The Fifth Bowl: Pain and Darkness (verses 10-11)

“Then the fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and his kingdom became full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues because of the pain. 11 They blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and did not repent of their deeds.”

While the fifth trumpet in chapter 9 [Revelation 9:3-5: “Then out of the smoke locusts came upon the earth. And to them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. 4 They were commanded not to harm the grass of the earth, or any green thing, or any tree, but only those men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. 5 And they were not given authority to kill them, but to torment them for five months. Their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it strikes a man.”] introduced a plague of demonic locusts that tormented and tortured, this fifth bowl is poured out upon the seat of the beast—upon his very throne, if you will, and his kingdom is filled with darkness, and men gnaw their tongues in pain.

The coming of darkness upon the seat of the beast emphasis the fact that it will soon be overwhelmed, that it will soon be consumed, by the God of light. Darkness stands in opposition to God’s Truth and His salvation, for darkness symbolizes evil and man’s destruction. The perfect tense of the verb is used here, and it shows that the darkness has come upon the seat of the beast, never to be removed, never to be lightened up again.

In all probability, there is a close connection between the fifth trumpet, with its demonic locusts that attack and torment mankind, and the darkness that causes men to gnaw their tongues in pain and to blaspheme God because of their sufferings. Yet, once again, they refuse to repent; they refuse to acknowledge—to recognize—what is going on. They know about God’s Way, but they insist on continuing in their own rebellious way. And, indeed, that is the terrible character of sin.

The Sixth Bowl: Kingdoms Gathered at Armageddon (Harmagedon) (verses 12-16)

“Then the sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up, so that the way of the kings from the east might be prepared. 13 And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs coming out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. 14 For they are spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out to the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.

15 [The Lord Jesus says,] ‘Behold, I am coming as a thief. Blessed is he who watches, and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame.’

16 And they gathered them together to the place called in Hebrew, Armageddon [also, “Harmagedon”].”

We see here that “the great river Euphrates” is mentioned in connection with this sixth bowl. It is also mentioned in connection with the sixth trumpet that we saw in chapter 9, where the angels at the river Euphrates are loosed, and the enormous number of horsemen sweep down across the landscape [Revelation 9:13-16: “Then the sixth angel sounded [his trumpet]: And I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, 14 saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, ‘Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.’ 15 So the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year, were released to kill a third of mankind. 16 Now the number of the army of the horsemen was two hundred million; I heard the number of them.”].

Here, the bowl is poured out upon “the great river Euphrates, and its water is dried up, so that” the kings are able to move across the river from the east and prepare for invasion [verse 12]. Now, this actually has a historical significance to it. Drawing upon history and the fall of ancient Babylon before the Persians under Cyrus, the waters of the Euphrates River were diverted so that the city was isolated, so that the city was vulnerable and, thus, was able to be overrun. John here shows the waters of the Euphrates “dried up” by means of this bowl, so that the deceived kings can gather themselves for the great battle between right and wrong. In Brother Homer Hailey’s Commentary on Revelation, he says, “[The horsemen] are gathered together as enemies of God’s cause, mustered by the unclean spirits to war of the great day of God, the Almighty.” Concerning “the way of the kings from the east,” Brother Burton Coffman comments, “When the boundary between right and wrong—between the church and the world—is dried up, the kings of the east will come to exploit their advantage. These are not to be understood as allies of righteousness, but as enemies of it. That they come from the east, ‘the sunrising’—in our interpretation, this merely means that they come from beyond the violated boundary. Forces of evil will enter and dominate what was once true religion. Their being called ‘kings’ should not mislead us. Their names are given in the very next verse [verse 13: “And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs coming out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet.”].”

John sees “three unclean spirits,” [verse 13] that look like frogs, and they come “out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet.” Now, the “false prophet” is, undoubtedly, the second beast of chapter 13. You remember that there was the beast that came out of the sea and the beast that came out of the earth. The second beast [the earth beast], chapter 13, verse 11 [“Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon.”], has not been referred to previously in this manner, as the “false prophet,” but that is undoubtedly what John has in view here, and the “earth beast” is what he refers to as “the false prophet.” If you’ll recall, our description, our characterization, of that second beast [the “earth beast”] was that it represented false teaching, the false doctrine, false religion, and so here, it is being characterized as a “false prophet.”

The “dragon” is undoubtedly the dragon that was described in chapter 12 [“And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great, fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads. 4 His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth,” Revelation 12:3-4a].

The “beast” mentioned here in verse 13 is the same one mentioned in the first part of chapter 13, the one that came out of the sea [representing evil kingdoms, governments, empires, politics, etc.] [Revelation 13:1-3: “[The dragon] stood on the sand of the sea. And I [John] saw a beast rising up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns ten crowns, and on his heads a blasphemous name. 2 Now the beast which I saw was like a leopard, his feet were like the feet of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. The dragon gave him his power, his throne, and great authority. 3 And I saw one of his heads as if it had been mortally wounded, and his deadly wound was healed. And all the world marveled and followed the beast.”].