The sixth angel poured his bowl
into that great river, the Euphrates;
and its stream was dried up in order to clear the way
for the kings who are to come from the east.
Then I saw three foul spirits, resembling frogs, issue
from the mouth of the dragon,
from the mouth of the Wild beast,
and from the mouth of the false Prophet.
For they are the spirits of demons working miracles --
spirits that go out to control the kings of the whole earth,
to assemble them for the battle which is to take place
on the great day of God, the Ruler of all.
(“I am coming like a thief.
Blessed is the man who keeps awake
and guards his raiment for fear he walk about naked,
and men see his shame.”)
And assemble them they did
at the placed called in Hebrew:
Then the seventh angel poured his bowl
into the air;
and a loud voice came out of the sanctuary
from the throne, saying,
Flashes of lightning followed,
and loud blasts, and peals of thunder,
and an earthquake more dreadful than
there had ever been since there was a man upon the earth
--so terrible was it, and so great!
The great city was split into three parts;
the cities of the nations fell;
and great Babylon came into remembrance before God,
for Him to make her drink from the wine cup of His fierce anger.
Every island fled away,
and there was not a mountain anywhere to be seen.
And heavy hail, that seemed to be a talent in weight,
fell from the sky upon the people;
and they spoke evil of God
on account of the plague of the hail
--because the plague of it was exceedingly severe
Sixth Bowl: Euphrates Dried Up
16:12 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.
- Why would the God of Israel bring all the nations to fight Israel? Because the God of Israel has been rejected by
Israel and He is going to get Israel’s attention and He will show Himself to be the Grater Moses as He marches in and
delivers them. God is setting it up.
- This is the 20th most severe judgments of all the ones before it – this one is more severe than the 19 before it.
What is so severe about the Euphrates River drying up?
- And why would the kings of the East spend billions of dollars to send hundreds of thousands of soldiers to Israel?
- Euphrates is the boundary line between land, promised land, and the enemies of Israel
- The Euphrates River was a natural protective boundary against the empires to the east. (LB)
- The sixth bowl is the assembling of the nations to come to Jerusalem to fight Jesus, not the Jews. Jesus is on the
ground at this time.
- The kings of the earth saw the supernatural sign of the Son of Man in the sky, but wrongly interpreted it as a demonic
sign of a false messiah coming to disrupt the kingdoms of the earth. Thus, they join their efforts with the antichrist’s to fight
a common enemy. Both armies are accustomed to supernatural activity, thus the antichrist’s armies believe they will win
against a supernatural foe.
- The people discomfited and all impediments removed (AC)
- The sixth bowl has wrath in allowing men to be seduced into the final battle of the Armageddon campaign.
- The armies of the east symbolize unhindered judgment (LB)
- East – rising of the sun (NAS)
References: Revelation 9:14; 7:2; Jeremiah 50:38 (A drought is against her waters, and they will be dried up. For it is the land of carved
images, and they are insane with their idols); Isaiah 41:2 (Who raised up one from the east? Who in righteousness called him to His feet? Who
gave the nations before him, and made him rule over kings? Who gave them as the dust to his sword, as driven stubble to his bow?), 25 (I have
raised up one from the north, and he shall come; from the rising of the sun he shall call on My name; and he shall come against princes as though
mortar, as the potter treads clay); 46:11 (Calling a bird of prey from th east, the man who executes My counsel, from a far country. Indeed I have
spoken it; I will also bring it to pass. I have purposed it; I will also do it.); Isaiah 11:15 (And the Lord will utterly destroy the tongue of the Sea of
Egypt; and He will wave His hand over the River with His scorching wind; and He will strike it into seven streams, and make men walk over dry
shod); 44:27 (It is I who says to the depth of the sea, ‘Be dried up!’ And I will make your rivers dry.); Jeremiah 51:32, 36 (Therefore thus says the
Lord, “Behold, I am going to plead your case and exact full vengeance for you; and I shall dry up her sea and make her fountain dry.)
16:13 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.
- Demons will deceive the kings of the earth to come to Armageddon.
- ‘Mouths’ are emphasized to point to the words of these three that entice the governments of the earth.
