Revelation Chapter 16

Verse 1

The command comes to the seven angels (Rev. 15:1), the time has come to pour out God’s wrath upon Babylon (Rev. 14:8,10, 13:15). God has borne long with the wicked, but they have persistently refused His offers of salvation and are about to receive their reward.

Why are the seven last plagues called the wrath of God? Because the wicked are oppressing God’s people and seeking to destroy them. (SOP 1)

The seven last plagues will be similar to the plagues that fell on Egypt (Exodus 7-12). (SOP 2) God sent the plagues on Egypt to deliver His people from slavery and expose the religion of Egypt as false (Exodus 5:1,2, 7:5). Similarly, the seven last plagues will be sent on apostate Christianity to deliver God’s people from persecution and death (Rev. 13:17,15), and to expose Babylon’s religion as false.

1. Pouring Out of the First Plague

Verse 2

The first plague is a foul and loathsome sore upon those who have the Mark of the Beast and worship his Image (compare with the sixth plague on Egypt, Exodus 9:8,9). This plague will expose the false miracle workers (Rev. 13:13,14), who cannot heal the people of their sores (see Rev. 16:11).

In contrast with the wicked, God’s people will be protected during the plagues (Psalm 91). (SOP 3)

2. Pouring Out of the Second Plague

Verses 3-7

The second and third plagues turn the sea, rivers, and fountains of waters into blood (compare with the first plague on Egypt, Exodus 7:16-19). The wicked will attempt to shed the blood of the Saints (Rev. 13:15) and God will give them blood to drink (Vs. 5,6).

In contrast with the wicked, God’s people will have water to drink during these plagues (Isaiah 33:16).

3. Pouring Out of the Third Plague

See comments above, under the second plague.

4. Pouring Out of the Fourth Plague

Verses 8.9

The fourth plague scorches men with the sun. Babylon has exalted Sunday, the day of the sun, and God will turn the sun upon her (Joel 1:15-20). The wicked will persist in their rebellion against God’s authority by blaspheming Him (speaking of God in a derogatory fashion) because of His judgments upon them.

As with the previous plagues, God’s people have assurance of protection from this plague (Psalm 121:6,7).

5. Pouring Out of the Fifth Plague

Verses 10,11

The fifth plague is darkness on the throne (seat or support) of the beast (compare with the ninth plague on Egypt, Exodus 10:21,22). Men have chosen darkness rather than light (John 3:19,20), and they will be given physical darkness. Ironically, this darkness will open their eyes to the fact that they have been deceived and are fighting against God. (SOP 4)

6. Pouring Out of the Sixth Plague

Verse 12

The description of the sixth plague uses symbolism from the Old Testament to represent the wicked withdrawing their support from Babylon. The fifth plague has opened their eyes, and now they withdraw their support from the apostate churches under the sixth plague. Notice the symbols describing this:

The great river Euphrates…was dried up – Ancient Babylon sat on the river Euphrates, which was dried up to accomplish her overthrow (Isaiah 44:27). Spiritual Babylon is represented as sitting on many waters (Rev. 17:1,15), which symbolizes the support of Babylon by the peoples of the world. The drying up of the river Euphrates represents the withdrawing of this support. (SOP 5)

That the way of the kings from the east might be prepared – The kings from the east refer to Jesus and the Father, who will come from the east at the Second Coming (Matthew 26:64, 24:27). This withdrawing of support from apostate Christianity prepares the way for Jesus to come.

Verses 13-16 provide background for the sixth plague. They explain how the entire world came to support Babylon and, in so doing, join Satan in his fight against God.

Verse 13

The dragon represents Satan working through spiritualism (Rev. 12:9, 2 Corinthians 11:13-15, Matthew 24:23-26), the beast represents the Papacy, and the false prophet represents Protestant America (compare Rev. 19:20 with 13:13,14). Evil spirits are pictured here as speaking through these three agencies. They are compared to frogs, because frogs capture their prey with their tongues.

