#16: The Bowls
As we progress through Revelation into chapter 14, we’re entering into territory where today’s events provide little or no insight. Chapter 14 begins the final chapter of the history of this age. The final judgments are about to befall those who have rejected Christ, and we now see a preview of this.
As we read Rev 14:1 we find Christ on Mount Zion. That is, he has returned to Jerusalem, along with the 144,000. I mentioned in a previous post that this 144,000 could represent the church in total or could be a subset of believers who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. Either way, we can’t take the number literally because, if you recall from the earlier post, these are given the seal of Christ and everyone else is in trouble. To accept this number literally is to accept that only 144,000 are sealed for Christ. It is symbolic of a large number of people and the completed number of the Gentiles.
Beginning in verse 6 we see three angels proclaiming three messages from God. The first proclaims the “eternal gospel” to every nation, tribe, language, and people, and pronounces that the hour of judgment has come. The second announces the falling of “Babylon the great.” While in John’s day, Babylon likely represented Rome, which was the seat of global power and its humanistic, hedonistic culture, today we would understand Babylon as a worldwide culture that embraces sexual immorality and humanism in all of its forms. It is a culture that rejects God. The third angel announces what is to happen to those who worship “the beast” (the totalitarian government of the Deep State) and who take its mark.
What happens to believers from this point on? A voice from heaven tells John to write that those who die in the Lord from now on are blessed. Likewise, we are called to endure, to keep the commandments of God, and to keep our faith in Jesus.
Our preview continues in verse 14 where we see Christ—“. . . the son of man, with a golden crown on his head . . .”—holding a sickle. An angel emerges from the heavenly temple and tells Him it’s time to put in the sickle for the hour to reap has come. This angel isn’t commanding Jesus but relaying a message from the Father in the temple. It’s time. The day and hour have come. The fullness of the Gentiles has been reached. As in the Jewish wedding metaphor, the father, satisfied that his son’s house is complete, is telling his son to go get his bride.
We then see two more angels, one with a sickle and one with authority over fire. The angel with the sickle begins to reap. Jewish tradition holds that many angels are given authority over things on earth. In Revelation alone we see angels controlling the four winds, an angel with authority over the abyss, and another over the waters. This angel has authority over fire, but this fire holds a different purpose. This fire tests the works of those who die. Of course, those who “worship” the beast will find that their “good works” do them no good. Their good works will burn up in the fire.
It’s important to note where those who are harvested end up. While some dispensational teachings hold that this is Christ collecting His church, this harvest goes into the “great winepress of the wrath of God.” This is in line with the parable of the wheat and tares where the tares are gathered first and thrown into the fire, as well as Jesus’ teachings in the Olivet Discourse where two men are in the field and one is taken up, and two women are at the wheel, and one is taken up. That doesn’t represent a Rapture. The Greek says that those taken up are taken away into judgment.
Verse 20 describes the blood flowing from the winepress as being as high as a horse’s bridle and flowing for 1,600 stadia, or about 184 miles. Again, we can’t take this literally. This is considered a topos, a rhetorical technique that was common in that time to show exaggeration. Josephus, in his Jewish Wars 6.406 said that the Jews killed by the Romans in 70 A.D. “deluged the whole city with blood to such an extent that many fires were extinguished by the gory stream.” Quite the hyperbole. Similarly, what John is really saying is that the slaughter is considerable.
The preview is now over, and we are shown what the final judgment looks like in the Bowl Judgments. It’s my belief that these judgments are not things that occur over an extended period, unlike the previous sets of judgments. If you recall from Countdown: Revelation #9—And Judgment Escalates (10/8/2023), Leviticus 26 holds the pattern for God’s judgments. In that final set of seven judgments (Lev 26:27), we read that God would walk contrary to man “in fury.” The day of the Lord is here. Christ returns to defend Jerusalem and defeat His spiritual enemies for all time. And He’s not coming back with hugs and kisses. He’s coming in fury. We see the extent of that fury in Chapter 15: 5-8:
5 After this I looked, and the sanctuary of the tent of witness in heaven was opened, 6 and out of the sanctuary came the seven angels with the seven plagues, clothed in pure, bright linen, with golden sashes around their chests. 7 And one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God who lives forever and ever, 8 and the sanctuary was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power, and no one could enter the sanctuary until the seven plagues of the seven angels were finished.
I found references to the angels’ garb and the imagery of bowls insightful. The seven angels are “clothed in pure, bright linen, with gold sashes around their chests.” This imagery is one of Levitical priestly garments. Likewise, bowls were used inside the Tabernacle and the Temple. These bowls—better noted as “bowls used in offerings”—are given to the angels by one of the four living creatures, the cherubim who attend to God. Bowls are utilized 12 times in Revelation, always within view of God’s throne, in His heavenly temple. They are best seen as bowls used for ritual purposes, such as removing ashes from the altar to outside the camp. In this case, they represent that the earth is about to be cleansed of its defilement, sanctified, and prepared for the reoccupation of Christ.
Let’s look at the Bowl Judgments:
2 So the first angel went and poured out his bowl on the earth, and harmful and painful sores came upon the people who bore the mark of the beast and worshiped its image. 3 The second angel poured out his bowl into the sea, and it became like the blood of a corpse, and every living thing died that was in the sea. 4 The third angel poured out his bowl into the rivers and the springs of water, and they became blood. 5 And I heard the angel in charge of the waters say, “Just are you, O Holy One, who is and who was, for you brought these judgments. 6 For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and you have given them blood to drink. It is what they deserve!” [Rev 16:2-6 ESV]
The first judgment points us to the targets of this wrath—the people bearing the mark of the beast. While not explicitly stated, we can expect the remaining judgments to also afflict these people. The second and third judgments tie into the second and third Trumpet Judgments, but instead of a third of the waters being afflicted, all of the water is affected. The symbolism here reflects upon several Old Testament sources, such a Psalm 79, but most obvious are the ten plagues of Egypt. The first plague was the Nile turning to blood, while the sixth was boils upon the Egyptians. Also recall that darkness (fifth angel) and hailstones (seventh angel) were part of the Egyptian plagues, too.
