Chapter Sixteen

The Seven Vials: The Pouring Out of the Seven Vials - The Fall of Papal Rome

We will see the seven vials of God’s wrath poured out against Rome in this chapter. It is interesting to note that the effect of the first three vials will be spoken of in similar ways to the first three trumpets. The first will affect the earth, the second the sea, and the third the rivers just as the trumpets did.

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.

The time has now come for the wrath of God to be poured out upon the beast. This has been talked about for quite some time now. We have even been given hints and highlights of it in previous chapters. But now the time has come, Rome must fall for good. The angels are instructed by a “great voice out of the temple” to go and pour out the vials they were given upon the earth. Of course the entire earth is not meant to suffer from these plagues, just the beast and his followers. The great voice came from the temple where God dwells, and was His voice pronouncing the final judgment against Rome.

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.

When the first vial was poured out we can see that its effect was restricted to the beast and his followers. “There fell a noisome and grievous sore upon” the followers of the beast. This indicates a very painful experience but one which is not fatal. This is referring to the French Revolution which we saw back in chapter eleven. We saw there the devastating effect that it had on the Catholics. The most powerful nation in the world turned against Rome. The following passage shows the great impact the French Revolution had upon the future of the entire Western world.

“The American Revolution helped to spark the French Revolution of 1789, which proved to be the most violent and far-reaching of all the liberal upheavals. Not only did the French Revolution advance liberal ideals; it brought drastic changes in the legal, social, and economic order of France, the largest and most populous country in western Europe. The struggle was intensified by the passionate opposition of privileged groups at home and by the intervention of foreign powers. Even more than the English or American Revolutions, it was a watershed in the flow of Western history. As Tocqueville later wrote, ‘The French Revolution had no territory of its own; indeed, its effect was to efface, in a way, all older frontiers. It brought men together, divided them, in spite of law, traditions, character, and language—turning enemies sometimes into compatriots and kinsmen into strangers...’ Not until the Russian Revolution of 1917 was an uprising to have such an impact on the Western world.”[1]

Note also how the following passage describes conditions in the West after the French Revolution. It is a far cry from the centuries when the Catholics dominated Europe.

“Roman Catholicism, however, was to find political liberalism inassimilable, and from the French Revolution into the twentieth century the Roman Catholic lands have been generally divided by a profound antagonism which has dominated their political and cultural development.”[2]

Little more than these general comments needs to be made here since the whole affair was dealt with at great length back in chapter eleven. This was, from the Catholic perspective, a devastating blow. However, it probably would not, in and of itself, have been fatal. But there are six more vials yet to be poured out. In the end Rome will not escape God’s wrath.

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.

This verse contains very dramatic wording, but it should not alarm us. The sea will not literally turn to blood, this is just God’s way of informing us that the next area of battle will be on the seas. Much like what we saw with the second trumpet, when we saw the Vandals become the rulers of the Mediterranean Sea, and eventually go on to sack Rome. Now we need to examine world history in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, and attempt to find some major naval conflict that would have a bearing on the papacy.

We saw back in chapter eleven that Napoleon did not share the same view of the Catholics as did the revolutionary French government. He adopted a more conciliatory attitude, at least for a while. The following passage serves to show why he behaved as he did.

“Napoleon now indicated a startling turn of policy. He expressed his desire for reconciliation with the pope, and his conviction that the Roman religion was the only one to lay firm the foundations of government. The papacy quickly responded and the negotiations were promptly undertaken which were to result in the Concordat of 1801.

Napoleon’s policy signified no conversion to Christianity. He was personally a voltairian, with no belief in any of the historical religions. But he had a shrewd eye for the political purposes of religion. A year or two before in Egypt, while he was caught up in his romantic dream of carving out an empire in Asia and Africa, he had flirted with Islam. He agreed with Henry IV that Paris was worth a mass: ‘Would not the dominion of the East, perhaps the subjection of the whole of Asia, be worth a turban and a pair of slippers?’”[3]

Napoleon was a prime example of someone who had the mark of the beast in his right hand. He did not believe the Catholic doctrine, but it was convenient for him to go along with the papacy for his own personal political gain. Now that we have established the attitude of Napoleon, and therefore France, toward the Catholic Church, we can begin to understand this verse. The papacy had been stabbed in the back during the French Revolution, but now it seemed that all was forgiven and France had returned to the pope’s side. The pope moved very quickly to make-up with France. He needed their support in an ever more chaotic and turbulent world.

