Revelation
Chapter
16
{Execution
Squad Begins Seven Final/'Bowl Judgments'}
1~~Then
I {John}
heard
a loud voice from the source of the temple
{RBT says this is God the Father confirming His order}
saying
to the seven angels
{7 high ranking pur sui vant messenger angels},
"Go/Move
out and pour out on the earth
the
seven bowls {phiale} of the wrath of God."
{Note: Phiale is a bowl with a very narrow neck. For us this is like saying pull the pin on your hand grenades.}
{Verses
2-11: First 5 Bowl Judgments - Judgement by Pain}
{First
Bowl Judgment - Against the Religious Unbelievers}
2~~Then
the first { pur sui vant messenger angel} departed
and
poured out his bowl {hand grenade} on planet earth.
And
it became an ulcer on the skin {cancer},
both
pernicious/troublesome and painful to those men
who
had the mark of the beast {dictator},
and
who worshipped his image.
{Note: So the followers of the beast agreed to have his mark on their skin. God considers that a spiritual cancer and gives them a physical one to go with it. Part of the humor of the Lord.}
{Second
Bowl Judgment - Salt Water Judgement - Against the Conscience of the Unbelievers}
16:3~~Then
the second { pur sui vant messenger angel}
poured
out his bowl into the sea
{verse 4 discusses fresh water - RBT says this is a judgment on salt
water},
and
it became blood as from a dead person.
Then
every 'soul of life'/'living creature'
{psuche - same as Hebrew's nephesh - 'soul life'}.
began
to die.
{Note: RBT says this judgment and the next are part of God answering the imprecatory prayers of the Tribulation martyrs. Many were viciously murdered without even a second thought. So the taking of the blood of the martyrs meant water would be turned to blood. First, this judgment hits the conscience of the unbelievers more than their drinking water - that follows.}
{Verses
4-7: Third Bowl Judgment - Fresh Water Judgment}
4~~And
the third { pur sui vant messenger angel}
poured
out his bowl {pulled the pin on his hand grenade}
into
the rivers
and
lakes/'springs of waters'
and
they became blood.
{Note: The principal here is that of the whirlwind. What men sow is what men reap. Only mature believers understand to let God do the sowing. Then you can reap what God sows. Here the unbelievers murder the Tribulational martyrs and the justice of God turns drinking water into blood.}
{Doctrine
of the Integrity of the Judge and the Guilt of the Unbelievers}
5-6~~Then
I heard the angel
related
to the {fresh} water {judgement} saying,
"You
keep on being just/righteous {dikaios},
O
Holy One . . .
Who
is {the Omega Glory of Jesus Christ in His Hypostatic Union}
and
Who 'has always existed'
{the Alpha glory of Christ as eternal God},
because
You have judged these
{unbelievers of the Tribulation} . . . 6~~
{and}
because they have shed/'poured out'
the
blood of the saints and the prophets -
and
so You have given them blood to drink . . . as they deserve
{idiom: literally: 'for they keep on deserving'}.
{Note: So these people have the mark of the beast - 666 - on their skin. Next, they develop skin cancer. And, now they can only drink blood. All of these signs should tell them to come to God and accept Christ as their Savior. So, none can say they did not have the opportunity to be saved. This is called 'crisis evangelism' as opposed to normal evangelism. None should have denied the judgments were from their God.}
7~~Then
I heard {others from under}
the
altar {thusiasterion} respond,
"Yes,
O Lord God Almighty/'Omnipotent One',
Your
judgments are in accordance with Doctrine/Truth {alethinos}
and
justice/'that which is righteous' {dikaios}."
{Note: In Revelation Chapter 6:9-11, we saw under the altar were the Tribulational martyrs. And, a 'thusiasterion' was the type of an altar where animals were sacrificed. Therefore, the picture here is of justice for the maltreatment and murder of the Tribulational martyrs.}
{Crisis
Evangelism Continues - Sun Judgment}
8-9~~Then
the fourth {angel - the fourth pur sui vant messenger}
poured
out his bowl {phiale} on the sun
and
so there was delegated/given
the
power to scorch/burn {kaumatizo}
mankind
with fire/heat {pur}. 9~~
Consequently,
men were scorched with great heat,
and
{they} blasphemed {maligned, judged}
the
Name/Person/Reputation of the God . . .
having
the authority/power {exousia} over these plagues.
Furthermore,
they absolutely did not change their minds {metanoeo}
to
give Him {God} the glory.
