Lesson Three

Chapter 16:1-9

Seven Last Bowl Judgments

a) Introduction:

- Differences from the seal and trumpet judgments:

o The bowls will affect the whole earth.

o The bowls are poured out directly on the earth-dwellers.

o There are no interludes

- Similarity from the seal and trumpet judgments is the four-three set judgments pattern

- Seven last bowl brief summary

o First four bowls parallel the first four trumpet, elaborating on Egyptian plagues on the earth, inland, seas, and heavens

o The next three bowls move to direct judgment against the throne of the beast (the fifth), to preparation for the final battle (the sixth), to the beginning of the destruction of Babylon the Great (the seventh)

- These last three bowls move the action inexorably to a close in gathering the nations for the Battle of Armageddon (sixth bowl) and the storm theophany that heralds the eschaton (seventh bowl).

- Three added features:

o The doxological hymn justifying the divine judgment

o The false trinity calling the nations to the final battle

o Jesus’ warning that he will come like a thief, so believers must be ready

b) Bowls poured out in the natural realm (16:1-9)

- Verse 1 (God’s Voice)

o “Loud voice” Many believe that this is the voice of God and that there is an echo of Isa. 66:6: “hear the voice from the temple, a voice from the Lord repaying his enemies all they deserve.” Since only God is in the temple (15:8), it must be he who speaks.

o The voice commands the angels to pour out the seven bowls containing the wrath of God) onto the earth.

o While the voice sometimes speaks “from heaven” on the book (11:12, 15; 12:10; 14:2, 13), the only times it speaks “from the temple” are here and in 16:17, undoubtedly due to the temple scene in 15:5–8.

- Verse 2 (First Bowl of evil sores)

o The first bowl is upon the earth, referring to the land and those who live on it

o The judgment that comes in this first bowl is a bad and evil sore, replicating the sixth Egyptian plague in which terrible boils broke out on both people and animals (Exod. 9:9–11). A Greek term for malignant or festering sour is an abscessed, ulcerous or boil-like sore, often caused by infection, of the kind that Lazarus had in the parable of Luke 16:19–31 (cf. 16:21).

o Note: Unlike the seals, the bowls affect all the earth-dwellers, but it is important to remember the basic theme that only those “who have the mark of the beast and worship his image” are punished in this way (see 3:10; 7:3–4; 9:4), building on the exodus motif that the people of God were spared from his outpouring of wrath (Exod. 8:22–23; 9:4, 6; 10:23; 11:7; 12:13; 19:5).

- Verse 3 (Second Bowl of Sea’s Destruction)

o The second bowl is in the sea, where it turned blood and every living thing died. This is a more severe image than the second trumpet judgment, where a burning mountain fell on the sea, and “a third of the sea became blood, and a third of the creatures that live in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed” (Rev. 8:8-9). In the first Egyptian plague (Exod. 7:14–21), the Nile was turned into blood and all the fish died. The emphasis here is greater, “every living thing.”

o As we discussed in Rev 8, that sea was the lifeblood of the Roman Empire. Not just food supplies but most commerce and trade depended on the sea routes because Rome was in the southern boot of Italy, and land trade was limited. Thus, this judgment was equivalent to the destruction of all civilization. This judgment is linked with both the economic connotations of the “mark of the beast” that deprived believers from “buying and selling” in 13:16–17 and the economic dissolution of Babylon the Great in 18:15–17.

- Verse 4 (Third Bowl of River/Water Springs Destruction)

o The third bowl is upon the rivers and springs of waters. As the sea when turned to blood brought death to all living in it (v. 3), so also do the rivers and springs of water spread death when turned to blood.

o In recounting the story of the Exodus the Psalmist says that God “turned their rivers to blood; they could not drink from their streams” (Ps 78:44). John draws freely from the vocabulary of judgment and adapts it appropriately to describe the final plagues.

o As in 16:3, it probably also refers to a severe economic judgment that portends (warms of) the destruction of civilization.

- Verses 5-7 (Doxology)

o Vindication Doxology—Hymn of Divine Justice, where God uphold the pouring out his judgment on the evildoers. It begins with an affirmation of the righteousness of God (Ps. 119:137; Jer. 12:1; Dan. 3:27), and then focuses on the justice of divine punishment (Josh. 7:19–21; 2 Chron. 12:6; Ezra 9:15; Neh. 9:33; Ps. 7:11)

o Verse 5:

§ The angel that poured out the third bowl on the inland waters and springs is designated “the angel of the waters” in 16:5. This is a common apocalyptic motif in which angels control the natural elements (1 Enoch 60.11–24; 61.10; 66.1–2; 69.22; Jub. 2.2), paralleling Rev. 7:1 (the angels controlling the four winds) and 14:18 (the angel in charge of the fire).

§ The angel first sings, “You are righteous.” The judgment of the nations is the product of the holiness and righteousness of God, and thus they are “just and true” (15:3; 16:7; 19:2). The holiness of God is seen in the clause that follows, “because you have judged these things.”