Verse 14

These unclean spirits are actually demons, fallen angels who use miracles to deceive the world into joining them in their fight against God.

Verse 15

In this verse, Jesus personally interjects with a warning to His people. Compare this warning with Matthew 24:42-51.

Verse 16

Armageddon is a Hebrew word meaning ‘mountain of Megiddo.’ In Palestine, Mount Carmel was adjacent to the plain of Megiddo. This is where Elijah had his showdown with the priests of Baal (1 Kings 18). Therefore, Armageddon represents the world at the time the final showdown takes place between the wicked and God’s faithful people (see also Joel 3:2,9-16).

7. Pouring Out of the Seventh Plague

Verse 17

Into the air – This suggests that effects of this plague are universal.

It is done – This dramatic announcement by God indicates that the true character of Satan and Babylon, his agent, have been unmasked.

Verse 18

There were noises and thunderings and lightnings – At this critical moment, John sees another scene of intense activity in heaven (compare with Rev. 4:5).

There was a great earthquake, such a mighty and great earthquake as had not occurred since men were on the earth – God’s voice causes a mighty earthquake that causes great upheaval on the earth. The results of this earthquake are described in Verses 19 and 20.

Verse 19

The great city was divided into three parts – The great city is Babylon, made up of spiritualism, Catholicism and apostate Protestantism (Rev. 16:13). Satan has drawn these forces together in his fight against God (Verse 14), but the plagues cause them to split apart again.

The cities of the nations fell – The political powers supporting Babylon are also pictured as falling at the intervention of God.

Verse 20

The great earthquake that takes place when God speaks from heaven causes the islands to sink into the sea and the mountains to fall (compare with Rev. 6:14).

Verse 21

Great hail from heaven fell upon men, each hailstone about the weight of a talent – This reminds us of the seventh plague on Egypt (Exodus 9:22-25). A talent is estimated to be between 58 –80 pounds. See also Rev. 11:19. (SOP 6)

Spirit of Prophecy Quotations

1 “God’s judgments will be visited upon those who are seeking to oppress and destroy His people. His long forbearance with the wicked emboldens men in transgression, but their punishment is nonetheless certain and terrible because it is long delayed. “The Lord shall rise up as in Mount Perazim, He shall be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon, that He may do His work, His strange work; and bring to pass His act, His strange act.” Isaiah 28:21. To our merciful God the act of punishment is a strange act. “As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked.” Ezekiel 33:11. The Lord is “merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, . . . forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin.” Yet He will “by no means clear the guilty.” “The Lord is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked.” Exodus 34:6, 7; Nahum 1:3. By terrible things in righteousness He will vindicate the authority of His downtrodden law. The severity of the retribution awaiting the transgressor may be judged by the Lord’s reluctance to execute justice. The nation with which He bears long, and which He will not smite until it has filled up the measure of its iniquity in God’s account, will finally drink the cup of wrath unmixed with mercy.

“These plagues [the first four] are not universal, or the inhabitants of the earth would be wholly cut off. Yet they will be the most awful scourges that have ever been known to mortals. All the judgments upon men, prior to the close of probation, have been mingled with mercy. The pleading blood of Christ has shielded the sinner from receiving the full measure of his guilt; but in the final judgment, wrath is poured out unmixed with mercy.” – The Great Controversy, pages 627-629.

2 “The plagues upon Egypt when God was about to deliver Israel were similar in character to those more terrible and extensive judgments which are to fall upon the world just before the final deliverance of God’s people.” – The Great Controversy, pages 627, 628.

3 “The people of God will not be free from suffering; but while persecuted and distressed, while they endure privation, and suffer for want of food, they will not be left to perish. . . . While the wicked are dying from hunger and pestilence, angels will shield the righteous and supply their wants. . . .

“Could men see with heavenly vision, they would behold companies of angels that excel in strength stationed about those who have kept the word of Christ’s patience. With sympathizing tenderness, angels have witnessed their distress, and have heard their prayers.” – The Great Controversy, pages 629, 630.

