The Three “Woes”

 

Revelation 8:13:  “Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the earth, at the blast of the other trumpets which the three angels are about to blow!”

 

            In 8:13 the angel announces that the last three of the “seven trumpets” will bring three “woes.“  There follows the description of these trumpets and the woes they bring.  The fifth trumpet brings the first of these woes and is described in chapter 9:1-12.  “One woe is past; [and], behold, there come two woes more hereafter.” (Revelation 9:12)

            The sixth trumpet shows the second woe:  9:13 through 11:14:  “The second woe is past; [and], behold, the third woe cometh quickly.” (Revelation 11:14)  Note that in 11:19, following the second ‘woe,’ “the temple of God was opened in heaven.”  (See Commentary at 11:19 “Temple Opened in Heaven“.)

            The third ‘woe’ includes all the events that follow the seventh trumpet which are described in the passage from 11:15 through 20:10.  It includes the seven vials of wrath poured out and the destruction of Babylon/Jerusalem.

            From the point of the blowing of the seventh trumpet, we are shown the tactics used by the dragon in his atrocities against the earth/land, (12:3-17).  He takes the form of a “beast out of the sea” (13:1), then the form of a “beast out of the earth,” (13:11).  By these methods he deceives all nations (18:23) until he is finally destroyed in 20:10.

            Following the transfer of the temple to heaven we find also the description of the great red dragon’s war against the heavenly host.  In 12:12 heaven is told to rejoice, but earth and sea are warned of the ‘woe’ that is coming upon it because the dragon has been cast down into the earth/land.  This ‘woe’ is fulfilled by the seven vials of the wrath of God, (15:7).

            These seven last plagues are reminiscent of Isaiah 5:8-22 where ‘woe’ is pronounced six times and the sins being judged are much the same as those of the Pharisees of the New Testament, (see especially Matthew 23 for the seven ‘woes’ pronounced upon the scribes and Pharisees.)  A seventh ‘woe’ is implied in Isaiah 5:26-30 when their enemy comes upon them to destroy them.

            Plagues and woes were instruments for cutting off the wicked.  The Hebrew word dabar, usually translated ‘word’, signifies ‘to bring into order’.  Its related form deber signifies ‘to subdue by a plague’.  When the Word is rejected, order is rejected and the plague ensues.