TABLE OF CONTENTS |
Part I
Prelude to the Trumpets |
Part II
The 1st Trumpet
The 2nd Trumpet
The 3rd Trumpet
The 4th Trumpet
The 5th Trumpet
The 6th Trumpet
The 7th Trumpet
|
The Sixth Trumpet
and Second Woe—
CE 1517-18 to 1878
The sixth "trumpet" has more biblical verses to cover this
period than any other "trumpet" message. From Revelation 9:13 to 11:14 we find
material relating to the sixth "trumpet,"
much of which extends beyond
Luther’s ministry and may be attributed to the Lord’s personal intervention and
unleashed power of the Scriptures.
Revelation 10 and parts of 11 are parenthetical chapters. We are lifted
from the sixth messenger's ministry into the larger scope of events rapidly shaping for
the harvest work of the seventh trumpet.
The French Revolution of Revelation 11:13 and other related events in
this chapter had little to do with Luther’s message. The dynamics of events were
becoming very potent. Events such as the French Revolution were casting their shadow
before the final fall of the Great City Babylon. Suddenly, we find the Bible ascending to
the center stage after its seeming demise. "Truth crushed to earth, shall rise again,
the eternal years of God are hers."
"And the sixth angel [messenger, Luther]
sounded, and I [the John Class] heard a voice
[message] from the four horns of the golden altar [the power of the altar of the
sacrificing Christ, the church with its divine Head] which is before God [the
divine presence]." Revelation 9:13
Luther's Ninety-Five Theses
|
"Saying to the sixth angel [messenger, Luther] which
had the trumpet [Reformation message], Loose the four angels [basic divisions
of Protestantism: Lutheran movement, Baptist movement, Congregationalist-Methodist
movement, and the Presbyterian movement] which are bound in [above] the great
river Euphrates [the peoples who support papacy].
Revelation 9:14
The river Euphrates is mentioned here as it is also mentioned in the
sixth "plague" of Revelation 16:12. However, the difference is very great. The
sixth "trumpet" message releases the reform forces in the river Euphrates.
In stark contrast, the sixth "plague" when poured on the river Euphrates
dries the river, or turns aside the people who support false religious
institutions, additionally preparing the way for the "kings [the glorified Christ]
from the east [sunrising]."
"And the four angels [basic divisions of
Protestantism] were loosed, which were prepared for an hour [the harvest
period], [and a day—not in Sinaitic], and a month, and
a year [a month of 30 plus a year of 360 = 390 years], for to slay
[by disassociating from] the third part [the right-hearted] of men
[Christians—from anti-Christ's followers]." Revelation 9:15 (See
footnote in the "Interpreted Rendering" for Revelation 9:15).
"And the number of the army of
horsemen [professed Christians who
promoted Protestantism] were two hundred thousand thousand [or 200 million]:
and I [the John Class] heard [was informed] the number of them
[THE DIVINE PLAN OF THE AGES, Page 16,
where it is recorded that
there were 116 million Protestants and 84 million Greek Catholics which totals 200
million who opposed the papacy]."
Revelation 9:16
"And thus I
[the John Class] saw the horses
[doctrines] in the vision, and them that sat on them
[or used them], having breastplates
[of righteousness or justification] of
fire [to destroy as fire], and of jacinth [the reddish-yellow flame which comes
from burning], and brimstone [sulfur, which would show its power
to destroy opposition from the papacy]: and the heads [logic and reasonableness] of
the horses [doctrines] were as the heads of lions [in harmony with the
attribute of God’s lion of justice or justification by faith, which restored the
truth of the vicarious sacrifice of Christ offered once for all instead of the Mass];
and out of their mouths [proclamations of these doctrines] issued fire and
smoke and brimstone [destructively pointing out the sins of papacy, and destroying
many as adherents of the false church while converting them to Protestantism]."
Revelation
9:17
Tetzel Selling Indulgences
Martin Luther
restored the doctrine of
JUSTIFICATION
BY FAITH,
the "corner-stone"
of the Reformation.
|
The doctrine of the vicarious sacrifice of Christ, which had
been offered once for all sins, was lost sight of by the Papal doctrines of the
Mass, Purgatory, and Indulgences. |
"By these three [fire, smoke and sulfur] was the
third part [right-hearted] of men [Christians] killed [converted], by
the fire [destructive influences of fire], and by the smoke
[recollections of destruction] and by the
brimstone [deadly fumes of sulfur], which issued
out of their mouths [agencies of proclamations]."
Revelation 9:18
"For their power is in their mouth [logic and teaching],
and in their tails [tails can be those who teach lies or truth (Isaiah 9:14, 15)]:
for their tails [those who teach] were like unto serpents [wise as
serpents], and had heads [of logic and reasonableness], and with them they
do hurt [afflict the false church]."
Revelation 9:19
Martin Luther
Branded a Heretic
by Papacy |
"And the rest of
the men [nominal Christians] which were
not killed [converted] by these plagues [notice that these doctrines and
teachings of this second "woe" are called "plagues"] yet repented
not of the works of their hands [man-made conceptions of religion], that they
should not worship devils [devilish creeds], and idols of gold [man-made
imitations of gold or divinity and Christianity], and silver [imitation truths],
and brass [copper representing make-believe justification], and stone [not the
true Rock which is Christ], and wood [soft wood not fit to build with]: which
neither can see, nor hear, nor walk [have no value or power]." Revelation
9:20
"Neither repented they of their murders [converted from
their ex-communicating practices], nor of their sorceries [superstitious practices],
nor of their fornication [pollutions with the civil powers], nor of
their thefts [misappropriations]."
