Dee Finney's blog

start date July 20, 2011

today's date September 12, 2013

page 557

TOPIC:  THE THREE WOES OF REVELATION 8:13

Here was my dream from today:

9-12-13 - DREAM -  I was in my New Berlin house, standing in the kitchen.  

I could hear a lot of banging going on out in the garage.  My husband and one of my sons was either building something or knocking something apart - I couldn't tell which, but every time they banged with the hammer, I could see a brown Bible book sliding towards a trench that was dug around the house.

I had to save that book from getting into the trench and the men were not stopping the banging, so I ran outside toward's the garage, yelling at the top of my lungs:  "I'm going to KILL THEM!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

NOTE:  That book looked very familiar to me, so later I went to my current bookcase to see what the brown Bible book was, and it is this one:  NAVES STUDY BIBLE.  Reference Edition, Notes, Concordance.  It has extensive notes to other Bible verses on every page.  I will need to keep this handy henceforth.

I'm going to use it to analyze the following paragraph:

NOTE FROM DEE:  MY PERSONAL ANGEL TOLD ME THAT WHEN YOU SEE THE NAME SATAN -

THINK THE WORD 'EGO'. KEEP THAT IN MIND, PARTICULARLY IN THIS DAY AND AGE AND WE HAVE THE WORLD ELITE WHO THINK THEY KNOW THE ANSWERS TO EVERYTHING AND RULE THE WORLD THAT WAY!

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The following paragraph came as part of an e-mail from a group called "The Bible Believers."

Our main article, Birth Pangs" concerns the Three Woes of Revelation 8:13, which take place in World Wars I, II, and in the 'hot stage' of World War III that will lead to Armageddon and the consummation of life seven years thence. So the picture emerging from the news is topical, and the amoral character displayed by leaders of the Western world should leave even the most skeptical observer in no doubt as to the fact II Timothy 3:2-9 and Revelation 3:17-20 are coming to pass in our sight. The Woes declare that "the whole creation is groaning and travailing to renew itself" for the millennium (Romans 8:22-23). This exposition reveals that our national histories and our mendacious trinitarian Babylonian sham monotheistic cults of Judaism, institutional Christianity and Islam are a tapestry tightly woven from the same lies contrary to the Truth.

REVELATIONS:  8:13

OTHER COMMENTARIES

John wrote of seeing an eagle, flying in midair, which called out,

1. The First Woe will occur after the blowing of the Fifth Trumpet (Revelation 9:1a, 9:12a).
2. The Second Woe will occur after the blowing of the Sixth Trumpet (9:12b,13, 11:14a).
3. The Third Woe will occur after the blowing of the Seventh Trumpet (11:14b,15).

Chapter 9 - The Three Woes Begin

Revelation Chapter 9: the three woes begin with the first two woes - the plagues of the fifth and sixth trumpet judgments of Yahuah ("God")

9:1-12 Then the fifth angel sounded: And I saw (a) a star fallen from heaven to earth. To (b) him was given the key to the bottomless pit. And he opened the bottomless pit, and smoke arose out of the pit like the smoke of a great furnace. So the sun and the air were darkened because of the smoke of the pit. Then out of the smoke (c) locusts came upon the earth. And to them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. They were commanded not to harm the grass of the earth, or any green thing, or any tree, but (d) only those men who do not have the seal of [Yahuah] on their foreheads. And they were not given authority to kill them, but to torment them for (e) five months. Their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it strikes a man. In those days men will seek death and will not find it; they will desire to die, and death will flee from them. (f) The shape of the locusts was like horses prepared for battle. On their heads were crowns of something like gold, and their faces were like the faces of men. They had hair like women’s hair, and their teeth were like lions’ teeth. And they had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots with many horses running into battle. They had tails like scorpions, and there were stings in their tails. Their power was to hurt men five months. And (g) they had as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, but in Greek he has the name Apollyon. One woe is past. Behold still two more woes are coming (h) after these things.

