680. 16:3 Then the second angel poured out his bowl upon the sea. This symbolizes an influx of truth and goodness from the Lord into those people in the church of the Protestant Reformed who are concerned with its external elements and are caught up in that faith, and are called the laity.

To pour out the bowl symbolizes an influx of truth and goodness from the Lord, as in nos. 676, 677 above. The sea symbolizes the outer component of the church, consequently those who are taken up with its external elements, since the earth or land symbolizes the internal component of the church, thus people who are taken up with its internal elements (nos. 398, 403, 404, 420, 470, 677). These are the people who are called the laity and are caught up in that faith.