Chapter XII REVELATION 15, 16: THE SEVEN BOWLS
REVELATION 15, 16: THE SEVEN BOWLS
IN the history of the world a definite and ever-recurring order of events is clearly evident.
Through the preaching of the Word applied to the heart by the Holy Spirit churches are established. Again and again this happens. They are lightbearers—lampstands—in the midst of a world that lies in darkness. They are blessed with the constant spiritual presence of Christ (chapters 1–3).
Again and again God’s people are persecuted by the world. They are subjected to many trials and afflictions (chapters 4–7).
Again and again the judgments of God are visited upon the persecuting world. These judgments again and again fail to move men to repentance (chapters 8–11).
Again and again this conflict between the Church and the world points to a deeper, more fundamental warfare between Christ and Satan, between the ‘seed of the woman’ and ‘the dragon’ (chapters 12–14).
The question which now arises is what happens whenever in history the trumpets of judgment, the initial plagues, fail to result in penitence and conversion? Does God permit such impenitence, such hardness of heart, to go unpunished until the final judgment of the last day? Must we conceive of God’s wrath as being completely pent up until the second coming, until the vintage described in chapter 14? This question is answered in our present vision. The answer, in brief, is this: whenever in history the wicked fail to repent in answer to the initial and partial manifestation of God’s anger in judgments, the final effusion of wrath follows. It is final, though not complete until the judgment day. These plagues are the last. They leave no more opportunity for repentance. When the wicked, often warned by the trumpets of judgment, continue to harden their hearts, death finally plunges them into the hands of an angry God. But even before they die they may have crossed the deadline, the line between God’s patience and His wrath (Ex. 10: 27; Mt. 12: 32; Rom. 1: 24; 1 Jn. 5: 16).
Throughout the history of the world God’s final wrath again and again reveals itself: now it strikes this one, then another. It is poured out upon the impenitent (Rev. 9: 21; 16: 9). Thus, a very definite connecting link is established between the vision of the trumpets (chapters 8–11) and that of the bowls (chapters 15, 16). Trumpets warn; bowls are poured out. Yet the connection between chapters 12–14 and chapters 15, 16 is just as close. These impenitents are the men who receive the mark of the beast (13: 16). They worship the dragon and are the friends of the two beasts and of the harlot, Babylon.
Thus conceived, we notice that the vision of the bowls of wrath runs parallel with all the others and like them covers the entire dispensation. Let us prove this point.
First of all, the very close resemblance between the vision of the trumpets and that of the bowls—which has already been indicated—would seem to imply that the two refer to the same period of time.[1] If the vision of the trumpets refers to this present dispensation, so does that of the bowls.
Secondly, this vision of the bowls ends just like the preceding ones, namely, with a judgment scene (Rev. 16: 15–21). It would seem to follow, therefore, that the first six bowls refer to series of happenings that precede the final judgment.
Thirdly, observe the very interesting fact that this fifth vision of the bowls has an introduction which is almost identical with the one which opens the fourth vision. (Cf. Rev. 15: 1 with Rev. 12: 1.) Revelation 12 very clearly carries us back to the moment of Christ’s birth and ascension. Is it not reasonable to assume that Revelation 15, 16 does the same thing, and that it likewise describes the entire period between the first and second coming?
Fourthly, notice that the bowls are poured out upon the men who have the mark of the beast. That characterization is, as we have seen, very general and applies to all those who worship the dragon throughout the history of the world, particularly throughout this entire dispensation.
Finally, our attention is called to the fact that we have in this fifth vision a description of exactly the same forces of evil as in the fourth. The dragon, the beast coming up out of the sea, and the beast coming up out of the earth, in the vision of the trumpets, correspond exactly to the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet in the vision of the bowls (16: 13). Thus the two visions evidently span the same period, the entire era between Christ’s first and second coming.
Yet this spirit of independence reveals itself more and more clearly as we approach the final day. For the vision of the bowls, though covering this entire dispensation, is especially applicable to the judgment day and to conditions that will immediately precede it.
