Lesson Five

Chapter 16:17-21

The Seventh Bowl Judgment

a) Bowls poured out on the beast throne continued…

- Verse 17-21 (Seventh Bowl of Cosmic Judgment):

o The sixth bowl was not really a plague but a preparation for the plague in bowl seven. The seven bowl brings history cyclic perspectives of seal, trumpet and bowls) to a close.

o The events of 16:18–21 are a single whole, and so 16:17 is saying that they end the judgment of God and introduce the conclusion to the present age.

o Verse 17

§ “Seventh angel” this is link to the angel of 21:9.

§ “Into the air” The seventh bowl is poured into the air. The judgment is on the “air,” continuing the judgment on the throne of the beast (producing darkness and pain) in 16:10.

§ “Out of the Temple came a loud voice” This voice announces the completion of the divine plan. This is the first time we hear a voice coming “from the throne.” The only other times a voice proceeds from the throne is in 19:5 (in the midst of the hallelujah choruses proclaiming the eschaton) and 21:3 (proclaiming the meaning of the new heavens and new earth). This is the only place in the book that the three (temple, heaven, throne) are juxtaposed, so this is a supreme eschatological moment when all the forces of the divine end of history are brought together.

§ “It is done!” The voice of God proclaims the eschaton in electrifying simplicity by stating with finality. The finalization of that which was put in motion when Christ cried from the cross, “It is finished” (John 19:30). This means that the judgment of God has already occurred, and we are at the end of history. The time for judgment is at an end, and God’s final kingdom has arrived. It is the completion of his wrath (cf. 21:6), which declares the full realization of God’s plan. This verse concludes the judgments that begin the eschaton, and 21:6 concludes the eschaton with the new creation.

o Verse 18

§ “Flashes of lightening, rumblings, peals of thunder, and a great earthquake” This is the last of four passages that allude to the cosmic storm (“flashes of lightning, the roar of the storm, and peals of thunder”) based on the Sinai phenomena (4:5; 8:5; 11:19)

§ “No earthquake has ever occurred like this” This is the first time the earthquake is called “great.” This goes back to Dan. 12:1 prophecy, which describes “a tribulation such as has not happened from the beginning of nations until then.” After this, there wii be a distinction between the people of God who will be delivered “to everlasting life” and the many who will awake “to shame and everlasting contempt.”

o Verse 19

§ “The great City” speaks about Babylon Read Revelation 17:18; 18:10, 16, 18, 19, 21.

§ “Split into three parts” The earthquake is so severe that “the great city split into three parts.” The city is split “into three parts,” indicating the totality of the devastation. This is reminiscent of the great earthquake in 6:12–14 that shook every “mountain and island from its place.”

§ “City of nations fell” The description that “they fell” means that the earthquake was worldwide, and the cities of the nations “fell” (18:2-3).

§ “Was remembered by God” The reason for Babylon’s far as what God remembered about Babylon and all their sins before him. Even angels remind him of the deeds of human beings and bring the prayers before God (Rev. 8:3–5).

§ “Gave her a cup filled with the wine of the fury of God’s wrath” When God is reminded and remembers, he acts. God pours full strength into the cup of his anger.” The sins of Babylon the Great have come to God’s attention, and he has reacted in kind. Since they have drunk “the wine that leads to passion for immorality” (14:8; cf. 17:2, 4; 18:3, 9), God will give them a wine cup filled with “his furious wrath.”

o Verse 20: “Every island fled away in the mountains could not be found” there is a theme of the disappearance of the natural bodies as talked about in Rev 6:14 that is revisited here and is completed in 20:11, where “earth and heaven fled, and no place was found for them.”

o Verse 21

§ “Huge hailstones...”

· The imagery is drawn from the seventh Egyptian plague in Exod. 9:13–35 as reproduced in Josh. 10:11 (judgment on the kings of the Amorites).

· In OT, on every occasion, hailstorms signified the judgment of the sovereign God on the enemies of his people. Read Isa. 28:2 (Ephraim) and Ezek. 38:22 (Gog). Some combine the hailstorm with the Sinai theophany of Rev. 16:18 (= Exod. 19:18–21) and placed last in the bowls due to the Jewish apocalyptic tradition of linking the final judgments with the Egyptian plagues in order to picture the eschaton as a new exodus.

§ “Weighing about hundred pounds” These hailstones weigh “about a hundred pounds” (weighing a talent = 125 librae or Roman pounds of 12 ounces each. And it could be 17.6 inches in diameter (at 59.8 pounds per cubic foot). The Guinness Book of Records 1997, the largest hailstones in recorded history (2.25 pounds) fell on Bangladesh on April 14, 1986, killing 92 people. The largest in the United States (1.671 pounds, a diameter of 5.62 inches) fell on Coffeyville, Kansas, on Sept. 3, 1970. Thus, this is a formidable picture of final judgment. This storm is the greatest ever in history.

§ “Fell on people. And they cursed God...”

· Yet once again the earth-dwellers refuse to repent (see 2:21; 9:20–21; 16:9, 11).

· Those who refuse to repent but instead “blaspheme” or curse God for the judgments he sends. Not only is God blasphemed but his people as well (2:9; 13:6b).

· They curse God because the plague is “incredibly severe.” They focus only on their pain, not on the message. This is what happened in the Egyptian plagues too.

b) Pause for Reflection

- How do we stay awake? How can we stay prepared for Christ’s coming? We worship the lamb! We follow the lamb! In simplest terms, living our lives today as if Jesus were coming today. We need to keep our garments white. We need to close to Jesus.

- Satan is a deceiver. He and his demon pose as angels of light. Satan desires to deceive both the unsaved and the saved. This is why it’s important for you and me to 1) walk humbly before the lord, 2) to be men and women of prayer, 3) to stay as close to Jesus as we possibly can, and 4) to avoid compromise at all cost. If we don’t keep to these things on our life, it can make us vulnerable to spiritual deception. If we allow distance to creep in with your relationship with God, deception can come into our mind. 

- We need more watchmen. We need more people on the wall on the spirit. We need to be spiritually aware. We need to be cognizant of what God is doing around us.

- Jesus is our Passover lamb from the justice of God’s wrath.