QUESTION: What is the meaning of each of the 7 bowls of wrath, I mean how will they be manifested on earth, how will we see them? What do they symbolize? Are they literal? I know you have explained the final 2, but what about the others like the drinking of blood, the ulcers, the dying of fish in the sea, the burning from the sun and the darkness of the wild beast’s kingdom. They are very similar to some plagues of Egypt, so that’s why I ask if they will be literal. What do they really mean?
When Jehovah brought a series of 10 plagues upon Egypt they were quite literal. People were killed by the plagues of hail and pestilence and especially when the destroyer killed the firstborn of every family that did not have the blood of the lamb upon their doorposts.
The key to understanding the pouring out of the seven plagues is the fact that the 15th chapter of Revelation depicts the chosen ones all in heaven after the remaining ones come off victorious over the wild beast. Also, verse four reveals that the nations will have come before God to worship him. That is a reference to the great crowd out of all nations who are standing before the throne of God. Keep in mind that the great crowd will come out of the tribulation.
That means by the time the seven bowls of the anger of God are poured out those who are going to be saved will have already been saved and salvation for anyone else is impossible at that point. That is why the wrath of God comes upon those who have the mark of the beast. And even though they are plagued they will not repent because repentance then will not be possible, even as indicated at Revelation 16:9: “And the people were scorched by the great heat, but they blasphemed the name of God, who has the authority over these plagues, and they did not repent and give glory to him.”
Satan’s seed and God’s people will be separated into two distinct camps. The anger of God will then be poured out on the Devil’s world culminating in its complete destruction at Armageddon, which comes about after the last of the seven bowls is poured out.
How will the outpouring of the bowls filled with the wrath of God become manifest? A helpful clue may be found in the prophecy of Daniel concerning the campaign of the king of the north after he has subjugated the king of the south. The closing verse of the 11th chapter state: “But reports out of the east and out of the north will disturb him, and he will go out in a great rage to annihilate and to devote many to destruction. And he will plant his royal tents between the grand sea and the holy mountain of Decoration; and he will come all the way to his end, and there will be no helper for him.”
What might these disturbing reports be that come from the direction of the symbolic east and north? First, Jehovah is said to reside in the far north. Psalm 48:1-2 says: “Jehovah is great and most worthy of praise in the city of our God, in his holy mountain. Beautiful in its loftiness, the joy of the whole earth, is Mount Zion in the far north The city of the Grand King.”
The city of the Grand King is the Kingdom. That is one aspect of the reports from the north. Reports announcing that the Kingdom of God has become fully operational.
Interesting too, Revelation 16:12 states concerning the outpouring of the sixth bowl of rage: “The sixth one poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up to prepare the way for the kings from the rising of the sun.”
Isaiah foretold that Jehovah would dry up the Euphrates river when his anointed king, Cyrus, conquered the mighty fortress of Babylon. So the outpouring of the sixth bowl on the great river Euphrates symbolizes the destruction of Babylon the Great —the harlot who sits on many waters.
The sun rises in the east, obviously. The coming of the Son of man is symbolized as the dawning of the bright morning star and those called and chosen and faithful will also shine as brightly as the sun in the Kingdom of their Father. Their ascendency is as the rising of the sun in all of its glory.
No doubt the reports out of the north and east that will so greatly disturb the king of the north will involve the final witness given by the kings from the rising of the sun when they are made to stand before governors and kings. Their reports will be disturbing to those demon worshippers because they will give witness that they have seen Christ, which is what the parousia is —the manifestation of Christ to the chosen.
Just as the Roman king of the north had all of the babes under two years of age slaughtered in a maniacal attempt to destroy the infant Jesus, the 8th king —who will be the last manifestation of the king of the north —will explode into a genocidal rage to annihilate the kings from the east and many others besides. For example, the third bowl plagues those who are guilty of killing God’s people: “The third one poured out his bowl into the rivers and the springs of water. And they became blood. I heard the angel over the waters say: ‘You, the One who is and who was, the loyal One, are righteous, for you have issued these judgments, because they poured out the blood of holy ones and of prophets, and you have given them blood to drink; they deserve it.'” —Rev. 16:5-6
For virtually all of its existence, the British Empire has promoted the anti-human view that the world is overpopulated. Even back in the 1800s before there were even a billion human souls the British claimed there were too many people. Now the Empire is openly advocating genocide on a massive scale, except it is packaged as saving mankind from climate change.
There is no doubt that the coming destruction of the nation-state system and banning industrialization will bring about not only the conditions for eliminating most of earth’s eight billion people, but when the beast ascends from the abyss it will have the disposition of Satan himself, which is why the beast is said to speak like a dragon.
And because most people want nothing to do with Jehovah or the salvation he makes available God is going to allow the beast to annihilate and devote many to destruction. That is what the pouring out of the bowls of wrath symbolize.
