108    The Bible and the Future of the World 

    The plague of boils foreshadows a plague which will come upon the 

wicked after the end of the Church's great suffering.  So the first angel went 

and poured his bowl on the earth, and foul and evil sores came upon the 

men who bore the mark of the beast and worshiped its image.  (Rev 16:2). 

Only the enemies of God will be stricken with this affliction. 

Thunder and Hail and Fire (Ex 9:13 35) 

     Then he who feared the word of the L

ORD

 among the servants of 

Pharaoh made his slaves and his cattle flee into the houses; but he who did 

not regard the word of the L

ORD

 left his slaves and his cattle in the field.  

(Ex 9:20 21). 

     The hail struck down everything that was in the field throughout all the 

land of Egypt, both man and beast; and the hail struck down every plant of 

the field, and shattered every tree of the field. Only in the land of Goshen, 

where the people of Israel were, there was no hail.  (Ex 9:25 26). 

    Again, the Egyptians were punished by God, but the Israelites were 

spared. Yet something new also happened. Some of the  Egyptians, those 

who heeded the warning from the L

ORD

, removed their slaves and cattle 

into the houses. These were kept safe from the plague of hail, just as the 

Israelites were. 

    Similarly, during the time of the two prophets of Revelation, some people 

who were counted among the wicked will repent and turn back to God for 

salvation. These will be spared some of the sufferings reserved for the 

unrepentant. 

    The hail which God sent upon the Egyptians also came with fire,  and the 

L

ORD

 sent thunder and hail, and fire ran down to the earth.  (Ex 9:23). The 

hail storm killed both man and beast, and destroyed both plants and trees. 

    A storm of hail and fire is described in the book of Revelation.  The first 

angel blew his trumpet, and there followed hail and fire, mixed with blood, 

which fell on the earth....  (Rev 8:7). This hail storm is not actual hail, but 

pieces of a comet (which is frozen like hail) that descends to earth with fire 

and does great damage. It occurs after the servants of God have been sealed 

on their foreheads (near the end of the Forty Years). Since the Israelites were 

spared from  the hail storm, so also will many of the servants of God be 

spared the hail storm (pieces of a comet) in the time described in the book of 

Revelation. 

The Plague of Locusts (Ex 10:1 20) 

     And the locusts came up over all the land of Egypt, and settled on the 

whole country of Egypt, such a dense swarm of locusts as had never been