The Book of Revelations Chapter 16
(1) Since no one could enter the temple, this voice from the temple must be God Himself, who personally starts judgment of the bowls.
The plagues that come from the bowls of wrath are similar to what we read in Egypt during the Exodus, and it could be seen as the final exodus as again God is rescuing His people.
(2) The first bowl
Those who worshipped the beast and received his mark are now marked by God with sores, possibly some kind of cancer.
(3) The second bowl
Revelation 8had described a partial pollution of the sea. Here the pollution is made complete as everything in the sea has died.
(4-7) The third bowl
Again, likeRevelation 8where 1/3 of the water had been contaminated now it all becomes contaminated. When these judgments come, the time must be very short until the return of Jesus. With a disaster such as this, as no water to drink humans cannot survive long.
(8-9) The fourth bowl
The Sun which is normally taken for granted as a blessing – is now a curse.
The wishful thinking of some that men would repent if they only knew the power and righteous judgment of God is shattered by frequent mention in this chapter of the hardness of the human heart in the face of divine discipline. The failure of men to respond with repentance shows that knowledge of judgment will not change man’s hearts.
(10-11) The fifth bowl
The ninth plague on Egypt was a literal darkness, with spiritual overtones. It could be felt, as described in Exodus.
In man’s sinful condition, he increases his sin when under God’s judgment, at the very time he should repent for his sin.
(12-16) The sixth bowl
The Euphrates: The Romans considered the Euphrates River a secure barrier against invasion from the empires of the east. In that day it was 1,800 miles long and ranged from about 900 feet at it narrowest point reaching over half a mile wide at some areas.
(12) If the Euphrates were dried up and made a road, massive armies from the east (nations such as China, India, and Japan) could move westward with ease.
(13) “Like frogs” The ancient Jewish people regarded frogs as unclean and repulsive creatures.
(14) This battle is not nation against nation, but the nations against God.
(15) The clothing spoken of here is a picture of spiritual righteousness. We are given the righteousness of Jesus as a garment Galatians 3. Above all, we must not be “naked” – that is, without a covering, or trying to provide our own covering like the Pharisees who tried with the laws to cover themselves or people who claim to be Christians as they go to church on a Sunday but don’t have God as their Lord, an example of this would be Adam and Eve, God can see what’s in your heart and these clothes are like filthy rags in the sight of God Isaiah 64.
Armageddon
(16) (Har) Megiddo is the Hebrew word where we get Armageddon. Megiddo is actually a valley and forms part of the plains of Jezreel which are a great flat plain where hundreds of battles have taken place from Egyptian empire, Roman empire, Alexander the Great, Napoleon right up to WW2 where Churchill thought this will be the last battle of WW2 but we managed to win the battle at Egypt at El Aleman which turned the war.
(17-21) “It is finished!” This announcement, coming from the throne itself tells us that there will be no more delay. In mercy, God has stretched out this scene as much has He could. The seals were followed by trumpets; the trumpets were followed by bowls; but there will be no more judgments upon the earth after this.
The fact that the bowl is poured into the air may show judgment against the prince of the power of the air Ephesians 2:2 and his allies.
Hail is frequently a tool of judgment against God’s enemies, as seen against Egypt in Exodus,the Canaanites in Joshua , Israelin Isaiah .Note though that in these instances, hail rained down from heaven as a tool of judgment, not as a corrective punishment of God’s own children.