- They talk of liberty, but it is not Gospel liberty, but license for lust (JFB)
- Out of the mouth of the ‘false prophet’ is lying spiritualism and religious delusion, which shall take the place of the
harlot when she shall have been destroyed (JFB)
- The fact that the evil spirits come from their mouths symbolizes that they are false teachings (TB)
- From the mouths of the unholy trinity (Z)
- These would muster up the devil’s forces for a decisive battle. They will work pretended miracles. (MH)
- Evil spirits which persuade the kings of the earth by lying miracles to come forth to the place of general slaughter (AC)
- Frogs are classified as an unclean animal. The imagery suggest the deceptive propaganda that will, in the last days,
lead people to accept and support the cause of evil (NIV)
- The dragon, the beast, and the false prophet, “the mystery of iniquity” form a blasphemous anti-trinity, the counterfeit
of ‘the mystery of godliness’ God manifests in Christ, witnessed to by the Spirit (JFB)
References: 1 John 4:1 (Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have
gone out into the world); Revelation 12:3, 9; 13:1, 11, 14; 18:2; 19:20; 20:10; Exodus 8:6 (So Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of
Egypt, and the frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt)
16:14 For they are spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out to the kings of the whole world,
to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.
- Whole world – inhabited earth (NAS)
- The demons which come from the mouths of the three evil rulers signify the verbal enticements and propaganda that
will draw many people to their evil causes. (LB)
- God, in permitting satan’s miracles, as in the case of the Egyptian magicians who were His instruments in hardening
Pharaoh’s heart, gives the reprobate up to judicial delusion preparatory to their destruction. With the ‘frogs’ their power
ceased. So this, or whatever is antitypical to it, will be the last effort of the dragon, beast, and false prophet (JFB)
References: 2 Thessalonians 2:9 (The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders);
Luke 2:1 (And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered); 1 Kings
22:21-23 (Then a spirit came forward and stood before the Lord and said, ‘I will persuade him’. The Lord said to him, ‘In what way?’ So he said,
‘I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ And the Lord said, “You shall persuade him, and also prevail. Go out and do so.’
“Therefore look! The Lord has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these prophets of yours, and the Lord has declared disaster against you.);
Revelation 3:10; 6:17: 13:13; 17:14; 19:19; 20:8; 1Timothy 4:1 (But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith,
paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons)
16:15 “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.”
- A parenthetic announcement by Christ (Z)
- Jesus interjected that He was coming as a thief. This is primarily directed to the Body of Christ to understand before
the broad Day of the Lord activity starts. The Church will not be taken unaware after the 19 judgment events prior.
- Jesus warns that the broad Day of the Lord pressures would start suddenly so they must now develop a root system
before all the crisis begins. He who watches and keeps his garments
- Here is a sudden but timely warning to put every man on his guard (AC)
- Here is a plain allusion to the office of him who was called the prefect or overseer of the mountain of the Temple.
His custom was to go his rounds during the watches of the night; and if he found any of the Levites sleeping on his watch,
he had authority to beat him with a stick and burn his vestments. Such a person being found on his return home ‘naked’
it was at once known that he had been found asleep at his post, had been beaten, and his clothes burned; thus his ‘shame’
was seen – he was reproached for his infidelity and irreligion (AC)
- Spiritual alertness is here enjoined (Z)
- One of the seven Beatitudes in Revelation
- The third beatitude (NIV) (First was 1:3)
Refernces: Matthew 24:43 (But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched
and not allowed his house to be broken into); Luke 12:37 (Blessed are those slaves whom the master shall find on the alert when he comes;
truly I say to you, that he will gird himself to serve, and have them recline at table, and will come up and wait on them.), 39 (And be sure of this,
that if the head of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have allowed his house to be broken into);
Revelation 3:3, 11, 18; 2 Corinthians 5:3 (if indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked)
16:16 And they gathered them together to the place called in Hebrew, Mount Megiddo.
- Mount Megiddo – Harmageddon (W)
- Armageddon – the mount of the assembly – the destruction of their army (AC) (Z)
- Southeast of the modern port of Haifa (LB)
- This was the place of two remarkable overthrows; that of the kings who oppressed Israel (Judges 5:19) and that of
Josiah and his army (2 Chronicles 35:22-24). (W)
- John uses Armageddon as a symbol of decisive conflict and battle – the struggle of the forces of good against the
forces of evil (TB)
- The Armageddon conflict is about Jerusalem. The whole Armageddon conflict is about Jerusalem. The Armageddon
- campaign – it is a popular thing to call it the battle – but there is no such thing as the Battle of Armageddon. Armageddon
is a campaign that lasts 3 ½ years – it’s not one battle. The decisive battle of the Armageddon Campaign is the battle of
Jerusalem in the final hours. That’s the decisive battle. Armageddon is not a battle – it is a series of battles. Armageddon
is a geographic area – the valley of Megiddo in the northern part of Israel. It is the staging area for the kings of the earth to
gather and for a military king to gather and a staging area up in the north so they can – the ultimate objective is for them to
destroy Jerusalem. And their ultimate objective from the spiritual darkness is so that the leaders of Jerusalem cannot invite
back the Son of David.
