The Vials

The vials characterize the last short period of about two month (so we estimate) in which God terminates all powers on earth that are against Him and the Lamb, thereby effectuating the 'power', the first splendid worth that is mentioned by the multitude of an estimated billion angels that will praise the Lamb after He has taken the scroll from the hand of Him who sits upon the throne. 

 

After three and a half years of absolute horror by the powers which humanity had relied upon for thousands of years, God puts an end to the earthly spectacle of total disgrace with seven final judgments, which are very severe and come in quick succession. These seven "bowl judgments" culminate in a concentration of troops in the Middle East, close to Jerusalem (and not on the plain of Armageddon in northern Israel, as is often argued), the city where Jesus was crucified. Then Jesus, the Lamb of God, comes down from heaven on a white horse, with a sword coming out of his mouth, which is symbolic of the Word of God, the sharp two edged sword, to destroy the utmost resistance with all technological and military power that humanity, under the guidance of satan, was capable of building up through the ages.

 

The vials terminate the great tribulation of 3.5 years, the period we have named 'the Endtime' and thus correspond to the passage in Jesus' prophetic discourse where He says: 'Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken' (Math.24:29). The seven vials also correspond to the very end of Daniel' s vision about the four beasts, the successive empires of the past 2,600 years, with the USA as their last heir, the little horn, that comes forth from the fourth beast, Rome. The end of this little horn is depicted by Daniel as follows: 

 

^'I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened.  I beheld then because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake: I beheld even till the beast was slain, and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flame.' (Dan.7:9-11)

 

Thus history will culminate in the victory of God and the Lamb over the powers of satan in the empires. All empires will forever vanish from the earth. Instead the millennial reign of Jesus will start, bringing eternal bliss to mankind, as was already prophesied at the beginning of the world empires:

 

^'I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before Him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.' (Dan.7:13,14)

 

We repeat here our estimated timeframe of the Endtime of 3.5 years, called the 'great tribulation', based upon the stars of heaven:

 

Seal 2-6    Intermezzo   Four trumpets   Intermezzo   Trumpets 5,6    Vials-End

  12                   5                        4                         2                      18                   1

 

The last one month for the vials would terminate the 42 months of 'and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months' (Rev.13:5). It would then end with the sixth vial, in which we see the dragon, the beast and the false prophet ordering all armies they control toward the Middle East, after the kingdom of the beast has been darkened at the fifth vial.