Reflection on Revelation 16

At the beginning of this chapter, John heard a loud voice from the temple commanding the angels, “go, pour out the seven bowls of God's wrath on the earth." The seven bowl judgments resemble the ten plagues God unleashed on Egypt, as He deposed the false gods who were standing behind Pharaoh. In the final series of judgment, God will depose every idols, every false religious system used by Satan to deceive people into wrong thinking. But sadly, some people allow Satan to play with their mind too long, they lost their sense to repent.

The first bowl brings "ugly and painful sores" "on the people who had the mark of the beast and worshiped his image." On the contrary, the martyrs who bear the seal of God are safe beside the shore. The terrible affliction is like the sixth plague God sent to Egypt, a "plague of boils."

The second bowl pollutes the entire sea with blood. This time, "every living thing in the sea died." This second bowl plague is an intensification of the second trumpet plague, in which only a third of the sea, a third of the creatures were affected. God's judgments become more intense and extensive as human beings persist in their resistance to Him.

The third bowl pollutes "the rivers and springs of water." It turns every drop of fresh water on earth into blood. All the waters of the earth are filthy, not just a third of them as in the third trumpet. At this moment, John heard "the angel in charge of the waters" praise God for His judgments. What a good and obedient angel! God is not just as fair, God is holy. He does not violate any one of His attributes in exercising another. The good angel praises God for acting justly in His judgments, giving those who killed God's people exactly what they deserve. Those people shed the blood of the martyrs. Now they have to drink the blood they shed. 

Echoing to the angel's praising, the personified altar responds, "Yes, Lord God Almighty, true and just are your judgments." The voice is probably from the martyrs whose souls are under the altar. Their calling for God to avenge on their behalf changes to declaring what God had done is true to His nature. Their spilled blood is vindicated by God in His time.

The fourth bowl changes the sun which begins to burn people, scorch them with fire. "They were seared by the intense heat and they cursed the name of God who had control over these plagues." Those people are God's enemies, allies of the evil. Because even when they recognize God as the source of the plagues and God still prefers their repentance at the moment, "they refused to repent and glorify Him." The fact of the words "repent" and "glorify" appear here, in the moment of unbearable suffering, means our loving and patient God are still waiting for sinners to repent their sin, to glorify Him. The people here are suffering because they haven't repented despite all they saw and experienced. They are suffering the consequences of sin. Where the consequences of our sin drive us, drive you, drive me, further from God or closer to Him in repentance?

"The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and his kingdom was plunged into darkness."  This bowl judgment reflects the ninth plagues in Egypt. The throne of the beast mentioned here probably symbolizes the seat of the beast's worldwide dominion. This evil Kingdom will plunge itself into spiritual darkness and chaos, as emphasized by this bowl plague. Just as Pharaoh's heart was hardened even more by the repeated display of God's power and sovereignty, the people here steel themselves in unbelief and rebellion. "Man gnawed their tongues in agony and cursed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, but they refused to repent of what they had done." Their response toward their unbearable suffering is unreasonable. Even God is still waiting for them to repent at this very moment, they continue to blame God, they refuse to turn to Him. They prefer to suffer this pain and this agony and to cling to their sin rather than to repent, to be free of this judgment from God. That is the real bondage they live under. The devil enslaved them to their sin and kept them from repentance. No matter what happens, they can’t let go of that sin. They are so enslaved to it. You might want to ask, how does a person get there? The scary answer to this question is, one defy step at a time. Most people do not jump into the position of God hater; rather they take one step at a time. One step of "me first" leads to another. And before you know it, you can become so fully entrenched on the throne of your heart; there is absolutely no room for God.

The six bowl plague dries up "the great river Euphrates" to prepare a path for invading armies opposed to God. John "saw three evil spirits that looked like frogs... came out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet." These frogs promote lies and false propaganda for the sake of the unholy trinity. They perform miracles to deceive people, to assemble "the kings of the whole world" "for the battle on the great day of God Almighty."  This deluded coalition will organize itself, but under God's sovereign hand and for His fearful judgment. This is a picture of a world increasingly hostile to God and His truth. The world lies to itself. People of the world retain pride in their independent spirituality apart from the true God and His Word. They make innovative use of power structure, economic control, media and technology to draw people away from God, to be enemies of God. But all their efforts are going to fail. Because the Lord says that He is coming. He will use the sharp and mighty sword from His mouth to destroy the evil frogs.

Before the last bowl plague, the Lord says, "Behold, I come like a thief! Blessed is he who stays awake and keeps his clothes with him, so that he may not go naked and be shamefully exposed." Jesus promises blessing for those who look for His coming, those who are "awake" and ready for Him. They are not only forgiven of their sin, they are covered or clothed in His righteousness and declared righteous by God. They also clothe themselves in His character. God provides the clothing for His people, which are His own righteousness for salvation and changed lives through His Spirit and His Word.

While "the kings of the whole world" gathered by demons at a place called Armageddon to fight against Almighty God in futile, the seventh angel pours out the last bowl of plague. A loud voice from the temple in heaven offers the congratulating words, “It is done." The whole series of all the seals, trumpets and bowls is completed. God's wrath in world history reaches its completion. There was another voice in another time that said, "It is finished." The cry Jesus made on His cross means that redemption through Him was accomplished at the first coming. The loud voice from the throne means that the judgment through Him is going to be finished with His second coming.

The seventh bowl plague is worldwide too. "There came flashes of lighting, rumblings, peals of thunder and a severe earthquake. No earthquake like it has ever occurred since man has been on earth, so tremendous was the quake." Because of the huge earthquake, "the great city split into three parts." John does not identify the city. But this city seems to be the first among many "cities of the nations" that collapse as God shakes the world. Lives and civilizations built on self promotion and rejection of God have built on sand with no enduring stability.

John then added, "God remembered Babylon the Great and gave her the cup filled with the wine of the fury of his wrath." Babylon probably represents every aspect of human culture aligned against God. God never forgets those who chose to defy Him but refuse to ask for forgiveness. He brings them to judgment in the end.

With the force of apocalyptic language, John say, "every island fled away and the mountains could not be found. From the sky huge hailstones of about a hundred pounds each fell upon men." The old world is disappearing, is going to be gone. Those who resolutely reject God's authority will be crushed under His power. They have no place to hide themselves physically or spiritually, but they probably have a moment to repent. Sadly, "they cursed God on account of the plague of hail, because the plague was so terrible." Their rebellious response confirms God's justice. He is holy and just.