Revelation 17:3

 So he carried me away in the Spirit into the wilderness.  And I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast which was full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and then horns.

·        The Harlot will “sit on many waters” (v. 1) or will have authority over “peoples, multitudes, nations and tongues”, as interpreted by the angel (v. 15). She will do this by seducing and controlling the world’s most powerful religious, political and economic leaders through global networks. It is both a religious network (Rev. 17) and an economic network based in the rebuilt city of Babylon in Iraq (Rev. 18).

·        The kings of the earth (political leaders) will be privy to some of the lies that empower the Harlot system, yet ascribe to it for money, honor and power. They will support her agenda and knowingly promote her lies to the masses for the sake of their own gain. In this way, they will knowingly “prostitute themselves” or “commit fornication” with her in knowingly supporting her deception for money (Rev. 17:2; 18:3, 9).

 Isaiah 23:17  And it shall be, at the end of seventy years, that the LORD will deal with Tyre.  She will return to her hire, and commit fornication with all the kingdoms of the world on the face of the earth.

 Psalm 75:10  All the horns of the wicked I will also cut off, but the horns of the righteous shall be exalted.

Revelation 17:1-2

 Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and talked with me, saying to me, “Come, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters, with whom the kings of the earth committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk with the wine of her fornication.”

·        This is a new vision (MH)

·        A “great sign” in heaven speaks of a sign that had to be interpreted (Rev. 12:9, 17; 17:7, 12) and as having great significance. This is the first of three signs in the book of Revelation (Rev. 12:1, 3; 15:1).

 Jeremiah 51:7  Babylon was a golden cup in the LORD’S hand, that made all the earth drunk.  The nations drank her wine; therefore the nations are deranged.

Psalm 9:7  But the LORD shall endure forever; He has prepared His throne for judgment.

Revelation 16:20-21

 Then every island fled away, and the mountains were not found.

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.

·        They were so from repenting that they blasphemed God who thus punished them (MH)

·        The great hailstones of the seventh bowl have been reserved by God for centuries (Job 38:22-23). God asked Job if he knew about the “treasury of hail” that He has reserved for the day of battle when He judges His enemies (Ps. 78:47; 105:32-33; 148:8).

 Exodus 9:23  And Moses stretched out his rod toward heaven; and the LORD sent thunder and hail, and fire darted to the ground.  And the LORD rained hail on the land of Egypt.

Psalm 89:23  I will beat down his foes before his face, and plague those who hate him.

 

Revelation 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.

·        The fall of Babylon (the great city) is more explicitly described in Revelation 17 and 18. Here, it is enough to say that God gives her the cup of the wine of the fierceness (the ancient Greek word thymos, describing a passionate outburst of anger) of His wrath (the ancient Greek word orge, describing a standing state of anger).  (DG)

·        “The combination of thymos and orge connotes the strongest kind of outpouring of divine judgment.” (Walvoord)

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.

Jeremiah 25:15, 16  For thus says the LORD God of Israel to me:  “Take this wine cup of fury from My hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send you, to drink it.  And they will drink and stagger and go mad because of the sword that I will send among them.”

Revelation 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.

·        This bowl releases the greatest earthquake in human history, shaking every city on earth, including the two “great cities” of Jerusalem and Babylon (Rev. 11:8; 14:8). It continues by removing every mountain and island, while releasing a flurry of great hailstones upon men (100-120 lbs.).

·        A great earthquake will occur in Israel at the 7th bowl strategically dividing it into three parts (Ezek. 38:19; Zech. 14:5; Joel 2:10; 3:15; Rev. 16:19).

 Daniel 12:1  ….and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation….

Isaiah 29:6  You will be punished by the LORD of hosts with thunder and earthquake and great noise, with storm and tempest and the flame of devouring fire.

 

Revelation 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!”

·        It is a great gift of God to show us the end of the story.

·        Jesus wins, the saints will be vindicated and the Antichrist’s empire will be openly defeated, as the consequences of sin are judged forever. In our shortsightedness we get weighed down with the cares of life. Jesus says, “See, I have told you beforehand” (Mt. 24:25), as if to say, “I care about your heart being connected to Mine, as the end-time drama unfolds”.

 Psalm 11:4  The LORD is in His holy temple, the LORD’S throne is in heaven; His eyes behold, His eyelids test the sons of men.

Ezekiel 39:8 Surely it is coming, and it shall be done, says the Lord GOD, “This is the day of which I have spoken.

Revelation 16:16

 And they gathered them together to the place called in Hebrew, Armageddon.

·        The English word “Armageddon” appears only once in the Bible (Rev. 16:16). It is the place where God will gather all the nations to go to war against Him. It is the military staging area.

