Euphrates. (See 9:14; Isaiah 11:15,16.) The water in the river dries up. We cannot be sure what this picture means.

a) The 'Red Sea' dried up so that Israel could cross it at the time of the Exodus. So this maybe 'a new Exodus'.

b) The River Jordan dried up so that Israel could cross it from the east into Canaan. (Joshua 3: 14 - 4: 17.)

c) Then there was a story about Cyrus, the great Persian King. This story is not in the Bible. In the year 538 BC. his army took the city of Babylon. There seems to have been no fighting. The story was that his men had sent the water of the Euphrates into a lake or 'reservoir'. They would have built a wall or 'dam' to block the river, and a 'canal' or man-made river for the water to go through. Then the river bed was dry and the soldiers of Cyrus could go on it into the city. [16.3].

It seems most likely that John thinks here of Cyrus and Babylon. This means that he thinks of a different part of the Euphrates. This is not the 'middle Euphrates' (9:14). Rome, too, has a river. It is called the Tiber. We cannot be sure whether here 'the kings who are to come from the rising of the sun' are good or bad. 'The rising of the sun' suggests that perhaps they are good. (See 7:2; 2: 8; and 22:16). Yet they seem to be the same as the army in 9: 13-19. 'The way' here may mean the old road of the Persian kings from their capital city at Susa to Sardis. But this did not cross the Euphrates. If these 'kings from the east' are bad, then they are part of the devil's army. (See verse 14). John does not speak about them any more. Maybe God's enemies are divided against each other. We should be thankful that they often are.

Verses 13-16 Armageddon and God's warning

For these few verses, John breaks off the 'story' of the seven bowls. In verse 15, Jesus speaks to His own people. There are great events in the world in these verses. But Jesus warns His people not to be too excited by great events. We must be faithful to Him. We must not look away from Him.

So in verse 13, John sees the three great enemies of God. The dragon is the devil. The 'beast' is the first wild animal; at that time it was the Roman Empire. The false prophet is the second wild animal. This was at that time the religion of the Roman Empire. John has not spoken before about the 'false prophet'. (See 19:20 and 20:10.) But the name helps us to understand what the second wild animal is.

Three spirits, which are not clean, jump or leap out of the mouths of God's three enemies. These spirits are like 'frogs'. A frog is a small reptile, which spends much of its time in water. It 'croaks'. Its voice is hard, and it goes on and on. There is no change in the sound it makes. It is not pleasing. [16.4] And it means nothing at all. Exodus tells us of a plague of frogs in Egypt. (See Exodus 8:1-15 and 1 Kings 22:19-22.) Frogs do not hurt us. But people have never liked them.

Then John tells us what these 'dirty demons' have to do. (Verse 14)

1 They do 'signs'. These must point to the devil and the wild animal.

2 They go to the kings all over the world.

3 John has not really said anything before about the great fight between God and His enemies. But the work of the demons is to bring together the kings. No doubt they bring with them their armies. (See 17:14 and 19:19.)

The devil thinks that he has chosen the right time to fight against God. He must think that now he is strong enough for this. But the day for the fight is 'the great day of God.' It is the day that God Himself has chosen. It is the day when He will at last end the wrong work of the 'wild animal' and the false prophet. God will tie up the devil so that he can do nothing (20:1-3). God is 'Almighty'. He is 'the All-Ruler'. God does not need armies and kings. God does not need demons to call men to help Him. He does not need rivers dried up.

But then in verse 15 we hear the voice of Jesus. He speaks to His own people. Luke 12:39 tells us what Jesus means. When a man wants to steal from a house, he does not send a message first. He does not tell the man who lives in the house: - 'I will come on a certain day at such and such a time.' And Jesus does not tell us when He will come again. But people will be so busy with what the devil is doing that Jesus will surprise them. When He comes 'Every eye will see Him'.

Then Jesus tells us to stay awake - 'to watch' - and to keep our clothes. [16.5] Our clothes here means our faith in Him. If we lose that we shall be naked and be full of shame when He comes. (See also 2 Corinthians 5:2-4.)

In verse 16 John goes on with his story which he left at verse 14. Either the enemies of God or the three 'dirty demons' gather the kings together to 'Har-Mageddon'. They are there to fight the Lamb (17:14). But it seems that something else happens first. The kings and the first wild animal destroy Babylon (17:16).

