https://bible.org/seriespage/16-vials-wrath-god
The ‘God is Love’ crowd fail to bring this up much.
Fewer people apply this to the 21st century.
- Physical sore, sounds like an STD.
“Here the judgment is specifically upon men and is directed to a particular group of men, namely, the beast worshipers who have received the mark of the beast.”
It doesn’t say where they get it but it only applies to men so clearly, an STD.
2. Contaminated water supply.
“The second vial is poured out upon the sea with the result that the sea becomes as blood (literally “it became blood as of a dead man”), and every living soul in the sea dies.”
3. Rivers and fountains are contaminated to those who killed saints.
The illness is a punishment. “The physical affliction stems from spiritual apostasy.” Sounds like many water issues around the equator, where reddish mud can cloud water to appear bloody. Lack of European technology to purify this water would cause illness.
“The angel declares that because men have shed the blood of saints and prophets, God is righteous in judging them in kind in that they are given blood to drink.”
4. “The expression “and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire” is rendered, according to the best manuscripts, “and it was given to him [the sun] to scorch the men with fire.”
“The implication is that saints in this period who are true believers in the Lord Jesus Christ will not suffer from this plague, and possibly creatures other than men may also escape. The wishful thinking of some that men would repent if they only knew the power and righteous judgment of God is shattered by frequent mention in this chapter of the hardness of the human heart in the face of the most stringent and evident divine discipline.”
Fire can mean pretty much anything but this one probably comes under cleansing fire, a purification process.
5. The lights go out.
Sounds like a solar flare. Wicked men are left to writhe in pain.
“The Scriptures plainly refute the notion that wicked men will quickly repent when faced with catastrophic warnings of judgment. When confronted with the righteous judgment of God, their blasphemy is deepened and their evil purpose is accentuated.”
6. Drought.
Water shortages, pretty obvious. Unclean spirits and false prophets come forth. Gathering armies in the Middle East.
“Probably the best explanation is that the seven vials follow very rapidly after the trumpets and that the events such as a great invasion are pictured in their early stages in the sixth trumpet with a statement of their ultimate purpose that is actually realized in the sixth vial. The time sequence here may be in terms of days rather than months or years.”
7. Probable nuclear holocaust, if we’re talking about furious air.
“It is also clear in our modern day that the control of the air as well as space has become increasingly important in military matters. Undoubtedly air and space travel will increase rather than decrease as the end of the age comes upon the world.”
“Not only does every city of the world come under terrible judgment as a result of the great earthquake which leaves all monuments of men’s ingenuity in shambles, but the Scriptures also indicate great changes in the topography of the entire world. The sweeping statement is made in verse 20 that every island is affected and mountains disappear.”
Tectonic extinction event?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extinction_event#Plate_tectonics
“Movement of the continents into some configurations can cause or contribute to extinctions in several ways: by initiating or ending ice ages;”
Another Ice Age is the way climate data points. And then there’s the concept of a nuclear winter.
Alongside or instead of a supervolcanic eruption.
“Supervolcanic events may also been potential causes of mass extinctions.”
As for man’s vanity.
“Such a hail from heaven falling upon men would have a devastating effect and would destroy much that was still left standing by the earthquake.”
