Vb The Episode of the Frog-like Spirits (A Vision of Warning). Ch. 16:13-16
This passage, it will be seen, is a minor digression between the sixth and seventh vials, corresponding to the episodes in the vision of the seals and of the trumpets, though not like them a vision of comfort, but a vision of danger to the church from the combined forces of evil in the world, yet not without anticipation of the glorious outcome which is given in the nineteenth chapter (v. 19-21), for these forces, we are told, are gathered together unto “the war of the great day of God, the Almighty” (v. 14), the outcome of which in the Revelation is never at any time in doubt.
1 The Unclean Spirits of Evil, Ch. 16:13-14, and 16
At this point three unclean spirits, as it were frogs,[507]—three, the symbol of the spiritual, used in this [pg 192] case exceptionally of the spirits of demons,—come out of the mouths of the Dragon, the Beast, and the False Prophet (or Second Beast), representing the malign influences by which these powers of evil incite the kings of the earth to the great world-conflict against Christianity, described here under the figure of a battle of the war of the great day of God, the Almighty, taking place at Har-Magedon, i. e. either the fortified city, or the mountain of Megiddo, by the edge of the plain of Esdraelon, the great historic battle-ground of Jewish history (cf. Joel 3:2f; also Bk. of Enoch 56.5-8),[508] probably referred to because of the notable victory attained there over the kings of Canaan (Jg. 5:19). In this culminating scene of conflict we have what may be regarded as a symbolic view of the entire struggle between sin and holiness which is ever going on in the world the ages through, but more particularly of its triumphant ending in the last age when the Dragon and the kings of the earth shall be completely and finally overthrown;[509] but beyond this partial interpretation we cannot safely go in any trustworthy exposition of this truly impressive figure. The symbol of battle and victory, it depicts the conflict of the centuries, and points to the assured triumph that awaits the people of God in the end of the world, while it incites men to persistent faith and hope; but like many other prophetic predictions, its explicit interpretation can only be definitely given after the events themselves have been openly fulfilled.
2 John's Word of Warning, Ch. 16:15
In the midst of the episode a word of warning is given by John to the reader, as from Christ himself, declaring the importance of watching in the presence of such trial, and announcing a blessing upon him that watcheth and keepeth his garments. Then with the closing words of the episode in the sixteenth verse, the vision recurs to the seventh vial which is at once poured out.