INTRODUCTION TO REVELATION 16 This chapter gives an account of the pouring out of the seven vials by the angels; their orders for it are in Revelation 16:1. The first angel pours out his vial on the earth, the effect of which is a noisome and grievous sore upon the followers of antichrist, and the... [ Continue Reading ]
AND I HEARD A GREAT VOICE OUT OF THE TEMPLE,.... The church, which in the preceding chapter is said to be opened; this was either the voice of God, whose temple the church is, and where he dwells, and who, has power over these plagues, Revelation 16:9 and who, when he is about to bring judgments on... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE FIRST WENT,.... The Arabic and Ethiopic versions read, "the first angel", and who undoubtedly is meant, who readily and cheerfully obeyed the orders given him, as did the rest; by this angel cannot be meant Pope Adrian, as Lyra, a Popish interpreter, imagines; for a pope would never hurt the... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE SECOND ANGEL POURED OUT HIS VIAL UPON THE SEA,.... Not literally; and so does not design the stagnation of it, which it is thought will be before the general conflagration; see Amos 7:4 nor is it to be understood of the sea of this world, and the men of it, who are like a troubled sea; but r... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE THIRD ANGEL POURED HIS VIAL UPON THE RIVERS AND FOUNTAINS OF WATERS,.... Which also is not to be literally understood of a stagnation of them, before the burning of the world; nor of the destruction of Popish fleets and navies, such as the Spanish armada in 1588, and others since; but rather... [ Continue Reading ]
AND I HEARD THE ANGEL OF THE WATERS SAY,.... So we read in Jewish writings t of an angel that was שרא דימא, "the prince of the sea", and of angels that were over the waters, and others over fire u; though here is designed not one of the מלאכי מים "angels of the water", that presided ove the waters,... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THEY HAVE SHED THE BLOOD OF SAINTS AND PROPHETS,.... Which shows that rivers and fountains cannot be literally understood, but men are designed, wicked and bloody men; and it is notorious to all, how much of the blood of the saints, of the preachers of the Gospel, of the prophets and witnesses,... [ Continue Reading ]
AND I HEARD ANOTHER OUT OF THE ALTAR SAY,.... That is, another angel that came out of the altar; see Revelation 14:18 and who represents the souls under the altar, whose blood had been shed by the above persons; compare with this Revelation 6:9 though, there, such whose blood had been shed by Rome P... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE FOURTH ANGEL POURED OUT HIS VIAL UPON THE SUN,.... Not literally; and so designs not a violent heat, which shall go before, and be a preparation for the burning of the world; nor any sore famine arising from it, which would be common to all, good and bad; but mystically: some understand this... [ Continue Reading ]
AND MEN WERE SCORCHED WITH GREAT HEAT,.... Burned with rage against the followers of Christ; were filled with envy at the success of his Gospel, and with fury and madness at the ruinous condition of the antichristian state, being deprived of its head, and chief officers: AND BLASPHEMED THE NAME OF... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE FIFTH ANGEL POURED OUT HIS VIAL UPON THE SEAT OF THE BEAST,.... The beast is the same with that in Revelation 13:1 and which again shows that to be one and the same: the seat or throne of the beast is Rome, which, when the empire was Pagan, was the seat of Satan, or the dragon, Revelation 2:... [ Continue Reading ]
AND BLASPHEMED THE GOD OF HEAVEN,.... Who made it, and dwells in it, and from whence wrath is revealed, and comes upon the seat of the beast, upon the kingdom of antichrist, and the subjects of that kingdom; they will curse him who is of right their King, and their God, and look upwards to heaven, w... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE SIXTH ANGEL POURED HIS VIAL ON THE GREAT RIVER EUPHRATES,.... Which is not to be understood literally of the river Euphrates, which ran through Mesopotamia and Chaldea, and by the walls of Babylon; and of the drying of it up to make way for the Jews in the eastern parts of the world, to pass... [ Continue Reading ]
AND I SAW THREE UNCLEAN SPIRITS LIKE FROGS,.... Rome, the seat of antichrist, being destroyed, and the kingdom of the beast darkened, and brought into great contempt, Mahometanism greatly declining, the Gospel succeeding everywhere, the Jews being converted, and resettled in their own land, the devi... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THEY ARE THE SPIRITS OF DEVILS,.... They are of their father the devil; they are acted and influenced by him, he works effectually in them, and leads them captive at his will; they do his lusts, and are murderers and liars, and false teachers, like him: WORKING MIRACLES; lying ones, to deceive... [ Continue Reading ]
BEHOLD I COME AS A THIEF,.... These are the words of Christ, inserted in a parenthesis in this account, before it is concluded, to acquaint his people with his near and sudden approach, and to give them a word of caution and exhortation in these times of difficulty; for he is the Lord God Almighty,... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE GATHERED THEM TOGETHER,.... Or rather "they gathered them together", as the Syriac version renders it; for though the verb is singular, a noun plural goes before it, as in Revelation 16:14 and the same spirits that are there said to go forth, to gather the kings gether, these will gather the... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE SEVENTH ANGEL POURED OUT HIS VIAL INTO THE AIR,.... Or "upon the air", as the Alexandrian copy, Syriac and Arabic versions, read; by which is meant the kingdom of Satan, he being the prince of the power of the air, Ephesians 2:2 not that he has power over the air, to raise or lay winds and s... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THERE WERE VOICES, AND THUNDERS, AND LIGHTNINGS,.... As at the giving of the law, Exodus 19:16 and at the sounding of the seventh trumpet, Revelation 11:15 and may intend either the pure ministry of the Gospel in the spiritual reign, the voices of Christ's ministers, and the effects of them, who... [ Continue Reading ]
And the great city was divided into three parts,.... By which is meant not Christendom, distinguished into Protestants, Papists, and neutrals, which has been long the case; nor the city of Jerusalem, as inhabited by Christians, Jews, and Turks; nor the city of Rome itself, the seat of the beast, whi... [ Continue Reading ]
AND EVERY ISLAND FLED AWAY,.... This may be understood either of the dissolution of the world, the present heavens and earth, when there will be no more sea, Revelation 21:1 and so consequently no islands: AND THE MOUNTAINS WERE NOT FOUND; for the earth and the heaven will be fled away at the appea... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THERE FELL UPON MEN A GREAT HAIL OUT OF HEAVEN,.... Which must be understood not as after the fall of the cities, and the flight of the islands and mountains, but at the same time; and it looks as if such men that shall escape at the battle of Armageddon, that hail stones from heaven will fall u... [ Continue Reading ]