Chapter 16
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
John hears a voice from out of the Temple in heaven to the
seven angels with the seven vials, "Go your way and pour out the
vials of the WRATH of God upon the earth."
The FIRST angel pours out his vial, and there is a GRIEVOUS
SORE upon all that are part of the Beast and have its mark, and
worship its religious image (verses 1-2).
The SECOND angel pours out his vial upon the sea, and it
becomes like the blood of the dead, and every living life in the
sea dies (verse 3). Is this the whole sea of the entire world, or
the sea close to the Holy Land? There is no elaboration, so only
time will tell. But the thought of every life dying, is horrible
to contemplate.
The THIRD angel pours out his vial upon the rivers and
fountains of water; and they become blood (verse 4). Again, is it
the fountain of waters in and around just the Holy Land, or the
entire earth; is not told us. But that angel is heard by John as
saying, "You are righteous, O Lord, which are, and was, and shall
be, because You have judged it to be this way. They have shed the
blood of saints and prophets, and You have given them blood to
drink; for they are worthy of such plagues" (verse 5,6).
Then John hears another out from the altar say, "Even so,
Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are all thy judgments"
(verse 7).
And the FOURTH angel pours out his vial upon the sun, and
power was given to scorch people with fire. And people were
scorched with GREAT heat, and did they REPENT? You would think by
now it would had gotten through to their minds that God is God, that He
is very REAL, and means business. But they only blaspheme the
name of God, and they DID NOT REPENT! (verses 8,9).
The FIFTH angel pours out his vial upon the seat or
headquarters of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness;
and they gnawed their tongues for pain, and blasphemed the God of
heaven because of the pains and their sores, and REPENTED NOT of
their deeds" (verses 10-11).
Now by this time, actually three and a half years earlier,
the beast "man" and the "false prophet" man have moved to
Jerusalem, all explained in my other studies on "Prophecy." So it
may be that the seat of the beast here spoken about is the Holy
Land, or it may be the seat the beast has in Europe. But
wherever, you will notice they STILL HAVE the "sores" of verse 2.
So that shows SOME of the vials will CONTINUE at least for some
time. And by the way so far all these vials could be poured out
in a matter of hours of each other, still on the same day. The
miracles that they are only takes the angels a second or so to pour
out.
We have scorching heat and then whatever length of time
given, we have DARKNESS upon the kingdom of the beast. From one
extreme to the other. But nothing so far will make the people of
the kingdom of the beast REPENT!
So is the depth of Satanic deception!
The SIXTH angel pours out his vial upon the river Euphrates;
and the water of it dries up, that the way of the kings of the
EAST might be prepared (verse 12). Do the kings of the East
really need the Euphrates river to dry up? Probably not per se.
Their armies in the modern world do not have to be stopped by a
river. It is probably more symbolic the drying up of the water of
the river Euphrates. It is a way of telling us and the world at that
time, that the great BATTLE between man's physical armies and God
is fast on its way.
John sees three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the
mouth of the dragon, representing Satan, out of the mouth of the
"man" beast and out of the mouth of the "man" false prophet.
These are the THREE great deceivers of the last 42 months of this
age. Of course Satan is behind the two "men" deceivers, but there
are the three as John sees it in vision. The three spirits are
demonic. Satan is Satan, yet the beast man and the false prophet
man, will have Satan's top demon spirits working inside of them.
No doubt Satan has his right and left hand demons by his side,
top rank demons in his army of demons. These demons will work
miracles through their human puppets. So as they go forth unto
the kings of the earth, and the whole world, they will influence
the mighty armies left in the world at this time (and obviously
some will be from the East of the river Euphrates), to gather
together to the BATTLE of the GREAT DAY of God almighty (verses
12-14).
Jesus says, "Behold, I will come as a thief. Blessed is he
that watches, and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked, and
they see his shame (verse 15). Even at this very late time, Jesus
says you better keep on keeping on the right road, for He will
still come somewhat unexpectedly. You can never let up on walking
the road that leads to eternal life, you can never let up for any
length of time, especially during the GREAT DAY of God almighty.
The armies of Satan, the beast, the false prophet and the
kings of the East, are gathered together into the place in Hebrew
called Armageddon, north west of Jerusalem. It is a large plain,
very fitting for a large army to gather together to make war, on
an enemy from the sky or clouds over the city of Jerusalem. The
result of this battle is given to us in Zechariah 14. We have there
that Jesus will melt the skin off their bones and the blood
will flow like a river for 183 miles from Ar-Mageddon to south of
Jerusalem (chapter 14:19-20).
The Hebrew "ar" means mountain or range or plain, while
"megiddo" means fortification, castle, stronghold).
Jesus and the saints and the angels HAVE COME! They have
descended from the clouds and have taken the victory and have
destroyed those who have been destroying the earth.
The GREAT BATTLE of the Day of God's wrath, the Day of the
Lord, is over, the armies of Satan, both physical and spirit,
have been DEFEATED!!
But there needs to be ONE MORE FINAL battle witness to the
humans of the great end-time Babylon.
The SEVENTH angel pours out his vial into the air, and there
comes forth a great voice out of the Temple of heaven , from the
very throne of heaven, saying, "IT IS DONE!!" (verse 17).
"And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings, and there
was a GREAT earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the
earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so GREAT!" (verse 18).
It can only be imagined, but then even our minds may not be
able to imagine how great this earthquake will be.
"The GREAT CITY was divided into three parts, and the cities of
the nations fell: and GREAT Babylon came in remembrance before
God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of
His wrath" (verse 19).
The Great City, is that Jerusalem? Some might probably say
it is, but then why not words like "the holy city" or just the
word "Jerusalem"? Letting the Bible interpret itself we have in
chapter 17:18 concerning this Babylon women, the connection with
"the great city" phrase. The Babylon woman whore and "the great
city" is referring to the city that has had more influence on the
world, over the centuries, as a whole, than any other city in the
world - the great city of ROME!
All over the nations of the world, that are still left by
this time, their cities fall. I expect this means their major
cities. Then God remembers this end-time BABYLON, what is left of
her destroyed Empire (for as we shall see in chapter 18, and as
it was in chapter 9 and the SIXTH angel TRUMPET, most of this
Mystery Babylon the Great, has been devastated by this time, by
the time Jesus is descending from the clouds and these seven
vials are being poured out), and she is given more punishment.
"And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found"
(verse 20).
Could this be meaning the small islands in the seas around
the Holy Land, or islands any and everywhere? With such a great
earthquake as mankind has never experienced, taking place, it
could well mean islands (what size of islands is simply not
stated) all over the world.
"And there fell upon mankind a GREAT HAIL out of heaven, every
hail-stone about the weight of a talent ..." (verse 21).
Great hail ... well nothing like it in the history of man
... about the weight of a "talent" -- this 75 POUNDS !!
Did all this lead people to REPENTANCE? NOT A BIT! People
STILL blasphemed God because of the plague of hail!
In chapter 17 and 18 we again STEP BACK in time, as those
two chapters are INSET chapters, to inform us about MYSTERY
BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE
EARTH.
..................
To be continued
Entered on my website November 2007
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