• Of course, if a star (our sun is a relatively small star) literally fell to Earth, Earth would instantly be annihilated. The description given in these verses seems to fit that of a cometary impact. Scientific studies have shown that a large comet impacting the earth at over 25,000 miles per hour would (as some have in the past) penetrate Earth’s crust into the molten mantle, producing a “bottomless” crater, the explosive force of thousands of atomic bombs, a mushroom-shaped cloud exactly like that of the explosion of a nuclear bomb and fill the atmosphere with toxic smoke and debris for hundreds or thousands of miles around, exactly as did the volcanic eruption in Iceland in 2010. It would also send seismic shock waves through and around the earth that would shake the whole planet.
  •  
  • The ancient Hebrews and Greeks (and, before them, the Sumerians, Akkadians, Babylonians and Assyrians) called any luminous celestial object (star, meteor or comet) a “star.” And they personified falling stars as “messengers of the gods.” So, the “star” in this verse could, ironically, be a comet sent as a “messenger” from the one true God Yahuah to wreak destruction on the ungodly earth dwellers. The Lord uses symbolic language here to communicate to the mindset of the first century Believers.
  • These are not literal locusts because they do not harm vegetation. These “locusts” are apparently microorganisms that cause painful diseases. Like locusts, bacteria and other microbes amass in great numbers and are carried, in smoke and dust, wherever the wind takes them.
  • Of Earth’s inhabitants, only the Jews who have not yet recognized that Yahushua is the Messiah but who still cling to their faith in the coming Messiah, refusing to take the mark of the anti-messiah, plus those Gentiles who do not take the mark, are protected from the plagues of the judgments of Yahuah.
  • What horrible suffering! - tormented with excruciating pain (like the sting of a scorpion), wanting but not being able to die, for five months. This is a foretaste of “eternity” in the Lake of Fire (cf. Mark 9:47, 48). This description makes it clear that these terrifying creatures are like an innumerable swarm of locusts in number, and the torment that they inflict on the inhabitants of the world, from which there is no escape, makes it more woeful than the previous plagues or calamities.
  • What horrible suffering! - tormented with excruciating pain (like the sting of a scorpion), wanting but not being able to die, for five months. This is a foretaste of "eternity" in the Lake of Fire (cf. Mark 9:47, 48). It is surely the most prolonged manifestation of Yahuah's wrath, because if each of the trumpet judgments, not including the Great Tribulation and the bowl judgments, lasted five months, the trumpet judgments alone would occupy almost all the last half of the seven years.
  • There are several types of deadly bacteria (including streptococcal and viral bacteria) that, when viewed through a microscope, closely resemble this description of “locusts.” Although not yet confirmed, scientists have discovered evidence of viruses and bacteria in comets.
  • The language here also seems to be highly personified and symbolic. Remember, the Greek word translated “angel” (aggelos) can also be translated “messenger.” And the Greek word translated “king” (basilleus) can be translated “controller.” Also, the Greek term translated “over” (epi) can mean “to give direction.” Plus, Psalm 147:4 states, “He [the Lord] tells the number of the stars [the luminous celestial objects]; He calls them by their names.” The names Abaddon (Hebrew) and Apollyon (Greek) mean “destroyer.” So, if we can suspend the usual interpretation that these verses are speaking of supernatural beings and events, we will see that an equally valid, literal translation of 9:11 might be, “And the direction from which the harmful organisms came was controlled by a comet (named Abaddon in Hebrew or Apollyon in Greek) that created the 'bottomless' pit from which the creatures ascended.”
  • Unlike “after these things I looked” (4:1, et al.), which denotes primarily a change in visions, “after these things” (without the “I looked”) indicates a new time-sequence event.

  9:13-19 Then the sixth angel sounded: And I heard (a) a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before [Yahuah], saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release (b) the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.” So the four angels, who had been prepared for (c) the hour and day and month and year, were released to kill a third of mankind. Now the number of (d) the army of the horsemen was two hundred million; I heard the number of them. And thus I saw the horses in the vision: those who sat on them had breastplates of fiery red, hyacinth blue, and sulfur yellow; and the heads of the horses were like the heads of lions; and out of their mouths came fire, smoke, and brimstone. (e) By these three plagues a third of mankind was killed - by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone which came out of their mouths. For their power is in their mouth and in their tails; for their tails are like serpents, having heads; and with them they do harm.

  • This voice is not the voice of the Lord or, apparently, the voice of any of the other heavenly beings. The only voice mentioned as coming from an altar in heaven is the cry of the martyrs crying out to Yahuah for vengeance (6:1).
  • An incorrect translation. Again, the Greek word (aggelos) translated “angels” can also be translated “messengers”; also, the Greek word (epi) translated “in” can be translated “toward” or “for.” So, this sentence could and apparently should read, “Loose the four messengers [comets or comet fragments] which are bound for the river Euphrates.” This latter translation of the description of what occurs to start the execution of the sixth trumpet judgment perfectly parallels the description of what happens when the sixth bowl judgment is executed - the water of the Euphrates River is dried up (16:12). Comets or comet fragments striking the river will instantly vaporize its water.
  • These “angels” (comets) have been prepared for their role in executing Yahuah’s judgments at this specific point in time. Some claim that the events of Revelation occurred during the first century or two of the “Church Age,” or have been occurring throughout the past 2,000 years, but this verse argues strongly against those hypotheses: At no specific hour, day, month, or year in history has one-third of the earth’s population been killed, much less by the objects described here or in the ways described here.
  • Some have claimed that these two hundred million comprise a vast human army from the East (the direction of the Euphrates River from Israel). But that hypothesis cannot be true either, without allegorizing the details beyond reasonable recognition. Why not just accept the literal interpretation that, as with the events of the fifth trumpet, these are terrifying natural objects (comet fragments) that had been prepared by the Lord Yahuah for this point in time to release more of the plagues of His judgments on Earth? The Bible speaks of the “treasures [storehouses] of the hail” (the Oort Cloud of billions of comets that surrounds our solar system?) which the Lord has “reserved against the time of trouble” (a phrase in Scripture that refers to the Great Tribulation and the Day of the Lord) (Job 38:22-23). Prophetic Scripture also speaks of “the weapons of [the Lord’s] indignation” which “come . . . from the end of heaven [the edge of our solar system?] . . . to destroy the whole land” (Isaiah 13:5).
  • According to scientist Jeffrey Goodman (The Comets of God, page 283), this is a perfect, symbolic description of comet fragments plummeting through Earth’s atmosphere. Comets (and comet fragments) eject gases and dust through vents in their surfaces that rise up in a plume away from the “head” of the comet, like the mane of a horse or lion, and trail behind like a long, serpentine tail. And when plunging through Earth’s atmosphere at thousands of miles per hour, comets burn with an intense heat of thousands of degrees Farenheit, reflecting the exact colors (fiery red, hyacinth blue and sulfur yellow) mentioned in this verse. Plus, a comet or comets entering Earth’s atmosphere could disintegrate into millions of fragments.
  • So, by the three agents of death released by the two hundred million comet fragments - the fire, the smoke, and the brimstone (brimstone is burning sulfur which is common in comets) - another third of humanity is killed. That is over five and one-half billion or two-thirds of Earth’s population who have been killed so far during the Final Seven Years, with the last and most terrible trumpet/bowl judgment of Yahuah’s Wrath plus “Armageddon” yet to come.