No one knows where 'Har-Mageddon' is, or just what John means by it. 'Har' would mean a mountain. The 'Mageddon' part of the name sounds like 'Megiddo'. And Megiddo is a place where important 'battles' took place. (See Judges 5:19; 2 Kings 9:27; 2 Kings 23:29 and 2 Chronicles 35:22.) The trouble is that Megiddo is not a hill or mountain. It is flat, level land. (See Zechariah 12:11.) It is in the great Valley of Jezreel in Palestine, about 100 km north of Jerusalem. 'The name stands for an event'. [16.6]. Some people think that 'Har-Mageddon' also has to do with the 'Mount of Assembly'. (See Isaiah 14:13.)

Verses 17-21 The Seventh Bowl

In this chapter, John has told his story in two ways. The 'breaks' tell the story in one way. The bowls tell the story in another way. These verses seem to go together. They all belong with the seventh bowl.

So in verse 17, the seventh and last angel pours out his bowl. He empties it onto the air. What happens is different from the other six bowls. The great voice, which comes out of the Inner Temple, is the voice of God. It comes from His seat, where He rules as King. He says: 'It is done' or 'It has become'. (See 21:6.) 'This is the end of the end: the beginning of the Kingdom which shall know no end'.

In verse 18, it is no surprise that there is lightning, noises and thunder, for the angel emptied the bowl on the air. John says these things 'became'. Then there also 'became' a great earthquake. (See 6:12; 8:5; 11:13.) John had probably felt great earthquakes while he lived in Asia. And he had seen the damage that they did. He had seen the ruined cities afterwards. But now he says that no earthquake like this has ever 'become' before. [16.7] Then he says four other things about the earthquake.

1 There has not been such a big earthquake since men 'became' on the earth.

2 Then in verse 19, the great city 'became' into three parts. It seems likely that the picture John has in mind here is of Sardis. In AD 17, we think that a great section of the upper city fell down onto the lower city. But this earthquake is so big that the upper city breaks into three parts; and the whole of the upper city falls down. The earthquake is so great that even the great city falls.

3 Then the cities in which the nations lived fell down. Every building fell down in a heap. One wall fell out to the right. Another wall fell out to the left. The roof and floors fell down between the walls.

4 The great city of Babylon thought that God had forgotten all her sins (Psalm 10:11; Psalm 50:21; Ecclesiastes 8:11). But no! God remembers. When God remembers, He does something. He does not just forget again as we so often do. When we read this word 'remember' in Scripture, we must always stop and think what it means. But now God gives Babylon a cup. The cup is full of God's great anger. Although John did not say so here, Babylon will have to drink all that there is in that cup. (See 14:10; 18:6.) [16.8] Chapters 17 and 18 are all about the fall of Babylon so we do not need to say any more here.

Now there are some verses in the Old Testament that we must speak about. In Zechariah 14:3-5 there is a strange and very wonderful prophecy. (See Mark 11:23.) The prophet tells us that 'the feet' of 'the Lord' will stand on the Mount of Olives. This must be Jesus. This is the mountain from which Jesus went up to heaven (Acts: 9-12). It is just across the Kidron Valley to the east of the city. Jesus will come back to this world in the same way. Zechariah says that the Mount of Olives will split. A valley will run east from Jerusalem to the Dead Sea, and it will join up with the Kidron Valley. Then in verse 8, Zechariah tells us that fresh water will flow from Jerusalem to the Dead Sea to the east, and also west to the Mediterranean. (See also Isaiah 2:2.) Ezekiel 47 does not say anything about an earthquake. But in verses 1-12 he speaks about water from the east side of Jerusalem. This flows to the Dead or Salt Sea, and there is so much that it brings new life to the Dead Sea. So the earthquake must have made a valley where now there are only hot, dry mountains.

We must be very careful what we say about these things. Yet it does seem that we have the same picture in these three places.

In verses 20 and 21 we have more awful events. For the islands and mountains see 6:14. For the hail in Egypt, see Exodus 9:13-35. What the whole chapter means is this. God, who in Genesis 1 made the world, now ruins it. The old world must go, so that God can bring in His new world. (See 21:4 and 5.) [16.9] Even when God seems to destroy the world, it 'becomes' something else. And not just something else. It 'becomes' something even better than the old world.

As we leave this chapter, we should see that we have two whole chapters on Babylon. The great battle takes up only a few verses (19:7-21). Even Christians will feel some sadness at the fall of Babylon. It is, after all, the great city which men have built. We do not feel any sadness at the end of the two 'wild animals'.