John sees another sign in heaven, a great and marvellous sign. He had seen the sign of the radiant woman and her child (12: 1, 2); also, the sign of the great red dragon that opposed them (12: 3). Now he sees another sign which completes the trio—the seven last plagues by means of which God smites those who worship the dragon. Seven angels pour out these seven plagues in which God’s burning wrath is brought to its goal. The goal is the final judgment. These seven plagues—seven symbolizes divine perfection and completeness—lead to this goal. Once God withdraws His Spirit from the wicked, so that they become hardened, there is really nothing that can stop their doom in the day of the final judgment. So by means of these seven plagues that cover this entire dispensation God’s anger is brought to its telos or goal.
1. The sea of glass mingled with fire (15: 1–4)
The apostle is going to tell us about these seven angels with their bowls of wrath. But before he does so he shows us the Church triumphant after the last day. After all these bowls of wrath will have been emptied, what is this company of victors going to say? John beholds a sea. On the seashore stands a victorious multitude. They are playing their harps and singing the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb. Clearly, this vision is based on the story of the drowning of Pharaoh’s host in the Red Sea. Then also a victorious people stood by the sea and sang the song of deliverance and victory:
‘I will sing to Jehovah, for he has triumphed gloriously:
The horse and the rider has he thrown into the sea.’
This victory over the Egyptians was a foreshadowing of the victory of all God’s redeemed over the beast, his image, his number. Therefore, the song which the Church triumphant is singing is called the song of Moses and of the Lamb. In both cases it was the Lamb who gave the victory. Moses was simply doing God’s will, and is therefore called God’s servant.
Observe, however, that the sea which John beholds is of glass mingled with fire: it symbolizes God’s transparent righteousness revealed in judgments upon the wicked (cf. 15: 4b: ‘for thy righteous acts have been made manifest’).
Now, just as Israel ascribed its victory to God, so this victorious company which John sees loudly proclaims that God is the One who has granted triumph to His people. Even their harps belong to God; He has given them to these victors. Consequently, they praise God’s works of judgment, His ways—the principles underlying the works—and His name or revelation. They declare, moreover, that in the end the entire universe will have to acknowledge the righteous character of all God’s sentences. Have not the wicked been warned by means of the trumpets of judgment? Therefore, when, instead of repenting, they harden themselves, is not the fault wholly theirs? Thus the justice of God’s final sentences, of His bowls of wrath, is displayed. After the final judgment the Church triumphant will see this clearly and will glorify God.
2. The opening of the sanctuary (15: 5–8)
Whereas God’s final plagues are righteous in every respect, indeed, so transparently righteous that the Church triumphant will praise God because of the just punishments which He has inflicted on the impenitent, the apostle now leaves the triumphant multitude of the future and returns to the present dispensation. What does he see? The sanctuary of the tabernacle of the testimony is opened. This is the sanctuary which contains the ark of the covenant, and that ark contains ‘the testimony’ (Ex. 25: 16, 21). This sanctuary is now opened, so that we may understand that the wrath which is about to be revealed is God’s wrath. Out of the opened sanctuary the seven angels proceed. These angels are robed in pure, dazzling linen, their breasts encircled with golden belts. One of the four cherubim places in the hands of each of these seven angels a bowl. These bowls are of gold, for they are used in the service of God. They are full, to indicate the fierceness and unmitigated character of God’s wrath. It is everlasting wrath for it proceeds from the ever-living God. The sanctuary is filled with smoke: a symbol of the full and thorough operation of God’s holy anger (Is. 6: 4; Ps. 18: 8). No-one could enter the sanctuary until the seven plagues of the seven angels should be finished, that is, intercession was no longer possible. God had in anger shut up His tender mercies (Ps. 77: 9).
3. The seven bowls of wrath (16: 1–21)
John now hears the voice of the Almighty. It was a loud voice for the Lord is filled with anger because of the impenitence of Satan’s followers. The voice said, ‘Go and empty the seven bowls of the wrath of God into the earth.’ In studying these bowls notice their striking resemblance to some of the plagues of Egypt. These plagues recorded in Exodus 7–11 foreshadow all the manifestations of God’s wrath upon the wicked (cf. Dt. 28: 20). Throughout history, especially during this entire new dispensation, God is using every department of the universe to punish the wicked and impenitent persecutors of His people. Whoever refuses to be warned by the trumpets of judgment (Rev. 8: 11) is ‘destroyed’ by the bowls of wrath. For one individual a certain calamity may be a trumpet of judgment, while for someone else that same event may be a bowl of wrath. Thus, the disease which hurled King Herod Agrippa I into hell served as a warning to others. Those who remain impenitent are cursed in the city and cursed in the field (Dt. 28: 16).