  Dr. John S. Lewis, a professor of planetary science and Co-Director of the NASA Space Engineering Research Center at the University of Arizona, in his book Rain of Iron and Ice: The Very Real Threat of Comet and Asteroid Bombardment, made an interesting observation:

  . . . the description of future events in Revelation leans heavily upon the phenomenology of violent cosmic events. . . . The central theme is clear and unambiguous: the events described in Revelation are of astronomical origin and describe real physical events, not mere por-tents or symbols. Did John (the author of the Book of Revelation) somehow know more about impact phenomena than any scientist before the present decade [book published in 1996]? (pages 11-13)

  9:20-21 But (a) the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent (b) of the works of their hands, that they should not worship demons, and idols of gold, silver, brass, stone, and wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk. And they did not repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts. (c)

  • Indicating that virtually all of mankind, other than the Jews and Gentiles who have not taken the mark of the beast and are protected by Yahuah from physical harm, have either been killed or are unrepentant.
  • The one-third or so of mankind remaining on the earth are so hardened in the confidence that they can save themselves (by “the works of their hands”) and in their confidence in the power of riches or inanimate objects (which is actually the worship of demons [cf. 2 Chronicles 11:15]), that they refuse to repent of the sins that result from such idolatry, including murders (destroying people in thoughts, words, or actions), sorceries (confidence in spiritual powers, forces, or beings other than Yahuah), sexual immorality (including lust), and thefts (including dishonest business practices, defrauding people, and extortion).
  • Notice that by this point in time, mankind is beyond hope; the Gospel has no effect. There is no appeal for anyone to repent; it is just noted that no one does repent. The only inhabitants left on the earth (other than the Jews and the Gentiles who have not taken the mark of the beast) are earth dwellers - “vessels of wrath prepared for destruction” (Romans 9:22).

Jumping to Chapter 11

Chapter 11 - Measuring the Temple, the Two Witnesses, and Blowing the Seventh Trumpet

Revelation Chapter 11: measuring the temple; the two witnesses; blowing the seventh trumpet to announce the final plagues of the Wrath of Yahuah ("God")

11:1-2 Then (a) I was given a reed like a measuring rod. And (b) the angel stood, saying, "Rise and measure the temple of [Yahuah], the altar, and those who worship there. But (c) leave out the court which is outside the temple, and do not measure it, for it has been given to the Gentiles. And they will tread the holy city underfoot for forty-two months.”

• After eating the little book, John is given a measuring stick (a reed - a variety of cane that grows in the area of the Jordan River, which was used for measuring, among its other functions).
• The angel stands to give John another assignment: to measure the Temple, the altar, and those who worship there. Because the bulk of the evidence indicates that the Revelation was written about 95 CE, this is apparently not the Temple which was destroyed in 70 CE, approximately 25 years before John received the Revelation, but is a vision (not a literal temple) illustrating how Yahuah is going to deal with the Gentiles vis-à-vis Yahuah’s physical people the Jews during the last half of the Final Seven Years. In Hebraic symbolism, to measure something is to preserve it. In his vision, John is told to measure the part of the Temple where (true) Israel worships, because that numbered (measured) remnant of Israel will be saved (not trodden down by the Gentiles). (The literal, rebuilt Temple will be totally taken over by the Gentiles and by Antimessiah when he desecrates it and sits in it proclaiming himself to be "God" at the midpoint of the Final Seven Years [cf. Daniel 9:27; Matthew 24:15; 2 Thessalonians 2:3, 4; Revelation 13:4-6]).
• John is told not to measure the court outside (not part of) the Temple, where the Gentiles had been permitted to worship in the past and where Yahushua ("Jesus") taught, because during the last half of the seven years (42 months), the “holy city” (Jerusalem) will be given totally over to and trodden down by the Gentiles, who, in the end will be destroyed - not saved.

