Week 6: Witness in the Midst of Woe
Revelation 8:6-11:19
Question
As you read
Revelation 11 this week, how would you describe worship? Is there a right and
wrong way?
How do you connect
with God through worship best?
Revelation
11:17-18
“We give thanks to
you, Lord God Almighty, who is and who was, for you have taken your great power
and begun to reign. The nations raged, but your wrath came, and the time for
the dead to be judged, and for rewarding your servants, the prophets, and
saints, and those who fear your name…”
This week we come
to the second set of sevens in the book of Revelation. Much like the seven
seals, the seven trumpets symbolize hardships unleashed upon the earth that
ultimately serve the purposes of God. To be honest, these hardships are terrifying.
We see stars falling from the sky, and rampaging angels coming to kill
one-third of the earth’s population. Nevertheless, the truly terrifying part of
this encounter is not the hardships that arise but the world’s response to
them.
Revelation
9:20-21
“The rest of
mankind who were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the work
of their hands; they did not stop worshiping demons, and idols of gold, silver,
bronze, stone, and wood — idols that cannot see or hear or walk. Nor did they
repent of their murders, their magic arts, their sexual immorality, or their
thefts.”
Though God is
acting in the broken world to move sinners toward repentance, there are those
who harden their hearts toward Him. Though God calls us away from sin, there are
those who dig in their heels and refuse to turn away.
Christians must
have a different response. When the world seems to be falling apart and sinners
refuse to repent, we must be willing to rise up and faithfully witness for the
King of Kings. This is exactly the picture we get of the two witnesses in
Revelation 11. Though the world continues on in sin, though hardships abound,
they proclaim the goodness and majesty of the gospel of God.
Are we going to be
the witnesses who proclaim the goodness of God, or are we going to be people
who refuse to repent and persist in sin?
Revelation is not
interested in giving us all the details of the end times. Instead, Revelation
over and over again points us to the King over the end times.
This is the
Revelation of Jesus Christ
THE POINT: God is
judge and we must respond.
Revelation
11:15-19
15 Then the seventh
angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The
kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and
he shall reign forever and ever.” 16 And the twenty-four elders who sit on
their thrones before God fell on their faces and worshiped God, 17 saying, “We
give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, who is and who was, for you have taken
your great power and begun to reign. 18 The nations raged, but your wrath came,
and the time for the dead to be judged, and for rewarding your servants, the
prophets and saints, and those who fear your name, both small and great, and
for destroying the destroyers of the earth.” 19 Then God’s temple in heaven was
opened, and the ark of his covenant was seen within his temple. There were
flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and heavy
hail.
The Holy Bible:
English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Revelation
11:15-19.
Study
Notes:
The seventh angel
blows his trumpet. Remember what this meant. Go back to Revelation 10:7 and
note that when the seventh angel blew his trumpet then all that the prophets
had spoken concerning this event would be fulfilled. This angel was seen in
Daniel 12:7 saying that the shattering of the power of the holy people was
going to come. The angel in Revelation 11:6-7 says there is no more delay. The
shattering of the power of the holy people would take place when the seventh
angel sounds the trumpet. The seventh trumpet now sounds. This picture of the
fall of the city of Jerusalem, the judgment against the physical Jewish nation.
The final judgment of the Jewish nation shows the continuing establishment of
Christ’s kingdom as Christ conquers all of his enemies. The enemies of Christ’s
kingdom have been defeated. Every enemy is being subjected under the feet of
Christ. (1 Corinthians 15:25) Notice verse 18: The nations rage, but your wrath
has come. Time for judgment and time for reward for those who are God’s servants.
This imagery recalls Psalm 2:2 where the nations rage against God’s anointed.
However, Christ rules over the earth and subjects the nations. Verse 19
concludes the woe and it is an important image. God has judged. There are
flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and heavy
hail. These are images that God has brought final judgment on the nation. God’s
temple is seen in heaven, not on the earth. This relates to what we studied in
our previous lesson in Hebrews 12:26-28. The things shaken had to be removed so
that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. Though the physical temple
was destroyed, the true temple of God remains in heaven. The true people of God
remain. Further, the ark of the covenant is seen in heaven, not on earth. The
ark of the covenant represented God’s presence and favor in the Old Testament.
Josephus records that the ark of the covenant was not in the second temple
(Wars V. 219). The ark had been lost when the Babylonians invaded in 586 BC.
God’s presence was never again pictured with the physical nation or the
physical temple in Jerusalem, though the temple had been rebuilt in 516 BC and
was beautified and expanded by Herod at the beginning of the first century. The
ark of the covenant is pictured within the heavenly temple. God’s presence and
favor is with His people, not the physical Jewish nation. God has destroyed
another nation that stood in opposition to the people of God.
Quotes:
“The false gods of
this world seek to destroy you; the God of the Bible seeks to redeem you.” –
Corey Watson
“If you let sin
grow silently in your life, then it will destroy what’s good in your life.” –
Will Bray
“A relationship
with Christ cannot begin until there is repentance.” – Dustin Dozier
“The judgment of
God in Revelation highlights His glory and majesty, but also His mercy toward
the deliverance of His people.” – Pat Gillen
How do Christians respond
to the Judgment of God?
This is how we
should respond:
1)
REPENT
As we stand in awe of God and humbly come to
the understanding that He is holy and we are not, our first step is repentance.
Repentance starts with the acknowledgement of sin in our lives and truly
recognizing that God is Lord and we are not. Let us see what sin actually is,
rebellion against the Lord’s authority and law, and we appeal to God’s mercy as
we turn from it.
2)
PRAY
In response to confession of sin and
recognition of God’s sovereignty, another proper response is to pray. This
isn’t the kind of prayer one prays to ask God to do things from your checklist,
but instead, a prayer of thanksgiving and worship. As we see in the passage,
the twenty-four elders fall on their faces and worship. Do we live with this
type of posture and response to God? How is our prayer life? Let us make being
in the presence of the Most High through prayer be a priority to lead us in
worshiping Him.
3)
SHARE
The natural response to God’s mercy is for us to
share with others the gift of salvation. God’s power and grace are too
beautiful not to share. The most selfish thing any follower of Christ could do
is to not share the gospel with those who need Him. Are we keeping the good
news to ourselves out of fear or a reluctance to be a little uncomfortable?
Questions
for Discussions
How does knowing
that God is Judge change the way we live our daily lives? Should it change how
we interact with others? How and why?
What does true
repentance really look like? Would you say repentance is hard to do? Why or why
not?
As the seventh
trumpet sounds in Revelation 11:15 John once more sees a picture of heaven. How
would you describe the impact of the seventh trumpet? Consider verse 18
especially. Compare the title of God given in Revelation 11:17 to 4:8. What is
different? Why?
Re-read the words
of the elders in Revelation 11:17-18. What are some key observations about
their prayer?
What rewards do you
already experience in your life as a result of your faith in Christ?
Where in our lives
could we see God’s judgment as preventing us from pleasure, and how can we
transform that into viewing God’s judgment as life-giving?
Close
Knowing that God is
“the same yesterday, today, and forever” should change our interaction with a
broken and dying world. How has today’s study challenged or encouraged you to
worship Him? How does your personal time of repentance and prayer lead to sharing
with others?
Pray for someone
who God has placed in your life that needs Jesus. What gospel connection or
conversation will you have with that person this week?
END
Teacher Notes:
The Olivet
Discourse
Read Matthew 24:1-14
The judgments get
increasingly worse and more devastating as the end times progress. The seven
seals, trumpets, and bowls are connected to one another. The seventh seal
introduces the seven trumpets, and the seventh trumpet introduces the seven
bowls.
The seven trumpets are the “contents” of the seventh seal judgment, in that the seventh seal summons the angels who sound the trumpets. - (Revelation 8:1–5)
The judgments
heralded by the seven trumpets will take place during the tribulation period in
the end times.
When the first
angel sounds his trumpet, the world experiences “hail and fire mixed with
blood.” One third of the world’s trees are burned up in this plague, and all
the grass is consumed. This judgment bears some similarities to the seventh
plague in Egypt.
Exodus 9:23–24
When Moses
stretched out his staff toward the sky, the Lord sent
thunder and hail, and lightning flashed down to the ground. So,
the Lord rained hail on the land of Egypt; hail fell, and
lightning flashed back and forth. It was the worst storm in all the land of
Egypt since it had become a nation.
In heaven, a second
angel sounds a trumpet. The result is that “something like a huge mountain, all
ablaze, was thrown into the sea.” A third of the sea turns to blood, a third of
the ships sink, and a third of ocean life dies. This judgment is similar in
some ways to the first plague in Egypt.
Exodus 7:20–21
Moses and Aaron did
just as the Lord had commanded. He raised his staff in the presence of Pharaoh
and his officials and struck the water of the Nile, and all the water was
changed into blood. The fish in the Nile died, and the river smelled so bad
that the Egyptians could not drink its water. Blood was everywhere in Egypt.
The third trumpet
judgment is like the second, except it affects the world’s freshwater lakes and
rivers instead of the oceans. Specifically, “a great star, blazing like a
torch” falls from the sky and poisons a third of the water supply. This star is
given the name Wormwood, and many people die.
The fourth of the
seven trumpets brings about changes in the heavens. “A third of the sun was
struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them
turned dark. A third of the day was without light, and a third of the night.”
Following the
fourth trumpet judgment, John notes a special warning that comes from an eagle
flying. This eagle cries out with a loud voice, saying, “Woe! Woe! Woe to the
inhabitants of the earth, because of the trumpet blasts about to be sounded by
the other three angels.”
(Revelation 8:13)
For this reason,
the fifth, sixth, and seventh trumpets are referred to as the “three woes.”
The fifth trumpet
(the first woe) results in a terrifying plague of “demonic locusts” that attack
and torture the unsaved for five months. The plague begins with a “star”
falling from heaven. This star is most likely a fallen angel, as he is given
“the key to the shaft of the Abyss.” He opens the Abyss, releasing a horde of
“locusts” with “power like that of scorpions.” The locusts do not touch the
plant life of earth; rather, they head straight for “those people who did not
have the seal of God on their foreheads.” For five months, these locusts
torment people, whose agony is so great that they will wish to die, “but death
will elude them.” The locusts are not allowed to kill anyone, only to torture
them.
The sixth trumpet
(the second woe) involves the onslaught of another demonic horde. Once the
sixth trumpet sounds, a voice from the altar of God calls for the release of
“the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.” These four angels
had been kept in captivity for just this purpose: to wreak destruction during
the tribulation. These four wicked angels lead a supernatural cavalry of
thousands upon thousands to kill a third of humanity. The riders have breastplates of “fiery red, dark blue, and yellow”.
Their horses have “the heads of lions, and out of their mouths came fire, smoke
and sulfur,” and “their tails were like snakes.” They kill with their mouths
and with their tails.
Note: Here one-third of all people are killed. In 6:7-8
one-fourth of mankind was killed. Thus, over one-half of the people in the
world will have been killed by God’s great judgments. Even more would have been
killed if God had not set limits on the destruction.
The seven trumpets
are meant to be an alarm clock – a sound of warning to wake us up from our
spiritual sleep.
This world is
passing away – why?
Because of SIN!
Creation is
unraveling – why?
Because of
People have died,
are dying, and will die in the future – why?
Because of
Note: These people were
so hardhearted that even plagues did not drive them to God. People don’t
usually fall into immorality and evil suddenly – they slip into it a little bit
at a time until, hardly realizing what has happened, they are irrevocably mired
in their wicked ways. Any person who allows sin to take root in their life can
find themselves in this predicament. Temptation entertained today becomes sin
tomorrow, then a habit the next day, then death and separation from God forever
(James 1:15). To think you could never become this evil is the first step
toward a hard heart. Acknowledge your need to confess your sin before God.
