In the previous article we aligned the prophetic characteristics of the fifth trumpet, which is the first woe, with the soon-coming Sunday law. Considering the fifth trumpet as the first of the last three trumpets from the approach that the first illustrates the last, aligns the prophetic role of Islam of the first woe with the earthquake of Revelation eleven. I received an email from a friend the day after we discussed this article of the Sabbath meeting, and my friend was also trying to align the sixth trumpet, which is the second woe, with the soon-coming Sunday law. This is a valid approach for the last three trumpets are three woes.
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! Revelation 8:13.
The last three trumpets are a distinct symbol within the seven trumpets as are the last three churches distinct from the first four and the last three seals are distinct from the seven seals. This prophetic truth has been often addressed through the years. Along with considering the light produced by considering the first and third woe as an alpha and an omega symbol, we must also consider the three woes as a triple application of prophecy.
A triple application of prophecy identifies that all the prophetic characteristics of the first and second woe will exist in the third woe. The first woe was Islam of Arabia and the second woe was Islam of Turkey. The first woe was to “torment” and the second woe was to “kill” a third part of men.
Torment of the First Woe
And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man. … And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months. Revelation 9:5, 10.
Death of the Second Woe
And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men. … By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths. Revelation 9:15, 18.
The two thirds of men that were not killed, did not repent.
And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk: Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts. Revelation 9:20, 21.
The seven trumpets typify the seven last plagues, and in verse twenty the trumpets are called plagues. The United States is one third of the threefold union of the dragon, beast and false prophet, and it is killed as the sixth kingdom at the Sunday law. Its death was brought about because of false worship, typified by “the works of their hands,” the “worship” of “devils and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood” of “murders,” “sorceries,” “fornication” and “theft.”
False worship, typified by Sunday worship is the “cause” that is to be repented of, but they repented not, so the “effect” is the torment and death brought by the locusts of Islam. Though one third of men, the United States is killed at the Sunday law the other two thirds does not repent.
Woes and Angels
The first and second woes correspond to the first and second angels of Millerite history, and that history is repeated to the very letter in the history of the one hundred and forty-four thousand. The history of the one hundred and forty-four thousand is the history of the third angel and corresponds to the third woe. Just as the waymarks of the Millerite history are repeated in the history of the one hundred and forty-four thousand, so too, the waymarks of the first and second woes will be repeated in the history of the third angel.
“The first and second messages were given in 1843 and 1844, and we are now under the proclamation of the third; but all three of the messages are still to be proclaimed. It is just as essential now as ever before that they shall be repeated to those who are seeking for the truth. By pen and voice we are to sound the proclamation, showing their order, and the application of the prophecies that bring us to the third angel’s message. There cannot be a third without the first and second. These messages we are to give to the world in publications, in discourses, showing in the line of prophetic history the things that have been and the things that will be.” Selected Messages, book 2, 104.
Our work as students of prophecy is to combine the first and second angels’ messages into the third angel’s message. Without the first two messages you cannot have a third message, for “there cannot be a third without the first and second.” This is true in terms of ‘sequence,’ for if there is no first and second, then the third is actually the first. It is also true in terms of ‘content,’ for the prophetic characteristics of the first and second identify the characteristics of the third. Mathematically there is no third without a first and second, and prophetically there are no waymarks in the third angel, if the waymarks of the first and second are left out.
“God has given the messages of Revelation 14 their place in the line of prophecy, and their work is not to cease till the close of this earth’s history. The first and second angel’s messages are still truth for this time, and are to run parallel with this which follows. The third angel proclaims his warning with a loud voice. ‘After these things,’ said John, ‘I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power, and the earth was lightened with his glory.’ In this illumination, the light of all the three messages is combined.” The 1888 Materials, 803, 804.
Our work is to show “in the line of prophetic history the things that have been” in the movement of the Millerites, “and the things that will be” in the movement of the one hundred and forty-four thousand.
“The Lord is about to punish the world for its iniquity. He is about to punish religious bodies for their rejection of the light and truth which has been given them. The great message, combining the first, second, and third angels’ messages, is to be given to the world. This is to be the burden of our work.” The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, volume 7, 950.
