The last 3 verses of chapter 15 introduce the plague judgements, which are in chapter 16. They are moved here for clarity.
RECAP CHAPTER 14 AND 1/2 OF 15
Lamb - with the unsealed 144,000, the thunder, and they sing the Song of Moses
Angel 1 - Eternal gospel reach all the earth, every nation, tribe, tongue & people. This angel announced the hour of judgement has come
Angel 2 - Announces the fall of Babylon the great
Angel 3 - Announces the cup of wrath for those that worship the beast or image, or take the mark. They will be tormented in the presence of the holy angels and the lamb, the smoke of their torment rises to the end of the ages.
A blessing is pronounced for those that die in the Lord, with agreement from the Spirit - we see the timeline goes back to angel #1, where the hour of judgement has come
The one who resembled the Son of Man on the cloud reaps
Another angel comes with a sickle to reap
The angel over the fire commands that angel to also reap the grapes
The seven angels with the seven plagues, shows the wrath of God is complete
The sea of glass mingled with fire standing beside those that conquered the beast, who had harps and sing the song of Moses and the Lamb
This timeline of judgement starts in chapter 14 then it restates this timeline for those that died in the Lord during those judgements and continues this timeline to chapter 15 and verse 4. This timeline in both cases starts around the time of the formation of the earth beast in 1776 and goes to the end of the ages. Now we look at verse 5 which describes the vial/plague/bowl judgements. See verse 17 where the angel announced "It is done!" The wrath of God is complete. This is not to be confused with the final judgement, the lake of fire in chapter 20. During the wrath, Jesus treads the winepress, then in Chapter 18, that cup is given to Babylon, the great city, in a double portion. She is burned with fire, her smoke goes up to the end of the ages. The cup of wrath is also given to those that worship the beast, image and take the mark. They are tormented by fire to the end of the ages, the lake of fire described in chapter 20. Now we focus on the bowl judgements, and the final bowl is the wrath of God that is complete. This wrath was WWI and WWII, and was has been described 3 ways, in chapter 14, 16 and in 19 and they will be connected in chapter 19. Chapter 18 will explain the cup of wrath and shows how it connects to the great city and then the beast at the end of the ages.
Revelation 15:5 After this I looked, and the sanctuary of the tent of witness in heaven was opened, 6 and out of the sanctuary came the seven angels with the seven plagues, clothed in pure, bright linen, with golden sashes around their chests. 7 And one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God who lives forever and ever, 8 and the sanctuary was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power, and no one could enter the sanctuary until the seven plagues of the seven angels were finished.
We have established that the bowl judgements are not poured out at the end of the ages. The 2 great sickles at the end of chapter 14 gives a clue of the wrath. This also coincides with the term where Jesus comes as a thief, and Jesus first introduces this warning in the Sardis church, which is the 5th church age. This again puts the beginning of the bowl judgements around the 1800s.
biblehub topical: plague - Overview of New Testament Usage
The noun πληγή appears twenty-two times and gathers two primary ideas: (1) a physical blow that leaves a stripe or wound, and (2) a plague or catastrophic stroke sent by God. In every context the term communicates decisive impact—whether from human violence or divine judgment—calling the reader to recognize the seriousness of sin, the cost of discipleship, and the certainty of God’s final justice.
1 Then I heard a loud voice from the temple telling the seven angels, “Go and pour out on the earth the seven bowls of the wrath of God.” 2 So the first angel went and poured out his bowl on the earth, and harmful and painful sores came upon the people who bore the mark of the beast and worshiped its image.
Strong's calls the sores "loathsome" and "malignant." Loathsome is inwardly foul, rotten, inner malice flowing out of a morally rotten character. Malignant is evil, wicked, full of labors, hardships, bringing toils, annoyances, perils. The slave trade, that started in the 1500s, peaked in the 1700s where more than half of the total volume of enslaved people were forcibly moved during the 18th century alone. Looking at the definition of malignant gives you the strong idea of slavery by the phrases "full of labors, bringing toils." In biblehub commentary, the sores are also associated with leprosy, and biblical leprosy is where the bronze skin of the Israelite was turned white as in the case of Miriam. This is what we now call vitiligo, and you can look up pictures of this, and if God wanted to convey a message about separating black and white, this is a good analogy.
