Revelation 16:13 Komentář

In this chapter we have an account of the pouring forth of these vials that were filled with the wrath of God. They were poured out upon the whole antichristian empire, and on every thing appertaining to it. I. Upon the earth (Rev 16:2). II. Upon the sea (Rev 16:3). III. Upon the rivers and fountains of water (Rev 16:4). Here the heavenly hosts proclaim and applaud the righteousness of the judgments of God. IV. The fourth vial was poured out on the sun (Rev 16:8). V. The fifth on the seat of the beast. VI. The sixth on the river Euphrates. VII. The seventh in the air, upon which the cities of the nations fell, and great Babylon came in remembrance before God.

INTRODUCTION TO REVELATION 16 This chapter gives an account of the pouring out of the seven vials by the angels; their orders for it are in Rev 16:1. The first angel pours out his vial on the earth, the effect of which is a noisome and grievous sore upon the followers of antichrist, and the worshippers of his image, Rev 16:2. The second pours out his upon the sea; the events of it are, the sea became blood, and every living creature in it died, Rev 16:3. The third pours out his upon the rivers and fountains of water, which thereby became blood; upon which the angel of the waters applauds the justice of God, declaring the righteousness of his judgments, and giving a reason for it; and which is confirmed by another angel from the altar, Rev 16:4. The fourth angel pours out his vial on the sun, the effects of which are, scorching men with heat, their blasphemy against God, and impenitence, Rev 16:8. The fifth pours out his on the seat of the beast, the consequences of which are darkness in his kingdom, men gnawing their tongues because of their pains, their blasphemy of the name of God because of them, and their impenitence, Rev 16:10. The sixth angel pours out his on the river Euphrates, and what followed upon it are, the drying up of that river to make way for the kings of the east; there unclean spirits are seen, described by their original, coming out of the mouths of the dragon, beast, and false prophet; by their form, like frogs; by their internal nature, spirits of devils; by their works, doing miracles; by the errand they are sent, and go upon, to gather the kings of the earth to the battle of God Almighty, which they succeed in; but before this is done, a declaration is made of the suddenness of Christ's coming, exciting the saints to watchfulness, and to keep their garments, that they might not be naked, and exposed to shame, Rev 16:12 Then the seventh angel pours out his vial into the air, the consequences of which are, a voice from heaven declaring it is done: other voices, thunderings, lightnings, and an earthquake; a rupture of the great city into three parts; the fall of other cities; the remembrance of Babylon before God; the flight of every island and mountain, and a great hail storm, which causes men to blaspheme God, Rev 16:17.

For they are the spirits of devils,.... They are of their father the devil; they are acted and influenced by him, he works effectually in them, and leads them captive at his will; they do his lusts, and are murderers and liars, and false teachers, like him: working miracles; lying ones, to deceive men; this clearly points out who are meant, namely, the followers of antichrist, who, as they spread the doctrines of devils, endeavour to confirm them by signs and lying wonders: which go forth unto the kings of the earth: those who have committed fornication with the Romish antichrist, such of them as will remain: and of the whole world; as many Pagan princes as they can come at, and engage by any ways and means in their interest; they will go forth to them like the lying spirit to Ahab's prophets, Kg1 22:22 to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty; that is, they will persuade them to gather together, to fight against the saints, the Gentile Christians in the several parts of the world, and the Jewish Christians, now settled in their own land; and this will be the battle of the Lord, who is God Almighty, and it will be fighting against him; and therefore the attempt must be vain and fruitless, and issue in the ruin of those who are gathered to it, who will be deceived and drawn into it by these diabolical spirits: and this is called "the battle of that great day of God"; not of the day of judgment, for it will be before that time; but of that day of vengeance upon all the remains of his and his church's enemies, both Pagan, Papal, and Mahometan, who will for this purpose be gathered together; "which", as the Ethiopic version renders it, "God has appointed".

In addition to their ugly appearance, frogs are unclean also in their places of habitation. Although they seem to be native to the waters, they cannot endure it when the waters recede or dry up, and they roll around in the waters themselves and in the mud and filth of the waters. The hypocrites likewise do not spend their time in the waters, as they seem to, but in filthy acts that those who believe lay aside in the water. Similar to frogs are such persons who are not ashamed to wallow in sins and vices, which others put aside through penance or baptism. Whenever someone converts to God and repents that he had been arrogant, adulterous, drunken or lustful, such a person imitates these sins that another has relinquished by confessing and thinking to himself says, “I do what I want and later I will do penance as that one has done penance.” But suddenly the last day overtakes him, and any confession is lost and his damnation remains. Such is that person who wishes to imitate others, not in that which is good but in that which is evil, and like frogs cover themselves and roll around in that muck and mire from which others have been liberated. Frogs, therefore, signify the spirits of demons who do signs and wonders.

