“Then the seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, ‘It is done!’
And there were noises and thunderings and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such a mighty and great earthquake as had not occurred since men were on the earth. Now the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. And great Babylon was remembered before God, to give her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath.
Then every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. And great hail from heaven fell upon men, each hailstone about the weight of a talent. Men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, since that plague was exceedingly great” (Revelation 16:17-21).
The closing verses of Revelation sixteen identify a voice that speaks from the temple in heaven. The triumphant declaration, “It is done“ thus signals the completion of God’s plan in His very own words. While there are several chapters remaining in the book of Revelation, this pronouncement marks the end of God’s seven-fold judgment against a world that has rejected Him.
This final judgment features a series of cataclysmic events that culminate in a devastating earthquake and a torrent of hailstones that weighed approximately one hundred pounds (45 kg) each. Some suggest that a change in the earth’s rotational axis might account for the destruction that accompanied this worldwide change in topography and the catastrophic hail that followed. But whatever the cause, these verses predict an unprecedented level of ecological ruin.
The next three chapters of Revelation will focus on the ramifications of these judgments, with “Babylon” serving as the reference point for the blasphemous political, religious, and economic systems that will define that era. Each of those systems will meet their respective ends in chapters seventeen, eighteen, and nineteen.
These verses thus preview their demise through the use of a highly illustrative word-picture: “…Babylon the Great was remembered before God for the purpose of giving her the cup of the wine of the fury of His wrath” (Wuest). This same type of imagery appears within the Old Testament Scriptures to illustrate God’s wrath and judgment (see Isaiah 51:17, Jeremiah 25:15-17, and Ezekiel 23:28-34 for some examples).
Therefore, these verses (and the chapters that follow) should provide us with a fresh perspective on the message of John 3:36…
“Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him” (NIV).