France and Britain were the two great world powers of that era of time. They had been at war off and on for centuries. France, along with her ally Spain, was the last hope for Catholicism to regain its dominance of the European continent. Britain was sternly anti-Catholic. In fact the sentiment was such that “Catholics could not vote or hold public office” in Britain.[4] Britain had broken with the Catholics centuries before and had set up their own church, the Church of England, with the king of England as its head.

The conflict between France and Britain was not limited to land battles. Both sides possessed large and powerful navies with the France-Spain alliance having a slightly larger force. But superior leadership, namely in the person of the famous admiral, Horatio Nelson, allowed the British to achieve control of the seas. There were numerous engagements between the respective navies, but the decisive blow was struck off the coast of Trafalgar, Spain.

“Admiral Horatio Nelson’s British fleet defeated a combined French and Spanish fleet there on October 21, 1805, in one of the greatest naval battles in history. The victory gave England undisputed control of the sea.

...Napoleon’s admiral, Villeneuve,...decided to attack the British fleet with a French and Spanish fleet. His fleet outnumbered Nelson’s, 33 ships to 27. But Nelson surprised the enemy by having his ships cut through the French battle line. The British fleet did not lose a ship in the battle, but it destroyed or captured over half the French and Spanish ships.”[5]

Thus another severe blow was struck at the Catholic powers as the second vial was poured out upon the sea. The pope must have been devastated. He had just regained the friendship of France and then they are defeated by Britain, the pope’s long-time nemesis.

16:4 And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters; and they became blood.

The third vial was poured out upon the rivers, which means its effect is to be over a large area of the land, just as the third trumpet had been. By the time of the French Revolution, the temporal holdings of the pope were extensive. But nearly all of these lands, and the accompanying temporal authority that went with them, were taken away by the French.

“The first papal lands were granted in 754 A.D. by the king of the Franks Pepin the Short to Pope Stephen III. Additions were made by gifts and purchases until the papal states included nearly the whole of central Italy. Papal control reached its height late in the twelfth century under Innocent III. The acquisitions of the papacy were for the most part retained until 1797, when French forces under Napoléon Bonaparte, later Napoleon I, Emperor of France, seized much of the territory.”[6]

“The General of the Army in Italy was Bonaparte. When he won his notable successes against Sardinia and Austria in 1796, the Directory instructed him to take the city of Rome and despoil the Pope. The papal court called for terms. The Directory required, however, not merely an indemnity, but an explicit retraction of all the violent expressions in bulls and briefs about the Revolution. This Pius VI could not agree to, and he broke the truce by appealing to Austria to attack the French. Napoleon at once moved further into the papal states and set even more stringent terms. By these France took the better half of the papal states and a large indemnity. This seizure of the papal lands was the beginning of the end of the Temporal Power, an ending which was to be the focus of Roman Catholic interest throughout the nineteenth century.”[7]

The loss of most of his territory was a great blow to the pope, since he knew that much of his power was tied to his wealth and possessions. And even beyond that, the prestige of the papacy received a major blow here. An enemy was able to march right into the pope’s “back yard” and do as he pleased. Despite his self-proclaimed power and authority, the pope was powerless to impede the advancing enemy. The vicar of Christ seemed to have been abandoned by the very One he claimed to represent. And despite his loudest pleas for help, none of his remaining supporters were strong enough to save him. This is very reminiscent of the latter days of the Roman Empire when the Goths, Vandals and Huns were able to pretty much do as they pleased when they invaded Italy, something that would have been unthinkable only a few decades earlier. It was the most powerful sign of the weakness and vulnerability of the Empire. The same is true here. Napoleon’s ability to march right into Italy and force the pope to give up much of his land was a severe blow to the prestige of the papacy. No longer was the papacy seen as a great towering figure that was to be feared and obeyed.

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.

“The angel of the waters” is the angel of the territory affected by the third vial, which the water represents. Having seen the successful attack on the temporal holdings of the papacy the angel praises God for accomplishing this righteous and just deed. “Thou art righteous” shows that this was a good thing which God did to the power of the Catholic Church. It was something that they deserved and had brought upon themselves because of their abominable conduct. They had lived wickedly and had tried to annihilate God’s true servants from the face of the earth. God’s eternal nature is alluded to by the words “O Lord, which art, and wast, and shalt be.” There never has been even a single moment when God did not exist, and there never will be.

16:6 For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink; for they are worthy

The angel continues to praise God for His judgment of the papacy, and to discuss some of the evil deeds performed by the Catholics, which caused them to be deserving of God’s wrath. They have “shed the blood of saints and prophets.” We simply have no idea how many of God’s people were slain by the Catholics over the time they reigned supreme. But God knows every single one, and is now returning the shed blood of His saints upon the heads of those who were guilty of their murders.

Twice recently we have seen mention made of the “patience of the saints” (Revelation 13:10, 14:12). They were patient for century after century as God continued to allow the Catholics to enjoy supremacy. They waited patiently as more and more of their number was cut down by the barbarous Catholics. But the time for vengeance has finally come. God has now begun to repay Rome for her corruption and wickedness. “Thou hast given them blood to drink,” shows that God was laying a heavy hand of judgment upon them, and that many were going to lose their lives. He was taking vengeance according to Exodus 21:23-25. “And if any mischief follow, then thou shalt give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe. All of this and more had certainly been earned by Rome because of their evil treatment of God’s people. As our verse says, “for they are worthy.”

16:7 And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments.

John now hears another voice which he places as coming from the altar. In chapter six John saw “under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held.” So the voice here is likely that of a man who has been redeemed from the earth. He is speaking on behalf of all those who have been sacrificed on the altars of Catholicism. He joins with the angel in praising the works of judgment God has brought against Rome.

The phrase “even so” in this verse comes from the Greek word “nai” which is defined by Strong’s as “a primary particle of strong affirmation; yes:-even so, surely, truth, verily, yea, yes.”[8] This shows that this man was in full agreement with the comments just made by the angel. He also was rejoicing to finally see judgment taken against the great persecutor of God’s people. “True and righteous are thy judgments” shows again that God was doing the right thing. He was only giving the Catholics what they deserved. They had brought all of this upon themselves.

16:8 And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire.

We can quickly discern that the target of God’s wrath here is not the sun which our planet orbits. If it were then all men would suffer, not just those who are deserving of it. We have seen the sun mentioned before and have identified it as representing some great source of power or authority. Here the great power which is suffering the wrath of God is the papacy. The sun represents the pope himself. The following passages illustrate how two successive popes were imprisoned and otherwise humiliated.

“Now came another riot in Rome, in which a general of the French embassy was killed. The Directory was infuriated and the French army marched on Rome. With this support in the offing, a group of Roman radicals proclaimed the abolition of the pope-king and the reign of liberty and equality. They set up a tree of liberty on the Capitol and invited Pius to abdicate and recognize the ‘Roman Republic.’ He refused. They occupied the Vatican and in October 1798 gave him forty-eight hours to get out of Rome. So the Pope left and a Te Deum was sung in St. Peter’s over the deposition, at which some of the cardinals assisted. The pope made his way north into exile, dying in Valence in 1799. In the civil registry of the French Republic his death was noticed as follows: ‘Citizen John Braschi. Trade pontiff.’

The conclave to elect his successor was held in Austrian territory (Venice) and at Austrian expense. While Bonaparte was away on his Egyptian expedition, the Austrians had occupied the papal states, and now wished for a new pope who would accept this situation. On the eve of the meetings, however, General Bonaparte returned to France and seized power in a virtual military dictatorship, the so-called ‘Consulate.’ Realizing that Napoleon might be the power to deal with, rather than Austria, the cardinals at length chose a ‘religious’ pope with a pro-French reputation, Pius VII. And before the new Pope had gotten back to Rome, Napoleon had in fact entered Italy and won the battle of Morengo.”[9]

The previous passage left out a couple of very important details concerning the fate of Pius VI, which this next one gives us.

“In 1798 the armies of the Directory created a republic in Rome and the Pope (Pius VI, reigned 1775-1799), who had been hostile to the Revolution, was carried to France, a prisoner, and within a few months was dead.”[10]

For over a thousand years the true political power in Europe lay with the popes in Rome. Now a pope had been deposed by the citizens of Rome itself, and he then eventually died in a French prison. Was this truly the same great man who for centuries had been the center of all political, religious, social, and economic life in Europe? The power and prestige of the papacy had fallen to unbelievable depths in a period of just a few years. To the people of the times it was certainly a most astounding thing to behold.

In the days of the Holy Roman Empire the new emperors always paid a visit to the pope, in Rome, for the official coronation ceremony. Napoleon had visions of himself one day becoming the emperor of the whole of the European continent. But he knew that the support of the pope would make this goal much easier to realize. This was the basis for the favorable attitude that he demonstrated toward the pope at first.

“Napoleon was an adventurer, a usurper; nothing could give him such claim to legitimacy as religious support. And indeed, he was looking ahead to his own establishment on the throne. Lafayette guessed shrewdly when he heard of how ‘the old fox’ had now become to Napoleon ‘the Most Holy Father.’ ‘Confess,’ he said, ‘you want the little flask broken over your head.’”[11]

“...Napoleon’s private plans ranged wider. As he later put it, he felt called of God to be Emperor of Europe. The majority of people in Spain, Italy, and South Germany acknowledged the Roman pope, who might thus be a very useful ‘lever.’ Napoleon admired the quasi-political organization of the Roman Catholic Church as an instrument of control.”[12]

Napoleon’s true attitude toward the pope can be seen in his crowning as emperor. Instead of traveling to Rome, as was traditional, Napoleon had the pope brought to him. In the past every single emperor had traveled to Rome to be crowned. This was a way of acknowledging the pope’s superiority over the emperor. Napoleon’s decision in this matter was, in itself, a slap in the face to the dignity of the pope. It also demonstrated how much his prestige among the nations had already eroded. In the past the pope would have simply refused to go. He knew the emperor needed him worse than he needed the emperor. But now the situation was reversed. The pope was looking for any shred of credibility that might help him to rebuild his shattered image. And being able to anoint the emperor of Europe would certainly be an important first step in regaining some measure of respect. But, unfortunately for the pope, things did not turn out quite as he might have expected.

“...Napoleon had himself proclaimed as hereditary emperor in 1804. By ‘emperor,’ however, he meant more than ruler of France, as was indicated by his pilgrimage to the tomb of Charlemagne. He persuaded Pius VII to come and crown him, to the resentment of Hapsburg Francis and the scandal of the royalist de Maistre. Even then, however, Napoleon deprived the Pope of the symbolic honor of conferring the crown on him, by taking it out of his hands and crowning himself.”[13]

Notice how Napoleon crowned himself, demonstrating his belief that he did not owe his authority to the pope, as had always been the understanding during the days of the Holy Roman Empire. Napoleon had no real respect for the pope, he merely sought to use him for whatever good he might be able to wring from him, and then toss him aside when he was through.

“The attitude of Napoleon towards the Church was masterful. He was himself a nominal Roman Catholic, but had very little religious faith. Yet he saw that a large proportion of his subjects were loyal Roman Catholics and he regarded that Church as an institution which must be recognized and used for his purposes. At his orders, the vacancy in the Papacy left by the death of Pius VI was not immediately filled. However, in 1800 a conclave was held in Venice which elected a Benedictine monk, Chiaramonti, who took the title of Pius VII and reigned through striking vicissitudes until 1823. Napoleon restored Rome to the Pope, but by no means all the Papal states. After long negotiations, in 1801 the concordat of France was concluded between the Pope and Napoleon. Such of its confiscated lands as were in the possession of the state were to be restored to the Church, bishops were to be appointed by the Pope on nomination by the state, and while the lower clergy were appointed by the bishops, the government could veto the episcopal choices. The clergy were to be paid by the state. To this concordat Napoleon added (1802) the Organic Articles, but against the protest of the Pope. By them no Papal decrees were to be published or synods held in France without the permission of the state. At the same time Protestants were given religious freedom and their ministers were to be paid by the government.

When he assumed the title of Emperor, harking back to the precedent of Charlemagne, Napoleon had the Pope share in the coronation (1804). However, he treated that dignitary far more cavalierly than Charlemagne had the Pontiffs of his day. Napoleon brought Pius VII to Paris for the ceremony, was anointed by him, and then placed the crowns on his own head and the head of his empress.

Pius VII and Napoleon had a complete break. The latter attempted to induce the Pontiff to abandon his neutrality in the life and death struggle with England and to join the blockade against that power. The Pope refused. In 1808 Napoleon’s troops occupied Rome and in 1809 the Papal States were merged in the French Empire. Napoleon contemplated making Rome his second capital. Pius VII retaliated by excommunicating Napoleon as ‘robber of the patrimony of Peter.’ Napoleon countered by having him imprisoned, eventually at Fountainbleau.”[14]

The following passage adds further details to the seizure of the Papal States and the imprisonment of the pope. After Napoleon realized that the pope was no longer of any use to him he sought to dispose of him and to claim his territory.

“Napoleon’s effort to control the whole continent, moreover, brought him to absorbing the papal states like so many others. When Pius refused to close the ports of the papal states to the British, Swedes, and Russians, French troops closed them. Then Civita Vecchia, the port of Rome itself, was seized. Finally in 1809, the Papal States were annexed entirely and the pope’s temporal power brought to an end. Napoleon had been trying to push the Pope in this direction, arguing that although he would recognize the pope’s spiritual supremacy, in civil matters ‘I am your Emperor.’

When Pius replied to this French occupation by an excommunication, he was spirited away to confinement in France. His one weapon as a prisoner of Napoleon was to refuse to do any ecclesiastical acts, in particular to refuse to institute the Emperor’s nominees to vacant episcopal sees. For nearly five years (1809-1814) the old man withstood the Emperor.”[15]

We can see from this that over a period of about fifteen years two popes were imprisoned, one dying in captivity, and the majority of the territory possessed by the papacy was taken away by force. Thus a vial of God’s wrath has been poured out upon the pope himself. Much of his prestige and temporal authority was lost to the sword of Napoleon.

“And power was given unto him to scorch men with fire.” The effect of this vial was not limited to the pope, but all Catholics suffered from seeing their leader ridiculed and imprisoned. Thus all men who had the mark of the beast were figuratively scorched with fire.

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.

“And men were scorched with great heat,” simply reiterates a point from the previous verse. The angel possessing the fourth vial was said to have power given unto him to “scorch men with fire.” The scorching was a mental one brought about by physical ravages imposed on the papacy by Napoleon. It is similar to how most Germans must have felt as World War II drew to a close. Their powerful and flamboyant leader had let them down. He was now dead, having committed suicide. Foreign armies were pouring onto German soil, and the people were totally helpless. Certainly this was a very agonizing time for the German people. The same was true for Catholics in the early nineteenth century. They could feel the “heat” from the events in France and Italy.

In response to the heat the Catholics were feeling, they “blasphemed” the name of God. Blasphemy does not have to take the form of direct statements against God. The word “blasphemy” is from the Greek word “blasphemeo,” which Strong’s defines as “to vilify; specifically to speak impiously:-(speak) blaspheme (-er, -mously, -my), defame, rail on, revile, speak evil.”[16] One of the meanings here is to speak impiously. This means that one speaks without the proper reverence for God. The pope continued to do exactly this. Instead of repenting of his sins and glorifying God, he continued to exalt himself. “Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God” (II Thessalonians 2:4). He refused to recognize that it was God who was bringing about these disasters as a punishment. He continued to proclaim himself to be the vicar of Christ.

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,

The seat of the beast would be the place where he sits and rules from. The pope’s home will bear the blunt of the fifth vial. During the Middle Ages the papacy directly controlled most of central Italy. The popes ruled this region just as any other king would, with Rome as the capital. But this vial will cause the pope’s kingdom to become full of darkness. This shows a condition of despair and doom from the pope’s perspective.

“From 756 to 1870 the popes had direct control of several provinces and cities, including Rome, in central Italy. This area was called the Papal States. Pepin the Short, King of the Franks, had given part of the territory to Pope Stephen II. Pepin’s successor Charlemagne added to it. In return Pope Leo III crowned him emperor and gave him the support of the Church in his campaign for power in Western Europe. After the Reformation, the political power of the pope gradually declined. In 1860, the Papal States became subject to Victor Emmanuel II, who became king of Italy in 1861. Only the land around Rome remained under Church control. In 1870, Victor Emmanuel took Rome by force and asked its citizens to vote on whether or not the city should become the capital of a united Italy. The people voted to accept the Italian monarchy. Thereupon Pope Pius IX shut himself up in the Vatican and regarded himself as a prisoner.

The popes after him followed the same policy for nearly 60 years. Then an independent Papal State was created in 1929 through an agreement between Pius XI and the Italian government. The agreement was called the Treaty of the Lateran.”[17]

The extensive kingdom which the pope’s had ruled for centuries was suddenly gone. His temporal power was stripped away. Even the great Eternal city which had been the main focus of political power in the West for over two millennia, and had been the seat of the papacy’s power for over a thousand years was wrenched from her hands. After the seizure of Rome and its incorporation into the kingdom of Italy, five successive popes over a period of fifty-nine years refused to leave the Vatican in protest over this action. This self-imposed imprisonment shows their great distress at what had befallen them. They behaved similarly to a spoiled child who was not allowed to have his way. Their pride could hardly withstand the events of the past eighty years, dating back to the beginning of the French Revolution. They figuratively “gnawed their tongues in pain.”

This also demonstrates the fact that they had no one to turn to. For the first time in a long time, there was no one who was willing to come to their aid. They had been forsaken by all of their former “partners in crime.” This is further evidence of the weak and powerless condition of the papacy. In past centuries many nations would have came running at the request of the pope. But now, in a vastly different world, his pitiful cries hardly were noticed by most leaders.

This marks the official end of the papacy’s temporal power. We see that “his kingdom was full of darkness.” Darkness signifies that the sun has set on the papacy’s kingdom. Her day of dominion is now over. This language is similar to what was said when the fourth trumpet was sounded marking the end of the western third of the Roman Empire. “And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; so as the third part of them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise” (Revelation 8:12).

16:11 And blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds.

Again, as mentioned after the fourth vial, the pope continues to refuse to repent and submit himself to God. His pride and arrogance will not allow him to give up his unscriptural position and humble himself before God. He continues to blaspheme God by exalting himself above God. He is suffering from pains and sores as a result of the five vials now poured out upon his domain. He is not dead, but he is definitely suffering from a great deal of pain. Despite his serious wounds and the accompanying pain he remains stubborn and still is unwilling to yield to the God of Heaven, but by now it matters little. The pope is no longer a major factor in world affairs. He no longer dominates Christendom. His temporal power has been broken for good.

These first five vials have shown us the end of the temporal power of the papacy. The remaining two will take us close to the end of the world, and will show us the final destruction of the spiritual power of the papacy.

16:12 And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.

The sixth vial causes the Euphrates River to dry up. The obvious question is even if this river did dry up, who would if affect? Certainly the people in the immediate area would be devastated by the loss of their water supply and the resulting food and vegetation which it provides. But outside of that area who would really be affected? Obviously this statement cannot be meant literally. And this is only reasonable since the effects of the first five vials have all been given in symbolic terms. We are seeing here a symbolic drying up of this great river. The reason for this river to be dried up is “that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.” The actual river would provide no real obstacle, so again we see that something symbolic is intended here. The Euphrates River has long been the symbolic dividing line between the East and the West.

“Historically, the [Euphrates] river is one of the most important in the world. For centuries the river formed the eastern limit of Roman control, and during the supremacy of the Eastern Roman Empire, numerous towns and important centers of art and literature flourished along its banks.”[18]

Until recently the world had basically always consisted of two separate spheres of existence. While the Roman civilization, and its legacy have ruled the Western world, there was another, almost completely separate world in the East. Great civilizations were built in such places as China and Japan. But except for a small amount of trade there was little interaction between these two alien worlds. But the need for raw materials to fuel the Industrial Revolution in the nineteenth century caused the European powers to venture into heretofore unknown lands.

“Colonial expansion by the European powers increased as the Industrial Revolution continued. The industrial nations needed such raw materials as copra and cotton for their factories, and Africa and Asia had great quantities of these materials. These continents also provided vast markets where the industrial nations could sell their manufactured goods, such as gins, cloth, and iron. Chiefly for these two reasons, the European powers—especially France and England—established many colonies in Africa and Asia. During the 1800’s and early 1900’s, most of Africa and about a third of Asia became European colonies.”[19]

“The economic and military strength of Western nations—especially the European countries—controlled most of Asia during the 1800’s. In 1842, China agreed to British trade at five Chinese ports. Two years later, trade began between the United States and China. In 1854, Matthew C. Perry, the leader of an American naval mission, signed a treaty that opened Japan to limited trade with the U.S.”[20]

From these two passages we can see when and why the Euphrates began to “dry up” as far as being the symbolic barrier between East and West. The two sides began to interact as never before, and “the way of the kings of the east” was prepared. This simply means that they began to have an impact on the Western world for the first time. Up to this point our story has progressed completely oblivious to what was going on in the East. Now this will no longer be possible. The world has gotten “smaller.” Improved methods of travel and communication have greatly increased the rate of movement of people, goods and information. The East and West are now undeniably tied together. In the twentieth century the two world wars brought the world even closer together. It forced many nations, including the United States, to abandon isolationist policies. It promoted cooperation along military, economic, political and other fronts. It created an atmosphere which fostered the creation of such political and military entities as NATO, the Warsaw Pact, OPEC, the United Nations, and many others.

Although this vial was not aimed directly at the papacy it did certainly have an affect on her. For centuries Europe was more or less isolated from the rest of the world and the popes were able to exercise a great deal of spiritual and temporal authority. The inclusion of other nations into the scheme of things, especially nations with paganistic religious beliefs that would not bow to Rome, simply made the papacy a smaller fish in a larger pond. The nations of Europe grew less and less interested in the antics of the pope. If he wanted to lock himself up in the Vatican for sixty years who really cared? There was a whole big world out there now, and the Catholics owned an increasingly smaller piece of it.

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.

John now sees “three unclean spirits like frogs” appear on the scene. These are not real frogs, but something that has some characteristics in common with frogs. Frogs are generally considered by most people to be hideous and loathsome creatures. People’s distaste for these creatures has even fostered the myth that touching one can give a person warts. So we know we are looking for something which is very distasteful and unpleasant.

We also see that these spirits come from the mouth of the dragon, beast, and false prophet. Before we can hope to identify the frogs we need to positively identity their sources. The dragon is of course the Devil as we have now seen countless times in Revelation. The beast is the Roman Catholic Church which we have also seen numerous times. But who is the false prophet? This term is thrown in with the other two as if we should know what it means. It may not be apparent at first, but with a little bit of thought we will be able to determine the identity of this person.

The false prophet is only mentioned in two places other than the current one. One occurrence is chapter twenty, verse ten, but this passage does not seem to offer us any clues. The other passage, however, is a little more helpful. “And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone” (Revelation 19:20). They key here is that we find the false prophet wrought miracles before the beast. This is not the first time we have seen such a statement. Back in chapter thirteen we found the exact same thing occurring. “And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live” (Revelation 13:12, 14).

All of this is in reference to the second beast encountered in chapter thirteen. The beast that had “two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon” (Revelation 13:11). We identified this beast as the Holy Roman Empire back in chapter thirteen. So putting two and two together here we have both the Holy Roman Empire and the false prophet performing miracles before the beast. They are one and the same! But wait a minute, how could the Holy Roman Empire possibly be referred to as a prophet? First of all let us mention again that this is a book of symbols. We should not be looking for an actual prophet, but rather something which will fit the symbol of a prophet.

Let us digress for a moment and discuss exactly what a prophet is. Put simply, a prophet is someone who speaks for someone else. The definition in Smith’s Bible Dictionary includes “one who speaks for another, especially one who speaks for a god, and so interprets his will to man.”[21] God has used many prophets throughout history to accomplish different tasks. He used Moses to free His people from bondage and lead them to the Promised Land. He used Daniel to receive visions of the future. He used Jonah to preach repentance to the Gentile city of Nineveh. He used John the Baptist to prepare the way for His Son. But for all these prophets and every other one He has used, regardless of the mission(s) they were sent on, He ultimately had one purpose in mind. Every prophet’s job was to turn people to God. Whether it was through preaching repentance and strict adherence to the Law, or whether it was in receiving visions of the future. Each prophet, through his actions, was meant to cause people to acknowledge God more fully.

What does this have to do with the relationship between the papacy and the Holy Roman Empire, if anything at all? What did the papacy desire from the Holy Roman Empire, which, by the way, she started and maintained. By using this Empire as a secular arm, Rome sought to persuade, through various means, the people of Europe to more completely acknowledge the pope as the supreme head in all spiritual and secular matters. Whether it was through indoctrination, coercion, persecution, or whatever means necessary, the Holy Roman Empire definitely did a great deal for the cause of its master, the papacy. It was during the time of this Empire that the papacy enjoyed her greatest pinnacle of success. So in this sense the Holy Roman Empire certainly was a prophet of the papacy.

But after all of this wrangling over the false prophet we are still no closer to identifying the three frogs than when we began. The next verse will give us the final clues we need to unravel this mystery.

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 three unclean spirits which came forth from the mouth of the dragon, beast, and false prophet, are here spoken of as spirits of devils. The dragon is Satan, and the other two are agencies through which Satan operates against mankind. So we can see that this term is very appropriate.

These spirits will also work “miracles.” As with the beast in chapter thirteen, these will not be actual miracles. It will be things which will amaze and astound people to the point that they will believe they have seen a miracle. But God, or His duly appointed representatives, are the only ones capable of performing real miracles. So just like the beast in chapter thirteen, these spirits will seem to be from God, although they are actually from Satan.

The spirits “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.” Obviously, whatever is to transpire here it will have a worldwide effect. This should be expected since the sixth vial showed us the coming together of the East and West into one sphere of activity and influence. Somehow these three spirits will manage to draw the nations of the world into a great conflict.

Now we need to identify the three unclean spirits and the great conflict which they will bring about. The fifth vial brought us in time to 1870. The logical procedure now is to search world history after this time to find some great world conflict which fits what we are looking for. The most notable event which we could consider would be World Wars I & II. This would certainly agree with the statement that “the kings of the earth and of the whole world” would be involved.

The key question now must concern the three unclean spirits. Does this match anything connected with the World Wars? In World War I there were two sides the Central and Allied Powers. The Allied Powers consisted of Britain, China, France, Greece, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United States, and numerous smaller countries. The Central Powers consisted of Austria-Hungary, Germany, and the Ottoman Empire at the outset. Over a year after the conflict began Bulgaria sided with the Central Powers, but in reality it made little difference since Bulgaria was not a powerful military nation.

Even if we can say that there were three main nations on one side this does nothing to prove that it matches what we see here in Revelation. The three unclean spirits are said to come from the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet. Will Austria-Hungary, Germany, and the Ottoman Empire fit these symbols? The Ottoman Empire is descended from the Turks who successfully attacked Constantinople in A.D. 1453. They followed the Islamic religion which we saw back in chapter nine. There the fifth trumpet revealed a godless horde of Muslims who conquered the southern third of the Roman Empire. They were pictured as coming from the bottomless pit where Satan dwells. Certainly then, we can say that the Ottoman Empire came from the dragon, who is Satan.

To say that a nation came from the beast is simply to say that the nation has a very close relationship with the papacy and openly supports her. This can definitely be said of Austria-Hungary. Even today, although they are separate countries there continues to be a close association with the papacy.

“Austria and the pope have a concordat under which the Roman Catholic