J Philip Bible Readings

16 Then I heard a loud voice from the temple telling the seven angels, “Go and pour out on the earth the seven bowls of the wrath of God.”

² So the first angel went and poured out his bowl on the earth, and harmful and painful sores came upon the people who bore the mark of the beast and worshiped its image.

³ The second angel poured out his bowl into the sea, and it became like the blood of a corpse, and every living thing died that was in the sea.

⁴ The third angel poured out his bowl into the rivers and the springs of water, and they became blood. ⁵ And I heard the angel in charge of the waters say,

⁷ And I heard the altar saying,

⁸ The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and it was allowed to scorch people with fire. ⁹ They were scorched by the fierce heat, and they cursed the name of God who had power over these plagues. They did not repent and give him glory.

¹⁰ The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness. People gnawed their tongues in anguish ¹¹ and cursed the God of heaven for their pain and sores. They did not repent of their deeds.

¹² The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up, to prepare the way for the kings from the east. ¹³ 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. ¹⁴ For they are demonic spirits, performing signs, who go abroad to the kings of the whole world, to assemble them for battle on the great day of God the Almighty. ¹⁵ (“Behold, I am coming like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake, keeping his garments on, that he may not go about naked and be seen exposed!”) ¹⁶ And they assembled them at the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon.

¹⁷ The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple, from the throne, saying, “It is done!” ¹⁸ And there were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, and a great earthquake such as there had never been since man was on the earth, so great was that earthquake. ¹⁹ The great city was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell, and God remembered Babylon the great, to make her drain the cup of the wine of the fury of his wrath. ²⁰ And every island fled away, and no mountains were to be found. ²¹ And great hailstones, about one hundred pounds each, fell from heaven on people; and they cursed God for the plague of the hail, because the plague was so severe.

The progression of evil spoken of in yesterday's Note is evident in the course of the seven vials of wrath here, and the sense of approaching climax is very marked. In 9 and 11 we read that in the midst of the vials of wrath being poured out men repented not, but blasphemed the name of God. Following this blasphemy, the sixth vial prepares the way of 'the kings of the east'' - a reference to the gathering of the forces of godlessness against the Church and its Lord (cf Psalm 2:2, 3) - and then, significantly in association with this, and explanatory of it, the issuing of frogs -unclean spirits - out of the mouth of the dragon, the beast and the false prophet. No one could read these words without recognising that here is an intensification of evil, building up to the great climactic of the battle of Armageddon (14). The truly awesome fact in all this is that in face of all the judgments of God there comes a hardening process in man, and they pass from craven fear to blasphemy of the name of the God of heaven; and after the blasphemies there comes the eruption of the demons from the pit. Who shall be disposed to doubt that this is the deepest insight into our world-situation today? A few generations ago, anyone speaking in this vein would have been laughed out of court and counted mad; but some of the deepest thinking men today, not only in the Church but in the world, are speaking precisely in these terms - speaking as if some sinister power had laid grip on humanity, as indeed it has. Man, in his pride and arrogance, fed and inflamed by the achievements of our modern age, has arrogated to himself god-like powers, and sold himself to the devil, and it is in our time that the accounts are beginning to be presented.