Revelation 16

1. Then I heard a loud voice from the temple. The voice said to the seven angels, “Go and pour out the seven bowls of God’s anger on the earth.”

God has not forgotten our prayers that His kingdom would come.

2. The first angel left. He poured out his bowl on the land. Then ugly and painful sores came upon all those who had the mark of the [antichrist] and who worshiped his idol.

They will be able to see that God’s people do not have this mark and are not suffering. We would think that anybody would cry out to God for help but they do not! We see that the antichrist cannot do any miracles to heal the sores.

3. The second angel poured out his bowl on the sea. Then the sea became blood like that of a dead man. Every living thing in the sea died.

Before this some fish were left, now there is no reason to offer mercy because God knows that the people who are left have made up their minds to never surrender to Him.

4. The third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and the springs of water. And they became blood.

God says, “You love to kill each other and you love blood. You will now have more blood than you wanted.”

5 – 7

Then I heard the angel of the waters say to God: “Holy One, You are the One who is and who was. You are right to decide to punish these evil people.

They have spilled the blood of Your holy people and Your prophets. Now you have given them blood to drink as they deserve.” And I heard the altar say: “Yes, Lord God All–Powerful, the way You punish evil people is right and fair.”

Heaven agrees that men are getting what they themselves asked for. People are always complaining that life is not fair. God will now show them that He is being fair by paying them back for what they have done.

8. The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun. The sun was given power to burn the people with fire.

Even now there are solar flares which bring high temperatures on the earth. These flares will now reach 93 million miles from the sun to the earth.

9. They were burned by the great heat, and they cursed the name of God. God is the One who had control over these troubles. But the people refused to change their hearts and lives and give glory to God.

Why is it so important to have control over our own lives and to die instead of giving everything to Him?

10. The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne [Rome] of the beast. And darkness covered the beast’s kingdom. People bit their tongues because of the pain.

God says, “You love darkness, so you will now have darkness.” The devil’s headquarters will not be able to see what they are doing as they plan more evil.

11. They cursed the God of heaven because of their pain and the sores they had. But they refused to change their hearts and turn away from the evil things they did.

God does send people to hell, they choose this for themselves rather than agree to let Him be God. This shows us that there is no place like purgatory where men can have a taste of hell so that they can change their minds. We see now that even if there was such a place it would not help.

12. The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates. The water in the river was dried up. This prepared the way for the kings from the east to come.

Many Bible teachers say that this army is led by China. Russia has built a dam that controls this river.

13 – 14

Then I saw three evil spirits that looked like frogs. They came out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. These evil spirits are the spirits of demons.

They have power to do miracles. They go out to the kings of the whole world. They go out to gather the kings for battle on the great day of God All-Powerful.

We see that demons speak to the leaders of the world. They suggest that Israel should be attacked. The idea might be that because the God of Israel has done all these things to the earth, then they want to get revenge on His people.

15. “Listen! I will come as a thief comes! Blessed is the person who stays awake and keeps his clothes with him. Then he will not have to go without clothes and be ashamed because he is naked.”

We received a blessing in our lives just for staying close to the Lord and watching to see what He is doing. 1 Thessalonians 5:2

16. Then the evil spirits gathered the kings together to the place that is called Armageddon in the Hebrew language.

The devil has not been able to stop the things that God is doing. He knows that he is losing control of the earth, but he wants to make one last fight with Jesus.

17. The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air. Then a loud voice came out of the temple from the throne. The voice said, “It is finished!”

Turn to Me now, while there is time. Give Me your hearts. Come with fasting, weeping, and mourning. Do not tear your clothing in your grief, but tear your hearts instead.
Return to the LORD your God, for He is merciful and compassionate, slow to get angry and quick to bless. He is eager to relent and not punish. Who knows? Perhaps He will give you another chance, sending you a blessing instead of this curse. Joel 2:13 – 14

18 – 21

Then there were flashes of lightning, noises, thunder, and a big earthquake. This was the worst earthquake that has ever happened since people have been on earth.

The great city [Jerusalem] split into three parts. The cities of the nations were destroyed. And God did not forget to punish Babylon the Great [Rome]. He gave that city the cup filled with the wine of His terrible anger. Every island disappeared, and there were no more mountains.

Giant hailstones fell on people from the sky. The hailstones weighed about 100 pounds each. People cursed God because of the hail. This trouble was a terrible thing.

People will know that this is not an accident when they see that every city in the world is destroyed at the same time. Everything that man has made on the earth is now destroyed. There is nothing left for man to brag about or hide behind.

Men will now know in their hearts that they are rebelling against God on purpose. They will see themselves as they really are.