SUMMARY.--The Seven Angels Directed to Pour Out God's Wrath.
The First Vial and the Grievous Ulcers.
The Second Poured Out upon the Sea.
The Third Vial on the Rivers.
The Fourth upon the Sun; Its Scorching Heat.
The Fifth Poured on the Seat of the Beast.
The Sixth on the Great River, Euphrates.
The Three Unclean Spirits.
Armageddon.
The Seventh Vial Poured on the Air.
The Great City Falls.
CHAPTER XVI.
Interpreters are not agreed whether the pouring out of the vials
relates to past or to future events. Almost all, except Roman Catholics
and Rationalists, are agreed in the view that they refer to a series of
calamitous events which were to befall the Papal power. The reader will
observe that the first vial is poured upon the earth, and it became a
noisome and grievous sore upon "the men which had the mark of the
beast, and which worshiped his image;"
phraseology that we have found to refer to the supporters of the
worldly power and spiritual claims of Rome. See notes on
13:14-18.
The fifth vial is poured "upon the throne of the beast,"
and his kingdom is darkened. After the sixth vial, evil spirits come
out of the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet. After the seventh,
the great city, Babylon, falls. These vials, therefore, indicate a
series of judgments upon the anti-Christian powers, variously styled
the dragon, the beast, the image of the beast, the false prophet, and
Babylon. As these have been found to symbolize the world-power which
found its embodiment in Rome, and the last two to point especially to
the spiritual despotism of which the Papacy is the chief expression, we
must expect the great fabric to be the chief sufferer from these
judgments. As, under the seven seals, Old Pagan Rome was judged and
brought to an end; as, under the seven trumpets, the Roman Empire under
its new form is judged and its destruction symbolized; so, under the
seven vials, we have symbolized a series of judgments which weaken and
destroy Papal Rome; and, with the seventh vial, the Great City, the
type of the Apostate Church, falls.
There are historical events occurring within the last century which
correspond so surprisingly with the symbolism that the interpreters
regard them as the fulfillment. While not insisting that these are the
events foreshadowed by John, and while admitting that the pouring out
of the vials may be future, I incline to the opinion that prophecy is
being fulfilled in "these last days," and I will point out certain
events corresponding to each vial, which may be the things
signified.
1, 2. I heard a great voice. As in several more instances John
hears the voice, but does not see the speaker. This voice comes from
"the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven,"
from the abode of God. This signifies that God's hand will shape the
events symbolized. They represent his judgments.
Pour out the vials of the wrath of God. Punishment sent for
sins. As the plagues were sent on Egypt in order to secure the
redemption of Israel, so these plagues are sent in order to redeem
God's Israel from the slavery of spiritual Babylon. See
18:4.
Upon the earth. The term "earth" is still used by John in his
usual meaning of the Roman world.
2. And the first went, [478]
and poured out his vial upon the earth. John sees the vial
poured out, and marks its effect; very grievous ulcers fall upon men;
that is, upon the men
which had the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshipped his
image. Those who suffer are those who listen to the lamb-like
dragon, the anti-Christ, the false spiritual power, or, as has been
found in
chapter 14,
the votaries of Rome. As the vials of the wrath of God are a series of
events leading to the destruction of this false power, we must look for
the first of the vials, not while it is at the zenith of its power. We
have found that a number of distinct prophecies seem to point to the
year 1793 as a period when its power will give signs of decay, and its
hold upon the nations weaken; hence, we need not look for the first
vial before this. Let the reader note the nature of the plagues to be
sent. It is described as a grievous ulcer, that afflicts those who have
the mark of the beast. An ulcer is not only a painful and dangerous
sore, but is often malignant and foul with corruption. The term is
often used to describe moral corruption, and the ulcers described may
be moral or spiritual. Can we find aught in history about the end of
the 1260 years of Papal dominion that corresponds with the symbolism?
For many centuries France was the stoutest and staunchest of the
supporters of the Romish Church. It was Charlemagne, the emperor of
France, who bestowed the temporal power upon the Popes. It was to
Avignon in France that, at one time, the Papacy was transferred for
seventy years. The ruler of France was long styled "the eldest son of
the Church." It was France that had perpetrated the massacre of St.
