Terrified City Crowd as Christ Appears With Angelsby GrahamWeir
16:20Revelation 16:20
And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found.
Every island flees away and disappears and the mountains cannot be found in a tremendous earthquake shortly before Christ comes, among the greater wonders to be seen on earth in that period. It belongs to the seventh vial of God's wrath poured on land and sea and air, falling on the living wicked just before and at the deliverance of the saints after every case is decided for salvation or destruction. God speaks to deliver His people and set imprisoned saints free, and the righteous know they are delivered by His voice while the wicked hear without understanding and fall like dead men before the glory. Those sealed with God's covering have shelter while those left without it face the plagues, so the present call is to get ready and receive the Holy Ghost as the shelter needed before they fall. The awful calamities by sea and land, fires, earthquakes, tornadoes, floods and pestilences now falling are only drops and faint representations of what will be in the near future when disturbances are no longer limited but give way to terrible shocks.
Islands Mountains Swept Away
The verse describes a tremendous earthquake shortly before Christ comes, in which every island flees away and disappears and the mountains cannot be found, among the greater wonders to be seen on earth in that period. The upheaval convulses the earth and brings great hail and other final wonders alongside the vanishing of islands and mountains. In that shaking God uses the disasters to destroy the wicked while preserving the saints as Noah was preserved in the Flood.
Inhabited islands vanish beneath the waters while the mountains shake and sink during the final upheaval of nature when God speaks to deliver His people. The earth breaks up at that speaking, and His imprisoned saints are set free amid the immense earthquake of final deliverance. Mountains are moved from their places and the earth is left broken, wilderness-like and barren, with displaced mountains, caverns and scattered rocks. That desolated earth becomes Satan's confinement during the thousand years, where he and his evil angels wander restricted to earth, unable to tempt other worlds, and witness the effects and results of his rebellion.
The disappearance happens with manifestations more terrible than ever beheld, with lightnings from heaven uniting with fire in the earth. Mountains burn like a furnace and pour forth terrific streams of lava overwhelming gardens and fields, villages and cities, with volcanic eruptions and streams of heated mud and with seething molten masses thrown into rivers causing the waters to boil and hurling massive rocks with indescribable violence and scattering broken fragments upon the land. Rivers are dried up, and the earth is convulsed everywhere with dreadful earthquakes and eruptions, accompanied by a great earthquake such as was not since men were upon the earth and by great hail out of heaven. The earth is moved out of its place and the mountains are carried into the midst of the sea while the waves roar and are troubled. It happens when the vials of wrath are opened and pestilence, famine and death come upon the inhabitants, together with armies mustering for battle and men's hearts failing for fear.
The removal is a great upheaval before the second advent that changes the surface of the earth by removing mountains and islands from their places. The wicked are still able to hide in caves and rocks from the approaching Lamb, though those hiding places cannot protect them from the brightness of His coming which destroys the living wicked. The fleeing of islands and disappearance of mountains will be more terrible than present earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and burning mountains. It happens when Christ rends the heavens and comes down so that mountains flow down, quake and melt at His presence and the earth is burned before Him, with voices and thunders and lightnings and a great earthquake so mighty and great as was not since men were upon the earth, and with great hail falling upon men with every stone about the weight of a talent, to make His name known to His adversaries and make the nations tremble at His presence.
Seventh Plague Timing
The verse belongs to the seven last plagues, the vials of God's wrath poured out on land and sea and air as the final outpouring upon those without shelter. Those plagues bring terrible, incurable suffering and destruction and universal desolation with overwhelming effects, and there is no deliverance for those who suffer them. They are the judgments God tells people how to escape by searching His word and getting ready. It belongs to the seventh vial and its final conflict, the battle of Armageddon, where the powers of evil will not yield the struggle without resistance but Providence acts. When the angel of Revelation 18 lights the earth with glory, religious forces both good and evil awaken, God's people enter the conflict, and God's armies take the field.
The plagues fall on the living wicked just before and at the deliverance of the saints, as the plagues of Egypt fell just before and at Israel's deliverance from bondage. They portray the future day of God's and the Lamb's wrath after Christ's priestly work in the heavenly sanctuary is finished, after mercy’s invitation has ended and He has left heaven. After Jesus finishes His intercession in the most holy place He lays off His priestly attire, is clothed with the garments of vengeance, steps out from between the Father and man, and God keeps silent no longer. They cannot come until every case is decided either for salvation or destruction. The anger of the nations, the wrath of God, and the time to judge the dead are separate events one following the other. The nations are now getting angry while the four angels hold the four winds until the sanctuary work is done, Michael has not yet stood up and the time of trouble such as never was has not yet commenced, but when the High Priest finishes and stands up the plagues are poured out and enrage the wicked against the righteous.
The plagues contain all of God's wrath against those who worship the beast and its image and receive its mark and who have rejected truth. Those who suffer them are distinct from those who die beforehand as food for worms and from those who will remain alive on earth to be translated at Jesus' coming without seeing death. Those sealed with God's covering have shelter, while those left without it face the plagues. Those who hindered the warning will then hear sinners reproach them with failing hearts. The judgments of the seven last plagues fall on the living wicked before the final execution of judgment, which comes at the second death when the wicked are destroyed and God makes all things new.
The plagues will come upon a godless world when people have exceeded the bounds of God's grace and put contempt on His law. They come when men refuse to respect God's law, make human laws supreme, transgress His law, break His covenant, and trample His Sabbath by accepting a spurious rest day, when unrighteousness reaches a fearful pass and men rush to outrun the limits of His grace. Then God's interference must come to vindicate His honor. Vial after vial is poured out one after another upon the inhabitants of the earth in solemn events and scenes of stupendous interest right upon us. These outpourings are sure indications of the presence of Him who directed every aggressive movement, accompanied the march of His cause through all the ages, and pledged to be with His people in all their conflicts to the end of the world, who will vindicate His truth and cause it to triumph, supplying His faithful ones with motives and power of purpose and inspiring them with hope and courage and valor in increased activity as the time is at hand. Revelation 16:18-20 describes a great and decisive crisis in the government of God that has arrived and will not be long delayed, when wrath will no longer be withheld and at the word of justice there will be sudden confusion with voices and thunderings and lightnings and earthquakes and universal desolation.
Earthquake Voice and Hail
The fleeing of every island and the disappearance of the mountains take place with a great earthquake such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty and so great, accompanied by voices and thunders and lightnings and by great hail out of heaven falling upon men with every stone about the weight of a talent. It will be fulfilled at the second advent of Christ in manifestations more terrible than the world has ever yet beheld, greater than present earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and burning mountains. Then lightnings from heaven unite with fire in the earth, the mountains burn like a furnace and pour forth terrific streams of lava overwhelming gardens and fields, villages and cities, seething molten masses thrown into the rivers cause the waters to boil and hurl massive rocks with indescribable violence scattering broken fragments upon the land, rivers are dried up, and the earth is convulsed everywhere with dreadful earthquakes and eruptions. It happens when Christ rends the heavens and comes down, with the mountains flowing down and quaking and melting at His presence and the earth burned before Him, to make His name known to His adversaries and make the nations tremble at His presence.
God utters His voice from His holy habitation with peal upon peal of the loudest thunder, the heavens gathered in blackness and lit only by blazing light and terrible glory from heaven. The foundations of the earth shake, buildings totter and fall with a crash, the sea boils like a pot and boils violently, and the whole earth is in terrible commotion as every island flees and the mountains disappear. Then the captivity and bondage of the righteous is turned and ended and they know they are delivered by the voice of God, recognizing it with solemn awe and joy. Glory is placed upon those who honored God's holy law, their faces lighted up reflecting the image of Jesus, while the wicked hear the sound without understanding its words and fear and tremble and fall like dead men before the glory and collapse helpless to the earth before those who exulted to destroy them, and Satan and his angels and evil angels flee from the glorified saints with their power to harm them gone forever.