Here we see the phrase "people who bore the mark of the beast." The earth in this verse implies the earth beast, but it can't be called a beast until 1776, showing that this plague started before 1776. The beast with the mark is the earth beast of chapter 13, the United States. Also this phrase is more confirmation that the mark is financial in nature because the institution of slavery is entirely based on another person's greed. This pursuit was a key component of American settlement called Manifest Destiny, and also Westward Expansion. These concepts enabled the worldwide system of European dominance later called Imperialism because the Americas were colonies of European monarchies, and the profits realized in the new world fed the coffers of the crowns of the old world. The mark is also connected to fiat currency. Before the formation of the United States, the Massachusetts Bay Colony was instrumental in establishing and legalizing chattel slavery in early North America. In 1641, it became the first British-American colony to legally codify and authorize slavery through the Massachusetts Body of Liberties. Not only did they establish slavery in the American colonies, but they used a form of fiat currency called "bills of credit." This confirmation allows us to be very certain of what to look for in the mark of the beast. If you have financial wealth in paper money, or the idea of money on a screen, it is vulnerable to ruin. We also see the image of the beast, or a world-wide government, Imperialism, and is currently a theme with the UN, as we saw in chapter 13, and will be the plan of the dragon beast in chapter 20. Globalism is a modern term we can use to define this concept. We are warned of the mark and the image in 3 separate chapters of Revelation.
Sores are a painful, rotting infection from within that decays its own self, as opposed to destruction from an outside force. The view of slavery in the Bible is one of mercy, more like what we would call indentured servants, taking in poor people with no other means of survival. Even though the Bible condoned it's own version of slavery, we have to separate it from chattel slavery during Imperialism, because God also provided for the slave's freedom by stating that they earned their freedom in the 7th year, as well as provisions, as in Deuteronomy 15:14 You shall furnish him liberally out of your flock, out of your threshing floor, and out of your winepress. As the LORD your God has blessed you, you shall give to him. But that was not the reality of slavery in the Americas. Slave owners were cruel and oppressive, and the laws upheld this great cruelty to humanity. This would never be part of God's plan. These plagues would be similar in purpose to the plagues against Egypt, to remove the bondage of oppression of the world powers during the 1700s and 1800s. Slavery was officially ended by the United States government in 1865 after a very bloody civil war.
I will keep the description of slavery brief, only touching on the bare minimum in regards to how it relates to the sea beast. Here is a portion of the article from https: //eji.org/report/transatlantic-slave-trade/origins/#slavery-in-the-americas "Of the enslaved men, women, and children who survived the Middle Passage, approximately 90% arrived in the Caribbean or South America. The Portuguese, Spanish, French, British, and Dutch controlled slavery in the Americas, and each followed different political, legal, and cultural practices. Due in part to these differences, the evolution of slavery in the Americas varied across the region, as did the social construction of race and racial hierarchy.
There is no value in comparing the relative “harshness” of slavery across the Americas; the brutality and inhumanity of slavery was universal. Moreover, conditions in the South American and Caribbean colonies were horrific—the vast majority of enslaved people in these colonies worked on sugar plantations, which were notoriously harsh environments. Work on these plantations was “life-consuming,” with long hours of gang labor—often beginning at 5 a.m. and working until dusk—and extremely hazardous work conditions. Plantations in Brazil had higher mortality rates and lower life expectancies than plantations in the U.S."
I believe the first plague judgement deals primarily with slavery, but in my research I found two timelines of judgement in relation to the treatment of the Native American Tribes. This judgement comes after the first plague shown here, but I still want to keep it in my study.
#1 - In 1876, there were many decisive battles against the Native Americans, a famous one being the Battle of the Little Bighorn, or notoriously known as Custer's Last Stand. George Armstrong Custer commanded the 7th U.S. Cavalry Regiment out of Ft Riley, Kansas. At the time he was heralded as a hero, but as facts come out, he was determined to be more like a ""bloodthirsty Indian killer."" 42 years after that battle a great plague would originate from Ft Riley, it was the Spanish Flu. Keep in mind, this little fort only had a couple thousand people living there, and Kansas was so sparsely populated that it would seem impossible that a worldwide epidemic could come from there, only by the hand of God. It spread like wildfire through the ranks of the military because of their confinement going overseas during WWI. The US Beast would lose 675,000 people to this deadly plague, not to mention 2.64 million in Europe.
