Down through the ages God's servants have asked certain questions again
and again: When will God put an end to wickedness? When will He eliminate
Satan's influence? When will man's inhumanity to his fellowman cease?
The book of Revelation answers these questions!
John writes: "Then I saw another portent in heaven, great and amazing:
seven angels with seven plagues, which are the last, for with them
the wrath of God is ended … Then one of the four living creatures
gave the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God…" (Revelation 15:1,7, NRSV).
Before we examine the nature of this final phase of God's punishments
on human beings who have refused to repent (Revelation 16:9,11), we need
to get our bearings regarding the setting of these plagues.
As we have already seen, those who worship the Beast will be
the recipients of the "full strength" of God's "indignation" that these
seven last plagues represent. Also, these things will be completed "in
the presence of the Lamb" (Revelation 14:9-10). These words indicate
that all of the seven last plagues will occur within a brief time. As Christ
descends through the clouds, "every eye will see Him" (Revelation 1:7;
compare Acts 1:9-11). These verses imply that, as these punishments occur,
Christ's direct involvement with them will be visible to the whole
world.
