Revelation 16:12-21 - Finality of the Bowls of Wrath

Revelation 16:12-21

Sixth Bowl: Euphrates Dried Up

12 Then the sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up, so that the way of the kings from the east might be prepared. 13 And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs coming out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. 14 For they are spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out to the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.

15 “Behold, I am coming as a thief. Blessed is he who watches, and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame.”

16 And they gathered them together to the place called in Hebrew, Armageddon.

Seventh Bowl: The Earth Utterly Shaken

17 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!” 18 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. 19 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. 20 Then every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. 21 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.

The finality of the last two of seven bowls of God’s wrath on sin and sinners on heaven and earth will come with massive destruction leading to the ultimate war to end all wars and the shaking of this world (Hebrews 12:27-28) and all its transitory kingdoms before the Lord sets up a permanent visible residence of the kingdom of God here among us in plain sight at last!  Yes, it will begin as John was shown with the sixth angel emptying the wrath of God on the river to dry it up and make a way for the army of the dragon known as the deceiver and Satan to attack the people and city of the Lord God in a last ditch vain attempt to destroy those with the testimony (Revelation 12:17) of and obedience to Jesus the Christ in believing and heeding the gospel.  This army from the eastern kingdoms will be filled with unclean demonic soldiers from the beast and false prophet who are out of the dragon himself.  They will be given mighty signs and wonders to deceive the rest of the world governments to join them in their unholy crusade against the Lord God Almighty.  But they forget that it is the Lord’s great day of victory (John 12:31) and not their own due to the blindness given by the deceiver, just as even now the whole world is under the influential sway (Galatians 1:4, 1 John 5:19) of the wicked one and his losing hold on the kingdoms (Luke 4:6-7, John 12:31, 14:30) of this present world which he was given temporary rule over until the final judgment day being unveiled here.  Because the Lord comes as a thief in the night without warning or by obvious observation, we who know Him are to be vigilant in watching and holy in keeping ourselves from (1 John 5:18-19, 20-21) the evil one to give glory to God in our calling of righteousness in Christ as the battle at Armageddon comes.  When the next and final bowl of the Almighty comes in victorious judgment, there will be an echo of Christ’s words on the cross to say it is finished at last.  On the cross the completion was to defeat the power of sin; in the final battle, the completed work is against the presence of sin as our accuser (Romans 16:20, Revelation 12:10-11) and deceiver has divine and lasting justice served on him and all who have followed him instead of the Lord God and His Son according to the gospel.  This bowl of finality will sound forth loudly with immense thunder and lightning to trigger the greatest earthquake ever known and level Babylon and all the mountains in one final (Hebrews 12:25-26) shaking of all things.  All great cities of the world will be leveled as this plague of immense hailstones will fall to kill many who still fail to give glory to God and bring judgment by their continued blasphemy against Him and His name.  Knowing all these events to come in the sudden end of the world and judgment against those who reject and refuse the Son of God, why not rather turn from sin to Him now and not be surprised with sudden and certain judgment instead?  The finality of the bowls of God’s wrath are no mere fictitious stories, but a warning out of God’s love to honor and worship Him as His creations and enter into glory with Him instead of everlasting suffering in serving ourselves.  This is a somber and sober warning of the consequences of denying the Lord and His Son heard in the gospel by the Finality of the Bowls of Wrath in the final judgment approaching us all.