And he says they came out from the mouth of the Dragon and from the mouth of the False Prophet. The Dragon, the author of evil, he calls the Devil, and the False Prophet is someone else acting by the power of the Devil, as if it were prophesying, or the Antichrist. But if he is speaking in general of the Antichrist, whom in the earlier passages he introduced as one deprived by the Spirit of the Lord, but now as though still living he vents demons through his mouth, let the hearer not be astonished. For what is seen is a vision, and the first things are often shown to the evangelist later, and conversely the later things first, and he says, I saw three spirits like frogs. For there are spirits of demons performing signs, which go forth unto the kings. The demons are compared to frogs because they delight in the filthy, muddy life of men and in the slime. But the damp and windless life seems to them more like the life of sinners rather than the steadfast and hardened life of the righteous, whom they greatly envy and rejoice in the destruction of the living.

In view of the various passions in all of the vexations and vices they cause, evil spirits are said to possess a diversity of characteristics. And so, rightly did [Jesus] say somewhere in the Gospel, “deaf and dumb spirit,” and elsewhere, “unclean spirit,” and elsewhere the prophet said, “a spirit of harlotry had led them astray,” for no other reason than that those under its control perform the uncleanliness of its own vice. Here, however, he includes all three unclean spirits, because he indicates that the one body of the devil is made up of its habitual differences, mentioning those [spirits] that possess the greater power, starting with the devil as the dragon; then the beast, which is the antichrist with his followers; and the false prophet, who represents the leaders and teachers of noxious doctrines. Therefore, he sees one spirit but mentions three for the number of the parts of the one body, so that every one of the lost is shown to be led by one malign spirit. Perhaps for this reason he adds the horrible filthiness of frogs as a comparison with their impudence. For like frogs living in the sewers at night, these false prophets make a great noise through the damnable ranting of their error. Just as frogs are loathsome in the places they inhabit, in their appearance and in their annoying croaking, so the devil with his followers is recognized to be abominable to the truth and is deservedly and justly damned to eternal fire. The blessed apostle says something similar when he says, “Do not be mismated with unbelievers. For what partnership have righteousness and iniquity? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with idols?” And so here, when it says that from their mouths came forth unclean spirits similar to frogs, it is as though it said, why do you compare filth to heaven when it is fitting as a habitation of frogs even as it is of the horrible blasphemies of the false prophets? He is claiming that the teachers of the truth are as far removed [from such persons] as frogs are from holy persons, so that those who are not able to recognize that their frauds must be refuted by the power of discretion, may at least, when confronted by the ugliness of frogs, attempt to avoid such persons who, like frogs, are a hindrance to the ignorant lest they receive the truth in the quiet practice of devotion.

This passage mentions individually the devil as a dragon, the antichrist as a beast, and the false prophet as another figure distinct from the other two. It says that spirits similar to frogs come out from these, for they are characterized by a poisonous and filthy nature, and these evil powers love the mud and creep toward foul and moist pleasures. By the commands of the devil and of the antichrist and of the false prophet, they will use their mouths to show false signs and wonders to humankind.

And I saw from the mouth of the dragon and from the mouth of the beast, etc. The spirit of the devil, and the Antichrist, and the leaders of his body, who are called threefold according to the number of parts of one body, are likened to frogs, which are horrible in place, appearance, and troublesome noise. Though they seem to be inhabitants of the waters, they wallow in filth and mud. Hypocrites, promising the water of life, hide dead in the filth which believers lay down in the water. Thus Pharaoh, who, in order to destroy the people in baptism, dared to enter after them, was killed there.

