Revelation 16:18, commentary and pictures

Revelation 16:18 describes voices, thunderings and lightnings joined with a great earthquake of unmatched scale, so mighty and so great as has not been since men were upon the earth. It belongs to the seventh plague poured from the seventh vial of God's wrath upon the living wicked, coming with the voice of God the Father speaking from the throne declaring that it is done. It occurs at God's midnight deliverance of His people in the time of trouble, shortly before and at the second advent of Christ in the clouds with power and glory. At that shaking the whole earth convulses out of its place, mountains sink and disappear, islands flee, cities fall in ruins, the sea boils and prison walls break open, delivering those who honored God's law and Sabbath while bringing terror and destruction upon the wicked. Already limited earthquakes, fires, storms and calamities by sea and land have fallen as sprinklings and faint foretastes of the vials, warning that only those sanctified, sheltered and ready will stand when punishment begins without respite.

Words and Unmatched Scale

The verse describes voices and thunderings and lightnings together with a great earthquake, as signs and wonders accompanying the final upheaval of nature. The earthquake belongs to an extraordinary display of divine power shortly before Christ's coming, in which islands flee, mountains disappear, and devastating hail falls. It accompanies the voice declaring that it is done and is part of the judgment and destruction that set God's people free. At the second advent it marks a worldwide upheaval unmatched in human history. It represents a mighty, terrifying judgment accompanying God's wrath when the decisive crisis in His controversy over His government on earth comes, when justice speaks and universal desolation prepares the world for the crisis.

The earthquake is unparalleled since men were upon the earth, so mighty and so great, the greatest earthquake in human history and still future. It was made known to John on Patmos among the events of earth's history still to come. At the second advent it brings more terrible manifestations than the world has ever yet beheld, convulsing the whole earth with dreadful earthquakes and eruptions everywhere. Lightnings from heaven unite with fire in the earth, mountains burn like a furnace and pour forth terrific streams of lava overwhelming gardens and fields, villages and cities, while seething molten masses thrown into rivers make the waters boil and hurl massive rocks with indescribable violence, scattering broken fragments upon the land, and rivers are dried up. By this commotion the wicked are destroyed from off the earth while the righteous are preserved in the midst of it. At the time of deliverance the earth convulses, mountains and rocks are thrown about, the sea becomes violent, and mountains, islands, and wicked seaports are overwhelmed, accompanying the final judgments and the release of God's people from captivity.

The earthquake comes with the voice of God the Father speaking from the throne, shaking heaven and earth and declaring that it is done. It is caused when the Father speaks at the seventh plague, before Christ's second coming, changing the earth's surface, moving mountains and opening caves and dens where the wicked who survived the earlier plagues hide from the coming Lamb. That hiding does not protect them from the glory of Christ's coming, which destroys the living wicked. The quake accompanies a violent upheaval of nature in which nature is thrown out of its course, the earth heaves, mountains and mountain chains shake and sink, rocks scatter, inhabited islands disappear, seaports are swallowed by the sea, and cities and palaces collapse. Prison walls break open, freeing those held for their faith. Amid thunder and the great earthquake at the climax of the time of trouble, the darkened heavens are lit by heavenly glory as God speaks from His holy dwelling and shakes the earth to deliver His people who refused to abandon the Sabbath.

Place in Final Crisis

The verse belongs to the seventh plague poured from the seventh vial of God's wrath upon the living wicked. The seven last plagues parallel the plagues of Egypt and come upon the wicked just before and during the deliverance of the saints. They are future, coming after Christ finishes His priestly work in the heavenly sanctuary and takes up judgment, before the first resurrection. They are poured out on those who have no shelter. The pouring of the seventh vial takes place during the final conflict in which evil powers resist and Providence acts in the battle of Armageddon.

The plagues come after Jesus finishes His work in the most holy place, lays off His priestly attire, clothes Himself with garments of vengeance, steps out from between the Father and man, and leaves heaven. At that time Michael stands up, the four angels who hold the four winds until that work is done release the winds, mercy's invitation and intercession have ended, and the angel of mercy leaves the world. God's people receive a covering sheltering them from wrath, and the covering is drawn over them before the plagues begin. When God no longer keeps silent but pours out His wrath on those who rejected His truth, the judgments enrage the wicked against the righteous, whom they blame for bringing them, and lead to a decree to kill the saints, who cry out for deliverance and are delivered by the voice of God.

