seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Revelation 16:1 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.”
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.”
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.
a. Revelation 16:21 Or about 45 kilograms
This long winded entry is from the easy English site.
God did not allow anybody to enter the temple in heaven at this time (15:8). The voice that John heard came from the temple. It was loud. And it had great authority. It was the voice of God.
God told the 7 angels to go and to empty the bowls on the earth. The bowls contained the anger of God. In other words, the people would know how angry God was because of the bowls. When each angel poured each bowl, there would be terrible troubles on the earth. It was as if the bowls contained the actual troubles.
The angels went and they poured out their bowls. They went one after another with no time between them.
The angel poured out the first bowl of the anger of God. Those who had the mark of the beast suffered much pain. They had terrible sores on their skin.
At the end of time, all people will have to be loyal either to the beast or to Christ. The anger of God is against those loyal to the beast.
The next angel poured his bowl over the sea. The water became like blood. Nothing that depended on the sea could live. All that was in the sea died.
The third angel poured his bowl on the fresh water. All the rivers and streams became blood. The water was not good to drink. It was bitter to the taste and full of poison.
The angel who had power over the water spoke to God. He first declared who God is. He is the holy God and there is none like him. He is the living God and he always was. He is perfect. And all that he does is right.
God was right to send all these troubles onto the earth. The people deserved them all. They had killed so many of God’s people. They had killed the prophets that God had sent to them.
The blood of the Lord’s people had flowed when the evil people killed them. Now God gave to the evil people blood to drink. God was right to do so and they deserved it.
John heard a voice from the altar in heaven. This voice agreed with the angel. The Lord God is the God of all power. He is the judge of the people. He is right to punish them as he did. They were evil people and they were guilty of many crimes.
With the contents of the fourth bowl, the heat of the sun increased. It became so hot that it burned people.
The throne of the beast means all that he ruled. The whole of his kingdom became dark. There was no light. The dark was completely black. The darkness made the people’s pains feel much worse. So, the people bit their tongues because of the pain.
They had terrible pain, but the people would not turn from their sin. They knew that God ruled in heaven. But, they would not call out for God to help them. They would not praise him or serve him as their God. They cursed God because of all that they suffered.
The River Euphrates was the boundary of the land that God promised to Abraham (Genesis 15:18). This big river became dry. This made it easy for those who would come from the east to cross over it. The kings of the east were ready for war. They would come across the river for the great final battle.
John saw three demons. They came out of the mouths of the dragon, the beast and the false prophet. The dragon was the devil and Satan (Revelation 12:9). The beast was the Antichrist that came out of the sea (Revelation 13:1-10). The false prophet was the second beast that came out of the earth (Revelation 13:11-17).
These demons went to all the kings of the earth. By their astonishing deeds, they were able to persuade the kings to come together. The kings brought their armies to fight against the Lord. On the day, which God had fixed, there will be the final great battle. The armies of the world will fight against the forces of God.
Armageddon or Megiddo is a place in Israel. There is a large plain there. There have been many battles in that area.
The seventh (7th) angel poured out his bowl of God’s anger into the air. This is the last one. The voice of God came from the throne in the temple of heaven. With a loud voice, God shouts that the end has come. With this bowl, he will complete his acts of anger on the earth.
At the sound of God’s voice, the air and the earth seemed to explode. There were flashes of lightning. There were loud crashes of thunder in the skies. And the most powerful earthquake shook the earth. There had not been such a terrible earthquake since God made the earth.
This great earthquake shook the whole world. There had been no earthquake as powerful as this since the world began. Cities all over the world fell and the important city split into three. All the nations on earth suffered the effects of this great earthquake.
The important city that split into three seems to mean Babylon. Babylon was a city on the Euphrates. It was the heart (most important place) of evil practices. Babylon may become powerful again, and perhaps this verse refers to it. But it is more likely that the name Babylon describes another wicked city. This city will be the most important city for religion and trade. Some people believe that Rome will be that city at the time of the end. It was the greatest city in the world at the time when John wrote the Book of Revelation. It would have been dangerous for him to name it then.
Islands sank into the sea. Mountains fell down and disappeared. That earthquake changed the whole surface of the earth.
The storm of God’s anger caused hailstones to fall from the sky. These were like great blocks of ice. Some weighed nearly 100 pounds (45 kilos). Even this did not persuade people to turn to God. Instead, they cursed God for the terrible storm.
Ok.... it seems that I am on a different page than some of the commentaries. Even in the easy English commentary... it's like God is going to give those left on earth a chance to make it right..... but those left on earth when the bowls are poured out.... are definitely not Christians. Yep.. they are humans.... ignorant, stiff necked, mean, ugly, demon struck, labeled, and tagged.... Satan worshipping humans. Apparently the authors should have looked back at their notes. So I'm going to recap, yet again.John, the close personal human friend of Jesus the Messiah.... is on a deserted rocky island. Revelation begins with John having a vision of Jesus.... glowing as He did at the Transfiguration when He met with Moses and Elijah. An Angel has been assigned to John to interpret for him. There are things in Heaven that cannot be easily explained in human language.... so the Angel is there to assist John. Then John sees a door in Heaven.... so John peeks in... and there is a strong Angel stomping around complaining about not being able to open a scroll with seven seals. This scroll is apparently the instructions for the final demise of the ignorant humans on earth who will not Believe... ever.... John was still watching when Jesus took the scroll in His hand... and the seals started to pop open for Him. Jesus had been to earth as a human.... He understands human better than anyone in Heaven.
When the seals start popping.... things started to happen on earth. By the time this chapter was recorded..... humans had been conquered.... their peace was stolen.... there were wars, plagues, famines, flood, fires.... a third of the humans were killed and then a third again. A third of the vegetation on earth and all of the grass was gone..... so the air was almost impossible to breath. A third of the Ocean had become a bloody soup of dead fish. Boy that must have stunk. A third of the light from the sun, moon, and stars had already passed.... so the world was perpetually almost dusk..... and wormwood had taken out a third of the fresh water and turned it poisonous. Animals were attacking humans because they were hungry. An earthquake has moved mountains and islands. There are bugs biting humans with a bite so painful, they wish they could die but can't.... and weird horses with tails that can sting and easily kill.
John was also given a small scroll to devour on his own. He was told not to write about what was on that scroll.... the Bible says the contents of that scroll are a secret.
Now here is where I think the commentaries have gone off the path..... God knows people inside and out. God created time.... so God controls time... Time actually means nothing to God. So.... by the time the humans have gotten to this point in time... God has already looked at their future and He knows who has heard the Gospel and who hasn't. He also knows who is going to Believe and who is going to remain ignorant and stupid because they want to.
On top of that.... God already sent an Angel to hover over the earth and preach the Gospel [yes it says the Angel preached... uncommon occurrence] because there will be no internet, cable, phone service, or even electricity. Power is out! God has a plan to make sure everyone has a chance to change.... but ..... some just won't change. Some belong to Satan.
Up in Heaven at this time... John has seen three groups of humans.
- There are 144,000 hand picked virgin Jewish men of impeccable character.
- There are those who were martyred for their Belief.... like Stephen, the disciple who was beat to death by Saul's friends... before he got knocked down by Jesus and became Paul the disciple..... and like the little girl at school... who, when the shooter asked her if she loved Jesus.... responded that she did in deed love Jesus.... so he shot her.
- And there were the countless.... too many to count in human language.... Christians.
So... now it's going to be complete.... the air will be so thick and stinky it will almost be impossible to breath. After the bowls.... the people are suffering from open sores... there is no drinking water.... there is no ocean water... there is no food.... animals are attacking them..... in this chapter there are hailstones that weigh 100 pounds falling on humans.... there has been another earthquake that has flattened mountains and raised more islands. How in the world are they supposed to worship at a temple on the mountain when the mountain is gone?..... and all the natural boundaries that use to keep the humans around Israel safe from their enemies have dried up.
In this chapter... all the leaders of all the nations and all their ignorant followers have decided that they are going to run God off the planet. They think they are in control..... until the night.... when it was coal black.... and they gnawed their teeth in anguish... and fear.
There were seven seals.... six have been opened.
There were seven trumpets.... six have been sounded.
There were three woes.... two have been loosed.
There have been seven bowls.
An Angel has preached the Gospel all over the earth.... so anyone who is going to Believe does... and they are already in Heaven..... mixed in with all the other Christians that are too numerous to count.... even the stragglers picked up after that Angel started preaching... have been taken to Heaven and handed a harp because they waited so long....now they have to be the harpists in heaven for the rest of their eternal life.... but they are in Heaven... grateful and thankful.
On earth.... contrary to popular opinion.... when the Six Bowls have been poured out....on earth.... there are no Christians left.
