The Seven Bowl Judgments; Mark of the
Beast. Revelation 16:1-14
Chapter fifteen was simply a
prelude and introduction to the last series of judgments, the bowl judgments,
which begin in earnest in chapter sixteen. The bowl judgments come in the second
half of the Tribulation. The first is the terrible boils which some think are
horrible skin cancers. Then the seas turn to blood, the fresh water rivers then
turn to blood; then the sun somehow gets cranked up so that we have real global
warming and the earth is scorched. People cannot escape from the burning heat
of the sun. This is followed by darkness that comes on the throne of the beast.
The River Euphrates is dried up allowing the kings of the east to come in from
the east as they come to gather are Armageddon. The seventh bowl judgment
involves and earthquake and hail and that is quickly followed by the Second
Coming.
In chapter fifteen John sees
in his vision in heaven angels coming out of the temple. The Greek word there
for “temple” (the same word is used in 16:1) is the word naos [naoj]. It
usually refers to the inner sanctum, not the entire temple complex. This is
where the throne of God is, where the Father’s presence is as he is directing
from His sovereignty the flow of judgment upon the earth, and His justice is
now being poured out on all of its strength and power upon the human race that
is in complete and total rebellion against Him. So the last series judgments
are depicted as seven plagues. Often in Scripture judgments from God are
depicted as plagues.
Revelation 16:1 NASB
“Then I heard a loud voice from the temple, saying to the seven angels, ‘Go and
pour out on the earth the seven bowls of the wrath of God.’”
Revelation 16:2 NASB
“So the first {angel} went and poured out his bowl on the earth; and it became
a loathsome and malignant sore on the people who had the mark of the beast and
who worshiped his image.
There are various
questions people ask about the mark of the beast, such as: What exactly is the
mark of the beast? How will this mark come into use? How long will the mark be
used? Who will receive this mark and why? How is today’s society being
conditioned (and we are) to receive the mark of the beast? When this comes into
effect it will seem like a normal, natural progression of events. What happens
to those who take the mark of the beast? We have to be careful not to be caught
up in some of the silliness that goes on with the mark of the beast. There are
people who identify anything that has the number 666 on it as somehow an evil
number in and of itself, and that is not what the Bible is saying.
The first time we run into
this is in a passage we have seen in Revelation 13:16-18 which talks about the
second beast, the false prophet. NASB “And he causes all, the small
and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free men and the slaves, to
be given a mark on their right hand or on their forehead,
What we learn from this as
we go through the Scriptures is that the mark of the beast is identified with
the person of the Antichrist; it is directly connected to who he is. The number
666 says something about his character and person. It will be something like a
brand or a tattoo, and probably one of the ways we are being prepared for this
is just the popularity we have seen in the last 10-12 years of tattoos. This
prepares people for having this kind of thing done to them. The mark is going
to be a sign of allegiance to the Antichrist, something that people will be
proud to have and to be visible. It will clearly visible to those around and
will be recognized and not questioned, and will be one of the greatest status
symbols of that time to have this mark. It will be voluntary. It does not come
along until the second half of the Tribulation once the first beast and the
second beast have consolidated their power over the kingdom of the Antichrist.
It will be necessary in order to buy and sell anything and this is the way for
the government at that time to control all of the economy. We are today moving
more and more in the world to government-controlled economics and so this will
be acceptable. It will be universally received by all non-believers but
universally rejected by all believers. That may seem unusual to us but in light
of the announcement of the angel, the warning about the mark of the beast,
information in the Scriptures that will be available to believers during that
time, it is not something that is going to be overlooked. There will be
knowledge and significance of what it means and Christians just will not take
the mark of the beast. It will be a mark of worship and allegiance to the
Antichrist. Some have suggested that it will be a religious initiation mark
like an oath of allegiance to the person of the Antichrist. This kind of thing
is seen in various totalitarian governments where, for example, in the Third
Reich under Hitler there was the Hitler Youth, where they sang songs of praise
directed to the person of Adolf Hitler, or the
Why is it called 666? What
is the significance of that number? 777 is the number that represents God; it
is the number of perfection; the three 7s represent the Trinity. The number 666
represents man; 6 represents the 6th day of creation when the human
race was created. God created man in His image and likeness and the three sixes
indicate a trinity, a sort of triune 6, which indicates the deification of man.