#2 - The Tribes of the Great Plains of America had a meat source that was a clean animal, provided by God himself. The buffalo is similar to oxen and clean according to Levitical standards. After the civil war, the military started attacking the Native American Tribes with earnest and hired "Buffalo Hunters" to shoot buffalo, skin them, leaving the carcasses to rot, and sending just the hides back east for a fee. Piles of buffalo rotted, while the tribes starved, and the herd of 30 million buffalo dwindled to about 1000 head in 1888. The Tribes had already been rounded up, hunted, starved and sent to reservations by this time. Even if they could keep their lands, they couldn't survive on them anyway without this precious resource. 42 years later would bring a great devastating drought, culminating to be called the Dust Bowl starting in 1930. If you look where this happened, this was the prime grazing ground of the mighty buffalo. 42 years is divine justice, a time, times and dividing of time of 3.5 (Mene, Mene, Tekel, Parsin in Daniel 7) x 12. Do you suppose the 12 years would trigger a thought back to the original tribes of Jacob that may have migrated to the US centuries ago? Evidence that the Native Americans were considered part of the 10 lost tribes is given in chapter 14.
3 The second angel poured out his bowl into the sea, and it became like the blood of a corpse, and every living thing died that was in the sea.
The sea is defined in chapter 17 as peoples and multitudes and nations and languages. In that chapter the harlot sits on the many waters, and that will be defined as the Holy Roman Empire. The consequence of this second plague is the corpse-like death of the sea, the Holy Roman Empire. Here is a brief summary from the Wikipedia page Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire. The Holy Roman Empire finally began its true terminal decline during and after its involvement in the French Revolutionary Wars (1792) and the Napoleonic Wars. Although the empire defended itself quite well initially, war with France and Napoleon proved catastrophic. In 1804, Napoleon proclaimed himself as the Emperor of the French, which Francis II responded to by proclaiming himself the Emperor of Austria, in addition to already being the Holy Roman Emperor, an attempt at maintaining parity between France and Austria while also illustrating that the Holy Roman title outranked them both. Austria's defeat at the Battle of Austerlitz in December 1805 and the secession of a large number of Francis II's German vassals in July 1806 to form the Confederation of the Rhine, a French satellite state, effectively meant the end of the Holy Roman Empire. The abdication in August 1806, combined with a dissolution of the entire Imperial hierarchy and its institutions, was seen as necessary to prevent the possibility of Napoleon proclaiming himself Holy Roman Emperor, something which would have reduced Francis II to Napoleon's vassal. Everything in the sea died, meaning the entire empire was dissolved. It was either dissolve the empire or run the risk of Napoleon becoming head of this weakened empire, and Francis chose dissolution.
4 The third angel poured out his bowl into the rivers and the springs of water, and they became blood. 5 And I heard the angel in charge of the waters say, “Just are you, O Holy One, who is and who was, for you brought these judgments. 6 For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and you have given them blood to drink. It is what they deserve!” 7 And I heard the altar saying, “Yes, Lord God the Almighty, true and just are your judgments!”
The rivers and springs in verse 4 is the same area of rivers and springs in Revelation 8:10-11. If you looked at the map that showed the path that Attila the Hun took when he attacked the springs and rivers, they are in the northern part of the fallen Holy Roman Empire including the Rhine and Danube Rivers. The first major conflict in 1805 was just before the fall of the empire, Napoleon defeated the Habsburg Emperor Francis II at the Battle of Austerlitz. This defeat resulted in 16 German states forming the Confederation of the Rhine under Napoleon's protection against the Hapsburgs. After Napoleon, there were 3 more wars against the Hapsburgs giving that dynasty more blood to drink. The Revolution of 1848 was a bloody war where the Hungarian government declared independence from the Habsburgs in 1849. The Sardinian War of 1859, where the kingdom of Sardinia declared war on the Habsburgs. Then the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 which led to the dissolution of the German Confederation, and the Hapsburgs suffered a swift, crushing defeat. The Habsburgs ruled the Holy Roman Empire from 1440 until the empire’s dissolution in 1806. The Habsburgs were heavily involved with the Inquisition, particularly through the control of Spain and the Spanish Inquisition, as well as their influence in the German Inquisition, where the blood of the saints and prophets were shed.
