XVI.
THE SEVEN VIALS.
(1) And I heard . . .—A great voice is heard out of the temple; it bids the angels pour out their vials “into the earth;” later on (Revelation 16:17) the voice is heard saying, “It is done.” The voice is then said to come from the throne; it seems likely that the voice of the first verse is the same—the divine voice from the throne itself.

(2) And the first . . .—Translate, And the first went forth, &c. The angel which receives the command departs and pours forth his vial upon the earth. All the vials are poured forth “into the earth” (Revelation 16:1) generally; the first angel pours his vial forth upon the earth, that is, the dry land. And there came an evil and painful sore upon the men (i.e., upon that part of the human race) who, &c. The plague falls on those who carry the mark of the beast, and who worship it. Like the plagues of Egypt, they are directed against those who aid the oppressor. The plague here described resembles the sixth of the Egyptian plagues, the plague of boils (comp. Exodus 9:8-12; Deuteronomy 28:27). Egypt is one type of the world-power; and the plagues are used as types also, and are not to be understood literally. The plague of the “evil sore” denotes some throbbing and hateful sore, perhaps spiritual or mental, which distracts attention and disturbs the personal serenity and self-complacency of the worshippers of the world-power.

(3) And the
second angel . . .—Better, And the second (angel) poured out his vial on the sea, and it became
blood as of a dead man, and every soul of life died (even) the things that were in the sea. The reference to the first of the Egyptian plagues is clear (Exodus 7:20; comp. Revelation 8:8-9). It has been remarked that “the Egyptian plagues stood in a very close connection with the natural state and circumstances of Egypt. The Nile, which was their strength, became worse than useless when its waters were turned to blood.” There is a similar feature here. The sea, out of which the wild beast rose, from which the world-power drew strength, is turned to blood, the blood as of a dead man, corrupt and loathsome. The sea represented the tumultuous impulses and passions of the masses; there is a certain healthy force in these, but under certain conditions, when devoted to selfishness and earthliness, they become corrupt and deadly. Ruled by God and by right, the voice of multitudes is melodious as the voice of the sea, and the free movement of peoples, like the ocean, a health-giving moral environment to nations; but swayed by impulse, or directed by worldliness, they become an element of corruption, killing every token of better life.

(4) And the third angel . . .—The third vial resembles the second in its effects. As it is poured out on the rivers and springs of waters, they become blood. It is not only the great sea which becomes blood, but all the merry streams and babbling brooks which carry their tribute of water seawards also turn corrupt. And this plague is acknowledged by heavenly voices as a just retribution (Revelation 16:5-7). The streams and rivers feed the sea; they are the powers and influences which go to the making up of the great popular sentiment; these are smitten by the same corruption. Men cannot worship worldliness or earthliness without degrading even those who contribute to their instruction, their recreations, and their joys, to the same level. When the public taste grows corrupt, the literature will, for example, become so in a more or less degree; the up-flowing tide will colour the down-coming stream. “The morality of a nation’s art,” writes a modern critic. “always rises to the level of morality in a nation’s manners. Morality takes care of itself, and always revenges any outrage which art may put upon its laws by either lowering the art that so offends, or extinguishing it” (Dallas, Gay Science, Vol. II., 16). It is true in even a wider sense. The loftier powers of imagination, the range of poetical elevation, are cramped and killed in a base, world-worshipping age. The streams of life grow putrid, the fresh and bright gifts of God are polluted, when the ocean of public thought is unwholesome.

(5) And I heard the angel of the waters . . .—That is, the angel who was set over the waters, or the angel who is, on the heavenly side, representative of the waters. (See Excursus A: On the Angels.) The angel acknowledges God’s righteousness. Thou art righteous . . . because Thou didst judge these things—i.e., because of the righteous law which these judgments manifested.

(6) For they have shed . . .—Better, Because they shed (not, “have shed,” but did shed, or pour out), and blood didst Thou give them; they are worthy. “For” is to be omitted; the sentence has a startling force without it. They—i.e., those enemies of all righteousness—are worthy; they receive the due reward of their deeds.

