Then the seventh angel poured out his bowl upon the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple from the throne, saying, “It is done.” (Revelation 16:17)
The final bowl, the seventh, will be poured out, triggering an earthquake “the likes of which no one has ever known.” Dispensing with the cliche, “such as there had not been since man came to be upon the earth, so great an earthquake was it, and so mighty.” (Revelation 16:18)
To describe this earthquake in terms we might be more able to grasp in a “sound bite,” it will be a “Category 6.”
There’s finality here. What is done is intractable. Almighty God has reached the end of his rope and pushes the red button. “It is done.” No exclamation point, just a period.
The great city was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. Babylon the great was remembered before God, to give her the cup of the wine of His fierce wrath. And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. (Revelation 16:19-20)
Whether Jerusalem or Babylon or the regions in which they inhabit, or the “earth” in general, there will be great upheaval and loss of life with this seventh bowl judgment. Jerusalem is likely being remodeled for a future occupant. Babylon, on the other hand, is being resoundingly judged and obliterated with “fierce wrath” as promised. There is more on Babylon in chapters 17-18.
With all the takes on the Book of Revelation, literally adopted down to each word, to sweeping imaginations from all angles, to brooming most all of it under a rug, the question “what if” must be asked. Would God want his final book, his final words, to be unclear and treated like the “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe,” or with all seriousness, wishing to describe the final events to the masses as clearly as “humanly” possible? My purpose here is to take a shot at the latter. The easiest thing that can be done is to pawn off these scriptures as a fairytale. I would like to be able to honestly say to His face, as radiant as it might be, that I took him at His word.
And huge hailstones, about one hundred pounds each, came down from heaven upon men; and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, because its plague was extremely severe. (Revelation 16:21)
To punctuate this passage are huge 100-pound hailstones falling from the sky. The fact that they’re 100 pounds each puts these chunks of ice beyond the realm of possibility, and clearly emanating from God. Most definitely they are for the purpose of divine retribution and judgment.
What if men, instead of blaspheming God, looked straight up into the heavens and exclaimed,
“Against You, You only, I have sinned
And done what is evil in Your sight,
So that You are justified when You speak
And blameless when You judge.” (Psalm 51:4)
Would the outcome be different? Even in this final hour, the answer would have to be “yes,” even if right before impact! Sadly, as would somehow be expected having studied most of this book, those momentarily left standing don’t use their last chance wisely, as did the “thief on the cross.”
And he was saying, “Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom!” (Luke 23:42)
Since life is fleeting, and you never know when you’ll get hit by a “one-hundred pound hailstone,” best to take care of this issue like, right now?
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