All preliminaries being now arranged, the seven angels receive their
commission by a "great voice out of the temple." It is the "voice of the
Lord, full of majesty." (Ps. xxix. 4.)--As the _seals_ and _trumpets_
were not coincident, but successive, so it is doubtless with the
_vials_. No two begin to be poured out at the same time. One follows
another in orderly succession.
Several questions of difficult solution, arise in the minds of devout
and humble students of the Apocalypse, respecting the series of the
vials. Are the vials cotemporary with the trumpets? Seeing that the
seventh seal included all the trumpets, does analogy require that all
the vials be comprehended under the seventh or last trumpet? Or, do the
seven vials come under the last three trumpets, distinguished as they
are by the character of woe-trumpets? (ch. viii. 13.) Other questions
may here be propounded; but these seem to be the most obvious and
important, in fixing the time of the events predicted.
The breaking of the seventh seal unquestionably laid open the whole of
the book, including all the trumpets and vials,--all future events till
the end of the world; but it does not follow, for instance, that the
awful scene of the final judgment is to be cotemporary with any of the
trumpets, (ch. xx. 11, 12.) The seventh seal, therefore, discloses
important events, which are to come to pass subsequently to both
trumpets and vials. The fact that both trumpets and vials are disclosed
by the opening of the last seal, admits of their being cotemporaneous.
From the striking resemblance between the effects of the trumpets and
those of the vials, (ch. viii. 7-12; xvi. 2-12,) they might seem to be
cotemporary. This, however, is not the case, for the objects of the
judgments are different, that of the trumpets being more formally the
civil empire, while that of the vials is the ecclesiastical empire;
each, however, greatly affecting the other, because of their unholy
union against the cause of Christ. Perhaps it may be most consonant to
the mind of the Spirit to view the vials as agreeing in time with the
three woe-trumpets. Keeping in view the definite period of Antichrist's
domination in church and state, 1260 years, and the probability of its
drawing to a close, the remaining part would seem too short for the
period of the vials. As the series of the vials, like those which in
vision preceded them, is successive, the application of them all to the
French Revolution is simply preposterous.[12] That event answered not to
the symbol either in extent or duration. Nor indeed is there
satisfactory evidence in the actual condition of the Christian world,
notwithstanding the fond imagination of learned and good men, that the
voice of the seventh angel has yet been heard by Christendom.
1. And I heard a great voice out of the temple, saying to the seven
angels, Go your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon
the earth.
V. 1.--"Earth" has here the usual meaning,--the whole territory and
population of the Roman empire, those only and always exempted, who are
true to the cause of Immanuel. The angels of destruction cannot hurt
those who are under the protection of his blood. (Exod. xii. 23.) They
may not "come near any man upon whom is the mark." (Ezek. ix. 6; Rev.
xiv. 1.)
2. And the first went, and poured out his vial upon the earth; and there
fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the
beast, and upon them which worshipped his image.
3. And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea; and it became
as the blood of a dead man: and every living soul died in the sea.
4. And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains
of waters; and they became blood.
5. And I heard the angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous, O Lord,
which art, and wast, and shalt be, because thou hast judged thus:
6. For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast
given them blood to drink; for they are worthy.
7. And I heard another out of altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty,
true and righteous are thy judgments.
Vs. 2-7.--"And the first went."--However disagreeable the service, as we
are ready to suppose, this holy agent at once obeys the divine command.
The best of men hesitate and remonstrate when called to difficult and
disagreeable work. So it was with Moses, and with Jeremiah. (Exod. iv.
10; Jer. i. 6.) But all these heavenly messengers in succession, execute
their respective tasks without gainsaying. It is the will of our common
Lord that his disciples should emulate their example, that they should
"know, obey and submit to his will in all things as the angels do in
heaven." (Ps. ciii. 20, 21.)--The judgments upon the antichristian
enemies which have been briefly represented in the close of the 14th
chapter by a _harvest_ and _vintage_, are in this chapter more
extensively exhibited by the seven vials. A resemblance to the first
four trumpets may be observed in the effects of the first four vials,
and besides, these plagues resemble those inflicted on Egypt. If by her
crimes, especially by idolatry and cruelty to the people of God papal
Rome has copied the manners of Egypt and Babylon, it is but just that
she should be visited with like punishment.--The first vial selects as
victims those who "had the mark of the beast and worshipped his image;"
and this is true of the succeeding plagues, although the fact be not
repeated. The object of this vial is the "earth" in a more restricted
sense than in the first verse. The "earth" in the first verse comprises
all the parts of a system, "earth, sea, fountains, sun and air,"
mentioned in the following verses.--The "noisome and grievous sore,"
refers to one of the plagues of Egypt. (Exod. ix. 9-11.) The _earth_ was
the object affected also by the first trumpet; (ch. viii. 7;) but as
Antichrist had not then arisen, this plague cannot agree in time with
the first trumpet, though it might with the fifth or sixth trumpet; for
while these trumpets were demolishing the eastern member of the Roman
empire, making way for the development of Mahomet's imposture, the
"little horn" of Daniel, and Paul's "man of sin," was revealed in the
west. But the "two witnesses" were coincident in origin with Antichrist,
and were empowered by the Lord Christ "to smite the earth with all
plagues as often as they would," (ch. xi. 6.) The "grievous sore" is to
be understood metaphorically, not literally; for so the construction of
the Apocalypse requires. It may import the festering of unmortified
corruption among the votaries of Antichrist, intensified by the faithful
application of the divine law by the witnesses.--The object of the
second vial is the "sea," the same as that of the second trumpet, (ch.