{Note: The fourth judgment was one of fire and heat. This is a picture of the future of the unbelievers in the uncomfortably hot environment of Hades and ultimately ending up in the Lake of Fire.}
10~~Then
the fifth angel
{the pur sui vant messenger from the execution squad}
poured
out his bowl {the fifth plague}
on
the empire/throne {thronos} of the beast {dictator}.
Then
his empire was plunged into darkness
and
they kept biting their tongues because of the pain.
{Note: These unbelievers have scar tissue on their souls from their rejection of God and His Word. This is also called 'darkness' of the soul, which means the absolute lack of the Light of the World - Jesus Christ, Who is the Light of the World. So, this darkness is a picture of rejection of God and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.}
11~~Then
they blasphemed {slandered, maligned}
the
God of heaven
because
of their pain and their ulcers.
Furthermore,
they absolutely did not {ouk}
change
their minds {metanoeo}
'by
reason of'/'because of' their works {ergon}.
{Note: All religions are similar in that they are filled with 'human works'. You can recognize a religion because YOU have to do something to please God. You can NOT please God (by yourself). Jesus Christ did ALL the work in salvation. All you have to do is the non-meritorious act of believing in Him. After salvation, either you try to 'help God' which is meaningless, or you learn divine viewpoint through the intake of the Word and learn how to allow God to 'work' through you! Then He generates 'divine good production' {still the Greek word 'ergon' but to translate it 'works' does not adequately cover what God generates) and the Glory is His! You are rewarded for your positive volition to Him and His Word.}
{Sixth
Bowl Judgment - Natural Barrier from the East Removed - First
Judgment by Death}
12~~Then
the sixth
{6 of 7 high ranking pur sui vant messenger angels}
poured
out his bowl {6th bowl judgment - hand grenade released}
on
the great river Euphrates
and
its water was dried up
in
order that the way/'invasion route' {hodos}
for
the kings . . .
-
those from the 'rising sun' {idiom referring to the east} -
might
be prepared.
{Note: Historically, the river Euphrates divided the empires of the west from the empires of the east. In this judgment, this natural protection of Jerusalem is removed in preparation for the mighty attack of the Kings of the East. Today, this would be an alliance of countries like China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, etc. Verse 16 starts the documentation of the actual battle.}
{Trinity
of Evil - Another Vision}
13~~Then
I {John} saw three unclean spirits {akathartos pneuma},
like
frogs {batrachos} . . .
from
the conspiracy/command {stoma} of the dragon {drakon}
{title of Satan} . . .
from
the conspiracy/command {stoma} of the beast {therion}
{1st beast dictator - operates in Revived Roman Empire} . . .
from
the conspiracy/command {stoma}
of
the false prophet {pseudoprophetes}
{2nd beast dictator - Jewish dictator operating in Jerusalem}.
{Note: Akathartos is the word used for 'spiritual uncleanliness'. It usually has to do with the combination of religion and sex.}
{Note: Batrachos is a 'hy-pox-lo-go-min-a' {sp} (meaning it is only used once in the New Testament). It does mean 'frog'. In Greek Drama, frogs were used to depict men who were evil and/or arrogant. Frogs are also great public speakers (rib-bit).}
{Note: Stoma means mouth - but from the Septuagint translation, we see 'stoma' was translated for the Hebrew 'peh' meaning literally 'from the mouth of' but is used for 'command'. Therefore stoma here is used as an idiom meaning verbal command - here a conspiracy.}
{Kosmokrator
Verses Pantokrator}
14~~For
these keep on being
the
spirits {pneuma} of demons/devils
{daimon - the War Demons or Kosmokrator - see Daniel 10},
performing
miracles
{an emotional appeal to the unbelievers - Jews always want to see
miracles},
who
advance {ekporeuomai}
on
the kings of the {entire populated} earth,
to
mobilize {sunago} them for that war
of
the great day of God . . .
'the
Almighty One'/'the Omnipotent One} {pantokrator}.
{Note: Kosmos, from which we get cosmos and cosmetics, means 'an organized system' and is therefore used for 'world'. Panto means 'altogether'. Krator means mighty or powerful. So Pantokrator is the 'Altogether powerful One' or Almighty One and Kosmokrator means a powerful one of the world. We see from Daniel that there were war demons in the courts of Persia and Macedonia - in the time of Philip then Alexander the Great. Apparently there are war demons stirring up trouble throughout human history. See also Daniel 10:12-13 for more on these fallen angels. The second Kosmokrator War demon is mentioned in Daniel 10:20.}
15~~'Be
alert'/Behold {idou},
I
{Jesus Christ} will come as a thief {kleptes}
{thieves in this day came quickly and unexpectedly - that is what
this means}.
