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Revelation 16
10 The fifth poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and his kingdom was darkened. They gnawed their tongues because of the pain, 11 and they blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores. They didn't repent of their works.
The fifth poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast
A throne implies authority, kingship and a kingdom involving a domain over which a king reigns.
A throne implies submission (willing or otherwise) of subjects to whomever occupies the throne.
There is much in Scripture and especially in Revelation about the throne of God in heaven, but scant few references to this throne. The throne identified here is not God’s throne who shares it with the Lamb and His followers, but rather is the concentrated control center for the powers of darkness, here being temporarily occupied by the beast. Yet that was given to him originally by the dragon.
The beast which I saw was like a leopard, and his feet were like those of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. The dragon gave him his power, his throne, and great authority. (Revelation 13:2)
You said in your heart, "I will ascend into heaven! I will exalt my throne above the stars of God! I will sit on the mountain of assembly, in the far north! I will ascend above the heights of the clouds! I will make myself like the Most High!" (Isaiah 14:13-14)
"Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying, 'I will shake the heavens and the earth. I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms. I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the nations. I will overthrow the chariots, and those who ride in them. The horses and their riders will come down, everyone by the sword of his brother. (Haggai 2:21-22)
Satan invented kingship and the political structures that are used to define and segregate people here on earth. Because this war is focused on our sense of identity, it should be no surprise that God is keen on destroying the labels that divide and separate us from each other in artificial ways He never designed. Yet Satan will stop at nothing to attempt to convince others that these labels are legitimate and originated with God. He even boldly attempted to tempt Jesus to affirm this system during one of His times of greatest weakness and vulnerability, after 40 days in the wilderness with no food or drink.
Again, the devil took him to an exceedingly high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world, and their glory. He said to him, "I will give you all of these things, if you will fall down and worship me." (Matthew 4:8-9)
Here is the mind that has wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sits. (Revelation 17:9)
For God has put in their hearts to do what he has in mind, and to be of one mind, and to give their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God should be accomplished. (Revelation 17:17)
Can a throne of destruction be allied with You, one which devises mischief by decree? (Psalms 94:20 NAS95)
In this chapter we find two competing thrones. While the throne of iniquity – representing twisted thinking about what God is like – is here filled with abject darkness, the other true throne that is the source of all light, continues to coordinate events to appeal to hardened hearts to not continue to resist the light that separates truth from lies, good from evil, peace and joy from violence and destruction. This is precisely what the light of truth does in relation to darkness, what Jesus calls judgment.
The seventh poured out his bowl into the air. A loud voice came forth out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, "It is done!" (Revelation 16:17)
Immediately I was in the Spirit. Behold, there was a throne set in heaven, and one sitting on the throne that looked like a jasper stone and a sardius. There was a rainbow around the throne, like an emerald to look at. Around the throne were twenty-four thrones. On the thrones were twenty-four elders sitting, dressed in white garments, with crowns of gold on their heads. Out of the throne proceed lightnings, sounds, and thunders. There were seven lamps of fire burning before his throne, which are the seven Spirits of God. Before the throne was something like a sea of glass, similar to crystal. In the midst of the throne, and around the throne were four living creatures full of eyes before and behind. (Revelation 4:2-6)
After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude, which no man could number, out of every nation and of all tribes, peoples, and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, dressed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands. They cried with a loud voice, saying, "Salvation be to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!" All the angels were standing around the throne, the elders, and the four living creatures; and they fell on their faces before his throne, and worshiped God, (Revelation 7:9-11)
I saw a great white throne, and him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. There was found no place for them. (Revelation 20:11)
He showed me a river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb, in the middle of its street. On this side of the river and on that was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruits, yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. There will be no curse any more. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants serve him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. There will be no night, and they need no lamp light; for the Lord God will illuminate them. They will reign forever and ever. (Revelation 22:1-5)
his kingdom was darkened
The fourth angel sounded, and one third of the sun was struck, and one third of the moon, and one third of the stars; so that one third of them would be darkened, and the day wouldn't shine for one third of it, and the night in the same way. (Revelation 8:12)
The fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star from the sky which had fallen to the earth. The key to the pit of the abyss was given to him. He opened the pit of the abyss, and smoke went up out of the pit, like the smoke from a burning furnace. The sun and the air were darkened because of the smoke from the pit. (Revelation 9:1-2)
The light of a lamp will shine no more at all in you. The voice of the bridegroom and of the bride will be heard no more at all in you; for your merchants were the princes of the earth; for with your sorcery all the nations were deceived. (Revelation 18:23)
When the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram. Now terror and great darkness fell on him. (Genesis 15:12)
Yahweh said to Moses, "Stretch out your hand toward the sky, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness which may be felt." Moses stretched forth his hand toward the sky, and there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days. They didn't see one another, neither did anyone rise from his place for three days; but all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings. (Exodus 10:21-23)
To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, they have no light of dawn. Distressed and hungry, they will roam through the land; when they are famished, they will become enraged and, looking upward, will curse their king and their God. Then they will look toward the earth and see only distress and darkness and fearful gloom, and they will be thrust into utter darkness. (Isaiah 8:20-22 NIV)
Arise, shine; for your light is come, and the glory of Yahweh is risen on you. For, behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the peoples; but Yahweh will arise on you, and his glory shall be seen on you. (Isaiah 60:1-2)
Give glory to Yahweh your God, before he cause darkness, and before your feet stumble on the dark mountains, and, while you look for light, he turn it into the shadow of death, and make it gross darkness. (Jeremiah 13:16)
Blow the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of Yahweh comes, for it is close at hand: A day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness. As the dawn spreading on the mountains, a great and strong people; there has never been the like, neither will there be any more after them, even to the years of many generations. (Joel 2:1-2)
The One who was sent as the light of love and truth into the gross darkness of this world, had this to say about our perceptions of what is light and true.