11:3-13 And (a) I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy one thousand two hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth." (b) These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands standing before the God of the earth. And if anyone wants to harm them, (c) fire proceeds from their mouth and devours their enemies. And if anyone wants to harm them, he must be killed in this manner. These have power to shut heaven, so that no rain falls in the days of their prophecy; and they have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to strike the earth with all plagues, as often as they desire. When they finish their testimony, (d) the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit will make war against them, overcome them, and kill them. And their dead bodies will lie in the street of the (e) great city which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. Then (f) those from the peoples, tribes, tongues, and nations will see their dead bodies three-and-a-half days, and not allow their dead bodies to be put into graves. And those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them, make merry, and send gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth. Now (g) after the three-and-a-half days the breath of life from Yahuah entered them, and they stood on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them. And they heard (h) a loud voice from heaven saying to them, "Come up here." And they ascended to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies saw them. (i) In the same hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell. In the earthquake seven thousand people were killed, and (j) the rest were afraid and gave glory to the God of heaven.

• The angel, still speaking for the Lord, who had just told John that Jerusalem will be trodden down by the Gentiles during the last half of the seven years, tells him that during that time, 1260 days (42 Hebrew months, which are 30 days each), there will be two “witnesses” in the city who will be empowered by the Lord to prophesy.
• The witnesses are identified as olive trees and lampstands. The olive tree is a symbol of Israel (cf. Jeremiah 11:16; Romans 11:17) and the lampstand is a symbol of the presence and light of the Lord (cf. Matthew 5:15; Revelation 2:5) in Scripture. Also, this appears to be a clear allusion to the two anointed olive trees of Zechariah 4:11-14, who were, according to most commentators, Joshua, the religious leader of the Jews, and Zerubbabel, the civil leader of the Jews at the time. So, a common-sense interpretation is that the two witnesses are Israelites prophesying the truth (light) of the Lord. Some have speculated that they are Israel and the Church, but common sense and literal interpretation argues to the contrary because they are both represented by olive trees and lampstands, and they wear sackcloth.
• There are many ideas as to the identity of the two witnesses, but common sense would also seem to indicate that they are Moses and Elijah. Or, they may be types of Moses and Elijah, working in the Spirit and power of Moses and Elijah, just as did John the Baptist - another type of Elijah (cf. Mark 9:12; Luke 1:13-17). These plagues may be clues to their identity: Moses and Elijah brought the same types of plagues on the earth (cf. Exodus 7-11; 1 Kings 17:1, 7; Luke 9:54). Also, the glorified Messiah appeared with Moses and Elijah as His witnesses at the Transfiguration (Matthew 17:3). And Yahushua had told his disciples that Moses (through whom the law, which testifies of Yahushua, was given) and the prophets (of whom Elijah was the primary representative) testified of Him (Luke 24:44; John 1:45). He also hinted that Elijah would be coming again after the Transfiguration (cf. Mark 9:12). So, the fact that the central focus of the Revelation is the second coming of the Messiah would seem to lend support to the interpretation that the two witnesses (undoubtedly testifying in the streets of Jerusalem that Yahushua, not Antichrist, is the true Messiah) are Moses and Elijah, His primary two witnesses throughout the Bible. Children in Israel today sing a song about the return of Moses and Elijah.
• Antimessiah (cf. 17:8), who undoubtedly had been extremely annoyed, even tormented, by the testimony and power of the two witnesses, is finally enabled to kill them at the end of the seven years.
• This is Jerusalem (“where our Lord was crucified”), but, during the reign of Antimessiah, it has sunk to such depths of depravity that it is called spiritual Sodom and Gomorrah.
• The unredeemed people of the world allow the bodies of the two witnesses to lie in the streets of Jerusalem for three and one-half days, where they can view them and celebrate their death and the murderous power of Antimessiah over them.
• But, their revelry is short lived; after the three and one-half days, the two witnesses are resurrected, filling those who had been celebrating their death with fear.
• Then, with the same words with which John had been summoned to Heaven (4:1), the Two Witnesses are told, “Come up here,” and ascend into Heaven, as if to proclaim prophetically to their enemies on Earth, “In the same way that we were dead and you gloated over us for three and one-half days, your three and one-half years of treading down Jerusalem and gloating in your power over Yahuah’s people is at an end!”
• This appears to be the final event of the sixth trumpet judgment (the second woe) (cf. verse 14). A tenth of Jerusalem, which has become as Sodom and Egypt, is destroyed and 7,000, presumably of the ungodly Gentiles who have been trampling the city underfoot for the past 42 months, are killed.
• These who fear the Lord and give Him glory are apparently Jews who have not been allowed to take the mark of the beast (the anti-messiah) so they can engage in commerce (cf. 13:16-17), but have been subjected to horribly harsh conditions and servitude by the anti-messiah and his followers, just as the Israelites were oppressed by Pharaoh before they were saved from his dominion. Notice an important difference here in the response of the inhabitants of Jerusalem who are not killed (the Jews) from the response of the earth dwellers to the plagues of the Lord. The Jews who have not taken the mark of the beast fear Yahuah and give Him glory, preparing them to be saved in the end (cf. Romans 11:26), but the ungodly Gentiles refuse to repent and blaspheme the Lord (cf. 9:20-21; 16:11, 21), dooming themselves to destruction.

11:14-19 (a) The second woe is past. Behold, the third woe is coming quickly. Then (b) the seventh angel sounded: And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, "The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His [Messiah], and He shall reign forever and ever!" And the twenty-four elders who sat before [Yahuah] on their thrones fell on their faces and worshiped [Yahuah], saying: "We give You thanks, O Lord [Yahuah] Almighty, The One who is and who was and who is to come, Because You have taken Your great power and reigned. The nations were angry, and Your wrath has come, And (c) the time of the dead, that they should be judged, And that You should reward Your servants the prophets and the saints, And those who fear Your name, small and great, And should destroy those who destroy the earth." Then the (d) temple of [Yahuah] was opened in heaven, and the ark of His covenant was seen in His temple. And there were (e) lightnings, noises, thunderings, an earthquake, and great hail.

• Some have postulated that the two witnesses appear during the first half of the Final Seven Years. But, because it states here that they ascend just before the catastrophe that ends the second woe (sixth trumpet judgment), it is clear that their time on Earth spans the second half of the seven years. 
• It is also clear that, because the two witnesses ascend on the last day of the seven years, the seventh trumpet sounds immediately following the 1260 days of the last half of the Final Seven Years. And the scene in Heaven is one in which the 24 elders are rejoicing and praising Yahuah because, at the time that the seventh angel sounds his trumpet, the battle is virtually over; Antimessiah has been dethroned. So, the voices in Heaven begin to celebrate the victory and dominion of the Lord, even before the “last plagues” of the Wrath of Yahuah are poured out on Earth (cf. 15:1) during the ten “Days of Awe” between Yom Teruah (the Feast of Trumpets) and Yom Kippur (the Feast of Atonement).
• Throughout Israel’s history, the awesome day known as Yom Teruah (the Feast of Trumpets), Yom haDin (the Day of Judgment), or Rosh haShanah (the Head of the New Year) has been celebrated as a rehearsal for (1) the sounding of the Last Trump, (2) the judgment of the dead, (3) the resurrection of the Righteous (teruah means “an awakening blast”), and (4) the gathering of the Righteous for the coronation of the Messiah. So, this day - the day of the sounding of the Last Trump - will be the day of the coming of the Messiah in the clouds to gather His Elect (His Bride) and take them to Heaven for the marriage of the Lamb and His coronation as the King of Kings (cf. Matthew 24:31; 1 Corinthians 15:51, 52; 1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17; Revelation 19:7, 16).
• The Temple on the earth, including the Ark of His Covenant, which was the location of the Lord's presence with his People Israel (cf. Leviticus 16:2), was apparently a model of the Temple in Heaven. His presence with His People the Followers of Yahushua when the seventh trumpet is sounded is in Heaven.
• These are ominous precursors to the final execution of the judgments of Yahuah which follow the blowing of the seventh trumpet blast.

Chapter 12 - The Red Dragon Persecutes Yahuah's ("God's) People Israel and Her Children

Revelation Chapter 12: the red dragon (Satan/the devil/the serpent) versus Israel and Israel’s children throughout history

Chapters 12-14 are parenthetical chapters inserted between the sounding of the seventh trumpet (11:15) and the description of the bowls of wrath events (Chapters 15-16) to give us some background information about Satan’s antagonism toward the Lord Yahuah’s People and His coming Messiah and to fill in more details of what happens during the Great Tribulation (the wrath of Satan) of the second half of the Final Seven Years.

By combining images from the past, present, and future, Chapter 12 provides more details about what is happening behind the scenes with Satan vis-à-vis the Messiah and Yahuah’s people Israel. The imagery in this chapter does not appear to be strictly sequential or time-specific: The events manifest a pattern of conflict between the devil and Israel, including her spiritual Children the Followers of Yahushua ("Jesus") the Messiah, throughout history, culminating during the Final Seven Years.
 

12:1-2 Now (a) a great sign appeared in heaven: (b) a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a garland of twelve stars. Then being (c) with child, she cried out in labor and in pain to give birth.

• “Sign” means symbolic - not an actual person, object, or event. Its appearance in Heaven rather than on the earth indicates that it transcends time and space; it is not specific to a single person, object, or event at a certain point in time on the earth.
• Thankfully, we are not left to the mercy of the fickleness and frailty of men’s imaginations in interpreting the Bible. Scripture is its own best interpreter. 
• Other passages of Scripture tell us very clearly what or who the sun, moon, and stars represent. In Joseph’s dream (Genesis 37:9), which was very similar to the vision of 12:1, he dreamed that the sun (Jacob), the moon (Rachel) and eleven stars (Joseph’s brothers) were bowing down to him, the twelfth star. So, the sun, moon, and stars represent the family of Israel in Joseph’s vision. Why could they not represent the same in John’s vision? 
• Most of the early Disciples of Yahushua, including the apostles, were Jewish Believers. They would have immediately understood the symbolism.  The woman is Israel. So, those of Israel who truly believe in the coming Messiah, even though they did not recognize Him the first time He came, the ones to whom Paul refers as true Israel (cf. Romans 9:6), are symbolized in John’s vision as the woman. And in 12:1, this woman - clothed with the sun, moon, and stars - appears in Heaven, indicating that the imagery in this chapter is not bound by time and is not in strict chronological sequence, but represents the timeless plan of Yahuah, which originates in Heaven.
• “For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6). Who else could this child of Israel be other than Yahuah the Son, the Messiah, the focus of the Revelation? In an extended sense, His birth might refer to His second coming as Head of the Kingdom of Yahuah on Earth, because the Final Seven Years are prophesied to be a time of great travail and pain, referred to as “the time that she [Israel] who is in labor has given birth; then the remnant of His [the Messiah’s] brethren shall return to the children of Israel." During the Final Seven Years, a remnant of the tribes of Israel scattered throughout the world will return to the Land of Israel and be reunited with the Jews who are already there. Then, the Messiah will return to rule them from David’s throne in New Jerusalem during His millennial reign on Earth. (cf. Micah 5:2-3; Isaiah 9:7) 