·        The English word “Armageddon” comes from the Hebrew “Harmagedon” or “Har Magedon”, which means the hill of Megiddo. The Hebrew “har” means “hill-country”. Thus, “Har Magedon” is the hill-country of Megiddo.  Megiddo is a town in the valley of Jezreel (or Esdraelon) in northern Israel about sixty miles north of Jerusalem. The valley is about fifteen miles wide and twenty miles long.

 Joel 3:2  I will also gather all nations, and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat, and I will enter into judgment with them there…..

Zechariah 12:11 In that day there shall be a great mourning in Jerusalem, like the mourning at Hada Rimmon in the plain of Megiddo.

Revelation 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.”

·        When God’s cause comes to be tried, and His battles to be fought, all His people shall be ready and be faithful and valiant in His service (MH)

·        Garments are pictures of spiritual and practical righteousness. We are given the righteousness of Jesus as a garment (Galatians 3:27), but we are also called to “put on” the nature of Jesus in terms of practical holiness (Ephesians 4:20-24). Above all, we must not be “naked” - that is, without a covering, or trying to provide our own covering like Adam and Eve (Genesis 3:7), which is like filthy rags in the sight of God (Isaiah 64:6).  (DG)

Joel 2:9  They run to and fro in the city, they run on the wall; they climb into the houses, they enter at the windows like a thief.

Psalm 130:6  My soul waits for the Lord more than those who watch for the morning – yes, more than those who watch for the morning.

Revelation 16:14

 For they are spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out of the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.

·        Satan will rally the nations armies and resources in his deep arrogance of defeating Jesus at Armageddon in attempting to establish his throne in Jerusalem forever

·        The kings of the earth will gather to make war against Jesus to satisfy their “lust” for more money, power, land, etc.

 1 Kings 22:21-23 …..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  us.

Zephaniah 3:8  Therefore wait for Me, says the LORD, until the day I rise up for plunger; My determination is to gather the nations to My assembly of kingdoms, to pour on them My indignation, all My fierce anger; all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of My jealousy.

Revelation 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.

·        In the 6th bowl, “unclean spirits like frogs” come out of the mouth of Satan, the Antichrist and the false prophet. They will seduce kings with their words, being confirmed by supernatural miracles.

·        Demon spirits will deceive the governmental leaders of the earth with miracles (Mt. 24:24; Rev. 13:13-14; 2 Thes. 2:9-10). The nations will be accustomed to supernatural activity with many false christs, teachers and prophets (Mt. 24:5, 11).     

Deuteronomy 13:5  But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has spoken in order to turn you away from the LORD your God…..

Psalm 78:45  He sent swarms of flies among them, which devoured them, and frogs, which destroyed them.

Revelation 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.

·        The sixth bowl involves God giving over the nations to the full power of their wicked choices on a global scale. God gives people over to increasingly greater evil if they continue to persist in sin to the point where they do not want to and therefore can no longer respond to the Spirit (Mt. 7:8; Rom. 1:24-28; 2 Thes. 2:11).

·        God wants no neutral nation, as He gathers them all to Jerusalem, forcing them to declare what is in their hearts toward Jesus’ leadership. Joel calls this the “valley of decision” (Joel 3:14).

 Isaiah 41:2  Who raised up one from the eat?  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?

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.

Revelation 16:11

 They blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and did not repent of their deeds.

·        The impact will affect the energy, light, temperature, mental, emotional and physical health, agriculture, navigation, environment, etc. This is a physical, spiritual and moral darkness.

·        As God’s judgments increase, their hatred and blasphemy increase, coming out fully into the open. Many times we are troubled by Jesus’ wrath while trying to reconcile the Jesus of Christmas and the Jesus of Armageddon. Therefore, He creates the optimum context for the heart of men to be fully revealed. They don’t say, “We’re sorry forgive us”, they say, “We hate you!” In the day of testing the truth of the heart is revealed. God won’t violate human freewill or make eternal beings disappear.

 Psalm 74:10  O God, how long will the adversary reproach?  Will the enemy blaspheme Your name forever?

Jeremiah 18:8  If that nation against whom I have spoken turns from its evil, I will repent of the disaster that I thought to bring upon it.

Revelation 16:10

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.

·        The fifth bowl targets the geographic seat of the Antichrist kingdom causing great pain. God will turn all the lights out in the Antichrist’s empire.

·        The impact will affect the energy, light, temperature, mental, emotional and physical health, agriculture, navigation, environment, etc. This is a physical, spiritual and moral darkness.

 Exodus 10:22  So Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven, and there was thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days.