Revelation 16:17 – 21

Seventh Bowl: The Earth Utterly Shaken

17 Then the seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, “It is done!” 18 And there were noises and thunderings and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such a mighty and great earthquake as had not occurred since men were on the earth. 19 Now the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. And great Babylon was remembered before God, to give her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath. 20 Then every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. 21 And great hail from heaven fell upon men, each hailstone about the weight of a talent. Men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, since that plague was exceedingly great.

In chapter 15 we were introduced to the seven angels of the seven plagues of the wrath of God, verse one of chapter 15 says: “for in them the wrath of God is complete.” After the seventh bowl is emptied a voice of authority comes from the temple saying “It is done.” With these effects of the Reformation the revolution is complete. The union of church and state is dissolved.

Thunder, lightnings and earthquake in symbolic language refers to the great turmoil and disorder which was happening in the public affairs of the Roman-Catholic church-state. It is like a great city is being struck with horrendous storms and very high magnitude earthquakes.

The great city means the Roman-Catholic church-state also called the Great Babylon, the literal Babylon had been destroyed hundreds of years earlier and prophesied never to be rebuilt. (Isaiah 13:19 – 22) The entire Roman-Catholic institution of Rome is not to be fully destroyed until Jesus comes again. (2 Thessalonians 2:8)

Being divided into three parts shows that God does not completely destroy every institution he condemns.

“And great Babylon was remembered before God,” God remembered all of the evils or persecutions this empire had committed against the faithful believers of His Son. When he poured out the wine against her it represented the wrath God was sending to the “Great Babylon”, the Roman-Catholic church-state.

Islands symbolically mean the inhabited spots and the mountains mean the governments which were under the dominion of the Roman-Catholic church-state. This is symbolically showing the disruption of the political power of Rome.

If these hailstones were literal, they would be an average of fifty pounds each. This shows the intensity of God's wrath upon the Roman-Catholic empire. The effect of the Reformation returning the word of God to the people caused the church-state to crumble. The revolution caused many in Rome who were dependent on the various nations to implement the whims of the church to cry and speak evilly of God because of their losses of power.