Bible Studies In The Word of God

Revelation 16:1-14

(1) A prologue to the plagues--16:1-14.

 

1. The voice of verse one is not that of an angel but of God himself.

The seven angels were commanded to Go your ways-each had a special and separate work to perform, to pour out the vials of wrath. The vials corresponded with the cup of his indignation in chapter 14:10, the contents of which were the components of the penal woes which were to descend on the subjects of God’s wrath. It was during this period of divine wrath that no man was able to enter into the temple to appear in the presence of God for the prayer of intercession to avert the destruction of old Jerusalem and the devastation of the old temple.

 

Revelation 16:2

2. The subjects of the plagues were the adherents of the Roman empire in Palestine; and the judgments which commenced with verse two were commensurate with the Roman beasts and the worshipers of his image who were the recipients of his mark.

The significance of the seven plagues may now be summarized as follows:

 

(1) The noisome sore upon the adherents of the imperial beast: “And the first went, and poured out his vial upon the earth; and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshipped his image"--16:2.

 

The object of this plague was the people in Judea and other provinces of Palestine who had submitted to the imperial decree of the emperor of idolatry in the form of his image-worship, which was the mark of the beast. The effect of this plague was signified by a noxious malodorous sore, a stench in the nostrils, the symbol of the civic posion of idolatry; and it was grievous as a spiritual contagion, being inimical to the ultimate degree to Christianity. In this role the emperor was the veritable embodiment of the antichrist of 1Jn_2:18 and 1Jn_4:3 and 2Jn_1:7. The mention of “the last time” by John in this connection was comparable to Paul’s “present distress” 1Co_7:1-40, and similar allusions in other epistles in the same sort of reference to the grievous times connected with the end of Jerusalem and of the Jewish state. 
 

3. The plagues followed the pattern of the experiences of the Israelites in Egypt, as indicated in verses three through four; and Pharaoh Rameses, the oppressor of Israel, parallels Nero Caesar, the imperial persecutor of the church. It again presented the comparison of the old testament and new testament people of God--Israel and the Church.

 

Revelation 16:3

(2) The sea of dead blood which putrified the society of imperial idolatry: “And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea; and it became as the blood of a dead man: and every living soul died in the sea."--16:3.

In accordance with the definitions of the symbols in the first section, the sea represented society in various descriptions- tossed and troubled, or placid and peaceful. Here the sea became as the blood of a dead man--signifying the complete dissolution of the emperor-beast and his subject.
 

(3) The conversion of the rivers and fountains of waters into blood: “And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters; and they became blood” --16:4.

The pollution of the fountains and streams of water resulted in epidemics of deadly disease. The sickening figure of the total contamination of the streams of water by the effluence of blood was symbolic of retribution for the blood of the martyrs. In chapter 6:10 the souls under the altar of martyrdom cried: How long, 0 Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? This plague symbol was the answer to the martyr-cry. It was the squaring of the account in this symbolic retribution of blood, the avenging of the martyrs. And verse six so declares: For they have shed the blood of the saints and prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink; for they are worthy. The statement “for they are worthy” means that they deserved the recompense of blood for the blood they had shed.

 

A similar pronouncement of judgment upon apostate Jerusalem was made by Jesus in Mat_23:37 : “0 Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!”

 

The plague meant that they were figuratively made to drink the blood which they had made to flow from the mass murder of the saints.

 

Revelation 16:5-6

4. Each apocalypse had a separate attending angel in the superintendence of the scene enacted, and each angel personified the vision he represented, as verses five to six exemplify, in the angels of waters of the sea, and of the altar of the martyrs; in each symbol the one represents the other.

 

Revelation 16:7

5. The angel of the altar in verse seven reverted to the altar of martyrs in chapter 6:9-10 and was in the role of sending the judgment which the martyrs petitioned, and of satisfying their avenging cry.

 

Revelation 16:8

(4) The smitten sun that scorched blasphemous men with fire: “And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire"--16:8.

This plague was the symbol of the punishment inflicted on the persecutors who had blasphemed God in the assumption of the powers and prerogatives of God by compelling the worship of the emperor’s image; and had thus branded the mark in the hands and on the foreheads of all who bowed in submission. This symbol portended the end of the activities of the emperor and his colleagues.

 

Revelation 16:9

 

 

Revelation 16:10

6. The power of the persecution was represented as broken in verse ten, when the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the throne of the beast--the seat of authority for action in Palestine, which came from the emperor.