The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is sound, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is evil, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! (Matthew 6:22-23)
I tell you that many will come from the east and the west, and will sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven, but the children of the Kingdom will be thrown out into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." (Matthew 8:11-12)
But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man who didn't have on wedding clothing, and he said to him, 'Friend, how did you come in here not wearing wedding clothing?' He was speechless. Then the king said to the servants, 'Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and throw him into the outer darkness; there is where the weeping and grinding of teeth will be.' (Matthew 22:11-13)
This is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their works were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the light, and doesn't come to the light, lest his works would be exposed. (John 3:19-20)
For the invisible things of him since the creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made, even his everlasting power and divinity; that they may be without excuse. Because, knowing God, they didn't glorify him as God, neither gave thanks, but became vain in their reasoning, and their senseless heart was darkened. (Romans 1:20-21)
They gnawed their tongues because of the pain
(This is the only occurrence of this Greek word in the entire Bible translated here as gnawed.)
In reviewing the many references to the tongue throughout Scripture, it starts to become clear that the choices we make about the words we speak has enormous impact on what we experience when it comes to how we react to the truth of God and the presence of God particularly. The tongue is possible the part of our body most involved in the war over our souls. Jesus spoke often of the importance of the kind of language we use and the reality that our obsession with what we put into our body is eclipsed by the nature and spirit revealed in the words that come from our mouth involving the tongue which is required in order to form words.
The tongue is used for tasting which is one the parts of our body used to receive sensory information that impacts our emotions.
The tongue also provides sensory information about the feel of what it contacts.
The tongue can be used without use of sound to convey information, i.e., sticking out the tongue at someone.
The tongue can be involved in experiencing sexual activities.
The tongue is a major factor in the function of swallowing.
The tongue is an essential organ for forming words. This is where the important symbol of the tongue has huge implications as our words have an enormous effect on most all of our relationships.
It is from this perspective that it is important to appreciate the significance of what is described here. This chapter describes people who that are fully aligned on one side or the other with no middle ground apparently left. Everyone involved are experiencing judgment, meaning the light being poured out from these bowls is eliciting either responses of joy, light and reflection of God’s glory, or violent reactions that expose intense hatred of the truth by those who love darkness. These reactions are expressed in blasphemies by use of their tongues.
The problem becoming obvious at this point is that those who have stayed with the lies of the dragon and beasts, are experiencing suffering caused from dissonance brought on by exposure of the lies believed. In other words, God created our tongue for the purpose of fostering deep, loving, trusting relationships with Him and those around us. This is what the tongue was designed for, and when it is used as designed it increases in capacity that results in increasing peace, joy and pleasure that can last for eternity. But when it is used to propagate lies, slander, bitterness, deceit or hatred – things it was never designed to do, then the incongruence between its design and its use by those who have chosen to give themselves fully to evil, can lead the tongue to experience the pain of that dissonance. This is true in all the parts of our body, and here this pain of dissonance is highlighted involving the tongue.
If what we have proposed about the nature of these bowls and their contents is anywhere close to being true, and I believe it is, then what is described here is the sharp contrast between the outcome of those who have chosen to use their tongues to only give expression to the New Song in magnifying praise for their Hero, the One who connected them with the heart of God, and the reaction of those who have long resisted belief in the New Song. Yet that very song is what could have set them free from their anguish brought on by the dissonance of the lies that form their character.
Do you despise the riches of his goodness, forbearance, and patience, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? But according to your hardness and unrepentant heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath, revelation, and of the righteous judgment of God; who "will pay back to everyone according to their works:" to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory, honor, and incorruptibility, eternal life; but to those who are self-seeking, and don't obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, will be wrath and indignation, oppression and anguish, on every soul of man who works evil.... (Romans 2:4-9)
Lies believed underly unbelief. It is lies cherished that inevitably leads to broken trust making it impossible to enter into the experience of mutual love and fellowship for which we were created. This is the underlying truth of the pain described here.
This disparity has always been, but the difference is that it becomes unavoidably obvious in the light of truth poured out in praise that magnifies God’s true righteousness and glory.