The angels are commanded to pour out their vials upon the earth, Rev 16:1. The first pours out his vial on the earth, by which a grievous sore is produced, Rev 16:2. The second angel pours out his trial on the sea, and it is turned into blood, Rev 16:3. The third angel pours out his vial on the rivers and fountains, and they are turned also into blood, Rev 16:4-7. The fourth angel pours out his vial on the sun, and men are scorched with fire, Rev 16:8, Rev 16:9. The fifth angel pours out his vial on the throne of the beast, Rev 16:10, Rev 16:11. The sixth angel pours out his vial on the river Euphrates, Rev 16:12. Three unclean spirits come out of the mouth of the beast, dragon and false prophet: and go forth to gather all the kings of the world to battle, in the place called Armageddon, Rev 16:13-16. The seventh angel pours out his vial on the air, on which followed thunders, lightnings, earth-quakes, and extraordinary hail, Rev 16:17-21.

Three unclean spirits - Perhaps false teachers, called afterwards spirits of devils, which persuade the kings of the earth by lying miracles to come forth to the place of general slaughter, Rev 16:14, Rev 16:16, Some good critics apply this to Vespasian, and his pretended miracles. See the account in Tacitus, lib. iv. c. 81.

THE SEVEN VIALS AND THE CONSEQUENT PLAGUES. (Rev. 16:1-21) a great voice--namely, God's. These seven vials (the detailed expansion of the vintage, Rev 14:18-20) being called "the last," must belong to the period just when the term of the beast's power has expired (whence reference is made in them all to the worshippers of the beast as the objects of the judgments), close to the end or coming of the Son of man. The first four are distinguished from the last three, just as in the case of the seven seals and the seven trumpets. The first four are more general, affecting the earth, the sea, springs, and the sun, not merely a portion of these natural bodies, as in the case of the trumpets, but the whole of them; the last three are more particular, affecting the throne of the beast, the Euphrates, and the grand consummation. Some of these particular judgments are set forth in detail in the seventeenth through twentieth chapters. out of the temple--B and Syriac omit. But A, C, Vulgate, and ANDREAS support the words. the vials--so Syriac and Coptic. But A, B, C, Vulgate, and ANDREAS read, "the seven vials." upon--Greek, "into."

unclean spirits like frogs--the antitype to the plague of frogs sent on Egypt. The presence of the "unclean spirit" in the land (Palestine) is foretold, Zac 13:2, in connection with idolatrous prophets. Beginning with infidelity as to Jesus Christ's coming in the flesh, men shall end in the grossest idolatry of the beast, the incarnation of all that is self-deifying and God-opposed in the world powers of all ages; having rejected Him that came in the Father's name, they shall worship one that comes in his own, though really the devil's representative; as frogs croak by night in marshes and quagmires, so these unclean spirits in the darkness of error teach lies amidst the mire of filthy lusts. They talk of liberty, but it is not Gospel liberty, but license for lust. There being three, as also seven, in the description of the last and worst state of the Jewish nation, implies a parody of the two divine numbers, three of the Trinity, and seven of the Holy Spirit (Rev 1:4). Some observe that three frogs were the original arms of France, a country which has been the center of infidelity, socialism, and false spiritualism. A and B read, "as it were frogs," instead of "like frogs," which is not supported by manuscripts. The unclean spirit out of the mouth of the dragon symbolizes the proud infidelity which opposes God and Christ. That out of the beast's mouth is the spirit of the world, which in the politics of men, whether lawless democracy or despotism, sets man above God. That out of the mouth of the false prophet is lying spiritualism and religious delusion, which shall take the place of the harlot when she shall have been destroyed. the dragon--Satan, who gives his power and throne (Rev 13:2) to the beast. false prophet--distinct from the harlot, the apostate Church (of which Rome is the chief, though not sole, representative), Rev 17:1-3, Rev 17:16; and identical with the second beast, Rev 13:11-15, as appears by comparing Rev 19:20 with Rev 13:13; ultimately consigned to the lake of fire with the first beast; as is also the dragon a little later (Rev 20:10). The dragon, the beast, and the false prophet, "the mystery of iniquity," form a blasphemous Antitrinity, the counterfeit of "the mystery of godliness" God manifests in Christ, witnessed to by the Spirit. The dragon acts the part of God the Father, assigning his authority to his representative the beast, as the Father assigns His to the Son. They are accordingly jointly worshipped; compare as to the Father and Son, Joh 5:23; as the ten-horned beast has its ten horns crowned with diadems (Greek, Rev 13:1), so Christ has on His head many diadems. While the false prophet, like the Holy Ghost, speaks not of himself, but tells all men to worship the beast, and confirms his testimony to the beast by miracles, as the Holy Ghost attested similarly to Christ's divine mission.