12:3-4 And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, (a) a great, fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads. His tail drew (b) a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And (c) the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born.

• This is Satan, the devil, the “serpent of old” (cf. verse 9; 17:3; 20:2). As will be clarified in Chapters 13 and 17, “heads” is synonymous with “mountains” - worldly kingdoms or empires; “horns” refers to worldly authority or power; and “diadems” (crowns) refers to the kings or rulers who wield that authority over the kingdoms of the world. Satan is, at the present time, the source and sustainer of the authority and power of the kings of the world - the one who controls those kings and, in effect, rules the world from behind the scenes (cf. John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11).
• These are Satan’s angels (cf. verse 9).
• Satan, through Herod, attempted to kill Yahushua soon after He was born (cf. Matthew 2:8; 16-18). He also attempted to kill him at various times during his ministry on Earth and at His crucifixion. He will attempt to kill him again at "Armageddon," and finally at the end of the Millennium. Some mistranslate and over-allegorize “Child” into “Children” (the Christian Church), but a good principle to follow in interpreting Scripture is that symbolism does not violate common sense or correct grammar. 

12:5-6 (a) She bore a male Child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. And her Child was caught up to [Yahuah] and His throne. (b) Then the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by [Yahuah], that (c) they should feed her there one thousand two hundred and sixty days.

• But Israel, through Mary, a descendant of David (cf. Luke 3:23-31), bore the Child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron (cf. Genesis 3:15; Psalm 2:9; Revelation 19:15).⁸ And He escaped being destroyed by Satan when He ascended into Heaven (cf. Acts 1:11). Again, this confirms that the male child (called by many the manchild) is the literal Son of Yahuah, not the Church (cf. the commentary on 2:26-28), as many in the pseudo-Christian (anti-Christian) Manifested Sons of God or New Apostolic Movement teach.
• Then, when he failed to destroy the Son of Yahuah, the devil went after His mother Israel who fled into the wilderness. Actually, in anticipation of the coming Messiah, Satan has been trying to destroy Israel throughout her history: when she came out of Egypt, by Antiochus Epiphanes, by the Roman persecutions and dispersion, by the Russian pogroms, by the German Holocaust, and by worldwide anti-Semitism today. If he can destroy Israel, then he will prevent the Messiah from “giving birth” through her to the redeemed nation of Israel when He returns to rule over her from David’s throne in Jerusalem. So, Satan will attempt to destroy Yahuah’s physical people Israel when his incarnation, Antimessiah, pursues her into the "wilderness" (rural, sparsely inhabited areas) at the midpoint of the Final Seven Years.
• But she will escape and “they” will feed her the last half of the seven years (1260 days). Who “they” are is not clear—perhaps the angels who ministered to Yahushua after His 40 days in the wilderness (cf. Matthew 4:11), or Jordanian Arabs who the Bible indicates will aid Israel after she flees into the wilderness (e.g., Isaiah 16:3-4).
• Although this imagery may have multiple references, including Yahuah’s taking care of Israel in the Sinai wilderness after her exodus from Egypt and His taking care of her in the “wilderness” of the world today before the Remnant returns to Israel, it will have a literal fulfillment during the Final Seven Years when the Jews in Jerusalem and that area who recognize that Antimessiah is the false messiah flee into hiding places in the mountains of "Judea" (Central Israel) at the midpoint of the Final Seven Years when he stands in the Temple proclaiming himself to be "God" (cf. Matthew 24:15-20.

12:7-17 And war broke out in heaven: (a) Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. Then I heard (b) a loud voice saying in heaven, "Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His [Messiah] have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death. Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them! Woe to (c) the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time." Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, (d) he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male Child. But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent. So (e) the serpent spewed water out of his mouth like a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away by the flood. But the earth helped the woman, and (f) the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the flood which the dragon had spewed out of his mouth. And (g) the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of [Yahuah] and have the testimony of [Yahushua the Messiah]. (h)

Verses 7-17 appear to repeat the content of verses 1-6, adding more details about what has happened in cosmic history, what will happen to Israel's physical children during the last half of the Final Seven Years, and culminating with what will happen to Israel’s spiritual children the Followers of Yahushua during the Great Tribulation.

• Although Satan, when he was Lucifer, was expelled from Heaven before he appeared as the serpent in the Garden of Eden (cf. Isaiah 14:12; Genesis 3:1), he still seems to be able to come, with his angels, into the presence of Yahuah. But apparently, during the Final Seven Years, he and his angels are permanently cast out of Heaven after a war with the archangel Michael and his angels.
• The devil’s ejection from Heaven prompts rejoicing by the Redeemed in Heaven (notice that it is just a voice that John hears; there is no indication that the Redeemed are in their final, glorified bodies, which would make the prophecy time-specific), because he can no longer accuse their brethren, especially the martyrs, before Yahuah. It is by virtue of the sacrifice of the Lamb of Yahuah and their faithful testimony to the Truth that Yahushua is the true Messiah and salvation is only through Him, even to the point of sacrificing their own lives, that the brethren are able to overcome the constant accusations of Satan, resulting in his being cast out of Heaven.
• But woe to the inhabitants of both Israel and the Gentile world (cf. 10:2) because the devil, full of desperate wrath because he knows that his time is short, will be a total tyrant in attempting to establish his dominion on the earth. 
• This verse appears to reiterate verse six in which Satan trys to destroy the Jews, who, specially enabled by Yahuah, flee into the mountains of central Israel at the midpoint of the Final Seven Years and are protected and nourished there for “a time and times and half a time,” three and one-half years. The majority of the Jews in Jerusalem will probably not escape, however, and will be subjected to harsh servitude by Satan’s incarnation, Antimessiah, just as the Israelites were oppressed in Egypt by Pharaoh. 
• Then, Satan’s last attempt to destroy Yahuah’s physical people Israel before their Messiah takes back His throne on Earth will be when the anti-messiah pursues those remaining in Jerusalem into the wilderness at the end of the Final Seven Years, when the Messiah returns with the armies of Heaven to destroy the forces of Antimessiah and the kings of the earth. His feet will land on the Mount of Olives which will split, half of it moving to the south and half moving to the north, creating a valley that runs from Jerusalem to the north end of the Dead Sea (Azal). And that valley will provide a way of escape for the Jews through the mountains east of Jerusalem, just as the “valley” through the sea provided a way of escape for the Israelites fleeing from Egypt (cf. Zechariah 14:3-5).
• And, just as the valley through the sea became a death trap for Pharaoh’s army pursuing the children of Israel (Exodus 15:2), a crevasse (caused by an earthquake) will open in the valley created for the Israelites’ escape from Jerusalem and “swallow up” Antimessiah’s army (“flood”) pursuing them.
• Now, the scope of John’s vision broadens to include the whole earth. Satan’s failure to destroy the Jews in Jerusalem enrages him that much more, so he goes off to destroy “the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of [Yahuah] and have the testimony of [Yahushua the Messiah].” These spiritual offspring of Israel are the redeemed Believers in Yahushua (cf. John 14:21). They are the seed of Abraham by grace through faith (cf. Romans 4:16; 1 John 2:3; Revelation 1:9; 19:10), who are not exempt from the Great Tribulation, but whom the Lord “catches up” to Heaven before the final plagues of His Wrath (the plagues of the seventh trumpet/bowl judgment) fall on the earth dwellers.

FROM:  http://www.revelationunderstoodcommentary.com/red-dragon.html

The Seventh Trumpet, or Third Woe

We all know the feeling summed up by the expression "the future is now." It may be graduation, marriage, the birth of a first child or a long-awaited trip to some faraway place. Someday it will be retirement, and one day it will be the hour of death. It is something we knew was coming, something anticipated and imagined for years, with excitement and joy or with dread. Sooner or later a time comes when it is upon us, and we experience either realization or disappointment or relief, depending on what our expectations were and how closely their fulfillment matched them.

John's expectations about the seventh trumpet must have been a strange mixture of excitement and dread, not unlike those of any Christian facing simultaneously the mystery of death and the hope of heaven. On the one hand John had been warned of three terrible "woes" to come on the earth, but had only witnessed two of them (8:13; 9:12). One remained, possibly the worst of all, and it was to come "soon" (11:14). Yet he had also been told that "when the seventh angel is about to sound his trumpet, the mystery of God will be accomplished, just as he announced to his servants the prophets" (10:7). Now that he hears the trumpet, it sounds more like the fulfillment of a promise than an oracle of woe. Loud voices in heaven announce that the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign for ever and ever (v. 15).

Clearly the announcement introduces a major division in the book. At once the twenty-four elders in heaven, who have not been heard from as a group since the opening throne-room scene in chapters 4-5, fall on their faces in worship, just as they did twice in that opening scene (4:10; 5:8), offering thanks to God for what he has done and what he is about to do (vv. 16-18). It appears that these verses form a kind of inclusion with chapters 4-5, framing the seven seals and seven trumpets and preparing the way for still more visions to follow.

At the same time, the singular expression, the kingdom of the world, echoes the prophecy just completed about "the great city" of this world, "which is figuratively Sodom and Egypt" (v. 8). The world has many cities and "many peoples, nations, languages and kings" (10:11), but John knows, just as Augustine knew in his City of God, and Bunyan knew in The Pilgrim's Progress, that these are all one city, all one kingdom, whether we call it the City of Man or the City of Destruction or Vanity Fair. Only when that city's citizens "were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven" (v. 13) was it possible to say, The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ. The seventh trumpet is significant, therefore, both in relation to chapters 4-11 generally and to the end of the sixth trumpet in particular.