The combining of the message of the first and second angel is what lightens the earth when the angel of Revelation eighteen descends. She stated, “‘After these things,’ said John, ‘I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power, and the earth was lightened with his glory.’ In this illumination, the light of all the three messages is combined.” The “illumination” associated with “the earth” being “lightened” is accomplished when “the light of all three messages is combined.” The work of combining line upon line the three messages by bringing the Millerite history into two parallel with the history of the one hundred and forty-four thousand is also to be accomplished with the three woes.
The fall of Babylon, as proclaimed by the second angel cannot be separated from the message of the first angel. The message of the first angel identified the Second Coming of Christ in 1843, and when the message failed, the effect of the message produced the fall of the Protestant churches. The effect was the second angel, the cause was the failure of the first angel. Had there been no first angel, there would have been no fall of Babylon as proclaimed by the second angel. The element that bound the cause and effect together was “time.” The “time” (1843) failed to materialize and that failure produced the “effect.” The “cause” was the error of identifying that the three prophecies which Miller had incorrectly concluded would end around 1843. Those three prophecies of 1335, 2300, and the 2520 years Miller had believed would terminate with Christ coming in the clouds in 1843. When the time prophecies Miller had incorrectly understood failed, it provided the reason for the Protestants to reject the message of the first angel, and the second angel arrived. The first angel was the “cause” and the second was the “effect.”
The first and second angels’ messages cannot be separated, for they are prophetically connected by prophetic time. The first and second woes are also prophetically connected by “time.” The time prophecy of the first woe identifying one hundred and fifty years of torment ends exactly where the time prophecy of three hundred ninety-one years and fifteen days of the second woe that kills, begins. Time prophecy connects the first and second woe and also the first and second angels’ messages.
The fulfillment of the time prophecies of the first and second woes empowered the first angel’s message and brought the angel of Revelation ten down to lighten the world with his glory. Speaking of the first angel, Sister White recorded that she was “told that his mission was to lighten the earth with his glory and warn man of the coming wrath of God.” That is the identical mission of the third angel of Revelation eighteen.
“The angel who unites in the proclamation of the third angel’s message is to lighten the whole earth with his glory. A work of world-wide extent and unwonted power is here foretold. The advent movement of 1840–44 was a glorious manifestation of the power of God; the first angel’s message was carried to every missionary station in the world, and in some countries there was the greatest religious interest which has been witnessed in any land since the Reformation of the sixteenth century; but these are to be exceeded by the mighty movement under the last warning of the third angel.
“The work will be similar to that of the Day of Pentecost. As the ‘former rain’ was given, in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at the opening of the gospel, to cause the upspringing of the precious seed, so the ‘latter rain’ will be given at its close for the ripening of the harvest. ‘Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord: His going forth is prepared as the morning; and He shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth.’ Hosea 6:3. ‘Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God: for He hath given you the former rain moderately, and He will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain.’ Joel 2:23. ‘In the last days, saith God, I will pour out of My Spirit upon all flesh.’ ‘And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’ Acts 2:17, 21.
“The great work of the gospel is not to close with less manifestation of the power of God than marked its opening. The prophecies which were fulfilled in the outpouring of the former rain at the opening of the gospel are again to be fulfilled in the latter rain at its close. Here are ‘the times of refreshing’ to which the apostle Peter looked forward when he said: ‘Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; and He shall send Jesus.’ Acts 3:19, 20.” The Great Controversy, 611.
The fulfillment of the time prophecies of the first and second woe brought the angel down to lighten the earth with its glory in 1840, thus empowering the message of the first angel, and the fulfillment of the third woe brought the angel down to lighten the earth with its glory on 9/11, thus empowering the message of the third angel. The lightening of the earth is accomplished by the combining of the two movements in a parallel application—line upon line. It is the message of the three woes that empowers the message of the three angels. They are woven together as two lines; one internal and the other external. The three angels represent the work of the people of God and their work is empowered by the fulfillment of the three woes. The external is Islam and its prophetic work, and the internal is Christ in His people—the hope of glory. For this reason, Judah is tied to the ass in the prophecy of Jacob concerning the symbolism of his twelve sons in the last days.
And Jacob called unto his sons, and said, Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days. Gather yourselves together, and hear, ye sons of Jacob; and hearken unto Israel your father. … Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise: thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies; thy father’s children shall bow down before thee. Judah is a lion’s whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up? The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be. Binding his foal unto the vine, and his ass’s colt unto the choice vine; he washed his garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes: His eyes shall be red with wine, and his teeth white with milk. Genesis 49:1, 2, 8–12.