8 The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and it was allowed to scorch people with fire. 9 They were scorched by the fierce heat, and they cursed the name of God who had power over these plagues. They did not repent and give him glory.
After the fall of the Holy Roman Empire, Napoleon would be the most powerful leader throughout all of Europe, ruling with force from 1799 to 1815. Napoleon was used to judge both the Holy Roman Empire, and the ruling Hapsburg dynasty of that empire. In 1804, not only did he declare himself emperor, but he also took the imperial crown from the hands of Pope Pius VII and places it on his own head. True to biblical form, the ones that are used in justice are also served justice themselves. The bowl was poured out on the sun, which was Napoleon, and the people were his army. They were attacked by scorching fire through the War of the Sixth Coalition in 1814. The coalition was a group of kingdoms Russia, Austria, Prussia, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Spain, Portugal, and several German states who were outraged by the treatment the papacy received from Bonaparte. This "righteous indignation" from Catholics across Europe helped to fuel the moral and political resistance that unified the coalition against Napoleon. Scorched is harsh treatment, and this happened in many ways - supply shortages, lack of cavalry, too many teenagers in the ranks, botched retreats and overwhelmed in sheer number by the Coalition. His rule ended with the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, and Pope Pius VII excommunicated Napoleon in 1809 and had him arrested. He was forced to abdicate for the second and final time and was exiled to the island of Saint Helena where he died. Insteading of seeing the chastisement from Napoleon as a rebuke from God, they did not repent and the House of Bourbon was restored to power which led to the increase of power of the Catholic church.
10 The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness. People gnawed their tongues in anguish 11 and cursed the God of heaven for their pain and sores. They did not repent of their deeds.
The throne here reminds us of the throne used in the Pergamum church age. This throne in chapter 2 was adjacent to the Holy Roman Empire, the Papal States. Napoleon had attacked the papacy, taken their power and did damage to their authority as well. Italy went through a unification process in the 19th century, and the Papal States were annexed to Italy in 1870. That annexation put an official end to the Papal States, and the popes were in limbo. They were still recognized as leaders of the Roman Catholic church, but had no place of rule. Gnawing their tongues is a biblical term for intense complaining, or verbal disputing. The complaints of the popes were brought forward as the “Roman Question” starting in 1870, where they objected to the Italian seizure of Rome and the Papal States. This plunged the papacy into darkness in two ways. Now that the papacy did not control monarchs, they had to find a different way to influence governments, this was done by Catholic Integralism. From the website https ://theconversation.com/what-is-catholic-integralism-234894: "The basic position of Catholic Integralism is that there are two areas of human life: the spiritual and the temporal, or worldly. Catholic Integralists argue that the spiritual and temporal should be integrated – with the spiritual being the dominant partner. This means that religious values, specifically Christian ones, should guide government policies." Another way they were darkened is by looking at the Woman in Revelation 17. After the harlot lost power, the Woman is shown on the throne, riding the beast. On her forehead is written Mystery Babylon. She is marked by a religion of abomination. She is not just influenced by this pagan worship, but plunged into this darkened mindset. More discussion on Babylon is covered in chapter 17.
12 The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up, to prepare the way for the kings from the east.
The Ottoman Empire ruled the area of the Euphrates in the 1800s, and it was slowly decline all throughout the 1800s. It was dubbed the "sick man of Europe," perfectly fitting the description of "dried up." The empire faced military and economic struggles starting in the 1700s, and in 1922 the Ottoman Empire officially ended when the title of Ottoman Sultan was eliminated. After the Ottoman Empire fell, Russia became a world power, then China in 1950, the kings of the east. These kings are not mentioned again in Revelation, but being mentioned here means we need to consider them as part of the end times, especially since they are after the fall of the Ottomans in 1922.
