Revelation 16:19, commentary and pictures

Revelation 16:19 belongs to the seventh vial of God's wrath, the last of the seven last plagues poured out upon the living wicked just before the final deliverance. At the voice of God from His throne a mighty earthquake shakes the earth, the great city is split into three parts, proud cities of the nations are laid low in ruins, mountains and islands are moved, and hail falls. In that shaking great Babylon comes into remembrance before God because her time of judgment has come, and she is given the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath for her sins in proportion to her iniquities. That same upheaval turns the captivity of the righteous, delivering the sealed, Sabbath-keeping people from the decree of death and the host surrounding them while the wicked fall in terror without shelter. Therefore its warnings must be studied and heeded now while mercy still invites, so that honest souls come out, receive the Holy Spirit, are sanctified through truth, and are hid with Christ until the desolation is overpast.

Place in Prophecy

The verse belongs to the seven last plagues, the outpouring of the vials of God's wrath upon the inhabitants of the earth, poured out vial after vial before the final conflict. It is specifically the pouring out of the seventh vial. Those plagues are God's wrath against the ungodly who worship the beast and its image and receive its mark, and the Word of God explains how to escape them. They bring no deliverance to those who have no shelter, who face destruction, so the time to heed the warning and search God's word and obey His law is before mercy ends.

They contain all the wrath to be poured out upon the living wicked and are still future to the day of wrath. They cannot come until Jesus finishes interceding for Israel in the most holy place, decides every case for salvation or destruction, lays off priestly attire, clothes Himself with garments of vengeance, and steps out from between the Father and man. They come after the four angels release the four winds and after Michael stands up, bringing the time of trouble such as never was. The anger of the nations, the wrath of God in the plagues, and the time to judge the dead are separate events one following the other. They are soon to be poured out after the angel of mercy leaves the world, when sin, shame, sorrow and darkness are on every side, yet even then God still holds out the privilege of exchanging darkness for light, error for truth, and sin for righteousness, though His patience and mercy will not always wait and when He begins to punish transgressors there will be no period of respite until the end.

The verse is part of the solemn prophecy of the last events of earth's history, made known to John on Patmos as a warning for the last days. It belongs with Revelation 12-18, which are being fulfilled. It belongs with Revelation 16:1-21, which shows terrible scenes that will take place as signs of Christ's coming. With the opening of the vials of wrath come pestilence, famine and death upon the inhabitants of the earth, armies mustering for battle, men's hearts failing them for fear, the earth moved out of its place, the mountains carried into the midst of the sea, and the waves roaring and troubled, and those who fail to recognize the signs of the times in a wicked generation will perish under these plagues. It is to be read from beginning to end as showing how fast the last great crisis is approaching, for the judgments the Lord is now sending have special meaning, and those who claim they have no special meaning will soon be forced to understand what they now choose not to understand.

Its symbols and figures require close, prayerful study, and must be carefully and prayerfully understood. Understanding Revelation's warnings about the coming plagues helps people shape their course and their lives rightly so they do not receive them. The seventh vial in particular needs to be studied, for the powers of evil will not yield up the conflict without a struggle, Providence has a part to act in the battle of Armageddon, and when the earth is lighted with the glory of the angel of Revelation 18 the religious elements, good and evil, will awake from slumber and the armies of the living God will take the field.

The plagues fall on the wicked just before and at the deliverance of the saints, as the plagues on Egypt came just before and at Israel's deliverance. They are signs of judgment that will occur on earth shortly before Christ comes, with the great earthquake and hail of the surrounding verses among wonders greater than those yet seen, showing God's power and bringing judgment on the wicked. The falling of the cities of the nations and the great earthquake are placed before Christ's second advent, when the cities fall as the voice of God from the throne shakes the earth, together with the moving of mountains and islands. They fall on people living at the end of the world before the second coming of Christ. Some of those alive in 1856 would live to be subjects for those plagues, while others would die beforehand and others would remain alive to be translated to heaven at His coming without seeing death.

Fall of Cities

The cities of the nations fall in a great earthquake before Christ's second advent, when the voice of God from the throne shakes the earth. Mountains and islands are moved, the earth is moved out of its place, the mountains carried into the midst of the sea with waves roaring and troubled, and hail falls, with pestilence, famine and death upon the inhabitants of the earth and armies mustering for battle and men's hearts failing for fear. These are wonders greater than any yet seen, showing God's power and bringing judgment on the wicked as signs of His coming.