(7) And I heard . . .—Translate, And I heard (not “another out of the altar,” but) the altar saying, Even so, Lord God the Almighty, true and righteous are Thy judgments. The altar beneath which the souls of the martyrs cried, and on which the prayers of saints were offered, is represented as confirming the testimony to the just dealings of God.

(10) And the fifth . . .—Better, The fifth angel poured out his vial upon the throne (not “the seat:” see Notes on Revelation 4:10; Revelation 13:2) of the wild beast. The vials of judgment gradually dissolve the integrity and organisation of the kingdom of the wild beast. The result of the principles on which it has been based begin to show themselves: first, moral disease in individuals; then a corrupt tone of national morals spreading into the higher orders of society; then the fierce pride of vaunted light which scorches. Where these are, disorganisation is not far off; evil goes out a murderer and comes home a suicide. The retribution comes home; the throne of the world-power, the very head and centre of its authority, is smitten.
And his kingdom was full of darkness.—And his kingdom was darkened. We have the counterpart of the Egyptian plague (Exodus 10:21-23); there was a typical force in that ancient plague: the kingdom which boasted itself so full of light becomes darkened. When men shut out the higher light, the smoke of their own candles will soon obscure the whole heaven. When moral evil is linked with intellectual light, the moral evil will be found the stronger; for we cannot have a sunbeam without the sun. “Take heed,” said Christ, “that the light that is in thee be not darkness.” There is a light that is darkness; the progress of evil bringing about its own retribution proves this conclusively.

(12) And the sixth . . .—Better, The sixth (angel) poured out his vial on the great river Euphrates; and its water was dried that the way of the kings who are from the rising of the sun might be prepared. The symbolical meaning of the Euphrates has been touched upon before. (See Notes on Revelation 9:14.) In the great age-long struggle between the kingdoms of Christ and the world the Euphrates represents the great separating boundary between the two kingdoms, as the literal Euphrates formed the barrier between Israel and the hostile northern and eastern kingdoms. It is the great impediment to war. It is true that there is a great interposed boundary of public opinion, which restrains evil from breaking forth in its ruder and more violent forms. Men may be hostile to spiritual religion, yet they scarcely like to shock public sentiment, or to incur the charge of depraving public morals; but there may come a time, after false principles have been taught, corrupt manners tolerated, and the light of better things darkened, when the public sentiment loses all sense of shame, and the decorums of life, which have acted as a breakwater against the tide of outrageous evil, are swept away: then is the Euphrates dried, and then may the hostile powers of evil, unrestrained by any considerations, unchecked by the popular conscience, cross boldly over and invade the whole sacred soil of human life. There have been times like this when shameless sin has walked forth, secure of public favour, to desecrate every sanctuary of purity and faith—when the most barbarous manners and the most unscrupulous violations of public faith and morals have been not only tolerated, but applauded. The “kings of the east” (or of the sun-rising) represent the forces of rude and open evil which have been long restrained. As the four barbarian and tyrant kings (Genesis 14:1-24) from the East invaded the land of promise in Abraham’s days, so the leaders of open and violent hate of right, purity, and Christ, have the way of their advance prepared. But certain agencies go forth to bring about this uprising of rude revolt against every sanctity of life.

(15) Behold, I come . . .—Translate, Behold, I come as a thief. It is the oft-repeated Scripture warning (Revelation 3:3; 1 Thessalonians 5:2-3; 2 Peter 3:10. Comp. Luke 12:35-40). It reminds us not only that our Lord may come unexpectedly, but that He may even come and we be unaware. There is one day when He will come, and every eye will behold Him; but He comes in various ways and forms to bless and to test man. Blessed are they who are ready, watching. But vigilance is not enough: the garments must be kept. The powers of evil are abroad. Sloth and pleasure may counsel ease, and tempt the watcher to lay aside his garments and take rest and sleep. The earnest watcher desires, like St. Paul, to be found in Christ, clad in the true righteousness of faith (Philippians 3:9).

