We’re going through 7 vials here, and now we are at number six. The sixth vial is referring to drying up of the Euphrates River so that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared. Those kings of the east was referring to the orient, to China. The Antichrist is going to have some problems with China and the theory was that he’s going to get that back in order and they’re going to rejoin him as the UN to try battle against God at Armageddon.

Armageddon is referring to Christ’s second coming as He comes down and does a bloody battle against the Antichrist army. The blood is so high that it reaches to the hem of His garment. It’s actually like a winepress of the wrath of God and that was covered in Revelation 14 about the winepress, it represented God’s wrath.

Why? Because the world has been worshipping the Antichrist, received his mark and blasphemed God. Not only that, it’s recording the past 2,000 years of history where the world has rejected the Lord Jesus Christ, and because of that, His wrath is piled up so high. The name Armageddon is given to God’s wrath because that’s the area where the armies will meet Jesus and He will battle with them.

Revelation 16:16 “And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.”

Notice here that it says ‘he gathered them together’ but if you look back at verse 14, the spirits of devils father the people. Why? Because the Lord is using the devil to gather up his minions so that he can wipe them all out. When Satan does his satanic actions, he cannot do it without asking God’s permission first. Look at Job 2, Satan cannot perform his demonic function unless the Lord allows him. That’s why whenever Satan is going to do something, you’ll see God’s hand behind it.

The word Armageddon is written in Hebrew. We then know that this is going to take place in Israel, the land of Hebrews.

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.”

The seventh angel pours out the seventh vial into the air and judgment starts to fall out of the air. We’ve seen that throughout the past six vials.

God’s temple is up in heaven. When God starts to voice out of the temple, that’s when His judgment started to fall, we saw that in Revelation 15. These vials are going to be tied to His temple worship and service. Isn’t it amazing that during temple worship and temple service that there is judgment? It’s not about feeling good and positive, God considers judgment as His worship service.

God is being worshipped in the temple, and the great voice comes out of the temple. It’s not just from the temple, he mentions about out of the throne as well. So God’s throne is inside the temple too. That’s why it makes so much sense that the Old Testament tabernacle is patterned after the heavens, where God’s throne, which is considered the mercy seat, the ark of the covenant, is deep inside His temple.

God is speaking, ‘It is done’.

When God talks about ‘It is done’, that means the end is here. The tribulation is about to reach its end and God is about to receive His glory and set up His kingdom. His judgment during the tribulation is pretty much over.

Revelation 16:18 “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.”

Notice that when the seventh vial is poured out, it’s not just the voice up in heaven, but there are voices here too. Then what follows are thunders, then lightning. Why is that important? Because whenever God speaks, thunder and lightning are associated with it. God’s voice is so magnificent and powerful that thunder and lightning will come out of it.

Notice also that the verse says ‘voices’, not just one voice. That could be referring to the celestial beings, 24 elders, angels, seraphims, cherubims, it could even be all of them. But the point is that they are heavenly beings. What’s interesting is that when people utter their voices up in heaven, it is actually so powerful and dreadful that it’s going to be accompanied by thunder and lightning.

That’s why it makes a lot of sense in the book of Exodus, the Jews could not hear God when He was speaking because the thunder and lightning were so dreadful. That’s the reason why people cannot directly meet God face to face, they would drop dead because it’s so powerful, dreadful and terrible.

When God uses His rapture voice to call us up before the tribulation, if His voice is going to be uttered then there could be lightnings and thunders as well. That’s why when we get raptured up to heaven, the people who are not God’s sheep will not recognize His voice, but the sheep will hear His voice. To those who don’t recognize the voice of God, they’re going to see it as thunder and lightning or they’re even going to think with their advanced technology that this is something alien or an angel spoke.

That’s His judgment. The judgment of the seventh vial is a great earthquake.

A lot of people think that the earthquakes that are happening now, could we be in the tribulation? Obviously not because these other six vials did not happen yet; Euphrates River did not dry up for the kings, the water didn’t turn into blood, etc.

Throughout this great earthquake, Babylon falls. That is the judgment of Babylon, it will occur at the seventh vial.

This is an earthquake that is even bigger than all the earthquakes that you’re scared about today.

Revelation 16:19 “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.”

What is this great city? A lot of people might think that it’s referring to Jerusalem, but this is actually referring to Babylon in the same passage at verse 19.

The great city was divided into 3 parts.

This is such a big earthquake that it does not only affect the city of Babylon, but all surrounding cities are getting affected as well, they start to fall apart.

God remembers the wickedness of Babylon, which is why He poured out that judgment.

So that great earthquake is considered to be His wrath and it’s using the metaphor ‘the cup of the wine’.

Armageddon, at Revelation 14, is known as God’s wrath because the blood is like grape juice, it will pour out so much like grape juice. That’s the reason why the Lord will quite often put the earth in the metaphor of a cup. The cup of wine will always accompany blood. As it talks about grape juice, it’s going to symbolize blood. That’s the reason why when we take the Lord’s supper, the grape juice is symbolizing His blood.