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Grace & Peace: Revelation 92

Douglas Wilson on

“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16:11).

“And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea; and it became as the blood of a dead man: and every living soul died in the sea” (Rev. 16:3).

As numerous commenters have pointed out, the second bowl of wrath is similar to the judgment that was delivered through the second trumpet. The difference has to do with the extent of the judgment. With the trumpet judgment, when the great mountain was pitched into the sea, a third of the sea became blood (Rev. 8:8). The judgment was partial. Here the judgment is complete. Not only did the sea in its entirety become blood, but it was like the blood of a dead man—putrefying, coagulated, and clotted.

This is still the final horror falling upon the Jews in revolt, and it is reminiscent of the plague that helped destroy Egypt—with Judea now being the new Egypt. In the first plague to afflict Egypt, the Nile turned to blood (Ex. 7:17-21).

A part of the fulfillment of this prediction by John may have happened at the Sea of Galilee, where Josephus recalls one encounter. Remember that this Sea was where Jesus often taught, and where many of His disciples had made their living.

“They were killed by the darts on the lake; and the Romans leaped out of their vessels, and destroyed a great many more upon the land: one might then see the lake all bloody, and full of dead bodies, for not one of them escaped. And a terrible stink, and a very sad sight there was on the following days over that country; for as for the shores, they were full of shipwrecks, and of dead bodies all swelled; and as the dead bodies were inflamed by the sun, and putrefied, they corrupted the air . . . (Wars, III.10.9, emphasis mine).

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Grace & Peace: Revelation 91

Douglas Wilson on

“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16:11).

“And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, Go your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth. And the first went, and poured out his vial upon the earth; and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshipped his image” (Rev. 16:1–2).

No one could go into the heavenly Temple until after all seven bowls were poured out (Rev. 15:8), and so that must mean that the great voice coming out of the Temple here is the voice of God Himself. The fact that He gives all seven angels their marching orders all at once would seem to indicate that these bowls of judgment are poured out in quick order, in rapid succession.

The effects of these seven emptied bowls run parallel to the effects of the seven trumpets blown earlier. But while the seven trumpets tended to partial destructions measured in thirds, the impact of the bowls is more complete and total. We have arrived at the crescendo, and Jerusalem is about to be no more.

In addition, we see that there are similarities with the plagues that had destroyed Egypt at the time of the Exodus (Ex. 9:8-12), and the meaning of this appears to be that the old Jerusalem has become her ancient adversary Egypt, and that the hated Christians were about to be delivered through a new Exodus, and were to take their place as the new Israel.

Those Jews who had the mark of the beast—who had cried that they had no king but Caesar—were afflicted with grievous sores. They prided themselves on being free from idolatry, but they were in fact in bondage to idolatry. These sores appeared on those who “worshiped his image.” This particular plague in response to covenantal infidelity had been promised to Israel centuries before, and in a way that linked them with Egypt.

“The Lord will smite thee with the botch of Egypt, and with the emerods, and with the scab, and with the itch, whereof thou canst not be healed . . . The Lord shall smite thee in the knees, and in the legs, with a sore botch that cannot be healed, from the sole of thy foot unto the top of thy head” (Deut. 28:27, 35).

Deuteronomy says that they are sores that cannot be healed, and that would appear to be the case here. The sores appear at the first bowl of wrath, but those afflicted with them are still suffering from them when the fifth bowl is poured out (v. 11).

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Grace & Peace: Revelation 90

Douglas Wilson on

“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16:11).

“And after that I looked, and, behold, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened: And the seven angels came out of the temple, having the seven plagues, clothed in pure and white linen, and having their breasts girded with golden girdles. And one of the four beasts gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials full of the wrath of God, who liveth for ever and ever. And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.” (Rev. 15:5–8).

The final moments of Jerusalem are upon her. John looked, and the sanctuary was opened, and judgment came out of her. That sanctuary is described in quite an interesting way—the “temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven.” The word for temple may refer to the inner sanctum, the holy of holies, which the tabernacle in the wilderness had, just as Solomon’s temple did. Putting it all together, the angels came out of the holy of holies in the heavenly tabernacle. They came out of the holy of holies, where the testimony was kept—the ark of the covenant, capped with the mercy seat, was called the ark of the testimony (Ex. 25:22). When merciless judgment comes to you from the place of the mercy seat, you know that things are pretty bad.

The angels emerged, bringing the seven plagues with them. They were dressed in pure white linen, and had golden sashes wrapped around their chests. Although they came with the seven plagues, one of the four living creatures gave them seven bowls, filled up with the wrath of God. The wrath belongs to the God who lives forever and ever. The word translated vial in the AV is better rendered as bowl, and appears to match with the earlier bowls filled with incense, that is, the prayers of the saints (Rev. 5:8). Combine this with the prayers that the saints under the altar offered up (Rev. 6:9), and you can see the convergence of answered prayer and the wrath of God. Earlier they had asked, how long? And now that the bowls are handed out to the angels, God’s answer to their question is now.

The glory of God, and the power of God, were manifested in the temple in the form of smoke. This is what had happened at the dedication of the tabernacle in the wilderness (Ex. 40:34-35), and at the dedication of Solomon’s temple (1 Kings 8:10-11). In this instance, with no one able to enter the heavenly temple because of the smoke, it appears to be a symbolic way of saying that intercession for Jerusalem is no longer a possibility. The judgment is going to fall, and fall heavily now.

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Grace & Peace: Revelation 87

Douglas Wilson on

“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16:11).

“And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name. Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus” (Rev. 14:9–12).

A third angel arrives and delivers his warning in a loud voice. This warning concerns anyone who worships the beast and/or the image of the beast. This would be done by receiving the mark of the beast on the forehead or on the hand. Taking such a mark is an indication of total dedication, total allegiance. That being the case, God’s response to this impudence is total judgment.

We saw earlier that those who refused this mark were denied the privilege of buying and selling (Rev. 13:17). But those who take the mark are given the wine of the wrath of God to drink. It is the wine of wrath (thymos), and it is poured into the cup of wrath (orge), and it is poured in an unmixed form into the cup they must drink from. In this life, the wrath of God is revealed against the ungodliness of men (Rom. 1:18), but in this life it is always mixed with common grace. The ancients used to dilute wine with water in order to “cut” it, and they also used to add spices to their wine in order to increase the kick. The two words used here refer to both practices, one in reverse. This wine is mingled with spices and unmixed with water. It is a hard drink.

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Grace & Peace: Revelation 86

Douglas Wilson on

“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16:11).

“And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication” (Rev. 14:8).

This is the first place in the Revelation where the name Babylon makes its entrance. The Babylon that is introduced in this place has her fall actually described a few chapters later, in chapter 18. A great deal of ink has been spilled in trying to identify this Babylon, and both here and in the sections that follow I will hazard my reasons for supposing Babylon to be Jerusalem—the city doomed to destruction throughout the course of this entire book.

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