The seven Angels having come out of the heavenly sanctuary are told to go their ways and pour out the vials of God’s wrath upon the earth (Revelation 16:1). This correlates with Revelation 5:6, wherein the seven Spirits of God are sent forth into all the earth. We learned in Revelation chapter fifteen that the seven heavenly Angels are all God Himself who was with each of the earthly church age messengers; so the seven Angels and the seven Spirits are the same thing, for it was the Spirit of God in the form of a heavenly Angel who was with each of the church age messengers, giving each his ministry.
Revelation chapter sixteen examines the plagues contained in the vials, and their effect upon the earth and its inhabitants. The outpouring of the vials is taking place at Armageddon, when Christ returns to the earth with His glorified army of saints to judge and make war (Revelation 19:11). Among the seven ages of saints with Christ are the seven earthly messengers, who each had a vial to pour upon the earth after the message of their age was rejected. Under the leadership of Christ, all seven vials will be poured out at the same time, to smite and destroy the enemy.
And what is the response of those who are being smitten by the plagues? They will blaspheme God! There is no repentance in them because judgment does not change hearts, for whatever seed a man is of, that he will always be. We saw this under the sixth trumpet (Revelation 9:20-21), that there was no repentance in those who are not killed of the plagues; and likewise, under the fourth, fifth, and seventh vials, man will refuse to repent, but will blaspheme God all the more. What a sad picture that is!
The first vial strikes the flesh of man with sicknesses and diseases of which there will be no cure. The blessings contained in the atonement (Psalm 103:2-3) will no longer be available to the Gentiles after the Word has been rejected for the last time; thus in the Tribulation and at Armageddon, there will be no more salvation of the soul and no more healing of the body (please read No more salvation and healing after the Atonement is rejected). The immunity of the people will be taken away, and no number of vaccines or masks will be able to save them from the pandemics that will rapidly sweep across the world during that time. In this age everybody likes to walk around half naked and show off their bodies, but at that time they will put on clothing to conceal the sight of their sickly, marred and rotting flesh.
We may recall under the trumpets that it is a third of the planet and a third of man being smitten; but under the vials, it is all the earth and all of man that is being smitten. When the second and third vials are poured out (Revelation 16:3-7), the salt water of the oceans and the fresh water of the rivers, streams, and lakes become so polluted as to be too poisonous to drink. It is because the false church shed the blood of the saints and prophets (Revelation 16:6) that her children have become deserving of such a punishment as having “bloodied” water to drink. But it is not just water as blood, but rather, it is water as the blood of a dead man (Revelation 16:3). Whereas blood is the carrier of life (Leviticus 17:11), now the waters become thick, putrefying and lifeless, like the coagulated and rotting fluids of a corpse.
The turning of the waters to blood reminds us of when Moses turned the waters of Egypt to blood (Exodus 7:20-21), and furthermore, it reveals to us the supernatural power of God behind the plagues at Armageddon. Of a surety, man has greatly polluted the waters under the trumpets; but under the vials, God will smite the waters, making them a toxic, poisonous source of death, killing its marine life and upsetting the hydrologic cycle.
The volcanic activity coupled with the nuclear warfare of World War Three will shove the earth off its orbit and push it closer to the sun. This we read of under the fourth vial, wherein the sun is given power to scorch the inhabitants of the earth (Revelation 16:8). The disruption of the earth’s orbit and rotation is described in Isaiah 24:20: The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again. The earth being pushed closer to the sun will melt the polar ice and greatly raise the sea level, inundating coastal land and flooding coastal cities etcetera. Intense heatwaves will sweep across the planet as well, burning up the crops and causing man to hide himself away from the great outdoor heat.
Paradoxically, whilst the earth is scorched with a great heat under the fourth vial, the seat of the Beast and his kingdom will be plunged into total darkness. Again, we are reminded of how Pharaoh’s kingdom was smitten with three days of supernatural darkness (Exodus 10:21-23) whilst the children of Israel enjoyed light in their dwellings. We are seeing the same scene repeating itself again, whereby the Vatican which is the seat of Roman Catholicism, shall be plunged into darkness along with Europe and most of the world which has united to form the Beast’s kingdom.
Because the darkness is of a supernatural nature, it will by no means lessen the effect of the great heat under the fourth vial from the earth having been pushed closer to the sun. Man will gnaw his tongue from the pains of the heat, the sickness and disease in his body, and from the radiation damage to his body because of the atomics, thus fulfilling the words of Zechariah 14:12: And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.
As each of the vials are being poured out, they are compounding to the effect of the preceding vial. We see this in Revelation 16:11, whereby man is blaspheming God because of their pains and sores under the first vial, showing that the wrath of God upon the earth continues to intensify by the effects of the plagues that are poured out in the succeeding vials.
The drying up of the River Euphrates under the sixth vial (Revelation 16:12) makes a way for the kings of the east to enter Israel. The river formed the eastern boundary of Israel’s inheritance (Genesis 15:18) and provided some protection for Israel because it was difficult to cross. The river flows almost two-thousand miles toward Israel before making its way southeast to the Persian Gulf. In the first century, when Revelation was written, Euphrates divided East from West. Centuries earlier, the Persian armies under Cyrus, conquered Babylon by diverting the Euphrates that flowed through the city, enabling them to march into Babylon on the dry river bed and capture the city.
The pre-eminent King of the East today is China, which has risen up as an economic and military giant. But notice, it is not the King of the East that is spoken of, but the kings of the east. When Russia (the King of the North) invades the nation of Israel (Ezekiel chapters thirty-eight and thirty-nine), it is doing so in allegiance with the kings of the east, which are nations such as Iran and Turkey (Ezekiel 38:5-6). China is not singled out here during the invasion.