At times our Lord uses vicious and incurable ulcers or any other incurable disease to hurl the wicked into hell. These come from the first bowl (16: 2; cf. Ex. 9: 10; Dt. 28: 27; Acts 12: 23). Think of Herod, and remember that throughout this entire dispensation our Lord is constantly doing this very thing. For believers in Christ the afflictions of the flesh are never bowls of wrath (cf. Rom. 8: 28). For this reason we read that this plague affected only those who had the mark of the beast (cf. Rev. 13: 15–17).
Sometimes the sea is used as the instrument of destruction. This is the purpose of the second bowl (16: 3; cf. Ex. 7: 17–21; 15: 1; Pss. 48: 7; 78: 53). The sea, as John beholds it in the vision, is turned into blood like a dead man’s, and as coagulated blood it emits a foul odour. Here again we must remember that although the symbol is rooted in Old Testament history, the sea is constantly being used for that same purpose. Just as all maritime calamities constitute warnings for the wicked, so also by means of some of these disasters the impenitent are hurled into hell. This happens again and again throughout history.
The third bowl (16: 4–7) brings curses upon rivers and fountains, turning them into blood (cf. Ex. 7: 24; 1 Ki. 17: 1; 18: 5, 40). The angel of the waters proclaims the justice of God who punishes the impenitent in this way. It is righteous retribution. Underneath the altar the souls of the martyrs had cried for vengeance (cf. Rev. 6: 9; 8: 3–5). So when this vengeance is rendered, it is the altar that replies: ‘Yea, Lord God, the Almighty, genuine and righteous are thy judgments.’
Frequently, the Lord causes the sun to scorch the wicked, the calamity produced by the fourth bowl (16: 8, 9; cf. Dt. 28: 22: ‘Jehovah will smite thee with... fiery heat’). But these men are not sanctified through suffering. On the contrary, they become even more wicked and blaspheme the God of heaven who has the power over these plagues. They do not repent. We readily see that this description is true with respect to all impenitent persecutors of Christ and of His Church throughout this entire dispensation.
Also upon the throne of the beast God’s wrath is at times poured out. This is accomplished by the fifth bowl (16: 10, 11). This throne of the beast is the centre of antichristian government (cf. Na. 3: 1; Hab. 3: 12–14). When Assyria falls, or Babylon, or Rome, the whole universe of the impenitent seems to collapse (cf. Rev. 17: 9 ff.). The wicked lose all courage. They despair. They keep on gnawing their tongues for pain, not only because of this plague but also because of their ulcers received when the first bowl was emptied.
Notice that in the bowls the aspect of finality is emphasized. Whereas only one-third of the living creatures in the sea died during the second trumpet, the destruction wrought by the second bowl is complete; ‘every living soul’ died. Again, while in the third trumpet the third part of the waters was turned into wormwood, here the whole supply is turned into blood, etc. This is God’s final wrath.
The sixth bowl (16: 12–16) produces Har-Magedon. Of late it has been raining sermons and lectures on Har-Magedon or Armageddon,[2] but in order to arrive at the correct interpretation of this battle, let us begin by briefly reviewing the Old Testament story in which this symbol is probably rooted. We find it in Judges 4, 5. Israel is in misery again. This time, King Jabin, the Canaanite, is the oppressor. The spoilers go out to ravage the fields and plunder the crops of the Israelites. So numerous are these spoilers that the Israelites go in hiding and are afraid to appear on the highways (Jdg. 5: 6). But can they not wage war and drive out these Canaanites? No, King Jabin and General Sisera are strong, for they have nine hundred chariots of iron. Israel has not even a spear or a shield (Jdg. 5: 8). Must the people perish?
In the highlands of Ephraim lives Deborah who one day tells Barak the judge, ‘Up, for this is the day in which Jehovah is to deliver Sisera into your power. Is it not Jehovah who has gone forth in front of you?’ A battle is fought at Megiddo and Israel’s enemy is routed. It was Jehovah Himself who had defeated them. ‘From heaven fought the stars; from their courses they fought against Sisera’ (Jdg. 5: 20).
