Revelation 15 and 16: The 7 Vials of the Wrath of God

It is important to realise that God shows John the Apostle a vision which is not sequential in time. God’s way of looking at events, is not sequential, because He sees the end from the beginning and visa-versa. We humans tend to think in a sequential flow of time, but God, the eternally existent One, by His very nature, transcends all time and space.

Chapter 15 of the Book of Revelation records a vision that gives the reader an introduction to the 7 vials of wrath being poured out on the earth. These are the final phase of the wrath of God. Jesus Christ shows John a vision of the believers who are saved and in heaven yet also of the coming 7 vials to be poured out by angels. This does not means the saved avoid living through the period of this final wrath of God.

And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath [anger] of God.

Revelation 15:1

By using seven angels God is telling us that this phase represents the complete and final judgment. God uses them to pour out His final wrath on earth. But it is worth noting that all through the visions of the book of Revelation God’s wrath is being poured out. Previously it was only in part (Revelation 6, 8 and 9), but this time it is complete.

And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.

Revelation 15:2

Those that stand of the sea of glass are the believing saints (or followers) of the Living God. The details of the actual plagues poured out by the 7 angels are found in the next chapter, chapter 16.

Compare this verse with Revelation 4:6, which describes the throne room of God.

And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind.

Revelation 4:6

The throne and the 4 beasts are also mentioned in Revelation 5:13,14.

This part of the vision is telling us here that at the end of the age Jesus Christ takes His children, they are caught up to heaven to God’s throne, and they are seen standing on the sea of glass.

And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are Your works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are You ways, You King of saints. ⁴ Who shall not fear You, O Lord, and glorify You name? for You only are holy: for all nations shall come and worship before You; for Your judgments are made manifest.

Revelation 15:3,4

(Italics indicates the song of the Lamb.)

Christ is King of the saints. These are the followers of Jesus Christ regardless of ethnic origin (and red-pilled for sure). Jesus is not described as king of the Jews, as the Romans sarcastically wrote on His Cross.

And after that I looked, and, behold, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened:

Revelation 15:5

Compare this verse with this passage in Numbers chapter 1 verses 50-54.

But you shall appoint the Levites over the tabernacle of testimony, and over all the vessels thereof, and over all things that belong to it: they shall bear the tabernacle, and all the vessels thereof; and they shall minister unto it, and shall encamp round about the tabernacle. ⁵¹And when the tabernacle sets forward [is to move], the Levites shall take it down: and when the tabernacle is to be pitched, the Levites shall set it up: and the stranger that comes near shall be put to death. ⁵²And the children of Israel shall pitch their tents, every man by his own camp, and every man by his own standard, throughout their hosts. ⁵³But the Levites shall pitch round about the tabernacle of testimony, that there be no wrath upon the congregation of the children of Israel: and the Levites shall keep the charge of the tabernacle of testimony. ⁵⁴And the children of Israel did according to all that the LORD commanded Moses, so did they.

Numbers 1:50-54

The tabernacle of testimony was only there for the ark of the testimony (covenant). It was no longer needed after Christ paid the price of our sins on the Cross. As perfect and sinless He made the ultimate sacrifice once and for all. We read that the temple veil was rent (torn in two) in Matthew 27:51. Thus all could see into the holy of holies. No longer was it the domain of the high priest only. This is because Christ was the last sacrifice forever. No more sacrifice is ever needed.

This tabernacle of testimony is now seen in vision in heaven. No longer on earth. No temple worship is valid or necessary, since Christ died for our sins. He paid the penalty once and for all. And …

Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.

Romans 5:9

God will protect us from the wrath that is yet to come. But that does not mean we will not live and suffer through these times. It sure looks like they have started to me. But only God knows for sure.

And the seven angels came out of the temple, having the seven plagues, clothed in pure and white linen, and having their breasts girded with golden girdles. ⁷ And one of the four beasts gave to the seven angels seven golden vials full of the wrath of God, who lives for ever and ever.

Revelation 15:6,7

Seven plagues of wrath will be poured on the earth. The details are found in chapter 16. Those who do the pouring are acting under the orders of God. The angels are seen coming from the throne room of God as indicated by the 4 beasts.

And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from His power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, until the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.

Revelation 15:8

The expression “the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God” indicates God’s presence just as God showed His presence over the ark of the testament (covenant) with a cloud of smoke. In Exodus 40 we read….

Then a cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. ³⁵ And Moses was not able to enter into the tent (tabernacle) of the congregation, because the cloud abode thereon, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.

Exodus 40:34,35

The vision now continues in chapter 16……

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.

Revelation 16:1

“A great voice out of the temple” must be from God. The expression “upon the earth” means upon the inhabitants of the earth. The vials of wrath pour out curses on mankind from God. They show a strong parallel to the curses that Pharaoh intended for the children of Israel but God reversed them and sent them upon the Egyptians.