4 “When the protection of human laws shall be withdrawn from those who honor the law of God, there will be, in different lands, a simultaneous movement for their destruction. As the time appointed in the decree draws near, the people will conspire to root out the hated sect. It will be determined to strike in one night a decisive blow, which shall utterly silence the voice of dissent and reproof.

“The people of God – some in prison cells, some hidden in solitary retreats in the forests and the mountains – still plead for divine protection, while in every quarter companies of armed men, urged on by hosts of evil angels, are preparing for the work of death. It is now, in the hour of utmost extremity, that the God of Israel will interpose for the deliverance of His chosen. . . .

“With shouts of triumph, jeering, and imprecation, throngs of evil men are about to rush upon their prey, when, lo, a dense blackness, deeper than the darkness of the night, falls upon the earth. Then a rainbow, shining with the glory from the throne of God, spans the heavens and seems to encircle each praying company. The angry multitudes are suddenly arrested. Their mocking cries die away. The objects of their murderous rage are forgotten. With fearful forebodings they gaze upon the symbol of God’s covenant and long to be shielded from its overpowering brightness.” – The Great Controversy, pages 635, 636.

5 “When the voice of God turns the captivity of His people, there is a terrible awakening of those who have lost all in the great conflict of life. . . . Ministers and people see that they have not sustained the right relation to God. They see that they have rebelled against the Author of all just and righteous law. The setting aside of the divine precepts gave rise to thousands of springs of evil, discord, hatred, iniquity, until the earth became one vast field of strife, one sink of corruption. This is the view that now appears to those who have rejected truth and chose to cherish error. No language can express the longing which the disobedient and disloyal feel for that which they have lost forever – eternal life. . . . .

“The people see that they have been deluded. They accuse one another of having led them to destruction; but all unite in heaping their bitterest condemnation upon the ministers. Unfaithful pastors have prophesied smooth things; they have led their hearers to make void the law of God and to persecute those who would keep it holy. Now, in their despair, these teachers confess before the world their work of deception. The multitudes are filled with fury. “We are lost!” they cry, “and you are the cause of our ruin;” and they turn upon the false shepherds. The very ones that once admired them most will pronounce the most dreadful curses upon them. The very hands that once crowned them with laurels will be raised for their destruction. The swords which were to slay God’s people are now employed to destroy their enemies. Everywhere there is strife and bloodshed.” – The Great Controversy, pages 654-656.

6 “It is at midnight that God manifests His power for the deliverance of His people. The sun appears, shining in its strength. Signs and wonders follow in quick succession. The wicked look with terror and amazement upon the scene, while the righteous behold with solemn joy the tokens of their deliverance. Everything in nature seems turned out of its course. The streams cease to flow. Dark, heavy clouds come up and clash against each other. In the midst of the angry heavens is one clear space of indescribable glory, whence comes the voice of God like the sound of many waters, saying: “It is done.” Revelation 16:17.

“That voice shakes the heavens and the earth. There is a mighty earthquake, “such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great.” Verses 17, 18. The firmament appears to open and shut. The glory from the throne of God seems flashing through. The mountains shake like a reed in the wind, and ragged rocks are scattered on every side. There is a roar as of a coming tempest. The sea is lashed into fury. There is heard the shriek of a hurricane like the roar of demons upon a mission of destruction. The whole earth heaves and swells like the waves of the sea. Its surface is breaking up. Its very foundations seem to be giving way. Mountain chains are sinking. Inhabited islands disappear. The seaports that have become like Sodom for wickedness are swallowed up by the angry waters. Babylon the great has come in remembrance before God, “to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath.” Great hailstones, every one “about the weight of a talent,” are doing their work of destruction. Verses 19, 21. The proudest cities of the earth are laid low. The lordly palaces, upon which the world’s great men have lavished their wealth in order to glorify themselves, are crumbling to ruin before their eyes.” – The Great Controversy, pages 636, 637.