viii. 8, 9.) The allusion is to Exod. vii. 20, 21. Intestine commotions,
with war, blood and death, seem to be symbolized. The horns of the beast
were often turned against one another; for the bestial kingdom was
"partly broken." The toes in Nebuchadnezzar's image did not "cleave one
to another." (Dan. ii. 42, 43.)--The object of the third vial is the
"rivers and fountains of waters," (ch. viii. 10; Exodus vii. 19.) These
symbols may signify the several kingdoms of the empire, tributary by
their wealth and traffic to the great city. And as the witnesses
continued to prophesy, giving increased point and publicity to their
testimony, and as the Turks were making encroachments upon the
territories of nominal Christian princes in the west, extensive wars and
great slaughter were the results. These awful judgments are followed by
the plaudits of two angels. The eternal Jehovah is recognized as the
Author of these judgments. The Mediator may here be understood, (ch. i.
8;) (John v. 22, 27.) The "angel of the waters" may be the same who
poured out the vial. He gives to the Lord the glory of his
justice:--"Thou art righteous." He also approves the "law of
retaliation:"--"For they are worthy." The other angel "out of the altar"
speaks on behalf of the martyrs, (ch. vi. 9, 10,) recognizing the
faithfulness of God:--"True and righteous are thy judgments."
8. And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was
given unto him to scorch men with fire.
9. And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of
God, which hath power over these plagues; and they repented not to give
him glory.
Vs. 8,9.--The object of the fourth vial is the "sun," (ch. viii. 12.)
"Power was given him,"--the angel. The two witnesses are represented as
armed with "fire, which proceedeth out of their mouth, devouring their
enemies," (ch. xi. 5.) As the formal object of all the vials is the
ecclesiastical, rather than the civil empire, and the sun is the symbol
of the chief dignitary, perhaps this vial strikes more directly upon the
"man of sin." The expression in the introduction to the vials, (ch. xv.
4,)--"thou only art holy," seems to be a testimony against the
antichristian "name of blasphemy,"--"His Holiness." By the Reformation,
symbolized by successive angels of the fourteenth chapter, those valiant
men tormented the Pope and his vassals, so that they raged and
blasphemed more and more, but "repented not to give God the glory." So
it was at the sounding of the sixth trumpet, (ch. ix. 20, 21.)
10. And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast;
and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for
pain,
11. And blasphemed the God of heaven, because of their pains and their
sores, and repented not of their deeds.
Vs. 10, 11.--"The seat of the beast" is the object of the fifth vial.
The "beast" is all along from chapter xi. 7, the Roman empire. The
"image of the beast," we have found to be the papacy, (ch. xiii. 14,
15.) Now the "seat (throne) of the beast," would seem to point to the
metropolis, where the Pope, as a kind of imperial,
politico-ecclesiastical head, keeps his court, and whence decrees are
issued. This plague is like the ninth inflicted upon Egypt, (Exod. x.
21.) It was the last but one, and left Pharaoh still impenitent. Just so
here; although this vial is the last but one to be poured out on the
western limb of the great antichristian conspiracy: the population of
the spiritual empire repress their complaints before men,--"they gnawed
their tongues for pain;" while they in their hearts "curse their king
and their God, and look upward." (Is. viii. 21.) This may be understood
to be the actual condition of the Pope and his retainers at the present
time, and especially since the year 1848, when he was forced to flee
from Rome. _Darkness_ is the emblem of distress, of mental despair, (Ps.
xxxv. 8; Is. viii. 22;) and the actual relation of European powers to
the see of Rome,--Austria, France, Spain, and the Italian states, is not
calculated to mitigate, but rather to augment and irritate the "pains
and the sores" inflicted by this and former vials.
