Seventh Bowl of Wrath

The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple, from the throne, saying, “It is done!” And there were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, and a great earthquake such as there had never been since man was on the earth, so great was that earthquake. The great city was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell, and God remembered Babylon the great, to make her drain the cup of the wine of the fury of his wrath. And every island fled away, and no mountains were to be found. And great hailstones, about one hundred pounds each, fell from heaven on people; and they cursed God for the plague of the hail, because the plague was so severe. Revelation 16:17-21

The seventh vial of wrath will be poured out upon the earth’s atmosphere, the domain of the Prince of the Power of the Air, Satan. “It is done.” This is the last of the bowls of God’s wrath. It is also the worst, with terrifying effects. There are atmospheric disturbances and the most devastating earthquake ever.

“The great city” may be Jerusalem, where most of the important action takes place in the tribulation, or it could be a reference to Babylon, the code name for Rome, which was the center of government, religion and culture in the time of writing. We are about to see the final judgment of Babylon in all her manifestations, coming up in chapter 17. That makes it seem more likely that “the great city” is Jerusalem, because next he tells us that the “cities,” or great capitals of the earth fell, and then God remembered Babylon the great, as if to say the worst of His wrath is being reserved for her. She WILL drink every last drop.

We see also topographical upheaval, with islands and mountains disappearing; everything is flattened! There are no landmarks, no places of refuge, no escape from the ultimate fury of Almighty God. One hundred pound hailstones fall on the people and they curse God.

Fall of Babylon anticipated. Babylon is a symbol of the Satanic world system, the center of all that is false and evil, of idolatry and oppression. It consists of the order of unregenerate humanity organized under evil principles with Satan as its head (cf. 1 Jn 2:15-17), with emphasis given to the ecclesiastical (ch. 17), political and commercial (ch. 18) aspects of this system. ‘Fallen, fallen’ is a Hebraism for ‘completely fallen.’ 

Unger, Merrill F.; Unger, Merrill F. F. (2005-04-01). The New Unger's Bible Handbook (Kindle Locations 20420-20421). Moody Publishers. Kindle Edition.

BABYLON Built by Nimrod; Tower of Babel, Gen 10:8–10; 11:1–9 Descriptions of, Is 13:19; 14:4; Jer 51:44; Dan 4:30 Jews carried captive to, 2 Kin 25:1–21; 2 Chr 36:5–21 Inhabitants of, described, Is 47:1, 9–13; Jer 50:35–38; Dan 5:1–3 Prophecies concerning, Is 13:1–22; Jer 21:1–7; 25:9–12; 27:5–8; 29:10; Jer 50:1–46; Dan 2:31–38; 7:2–4 The prophetic city, Rev 14:8; 16:19; 17:1–18:24 

Nelson, Thomas (2006-04-11). Open Bible, NKJV (Kindle Locations 138472-138488). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.

The principle goddess of Babylon was Ishtar, the goddess of love and war, above all associated with sexuality: her cult involved sacred prostitution; her holy city Uruk was called the "town of the sacred courtesans"; and she herself was the "courtesan of the gods. –from Wikipedia.org—Ishtar

Babylon, throughout the Bible, was the symbol of worldliness, sexual depravity and false religion. It was a real place where all these evils were practiced. It also became code for the world-system of evil at any given time in history. She was always hostile to God, always enticing to God’s people, and the term “whore” was God’s own perfect description of her. She has challenged and opposed God’s plan of grace from earliest history, and at the end of the tribulation, she will receive His ultimate wrath.

Prophecies Against Babylon Isaiah 13:
9 Behold, the day of the LORD comes, Cruel, with both wrath and fierce anger, To lay the land desolate; And He will destroy its sinners from it. 10 For the stars of heaven and their constellations Will not give their light; The sun will be darkened in its going forth, And the moon will not cause its light to shine. 11“I will punish the world for its evil, And the wicked for their iniquity; I will halt the arrogance of the proud, And will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible. 12 I will make a mortal more rare than fine gold, A man more than the golden wedge of Ophir. 13 Therefore I will shake the heavens,
And the earth will move out of her place, In the wrath of the LORD of hosts And in the day of His fierce anger. 14 It shall be as the hunted gazelle, And as a sheep that no man takes up; Every man will turn to his own people, And everyone will flee to his own land. 15 Everyone who is found will be thrust through, And everyone who is captured will fall by the sword. 16 Their children also will be dashed to pieces before their eyes; Their houses will be plundered And their wives ravished. 17 “Behold,  I will stir up the Medes against them, Who will not regard silver; And as for gold, they will not delight in it. 18 Also their bows will dash the young men to pieces,
And they will have no pity on the fruit of the womb; Their eye will not spare children. 19 And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, The beauty of the Chaldeans’ pride, Will be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. 20 It will never be inhabited, Nor will it be settled from generation to generation; Nor will the Arabian pitch tents there, Nor will the shepherds make their sheepfolds there. 21 But wild beasts of the desert will lie there, And their houses will be full of owls; Ostriches will dwell there, And wild goats will caper there. 22 The hyenas will howl in their citadels, And jackals in their pleasant palaces. Her time is near to come, And her days will not be prolonged.”

Nelson, Thomas (2006-04-11). Open Bible, NKJV (Kindle Locations 88088-88154). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.

This will not be pretty.

"To be hardened in sin and enmity against God by his righteous judgments is a certain token of utter destruction." Matthew Henry