V. The Vision of the Seven Vials [or Bowls] (A Vision of Judgment). Ch. 15:1‐16:12, and 16:17‐21
The vision of the seven vials is a revelation of God’s last plagues upon the ungodly, a final view of the divine providential purpose concerning the wicked, another group of seven that are set forth in a form similar to the judgments under the trumpets, but of increased severity, and that are promptly executed. They are called “another sign”, and may be regarded as another line of judgments of similar character to the trumpets, or as the complete fulfilment of the contents of the trumpet‐judgments presented in another way, which are given for increased emphasis under figures that are analogous, and that indicate their inner connection; and, so far as the vials have any time‐relation, they may be regarded as belonging to the same general period as the trumpets, i. e. the time of man’s existence on the earth, especially the period of conflict, though shown by their progressive and destructive character to culminate in the closing period of human history. The vials are marked by an intensity of form and rapidity of movement, especially as they approach the end, and they are not limited like the trumpets to a part of men, but affect all the evil. They are vivid symbolic presentations of deep and terrible punishments, and are called ’the last plagues’ because in them is fulfilled or completed the wrath of God upon the earth—a new and final view of the divine purpose concerning the wicked which may be looked at quite apart from any previous view.
Some preterists, who find in the seals a prophetic description of the trials of the church in the first age, regard the trumpets as a typical presentation of the fall of Jerusalem, and the vials as a portrayal of the fall of Rome.(493) This opinion, it is affirmed, accords best with the general method of the Apocalyptic writings, which have for the most part a definite and local interpretation, and avoids the difficulty of an apparent repetition of similar judgments upon the same objects under the trumpets and the vials. But, upon the other hand, the prophetic outlook of John appears to the majority of devout minds to have a far wider sweep than that of other Apocalyptic writers outside the Scriptures, and to embrace a world‐view that is universal, and that is not at all met by these limited historical fulfilments. Still, even if the former view were correct in its main assumption, “that does not preclude us,” as has been well said,(494) “from interpreting the inspired words as referring not only to events near John’s time, but also to other events of which they were the foretaste and figures. To us the meaning [in that case] is that the type of the end has been foretold and has come, but that the end itself which has been equally foretold [the full end] must be watched for in all seriousness.” If we have a correct view of prophecy we can readily assent to these words of wisdom which cannot be too strongly emphasized.