1. And I [the John Class] heard a great voice
[proclamation] out of the temple [the glorified church with all its
members sealed, and also with its head, the glorified Lord] saying to the seven
angels [seven harvest messages of judgment], Go your ways, and pour out
the vials [bowls] of the wrath of God [use the vehicles of
transmission divinely provided to broadcast the judgment of God] upon the earth
[society].
2. And the first angel [message] went, and poured out his vial
[bowl, the essence of the message of THE DIVINE PLAN OF THE AGES, Chapter XIII, pp.
245-272, "The Kingdoms of This World," which shows that this world is the
dominion of Satan] upon the earth [stable society]; and there
fell a noisome and grievous sore [miserable and painful disintegration] upon
the men [nominal Christians] which had the mark of the beast
[those designated with the characteristics of the papacy], and upon them which
worshipped his image [venerating the World Council of Churches].
3. And the second angel [message] poured out his vial [bowl,
the essence of the message of THE BATTLE OF ARMAGEDDON, Chapter VII, pp. 269-384,
"The Preparation of the Elements," showing the struggle between capital and
labor, those who have and those who have not] upon the sea [restless
masses of mankind]; and it became as the blood of a dead man [after death
blood separates into clot and serum, thus showing the more radical extremists and liberal
groups]: and every living soul [right-hearted one] died
[ceased his restless turbulent attitude some of whom may possibly seek meekness and
righteousness that they may be hid in this day of wrath] in the sea
[restless masses].
4. And the third angel [message] poured out his vial
[bowl, the essence of the message in THY KINGDOM COME, Chapter VI, pp. 135-226, "The
Work of Harvest," showing the purpose of Christ is a harvest work, gathering the
wheat and burning the tares] upon the rivers and fountains of waters
[toward the channels or sources of religious teaching such as theological seminaries as
well as the International Sunday School Lessons, Sunday Schools, churches, sects, etc.];
and they became blood [abhorrent and deathly to the people who drank of these
religious channels].
5. And I [the John Class] heard the angel [the
message of truth such as in THY KINGDOM COME, Chapter VI, pp. 135-226, "The Work of
Harvest," showing that the "wheat and tares" could grow together until the
harvest where they would be separated and the "tares" burned] of the
waters say [proclaim], Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast,
and shalt be, because thou hast judged thus. (Please note that verses 5-7 are not
a part of the plagues but a shout of victory for bringing judgment upon Christendom. It is
also an overdue answer to Revelation 6:9, 10. Finally, justice is being served.)
6. For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given
them blood [a potion of truth which is abhorrent to their false teachings and to
their false claims of Christianity] to drink; for they are worthy
[deserve it].
7. And I [the John Class] heard another out of the altar say
[proclamation from The Christ], Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are
thy judgments.
8. And the fourth angel [message, the essence of the message of THE
ATONEMENT BETWEEN GOD AND MAN, Chapters XII and XIII, pp. 301-404, "The Subject of
the Atonement—Man" and
"Hopes for Life Everlasting and Immortality Secured by the
Atonement," which treats in depth man’s nature and hopes for life as well as the
limited hope for immortality extended to church] poured out his vial
[bowl, directed through its vehicle] upon the sun [the Gospel of the
Scriptures, that is, making the Scriptural doctrines more pointed and clear, and suddenly
those who claimed to minister the Gospel find the Gospel heat turned up and they are being
scorched and exposed]; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire
[this message makes professed Christians sorely uncomfortable with the threat of
destruction of their profession to being Christians when they are not].
9. And men [professed Christians] were scorched with great
heat [sorely uncomfortable with the threat of destruction of their professions],
and blasphemed [defamed] the name of God, which hath power over these
plagues [judgments]: and they repented not to give him glory.
10. And the fifth angel [message, the essence of THE TIME IS AT HAND,
Chapter IX, pp. 267-361, "The Man of Sin—Antichrist," which historically and in
Scripture identifies papacy as the Man of Sin] poured out his vial [bowl]
upon the seat of the beast [was directed through its vehicle upon the
papal government]; and his kingdom was full of darkness [manifested to be
full of gross error]; and they gnawed their tongues for pain [were in
great agony],
11. And blasphemed [defamed] the God of heaven [the
divine government] because of their pains [distress] and their
sores [spreading wounds], and repented not of their deeds [did
not reform].
12. And the sixth angel [message, the essence of THE NEW CREATION,
Chapter V, pp. 195-272, "The Organization of the New Creation," showing there
were only 12 Apostles and that there were no laws for scarlet robes for cardinals, no
dietary laws, nothing mentioned of holy water or candles and more particularly anything
said about the mass] poured out his bowl [directed it through its
vehicle] upon the great river Euphrates [the people who support nominal
Christendom]; and the water thereof was dried up [the people withhold
their support], that the way of the kings of the east [the Christ who are
the Kings from the sun-rising, Head and body—when Elijah smote the Jordan he was going
eastward toward the sunrise, just as the saints who are used in drying up the Euphrates
are moving eastward to be joined to Christ in glory coming from the sun-rising, thus
closing ranks, at which time the righteous "shall shine forth as the
sun"—Matthew 13:43] might be prepared [the overthrow of antitypical
"Babylon" needs to be done before Christ can unfurl his banner over earth].
13. And I [the John Class] saw three unclean spirits like
frogs [impure teachings that are boastful and woeful] come out of the
mouth of the dragon [leaders of the civil governments], and out of the
mouth of the beast [from the leaders in papacy], and out of the mouth of
the false prophet [from the leaders of the Church of England and what may be left
of the then defunct "image of the beast"]. [The false prophet is first mentioned
here and is given no introduction. It may be what is left of the Protestant World Council
of Churches—a declawed and defanged Protestant movement without its once
"beastly" power leaving the Episcopal Church of England in leadership as the
"false prophet." Revelation 19:20 labels the Church of England and Ireland as
the two-horned beast, however, the language includes references to work done by the
"image of the beast" in deceiving those with the "mark of the beast"
and those who worshipped the "image."]
14. For they are the spirits of devils [these impure teachings are the
doctrines of demons], working miracles [performing great demonstrations],
which go forth unto the kings of the earth and to the whole world [going forth
unto the rulers of this present social order], to gather them to the battle
[conflict] of that great day of God Almighty.
15. Behold, I [the Lord] come as a thief. Blessed is he that
watcheth, and keepeth his garments [robe of righteousness], lest he walk
naked [unjustified], and they see his shame. [This message seems
to be directed toward the Great Company to encourage their faith as Babylon begins to
sink. The true saints are already identified with the temple in Revelation 15:8 and 16:1.
Here the Great Company is being encouraged to cling to Jesus and their justification.
Joseph (antitypical Christ) plants his silver cup (the truth on natural Israel) in
Benjamin’s (type of the Great Company) sack bringing him trouble until Judah (natural
Israel) pleads on Benjamin’s behalf (Genesis 44)].
16. And he [they—the unclean teachings] gathered them together
into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon [picturing a gathering into
the position for the final destruction].
17. And the seventh angel [message within the harvest message on
Revelation as well as the more developed understanding of Revelation prophecies] poured
his vial [bowl] into the air [directed through its vehicle on
the spiritual controlling forces of Christendom and exposing these forces to be demons and
the devil]; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven,
from the throne, [a
loud proclamation from the divine government], saying, It is done [the
wrath of God is completed as is the last work of the saints in the flesh-what a grand
moment!].
18. And there were voices [proclamations], and thunders
[controversies], and lightnings [releases of truths]; and there
was a great earthquake [social upheaval or revolution], such as was not
since men were upon the earth [previously in society], so mighty an
earthquake [social upheaval or revolution], and so great. [This
account portrays the final earthquake or revolution from the standpoint of Christendom
while Ezekiel 38:19-23 shows this same earthquake from the standpoint of natural Israel.
We do not believe there are two such great earthquakes. They are the same event but shown
from two different viewpoints. Notice the similarity of language describing seemingly the
same event.]
19. And the great city [Christendom] was divided into three
parts [the coalition of the dragon, beast and false prophet collapses],
and the cities of the nations fell [governments of papacy collapse being no
longer able to govern, although, apparently the papacy is the first of the three to
collapse as in Revelation 18:9, which shows the political kings stand afar off and watch
her burn]: and great Babylon [papacy with her paramours] came in
remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine [Scriptural
teachings] of the fierceness of his wrath [judgments of the fierceness of
his anger—see Deuteronomy 32:39-43].
20. And every island [republic] fled away [vanished],
and the mountains [kingdoms] were not found.
21. And there fell upon men [professed Christians] a great
hail [overflowing scourge of hard truths] out of heaven [the
spiritual controlling realm], every stone [each hard truth] about
the weight of a talent [being the equivalent of the whole Gospel on each subject]:
and men [nominal Christians] blasphemed [denounced] God
because of the plague of the hail [affliction caused by hard truths]; for
the plague [affliction]