For this cause, Har-Magedon is the symbol of every battle in which, when the need is greatest and believers are oppressed, the Lord suddenly reveals His power in the interest of His distressed people and defeats the enemy. When Sennacherib’s 185,000 are slain by the angel of Jehovah, that is a shadow of the final Har-Magedon. When God grants a little handful of Maccabees a glorious victory over an enemy which far outnumbers it, that is a type of Har-Magedon.
But the real, the great, the final Har-Magedon coincides with the time of Satan’s little season (see Rev. 11: 7—11). When the world, under the leadership of Satan, antichristian government and antichristian religion—the dragon, the beast and the false prophet—is gathered against the Church for the final battle, and the need is greatest; when God’s children, oppressed on every side, cry for help; then suddenly, dramatically, Christ will appear to deliver His people. That final tribulation and that appearance of Christ on clouds of glory to deliver His people, that is Har-Magedon. It is for this reason that Har-Magedon is the sixth bowl. The seventh is the judgment day. As we have indicated, this sixth bowl, as well as the preceding ones, is evident again and again in history. Yet, like the other bowls, it reaches its final and most complete realization just before and in connection with the last day.
John sees that the sixth bowl is emptied upon the Euphrates river. This river represents Assyria, Babylonia, the wicked world. When the river is said to dry up, the road is prepared so that all the antichristian powers can make the attack upon the Church. The apostle sees proceeding out of the mouth of the dragon (Satan) and out of the mouth of the beast (antichristian government) and out of the mouth of the false prophet (antichristian religion) three unclean spirits. These spirits or demons are compared to frogs in order to indicate their abominable, loathsome and repulsive character. They represent satanic, hellish ideas, plans, projects, methods and enterprises, hell-born and introduced by hell into the sphere of thought and action. Thus, when the kings of the earth gather to battle against believers, this battle or persecution is inspired by hell itself. Here very little is said about this final battle. But we must remember that this same conflict of Har-Magedon is described in Revelation 11: 7 ff. (see our explanation); and especially in Revelation 19: 11 ff.; 20: 7 ff.[3]
Now, at this moment of tribulation and anguish, of oppression and persecution, Christ suddenly appears (verse 15). He comes as a thief, suddenly, unexpectedly (cf. Mt. 24: 29 ff.; I Thess. 5: 4; II Thess. 2: 8 ff.; II Peter 3: 10). Therefore the believer must be vigilant. Let him keep his garments of righteousness unspotted, lest men see his sins (cf. Rev. 3: 18; 7: 14).
This section dealing with the bowls, like the preceding ones, ends with a very vivid description of the terror of the final judgment, which is symbolized by the seventh bowl (16: 17–21). The final fall of Babylon is the crushing blow for those who bear the mark of the beast. All that delights them now collapses. It is utterly ruined. This bowl is emptied upon the air. When a curse falls upon the air, life on earth perishes. John hears a loud voice from the sanctuary—it was the voice of God Himself—saying, ‘It has happened.’ The final and complete exposure of God’s wrath, so long restrained, has come: the judgment day has arrived. In the picture the apostle sees flashes of lightning, and hears the rumblings and peals of thunder and he witnesses an earthquake, the greatest of all time. The great city, Babylon, is broken into three pieces; it falls apart. Thus, the entire antichristian empire, viewed as a centre of seduction, the whole kingdom of the world, falls apart and is destroyed. Its cities and nations are ruined. In this great day of judgment it becomes evident that, after all, God has not forgotten the sins of Babylon. His anger so long pent up now fully explodes. The world receives the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath (cf. Rev. 14: 10). Every island flees and the mountains are not found (see our explanation of Rev. 6: 14). John, being in the Spirit, now sees great hailstones, every stone almost a hundred pounds in weight, falling down upon these hardened, impenitent men. The meaning is that in the final judgment the entire empire of evil is destroyed. It goes down into utter ruin. Moreover, these stones fell from heaven; they symbolize God’s judgment, the final and complete effusion of His wrath. But even in hell these impenitent sinners blaspheme God because of the greatness of the plague and because of the hardness of their hearts!