The filling of the temple with the smoke of God's glory, to the exclusion of all persons during the pouring out of the vials, shows that during that period, there will be no intercession with God for him to refrain from the execution of the purposes thus symbolized. They are inevitable; and there will be no supplication for their suspension. When Moses had finished the type of the “Holiest of all,” a “cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter into the tent of the congregation, because the [pg 246] cloud abode thereon, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle,” Ex. 40:34, 35. It was only when Moses could enter the tabernacle, that he could there commune with God face to face, Ex. 33:9, 11.
The voice from the temple to the seven angels, shows that the acts commanded are the subjects of divine appointment,—the angels simply designating the commencement of the several judgments.
The First Vial.
“And the first went away, and poured out his bowl on the earth; and there came an evil and sore ulcer on the men who had the mark of the beast, and on those worshipping his image.” Rev. 16:2.
The “earth,” in the Apocalypse, symbolizes a quiet and settled government (13:11), in distinction from one politically agitated, which is symbolized by waters, 13:1; 17:15.
Those who receive the contents of the first vial, being the worshippers of the “beast” and its “image” (13:15), it is certain that the governments on which it is poured, are subservient to the church of Rome and within the boundaries of the ten kingdoms.
The effect of the vial is “a noisome and grievous sore;” and the only things analogous, are mental maladies. Therefore the results [pg 247] symbolized must be noxious principles and opinions, which fill the mind with rancor and hate,—producing strife, alienation and contention.
The epoch here symbolized, in the very unanimous opinion of most judicious writers, corresponds with the commencement of the agitations which preceded the outbreak of the first French revolution, about A. D. 1785. Commencing in France, and extending with more or less virulence throughout the ten kingdoms, there was excited an intense uneasiness of the people respecting their relation to their rulers. They regarded themselves as insupportably oppressed and degraded, and were exasperated to madness against their respective governments. This, under the next vial, resulted in the overthrow of the French monarchy, and in attempted revolutions in other kingdoms.
The Second Vial.
“And the second angel poured out his bowl on the sea; and it became like the blood of a dead person; and every living creature in the sea died.” Rev. 16:8.