676. REVELATION: CHAPTER 16
1. Then I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, "Go and pour out the bowls of the wrath of God onto the earth."
2. So the first went and poured out his bowl upon the earth, and an evil and noxious sore formed in people who had the mark of the beast and those who worshiped its image.
3. Then the second angel poured out his bowl onto the sea, and it became blood as though of a dead man, and every living creature in the sea died.
4. Then the third angel poured out his bowl onto the rivers and springs of water, and they became blood.
5. And I heard the angel of the waters saying: "You are righteous, O Lord, The One who is and who was, and holy, Because You have judged these things.
6. For they have poured out the blood of saints and prophets, And You have given them blood to drink. For they are deserving."
7. And I heard another from the altar saying, "Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and just are Your judgments."
8. Then the fourth angel poured out his bowl onto the sun, and it was given to him to scorch people with fire.
9. And people were scorched with great heat, and they blasphemed the name of God who has power over these plagues; and they did not repent so as to give Him glory.
10. Then the fifth angel poured out his bowl upon the throne of the beast, and his kingdom became full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues because of their suffering.
11. And they blasphemed the God of heaven because of their sufferings and because of their sores, and did not repent of their works.
12. Then the sixth angel poured out his bowl upon the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up, so that the way of the kings from the rising of the sun might be made ready.
13. And I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs.
14. For they are spirits of demons that perform signs to go away to 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 am coming as a thief. Blessed is he who watches, and preserves his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame."
16. And they gathered them together to the place called in Hebrew Armageddon.
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 voices and lightnings and thunderings; and there was a great earthquake, such as had not occurred since people were on the earth, so great was the earthquake.
19. And 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 fury of His wrath.
20. Then every island fled away, and mountains were not found.
21. And great hail from heaven about the weight of a talent fell upon people. And people blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, as the plague was exceedingly great.
THE SPIRITUAL MEANING
The Contents of the Whole Chapter
In this chapter the evils and falsities in the church of the Protestant Reformed are exposed by influx from heaven (verse 1) - by influx into the clergy (verse 2), into the laity (verse 3), into the understanding of the Word in them (verses 4-7), into the love in them (verses 8, 9), into the faith in them (verses 10, 11), into the interior reasonings in them (verses 12-15), and into all of these at the same time (verses 17-21).
The Contents of the Individual Verses:
| Verse Contents | Spiritual Meaning |
|---|
| 1. Then I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, "Go and pour out the bowls of the wrath of God onto the earth." | An influx from the Lord from the inmost of heaven into the church of the Protestant Reformed, where those people are found who are caught up in a faith divorced from charity, as to faith and as to life, |
| 2. So the first went and poured out his bowl upon the earth, | into those taken up with the interior tenets of the church of the Protestant Reformed, who study the doctrine of justification by faith alone and are called the clergy. |
| and an evil and noxious sore formed | Interior evils and falsities destructive of every good and truth in the church, |
| in people who had the mark of the beast and those who worshiped its image. | in those clergy who live faith alone and accept the doctrine teaching it. |
| 3. Then the second angel poured out his bowl upon the sea, | Influx into those people in the church who are concerned with its external elements and are caught up in that faith, and are called the laity. |
| and it became blood as though of a dead man, and every living creature in the sea died. | The infernal falsity in them by which every truth in the Word was extinguished, and so also every truth in the church and in faith. |
| 4. Then the third angel poured out his bowl onto the rivers and springs of water, | Influx into the understanding of the Word in them. |
| and they became blood. | The Word's truths falsified. |
| 5. And I heard the angel of the waters saying: | The Word's Divine truth. |
| "You are righteous, O Lord, | The One who is and who was, and holy, |
| Because You have judged these things. | This judgment is of the Divine providence of the Lord, who is and was the Word, which otherwise would be profaned, |
| 6. For they have poured out the blood of saints and prophets, | And this because when just the one tenet is accepted, that faith alone saves apart from works of the law, it corrupts all doctrinal truths from the Word. |
| And You have given them blood to drink. | For they are deserving." |
| Those who have confirmed themselves in faith alone in doctrine and life have been permitted to falsify the Word's truths and to infuse their life with those falsified truths. | 7. And I heard another from the altar saying, "Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and just are Your judgments." |
| The Divine goodness in the Word supporting that Divine truth. | 8. Then the fourth angel poured out his bowl onto the sun, |
| Influx into the people's love. | and it was given to him to scorch people with fire. |
| Love toward the Lord tormented them, because they were caught up in lusts for evils emanating from the delight of their love. | 9. And people were scorched with great heat, and they blasphemed the name of God who has power over these plagues; |
| Owing to the delight of the love of self arising from their grievous lusts for evils, they did not acknowledge the Divinity of the Lord's humanity, even though from it flows every goodness of love and truth of faith. | and they did not repent so as to give Him glory. |
| Because of this they cannot accept with any faith that the Lord is God of heaven and earth, even in respect to His humanity, even though it is what the Word teaches. | 10. Then the fifth angel poured out his bowl upon the throne of the beast, |
| Influx into the people's faith. | and his kingdom became full of darkness; |
| Nothing but falsities appeared. | and they gnawed their tongues because of their suffering. |
| They could not endure truths. | 11. And they blasphemed the God of heaven because of their sufferings and because of their sores, |
| They could not acknowledge the Lord alone to be God of heaven and earth, owing to feelings of repugnance springing from interior falsities and evils. | and did not repent of their works. |
| Despite being instructed from the Word, they still did not turn away from the falsities of their faith or their consequent evil practices. | 12. Then the sixth angel poured out his bowl upon the great river Euphrates, |
| Influx into the people's interior reasonings by which they defend justification by faith alone. | and its water was dried up, so that the way of the kings from the rising of the sun might be made ready. |
