Revelation 16:1-11 - Bowls of Wrath

Revelation 16:1-11

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

First Bowl: Loathsome Sores

2 So the first went and poured out his bowl upon the earth, and a foul and loathsome sore came upon the men who had the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image.

Second Bowl: The Sea Turns to Blood

3 Then the second angel poured out his bowl on the sea, and it became blood as of a dead man; and every living creature in the sea died.

Third Bowl: The Waters Turn to Blood

4 Then the third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and springs of water, and they became blood. 5 And I heard the angel of the waters saying:

“You are righteous, O Lord,
The One who is and who was and who is to be,
Because You have judged these things.

6 For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets,
And You have given them blood to drink.
For it is their just due.”

7 And I heard another from the altar saying, “Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are Your judgments.”

Fourth Bowl: Men Are Scorched

8 Then the fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and power was given to him to scorch men with fire. 9 And men were scorched with great heat, and they blasphemed the name of God who has power over these plagues; and they did not repent and give Him glory.

Fifth Bowl: Darkness and Pain

10 Then the fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and his kingdom became full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues because of the pain. 11 They blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and did not repent of their deeds.

After the grapes of wrath are harvested and God is praised and glorified for His judgment, the bowls of wrath will begin to be poured out on the earth and all dwelling on it.  These judgment plagues will be ordered by the Sovereign Lord to be dispensed by the seven angels (Revelation 15:1) to complete the wrath of God on all disobedience with divine justice, but still there is to be mercy on those who have not rejected His Son but believed and received Him as the Son of God and Passover Lamb whose sacrificial blood covers their sin through all judgment (Matthew 25:46, 1 John 4:18) of this torment to come on all others in these times and that will continue forever in the Lake of Fire (Revelation 20:10, 14-15, 21:8) afterwards.  The first bowl of judgment will bring painful boils covering those who choose to worship the image of the beast and not the Lord as the ultimate idolatry because they identify with the evil one and have taken his mark in place of God’s mark on them (Revelation 20:4) as in the ages past (Ezekiel 9:4) among God’s people in Israel.  This is to remind them to repent and stop worshiping any other, but it will only harden their hearts further because they are not the Lamb’s.  The second bowl will be unleashed on the oceans and kill every living thing in it and not just a third as previously (Revelation 8:9) as it turns to blood like the plague in Egypt (Exodus 7:17) long before to demonstrate He is Lord of all.  Then the third bowl will bring the same on the rivers and springs to turn the freshwater supplies to undrinkable reminders of their disobedience and disbelief, again to finish the rest of the first third of our drinking water affected which we read previously in Revelation 8:10-11.  The angel delivering this woe on the earth will sing praise and worship of the righteous judgment of the ever-existing God who will avenge His saints who suffered under the evil one, giving them the blood of God’s vengeance to drink as justification of their identification and suffering for the Lord’s sake.  We can read here how the angels in heaven will echo this chorus to the Lord God Almighty for His true and righteous judgments which the world scoffs and argues as cruel because they do not understand the holiness and righteousness of their Sovereign Creator.  The nest bowls, the fourth and fifth, will then being that judgment to bear directly on those scoffers (2 Peter 3:3-4) with blazing rays of the sun that burn the outside and release the inside blasphemy of their hearts in vocalized expressions of their rejection and impenitence.  God deserves our praise and glory in holy lives of worship (Romans 12:2) and His righteousness demands such justice when mercy is rejected by refusals of repentance and faith in the work of the Lamb of God, His Son.  Most will unfortunately continue to harden their hearts and not turn to give Him that glory and fall under the infinite power of His response that forewarned us from the beginning of time.  The las bowl of wrath will therefore cover the deceiver’s temporary throne on earth and plunge his transitory kingdom into utter darkness.  Like the Egyptian plague given by God through Moses, this one will cause fear but add intense pain to the experience.  They will again refuse to submit to God and instead curse Him and refuse to turn for their sins of idolatry and immortality to worship their Creator.  Such is the glimpse so far into the righteous judgment to come as a warning to all now to turn and not burn in everlasting suffering of our just due.  God’s love and mercy does not desire to have us suffer (2 Peter 3:9-10), but calls us to repent before it is too late and we die to wake to these consequences of our sin!  We who have turned and received the Son by faith have the assurance of 2 Peter 3:13 of the new Heaven and Earth to follow these terrible times necessary to cleanse the world and set righteousness in place as originally intended in the Garden of Eden.  Will we who read these words be counted in their number?