Happy
{makarios - singular} . . . {keeps on being}
the
one who remains alert
{gregoreuo - military term for alertness while on guard duty}
and
guards {tereo} his tunic/'uniform equipment' {himation}
so
that he may not march {peripateo}
naked
{gumnos},
and
they {the garrison} see/'glance at' {blepo}
his
shame/disgrace/nakedness {aschemosune}.
{Note: To understand this verse one needs to understand the night guard duty in the Roman Army. As the soldier was stationed, he was commanded to 'guard his tunic'. What this referred to was to be alert and not fall asleep on duty. During the night the watch commander would inspect the troops with a torch for light. If he found a man asleep, he lighted the tunic of the man on the spot. He either died right there or if he survived he lost his clothes and uniform equipment like belts, swords etc. His garrison would see him return all burned and know what happened. They would 'see his nakedness' and know his shame. So, to stay alert means to consistently take in the Word. Guard your tunic means to protect as precious the divine viewpoint in your soul. Then to march means to stay in the Righteous Way of the Lord. And, to fall asleep is to fall back into reversionism - and potentially lose all the divine viewpoint in your soul and the rewards in time and eternity that accompany that edification complex of the soul (ECS).}
16~~Then
{sequential use of kai - next in sequence}
He
{our Lord Jesus Christ - the One Who controls history}
concentrated
them {the troops} in a place
which
is called in the Hebrew language . . . Armageddon.
{Note: In a war, there are campaigns and battles. Many times, a campaign is named by one of the large battles in that campaign. And, that is what we have here. The Armageddon campaign was given its name from this great battle. But, this was not the last battle of the Armageddon campaign - the last battle is the final siege of Jerusalem.}
17~~And
the seventh
{7 of 7 high ranking pur sui vant messenger angels}
poured
out his bowl {7th bowl judgment - hand grenade released}
into
the air {see Ephesians 2:2 - Satan is the Prince of the Air}
and
there came a magnificent voice
out
of the temple of heaven,
from
the throne, saying,
"Completed"/"It
has been accomplished {ginomai}".
{Note: This is the seventh and last bowl judgement. When it is completed, God the Father declares the seven grace 'evangelism by crisis' judgments completed.}
{Third
Grace Warning before Tremendous Discipline}
18~~Then
there were voices,
and
thunders, and lightenings.
Also
there was a great earthquake,
such
as has not been since mankind has been on the earth . . .
so
great an earthquake . . . so powerful.
{Note: The first great grace warning was in Revelation 8:5. The second was in Revelation 11:19. This is the third great grace warning - 'believe in Christ now', your time is short.}
{Judgment
on Cities and Ecumenical Religion}
19~~And
the great city {RBT says this is Jerusalem}
'became
to be'/split into three parts.
Also
the gentile cities collapsed.
And
great Babylon {used for 'ecumenical religion'}
was
remembered before God,
to
give unto her {religion is referred to as a 'her' - the whore riding
on the scarlet beast - see Revelation 17:5}
the
cup of the wine
full
of the wrath of His anger {Divine judgment on religion}.
{Note: In the day the bible was written, Rome was called 'Babylon'. Peter wrote from Rome and said he was in 'Babylon'. This probably was to protect him in case his letter fell into the wrong hands. So, Babylon refers to the center of the new Gentile 'King of the West' - the beast dictator who will run both religion and state in the Tribulation. Chapter 17 explains this more. Chapter 18 will explain how many businesses in the Tribulation are supported by the ecumenical religion and therefore will fail.}
20~~And
every {volcanic} island vanished,
and
the mountains could no longer be found.
{Note: At the 2nd Advent, the topography of the earth will be changed. Mountains will be leveled and islands will disappear. This was prophesized in Isaiah 40:4-5; 42:13,15; 49:11;54:10, etc.}
{More
Severe Divine Judgement on Mankind and Property}
21~~And
there fell out of heaven
large
hail stones weighing
about
a talent {RBT says over 100 pounds each} each
{these will be the largest ever - would have to be 21" in diameter}
came
down on from the atmosphere/heaven on mankind.
Then
the survivors blasphemed God
because
of the plague of the hail
because
the plague was extremely severe.
{Note: These survivors have again the chance to repent and believe in God. Instead, they curse God.}
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