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The Seventh Trumpet ...The 3rd Woe!
| Revelation 11:
| 15: And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices
in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of
our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.
16: And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats,
fell upon their faces, and worshipped God,
17: Saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and
wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power,
and hast reigned.
18: And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of
the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give
reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that
fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy
the earth.
19: And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in
his temple the ark of his testament: and there were lightnings, and
voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail.
|
The 7th Trumpet brings us to the climax of human history, when another
mass-confrontation between good and evil will take place. It will commence with
a spiritual election which will test the allegiance of every soul
on earth; will then progress through the unimaginable terrors of the seven last
plagues (called the Wrath of God) and end with the total overthrow of
Satan and his system.
Fearsome though the events of this Trumpet are, and this is why it is called
a Woe, great joy will overwhelm the heavenly host at its sounding (Rev.
11:15), for only then will the mystery of God be finished. We know
this from the following verse.
| Rev. 10:
| 7 But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he
shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he
hath declared to his servants the prophets.
|
To most people God is a mystery and His involvement with mankind is even more
mysterious than His invisible presence. How often have we heard people say: "If
God is a God of love and is all-powerful as He claims to be, why doesn't He put
an end to human suffering?" Or "What is God doing about the
rising tide of crime? Why doesn't He use His power to prevent sickness, sorrow,
pain and death? Doesn't He care?"
Questions like these, many of them awash with tears, are repeatedly voiced by
people all over the globe. And, as conditions worsen, the same apparently cruel
response comes back from heaven a bewildering, deathly silence. At the 7th
Trumpet (the 3rd Woe) that silence will be broken. The mystery of God,
hidden from most of humanity since the dawn of time, will be finished and made
plain. All the questions about God's strange dealings will then be answered.
Analysing the main events of the 3rd Woe we discover that they fall into
three distinct categories involving authority, anger and reward. These
three are summarised in the following words. The words in bold type are ours.
| Rev. 11:
| 17: Saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art,
and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great
power, and hast reigned. (AUTHORITY)
18: And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come (ANGER) and
the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou
shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints,
and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them
which destroy the earth. (REWARD)
|
Most of the remaining chapters in Revelation tell of the final scenes on
earth just before the end of this age, and in varying degrees they deal with
either a call to recognise Yahweh's authority, the outpouring of His anger
or the distribution of His rewards. Let us now very briefly consider
these chapters. It would obviously help a great deal if the reader read each
chapter before the explanation.
Revelation 12
In this chapter we are given a symbolic overview of Satan's age-old revolt
against the authority of God, a revolt which began in the distant past but still
manifests itself in hatred for the people of Zion, the Messiah of Israel and all
commandment-keeping believers down to this present day. In vision the prophet is
shown a 'woman clothed with the sun and standing on the moon.' A symbolic
dragon then tries to devour her child at its birth, but the boy is caught
up to God and to His throne. The dragon then turns on the woman in an effort to
kill her, but she is miraculously lifted out of his reach and taken to the
wilderness, where she is nourished for a period of three and a half years
(verses 13-14). In a fit of fury the dragon then turns on the woman's remaining
offspring, the 'remnant of her seed,' who are still in human
society and who keep the commandments of God (verse 17).
- The woman in this vision, who is seen standing on the moon,
represents the ekklesia of Yahweh, the spiritually called
out ones, the 'wife' or church of the Almighty, whose
faithful members make up the Israel of God!
- The 'man-child' who is to rule all nations with the rod of
iron (absolute authority) is Yeshua the Messiah (Jesus Christ), the
only begotten Son of the living God.
- The 'dragon' is Satan the Devil, the leader of the revolution
against the Eternal. During this Woe, the Almighty will miraculously protect
his spiritual 'wife', the church, from Satan's wrath,
especially those of Zion who are clothed in His righteousness and who take
their stand upon the requirements of His calendar which is symbolised by the
moon. If you would like to know about Yahweh's Calendar and of His
sacred festivals which are directly linked to these prophecies in
Revelation, write for our free booklet entitled The
Sacred Calendar of the God of Israel. The booklet will introduce you
to the amazing time-element in Yahweh's schedule of salvation,
something so few believers know anything about.
Revelation 13
This chapter is a forecast of the strangest spiritual election ever to be
staged in the history of humanity. The electorate will be the citizens of
every nation and the main issue will concern obedience to the law of Yahweh the
Almighty God of Israel.
Satan's visible representative on earth at the time will be the Man of
Sin, the Antichrist, the coming World Dictator. He
will be a being of commanding presence and power, and will exercise all the
authority of the Devil himself. The Man of Sin is symbolically referred
to in the Revelation as the Beast! According to the prophet John, the
Beast is scheduled to make a personal appearance on earth at this Seal,
and will govern the whole of the world for a period of three and a half years.
The vast majority of mankind, we are told, will worship him in abject terror,
demonstrating their acceptance of his authority by doing his will and receiving
his Mark.
Those who refuse to accept the Mark of the Beast will lose the right
to buy and sell. In other words they will be totally barred from the world's
markets, banks and other economic institutions. On the other hand, those who do
worship the Beast will receive the full measure of Yahweh's anger, which is to
be poured out undiluted on mankind in the form of the seven last plagues.
A symbolic description of this coming World Dictator is given below:
| Rev.13:
| 1: And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up
out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten
crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.
2: And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were
as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the
dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.
3: And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his
deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.
4: And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast:
and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who
is able to make war with him?
5: And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and
blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two
months.
6: And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his
name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.
7: And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to
overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues,
and nations.
8: And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are
not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of
the world. 9: If any man have an ear, let him hear.
|
The Apostle Paul writing in plain language about the same being the Man of
Sin said this:
| 2 Thess. 2:
| 1: Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus
Christ, and by our gathering together unto him,
2: That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by
spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ
is at hand.
3: Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come,
except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed,
the son of perdition;
4: Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or
that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God,
shewing himself that he is God.
5: Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these
things?
6: And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his
time.
7: For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now
letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.
8: And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall
consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the
brightness of his coming.
|
Yahweh's warning message against worshipping the Beast and accepting his Mark
is as follows:
| Rev.14:
| 9: And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If
any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his
forehead, or in his hand,
10: The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is
poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall
be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels,
and in the presence of the Lamb:
11: And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and
they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image,
and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.
|
Who will dispute but that here before us is a prophetic warning of
unparalleled importance; which we must understand if we wish to escape the wrath
of the Almighty. The two burning questions that immediately come to mind are:
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