The Bowl Judgments (2)

Revelation 16:1-21

The Third Bowl (16:4-7)

Similar to the third trumpet in 9:10-11, this bowl judgment figuratively portrays the suffering and death incurred by those who rely on maritime commerce. See the parallel between 16:6 and 18:24 for support.

Aune contends that this verse (v. 5) “assumes a cosmos in which the various material elements are presided over by, or are personified by, particular angelic beings" (2”884). However, one need not draw such a conclusion. The “angel of the waters” (NIV, “angel in charge of the waters”; cf. 7:1; 14:18) simply refers to an angelic being who was given sovereignty over the waters by God to carry out his judgment against the economic prosperity that it produced. The precise nature of this judgment (“Thou hast given them blood to drink”) is not stated. Presumably it would be any form of suffering commensurate with that which unbelievers inflicted on believers.

Some have argued that the statement, “They deserve it” (NASB), should be rendered more literally, “They are worthy,” and applies to the “saints and prophets” of v. 6. The idea would be that the latter were innocent of that for which they were persecuted. More likely, however, is that “They deserve it” refers to unbelieving oppressors and the justice of God’s judgment against them.

The Fourth Bowl (16:8-9)

We noted in a previous lesson that often “the interruption of regular patterns of the heavenly light sources [such as the sun either being darkened or intensified] predominantly symbolizes a covenantal judgment. The symbolism of cosmic alteration indicates that people are to be judged because they have altered God’s moral laws, usually through idolatry” (Beale, 821; see Jer. 15:9; Amos 8:9). If one should ask what sort of suffering does this judgment bring, Rev. 7:16 may provide the answer. There the reward of the righteous in heaven is the reversal of their deprivation, primarily economic in nature, while on earth (“they shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; neither shall the sun beat down on them, nor any heat”; cf. Isa. 49:10). Perhaps, then, this judgment in which they are scorched with heat from the sun entails economic hardship resulting in thirst and starvation, for which they blaspheme God.

Notwithstanding the tendency for people to resist the idea that God is the source of such judgments against unbelievers and the resultant suffering, v. 9 makes it clear that it is “God who has the power over these plagues” (whether seal, trumpet, or bowl plagues). It bears witness to the hardness of the human heart in sin that not even the inescapable recognition that God is the source of their misery leads to repentance! We see this again in v. 11.

The Fifth Bowl (16:10-11)

The “throne” most likely “symbolizes the seat of the world-wide dominion of the great satanic system of idolatry. . . . This system is plunged into spiritual darkness or disruption, bringing chaos on all who sought life and meaning in it” (Johnson, 154). See Exod. 10:22 where darkness came over the land of Egypt (which was likely a polemic against the sun god Ra, of whom Pharaoh was believed to be an incarnation). Darkness certainly symbolizes judgment (1 Sam. 2:9; Amos 5:20; Joel 2:2; Zeph. 1:15), as well as ignorance and wickedness (Ps. 82:5; Prov. 2:13; Eccles. 2:14), as well as death (Ps. 143:3). The impact of darkness on the beast’s sovereignty could entail internal strife, rebellion, or loss of political power. A symbolic interpretation of the “darkness” is necessary, insofar as literal darkness of itself cannot account for the intense “pain” that leads to the gnawing of their tongues. The latter could well include both emotional as well as physical anguish, the former in particular being the result of their experience of spiritual “darkness” and the realization of their separation from God.

The Sixth Bowl (16:12-16)

In the OT God’s deliverance of his people was achieved by the drying up of the Red Sea which allowed them to escape Pharaoh’s armies. A similar phenomenon later occurred with the Jordan river, allowing Israel to enter the promised land. Aune therefore suggests that “the drying up of the river Euphrates to allow the kings of the east to cross over it is the typological antithesis” of these earlier deliverances (2:891). His point is that whereas in these two OT cases the water is dried up to facilitate the deliverance of God’s people from his enemies, in Rev. the water is dried up to facilitate the attack on God’s people by his enemies.