In that final upheaval the proud cities are laid low and destroyed and left in heaps and ruins. Seaports marked by wickedness are swallowed by the waters, while the great earthquake and hail complete the destruction. The earth is left broken and desolate, with cities in heaps and the wicked dead. That ruined, desolate earth becomes Satan's place of confinement for the thousand years, where he sees the effects of his rebellion and the curse he brought upon the earth.

Drops and sprinklings from the vials poured on land and sea and air are already falling, and are but faint representations of the full plagues to come in the near future in full measure. The sprinklings are disasters by sea and by land, unusually destructive fires, earthquakes burying cities and villages with their inhabitants, terrible railway accidents, tornadoes and floods destroying life and property, pestilence, cholera and unexplainable diseases, diphtheria gathering precious little ones to its harvest, and the vitiating of the air, one of the sources of life and nutrition, with a deadly miasma that affects vegetable life and brings suffering to man. God has not restrained the powers of darkness from carrying forward this deadly work, and men search in vain for the causes of these unusual conditions.

Those present judgments already fall as awful calamities by sea with vessels hurled into eternity without a moment's warning and accidents by land, with fire consuming riches men have hoarded, much of it accumulated by oppression of the poor, and sweeping away the most costly structures as if by a breath of fire from heaven. The Lord will not interfere to protect the property of those who transgress His law, break His covenant, and trample upon His Sabbath, accepting in its place a spurious rest day. God permits these judgments to come that the world may take heed, that professing Christians may be brought to their senses, and that sinners may be afraid and tremble before Him.

The earthquakes felt so far are very limited and premonitory, including a year in which whole cities became nearly extinct and thousands were buried in the bowels of the earth. These premonitory convulsions warn of what will come as a surprise when the earth shakes and opens and terrible shocks come. Then the earth's crust will be rent by outbursts of elements concealed in its bowels, lordly palaces erected at great expense will certainly become heaps of ruins, and the treasures and large possessions gathered by oppression at starvation prices will be swept away. Then will come greater mortality and crimes greater than any on record with weeping and lamentation and woe, and the religious world will be terribly shaken, for the end of all things is at hand.

Babylon Remembered Judged

Great Babylon comes into remembrance before God at the time of His final judgments, and her appointed time of judgment has come when He gives her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath. That judgment belongs to the seven last plagues and falls in the final upheaval that delivers God's people, when a great earthquake and hail lay the proud cities low and seaports marked by wickedness are swallowed by the waters. Before that wrath falls God draws a covering over His people so they have shelter until the sealing is past, while Satan tries to keep them from standing firmly in the truth, and those without shelter are left exposed to the plagues.

She will soon receive punishment from Him for her sins and iniquities, in proportion to them. This is part of the last message of warning and call of mercy now being given to the world, while calamities and disasters testify that the day of the Lord is near and that Babylon has come into remembrance before God.

This judgment falls on a world defiled by its inhabitants and corrupted by transgression of God's law. It comes when men place more than common contempt upon His holy law, make void His law and make human laws supreme, exceed the bounds prescribed by God and rush on to outrun the limits of His grace. After long forbearance toward a rebellious people, while centuries ripen the harvest of the world for the sickle and Omnipotence keeps a reckoning of the sum of guiltiness of every nation, God's interference must come to vindicate His honor.

At that point the plan of salvation is complete: mercy no longer invites sinners, Jesus no longer pleads for them, and there is no atoning blood to cleanse them after they rejected the offered life. God comes out to punish the earth's inhabitants for their wrongdoing, the earth reveals the blood it has covered and no longer conceals those slain, and that punishment in the outpouring of the seven last plagues allows no respite until the end.

These judgments poured out in the seven last plagues fall on the living wicked, yet they are not the final execution of judgment. That takes place at the second death, when the wicked are burned up and God makes all things new.

In that hour the wicked face God's wrath and justice until His purposes are fully accomplished, suffering fearful agony, rage, and withering humiliation until human loftiness and pride are brought down and kings and nobles and rich and poor alike bow. People blame one another and family members for rejecting truth and keeping them from accepting saving truth, and they reproach and turn against ministers who falsely assured them that the world would be converted and failed to warn them of the coming judgment. The ministers suffer God's wrath even more severely than their people, while false shepherds acknowledge that God loved the saints because they held fast to the truth and kept His commandments, and all the unrighteous are destroyed from the earth.

