The Second Bowl
3Then the second angel poured out his bowl on the sea, and it became like the blood of a corpse. And everything in the sea died.
The Third Bowl
4Then the third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and springs, and they became blood.
The First Pause
5And I heard the angel who had authority over all water saying, “You are just, O Holy One, who is and who always was, because you have sent these judgments. 6Since they shed the blood of your holy people and your prophets, you have given them blood to drink. It is their just reward.” 7And I heard a voice from the altar, saying, “Yes, O Lord God, the Almighty, your judgments are true and just.”
Revelation 16:3-7
I believe it is clear to you why I have grouped these two bowls and the pause together. If not, take the time to read these five verses through together and then I believe you will see the connection which links them as a unit.
The common element is the blood which is poured out through the second and third bowls on the waters. It is rather shocking that all the waters of the world are affected. Have you seen the connection between:
- The first plague to be loosed on Egypt in Moses’ time with water turning to blood.
- The first, second and third trumpets where a third of the sea and fresh waters were affected.
- The second and third bowls affecting all water on the planet.
Note that there is an angel with authority over all the waters (16:5), so too there are four angels who control the four winds (7:1) and an angel who is in control of fire (14:8). These specific angels over each of these natural elements are then commanded to release the element they control. Notice that after each angel is commanded to pour the bowl it holds, it does not return to heaven but is free to roam. Supposedly to continue to pour more from the bowl’s contents. The inference being the content of the bowl is continued to be poured out. Each of these bowls are cumulative in their effect. So too the severity of each judgement is ongoing, ramping up from seal to trumpet to bowl.
The quality of the blood poured out in the case of the second and third bowls is that of human blood from one whose blood is the blood of a dead man. Meaning the blood has already begun to coagulate. Such blood is not still a liquid but it is beginning to congeal. That kind of blood does not mix with water but rather speeds the process of solidifying the water or turning it jelly-like. No wonder the result is the death of everything in the sea and by extension the fresh waters as well to the point where EVERY LIVING THING in the sea died (and so too everything in the fresh waters). What remains is a putrifying mess!
Now let’s move on to unpack the pause, found in Revelation 16:5-7.
We have this curious element mentioned related to the voice from the altar. The commentators wax eloquent about the voice. Is the voice the voice of the altar? Some commentators think the voice comes from the altar, namely Albert Barnes, R C H Lenski, J B SMith, Kenneth Taylor [Living Bible], Gerrit Verkuyl [Berkley Version] and R F Weymouth [Weymouth Bible. There’s another group of scholars, too numerous to mention, who think the altar is personified and speaking for itself.
I think there is a simpler reason for the mention of the altar. Surely the connection is seen in the layout of these verses.
9When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of all who had been martyred for the word of God and for being faithful in their testimony. 10They shouted to the Lord and said, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you judge the people who belong to this world and avenge our blood for what they have done to us?” 11Then a white robe was given to each of them. And they were told to rest a little longer until the full number of their brothers and sisters—their fellow servants of Jesus who were to be martyred—had joined them.
Revelation 6:9-11
The match between these two passages of Scripture from John’s letter is too close to ignore.
5And I heard the angel who had authority over all water saying, “You are just, O Holy One, who is and who always was, because you have sent these judgments. 6Since they shed the blood of your holy people and your prophets, you have given them blood to drink. It is their just reward.” 7And I heard a voice from the altar, saying, “Yes, O Lord God, the Almighty, your judgments are true and just.”
Revelation 16:3-7
Why can we not see these two passages are connected? The voice coming from the altar in Revelation 16 is the echo of the prayer of the martyrs expressed in Revelation 6. Note the fact that the response to the cry of the martyrs in Revelation 6 resulted in a Divine action of the angel hurling the prayers to earth in Revelation 8:1-5. Is it not therefore natural to think of the voice from the altar in Chapter 16 being the collective response of the martyrs timed with the fulfilment of their prayer request encapsulated in these verses in Revelation 16? I am convinced; what about you? Especially when the phrasing of the utterance matches what was prayed in Chapter 6. It seems entirely appropriate that God should make the punishment fit the crime, by giving ‘the people of the world’ blood to drink. As gruesome as that may seem.
The combination of the words “your holy people” and “your prophets” in Revelation 16:6 is not so that we might conclude this only concerns those Christians who are holy like the prophets. Rather the usage of the words is delineating the general population of “the people of God” / “God’s children”, along with “the prophets”. There are numerous references in the New Testament to those who shed the blood of the prophets as deserving greater condemnation as it were. That is indeed true in this usage of “the prophets”. But added to that are the rank and file of the people of God, which of course includes the ‘normal Christian believers’ as well. Hence the reason why we are waiting for the full number of the brothers and sisters, the fellow servants of Jesus who were still to be added as martyrs.
Since they shed the blood of your holy people and your prophets, you have given them blood to drink. It is their just reward.
Revelation 16:6
It takes something more than intelligence to act intelligently.
Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Justice is conscience, not a personal conscience but the conscience of the whole of humanity. Those who clearly recognise the voice of their own conscience usually recognize also the voice of justice.
Alexander Solzhenitsyn
Remember what sin is: the fundamental independence of God; the thing in me that says, I can do without God, I don’t need Him.
Oswald Chambers
Yes, O Lord God, the Almighty, your judgments are true and just.
Revelation 16:7
makes gruesome reading!
Yes indeed it does Ross. And it will get gruesomer before it gets better! But it will get better because we are ultimately headed for the Life of the Age to Come, when God restores life as He originally intended it. Now that is not a moment to miss. Hang in there.
Have you worked out yet how we can survive such mayhem if we are left to go through the Tribulation? I am ready to tell you, just say the word. But I am hoping that you have worked it out for yourself. If it is still troubling you, let me know. I don’t want to stress you.