The dual phrase, of our Lord and of his Christ, recalls previous references to "the one sitting on the throne" together with "the Lamb" (5:13; 6:16; 7:10), but echoes more closely the language of Psalm 2: "Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the LORD and against his Anointed One" (or "his Christ," Ps 2:1-2). Although G. B. Caird may have exaggerated in stating that John here "begins an exposition of Psalm ii" extending through several chapters (Caird 1966:141), much of the latter half of the book of Revelation will be given over to answering the psalmist's question. With the end of the Cold War, and in the face of many "small" crises all over the world (at this writing Russia, Bosnia, Haiti, Rwanda and Zaire), the ancient question reasserts itself with as much urgency as ever. Why indeed is there so much turmoil among the nations?

The song of the twenty-four elders recalls God's self-revelation just before John's first vision (1:8), but with one significant difference. God is described not as the one "who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty," but now as Lord God Almighty, the One who is and who was (v. 17). God is no longer "to come" because God has come in power. The elders' song is a thanksgiving because you have taken your power and have begun to reign (v. 17). The occasion for God's great assertion of power is stated very briefly, in the spirit of Psalm 2: The nations were angry (v. 18). God's anger is in direct response to the anger of the nations. As one recent translation aptly puts it, "The nations rose in wrath, but your day of wrath has come" (REB; compare 6:17). In a similar vein, the song concludes that the time has now come for destroying those who destroy the earth (v. 18).

The first four trumpets might easily have left the impression that God was destroying the creation with fire from heaven, but by now the trumpet series has been transformed. Responsibility for the damage rests not with God, but with those who provoked God's anger. We have met them briefly, as the beast from the Abyss (11:7) or as "the great city . . . called Sodom and Egypt" (11:8). We will meet them again in varied forms in later chapters. The concluding reference to destroying those who destroy the earth (v. 18) is strangely similar to Paul's solemn warning to the Corinthians: "Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him; for God's temple is sacred, and you are that temple" (1 Cor 3:16-17). Here in Revelation, it is as if the whole earth is God's temple, the "outer court" of his sanctuary in heaven (compare 11:2), given over to the Gentiles--or nations--for a limited time, but now holy once again and ready to be reclaimed.

Between the stern words of retribution that frame verse 18 are corresponding words of justice and reward. It is likely that the rewarding of your servants the prophets and your saints and those who reverence your name, both small and great, as well as the destruction of the earth's destroyers, takes place at the final resurrection in connection with judging the dead. This final judgment will eventually turn out to be a complex process in two stages (compare 20:5, 11-15), but in keeping with traditional Jewish expectations, the elders' song announces it as a single event involving reward for the righteous and punishment for the wicked (compare Mt 25:46; Jn 5:28; Acts 24:15). The righteous are here divided into three groups: Christian prophets (compare 10:7), ordinary believers, or "saints," whose prayers triggered the series of seven trumpets (5:8; 8:3-4), and unbelievers who learned to fear and worship God at the end of the trumpet series (11:11, 13). As subsequent chapters will show, the judgment of those who destroy the earth is not limited to the final resurrection (20:11-15), but begins already with the fall of the city called "Babylon" (14:8 11; chaps. 16-18) and the defeat of the armies of "the kings of the earth" (19:17-21).

The divine response to the elders' song is the sudden opening of God's temple in heaven (v. 19), protected by John's prophetic act of measuring at the beginning of the chapter (11:1). Within God's temple the ark of His covenant appeared (v. 19 NASB), followed shortly by two more "appearances" (all with the same Greek word for "appeared," wphthh: first, "a great and wondrous sign appeared in heaven" (12:1) and then "another sign appeared in heaven" (12:3). The appearance of the ark of the covenant is God's acknowledgment of the thanksgiving just offered by the twenty-four elders. John's glimpse of the ark is the nearest he comes in all his visions to a glimpse of God. The repetition of the words "appear" and "in heaven" accent the continuity between God's self-disclosure in the temple and the disclosure of conflict and victory in the next four or five chapters (compare also 15:5). In this sense the seventh trumpet is open-ended, encompassing all the rest of the book of Revelation and announcing in advance the end of the story.

At the same time the trumpet series, like that of the seven seals, is terminated by a "storm" in heaven reminiscent of Mount Sinai: flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake and a great hailstorm (v. 19; compare 8:5).There will be more visions and more judgments, but no more trumpets. The double series that began with the seven-sealed scroll in chapters 4-5 is now at an end. Although there is definite continuity between chapters 11-12, there is at least a momentary pause in the action. Many readers have found this as good a place as any to divide the book of Revelation into two approximately equal parts: chapters 1-11 and chapters 12-22.

FROM: http://www.biblegateway.com/resources/commentaries/IVP-NT/Rev/Seventh-Trumpet-Third-Woe

NOTE FROM DEE:  APPARENTLY I'VE WRITTEN ABOUT THE THREE WOES PREVIOUSLY: