This Revelation 16 commentary is a direct excerpt from THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST (Geer & Holda, 2006; updated 2026)

  • Throughout the chapter you see allusions to deliverance of Israel from Egypt via plagues and Sea crossing (and later allusions to Babylon). This is the deliverance of the church from secular, pseudo-Christian bondage.
  • 16:1 “loud voice…wrath of God” compare 15:1 and 16:17 as well as Matt 27:46 and John 19:30. Either God’s wrath is poured out for you on Christ and finished there (for those who follow Jesus) or you you have to experience it directly
  • 16:2-9 – first four bowls correspond to first four trumpets (of Rev. 8:1-12): earth, then sea, then rivers-streams, then sun (this also corresponds with first days of creation in Gen. 1).
    • Trumpets warn (Rev. 1:10); bowls bring judgment
    • First four trumpets correspond to fall of Rome (AD 476) wherein Rome would soon “resurrect” as Holy Roman Empire
    • Bowls are the undoing of the Holy Roman Empire (I.e. the stripping of secular power and authority from Pope and Roman Catholicism)
  • 16:2 – FIRST BOWL: boils/sores on the earth, compared to a plague breaking out = beginning of French Revolution (c. 1793); France originally established Papal power and a main secular connection Pope had; now they turn against Pope and Roman Catholicism (called RC for short) and French Revolution was like a plague spreading atrocities throughout empire which turned it against RC
  • 16:3 – SECOND BOWL: blood in sea = Naval war from 1793-1805 that ended RC’s navy (France, Spain, Portugal); largely England vs France ending in great British victory at Trafalgar (1805)
  • 16:4-7 – THIRD BOWL: blood in rivers and springs; here you have divine retribution against martyr persecutions particularly mentioned (16:5-7 cf. 6:9) = Napoleon’s conquests against Pope and RC that took place in Northern Italy over the rivers there which were the same ones where RC had killed pre-reformers such as Waldenses and Albigenses (1796 and following)
  • 16:8-9 – FOURTH BOWL: Sun scorches = Napoleon continued conquests and European wars; Pope had 380 territories stripped to 30 by Napoleon (c. 1800s)
  • 16:10-11 – FIFTH BOWL: curse on throne of beast (this particular bowl does not have counterpart in trumpets) = direct attack and siege on Vatican, Papacy; from 1848-1870 RC stripped of all territories it oversaw (later it had only Vatican restored to it, as it does currently)
  • 16:12 – SIXTH BOWL: Euphrates dries up (corresponds to sixth trumpet and Euphrates attack) = WW1 (1918) in which Ottoman Empire lost its power, though it was withering before that; this gave opportunity for Christianity to spread more. Note that WW1 also struck drastically against other remaining strongholds of Roman Empire (the kaiser [read “Caesar”] of Germany and the czar [read “Caesar”] of Russia).
  • 16:13-16 – frog-demons; frogs remind of Exodus plague; demonic spirit of Islam (from dragon), secularism (from beast), counterfeit Christianity (from false prophet); Rev 16-17 shows the toppling of these enemies as authoritative lording over, but now the tactic is more cunning and seductive, via demonic influence and a united battle against Christianity (discussed more in later Rev chapters), called Armageddon
    • 16:15 – this reminder from Jesus might show how difficult that time will be, and tempting for Christians to fall away (similar to Matt. 24:24)
  • 16:17-21 – SEVENTH BOWL: From air to God’s throne to lightning and earthquake = the finality of God’s earthly judgments (culmination of seventh seal, seventh trumpet, and seventh bowl: 777), though possibly setting the stage for the final battle, Armageddon (unless this happens after Armageddon)
  • 16:19
    • “the great city” – this is referenced as spiritual Egypt and Sodom (11:8), and Babylon (17:5, 18); all places where God’s people were held captive and needed deliverance
    • “split into three parts” – beginning of the end of counterfeit Christianity (depicted as Babylon harlot); note that if our understanding of trumpets is correct, it depicts the fall of Rome into 3 parts (trumpets 1-4 = fall of West; trumpet 5 = fall of Asiatic and African parts to Arabic Muslims; trumpet 6 = fall of East to Turkish Muslims) that results in a revived Holy Roman Empire. Thus there is a possible symmetry in the tri-fold split of Holy Roman Empire. 
    • “cities of the nations fell” – end of world systems
  • 16:20 – islands and mountains removed = could be another way of showing final judgment on world powers, or could be reference to a one-world system forming that makes way for the final Armageddon battle mentioned later in Revelation
  • 16:21 – hail weighing 1 talent: a talent was the weight of lead that was envisioned to judge woman Wickedness and was sent to Babylon/Shinar (Zech. 5:7-11), it is also the weight of the lampstand which symbolizes the church (Exod. 25:39; Rev. 1:20). Thus, the talent could be retribution for all they did against God’s lampstand and/or pointing back to the judgment of Zech. 5 where a talent was sufficient to drive wickedness squarely onto Babylon and out of God’s people