This difficult chapter continues with the seven angels mentioned in chapter 15 who hold seven vials containing the seven last plagues.  The things that occur as they  pour the contents of those containers onto the Earth almost defy comprehension, and in fact are very hard to explain.  So, as we go through this chapter it is important to keep in mind that Revelation is a book that uses symbology extensively, and the things described within it are seldom literal in intent and should not be taken that way.  In other words, keep an open mind as we go through these seven plagues.

Rev. 16:1  And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, Go your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth.

Rev. 16:2  And the first went, and poured out his vial upon the earth; and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshipped his image.

Rev. 16:3  And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea; and it became as the blood of a dead man: and every living soul died in the sea.

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.

This angel is correct, our Father is totally and completely fair in His decisions.

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.

That is why they won't repent and worship God, because Antichrist has convinced them that he is God, and he is so wonderful and sweet.  He gives them peace and prosperity and whatever they want.  What a wonderful time for them.  Like the Laodiceans of chapter 3, they are rich and increased with goods and don't know that they are miserable, and poor, and dumb, and blind, and naked.  In other words, they don't know that they should repent, they think that they are doing what is right.  They have been totally taken in by Antichrist with his religious nonsense, and they have such a warm and fuzzy feeling about it.  They love to have it so, and they think that they are worshipping the true God.  In other words, they don't know that they are wrong and that they should repent.  They are in the worst possible situation because Jesus said that blasphemy would not be forgiven in this world, or in the next one to come.

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.

 2)  The river Euphrates is in modern Iraq and at this time it is an occupied country.  It is basically defeated and the power of Saddam Hussein is gone, or dried up so to speak.

 3)   The main power that brought Iraq to its knees and now occupies it is the U.S.A., the existing seventh head of the beast.

 4)   The reason for all this is oil, and the control of oil.  Oil is wealth, and wealth is power.  Whoever controls that region of the world controls most of the world's readily available oil supply, and therefore the great wealth, power, and security that comes with it.

 5)  The United States did what they did to Afghanistan and Iraq to prevent that control from falling into the hands of others.

 6)  Other nations in the area are sure to fall for the same reasons.  Iran looks to be the next probable target.

 7)  Who the king(s) from the rising of the sun are is not totally clear, but there are other powers intensely interested in what happens there, including Russia, Japan, and China.

 8)  Japan is a highly developed industrial nation with no oil supply of its own.

 9)  China is an emerging industrial giant whose energy requirements will soon be more than is available at current oil production rates.

10)  Because of the great demand for oil in the industrialized nations, the future of the Middle East, and the area north and east of there known as the "stans", is not looking good at all.

11)  The rich and powerful industrialized nations will defend their dependence on oil with vigor and will fight for it without hesitation, even amongst themselves.

Revelation 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.

The so-called battle mentioned in the last clause signals the end of this present Earth age and the sudden appearance of Messiah.  Satan has done his work in an unclean spiritual trinity as it were     the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet     and has managed to deceive and garner support from the nations on Earth, especially those in western civilization.  But his success will be short lived.  He will lose that final confrontation during this age and will go throughout the coming Millennium bound and restrained.  He will be a shame and a spectacle to all the souls beholding him imprisoned.

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.

Armageddon is a Greek word (Strong's No. 717) taken from two Hebrew words meaning hill, or mountain, and place of crowds or city of crowds.  It could be a figure of speech related somehow to the ancient city of Megiddo which the ancient Hebrews understood, but the meaning of which is lost to us today.  The word Armageddon is commonly accepted to as an allusion to a last great battle fought amongst men with terrible weapons of mass destruction, but that could be misleading.  The way that the word Armageddon is presented here in verse 16, and this is the only place that it is used in the Bible, is referring to the last confrontation of Antichrist and his followers with the true Christ and His army when He finally appears.  Oh, I know that it is called a battle in verse 14, but in reality it will be more of a massacre, on a scale that the world has never known.

So where did all of this talk of Armageddon and a final terrible battle fought amongst the world's nations come from?  There is a prophecy of a great conflict in Ezekiel 38 and 39 which some have associated with Armageddon.  In Ezekiel it is called Hamongog, or more specifically, the valley of Hamongog.  Are they related?  Let's take a look and try to make some sense of it all.

Hamongog is a combination of two Hebrew words, Hamown and Gowg (Strong's No. 1996) and means multitude of Gog according to Dr. Strong. The Hebrew word hamown (Strong's No. 1995) basically meaning multitude.  Gowg (Strong's No. 1463) is in the Strong's Hebrew Dictionary but its origin and meaning is unknown.  In Ezekiel 38 and 39 Gog is mentioned as being the chief prince of Rosh, Meshech, Tubal, and Magog, and Rosh has been associated with Russia by some scholars.  Some have gone further and equated Meshech and Tubal with two modern cities in Russia, Moscow and Tobolsk respectively.  So, according to their reckoning, Gog should also be associated with Russia.

Subjective and speculative certainly, but not impossible.  Actually, there is some rationale for that idea.  There is indication from other scriptures that there will be a conflict between the descendants of Jacob (Israel) and the children of Esau (Edom - "the reds").  In today's terms that would be the United States and its kindred nations against Russia and her kindred nations.

