It Is Done: The Final Word on History Text: Revelation 16:17-21
Introduction: The End of the Matter
We come now to the end of a sequence, the seventh and final bowl of God's wrath. In the book of Revelation, as in all of Scripture, God communicates in patterns, in sevens, in cycles of judgment and grace. We have seen the seals, the trumpets, and now the bowls. Each series intensifies, like a great symphonic crescendo, building toward a final, definitive statement. And here, with this last outpouring, we get that statement. It is a statement that echoes from the throne of the universe, a statement that shakes the very foundations of the ungodly world, a statement that brings all the rebellious pretensions of man to a crashing, conclusive end.
Our modern sensibilities, even within the church, are often allergic to such things. We prefer a God who is perpetually nice, a divine grandfather who pats us on the head regardless of our behavior. But the God of the Bible, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, is not a tame God. He is a consuming fire. His wrath is not a celestial temper tantrum; it is the settled, holy, and righteous opposition of His entire being to all that is evil, all that is rebellious, all that defiles His good creation. The bowls of wrath are the judicial response of a holy God to the unholy rebellion of man. And this seventh bowl is the final verdict in the case.
Now, as we have seen throughout this book, the primary object of this judgment is not some future European super-state or a revived Roman empire thousands of years after the fact. John is writing to first-century Christians about things that must "shortly take place." The great Harlot, Babylon the Great, is first-century, apostate Jerusalem, the city that had rejected and crucified her Messiah. She had become the great persecutor of the saints. The judgments we see here are the historical outworking of the covenant lawsuit God brought against His unfaithful bride. This is the divorce decree, served with thunder, earthquakes, and hailstones. This is the fall of the old covenant world in A.D. 70, which cleared the ground for the kingdom of Christ to grow and fill the whole earth. This is not the end of the world; it is the end of an age.
And yet, the principles here are perennial. Though the specific historical fulfillment was in the first century, the way God deals with entrenched, blasphemous rebellion is always the same. Every Babylon, in every age, will eventually receive the cup of the wine of His rage. Every system built on pride, idolatry, and the blood of the saints will one day face its own great earthquake. God's patience has a limit, and when that limit is reached, the end comes swiftly and with shocking finality.
The Text
Then the seventh angel poured out his bowl upon the air, and a loud voice came out of the sanctuary from the throne, saying, “It is done.” And there were flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder; and there was a great earthquake, such as there had not been since man came to be upon the earth, so great an earthquake was it, and so mighty. And the great city was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. Babylon the great was remembered before God, to give her the cup of the wine of the wrath of His rage. And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. And huge hailstones, about one talent each, came down from heaven upon men; and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, because its plague was extremely severe.
(Revelation 16:17-21 LSB)
The Divine Declaration (v. 17)
We begin with the final action and the ultimate pronouncement.
"Then the seventh angel poured out his bowl upon the air, and a loud voice came out of the sanctuary from the throne, saying, 'It is done.'" (Revelation 16:17)
The sixth bowl was poured on the Euphrates, preparing the way for judgment. This seventh and final bowl is poured out "upon the air." Why the air? Because the air is the domain of the "prince of the power of the air," who is Satan (Ephesians 2:2). This is a direct assault on the command center of the enemy. It signifies a total, comprehensive judgment that affects the entire atmosphere of the rebellious world system. It is a cleansing of the spiritual environment. The very air they breathe becomes the medium of God's wrath.
And from the throne, from the very heart of the heavenly temple, a loud voice declares, "It is done." This is the Greek word gegonen. It is a perfect tense, meaning it is a completed action with ongoing results. This is the bookend to the cry of our Lord from the cross, when He said, "It is finished," tetelestai (John 19:30). On the cross, the work of redemption was accomplished. Here, the corresponding work of judgment upon those who rejected that redemption is accomplished. The cross secured the victory; this judgment executes the sentence upon the vanquished. The time for warnings is over. The time for appeals has passed. The verdict has been rendered, and the sentence is now carried out. History has reached the point of no return. The fate of Babylon, of apostate Jerusalem, is sealed.
The Cosmic Convulsion (v. 18-20)
The divine declaration is immediately followed by a cataclysmic upheaval of the created order, signifying the collapse of the political and religious world of apostate Israel.
"And there were flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder; and there was a great earthquake, such as there had not been since man came to be upon the earth, so great an earthquake was it, and so mighty." (Revelation 16:18 LSB)
Lightning and thunder are standard biblical accompaniments to a theophany, a manifestation of God's presence and power, particularly in judgment (Exodus 19:16). But the centerpiece here is the earthquake. This is not just any earthquake; it is an unprecedented, world-shattering earthquake. In apocalyptic language, earthquakes signify the shaking of human kingdoms and institutions. The writer to the Hebrews, speaking of this very transition from the old covenant to the new, says that God has promised, "Yet once more I will shake not only the earth, but also the heaven" (Hebrews 12:26). This shaking is the removal of the old, temporary order so that the unshakable kingdom of Christ may remain.
This great earthquake is the utter demolition of the entire Jewish religious and political world in A.D. 70. It was a convulsion so total that it changed the course of history. The temple was destroyed, the priesthood was abolished, the sacrificial system ended forever. It was a cultural and religious earthquake from which Judaism has never recovered.
"And the great city was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. Babylon the great was remembered before God, to give her the cup of the wine of the wrath of His rage." (Revelation 16:19 LSB)
The "great city" is Babylon, which is Jerusalem. The splitting into three parts signifies total internal collapse and factionalism. The historian Josephus tells us that during the siege of Jerusalem, the city was torn apart by three warring factions of zealots, who killed more of each other than the Romans did. God's judgment came upon them not just from without, but also from within. Their rebellion consumed them.
The "cities of the nations" falling indicates that the judgment on Jerusalem had massive geopolitical consequences. The fall of Jerusalem was a major event in the Roman Empire, solidifying its power but also demonstrating the power of the God of the Christians, whose prophecies had come true. More importantly, it signified the end of the old covenant distinction between Jew and Gentile. The wall of hostility was broken down, and now the gospel would go forth to build a new city, the New Jerusalem, comprised of people from every tribe and tongue and nation.
And God "remembered" Babylon. This is covenantal language. When God remembers, it is not because He is forgetful. It means He is now acting on His promises and warnings. He remembered His covenant with His Son, and He remembered the prayers of the martyrs under the altar who cried out, "How long, O Lord?" (Revelation 6:10). The time was up. He now gives her the cup of His wrath to drink, a common Old Testament metaphor for experiencing judgment (Isaiah 51:17, Jeremiah 25:15). And it is the "wine of the wrath of His rage," a triple emphasis on the intensity of His holy fury.
"And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found." (Revelation 16:20 LSB)
This is more apocalyptic language describing the complete leveling of the old world order. Mountains and islands represent the most stable, permanent fixtures of the geopolitical landscape. They are symbols of kingdoms, rulers, and established power structures. For them to flee and disappear means that nothing of the old order would remain. The entire landscape was being flattened and remade. This was the end of the world as they knew it.
The Hardened Heart (v. 21)
The final element of the judgment is a plague of hail, and the response to it reveals the depth of man's rebellion.
"And huge hailstones, about one talent each, came down from heaven upon men; and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, because its plague was extremely severe." (Genesis 16:21 LSB)
This plague of hail is a direct echo of the seventh plague on Egypt (Exodus 9:22-26). Jerusalem, in her apostasy, had become the new Egypt, the oppressor of God's people. A talent was a measure of weight, around 75 to 100 pounds. These are not hailstones; they are celestial artillery. This represents a crushing, overwhelming, and inescapable judgment from heaven. There is nowhere to hide from a judgment like this.
But look at the response. Does this overwhelming display of God's power and wrath lead to repentance? Does it cause men to fall on their faces and cry for mercy? No. "And men blasphemed God." The same response we saw under the fourth and fifth bowls (Rev. 16:9, 11). This is a crucial theological point. Divine judgment, in and of itself, does not soften a hard heart. It only hardens it further. The problem with fallen man is not a lack of evidence for God's power. The problem is a heart that is set in rebellion against Him. When a rebellious heart is confronted with the raw power of God, its response is not submission, but rather rage, cursing, and blasphemy. They hate God for the plague, but they will not repent of the sin that caused the plague.
This demonstrates the doctrine of total depravity. Left to himself, man will always choose to curse God in the storm rather than bend the knee. It is only the sovereign grace of God, the work of the Holy Spirit in regeneration, that can turn a blaspheming heart into a worshipping heart. Without that grace, even a hundred-pound hailstone to the head only serves to confirm the rebel in his rebellion.
Conclusion: The Unshakeable Kingdom
So what do we take from this terrifying scene? First, we must take comfort. The God we serve is a God who judges evil. He is not indifferent to injustice, to persecution, to the shedding of innocent blood. He hears the prayers of His saints, and in His perfect time, He acts. The fall of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 was a promise kept. It was God's vindication of His Son and His Church. It demonstrated that Jesus, not Caesar and not Caiaphas, is Lord.
Second, we must take warning. The principles of judgment are unchanging. Any nation, any institution, any church that sets itself up against Christ and His law, that persecutes the righteous and loves wickedness, will eventually become a Babylon. And every Babylon is remembered by God. The cup of wrath is prepared for all who will not flee to the cross for mercy.
Finally, we must live with confident hope. The great earthquake that leveled the old covenant world was for the purpose of establishing a kingdom that cannot be shaken (Hebrews 12:28). We are citizens of that kingdom. While the nations rage and the kingdoms of men rise and fall, we stand on solid ground. The voice that declared "It is done" over the old world is the same voice that is building the new. Christ has been given all authority in heaven and on earth, and His kingdom is advancing, and it will continue to advance until it fills the earth. The storms of judgment only serve to clear away the rubble, making way for the glorious city of God. Therefore, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire.