What does Revelation 16:7 mean?
In this verse the apostle John reports that he heard the voice agree that the Lord God Almighty's judgments are true and just. Revelation 6:9–11 tells us the martyrs under the altar cry out for vengeance on the wicked. They are told to wait a little longer until the number of their fellow martyrs is full. Now, under the third bowl judgment, the time has arrived to avenge the martyrs' deaths.At this point of the tribulation, human wickedness has reached its peak, and the martyrs witness God's judgments on the wicked. They attest to the fact that God's judgments are true and just. God may not judge all sin immediately or as quickly as we wish, but He judges it fully, in His own time. Christians who suffer at the hands of violent, wicked men may wonder why God doesn't punish the wrongdoers right now, but they may rest assured He will take appropriate action when He deems best.
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.