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. 14 For they are demonic spirits, performing signs, who go abroad to the kings of the whole world, to assemble them for battle on the great day of God the Almighty.
The term Dragon here, instead of beast, gives us a timeline for this fulfillment. When the dragon becomes sovereign in 1929 it rises from the abyss as a beast in chapter 20. Since verse 13 says "dragon," this prophecy can only be fulfilled before 1929. This also matches the timelines given at the beginning of this chapter, as well as the timeline in chapter 19. There is no doubt in Revelation that this wrath of God has already happened. The croaking is speaking or teaching, and these three will be sending out a false doctrine into all areas of society like the frogs in Egypt covered every part of the land and houses, ovens, and bread bowls. See how this croaking affected society in these 3 ways:
- demonic spirits - the false teaching of millenial reign by Manuel de Lacunza (1731–1801). He wrote a major prophetic work titled The Coming of the Messiah in Majesty and Glory under the pen name Juan Josafat Ben-Ezra. This teaching influenced the Jesuit college - Trinity College in Dublin - which was the learning environment for a Mr. J. N. Darby, the man credited to forming the rapture doctrine in 1820s. This doctrine is very popular now in America, so it's fitting to call America a false prophet. 1 Timothy 4:1 Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons,
- performing signs - See Revelation 19:20 And the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who in its presence had done the signs. The earth beast is shown as doing signs in chapter 13 leading to the atomic bombs and the formation of the UN in 1945. Revelation 13:13 It performs great signs, even making fire come down from heaven to earth in front of people, 14 and by the signs that it is allowed to work in the presence ofd the beast it deceives those who dwell on earth, telling them to make an image for the beast that was wounded by the sword and yet lived.
- go abroad to the kings to assemble them - before WWI there was a campaign by Europe and the US to alter opinion about fighting a potential war. Look up images of "Propaganda in World War I" and see how the war movement was romanticized. After the Bolshevik Revolution in October 1917 the Jesuits join the propaganda movement under Superior General Włodzimierz Ledóchowski. Under Ledochowski, who led the order from 1915 to 1942, the Jesuits treated the rise of Soviet communism with the same urgency they had approached the Protestant Reformation centuries prior.
15 (“Behold, I am coming like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake, keeping his garments on, that he may not go about naked and be seen exposed!”)
The phrase "coming like a thief" is the coming of judgement starting with WWI, and this phrase is used many times in the New Testament prophecy in the following verses. It's extremely important to put this phrase in context and in the correct timeline so that we are preparing ourselves for the correct judgement.
2 Peter 3:10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.
1 Thessalonians 5: 2 For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. 3 While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.
There are issues with using Paul for a source of end-time prophecy. The supporting evidence is in the blog post Be Certain of the Rapture. Paul, by his own admission, was not an end-time prophet. Thankfully, Jesus gave the same phrase in 3 places, and we can look to the context of those verses to put everything together. Once that's done, understanding the 3 end-time parables in Matthew 25 will give us insight on how to discern the correct time we are in.
Revelation 3:3 Remember, then, what you have received and heard. Keep it and repent. If you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know the hour when I will come upon you.
Luke 12:39 But know this, that if the master of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have left his house to be broken into.
Matthew 24:43 But understand this: If the homeowner had known in which watch of the night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into.
I cover this prophecy in a blog post Be Certain of the Rapture, and More on Matthew 24. This prophecy from Jesus directly ties in to the 3 parables given in Matthew 25. If you want more detail, see the blog posts, but I'll keep it simple here.
First we need to look at Matthew 24 in context. I'm taking this directly from the blog post Be Certain of the Rapture, where the underlined portion is dealing with the siege of Jerusalem, and the italic portion is for the 7th bowl judgement.
Matthew 24:36 “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. 37 For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, 39 and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 40 Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left. 41 Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one left. 42 Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. 43 But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. 44 Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.
