Revelation 16

The final plagues of God’s wrath come in rapid succession.  But even then there will be time to see God in these terrible judgments.

·        16:2: A painful sore will come upon those who have taken the mark of the beast and worshiped his image.  God knows how to deliver the godly … and reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment (2 Peter 2:9).

·        16:3: The sea will become blood and everything in the sea will die.

·        16:4-7: The rest of earth’s waters will become blood.  The angel of the waters declares the justice of God’s wrath: those who shed the blood of the saints and prophets will have only blood to drink.

·        16:8-9: Greater than normal heat from the sun causes men to be scorched.  Men know that this is God’s doing but refuse to repent and give Him glory.

·        16:10-11: The kingdom of the antichrist will be cast into total, gnawing darkness.   Men will not repent but rather will blaspheme the God of heaven.

·        16:12-16: The sixth plague gathers the kings of the earth to the location of the final battle.  The great Euphrates earlier seemed to be a boundary, blocking the army from the East.  Now it is dried up so the kings from the east (i.e. east of Babylon, the Oriental nations) can gather.  Demons from the Satanic trinity draw the kings of the whole world to the place Napoleon called the most natural battlefield of the whole earth.  Many battles in ancient history were fought in Armageddon and the battle of the great day of God Almighty will be fought there when Christ returns to consume and destroy the lawless one (2 Thess. 2:8).  The return of Christ is ever the hope of the saints (v15)!

·        16:17-21: With this plague God’s wrath is finished!  By a mighty earthquake Jerusalem is changed, divided into three parts.  Zech. 14:3-4 speaks of this in connection with the return of the Messiah, when His feet stand on the Mount of Olives.  At the same time the cities of earth will fall.  The wicked system of the world (great Babylon, described in the next two chapters of Revelation) will be judged.  No location and no person will escape the plague of hail.  Sadly, mankind’s unbelief will be firm, blaspheming God for His wrath.

Rev. 16:15 is true for believers today as well as in the future.  When Jesus wanted to prepare His disciples for life without Him, one of the first things was to give them the hope of His return.  I will come again and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there you may be also (John 14:3).  Our hope is not escape from tribulation; it is the return of Christ.  “Till He comes” is the cry of believers (1 Cor. 11:26).  The reward is for all who have loved His appearing (2 Tim. 4:8).  May the genuineness of our faith, though it be tested by fire, be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ (1 Peter 1:7).