Глава XVI

Vision of the Seven Bowls of the Last Plagues; the first is disgusting wounds on sinful people (1–2), the second is the turning of sea water into blood (3), the third is the turning of river water into blood (4–7), the fourth is the unbearable heat of the sun (8–9), the fifth is darkness in the kingdom of the beast with the unrepentance of sinners (10–11), the sixth is the appearance from the mouth of the dragon of three unclean spirits like toads, who gathered the kings of the earth to the place of Armageddon (12–16), the seventh – a great earthquake and destruction of the city of Babylon, the fall of hail the size of a talent (17–21). Rev. 16:1. And I heard a loud voice from the church saying to the seven angels: Go and pour out the seven bowls of the wrath of God on the earth. Rev.16:2. The first angel went and poured out his cup on the ground: and cruel and disgusting purulent wounds appeared on the people who had the mark of the beast and worshiped his image. The voice undoubtedly belonged to the Lord God Himself (cf. Rev. 1:10; Ezekiel 9:1), for it comes from the church itself, this voice commands the bowls to be poured onto the ground. By earth here we must understand the entire universe, and the sea, and the land, and all those who must undergo the executions of the wrath of God, that is, all those who belong to the kingdom of the Antichrist and those who have rejected Christianity. After the first cup was poured onto the dry land, cruel and disgusting purulent wounds appeared on all people (cf. Exodus 9:9–11). This execution cannot be understood only as a symbolic image. The historical example of a similar Egyptian execution guarantees that its repetition on a larger scale is possible. And since the event depicted refers to the last time, close to the final revolution in the world, special and extraordinary phenomena in human life and human nature, analogies for which we may not currently encounter, are quite possible and acceptable. Rev.16:3. The second angel poured out his cup into the sea: and the blood became like that of a dead man, and every living thing died in the sea. The second cup is poured into the sea - a real sea filled with living beings. Obviously, the color of the mass of sea water became thickened and darkish blood and, moreover, foul-smelling. Such a mass was unsuitable for living creatures to live in it, and therefore John notes that everything animate in the sea died. In view of this, there is no reason to give an allegorical meaning to this execution. This is a new physical disaster that befalls the anti-Christian world and the nature of that time; The disaster, moreover, is not temporary and quickly ending, but, as can be seen from Rev. 16:9 and Rev. 16:11, continues constantly along with the disasters of other plagues until the very end of the world. Rev.16:4. The third angel poured out his cup into the rivers and springs of water, and it became blood. Rev. 16:5. And I heard the Angel of the waters, who said: You are righteous, O Lord, who art and were, and holy, because you have judged thus; Rev. 16:6. Because they shed the blood of saints and prophets, You gave them blood to drink: they are worthy of it. The third plague stands in close parallel with the first Egyptian plague, in which the waters of the Nile River turned to blood (Exodus 7:19–21). In favor of the literal understanding of the third plague, in addition to the analogies with the previous ones, is also the remark of the text that these waters, which became blood, were to be used by people to quench their thirst. The angel of the waters, as the ruler of a certain element, praises the Lord for His justice, for His immutability and for His faithfulness to His all-holy and just being. The need to drink blood instead of water is a terrible and unimaginable execution; for the anti-Christian world it is just retribution (v. 6) for its terrible and incomprehensible cruelty towards Christianity and against its faithful guardians. Rev.16:7. And I heard another from the altar saying: Yea, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are Thy judgments. This Divine justice is confirmed from behind the altar by the burnt offerings slain and killed, 75 who also praise the Lord for the immutability and rigor of His judgment and for justice. Rev. 16:8. The fourth angel poured out his cup on the sun, and it was given to him to burn people with fire. The first three plagues were the people themselves, the sea and the rivers; now, in the fourth plague, to complete the defeat of physical nature and the conditions of earthly life, the sun itself is struck. Taken literally, like the previous three plagues, the defeat of the sun must be understood to mean that then, with a general disorder of nature, the sunlight will change its beneficial