We can, however, offer only conjectures here, and dare not be too
confident; for learned and pious expositors are of the opinion that all
the vials are comprehended under the seventh trumpet; that the seventh
trumpet has not yet begun to sound; and consequently, that the vials are
all future. On the other hand, equally learned and godly interpreters of
these Apocalyptic hieroglyphics, are very confident that the _sixth_
vial is in process of pouring out in our present time; and that in fact
its effects are obviously traceable in providence. Already we have
indicated our humble opinion, that all the vials are not necessarily
comprehended under the seventh trumpet; inasmuch as the opening of the
last seal disclosed equally trumpets and vials: yet doubtless it is
requisite that the series of the trumpets should precede that of the
vials, while nothing hinders that of both series should cotemporate. We
may conceive that as the first four trumpets demolished the western
member of the Roman empire, and the next two the eastern limb, so the
vials may be distributed in a manner somewhat similar. The second woe,
or sixth trumpet, has not yet finished its appropriate work in the final
subversion of the Turkish empire, which still exists; and during the
time of its last echoes, the vials may be supposed to be accomplishing
their appropriate work upon the western empire, as being "wholly given
to idolatry." While the first five vials are consuming the Antichrist in
the west, the sixth is operating in the east.
12. And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river
Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings
of the east might be prepared.
13. And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of
the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of
the false prophet.
14. For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth
unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to
the battle of that great day of God Almighty.
15. Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth
his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.
16. And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew
tongue Armageddon.
Vs. 12-16.--"The great river Euphrates" is the object of the sixth vial.
By the very general consent of expositors the Turkish empire is intended
by this symbol; and they seem to be equally agreed that the sixth vial
in now in process of pouring out. The object of the sixth trumpet is the
same, (ch. ix. 14.) There is, besides, an obvious allusion to the
ancient literal Babylon; and to the manner of its overthrow by Cyrus the
king of Persia. (Jer. l. 38; li. 36; Dan. v. 26-28; Is. xliv. 27,
28.)--This monarch, as historians relate, changed the current of the
Euphrates, and by this means took possession of the city, while
Belshazzar and his nobles were engaged in a drunken festival. (Dan. v.
1-30.)--The waters of this river are to be taken as representing the
population of the Ottoman empire, (ch. xvii. 15.) By the "kings of the
east" may be understood the Jews, agreeably to the symbolical nature of
this book; (Is. xli. 2, 3;) yet as the Turkish empire and Mahometan
imposture constitute barriers to the extension of Christ's kingdom among
the populous nations of the east, as Popish despotism and idolatry,
obstruct the gospel in the west, we may give this symbol of the "kings
of the east" a more extensive interpretation. Probably a larger
proportion of the natural seed of Abraham are to be found on the west
than even on the east of the Turkish empire. The dynasty of the Turk is
in process of visible exhaustion, and nothing but what is termed among
antichristian nations "the balance of power," prolongs its existence or
hinders its extinction. "Drying up," evaporation, is a gradual process,
and with singular precision describes the waning light of the once proud
Crescent,--the expiring breath of what has been termed by a bold figure,
"the sick man."[13]--Under this vial, however, and likewise as the
termination of the second woe, a general, final and desperate alliance
is to be found to resist the aggressive forces of the "Lord of
Hosts."--This confederacy is headed by the dragon, and is identical with
the war, (ch. xii. 17,) against the "remnant of the woman's
seed."--These "unclean spirits like frogs" are called "spirits of
devils." They "come out of the mouth" of all the agents, the dragon,
(ch. xii. 3, 9,) the beast, (ch. xiii. 1,) and the false prophet,--the
same as the two-horned beast, (v. 11,) and (ch. xix. 20.) These "unclean
spirits" succeed in gathering the kings of the earth, by "working
miracles," "lying wonders." (2 Thess. ii. 9; 1 Tim. iv. 1, 2.) They are
the agents of antichristian Rome, spiritual wickedness in high places,"
(Eph. vi. 12;)--"like frogs," living in moral filth; garrulous and
impudent, stealthily gaining access into the bedchambers of the kings,
"after the manner of Egypt." (Exod. viii. 3.)--Surely the policy of Rome
is here portrayed, her cardinals, archbishops, Jesuits, etc., gaining
entrance into the councils and cabinets of princes, inciting them to
debauchery, tyranny and blood. Hellish hosts are thus "gathered to the
battle of that great day of God Almighty,"--the day of the seventh vial,
of the "vintage," (ch. xiv. 18-20,) and of the seventh trumpet, (ch. xi.