For there is no faithfulness in their mouth. Their heart is destruction. Their throat is an open tomb. They flatter with their tongue. (Psalms 5:9)
who sharpen their tongue like a sword, and aim their arrows, deadly words, (Psalms 64:3)
They remembered that God was their rock, the Most High God, their redeemer. But they flattered him with their mouth, and lied to him with their tongue. (Psalms 78:35-36)
They bend their tongue, as it were their bow, for falsehood; and they are grown strong in the land, but not for truth: for they proceed from evil to evil, and they don't know me, says Yahweh.
They will deceive everyone his neighbor, and will not speak the truth: they have taught their tongue to speak lies; they weary themselves to commit iniquity.
Their tongue is a deadly arrow; it speaks deceit: one speaks peaceably to his neighbor with his mouth, but in his heart he lays wait for him. (Jeremiah 9:3, 5, 8)
They return, but not to the Most High. They are like a faulty bow. Their princes will fall by the sword for the rage of their tongue. This will be their derision in the land of Egypt. (Hosea 7:16)
This will be the plague with which Yahweh will strike all the peoples who have warred against Jerusalem: their flesh will consume away while they stand on their feet, and their eyes will consume away in their sockets, and their tongue will consume away in their mouth. (Zechariah 14:12)
"Their throat is an open tomb. With their tongues they have used deceit." "The poison of vipers is under their lips;" "Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness." (Romans 3:13-14)
they blasphemed the God of heaven
This is another reference to what we just studied in verse 9. This blasphemy clearly involves use of their tongues which give expression to the condition of their hearts. At this point the continued resistance in blasphemy against the truth be revealed through praise and light poured out by these seven angels, is causing reactions in their body. The fact that their response to the revelation of God’s love for them is blasphemy is proof that their hearts have become so hardened in resistance to God’s kindness, tender mercies and compassion that there is nothing more that can be done to awaken repentance in them. Their determined choice to quench the Spirit of truth has destroyed capacity to repent. But this must be made obvious to everyone.
He who is not with me is against me, and he who doesn't gather with me, scatters. Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men. Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, neither in this age, nor in that which is to come. (Matthew 12:30-32)
This blasphemy is blaming God as the cause of all their suffering, which is a denial of personal responsibility for their own choices that has resulted in their lost condition and total hostility towards heaven. As we discussed in previous studies, blame is one of the first symptoms of the infection of sin, and when left unremedied blames God as the source of evil.
because of their pains and their sores
This indicates cumulative effects. The darkness is not the cause of this pain, but rather the pain from the scorching sun. Suddenly extreme exposure to the heat of the sun becomes abject darkness throwing them into isolation. Additionally sores here remain from their reaction to the first bowl, meaning that the effects of each outpouring do not disappear before the next one takes hold.
They didn't repent of their works
This too reinforces their response to the outpouring immediately previous to this. But note what the difference is. Here they refuse to repent of their evil works, their outward actions whereas in the last one they refuse to give glory to God. This may correlate to the mark of the beast (Revelation 13:16) located on the right hand, while refusing to give God glory correlates to the mark on the forehead.
What is becoming clear is that these negative reactions caused by exposure to the light in the praise and prayers of those emulating the Lamb, are become ever more intense. They are also condensing down to symptoms that can be predictable.
Sores and abscesses are symptoms of deterioration caused by corrupting poisons or infectious elements that cause a breakdown in the health of the skin.
In the spiritual dimension this represents corruption caused by lies, unbelief or a host of other negative toxins that distort our perceptions of God’s disposition towards us.
Blood representing one of the core factors of physical life, is turned into the opposite as it becomes corrupted to become like a dead man.
In the spiritual realm, the Spirit of truth and life is displaced by the spirit of the accuser, the father of lies, the enemy of souls resulting in opposite results from what sources of life-giving waters were designed to provide. Instead of circulating and enhancing increased life, joy, peace and greater intimacy with others, the sophistries and selfishness caused by sin results in loss of circulation of anything life-giving and the resources meant to bring us life all are transformed into sources of suffering and anguish.
The sun, the visible and vital element of the design for life to exist and thrive on this planet, becomes the source of scorching burns causing increased suffering on top of the painful sores already in place on the skin.
Spiritually, the very Source of life and light, truth and love that is essential for thriving life and satisfaction and lasting pleasure, becomes so misunderstood through the twisted magnifying glass of selfishness, that instead of being embraced with joy, the truth of God’s graciousness, kindness and humility is despised, hated and resisted until its intense rays designed to bring healing react in hardened hearts as nothing but torment when the message becomes unavoidably plain (Isaiah 28:19).
When darkness envelopes the center of power that is behind all the deceptions in this world, people react by blaming God for everything negative that is happening to them, refusing to believe that what they experience is according to the inviolable principle of cause and effect.
In the spirit realm, the overwhelming light that relentlessly exposes the hidden things of darkness is labeled as darkness itself in a last desperate attempt to maintain the facade that those in power are actually the benefactors of mankind (Luke 22:25).
