Study Audio Download

Rev 16:4-9 Part 1, The Third and Fourth Vials

[Study Aired March 16, 2025]

Rev 16:4  And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters; and they became blood.
Rev 16:5  And I heard the angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast, and shalt be, because thou hast judged thus.
Rev 16:6  For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink; for they are worthy.
Rev 16:7  And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous [are] thy judgments.
Rev 16:8  And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire.
Rev 16:9  And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory.

We concluded our last study with these very revealing and revolutionary verses of scripture:

Rom 2:28  For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh:
Rom 2:29  But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise [is] not of men, but of God.

1Pe 4:17  For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?

Adding the writings of Paul to the doctrines of Peter, it becomes clear that ‘judgment must begin at… he… which is… a Jew… inwardly’.

For all those who struggle to understand how Gentile Christians can possibly call themselves the true spiritual ‘Jew’, Romans 2:28-29 makes that case as clearly and concisely as it can be stated. Some disdainfully refer to such a doctrine as ‘replacement theology’. If Roman’s 2:28-29 is ‘replacement theology’ then Peter and Paul were the original replacement theologians. These are Peter’s own words at the Jerusalem conference:

Act 15:8  And God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them [Gentile Christians] the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us;
Act 15:9  And put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.
Act 15:10  Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?
Act 15:11  But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they.

Notice that Peter did not say, “They shall be saved even as we are.” The holy spirit inspired him to tell us that Jewish Christians “shall be saved, even as they [Gentiles, are saved]”.

“He is not a Jew which is one outwardly… but he is a Jew which is one inwardly” is one of “the first principles of the oracles of God”, a truth which we can all read and see with our own eyes. Nevertheless we “hold [this truth] in unrighteousness” and deny that “he is not a Jew which is one outwardly” while these seven plagues are being poured out upon us. This blind rebellion against the words of God is what turns “the rivers and fountains of waters” of God’s Word into blood.

Luk 11:50  That the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation;
Luk 11:51  From the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, which perished between the altar and the temple: verily I say unto you, It shall be required of this generation.

“This generation” is the generation reading these words in every generation.

That blood we are given to drink is the blood of Christ which is now on our own hands, even as we profess that we “believe on Him” and serve him when in fact we do not:

Joh 16:2  They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.

Like Saul of Tarsus, we are those who “kill you thinking we do God’s service”, before we become Paul the apostle who truly does service to God by “dying daily” to the things of this age.

It is very instructive that several of these trumpets are said to affect “the third part”, whereas there is no such language in the description of the seven last plagues which “fill up the wrath of God”, bringing this process of judgment to its conclusion. The trumpets describe this ongoing process of judgment, while the seven last plagues describe the filling up in our lives of these judgments of God.

Rev 15:1  And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God.

Rev 10:7  But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound [his trumpet], the mystery of God should be finished [the seven last plagues which “fill up the wrath of God”], as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.

There is no mention of “a third” of anything because this is what “finishes… the mystery of God.”

In the third trumpet “the third part of the rivers and fountains of water… become… bitter” and many men die, but in the third vial we are “judged thus” to have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and we are given blood to drink, and again we are told “true and righteous are your judgments.” No mention of “a third part” of anything in the pouring out of the vials.

The bitterness of the star, which makes the rivers and fountains of waters ‘wormwood’, is the same perversion of God’s Word which we drink as blood in the third vial which is also dealing with our rivers and fountains of waters of God’s Word which we hold at this time in our walk “in unrighteousness”:

Rom 1:18  For the wrath of God [the seven last plagues] is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;

These plagues are God’s chastening judgments upon our own “ungodliness and unrighteousness”:

Tit 2:11  For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,
Tit 2:12  Teaching [G3811: ’paideuo’, chastening] us [with the seven last plagues] that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;

It behooves us to “read, hear, and keep the things written herein” because we are told:

1Co 11:31  For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.
1Co 11:32  But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.

So those who teach that these seven plagues are not God’s chastening judgments, but are designed simply to harden hearts for destruction in the lake of fire, will be judged out of their own mouths, and will find themselves in that very position because they refuse to acknowledge that “all things are ours”, and that we “must live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God”, especially the “great and marvelous” words of this 16th chapter of Revelation.

