Revelation 16

v1-7: Final judgment will not take place “without a direct, positive order from God.” He will answer “the prayers of his people” and avenge “the wrong that had been done to them.” When we “pray that the will of God may be done on earth as it is done in heaven,” part of the answer God will give to this petition will be to bring about “the fall of the church’s enemies.”

v8-11: When judgment takes place, God’s enemies will continue to be hardened in their sin. Rather than “bringing them to repentance,” they will “curse God… throwing out blasphemous speeches against the God of heaven.” In hell there will be no repentance.

v12-16: At the end of time, the great dragon, the Devil, will gather all of God’s enemies together for a final decisive battle against God and His people. “With hellish malice, with worldly knowledge, and with religious falsehood and deceit” they will gather. God wants His people to be prepared for this because “it would be sudden and unexpected, and that is why Christians should be clothed, armed, and ready for it, so that they will not be surprised and ashamed” and “will be ready to stand up for his interests and be faithful and courageous in his service.”

v17-21: Having “used all possible means to preserve” the world in rebellion to God through “all the influence that he has on human minds, blinding their judgments and corrupting them, hardening their hearts, raising their hostility toward the Gospel as far as possible,” the Devil and those in league with him, will be destroyed. “To be hardened in sin and hostility against God by his righteous judgments is a certain sign of complete destruction.”