Revelation-Part 34

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The Fifth and Sixth Bowls (or Vials)

Last month we reviewed the first four bowls of Revelation 16 and the unparalleled mis­ery those bowls (or “vials” as the King James Version has it) will bring to mankind that continues in its rebellion against God. Yet the misery has not yet reached its climax in those four. The worst is still to come with the three remaining bowls. This month we want to examine the fifth and sixth bowls (Rev. 16:10-16)

The Fifth Bowl (16:10-11)

With the emptying of the fifth bowl, the plight of humanity worsens. The contents fall on the throne of the beast, who by this time will be the unchallenged ruler of the world. The result of this judgment is a darkening of the beast’s kingdom. That throne, mentioned earlier at Revelation 13:2, has been untouched up to this point and through its authority has perverted human society into a demonic civilization. It now becomes the object of God’s wrath. The beast will be helpless to defend against the wrath, just as Pharaoh was against a comparable judgment in the ninth Egyptian plague (see Exod. 10:21-23).

The fifth bowl is worse than the ninth Egyptian plague, however, because it aggravates the continuing effects of the previous bowls. It is also worse because it affects the beast’s worldwide kingdom, not just the limited area of Egypt. The darkness will not be limited to the moral and spiritual spheres; it will also be physical darkness as was the ninth Egyptian plague and the fifth trumpet judgment (Rev. 9:2). Though not mentioned here, the faithful remnant of Israel (see Rev. 12:6, 13-16) will most probably enjoy protection from this dark­ness just as did the children of Israel in Egyptian captivity (Exod. 10:23).

The text of Revelation does not identify those who “gnawed their tongues because of the pain” (16:10), but the context clarifies that they are the subjects of the beast’s kingdom. Various suggestions about the source of the pain have ranged from that caused by the locust plague of the fifth trumpet to the cumulative pain from the first four bowl judgments. Probably, however, the pain (singular in number) results directly from the darkness that covers the whole earth, wreaking all sorts of physical havoc.

Despite their severe pain and turmoil, the subjects of the beast remain loyal to their king and lash out in blasphemy against God because of their pains (plural in number, Rev. 16:11). The notion that wicked men will repent when faced with catastrophic conditions is false. Instead of repenting, they plunge more deeply than ever in blaspheming “the God of heaven” (see also 16:9). This time their blasphemy stems from the cumulative effects of the first four bowls, particularly the lingering effects of the “sores” caused by the first bowl (see 16:2). This series of plagues comes so fast that it finds the victims of the later plagues still suffering from the plagues that have preceded. Recall the sequence of the seal and trum­pet judgments in which each judgment terminates before the next one begins. The bowls are different. While people are still suffering from the effects of earlier bowls, darkness comes and compounds their hysteria. In spite of all this, however, they choose to cling to their idolatries and immoralities in defiance of the God of heaven.

The Sixth Bowl (16:12-16)

Like the fifth seal, the sixth bowl brings no immediate visitation against mankind. Rather, it looks forward to and prepares for a coming battle in which those who rebel against God will die and eventually be thrown into the lake of fire. The contents of the sixth bowl fall into “the great river Euphrates,” one of the best-known rivers in the world, the river that marked the eastern boundary of the Roman Empire and also of the land promised to the seed of Abraham (Gen. 15:18; Deut. 1:7; 11:24; Josh. 1:4). The location of the city of Babylon was also on the banks of this river. It is the first river mentioned in the Bible (Gen. 2:14) and provided a geographical marker of the origin of the sixth trumpet judgment (Rev. 9:14).

Consistent usage of place names both in Revelation and throughout the Bible requires this name to be understood literally, not as a symbol for something such as an obstacle impeding the progress of an ungodly world-power. The drying up of the river under this sixth-bowl judgment is also literal as was the drying up of the Red Sea to allow Israel pas­sage from Egypt (Exod. 14:21-22). In this instance, it allows the kings of the east to move westward for a battle of the great day of God Almighty (Rev. 16:14). To have this access appears for the moment to be a favor for those kings, but it eventually becomes a trap for them similar to the way the parted Red Sea proved to be a trap for the pursuing Egyptians. The kings will apparently be oriental kings who will invade the land of Israel in connection with a final great conflict. Since there will have been a turning back to God in Jerusalem (Rev. 11:13), they will perhaps be on their way to overcome this new center of disloyalty to the beast, who himself has his headquarters in Babylon.

Revelation 16:13-14 shows that kings throughout the whole earth will join with those from the east in the final great battle and how the “unholy trinity” will lead them to an uncon­ditional commitment to evil in those last days. That trinity—the dragon (Satan), the beast (the first beast of Rev. 13:1-8), and the false prophet (the second beast of Rev. 13:11- 18)—will conduct an almost irresistible propaganda campaign through the enablement of the spirits of demons, who will reinforce their words with supernatural signs to entice earth’s kings to participate in the campaign against Jerusalem. These spirits are fallen angels or unclean spirits who played such a visible role in opposing Jesus during His first advent to earth. They will use the same deceptive powers as used by the second beast in luring people to worship the beast (Rev. 13:13-14).

“The battle of the great day of God Almighty” identifies with “the great and terrible day of the LORD” (Joel 2:31) that will occur in conjunction with Christ’s personal return to the earth. This is God’s final reckoning with the nations that dare to oppose Him in conflict, a conflict that Psalm 2:1-3 anticipates. It is also the final climactic battle to be described in Revelation 19:19-21 as part of the seventh trumpet judgment. Revelation 16:16 locates the place of the battle by its Hebrew name, Harmagedon, whose English spelling is Armaged­don. The name means “Mount of Megiddo” and probably refers to the hill-country around Megiddo. Megiddo was a Canaanite fortress in the Plain of Jezreel that was captured by the Israelites under Deborah and Barak (Josh. 12:21; Judg. 5:19). It is mentioned several other times in the Old Testament. Thus the sixth bowl prepares for the battle of Armaged­don, a part of the seventh bowl.

In Revelation 16:15 the writer abruptly interrupts the sixth bowl’s description with a parenthesis through which he returns to the language of Revelation 2–3. The parenthesis should awaken the seven churches of Asia to the urgency of the plea to repent before the hour of trial begins: “Behold I come as a thief. Blessed is the one who watches and keeps his garments, that he not walk naked and they see his shame.” The words undoubtedly come from Jesus and echo parts of His messages to Sardis (Rev. 3:3) and Laodicea (Rev. 3:18). Here is another call to genuineness of faith. Failure of those within the churches to respond will plunge them into the miseries of the seal, trumpet, and bowl judgments. Thus this is an appeal to people in the churches to be faithful in following Christ, thereby inherit­ing the blessing promised to “the one who watches and keeps his garments.”

No one knows when Christ will come to deliver the church from the scene of awfulness that will overtake the world when God’s judgments begin to fall. Both His deliverance of His own and His infliction of temporal wrath on the world may come at any moment. That moment holds not terror but blessing for the child of God, however, but it does offer power­ful incentive for those without personal faith in Christ to place their trust in Christ immedi­ately for forgiveness and salvation. If they do not, they must experience the untold agonies that the seals, trumpets, and bowls will bring to the world.

Note: For more details about the fifth and sixth bowls in Revelation 16, see my discus­sion in Revelation 8–22 (Moody Press, 1995), pages 258-271. To order this volume, you may contact Grace Books International at (800) GRACE15 or www.gbibooks.com.

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