The Seven Trumpets Part 2: The Three Woes!

Warning and Rebuke

The word “woe” means: a warning and a rebuke. It both condemns evil and laments it. It expresses righteous anger toward sin and grief or sorrow over its consequences, including impending judgment.” -Daniel M. Doriani

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Proverbs 9:8 (NKJV)

“Do not correct a scoffer, lest he hate you; Rebuke a wise man, and he will love you.”

That is one of the core messages of the Judgments found in the book of revelation…God…through natural disasters…and allowing humanity’s sinful passions run wild…God is offering a rebuke to those on the earth....those who have their mind…their lives…and their hope…firmly rooted on the earth…and not in God...

Last week we discussed the first four trumpet judgments of God in the form of natural disasters...

Hail and fire mixed with blood

a mountain thrown into the sea

a star falling from heaven like a blazing torch poisoning the rivers and streams

and the darkening of the world; 1/3 of sun, moon, and stars…lost their light....the world became darker…

Today we read of the final three trumpet judgments…known as the three woes...

Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary defines “woe” as:

“a state of great suffering of body or mind”

A biblical understanding would add to that...an expression of grief…meant as a rebuke and warning…grief that people often do not change their ways...a warning for the need to change our ways...

In his book, For What It's Worth, commentator Paul Harvey tells about an announcement that came across the intercom of a passenger jet.

"There's a warning light for the thermal expander valve on the number two engine," said the pilot, "and I will not fly until it is replaced. Please return to the terminal waiting room."

The passengers were off the plane only ten minutes when they were told to get back on again.

A passenger from Hartland, Minnesota, asked a flight attendant,

"Did they get a new thermal expander valve already?"

The attendant said,

"Oh no! There's not one of those things within a thousand miles. ...They got us a new pilot."

I’m not sure I would get back on that plane...

Why? Because that “new pilot” clearly had no problems flying that plane despite it having a warning light…indicating a part needed to be replaced...

What good is a warning…if a person doesn’t pay attention to it?

If we do not pay attention to a warning…and adjust our choices and actions accordingly…then the warning is useless…and the consequences are on us…alone....

The Three Woes

Today we will discuss the last three trumpet judgments…known as “the three woes”...

Jesus famously offers 7 “woes” to the scribes and pharisees in Matthew 23...

Jesus calls those religious leaders...

blind guides

hypocrites

fools

serpents and “brood of vipers”…facing a sentence to hell...

…for their desire to be seen and heard…for their gathering of earthly treasures and pleasures…instead of pursuing a life with God…they honor God with their lips…but their hearts are far from him...

In the Woe judgments…the 5th, 6th, and 7th trumpet judgments…we read of God’s ongoing answer to the imprecatory prayers of the saints…for God’s justice to reign...

Last week we mentioned that the seal and trumpet judgments…were framed in the context of worship…indicating that even God’s judgments…as bad as they may seem to us…are holy…are just…and therefore are…good...

Just like a warning light on a plane…indicating something is broken or in need of attention…the three woes are…are the warning light to everyone…to pay attention…to turn from their sinful ways…and turn toward Christ...

Just after Jesus offers the seven ‘woes’ to the scribes and pharisees…he says this in Matthew 23:37

Matthew 23:37 ESV

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!

The key phrase there is “you were not willing.”

How many times in your life of faith…have you not been ‘willing’…to hear God’s warning…to accept God’s call…to follow Jesus with all your heart, mind, and soul…putting everything else in your life as…secondary?

Are you willing to hear these judgments of ‘woe’…as a call to renewed relationship with Jesus Christ…knowing it does not depend on our faithfulness…but on His faithfulness…?

If so…even these woes of Revelation…are good news…to those who put their trust in the God who saves us…not because we’ve earned it…but because of God’s faithfulness and grace...

When we baptize a person into the Christian faith…we talk about how baptize is a sign and seal…that we belong to God…that we are God’s own…

The first woe…speaks of a fallen star…(some say its Satan or a demon…although one commentator…asked “why would the jailer give the keys to an imprisoned inmate?”)…this fallen star…or angel…was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit…or the place of the dead...

Out of this pit…pours demonic “locusts” that were “told not to harm the grass of the earth or any green plant or any tree, but only those people who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads.” …and they were give 5 months to torture but not kill the people who were not sealed...

This tells us two important things...

Revelation 9:4–6 (ESV)

They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any green plant or any tree, but only those people who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. They were allowed to torment them for five months, but not to kill them, and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings someone. And in those days people will seek death and will not find it. They will long to die, but death will flee from them.

There will be those…sealed by God…baptized believers…on the earth…during these chaotic and terrifying events...

Even in judgment…God limits…puts boundaries around how far the judgment goes…yet another indication of God’s care…for God’s creation…this is just part of the process of making all things new...

The first limit or restriction God places on the demonic locusts…is for them not to act like locusts…

They are told…not to eat anything a locust normally eats…instead they are allowed…to “torment” (the word means “infliction of severe suffering or pain associated with torture”)…those who have not been sealed by God…unbelievers...

The second restriction is “they were allowed to torment them for 5 months but not kill them”…similar to God allowing the devil to afflict Job…but not kill him…but death…is the limit…and 5 months…is symbolic of a limited time period…it will not last forever...

Interestingly…the Roman emperor at the time of the writing of Revelation…was Domitian…who viewed himself as Apollo incarnate...

(Apollo was a Greek god…son of Zeus...The sun god, and also a god of healing, prophecy, poetry, and music. The protector of crops and herds.)…

...and Apollo’s symbol was that of a locust…leading some commentators to see this as a critique of the “imperial cult” or “emperor worship”…so prominent in the Roman empire…and something Jesus warned the church about in chapters 2 & 3...

Whether or not this was an attack on the powers of John’s day or not…in addition to that…and more prominently…this is a woe of dramatic effect…demons are released and they torment the very people that are on their side (or opposed to God)...

Proverbs 30:27 (ESV)

the locusts have no king...

But in Revelation…their king is Satan…the destroyer…the advisory…the one scripture tells us is against us…who seeks to devour us…who lies…steal…and kills...

This demonic force is fierce…but are limited…God is in control...

The 6th trumpet and 2nd woe are the 4-unleashed angles bound at the Euphrates (the eastern boundary of the Roman empire; the river that flows from Eden; God’s covenant with Abraham Gen15)…to kill a third of humanity (over 2 billion people)

Can you imagine that?

After a fearsome description…of a 200 million person…mounted army…who brought with them horrific capacity to kill…we see the point of these woes...

Revelation 9:20–21 ESV

The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands nor give up worshiping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk, nor did they repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.

The point of all the judgments in the book of Revelation is a desire by God to provoke repentance from sin and trust in God, in Christ Jesus, to be our savior and Lord.

But people won’t have it…they double down as they say…the dig in deeper in their defiance…they don’t want God…

At Jesus first advent...generosity and grace didn’t woo them to God…and at his second advent…judgment and wrath won’t move them either.

The seventh and final trumpet judgment and the 3rd woe is a description of the eschaton (Jesus’ return).

…the silent singing monks video…shared these words that inspired Handel’s Messiah.

It could be summed up as “the time has come”. Friends the time has come in your life and mine to put away the former things; our pet or secret sins, the things we idolize and put before God; the time has come to repent, return to God, accept and believe in Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and savior.

(READ THIS ONE)

It could be summed up as “the time has come”. Friends the time has come in your life…and mine…to put away the former things…our pet or secret sins…the things we idolize and put before God…the time has come to repent…return to God…accept and believe in Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and savior...

pay attention to the warning lights in your life...Soften your heart to God…receive His amazing grace…and love…be ready…be on watch...Christ’s return is near…

Thanks be to God…AMEN