Revelation 16

I heard a loud voice out of the temple, saying to the seven angels, “Go and pour out the seven bowls of the wrath of God on the earth!”

The first went, and poured out his bowl into the earth, and it became a harmful and painful sore on the people who had the mark of the beast, and who worshiped his image.

The second angel poured out his bowl into the sea, and it became blood as of a dead man. Every living thing in the sea died.

The third poured out his bowl into the rivers and springs of water, and they became blood.

I heard the angel of the waters saying, “You are righteous, who are and who were, O Holy One, because you have judged these things.

For they poured out the blood of saints and prophets, and you have given them blood to drink. They deserve this.”

I heard the altar saying, “Yes, Lord God, the Almighty, true and righteous are your judgments.”

The fourth poured out his bowl on the sun, and it was given to him to scorch men with fire.

People were scorched with great heat, and people blasphemed the name of God who has the power over these plagues. They didn’t repent and give him glory.

The fifth poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and his kingdom was darkened. They gnawed their tongues because of the pain,

and they blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores. They still didn’t repent of their works.

The sixth poured out his bowl on the great river, the Euphrates. Its water was dried up, that the way might be prepared for the kings that come from the sunrise.

I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits, something like frogs;

for they are spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out to the kings of the whole inhabited earth, to gather them together for the war of that great day of God the Almighty.

“Behold, I come like a thief. Blessed is he who watches, and keeps his clothes, so that he doesn’t walk naked, and they see his shame.”

He gathered them together into the place which is called in Hebrew, “Harmagedon”.

The seventh poured out his bowl into the air. A loud voice came out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, “It is done!”

There were lightnings, sounds, and thunders; and there was a great earthquake such as has not happened since there were men on the earth—so great an earthquake and so mighty.

The great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. Babylon the great was remembered in the sight of God, to give to her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.

Every island fled away, and the mountains were not found.

Great hailstones, about the weight of a talent, came down out of the sky on people. People blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, for this plague was exceedingly severe.

Chapter overviewAI-generated

Overview. This chapter unfolds the execution of the seven bowls of God’s wrath, marking the final outpouring of divine judgment prior to the defeat of the beast and the return of Christ. These plagues intensify the prior judgments of the seals and trumpets, revealing the fullness of God’s vengeance on those who oppose Him, while underscoring the righteousness of His judgments and the impenitence of the wicked.

Flow.

The command to pour out the seven bowls initiates a sequence of catastrophic plagues, each introduced by an angel acting under divine authority.
The plagues move from personal affliction (sores) to ecological collapse (sea, rivers, sun), then to political and spiritual darkness (kingdom of the beast), the drying of the Euphrates, and demonic activity gathering the nations for battle.
Amid the judgments, a divine interlude (v. 15) calls for watchfulness, before culminating in the final bowl: a cataclysmic earthquake, the fall of Babylon, and devastating hail, all proclaimed as "done" by the throne of God.

Connections. Following chapter 15, which prepares for these judgments with the vision of the temple filled with glory and the song of the redeemed standing on the sea of glass, chapter 16 enacts the wrath long anticipated. The seven bowl judgments are the completion of the pattern seen in the seals (ch. 6–8:1) and trumpets (ch. 8–11), bringing them to their climactic intensity. The gathering of the nations at Armageddon sets the stage for chapter 17, which details the fall of Babylon the great, the spiritual power behind the beast, and the final confrontation resolved by the return of Christ in chapter 19.

What it teaches. The justice of God in punishing wickedness is manifest in these plagues, particularly against those who have shed the blood of His people (WCF 5.6; HC LD 10). The martyrs’ cry for vindication (Rev. 6:10) is answered in the divine declaration: “You are righteous... because you have judged these things” (v. 5). Yet the hardened hearts of the unrepentant confirm the justness of their condemnation, as they “blaspheme the name of God” rather than repent (HC LD 9; WCF 3.7). The drying of the Euphrates and the unclean spirits from the dragon, beast, and false prophet (v. 13) reflect the spiritual warfare leading to the final conflict, while the call to watchfulness (v. 15) echoes Christ’s warnings about readiness for His coming (WCF 17.4; HC LD 52). The final judgment on Babylon and the earth shows the world’s systems being unmasked and dismantled by divine power (WCF 8.8; CD 1.17).

Apply. The righteous endure by keeping their garments through faith, not being found wanting when the Lord comes unannounced.

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