Christ is the Lion of the tribe of Judah, who washed His clothes in blood, and who is “the choice vine,” that is prophetically bound to the “ass’s colt.” The external message of the three woes is bound to the internal message of the three angels. The first and second angel run parallel to the third angel and the first and second woe must run parallel to the third woe.
The Key
The battle of Nineveh is the “key” that brings the darkness of Islam upon the world when the deadly wound of Roman Catholicism is healed at the soon-coming Sunday law, which is the earthquake of Revelation eleven where the third woe comes suddenly. It comes in the “hour” of the earthquake.
And the same hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand: and the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of heaven. The second woe is past; and, behold, the third woe cometh quickly. Revelation 11:13, 14.
The Sunday law initiates the image of the beast testing time for the world, and the battle of Nineveh is the key that identifies the conquering of the sixth kingdom as the whore of Tyre is remembered as she begins to sing her songs in fulfillment of Isaiah twenty-three. The image of the beast test is the test by which a person’s eternal destiny is decided, and it is decided before probation closes. Probation closes for the world when Michaels stands up. The image of the beast testing time for the world of Revelation chapter thirteen, verses twelve and onward is typified in the image of the beast testing time for the United States.
“As America, the land of religious liberty, shall unite with the Papacy in forcing the conscience and compelling men to honor the false sabbath, the people of every country on the globe will be led to follow her example.” Testimonies, volume 6, 18.
The image of the beast testing time in the United States separates and seals the one hundred and forty-four thousand of Revelation seven, and the image of the beast testing time for the world seals the great multitude of Revelation seven.
“Foreign nations will follow the example of the United States. Though she leads out, yet the same crisis will come upon our people in all parts of the world.” Testimonies, volume 6, 395.
The key represented by the battle of Nineveh marks the beginning of the image testing time for the world, while it also marks the end of the image testing time for the United States. A key represented by the battle of Nineveh opens the bottomless pit that brings the flood of Islam, represented as locusts in the world. That key at the end of the midnight cry is typified by a key that opens the very same pit in the United States at the beginning of the midnight cry.
The key in the United States is represented in Leviticus twenty-three as the feast of trumpets, when the ass is loosed at the beginning of the proclamation of the midnight cry. That key is turned when the fireballs of Nashville arrive. The feast of trumpets, and the attack upon Nashville when Islam is loosed, typifies the battle of Nineveh at the Sunday law.
The Sunday law is the end of the proclamation of the “midnight” cry, for the cry then changes to the “loud” cry, and the beginning of that period must of prophetic necessity illustrate the end. In the first woe Islam was to torment the armies of Rome, which typify the United States, for one hundred and fifty years. The key (the battle of Nineveh) marks the beginning of the proclamation of the midnight cry, as does the feast of trumpets. In Leviticus twenty-three there is fifteen days between the feast of trumpets and Pentecost, which is also the feast of Tabernacles. Those fifteen days during the image of the beast testing time in the United States correspond to the one hundred and fifty years of torment in the first woe. Fifteen is a tithe of one hundred and fifty.
Those fifteen days (one hundred and fifty years) end when the three hundred and ninety-one years and fifteen days begin. Since October 22, 1844 prophetic time is no longer applicable, so the one hundred and fifty years of torment are a symbol of Leviticus twenty-three’s fifteen days that begin with the feast of trumpets, followed five days later by the ascension of the ensign, followed five days later by the judgment of the Day of Atonement, followed by five days to the Pentecostal outpouring.
There the “hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men” begins. The “hour” is the hour of the great earthquake, which is the Sunday law. The “day” is the day of the Lord’s recompense as the Laodicean Seventh-day Adventist church is spewed out of the mouth of the Lord.
For they are a nation void of counsel, neither is there any understanding in them. O that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end! How should one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, except their Rock had sold them, and the Lord had shut them up? For their rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves being judges. For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorrah: their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter: Their wine is the poison of dragons, and the cruel venom of asps. Is not this laid up in store with me, and sealed up among my treasures? To me belongeth vengeance, and recompense; their foot shall slide in due time: for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste. For the Lord shall judge his people, and repent himself for his servants, when he seeth that their power is gone, and there is none shut up, or left. And he shall say, Where are their gods, their rock in whom they trusted. Deuteronomy 32:28–37.