Its place is within the prophecies of Revelation 12 to 18 that are being fulfilled and make up the last message of warning that all are to hear. Its place is before the very last call to the churches in chapter 18. It stands before the destruction of the beast and false prophet, the binding of the dragon for a thousand years, the resurrection of the wicked, the final destruction of Satan and all the wicked, and the final triumph and reign of Christ pictured in the chapters that follow.

The judgments fall trumpet after trumpet sounded and vial after vial poured out one after another in sequence upon the inhabitants of the earth. They occur during the final conflict and battle of Armageddon when evil powers do not yield without a fight, Providence acts in the battle, the glory of the angel of Revelation 18 lights the earth, religious forces both good and evil awaken, and God's people take the field. These are solemn events still future and of stupendous interest right upon us, sure indications of the presence of Christ who has directed every aggressive movement, accompanied the march of His cause through all ages, pledged to be with His people in all their conflicts to the end of the world, vindicates His truth and causes it to triumph, and supplies His faithful ones with motive and power of purpose, hope and courage and valor for increased activity as the time is at hand. Because the battle of Armageddon will be fought and evil angels united with evil men will make a desperate final struggle, that day must find none sleeping but wide awake like wise virgins with oil in vessels with lamps, which is grace and the power of the Holy Ghost upon them, while the Captain of the Lord's host stands at the head of the angels of heaven to direct the battle, sustaining faith and courage by the power of God.

The earthquake occurs at the time of God's midnight deliverance of His people in the time of trouble, with extraordinary signs on earth shortly before Christ's coming. It takes place when the Father speaks from the throne at the seventh plague, before Christ's second coming, changes the earth's surface, moves mountains, and opens caves and dens where the wicked who survived earlier plagues hide from the coming Lamb, yet does not protect them from the glory of Christ's coming, which destroys the living wicked. It accompanies the voice declaring that it is done and is part of the judgment and destruction that set God's people free and release them from captivity. At the second advent in the clouds with power and glory, with more terrible manifestations than the world has ever yet beheld, the whole earth convulses amid widespread eruptions and upheavals as God uses fire and forces within the earth to destroy the wicked from off the earth, while the righteous are preserved in the midst of it as Noah was during the Flood.

The anger of the nations, God's wrath, and the judgment of the dead are separate events following one another, and the unprecedented time of trouble had not yet begun when the nations first grew angry. These judgments on the living wicked are not the final execution of judgment, which takes place at the second death.

Physical Upheaval Described

The whole earth convulses and is moved out of its place, its foundations shaken, with dreadful earthquakes and eruptions everywhere and terrible commotion. The shaking comes with the voice from heaven that shakes heaven and earth, and the unprecedented quake accompanies the final judgments and the turning of the captivity of the righteous. At the second advent are manifestations more terrible than the world has ever yet beheld, with fire and forces within the earth used to plague the wicked inhabitants until they are destroyed from off it, while the righteous are preserved in the midst as Noah was during the Flood. The great quake means mountains carried into the midst of the sea with its waves roaring and troubled, coming with the opening of the vials of wrath bringing pestilence, famine and death, while armies muster for battle and hearts fail for fear.

Mountains and mountain chains shake, sink, burn like a furnace, are moved from their places or disappear, rocks are scattered and thrown about, trees are uprooted, and inhabited islands flee and disappear. The uniquely great quake is accompanied by voices, thunder and lightning as part of extraordinary signs on earth a short time before coming, belonging to a worldwide display of divine power and upheaval. The same scene includes devastating hail falling upon men, with nature thrown out of its course as the earth heaves. Prison walls are broken at the shaking, freeing those held for faith.

The sea becomes violent with roaring troubled waves and boils like a pot, and wicked seaports are overwhelmed and swallowed by the sea. Melted ore, rocks and heated mud poured into rivers make the waters boil and hurl massive rocks with indescribable violence, scattering broken fragments upon the land, and whole rivers are dried up. Seething molten masses thrown into rivers make them boil and send forth massive rocks, by which commotion the wicked are destroyed while the righteous are preserved.

Lightnings from heaven unite with fire in the earth, and mountains pour forth terrific streams of lava overwhelming gardens and fields, villages and cities. Cities, villages, palaces and costly structures totter and fall with a terrible crash, collapse and become heaps of ruins. The devastating hail belongs with the fleeing of islands and disappearing of mountains in the unmatched upheaval.

