Revelation 16:17-21

This morning, I invite you to turn with me to the Book of Revelation once again, and hopefully we will finish chapter 16 today. I want to read verses 17 to 21 of Revelation chapter 16. We have to look at the seventh vile judgment, the last one. Revelation chapter 16 verses 17 to 21. And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air. There came a great voice out of the temple of heaven from the throne saying, It is done. And there were voices and thunderings, lightnings. And there were. was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth so mighty an earthquake and so great. And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. And great Babylon came in remembrance before God to give under her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath. and every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. There fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of the talent, and men blaspheme God because of the plague of the hail, or the plague thereof was exceeding great. May God bless to us the reading of His sacred and holy word this morning. The vowed judgments, we said in the past, remind us of the plagues of Egypt, which makes perfect sense when we see that in Revelation, Jerusalem is portrayed to us as Egypt, as spiritual Egypt, in 11.8 of this book. God calls these final last judgments upon apostate Israel, the seven last plagues. Again, bringing to mind the. whole issue of the Exodus account. Now the first six vows we’ve considered already, the first vial was the egregiosaur, which we believe is probably literal. According to Deuteronomy 28, God promised to strike any apostate, the apostate of his nation with this sores, with these kind of sores. The second vow in verse three, we have the seed. being turned to blood, we talked about the sea battles with the Romans and how that ended for the Jews. It was a slaughter of the Jews turning the water supply to the sea, the red, both the Mediterranean Sea on the beach areas and also the Sea of Galilee. The third vial was verses 4 to 7. The rivers and springs of water were turned to blood. We said this had to do with the water supply and how the blood. The blood was so, flowing so much in the land of Judah. And Josephus talks about, you know, the Jordan being just loaded with dead bodies in blood and so forth forth and the goryness of all that, but it affected the blood supply, or the, excuse me, the water supply. The fourth vow ate at verses 8 and 9. We have the sun scorching men with great heat. We believe. if you look at the parable of the sower, this has to do with the idea of great suffer, miserable condition, and so forth, like the seed that fell on stony ground, and the sun comes up and scorches it and so forth. The fifth vial, verses 10 and 11, have to do with the two areas. One, the throne of the beast is struck with darkness. This has to do with the fall of Nero, his death, his suicide, and the near collapse of the empire. Darkness covers it. In verses 10b through 11, we have the effect that this has upon apostate Israel. They there in this verse, it referred to the Jews, not the Romans, verse 6, verse 9, verse 11 in particular indicates these are the ones that have the sores, which take us back to verse 2, which is upon the land. The delay in assaulting Jerusalem allowed for the warring factions within the city to make conditions miserable so that they actually tormented the inhabitants of the city, so much so that they couldn’t wait for the Romans to assault the city. The sixth vow, we looked at last week, verses 12 to 16, the Uphrates River dried up, and we referred this to a comparison to how ancient Babylon fell, with Cyrus diverting the Euphrates River and his soldiers going under the walls into Babylon and capturing it, as Daniel records for us, that fall. And we also talked about the fact that God made it easy for the enemies of apostate Israel to swiftly come from the frontier camps along Euphrates. We talked about the demonic influence, verses 13 to 14. The Great Roman Empire was in a fractured state, as we saw from the fifth file. It was ununited. It was in a chaotic situation. So how could the Roman legions, which had… had diverse loyalties and the Roman allies, the various kings, who weren’t sure who to ally with because they didn’t know who was going to grab power. This was the year of the four emperors and so forth. So it was a mess. So they thought it would be best to avoid involvement. How could they ever be united in a common cause to take on such a difficult task as the capture and destruction of Jerusalem? Well, we find demonic influence and they persuade them. They gather them. And as one individual indicated to us, just as Egypt was plagued by literal frogs, spiritual Israel, was plagued by spiritual frogs here in the case of the demonic forces. So this brings us here to the births. So this brings us here to the verse 15 and the need to watch. This language, we said, is used not only of the second coming, but in Revelation 3.3, it’s used of a judgment coming. And I think that’s what it’s used here in that way. So it can be applied to both. Here the warning is about being prepared for the fall of Jerusalem, which the Seventh Vile talks about, Heeding Christ’s warning to flee the city, as he said in the, all of that discourse, to get out, flee to the mountains, and those who do not follow Christ’s warning will be shamed before others. They’ll be caught asleep, so to speak, and naked, so to speak, as the text says. And then we mentioned Armageddon from verse 16. There’s nothing about a battle of Armageddon here. That seems to be something that has been promoted by a lot of the sensational writings on Revelation. The battle actually involves the fall of Babylon, which this text talks about. But Armageddon is the area where the Roman army will gather from the various regions of the empire, and then from there they march on Jerusalem. So that brings us to the seventh vial and the judgment of the great Babylon here in verse 17 and through verse 21. Now the first thing we read here is