15;) for all these agree in point of time.--This will be an "hour of
temptation," as intimated in the 15th verse, which is a parenthesis,
interrupting a little the narrative of the effects of the vial. There is
danger of apostacy, of "falling away to these Chaldeans," of temporizing
with the enemy in order to escape suffering. Thus Christian soldiers of
the cross, losing "the armour of righteousness," would be exposed to
"shame." But "blessed is he that watcheth," that looks to the Captain of
Salvation, to his cause, as elucidated by his providence,--the signs of
the times; for so shall he "keep his garments," when others are "found
naked."--"And he gathered them" or rather "_they_ gathered," (for the
singular verb agrees with its nominative plural neuter as usual,)--the
"unclean spirits gathered the kings of the earth" to the destined place.
This hinders not but that these antichristian enemies of the church are
brought together by the Almighty. Just so he sent the king of Assyria
against "a hypocritical nation." (Is. x. 5-7.) And doubtless the prophet
Joel prophesied of this great and decisive battle, (ch. iii. 11-14.)
"Thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O Lord." Compare vs. 1, 2.
The place is called "Armageddon," the _mountain of destruction_,
suggesting the issue of the battle in the final overthrow of Antichrist;
for it is not necessary to suppose that any _place_ is literally pointed
out; but as this is a compound word in the "Hebrew tongue," allusion may
be made to the slaughter of Sisera's army, (Judges v. 19;) or to the
mournful death of Josiah, (2 Chron. xxxv. 22.)
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.
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.
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.
20. And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found.
21. And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone
about the weight of a talent; and men blasphemed God, because of the
plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great.
Vs. 17-21.--"The seventh angel poured out his vial into the air."--The
devil is emphatically styled "the prince of the power of the air." (Eph.
ii. 2.) All the preceding vials fell upon their respective and
successive objects, the several parts of the symbolic system; but this
"vial of consummation" affects the whole of that system at once. The
dragon, the beast, and his image, together with the false prophet,--all
the "kingdoms of this world and the glory of them," which the god of
this world claimed as his own, and offered to our Lord Jesus Christ in
the days of his humiliation, (Luke iv. 6, 7;)--all will be destroyed for
ever. He who gave commission by a "great voice," (v. 1,) to these
angels, now that they have fulfilled his pleasure, solemnly declares his
approbation,--"It is done." The Lord Christ had solemnly sworn that "in
the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he should begin to
sound, the mystery of God should be _finished_," (ch. x. 6, 7.) He is
faithful to his oath,--_It is done._ Hence, it is undeniably evident
that the seventh trumpet agrees in time with the seventh vial; and it is
equally evident that the events which they represent are yet future.
What was obscurely intimated as following the sounding of the seventh
trumpet,--"the nations were angry,--and thy wrath is come," (ch. xi.
18,) is here amplified; for the "voices, thunders and lightnings," are
the visible and sensible tokens of the wrath of God. (Exod. xix. 16;
Heb. xii. 21.) Next follows an "earthquake," the usual symbol of
revolution; but this one is without parallel. An earthquake followed the
opening of the sixth seal, (ch. vi. 12;) when paganism was overthrown in
the Roman empire by Constantine, and another earthquake marked the close
of the second woe, (ch. xi. 13,) when "the tenth part of the city fell:"
but this _concussion_ is "so mighty and so great" as to "divide the
great city into three parts," or rival factions: next, "the cities of
the nations fell,"--revolted from their wonted allegiance, and "great
Babylon came in remembrance before God," who seemed to have forgotten
both her and his saints whom she had so long and so cruelly persecuted.
At the fall of Rome _pagan_, mountains and islands were only "moved out
of their places," (ch. vi. 14;) but at the fall of Rome _papal_, "every
island fled away, and the mountains were not found;"--the former
indicating _transition_, the latter utter _destruction_.--The "fall of
hail" is to be viewed as accompanying, not following, the fall of
cities, flight of islands and mountains. As hail-stones are symbolical
of divine judgments, and as there may be allusion here to another of the
plagues of Egypt, (Exod. ix. 18;) so more especially may the facts of
history supply the figurative language with which the judgments of the
vials terminate. If any escaped the destroying sword in the battle of
Armageddon, they are overtaken by these ponderous hail-stones out of
heaven; even as "the Lord cast down great stones from heaven" upon the
five kings of the Amorites; so that "more died with hailstones than they
whom the children of Israel slew with the sword." (Jos. x. 11.)--The
result is as before; the survivors remain impenitent. As history
supplies no instance of literal hail-stones of a talent weight, (sixty
pounds, or as others, a hundred,) so the symbol represents this as the
most tremendous of all the judgments of God, (ch. xiv. 20.)
Thus, we have seen that the last trumpet and the last vial combine, in
the final perdition of Babylon the great.