Revelation 16 Symbols

From: Symbols of the Apocalypse Briefly Defined By: Alfred Henry Burton

Revelation 16 • 1 min. read • grade level: 10

2. Noisome Sore: Moral distemper and misery (Ex. 9:8-9⁸And the Lord said unto Moses and unto Aaron, Take to you handfuls of ashes of the furnace, and let Moses sprinkle it toward the heaven in the sight of Pharaoh. ⁹And it shall become small dust in all the land of Egypt, and shall be a boil breaking forth with blains upon man, and upon beast, throughout all the land of Egypt. (Exodus 9:8‑9); Isa. 1:6⁶From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment. (Isaiah 1:6)).

8. Blood as of a Dead Man: Final open apostasy and alienation from God.

4. Rivers and Fountains of Waters: (See Rev. 8:10¹⁰And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters; (Revelation 8:10)). These popular influences became the power of death.

7. Altar: Witness of the blood-shedding of saints (Rev. 6:9⁹And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: (Revelation 6:9)).

8. To Scorch with Fire: Intolerable tyranny and persecution.

12. Euphrates: The securing boundary of the Western prophetic power. The commercial prosperity of Babylon.

13. Three Unclean Spirits Like Frogs: The open energy and hostility of Satan; the renewed Roman Empire as come up out of the bottomless pit; and Antichrist, a certain analogy with the evil of Cain, Balaam, and Core. [Frogs were regarded by the Greek poets as the proper inhabitants of the Stygian lake.]

16. Armageddon: A mystic name (Compare Judg. 5:9, 20⁹My heart is toward the governors of Israel, that offered themselves willingly among the people. Bless ye the Lord. (Judges 5:9)
²⁰They fought from heaven; the stars in their courses fought against Sisera. (Judges 5:20)).

17. Air: The universal moral influence that acts on man (Compare Rev. 9:2²And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit. (Revelation 9:2)).

18. Voices, Thunders, Lightnings, and Earthquake: (See Rev. 8:5⁵And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of the altar, and cast it into the earth: and there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake. (Revelation 8:5)).

19. The Great City: The public confederation of European civilization; all that was established within the Roman Empire.

The Cities of the Nations: All that the nations outside of Rome had built up politically. The other European centers of social life.

Babylon: (See Rev. 17:5⁵And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. (Revelation 17:5)).

20. Islands and Mountains: (See Rev. 6:14¹⁴And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. (Revelation 6:14)).

21. Hail the Weight of a Talent: Rapid and overwhelming incursions of hostile armies (Joel 2:2, 9²A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains: a great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations. (Joel 2:2)
⁹They shall run to and fro in the city; they shall run upon the wall, they shall climb up upon the houses; they shall enter in at the windows like a thief. (Joel 2:9); Isa. 28:2; 30:30²Behold, the Lord hath a mighty and strong one, which as a tempest of hail and a destroying storm, as a flood of mighty waters overflowing, shall cast down to the earth with the hand. (Isaiah 28:2)
³⁰And the Lord shall cause his glorious voice to be heard, and shall show the lighting down of his arm, with the indignation of his anger, and with the flame of a devouring fire, with scattering, and tempest, and hailstones. (Isaiah 30:30)).

Click here to show subject links in the text for more information.