Sunday School Notes: Revelation 16: Introduction
We started our study of chapter 16 by reading through the entire chapter, and making some general observations about the bowls.
First, this is the last of the three (or four if we count the “thunders” in 10:3-4 that John was told to seal up and not write down) sets of seven judgments. There were the seven seals in 6:1-17 and 8:1, the seven trumpets in 8:2-9:20 and 11:15-19, and now the seven bowls that occupy the entirety of chapter 16. It’s notable that all three end with the Last Day, which suggests some kind of parallelism going on.
Another striking feature of these judgments is the way they correspond to some extent with the plagues the Lord sent against Pharaoh and Egypt in Exodus 7-12. This correspondence is less pronounced in the seals judgments, but certainly more noticeable with both the trumpets and the bowls. We laid them out in a chart:
| TRUMPETS | BOWLS | PLAGUES | |
| 1 | Hail, fire, blood | Sores | Boils (Ex. 9:8-12); Hail and fire (Ex.9:22-26) |
| 2 | Sea becomes blood; 1/3 sea creatures die | Sea becomes blood; all sea creatures die | Water turned to blood (Ex 7:17-25) |
| 3 | 1/3 of rivers + fountains poisoned | Rivers and fountains turned to blood | Ex. 7:17-25 again |
| 4 | 1/3 of sun, moon, stars go dark | Sun affected; scorches people | Darkness (Ex. 10:21-23); Fire (Ex. 9:21-26) |
| 5 | Darkness from smoke; locusts | Beast’s kingdom darkened; anguish | Locusts (Ex. 10:4-20); Darkness (Ex. 10:21-23) |
| 6 | Angels @ Eurphrates; 1/3 people killed | Euphrates dries up; Frogs | Frogs (Ex. 8:2-15) |
| 7 | Kingdom comes; lightning, thunder, earthquake, hail | “It is done.” Thunder, lightning, earthquake, hail | Hail (Ex. 9:22-24) |
The parallels are not precise, but that’s to be expected. The visions given to John by the Lord are not simply a replay of the Exodus plagues. The Lord is creating a connection between the historical Exodus and these visions. Why? Because of what the Exodus foreshadowed. In the Exodus event, we see God bring judgment against Egypt, Pharaoh, and the Egyptian deities (i.e., the idolatry of Egypt). We also see God redeeming His people, breaking their bondage to Pharaoh, and leading them through the desert to the Promised Land. This key moment in Israel’s history is a picture of our redemption in Christ, the centerpiece being the Passover, which ultimately symbolizes Christ’s sacrificial death on behalf of his people.
What John sees in these visions is a picture of God’s judgment against the “earth-dwellers,” those who worship the Beast, and reject the Lamb. It’s also a picture of God’s loving provision for His own, those whose names are in the Lamb’s Book of Life, who wear his name on their foreheads. This protection is not an earthly, worldly protection. As we will see in chapter 17, those who run after the Beast despair when the riches and power are stripped away, and the full wrath of God is poured out upon them. God’s people, however, know that this world is passing. In the grand scheme of eternity, this life is a blip. It doesn’t matter what happens to them in this world, because their sins have been paid for, and their lives are in Christ. Through him, they have security, and heavenly promises that make the things of this world pale in comparison.
We’ve discussed before whether or not there’s a chronology to these visions. Our view is that these visions were given to John one after the other, but the sequence in which John sees them does not necessarily map to an actual chronological sequence. Rather, John is seeing vignettes, glimpses at things the Lord wishes to show him. The seals, trumpets, and bowls are not all judgments yet to come, but most are judgments that have happened, and will continue until the Lord returns. I think it’s possible to see an intensification in the global turmoil that happens as the Lord lifts His hand of restraint and pours out His judgment, both in terms of the progression from the first seal/trumpet/bowl to the seventh, and from the seals to the bowls. But all these judgments cover the same time period. This is why we see correspondence and parallels between them.
The most striking parallel is the the fact that they all end with the Last Day. Both the seals and the trumpets are quite explicit that the Lord’s return happens on the seventh seal/trumpet. I think this is also the case with the seventh bowl, since with that bowl, the Lord declares “It is done.” This suggests quite strongly that the seals, trumpets, and bowls all finish at the same time.
As we turn to the bowls, notice that the bowls are called “the bowls of the wrath of God.” This is not God’s indiscriminate judgment on an undeserving people. As Ephesians 2:1-3 reminds us, we are all children of wrath by nature, sinful and rebellious, and deserving of God’s righteous anger. It’s only by His grace in Christ that He turns His wrath away from any of us. Jesus’s death for our sin satisfies the wrath of God, so there is peace between the Christian and God. For those who are left to account for their own sin, God’s wrath remains upon them.
We’ll begin digging into Revelation 16 next time…