Deliverance of Saints

The judgment on Babylon comes in the shaking that delivers God's imprisoned people, when He utters His voice from His holy habitation with peal upon peal of loudest thunder. At that voice the heavens are gathered in blackness lit only by blazing light and terrible glory, the foundations of the earth shake, buildings totter and fall with a terrible crash, the sea boils like a pot, and the whole earth is in terrible commotion. In that final upheaval the proud cities are laid low and Babylon is remembered for judgment and given the cup of His fierce wrath. It is deliverance for Sabbath-keeping people in the time of trouble, when a decree goes forth to disregard the Sabbath of the fourth commandment and honor the first day as an institution of Papacy on pain of death. Then Satan's host and wicked men surround the faithful who will not yield, and exult because there seems no escape.

Before that wrath falls God draws a covering over His people so they have shelter until the sealing is past. Satan tries to keep them from standing firmly in the truth, and those without shelter are left exposed to the plagues with no deliverance. Many of God's professed people are unready without a shelter, and when the plagues begin to fall the unready will wring their hands in distress when the hour to prepare is too late. By that voice the captivity of the righteous is turned, they know they are delivered and rejoice, delivered from those who had them in their power to destroy them for honoring the holy law of God. Their faces are lighted up to reflect the image of Jesus, while the wicked hear the voice without understanding the words, fear and tremble, fall like dead men to the earth unable to endure the glory, and Satan and evil angels flee from the presence of the glorified saints with their power to annoy them gone forever.

Graves are opened, and the faithful who died believing the third angel's message rise glorified to hear God's covenant of peace. Christ's persecutors and violent opposers rise also, to see His glory and the honor given to the loyal. During the plagues the wicked blame the righteous for the judgments and a decree goes out to kill the saints, yet the saints are delivered by the voice of God and the 144,000 triumph. Those holding covetousness, selfishness, love of money and love of the world will perish with the world under those plagues unless the evil is rooted out by sacrifice for God and denial of self.

Warning and Preparation

The word of God explains how to escape the seven last plagues to which the great city divided into three parts and the fall of the cities of the nations belong. The warning must be given while mercy is still offered, before its voice ceases, for those plagues come upon the wicked who have no shelter. Even when sin, shame, sorrow and darkness are on every side after the angel of mercy leaves the world and the plagues are soon to be poured out, God still holds out the precious privilege of exchanging darkness for light, error for truth, and sin for righteousness. Yet His patience and mercy will not always wait, sin must be firmly rebuked and given no sanction, and the refuge of lies for covering sin must be torn away so deluded souls do not sleep on to everlasting ruin.

Before the plagues are poured out, honest people still in nominal Adventist and fallen churches are called out, and when the light shines they leave those churches and take their stand with the remnant. The storm is gathering and the bolts of God's wrath are soon to fall, and when He begins to punish transgressors 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 of God's professed people will be found unready without a shelter and will wring their hands in distress, and the hour to prepare will be too late. Therefore now is the time to get ready for His coming, to be good and to do good, and to receive the Holy Ghost.

The dividing of the great city and the judgment of Babylon belong to a great, decisive crisis in the government of God when delay will not be prolonged long and wrath will not long be withheld. At the word of justice sudden confusion comes in a moment with voices and thunderings and lightnings and earthquakes and universal desolation. It is the time of the battle of Armageddon, when the powers of evil will not yield up the conflict without a struggle and Providence has a part to act. When the earth is lighted with the glory of the angel of Revelation 18, that crisis is near and must be studied.

In that crisis the religious elements, good and evil, awake from slumber, and the armies of the living God take the field. All the world will be on one side or the other of the question, evil angels uniting with evil men for a desperate final struggle, as vial after vial is poured out one after another upon the inhabitants of the earth. God's people take the field with the Captain of the Lord's host at the head of the angels of heaven to direct the battle, sustained by the power of God who has directed every aggressive movement, accompanied the march of His cause through all the ages, and pledged to be with His people in all their conflicts to the end. That day must find none sleeping but wide awake as wise virgins having oil in vessels with lamps, which is grace and the power of the Holy Ghost. He will vindicate His truth and cause it to triumph, supplying His faithful ones with motives and power of purpose, hope and courage and valor for increased activity as the time is at hand.

The judgments the Lord is now sending upon the earth have special meaning, showing from the book of Revelation read from beginning to end how fast the last great crisis is approaching. Those who claim the judgments have no special meaning will soon be forced to understand what they now choose not to understand. Therefore less time should be spent in strife and contention and more thought given to the nearness of the crisis. The present is the time to watch every movement in the government of God with wideawake senses and apprehension, and those whose life and character are after the divine model will be hid with Christ in God through it.