warmth to unbearable heat 76 . Rev. 16:9. And the intense heat burned the people, and they blasphemed the name of God, who has power over these plagues, and did not come to their senses to give Him glory. As the suffering of the anti-Christian world from Divine executions increased, its wickedness, stubbornness and unrepentance were more and more revealed. Rev. 16:10. The fifth angel poured out his cup upon the throne of the beast: and his kingdom became dark, and they bit their tongues in pain, The fifth cup of God's wrath is poured out upon the very throne of the beast. The Beast is the Antichrist, his throne is the sphere of his power, his subjects who make up his kingdom. It was his kingdom that became dark. The power of the execution lies not so much in the darkness as in the impression it makes: the impression of terrible physical pain that even causes the gnashing of teeth. This execution must be considered as a natural consequence of the previous execution. The terrible heat of the sun, which was spoken of in the fourth plague, due to the heat of the air and the destruction of vegetation and due to the mass of vapors, was bound to produce a gloomy and menacing state of the atmosphere. In addition to this and as a result of this, the kingdom of the Antichrist will become gloomy in the sense that people have a mood of spirit that can be called gloomy - a mood of anger and despair. Rev. 16:11. and they blasphemed the God of heaven because of their sufferings and their plagues; and did not repent of their deeds. Because of disasters, this anger increases more and more, and at the same time the time of final retribution and eternal torment approaches more and more. Rev. 16:12. The sixth angel poured out his bowl into the great river Euphrates: and the water in it dried up, so that the way for the kings would be ready from the rising of the sun. A new step closer to this final limit is the sixth bowl of Divine wrath. It was poured onto the great river Euphrates, as a result of which the water in the river dried up and a free path was opened for the eastern kings. The Euphrates River, mentioned in Rev. 9:14, appears in St. Scripture marks the border between the Jewish kingdom and the eastern peoples hostile to it. Now, by the action of God, the waters of the river dry up and the barrier to the activity of the hostile force is destroyed, and thus free access is opened for the eastern kings in order to inflict new violence on the faithful Christian society. – In the sixth plague, obviously, there is an indication of a general increase in hostile activity against the Christian church in recent times. Then it will be possible to unite the action of all forces hostile to Christianity. However, the drying up of the river. The Euphrates speaks only of this possibility; the same thing in which this possibility will manifest itself is spoken of in the following verses. Rev. 16:13. 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: Namely, John sees three unclean spirits, like frogs, coming out of the mouth of the dragon (devil), the beast (Antichrist) and the false prophet (beast from the earth). For evil spirits, the image of toads is symbolically taken. And this, of course, is because whoever possesses an evil spirit with the properties of a dirty animal - a toad, the soul and activity of that person must be morally dirty, weak and pitiful in their goals and appearances, but at the same time proud and exalted. Regarding the appearance of the toads, John notes that they come out. We should think of this image as a mockery, which is quite consistent with both the appearance of toads and the view of the dragon, the Antichrist and the false prophet. Rev. 16:14. these are demonic spirits performing signs; they go out to the kings of the earth throughout the universe to gather them for battle on that great day of God Almighty. These evil spirits become the inspirers and leaders of earthly kings, and through them the forces of those states and nationalities over which these latter reign. In this sense, it is said that evil spirits gather kings for battle. The battle is the last world war, the last expression of the desire of a hostile force to destroy the Kingdom of Christ on earth 77 . Rev. 16:15. Behold, I come like a thief: blessed is he who watches and keeps his clothes, lest he walk naked, and lest they see his shame. The words: “Behold, I come like a thief...” come to the mind of John himself regarding the mention of the great day of the Lord, and he expresses them on his own behalf, recalling the well-known expression of the Divine Teacher Himself. As faithful and serviceable servants, all Christians must await the coming of their Lord, must keep their garments, the garments of their salvation (1 Thess. 