Revelation 16 - Introduction
Contents. This chapter is occupied with the seven Bowls, and judgment assumes its last and highest form.... [ Continue Reading ]
Contents. This chapter is occupied with the seven Bowls, and judgment assumes its last and highest form.... [ Continue Reading ]
Revelation 16:1. The voice heard is that of God, for He alone was in the temple (chap. Revelation 15:8); and it comes from the innermost shrine. Nothing of this kind had been said at the opening of the trumpets (chap. Revelation 8:7); and the distinction is important, for it shows us that it is not... [ Continue Reading ]
Revelation 16:2. THE FIRST ANGEL POURED OUT HIS BOWL INTO THE EARTH. The whole earth is thought of, and no more only a third part of it as at chap. Revelation 8:7. AND THERE FELL A NOISOME AND GRIEVOUS SORE UPON THE MEN WHICH HAD THE MARK OF THE BEAST AND WHICH WORSHIPPED HIS IMAGE. The idea of th... [ Continue Reading ]
Revelation 16:3. THE SECOND ANGEL POURED OUT HIS BOWL INTO THE SEA. The whole sea, and not merely a part of it as at chap. Revelation 8:8-9, is affected by this plague. The increased potency of the plague is also shown in the description given of the blood, not merely blood, but BLOOD AS OF A DEAD M... [ Continue Reading ]
Revelation 16:4. AND THE THIRD POURED OUT HIS BOWL INTO THE RIVERS AND THE FOUNTAINS OF THE WATERS, AND THEY BECAME BLOOD. Again we see the increased potency of the third bowl as compared with the third trumpet, chap. Revelation 8:10-11. All rivers, etc., are affected, and they become more than bitt... [ Continue Reading ]
Revelation 16:5-6. AND I HEARD THE ANGEL OF THE WATERS SAYING, THOU ART RIGHTEOUS, WHICH ART, AND WHICH WAST, THE HOLY ONE. No episode of this kind had intervened at the close of the third trumpet. But at the highest stage of judgment it is fitting that even those who suffer from it should answer th... [ Continue Reading ]
Revelation 16:7. Not only is an acknowledgment of the righteousness of God's judgment given by the ‘waters;' the martyred saints also respond. The ALTAR (not as in the Authorised Version ‘another out of the altar') speaks. It is the altar of chap. Revelation 6:9 beneath which is the blood, that is t... [ Continue Reading ]
Revelation 16:8. THE FOURTH POURED OUT HIS BOWL UPON THE SUN, AND IT WAS GIVEN UNTO HIM TO SCORCH MEN WITH FIRE. We have not yet passed into a world different from that with which the previous bowls were connected. ‘Men' are still plagued, though through the instrumentality of the sun which is used... [ Continue Reading ]
Revelation 16:9. AND MEN WERE SCORCHED WITH GREAT HEAT, AND THEY BLASPHEMED THE NAME OF GOD, WHICH HATH THE POWER OVER THESE PLAGUES, AND THEY REPENTED NOT TO GIVE HIM GLORY. The blaspheming is produced not by the last plague alone, but by the four that have been spoken of, ‘plagues' not plague. The... [ Continue Reading ]
Revelation 16:10. THE FIFTH POURED OUT HIS BOWL INTO THE THRONE OF THE BEAST. With the fifth bowl we pass into a different region, that of the spiritual powers of darkness. This bowl attacks the very centre of the beast's authority, and the advance from the fifth trumpet is very perceptible. There t... [ Continue Reading ]
Revelation 16:11. AND THEY BLASPHEMED THE GOD OF HEAVEN BECAUSE OF THEIR PAINS AND THEIR SORES, AND THEY REPENTED NOT OUT OF THEIR WORKS. Compare on Revelation 16:9.... [ Continue Reading ]
Revelation 16:12. AND THE SIXTH POURED OUT HIS BOWL UPON THE GREAT RIVER, THE RIVER EUPHRATES. The sixth trumpet had related to the river Euphrates, chap. Revelation 9:14, and the principles of interpretation necessary there are also to be applied here. The Euphrates is the river of Babylon, the sea... [ Continue Reading ]
Revelation 16:13. The DRAGON, the BEAST, and the FALSE PROPHET are again before us. They are the three great enemies of the people of God who have already been described; although here we have for the first time the second beast of chap. Revelation 13:11 spoken of as the ‘false prophet,' a designati... [ Continue Reading ]
Revelation 16:14. FOR THEY ARE SPIRITS OF DEMONS WORKING SIGNS. They thus show at once their hellish origin, and the power lent them in order that they may be the better enabled to effect their end. WHICH GO FORTH UNTO THE KINGS OF THE WHOLE WORLD, TO GATHER THEM TOGETHER TO THE WAR OF THE GREAT DA... [ Continue Reading ]
Revelation 16:15. The wonderful character of the great day of God, and of the issues that belong to it, leads to the interposition of this verse. BEHOLD, I COME AS A THIEF. The Lord Himself speaks, not the Seer in His name. The words are those of Matthew 24:1; Matthew 25:1; Mark 13:34; Luke 12:37,... [ Continue Reading ]
Revelation 16:16. AND THEY GATHERED THEM TOGETHER INTO THE PLACE WHICH IS CALLED IN THE HEBREW TONGUE HAR-MAGEDON. The ‘they' spoken of in these words refers to neither God nor the angel, but to the unclean spirits of Revelation 16:14. These spirits had gone forth to gather together all who had subm... [ Continue Reading ]
Revelation 16:17. AND THE SEVENTH POURED OUT HIS BOWL UPON THE AIR. The air is the dwelling-place of the powers of darkness, whose head is ‘the prince of the power of the air.' AND THERE CAME FORTH A GREAT VOICE OUT OF THE TEMPLE, FROM THE THRONE, SAYING, IT IS DONE. The voice is from God, and fro... [ Continue Reading ]
Revelation 16:18. AND THERE WERE LIGHTNINGS AND VOICES AND THUNDERS. What follows describing the end seems to be divided into seven particulars, of which this verse contains the first. The ‘lightnings,' etc., are those which usually accompany the judgments of God. The EARTHQUAKE spoken of in the sec... [ Continue Reading ]
Revelation 16:19. AND THE GREAT CITY WAS DIVIDED INTO THREE PARTS. In these words we have the third particular of the seven. The sentence of Daniel 5:28 may be in the Seer's mind, ‘Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.' If this reference be correct, it will confirm the view (1... [ Continue Reading ]
Revelation 16:20. AND EVERY ISLAND FLED AWAY, AND THE MOUNTAINS WERE NOT FOUND. The particular thus mentioned is the sixth, and the language used is even stronger than that of chap. Revelation 6:14, ‘and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.' The climax of judgment appears in the... [ Continue Reading ]
Revelation 16:21. AND A GREAT HAIL COMETH DOWN AS OF A TALENT IN WEIGHT OUT OF HEAVEN UPON MEN. The seventh particular, founded upon the thought of the plague of hail on Egypt. Each hailstone is magnified to an enormous extent. Each is a talent, or between 50 and 60 lbs., in weight. The stone descen... [ Continue Reading ]