The Third Bowl: Rivers and Springs of Blood (verses 4-7)

“Then the third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and springs of water, and they became blood. 5 And I heard the angel of the waters saying:

‘You are righteous, O Lord,
The One Who is and Who was and Who is to be,
Because You have judged these things.
6 For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets,
And You have given them blood to drink.
For it is their just due.’

7 And I heard another from the altar saying, ‘Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are Your judgments.’”

When this third bowl is poured out, the rivers and sources of fresh water are smitten, “and they become blood,” [verse 4]. Once again, this is similar to the third trumpet, which brought bitter wormwood water to the fresh streams and fountains and also brought about a partial death [Revelation 8:10-11: “Then the third angel sounded [his trumpet]: And a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. 11 The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters became wormwood, and many men died from the water, because it was made bitter.”].

As we have in the past while studying Revelation been introduced to the angels controlling the wind, chapter 7, verse 1, the fire, chapter 14, verse 18, so the angel of the waters, here in verses 5 and 6, praises God for the righteous judgments which the Lord is bringing upon a disobedient world. The pronoun “they”in verse 6 [“For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets….”] refers to those who have persecuted the church, those who have shed the blood of its leaders. The “saints” are Christians, of course, and the “prophets” are those inspired men in the church who had been persecuted by the beast and by those who wear the mark of the beast.

The expression in verse 5, “The One Who is and Who was and Who is to be,” refers, as elsewhere in this book of Revelation, to God Almighty.

We notice that because “they”—those who have persecuted the church, those who have shed the blood of Christians and of the leaders of the church, and so on—because “they have shed the blood of saints and prophets,” God’s great justice comes upon them and God has “given them blood to drink,” which is another way of saying that they will pay. They will receive recompense for their bloodshed, “For it is their just due.”

In verse 7, we see that John hears another voice [“And I heard another from the altar saying, ‘Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are Your judgments.’”]. The voice comes out of the altar, which, I think, refers back to the fifth seal [Revelation 6:9-11: “When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the Word of God and for the Testimony which they held. 10 And they cried with a loud voice, saying, ‘How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?’ 11 Then a white robe was given to each of them; and it was said to them that they should rest a little while longer, until both the number of their fellow servants and their brethren, who would be killed as they were, was completed.”].

You recall that when that fifth seal was opened, there was an altar, and under the altar were the souls of those saints crying out, “How long, O Lord, how long?” So, is this, then, the voice of those martyrs who are crying out for justice, who have cried out for justice, who continue to cry out for justice? But NOW, add an “Amen!” to this evaluation of God’s true and righteous judgments brought upon those who have persecuted them in the past.

The Fourth Bowl: Men Scorched (verses 8-9)

“Then the fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and power was given to him to scorch men with fire. 9 And men were scorched with great heat, and they blasphemed the Name of God Who has power over these plagues; and they did not repent and give Him glory.”

The fourth bowl has a similarity to the fourth trumpet [Revelation 8:12: “Then the fourth angel sounded [his trumpet]: And a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them were darkened. A third of the day did not shine, and likewise the night.”]. It [the contents of the fourth bowl] takes effect upon the sun and the heavenly bodies, but whereas the fourth trumpet brought a plague of darkness over a third of the sun and the moon and the stars, here the plague is not darkness, but rather, it is heat from the sun, which scorches men with fire.

In verse 9, we are introduced to men’s response to the plagues. We will see this response by men twice more in this chapter, verses 11 and 21. The men, those who are being affected by these plagues, who are being afflicted by what is being poured out upon the earth from these bowls, recognize that God is the source of these judgments, but they blaspheme the Name of God, Who, as John says, has “power over these plagues.” And men refuse to repent. They will not be wooed by God’s goodness, by God’s mercy, nor will they be brought to repentance by His severity “and give Him glory.” Instead, they harden themselves to curse and to revile Him in their own obstinacy. They refuse to accept responsibility for their evil doing, and they blame God, though they have brought the judgments for their evil, the consequences of their evil, upon themselves.