The Great Ribulation

IT IS FINISNEDI 137
Again St. John draws attention to the impenitence
of the apostates. Their response to God’s judgment
is only greater rebellion — yet their rebellion is
becoming increasingly impotent: “They gnawed
their tongues because of pain, and they blasphemed
the God of heaven because of their pains and their
sores; and they did not repent, so as to give Him
glory.” A distinguishing mark of the Chalice-plagues
is that they come all at once, with no “breathing
space” between them. The plagues are bad enough
one at a time, as in the judgments on Egypt. But
these people are still gnawing their tongues and blaspheming
God on account of their sores– the sores
that came upon them when the First Chalice was
poured out. The judgments are being poured out so
quickly that each successive plague finds the people
still suffering from all those that preceded it. And,
because their character has not been transformed,
they do not repent. The notion that great suffering
produces godliness is a myth. Only the grace of God
can turn the wicked from rebellion; but Israel has
resisted the Spirit, to its own destruction.
The Sixth Chalice
Corresponding to the Sixth Ti-umpet (Revelation
9:13-21), the Sixth Chalice is poured out “upon the
great river, the Euphrates; and its water was dried
up, that the way might be prepared for the kings
from the rising of the sun” (Revelation 16:12). As we
saw earlier, the Euphrates was Israel’s northern frontier,
from which invading armies would come to
ravage and oppress the covenant people. The image