Revelation 16:8-21

⁸ Then the fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and power was given to him to scorch men with fire. ⁹ And men were scorched with great heat, and they blasphemed the name of God who has power over these plagues; and they did not repent and give Him glory.

The fourth plague is the sun.  Its heat is greatly intensified and it burns everyone.  There is no fresh water and now there is great heat.  Fires will be started and be unable to be put out. 

All people have had sores, the sea is blood, all water is blood, and now the land is on fire.  Even so, the people do not repent and acknowledge the one true living God.  Like Pharoah, they refuse to accept that God is the one with power over this world.

¹⁰ Then the fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and his kingdom became full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues because of the pain. ¹¹ They blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and did not repent of their deeds.

The fifth plague is the destruction of the worship to the beast or Antichrist.  That one world religion, economy, and government is destroyed into darkness.  It is not a light to any person.  The people bite their tongues in agony over watching their god be destroyed and they blaspheme (cuss, swear) at the one true God.  Their pride will not be broken.

They do not repent of their deeds.  This is the last time this is said.  The time for unbelievers to believe is passed.  They loved their sin and their false gods more than the Lamb who would save them. 

¹² 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.

The sixth bowl is to prepare the place for the final battle.  The Euphrates river is dried up so everyone can make it to the party.  Three demons come from Satan, the Antichrist, and the False Prophet to fool the world that remains so they will gather to battle.  Frogs are seen as unclean animals (Lev. 10,411) and these spirits are unclean and not of God.  They will do miraculous signs and this should be a warning to us that not all who do amazing signs is of God.

Here in the middle of this is the third beatitude in Revelation.  “Blessed is he who watches [for Him], and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame.”  1 Thessalonians 5:2 tells us “For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.”  Jesus told us “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. … Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.  But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into.  Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” (Matthew 24:36, 42-44)

There is a blessing for those that look for His coming and are not taken by surprise.  They stay ready and remain clothed in His Spirit.  This should be a warning for us to not let our spiritual vigilance to wane as we walk daily.  Don’t fall into bad habits or start walking and doing as the world does.  Be ready!

¹⁷ 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.

The seventh plague is the shaking of the whole earth.  It is prepared for His coming. 

At the seventh Seal and the seventh Trumpet there were thunderings and lightnings and earthquakes.  Now there is an earthquake of such that the earth has never known one so violent.  

Babylon, the culture that has always opposed God, is remembered and she will have to drink her own cup of wrath. 

The descriptions of the upheaval on the earth is unlike we’ve read before.  Every mountain crumbles and all the islands are broken or covered.  The largest hail on record is 1.93 pounds.  The Greek talent was 56 pounds and the Jewish talent was 114 pounds.  Men curse God because of the hail.  They hate Him so much that they curse Him with their dying breath.

I find it interesting that here in these plagues that it has been stated three times that all man cursed God and blamed Him for their pain.  Today, I see the society around me cursing God for His morality.  The world wants to do what it wants to do and it does not want God’s morality lingering over it as a judge on their actions.  The world is already setting itself up to blame God for their “pain”.  Unfortunately, it is blindly proceeding down an ominous path towards pain we can’t imagine.

Ironically, in order to curse God, you have to acknowledge that He exists.  Once you acknowledge that God exists, you believe in Him.  Yet, they do not turn to Him for salvation.  Believing in God alone is not enough to be saved.  James 2:19 tell us “You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble!”

There must be repentance.  Their must be a submission of one’s heart to God where you are depending upon the work of His Son Jesus to pay for your sins.  There must be faith in God and the Christ.