(16) And he gathered . . .—Better, He gathered them together to the place which is called in Hebrew Armageddon. Armageddon is the mountain of Megiddo. It is the high table-land surrounded by hills which was the great battle-field of the Holy Land. There the fortunes of dynasties and kingdoms have been decided; there the cause of liberty has triumphed; there kings fought and fell; there Gideon and Barak were victorious; there Ahaziah and Josiah were slain. The old battle-ground becomes the symbol of the decisive struggle. It is raised in meaning: it is a type, not a locality. The war of principles, the war of morals, the war of fashion culminates in an Armageddon. The progress of the spiritual struggle in individual men must lead in the same way to a mountain of decision, where the long-wavering heart must take sides, and the set of the character be determined. “There is no waving of banners and no prancing of horses’ hoofs; the warfare is spiritual, so that there is in sight neither camp nor foe.” It is that conflict which emerges out of various opinions and diverse principles: “the religious tendencies of the times” are (as we have been reminded) powers marshalling themselves for the battle of Armageddon. We must not look for great and startling signs: the kingdom and the conflict of the kingdom is within and around us (Luke 17:20-21).

(17) And the seventh . . .—Translate, And the seventh (angel) poured out his vial upon the air, and there came forth a voice out of the temple, from the throne, saying, It is done. The results of the outpouring of this vial are described in the following verses; but before these are seen, the voice from the throne—God’s own voice (see Revelation 16:1)—proclaims, as though rejoicing in the near approach of the happy end, “It is done.” The close of these scenes of sin and suffering is now at hand, for the last of the last plagues has been sent forth.

(18) And there were voices . . .—There is some variety in the order of the words in different MSS. There were lightnings, and voices, and thunders (comp. Revelation 8:5; Revelation 11:19); there was a great earthquake, such as was not from the time there was a man upon the earth. The earthquake, which is the shaking down of the kingdom of evil (comp. Hebrews 12:26-29), completes the overthrow of which the earlier judgments have been precursors. The throne of the wild beast has been visited, the centre of his power smitten; now the metropolis of his empire is about to fall. And the great city (i.e., Babylon, the symbol of the world-power’s capital) became into three parts. It lost its power of cohesion. The three evil spirits endeavoured to unite all powers in one grand assault, but there is no natural cohesion among those whose only bond is hatred of good. The first convulsion shakes them to pieces, and the cities of the nations fall. Every subordinate power in which the earthly element was mingled (comp. Daniel 2:41-44) is overthrown in the earthquake, even as every tree which the “Heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up” (Matthew 15:13); and great Babylon was remembered before God, &c. The features of the overthrow of Babylon are described more fully later on (Revelation 17:18), where the various aspects of evil in the great metropolis of the world-power are dealt with (Revelation 17:1-7; Revelation 18:1-3). The fall of Pagan Rome is but one illustration of the overthrow of Babylon.

(20) And every island fled.—So wide-spread are the effects of the earthquake; the convulsion tests every spot; there is only one kingdom which cannot be shaken. (Comp. Daniel 2:44; Daniel 6:26; Hebrews 10:28.)

(21) And there fell. . . .—And a great hail, as of a talent in weight, descends from the heaven on men. There is again a reference to the Egyptian plagues. But we may also call to mind the great defeat of the enemies of Israel at Beth-horon (Joshua 10:1-11), when “the Lord cast down great stones from heaven.” Such an overthrow awaits every confederacy that sets itself in array against the kingdom of the righteous King. The discomfiture and the plague works no repentance; the men blaspheme God because of the hail, for great is its plague exceedingly. The proud, hard spirit which still hates the good remains: thus is sin its own worst penalty. As an illustration of this hard, unsubdued spirit, we may call to mind Capaneus, in Dante’s Inferno, and the words in which Virgil addresses him:—
“Thou art more punished, in that this thy pride
Lives yet unquenched; no torment save thy rage
Were to thy fury pain proportioned full.
The unrepentant state of those upon whom the vials are poured is to be contrasted with the different result of the earthquake in Revelation 11:13, when men gave glory to the God of heaven.