This is exactly what will happen with the Antichrist who will be worshipped as
God.
In conclusion we see that
the mark of the beast will be a unique visible mark given to all who have
pledged allegiance to the Antichrist. This will take place during the latter
part of the seven years, the period of the great Tribulation, and men and women
will not be able to buy or sell or basically engage in any kind of economic or
social activity unless they have this unique mark.
How will this mark come
into use? What are the mechanics? How will people fall into this? All we are
told in the Scriptures is that it is the result of the deception that comes
during the end-time period. Revelation 19:20 NASB “And the beast was
seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence,
by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who
worshiped his image; these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which
burns with brimstone.” That is at the end of the Tribulation period but in
terms of prophecy we also have passages like 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12 which talk
about the miracles, signs and wonders, that the antichrist is going to perform,
and all of this is designed to provide an unrighteous deception among those who
perish. There is this evil deception that takes place among all unbelievers
during the Tribulation period. There is this clear demarcation between the
saved and the unsaved. God will send a strong delusion upon the unbelievers,
but that is not what starts it. What starts it is that they willingly succumb
to the deception of the Antichrist because of their own arrogance and their own
self-deception as a result of their own volition. But they have already made
the choice to reject God, to reject His grace and to reject Jesus Christ as
their savior. All God is going to do is come along and intensify that negative
volition, which He did with Pharaoh during the time of the exodus, in order to
demonstrate His justice through their negative volition.
What kind of rationale
will the Antichrist use in order to convince people that they have this mark?
There are a lot of scenarios that we could come up with. Governments like to
manufacture crises that they can then blow out of proportion in order to use
those crises to change the structure of governments and the structure of
society. This was typical of the
Who is going to receive
the mark and why? Revelation 13:16, 17 shows that it is necessary in order to
engage in any kind of economic activity. So it is directly related to buying
things—going to the grocery store, paying bills, etc. Today we are constantly
being conditioned to receive the mark of the beast and to become numbers. Those
who receive the mark of the beast, according to Revelation 14:9, 10, are going
to be the objects of the wrath of God. In chapter sixteen we see that the first
bowl judgment involves this foul, loathsome sore that comes upon the men who
have the mark of the beast and those who worship his image. The Greek words
used there are kakos [kakoj] which means something that is bad or harmful or ruinous, and phaulos [fauloj]
indicates something bad or evil or vile. So this is going to be something that
is ruinous and vile, something that is going t be incredibly painful to those
who have them.
In Revelation 16:3 we have
the second bowl judgment. NASB “The second {angel} poured out his
bowl into the sea, and it became blood like {that} of a dead man; and every
living thing in the sea died.
The third bowl judgment
affects the fresh water. Revelation 16:4 NASB “Then the
third {angel} poured out his bowl into the rivers and the springs of waters;
and they became blood.
In verse 5 there is a
pause to focus on the fact that this is what flows from the righteousness of
God. It is not unrighteous; it is wrong to think this is horrible, how can God
do this? This is what is deserved because of people who have rebelled against
God and rejected Him. Revelation 16:5 NASB “And I heard the angel of
the waters saying, ‘Righteous are You, who are and who were, O Holy One,
because You judged these things;
Revelation 16:7 NASB
“And I heard the altar saying, ‘Yes, O Lord God, the Almighty, true and
righteous are Your judgments.’”
Rev 16:8, 9 NASB
“The fourth {angel} poured out his bowl upon the sun, and it was given to it to
scorch men with fire.
Revelation
Revelation 16:13 NASB
“And I saw {coming} out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the
beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like
frogs;