The upheaval comes after Jesus finishes His priestly work in the sanctuary, when the seven last plagues stir the wicked to blame the righteous. After a decree that God's people must disregard the Sabbath of the fourth commandment and honor the first day or lose their lives, the wicked issue a decree to kill the saints, bringing Jacob's trouble in which God delivers them by His voice. God uses these disasters to destroy the wicked, while the saints are preserved as Noah was preserved in the Flood. In that destruction volcanic eruptions, burning mountains, and streams of lava, rocks, and heated mud destroy fields, settlements, and cities.
The earth moved out of its place and the mountains carried into the midst of the sea while the waves roar and are troubled is one of the terrible scenes that are signs of Christ's coming. It happens when the vials of wrath are opened and pestilence, famine, and death come upon the inhabitants of the earth, together with armies mustering for battle and men's hearts failing them for fear. In the same setting of final judgments and deliverance of His people, the faithful dead are raised to everlasting life and Christ's violent opponents are raised to witness His glory and the honor given to the loyal and obedient.
Judgment and Deliverance Wrought
Once punishment begins there is no period of respite until God's purposes are accomplished, including the destruction of the unrighteous. The bolts of wrath fall as a gathering storm upon transgressors after the angel of mercy leaves the world, bringing desolation with sin, shame, sorrow and darkness on every side. Before that falling God still holds out the privilege of exchanging darkness for light, error for truth and sin for righteousness, but His patience and mercy will not always wait. Under the final plagues the wicked are brought to great agony and rage, turning against their families and ministers and blaming them for keeping them from the truth.
When deliverance comes the captivity and bondage of the righteous is turned and they know they are delivered. They recognize the voice of God with solemn awe and joy, while the wicked hear the sound without understanding its words and fear and tremble and fall like dead men before the glory. Glory is placed upon those who honored God's holy law, their faces lighted up reflecting the image of Jesus. Those who exulted to destroy them cannot endure that glory but collapse helpless to the earth, and Satan and evil angels flee from the glorified saints with their power to harm them gone forever.
The earthquake moves mountains from their places and leaves the earth broken and wilderness-like and barren. The displaced mountains, caverns and scattered rocks mark the desolated earth that becomes Satan's prison for a thousand years. There he and his evil angels wander and witness the effects of his rebellion, restricted to earth and unable to tempt other worlds. Only those sanctified through the truth in the love of God will stand through the time when God punishes the world for its iniquity, hid with Christ in God until the desolation is overpast. The time before it is the time to be good and to do good, watching every movement in the government of God with wideawake senses, and those whose life and character are after the divine model will be hid with Christ in God.
Those who fail to recognize the signs of the times will be found among those who perish under the vials of wrath. Soon human loftiness will be brought down and pride humbled when withering plagues fall upon kings and nobles and rich and poor alike so that all bow together. Those who keep covetousness, selfishness, love of money and love of the world will perish with the world in that destruction as surely as Achan perished unless covetousness is rooted out by sacrifice and self-denial.
Warning to Get Ready
This verse belongs to the last events of earth's history revealed to John on Patmos as a solemn warning for the last days. It is part of Revelation's symbolic portrayal of deep things, whose symbols require close, prayerful study, and understanding them shapes conduct so that people will not receive the plagues.
It belongs to the account of the seven last plagues poured out as God's wrath on those without shelter who worship the beast and its image and receive its mark, bringing terrible, incurable suffering and destruction with no deliverance for those who suffer them. The word of God tells how to escape, and the verse is part of the warning to search God's word and be ready to escape these judgments.
The falling of the plagues is near and many will come up to it without shelter, and when the plagues begin to fall they will wring their hands because the hour to get ready is too late. He is coming, so the call now is Get ready, Get ready, and receive the Holy Ghost as the shelter needed before the plagues fall.
