Felix Cortez
The Bible’s teaching on the seven last plagues is disturbing for several reasons. On the one hand, it seems to undermine the Christian message of a God whose essence or core characteristic is love. If God is love, and the wicked need to be destroyed, why use plagues, and seven of them, one after the other? On the other hand, the Bible’s teaching on the plagues is unsettling to the sense of security of believers. The seven last plagues will be poured on the earth, the sea, the springs of waters, and the sun. How will they affect believers who are alive when these plagues fall?
This chapter deals with these and other questions from the Bible and the teachings of Ellen G. White. Let me suggest four assertions regarding the purpose and nature of the plagues.
The plagues are described in Revelation 15 and 16. To understand the nature and purpose of the plagues, we need to understand the role that the plagues play in Revelation. According to Revelation, the plagues are the response of God to the attempts of Satan and his forces to annihilate the people of God. The Apostle John describes Satan in Revelation 12:3-17 as a dragon who wanted to destroy Jesus, the promised Son, when He was born in this world. Jesus, however, was “caught up to God and his throne” (v. 5).
Frustrated by his defeat, Satan persecutes the rest of the descendants of the woman, that is to say, the remnant church that keeps the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus (v. 17). To destroy the remnant church, the dragon raises two beasts (Rev. 13). In Daniel and Revelation, the beasts are political-religious powers that persecute the people of God (e.g., Dan. 7). The first beast comes from the sea and blasphemes the name of God, persecutes his people, and compels all the inhabitants of the earth to worship her (Rev. 13:1-10). The second beast comes from the earth and helps the beast of the sea in her war against God and His remnant people by making great signs and creating an image so that all the inhabitants of the earth would worship the beast of the sea. The beast from the earth puts a mark on those who obey her and worship the beast of the sea and threatens with starvation those who refuse to worship the beast of the sea (Rev. 13:11-18).1 The purpose of Satan is to eradicate the people of God from the face of the earth and, thus, obtain total dominion over the world.
God, however, protects His people. He sends three angels to give a message of warning to the whole world (Rev. 14:6-12). These three angels represent the people of God who communicate God’s last warning to the nations. The first angel announces that people should worship and serve God instead of the beast of the sea because God is the Creator of all things (v. 7). The second angel warns the inhabitants of the earth that Babylon—the confederation formed by the dragon, the beast from the sea, and the beast from the earth—has fallen despite its appearance of irresistible power. Babylon has given the nations to drink of her intoxicating wine of economic and political prosperity (Rev. 13:17; 18:9-24). But the wine that Babylon offers has intoxicated Babylon herself.2 Thus, she has passed the point of redemption and hurtles to destruction.
The third angel warns the nations that all who worship the beast and receive her mark on their forehead or their hand will drink together with Babylon “the wine of God’s wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger” (Rev. 14:10, ESV). This wine of God’s wrath refers to the plagues that God will pour on the Babylon confederation and those who ally with her (Rev. 15:1, 5–16:21). The plagues are God’s way of defending His people and are only poured after the nations have been warned. In the past, God did the same to defend and deliver His people from Egypt (Exod. 1–12; Gen. 12:10-20).
The plagues are then poured once the time of grace is over and when the opportunity of salvation has been closed. The opportunity of salvation is not closed arbitrarily by God. There will come a time when Satan’s attempt to eradicate God’s people will force the world to decide between God and Satan (Rev. 13:11-18). Satan will force that decision with death threats. When everyone has made a decision, God will close the time of grace since there is no one else for whom to intercede anymore. Revelation refers to this, in symbolical language, when it says that the “temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from His power, and no one was able to enter the temple till the seven plagues of the seven angels were completed” (Rev. 15:8).
The plagues are actual events that are described symbolically. They also have theological significance. The symbolical nature of the description of the plagues is clear from the Bible text itself. The sixth plague, for example, is poured on the Euphrates river, which is dried to prepare the way for the kings of the east. It is not a literal description of the event as the city Babylon does not exist anymore and will never exist again (Isa. 13:19-22).