Wait a minute, you say.  That scenario is impossible because the U.S.A. and Russia are friends now.  It may seem that way but I don't believe it.  Even if it were true, things can change, and quickly.  Look at the incredible speed at which the Soviet Union fell apart and the iron curtain came down.  Anyway, if this battle is to take place, and biblical indications are that it will, when and where will it happen?  As has already been stated, scholars and religionists have placed Armageddon somewhere in the environs of the ancient city of Megiddo, the valley of Jezreel, and the plain of Esdraelon.  Only God knows to a certainty, but placing the scene of the great battle between two superpowers anywhere in tiny Palestine just doesn't seem likely.

Ezekiel 38 and 39 indeed do prophesy an attack on Israel by the hordes of Gog.  Gog has already been tentatively identified as Russia, but prophetically speaking who is Israel today?  The offspring of Jacob are found all over the Earth and they literally number in the hundreds of millions, but the dominant nation among them today is the United States of America.  The Israel mentioned in Ezekiel 38 and 39 is not the tiny nation in Palestine that carries the same name.  God promised Abraham, and also therefore Jacob, a land flowing with milk and honey.  Could a small, narrow, sandy, mountainous strip of real estate in Palestine ultimately fulfill that promise?  I think not.  It fulfilled the promise 3,500 years ago in type for that relatively small group of people leaving Egypt with Moses, but not for the hordes of Israel today.  What could fulfill it today?  The lands of Europe and the Americas could, especially the United States wherein all thirteen tribes of Israel are represented today.

So then, prophetically speaking, is America modern Israel and is Russia the Gog spoken of in Ezekiel 38 and 39?  Yes, in all probability they are.  In support of that premise, one famous preacher even identifies the valley of Hamongog as being located somewhere in Alaska, which of course belongs to the United States.  Russia may truly attack the United States sometime in the future, but I believe that they won't be the only one.  There is also a strong possibility of being attacked by others who have a major grudge against America, or perhaps better stated, its leadership.

Now, tying all that in with Revelation, imagine that the United States is that head of the beast of Revelation 13 that receives the deadly wound.  Most of America survives this attack even though it is almost fatally weakened.  As a result of this deadly wound the beast system that controls most of the world will fail.  Commerce will be stifled and normal business will slow to a standstill immediately following that failure.  But wait!  Antichrist appears de facto and works quickly to restore world order.  He does this by convincing the world governments to create a new system  based on the original beast pattern, which of course he will watch over.  In other words, he builds an image (or facsimile) of the beast as stated in Revelation 13:14.  He will construct a truly new world order.

Wildly assumptive and speculative?  Indeed, but also plausible.  Use your imagination, and think it over carefully.  Don't be afraid to speculate and make assumptions.  To an intelligence analyst, assumptions are important tools to use when reconstructing and resolving  intelligence problems.  Pretend that you are an analyst and go for it.

What about the terms Armageddon and Hamongog, are they related?  It seems to me from reading through these things that what happens in the valley of Hamongog occurs first, followed sometime later by Armageddon at which time Christ appears.  That in view, it logically seems that they are two separate events.  Now, having said all that, go to Ezekiel 38 and 39 yourself and see if you can make some sense of it all.

Rev. 16:17  And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done.

Rev. 16:18  And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great.

Recently, the Discovery Channel ran a feature that is of interest in this regard.  Yellowstone Park is actually a super volcano waiting to blow.  The question is not if this will happen, but when, and when it does it will be absolutely fatal to life on the Earth.  The atmosphere will be filled with dust and smoke, and darkness will cover the Earth.  As a result, the solar constant will drop drastically causing the surface to become cold and uninhabitable over time.  Grim thought?  Yes, but it must be considered as a real possibility.

Rev. 16:19  And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.

Isaiah 65:17  For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.

2 Peter 3:13  Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.

Rev. 16:21  And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent: and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great.

The same thing happened in Egypt 3,500 years ago just before the children of Israel were thrust out of the land, but God did not leave the Egyptians without warning.  Moses was sent to Pharaoh and the people of Egypt to tell them what was about to happen.  Did they listen?  Not very well.  Just like today, they turned a deaf ear with devastating consequences.

Ex. 9:18  Behold, to morrow about this time I will cause it to rain a very grievous hail, such as hath not been in Egypt since the foundation thereof even until now.

Ex. 9:19  Send therefore now, and gather thy cattle, and all that thou hast in the field; for upon every man and beast which shall be found in the field, and shall not be brought home, the hail shall come down upon them, and they shall die.

Ex. 9:20  He that feared the word of the LORD among the servants of Pharaoh made his servants and his cattle flee into the houses:

Ex. 9:21  And he that regarded not the word of the LORD left his servants and his cattle in the field.

Ex. 9:22  And the LORD said unto Moses, Stretch forth thine hand toward heaven, that there may be hail in all the land of Egypt, upon man, and upon beast, and upon every herb of the field, throughout the land of Egypt.

Ex. 9:23  And Moses stretched forth his rod toward heaven: and the LORD sent thunder and hail, and the fire ran along upon the ground; and the LORD rained hail upon the land of Egypt.

Ex. 9:24  So there was hail, and fire mingled with the hail, very grievous, such as there was none like it in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation.

Ex. 9:25  And the hail smote throughout all the land of Egypt all that was in the field, both man and beast; and the hail smote every herb of the field, and brake every tree of the field.

Ex. 9:26  Only in the land of Goshen, where the children of Israel were, was there no hail.

God bless with understanding of His word.