8 The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and it was allowed to scorch people with fire. 9 They were scorched by the fierce heat, and they cursed the name of God who had power over these plagues. They did not repent and give him glory. 10 The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness. People gnawed their tongues in anguish 11 and cursed the God of heaven for their pain and sores. They did not repent of their deeds. 12 The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up, to prepare the way for the kings from the east. [Rev 16:8-12 ESV]
and,
17 The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple, from the throne, saying, “It is done!” 18 And there were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, and a great earthquake such as there had never been since man was on the earth, so great was that earthquake. 19 The great city was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell, and God remembered Babylon the great, to make her drain the cup of the wine of the fury of his wrath. 20 And every island fled away, and no mountains were to be found. 21 And great hailstones, about one hundred pounds each, fell from heaven on people; and they cursed God for the plague of the hail, because the plague was so severe. [Rev 16:17-21 ESV]
Again, it’s important not to over-literalize things here. The sea, waters, and sand of the sea are used elsewhere in the book to symbolize people, while the sea also represents the chaos of the worldly system. The target of these judgments is people, those with the mark of the beast. Also, these afflictions are symbolic of the totality of these judgments. The first bowl is poured out on the earth. Next, we see water. The sun represents fire. The seventh bowl is poured out into the air. In John’s time, they understood earth, water, fire, and air as the four basic elements of creation. They didn’t know about oxygen, iron, molybdenum or the other 115 elements. So, when the seventh bowl is poured into the air and it’s pronounced “It is done!”, it represents the completed judgment of all nonbelievers in the most elemental sense.
The other thing to remember is that these aren’t likely to be literal because there will be believers remaining on the earth. So, anything that literally affects the sun would afflict them, too. Likewise with water and air. So, again, we’re seeing the completed judgment of all who bear the mark of the beast—every one of them worldwide. Yet, God’s protection extends over His people, so even if there are physical changes to the sun, water, and air, God protects His people.
What about the throne of the beast? Is that a literal place? Unlikely. More likely is that it represents the sovereignty of the beast over its realm, so the fifth bowl probably affects its ability to rule. And the darkness is again reminiscent of the Egyptian plagues and is found in the apocalyptic passages of Isaiah 13:10; Joel 2:10; 3:15; Amos 8:9; Habakkuk 3:11; and elsewhere. New Testament references that the darkness (separation from God) can cause pain and anguish are seen in Matt. 8:12, 22:13, and 25:30.
Is China involved? Many think of China when they read about the kings of the east in Rev 16:12. However, the east in John’s day was Babylon/Persia. As we see throughout Revelation, Babylon is the chaos agent that God holds responsible for the immorality of the world. Its successors hold control of the world today, but they—the followers of the beast—are about to meet their Maker.
One great question is, when do these occur? Is this some series of cataclysmic events preceding the return of the Lord by an extended period? Probably not, since we’ll see that these appear to lead into Armageddon when Christ returns to take care of business. I read nothing in these judgments per se that would inspire the-powers-that-be to move against Israel/Jerusalem. Instead, as I’ve stated before, the War of Gog and Magog appears to have human drivers that are more likely ideological and economic, as well as spiritual, not the result of such intense judgments.
Plus, since Jesus told us these times would be like those of Noah and Lot, where people are carrying on with life and His return is unexpected, it’s more likely that these judgments, if they precede His return by any length of time, occur in ways that people write off as natural or, perhaps, unexpected. They explain away the earlier judgments as “climate change” or “the world gone crazy,” but then climate and the world both go crazier.
However, to me it is more probable that these judgments are the means by which Christ defeats His enemies at Armageddon. They would rain down on the earth unexpectedly as He returns to defend Jerusalem and defeat His enemies.
Still, we’re already seeing major skin diseases from the COVID jabs—bullous pemphigus, boils, Stevens-Johnson Syndrome, toxic epidermolysis, and more. Sea life is dying more rapidly. Example, an estimated 10 billion snow crabs have died in the Baltic Sea in the past 12 months due to warming water. The MSM keeps reporting about the “historic” heat waves affecting the planet and many major rivers, including the Euphrates, are drastically low. The Mississippi River can carry only a third of the barge traffic it once did due to low water. And the growing distrust of government is global. The deep state’s ability to rule is being challenged by more and more people. All of these sound like part of the Bowl Judgments. Perhaps we’re already there, but I still suspect the Bowls are emptied in conjunction with His return.
And then it is finished. The “world’s” armies—more likely the Muslim armies—have congregated against Israel. The battle for Jerusalem rages. The stuff hits the fan, and Christ returns.
As I mentioned in my previous post on Armageddon, Rev 16:16 is the only mention of Armageddon in the Bible. This is the War of Gog and Magog described best in Ezekiel 38-39. We also find descriptions of this final battle in Rev 17-20. While Gog and Magog are explicitly mentioned in Rev 20:8, John uses this imagery from Ezekiel in chapters 17, 18, and 19, too.
We’ll touch on this again in two weeks as we look at the great harlot and the beast. However, next week, as we enter the Christmas season, I’d like to step back to Chapter 12 and look at how those verses help pinpoint the date and time of Jesus’ birth. Hint: it wasn’t in December.