Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the Book of Revelation. Tonight is study #12 of Revelation, chapter 16, and we are going to read Revelation 16:10-11:

And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain, And blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds.

In our last study we saw how Satan, who is called the beast here, had his kingdom of the nations of this world and they became full of darkness. God had been saving the great multitude outside of the churches among the nations of the world and, therefore, the light of the Gospel had been shining brilliantly and, actually, it had been shining as never before in history. The message of the Bible regarding the appointed Day of Judgment was broadcast into all the earth and God used that message to save all He still had to save – this brought about a great spiritual shining of the Gospel. But God completed His salvation program, which coincided with the end of the Great Tribulation and the end of the Latter Rain, on May 21, 2011, the day of transition from judgment on the churches to judgment on the entire world and then Satan’s kingdom was “full of darkness.” It had already been spiritually dark within the churches and congregations for 23 years, as God had moved His salvation program outside of the churches and into the world. But on May 21, 2011, spiritual darkness overtook the entire earth and this brought about an intensely dark spiritual condition across the entire world. Mankind in his sins had always been in darkness and the churches had been in darkness throughout the 23 years of the Great Tribulation period, but there had been that unprecedented outpouring of the Holy Spirit during the period of the Latter Rain (or Second Jubilee period), as God brought the Gospel light to the world. But then the entire world went dark – there was no more light of the Gospel to shine into the dark hearts of men. God had completed His salvation program and that is why the kingdom of the beast was full of darkness.

Then it goes on to say at Revelation 16:10:

… and they gnawed their tongues for pain,

This Greek word that is translated as “gnawed” is only used here in the New Testament. There is a word in the Old Testament that speaks of “gnawing” the bones and it has the idea of chewing on the bones, like a dog would gnaw on a bone. That could be the idea here and it probably is, but we cannot find help through this word having been used somewhere else. It as though they are chewing on their own tongues “for” pain. It is the Greek word “ek” that is translated as “for,” and that word normally means “out of,” so the better translation would be, “they gnawed their tongues out of pain.” It was a result of the pain or because of the pain. It actually says, in verse 11: “And blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains.” It is the same Greek word, only it is plural in this verse.

What does it mean that “they gnawed their tongues for pain”? We know the Bible tells us that the “tongue is a little member,” and it is through the tongue that men would speak and teach. For instance, it says in James 3:2-6:

For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body. Behold, we put bits in the horses' mouths, that they may obey us; and we turn about their whole body. Behold also the ships, which though they be so great, and are driven of fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a very small helm, whithersoever the governor listeth. Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth! And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.

The tongue “is set on fire of hell.” I do not know if we can fully understand this, but God is saying that the tongue is a little member of the body and it like a helm of the ship in that you move the little helm and that enormous ship follows the movement of the helm.

Likewise, our bodies, which are much bigger than our tongues, follow the course that our tongues say. If you have ever said something and gotten yourself into trouble, you know exactly what I mean. Now, spiritually, pastors, preachers, teachers, elders and deacons speak and teach the Gospel and they teach doctrine; through their tongues or through their words, the course of their churches are set or the course of a theology or the course of a doctrine is set. If the doctrine is off course and goes astray, it can lead people to “hell” and that is why the Bible says: “And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.”

It is interesting what we find in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16. The rich man is in “hell” and in “torment.” Again, “hell” identifies with death and the grave. It is speaking of the rich man being dead, as there is no place called “Hell,” but this is a parable that is teaching of the condition of “hell,” so this man has conscious existence while he is experiencing the condition of “death and hell.” We have learned that when God shut the door of heaven, put out the light of the Gospel and made this world dark, the world entered into the condition of “hell,” so we can learn some principals from the rich man that do apply to our present time when unsaved mankind were killed, for all intents and purposes, once the door of heaven was shut; all the unsaved people of the earth had their eternal destiny sealed and if they were unsaved, they would remain unsaved.

It says in Luke 16:23-24:

And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.

His tongue has been “set on fire,” in a sense. He is experiencing the wrath of God and his tongue desires some cool water because the flame is afflicting him. I do not know all we can gather from this, but, of course, the cool water would be the Gospel, especially regarding salvation, because he is in a place of torment and if only there could be the slightest bit of “good news” or a “drop” of Gospel water. The last approximately 17 years of the Great Tribulation, God sent the Gospel of the Latter Rain to cover the earth as the waters covered the sea. The Gospel was plentiful and bountiful. The Gospel was everywhere – on bill boards, on buses and on t-shirts. You turned the corner and someone else was trying to hand you a tract. It was on radio and internet and it was broadcast to all the earth. It was God’s warning to mankind, a warning coming from His Word, the Bible, that the time was short and the appointed Day of Judgment was at hand. The message implied was to seek the Lord while He could be found.