The kingdom of the beast was full of darkness in Palestine. The same metaphor was used by Isaiah (chapter 13:10) to describe the fall of ancient Babylon; and Jesus adopted the same figure of speech (Mat_24:29) in foretelling the darkness that settled over the Jewish state in the fall of Jerusalem. The same use of the symbol was made here in verse ten.

 

(5) The vial of wrath poured upon the seat of the beast that darkened his kingdom: “And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain” -16: 10.

The king of the kingdom mentioned in this verse must be identified with the great red dragon of chapter 12:9, personified as the devil and Satan.

The seat of the beast here was on the same principle of Satan’s seat, or throne, in Pergamos; mentioned in chapter 2:13. It referred to his base of operations through his imperial agents. His kingdom was darkened by the exposure of the deceptions of his lying wonders, which resulted in his ignominious end. The subjects of this Satanic beast, who repented not of their deeds of idolatrous worship of the emperor-image, by which they blasphemed the God of heaven, suffered the same consequences.

 

Revelation 16:11

7. The realm of the persecutor’s operations, by the wrath poured out of the vials, was subjected to the calamities narrated; and the minions of the emperor gnawed their tongues for pain--the symbol of retribution for the lies of deception and seduction their tongues had spoken; which was the method employed to brand the subjects of their deceit with the mark of emperor-worship. And in evidence of entire allegiance to the beast-power verse eleven declared that these representatives of Rome blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds.

 

Revelation 16:12

8. In the history of Israel the armies invading their lands had come from the river Euphrates, and that historical fact was used in verse twelve as the symbol of Judea being over-run from that quarter. The drying of the river Euphrates that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared represented the removal of all barriers which hindered the progress of the powers to strike the final blow of the war against Judah and Jerusalem. It was related in symbolism to the feat of Cyrus in the military operation to divert the same river Euphrates for the capture of the old literal Babylon. This historical basis may be reasonably regarded as supplying the outline of this imagery.

 

(6) The smiting of the Euphrates which evaporated its waters: “And the. sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared” --16:12.

 

It has been noted that the symbol of this verse was based on the history of Israel’s enemies invading Judea from beyond the Euphrates in their western aggressions. The drying of the river by the pouring of the sixth vial symbolizes obliterating all deterrents to the hordes overrunning Judea and besieging Jerusalem. An allusion to the Israelites crossing over the emptied bed of the Jordan was not outside the imagery, in which application judgment was executed on the nation there victorious but here apostate.

 

The verses that follow from thirteen to sixteen describe the gathering armies for the final battle in the overthrow of Jerusalem, with the spiritual overtones of the conflict between the forces of Judaism and heathenism on one side, and Christianity (the church) on the other. Previous comments in verse 16 of this chapter on Armageddon make further discussion here unnecessary.

 

It is sufficient to add that the sixth plague was descriptive of the battle which destroyed this symbolic Babylon-- the apostate harlot Jerusalem, causing great mourning for Jerusalem among the Jewish tribes everywhere.

 

Revelation 16:13-14

9. The incidents of verses thirteen and fourteen are an apocalypse of the prevailing conditions before and during the siege of Jerusalem--the symbolic description of the pervading influence of seducers, deceivers, false prophets, and pseudo-signs, insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect, as narrated in Mat_24:11-24, and verified in the histories of Josephus and Pliny.

 

These demoniac spirits of seduction which were like frogs came out of the mouths of the dragon, the beast and the false prophet. The frog has ever been a symbol of magical signs and that amphibious creature was here employed to signify the combined effort of the imperial minions to deceive and seduce the dwellers of Judea and Palestine. It was this same demoniac spirit of verse fourteen that inspired the kings of the earth (the provincial kings of Palestine) and of the whole world (the imperial rulers) to gather their armies for the battle of that great day of God Almighty. All the evidence necessary to sustain the claim that this day of God referred to the destruction of Jerusalem is the comparison with the prophecy of Zechariah (chapter 14) on the destruction of Jerusalem. The chapter begins with reference to the day of the Lord, and the entire chapter was a description of the siege and devastation of the city and the employment of high metaphors of peace and blessing that followed.

 

In further support of the parallel between Zec_14:1 and Rev_16:14, the analysis of the Zechariah chapter from the author’s book, GOD’S PROPHETIC WORD, is here inserted : We shall not here read the chapter, but rather refer to its contents verse by verse. Zec_14:1-21 is almost universally used as “a second coming of Christ chapter” but it is a “destruction of Jerusalem chapter” instead.

