Seven Last Plagues

Naked Shame

Clothing and cover Condemnation and curse

Dress Disgrace

To be exposed To be excluded

Trust God’s Onslaught Will Be Overpowering

17 The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and out of the temple came a loud voice from the throne, saying, "It is done!" 18 Then there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder and a severe earthquake. No earthquake like it has ever occurred since man has been on earth, so tremendous was the quake. 19 The great city split into three parts, and the cities of the nations collapsed. God remembered Babylon the Great and gave her the cup filled with the wine of the fury of his wrath. 20 Every island fled away and the mountains could not be found. 21 From the sky huge hailstones of about a hundred pounds each fell upon men. And they cursed God on account of the plague of hail, because the plague was so terrible.

Here are the world’s deadliest earthquakes, according to a website:

Ranking Location Year Estimated death toll Earthquake magnitude

1 Shaanxi, China 1556 830,000 8

2 Port-au-Prince, Haiti 2010 316,000 7

3 Antakya, Turkey 115 260,000 7.5

4 Antakya, Turkey 525 250,000 7

5 Tangshan, China 1976 242,769 7.5

6 Gyzndzha, Azerbaijan 1139 230,000 Unknown

7 Sumatra, Indonesia 2004 227,899 9.1

8 Damghan, Iran

Gansu, China 856

1920 200,000

200,000 7.9

8.3

*https://ourworldindata.org/the-worlds-deadliest-earthquakes

There are five declarations in the text. The first statement is from a loud voice from the temple (v 1), the second is from the angel of the waters (v 5), the third is from another angel out of the altar (v 7), the fourth is from an unknown voice (v 15) and now the last, the interchange with the first in verse 1, is a return to “great voice” from the temple of heaven, from the throne (v 17).

The adjective “great” occurs an astonishing 11 times in the chapter, more than any chapter in the Bible. Not only that, it occurs twice in verse 18, 19 and 21, a feat not repeated in the Bible, twice referring to the great earthquake (v 18 great earthquake, Rev 16:18

so mighty an earthquake, and so great, KJV). The phenomena described as great in the chapter are a great voice (v 1, 17), great heat (v 9), the great river (v 12), the great day of God Almighty (v 14), great earthquake (v 18), great city and great Babylon (v 19), a great hail and the great plague (v 21 exceeding great, KJV). The progression is from “great” (vv 1, 9, 12, 14, 17, 19) to “so mighty an earthquake, and so great” (v 18) to “exceeding great” (v 21). Earthquake is the “sudden shaking of the ground caused by the passage of seismic waves through Earth’s rocks.” (Britannica.com)

The first great earthquake in the Bible was the occasion of Jesus’ resurrection, when

the angel of the Lord descended from heaven and rolled back the stone from the door ( Matt 28:2). In the second great earthquake recorded in the Bible, the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood (Rev 6:12). In the third great earthquake, the tenth part of the city fell, and seven thousand men were killed (Rev 11:13). In this last recorded great earthquake in the Bible, the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell (v 19). Babylon has often been described as fallen (Rev 14:8, 16:19, 18:2).