References: Revelation 9:11; 19:19; Judges 5:19 (The kings came and fought; then fought the kings of Canaan at Taanach near the waters of
Megiddo; they took no plunder in silver); 2 Kings 23:29 (…And King Josiah went to meet him, and when Pharaoh Neco saw him he killed him at
Megiddo); 2 Chronicles 35:22 (However, Josiah would not turn away from him, but disguised himself in order to make war with him; nor did he
listen to the words of Neco from the mouth of God, but came to make war on the Plain of Megiddo); Zechariah 12:11 (In that day there will be great
mourning in Jerusalem, like the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the plain of Megiddo)
Seventh Bowl: The Earth Utterly Shaken
16:17 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!”
- The seventh bowl is poured out into the air. The air is necessary for the sustaining of life.
- The ‘air’ is the special sphere and dwelling of satan, who is ‘the ruler of the kingdom of the air’ (Ephesians 2:2) (TB)
- The plague falls upon the prince of the power of the air, that is, the devil. Here is a vial poured out upon his kingdom
and he is not able to support his tottering cause and interest any longer (MH)
- “It is done” echoes when Jesus on the cross cried out, “It is finished” on the cross
- A thunderstorm breaks out with spiritual and natural manifestations at the conclusion for each of the three numbered
- judgments
- Evil is now being attacked in its own sphere and in all places. (TB)
- Temple – Sanctuary (NAS)
References: Revelation 10:6; 11:15; 14:15; 21:6; John 19:30; Ephesians 2:2 (in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world,
according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience)
16:18 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.
References: Revelation 4:5; 6:12; 11:13; Daniel 12:1 (At that time Michael shall stand up, the great prince who stands watch over the sons of
your people; and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation, even to that time. And at that time your people
shall be delivered, every one who is found written in the book); Matthew 24:21 (For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been
since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be)
16:19 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.
- There are two great cities in Revelation. All history from God’s point of view is a tale of two cities: Jerusalem and
Babylon
- The battle of Jerusalem is the central conflict going on in the spirit. And it is going to come to such a crescendo of
intensity and it will culminate with the second coming of Jesus as King of the whole earth.
- The centerpiece of God’s purpose: bringing heaven and earth together in Christ Jesus. You don’t get any higher in
Paul’s doctrine than Ephesians 1:9-10. He says, “The mystery – the highpoint – of God’s hidden plan – to bring together
into one – the earthly and the heavenly brought together. Jesus said it the same, way, “On earth as it is in heaven.”
- Jerusalem is the vortex – the center – it’s not just the center of God’s end time drama – it’s more than that. A vortex is
more than a center. A vortex has an energy that pulls everything into the center even against its will. All the nations – every
believer and unbeliever – every ministry – whether they like it or not – every one of them will be engaged in the battle of
Jerusalem even against their will. All of human history – the spirit realm with satan on the dark side and the Spirit realm with
Jesus as the Son of David on the righteous side – they are both focused on the battle and all of their resources are going to
be brought into this swirling energized vortex called the battle for Jerusalem. This is one dimension of the great falling away
because the battle of Jerusalem is going to measure the depth and maturity and sincerity of every believer who professes
the name of Jesus.
References: Revelation 14:8; 17:5, 18; 14:8; 18:5, 10, 18, 21; 11:8; 14:8, 10; 18:5; Isaiah 51:17 (Awake, awake! Stand up, O Jerusalem, you
who have drunk at the hand of the Lord the cup of His fury; you have drunk the dregs of the cup of trembling, and drained it out)
16:20 Then every island fled away, and the mountains were not found.
References: Revelation 6:14; 20:11
16:21 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 earthquake and hail bring men’s hatred to the surface yet again.
- They were so far from repenting that they blasphemed that God who thus punished them (MH)
- The judgment of God is complete. (TB)
References: Revelation 11:19; 8:7; 16:9, 11; Exodus 9:18-25 (….and the hail struck all that was in the field through all the land of Egypt, both
man and beast; the hail also struck every plant of the field and shattered every tree of the field)