Morning Bible Study: Revelation 16:17-21

17  Then the seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air. And a mighty shout came from the throne in the Temple, saying, "It is finished!" 

18  Then the thunder crashed and rolled, and lightning flashed. And a great earthquake struck-the worst since people were placed on the earth. 

19  The great city of Babylon split into three sections, and the cities of many nations fell into heaps of rubble. So God remembered all of Babylon's sins, and he made her drink the cup that was filled with the wine of his fierce wrath. 

20  And every island disappeared, and all the mountains were leveled. 

21  There was a terrible hailstorm, and hailstones weighing as much as seventy-five pounds fell from the sky onto the people below. They cursed God because of the terrible plague of the hailstorm. NLT

Commentary

(the following commentary is from www.easyenglish.bible/bible-commentary/revelation-lbw.htm)

"Verse 17 The seventh (7th) angel poured out his bowl of God’s anger into the air. This is the last one. The voice of God came from the throne in the temple of heaven. With a loud voice, God shouts that the end has come. With this bowl, he will complete his acts of anger on the earth.

Verse 18 At the sound of God’s voice, the air and the earth seemed to explode. There were flashes of lightning. There were loud crashes of thunder in the skies. And the most powerful earthquake shook the earth. There had not been such a terrible earthquake since God made the earth.

Verse 19 This great earthquake shook the whole world. There had been no earthquake as powerful as this since the world began. Cities all over the world fell and the important city split into three. All the nations on earth suffered the effects of this great earthquake.

The important city that split into three seems to mean Babylon. Babylon was a city on the Euphrates. It was the heart (most important place) of evil practices. Babylon may become powerful again, and perhaps this verse refers to it. But it is more likely that the name Babylon describes another wicked city. This city will be the most important city for religion and trade. Some people believe that Rome will be that city at the time of the end. It was the greatest city in the world at the time when John wrote the Book of Revelation. It would have been dangerous for him to name it then.

God poured out his anger on Babylon as someone would pour out wine. God was so angry that he destroyed that great city.

John writes about the ruin of Babylon in the next two chapters.

Verse 20 Islands sank into the sea. Mountains fell down and disappeared. That earthquake changed the whole surface of the earth.

Verse 21 The storm of God’s anger caused hailstones to fall from the sky. These were like great blocks of ice. Some weighed nearly 100 pounds (45 kilos). Even this did not persuade people to turn to God. Instead, they cursed God for the terrible storm.

The next event after this will be when Christ comes from heaven (Revelation 19:11). The next two and a half chapters give more detail of the events that have just happened."