Revelation 16:10 - Wesley's Explanatory Notes

The four first phials are closely connected together; the fifth concerns the throne of the beast, the sixth the Mahometans, the seventh chiefly the heathens. The four first phials and the four first trumpets go round the whole earth; the three last phials and the three last trumpets go lengthways over the earth in a straight line. The fifth poured out his phial upon the throne of the wild beast — It is not said, "on the beast and his throne." Perhaps the sea will then be vacant. And his kingdom was darkened — With a lasting, not a transient, darkness. However the beast as yet has his kingdom. Afterward the woman sits upon the beast. and then it is said, "The wild beast is not," Revelation 17:3, Revelation 17:7-8.