Bartholomew, the dragonnades of the Cevennes, and the banishment of the
Huguenots. The French nation had the mark of the beast to at least as
great an extent as any other nation. In 1793, exactly at the close of
the period of 1260 years, there breaks out in France a fearful moral
ulcer that had long been festering. The French Revolution, the uprising
of enslaved masses who were maddened into fury, sent Catholic king,
royal families, nobles, and priests to the guillotine by tens of
thousands, impelled the nation in its madness to publicly declare
itself atheistic, leavened it with skepticism, and broke the hold of
Rome to such a degree that she can never more control France. The ulcer
was awfully corrupt and deadly. At one time 200,000 citizens of all
conditions and both sexes were in prison, and often in Paris alone,
fourscore were sent to the scaffold in a day. As the result of breaking
forth of this ulcer, the mightiest Catholic nation was convulsed with
civil war, every Catholic country in Europe was deluged in blood, and
the Papal power received a shock from which it can never recover. The
first vial, the breaking forth of grievous, painful, malignant ulcers,
most fitly represents the breaking out of the French Revolution, its
awful excesses, and irreparable injury done to the great spiritual
despotism by the events of which it was the beginning and the
cause.
3. And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea. The
first calamity has been upon the earth; the second is upon the ocean.
The second angel pours his vial upon the sea. Then the waters become
red as blood and in the great mortality that follows it seems to John
as if every soul in the sea [479]
was dead. Again we ask if, in this series of calamities, there is one
that smites the Catholic powers from the seas? Under the second
trumpet a great and burning mountain fell into the sea. The Vandal
power swept the Mediterranean, destroyed the Roman navy and then laid
siege to the old imperial Rome. From the sea spiritual Rome, under the
second vial, is weakened. The symbolism is fulfilled in the mightiest
naval strife ever known. In 1780 France and England, upon the ocean,
were nearly equally matched. Among the shores of the struggling
colonies of the United States sometimes the English, sometimes the
French fleets, rode in triumph. At Yorktown, the superiority of the
French at sea cooped Cornwallis in until Washington compelled his
surrender. With 1793 begins another contest for the mastery of the
seas. It continues after Napoleon sits on the imperial throne, and did
not end for twenty years. France, again a Catholic power by Napoleon's
concordant with the Pope, rallies under the imperial flag with herself,
Catholic Spain, Portugal and Italy, in the struggle. Protestant England
and Catholic Europe strive together upon the ocean. The old Catholic
powers, those which in the past have been the vile instruments of Papal
wrong, the nations whose kings have committed fornication with the
great spiritual harlot, suffer the loss in this long and deadly
struggle of six hundred ships of the Line, the largest war vessels that
then went to sea, besides the thousands of ships of war of smaller
size. At the close of the contest, the naval power of Catholic Europe
had been swept from the ocean. Once the Pope had claimed the dominion
of the seas, and had given away newly discovered islands and
continents, but now that proud claim has gone forever.
4-7. And the third poured out his vial upon the rivers and the
fountains of the waters. John sees the third "vial poured upon the
rivers and fountain of waters; and they become blood." This vial will
symbolize another event calamitous to Rome. The seat of the disasters
is described as the rivers, and we may expect some historical events,
connected in some way with rivers, that result in the injury of the
Papacy. There are two marks given which help us to locate the seat
where the plague of the third vial is poured. 1. It must be a region of
rivers and fountains of waters. 2. It has evidently been the scene of
terrible persecutions of the people of God. When the judgment is
inflicted the angel of the waters exclaimed, "Thou art righteous, O
Lord, who art and wast and shall be, because thou hast judged thus. For
they have shed the blood of saints and prophets and thou hast given
them blood to drink, for they are worthy."
A land of persecution is to become the scene of calamities which are
justly visited upon it for its sins. (1) The river system of northern
Italy, we have seen, was indicated under the third trumpet. If the
reader will look upon the map he will find it crowded with rivers. The
streams rush down from the Alps and haste away to the sea. The river
region of Italy has always been a battle ground where the fate of Italy
has been decided. Here Attila the Hun, the "blazing Star," the wormwood
of the rivers, laid Rome prostrate at his feet. See
8:10, 11.
