Revelation 16:8 - Meaning and Application

In these verses, we see God’s work moving forward in the order he has set. The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun. Some say this means it fell on some important prince in the Roman Catholic world, who would turn away from his false religion a little before his final fall. Some even think this would be the German emperor.

What would happen then? That sun, which had once given them warmth and favor, would grow fierce against these idolaters and scorch them. Rulers would use their power to oppose them. Yet this would not lead them to repent. Instead, they would curse God and their king, and look upward with blasphemous words against the God of heaven. They would harden themselves until they were ruined.

The fifth angel poured out his bowl, as mentioned in Revelation 16:10. Notice, first, where it fell: on the throne of the beast, that is, on Rome itself, the symbolic Babylon, the head of the antichrist’s empire. Second, notice what happened there. The whole kingdom of the beast was filled with darkness and distress.

That very city, which had been the center of their power, learning, knowledge, pride, and pleasure, became a source of darkness, pain, and anguish. Darkness was one of the plagues of Egypt, and here it points to loss of honor and glory. It also warns of the contempt and shame that would come on the antichrist’s cause. Darkness stands against wisdom and clear sight, so it also suggests the confusion and foolishness the idolaters would show at that time. And because darkness is opposed to joy and pleasure, it pictures the sorrow and trouble they would feel when these judgments came upon them.