The earth's surface is changed, with caves and dens opened where the wicked who survived earlier plagues hide from the coming Lamb, yet the hiding does not shield them from the glory that destroys the living wicked. Prison walls are broken open to release the faithful, every strong bolt and fancied secure fastening is shaken open amid the trumpet sound, and the coming is swift as lightning, as a thief in the night, with power and glory in the clouds of heaven. The devastation leaves cities and villages in heaps, mountains displaced from their places, rocks scattered and trees uprooted, making the earth a broken desolate wilderness. This broken earth becomes the confinement of Satan with his evil angels for a thousand years, where he sees the effects of his rebellion.

The whole earth convulses and is moved out of its place, its foundations shaken, with dreadful earthquakes and eruptions everywhere and terrible commotion. The shaking comes with the voice from heaven that shakes heaven and earth, and the unprecedented quake accompanies the final judgments and the turning of the captivity of the righteous. At the second advent are manifestations more terrible than the world has ever yet beheld, with fire and forces within the earth used to plague the wicked inhabitants until they are destroyed from off it, while the righteous are preserved in the midst as Noah was during the Flood. The great quake means mountains carried into the midst of the sea with its waves roaring and troubled, coming with the opening of the vials of wrath bringing pestilence, famine and death, while armies muster for battle and hearts fail for fear.

Mountains and mountain chains shake, sink, burn like a furnace, are moved from their places or disappear, rocks are scattered and thrown about, trees are uprooted, and inhabited islands flee and disappear. The uniquely great quake is accompanied by voices, thunder and lightning as part of extraordinary signs on earth a short time before coming, belonging to a worldwide display of divine power and upheaval. The same scene includes devastating hail falling upon men, with nature thrown out of its course as the earth heaves. Prison walls are broken at the shaking, freeing those held for faith.

The sea becomes violent with roaring troubled waves and boils like a pot, and wicked seaports are overwhelmed and swallowed by the sea. Melted ore, rocks and heated mud poured into rivers make the waters boil and hurl massive rocks with indescribable violence, scattering broken fragments upon the land, and whole rivers are dried up. Seething molten masses thrown into rivers make them boil and send forth massive rocks, by which commotion the wicked are destroyed while the righteous are preserved.

Lightnings from heaven unite with fire in the earth, and mountains pour forth terrific streams of lava overwhelming gardens and fields, villages and cities. Cities, villages, palaces and costly structures totter and fall with a terrible crash, collapse and become heaps of ruins. The devastating hail belongs with the fleeing of islands and disappearing of mountains in the unmatched upheaval.

The earth's surface is changed, with caves and dens opened where the wicked who survived earlier plagues hide from the coming Lamb, yet the hiding does not shield them from the glory that destroys the living wicked. Prison walls are broken open to release the faithful, every strong bolt and fancied secure fastening is shaken open amid the trumpet sound, and the coming is swift as lightning, as a thief in the night, with power and glory in the clouds of heaven. The devastation leaves cities and villages in heaps, mountains displaced from their places, rocks scattered and trees uprooted, making the earth a broken desolate wilderness. This broken earth becomes the confinement of Satan with his evil angels for a thousand years, where he sees the effects of his rebellion.

Deliverance of Faithful People

The quake comes at the final deliverance, when captivity is turned and those held for their faith are set free. It frees those who refused to abandon the Sabbath and who honored God's holy law, amid signs and wonders and a violent upheaval of nature. The voice declaring that it is done sounds with it, shaking heaven and earth while judgment and destruction free God's people. Mountains and mountain chains shake and sink, rocks are scattered, islands disappear, the sea grows violent and boils like a pot, wicked seaports are swallowed, cities and palaces collapse with a terrible crash, and prison walls are broken open. Their enemies behold the glory conferred on the delivered, cannot endure it, fall like dead men, and flee with power to harm them gone forever.

The righteous know the words heard are God's voice declaring them delivered. They listen with solemn awe and rejoice, with faces lighted up and reflecting the image of Jesus. Graves are shaken open, and those who died in faith under the third angel's message while keeping the Sabbath rise glorified to hear God's covenant of peace with those who kept His law. That rising and covenant precede Jesus appearing in heaven, and then the living and the resurrected saints are caught up to meet Him.