This vial seems to point to the same locality by the use of the same
language. (2) But the locality marked must have been the scene of
persecutions
(verse 6);
none more terrible, more bloody or more continued, have been known in
the dark history of Rome. This very region was the home of the
Albigenses. Against them the Papacy had hurled its fanatical legions
from generation to generation. The blood of the Protestants of the Alps
had for centuries dyed the rocks and streams with crimson. (3) In the
year 1796, a general, aged 27, led a French army across the Alps. On
the river system of Italy, on the Rhone, the Po and its tributaries, he
battled with the Austrians and their allies. It is remarkable that
every one of his great conflicts were fought upon the rivers. The
battle of Lodi was fought on the Adda, Arcola on the Adige, Marengo on
the Bromida. I will briefly give the results of the struggle. In 1796
Bonaparte entered Italy. The next year his armies took the city of Rome
and proclaimed an Italian Republic. Previously an armistice had been
granted, for which the Pope paid 21,000,000 francs and gave up a
hundred masterpieces of art to be [480]
carried to Paris. In 1798 Pope Pius VI. was carried as a prisoner into
France to die. His successor was not elected in Rome, which was still
in the hands of the spoiler, but in Venice. Other results that follow
from this invasion will be given under the fourth vial. Ah! how
triumphantly the long persecuted Waldenses, as they saw the Pope
carried a prisoner into exile, must have joined in the voice from
behind the altar: "Yes, O Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are
thy judgments!"
8, 9. The fourth poured out his vial on the sun. Since these
vials of the wrath of God are "poured into the earth"
(verse 1),
the sun must be used as a symbol. It is a symbol of a supreme ruler--a
ruler or king. Any one who becomes a great light and occupies a
pre-eminent position, may be indicated by this symbol. The Saviour is
described as the Sun of Righteousness.
In the dream of Joseph, his father Jacob, the patriarchal ruler, is
represented by the sun.
Among the orientals it is the well-known symbol of a king or ruler. The
fourth vial is poured upon this sun, and power is given it to scorch
men with fire. Fire, the instrument of bitter pain, is a symbol of
suffering.It is therefore evident that the ruler, symbolized by the
sun, shall be the means of inflicting great suffering upon men. As we
have found that these calamities are directed against the Papacy, it
would follow that the sufferers are those who have received the mark of
the beast. Though these adherents of Rome are in great anguish from the
calamities that befall them, still they do not repent of their crimes.
Like ancient Egypt under the plagues, Rome will still persist in her
wicked deeds, still refuse to liberate the people from her spiritual
slavery.
In 1801 Napoleon Bonaparte became the ruler of France, and soon became
the virtual ruler of all Papal Europe. Spain, Belgium, Holland, Italy,
and Austria were at his feet and either ruler by his satraps or at his
dictation. No such scorching sun had arisen in the political horizon
for more than a thousand years, and I do not know that the world has
ever seen so great a scourge of man. From 1796 to 1815 he was engaged
in war without a moment's cessation. He converted Europe into a great
camp and every nation was blackened and torn with wars. In his wars it
is estimated that 2,000,000 men perished by the sword, and none can
tell of the want and misery and despair that brooded over the bleeding
and desolated lands that were tracked by his armies. This scorching
sun, which parched, burnt and blackened the earth, exerted a most
baleful influence on the power of the Papacy. In 1796 Bonaparte entered
Italy; in 1797 his armies entered the Papal dominions, and a peace was
made by which the Pope was not only shorn of half his provinces, but
was compelled to buy off the invader by the payment of large sums of
money. The next year the French armies entered Rome, tore the Pope from
the Vatican, sent him a prisoner to France to die, and robbed Rome of
its hoarded wealth. The imprisoned Pope died in captivity. The next
Pope was elected in 1799, not in Rome, which was held by French
soldiers, but in Venice. In 1800 he was permitted to return to his
desolated capital as the dependent of France. In 1804, Napoleon
Bonaparte determined to have placed upon his head the old imperial
crown as emperor of the Romans, and the Pope was compelled to journey
by land to Paris in order to gratify his master by serving in the
ceremonial. Four years later Pius VII. was dragged from his palace, as
his predecessor had been, and sent a prisoner into France. His states
of the Church were confiscated. The grant made by Charlemagne nearly
1200 years before was resumed, and, until the fall of Napoleon, the
Pope was without temporal possessions.