On yet another occasion, God’s judgment of historical Babylon in the 6^th century b.c. was achieved by the diversion of the Euphrates River which allowed the armies of Cyrus to enter the city and defeat it (see Isa. 11:15; 44:24-28; Jer. 50:33-38; 51:13,36; an event corroborated by the secular historians Xenophon and Herodotus). God raised up Cyrus “from the east” (Isa. 41:2-4,25-27; 46:11-13), “from the rising of the sun” (41:25), and used him to destroy Babylon. It seems clear that the language of Rev. 16:12ff. is based on this familiar typological pattern which John now universalizes. That is to say, what happened to one nation on a local and restricted geographical scale in the OT was a type of what will happen to all nations on a global and universal scale at the end of history.

The imagery of kings coming from the east, from the vicinity of the Euphrates, was standard OT prophetic language for the enemies of Israel coming to invade and destroy. G. B. Caird points out that “to the Roman the Euphrates was the eastern frontier, but to the Jew it was the northern frontier of Palestine, across which Assyrian, Babylonian, and Persian invaders had come to impose their pagan sovereignty on the people of God. All the scriptural warnings about a foe from the north, therefore, find their echo in John’s blood-curdling vision” (122). On this see especially Isa. 5:26-29; 7:20; 8:7-8; 14:29-31; Jer. 1:14-15; 4:6-13; 6:1,22; 10:22; 13:20; Ezek. 38:6,15; 39:2; Joel 2:1-11,20-25; as well as Isa. 14:31; Jer. 25:9,26; 46-47 (esp. 46:4,22-23); 50:41-42; Ezek. 26:7-11.

Craig Keener comments:

“In the nineteenth century most Protestants identified the kings of the East either with the Turks or with the lost tribes of Israel. After the collapse of the Turkish Ottoman Empire, Japan became the new favorite of the prophecy movement until and during the Second World War. After Japan’s defeat and the ascent of Communist China, this ‘yellow peril’ has become the new backdrop for modern Western interpretations of the ‘kings from the East.’ On this view, the invasion from Communist China and the rest of Asia will require the rest of the world’s army to mobilize to fight them. This perspective reflects a total lack of understanding of what the Euphrates River represented to ancient hearers in the Mediterranean world. To be sure, the Parthians were no longer a kingdom; but a geographical equivalent would be closer to Iran and Iraq than to China. . . . My point is that there is nothing in this text to indicate east or south Asia’s role in general or China’s role in particular; this reading of ‘kings from the East’ is a wholesale guess based on the assumption that the current lineup of world powers is the final one, and it is uninformed by the most basic knowledge of how the expression was used in the ancient world” (398-99).
 

The “water” of the Euphrates may, in fact, be symbolic of the peoples and nations who support the beast, as a comparison of Rev. 17:1 with 17:15 clearly indicates. “Therefore, the drying up of the Euphrates’ waters is a picture of how the multitudes of Babylon’s religious adherents throughout the world become disloyal to Babylon. Disenchantment with Babylon is a prelude to Babylon’s judgment and the final judgment itself. 17:16-18 states that ‘the kings of the earth,’ the political arm of the wicked world system, will turn against the economic-religious arm and destroy it” (Beale, 828).

Whereas v. 12 summarily explains the sixth bowl, vv. 13-16 provide the details. Here again we see the unholy triumvirate of Satan, the beast, and the false-prophet (called that for the first time here). Their deceptive influence is portrayed through the imagery of three unclean, obviously demonic, spirits in the form or appearance of frogs, which obviously alludes to the frogs in the Exodus plague (8:1-15). In ancient Jewish literature frogs were viewed not only as ceremonially unclean but also as agents of destruction. Beale suggests that “the frogs and their croaking represent the confusion brought about by deception” (832). That the frogs are metaphorical is seen from the fact that they “perform signs” (v. 14). In other words, these demonic spirits utilize supernatural phenomena to deceive and thereby influence humans to follow after the beast (cf. 13:11ff.). The primary target of their deception is the kings of the earth, i.e., political leaders and authorities who align themselves with the principles of the beast in opposition to God.

They are specifically gathered together for “the war” (cf. 19:19; 20:8). The use of the definite article (“the”) points to a well-known war, the eschatological war often prophesied in the OT between God and his enemies (cf. Joel 2:11; Zeph. 1:14; Zech. 14:2-14). More on this below.

Verse 15 is a parenthetical exhortation addressed to believers to be vigilant lest they be caught unprepared on that great day. The picture is of a person who stays spiritually awake and alert, clothed in the righteous garments of Christ. For the image of physical nakedness as a symbol of spiritual shame often brought on by idolatry, see Rev. 3:18; 17:16 (cf. also Ezek. 16:36; 23:29; Nahum 3:5; Isa. 20:4).