 

Verse 1: “Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee.” The symbolic “day of the Lord” here is the same expression precisely that is used in Isa_13:9 in reference to the destruction of Babylon. If the destruction of Babylon could be called “the day of the Lord,” why not the destruction of Jerusalem? That expression does not mean the second coming of Christ in either of these passages. Compare Isa_13:1-22 as a prophecy against Babylon, Isa_17:1-14 as a prophecy against Damascus, Isa_18:1-7 as a prophecy against Ethiopia, Isa_19:1-25 as a prophecy against Egypt, with Zec_14:1-21 as a prophecy against Jerusalem, and it can be seen that the assertions of the millennialists that Zechariah is prophesying the second coming of Christ and the millennium are wrong.

Verse 2: “For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.”

 

The historical accounts of the siege of Jerusalem by Josephus, Pliny, Horne and Clarke fulfill Zechariah’s descriptions. Reference to “nations gathered for battle” is a description of besieged Jerusalem, the houses rifled and the women ravished. The same description is found in Isa_13:1-22, verses 15 and 16, concerning the fall and destruction of Babylon. The comparison is forceful.

 

Verse 3: “Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.” Factually, all the nations were represented in the Roman army, and God afterward fought against them by means of the Northern nations. Read Zec_9:14-15 : “And the Lord shall be seen over them, and his arrow shall go forth as the lightning; and the Lord God shall blow the trumpet, and shall go with whirlwinds of the south. The Lord of hosts shall defend them; and they shall devour, and subdue with sling stones.” The visitations are figurative, of course, but nevertheless significant of the fact that all the nations referred to “against” whom the Lord “fought” were destroyed.

Verse 4: “And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.”

 

The prophetic declaration that “his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives which is before Jerusalem,” does not refer to the second coming of Christ but rather to the siege of Jerusalem. Jesus Christ stood with his feet on the mount of Olives when he uttered the doom of the city. The Roman general stood on the mount of Olives when Jerusalem was besieged. The formations of the battle lines, entrenchments and redoubts, the circumvallations of the Romans, all enter into the graphic description and portrayal of the prophet that the mount should “cleave in the midst” and “toward the north” and “toward the south.”

Verses 5-7: “And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with thee. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark: But it shall be one day which shall be known to the Lord, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light.”

 

Obviously, these verses are a metaphorical description of the mixture of divine mercy with justice. After the visitation there would be light--the diffusion of divine knowledge. This did follow the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Jewish state.

 

Verses 8-9: “And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be. And the Lord shall be King over all the earth: in that day shall there be one Lord, and his name one.”

 

The only consistent application of this language is a spiritual fulfillment in the gospel of Christ and the church. Who is ready to deny that the clause “in that day shall there be one Lord, and his name one,” refers to the present dispensation? There is one Lord, his name is one, and the Lord is “king over all the earth.” It finds its fulfillment in the church of Christ where there is neither Jew nor Gentile, but all one in Christ, and one Lord over all.

Verses 16-17: “And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem, shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles. And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain.” If these verses are not figurative, if they are to be taken literally, then all nations and families must literally go up to Jerusalem and literally offer animal sacrifices and keep the Passover, restore Judaism with all of its literal ceremonies, in order in fulfill the prophecy. That would be a complete re-establishment of old Judaism and everything that characterized it, all of which was taken away. But if these verses are not literal, then the application made of the whole chapter by the millennialists loses its force. These last verses refer to the expansion of the blessings of the gospel dispensation after the destruction of Jerusalem. Upon all who received the gospel, its blessings descended as rain; but to the unbelievers who rejected the gospel “upon them shall be no rain”--all such are barred from its promises and privileges.

 

The simple truth of the matter is that as Isa_13:1-22 is a prophecy on the destruction of Babylon, Zec_14:1-21 is a prophecy on the destruction of Jerusalem. It does not teach millennialism in “a sentence or a syllable.“--GOD’S PROPHETIC WORD, pp. 246-9.

 

Thus the downfall of Babylon in Isaiah 13:1-22, and of Jerusalem in Zechariah 14:1-21, Matthew 24:1-51, and in Revelation were described with identical symbolism. The evidence is preponderant that the gathering for the battle of that great day of God portended the over-running of Judea and the onslaught against Jerusalem by the Roman armies, set forth in numerous visional developments; which included the uprisings, insurrections and rebellions that diverted the powers of evil from the afflictions of the church.

 

Revelation 16:15

(2) A parenthesis of beatitudes--16:15.

Among the portents of persecution and catastrophe of the apocalypse, there are to be found declarations of consummate bliss and blessedness in a series of beatitudes. This cluster of precious and promising assurances to besieged, encompassed and beleaguered Christians shine through the text of Revelation with the brightest luster, like diamonds that flash and send forth a thousand rays as the sun falls upon them. These apocalyptic beatitudes, seven in number, are collated with comments in chapter 22:14. One of these scintillating assurances mingled with ominous overtones is in this verse: “Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.”

