The Seven Bowls of God's Wrath

The interlude is over, and now the stage is set for the final judgments on the earth. In chapter 16 we will see God's final judgments poured out on the earth.
²² “If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened.  Matthew 24:22
The final judgments will be for a short time because they are so terrible, no one would survive if they went on for too long. 




¹ Then I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, “Go, pour out the seven bowls of God’s wrath on the earth.”
 ² The first angel went and poured out his bowl on the land, and ugly, festering sores broke out on the people who had the mark of the beast and worshiped its image.
 ³ The second angel poured out his bowl on the sea, and it turned into blood like that of a dead person, and every living thing in the sea died.
 ⁴ The third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and springs of water, and they became blood. ⁵ Then I heard the angel in charge of the waters say:
   “You are just in these judgments, O Holy One,
   you who are and who were;
⁶ for they have shed the blood of your holy people and your prophets,
   and you have given them blood to drink as they deserve.”
 ⁷ And I heard the altar respond:
   “Yes, Lord God Almighty,
   true and just are your judgments.”
 ⁸ The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and the sun was allowed to scorch people with fire. ⁹ They were seared by the intense heat and they cursed the name of God, who had control over these plagues, but they refused to repent and glorify him.
 ¹⁰ The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness. People gnawed their tongues in agony ¹¹ and cursed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, but they refused to repent of what they had done.
 ¹² The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up to prepare the way for the kings from the East. ¹³ Then I saw three impure spirits that looked like frogs; they came out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet. ¹⁴ They are demonic spirits that perform signs, and they go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them for the battle on the great day of God Almighty.
   ¹⁵ “Look, I come like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake and remains clothed, so as not to go naked and be shamefully exposed.”
 ¹⁶ Then they gathered the kings together to the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon.
 ¹⁷ The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and out of the temple came a loud voice from the throne, saying, “It is done!” ¹⁸ Then there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder and a severe earthquake. No earthquake like it has ever occurred since mankind has been on earth, so tremendous was the quake. ¹⁹ The great city split into three parts, and the cities of the nations collapsed. God remembered Babylon the Great and gave her the cup filled with the wine of the fury of his wrath. ²⁰ Every island fled away and the mountains could not be found. ²¹ From the sky huge hailstones, each weighing about a hundred pounds,^[a] fell on people. And they cursed God on account of the plague of hail, because the plague was so terrible.


The time has now come for the angels to pour out the seven bowls of God's judgment. In the last chapter, we see that all is prepared and the angels are given the bowls of wrath. Now we hear a voice tell the angels to go and pour out the bowls on the earth. These bowl judgments are referred to as plagues, and they seem to parallel the plagues of Moses on Egypt.
The first bowl is poured out and all those that have the mark of the Beast break out in festering sores. 
⁸ Then the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “Take handfuls of soot from a furnace and have Moses toss it into the air in the presence of Pharaoh. ⁹ It will become fine dust over the whole land of Egypt, and festering boils will break out on people and animals throughout the land.” Exodus 9:8


The second bowl is poured out onto the sea, the sea turns to blood and everything in the sea dies.
The third bowl is poured out on the rivers and streams and they too turn to blood.
¹⁹ The LORD said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt—over the streams and canals, over the ponds and all the reservoirs—and they will turn to blood.’ Blood will be everywhere in Egypt, even in vessels^[a] of wood and stone.” Exodus 7:19


The fourth bowl is then poured out on the sun. The sun scorches people, but they still refuse to repent and turn to God.
¹⁸ Therefore, at this time tomorrow I will send the worst hailstorm that has ever fallen on Egypt, from the day it was founded till now. ¹⁹Give an order now to bring your livestock and everything you have in the field to a place of shelter, because the hail will fall on every person and animal that has not been brought in and is still out in the field, and they will die.’” Exodus 9:18
This plague seems to be on the forces of nature which are turned against man.