The seven last plagues described in Revelation 16:1-21 are soon to be poured out after the angel of mercy leaves the world. Sin, shame, sorrow and darkness are on every side, yet God still holds out the precious privilege of exchanging darkness for light, error for truth, and sin for righteousness. His patience and mercy will not always wait, so sin must be rebuked firmly and given no sanction, and the refuge of lies that covers sin must be torn away so that poor deluded souls do not sleep on to everlasting ruin. Once punishment begins there will be no period of respite until the end brings desolation, and only those sanctified through the truth in the love of God will stand through it, hid with Christ in God until the desolation is overpast.
Drops and sprinklings from the vials poured on land and sea and air are already falling in awful calamities by sea hurling vessels into eternity without a moment's warning and accidents by land. Unusually destructive fires consume riches men have hoarded, much of it accumulated by oppression of the poor, sweeping away the most costly structures as if by a breath of fire from heaven. Earthquakes bury cities and villages with their inhabitants, with railway accidents, tornadoes and floods such as Johnstown that destroyed more than two thousand lives, vitiated air, pestilences, cholera and unexplainable diseases, and diphtheria gathering little ones.
These present disasters are only faint representations and a faint foretaste of what will be in the near future. Disturbances will no longer be limited but premonitory convulsions will give way to terrible shocks when the earth shakes and opens and its crust is rent by elements concealed within and in its bowels. Whole cities will become nearly extinct and buried with thousands buried in the bowels of the earth, lordly palaces will become heaps of ruins, treasures of oppressive wealth gained by oppression will be swept away, and the religious world will be terribly shaken. This takes place preceding the second coming of Christ, when the whole world will be divided into two classes, the just and the unjust.
The Lord permits these judgments and will not interfere to protect the property of those who transgress His law, break His covenant, and trample upon His Sabbath by accepting a spurious rest day in its place. These judgments sweep away costly structures and serve as warnings, proving the end of all things is at hand. God lets them come so the world will take heed, professing Christians will come to their senses, and sinners will be afraid and tremble before Him.
The judgments the Lord is now sending upon the earth have special meaning and show how fast the last great crisis is approaching. Those who claim they have no special meaning will soon be forced to understand what they now refuse to understand. In light of this, believers should spend less time in strife and contention and think seriously about how near the end is.
Every island flees away and disappears and the mountains cannot be found in a tremendous earthquake shortly before Christ comes, among the greater wonders to be seen on earth in that period. It belongs to the seventh vial of God's wrath poured on land and sea and air, falling on the living wicked just before and at the deliverance of the saints after every case is decided for salvation or destruction. God speaks to deliver His people and set imprisoned saints free, and the righteous know they are delivered by His voice while the wicked hear without understanding and fall like dead men before the glory. Those sealed with God's covering have shelter while those left without it face the plagues, so the present call is to get ready and receive the Holy Ghost as the shelter needed before they fall. The awful calamities by sea and land, fires, earthquakes, tornadoes, floods and pestilences now falling are only drops and faint representations of what will be in the near future when disturbances are no longer limited but give way to terrible shocks.
Islands Mountains Swept Away
The verse describes a tremendous earthquake shortly before Christ comes, in which every island flees away and disappears and the mountains cannot be found, among the greater wonders to be seen on earth in that period. The upheaval convulses the earth and brings great hail and other final wonders alongside the vanishing of islands and mountains. In that shaking God uses the disasters to destroy the wicked while preserving the saints as Noah was preserved in the Flood.
Inhabited islands vanish beneath the waters while the mountains shake and sink during the final upheaval of nature when God speaks to deliver His people. The earth breaks up at that speaking, and His imprisoned saints are set free amid the immense earthquake of final deliverance. Mountains are moved from their places and the earth is left broken, wilderness-like and barren, with displaced mountains, caverns and scattered rocks. That desolated earth becomes Satan's confinement during the thousand years, where he and his evil angels wander restricted to earth, unable to tempt other worlds, and witness the effects and results of his rebellion.