 

The warning words of verse fifteen are the interposition of another parenthetical beatitude comparable to chapter 1:3 and 14:13. A blessing is pronounced on all that watch, for God would come in these events as a thief. The phrase as a thief does not indicate the element of surprise, but rather of preparedness. Jesus gave the signs of these events in Mat_24:25 : “Behold, I have told you before”; and in Verse 33, “so likewise ye, when he shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.” This same event must have been the object of Paul’s exhortation to the Thessalonians, first epistle, chapter 5:1-4, in reference to “the day of the Lord,” saying that they were “not in darkness that that day should overtake you as a thief"-- that is, having knowledge of it, they would abide in preparation for the ominous events.

 

Revelatkion 16:16

(3) The gathering forces of Armageddon--16:16.

The outpouring of the seventh vial into the air, verses sixteen and seventeen symbolized the sphere of life and influence in contradistinction with the earth as the place of nations, and with the heaven, which denoted the ruling authorities.

 

In this context the great battle of Armageddon was envisioned : And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon. The name Armageddon was derived from mount Megiddo, which was located in a valley now known as the plain of Esdraelon. It was the battlefield of nations in Jewish history. It was in this valley of Megiddo that Deborah and Barak overthrew Sisera and annihilated the hosts of Midianite oppressors. (Jdg_5:19) It was in “this valley of Jehoshaphat” where he triumphed over the ambushments of the combined armies of Ammon and Moab and “the fear of the Lord was on all the kingdoms of those countries, when they had heard that the Lord fought against the enemies of Israel.” (2Ch_20:22-30) In this valley (designated in later history as the plain of Esdraelon) the Jews and the Saracens and the Egyptians, the Druses and the Turks and the warriors of many hostile nations, pitched their battles; and thus the battlefield of mount Megiddo became a universal proverb.

 

Under the word Armageddon, the original Bible Dictionary of Philip Schaff states that it was “a name used figuratively in Rev_16:16, and suggested by the great battlefield noted in the Old Testament and now known as the Plain of Esdraelon.” This figure in the text of the apocalypse was employed not for the physical location but for the battle imagery. The deepest affliction of Jerusalem could be symbolized in no stronger terms of mourning, as prophesied by Zechariah in chapter 12:11: “In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon.”

 

The personage designated Gog in connection with this battle imagery, was the king of a country that sustained relations of hostility to Israel. The names Gog and Magog were used identically and are associated in chapter 20:7-9 as a type of the enemies of Christ. It becomes evident that the symbolic adaptation of Armageddon rises above the physical slaughter that overwhelmed Jerusalem and Judah to the hostile forces of evil surrounding the church, personified as Gog and Magog. It was therefore symbolic of the battle against Christianity--the forces of Judaism on the one side and of heathenism on the other. But the Rider of the white horse was the Conqueror; the Son of man appearing on the white cloud was the Victor; the saints robed in white garments were the Overcomers; in all of the symbols and imagery of the visions and in surviving the persecutions, the church emerged in victory to make the kingdoms of this world (chapter 11:15) become the kingdoms of the Lord and his Christ by the universal sway of the gospel.

 

This is consistent with the repeated emphasis of the early chapters of the apocalypse in the letters addressed to the seven churches, that the period through which they were passing was the tribulation era of the church.

 

 

Revelation 16:17

(4) The voice from the throne--16: 17.

The great voice from the temple-throne that ordered the plagues, understood to be that of God Himself, now declared the end in verse seventeen--it is done--that is, the plagues had been accomplished, the mission of the seven angels had been fulfilled.

 

The pouring out of the vial into the air symbolized that the sphere of the influence of the wicked nations was destroyed by the wrath of God in the seventh vial--it was the destroying of them that destroy; and is the same of apocalyptic characters as Isa_26:13-14, prophesying the decease of the wicked lords who had oppressed Israel: "O Lord our God, other lords have had dominion over us . . . they are dead, they shall not live; they are deceased, they shall not rise; therefore hast thou visited and destroyed them, and made all their memory to perish.” No clearer explanation could be made of the visions in Revelation in the pouring out of the vials of wrath upon the nations that persecuted the Bride of Christ, the Lamb--his church.

(7) The last vial poured into the air, causing voices, thunders, lightenings and a great earthquake: “And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done. And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake; such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great”--16:17-18.

 

As defined before, the symbol of the air represented the sphere of life and influence of the wicked nations. In Eph_2:1 Satan was named the prince of the power of the air-- not the actual exercise of power, but of influence--the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.

