What does Revelation 16:1 mean?
This verse indicates that a loud voice commands the seven angels to pour out their bowls onto the earth. Likely, the loud voice is God's voice. He alone has the ultimate right to initiate judgment, because He alone is holy, righteous, and just. It is not the prerogative of men or angels to inflict judgment of their own will. Romans 12:19 says, "Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, 'Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.'"The bowls contain the wrath of God, and the whole world is the targeted area to receive the judgments. However, as the following verse indicates, the kingdom of the beast is the focal point. As these bowls of wrath are poured out, the results resemble what occurred in Egypt when Pharaoh refused to release the Hebrews from captivity. The beast and his followers will feel the intense pain of God's judgment, but they will remain unrepentant.
Revelation 16:1–7 reports the beginning of the bowl judgments which were predicted in Revelation 15:5–8. The first and second judgments resemble the plague of boils and the plague of blood that God brought upon the Egyptians when Pharaoh refused to let the Hebrews leave Egypt (Exodus 7:19–21; 9:8–12). The third judgment turns the water sources into blood. The second and third judgments resemble the third trumpet judgment (Revelation 8:8), but their intensity is greater. A break occurs in 16:5–7 as an angel reflects on the first three bowl judgment and affirms that God is just to judge the wicked.
This chapter explains the bowl judgments, which are the last and most severe of God's outpouring of wrath on earth. The first three bowls bring sores, seas of blood, and rivers of blood. After a declaration of God's justice come the next three bowl judgments, involving scorching sunlight, darkness, and a drying of the Euphrates to clear the way for an invading army. In the final, seventh bowl judgment, an earthquake tears Jerusalem into three parts, levels cities worldwide, and displaces islands and mountains. Hundred-pound hailstones fall, but unbelievers refuse to repent and instead continue to curse God.