The fifth bowl is poured out on the throne of the Beast and brings darkness. This seems to indicate that Babylon, the throne of the Beast will be plunged into an unnatural darkness, that was so pervasive that people went crazy with fear. The darkness is like being in a sensory deprivation chamber, you can almost feel the darkness pressing down on you.
²¹ Then the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward the sky so that darkness spreads over Egypt—darkness that can be felt.”  Exodus 10:21


The sixth bowl is poured out on the Euphrates river and it dries up in preparation for the final battle of Armageddon. The kings of the east, representing all the kings of the world; will be able to march their troops to the plains of Megiddo for the final battle. We also see evil spirits, represented as frogs that come from the mouth of the Dragon (Satan), the Beast (Antichrist) and the False Prophet. These evil spirits will go throughout the world and gather the kings of the world for the final battle. 
⁵ Then the LORD said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Stretch out your hand with your staff over the streams and canals and ponds, and make frogs come up on the land of Egypt.’” Exodus 8:5


Now we hear the voice of Jesus. ¹⁵ “Look, I come like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake and remains clothed, so as not to go naked and be shamefully exposed.”
² for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. I Thessalonians 5:2
Jesus is urging the reader to repent and to turn to Jesus before it is too late.


Now the final bowl of God's judgment is poured out into the air. A loud voice from heaven says "it is done". There is incredible thunder and lightning and the largest earthquake ever in mankind's history rips Babylon into three parts. All the other great cities of the world are destroyed. Every mountain and every island is destroyed. Giant hailstones fall to the earth and the people cursed God instead of repenting. 

The Seven Bowl Judgments

In chapter 15, we reach the prelude to the final series of judgments, the bowl judgments. After these judgments are carried out, the pouring out of God's wrath on the earth will be complete. These are the final judgments on the earth before the return of Jesus.

 ¹ I saw in heaven another great and marvelous sign: seven angels with the seven last plagues—last, because with them God’s wrath is completed. ² And I saw what looked like a sea of glass glowing with fire and, standing beside the sea, those who had been victorious over the beast and its image and over the number of its name. They held harps given them by God ³and sang the song of God’s servant Moses and of the Lamb:
   “Great and marvelous are your deeds,
   Lord God Almighty.
Just and true are your ways,
   King of the nations.^[a]
4 Who will not fear you, Lord,
   and bring glory to your name?
For you alone are holy.
All nations will come
   and worship before you,
for your righteous acts have been revealed.”^[b]
 5 After this I looked, and I saw in heaven the temple—that is, the tabernacle of the covenant law—and it was opened. ⁶ Out of the temple came the seven angels with the seven plagues. They were dressed in clean, shining linen and wore golden sashes around their chests. ⁷ Then one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls filled with the wrath of God, who lives for ever and ever. ⁸ And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power, and no one could enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were completed.


John is still writing from his vantage point in heaven. John first sees seven angels with the final plagues for the earth standing in God's throne room. John then sees the sea of glass that he had described seeing in God's throne room in Revelation chapter 4. The glowing fire is the final wrath of God against the earth. Standing on or besides the sea (depending on which translation you read) are those that are victorious over the Beast. These represent the church that had been raptured before the tribulation, and the dead in Christ that have risen at this point, also all those that had been martyred for believing in Christ during the tribulation period. They have been given harps, and sing the song of Moses and the lamb. Worshiping God and Jesus.
 Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the LORD:
   “I will sing to the LORD,
   for he is highly exalted.
Both horse and driver
   he has hurled into the sea. Exodus 15:1
This is a song of joyful deliverance. Moses sang this song when Israel was delivered from Pharoah's armies, and the saints will be singing it at this point because we are delivered from Satan and his Beast. 


Now we return out of the interlude to the moment when the seven trumpet judgments have ended. 
¹⁹ Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, and within his temple was seen the ark of his covenant. And there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake and a severe hailstorm. Revelation 11:19
Now the final judgments are ready to be carried out on the earth. The seven angels that are in charge of the bowl judgments come out of the temple of God. They receive their bowls from one of the four living creatures that are around the throne of God. The final judgment of God is now ready to be poured out on the earth. 