Mat 4:4  But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

1Co 3:21  Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours;
1Co 3:22  Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours;

Anyone who denies that these ‘seven last plagues’ are to be experienced by the Lord’s elect are denying The Truth of 1Co 3:21-22 and The Truth of these words:

Rev 15:7  And one of the four beasts gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials full of the wrath of God, who liveth for ever and ever.
Rev 15:8  And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled [In his life].

According to those who believe that they need not experience these seven last plagues of the wrath of God Revelation 15:8, they think that verse should read “No man [except those who were raptured, or those who “need no repentance”, or those who ‘never blasphemed the name of God’] was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.’

These seven last plagues come straight out of the mouth of God:

Mat 4:4  But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

Rev 1:1  The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified [it] by his angel unto his servant John:

Rev 1:3  Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.

“The time is [always] at hand [for us] to keep… these seven last plagues… which are written in this book”, generation by generation. These plagues are part of the “one event [which is] to all men” (Ecc 9:2), as is the fourth vial also.

The fourth plague and the fourth trumpet as well as all seven trumpets and all seven vials must be “fulfilled” in our lives (Rev 15:8):

Rev 16:8  And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire.
Rev 16:9  And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory.

At this point the fourth vial or bowl is poured out upon the sun. With what is the fourth trumpet concerned?

Rev 8:12  And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; so as the third part of them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise.
Rev 8:13  And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound!

Again we see that the trumpets involve “the third part” whereas the vials “fill up the wrath of God” upon our sins and rebellions while we blaspheme the name of God. While we just naturally assume those who blaspheme the name of God do so knowingly, the scriptures actually reveal that we do so unknowingly.

Joh 16:2  They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.

So how do the scriptures reveal that we will all unknowingly blaspheme the name of God within our lives? Here is how we all blaspheme the name of God, before we come to even know we are doing so:

Rom 2:17  Behold, thou art called a [spiritual] Jew, and restest in the law, and makest thy boast of God,
Rom 2:18  And knowest his will, and approvest the things that are more excellent, being instructed out of the law;
Rom 2:19  And art confident that thou thyself art a guide of the blind, a light of them which are in darkness,
Rom 2:20  An instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, which hast the form of knowledge and of the truth in the law.
Rom 2:21  Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal?
Rom 2:22  Thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege?
Rom 2:23  Thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law dishonourest thou God?
Rom 2:24  For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you, as it is written.

Romans 2 is addressed to Gentile Romans converts who Paul considers to be his spiritual “brethren”. This epistle is not written to people who don’t even know God and His Son. The church at Rome was not raised up by the apostle Paul. The church at Rome long preceded Paul’s ministry and without a doubt included the Jews who were in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost when the church first received the holy spirit as recorded in Acts 2:

Act 2:1  And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
Act 2:2  And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.
Act 2:3  And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.
Act 2:4  And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
Act 2:5  And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven.
Act 2:6  Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language.
Act 2:7  And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galilaeans?
Act 2:8  And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born?
Act 2:9  Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia,
Act 2:10  Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes,

This book is addressed to those in Rome who claim to know Christ, and that certainly included many Gentiles because Paul addresses this book specifically to the Gentiles in Rome:

Rom 1:13  Now I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that oftentimes I purposed to come unto you, (but was let hitherto,) that I might have some fruit among you also, even as among other Gentiles.

Paul is not accusing Caesar or his subjects of blaspheming the name of God in Romans 2. He is speaking to those who consider themselves to be God’s own people, who teach others not to steal, commit adultery and commit sacrilege, while they are doing the very things they have condemned in the lives of others. In other words, these words are all addressed to you and to me. It is we who have blasphemed the name of God among the Gentiles, and we continue to do so all the time we spend in the churches of Babylon, truly believing all the lying false doctrines of Babylon even as God judges us for all of our rebellious hypocrisy. That is how we are guilty of the blood of all the prophets including the blood of Christ. Even so this is how merciful our Lord is towards us while we are killing Him and His Christ:

Luk 23:33  And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand, and the other on the left.
Luk 23:34  Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots.

When the seven plagues of the seven angels are fulfilled in our walk, we will repent of our blasphemous lives. We will have read, heard, and kept all these things written in this book, and then we will be cleansed in the sea of glass mingled with fire. Only the priests of God can stand on that sea with the harps of God, and through the fire mingled with that glass, they are given to enter into the temple of God which temple is us in Christ and Christ within us. In that day we will understand the meaning of this verse:

Joh 14:20  At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.

That, too, is the mystery of God declared to us by His servants the prophets. It simply adds to our understanding of the same mystery spoken of by Paul in Colossians 1:

Col 1:26  Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints:
Col 1:27  To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:
Col 1:28  Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus:

What John calls seals, trumpets, and vials, Paul simply refers to as “much tribulation” and “all your tribulations”, which he equates with “the righteous judgment of God”:

Act 14:22  Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.

2Th 1:3  We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet, because that your faith [“of Jesus”, Rev 14:12] groweth exceedingly, and the charity of every one of you all toward each other aboundeth;
2Th 1:4  So that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure:
2Th 1:5  Which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer:

This statement in Acts 14:22 is made immediately after telling us that Paul had just been stoned and left for dead, but he had been raised up to continue his testimony. This is an example of what is meant by the “sea of glass mingled with fire.” Those who are granted to stand on that sea, with the harps of God, have already endured the seven last plagues. Christ has entered into His temple and has taken the dominion of their hearts and minds, and they will not be deterred by a mere stoning to death.

Rev 10:7  But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel [the seven last plagues] , when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.

Summary

In this study we have seen that it is the pouring out of the seven last plagues of the seven angels which is essential to bring us to see our need for being cleansed in the sea of glass mingled with fire.  The fire that is mingled with that glass is the judgments of the Word of God upon all the blasphemous sins that are within us, even as we claim to be doing God a service. That fire brings on us the fulfilling in our lives of the seven plagues of the seven angels. They must begin to be fulfilled before we can be cleansed and stand on the settled ‘sea of glass mingled with fire’ and before we can enter into the temple of God.

We also saw that the destruction of the man of sin of 2Thessalonians 2, “with the brightness of [the] coming [of Christ]”, is the same event as the pouring out of these seven plagues. Both result in the same thing; “the mystery of God should be finished”. That mystery is “Christ in you”, and we saw that “the mystery of God… as He has declared to His servants the prophets, commences where “the mystery of iniquity… the man of sin” holding the dominion in our body, ends and the dominion of the mind of Christ begins to dominate our lives.

We have seen that these seven vials are God’s judgments upon our ungodliness and unrighteousness, which “fill up the wrath of God”, while the seven trumpets which precede the seven last plagues, and which perfectly parallel the seven vials, are characterized by the phrase “the third part”, signifying the process of judgment is ongoing and God’s wrath is not “filled up” in the trumpets as it is in the vials.

We have seen how we have perverted the truths of God’s “rivers and fountains of waters”, His own word, which we have twisted and perverted into deadly lies which we used to kill the prophets of God who have been sent to us with His Truth. In this way we have been made to drink the blood of our own Savior and His Christ, thus being guilty of that blood.

Mar 10:38  But Jesus said unto them, Ye know not what ye ask: can ye drink of the cup that I drink of? and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?
Mar 10:39  And they said unto him, We can. And Jesus said unto them, Ye shall indeed drink of the cup that I drink of; and with the baptism that I am baptized withal shall ye be baptized:

Mat 26:27  And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it;
Mat 26:28  For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.

We have seen that we have all blasphemed the name of God among the Gentiles for the plague of heat, which as “the Sun” of the fiery Truth of God’s Word, is poured out upon our old man and his doctrines. We saw that we do this by holding Truth in unrighteousness, even as we think we were serving God:

Joh 16:2  They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.

We have seen that the mystery of God within us actually begins in the opening of the seals and should be finished in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, the pouring out of the seven last plagues, when he begins to sound. In other words, “He that has begun a good work in us, will perform it until the day of Christ.”

Php 1:3  I thank my God upon every remembrance of you,
Php 1:4  Always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy,
Php 1:5  For your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now;
Php 1:6  Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ: [The finishing of the mystery of God].

In our next study, Lord willing, we will see that the bottomless pit and “the seat of the beast are one and the same within us.

Rev 16:10  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,
Rev 16:11  And blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds.
Rev 16:12  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.
Rev 16:13  And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs [come] out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet.
Rev 16:14  For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, [which] go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.
Rev 16:15  Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed [is] he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.
Rev 16:16  And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.