The Second Woe Is Past

 Temple Baptist Church - 3-7-2021

Revelation 11:1-14

 

A.  Verses 1-2 – During the first half of the Tribulation Period, the Third Temple will be rebuilt, and the daily sacrifice reinstituted. 

 

1.  Solomon’s Temple (Also called The First Temple) was the first one built.  It was completed in 957 BC.  It took 7 years to build.  It was destroyed when Israel was taken captive by Nebuchadnezzar during the Babylonish Captivity in app. 586 B.C. 

 

2.  Zerubbabel’s Temple (Also called The Second Temple) was which was built at the end of the Babylonish Captivity.  Its foundation was laid in 536 BC, but the work was halted 2 years later in 534 BC because of opposition from Sanballat the Horonite and Tobias the Ammonite in Nehemiah, chapter 6.  Work was resumed in 520 BC.  It took 46 years to build according to John 2:20 and was destroyed by Titus of Rome in 70 A.D.

 

Some interesting facts about The Second Temple.

 

a.  It was larger in dimensions compared to Solomon’s Temple.

 

b.  It was not nearly as beautiful as Solomon’s Temple. 

 

Haggai 2:3  Who is left among you that saw this house in her first glory? and how do ye see it now? is it not in your eyes in comparison of it as nothing?

 

c.  It did not contain the original Ark of the Covenant which was taken to heaven when Solomon’s Temple was destroyed. 

 

Revelation 11:19  And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail.

 

John 2:20  Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days?

 

Daniel 12:11  And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.  (10)  Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.  (11)  And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days.

 

Notice in verse 11 of Daniel, chapter 12, that the time from the Abomination of Desolation until the end of the Tribulation Period will be 1, 290 days instead of 1,260 days or 3 ½ years by the Jewish Calendar which uses a 30-day month.

 

30 days prior to the exact middle of the Tribulation Period, the newly started daily sacrifice will forcibly be stopped, and the Abomination of Desolation will take place.  30 days or one month later, the Gentiles will trod underfoot the outer court of that temple for 3 ½ years: “forty and two months” or the last 3 ½ years of the Tribulation Period.

 

B. Verses 3-11 – Here we see God’s two witnesses, the two olive trees or candlesticks, begin to preach when Jerusalem was overrun by the Gentiles.  Though the Bible does not name these two men, it is generally accepted that they will be Moses and Elijah.

 

1.  These were the two who were seen with Christ on the Mount of Transfiguration.

 

Matthew 17:1-3  And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart,  (2)  And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light.  (3)  And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him.

 

2.  Verse 6 also gives a vivid description of their powers which, though not conclusive, would lend themselves to Moses and Elijah. 

 

Exodus 7:20  And Moses and Aaron did so, as the LORD commanded; and he lifted up the rod, and smote the waters that were in the river, in the sight of Pharaoh, and in the sight of his servants; and all the waters that were in the river were turned to blood.

 

Exodus 9:13-14  And the LORD said unto Moses, Rise up early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh, and say unto him, Thus saith the LORD God of the Hebrews, Let my people go, that they may serve me.  (14)  For I will at this time send all my plagues upon thine heart, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people; that thou mayest know that there is none like me in all the earth.

 

James 5:17-18  Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months.  (18)  And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.

 

C.  These 2 “witnesses” will preach “a thousand two hundred and three score days” beginning from the middle of the Tribulation Period until the end thereof. During these 3 ½ years, they will be protected from all those who hate them and would put them to death.  Their death marks the end of the 70th week called Jacob’s Trouble.

 

D.  Verses 7-10 – They are overcome by the beast who ascended from the bottomless pit and the world is rejoicing while watching as their bodies lie in the street of Jerusalem for 3 ½ days, a number that represents one day for each of the 3 ½ years that they preached.

 

E.  Verses 11-12, the two witnesses come back to life and are caught up to heaven by the Lord in the sight of all the people.

 

F.  Verse 13 – Then there will be another great earthquake to pronounce the judgment of God to come. One tenth of Jerusalem will be destroyed along with 7,000 people.  There will be a remnant among the survivors of the earthquake that will recognize the righteous judgment of God upon the people of earth and give glory to God.

 

Romans 9:27-29  Esaias also crieth concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved:  (28)  For he will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness: because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth.  (29)  And as Esaias said before, Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we had been as Sodoma, and been made like unto Gomorrha.

 

G.  Verse 13 – The pronouncement of the end of the second woe and the impending third woe.  I believe that this second woe is pronounced upon these who heard the preaching of the two witnesses and repented not.  This falls in line with the “woes” pronounced upon the cities that heard the preaching of God’s Word in Matthew, chapter 11.

 

Matthew 11:20-24  Then began he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they repented not:  (21)  Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.  (22)  But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you.  (23)  And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day.  (24)  But I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee.

 

These “woes” will be followed by the righteous judgment of God upon these cities that rejected the preaching of God’s Word during the times of John the Baptist and our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

H.  The Second Woe is now ended by the death, resurrection, and ascension of the two witnesses and the pronouncement of Third Woe that is quickly to follow.