§ The threefold divine title of God in 1:4, 8; 4:8 (“the one who is, who was, and who is to come”) has been altered (there is no longer an “is to come”) because the final act of God has been inaugurated, and the future is here. “The holy one” has been substituted for the third element.

§ Note: In 11:17 the future has arrived in that God’s kingdom has begun, while here the future has arrived in that divine judgment has begun. This final set of judgments launches the events that constitute the eschaton. Note that 11:17 is part of the seventh trumpet and that 16:5 is part of the bowl judgments. In other words, we are at the eschaton. This is an argument support the cyclical nature of seals, trumpets and bowls.

o Verse 6:

§ This verse expands on “these things” (judgments) in verse 5.

§ The judgment came because they have poured out the blood of the saints and prophets. They “poured out” the blood of God’s servants, so God is “pouring out” judgment on them.

§ We see this connection in Rev 18:24 (17:6). Also read this connection in Jesus’ words (Matt. 23:31, 37; Matt. 5:11–12; Mark 12:3–5). The early church believed their suffering was a sharing not only of the suffering of Jesus but also of that of the prophets. The whole people of God, and in particular the prophets among them, were martyred by the earth-dwellers.

§ There is also a further connection with 6:9–11. The martyrs who implored God to vindicate their deaths are now being explicitly answered. God answers their cry here.

§ Also in Isa. 49:26 God told Israel, “I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh; they will be drunk on their own blood.”

o Verse 7

§ The “altar” now responds by affirming the justice of God’s response (16:7). Yet it is not the personified altar itself that speaks. In 6:9 the saints under the altar cry out for vengeance, so it is fitting that the voice now comes from the altar. But it is not their voice but the voice is of an angel who presented the prayers of the saints to God in 8:3–5 than the martyrs themselves.

§ The title “Lord God Almighty” repeats that of the Song of Moses in 15:3, affirming him as the omnipotent divine warrior and the Lord of the universe.

§ “True and just” It is clear that the “true” nature of the words, ways, and judgment of God are based on his nature as “true.” This speaks to God’s covenantal faithfulness and reliability of his promises

- Verses 8-9 (Fourth bowl of Scorching Sun)

o Verse 8

§ This is one of the 5 bowls that is unique of the Egyptian plagues mention in Exodus

§ This bowl brings about the scorching heat with fire upon people who have the mark of the beast. The saints will never again experience the sun’s scorching heat (7:16).

§ The fourth trumpet and fourth bowl both speak about the sun invoked in God’s judgment toward sinners (8:12). Only that it is in the opposite reaction, where the sun was darkened.

o Verse 9

§ “They cursed the name of God” this bowl judgment is a severe warning of what worst is coming, yet the people of earth reject that warning.

§ “They refused to repent” Some believe that the refusal to repent in 16:9, 11 is predetermined by God and points to 22:10–11 as evidence that the time to repent is past. That is not the situation in this context, however, for “give him glory” is seen as the definition of repentance/conversion. In 14:7 the angel in midair called on the nations to “fear God and give him glory,” and in 11:13, after the great earthquake, many among the nations did “give glory to the God of heaven”. Since “give him glory” signifies conversion, the earth-dwellers here once again refuse to turn to the God of mercy and find redemption.

§ This call to repentance is not just for those who are outside the church but also those who are supposedly inside the church. There is another occurrence of this idea for repentance call in 2:22, where the people in the church who are following the cult leader Jezebel, are warned of intense suffering from God “unless they repent of her works,”

- Pause for Reflections:

o God is just but justice for God is not fairness. God is just. He gives us what we want. If you want him to be God, then you will receive him. If you don’t want him to be God, then he will not force himself upon you. If you don’t want him to be God... if you want to be in control of your life without having to answer to him, he will respect your choice. If you believe your way is better and you don’t believe in a God like him... if you think God is not true... if you think he’s a liar... if you think he’s abusive and if you think he has it out for you, God will give what you want. If this is what you really want and you take this to your grave, God will give you what you want—a life without God. He will give you up to an endless self-perpetual self-destructive compounding dysfunctional painful life without him. The Bible calls this hell. God is just in this way.

o But while God is just his justice is not always fairness. The only thing that is not fair about God’s justice is his grace. Through grace God is always left with the short-end of the stick. Grace is God always provides a way... he always extends his love towards us while we are yet sinners. When God has every right to turn his back on us, he never does. There’s nothing we could do to stop his grave from coming to us. He doesn’t want us to die in our sins, sealing our fate to a devil’ hell. He wants us to seal our fate in what Jesus did for us on the cross of Calvary.

o In line with these bowl judgment warnings, God is constantly sending out warnings in our life calling people to come back him... calling people to repent. He pleading with people “Don’t go through that door of death without me. You can’t defeat it on your own.” Warning judgments of God always has to do with leading people to repentance, where grace is always available. We’ll talk more about this next week (Rev 16:8-10).

- While God is just his justice is not always fairness because his grace is not fair.

- When we trust God, his promises to us will come through. And all are called to come and trust him today