Chapter Sixteen Introduction:  The seven angels pouring out the seven bowls of God's wrath upon the earth is the theme of this chapter. Also, it includes the interlude between the sixth and seventh bowls. Chapter 15 was the prelude to this chapter.  It is worth repeating that the bowls of wrath contain the direct judgment of God upon the world.  They are poured out during the reign of the Beast. They cover a very brief period of time, comparatively speaking.   There is a definite similarity between the judgments in this chapter and God's judgments upon Egypt through Moses.

16:1  The Lord Jesus Christ is still in charge.  He was the only One found worthy to open the seven‑sealed book, His opening of the seals ushered in this entire series of sevens. He is in command to the end of this book. He is marching to victory. The power, glory and the majesty belong only to Him. This is judgment upon a Christ‑rejecting world. Christ sends out these seven angels with the final judgments. There is no longer a delay, no longer an interval or intermission. The hour has come. The order is given, and the seven angels execute the command.   It is difficult for man, even Christians, to believe that God is going to pour out His wrath on a rebellious and God‑hating world and destroy this civilization.

AWhen Mrs. Mcgee and I first came to Southern California, we almost thought that we had entered the Millennium. Those were the good old days before the great population came, before we had smog and heavy traffic. I still love California, but it is not like it was then. Every Monday we would take the day off and go to see some of the sights. We would drive to the beach, to the mountains, or to the desert. One evening as we were driving down Wilshire Boulevard, a very attractive street, all around us we could see liquor signs and the world of glamour designed to satiate the demands of the flesh. I was reminded of what the Lord Jesus said to the apostles when they came to Him to show Him the buildings of the temple, how beautiful they were. He said to them, "See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down" (Matt. 24:2). They were amazed that He would make a statement like that. And I said to my wife, "All of this beauty and glamour that we are seeing is going to pass away. It is under the judgment of God. It all is going up in smoke someday." Believe me, we need to make our investments in heaven where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal. Perhaps you are saying, "But I have gilt‑edged investments and bonds in a safety deposit box." Yes, but you are still going to lose them because you are going to leave them. You are going to release your hand in death. You are going to turn them loose and move out.@

16:2   Vincent: "Each angel, as his turn comes, withdraws from the heavenly scene."   *the angel leaves the place of the mercy seat in heaven and executes judgment. He leaves heaven and pours a judgment bowl of wrath upon the earth. 

first bowl judgment: putrifying sores (pus, etc.).  The first bowl compares to the sixth plague in Egypt and is the same type of sore or "boil" (see Exod. 9:8‑12).  The "noisome and grievous sore" is for those who received the mark of the Beast.

16:3   Second bowl: This plague is more severe than that of the second trumpet, where only one‑third of the sea became blood. Here it is the total sea, and the blood is that of a dead man!   The cool sea breezes become a stench of death.   The first plague in Egypt was the turning of the waters of the Nile River into blood (see Exod. 7:20‑25).

 16:4-7   Third bowl: the total water supply of the earth will be cut off. This means destruction of human life on an unparalleled plane.  Angels affect the physical earth: four angels who controlled the winds, etc.

God is righteous in everything He does. "They shed the blood of saints and prophets, and blood didst thou give them to drink." This is poetic justice with a vengeance. Those who take the sword will perish by the sword.

"The altar say" (16:7) may refer to the saints under the altar who had been praying for justice to be done: (Rev. 6:9‑11). Here their prayer is answered.

16:8-9 Fourth Bowl:  Our Lord predicted signs in the sun during the Great Tribulation: (Luke 21:25). Cf.  "They shall be burnt with hunger, and devoured with burning heat, and with bitter destruction: I will also send the teeth of beasts upon them, with the poison of serpents of the dust" (Deut. 32:24).

"Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left" (Isa. 24:6).

"Therefore he hath poured upon him the fury of his anger, and the strength of battle: and it hath set him on fire round about, yet he knew not; and it burned him, yet he laid it not to heart" (Isa. 42:25).

"For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch" (Mal. 4:1).

"And men were scorched...blasphemed..."  The human heart is wicked.  No punishment will purify or change it.  Remember, the Tribulation is not for the purification of the church.  Rather, it is a judgment upon the earth.

16:10-11 Fifth Bowl: "The throne of the wild beast" - the first Beast of chapter 13?   "His kingdom was darkened" - strange darkness - the sun's heat is increased, it grows darker instead of lighter. The heat will be greater, but the light will be less. Note the similarity to the darkness of Egypt during the ninth plague (Exod. 10:21‑22).

"For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee" (Isa. 60:2).

"Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the LORD cometh, for it is nigh at hand; a day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains: a great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations. . . . The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come" (Joel 2:1‑2, 31).

Nahum, Amos, and Zephaniah mention it.  The Tribulation is where these prophecies fit into the program of God."

16:12 Sixth Bowl: The Euphrates is called "the great river."  First mentioned in Genesis 2, it is mentioned over twenty‑five times.  It was prominent in the Garden, so it is mentioned during the Great Tribulation. It was the cradle of man's civilization and obviously will be the grave of man's civilization (McGee).

The Euphrates was the eastern border of the land God promised to Abraham (Gen. 15:18). It also became the eastern border of the Roman Empire.  The Euphrates River will be miraculously dried up, thus erasing the border between East and West, so that the kings might come to the Battle of Armageddon. The great hordes in the East come in a crusade to Palestine. The picture is frightening.

16:13-16    This is Armageddon.  It will probably be triggered by the coming down of Russia from the north sometime around the middle of the Tribulation period. The campaign extends the length of Palestine to the Valley of Jehoshaphat and the mountains of Edom. It will continue for approximately three and one‑half years. It will be concluded by the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ from heaven to establish His Kingdom.

The trinity of hell ‑‑ Satan, Antichrist, and the False Prophet. They force the nations of the world to march against Israel.

"frogs."  Literal frogs?  They were literal in Egypt.  Notice that John says, "like frogs".  J. A. Seiss, says,

They are spirits; they are "unclean spirits;" they are "demon spirits;" they are sent forth into activity by the Dragon Trinity; they are the elect agents to awaken the world to the attempt to abolish God from the earth; and they are frog‑like in that they come forth out of the pestiferous quagmires of the universe, do their work amid the world's evening shadows, and creep, and croak, and fill the ears of the nations with their noisy demonstrations, till they set all the kings and armies of the whole earth in enthusiastic commotion for the final crushing out of the Lamb and all His powers. As in chapter 9, the seven Spirits of God and of Christ went forth into all the earth to make up and gather together into one holy fellowship the great congregation of the sanctified: so these spirits of hell go forth upon the kings and potentates of the world, to make up and gather together the grand army of the Devil's worshippers.

The Lord Jesus is the only One who can stop this war!  Behold, I come as a thief. (Rev. 16:15).  Christ will never come as a thief to the church: "But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief" (1 Thess. 5:4).  Christ does not come as a thief to His church which is looking for Him. "Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ" (Titus 2:13).   The whole earth will mourn. They don't want Him to come.

"Blessed is he that . . . keepeth his garments."   Edersheim: the captain of the temple made his rounds during the night to see if the guards were awake and alert. If one was found asleep, he was either beaten or his garments set on fire. I suppose it could be paraphrased, "Don't lose your shirt. Be sure that you are clothed with the righteousness of Christ.

16:16  This is the only occurrence of the word Armageddon in Scripture.  "Mount of Megiddo."  A compound word:  Hebrew words Har, meaning "mountain," and Megiddo, which is a mount in the plain of Esdraelon.   Many battles have been fought there in the past. Vincent cites Clarke's Travels regarding Megiddo in the plain of Esdraelon:

...Which has been a chosen place for encampment in every contest carried on in Palestine from the days of Nabuchodonozor king of Assyria, unto the disastrous march of Napolean Bonaparte from Egypt into Syria. Jews, Gentiles, Saracens, Christian crusaders, and anti‑Christian Frenchmen; Egyptians, Persians, Druses, Turks, and Arabs, warriors of every nation that is under heaven, have pitched their tents on the plain of Esdraelon, and have beheld the banners of their nation wet with the dews of Tabor and Hermon.

 "He gathered them together." The "he" is possibly God Himself. Although Satan, Antichrist, and the False Prophet act in unison to force the nations of the world to march against Israel, they nevertheless fulfill the Word of God.