| 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. | A great voice, a mighty and loud voice, commanded that the seven bowl judgements be poured out upon the earth. These judgements take place at the very end of the Wrath of God period of the Last Days. Each bowl is full of the fullness of God's anger. | |
| 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. | The First Bowl: As a result of pouring out the first portion of God's wrath, all those who had received the Mark of the Beast, or worshipped the Image, received ulcerous boils on their bodies. These will obviously be extremely painful. It may be better to see this as a terrible skin cancer. Remember that such sores came upon the Egyptians (Exodus 9:8-11) | |
| 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. | The Second Bowl: The sea becomes like blood. The "sea" here is probably the Mediterranean Sea rather than even sea and ocean on earth, though some see a worldwide contamination of water. Usually "the sea" refers only to the Mediterranean Sea. Everything in this Red Death dies, and food supplies depleted. Some oceans have already experienced what scientists term the Red Tide, but it is caused by man's misuse of nature. | |
| 4 And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters; and they became blood. | The Third Bowl: Fresh Water Contaminated. Some Bible commentators see this as a continuation of the previous judgement, but it is wiser to accept it as a self-contained outpouring of God's wrath. The mention of rivers and fountains refers to drinking water. It too is contaminated so that it looks like blood. Again, it is best to keep this in context with the Beast's kingdom. If every drop of drinking water on earth became like blood all life would be extinguished in three days. | |
| 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. | The angel that was responsible for delivering this part of God's wrath declares that God is completely justified in doing this. God never acts unrighteously in anything that He does. | |
| 6 For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink; for they are worthy. | Why will this judgement fall? Because the Beast and his empire is guilty of the very worst of atrocities against God's people, both Jew and Christian. They are worthy of such judgement. | |
| 7 And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments. | The cry from the altar, from the martyred saints of God, affirm that the Lord is truly righteous. Man only ever receives the punishment he deserves. | |
| 8 And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire. | The Fourth Bowl: The Scorching Sun. This refers to an increase in heat and radiation. The sun will burn hotter than it has ever done in the whole of history. No doubt millions will die of heat exhaustion. | |
| 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. | Do they repent? No, instead they continue to curse God. Here we see the stubbornness and stupidity of mankind. They will harden their hearts just as Pharaoh did. | |
| 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, | The Fifth Bowl: The Antichrist System judged. Everyone involved in the Beast's government, and those who honour him, will be plunged into thick darkness. This darkness will be so terrifying that they will bite their tongues with fear. | |
| 11 And blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds. | Do they repent? No, they continue to curse God. We see that man's heart has not changed in the thousands of years since the ten plagues upon Egypt. We think that fearful events will cause people to get right with God, but they rarely do. | |
| 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 Sixth Bowl: River Euphrates. The River dries up to prepare for the Battle of Armageddon. A great army from the east will ready for battle. This is made up of the armies of the nations to the east of Israel, these the Arabs and possibly China. | |
| 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. | Satan, the Antichrist, and the False Prophet will be in control of this vast army. The frogs symbolise the demonic spirits that will possess the army. They will be mindless soldiers fighting a mindless battle. | |
| 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. | These evil spirits will deceive humanity into believing that they can defeat the Lord God Almighty as He returns to earth. | |
| 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. | Who is this Lord God Almighty? Jesus said that He would come as a thief in the night. It is He whom the false trinity and the armies will fight against. He is our Lord God Almighty. In this verse we have an exhortation to all who live in the Last Days ... Be watchful, ready, and remain pure and undefiled. Those who compromise with the Antichrist will lose their souls. Spiritually naked people do not enter the Kingdom of God. | |
| 16 And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon. | The setting for the Great Battle is Armageddon - the valley of Megiddo in Palestine. | |
| 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. | The Seventh Bowl: The Air. As this bowl was emptied upon the earth, a voice declared "It is Finished!" This is it, the final act of God's wrath before Christ's Millennial Kingdom is set up. | |
| 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. | It seems that all of nature erupts with lightening, thunder, and earthquakes. These are so severe that the like has never been seen on earth before. | |
| 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. | Jerusalem will be divided into three parts by an earthquake, that is, almost completely destroyed. Cities all around the world will crumble and fall. Babylon is especially dealt with by God. This means that the Antichrist's headquarters will be utterly destroyed. He will have no power base or empire. | |
| 20 And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. | Islands will disappear below the seas and oceans. Mountains will be levelled. This obviously refers to a worldwide shift of the earth's plates. | |
| 21 And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent: and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great. | Hailstones a hundred tonnes in weight will fall upon mankind. Do they repent? No, they continue to rebel and curse God. |