Revelation 16:1 "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. 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."
The vials of the wrath of God on earth
16:1 - This starts the vials of the wrath of God being poured out on the earth towards the end of the Tribulation. This wrath is the result of people rejecting God's Son.
16:2 - Again these events take place at the last half of the Tribulation because it is not until the last half that the image of the beast shows up. Noisome means malignant or grievous. The black spot turns into a white spot like leprosy (Leviticus 13:13, 53). This is not for certain, but some believe that the ones who take the Mark of the Beast can be saved by getting baptized by Moses and Elijah (Acts 2:38, 2 Kings 5:1, 1 Peter 3:21).
16:3 - This happens under the preaching of Moses (Revelation 11:6). Animals have souls, but not like men's souls. An animal's soul is stuck to it's body and when the body dies, the soul dies also without going to heaven or hell (Numbers 31:28). The souls in this verse may refer to both animals and humans. Cross references: Genesis 19:20, Leviticus 22:6, Revelation 8:8-9
16:4 - The water becomes blood.
16:5-6 - These verses show God's judgment on those who killed his saints. In Revelation 17, you see a woman drinking blood even though it is forbidden in every dispensation. The Catholic church professes to drink Christ's blood every Mass.
16:7-8 - This is during the end of the Tribulation when the sun gets brighter. In the Millennium after the Tribulation, the sun will become seven times brighter (Isaiah 30:26).
16:9 - The people being burnt by the sun do not get right instead they blaspheme the name of God.
16:10 - This also happened in Exodus 10:20-23. The seat of the beast is where the beast sits at Rome (Revelation 2:13).
16:11 - This shows the strength of the will of man to reject God even after all the plagues.
Revelation 16:12 "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."
Battle of Armageddon
16:12 - This also happens in Revelation 9:13-16 indicating that maybe the vials and trumpets are simultaneous and begin in the middle of the Tribulation. The number of these men coming from the East are given in Revelation 9:16 as 200 million. The men may be the souls of the unsaved dead coming out of hell. The troops come from China, Russia, India, Japan and etc.
16:13 - The Holy Spirit is like a dove(Matthew 13) and the unclean spirit is like a frog. These spirits are used to deceive (2 Thes. 2:9). Cross reference: Numbers 22:41
16:14 - This shows that unclean spirits can do miracles, such as heal, speak in tongues and raise the dead (Revelation 13:3,14). The day of the Lord is also talked about in Isaiah 2:12, 13:6,9, Jeremiah 46:10, Ezekiel 13:5, 30:3, Joel 1:15, 2:1,11,31, 3:14, Amos 5:18,20, Obadiah 15, Zeph. 1:7,14, 2:2-3, Zechariah 14:1, Malachi 4:5.
16:15 - This show faith is connected with works during the Tribulation(Revelation 6:11, 7:14, 12:11, 14:12) and also shows a Tribulation Rapture (Matthew 24:29-31, 43, 50, Psalms 50:3-5, Isaiah 26:12-21). Cross reference: Joel 2:9
16:16 - Armageddon means the hill of the crowded. This is speaking of the Second Coming of Christ. Cross references: Judges 5:19, 2 Kings 23:29-30, 2 Chronicles 35:22, Zechariah 12:11
Revelation 16:17 "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."
The seventh vial of God's wrath
16:17-18 - A great earthquake happens that beats all earthquakes in history. This is also mentioned in Isaiah 24:1-23.
16:19 - Babylon will be destroyed in Revelation 18:2. Revelation 17-18 is the description of this verse and this happens before the Second Advent.
16:20-21 - Hailstones that are about 80 pounds each fall down to the earth. Hail is also found in Joshua 10:8-13, showing Joshua being a picture of the Second Coming. Compare the last of verse 21 with Psalms 18:13, Leviticus 24:16, Revelation 11:19 and 2 Peter 3:9. Notice that man still does not get right with God after all these plagues.
