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 Master, and of his Messiah; and he shall reign for ever and ever.
16: And the four and twenty elders, which sat before Elohim on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshipped Elohim,
17: Saying, We give thee thanks, O Yehovah Elohim 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 Elohim 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 Elohim) 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 Elohim 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 elohim should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.

At the 7th Trumpet (the 3rd Woe) 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 Yehovah Elohim 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 Yehovah'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 elohim, 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 elohim 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 Yehovah, the spiritually called out ones, the 'wife' or church of the Almighty, whose faithful members make up the Israel of Elohim!
The 'man-child' who is to rule all nations with the rod of iron (absolute authority) is Y'shua the Messiah, the only begotten Son of the living Elohim.
The 'dragon' is Satan, the leader of the revolution against the Eternal. During this Woe, the Almighty will miraculously protect his spiritual 'wife', believers, from Satan's wrath, especially those of Zion who are clothed in His righteousness and who take their stand upon the requirements.

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 Yehovah the Almighty Elohim 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 Yehovah'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 Elohim, 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 Master Y'shua Messiah, 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 Messiah 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 Elohim, or that is worshipped; so that he as Elohim sitteth in the temple of Elohim, shewing himself that he is Elohim.
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 Elohim, 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.