In this chapter we have an account of the pouring
forth of these vials that were filled with the wrath of God. They
were poured out upon the whole antichristian empire, and on every
thing appertaining to it. I. Upon the earth,
1 And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, Go your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth. 2 And the first went, and poured out his vial upon the earth; and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshipped his image. 3 And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea; and it became as the blood of a dead man: and every living soul died in the sea. 4 And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters; and they became blood. 5 And I heard the angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast, and shalt be, because thou hast judged thus. 6 For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink; for they are worthy. 7 And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments.
We had in the foregoing chapter the great and solemn preparation that was made for the pouring out of the vials; now we have the performance of that work. Here observe,
I. That, though every thing was made ready before, yet nothing was to be put in execution without an immediate positive order from God; and this he gave out of the temple, answering the prayers of his people, and avenging their quarrel.
II. No sooner was the word of command given than it was immediately obeyed; no delay, no objection made. We find that some of the best men, as Moses and Jeremiah, did not so readily come in and comply with the call of God to their work; but the angels of God excel not only in strength, but in a readiness to do the will of God. God says, Go your ways, and pour out the vials, and immediately the work is begun. We are taught to pray that the will of God may be done on earth as it is done in heaven. And now we enter upon a series of very terrible dispensations of Providence, of which it is difficult to give the certain meaning or to make the particular application. But in the general it is worth our observation that,
1. We have here a reference and allusion to several of the plagues of Egypt, such as the turning of their waters into blood, and smiting them with boils and sores. Their sins were alike, and so were their punishments.
2. These vials have a plain reference to the seven trumpets, which represented the rise of antichrist; and we learn hence that the fall of the church's enemies shall bear some resemblance to their rise, and that God can bring them down in such ways as they chose to exalt themselves. And the fall of antichrist shall be gradual; as Rome was not built in one day, so neither shall it fall in one day, but it falls by degrees; it shall fall so as to rise no more.
3. The fall of the antichristian interest shall be universal. Every thing that any ways belonged to them, or could be serviceable to them, the premises and all their appurtenances, are put into the writ for destruction: their earth, their air, their sea, their rivers, their cities, all consigned over to ruin, all accursed for the sake of the wickedness of that people. Thus the creation groans and suffers through the sins of men. Now we proceed to,
(1.) The first angel who poured out his
vial,
(2.) The second angel poured out his vial; and here we see, [1.] Where it fell—upon the sea; that is, say some, upon the jurisdiction and dominion of the papacy; others upon the whole system of their religion, their false doctrines, their corrupt glosses, their superstitious rites, their idolatrous worship, their pardons, indulgences, a great conflux of wicked inventions and institutions, by which they maintain a trade and traffic advantageous to themselves, but injurious to all who deal with them. [2.] What it produced: It turned the sea into blood, as the blood of a dead man, and every living soul died in the sea. God discovered not only the vanity and falsehood of their religion, but the pernicious and deadly nature of it—that the souls of men were poisoned by that which was pretended to be the sure means of their salvation.
(3.) The next angel poured out his vial;
and we are told, [1.] Where it fell—upon the rivers, and upon
the fountains of waters; that is, say some very learned men,
upon their emissaries, and especially the Jesuits, who, like
streams, conveyed the venom and poison of their errors and
idolatries from the spring-head through the earth. [2.] What effect
it had upon them: It turned them into blood; some think it
stirred up Christian princes to take a just revenge upon those that
had been the great incendiaries of the world, and had occasioned
the shedding of the blood of armies and of martyrs. The following
doxology (
8 And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire. 9 And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory. 10 And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain, 11 And blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds.
In these verses we see the work going on in
the appointed order. The fourth angel poured out his vial, and that
fell upon the sun; that is, say some, upon some eminent prince of
the popish communion, who should renounce their false religion a
little while before his utter downfall; and some expect it will be
the German emperor. And now what will be the consequence of this?
That sun which before cherished them with warm and benign
influences shall now grow hot against these idolaters, and shall
scorch them. Princes shall use their power and authority to
suppress them, which yet will be so far from bringing them to
repentance, that it will cause them to curse God and their king,
and look upward, throwing out their blasphemous speeches against
the God of heaven; they will be hardened to their ruin. The fifth
angel poured out his vial,
12 And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared. 13 And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. 14 For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. 15 Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame. 16 And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.
The sixth angel poured out his vial; and observe,
I. Where it fell—upon the great river Euphrates. Some take it literally, for the place where the Turkish power and empire began; and they think this is a prophecy of the destruction of the Turkish monarchy and of idolatry, which they suppose will be effected about the same time with that of the papacy, as another antichrist, and that thereby a way shall be made for the conveniency of the Jews, those princes of the east. Others take it for the river Tiber; for, as Rome is mystical Babylon, Tiber is mystical Euphrates. And when Rome shall be destroyed her river and merchandise must suffer with her.
II. What did this vial produce? 1. The
drying up of the river, which furnished the city with wealth,
provisions, and all sorts of accommodations. 2. A way is hereby
prepared for the kings of the east. The idolatry of the
church of Rome had been a great hindrance both to the conversion of
the Jews, who have been long cured of their inclination to idols,
and of the Gentiles, who are hardened in their idolatry by seeing
that which so much symbolizes with it among those called
Christians. It is therefore very probable that the downfall of
popery, removing these obstructions, will open a way for both the
Jews and other eastern nations to come into the church of Christ.
And, if we suppose that Mahomedism shall fall at the same time,
there will be still a more open communication between the western
and eastern nations, which may facilitate the conversion of the
Jews, and of the fulness of the Gentiles. And when this work
of God appears, and is about to be accomplished, no wonder if it
occasion another consequence, which is, 3. The last effort of the
great dragon; he is resolved to have another push for it, that, if
possible, he may retrieve the ruinous posture of his affairs in the
world. He is now rallying his forces, recollecting all his spirits,
to make one desperate sally before all be lost. This is occasioned
by the pouring out of the sixth vial. Here observe, (1.) The
instruments he makes use of to engage the powers of the earth in
his cause and quarrel: Three unclean spirits like frogs come
forth, one out of the mouth of the dragon, another out of
the mouth of the beast, and a third out of the mouth of the
false prophet. Hell, the secular power of antichrist, and the
ecclesiastical power, would combine to send their several
instruments, furnished with hellish malice, with worldly policy,
and with religious falsehood and deceit; and these would muster up
the devil's forces for a decisive battle. (2.) The means these
instruments would use to engage the powers of earth in this war.
They would work pretended miracles, the old stratagem of him
whose coming is after the working of Satan, with all power, and
signs, and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of
unrighteousness,
17 And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done. 18 And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great. 19 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 unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath. 20 And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. 21 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.
Here we have an account of the seventh and last angel pouring forth his vial, contributing his part towards the accomplishment of the downfall of Babylon, which was the finishing stroke. And here, as before, observe,
I. Where this plague fell—on the air, upon the prince of the power of the air, that is, the devil. His powers were restrained, his policies confounded; he was bound in God's chain: the sword of God was upon his eye and upon his arm; for he, as well as the powers of the earth, is subject to the almighty power of God. He had used all possible means to preserve the antichristian interest, and to prevent the fall of Babylon—all the influence that he has upon the minds of men, blinding their judgments and perverting them, hardening their hearts, raising their enmity to the gospel as high as could be. But now here is a vial poured out upon his kingdom, and he is not able to support his tottering cause and interest any longer.
II. What it produced, 1. A thankful voice
from heaven, pronouncing that now the work was done. The church
triumphant in heaven saw it, and rejoiced; the church militant on
earth saw it, and became triumphant. It is finished. 2. A mighty
commotion on the earth—an earthquake, so great as never was
before, shaking the very centre, and this ushered in by the usual
concomitants of thunder and lightnings. 3. The fall of Babylon,
which was divided into three parts, called the cities of the
nations (
III. How the antichristian party were affected with it. Though it fell upon them as a dreadful storm, as if the stones of the city, tossed up into the air, came down upon their heads, like hailstones of a talent weight each, yet they were so far from repenting that they blasphemed that God who thus punished them. Here was a dreadful plague of the heart, a spiritual judgment more dreadful and destructive than all the rest. Observe, 1. The greatest calamities that can befal men will not bring them to repentance without the grace of God working with them. 2. Those that are not made better by the judgments of God are always the worse for them. 3. To be hardened in sin and enmity against God by his righteous judgments is a certain token of utter destruction.