The Lamb and the 144,000

In chapter 14, John describes the end of the vision, and gives an explanation of why it is necessary. This vision has four parts.

¹ Then I looked, and there before me was the Lamb, standing on Mount Zion, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads. ² And I heard a sound from heaven like the roar of rushing waters and like a loud peal of thunder. The sound I heard was like that of harpists playing their harps. ³ And they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders. No one could learn the song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth. ⁴ These are those who did not defile themselves with women, for they remained virgins. They follow the Lamb wherever he goes. They were purchased from among mankind and offered as firstfruits to God and the Lamb. ⁵ No lie was found in their mouths; they are blameless.


In the first part of the vision John sees the end result of the conflict between God and Satan. Jesus is victorious, standing on Mount Zion. Zion was the name of the mountain on which David built the earthly Jerusalem centuries before. With Him are the 144,000. This includes the 144,000 Israelites from chapter 7:1-8 and the great multitude that no one could count from chapter 7:9-17. They are identified as those redeemed from the earth. There is a sound like harps and John hears the 144,000 singing a song that only they can sing. They are described as virgins, because they did not commit adultery by worshiping other gods. They are described as firstfruits of the harvest. 
¹⁸ He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created. James 1:18


The Three Angels
 ⁶ Then I saw another angel flying in midair, and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth—to every nation, tribe, language and people. ⁷ He said in a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water.”
 ⁸ A second angel followed and said, “‘Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great,’^[a] which made all the nations drink the maddening wine of her adulteries.”
 ⁹ A third angel followed them and said in a loud voice: “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives its mark on their forehead or on their hand, ¹⁰ they, too, will drink the wine of God’s fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. They will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb. ¹¹And the smoke of their torment will rise for ever and ever. There will be no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and its image, or for anyone who receives the mark of its name.” ¹² This calls for patient endurance on the part of the people of God who keep his commands and remain faithful to Jesus.
 ¹³ Then I heard a voice from heaven say, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.”
   “Yes,” says the Spirit, “they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them.”


In the second part of the vision, John sees three angels flying through the air. These angels are messengers of the arrival of judgment to the earth. The first angel proclaims that all should fear God and give Him glory because the hour of judgment has come. The peoples on earth had been worshiping the Beast up until this point. They had refused to acknowledge Christ as their redeemer, but now they would have to bow down to God, the creator of all things. 
The second angel announces the final fall of Babylon, who is likened to a prostitute. We will discuss more about Babylon in chapter 17-18.
The third angel pronounces the punishment that awaits anyone that received the mark of the Beast on their hand or forehead. Anyone that received the mark has given their allegiance to the Beast. They will receive the punishment of God's anger and they will be punished with burning sulfur forever. 


The third part of the vision is an appeal to all people to stay faithful to Jesus. All those who die from John's time until the end are blessed and will rest.


Harvesting the Earth and Trampling the Winepress
 ¹⁴ I looked, and there before me was a white cloud, and seated on the cloud was one like a son of man^[b] with a crown of gold on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand. ¹⁵ Then another angel came out of the temple and called in a loud voice to him who was sitting on the cloud, “Take your sickle and reap, because the time to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is ripe.” ¹⁶ So he who was seated on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was harvested. ¹⁷ Another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle. ¹⁸ Still another angel, who had charge of the fire, came from the altar and called in a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, “Take your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of grapes from the earth’s vine, because its grapes are ripe.” ¹⁹ The angel swung his sickle on the earth, gathered its grapes and threw them into the great winepress of God’s wrath. ²⁰ They were trampled in the winepress outside the city, and blood flowed out of the press, rising as high as the horses’ bridles for a distance of 1,600 stadia.^[c]




