What causes the disintegration of the anti-Christian kingdom? What leads the kings of the East to rebel and do battle? The answer to that question is the first four vials that God pours out upon the anti-Christian kingdom. The first four vials of Revelation 16:1–21 are judgments that God sends upon the earth that affect the anti-Christian kingdom especially very greatly. Notice in Revelation 16:2 that the first vial falls only on those who receive the mark of the beast. It falls on the anti-Christian kingdom and the men in it. The second, third and fourth vials more than likely have an effect upon the saints who are left upon the earth too. This is just like the plagues of Egypt. Some of the judgements fall only upon the unrepentant, while some affect both God's people and the unrepentant. But they are all judgments directed toward the unrepentant – the anti-Christian kingdom.1
Cory Griess
2 So the first angel went and poured out his bowl on the earth, and harmful and painful sores came upon the people who bore the mark of the beast and worshiped its image.