The 6th Trumpet is the Tribulation – The 7th Trumpet is the Rapture
The Bible is very clear about when the tribulation and rapture take place. The easiest way to understand these events is the three woes of the seventh seal. We are only going to cover the last three trumpets of the seventh seal in this short video.
When the seventh seal is opened, there is silence in heaven for about half an hour. This is the big one. This is the day all the prophets prophesied about. The day of the Lord!
The seventh seal has seven angels with seven trumpets. We are skipping over the first four trumpets. Now pay attention to Revelation 8:13. The fifth trumpet begins the three woes.
Then I looked, and I heard an eagle flying in midheaven, saying with a loud voice, “Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the earth, because of the remaining blasts of the trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound!” Revelation 8:13
The fifth, sixth, and seventh trumpet are the “three woes.” These woes target the ungodly people on the earth who are in rebellion against God.
The Fifth Trumpet – The First Woe
The fifth trumpet, or first woe, are scorpions who come up out of the abyss. They hurt all men without the seal of God on their foreheads for five months. After this, Revelation 9:12 tells us that the first woe is over.
The first woe is past; behold, two woes are still coming after these things.
The Sixth Trumpet – The Second Woe – The Great Tribulation
Then the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, 14 one saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.” 15 And the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year, were released, so that they would kill a third of mankind. Revelation 9:13-15
The sixth trumpet, or second woe, kill one third of mankind. This is the 3.5-year Great Tribulation.
We know when the second woe starts. To determine if it lasts 3.5 years, we need to see when it ends. Simple enough. So, let’s continue in the sequence of events in the seventh seal.
Next is short chapter 10. The little book. Sweet in the mouth but bitter in the stomach. This chapter is the introduction to the two witnesses. Remember, we are still on the sixth trumpet, the second woe.
The two witnesses begin and end their ministry in Revelation chapter 11. They will prophesy for 3.5 years.
And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for twelve hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth.” Revelation 11:3-4
When the two witnesses are done with their 3.5-year ministry, the beast kills them. After three and a half days, God raises them from the dead.
Now pay attention to verse 14!
The Second Woe is Past
The second woe is past; behold, the third woe is coming quickly. Revelation 11:14
After the two witnesses are raised from the dead, the second woe is done.
The second woe is the horsemen who kill one third of mankind, and the second woe is the two witnesses. The two witness’s ministry lasts 3.5 years.
All this takes place during the sixth trumpet, or second woe.
The second woe is the 3.5 year second half of Daniel’s Seventieth Week. It’s also the 3.5-year period when Satan persecutes the woman in Revelation chapter 12.
The sixth trumpet, or second woe, is The Great Tribulation. One out of three people on the planet are killed. If that is not The Great Tribulation, I don’t know what is.
The Seventh Trumpet – The Kingdom Comes
Then the seventh angel sounded; and there were loud voices in heaven, saying,
“The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ; and He will reign forever and ever.” Revelation 11:15
The seventh angel blows his trumpet, and the kingdom comes to earth! This is the fulfillment of the Lord’s prayer, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
The Mystery of God is Finished – The Last Trumpet – The Rapture
Now to prove the seventh trumpet is the harvest, or rapture. Let’s go back to chapter 10. This often-overlooked verse establishes exactly when the rapture takes place!
There will be delay no longer, but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, then the mystery of God is finished, as He preached to His servants the prophets. Revelation 10:6-7
This verse declares that when the seventh trumpet sounds, the mystery of God is finished! What mystery?
Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 1 Corinthians 15:51-52
John is quoting Paul when he says that the mystery of God is finished at the seventh trumpet. The seventh trumpet is the last trumpet!
This is the culmination of God’s redemptive plan. Jesus returns to the earth with a shout! This is the rapture. It is the resurrection and glorification of all believers! The dead are raised imperishable, and those who remain are caught up together with them.
For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18
The harvest is ripe.
Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and sitting on the cloud was one like a son of man, having a golden crown on His head and a sharp sickle in His hand. 15 And another angel came out of the temple, crying out with a loud voice to Him who sat on the cloud, “Put in your sickle and reap, for the hour to reap has come, because the harvest of the earth is ripe.” 16 Then He who sat on the cloud swung His sickle over the earth, and the earth was reaped. Revelation 14:14-16
This is confirmed in Matthew 24.
“But immediately after the tribulation of those days THE SUN WILL BE DARKENED, AND THE MOON WILL NOT GIVE ITS LIGHT, AND THE STARS WILL FALL from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 30 And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Sone of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. 31 And He will send forth His angels with A GREAT TRUMPET and THEY WILL GATHER TOGETHER His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other. Matthew 24:29-31
The Lord returns immediately after the tribulation, when John says the mystery of God is finished. The sixth trumpet is the great tribulation. The seventh trumpet is the harvest, or rapture.
The Third Woe – The Seven Bowls of Wrath
After the rapture, the third woe begins. It lasts 75 days. This is the 75 days tacked onto the end of Daniel’s Seventieth Week. It is the seven bowls of wrath. In them, the wrath of God is finished. It is the destruction of the harlot and Armageddon, the winepress of the wrath of God.
Conclusion
The kingdom comes to earth at the seventh trumpet!
The mystery of God is finished at the seventh trumpet!
The dead in Christ are raised, and the rest are caught up at the seventh trumpet!
The Lord descends from heaven with a shout at the seventh trumpet!
The harvest is reaped at the seventh trumpet!
Everyone will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds at the seventh trumpet!
May we hear the seventh trumpet soon!
He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming quickly.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. Revelation 22:20
