16:1 Scholars have long pointed out the similarities between the first six trumpet judgments (Rev. 8:6–9:21) and the first six bowl judgments (16:1–14; cf. Beasley-Murray, Revelation, pp. 238–39); and we have called attention to the “hailstorm” that links the seventh trumpet to the seventh bowl. In one sense, John’s vision of bowl-plagues repeats and emphasizes the previous point: divine judgment intends to bring the nations to repent and to confess God as sovereign creator and ruling Lord. Their refusal to repent, then, justifies God’s condemnation of them and their anti-Christian kingdom. There is another sense, however, that John’s newest vision expands and deepens the significance of this theme. On the face of it, the bowl judgments extend the scope of God’s wrath. Earlier only a “thir…