that it is done. This vow is poured out upon the air. It appears because it is the element which the storms are produced. The lightning and the thunder of verse 18, the hail, verse 21, all that’s connected with the storms. And so it seems like that’s why. God’s voice is heard from his throne, signifying that this judgment is coming by his divine decree. It’s his purpose. He’s bringing it to pass. And this is a payback. It’s righteously paying back those who have harmed his people. It is done. With this, we have the final plague of God’s judgment upon apostate Israel is now completed. By the way, this is the same phrase. It’s used by Christ on the cross. It is finished. And it speaks about the completion or the finality of what is being done. So this announcement brings us to the long-awaited conclusion to what was a seemingly endless series of judgments through all these different things that we have been reading about the seals and then we got to the other, you know, horsemen and so forth. We got through the different judgments that there were the trumpet judgments and so forth. And so this comes to an end. The Great Earthquake is mentioned in verse 18. The cyclical nature of the book of Revelation here is seen. You recall in the Sixth Judgment, there was also this idea of the Mountains in verses 12 to 17 being moved and so forth. The Sixth Seal appears to be against the land at large, Judea in particular, and Galilee. Well, this seventh vow, this has to do specifically with the city of Jerusalem fallen. That would be the difference I would make between these two earthquakes that are mentioned. We said an earthquake is a symbol of some type of great upheaval that causes the collapse of a nation, agitations. We’re talking about, unrest. We’re talking about destruction. We’re talking about war, these kinds of things. It has been used by the prophets in the past to speak of the destruction of Jerusalem. There’s an interesting passage in Isaiah chapter 29, verse 1, and also verse 6. It says, woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the city where David dwelt. Now, the city where David dwelt is Jerusalem. Aerial means the line. of God. And so, connected with the line of the tribe of Judah, I take it. And then thou shalt be visited to the Lord of hosts with thunder, with earthquake, and great noise, with storm and tempest, and the flame of devouring fire. Of course, that passage in Isaiah 29 is speaking of Jerusalem’s fall to the Babylonians, 586 BC. language is used here for the fall of Jerusalem. You can look that up, Isaiah 29, 1, and 6, and see what that says. But I want to look at another passage. The right of Hebrews speaks about the destruction of the temple and the passing away of the old covenant in terms of a great earthquake. I want you to look here with me at Hebrews, chapter 3. 12, verses 25 to 29. See that you refuse not him that speaketh, for if they escape not, who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven, whose voice then shook the earth. But now he have promised saying, yet once more, I shake not the earth only but also heaven. In this word yet once more signifieth the removal of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Wherefore we receive a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear, for our God is a consuming fire. The eminent Puritan theologian, John Owen, commenting on this earthquake here in the book of Hebrews, in his large commentary on that book, says this, it is dealing, it is the dealing of God with the church and the alterations which he would make in the state thereof concerning which the apostle treats. It is therefore the heavens and earth of mosaical worship. and the Judeical church state, with the earth of their political state being belonging thereunto, that are here intended. These were they that were shaken at the coming of Christ, and so shaken as shortly after to be removed and taken away for the introduction of the more heavenly worship of the gospel and the immovable evangelical church state, day. This was the greatest commotion and alteration that God ever made in the heavens and the earth of the church, and which was to be made once only. And remember the text tells us about this was the great earthquake, nothing like this before. And let me go on and give you another part of Owen’s quote here. This is the conclusion of the whole argument part of this epistle, that which was aimed at from the beginning, having fully proved the excellency of the gospel and state of the church therein, above that under the law, and confirmed it by an examination of all the concernments of the one and of the other, as we have seen. He now declares from Scripture, according to his usual way of dealing with those Hebrews, that all the ancient institutions of worship, and the whole church state of the old covenant were now to be removed and taken away and that to make way for a better state more glorious, that which should never be obnoxious. He, the translator, he put, subject to a change or alteration, or at least someone who, quote, put that in there as a way of this obnoxious means subject to change. or alteration, the editor, I guess, of that. So the opposition to God’s kingdom by the apostate Israel is indeed shaken by this judgment. A great shaking, and all this Old Testament worship comes to an end, as well as the state of Israel. Any questions on that? The third part of this is the judgment of Babylon in verses 19 and 20. We read here, and the great city was divided into three parts. The cities of the nations fell, and great Babylon came in remembrance before God to give under her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath, and every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. Here we have the great city divided into three parts. Now, we talked about this before. When we were trying to identify the city of Babylon in the book of Revelation, remember we said that it can’t be the Roman Catholic Church nor ancient Rome, because it doesn’t match this description. Many commentators who have different views on the