The disappearance happens with manifestations more terrible than ever beheld, with lightnings from heaven uniting with fire in the earth. Mountains burn like a furnace and pour forth terrific streams of lava overwhelming gardens and fields, villages and cities, with volcanic eruptions and streams of heated mud and with seething molten masses thrown into rivers causing the waters to boil and hurling massive rocks with indescribable violence and scattering broken fragments upon the land. Rivers are dried up, and the earth is convulsed everywhere with dreadful earthquakes and eruptions, accompanied by a great earthquake such as was not since men were upon the earth and by great hail out of heaven. The earth is moved out of its place and the mountains are carried into the midst of the sea while the waves roar and are troubled. It happens when the vials of wrath are opened and pestilence, famine and death come upon the inhabitants, together with armies mustering for battle and men's hearts failing for fear.
The removal is a great upheaval before the second advent that changes the surface of the earth by removing mountains and islands from their places. The wicked are still able to hide in caves and rocks from the approaching Lamb, though those hiding places cannot protect them from the brightness of His coming which destroys the living wicked. The fleeing of islands and disappearance of mountains will be more terrible than present earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and burning mountains. It happens when Christ rends the heavens and comes down so that mountains flow down, quake and melt at His presence and the earth is burned before Him, with voices and thunders and lightnings and a great earthquake so mighty and great as was not since men were upon the earth, and with great hail falling upon men with every stone about the weight of a talent, to make His name known to His adversaries and make the nations tremble at His presence.
Seventh Plague Timing
The verse belongs to the seven last plagues, the vials of God's wrath poured out on land and sea and air as the final outpouring upon those without shelter. Those plagues bring terrible, incurable suffering and destruction and universal desolation with overwhelming effects, and there is no deliverance for those who suffer them. They are the judgments God tells people how to escape by searching His word and getting ready. It belongs to the seventh vial and its final conflict, the battle of Armageddon, where the powers of evil will not yield the struggle without resistance but Providence acts. When the angel of Revelation 18 lights the earth with glory, religious forces both good and evil awaken, God's people enter the conflict, and God's armies take the field.
The plagues fall on the living wicked just before and at the deliverance of the saints, as the plagues of Egypt fell just before and at Israel's deliverance from bondage. They portray the future day of God's and the Lamb's wrath after Christ's priestly work in the heavenly sanctuary is finished, after mercy’s invitation has ended and He has left heaven. After Jesus finishes His intercession in the most holy place He lays off His priestly attire, is clothed with the garments of vengeance, steps out from between the Father and man, and God keeps silent no longer. They cannot come until every case is decided either for salvation or destruction. The anger of the nations, the wrath of God, and the time to judge the dead are separate events one following the other. The nations are now getting angry while the four angels hold the four winds until the sanctuary work is done, Michael has not yet stood up and the time of trouble such as never was has not yet commenced, but when the High Priest finishes and stands up the plagues are poured out and enrage the wicked against the righteous.
The plagues contain all of God's wrath against those who worship the beast and its image and receive its mark and who have rejected truth. Those who suffer them are distinct from those who die beforehand as food for worms and from those who will remain alive on earth to be translated at Jesus' coming without seeing death. Those sealed with God's covering have shelter, while those left without it face the plagues. Those who hindered the warning will then hear sinners reproach them with failing hearts. The judgments of the seven last plagues fall on the living wicked before the final execution of judgment, which comes at the second death when the wicked are destroyed and God makes all things new.
The plagues will come upon a godless world when people have exceeded the bounds of God's grace and put contempt on His law. They come when men refuse to respect God's law, make human laws supreme, transgress His law, break His covenant, and trample His Sabbath by accepting a spurious rest day, when unrighteousness reaches a fearful pass and men rush to outrun the limits of His grace. Then God's interference must come to vindicate His honor. Vial after vial is poured out one after another upon the inhabitants of the earth in solemn events and scenes of stupendous interest right upon us. These outpourings are sure indications of the presence of Him who directed every aggressive movement, accompanied the march of His cause through all the ages, and pledged to be with His people in all their conflicts to the end of the world, who will vindicate His truth and cause it to triumph, supplying His faithful ones with motives and power of purpose and inspiring them with hope and courage and valor in increased activity as the time is at hand. Revelation 16:18-20 describes a great and decisive crisis in the government of God that has arrived and will not be long delayed, when wrath will no longer be withheld and at the word of justice there will be sudden confusion with voices and thunderings and lightnings and earthquakes and universal desolation.
Earthquake Voice and Hail
The fleeing of every island and the disappearance of the mountains take place with a great earthquake such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty and so great, accompanied by voices and thunders and lightnings and by great hail out of heaven falling upon men with every stone about the weight of a talent. It will be fulfilled at the second advent of Christ in manifestations more terrible than the world has ever yet beheld, greater than present earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and burning mountains. Then lightnings from heaven unite with fire in the earth, the mountains burn like a furnace and pour forth terrific streams of lava overwhelming gardens and fields, villages and cities, seething molten masses thrown into the rivers cause the waters to boil and hurl massive rocks with indescribable violence scattering broken fragments upon the land, rivers are dried up, and the earth is convulsed everywhere with dreadful earthquakes and eruptions. It happens when Christ rends the heavens and comes down, with the mountains flowing down and quaking and melting at His presence and the earth burned before Him, to make His name known to His adversaries and make the nations tremble at His presence.
God utters His voice from His holy habitation with peal upon peal of the loudest thunder, the heavens gathered in blackness and lit only by blazing light and terrible glory from heaven. The foundations of the earth shake, buildings totter and fall with a crash, the sea boils like a pot and boils violently, and the whole earth is in terrible commotion as every island flees and the mountains disappear. Then the captivity and bondage of the righteous is turned and ended and they know they are delivered by the voice of God, recognizing it with solemn awe and joy. Glory is placed upon those who honored God's holy law, their faces lighted up reflecting the image of Jesus, while the wicked hear the sound without understanding its words and fear and tremble and fall like dead men before the glory and collapse helpless to the earth before those who exulted to destroy them, and Satan and his angels and evil angels flee from the glorified saints with their power to harm them gone forever.
The upheaval comes after Jesus finishes His priestly work in the sanctuary, when the seven last plagues stir the wicked to blame the righteous. After a decree that God's people must disregard the Sabbath of the fourth commandment and honor the first day or lose their lives, the wicked issue a decree to kill the saints, bringing Jacob's trouble in which God delivers them by His voice. God uses these disasters to destroy the wicked, while the saints are preserved as Noah was preserved in the Flood. In that destruction volcanic eruptions, burning mountains, and streams of lava, rocks, and heated mud destroy fields, settlements, and cities.
The earth moved out of its place and the mountains carried into the midst of the sea while the waves roar and are troubled is one of the terrible scenes that are signs of Christ's coming. It happens when the vials of wrath are opened and pestilence, famine, and death come upon the inhabitants of the earth, together with armies mustering for battle and men's hearts failing them for fear. In the same setting of final judgments and deliverance of His people, the faithful dead are raised to everlasting life and Christ's violent opponents are raised to witness His glory and the honor given to the loyal and obedient.
Judgment and Deliverance Wrought
Once punishment begins there is no period of respite until God's purposes are accomplished, including the destruction of the unrighteous. The bolts of wrath fall as a gathering storm upon transgressors after the angel of mercy leaves the world, bringing desolation with sin, shame, sorrow and darkness on every side. Before that falling God still holds out the privilege of exchanging darkness for light, error for truth and sin for righteousness, but His patience and mercy will not always wait. Under the final plagues the wicked are brought to great agony and rage, turning against their families and ministers and blaming them for keeping them from the truth.
When deliverance comes the captivity and bondage of the righteous is turned and they know they are delivered. They recognize the voice of God with solemn awe and joy, while the wicked hear the sound without understanding its words and fear and tremble and fall like dead men before the glory. Glory is placed upon those who honored God's holy law, their faces lighted up reflecting the image of Jesus. Those who exulted to destroy them cannot endure that glory but collapse helpless to the earth, and Satan and evil angels flee from the glorified saints with their power to harm them gone forever.