Revelation 9:21
Revelation 9:13-21 gives the early effects of the sixth
"trumpet" message delivered by Luther. However, other more important events were
rising on the horizon to profoundly affect the Christian world. Our Lord was beginning an
involvement by planting his feet upon the "sea"
(the restless masses) and upon
the "land" (stable society), awakening hopes in the hearts of these classes.
From 1829 the hope of our Lord’s return blossomed in the hearts of
the Lord’s people. Although only dimly understood, yet it awakened a new dimension in
this Reformation period. The burning issue was no longer to reform the church and state
relationship, but now our Lord’s Second Advent took the center stage.
Chained Bible of the Middle Ages
|
Revelation 11:3-12 focuses upon the
"two
witnesses" of the Old and New Testaments. It reveals how the Bible was
kept out of reach from most of the Christian world. The Scriptures were clothed in
"sackcloth" for 1260 years from CE 539 to 1799. Not only was the Bible chained
in secluded monasteries, but it was also written in dead languages rather than the
vernacular of the people.
The year 1799 was supposed to end the sad condition of the Word of God,
but the French Revolution had failed to end the power of the papacy. For three and
one-half years after 1799 nothing seemed to change. It seemed the prophecies that brought us
to 1799 were going to change nothing after all.
However, in May 1803, the Religious Tract Society passed a resolution
for a Bible Society to make the Scriptures available to the world. This was exactly three
and one-half days of years the two witnesses lay in the streets
of "Sodom"
(Christendom) and "Egypt"
(the world) until they received a "breath of life
from God" (Revelation 11:4-12).
The following year, 1804, the first Bible Society was formed and the
"earth" which had neither "dew nor rain" for 1260 years was soon to be
flooded with the Holy Scriptures. Their first meeting in 1803 served as a "cloud the
size of a man’s hand" which the Elijah class recognized as the promise of rain
(1 Kings 18:44). Quickly these "two prophets" "stood up on their feet"
(Revelation 11:10, 11).
Bible Societies Made Bibles Available
|
The Philadelphia period of the church had an "open door"
before it (Revelation 3:8). The Reformation that Luther had started was accelerating. The
full weight of the Scriptures could no longer be suppressed. As people studied their
Bibles, it became clear that Jesus’ Second Advent was central to the Word.
The Miller movement made some serious mistakes, but one thing they
knew for certain was the importance of Christ’s return. Though disappointed and
humiliated before the world, a nucleus regrouped in deep study and prayer and became the
"cleansed sanctuary" in 1846.
Second Adventist
Prophecy Chart
|
William Miller
[Late 1840's]
|
All these events were moving brilliantly toward the "harvest"
with which the age would end. The "door" of the Reformation was kept wide open
and no one was able to close it. Heaven knows, they certainly tried.
The French Revolution
"And the same hour was there a great
earthquake
[revolution], and the tenth part of the city fell [the
French part of the Roman Empire fell], and in the earthquake were slain [abolished]
of men seven thousand [titles of men—the French Revolution destroyed the royal house
with all its titled entourage. This amounted to some 7,000 titles in all]: and
the remnant [of Christendom] were affrighted, and [thus the wrath of man]
gave glory to the God of heaven." Revelation 11:13
This verse focuses on the terrible French Revolution which unleashed
the pent-up anger of the people against the dreadful excesses of the Royalty and the papal
ruling authority. Royalty and priestcraft suffered at the hands of the enraged masses.
The French Revolution
|
Unlike the American Revolution that followed Christian values,
godless leaders led the French in a bloody uprising not only against royalty and
priestcraft, but against the Bible and everything associated with it.
One other factor entered the equation. France had never had a chance to
change its oppressive form of government. Many other countries of Europe and the shining
example of the United States were before the eyes of the people of France. They had waited
too long.
|
When the people stormed the Bastille in 1789 and saw how evilly and brutally the hapless
victims were treated there, their rage burst forth in full fury.
No one could fully comprehend the brutality of the Royalty and the
Priests. 
Heretics burned in Paris in the shadows of the Bastille
dungeons.
The French Revolution was a just retribution for the evils perpetrated
by Royalty and Priests. |
The French Revolution's
"Reign of Terror"
[Knitting Women Counted the
Guillotined Heads]
|
King Louis XVI declared,
"I die innocent," before 20,000 spectators at his execution.
|
While the Revolutionary forces seemed at times excessive in the
punishments meted out, yet when contrasted to the cruelty practiced in the Bastille, it
seems a just recompense. They only saw one Bastille at the first, but later they found
many like it. They also remembered the pride and vanity of both church and state.
The French Revolution became a wake-up call to all of Europe. The
gains secured by the common people could not be taken away from them ever again. Royalty
and priestcraft had to become very conscious of the people. The old
"business-as-usual" ended. While kings and priests came to power again, the Lord
was planting "his feet" on the "land" and "sea."
Preparations were underway for the church-and-state way of doing things to come to an
inglorious end starting in 1914.
"The second [trumpet] woe [plague] is past; and, behold, the
third [trumpet] woe [plague] cometh quickly." Revelation
11:14
The seventh messenger,
Charles Taze Russell, was about to sound. If we saw events
accelerate through the Philadelphia period of
the church under the sixth
"trumpet," the tempo of change exploded in the world and in the
nominal church because of the Lord’s presence. It must be realized that the powers of
darkness endeavored to thwart and hinder the Kingdom from coming to earth.
The counterfeit kingdom put every roadblock in the way—all to no
avail. The King and his Kingdom at last arrived to vanquish his foes and set up his
Kingdom in power and great glory.
