The Last Days
​Revelation 16:1-11

 Lesson 60- The Seven Bowls

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​Lesson 60 | 03/22/26 ​
Revelation 16:1-11 | The Seven Bowls

We are nearing the end of the 7-Year Tribulation in our study of Revelation, down to the final few months. The events of chapter 16 take place in rapid succession, as God pours out His fury into the earth, or as we said last week, as God pours out His Glory and the glory of man is brought to shame and dishonor, Habakkuk 2:12-16.
The 7 Bowls of Wrath complete God’s Judgement on the unbelievers, namely Judgement on the system of darkness, the system of the Beast, Babylon the Great. These 7 plagues, πληγὰς, are specific strikes/blows against the very things that men exalt. Similar to the plagues that came against Egypt, Numbers 14:21-23.

• Bowl #1- Mankind (earth dwellers, bringing down the haughtiness of pride)
• Bowl #2- Sea (merchant and trade)
• Bowl #3- Rivers and springs of water (life force)
• Bowl #4- Sun (greatest source of energy)
• Bowl #5- Darkness over the kingdom of the Beast
• Bowl #6- Euphrates dried up (preparing the way to their destruction)
• Bowl #7- Air- (Satan is the prince of the power of the air)

These 7 strikes will finally bring the system and the haughtiness of men crashing down to their destruction.
Revelation 16:1
The loud voice from the Temple is God speaking saying, “GO.” The time has come for the wrath of God to be complete. These are specific Judgements coming against specific people on the earth, namely the earth dwellers. Those who have taken the mark of the beast and have merged with the system of darkness.

• The 7 Bowl Judgements collectively can be described as the 3rd woe from the angel in Rev 8:13.
  • These Judgements are NOT coming on Christians, because at this point in time, there are no Christians living on the earth.
  • They have all been martyred and gathered up to heaven, Rev 15:2-4.
  • The only people remaining on the earth besides those who have taken the mark of the beast are Jews who have fled Jerusalem.
    • These Jews still don’t believe in Jesus, but they trust in God and the fire of Tribulation is drawing many Jews back to Him until they finally will cry out to Jesus as their Messiah and say, “Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord.”

Revelation 16:2    Bowl #1  
Strike against mankind and their pride

• First strike is loathsome sores, bad and evil boils, ἕλκος κακὸν καὶ πονηρὸν
  • Similar to the boils, ἕλκος, of Egypt, Exodus 9:9
• Poured out into, εἰς, the people of the earth.
  • Boils don’t go away, Rev 16:11

Revelation 16:3    Bowl #2  
Strike against the sea and the trade and merchandise of men,

• The sea is turned to blood just as death, ἐγένετο αἷμα ὡς νεκροῦ
  • Every creature dies (compare to the Trumpets only 1/3 die, Rev 8:8-9)
  • Affecting trading, food, and the merchandise of men, Rev 18:11, 17-18.

Revelation 16:4   Bowl #3  
Strike against rivers and springs of water (life force)

• Drinking water is turned to blood
  • Today, men are so proud of themselves that they don’t have to rely on God giving us rain, but they can bypass God and produce drinking water through means of filtration and storage, Acts 14:17; Exodus 7:17-19.

Revelation 16:5-6
Declaration of the angel of the waters

• Begins by giving glory to God…
  • Righteous Lord, the One who IS, the One who WAS, and the One who is TO BE. ὁ ὢν καὶ ὁ ἦν, καὶ ὁ ἐσόμενος
• There is a connection that we don’t see in the English between verse 4 and 6
  • Poured out- ἐκχέω…
    • The earth dwellers have poured out, ἐκχέω, the blood of saints and prophets
    • God is pouring out, ἐκχέω, His Wrath and giving them blood to drink as a result
  • This is an answer to the prayers of the Tribulation Martyrs, Rev 6:10-11
    • Rev 7:14- these are the ones who are coming (present tense, ongoing)
    • Rev 14:13 blessed are those who die in the Lord from now on…
    • Rev 15:2- final Martyrs
    • Rev 16:9- Judgement now complete

Revelation 16:7
A 2nd Witness of God’s Righteous Judgements

• Another angel of the same kind
  • coming from the altar where the Martyrs have been, Rev 6:9; 8:1-5; 9:13; 14:18
  • source of Vengeance from God on behalf of His Saints

Revelation 16:8   Bowl #4  
Strike against the sun (greatest source of energy for the system of man)

• mankind has always worshipped the sun and they will continue to worship
• as technology increases, the demand of energy is also increasing
  • Elon Musk said that energy will be man’s greatest need and the sun is the greatest source of energy.
  • Right now, men are trying to harness the power of the sun to fuel this need of energy
• By striking the sun, God is showing He is greater than anything… even something as powerful as the sun.

Revelation 16:9      
They know God is the One who has the authority over these plages

• And yet they blaspheme God and will not repent or give Him glory
• The earth dwellers have taken the mark of the beast
  • God is not pouring out His Wrath in an effort to get them to repent.
  • In fact, it is impossible for them to repent, because they have given themselves over to the system and will never repent.

Revelation 16:10   Bowl #5
Strike against the throne of the Beast

• The Antichrist has exalted himself as God.
  • Now the One True God is showing the world who is God and bringing him and his system down
• The kingdom of the Beast became full of darkness and men gnawed their tongues because of the pain
  • How can darkness cause pain?
    • They still have the sores, but it seems that there is more
    • Pain- πόνος- misery and anguish
• 9th plague of Egypt was darkness that could be felt, Exodus 10:21
  • They did not see one another or rise from their place for three days
    • Torches and lanterns didn’t seem to cut through the darkness in Egypt
    • Nor will cell phones or computer screens
      • Will this darkness cut them off from what they know as life?
  • This will be physical darkness, but I think they will be given over to spiritual darkness
    • Separation from God. A small glimpse of what eternal hell fire will be like.
    • Weeping and gnashing of teeth, Matt 22:13; 24:51; 25:30
• God is showing them His glory
  • And they still will not repent

Revelation 16:11    
Interesting grammatical structure in Greek:
They blasphemed the God of heaven
out from their pain
and out from their sores
and they did not repent out from their deeds.
καὶ ἐβλασφήμησαν τὸν Θεὸν τοῦ οὐρανοῦ
ἐκ τῶν πόνων αὐτῶν
καὶ ἐκ τῶν ἑλκῶν αὐτῶν,
καὶ οὐ μετενόησαν ἐκ τῶν ἔργων αὐτῶν
Even out from their anguish and pain and sores they still cling to their evil deeds and they will not repent, John 3:19.

• They love the darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil. And now God has given them over to the darkness.

For those who repent and turn upon Jesus Christ, He has rescued us out from the power of darkness and translated us into the Kingdom of His beloved Son, Col 1:13, into the Kingdom of Light, 1 Peter 2:9.
We are the Church, ἐκκλησία, the called out ones, called out from this world and into His Glory, Eph 5:8-14.

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