Revelation Chapter 16
VERSE 10 and 11 “And the fifth (angel) poured out his bowl upon the throne of the beast; and his kingdom was darkened; and they gnawed their tongues for pain, and they blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores; and they repented not of their works.”
The Fifth angel was John Wycliffe
And the fifth angel POURED OUT HIS BOWL UPON THE THRONE OF THE BEAST:
This plague is probably the Vatican II Church Council. The churches of Christendom had problems and did not look very good once WWII ended. Pope John XXIII wanted to help the situation. But because the Lord designed a plague upon the throne (the authority) of the beast, Vatican II weakened the church dramatically.
Papacy, remember, is a HORN on the beast (Dan 7:20-25), but the seventh head - Nazi-Fascism - was now gone (Rev 17:10). Thus, this prominent horn is the de-facto (or illegitimate) authority (throne) of the beast.
For more on what the “heads” and the “horns” of the beast represent see:
Revelation Chapter 13, Part 2
How to Study the book of Revelation, Part 43, 44
Once again note the uncanny parallelism which exist between the fifth plague events and those of the fifth trumpet.
AND HIS KINGDOM BECAME DARKENED:
The Papacy has been subsequently questioned by its own bishops (as well as by its priests, nuns, and parishioners. Those with whom it had concordats also look askance at it. It is no longer seen by nearly anyone as an infallible source of light. The Roman Catholic Church never before publicly questioned its past actions; it now does. Their very foundation (throne) is shaken. All kinds of movements have sprung up within the Roman Catholic Church which do not have Papal sanction and which continually challenge Papal authority.
AND THEY GNAWED THEIR TONGUES BECAUSE OF PAIN:
They do not know what to say. Contradictions are undermining confidence in her. When the Pope tries to be authoritative (on birth control, abortion, Gays and women in the priesthood, sex allegations and etc.,) most of his subjects think he’s less than capable. Again, it appears that God’s subtle humor may enter into this verse. One of Vatican II’s results was putting the mass into the vernacular languages -- a change, which met with great consternation and resistance. Gnawing their tongues may be a humorous reference. In any case, the Roman Catholic Church IS IN PAIN and seems quite uncertain of this next move (at least publicly) -- a position most uncharacteristic of it.
VERSE 11 -- AND THEY BLASPHEMED THE GOD OF HEAVEN:
Note the change from Verse 9 where the blasphemy was against the “name of God”, i.e., God’s character. Now here in Verse 11 the blasphemy is directed at the “God of Heaven”, this most likely, refers here to the Pope, not the one true God. The Pope has been ill-spoken of by many throughout his church, and He certainly IS the god of the Catholic heavens (i.e., the ecclesiastical heavens) 2 Thess 2:3, 4
AND THEY DID NOT REPENT:
Five plagues don’t work; seven are needed. One great phenomenon since Vatican II is the number of priests and nuns resigning their posts. The remarkable thing is that they don’t leave the church, they don’t REPENT, no! they merely challenge the vows they took.”
Another look at the Fifth Plague as it is explained in R509
“And the fifth poured out his bowl on the THRONE of the BEAST and his KINGDOM was DARKENED, and they bit their tongues because of the pain, and blasphemed the God of heaven on account of their pains ["and their ulcers" is omitted by Sinaitic MS.] and they reformed not ["from their works" is omitted by Sinaitic MS.].”
“This pictures to us trouble coming upon Papacy (the Beast); not so much upon the masses of Romanists as upon those in authority, its rulers--the throne power--their clergy. Because Papacies walls are higher, its claims are stronger, and its claims to divine authority and infallibility of longer standing than those of the Protestant system--her daughters; therefore, she escapes the increasing light of this "Day of the Lord," much longer than they and hence the longer escapes the trouble consequent to her errors.
But she shall not escape the trouble. It comes on the throne or ruling class, and their kingdom is filled with darkness --uncertainty--absence of former unity and harmony, and in their trouble the pain will be increased by tongue-biting.
The tongues of Papacy are its decrees and utterances, past and future. To bite, then, in pain, implies contradiction and denial of former utterances. Whether this signifies a contradiction and reversal of previous utterances of the Papal hierarchy, or whether it means controversy and differences between the living rulers of the Church, we may not decide, but it will probably include both of these difficulties, and in their attempt to justify their contradictory teachings, Gods character will be further dishonored, misrepresented, or blasphemed.
Personally, I tend to agree with the before mentioned suggestion in the previous view which suggest that it is the so-called, “God of Heaven”, i.e., the Pope, the god of the ecclesiastical heavens here on earth who is the one being blasphemed here, although it’s nonetheless true that our Father in heaven’s name is likewise dishonored through association.
As an illustration of this symbol, "biting their tongues," we note Papacy’s present humiliating concessions and contradictions of her former teachings, in her present recognition of the Protestant governments of Europe, which Papacy not only did not create, but actually cursed, and encouraged her faithful to use every means to destroy. This biting is occasioned by the pain and humbled condition in which Papacy finds herself. She has lost all temporal power, and to maintain long her spiritual influence, feels that she must not antagonize the governments, which she can no longer claim the right to control.
When we remember that it was this same Papal system which in its prosperity had "a mouth speaking great things" (Dan 7:8-25; Rev 13:5), making boastful claims, it should not surprise us that God should ordain as part of its reward that it should eat its own words.”
We will take one more look at this from “The Keys of Revelation” in our next post.
