Note: I used many sources to study this book, one of my favorites is Revelation: God’s Word for the Biblically-Inept by Daymond Duck and some out of different study bibles.
Title: The Seven Vials Revealed
Theme: God's judgment shown
Text: Revelation 16
Moses said to the Israelites Deut 28:15,27,35
But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee: (Deuteronomy 28:15 AV)
The LORD will smite thee with the botch of Egypt, and with the emerods, and with the scab, and with the itch, whereof thou canst not be healed. (Deuteronomy 28:27 AV)
The LORD shall smite thee in the knees, and in the legs, with a sore botch that cannot be healed, from the sole of thy foot unto the top of thy head. (Deuteronomy 28:35 AV)
Here we will see the pouring out of the seven vials. The great judgments. We are on the edge of the great war mentioned in vs. 14, 16, Dan 11:36-45. This is a mention of the anti-Christ who will lift himself up as God.
1 And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, Go your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth.
Who's voice is this? Who is in the temple?
2 And the first went, and poured out his vial upon the earth; and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshipped his image.
Exodus 9:10-11
Now will be seen outwardly the inward condition of the heart. book The Oath
3 And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea; and it became as the blood of a dead man: and every living soul died in the sea.
Reminder of what happens in Exodus 7:17-25; also of 2nd trumpet in 8: 8-9
difference is Ex only streams and ponds affected and in Rev 8 only 1/3 life dead
Water used to sustain life is now used for death
Now all in the sea dies.
4 And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters; and they became blood. 5 And I heard the angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast, and shalt be, because thou hast judged thus.
What do you think about the phrase “angel of the waters”? Do you think that God has angels that are set up for different parts of the earth? In revelation 7 we see the angels of the four winds. What do you think would happen if they were not there?
God is righteous because he judges or he fulfills his promise to judge.
6 For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink; for they are worthy.
Why judgment? Because of the shed blood of the saints and prophets. Oh how many have been martyred or lost their lives? How many? who knows
7 And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments.
the altar-the place of sacrifice Rev 6:9-11
And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled. (Revelation 6:9-11
What is God's judgments righteous?
John 3:19 the men of this world love darkness more than the light
Heb 1:9 as Christ example we must love righteousness and hate evil
Ps 119:137
Righteous art thou, O LORD, and upright are thy judgments. (Psalms 119:137 AV)
8 And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire. 9 And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory.
For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. (Malachi 4:1 AV)
Compare with Rev 7:16 the righteous
They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. (Revelation 7:16 AV)
Three times we see it mentioned that they repented not 9,11,21
Let us see: There is strong heat, they have no water, the heat is bearing down on their sores, plus the economy has been affects by all the sea animals dying. But they still curse God. They recognize him but they curse him.
10 And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain,
We see that all is affected by God's wrath. No matter how close one is to the powers of this darkness they are still affected. There will be great confusion in the antichrist's kingdom.
gnawed their tongue-intense pain but not repentance
Plague found in Exodus 10:21-23
God will now begin to focus on the anti-Christ and his kingdom.
When Jesus died there was darkness for three hours. As man cannot survive without light man cannot survive without Jesus
Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour. (Matthew 27:45 AV)
11 And blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds.
The judgments will come but the answer will be ignored. The answer to the judgments is repentance
cf. 2:21; 9:21;16:9 Dan 2:44
And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever. (Daniel 2:44 AV)
12 And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.
The people are so deceived that they will actually fight against God in the Armageddon as we will see. 19:17-21.
The drying up of the river will help the attack of Israel Is 11:15
And the LORD shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea; and with his mighty wind shall he shake his hand over the river, and shall smite it in the seven streams, and make men go over dryshod. (Isaiah 11:15 AV)
13 And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet.
Dragon is who? Satan beast is who? antichrist
Here we will see the true nature and identity of them all. There will be a hidden time and deception but see after a while the truth will come. The true goal and purpose of Satan and the Antichrist and the false prophet. Praise God all will be shown.
14 For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.
ΒΆ Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; (1 Timothy 4:1 AV)
Demons will work miracles. People will base their belief on miracles. It is important that we do not base ours on miracles. Jesus spoke of the Jews always looking for a sign. A miracle. Although this is a great confirmation of ones ministry or salvation it is not what it is based on but on Jesus Christ.
Mark 13:22 and 2 Thes 2:8-9
And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, (2 Thessalonians 2:8-9 AV)
For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Behold, I have told you before. (Matthew 24:24-25 AV)
15 Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.
What an wonderful analogy of the coming of Christ. As a thief in the night. What is different about a thief? Comes unexpected, comes unwanted. Cf. Mt 24:42-44 Jesus, 1 Thes. 5:2 Paul
What must one do to avoid the wrath? 1) keep his garments
And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment: (Matthew 22:11 AV)
16 And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.
Armageddon-located in north-central Palestine it means the mountain of Megiddo; it will be the center of the battle of the great day of God Almighty vs 14
Note these about the event:
1) The prophets of the OT prophesied the event (Deut. 32;43; Jer 25:31; Joel
3:2,9-17; Zeph. 3:8; Zech 14:2-5
2) Satan and demons will gather together many nations under the direction of the
antichrist in order to make war against God, His armies, and His people, and
to destroy Jerusalem (vs 13-14,16; 17:14; 19:14;19:14,19; Ez. 38-39, Zech
14:2) Although the focal point will be in the land of Israel, the event of
Armageddon will involve the whole world (Jer. 25:29-38)
3) Christ will return and supernaturally intervene to destry the antichrist and
his armies (19:19-21; Zech 14:1-5) and all who disobey the gospel (Ps. 110:5;
Is 66:15-16; 2 Thes 1:7-10). God will also send destruction and earthquakes
upon the whole world at this time vs. 18-19; Jer 25:29-33)
Deborah and Barak Jud 5:19; Josaih died 2 Chr 35:22-24
17 And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done.
Eph 2:2 Satan is the prince and power of the air
Satan has had access to the 2nd heaven up until Rev 12:7 cf. Eph 6:12 but was cast down to earth in Rev 12:8-9
18 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. 19 And 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.
In the next two chapters we will see the fall of Babylon. Babylon represents the whole world system that is dominated by Satan himself. Everything controlled by him but will be destroyed religiously as we see in vs. 16-17 and then politically as we see in 19:11-21
And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. (Revelation 14:8 AV)
20 And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found.
All the islands like Hawaii and Puerto Rico will be covered
21 And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent (100 lbs.): and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great.