Now the final part of the vision plays out. This is a vision in two parts. In the first part John sees one like the son of man seated on a cloud with a crown on His head and a sickle in His hand. An angels comes out of the temple and announces that the time to reap has come. The angel swings His sickle and harvests the earth. This angel could be Jesus and this scene could be describing the rapture. Jesus is waiting for the time decided upon by God. 
³⁶ “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son,^[f] but only the Father. Matthew 24:36
This could also be an angel with a special mission. The 24 elders described earlier also wore gold crowns. This harvest could describe the final judgment of God on the earth. We are not told what the first harvest is.
In the second part of the vision another angel emerges from the temple with a sickle. An angel that is in charge of the fire tells him to harvest the grapes. This is the harvesting of the wicked, since we are told that the grapes were thrown into the wine press of God's wrath. We are told that they were  trampled in the winepress outside the city, which correlates to the final battle on the plains of Armageddon, or Har Megiddo. Megiddo is located in the plain of  Jezreel, a valley southwest of Nazareth. Here, it is thought by many, that the great final battle of Armageddon will be fought at the end of time. The final description is of the valley flowing with blood to the height of a horse's bridle for about 200 miles. This depicts the magnitude of the final battle. 

The Beast

In chapter thirteen we are introduced to the Beast. The Beast is the Antichrist. This is the most widely known aspect of the end times and is featured in books and movies and music. Popular movies include the Omen series of movies and the Iron Maiden song, the Number of the Beast. The Antichrist has been made a horror story villain and most people relegate him to fiction along with Michael Myers and Freddie Krueger. Unfortunately, unlike these villains the Antichrist is real and will one day rise to power. Let's look at chapter thirteen and see how the Bible describes the Antichrist.

¹ The dragon^[a] stood on the shore of the sea. And I saw a beast coming out of the sea. It had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on its horns, and on each head a blasphemous name. ² The beast I saw resembled a leopard, but had feet like those of a bear and a mouth like that of a lion. The dragon gave the beast his power and his throne and great authority. ³ One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed. The whole world was filled with wonder and followed the beast. ⁴ People worshiped the dragon because he had given authority to the beast, and they also worshiped the beast and asked, “Who is like the beast? Who can wage war against it?”
 ⁵ The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise its authority for forty-two months.⁶ It opened its mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander his name and his dwelling place and those who live in heaven. ⁷ It was given power to wage war against God’s holy people and to conquer them. And it was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation. ⁸ All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the Lamb’s book of life, the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world.^[b]
 9 Whoever has ears, let them hear.
 ¹⁰ “If anyone is to go into captivity,
   into captivity they will go.
If anyone is to be killed^[c] with the sword,
   with the sword they will be killed.”^[d]
   This calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of God’s people.


Let's take a look at the first half of chapter thirteen. A Beast arises out of the sea, with ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on its horns and blasphemous names on each head. The sea described here represents the gentile nations of the world, and the fact that the Beast rises out of the sea means that he will come to power politically. The heads represent dominion and the ten horns are a world government, the blasphemous names mean that these governments deny the true God. We have seen these horns mentioned in Daniel. 

⁷ “After that, in my vision at night I looked, and there before me was a fourth beast—terrifying and frightening and very powerful. It had large iron teeth; it crushed and devoured its victims and trampled underfoot whatever was left. It was different from all the former beasts, and it had ten horns.
 ⁸ “While I was thinking about the horns, there before me was another horn, a little one, which came up among them; and three of the first horns were uprooted before it. This horn had eyes like the eyes of a human being and a mouth that spoke boastfully. Daniel 7:7-8
²³ “He gave me this explanation: ‘The fourth beast is a fourth kingdom that will appear on earth. It will be different from all the other kingdoms and will devour the whole earth, trampling it down and crushing it. ²⁴ The ten horns are ten kings who will come from this kingdom. After them another king will arise, different from the earlier ones; he will subdue three kings. ²⁵He will speak against the Most High and oppress his holy people and try to change the set times and the laws. The holy people will be delivered into his hands for a time, times and half a time.^{[b] Daniel 7:23-25}





Now the Beast is described as resembling a leopard with feet like a bear and a mouth like a lion. These represent the first three world powers that ruled before the fourth, which is the Beast. These powers were represented in Daniel.



 ⁴ “The first was like a lion, and it had the wings of an eagle. I watched until its wings were torn off and it was lifted from the ground so that it stood on two feet like a human being, and a human mind was given to it.
 ⁵ “And there before me was a second beast, which looked like a bear. It was raised up on one of its sides, and it had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth. It was told, ‘Get up and eat your fill of flesh!’
 ⁶ “After that, I looked, and there before me was another beast, one that looked like a leopard. And on its back it had four wings like those of a bird. This beast had four heads, and it was given authority to rule. Daniel 7:4-6

We can take this to mean that the fourth kingdom will be represented by these three powers combined. These powers were Babylon, Medo-Persia and Greece. 


In verse 2 we see that the dragon, which is Satan, gives the Beast dominion over the earth. When God created the earth, He gave dominion over the earth to Adam. When Adam sinned, dominion was given over to Satan. In his final bid to wage war against God, Satan gives dominion to the Antichrist. So now we know that the Antichrist will become the ruler of the world. In verse 3, the Beast is wounded in his head and is healed miraculously. The world is amazed that the Antichrist has risen from the dead, and worship him and through him they worship Satan. At this point, the tribulation period is half over, but the worst is still to come. The last three and a half years will be more difficult and is known as the Great Tribulation. The Antichrist will now be waging full on war with the believers left on earth. Many will be slain by the Antichrist at this time, but the believers will be faithful until the end and their names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life.







The Beast out of the Earth
 ¹¹ Then I saw a second beast, coming out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb, but it spoke like a dragon. ¹² It exercised all the authority of the first beast on its behalf, and made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose fatal wound had been healed. ¹³ And it performed great signs, even causing fire to come down from heaven to the earth in full view of the people. ¹⁴ Because of the signs it was given power to perform on behalf of the first beast, it deceived the inhabitants of the earth. It ordered them to set up an image in honor of the beast who was wounded by the sword and yet lived. ¹⁵ The second beast was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that the image could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed. ¹⁶ It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, ¹⁷ so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name. ¹⁸ This calls for wisdom. Let the person who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man.^[e] That number is 666.




In the second half of the chapter we are introduced to another Beast that will rise up out of the earth. Rising up out of the earth, this Beast may be an apostate Jew. He may initiate the peace treaty with the Antichrist at the beginning of the tribulation period. He is described as a lamb with two horns. Lambs don't have horns, so we can surmise that he is a false prophet.


 ¹⁵ “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. Matthew 7:15


Then we see that the lamb speaks like a dragon, this suggests that he will be speaking for Satan. The Antichrist will give him power to direct the world to worship him. The second beast, or false prophet will do miracles on behalf of the Antichrist and will cause the people of the world to worship the Beast as god. After the Antichrist rises from the dead, the False Prophet has an image of the Antichrist created. He gives the image the ability to speak, and all those that refuse to worship this image are killed. He will also institute the mark, which represents the name or number of the Beast, and everyone that wants to be able to buy or sell anything must have the mark. The number of the mark is 666. A custom in the ancient times was to mark a slave with a brand of ownership, so this is similar in that if you take this mark, you are being branded as being owned by Satan. Now the number 666 is always depicted as representing evil. We do not know how this number will relate to the Antichrist, some people think his name will have 6 letters for first, middle and last, others have different theories. No one really knows, but when the time comes, God will give believers discernment to understand what this means. It will be a horrible time for a believer to be alive during this part of the tribulation. They need only stand firm in their beliefs, for the Antichrist and Satan can only harm their bodies....their souls belong to God.