But concerning that day, no one knows. This is in direct contrast to the end of the Jewish age in 70 AD. Before the siege, there were 41 years of signs, culminating to a magnificent year of signs in 69 AD. These signs are given in the blog More on Matthew 24. For the final bowl judgement, there would be no such signs. This is just, because everyone who was searching for a sign could just read the word for themselves, why would God need to give us a sign as well?
They were as the days of Noah. After learning that a flood means a flood of troops, those rightly dividing prophecy should have prepared for a war. But, they were not, they were as the wicked in Noah's time, unable to hear prophecy for the truth and were not prepared. There is more judgement to come but this one comes in fire, as in the days of Sodom and Gomorrah. Remember Lot's wife.
Two men in the field/two women at the mill, one taken, one left. This description is very painful to prove out, because this was fulfilled with the Spanish Flu starting in 1918. https: //virus.stanford.edu/uda/ The effect of the influenza epidemic was so severe that the average life span in the US was depressed by 10 years. The influenza virus had a profound virulence, with a mortality rate at 2.5% compared to the previous influenza epidemics, which were less than 0.1%. The death rate for 15 to 34-year-olds of influenza and pneumonia were 20 times higher in 1918 than in previous years (Taubenberger). People were struck with illness on the street and died rapid deaths. One anecdote shared of 1918 was of four women playing bridge together late into the night. Overnight, three of the women died from influenza (Hoagg). Others told stories of people on their way to work suddenly developing the flu and dying within hours (Henig). One physician writes that patients with seemingly ordinary influenza would rapidly "develop the most viscous type of pneumonia that has ever been seen"
Stay awake. This connects to the parable of the 10 virgins. Just doing a quick search of biblehub topical: awake will show you 83 uses of that term, mostly from the new testament and psalms. Prepare your soul for the end by spending a lot of time in these verses. Just as Jesus told Peter and John to stay awake before his crucifixion, he keeps commanding his end-time army of believers to stay awake.
The thief was coming, the house was broken in to. We are told what the thief does in John 10:10, the thief comes to steal, kill and destroy. Between 1914 and 1945 the thief stole through the Great Depression. Many were killed between the Spanish Flu, the 2 wars, and the holocaust. By the end of WWII, there was complete destruction of many communities, buildings were in ruins or turned to piles of rubble. Destruction even came to the false prophet beast where thousands of acres of cropland were devastaed by drought. The dust bowl would last 10 years in the US adding to the suffering because of the stock market crash in 1929. The book The Worst Hard Times chronicles the destruction, telling how people were trapped in "black blizzards, children and livestock suffocating from dust pneumonia, and towering squalls of dust storms also known as a haboob, making it pitch black and covering everything in it's path and causing farmland to drift like snow.
This prophecy is picked back up in chapter 19, and explanation of the 3 parables in Matthew 25 as well.
16 And they assembled them at the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon.
Armageddon in Hebrew is Har Megiddo. Megiddo is an ancient high place on the road to Mount Carmel. Mount Carmel was the place where Elijah had a face-off against Jezebel's false prophets in 1 Kings 18. Before the exodus, this land belonged to the Caananites. They were pagan people who tried to rebuild on the remnants of these high places that were built before the flood, and this process made a "tel" or an ancient mound, which is why Megiddo is also called Tel Megiddo. These pre-flood high places were the cities dedicated to fallen angel worship, Bab-el. From this website https://www.thattheworldmayknow .com/the-altar-at-megiddo: After reaching the Promised Land, the Israelites were commanded by God to destroy the Canaanite high places (Num. 33:52) so that they would not be tempted to blend worship of the false gods of the land with the worship of Yahweh, the one true God.This pagan altar at the high place of Megiddo was built 2700 BC and was used until approximately 1900 BC, not long before Abraham arrived in Canaan. The altar probably had been built over the remains of an earlier one. Part of the ruins of a large temple complex can be seen as well. Steps on the eastern side allowed the priest to climb onto the altar for sacrifices or other rituals. Though it is impossible to know exactly what happened here, the Bible records that Canaanite worship included the sacrifice of animals, as well as children during certain periods. It also involved male and female ritual prostitution. This altar represents the Canaanite practices that Yahweh's people found so seductive. Ahab and Jezebel would establish the worship of Baal in cities and towns near here (and quite possibly at Megiddo as well).