book have trouble with this idea of it being divided into three parts. Jerusalem, however, perfectly matches this trait with no straining of the text politically. Jerusalem was divided into three warring factions within the city during this battle with the Romans. Often they were at odds with one another, as we’ve mentioned. Eliezer was the leader of the Zealites, the zealots, the zealots, the zealots. John of Gishkala was the Galilean leader, and Simeon was the leader of the Idumians. Is there any other view of Babylon, which which fits this description so well. Well, this internal battle inside the city actually weakened its defenses and helped the Romans. A lot of times they burned up the food supply and killed people off on the other, you know, that were born factions with one another, they were killing each other off, which was helping the Romans. So this division aided the Romans and was part of God’s judgment against the Jews. As Jesus declared to us, every city or house divided against itself shall not stand in Matthew 12, 25. So it’s divided in the three parts. The second thing we see here is that the cities of the nations fell. Many cities in the Roman Empire rebelled against Rome after Nero’s suicide. It was a chaotic state, as we mentioned. During this huge upheaval associated with the power struggle to gain the emperorship, Civil wars broke out all over. When Vespasian finally seized the reins of power, he sent out his armies and he ended up subduing these cities one by one, bringing them back under his authority. If Jerusalem thought it would escape attack, because of these civil wars within the Roman Empire and it was just one city among many, they were sadly mistaken. In short order, Vespasian put down these rebellions, and soon these cities of the nations fell and were reconquered, and soon his full attention would focus upon conquering Jerusalem through his son Titus, who became the commander, and took over and accomplished that fate. So part of this judgment against Jerusalem involved the ending of the civil wars throughout the Roman Empire so the concentration could be focused on Jerusalem itself. The cities of the nations fell. And then we read here that God destroys Babylon. Notice how the phrase is, great city, and the cities of the nations are set in opposition to one another. When we read about the cities of the nations, what we’re reading about is the cities of the Gentiles. So the Babylon here, which is the great city, must be distinct from the cities of the Gentiles. Therefore, that again points to Jerusalem. This helps confirm that Great Babylon is indeed Jerusalem. God remembering implies that he is now ready to answer the prayers of his people and avenge them. If you look at chapter 18 and verse 20, rejoice over her thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets, for God hath avenged you on her. And also chapter 6, verses 9 through 11, when we have something similar with the saints under the altar, praying for God’s vengeance because they were martyred. He will make Jerusalem drink the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath. This refers back to chapter 14 and verse 10 when the same kind of statement is made. Her sins cry for vengeance, and God is the one who actually meets out the judgment. He uses the Roman army, but he does that. If you read Matthew chapter 22, 23, 24, he’s the one who promises to judge Jerusalem. God gave Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans, and that’s the reason for it’s downfall. If you read the book of Daniel, the first two verses, it’s interesting. It says that God gave Jerusalem into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, so that it fell. And this is the same idea here. in this text. Any questions on this? God destroys Babylon. The islands and the mountains. Now we’ve looked at this in the past when we looked at the chapter 16, chapter 6 in verse 14, one of the sealed judgments, you’ll recall, had this also, these islands and mountains and chapter 6 and verse 14. But look with me to Ezekiel, if you would, verse 25, 15 to 18. I’m having you look this up because I want you to see that this is a past judgment. This language, this kind of language is used here, and it has nothing to do with, you know, atomic blast that, you know, cause islands to disappear and things of this nature. If you look at Ezekiel chapter 26 and verses 15 to 18. This language is used of the city of Tyre when it fell. Ezekiel 26, verses 15 to 18. Thuseth the Lord God to Tyrus, shall not the ais shake at the sound of thy fall? When the wounded cry, when the slaughter is made in the midst of thee, then all the princes of the sea shall come down from their thrones and lay away their robes and put off their bordered garments. They shall clothe themselves with trembling. They shall sit upon the ground and shall tremble at every moment and be astonished at thee. They shall take up a lamentation for thee and say to thee, how art thou destroyed that wast inhabited of seafaring men, the renowned city which was strong in the sea, she and her inhabitants, which caused their terror to be, on all that haunted. Now shall the aisle tremble in the day of thy fall, yea, the isles that are in the sea shall be troubled at thy departure. We talk about mountains often represent the greater kingdoms of the earth, the prominent ones, islands the lesser nations, those who are afar off perhaps as well, and the nations of the earth are pictured here as being horrified at what happens to Jerusalem. When Judea was overrun by the Roman armies, they were moved out of their places, Chapter 6, 1st 14. Here they flee and panic, so it’s even worse here than the seal judgment of chapter 6. So awesome will be the outpouring of divine wrath on Jerusalem that others the other nations are frightened to behold it. Any questions about the islands and mountains of the passage? Then we have that passage in verse 21, which is an interesting passage. And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent, and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail for the plague thereof was exceeding great. As we have said with a lot of the other plagues, there is an allusion to the judgments in Exodus upon Egypt. And there was a hail judgment that fell upon Egypt, you recall. Well, there’s going to be a hail judgment that falls here on Babylon, the great city, or, as we know it, Jerusalem. There’s an illusion, though. This is spiritual Egypt, so it’s going to be a little bit different. than the literal hail judgment that fell in the book of Exodus. There’s something extraordinary here because of the hail size, the talent. Now, from what I can understand, we’re talking about 60 to 80 pounds, some say as much as 100 pounds, for a talent. That’s a lot of weight. And yet it’s so specific, it sort of leads us to take this more literally. Now, there’s no record. of some type of phenomenal weather, this great hailstones, this size, in the story or the account of the siege of Jerusalem by Josephus. Believe me, he mentions a lot of strange phenomena that he saw happening, and he think if this had happened it, we would have mentioned it specifically. However, Josephus does provide an account of huge stones cast by the Roman war engines, these large catapults, these huge onigurs that they had against the Jews which were at Jerusalem. It’s remarkable that God and his providence had Josephus write this account, and what’s more interesting is he tells us the weight of the stones. The Roman war, engines hurled were the weight of a talent, just like we find here in Revelation 16-1, 21. Isn’t that interesting? In Josephus Wars, book 5, chapter 6, paragraph 3, we read this. The engines that all the legions had ready, prepared for them, were admirably contrived. But still more extraordinary ones belong to the 10th Legion, those that threw darts, and those that threw stones, were more forcibly and more forcible and larger than the rest, by which they not only repelled the excursions of the Jews, but drove those away that were upon the walls also. Now, the stones that were cast were the weight of a talent. and were carried two furlongs and further. The blow they gave was by no way to be sustained, not only by those that stood first in the way, but those that were beyond them for a great space. As for the Jews, they at first watched the coming of the stone, where it was of a white color, and could therefore not only be perceived by the great noise of it, but could be seen also before it came by its brightness. Accordingly, the watchman that sat upon the towers gave them notice when the engine was let go, and the stone came from it. And they cried aloud in their own country language, the sun cometh, S-O-N. So that those that were in its way stood off. and threw themselves down upon the ground, by which means, and by thus guarding themselves, the stone fell down and did them no harm. But the Romans contrived how to prevent that by blackening the stone. Who then could aim at them with success when the stone was not discerned beforehand, as it had been till then? And so they destroyed many of them with one blow. The only question comes up is, this idea of the son of man cometh, why the Hebrews, the Jews said that. Stuart Russell, in his book the Parosea, which again, I don’t recommend this book because it’s a full preter’s book. But this comment, I think, is interesting. It could not but be well known to the Jews that the great hope and faith of the Christians was the speedy coming of the sun. It was about this time, according to Hegesse, that St. James, the brother of our Lord, publicly testified in the temple that the Son of Man was about to come in the clouds of heaven and then sealed his testimony with his blood. It seems highly probable that the Jews in their defiant and desperate blasphemy, when they saw the white mass hurdling through the air, raised the ribald cry, the sun is coming, in mockery of the Christian hope of the parisia, to which they might trace a ludicrous resemblance in the strange appearance of the missile. I don’t know if that’s true or not, but it is an interesting comment on that particular phrase. So this provides at least a remarkable explanation for this plague that fell upon Jerusalem during the siege. So once again, we find, here I’m a remarkable explanation for this plague that fell upon Jerusalem during the siege. the consistent defiance of the Jews, men blasphemed God because of the hail. Their hateful rebellion consumes them to such a degree that they are willing to enter eternity with a curse upon their lips against God. Remember when Job’s wife said, curse God and die? Well, they’re going to curse God and they’re going to die. And it’s sad that that was the case. Any questions about this hail plague? All right, let me conclude just with five brief thoughts here as our time runs out. Practical application from this chapter. We see that the way of transgressions is hard. When God judges the wicked, he often sends plague after plague upon them until they are destroyed, which the entire chapter seems to indicate to us. Also, we see here that the righteous rejoice and praise God for me. meeting out upon the wicked a just recompense for their evil doing. Some may find this to be a terrible thing, but in verses 4 to 7, we see that this is something that the people of God praise God about. Therefore, we should not feel reluctant about singing the imprecatory Psalms against the judgments of God’s enemies and his people. The hardness of men’s heart is such, we see also, that the most severe plagues do not move him to repentance. They are unregenerate and capable of doing that without God’s grace. And so no matter how severe the plagues, they don’t repent. Here’s another thought. Not all miracles are done by God. Satan and his agents here use miracles and pseudo-miracles to deceive people. Thus, we must try the spirits to see whether they are of God. That’s verses 12 to 16. Versus 17 to 21, God always remembers sin and he punishes it. Just not always immediately, but the judgment is certain to come. Any thoughts or questions in as we close this chapter of Revelation?