Babylon refers to the confederation of the dragon, the beast of the sea, and the beast of the earth, whose activities of persecution against God’s people are described in Revelation 13, 17, and 18. Thus, the river that dries is not the Euphrates river in western Asia, but the support Babylon receives from the kings of the earth and the nations of the world (Rev. 17:15). The kings of the east represent Jesus and His saints. When the kings of the earth and the nations retire their support from Babylon, the confederation of evil will collapse and be destroyed (Rev. 17:16-18).
The symbolical description of the plagues has several important purposes. First, it is significant that the symbolical description of the plagues is taken from the fall of Egypt (plagues one through five) and from the fall of Babylon (plagues six and seven). The fall of those nations allowed the people of God to go back to their homeland. For those who know the Bible, the description of the seven plagues reminds them that the same God who, in the past, judged the oppressive kingdoms to lead His people to their homeland, is the One who will judge end-time Babylon (Rev. 15–20) and lead His people to their heavenly homeland at the end of time (Rev. 21–22).
The second is that the symbolical description emphasizes the righteousness of the punishment. For example, the second and third plagues convert the seas and the rivers to blood. The angel explains that the punishment is righteous because they have shed the blood of the saints. Ellen G. White explains that “By condemning the people of God to death, [referring to the attempts of end-time Babylon to annihilate the people of God (Rev. 13:16–17; 17:6),] they have as truly incurred the guilt of their blood as if it had been shed by their hands.”3 Thus, the voice in Revelation 16:7 exalting God’s justice is very significant. The voice comes from the altar where the people of God, “who had been slain for the word of God” (Rev. 6:9-10), are symbolically located. God will not forget all the blood of the people of God that has been shed throughout history. End-time Babylon’s attempt to shed their blood will result in Babylon and her supporters drinking blood themselves. Their punishment will fit their crime. Violence against the people of God will result in Babylon and her supporters suffering violence.
Finally, students of Revelation have noted the close relationship between the plagues and the trumpets. The plagues are poured on the same places where the calamities announced by the trumpets fell (the earth, the sea, the rivers, and the fountains, sun, darkness, river Euphrates, and a loud voice, Rev. 8:6–9:21; 11:15-19). The difference is that the calamities announced by the trumpets only affected a third part of the place where they fall. The plagues, however, are poured “full strength” (Rev. 14:10) and exhaust God’s wrath (Rev. 16:1). It suggests that the calamities related to the plagues are similar but more severe than those related to the trumpets. Ellen G. White explains: “These plagues are not universal, or the inhabitants of the earth would be wholly cut off. Yet they will be the most awful scourges that have ever been known to mortals.”4
The plagues also have a significant theological meaning. The plagues God poured upon Egypt were “judgments” against “all the gods of Egypt” (Exod. 12:12). Similarly, the fall of Babylon included God’s judgment on her gods (Jer. 50:2; 51:44). Also, the seven last plagues will be a judgment on the secular gods of end-time Babylon; that is, upon those institutions and ideas on which human beings have placed their trust and well-being instead of God. Ellen G. White says that “The plagues upon Egypt when God was about to deliver Israel, were similar in character to those more extensive judgments which are to fall upon the world just before the final deliverance of God’s people.”5
Love is an essential attribute of God. Wrath, on the other hand, is not. Wrath is the response of a loving God to evil. If there were no evil, there would be no wrath. It is important to note, however, that God’s wrath is better understood as God letting human beings reap the consequences of their own actions. Thus, God punishes His people by forsaking them,6 withdrawing His presence,7 or hiding His face,8 which results in catastrophes and defeat.9
Evil has built-in consequences that punish the wicked. These built-in consequences are described with the metaphor of planting and harvesting (Prov. 11:18, 30). Another metaphor is that an action is a path that leads you to specific consequences (11:3, 5). Paul explains in Romans 1:18-32 that the wrath of God results from humankind’s “suppression of the truth” and as a result, “God gives them up” to the lusts of their hearts, to their degrading passions, and a debased mind (vv. 24, 26, 28).