There was a literal battle of Megiddo in 1918, Britain took over Jerusalem in 1917, and Jericho in 1918. The term Megiddo needs to be remembered in a spiritual context as well. In the Philadelphia church it describes those that say they are Jews, but lie, and the term of Megiddo shifts your mindset to pagan worship practices. We need to be mindful of these warnings when we think of the current land of Israel. Think of who resembles the Canaanites, but live in the beloved city. God will consume them with his fire. Will this be like the fire from heaven that Elijah called down, or something else? More on this in chapter 20.
17 The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple, from the throne, saying, “It is done!”
Acts 22:22 The crowd listened to Paul until he made this statement. Then they raised their voices and said, “Away with such a fellow from the earth! For he should not be allowed to live.” 23 And as they were shouting and throwing off their cloaks and flinging dust into the air, 24 the tribune ordered him to be brought into the barracks, saying that he should be examined by flogging, to find out why they were shouting against him like this. The final pronouncement of judgement is made.
In Acts, the Tribune arrested Paul and kept him for interrogation and flogging. The parable of the minas in Luke deals with the flogging that we might face if we don't prosper our gold. This parable is similar to the parable of the talent in Matthew 25. These parables are placed between the wedding feast and the final lake of fire, so it is for our time now. Luke 12:41 Peter said, “Lord, are you telling this parable for us or for all?” 42 And the Lord said, “Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom his master will set over his household, to give them their portion of food at the proper time? 43 Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. 44 Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions. 45 But if that servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed in coming,’ and begins to beat the male and female servants, and to eat and drink and get drunk, 46the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know, and will cut him in pieces and put him with the unfaithful. 47 And that servant who knew his master’s will but did not get ready or act according to his will, will receive a severe beating. 48 But the one who did not know, and did what deserved a beating, will receive a light beating. Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more.
18 And there were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, and a great earthquake such as there had never been since man was on the earth, so great was that earthquake. 19 The great city was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell, and God remembered Babylon the great, to make her drain the cup of the wine of the fury of his wrath. 20 And every island fled away, and no mountains were to be found. 21 And great hailstones, about one hundred pounds each, fell from heaven on people; and men, they blasphemed God for the plague of the hail, because the plague was so severe.
Lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder started with WWI. The term "great city" is like chapter 6 where a 10th of the city fell. Great is widespread, so this is Imperialism. Every island fled away and no mountains were to be found speaks of the fall of Imperialism between WWI and WWII. The fall of this mighty governmental power structure is the great earthquake, unlike any other fall of governmental power up until that time. The dynamics of Europe had changed and it was two main groups taking sides against each other, and the other third would be the neutral nations, three parts. Look for a map of Europe in 1939 and you will see the Allied Powers, Central Powers and Neutral nations. As Imperialism fell, God remembered his promise to make Babylon the great city drain the cup of fury. This wine was prepared between WWI and WWII when the vineyard was being harvested called the holocaust. Great hailstones were the bombs that were used in WWII, and the blasphemy is the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the signs that the false prophet used to end the war and make the image of the UN. American veterans will say that those bombings were a blessing, and the American government certainly will say that, but looking at them through God’s eyes you can see it’s an issue He isn’t pleased with. Otherwise he wouldn’t call it blasphemy.
From Plough.com: Father George Zabelka, a Catholic chaplain with the U.S. Air Force, served as a priest for the airmen who dropped the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945, and gave them his blessing. Days later he counseled an airman who had flown a low-level reconnaissance flight over the city of Nagasaki shortly after the detonation of “Fat Man.” The man described how thousands of scorched, twisted bodies writhed on the ground in the final throes of death, while those still on their feet wandered aimlessly in shock – flesh seared, melted, and falling off. The crewman’s description raised a stifled cry from the depths of Zabelka’s soul: “My God, what have we done?” Over the next twenty years, he gradually came to believe that he had been terribly wrong, that he had denied the very foundations of his faith by lending moral and religious support to the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Zabelka died in 1992, but his message, in this speech given on the 40th anniversary of the bombings, must never be forgotten.
Chapter 16 (pdf)
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