The Three Woes
During Daniel’s seventieth week, there is something called the three woes. The three woes are the last three angels of the seventh seal. The seventh seal is Daniel’s seventieth week.
When the seventh seal is broken by Jesus, there is silence in heaven for about half an hour. Then there are seven angels with seven trumpets. This is in Revelation chapter eight.
The first four angels sounded their trumpets. The first sounded and a third of the earth was burned up. The second sounded and a third of the sea became blood. The third sounded and a third of the rivers were made bitter with wormwood. The fourth sounded and a third of the sun and moon and stars were darkened.
Then the three woes are introduced.
Rev 8:13 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!”
Woe, woe, woe. The last three angels are the three woes. They bring much harm to those who dwell on the earth.
The Fifth Trumpet – The First Woe
Then the fifth angel sounded and a star from heaven had fallen to the earth and the key to the bottomless pit was given to him. He opens the pit and out came locusts. They torment all those who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. They are not permitted to kill anyone, but to torment for five months. Men will seek death and will not find it.
This woe only torments the ungodly people of the earth.
Then in verse 12 we have the end of the first woe.
Rev 9:12 The first woe is past; behold, two woes are still coming after these things.
The Sixth Trumpet – The Second Woe
Then the sixth angel sounded and the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates are released. The four angels kill a third of mankind! This is the 200 million horsemen. Fire, smoke and brimstone come out of their mouths and kill a third of the ungodly people on the earth.
Once again, this woe only kills the evil people of the earth.
Rev 9:20 The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, so as not to worship demons, and the idols of gold and of silver and of brass and of stone and of wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk; 21 and they did not repent of their murders nor of their sorceries nor of their immorality nor of their thefts.
This is a description of the harlot’s people. The second woe kills a third of her people.
This is the last verse of chapter nine. Notice that it does not say that the second woe is over. This is very important to understanding the second woe.
We then continue to chapter ten.
Rev 10:5 Then the angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land lifted up his right hand to heaven, 6 and swore by Him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and the things in it, and the earth and the things in it, and the sea and the things in it, that there will be delay no longer, 7 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.
The seventh angel is the third woe. It mentions him here and says in the days when he sounds his trumpet, the mystery of God is finished. He is not sounding yet. We are not done with the sixth angel, the second woe. Then at the end of the short chapter ten, he is told that he must prophesy again.
Rev 10:11 And they said to me, “You must prophesy again concerning many peoples and nations and tongues and kings.”
This verse introduces the two witnesses. Remember, the sixth angel, the 200 million horsemen, the second woe, is not done yet. Chapter eleven tells us who the 200 million horsemen are and what they are doing and how they kill a third of the evil people on the earth.
The Second Woe Continues
Rev 11:1 Then there was given me a measuring rod like a staff; and someone said, “Get up and measure the temple of God and the altar, and those who worship in it. 2 Leave out the court which is outside the temple and do not measure it, for it has been given to the nations; and they will tread under foot the holy city for forty-two months. 3 And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for twelve hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth.”
The worshipers in the temple are measured. Measured means to protect and to anoint. The true worshipers all over the planet are protected for three and a half years. Those in the outer court, are not measured. They are persecuted by the ungodly for three and a half years. The three and a half years is the great tribulation.
Rev 11:5 And if anyone wants to harm them, fire flows out of their mouth and devours their enemies; so if anyone wants to harm them, he must be killed in this way.
The worshipers are granted authority and power that has never been seen on earth before. They testify of the gospel of the kingdom to the whole earth for three and a half years. This is the fulfillment of the prophecy of Jesus in Matthew 24.
Matt 24:14 This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.
If anyone tried to stop their preaching, fire comes out of the worshiper’s mouths and devours them.
Remember, we are still in the sixth trumpet, the second woe. It is 200 million horsemen with fire coming out of their mouths. The two witness company of worshipers have fire coming out of their mouths. The two witness company of worshipers are the 200 million horsemen. They are one and the same.
The 200 million horsemen are also God’s army in Joel chapter two. I plan on doing another post on Joel soon.
Chapter nine introduces the 200 million horsemen and chapter eleven tells us who they are. The four angels bound at the river Euphrates are not fallen angels. They are the four angels who are in charge of the 200 million horsemen. The Euphrates River represents Babylon. The 200 million worshipers are those who have come out of her, my people.
Rev 18:4 I heard another voice from heaven, saying, “Come out of her, my people, so that you will not participate in her sins and receive of her plagues.
The End of the Second Woe
The second woe lasts three and a half years. This is the great tribulation. The worshipers are protected and granted authority and power during this time. The Christians in the outer court are not protected. They are disciplined during this same period of time.
Rev 11:7 When they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up out of the abyss will make war with them and overcome them and kill them.
At the end of the three and a half years, the worshipers are all killed. They have completed their ministry. It is the same pattern as the ministry of Jesus. Their bodies lay in the street of the great city for three and a half days. The great city is the harlot of Babylon, all the cities of the nations.
Rev 11:10 And those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and celebrate; and they will send gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth.
The 200 million horsemen, the worshipers, tormented the evil people of the earth. When they are finally dead, the whole earth celebrates. The celebration will be short lived.
Rev 11:11 But after the three and a half days, the breath of life from God came into them, and they stood on their feet; and great fear fell upon those who were watching them. 12 And they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here.” Then they went up into heaven in the cloud, and their enemies watched them.
At the end of the sixth trumpet, the second woe, the two witness company of worshipers are raised from the dead. This is the end of the second woe. The second woe lasts three and a half years, the length of time that the two witnesses prophesy and testify to the truth. The second woe is the great tribulation.
The Seventh Trumpet – The Third Woe
Now for the third woe. At the end of the discussion on the two witnesses, John tells us that the second woe is past, and the third woe is coming quickly.
Rev 11:14 The second woe is past; behold, the third woe is coming quickly.
The seventh and last trumpet is the third woe. It follows immediately after the second woe, the great tribulation. It takes place during the seventy five days tacked onto the end of the seven year period called Daniel’s seventieth week.
Rev 11:15 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.”
The seventh trumpet signals the beginning of the Messianic kingdom. The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ. This is the fulfillment of the Lord’s prayer when He says, “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
The loud voices in heaven is the rapture, or the final catching up. The rapture takes place at the seventh trumpet, at the very end of the tribulation, and just before the seven bowls of wrath.
The seventh trumpet is the last of seven trumpets in the seventh seal. It is what Paul is referring to when he talks about the rapture.
I Cor15:51 Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, 52 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.
The seven trumpets of the seventh seal are the only place in the prophecies where there is more than one trumpet. Therefore, the rapture takes place at the last trumpet, the seventh trumpet of the seventh seal. This verse alone puts to rest the pre-tribulation and pre-wrath rapture myths that are misleading many today.
The last trumpet is also the trumpet that Paul is referring to when he is talking about the dead in Christ will rise first.
I Thess 4:16 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.
In Matthew 24, Jesus says that immediately after the tribulation of those day, He will send forth his angels with a great trumpet.
Matt 24:31 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.
Once again, the rapture takes place at the last trumpet, or the trumpet of God, or the great trumpet. All three of these verses are talking about the same event.
The main events of the third woe are the seven bowls of wrath poured out on the beast’s kingdom after the rapture. This is the destruction of the beast’s kingdom, the destruction of the harlot of Babylon, and Satan cast into the pit for 1000 years.
For more detailed discussion on this subject, check out these articles:
