তৃতীয় এবং শেষ "দুঃখ"

“The second woe is past; and, behold, the third woe cometh quickly.” ~ Revelation 11:14

The scriptures that follow start the third and final ”woe” of Revelation. And really, this last “woe” continues all the way through to the end of Revelation.

For context to the reader: the three woes of Revelation started back in Revelation 8:13, after four of the seven trumpet angel/messengers had already sounded. Within the Scriptures, trumpets are symbolic of sounding an alarm, warning the people of God. When the people heard the trumpets, they recognized them as a call for them to gather together to both: worship, and for fighting a battle together in unity against the enemy.

And so the angels sounding the final three trumpets (described as “woes”) were introduced to us back in Revelation 8:13:

“And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound!”

A previous article titled “ধিক, ধিক, থ্রি ট্রাম্পেট এঞ্জেল ম্যাসেঞ্জার থেকে ধিক্” introduces us to the three woes. The first two woes of the three are described in even more detail within previous posts covering Revelation 9:13 through 11:13.

So in a short summary, the three final “woes” are ordered as follows:

1. দ্য first woe, by the fifth gospel trumpet of judgement, cleanses the spiritual temple, so that the Spirit of God can fill it.
2. দ্য second woe, by the sixth gospel trumpet of judgement, exposes the hypocrites who are outside of the temple, that still want to be recognized as part of the spiritual city of God’s church.
3. And the third, by the seventh gospel trumpet of judgement, is the final woe, that judges the city of hypocrisy. Consequently, the third woe actually continues until the end of chapter 18, where the spiritual city of Babylon is destroyed.

So now, starting with the remaining scriptures, we begin the third and final “woe”, which purges the old unfaithful city: by completely destroying it!

“The second woe is past; and, behold, the third woe cometh quickly. And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever. “ ~ Revelation 11:14-15

This is a declaration of spiritual war! No other kingdoms will remain standing!

Before spiritually destroying all the unfaithful kingdoms of hypocrites and open idolatry, the people of God are declaring the kingdom that will ultimately reign. This is part of the faithfulness of God. Before he destroys the evil, he clearly declares the truth. This is so that any honest heart can separate themselves from the evil kingdoms of men.

But let us further clarify who these are, that are voicing such a powerful declaration of the kingdom, and of the sovereignty of God and his son Jesus Christ?

They are the ones who have the same salvation and testimony, as the saints of ancient history. They are the ones who are obedient to the Word of God, and the Spirit of God. The full evidence of this obedience is found in the fruit of their visible unity in worship, and in their response to the call and warnings that came from the seven trumpet messages.

“And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God, Saying, We give thee thanks, O LORD God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned.” ~ Revelation 11:16-17

The way God “takes to himself his great power and reigns” is through people! People who in true unity of the Word and the Spirit, submit themselves completely to the will and purpose of God. And of course, the ministry are the ones first held accountable for demonstrating among themselves this true love and unity!

But has this happened yet? No! Because the result would be spiritual thunderstorms and earthquakes that only God can cause, and that all people cannot ignore. People today are still too easily ignoring the truth. And they continue to live unaffected in their hypocrisy and sinful pleasures.

If the ministry claiming holiness and full consecration, cannot have enough respect for how the Holy Spirit chooses to work through another minister in another locality: how can they declare the sovereignty of the one Kingdom of God?

If those claiming to be true ministers of the gospel recognize the salvation of souls in other localities, but cannot respect the minister who labored to establish those souls: how can their be the unity of worship that fully honors and respects God himself?

If a minister cannot reach out the hands of fellowship to every blood washed one who is doing their best to be obedient to God, how can they declare the complete end of divisive sects?

In the previous “second woe,” the end result of that woe, was that one tenth of the city fell. This city spoken of represents the fallen spiritual city of Jerusalem, which was labeled in that woe as Sodom and Egypt, to show how low it had become. But now, in the third and final woe, the intention is to fully expose how that same city has become spiritual Babylon! And being exposed as such, it must be completely destroyed: not just one tenth of it.

When a hypocrite’s kingdom gets exposed, they get highly offended and angry!

“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.” ~ Revelation 11:18

This fulfillment of the woes to completely destroy hypocrisy, is also a fulfillment of the exoneration of those faithful and true, that have been persecuted by the hypocrites. Their cry for exoneration was previously heard in Revelation, back in chapter 6:

“And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.” ~ Revelation 6:9-11

Only Almighty God can accomplish such a great work to fully expose hypocrisy, and to exonerate the just. And as stated before: he will only do this thru a ministry and a people, who in humble unity have consecrated themselves collectively, as one body, to the will of Lord. Then the actual presence of God himself, will be seen by everyone thru an open temple experience within the hearts of the people!

“And the temple of God 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.” ~ Revelation 11:19

This is symbolic language. In the Old Testament, the presence of the Ark of God, represented the actual presence of God himself. But the temple was mostly closed back then, so few actually saw the Ark. But here the Ark is clearly seen within a wide open temple. And we see the results of his presence. Spiritual things that only an Almighty God can do: lightnings, thunderings, an earthquake, and great hail!

People cannot ignore spiritual: lightnings, thunderings, earthquakes, and great hail. It gets their attention, and they always respond in some way to it.

But until these things happen, have you been responding to God’s call to complete consecration and unity? Will you be part of those sounding the final woe? Or are you part of the city that will completely fall? The fallen spiritual city of hypocrisy, called Babylon.

Note: this diagram below shows where this seventh trumpet related message is within the full Revelation message. To better understand a high level view of Revelation, you can also see the “প্রকাশের রোডম্যাপ"