God's people receive a covering that shelters them from wrath, drawn over them before the plagues begin. When dreadful earthquakes and eruptions convulse the whole earth, with lightnings from heaven uniting with fire in the earth, mountains burning like a furnace, lava overwhelming gardens, fields, villages and cities, molten masses making waters boil and hurling rocks, and rivers dried up, the righteous are preserved in the midst of the commotion. They are kept as Noah was kept during the Flood, while the same commotion plagues and destroys the wicked from off the earth.

Some believers alive in 1856 would die and rest in the grave until the sleeping saints awake to immortality. Some would live as subjects of the seven last plagues, which are a future time of severe trial. Some would remain alive on earth until the second coming and be translated to heaven without seeing death. After the people hear God's voice they still face distress such as never occurred since there was a nation, with clashing clouds and darkness, before the clouds roll back and the sign of the Son of man appears.

Judgment on the Wicked

By this commotion the wicked inhabitants are plagued until they are destroyed from off the earth, with the whole earth convulsed by dreadful earthquakes and eruptions everywhere, lightnings from heaven uniting with fire in the earth, mountains burning like a furnace and pouring forth terrific streams of lava overwhelming gardens and fields, villages and cities, seething molten masses thrown into rivers making the waters boil and hurling massive rocks with indescribable violence and scattering broken fragments upon the land, and rivers dried up, while the righteous are preserved in the midst of it. The judgment is one of God's withering plagues soon to fall upon men, bringing human loftiness down and humbling human pride so that kings and nobles, rich and poor alike shall bow. The final plagues continue until God's purposes of wrath and justice are fully accomplished, ending with the unrighteous destroyed from the earth.

The plagues fall when human rebellion and contempt for God's law have gone beyond the bounds of His forbearance, as part of God's intervention to vindicate His honor. They come because the swellings of unrighteousness have reached a fearful pass, men have exceeded the bounds prescribed by God and rushed on to outrun the limits of His grace, trampling and making void His holy law while making human laws supreme, and when forbearance is exhausted after long contempt of mercy God will no longer delay but will interfere to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity. The stroke falls on the property of those who transgress His law, break His covenant, and trample His Sabbath to accept a spurious rest day, for He will not protect their property. These judgments are seen in awful calamities by sea with vessels hurled into eternity without a moment's warning and accidents by land with fire consuming hoarded riches, much of it accumulated by oppression of the poor, sweeping away the most costly structures as if by a breath of fire from heaven, which God permits so the world may take heed, professing Christians may come to their senses and be brought to their senses, and sinners may be afraid and tremble before Him.

The mighty shaking comes with the voice of God from heaven, which the wicked hear but do not understand, and they fear and tremble while the righteous know the words declare them delivered and rejoice with solemn awe. At the second advent in the clouds of heaven with power and glory, swift as a lightning flash, as a thief in the night, the earthquake shakes open every strong bolt and fancied secure fastening amid the trumpet sound, and the wicked who mocked and derided every offer of mercy are filled with terror and shrieks of agony. The waiting, watching ones who believed the message and prepared for the event are not surprised as the unbelieving were in the days of Noah.

Satan and his angels and wicked men who exulted that the saints were in their power to destroy behold the glory conferred on those who honored the holy law, with faces lighted up reflecting the image of Jesus, and cannot endure the glory resting on the delivered ones but fall like dead men to the earth. Satan and evil angels flee from the presence of the glorified saints, with their power to annoy and harm them gone forever.

The period of the seven last plagues comes after priestly work in the sanctuary is finished and the four angels release the winds, bringing judgments that enrage the wicked and lead to a decree to kill the saints, who cry out and are delivered by the voice of God. When God no longer keeps silent but pours out His wrath on those who rejected His truth, the plagues enrage the wicked against the righteous, whom they blame for bringing the plagues. In that fearful setting of earthquake and accompanying signs the wicked suffer great agony and rage, with fearful agony turning against one another and blaming those they believe kept them from receiving the truth or failed to warn them. The false shepherds acknowledge that God loved those who held fast the truth and kept His commandments, and worship at the feet of the saints.

The voices, thunderings, lightnings, earthquakes and universal desolation mark a great and decisive crisis in God's government and controversy over His government on earth. All heaven watches its unfolding, the armory of heaven is open and all the universe of God and its equipment is ready, and every movement in the universe of heaven prepares the world for this great crisis. At one word from justice it breaks upon the earth in a moment without delay, lest the character of God and His throne be compromised, after only a short further delay.

