Jeanie C. Crain http://crain.english.missouriwestern.edu

The conclusion of chapter eight of Revelation has introduced three woes to come in chapter nine; this next chapter ends with a judgment: "20: And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk:21: Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts." That the masses repented not heralds yet the third woe, more apocalyptic visions and spiritual warfare following the opening of the seventh seal. A new heaven and earth will be delayed until almost the end of the book, chapter twenty.

Three Woes

I.

1: And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit.
2: And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.
3: And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.
4: And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads.
5: And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man.
6: And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.

John sees a star fallen from heaven onto the earth.  Luke 10.17 and 18, following the appointment of the seventy sent to labor in the harvest,  reports Jesus as saying, "I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning" in response to their report, "Lord, in your name, even the demons submit to us."

He, the star, "was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit" (1).  From this pit, demonic locusts swarm out upon the earth, allowed to torture and kill those who have not been sealed against apostasy (4). People will begin to seek death, to long for it, but death will be denied to them (6).

7: And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men.
8: And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions.
9: And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle.
10: And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months.
11: And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon..

Following the demonic locusts, John reports that they have "as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit" (11); his name is Destruction itself, Abaddon in Hebrew Apollyon in Greek. This plague of scorpion-like locusts will last for five months. "The first woe is passed.  There are still two woes to come" (12).

II.

Structurally, John is clear: "The first woe has passed.  There are still two woes to come"  serves to announce the sounding of the sixth trumpet(12). This is an event which is similar to what happened in the breaking of the sixth seal  in 6:12-14 but is interrupted by the two visions of  assurance that God's people are secure (martyrs and those sealed against apostasy).: "When he opened the sixth seal, I looked and there came a great earthquake; the sun became black...; the full moon became like blood...and the stars of heaven fell... The sky vanished..."  When the sixth trumpet sound, the reader  meets a demonic cavalry, worse than the locusts before them who only tormented and hurt; fully "a third of human kind was killed" by these three plagues (the locusts, cavalry, and the final woe, not occurring until 11.14.  Once again, John is clear: "The second woe has passed.  The third woe is coming very soon." In the third woe, the four angels introduced in chapter seven as "standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth so that no wind could blow on earth or sea or against any tree" are released (15). We learn these angels have "been held ready for the hour, the day, the month, and the year, to kill a third of humankind" (15).

John is also repeating a pattern of delay between the sixth and seventh trumpet, the seventh announcing the consummation of God's kingdom.  This announcement takes up again the proclamation of "There will be no more delay" in 10.17.  Ironically, Revelation delays the inevitable with cycles and interludes taking on more the nature of time suspended than time becoming.  Remember,  chapter eleven will announce triumphantly that "The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord" (15). The twenty-four elders "who sit on their thrones before God" will fall down and their faces and worship God, singing thanks that end resoundingly on the note of disaster on earth: "The nations raged, but your wrath has come and the time for judging the dead, for rewarding your servants, the prophets, and all who fear your name, both small and great, and for destroying those who destroy the earth" (16-18). Only afterwards in eternity's timelessness will God's temple in heaven be opened" and "the ark of the covenant be seen within, " marked by the now familiar but dramatically self-enhancing  "flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and heavy hail" (19). The third woe, then, is the heralding of seventh trumpet broken off in 9.21.  It may be easier for readers to see rather than hear the structure:

II. Seven Seals 6-8.1	1.White horse 6.2--conquers, Christ
	2.Red horse 6.3--takes peace from earth, war
	3.Black horse 6.6--scales, famine
	4.Green horse6.8--pestilence and death
	5.Souls of martyrs 6.9
	6.Earthquake  6.12-17
	Two Vision s 7.1-8 Four angels at the four corners of the earth and "the seven angels who stand before God with trumpets"
	7.9-17 Multitude of the Redeemed
	7. Unsealed scroll and silence
III. Seven Trumpets blown by Seven Angels	1. hail, fire, blood 8.7
	2. mountain into sea; 1/3 sea, blood 8.8; 1/3 creatures, ships destroyed
	3star (Wormwood) from heaven; 1/3 waters bitter; 8.10
	4.1/3 sun, moon, stars, day kept from shining 8.12
	5.bottomless pit, demonic locusts torment people without seal of God on their foreheads 9
	6.demonic calvary 9.13-20; 1/3 humankind killed
	Vision of the Little Scroll 10
	Measuring of the Termple of God 11; 2 witnesses; beast
	7. Consummation of God's Kingdom; temple in heaven opened 11

The consummation of God's kingdom is both triumph of the eternal and destruction of the temporal. But even yet, the end has not come: there must be a measuring "of the temple of God and those,  who worship there" (11.1); there must also be forty-two months of the temple's outer court, the place of Gentiles, being trampled over, "for it is given to the nations"; the same amount of time must is given over  to two witnesses to prophesy for 1260 days.  These witnesses will be killed (11.7) but become resurrected in a very definite three and a half days (11. 11). They will be commanded, "Come up here!" (12). They will be taken into heaven, and the second woe is marked as passing by an earthquake.

 Before the consummation of the kingdom of God, there will occur the vision of the woman, the child, and dragon in chapter twelve and conflict between Christ and Satan will take place.  Two beasts, from the sea and earth, will join in the battle; an interlude of three visions intended to reassure those amid trials and persecutions begins in chapter fourteen; still the end is not yet.  In sixteen, the seven angels pour out bowls of wrath and plagues upon the earth. Babylon falls, is lamented (18), and a multitude in heaven rejoices (19). The supreme victory of Christ is delayed until chapter 19, where acknowledged as Word of God, He and angelic hosts begin the final battle in which the three beasts, including Satan, are defeated.   Only in chapter twenty will earth and heaven flee from God's presence and no place be found for evil.  In chapter twenty-one, the reader will discover a new heaven and earth.

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Last modified: October 27, 2005