Our SIN is never small – it’s never not a BIG DEAL.
“If you let sin grow silently in your life, then it will destroy what’s good in your life.” – Will Bray
Jesus went to pray in the garden of Gethsemane and He asked Peter,
James, and John to keep watch – what did they do but fall asleep! Matthew
26:40-46
Note: Following the sixth trumpet judgment John sees
a mighty angel descend from heaven – his purpose is clear – to announce the
final judgment on the earth. His right foot on the sea and left foot on the
land indicate that his words deal with all of creation, not just a limited part
as did the seal and trumpet judgments. The seventh trumpet will usher in the
seven bowl judgments, which will bring an end to the present world.
Next comes a
description of the two witnesses who will preach in Jerusalem and perform
miracles before they are murdered. God will then raise them back to life and
take them to heaven.
(Revelation
11:1–13)
Who are
these two witnesses?
These two witnesses
bear a strong resemblance to Moses and Elijah, two of God’s mighty prophets.
With God’s power, Moses called plagues down upon the nation of Egypt. Elijah
defeated the prophets of Baal. Both men appeared with Christ at His
transfiguration. Enoch and Elijah are another consideration as they both were
raptured before death on earth.
The whole world
rejoices at the deaths of these two witnesses who have caused trouble by saying
what the people didn’t want to hear – words about their sin, their need for
repentance, and the coming punishment. Sinful people hate those who call
attention to their sin and who urge them to repent. They hated Christ and they
hated His followers. When you obey Christ and take a stand against sin, be
prepared to experience the world’s hatred. But remember that a great reward
awaiting you in heaven far outweighs any suffering that you face now.
The seventh trumpet
(the third woe) is sounded, announcing the arrival of the King. There is no
turning back. The coming bowl judgments are no longer partial, but complete in
their destruction. God is in control, and He unleashes His full wrath on the
evil world that refuses to turn to Him. When His wrath begins, there will be no
escape.
The end has come.
There are many similarities between the bowl judgments and the trumpet judgments, but there are three main differences:
- These judgments are complete whereas the trumpet judgments are partial.
- The trumpet judgments still give unbelievers the opportunity to repent, but the bowl judgments do not.
- Mankind is indirectly affected by several of the trumpet judgments but directly attacked by the bowl judgments.
Woe means “grief, anguish, affliction”; the three woes of Revelation are the final judgment God pronounces on the evil inhabitants of the earth to spur them to repentance. (Revelation 9:20)
This third woe
marks the finishing of God’s judgment on sin; it occupies the book of
Revelation through the 19th chapter, when Christ’s Kingdom is established on
earth. Incorporated within this third and final woe are the seven “bowls” of
God’s wrath, described in Revelation 16:1-21.
Note: This
“bowl” series of judgments is the greatest horror the citizens of earth have
ever seen. Jesus said, “If those days had not been cut short, no one would
survive.” - (Matthew 24:22)
How are we respond
to the Judgment of God?
“The judgment of
God in Revelation highlights His glory and majesty, but also His mercy toward
the deliverance of His people.” – Pat Gillen
How does knowing
that God is Judge change the way we live our daily lives?
Should it change
how we interact with others? How and why?
How are we respond
to the Judgment of God?
Repent – Pray –
Share
“A relationship
with Christ cannot begin until there is repentance.”
– Dustin Dozier
What does true repentance really look like? Would you say repentance is hard to do? Why or why not?
True repentance
goes beyond remorse, regret, or feeling bad about one’s sin. It involves more
than merely turning away from sin.
Repentance involves
a complete and irreversible change of mind, heart, and actions. We recognize
that our sin is offensive to God. We make an about-face, heart-directed turn
away from self to God, from the past to a future ruled by God’s commands,
acknowledging that the Lord reigns supreme over our existence.
Unrepentance is the
sin of willfully remaining sinful.
REPENT
This is your last chance!