The place of this eschatological war is called Har-Magedon (v. 16). This poses a problem for those who believe a literal battle at the literal site is in view, insofar as there is no such place as the Mountain of Megiddo (which would be the most literal rendering of the word). Megiddo was itself an ancient city and Canaanite stronghold located on a plain in the southwest region of the Valley of Jezreel or Esdraelon. Although situated on a tell (an artificial mound about 70 ft. high), it can hardly be regarded as a mountain! The valley of Megiddo was the strategic site of several (200, according to Johnson, [155]) signficant battles in history (see Judges 4:6-16; 5:19; Judges 7; 1 Samuel 29:1; 31:1-7; 2 Kings 23:29-30; 2 Chron. 35:22-24). It makes sense that the vicinity would become a lasting symbol for the cosmic eschatological battle between good and evil. As Mounce accurately notes,

“geography is not the major concern. Wherever it takes place, Armageddon is symbolic of the final overthrow of all the forces of evil by the might and power of God. The great conflict between God and Satan, Christ and Antichrist, good and evil, that lies behind the perplexing course of history will in the end issue in a final struggle in which God will emerge victorious and take with him all who have placed their faith in him. This is Har-Megedon” (302).

To put it simply, Armageddon is prophetic symbolism for the whole world in its collective defeat and judgment by Christ at his parousia. The imagery of war, of kings and nations doing battle on an all-too-familiar battlefield (Megiddo), is used as a metaphor of the consummate, cosmic, and decisive defeat by Christ of all his enemies (Satan, beast, false prophet, and all who bear the mark of the beast) on that final day.

The Seventh Bowl (16:17-21)

The imagery of “lightning, sounds, thunders, and a great earthquake” points to the final, consummate judgment at the end of the age (see 8:5 and 11:19). Whether or not there will be literal, physical lightning, thunder, and an earthquake is basically irrelevant and unrelated to John’s point. After all, how could these natural phenomena cause the downfall and judgment of principles and ideas and unholy opposition in the souls of men to the things of God? John is describing the final judgment that will come against the individual and collective resistance to the kingdom of God and His Lamb. Typical of OT prophetic literature, he uses the imagery of geographical and astronomical upheaval to make the point.

The “great city” (v. 19) is neither historical Jerusalem nor Rome, but trans-historical “Babylon the great,” the trans-cultural, trans-temporal collective embodiment of all cities of the earth, together with every political, economic, philosophical, moral, religious, and sociological power-base that opposes Christ and his kingdom (cf. 17:18; 18:10,16,18,19,21).

Additional dissolution of the cosmos is described in v. 20, a passage that is strikingly similar to Rev. 6:14 and 20:11. Is this displacement of islands and mountains physically literal, or is it another example of prophetic hyperbole? Probably the latter. “Mountains” are often symbolic of evil forces and/or earthly kingdoms (cf. Jer. 51:25-26; Zech. 4:7) and “islands” often represent Gentile nations or kings (Pss. 72:10; 97:1; Isa. 41:1; 45:16; 49:1,22; 51:5; 60:9; Jer. 31:10; Ezek. 26:18; Zech. 2:11).

I should also point out, however, that “mountains” and “islands” here may be symbolic simply of the most stable features of the world, all of which are portrayed in the OT as being displaced, cast aside, shaken, moved, etc. as a result of the presence of the Lord and especially the manifestation of his judgments. See Judges 5:5; Pss. 18:7; 46:2-3; Isa. 5:25; 54:10; 64:1; Jer. 4:24; Ezek. 26:18; 38:20; Micah 1:4; Nahum 1:5; Hab. 1:6; Zech. 14:4. Few, if any, commentators would suggest that these OT texts describe literal or physical displacement or movement of mountains and islands. Why, then, would they insist on it here in Revelation?

In v. 21 the Exodus plague of hail is replicated, but with two significant changes: first, not merely one nation (Egypt) but the whole earth suffers from the plague, and second, the size of the hailstones is now said to be “one hundred pounds” (lit., “the weight of a talent”). Cf. also Ezek. 38:19-22. Is this “hailstorm” (and the size of the stones) physically literal, as it was in ancient Egypt, or should it be interpreted symbolically as is the case in vv. 18-20?