Revelation 16:1

And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, Go your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth. The trumpets shook the world-kingdoms in longer process: the vials swiftly and suddenly overthrow the kingdom of the beast who invested himself with the world-kingdom. The Egyptian plagues were inflicted with but a month between them severally (Bengel, referring to Seder Olam). As Moses took ashes from an earthly furnace (), so angels, as priestly ministers in the heavenly temple, take holy fire in sacred vials from the heavenly altar, to pour down (cf. ). The same heavenly altar which would have kindled sweet incense of prayer, bringing down blessing upon earth, by man's sin kindles the fiery descending curse. Just as the Nile, ordin...

1-7 We are to pray that the will of God may be done on earth as it is done in heaven. Here is a succession of terrible judgments of Providence; and there seems to be an allusion to several of the plagues of Egypt. The sins were alike, and so were the punishments. The vials refer to the seven trumpets, which represented the rise of antichrist; and the fall of the enemies of the church shall bear some resemblance to their rise. All things throughout their earth, their air, their sea, their rivers, their cities, all are condemned to ruin, all accursed for the wickedness of that people. No wonder that angels, who witness or execute the Divine vengeance on the obstinate haters of God, of Christ, and of holiness, praise his justice and truth; and adore his awful judgments, when he brings upon cruel persecutors the tortures they made his saints and prophets suffer....

CHAPTER XVI. _The angels are commanded to pour out their vials upon the_ _earth_, 1. _The first pours out his vial on the_ earth, _by which a grievous_ _sore is produced_, 2. _The second angel pours out his trial on the_ sea, _and it is_ _turned into blood_, 3. _The third angel pours out his vial on the_ rivers _and_ fountains, _and they are turned also into blood_, 4-7. _The fourth angel pours out his vial on the_ sun, _and men are_ _scorched with fire_, 8, 9. The

AND I HEARD A GREAT VOICE OUT OF THE TEMPLE - A loud voice out of the temple as seen in heaven (notes on Revelation 11:19), and that came, therefore, from the very presence of God. SAYING TO THE SEVEN ANGELS - That had the seven vials of wrath. See the notes on Revelation 15:1, Revelation 15:7. GO YOUR WAYS - Your respective ways, to the fulfillment of the task assigned to each. AND POUR OUT THE VIALS OF THE WRATH OF GOD - Empty those vials; cause to come upon the earth the plagues indicated by their contents. The order in which this was to be do

EXPOSITION In the judgments of the _vials, _or _bowls, _we have undoubtedly a recapitulation of what has been already foretold in the trumpet and seal visions. This recapitulation is not a mere repetition; but the idea contained in the first visions is strengthened and set forth more forcibly, in conformity with Revelation 15:1, where we are told the wrath of God is finished in these plagues of the vials. The following comparison will illustrate the points of resemblance and contrast between the visions of the trumpets and of the vials. _Trumpets._ 1. Hail, fire, and blood cast upon THE EARTH; _one third _trees, etc., burnt. 2._ One third _of SEA made blood; one third of creatures therein and of ships destroyed. 3.

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 the earth, is said to roar out of Zion, Revelation 16:16 or of Christ, who is always in the midst of his church and people, and whose voice is as the voice of many waters; see Revelation 16:15 or it may be of one of the four living creatures, the ministers of the word, in and by whom Christ often speaks; and the rather, since one of these gave the seven angels the golden vials of the wrath of God, they are n

ANGELS (_ See Scofield) - (Hebrews 1:4). _...

REVELATION 16:1 evk tou/ naou/ The words evk tou/ naou/, which are adequately supported by a A C P 1 2020 2057 2329 vg arm Andrew and Primasius, are omitted (perhaps because they were regarded as somehow inappropriate in the context) in 046 about ninety minuscules armpt Arethas. The reading evk tou/ ouvranou/ (42 367 468 2196 vgmss copsa, bo armpt Tyconius Beatus) arose when naou/ was taken to be the contraction of ouvranou/ (o®u®n®o®u®)....

CHAPTER 16 Revelation 16:1 . The great voice commands the seven angels to go on their way and to empty the bowls upon the earth (Ps. 49:24). And these vials of judgments affect not only the Roman Empire, but the entire world, for the whole world is guilty before God. The first vial poured out produces a grievous sore upon the worshipers of the beast. While it is undoubtedly true that we have symbols also in these vial judgments, it is nevertheless possible that some of these plagues may have, besides the symbolical, also a literal meaning. The sixth plague which came upon Egypt, the first judgment upon the persons of the Egyptians, was also a sore (Exodus 9:10). The worshipers of the beast and of the image will be dreadfully afflicted....

REVELATION 16:2. The first bowl. The wrath of God is poured out on the worshippers of the beast, _i.e._ Antichrist, _i.e._ Nero. MARK OF THE BEAST: REVELATION 13:16 *. WORSHIPPED HIS IMAGE: _ i.e._ the image or statue of the emperor (_cf. Revelation 13:14_ f.). Revelation 16:3. The second bowl, like the second trumpet (Revelation 8:8), destroys the living creatures in the sea. _Cf._ also the first of the Egyptian plagues ...