Revelation 16:10

And the fifth poured out his bowl upon the throne of the beast; and his kingdom was darkened; and they gnawed their tongues for pain,

And the fifth poured out his bowl upon the throne of the beast ... The kingdom of the world, marshaled by Satan against God and his truth, is the object of this judgment, particularly irreligious, atheistic, humanistic states. "This throne of the beast may aptly apply to the Roman Empire in John's day, but its position varies at different times. Wherever the world-power is worshipped, there the beast has his throne."[28] This prophesies the corruption of human governments into instruments of suppression, persecution, and destruction of God's truth in Christ. Russia is an excellent example from our own times of what Rome was in John's. This pouring out of the bowl upon the kingdom of the beast prophesies that the brutal godless governments faced by the first Christians will reappear at the end, or near the end-time. It should not be overlooked that the hardening of the pre-Christian Gentile nations is again to take place when "the times of the Gentiles" is fulfilled (Luke 21:24). When history has run its course, once more the judicial hardening of impenitent mankind will occur. Romans 1is therefore a vital comment upon what is prophesied here.

And his kingdom was darkened ...

When men shut out the higher light, the smoke of their own candles soon obscures the whole heavens. When moral evil is mixed with intellectual light, the moral evil will be found the stronger.[29]

Twice the Holy Scriptures reveal that, "It is not in man that walketh to direct his steps"; and the darkening of the true light, as by this bowl, results inevitably in the deterioration and ultimate collapse of godless states, always accompanied by the proliferation of woes upon mankind.

And they gnawed their tongues for pain ... Inevitable agony and suffering must follow the perversion of government to satanic purposes. Has such a thing happened? A government that legalizes and pays for murder by abortion, that extensively subsidizes drunkenness, adultery, bastardy, illegitimacy, idleness, incompetence, laziness, and corruption might indeed qualify as an example. Does such wisdom (?) solve the problems. No! There's a lot of tongue-gnawing going on right now! "The pain arises from the darkness of their minds and their misgivings as to the future."[30] Well, that's only part of it. A state that departs from the principles of the word of God soon finds plenty of occasions for tongue-gnawing, because of the present conditions that immediately follow. "God is grimly vindicated when godless society proudly rises against the church and claims to provide a viable alternative, and then proves unequal to the task."[31]

This satanic take-over of human government is but another environmental factor in the total picture.

[28] A. Plummer, Pulpit Commentary, Vol. 20, Revelation (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1950), p. 395.

[29] W. Boyd Carpenter, op. cit., p. 608.

[30] A. Plummet, op. cit., p. 395.

[31] Michael Wilcock, op. cit., p. 147.