Rev 16:21 | KingComments | STEP | . It is “the sixth” angel’s turn to pour out his bowl. The target of the content of his bowl is “the great river, the Euphrates”. The Euphrates river is the natural border between the east and the west. This plague caused the Euphrates river to dry up. This in turn paves the way for the eastern powers – “the kings from the east” – to attack the restored Roman empire. You can think of countries like India, Indonesia, China and Japan. This is about the situation in which the Western-European armies have come to help Israel because Israel is threatened by the king of the North. . At this point, John gets a glimpse into the secret dealings of the trinity of the ungodliness, “the dragon … the beast and … the false prophet”. “Out of the mouth” of each of them comes an unclean spirit. These “unclean spirits” look “like frogs”. ‘Out of the mouth’ means that propaganda is being spread. The content of the propaganda is unclean. The symbol, the frog, is very fitting, for it is an unclean animal ( ). Only one more time frogs are mentioned in the Scripture, namely, in connection with the second plague on Egypt ( ; ). They come from the swamp and are most audible in the darkness of the night, which also fits with this symbol for the demonically inspired propaganda. Uncleanness has become a trademark. Hands full of money is made with uncleanness. The many millions (!) of pornographic internet sites of which the number daily increases, prove the sensitivity of man to particularly this kind of propaganda. The advertising industry is full of it. That the unholy trinity chooses this form of propaganda makes it very clear how much man has degenerated into a creature that lives only for the satisfaction of his lusts. . Promise people uninhibited freedoms and they are won to the cause against God and His Christ. With this message the “spirits of demons” – for the unclean spirits are demons – go out and get to work. They will perform “signs”, making their message to be accepted easier. Their mission is to persuade “the kings of the whole world” to support their intention. That intention is to wage war against God and His Christ. But as crafty and deceptive as demons have always been, they will surely present their plan otherwise, perhaps as a peace-mission. After all, peace is necessary in the Middle-East, right? . The dark scene is interrupted by a word of the Lord Jesus for the believers who are fleeing from the beast. This statement is meant to encourage them in those turbulent times to continue to expect the Lord and to be vigilant. They must not let themselves be deceived by all events and especially not by the deceiving speech. For those who are not prepared for His return the Lord will come like a thief, which means unexpectedly and undesired. For the third time in this book the word “blessed” sounds. It is meant as a consolation and encouragement for the living saints. While under the influence of the ‘frogs’ the people will dress and behave themselves more and more shameless, the saints will distinguish themselves by dressing and behaving themselves honorably. The spiritual application is that the people of the world are walking naked, that is, that everyone sees what the flesh is capable of. Believers have received the garments of salvation by which the flesh can be kept in the death. . With the word “and” the thread is picked up again with , the gathering of the armies. Here you see that in reality God gathers the hostile armies and not the spirits of demons of that think that they have organized it themselves through their deception. The place where these armies are gathered is called by its Hebrew name. “Har-Magedon” means ‘the mountain where troops gather’. In that place the Western-European armies will be defeated by the Lord Jesus. The report of that battle, or better said, judgment, is described in Revelation 19 ( ). . Finally it is “the seventh” and last angel’s turn. Under the previous bowl judgments the whole society has been already destroyed in all its parts. But there is one territory left and that is “the air”. The last bowl is poured out on it. The air the people breathe will be suffocating. Breathing will be heavy and stuffy. Spiritually applied the air is the atmosphere that is ruled by satan ( ). The spiritual air that people breathe will then totally be under the judgment of God. All human relationships that the most wicked person needs to have a meaningful life, such as family, friends and colleagues, will be gone. Nothing is left but desperate loneliness in a hopeless environment, without any prospects. This too is, as it were, a foretaste of hell. With this, the judgments of God have come to an end. A loud voice announces that God’s holiness (the voice comes from the temple) and God’s righteousness (the voice comes from the throne) have been fully satisfied. With the cry “it is done!” it is indicated that all God’s purposes with His judgments have been fulfilled. There is nothing left to come under judgment. . What follows is a description of the accompanying phenomena to the seventh bowl and the consequences of pouring it out. “Flashes of lightning” underline that the judgment comes from heaven and that it will come suddenly and will be unstoppable. The flashes of lightning go together with all kinds of noises or “sounds” and with “peals of thunder”. Thunder indicate the powerful speaking of God in judgment. This impressive speaking from heaven is echoed on earth in an earthquake of a magnitude that dwarfs all previous earthquakes ( ). This last earthquake will bring a radical end to everything that still gave man any hold. . The earthquake will strike all habitats where there may be people. First “the great city” is mentioned. It is not quite clear which city is meant by that. According to some interpreters it is about political Rome and according to others it refers to Jerusalem ( ). There are two indications that, in my opinion, speak for thinking primarily of Jerusalem. The first is that Jerusalem earlier is called so ( ). The second is that it is said here that the city is divided “into three parts”, which means that the city is not totally destroyed, but is partly spared ( ). “The cities of the nations” are all cities outside Israel. These are the living communities of people. In the past such cities have always been reconstructed after disasters. That will not be the case here. All rebellion of human civilization against the government of heaven has seemed meaningless. Finally, every living community completely collapses. As final city “Babylon the great” is mentioned. Here we have religious Rome, the spiritual power, the system that has been delivering religion to an ungodly whole. That system is remembered before God separately as a special object on which His wrath is focused. Babylon, the roman-catholic system, has arrogated itself to be God’s representative on the earth and in this way has most dishonored God’s Name. . Also the places where people have fled to escape all the disasters, perish in the earthquake. No more shelter will be found. All those still alive, probably on their way to an island or a mountain to seek a safe place, will be directly exposed to the concluding part of the final plague. . The final consequence of the seventh bowl are deadly “huge hailstones … from heaven” (cf. ). The weight of the hailstones is mentioned. Converted, the weight of a hailstone is about fifty kilos. The last drops from the last bowl take the form of these enormous hailstones that come down on the people with great speed and crushing gravity. The only response of hardened man who is tormented by sores, burned by the sun, clothed in darkness, deprived of every hold by the great earthquake and struck by an unprecedented hail is that he blasphemes God. Here it is no longer said that the people did not repent ( ). With cursing they ball their fist to heaven and sink down into death. Now read Revelation 16:12-21 again. Reflection: What warnings do the two last bowl judgments contain for you?