The idea that the followers of Christ are not on Earth during this time of judgment and wrath of God does not seem to hold. For one thing God’s people have always been on Earth when God judged the wicked. And we read in verse 15 of this chapter that Christ will return as a thief in the night and that we are to watch and wait His return.

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.

Revelation 16:2

Those who took the COVID injections, accepted the digital ID tracking system/cashless bank account/health record system in whatever form, injectable chip under their skin or on their smartphone, and fell in love with the beast system and his image, will suffer some terrible sores. These are from the toxic agents in the gene-altering death shots. The people affected by this are those who worship the image of the beast, those that are in love with the Metaverse. They have been raised in the digital world and not the real world.

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.

Revelation 16:3

The “sea” mostly represents people in prophetic language. If we interpret it this way every soul on earth, who is not protected by the “seal of God” will die. There are none that will remain alive.

The meaning might also be more literal and as such could mean that all life in the oceans will die. That would be consistent with the waters turned to blood in the case of the Pharaoh.

Ultimately every living creature on the planet will die. God is going to burn up the entire surface of the planet, renovate it and then bring down His heavenly city on a New Earth and a New Heaven. This way nothing of the former corrupted world will enter the New Earth. In the New Earth there will be no more sea (Revelation 21:1). That is consistent with the death of all living creatures in the sea.

New Heaven means the atmospheric heavens and the solar system. It does not need to include the stellar heavens as they have not had any direct effect from man except the Curse itself.

The universe is in a natural state of decay, but God can reverse entropy as He did with the burning bush (Exodus 3:2) and the universe will endure forever (Psalms 148:3-6; Psalm 89:37). BTW, entropy (tendency of systems to increase in disorder) is not the result of the Curse. It is part of God’s natural laws (in this case the Second Law of Thermodynamics) which started at the Creation.

And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters; and they became blood.

Revelation 16:4

The vial has similar results to the second vial except it is on the continents. Again it could mean all life in the rivers and lakes died. Again it is like one of the curses on Pharaoh, when the waters were turned to blood.

And I heard the angel of the waters say, You are righteous, O Lord, which are, and were, and shall be, because You have judged thus.

Revelation 16:5

This verse tells us that it is God who is bringing the curses and retribution for the wicked. Even if Satan and his demons are used, they are tools in the hands of God.

For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and You have given them blood to drink; for they are worthy.

Revelation 16:6

Under persecution the saints of God are killed in some cases. This is referred to as God having “given them blood to drink”. That means the perpetrators who shed the blood of the saints are given the blood of the saints to drink. This could be both symbolic as well as literal. Symbolically it means persecution but if literal, it could relate to the practice of drinking children’s blood for the drug adrenachrome. (But we won’t go down that white rabbit hole.)

Nevertheless because the saints are victorious through Christ they are not defeated.

And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are Your judgments.

Revelation 16:7

God’s judgments are righteous. Many people accuse God of being unjust. They believe they would be more righteous than God. But as soon as someone gets a little power they become a tyrant in many cases. This is because of the in-born sinful nature of man.

The angel here is the fourth angel with his vial. The next verse makes that very specific.

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 has power over these plagues: and they repented not to give Him glory.

Revelation 16:8,9

Some crazy global warming believer might say that this is from the sun getting hotter. However it could be due to the toxic injections. They can alter man physiology so that they cannot stand sunlight or the heat of the sun. This is what is indicated in verse 9 when it refers to “these plagues”. So I would say the people feel the scorching effect of the sun due to changes brought on my the toxic injections they are given. It is fitting in a way because the sun is representative of God.

Spiritually this may mean that the zombies are affected by the death shots in such a way they they hate the idea of God as a loving judge. The thought of God scorches their minds. Nevertheless they do not repent of their evil deeds.

It also reminds me of movies like “I am Legend” where the world’s population was mostly killed off by a “vaxxine” gone wrong. Those that survived were like zombies but they could not venture into sunlight but hid in dark places in buildings during the day, shielded from sunlight. The hero, portrayed by Will Smith was immune to the disease and he spent his life looking for a cure from his own blood.

In our case, in this COVID tyranny, we are already “cured” by the shed blood of the Lamb of God.

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.

Revelation 16:10,11

“The seat of the beast” is in the hearts of Satan’s followers. This curse seems to be like a mental disorder. They have gone mad. This effect we see in many who take the COVID death shots. They turn on their loved ones and anyone who opposes the gene-altering injections. Also there are “pains and sores” which sounds like the result of the toxic shots. I recall images of those people whose blackened bodies are covered with massive bruising and they are in great pain. Yet they do not repent of their evil deeds.

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.

Revelation 16:12

The name Euphrates may be broken into two parts. “Eu” has the meaning of “good” and “Phrates” comes from the Hebrew word “parat”, which has the meaning of “fruitful”. So together it means “good fruitful one(s)”. We find the first mention of Euphrates river in Genesis 2:14. It was one of the 4 rivers of Eden, but it cannot be the same river that is mentioned post Flood because the entire surface of the earth was remade during the Flood.