Yet, all that water dried up. The oceans of Gospel water are gone. Now you cannot find a river, a stream, a pond or even a drop of water that will give the slightest hope or the slightest possibility of salvation for an unsaved person. At this time, in the Day of Judgment, after the door is shut and the light of the Gospel has been put out, the Bible offers no hope of any kind. Even in this passage, God says there is a “great gulf fixed” between those that are in “hell” or the “grave” (the spiritually dead) and those that are in Abraham’s bosom (the spiritually alive). And even if Lazarus, the elect, wanted to pass that gulf and bring a drop of water to those in the flames they cannot. There is no ability for anyone to do this and that is the answer that Abraham gives him. It is a negative response. He cannot have even a drop of water, just as it is for those that knock on the door once the master of the house has risen up and shut to the door. They say, “Lord, Lord, open to us!” It is a negative response: “I know you not whence ye are; depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity.” There is no opening of the door. There is no giving of the water of the Word of God with the slightest possibility of salvation – there is not a drop of water that can be given to anyone in his sins so that the person could think, “Maybe today God might save me.”

This is the awful situation the rich man finds himself in. The water would cool the rich man’s tongue. I think we can understand to some degree that he would want that kind of hope to share with others; he would speak that Word if there were a possibility of salvation, but his tongue is not cooled or refreshed in any way. The torment continues because it is impossible at this point to have any hope of salvation. The day of salvation has ended.

Let us go back to Revelation 16:10, where it says at the end of the verse, “And they gnawed their tongues for pain.” The Greek word translated as “pain” is “ponos.” It appears three times in the New Testament and we read it here twice, in verse 10 and in verse 11: “And blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains.” The only other time it is found is Revelation 21:4:

And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.

So “pain” is joined together here with “tears” and “death” and “sorrow” and “crying.” And these are all grievous and sorrowful things and they are all the result of sin and its effects and consequences. Through the breaking of the Law of God, death entered into the world and with death there is sorrow, tears, crying and pain. Pain goes hand-in-hand with sin and sin with death. These are the evil consequences of sin. When we look at the world it is exactly what we see. You can look anywhere you want in any place in this world and you will these things – you will see tears and crying and death and sorrow and pain in people. It does not matter if they are rich or poor or young or old. Everyone, to some degree, will eventually experience those things. No one escapes the effects of sin.

The interesting thing about this word “ponos” is that while it is only found three times, it does seem to have some related words. This is one time when Strong’s Concordance was helpful in some ways, but not helpful in its definition because it actually pointed to another word, but when we look at how the Greek word is spelled, we can see there is a close relationship. The word “ponos” is Strong’s #4192 and it is related to #4189 (poneria), #4190 (poneros) and #4191(poneroteros). Our word translated as “pain” is #4192 (ponos), so they share the first three letters of the word, but with different endings. The word #4191 (poneroteros) is translated as “bad,” “evil,” “harm,” “wicked,” and so forth. The word #4189 (poneria) is translated as “iniquity” and “wickedness.” The word #4191(poneroteros) is translated as “more wicked.” So those three words have a central theme of wickedness, evil and harm and our word “ponos” seems to be related and, actually, one of these words (I think it is #4191) says it is derived from “ponos.” We know that “ponos” means “pain” and, of course, we can see the connection because through sin there is “evil,” and “wickedness” and “pain.” It is normally sin that brings pain. When someone goes contrary to the Law of God, it is almost inevitable that they will experience “pain,” as a result. For example, there is obvious sin, like being a drunkard, and in this sin of drunkenness he is going against the Law of God. He should be sober, but in his sin he does harm. He injures himself, physically. He could get into a car accident, which would bring pain to him and to others. He could create trouble at home with his wife and family and he could lose his job, and so forth. It brings pain and more pain and more pain. Sin and pain go together. If someone robs a store, they commit sin. When they are caught and put into jail, they will suffer pain. If we are feeling pain in our lives, it is often the result of sin. Sometimes even the physical diseases that come upon us (like cancer or diabetes) may be due to the consequences of sin; it is why our bodies see corruption. It is a all related back to the fall of man and the curse God placed upon mankind and this creation due to man’s sin. So “pain” is closely related to sin and, here, in our verse it says, “They gnawed their tongues for pain,” out of the consequences of their sins.

Today, for instance, people think they have “rights” that people never thought they had before. They think they have discovered a “new morality” that none had known before, such as men marrying men or women marrying women. They also think they have a right, if they get pregnant, to abort the child. But these things do not bring “good.” They will not bring real happiness or peace. It will not bring what man might hope it will bring to them, and we can be sure of that, whenever a person transgresses the Law of God, no matter what Law it is, whether it is drinking or smoking or doing some other harm to the body, or whether it is breaking the Law of marriage when God says marriage is only between a man and a woman. But it is not only men with men and women with women, but people also transgress the Law of God regarding marriage and divorce, when they get a divorce and they remarry. And what happens, oftentimes, in that second, third or fourth marriage? There is more trouble; there is arguing and fighting, and so on. How could they expect good things to come of it? Of course, God is gracious and kind and often He is still forgiving; if someone is a true believer and they entered into a second marriage, God would have them to live faithfully in that marriage, but when we go contrary to the Law of God these things inevitably still bring troubles into our lives. If we had followed the Law of God, the troubles would have been less.

Well, now it is the time of judgment and our verse says that mankind is gnawing their tongues out of pain. They are going their own ways; they are set in their evil direction; they are going to do what they will do. Their insistence upon their sinful course brings them great distress and pain. There is no peace to the wicked.