 

In this symbol the great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne was not the voice of an angel, but of the Great God Himself. The great voice said: It is done. The time for the end of the judgments had come; the time for fall of the Harlot City; and the time for the punishments to follow on both Jewish and imperial persecutors of the church; all of which was signified by the distant rumbling of voices, thunders and lightnings. The earthquake everywhere used in the apocalypse symbolized the shaking of nations; and the effects of the fall of Jerusalem were not limited to Judea and the Jews--the mighty influence of the terrible events had a solemn impact of worldwide significance.

 

With the removal of Judaism from the path of the church the way was opened for the universal expansion of Christianity, and the Lord’s words in Mat_24:31 were fulfilled: “And he shall send his angels (emissaries) with a great sound of a trumpet (the proclamation of the gospel), and they shall gather together his elect (those converted by the gospel) from the four winds (every direction), from one end of heaven to the other (the remotest bounds of the habitation of men). And it was done.
 

 

Revelation 16:18-21

(5) The fall of Jerusalem and citadels of oppression-- 16:18-21.

The upheavals of verse eighteen in the visions of voices, and thunders, and lightnings . . . and a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the face of the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great, were the symbols of the fall of Jerusalem and the attending effects of the devastation of Judea, all of which resulted in the shaking of the nations of the empire itself; and though Jerusalem had fallen, the thunders and lightnings and earthquakes were not over until the persecuting nations received full measure of divine wrath from the cup of his indignation.

 

History verifies the revolutionary reactions in governments symbolized by thunders and lightnings, culminating in wars between the nations of the empire in the coup d’ e tat of the conflict for power between the rulers, as in the wars of Nero Caesar. There is no need of leaving the ten epoch period of the persecutors signified in chapter 2:10 for the fulfillment of these symbols. As was true of the signs in Mat_24:34, it was true of these symbols also: This generation shall not pass till all these be fulfilled.

 

As the prophecy of Zec_14:4 foretold the city of Jerusalem as cleft in the midst before its fall, so verse nineteen sees that the great city was divided into three parts. It envisioned the partitioning of the city by the circumvallations of the Roman armies, as in Zec_14:1-21; and as suggested in the comments by Adam Clarke on the Zechariah prophecy and verified by the history of Josephus.

 

The further statement that the cities of the nations fell signified the collapse of the citadels of oppression and the strongholds of evil influence in the operations of the beast and false prophet in their lying wonders and pseudo-signs of deception and seduction. The great Babylon that came in remembrance before God was the apostate Jerusalem, that faithful city turned harlot of Isa_1:21 designated in chapter 11:8 as the spiritual Sodom and Egypt where also our Lord was crucified. In the remembrance of her apostasies God gave unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath in divine retribution for her harlotry.

 

In the process of this unrelenting succession of inexorable judgments, verse twenty declared that every island fled away, and the mountains were not found--that is, all the seats of authority and power of the Jewish theocracy faded away and disappeared. The fall of Jerusalem and the demolition of the temple effected the complete abrogation of Judaism and the abolition of the Jewish state.

 

In the ultimate dispensation of judgment on the city and the land of the Jews and their state, verse twenty-one stated that there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven . . . and men blasphemed God because of the plaque of hail. This downpour of hail was preternatural--for the plague thereof was exceeding great--it was beyond normal evulsions from the elements; it was strange and inexplicable in its proportions. It signified the wrath of God which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation --described in the prolepsis of chapter 14:10. But the adherents of the satanic beast were not moved to repentance by any of these manifestations of divine judgment; rather, in complete allegiance to the evil powers they blasphemed God in steeped and stubborn resistance to His will.

Revelation 16:19-21

The statement of verse nineteen that Jerusalem was divided into three parts, had a further significance than the partitioning of the city by the Romans as described by Zec_14:1-21. The apparent application of the symbol was to the three sources of Jerusalem’s afflictions: pestilence, sword and exile. The prophecy of Ezekiel on the siege and destruction of Jerusalem described these three parts in the following words: “Thou shalt burn with fire (pestilence) a third part in the midst of the city, when the days of the siege are fulfilled: and thou shalt take a third part and smite about it with a knife (sword): and a third part thou shalt scatter in the wind (exile); and I will draw out a sword after them.” There could be no closer relation between the fulfillment of a prophecy and an apocalypse than Eze_5:2 and Rev_16:19. Again the Old Testament and the New Testament furnish accumulative evidence that the symbols of Revelation were fulfilled in the lives and experiences of the people to whom the apocalypse was addressed.