Revelation 16:1-10
The Angels Are Pouring
Revelation 15 and 16 seem to me to go together. In them, John saw
three things: The Saints Singing; The Doors Opening; The Angels
Pouring.
Back in chapter 14, John saw the saints being slaughtered. In
chapter 15, he saw those who were slain standing on the Sea of Glass,
singing. Hence, The Saints Singing.
Then he saw the doors of the heavenly temple opened and seven angels
coming out, each wearing golden girdles and receiving a golden vial
filled with the wrath of God. Hence, the Doors Opening.
And that is where chapter 15 ended, with the angels standing on the
balcony of heaven waiting for the command to pour those vials on the
earth. In chapter 16:1, that command is given. Hence, the Angels
Pouring.
Let’s read about the first five of those plagues as they are poured
out upon the earth.
I. Let's Think. We need to think about all of these judgements
collectively.
A. Think about the TIMING of these plagues.
1. I feel certain that we are in the last half of the
tribulation, but beyond that we do not know when these
judgments will start, when they will stop, how rapidly
they will occur, or how long each will last.
a. The Bible lists them in rapid fashion, like a machine
gun firing; and that may be how they will happen,
very quickly, one immediately after the other.
b. However, they could also begin at some point in the
Great Tribulation and occur more slowly, taking us
to perhaps the end or the near end of the
Tribulation.
(1) Such as been the case before.
(2) For example, the ministry of the two witnesses
was given to us in one section of Scripture,
taking us forward into time.
2. I do not see anything in the Scripture that would tell us
for certain how they will come.
a. In my way of thinking, it would be more merciful for
them to happen all at once.
b. For me, it goes back to how you want to remove your
band aid--snatch it off or slowly. If it would not
rip the wound back open, I would rather have mine
snatched quickly. It will probably hurt more, but
for a less period of time.
c. However, if that indeed is the more merciful way, that
is probably NOT the way things will happen. If there
is anything that is not happening in the Tribulation,
God is NOT showing any mercy.
3. So I am leaning toward the notion that they are spread out
so that by the time we get to the seventh bowl, we are
near the end of the tribulation—but that is just me.
B. Think about the RANGE of these judgments.
1. The Vail Judgments are world encompassing while not all
of the other plagues have been.
2. Remember the phrase "one-third" mentioned regarding the
Trumpet Judgments.
a. \\#Rev 8:7\\ 1/3 of the trees and grass were burnt.
b. \\#Rev 8:8\\ 1/3 of the sea water became blood.
c. \\#Rev 8:9\\ 1/3 of the sea creatures died and 1/3 of
the ships were destroyed.
d. \\#Rev 8:10-11\\ 1/3 of the fresh water became blood.
e. \\#Rev 8:12\\ 1/3 of the sun, moon, and stars ceased
to shine.
3. The bowl judgments will not be limited. They will cover
the WHOLE earth.
a. \\#Rev 16:3\\ All of the sea becomes blood and every
living thing in the sea dies.
b. \\#Rev 16:4\\ All of the rivers and the fountains of
waters become blood.
c. \\#Rev 16:9\\ As far as we know, the entire sun heats
up scorching the earth. The earth becomes a
rotisserie with the earth's axis as the spit.
d. And on it goes.
4. I don’t know exactly how to say this, but the way I will
say it is that the Tribulation seems to be coming to a
climax.
a. Some of the judgments that have already come around
once come around again, only they are worse.
b. Nothing in Tribulation ever goes from bad to better.
(1) Never.
(2) Everything goes from bad to worse to worst.
c. Take us going from 1/3 of the waters being blood to
all of them being blood.
(1) We know the earth would struggle with 1/3 of the
seas and fresh water supplies polluted.
(2) The world—at least most of it—will literally
die when all the waters are taken away.
C. Think about the DURATION of these judgments.
1. The Bible does not tell us how long these judgments will
continue, but they must either stop or be at the end of
the Tribulation for the world could not long endure some
of these.
a. \\#4\\ - Plague 3 - The fresh water is turned into
blood. That seems to be ALL fresh water. Perhaps
what has been bottled or stored would not turn to
blood but it looks like everything else would. Man
cannot survive long without water! Mere weeks!
