The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible New Testament (305 page)

14:11 they have no rest:
In contrast to the righteous, who die in Christ (14:13). 
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14:13 Blessed are the dead:
The second of seven beatitudes in Revelation.
See note on Rev 1:3
. 
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14:14-20
The judgment of the righteous and the wicked is described in terms of a great harvest. The saints are gathered up like sheaves of wheat to be stored in a granary (14:16; Jn 4:35-38), while sinners are severed like grapes from the vine to be thrown into a mill press and crushed (14:19). • Similar scenes of divine judgment appear in the prophets (Is 63:1-6; Jer 51:33; Lam 1:15; Joel 3:13). 
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14:14 son of man:
Jesus Christ, described as the royal figure from Dan 7:13.
See note on Rev 1:7
and essay:
Jesus, the Son of Man
at Lk 17. 
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14:19 wine press:
A stone trough used to trample or otherwise squeeze the juice from grapes. 
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14:20 the city:
Called "Babylon" (14:8).
one thousand six hundred stadia:
About 185 miles. Some take this to mean that divine judgment will extend over the land of Israel, which is roughly this distance measured north to south. Others read the number as symbolic of completeness (40 x 40 stadia) and envision a worldwide judgment. Either way, the horrific quantity of blood indicates the severity of God's wrath on those who defy him. 
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15:1-16:21
The final cycle of judgments in Revelation are the seven bowls of wrath, which douse the earth with plagues poured down from heaven. Though parallels can be traced between the seven bowls and the seven trumpets (8:6-11:19), the bowl judgments are more devastating and extensive. 
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15:1 another sign:
Following the sign of the woman and the dragon in 12:1-3. 
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15:2-4
John sees and hears the martyrs of heaven standing beside the glassy sea and singing praises to God. • They sing an adaptation of the
song of Moses
from Ex 15:1-18. This was the victory song chanted by the Israelites as they celebrated their deliverance from Egypt on the shores of the Red Sea. Here the saints celebrate a new Exodus from the sin and slavery of the world. For the Exodus theme,
see note on Rev 5:9-10
. • The entire Exodus from Egypt was a type of the Church's coming forth from the Gentiles. In the end, the Lord will lead her out of this world into his own inheritance, which was not conferred by Moses, the servant of God, but by Jesus, the Son of God (St. Irenaeus,
Against Heresies
4, 30, 4). 
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15:2 sea of glass:
See note on Rev 4:5-6
.
conquered:
The martyrs attacked by the dragon and the sea beast reign victorious through the blood of the Lamb (12:11; 13:7). 
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15:3 Just and true are your ways:
Probably an allusion to the Greek version of Deut 32:4, which is part of another OT canticle called the Song of Moses (Deut 32:1-43). 
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15:5 the temple:
Perhaps the inner chamber of the
tent of witness,
which is the heavenly counterpart to the earthly Tabernacle erected by Moses (Heb 8:1-5). For the liturgical imagery and setting of John's visions,
see note on Rev 4:1-5:14
. 
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15:6 bright linen:
Priestly garments (Lev 16:4) that symbolize purity and righteousness (19:8).
golden sashes:
Another article of priestly attire. Jesus wears a golden sash as the heavenly high priest in 1:13. 
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15:7 seven golden bowls:
Liturgical bowls like the ones used to carry incense in 5:8. The use of holy vessels to pour out the plagues reinforces the idea that God's judgments are holy and just (15:4). 
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15:8 filled with smoke:
Entrance into the heavenly throne room is cut off by the glorious cloud of God's presence. • This recalls how the fiery cloud of the Lord filled the Mosaic Tabernacle (Ex 40:34-35) and the Solomonic Temple (1 Kings 8:10-11), making entrance temporarily impossible. Isaiah experienced this firsthand when he saw the Lord enthroned in the Temple (Is 6:1-4). 
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16:1-21
One by one, the seven angels are summoned to dump the seven bowls of wrath upon the world. Unlike the sequence of seven seals and seven trumpets, where an interlude separated the sixth and seventh calamity, the seven bowls are poured in direct succession, without an intermission above or relief for those below. • Several of the seven bowls are modeled on the Exodus plagues that ravaged Egypt. This can be seen in the
sores
(16:2, sixth plague, Ex 9:8-12), the water sources turned into
blood
(16:3-4, first plague, Ex 7:1721), the
darkness
(16:10, ninth plague, Ex 10:21-23), the demonic
frogs
(16:13, second plague, Ex 8:2-6), and the heavy
hail
(16:21, seventh plague, Ex 9:18-35). For similar connections with the trumpets,
see note on Rev 8:7-11:19
. 
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16:5 you who are and were:
Part of the threefold title of God in 1:4, here without the future element: "who is to come". For the significance of this,
see note on Rev 11:17
. 
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16:6 saints and prophets:
Martyred in the "great city" destined to be destroyed (18:24). 
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16:7 the altar cry:
The pleas of the martyrs are at last answered as God avenges their blood on those who killed them (6:9-11). 
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16:9 men were scorched:
The wicked are seared by the sun, while the righteous are protected in the shade of God's presence (7:16).
did not repent:
Even the crushing weight of divine curses did not bring the wicked to their knees and induce them to mend their ways (16:11). 
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16:10 throne of the beast:
The throne of the dragon, which he shares with the beast from the sea (13:2). Historically, the darkness that ensues may be linked with the death of Nero, whose suicide in June
A.D.
68 sparked considerable upheaval in the Empire.
See note on Rev 13:3
. 
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16:12 river Euphrates:
Runs through Mesopotamia, to the
east
of Israel beyond the northern Arabian desert. The Babylonian army had to cross this river when it advanced toward Jerusalem to destroy it in the sixth century
B.C.
 
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16:13 the false prophet:
The land beast of 13:11. 
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16:15 Blessed is he:
The third of seven beatitudes in Revelation.
See note on Rev 1:3
. 
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16:16 Armageddon:
Means "mountain of Megiddo" in Hebrew. Megiddo was a fortified settlement in central Israel overlooking a broad plain that was used as a battlefield in biblical times. Revelation envisions another conflict staged near Megiddo, one destined to end with the devastation of the harlot city (chaps. 17-18) along with the defeat of the beast and the false prophet (19:11-21). Ultimately, this catastrophic event serves as a preview of the final battle between good and evil scheduled for the end of time (20:7-10). •The plain of Megiddo evokes memories of victory and defeat. Here Israel routed the Canaanites and secured several decades of peace in the time of the Judges (Judg 5:19-21). Here, too, King Josiah of Judah stubbornly refused to stay out of a foreign skirmish and, as a result, fell on the battlefield and caused great mourning in Israel (2 Chron 35:20-25; Zech 12:11). 
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16:17-21
The seventh bowl brings the final crushing blow upon wicked Babylon. Forced to swallow every last drop of God's
wrath
(16:19), it is at last shaken apart by an
earthquake
(16:18) and pounded to the ground with huge
hailstones
(16:21). 
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