THE THIRD WOE
THE DAYS OF THE SEVENTH TRUMPET
REVELATION 11:15 to 12:17
The sounding of the trumpet by the seventh angel introduces the second half of the tribulation period; it involves the great tribulation of Israel, the Beasts, the Three Angels' Announcements, the Harvest Judgment, the Seven Bowls of judgment, the overthrow of Mystery Babylon and Babylon the Great.
It ends with the Return of Christ, and His victory over the rebels, in preparation for the Millennium; in anticipation of this outcome, there is the announcement by loud voices in heaven that Christ has taken over the kingdoms of this world, followed by the worship of the twenty-four elders looking forward to the final judgment of mankind (which comes after the Millennium (Chapter 20).
The temple of God and the ark of His covenant mentioned here are in heaven. Those on earth were copy and shadow of them (Hebrews 8:5).
The ark of the covenant on earth was a symbol of Christ and it contained:
- the tablets of the Testimony chiselled out with the Law of God by Moses (Exodus 34:1), which was the divine standard of conduct required by God, fulfilled by Christ who lived without sin (Hebrews 4:15);
- a gold jar of manna representing the Bread of Heaven, Christ Himself (John 6:31-33);
- the rod of Aaron indicating divine authority for priesthood (Numbers 17:10); Christ is our Priest (Hebrews 10:10,12 );
Its lid was the atonement cover, over which the blood of sacrifice was poured in God's presence, symbolically present between the two cherubim. Christ is the propiciation for our sins (1 John 2:2, 4:10).
Again the presence of God is evidenced by flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, earthquake, to which is added a great hailstorm. At this time John sees two signs (or symbols) in Heaven, of which we are given the interpretation, either in the text itself, or in other parts of Scripture.
The Woman, the Child, and the Dragon
The woman is a symbol of the nation of Israel. The nation of Israel is frequently represented as a woman in Old Testament prophecies, even as the wife of the LORD (Isaiah 54). In a dream, Joseph saw his father Jacob as the sun, his mother as the moon, his eleven brothers as stars (Genesis 37:9-10). God put enmity between the seed of the serpent and that of the woman and in pain woman would bring forth children (Genesis 3:15-16). Christ was born of a woman of the nation of Israel.
The dragon is a symbol of the Devil (which means the false accuser, slanderer) or Satan (v.9). His red colour suggests a blood-drenched murderer (John 8:44). Head means authority, horn means power, diadem means conquest. The number seven represents completeness, perfection, divinity - false in this case (2 Corinthians 4:4). Number ten represents multiplicity. The stars of heaven are heavenly creatures (Job 38:7, Daniel 8:10), of which Satan subverts one third in his rebellion against God. Satan stood before the nation of Israel, using her enemies, ready to destroy her son - the Messiah - when he was born (Herod tried to kill him as a baby, Satan tempted him in the desert, the Jews tried to stone him during His ministry).
The Child, however, was caught up by God (he ascended to heaven, after giving His holy life as a ransom for sinners), He is now on God's throne, and will return to reign with a rod of iron.
After an interval, not mentioned here, which goes from the time He ascended to heaven until the sounding of the seventh trumpet, at the middle of the seven year's Tribulation period, the nation of Israel (the woman) will flee to the wilderness (Jordan, where the old kingdoms of Moab, Edom and Amom used to be), and will remain there during the last three and a half years of the tribulation period under God's protection (Daniel 11:41). More details are given further on.
Satan Thrown Out of Heaven
Michael (Who Is Like God?) is the only angel called archangel in the Bible (Jude 9), distinguished as one of the chief princes and one who protects the nation of Israel, and is the leader of an army of angels who fight against Satan and his angels, as prophesied by Daniel ((Daniel 10:13,21, 12:1).
Ezekiel 28:12-15 describes Lucifer, or Satan as he originally was. He is at present the prince of the power of the air (Ephesians 2:1), the leader of spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places (Ephesians 6:11-12) and the accuser of God's people (the brethren) before God day and night (Revelation 12:10); he is so highly placed that even the archangel Michael dared not insult him (Jude 9). Ezekiel 28:16-17 is a prophecy of his downfall; see also Isaiah 14:13-14, I Timothy 3:6.
Satan loses the battle and is evicted from heaven, with his angels; God's people have overcome him by the blood of the Lamb (redemption), the word of their testimony (truth, righteousness), and disregard of risk of losing their lives (faith) - Ephesians 6:10-17.
The Woman Persecuted
Satan is cast on earth with his horde, prepared to cause the greatest damage because he knows his time is short (he knows the Scriptures very well). His first concern is the nation of Israel (the woman): God, however, miraculously delivers her (Matthew 24:15-22) by giving her two wings of a great eagle (Exodus 19:4), by means of which she goes to her place in the wilderness.
This place belonging to her, according to Scripture, is in the desert of Moab, now Jordan, south of the Dead Sea, where during 40 years God fed and protected the children of Israel after they left Egypt, before they entered Canaan. This place will escape the Antichrist (Daniel 11:41), and there is found Petra, an ancient city built inside rock only reached through a very narrow passage through the rock. There God will provide her with food and water (Isaiah 33:15-17, 41:17-20, Micah 2:12). The word translated pen or fold in the prophecy of Micah is Bozrah - an ancient city in that region of Mount Seir. A pen or a sheepfold has a narrow entrance, very much like Petra, which makes it a favourite choice as the place where Israel will take refuge.
The flood symbolises an army (Isaiah 59:19), which will be swallowed up by the desert. There will be many Christian Jews by then on earth, not in Israel at that time and who will not take refuge in the mountains; Satan will turn all his energy towards their destruction, by means of the Beast, or the Antichrist, described in the following chapter, giving rise to the Great Tribulation of Israel.
Seventh Trumpet: The Kingdom Proclaimed
15 Then the seventh angel sounded: And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, "The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!"
16 And the twenty-four elders who sat before God on their thrones fell on their faces and worshiped God,
17 saying: "We give You thanks, O Lord God Almighty, The One who is and who was and who is to come, Because You have taken Your great power and reigned.
18 The nations were angry, and Your wrath has come, And the time of the dead, that they should be judged, And that You should reward Your servants the prophets and the saints, And those who fear Your name, small and great, And should destroy those who destroy the earth."
19 Then the temple of God was opened in heaven, and the ark of His covenant was seen in His temple. And there were lightnings, noises, thunderings, an earthquake, and great hail.
Rev 11:15-19 (NKJV)
Revelation 12
The Woman, the Child, and the Dragon
1 Now a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a garland of twelve stars.
2 Then being with child, she cried out in labour and in pain to give birth.
3 And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great, fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads.
4 His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born.
5 She bore a male Child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. And her Child was caught up to God and His throne.
6 Then the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, that they should feed her there one thousand two hundred and sixty days.
Satan Thrown Out of Heaven
7 And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought,
8 but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer.
9 So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
10 Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, "Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down.
11 "And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.
12 "Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time."
The Woman Persecuted
13 Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male Child.
14 But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent.
15 So the serpent spewed water out of his mouth like a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away by the flood.
16 But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the flood which the dragon had spewed out of his mouth.
17 And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.
Rev 12:1-17 (NKJV)