5:8), so as not to appear before the eyes of the Lord the Judge naked, devoid of all virtues (cf. Rev. 3:18). Rev. 16:16. And he gathered them to a place called in Hebrew Armageddon. Rev. 16:17. The seventh angel poured out his cup into the air: and from the church of heaven a loud voice was heard from the throne, saying: It is finished! After this recollection and reminder, John again returns to speaking about unclean spirits. The expression “he gathered” refers to the same unclean spirits (as if led by the devil), at the inspiration of which the kings of the whole earth, together with their peoples, gathered at the site of Armageddon. In St. In Scripture we do not find any place called Armageddon. The word Armageddon is undoubtedly complex, double, from “ar” and “Megiddo”. “Ar” is a Hebrew word, meaning plain, and Megiddo is a historically famous geographical place in Palestine, which served as the battlefield of Barrabas with Sissara and Necho with the Jewish king Josiah. Thus the Valley of Megiddo is both a joyful and a sad monument to defeat. Consequently, the Apocalypse, calling the place of the meeting (of the kings) of the anti-Christian troops Armageddon, says that this meeting will end in a glorious victory and a terrible defeat. The Seventh Angel pours out his cup into the air. This meant defeat, damage to that element, which constitutes an essential necessary condition for everything living on earth. The seventh trumpet was thus the last trumpet, heralding the end of the world and the onset of a new life. If the air itself was affected, then not only the external conditions of earthly human life were affected, but the previous conditions of their moral life were also destroyed. In view of the importance of what the seventh cup proclaims, its pouring out is accompanied by a special significant heavenly voice: “It is finished.” It is more correct to attribute this voice to the Lord Himself. The word “it is finished” resembles the same word that came from the lips of the Lord dying on the cross. Just as that word was a sign of the end of the Old Testament, so is the voice of God 17 v. there is a sign of the end of the New Testament. And here “it is finished” refers not only to the seventh cup, but also to all previous plagues, to the entire economy of the New Testament salvation of the human race. Rev. 16:18. And there were lightnings, thunders, and voices, and there was a great earthquake, such as had not happened since there had been people on earth. Such an earthquake! So great! The same phenomena occurred that occurred after the seventh trumpet (Rev. 11:19); but now the earthquake, as a sign of the approaching end, the final and decisive revolution, was so strong that John does not even find words to denote its strength and destructiveness. Rev. 16:19. And the great city was broken into three parts, and the cities of the heathen fell, and Babylon the great was remembered before God, to give her the cup of the wine of the wrath of His wrath. By the great city, which split into three parts as a result of an earthquake, one can also mean Jerusalem, although in the Holy. Nowhere in Scripture is he called by this name. But here, of course, is the city of the future anti-Christian kingdom, regardless of what name it will be called. Then, during the earthquake, the great Babylon was given the cup of wine of the wrath of God to drink. The same great city is named here as Babylon, but not just as a geographical size, but as the central point of the future anti-Christian kingdom (cf. Rev. 14:8). The name Babylon is used here as if to designate the anti-Christian wickedness by which people of the last days will live. It is this wickedness that is now remembered by the Lord, and for it all the wicked must drink the cup of Divine wrath (cf. Rev. 14:8, 14:10). Rev. 16:20. And every island fled, and the mountains were gone; Rev. 16:21. and hail, the size of a talent, fell from the sky on the people; and the people blasphemed God because of the plagues from the hail, because the plague from it was very serious. As a result of an earthquake, as usually happens, the outline of the land will change, and some islands will completely disappear, plunging into the sea; and thus all nature will be completely ruined and disfigured. But people will not remain untouched: hail the size of a talent will fall on them. However, experiencing such punishment and realizing that the reason for it lies in the wrath of the Lord God, they not only do not repent, but directly blaspheme God, blaspheme Him as the omnipotent ruler of the world. What remains for them now? All that remains is the last terrible judgment, the pronouncement of the final sentence and the beginning of eternal torment. Kliefoth, Hengstenberg, Suller, Ebrard. Ebrard, Kliefoth, Suller. You might be interested in: