revelation 16, the seventh bowl of wrath

Previously: revelation 16, the third interval period

Then the seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, “It is done!” And there were noises and thunderings and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such a mighty and great earthquake as had not occurred since men were on the earth. Now the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. And great Babylon was remembered before God, to give her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath. Then every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. And great hail from heaven fell upon men, each hailstone about the weight of a talent. Men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, since that plague was exceedingly great. Rev 16:17-21

Now from here on out we are completely speculating. It may be that the battle of Armageddon, which the interval period we are currently in brings the nations to the brink of, is the vehicle by which these great changes come about. The prophecies that we have read in the Old Testament leads one to believe that the LORD Himself will enter the stage of world history as King of kings and Lord of lords in defense of His people Israel when the nations are arrayed against her. The return of the Lord Jesus Christ would occasion a great earthquake, alright, a great shaking of all previously established order in government, society, culture, religion, and worldview, the greatest in the history of mankind.

The angel pours his bowl in the air. The realm of the heavens and atmosphere, we have seen elsewhere in Revelation, is the realm of spiritual truths, and when the ideology of Islam was released upon the earth, a great smoke clouded the atmosphere indicating loss of visibility and confusion. So it may be that this bowl heals the confusion and clarifies the atmosphere of spiritual truth for mankind. That a bowl of wrath might bring healing is not so far- fetched: the wrath is poured out on the Roman beast in all its reincarnations, and as this is the final bowl that brings about its fall would of course restore truth to mankind.

That the voice declares that it is done brings us back to Rev 11:15:

Then the seventh angel sounded: And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!” Rev 11:15

The seventh bowl of wrath finishes the seventh trumpet; the judgments are done, the wrath has been poured out, the beast is fallen, and the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Messiah. The Roman papacy will be no more just as the Holy Roman Empire is no more. The Roman beast in its incarnation of tyrannical government and crushing of people and saints of God (EU? UN?) will be no more. The LORD has taken His great power and is reigning.

That the great city is split into three parts, we will have no idea what this is referring to until we have the benefit of hindsight. Which great city is being spoken of? Is it the city of man, that spiritual place where the citizens of this world have their citizenship? Is it Babylon the Great, which is called the great city in Rev 14:8? I am leaning to that explanation, but we don’t know for sure.

I have a theory about the symbolism of the cities of the nations that fall. If we look at the history of cities in Scripture, we find that the first city was built by Cain. The second that Scripture mentions prominently, is Babel. God calls Abram out of Ur, a great city in its day, to the Holy Land, to an agrarian life of seedtime and harvest, flocks and herds.

City dwelling is not a sin, by any means, but it removes people from the natural world which proclaims the glory of God. It removes people from self- sufficiency, which is another way of saying, God- sufficiency, and everything needful for life now is provided by men and not God. Food, water, light, power, healthcare, everything comes through a filter of man, who, we are seeing, corrupt the necessities of life in order to increase their own profit or power.

City dwellers often are the equivalent of serfs: instead of being their own masters, able to rest on Sabbaths, observe feasts, and order their life according to Torah, they must work for masters, as the ancient Hebrews worked for Pharaoh, and obey him instead of God if they want to continue to receive their pittance that allows them to barely subsist. I am speculating.

Great Babylon next is remembered before God, to give her the cup of the fierceness of God’s wrath. This is the first mention of Babylon in Revelation, and the next chapters concern her. Is Babylon different from the Roman beast, the fourth terrible beast of Daniel’s vision which the seals, trumpets, and bowls have been judging? Or is the seventh bowl of wrath the bowl that Babylon drinks which brings about her fall? We just won’t know until the events happen and we can see how history fulfilled the prophecy.

Every island and mountain then flees away. Islands and mountains in Revelation, we saw, were kingdoms and nations. Of course, if the Lord Jesus Christ establishes His kingdom over the whole earth, then there will only be one kingdom. About the plague of hail, I just don’t know what it symbolizes. This is the first time we encounter hail in Revelation, and until it happens, we just won’t know what it means, barring further insight from the Holy Spirit. I do believe that as the whole book of Revelation has been symbolic, just as Daniel’s visions were, that the hail symbolizes something rather than being actual physical hail.

Going forward in Revelation: this is the third time in the book that we have seen the pronouncement of the completion of the LORD’s judgments and the establishment of His kingdom. We saw it in Rev 11 and 14, and each time, the next chapters backtracked and gave us greater detail as to how it came about. Since the next chapters involve Babylon which was introduced in the pouring out of the seventh bowl of wrath, I am guessing that we will have some backtracking and greater detail as to how the establishment of the LORD’s kingdom will come about.

Christine’s book The Revelation of Jesus Christ Revealed, based on these studies, is now available at www.RevelationRevealed.online. You may also be interested in reading Book Extras and joining in on Discussion.