Napoleon had broken the spell of Rome. He taught the world that the
power of the Popes might be successfully dared; a noteworthy service to
the human race. The Pope, from that time, ceased to be a powerful
factor in the control of nations. But, notwithstanding these
scourgings, the Papacy has not abated its exorbitant and blasphemous
pretensions. "They repented not to give God glory."
10, 11. The fifth angel poured out his vial upon the throne of the
beast.
By the throne of the beast must be meant the seat of his power. There
are few students of the Bible, whether Catholic or [481]
Protestant, who deny that Italy and Rome are the throne of the great
world power of which the seven-headed beast is the symbol. Then, the
scene of the calamities of the fifth vial will be Italy and Rome. That
has been the seat of the beast for 1300 years. In the very seat of his
power the beast shall receive a blow that will fill his kingdom with
darkness, and those who worship him with anguish. Something shall
occur that will cause great dismay and anguish to the Roman priesthood
and devotees. Have any changes occurred in Italy and Rome which have
caused them to gnaw their tongues in pain?
In the year 1848 the people of Rome arose in rebellion to the Papal
authority and drove Pius IX. into exile. A few months later he was
restored by a French army. Nor did he dare remain when restored, save
under the protection of French bayonets. With a French garrison he
continued to rule his circumscribed territory until 1870. In that year
France was compelled to withdraw her soldiers to defend her soil from
German invasion. That was the opportunity of Italy. The Papal army was
scattered by the soldiers of Victor Emmanuel; the Pope shut himself in
the Vatican, and Rome became the capital of new Italy. The temporal
power of the Pope is gone forever. The Italian government has seized
upon the overgrown possessions of the church. The lands it claimed have
been confiscated, monasteries and convents have been closed, and
universal religious toleration declared. Protestant churches and
schools are founded in Rome itself, and statues have been erected under
the shadow of the Vatican to martyrs whom the Papacy had slain. It is
said they
blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores,
and repented not.
What better illustration of this than that the Pope has been declared
infallible!
That the reader may see that there is beyond doubt something in the
symbolism which points to such a fulfillment as has been suggested
above I will quote an old work cited by Albert Barnes, written by
Robert Flemming and published in 1701, nearly two hundred years ago. It
is called the Apocalyptic Key, and contains the following on the
fifth vial: "The fifth vial which is to be poured out on the seat of
the beast, or the dominions which belong more immediately to, and
depend upon, the Roman See; that I say this judgment will begin
about A. D. 1794, and expire about A. D. 1848." As a
matter of fact Bonaparte invaded Italy in 1796, and in 1848 the Pope
was driven from Rome. Since that date, though returned and protected by
the French until 1870, his temporal power has been at an end.
12. And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river
Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up. The angel of the
sixth trumpet is connected with the river Euphrates
(9:14).
There a movement is symbolized which ends in the overthrow of the
Eastern Roman Empire, the old Roman world power. Here a movement is
probably signified which will work to the same end in the case of the
Roman dominion revived in the Papal world power. The river Euphrates
was the seat of the great city which once oppressed Israel and carried
God's people into captivity. It was taken by Cyrus, God's chosen agent,
and the means employed was the drying up of the Euphrates. Cyrus
turned the river, which ran through the city, unto new channels, dried
up the old bed, then marched in this bed under the walls where they
crossed the river on arches, and took the city. In some way the drying
up of the Euphrates shall overthrow, or tend to overthrow, spiritual
Babylon. Possibly this may be accomplished by the exhaustion of the
resources of that power. The nations which once supplied them have been
falling away.
That the way might be made ready for the kings that come from the
sunrising.
In the infancy of the Christ, the wise men of the East, also called
kings in the Psalms, came to offer homage to the kingly child. The
prophecy implies that when this obstacle is removed, the way of the
inhabitants shall be opened. The drying up of the Euphrates will, in
some manner, open the way for those that are signified to come to
Christ, as those of the old did to the manger.
