Revelations - Bowls of Wrath

We pick up in Revelation 15 with 7 plagues.

¹And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God.

² And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.

³ And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints.

⁴ Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest.

⁵ And after that I looked, and, behold, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened:

⁶ And the seven angels came out of the temple, having the seven plagues, clothed in pure and white linen, and having their breasts girded with golden girdles.

⁷ And one of the four beasts gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials full of the wrath of God, who liveth for ever and ever.

⁸ And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.
Revelation 15

Revelation 15 is another repeat.

I think that what is happening in Revelation 15 is an overlap. You see the saints that overcome the beast and his mark, but then these are the 7 plagues given to the 7 angels that we read about in chapter 16. The sea of glass is referenced back in Revelation 4. This might just be another heavenly vision. I’m not entirely sure what I’m reading in this chapter. In Revelation 4 there were 24 elders that gave glory to God. Here there are the saints that have overcome the beast and his mark. Is it possible that these are two descriptions of the same thing?

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.

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.
Revelation 16:1-2

I know that I’ve already said it, but I want to you see it and get it for yourself. In verse two we see that these plagues are upon the men that had the mark of the beast and upon them that worshipped his image. This is upon the kingdom of the beast. We’ll see that over and over in these plagues.

Now, concerning my time chart, I don’t know when to put this. I assume that it is around the same time as the first trumpet. I assume that because it would be ridiculous and silly if the first plague is way back at the beginning of the Tribulation. We just saw in Revelation 13 that the beast isn’t called the beast until the abomination of desolation is set up. Therefore, these must be within that last 3 ½ years.

My thought is that maybe the hail and fire cause for the sores. It is a guess, but it seems valid enough for me.

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.
Revelation 16:3

The second plague is upon the sea. Remember the second trumpet was upon the sea. The second trumpet was the mountain of fire falling into the sea, and the second plague is that the sea turns to blood. I made mention earlier that this might be a volcano. Could it be that the magma turns the water red “as the blood of a dead man?” Everything in the sea dies. When we perceive from the view of the whole earth, it looks like 1/3 of creatures in the sea die. From the perspective of the beast’s kingdom, it is everything.

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.

⁶ For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink; for they are worthy.

⁷ And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments.
Revelation 16:4-7

Once again, notice the parallel with the 4^th trumpet. The water is turned bitter in the 4^th trumpet; here in the plague it is turned to blood.

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.
Revelation 16:8-9

It is possible that in the timeline that there are solar flares that scorch people, and then it goes out. That would put the plague before the trumpet.

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,

¹¹ And blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds.
Revelation 16:10-11

At this time, the 5^th trumpet was releasing the locusts that look like horses and have tails like scorpions. I think this explains why the people gnaw on their tongues for pain.

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.

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.

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.

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.

¹⁶ And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.
Revelation 16:12-16

Here we have a lot of things going on. At the 6^th trumpet, there were angels released from the river Euphrates. So we have in this an explanation. The river dries up to make way for those armies that kill 1/3 of humanity. Maybe these kings of the east are the angels?

¹² And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall beat off from the channel of the river unto the stream of Egypt, and ye shall be gathered one by one, O ye children of Israel.
Isaiah 27:12

It is at this time that the 2 witnesses are probably killed. We know that it is during the 6^th or 7^th trumpet. There is the possibility that the earthquake mentioned in Revelation 11:13 is the same as the one mentioned a few verses later in verse 19. However, this can only be speculation. It also makes sense as to why the 3 “demon frogs” are conjured up. We know that there is massive war going on between the angels and the army of the beast.

I would not want to be in that army. When the angels war in the Old Testament, they take out entire cities. Only 2 angels visited Sodom and Gomorrah. Only 1 angel slew the camp of the Assyrians before Hezekiah (2 Kings 19:35). I’m not sure what to expect with an entire army of angels.

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.

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.

²⁰ And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found.

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.
Revelation 16:17-21

Lets examine Revelation 11:19 again:

And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail.

Do you see how this lines up? The last trumpet and the last plague are interwoven. This is the end of Revelation 14 as well. Those angels go forth and cry out the destruction of Babylon, and then Jesus and the Earth utterly destroy the kingdom of the beast. It is mentioned in Revelation 11 as well as Isaiah 2:2 that the mountain of the Lord (Zion) will lift up and be the highest of all mountains.

Now, here is where people get mistaken. It says that the flood waters rose over every mountain. But Noah’s flood didn’t go over Mount Everest. The answer is simple: Mount Everest didn’t exist. So it is here that all of the mountains are brought low, and all of the islands flee away. It isn’t that Mount Zion is exulted up 10,000 feet. The other mountains are brought low. There might be a rising up of Zion. It might, and probably will, happen. But it won’t need to raise a ludicrous amount.