Either God must stop the judgment or mankind must
quickly figure a way to purify the water or all
mankind would be lost.
b. \\#8-9\\ - Plague 4 - The sun scorches mankind.
\\#8\\ says that it is the fire of the sun and
\\#9\\ says it is the heat of the sun; but either
way; the sun is scorching the earth. Is this the
stifling heat of the Alabama summer? No. This is
the slaughtering heat of the judgments. With each
rotation of the earth, more lives would be lost.
2. If these judgments continue, all mankind would soon be
slain.
II. Let's Tremble - These judgments should cause every soul to
tremble in fear before our great God and Lord.
A. \\#Rev 16:1\\ Painful sores will be poured out upon those
which took the mark of the beasts.
1. They are described as "noisom" and "griveous."
a. Noisome means wicked, evil. Have you ever seen
something and thought, "That's wicked!" Even God
calls these sores wicked.
b. Grievous - Grief is not what the body feels. The body
feels pain. Grief is what the soul feels. These
sores will cause the people to ache to their inner
soul
2. Notice with some judgments, God puts separation between
the saved and the lost, or between those who have taken
the mark and those who have not.
a. The first time we saw this was when the demonic
locusts with scorpion-like tails were released.
Rev 9:4 And it was commanded them that they
should not hurt the grass of the earth,
neither any green thing, neither any tree;
but only those men which have not the seal
of God in their foreheads.
b. We see it again in some of these judgments.
(1) The first vial:
Rev 16:2 …there fell a noisome and grievous
sore upon the men which had the mark of the
beast, and upon them which worshipped his image.
(2) And the fifth vial:
Rev 16:10 And the fifth angel poured out his
vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom
was full of darkness…
c. The fact that in 3 of 19 of God’s judgments God spares
the Tribulation Saints gives hope that God may keep
some kind of barrier between the saved and the lost.
d. But the fact that in 16 of the remaining 19 nothing is
mentioned, gives us the fear that He will not.
e. Most likely, except for God doing individual miracles
to protect His people during the Tribulation—which I
believe He will do in some measure—the Tribulation
Saints appear to suffer from the judgments of God in
like fashion as the lost.
3. Notice how God identifies the ones who will and will not
get the sores.
a. The Bible says those who refused the mark will not
have these sores.
(1) Consider that doesn’t necessarily mean the saved.
(2) That might be what we think when we read it, and
it may even be right; but that is not what the
text reads.
(3) It is possible that some unsaved people might
refuse the mark as well.
b. But whoever has the mark will have the sores.
c. The way God describes those who will suffer from this
judgment makes it possible that the mark itself is
the cause of the sores.
d. I don’t know about you, but I am already very leery of
the chemicals that we put into our bodies—except for
Little Debbie. I’m not too worried about Little
Debbie.
(1) I know shots and vaccines are hot topics today,
and I know they have a history of doing good.
(2) I also know that I’m no doctor, but I will tell
you that everyone is not as trustworthy as you
might think.
(a) Some will knowingly sell a bad product for
money.
(b) And some in the medical profession will do
purely evil things for money. (abortion,
sex change drugs and surgeries)
(3) Remember, just as you cannot trust every preacher
you meet, you cannot trust every doctor or even
every medical institution.
e. God said what He said here for a reason.
B. \\#Rev 16:3\\ All the sea will become blood, killing every
living thing in it.
1. "Every living soul in the sea died."
a. The word "soul" is just not used of man but any living
creature.
v. Here it probably means every living sea creature.
2. I don’t know what effect that would have on our world.
a. I know some communities are dependent on the sea for
food and other necessities; but overall, I read that
only 2% of the world’s food supply comes from
the oceans.
https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2019GH000204#:~
:text=The%20ocean’s%20contribution%20to%20the,basis%20
(FAO%2C%202018b)
b. We know the oceans help purify and restore our air,
to hydrate our planet, and their movements and weight
even contribute to the rotation of our planet.
c. With oceans covering 71% of the earth’s surface, I am
sure that bad things are going to happen that I
cannot imagine.
C. \\#Rev 16:4-7\\ The fresh water will be turned into blood.
1. The judgment is described in just one verse.
2. The next two verses detail what the angels said about this
judgment.
a. \\#5\\ The angels say that God is righteous to give
THIS judgment.
b. \\#6\\ They proclaim that God has given the blood
seekers blood to drink.
(1) This might indicate how severe the persecution
of the saints is.
(2) Remember the harvest of the righteous, like a
sickle reaping a harvest?
(3) The sickle continues to cut.
3. \\#7\\ The last verse has yet another voice coming out of
the altar praise God as righteous and just.
a. I am reminded of when the fifth seal was opened
\\#Rev 6:9-11\\.
b. Those who were slain for the word of God and for the
their testimony wanted vengeance for the deaths
they had suffered.
c. If you remember, those souls were "under the altar."
d. I suspect this is their voice.
e. If so, two things are true:
(1) Instead of them asking God for vengeance, they
are not praising Him for it.
(2) Those that were to be slain either have been
slain or are being slain.
D. \\#Rev 16:8-9\\ The sun will scorch men.
1. Friend, this is global warming.
2. Verse 9 gives the people’s thoughts of God during all of
this.
Rev 16:9 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.
a. If you are following the religious details of this
Book, that becomes interesting.
b. The world now thinks the anti-Christ is god.
c. Reckon why they are not blaspheming him?
(1) The "G" there is capitalized.
(2) That’s those 1611 King James translators telling
us that are not blaspheming the fake god but the
real God.
(3) If they really think the anti-Christ is THE god,
and they don’t like what is going on, why not
go see him and get him to fix it?
d. All I can figure is the world knows that little man
isn’t god even while they are worshipping him; and,
at the same time, they know Jehovah is God even while
they are blaspheming Him.
3. Two quick thought here:
a. To this world, our God is, has been, and always will
be nothing more than name to curse.
b. You cannot expect sense out of a senseless people.
E. \\#Rev 16:10\\ Darkness will fall.
1. The darkness appears to be like the darkness that God sent
on the land of Egypt in the days of Moses. It covered
Egypt but not the land of Goshen \\#Ex 10:23\\
2. This darkness will cover the "seat" of the anti-Christ
and his kingdom.
a. The word means "throne."
b. I take it that means his headquarters, perhaps the
city, the state, or the nation.
c. I think it is possible and very probable that the
anti-Christ will have several headquarters.
d. I suspect this will be the headquarters for all of the
headquarters.
3. This darkness somehow seems to cause extreme pain. Since
the pain is mentioned in the same verse, literally in the
same sentence as the darkness, it seems logical to
consider they are connected together.
4. But neither the darkness nor the pain is everywhere.
a. Does the darkness gradually fade into light?
b. The sun was heating up to scorch men in the last
vail. Does the sun go out?
c. Does the anti-Christ and his crowd devise a way to
block the sun because of the heat?
d. There are no answers yet, but it will happen.
F. \\#Rev 16:11\\ Summary so far:
1. The pain, perhaps from the last vial, and the sores,
possibly from the first plague continue, but the people
will NOT repent.
2. Notice, this is hell breaking forth on earth.
(a) Some of the main attributes of hell [pain, thirst,
heat (or maybe fire), darkness, chewing their
tongues, no rest, and no way out] are coming to
the earth!
(b) It is as though hell itself is reaching up to the
earth to pull men into it.
3. Yet, they will not repent.
4. By now, most must know this is of God.
(a) Some knew from the beginning.
Rev 6:16 And said to the mountains and rocks,
Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him
that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath
of the Lamb:
17 For the great day of his wrath is come; and
who shall be able to stand?
(b) Preaching of the 144,000
(c) Preaching of the two witnesses
(d) Preaching of the converts
(e) Some of the judgments indicate the presence of
(f) They just will not yield.
And sadly, that is the way it is in our world today. People hear the
truth, see the truth, and know the truth, but they refuse to repent.
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