God’s wrath, then, will not directly cause the plagues but will allow humankind to reap the consequences of their wickedness fully. Revelation 7:1-3 explains the plagues as God allowing the winds of human wickedness to blow freely. Ellen G. White concurs:
I was shown that the judgments of God would not come directly out from the Lord upon them, but in this way: They place themselves beyond His protection. He warns, corrects, reproves, and points out the only path of safety; then, if those who have been the objects of His special care will follow their own course, independent of the Spirit of God, after repeated warnings, if they choose their own way, then He does not commission His angels to prevent Satan’s decided attacks upon them. It is Satan’s power that is at work at sea and on land, bringing calamity and distress and sweeping off multitudes to make sure of his prey. God will use His enemies as instruments to punish those who have followed their own pernicious ways ….10
She also adds that “The same destructive power exercised by holy angels when God commands, will be exercised by evil angels when He permits.”11
The plagues are calamities and destruction that will result from human beings being left finally by God in the hands of Satan, whom they chose, to reap the consequences of their own evil actions.
Ellen G. White describes the last plagues as destruction brought by evil angels,12 strife produced by human passions,13 destruction produced by conflict among the nations,14 fire and flood and plagues and earthquakes,15 calamity and distress,16 the destruction of the false shepherds or spiritual leaders,17 and storm and tempest and war and bloodshed.18
The bloodshed will result from greed, hubris, and hatred, as the Holy Spirit will not restrain any of those passions. Natural disasters may be the result of human abuse of the planet or merely the action of evil angels. To these tragedies, we may add market crashes that result from greed, catastrophes resulting from human recklessness, and pandemics resulting from the rejection of God’s health laws. Finally, human governments may even complicate the suffering through incompetence fueled by political polarization.
The people of God will not experience the plagues, but they will suffer from Satan’s persecution and a threat of death. Revelation 15:2-4 describes the people of God as standing beside a sea of glass mingled with fire, praising God for the salvation He has provided. This image reminds us of the people of Israel praising Yahweh beside the Red Sea after the Egyptian army was destroyed. The people of God are not in heaven during the plagues but on earth. Revelation 15:2-4 is a symbolical description of the critical fact that, though on earth, God’s people are always before Him, and He takes utmost care of them. This is what Paul means when he says that we are seated with God in heavenly places (Eph. 2:5-6; Col. 3:1-4).
On the other hand, the worshipers of the beast are described as those who dwell on the earth.19 Revelation explains that the plagues fall only upon those who have the mark of the beast (14:9-10; 16:2). Ellen G. White explains:
God would not suffer the wicked to destroy those who were expecting translation, and who would not bow to the decree of the beast or receive his mark… . The people of God will not be free from suffering; but while persecuted and distressed, while they endure privation, and suffer for want of food, they will not be left to perish… . If the blood of Christ’s faithful witnesses were shed at this time, it would not, like the blood of the martyrs, be as seed sown to yield a harvest for God.20
The plagues mean that God will finally bring justice by allowing human beings to reap the consequences of their actions. Furthermore, it means that if I want to escape the plagues, I need to cleanse myself from evil in all its forms. Finally, the symbolical description of the plagues reminds us that when the plagues begin to fall, the time to go home has drawn near.
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1 Ellen G. White, Last Day Events, 257; Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy, 604.
2 It seems that greed, arrogance, and abuse of power will cause her destruction.
3 White, The Great Controversy, 627.
4 Ibid., 628.
5 White, Last Day Events, 244.
6 E.g., Hosea 1:9; Zechariah 7:13-14; Numbers 32:15.
7 E.g., Psalms 89:46; Hosea 5:6; Isaiah 1:15; Zechariah 7:13.
8 Deuteronomy 31:17-18; 32:20; Micah 3:4; Psalm 89:46.
9 Jeremiah 7:29; 16:10-13; Lamentations 5:20-22; and defeat Jeremiah 12:7-13. See the same pattern in Psalms 78:56-66; 106:40-43.
10 White, Last Day Events, 242.
11 White, The Great Controversy, 614.
12 Ibid.
13 Ibid.
14 White, Last Day Events, 238.
15 Ibid., 240.
16 Ibid., 242.
17 Ibid., 247.
18 Ibid., 256.
19 Revelation 3:10; 6:10, 15; 13:8, 14; 14:6; 16:1; 17:2.
20 White, Last Day Events, 263.