The “hour” of the earthquake is the “day of their calamity.” It is the judgment of those in Adventism that have not an understanding of the knowledge that is increased in the latter days. They have chosen a counterfeit rock to build their house upon, and in reality, their rock was sand.
“The warning has come: Nothing is to be allowed to come in that will disturb the foundation of the faith upon which we have been building ever since the message came in 1842, 1843, and 1844. I was in this message, and ever since I have been standing before the world, true to the light that God has given us. We do not propose to take our feet off the platform on which they were placed as day by day we sought the Lord with earnest prayer, seeking for light. Do you think that I could give up the light that God has given me? It is to be as the Rock of Ages. It has been guiding me ever since it was given.” Review and Herald, April 14, 1903.
The “month” represents the first month.
Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God: for he hath given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month. And the floors shall be full of wheat, and the fats shall overflow with wine and oil. And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you. And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you: and my people shall never be ashamed. And ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the Lord your God, and none else: and my people shall never be ashamed. Joel 2:23–27.
The “hour” of the Sunday law, Islam of the third woe unexpectedly strikes, and Laodicean Adventism is ashamed as they have trusted in the rock of the serpent. At that time, in the first month, the latter rain is poured out upon a purified people. At that point the United States is killed, after the torment from Nashville onward. The torment that is the destruction of the cities begins, and at the hour of the Sunday law the United States ends (is killed) as the sixth kingdom of Bible prophecy, ushering in the image of the beast testing time for the world that ends when the eighth kingdom comes to its end, with none to help (is killed).
The Euphrates
The Euphrates River is symbolically associated with Islam, and Euphrates means, “fruitful, or to break forth.” In the second woe the four winds that are bound at the Euphrates are loosed.
And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates. And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men. Revelation 9:13–15.
The Euphrates represented the eastern border of the Promised Land, and Islam is the “children of the east” in prophecy. Their prophetic characteristic is that they are restrained and released, beginning with Hagar being restrained by Sarah.
And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him. And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation. Genesis 17:19, 20.
Ishmael was made to be fruitful, and the Euphrates means fruitful. At the conclusion of the prophecy of one hundred and fifty years of the torment of the first woe, the prophecy of an hour, a day, a month and a year began when Islam was released to slay a third part of men. At the Sunday law the sixth kingdom of Bible prophecy is slain, and it is a third part of modern Rome. Islam had been restrained on August 11, 1840, at the empowerment of the first angel’s message, and it was released at the empowerment of the third angel’s message on 9/11.
On 9/11, the sealing of the one hundred and forty-four thousand began as the judgment of the dead ended, and the judgment of the living began. When Islam of the third woe was released on 9/11 it was immediately restrained during the sealing time.
“This view was given in 1847 when there were but very few of the Advent brethren observing the Sabbath, and of these but few supposed that its observance was of sufficient importance to draw a line between the people of God and unbelievers. Now the fulfillment of that view is beginning to be seen. ‘The commencement of that time of trouble,’ here mentioned does not refer to the time when the plagues shall begin to be poured out, but to a short period just before they are poured out, while Christ is in the sanctuary. At that time, while the work of salvation is closing, trouble will be coming on the earth, and the nations will be angry, yet held in check so as not to prevent the work of the third angel. At that time the ‘latter rain,’ or refreshing from the presence of the Lord, will come, to give power to the loud voice of the third angel, and prepare the saints to stand in the period when the seven last plagues shall be poured out.” Early Writings, 85.
The “short period” of time leading to the close of probation is the period “Christ is in the sanctuary” “closing” the “work of salvation.”
“In the typical system, which was a shadow of the sacrifice and priesthood of Christ, the cleansing of the sanctuary was the last service performed by the high priest in the yearly round of ministration. It was the closing work of the atonement—a removal or putting away of sin from Israel. It prefigured the closing work in the ministration of our High Priest in heaven, in the removal or blotting out of the sins of His people, which are registered in the heavenly records. This service involves a work of investigation, a work of judgment; and it immediately precedes the coming of Christ in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory; for when He comes, every case has been decided. Says Jesus: ‘My reward is with Me, to give every man according as his work shall be.’ Revelation 22:12. It is this work of judgment, immediately preceding the second advent, that is announced in the first angel’s message of Revelation 14:7: ‘Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come.’” The Great Controversy, 352.