13-16. I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth
of the dragon. Let the reader observe there is an alliance of three
powers described as the dragon, the beast, and the
false [482]
prophet. From their mouths came three unclean spirits, like
frogs, who go forth to the kings of the earth, rally their forces under
the banners of the three allied powers, and march them to the battle of
the great day of the Almighty. We have met these three powers before,
and know that these are really one, animated by one spirit, but
appearing in different forms. The dragon, the Satan
(chapter 12),
wars against the woman, in the form of old Pagan Rome; he then
(chapter 13)
transfers this warfare to the seven-headed beast, the political world
power shown both in the form of Imperial and Papal Rome; this power was
supported, reanimated when about to perish, by the lamb-like dragon who
is the false prophet
(13:11).
As it were frogs (Revision). Unclean, loathsome, suggesting the
plagues of Egypt.
14. For they are the spirits of devils. The Greek is "demons."
They are demoniacal influences, and will show forth false miracles by
which to deceive men.
Unto the kings of the whole world. They will marshal their
forces for the last conflict. The conflict that shall then take place
will decide the fate of Babylon. The drying up of the Euphrates will
prepare the way for its destruction. For an account of the battle of
that great day, see
19:11, 19.
15. Behold, I come as a thief. This is interposed in order to
give a place for exhortation to be always ready. The Lamb comes when
men do not see him.
16. They gathered them (Revision). The three unclean spirits.
To a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon. If this is a
literal conflict of arms the place where it will take place is probably
indicated. Probably the conflict will be moral and spiritual. The place
named is not only Hebrew, but is a famous spot in Hebrew history.
Armageddon means simply the hill Megiddo. Upon the Hill Megiddo was
fought the battle in which King Josiah was slain.
It was in the midst of the battle-ground of Israel. The plain of
Esdraelon, the depression between Judea and Galilee, was tracked with
armies. If
Ezekiel 37:8-17
is understood literally, it signifies that Palestine will be the
theatre of this struggle, but of all these passages I am inclined to
believe that they have a spiritual signification. The Israel of Ezekiel
represents the church, the true Israel. Armageddon, the battle-ground
of Israel, is used metaphorically to describe the great conflict of the
Israel of God.
17-21. And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air.
From
Eph. 2:2
we learn that the air is the region of the power of evil The fifth vial
was poured upon the seat of the beast;
the seventh on the seat of the dragon.
Came a great voice. The voice so often heard but not seen.
Whether the divine voice or not, it speaks the divine will.
It is done. It is finished. The work is complete. The seventh
vial brings the work to an end.
18. There were voices, and thunders, etc. See
8:5; 11:19.
These features accompany the tremendous movements of the divine will.
A great earthquake. A mighty agitation, and rupturing such as
was never seen before. Society will be upheaved to its very
foundations.
19. And the great city. The great spiritual Babylon, the woman
that sitteth on the beast
(17:5).
Was divided into three parts. It was broken asunder, and shaken
into pieces by the [483]
great upheaval. It is difficult to settle what is meant by three
parts. Perhaps the three "evil spirits"
(verse 13),
which represent the dragon, the beast and the false prophet, are
henceforth parted from each other. If this should be signified, it
would mean that worldly government would henceforth be rescued from
Satan's influence, and that spiritual powers would never henceforth
give homage to the world.
Great Babylon came in remembrance. The wrath of God is poured
out because of her sins.
20. And every island fled away. Islands and mountains denote
earthly powers. Perhaps the meaning is that the old lines between
states and nations shall pass away, and that henceforth there shall be
one nation, one kingdom, one people, that of Jesus Christ.
21. There fell upon men a great hail out of heaven. Upon the men
who were judged and punished. Hail is a symbol of God's judgment.
Hailstones of such weight signify awful judgments.
The men blasphemed God. Not all men, but the men punished. In
verse 9 and 11
it is declared that they repented not, and here it is again implied
that they were incorrigible. The thought is that they perish in
impenitence.
It might be added that Robert Flemming, who in 1701 so accurately
forecasted the fate of the Papacy (see statement in
notes
on the fifth vial) places the seventh in A. D. 1900.