Foretastes and Present Readiness

Already drops and sprinklings from the vials of wrath have fallen upon land and sea and upon the elements of the air. Awful calamities by sea hurl vessels into eternity without a moment's warning, and accidents by land bring unusually destructive fires consuming hoarded riches and sweeping away the most costly structures as if by fire from heaven. Railway accidents, tornadoes, floods, pestilences, cholera, diphtheria, vitiated air, great mortality, and earthquakes burying cities and villages with their inhabitants are the result of these drops. The stroke falls on property because transgressors break the covenant and trample the Sabbath to accept a spurious rest day, much of the riches having been accumulated by oppression of the poor and by securing large possessions at starvation prices from workers, and God will not interfere to protect such property. God permits these judgments so the world may take heed, professing Christians may come to their senses and be brought to their senses, and sinners may be afraid and tremble before Him. The earthquakes felt in various places in which whole cities become nearly extinct and thousands are buried are very limited, only faint representations and premonitory convulsions warning of what will come as a surprise when the earth shakes and opens. Terrible shocks will come upon the earth, its crust rent by outbursts of elements concealed in its bowels, lordly palaces erected at great expense certainly becoming heaps of ruins, treasures gained by oppression swept away, and the religious world terribly shaken, for the end of all things is at hand before the coming of the Son of man when the world will be divided into just and unjust.

Earthquakes and other disasters testify that the end is near, placed among the calamities of the outpouring of wrath as great Babylon comes into remembrance before God. Those who cannot see the signs of the times in this wicked and adulterous generation will perish under the plagues poured from the vials. These calamities are plagues God permits to warn the world, awaken sinners, and make them fear Him, falling as men continue to disobey the law and trample the Sabbath. The symbolic prophecies of Revelation about the plagues coming upon the world must be understood so people can shape their course of action and avoid receiving them. Their symbols and figures carry deep meaning and require close prayerful study rather than interpretation based on human ideas.

The seven last plagues fall on the wicked who have no shelter. They are soon to be poured out after the angel of mercy leaves the world, while sin, shame, sorrow and darkness are on every side, yet God still holds out the precious privilege of exchanging darkness for light, error for truth, and sin for righteousness. His patience and mercy will not always wait, the storm is gathering and the bolts of wrath are soon to fall, and when punishment of transgressors begins there will be no period of respite until the end. Only those sanctified through the truth in the love of God will stand, hid with Christ in God until the desolation is overpast. When the plagues begin to fall many professed people will be unready and without shelter and will wring their hands because the hour is too late, for the shelter needed is to receive the Holy Ghost. No one can escape that wrath by hiding behind a lie, for God will strip away the refuge of lies, so the covering of sin must now be torn away with patient work and firm rebuke giving sin no sanction, lest deluded souls sleep on to everlasting ruin. The outpouring comes suddenly at a great and decisive crisis in government after only a short further delay, when at one word from justice voices and thunderings and lightnings and earthquakes bring confusion and universal desolation in a moment.

These are scenes of stupendous interest right upon us, transpiring in sequence trumpet after trumpet sounded and vial after vial poured out one after another upon the inhabitants of the earth. They will be sure indications of the presence of Christ who has directed every aggressive movement, accompanied the march of His cause through all ages, and pledged to be with His people in all conflicts to the end of the world. He will vindicate His truth and cause it to triumph, supplying the faithful with motive and power of purpose, hope and courage and valor for increased activity as the time is at hand. Because the battle of Armageddon will be fought and evil angels united with evil men will make a desperate final struggle, that day must find none sleeping but wide awake like wise virgins with oil in vessels with lamps, which is grace and the power of the Holy Ghost upon them. The Captain of the Lord's host stands at the head of the angels of heaven to direct the battle, sustaining faith and courage by the power of God. Its nearness makes now the time to be good and to do good and to watch every movement in the government of God with wide-awake senses, with life and character after the divine model. God now calls for men and means to be given to His work, for the cities to be worked while there is time, and for strife and contention to be left behind in serious thought about how fast the crisis is coming.

The plagues are poured out after ministers and people are called out of the fallen churches and the honest take their stand with the remnant. The voices and thunders and lightnings and great earthquake belong to the closing warning about the fast-approaching last great crisis, judgments the Lord sends upon the earth carrying special meaning. Those who claim these judgments have no special meaning will soon be forced to understand what they now choose not to understand.