The “blotting out of the sins of His people” occurs during the judgment of the living.
Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began. Acts 3:19–21.
In order to repent, one must be living, and the repentance that Peter is here referring to in its perfect sense takes place when the “refreshing shall come.” The rest and the refreshing are the latter rain, which began when the mighty angel of Revelation eighteen descended to lighten the earth with His glory. That mighty angel was also the first angel of August 11, 1840 that descended when Islam was restrained, and that angel was “no less a personage than Jesus Christ.” The “refreshing” and “the times of restitution of all things” begins with Islam being loosed to anger the nations, and then restrained while the one hundred and forty-four thousand are sealed. 9/11 marks the times of the refreshing and rest, which is the latter rain, and it marks the period of the “restitution of all things.” What is restored in the church, which since the rebellion of 1863 has been the church militant, but will become the church triumphant is the sealing time of the one hundred and forty-four thousand.
The church militant is a mixture of wheat and tares, and the church triumphant is the first fruit wheat offering of Pentecost. 9/11 was the first time Balaam struck the ass, and Balaam (the United States) began a worldwide war on terrorism immediately after the surprise attack. Balaam’s ass represents the three woes that make up the third woe, and which run parallel to the three angel’s messages. The three woes are therefore prophetically governed by the three steps of the three angels. For this reason, the second time Balaam strikes the ass it is a doubling, as is always the case in the second step. Between the two vineyards of the ancient literal and the modern spiritual glorious land Islam struck Israel on October 7, 2023, and there was immediately a restraint placed upon Gaza, and then Islam will strike Nashville.
The Nashville strike is the second of the two surprise attacks that in Balaam’s testimony occurs between the vineyards. Nashville marks the prophetic waymark when the message of the midnight cry joins the second angel. The midnight cry message begins when Christ’s two disciples, (representing the second angel’s message) loose the ass at the beginning of the triumphal entry. That procession ultimately leads to the cross, which represents the earthquake of the soon-coming Sunday law where the whore Rome overcomes the sixth kingdom of Bible prophecy after her being forgotten for the history of the United States.
When the whore begins to sing her songs at the Sunday law the battle of Nineveh will have been repeated and the key will have been turned that marks the opening of the image of the beast testing time in the world. The battle of Nineveh is the ending of the midnight cry proclamation, which then turns into the loud cry of the third angel. The beginning of that period, which is marked by the surprise attack upon Nashville will also have been typified by the battle of Nineveh, for Jesus, as Alpha and Omega, always illustrates the end with the beginning. The Nashville attack will of prophetic necessity contain the elements of a victory of Rome over Persia that allows Islam to fill the earth with darkness. Donald Trump is the symbol of the image of Rome, so he will prevail in the battle of Nineveh associated with the Nashville strike, but his strength to resist the flood of Islam will have been depleted.
The battle that Ronald Reagan succeeded in winning in 1989 was a cold war that had began at the end of the Second World War. Trump’s cold war is the battle of Panium, and it leads to the Third World War at the Sunday law, which has been typified by the battle of Actium and also the battle of Nineveh. Trump’s cold war, represented by the battle of Panium leads to the bringing down of the “wall” of separation of church and state in the Constitution, as typified by the bringing down of the Berlin “wall” in 1989.
Nashville represents the point where the ass of Balaam crushes Balaam's foot against the wall, thus identifying a crippling at the wall. The period of the midnight cry begins with an event that crashes into the wall of separation in the Constitution, thus marking the beginning of the setting up of the image of the beast (the combination of church and state) with a waymark that typifies the tearing down of the wall of separation at the ending of the setting up of the image of the beast. Donald Trump will prophetically speak with an executive order that typifies the speaking at the Sunday law, as typified with the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798. He will there defeat the globalists of the Democratic party and their counterparts of the RINO globalists of the Republican party. His victory over the enemies typified by Persia in the battle of Nineveh, will leave both sides of the political war sapped of the strength necessary to resist the locusts of Islam that will spread over the land. The crushed foot of Trump is the wall at the beginning of the midnight cry proclamation that leads to the wall at the ending.
We will continue this consideration of the three woes in the next article.