The question is, what does it represent in this vision? The plague resulting from pouring the vial upon this river causes it to dry up. What if the Euphrates is representative of the followers of Jesus as they are good and fruitful ones in the Lord eyes. By the time this plague is unleashed there are very few believers left in the earth. Most have died and that is what “dried up” means here. The water dried up. There are few with the Holy Spirit left.

I know many who read this will object claiming this is a literal vision and it means the armies of hundreds of millions are coming from the east under the command of the kings from eastern nations. Read Revelation 9:13-18. Read that vision and you’ll see it is extremely symbolic.

In this vision in this chapter I suggest it symbolises all those (a large number) who are enemies of God. This is a war against God and it is fought on the spiritual plane. Besides, if you added up all armies of the world at this present time, you could not get a hundred million soldiers.

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.

Revelation 16:13

Without a doubt this is spiritual. It says “spirits like frogs” not actual frogs. That is metaphor. The frogs are a parallel to the frog plague in Egypt but they are symbolic of evil spirits. The dragon is Satan, the beast and false prophet are antichrists. They are by definition evil and speak with evil or unclean spirits. It is made abundantly clear in the following verse.

For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth to the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.

Revelation 16:14

These spirits of devils are demons unleashed on the world. The gathering to battle is not to a single place on earth. This battle is in the hearts of man. It is a spiritual battle between God and Satan. The use of the word “miracle” here gives a clue. This is the final battle over the souls of men before the rapture of the saints, dead first and then those that are still alive. Read 1 Thessalonians 4:14-17.

Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watches, and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.

Revelation 16:15

Jesus returns as He promised. Christ said He would return like a thief in the night but we are not in darkness that that day should catch us unaware (1 Thessalonians 5:1-9). We see here that this occurs after the sixth vial is poured out by the sixth angel.

Thus we could easily conclude that the followers of Jesus will endure through this final wrath period before Jesus returns and they are all resurrected. But we are not appointed to wrath (1 Thessalonians 5:9), which means that the Lord will shield us from the curses and plagues just as He shielded Moses and the children of Israel. Yet, Moses and his tribes did live through that period and they were protected, especially at the Passover as the death angel killed all the first born in Egypt.

Blessed to keep your garments and not walk naked means “without salvation”. The garments are the wedding garments of the “bride of Christ”. Read Matthew 22:11-14.

And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon (or Har-magedon).

Revelation 16:16

Online Biblehub.com says the following: HAR-MAGEDON. har-ma-ged’-on (Harmagedon from Hebrew har meghiddo, “Mount of Megiddo”; the King James Version Armageddon): This name is found only in Revelation 16:16. It is described as the rallying-place of the kings of the whole world who, led by the unclean spirits issuing from the mouth of the dragon, the beast and the false prophet, assemble here for “the war of the great day of God, the Almighty”.

However it is very dangerous when you assume the meaning of a word without other corroborating evidence from elsewhere in the Bible. Har-magedon could mean something else. We do not know what it exactly means. I have been to Tel Megiddo and the plain in front of it is extensive but it could not support 10 million soldiers. Also why would armies gather there to fight a battle when modern day armies fight at enormous distances from each other? In fact, Israel is not large enough for such purposes.

So again I say that Har-magedon is a spiritual concept. My interpretation (since we don’t know what the word means) is that it signifies the last great battle between God and Satan for the souls of mankind. This is just before the seventh angels pours out the last vial.

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.

Revelation 16:17

This is the end. “It is done” indicates that the wrath is now complete. God has finished His judgments on mankind. Similar to what Jesus said on the cross: “It is finished”.

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.

Revelation 16:18,19

If literal this earthquake must be greater than any during the great Flood, and that was a total catastrophe. During the Flood the mid-Atlantic ridge opened along about 10,000 km extension. It would have produced unimaginable earthquakes covering most of the planet.

I conclude that here it is also spiritual. It signifies the total destruction of the kingdoms of man. The great city symbolises all of man’s works that he has done on earth. His cities are laid waste and Babylon is fallen. That is the works of the beast system (including Rome) with which mankind has attempted to rule the earth. Rome and the false church is judged.

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.

Revelation 16:20,21

No mountains were found could symbolise the destruction of all nations. There are no islands any more. The islands symbolise the individual nations. They are all destroyed as God reaps the earth and judges all, both living and the dead. Can you imagine that judgment is portrayed as hail stones of 100 lbs or about 45 kg each. But regardless of the physical form, men still blasphemed God.

Comments welcome below

Join me on Telegram.org: @GideonHartnett https://t.me/gideonhartnett 

If you want to be notified by email each time I add a new post click the “Email” button below and add your email address.