176    The Bible and the Future of the World 

The Seven Bowls of the Wrath of God (Rev 15 16) 

     Then I saw another portent in heaven, great and wonderful, seven angels 

with seven plagues, which are the last, for with them the wrath of God is 

ended.  (Rev 15:1). 

    Recall that the seventh seal is divided into seven trumpets. The events of 

the first six trumpets will take place in the 21st century A.D., but the seventh 

trumpet, which completes the events of the seventh seal, will wait until the 

25th century A.D., after the Church has suffered Her Crucifixion. 

    The seventh trumpet is also divided into seven parts, which are 

symbolized by the seven angels. These angels are given seven golden bowls 

full of the wrath of God. The angels who bring these seven plagues are 

 robed in pure bright linen, and their breasts girded with golden girdles.  

(Rev 15:6). This symbolism indicates that these severe afflictions are an act 

of God's justice. Heaven rejoices to see this time (Rev 15:2 4). With these 

punishments of the seven bowls, the events of the seven seals and the seven 

trumpets will be complete. 

    These plagues will fall only upon the wicked. The time of the Church's 

great suffering will have ended. Some of God's faithful servants will still be 

living upon the earth, those who have survived, and they will witness these 

great punishments upon the wicked. Those faithful servants of God who 

died before this time will witness it from Heaven. 

The First Bowl of God's Wrath (Rev 16:1 2) 

     So the first angel went and poured his bowl on the earth, and foul and 

evil sores came upon the men who bore the mark of the beast and worshiped 

its image.  (Rev 16:2). 

    The punishment of the sores was foreshadowed by the plague of boils 

which God sent upon the Egyptians during the time of Moses and Aaron 

(Exodus 9:8 12). Those passages in Exodus, the Psalms, and other places in 

Holy Scripture, which refer to God's great work of delivering the Israelites 

out of slavery in Egypt, are also referring to this greater future work of God 

delivering the Church from the power of sin and punishing the wicked. 

The Second Bowl of God's Wrath (Rev 16:3) 

     The second angel poured his bowl into the sea, and it became like the 

blood of a dead man, and every living thing died that was in the sea.  (Rev 

16:3).