In this episode, we study Revelation 16:1-11, the account of God’s messengers pouring out the bowl judgments onto those who worship the beast. In Part 1 of our study in Revelation 16, J. Mark Horst examines the first five bowl judgments and explains why God’s wrath is always righteous and just. As painful sores, blood-filled waters, scorching heat, and darkness and agony cover the earth, humanity continues to reject God rather than repent. This episode will challenge you to consider God’s judgment and the mercy He extends today through Jesus Christ.
There are certain words in English, and probably in every language, that, when you hear them, provoke a spontaneous reaction; positive or negative. For example, if I’m hiking through the woods with my grandchildren, and someone calls out, “snake,” there will be an immediate reaction that affects the mind, the emotions, and the body! Feelings of fear, increased heart rate, the rush of adrenaline, and the desire to protect are all part of the experience.
Torment is a word that evokes strong reactions. It is used in the New Testament nearly 20 times. The original Greek word referred to testing the purity of precious metals using a touchstone. Because of its roots, many biblical scholars note that it carries an inherent connotation of measurement, exposure, and trial, rather than arbitrary pain.
When a person or spirit experiences biblical “torment,” they are being fundamentally evaluated and exposed by the absolute purity of God’s presence—much like fake gold was exposed when rubbed against the dark-colored touchstone. Over time, the word came to mean severe physical or mental anguish, torture, or severe distress, and is used to describe demonic oppression, earthly suffering, and divine judgment.
The word torment occurs repeatedly in the Book of Revelation. While this word doesn’t show up in Revelation 16, its effects certainly do. As we work our way through this chapter and each of the seven bowl judgments, you will notice that these torments, these plagues, are similar to earlier judgments in Scripture. In Egypt, the plagues initiated by Moses were localized. The trumpet judgments in Revelation 8 affected one-third of the earth. These judgments will be worldwide and all-encompassing!
One thing you will notice as we go through this chapter is that the bowl judgments are the climax of God’s divine dealings with the blasphemous and rebellious people on the earth. The judgments seem to have a cumulative effect, implying they are given close together, and they lead up to the second coming of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I’ve titled this study, “The Torments of God’s Wrath.”
Because of the length of this chapter, we will use two episodes to expound on it. Let’s turn our attention to the text, Revelation 16:1-11.
1 Then I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, “Go and pour out the bowls of the wrath of God on the earth.”
2 So the first went and poured out his bowl upon the earth, and a foul and loathsome sore came upon the men who had the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image.
3 Then the second angel poured out his bowl on the sea, and it became blood as of a dead man; and every living creature in the sea died.
4 Then the third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and springs of water, and they became blood.
5 And I heard the angel of the waters saying:
“You are righteous, O Lord,
The One who is and who was and who is to be,
Because You have judged these things.
6 For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets,
And You have given them blood to drink.
For it is their just due.”
7 And I heard another from the altar saying, “Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are Your judgments.”
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.
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.
As we examine each of these judgments, we should note several things: God’s use of created things for His sovereign purposes, the hard-heartedness of wicked men, and the finality of the righteous judgment of God.
The First Bowl
As the text opens, John hears a loud voice emanating from the temple. Since the voice isn’t attributed to an angel, this must be the voice of God. He commands the seven angels to empty their bowls of His wrath upon the Earth.
So, the first angel obeys. The outpouring of his bowl results in a disgusting and malignant sore that breaks out on those who have the mark of the beast and worship his image. This confirms that these judgments occur late in the time of the tribulation because they fall on those who worship the beast and his image. This image apparently is established in the early part of the last half of the seven years preceding the second coming (13:14-17). From verse 8 of the same chapter, it appears that only a small fraction of the earth’s population resists the charming allurements of the beast.
The sore is described as an ulcer or a boil; oozing, painful, and nearly incurable. Boils were the sixth plague in Egypt. I’ve never had a boil, but I know people who have. They’re nasty! Recall Job’s experience. “So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord, and struck Job with painful boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. And he took for himself a potsherd with which to scrape himself while he sat in the midst of the ashes” (Job 2:7-8). In his extremity, Job cursed the day he was born.
These worshippers of the beast had been warned. “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand, he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of His indignation” (Rev. 14:9-10). While the imposition of this first plague is temporary, the final punishment for beast worshippers will be eternal.
The Second Bowl
The second angel empties his bowl into the sea. As a result, “it became blood as of a dead man.” That’s the literal translation. What is the blood of a dead man like? It is coagulated or gelled. Gross! To the amazement, horror, and despair of the world, the oceans will no longer be fluid, but will become thick, dark, and congealed, like the pool of blood from someone who has been stabbed to death. I’m told that seawater has an almost identical composition to that of human blood, so some small ingredient added to it by the angel can turn it into blood.
Exactly how God will destroy the oceans is not revealed. It could be literal blood, but commentator John Phillips writes: ” From time to time, a phenomenon known as “the red tide” occurs. These red tides kill millions of fish and poison those who eat contaminated shellfish. In 1949, a red tide hit the coast of Florida. First the water turned yellow, but by midsummer it was thick and [syrupy] with countless billions of tiny one-celled organisms. Sixty-mile windrows of stinking fish fouled the beaches. Much marine life was wiped out; even bait used by fishermen died upon the hooks. Eventually the red tide subsided, only to appear again the following year. An unchecked population explosion of toxic dinoflagellates would kill all the fish in the sea.”[1]
As you can imagine, in this polluted ocean nothing can survive. All sea life will perish. This will further poison the oceans and contaminate the seashores of the world. As God had created every living soul in the waters (Genesis 1:21), so now every living soul died in the sea.
This plague will also have a worldwide impact on global maritime commerce. Remember, more than 70% of the earth’s surface is covered by water. And billions of dollars of merchandise are in container ships on the sea at any given time. What will happen to them?
Painful boils and a toxic, disgusting, dying sea; what’s next?
The Third Bowl
“The third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and springs of water, and they too became blood.” First, the saltwater, now the fresh water is contaminated, apparently with the same devastating effect, though the results of the judgment are not mentioned. People cannot survive very long without access to drinking water.
And then there is an explanation given why this plague is justified. Notice, it is announced by “the angel of the waters.” In Revelation 7:1 we have angels in charge of the four winds and in 14:18 an angel in charge of fire. This angel is apparently one who has jurisdiction over water. There is a remarkable variety of ministries assigned to angels as recorded in Revelation.
This angel loudly proclaims, “You are the Holy and righteous Eternal One, because you have rightly judged those who have shed the blood of your people. Thus, because they poured out blood, you have given them blood to drink, and they deserve it!” In this statement, blood is the word that is emphasized. There was no more pure drinking water, only coagulated blood.
Even as the saints are worthy of rest and reward, so the wicked are worthy of divine punishment and judgment. The bloodletting during the great tribulation, as saints are slaughtered by the thousands, is without parallel in the history of the human race. Christ Himself declares it will be a time of trouble without precedent (Matthew 24:21). The multitude of martyrs in heaven is revealed in Revelation 7:9, 14.
In response to the angel’s proclamation, a voice from the altar states, “Yes, indeed, O Lord the God, the Almighty, true and just are your judgments.” God’s judgments are not inconsistent and unpredictable like the judgments of false pagan gods. Moses wrote in Deuteronomy 32:4, “He is the Rock, His work is perfect; for all His ways are justice, a God of truth and without injustice; righteous and upright is He.” In Genesis 18:25, as Abraham pled for Sodom, he asked rhetorically, “Shall not the Judge of all the earth deal justly?” We can be assured that whatever God does is just and right. He is holy, and there is no unrighteousness in Him (Psalm 92:5).
Painful boils, a toxic, dying sea, and fresh water turned to blood; can it get worse? It will!
The Fourth Bowl
“Then the fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and power was given to him to scorch men with fire.” Earlier, in Revelation 8:12, we read, “Then the fourth angel sounded [his trumpet]: And a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them were darkened. A third of the day did not shine, and likewise the night.”
However, this plague is different. The “him” in this sentence is the sun, and he is given power to scorch men with fire. The Sun is an amazing part of our solar system. It generates a staggering amount of energy through continuous nuclear fusion. Every second, it fuses 600 million tons of hydrogen into helium. (In comparison, the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 are like fireworks). The sun’s core reaches a blistering 27 million degrees Fahrenheit (15 million Celsius), unleashing the energy equivalent of billions of nuclear bombs every second. One solar flare, just one, releases enough energy to furnish electricity for the whole world for hundreds of thousands of years!
Even at 93 million miles away, the sun is so powerful. Apart from God’s design, we would be burnt to a crisp instantly. In addition to the distance, three layers of filtering atmosphere protect us: the ionosphere, the stratosphere, and the atmosphere in descending order. Can you see how little God would need to change for this plague to begin?
And what is man’s response? “They blasphemed the name of God who has power over these plagues; and they did not repent and give Him glory.” Until this point, only the Antichrist has been described as blaspheming (13:1,5-6); here the world adopts his evil character. You’d think that after all of this suffering, and the acknowledgment that these torments were from God (Revelation 6:16), there would be a cry for mercy and repentance for sin. But you would be wrong. How can that be? Even deserved punishment can harden the unrepentant heart!
Another serious consequence of the sun’s intense heat will be the melting of the polar ice caps. All that water needs to go somewhere! The rising ocean water levels will inundate coastal regions, flooding areas miles inland with the putrid waters of the dead oceans. Widespread damage and loss of life will accompany that flooding, adding further to the unspeakable misery of the devastated planet.
As I meditated on this awful and tragic reality, my mind went back to Luke 16:27-31. There in the record of the rich man and Lazarus, the rich man finds himself in torment. After he learns from Abraham that no relief is possible, he says, “‘I beg you therefore, father (Abraham), that you would send him to my father’s house, for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment.’ Abraham said to him, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.’ And he said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ But he said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.’”
Abraham makes an especially astute observation; if people don’t believe the truth that is already revealed, supernatural events will not convince them. The Law of Moses outlined how God’s people were to show care for the poor and needy. The rich man neglected to do that, proving he didn’t believe what the law taught. Sadly, we know that Jesus’ resurrection from the dead, the greatest miracle of all time, was not and is not believed by most people.
The Fifth Bowl
“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. They blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and did not repent of their deeds.” Here, God intensifies the suffering of the sinful world by turning out the lights. This judgment reminds us of the ninth plague in Egypt recorded in Exodus 10:21-23.
“Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, darkness which may even be felt.” So Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven, and there was thick darkness in all the land of Egypt for three days. They did not see one another; nor did anyone rise from his place for three days.” The darkness recorded in our text has no specified duration, suggesting that it is added to the existing torments.
Joel described this time of judgment as “a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness…. Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. The sun and moon grow dark, and the stars lose their brightness” (Joel 2:2; 3:14–15). Zephaniah described the Day of the Lord as “a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness” (Zephaniah 1:15).
Some commentators think the effects of this judgment are localized because it is said that it is “poured out on the throne of the beast.” However, notice that his entire kingdom was plunged into darkness. This beast is most likely the first one introduced in Revelation chapter thirteen, the Antichrist. He will be as helpless before the power of God as anyone else.
Along with this darkness, there is further agony and torment. The wicked in their suffering gnaw their tongues for pain. What a graphic description of severe agony. The cumulative effect of the painful sores, fouled oceans, lack of drinking water, intense heat, all engulfed in thick blackness, will bring unbearable misery. Yet, incredibly, the wicked, unbelieving people of the world will still refuse to repent.[2]
[1] Philips (Exploring Revelation, rev. ed.), pp. 190–91
[2] MacArthur, New Testament Commentary on Revelation, pp. 833-834
