Revelation 16:17 - Exposition

And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air. Omit "angel" as before. Upon the air; perhaps as the typical abode of the spirits of evil (cf. Ephesians 2:2 , "the prince of the power of the air"); the seat also, so to speak, of the thunders and lightnings which follow. And there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done. There are slight variations in the text here. The best authorities omit "of heaven." One manuscript, א , instead of "throne" inserts τοῦ θεοῦ , "of God." (On the characteristic great voice, see on Revelation 6:1 , etc.) The same voice as in Revelation 16:1 , probably that of God himself, as the words, "from the throne," seem also to show. It is noticeable that here, as in the seal visions and trumpet visions, we are not explicitly informed of the nature of the last vision. We have the accompanying circumstances described in Revelation 16:18 , which are always attendant on the last great manifestation, but the end itself is left unrecorded. In the seals, the last vision is described by the silence in heaven; in the trumpets, the nature of the last judgment is only vaguely alluded to in the triumphant heavenly song. So here, only a brief summary is given ( Revelation 16:18 , Revelation 16:19 ) of what actually falls as the last extremity of God's wrath; a fuller account is reserved for Revelation 19:1-21 .