The construction of modern-day dams is what allows a river to be dried up, and the dams that have been built along the Euphrates River will allow the vast armies described in Ezekiel chapter thirty-eight to enter the nation of Israel for the great showdown of Armageddon. The invasion of Israel begins during the Great Tribulation when the earth is being smitten with plagues under the ministry of the two Jewish prophets. The cessation of rain will be among the plagues of that time (Revelation 11:6), which will dry up the Euphrates River and make it crossable, with or without the need of dams. That the invasion of Israel by the King of the North (Russia) is inextricably connected with the timing of the seven vials can be understood by reading The seven vials are poured out at Armageddon.
An interesting junction is then placed between the sixth vial and the seventh vial, wherein three unclean spirits draw the whole world to Armageddon (Revelation 16:13-16). This is fascinating, for between the sixth seal (Revelation chapter six) and the seventh seal (Revelation chapter eight), there is the mystery of a sealing taking place in Revelation chapter seven. Then between the sixth trumpet (Revelation chapter nine) and the seventh trumpet (Revelation chapter eleven), there is a mystery of a sealing taking place in Revelation chapter ten. And so under the seven vials, we are seeing the same junction between the sixth and the seventh. And why is there this junction? It is so that God can reveal to us a mystery of how the whole world will turn against Israel, and then gather against it for Armageddon.
The three unclean spirits are the devils of the trinity doctrine. The trinity teaching is a wicked and diabolical one, for the Bible is showing us clearly that evil spirits are behind it and move in the titles of it. The trinity teaching comes from Lucifer (the Dragon), from organized denominational religion (the Beast), and from the pope (the false prophet). But whilst unclean spirits are coming out of the mouth of the false prophet to gather the world to Armageddon, we see the Holy Spirit going forth with a message of grace out of the mouth of the true prophet (Malachi 4:5; Revelation 10:7) to gather the Bride to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.
These spirits of devils work miracles (Revelation 16:14). This is very informative, for it tells us that although miracles are manifestations of supernatural power, they are not exclusively reserved to being displays of God’s power. And here, the whole world is being unwittingly united together by devils that are going forth on the words of world leaders and other people of position and power, to deceive the nations by fake news and a false agenda in order that God’s Word might come to pass.
The junctions between the sixth seal and the seventh seal, between the sixth trumpet and the seventh trumpet, and between the sixth vial and the seventh vial, reinforce to us why the Book of Revelation does not read in chronological order. The chapters and portions within the chapters jump back and forth in time to bring out certain key points. The junction between the sixth and seventh vial is no exception to this. We have learned that the seven vials are ultimately poured out at Armageddon, but yet the kings of the east are crossing the River Euphrates during the Great Tribulation, whilst the uniting of the whole world against Israel is taking place before the Great Tribulation even begins.
Lastly, in the junction between the sixth and seventh vial, the Lord states that He is coming as a thief (Revelation 16:15). This too looks to the present time, for a thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:10). So Christ has come as King Theophany Jesus by the revealing of the Bible mysteries, to steal away His Bride in the secret translation of the saints, to kill those who rejected His Word, and to destroy the earth.
The great gathering of the whole world (Revelation 16:16) finds its ultimate fulfilment by a global reset, which in turn will bring in a new world order and a one world religion. By these, the nations of the world assemble their armies against Israel for Armageddon. When the armies of the Beast and the armies of Russia are gathered in Israel, then the seventh vial is poured out upon them. The seventh vial is poured into the air (Revelation 16:17) because the spirit of insanity used the media (which is broadcast on the airwaves) to mess-up the minds of the people, thus fulfilling the words of Paul in Romans 1:19-32. Because what was beamed from the skies has caused the whole world to go insane, so it will be from the skies that the great hailstones and the missiles armed with nuclear warheads will fall, to stone the great whore and her children (Revelation 16:21).
The earthquake under the seventh vial will be the greatest earthquake in history. It will split the city of Jerusalem into three parts (Revelation 16:19) and will level cities worldwide. The earthquake will not only destroy cities, but will move islands and flatten mountains (Revelation 16:20), and will generate massive tsunamis that smash into the coastlines, destroying everything in their path. So powerful is the earthquake, that it will trigger massive geological and topographical changes to the planet, that include changes to Israel’s landscape. The Mount of Olives will split in two and form a very wide valley (Zechariah 14:1-4), and a river will flow from Jerusalem to the Dead Sea, making this otherwise unproductive body of water a thriving spot for fishermen (Ezekiel 47:8-10; Joel 3:18; Zechariah 14:8).
It is under the seventh vial at Armageddon when great Babylon comes into God’s remembrance to be destroyed (Revelation 16:19). The Vatican City will be bombed (Revelation 17:16) and the economies of the world will collapse completely (Revelation 18:8-19), thus ending the rule of the false church and her children. Not only is the false church being stoned by nuclear weapons from the skies, but God will pound this science civilization into the ground with great hailstones, the weight of each being about 75-pounds (Revelation 16:21).
The punishment is fitting indeed, for a prostitute was punished by stoning in the Old Testament; and here, God is punishing the great whore in exactly the same fashion. A serious and most horrible ending is awaiting those who reject the Word. God will bomb the harlot’s house with nuclear weapons, and when her children run far from the house, God will rain great hailstones upon them, and when they are laying dead upon the ground, He will send the fowls of the air to feed on their flesh in the supper of the great God (Ezekiel 39:17-20; Revelation 17:17-21; Zephaniah 1:7).