Commentary - Revelation 16:1-2

Bird's-eye view

In Revelation 16, we arrive at the third and final series of seven judgments: the bowls of God's wrath. The seals and the trumpets contained within them an element of warning, a call to repentance. But here, with the bowls, the time for warnings is past. This is the final, concentrated, and rapid outpouring of God's judicial fury upon a world that has hardened its heart, taken the mark of the beast, and set itself in defiant opposition to the Lamb. The language is one of finality. This is not remedial discipline; this is retributive justice. The chapter opens with a loud command from the very sanctuary of God, initiating a sequence of plagues that systematically dismantle the cosmic order of the beast's kingdom, echoing the plagues on Egypt but with a far greater intensity and scope.

The first bowl, poured out upon the earth, results in loathsome sores upon the worshippers of the beast. This is not an indiscriminate judgment. It is surgically precise, falling only on those who have declared their allegiance to the anti-Christian world system. It is a physical manifestation of their spiritual corruption, a sign that the covenant curses they have chosen are now coming upon them in full measure. This is the beginning of the great un-creation, where the world that has rejected its Creator is judicially abandoned to the consequences of that rebellion.

Outline

Context In Revelation

The bowl judgments are the climax of the sequences of seven that structure the book of Revelation. They are introduced in chapter 15, where the seven angels receive the seven golden bowls "full of the wrath of God." This follows the vision of the saints victorious on the sea of glass, singing the song of Moses and the Lamb. Their victory song celebrates the justice of God's ways, which is precisely what is about to be demonstrated. The bowls are God's answer to the prayers of the martyrs ("How long, O Lord?") and the defiant idolatry of the beast's kingdom. Unlike the trumpets, which affected a "third" of the earth, sea, and so on, the bowls appear to be more total in their effect. They represent the final harvest of wrath, for which the world has been ripening.

Key Issues

Beginning: The Goodness of God's Wrath

Modern sensibilities are often offended by the doctrine of God's wrath. We prefer a God who is all soft sentiment and no hard edges, a celestial grandfather who would never dream of bringing real judgment. But this is a caricature, a god of our own making. The God of the Bible is holy, and because He is holy, He hates evil. His wrath is not an uncontrolled, capricious rage, but rather His settled, righteous, and holy opposition to all sin and rebellion. A god who does not hate sin is not a good god. A god who is indifferent to the persecution of his saints, to the murder of the unborn, to rampant idolatry, is not worthy of worship.

The wrath of God is the other side of the love of God. Because He loves righteousness, He must hate unrighteousness. Because He loves His people, He must judge their oppressors. The bowls of wrath in Revelation are not a blemish on God's character; they are a demonstration of it. They show us that God is just, that He keeps His covenant promises, and that sin will not have the last word. This is terrifying news for those in rebellion, but it is a profound comfort for those who have taken refuge in Christ, who bore the full measure of this wrath for us at the cross.

The Voice from the Sanctuary

1 Then I heard a loud voice from the sanctuary, saying to the seven angels, "Go and pour out on the earth the seven bowls of the wrath of God."

The command comes from the sanctuary, the naos, the inner holy place, the very throne room of God. This is crucial. These judgments are not some rogue cosmic event or a case of nature running amok. They are initiated from the control center of the universe. This is holy business. The voice is loud, signifying a public, authoritative, and undeniable decree. There is no ambiguity here. The command is simple and direct: "Go." The time for delay is over. The angels are commanded to pour out the bowls containing the wrath of God. This is not human anger or demonic fury; it is the righteous indignation of the Holy One. The target is the earth, which in this context should be understood not as the entire planet in a geological sense, but as the organized world system that stands in opposition to God, the political and cultural landscape dominated by the beast.

The First Plague: Corrupt Bodies

2 So the first angel went and poured out his bowl on the earth; and it became a loathsome and malignant sore on the people who have the mark of the beast and who worship his image.

The obedience is immediate. The first angel went and poured out his bowl. The effect is a loathsome and malignant sore. The Greek speaks of a foul and evil ulcer. This is a direct echo of the sixth plague on Egypt (Exod. 9:9-11), the plague of boils. Just as Pharaoh's magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils, so the followers of the beast are afflicted by a plague that marks them out. Their spiritual corruption, their allegiance to a diseased system, now manifests itself in a physical corruption. Their bodies are reflecting the state of their souls.

And notice the precision. The sore comes on the people who have the mark of the beast and who worship his image. This is not friendly fire. God's judgments are not sloppy. The saints, who have the seal of God on their foreheads (Rev. 7:3), are exempt from this wrath. This is the great antithesis in action. You are either marked by the beast for damnation or sealed by God for salvation. There is no middle ground. This plague reveals that those who sought security and prosperity by identifying with the beast have in fact signed up for corruption and pain. Their mark of allegiance has become a beacon for judgment.

Key Words

Thymos, "Wrath"

The Greek word used here for wrath is thymos. While the New Testament uses another word for wrath, orge, which can refer to a more settled indignation, thymos often denotes a more passionate, intense, boiling anger. It is the fury of God overflowing. It communicates the fierceness and intensity of the final judgment. This is not a cold, detached process; it is the white hot holiness of God consuming the dross of rebellion.

Helkos, "Sore"

The Greek helkos means an ulcer or a festering sore. It is used in the Septuagint to describe the boils of the Egyptian plague and the sores of Job. It signifies a painful, foul, and debilitating affliction. It is a fitting external sign for the internal rottenness of idolatry. Those who worshipped the beast's image are now made into a grotesque image themselves, marked by foulness.

Context: The Egyptian Plague Parallel

The parallels between the bowl judgments and the plagues on Egypt are unmistakable and intentional. The first bowl (sores) mirrors the sixth Egyptian plague (boils). Later bowls will turn water to blood (first plague) and bring darkness (ninth plague). John is showing his readers that the conflict between the Church and the pagan Roman empire is a new Exodus. God is judging the new Egypt (Rome) just as He judged the old one. He is demonstrating His power over the false gods of the empire and is acting to deliver His covenant people. This framework would have been a profound encouragement to the first century Christians suffering under persecution, assuring them that God was on His throne and that their persecutors were standing on the wrong side of a covenant lawsuit they were destined to lose.

Application

The message of the bowls of wrath is a severe one, but it is a necessary one. First, it teaches us to take God's holiness seriously. Our God is a consuming fire, and we are not to trifle with sin or compromise with the world's idolatries. We must flee all that bears the "mark of the beast," which is to say, any allegiance that rivals our allegiance to Christ.

Second, this passage is a great comfort to the believer. God's judgments are not random. He knows His own, and He protects them. While the world reels under the consequences of its rebellion, those who are sealed by God are secure. Our security is not in our circumstances, but in our identity in Christ.

Finally, the reality of God's wrath should fuel our evangelism. The gospel is the good news that there is a shelter from this coming storm. Jesus Christ took the full bowl of God's wrath upon Himself at the cross so that all who trust in Him might be spared. We have the only message of deliverance. Therefore, seeing the terror of the Lord, we persuade men.