Revelation 16:17-21 “Then the seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, "It is done!" (18) And there were noises and thunderings and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such a mighty and great earthquake as had not occurred since men were on the earth. (19) Now the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. And great Babylon was remembered before God, to give her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath. (20) Then every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. (21) And great hail from heaven fell upon men, each hailstone about the weight of a talent. Men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, since that plague was exceedingly great.”
In the same manner that the opening of the seventh seal is manifested in the earth before the opening of the sixth seal, so it is that the pouring out of the seventh bowl is manifested in the earth before the pouring out of the sixth bowl. And so we will examine both the opening of the sixth seal and the pouring out of the sixth bowl in the following section; as they relate to the chronological sequence of events that will take place towards the end of the age. In this section however we want to discuss the seventh bowl of God’s wrath being poured out on the earth and the corresponding judgement that will be initiated because of that bowl’s outpouring. The above quoted passage of scripture describes the angel pouring out the seventh bowl into the air, resulting in two judgements taking place in the earth. The first judgement is the largest earthquake in the history of mankind and the second judgement are great hailstones striking the earth. This passage refers to an earthquake of a magnitude that has never been experienced by mankind before. The earthquake will not be localised to one geographic area, but rather it will impact the whole earth and will be so severe that all the cities of the earth will fall. In other words the tall skyscrapers of today’s cities will be flattened and completely destroyed. This passage goes on to reveal that this earthquake will completely transform the earth, for it speaks of the islands fleeing away and the mountains being no more. The second part of this plague speaks of severe hail in the earth, with hailstones weighing over seven kilograms each and striking the earth at over two hundred kilometres per hour. Mankind has never experienced hailstones of that size; suffice it to say that hailstones of that size and striking the earth at that speed, will easily demolish houses and manmade structures throughout the earth. And so we see that when this last bowl is poured out that God will completely destroy the entire remaining infrastructure in the earth. Again, what is amazing to see in this passage, is that men still choose not to repent of their deeds through all of this and continue to blaspheme God.
Revelation 16:12-16 “Then the sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up, so that the way of the kings from the east might be prepared. (13) And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs coming out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. (14) For they are spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out to the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. (15) "Behold, I am coming as a thief. Blessed is he who watches, and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame." (16) And they gathered them together to the place called in Hebrew, Armageddon.”
As already mentioned in the previous section, the outpouring of the sixth bowl manifests itself chronologically in the natural after the seventh bowl is poured out, which is why we are discussing the sixth bowl’s outpouring in this section. And so in this section we want to discuss the sixth bowl of God’s wrath being poured out on the earth and the corresponding judgement that will be initiated because of that bowl’s outpouring. The above quoted passage of scripture describes the angel pouring out the sixth bowl on the great river Euphrates, resulting in that river’s water being dried up. It is important to note from this passage that this judgement once again focuses only on the kingdom of the anti-Christ. As an aside, it is interesting to note that this passage refers to the water of this river being dried up, thus indicating that by that time the third bowl judgement of the springs and rivers being turned to blood would have ended. This passage teaches us that the reason for the water of the Euphrates River being dried up is to prepare the way for the armies of the kings of the east to join the rest of the armies of the anti-Christ in preparation for the upcoming battle of Armageddon. Don’t forget that by this time there will be no modern military equipment available, and so the armies of the east will need a dry river bed to cross over because they will be marching on foot and horseback and all bridges would have been destroyed during the earthquake. This passage teaches us that in preparation for the upcoming battle, that the dragon (devil), the beast (anti-Christ) and the false prophet will send forth demons into the earth to gather the various kings of the earth to join them in preparation for the upcoming battle. And so we see that because they will be opposed to His reign in the earth, the anti-Christ and his armies will be waiting for the Lord Jesus at Armageddon to do battle with Him when He returns. So which kings will gather to join the anti-Christ against the Lord Jesus and His army? The scripture teaches us that there are ten kings who, being part of his kingdom, will join with the anti-Christ at that time (Revelation 17:12-14). As we have already mentioned, the kingdom of the anti-Christ will be centred on the Muslim nations in the Middle East. And so it is more than likely that the ten kings will be the leaders of the nations of Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman and Turkey. It is the armies of these nations that will be waiting for the Lord Jesus when He returns to the earth. Other than to say that the anti-Christ and his armies will be destroyed at the battle of Armageddon, we will not elaborate on the battle or its outcome in this series, as that event falls into the age of our Lord’s millennial reign, which is discussed in detail in another series on the latter days i.e. “The Millennial Kingdom”.
Michael E.B. Maher
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