‘And the first went and poured out his bowl into the earth, and there came a distressing and grievous sore on the men who had the mark of the beast and who worshipped his image.'
Those who have received the mark of the beast now receive another mark, the mark of judgment in the form of a grievous sore. Compare Deuteronomy 28:35 where it is to be one of a number of judgments on faithless Israel. See also Revelation 16:10-11 of this chapter where it is more generalised. Such sores were the mark of someone in a desperate state, like Lazarus at the gate of the rich man (Luke 16:21). This particular sore is directly related to the mark of the beast. It thus typifies the resulting sickness in heart and spirit that destroys men, a sore from which Christ's own are protected. Reference to the mark of the Beast (see chapter 13)demonstrates that this commenced early on.