| The falsities in those reasonings removed in the case of people who possess truths from the Lord that spring from goodness, and who are to be introduced into the New Church. | 13. And I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet, |
| A perception that from a theology founded on the doctrine of a trinity of persons in the Godhead and on the doctrine of justification by faith alone apart from works of the law | three unclean spirits like frogs. |
| there arose nothing but reasonings and lusts to falsify truths. | 14. For they are spirits of demons |
| They were lusts to falsify truths and to reason on the basis of falsities. | that perform signs to go away to the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. |
| Assertions that their falsities are true, and efforts to stir up all those throughout the church who are caught up in the same falsities to attack the truths of the New Church. | 15. "Behold, I am coming as a thief. Blessed is he who watches, and preserves his garments, |
| The Lord's advent and heaven then for people who look to Him and remain steadfast in a life in accordance with His precepts, which are the Word's truths, | lest he walk naked and they see his shame." |
| so as not to be associated with people who are without any truths, and have their hellish loves appear. | 16. And they gathered them together to the place called in Hebrew Armageddon. |
| A state of combat, of falsities against truths, and, arising from a love of dominion and preeminence, a mind to destroy the New Church. | 17. Then the seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, |
| Influx into all of these things in them at the same time. | and a loud voice came out of the temple of heaven from the throne, saying, "It is done!" |
| It was thus made manifest by the Lord that every element of the church was destroyed, and that the Last Judgment was now imminent. | 18. And there were voices and lightnings and thunderings; |
| Reasonings, falsifications of truth, and arguments in consequence of the falsities accompanying evil. | and there was a great earthquake, such as had not occurred since people were on the earth, so great was the earthquake. |
| Seeming shocks, convulsions, upsets and drawings down from heaven of every element of the church. | 19. And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. |
| By these events that church was utterly destroyed as regards its doctrine, and so too all the heresies that emanated from it. | And great Babylon was remembered before God, to give her the cup of the wine of the fury of His wrath. |
| The destruction also at that time of the dogmas of the Roman Catholic religion. | 20. Then every island fled away, and mountains were not found. |
| There was no longer any truth of faith, nor any goodness of love. | 21. And great hail from heaven about the weight of a talent fell upon people. |
| Dreadful and atrocious falsities, by which every truth in the Word and so in the church was destroyed. | And people blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, as the plague was exceedingly great. |
| Because the people entrenched such falsities in themselves, they denied truths to the extent that they could not recognize them, owing to feelings of repugnance springing from their interior falsities and evils. |
THE EXPOSITION
16:1 Then I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, "Go and pour out the bowls of the wrath of God onto the earth." This symbolizes an influx from the Lord from the inmost of heaven into the church of the Protestant Reformed, where those people are found who are caught up in a faith divorced from charity, as to faith and as to life, to take truths and goods from them and reveal the falsities and evils in which they are caught up, and in this way to separate them from people who believe in the Lord and who possess charity from Him and its accompanying faith.
This in brief is what is contained in this chapter. The temple means the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony previously spoken of in chapter 15:5, and it symbolizes the inmost of heaven where the Lord is present in His holiness in the Word and in the Law contained in the Ten Commandments (no. 669). The loud voice from it symbolizes a Divine command for the seven angels to go and pour out the bowls. The seven angels mean the Lord, as in no. 657 above. Pouring out the bowls containing plagues onto the earth symbolizes an influx into the church of the Protestant Reformed. Pouring out the bowls symbolizes influx, and the earth symbolizes the church (no. 285).
[2] The subject continues to be the church among the Protestant Reformed. In the following chapter it will be the church among Roman Catholics; after that it will be the Last Judgment; and finally the New Church, which is the New Jerusalem, as may be seen in the Preface and in no. 2.
Chapters 8, 9 above described seven angels who had seven trumpets, which they sounded, and because many similar things occur there, we will say here what those seven angels symbolized and what these do here. The seven trumpets which the seven angels sounded symbolize an examination and exposure of the falsities and evils possessed by people who are caught up in a faith divorced from charity. But the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues symbolize the purging and ultimate end of these people, since the Last Judgment cannot be executed upon them until they have been purged.
[3] The purging and ultimate end of them is brought about in the spiritual world in the following way: People caught up in falsities as to doctrine and so in evils as to life have taken from them all the goods and truths that they possessed merely in their natural self, by which they put on the appearance of being Christian people. When these goods and truths have been taken away, the people are separated from heaven and joined to hell. And then in the world of spirits they are arranged in accordance with the varieties of their lusts into societies, which later sink down.
[4] They have goods and truths taken from them by influx from heaven. The influx originates from genuine truths and goods by which they are tormented and tortured, much like a snake placed near a fire or cast upon an anthill. Therefore they reject the goods and truths of heaven, which are also the goods and truths of the church, and finally condemn them, because these cause them what feels like the torment of hell. When this happens they retreat into their evils and falsities and are separated from people who are good.
These are the things described in this chapter and symbolized by the emptying out of the bowls containing the seven last plagues.
The bowls did not contain these evils and falsities symbolized by the plagues, but had in them genuine truths and goods, whose effect was as described. For the angels came from the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony, which means the inmost of heaven, where nothing but truths and goods in a Divine and holy state are found (Revelation 15:6).
[5] This is the purging and ultimate end spoken of by the Lord when He said:
...whoever has, to him more will be given, that he may have greater abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. (Matthew 13:12, Mark 4:25)
...take the talent from him, and give it to him who has ten talents. For to everyone who has, more will be given, that he may have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. (Matthew 25:28-29, cf. Luke 19:24-26)