The earthquake moves mountains from their places and leaves the earth broken and wilderness-like and barren. The displaced mountains, caverns and scattered rocks mark the desolated earth that becomes Satan's prison for a thousand years. There he and his evil angels wander and witness the effects of his rebellion, restricted to earth and unable to tempt other worlds. Only those sanctified through the truth in the love of God will stand through the time when God punishes the world for its iniquity, hid with Christ in God until the desolation is overpast. The time before it is the time to be good and to do good, watching every movement in the government of God with wideawake senses, and those whose life and character are after the divine model will be hid with Christ in God.
Those who fail to recognize the signs of the times will be found among those who perish under the vials of wrath. Soon human loftiness will be brought down and pride humbled when withering plagues fall upon kings and nobles and rich and poor alike so that all bow together. Those who keep covetousness, selfishness, love of money and love of the world will perish with the world in that destruction as surely as Achan perished unless covetousness is rooted out by sacrifice and self-denial.
Warning to Get Ready
This verse belongs to the last events of earth's history revealed to John on Patmos as a solemn warning for the last days. It is part of Revelation's symbolic portrayal of deep things, whose symbols require close, prayerful study, and understanding them shapes conduct so that people will not receive the plagues.
It belongs to the account of the seven last plagues poured out as God's wrath on those without shelter who worship the beast and its image and receive its mark, bringing terrible, incurable suffering and destruction with no deliverance for those who suffer them. The word of God tells how to escape, and the verse is part of the warning to search God's word and be ready to escape these judgments.
The falling of the plagues is near and many will come up to it without shelter, and when the plagues begin to fall they will wring their hands because the hour to get ready is too late. He is coming, so the call now is Get ready, Get ready, and receive the Holy Ghost as the shelter needed before the plagues fall.
The seven last plagues described in Revelation 16:1-21 are soon to be poured out after the angel of mercy leaves the world. Sin, shame, sorrow and darkness are on every side, yet God still holds out the precious privilege of exchanging darkness for light, error for truth, and sin for righteousness. His patience and mercy will not always wait, so sin must be rebuked firmly and given no sanction, and the refuge of lies that covers sin must be torn away so that poor deluded souls do not sleep on to everlasting ruin. Once punishment begins there will be no period of respite until the end brings desolation, and only those sanctified through the truth in the love of God will stand through it, hid with Christ in God until the desolation is overpast.
Drops and sprinklings from the vials poured on land and sea and air are already falling in awful calamities by sea hurling vessels into eternity without a moment's warning and accidents by land. Unusually destructive fires consume riches men have hoarded, much of it accumulated by oppression of the poor, sweeping away the most costly structures as if by a breath of fire from heaven. Earthquakes bury cities and villages with their inhabitants, with railway accidents, tornadoes and floods such as Johnstown that destroyed more than two thousand lives, vitiated air, pestilences, cholera and unexplainable diseases, and diphtheria gathering little ones.
These present disasters are only faint representations and a faint foretaste of what will be in the near future. Disturbances will no longer be limited but premonitory convulsions will give way to terrible shocks when the earth shakes and opens and its crust is rent by elements concealed within and in its bowels. Whole cities will become nearly extinct and buried with thousands buried in the bowels of the earth, lordly palaces will become heaps of ruins, treasures of oppressive wealth gained by oppression will be swept away, and the religious world will be terribly shaken. This takes place preceding the second coming of Christ, when the whole world will be divided into two classes, the just and the unjust.
The Lord permits these judgments and will not interfere to protect the property of those who transgress His law, break His covenant, and trample upon His Sabbath by accepting a spurious rest day in its place. These judgments sweep away costly structures and serve as warnings, proving the end of all things is at hand. God lets them come so the world will take heed, professing Christians will come to their senses, and sinners will be afraid and tremble before Him.
The judgments the Lord is now sending upon the earth have special meaning and show how fast the last great crisis is approaching. Those who claim they have no special meaning will soon be forced to understand what they now refuse to understand. In light of this, believers should spend less time in strife and contention and think seriously about how near the end is.