The 2nd Woe is complete as the two witnesses, Enoch and Elijah, complete their ministry to the world. At this point everyone has had the opportunity to respond to their call. Those who did, have gained eternal life. Those who have rejected the truth, and have chose to mock Jesus and His offer (Gift) of eternal life, will now have to experience the 3rd Woe. Verse 14 ends with:
" The second Woe has past; behold the third Woe is coming"
John writes in verses 15 - 17:
(15)"And the seventh angel sounded; and there arose loud voices in heaven, saying,
'The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of the Lord, and of His Christ;
and He will 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 thee
thanks, O Lord God, the Almighty, who art and who wast, because Thou hast taken
Thy great power and hast begun to reign."
If you notice what was written in verse 15, when the seventh angel sounds the last trumpet, it says that the kingdom of this world has become the kingdom of the Lord, and of His Christ. How many times have we heard someone say," If there is a God, then why would He allow these bad things to happen?" The truth is, bad things happen because the god of the earth, during this age, is Satan. Although Satan has been allowed to be the god of this world for a time, he does have limitations of what Jesus will not allow him to do. If Jesus did not put limitations on Satan, can you imagine how bad things could be. Paul wrote this in his second letter to the Corinthians Chapter 4, verse 3 and 4;
(3) "And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, (4) in whose
case the god of this world (Age) has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that they
might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God."
So if Satan is the God of this world, for a time, then what is Jesus doing? Jesus is doing what He said he was going to be doing in the gospel of John Chapter 14, verses 2 and 3;
(2) In my Father's house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told
you; for I go to prepare a place for you. (3) And if I go and prepare a place for you,
I will come again, and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also."
Also, John writes what Jesus said to Pilate in Chapter 18, verse 36;
"My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, then my servants
would be fighting, that I might not be delivered up to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom
is not of this realm.
Jesus kingdom is not of this realm, it is being prepared in a spiritual realm. This is what Jesus has been doing since He has ascended into the heavens. With the power of His Holy Spirit, He has been calling people to come to Him and receive eternal life. A person must be born again of the Spirit of God to be able to enter the place that Jesus is preparing. Jesus said in the 3rd Chapter of Revelation, verse 20;
"Behold, I stand at the the door (of the soul) and knock; if ANYONE hears my voice
and opens the door, I will come in to him, and will dine with him, and he with Me."
When a person opens their hearts door to Jesus and lets Him come in, they are now born of the Spirit of God and receive eternal life. This is what Jesus is interested in. He let's Satan do his evil and then Jesus uses it for good. If everything were always wonderful, then people would get complaisant and not look to what is true. This is how Satan is going to deceive many, with a false wonderful peace. After this, sudden destuction will come such has never been. If you notice in this world that people who are blinded to the truth have very little struggles in this world and those who believe the truth always seem to be in trials. Satan whats to make those who are blinded to the truth as comfortable as possible so that he can keep them blinded as he drags them into the lake of fire with him. The earth is as close as believers will get to hell, and unbelievers will get to heaven. Every individual is responsible for their own decision as to which road they will go.
So when the 7th trumpet is sounded Jesus then removes the rule over the earth from Satan, Then the kingdom of the world will become Jesus kingdom forever. When this occurs, we see the twenty-elders giving thanks because Jesus has begun to reign. In verse 18, John writes what the elders continued to say:
"And the nations become enraged, and Thy wrath came, and the time came for the
dead to be judged, and the time to give their reward to Thy bond-servants the prophets
and to the saints and to those who fear Thy name, the small and the great, and to
destroy those who are destoying the earth."
The reward is the resurrection of the believers who will receive their new glorified bodies that will join with their spirits. As Paul wrote in his first letter to the Corinthians Chapter 15, verse 51 and 52;
(51) "Behold, I tell you a mystery; we shall not all die, but we shall be changed, (52) In
a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound,
and the dead shall rise imperishable, and we shall be change."
Those who are left on the earth, those who chose to mock the truth and not receive it, will become enraged. At this time, Satan will gather all the armies of the world to the valley called Armageddon, and try to stop Jesus from coming and executing His wrath. They will fall short. Jesus wrath will come because man and their armies, at the anti-christ hand, had been destoying the earth and innocent lives.
John completes Chapter 11, in verse 19 with;
"And the temple of God which is in heaven was opened; and the ark of His covenant
appeared in His temple, and there were flashes of lightning and sounds and peals
of thunder and an earthquake and a great hailstorm."
This passage is very interesting. The temple of God in heaven is opened and the ark of His covenant appeared in His temple. What will occur at this time, is that there will an opening between the heavenly realm and the physical realm. Those who are left on the earth, by their choice, will see heaven open up and they will see the ark of the covenant. I have wrote in earlier blogs, that the ark of Noah, which recued his family, because they were the only ones who wanted to get on board, is a shadow of what God would do in Himself. All who receive Jesus, become a part of Him, His body
(The Church). This is how we are recued from the wrath (Fire). Jesus is the ark in which believers are rescued. This is what is seen when heaven is opened up. The last thing to note here is the great hailstorm. In Revelation 16, verse 21, it says;
"And huge hailstones, about one hundred pounds each, came down from heaven
upon men,........."
Now this is just my theory as to why such huge hailstones could fall from heaven. At the resurrection, as the believers, who are alive at that time, are caught up to meet the Lord in the air, their old bodies are tranformed into a new glorified spiritual body. At that momented, as Jesus said, "flesh and blood can not enter the kingdom of God," would mean that the old bodies, which are made of 98% water would have to be shed. As these bodies pass through the upper atmosphere of very cold weather, they freeze leaving about one hundred pounds of ice, that will fall to the earth.
My next blog will ask readers to read my previous blogs, from the beginning forward. In the coming blogs on Revelation, it will be important to know what I have already written, because I don't want to have to repeat everything that I have already written. What I have already written will help put things in the proper perspective as we continue.
May Jesus peace be with you.
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