Revelation 11:14 - Printer Friendly

ESV: The second woe has passed; behold, the third woe is soon to come.

NIV: The second woe has passed; the third woe is coming soon.

NASB: The second woe has passed; behold, the third woe is coming quickly.

CSB: The second woe has passed. Take note: The third woe is coming soon!

NLT: The second terror is past, but look, the third terror is coming quickly.

KJV: The second woe is past; and, behold, the third woe cometh quickly.

NKJV: The second woe is past. Behold, the third woe is coming quickly.

This verse recalls the past and anticipates the future. It announces that the second woe has passed and the third woe is coming. The first woe was introduced by the sound of the fifth trumpet that brought the plague of invading locusts (Revelation 9:1–12). The second woe was introduced by the blast of the sixth trumpet. It involved the release of four fallen angels to kill a third of mankind (Revelation 9:13–21).

The blowing of the seventh trumpet introduces events that occur until Christ executes final judgment on the unbelievers of all ages. Just as the seventh seal judgment was, in fact, the trumpet judgments, so too is the seventh trumpet judgment composed of the "bowl judgments." Seven bowls of the wrath of God will be poured out on the earth (Revelation 16:1). These judgments begin with the affliction of painful sores on the people who bear the mark of the beast and worship his image (Revelation 16:2). The judgments end with the fall of Babylon (Revelation 16:19). God will avenge his faithful people and usher in the kingdom of His Son.

The verses following this passage describe seven major figures of the end times, and Revelation does not resume its direct narrative until chapter 16.

Revelation 11:3–14 follows on the heels of a brief assertion that the Gentiles will possess the temple's outer court and trample Jerusalem for forty-two months. We learn also that God will authorize two witnesses to prophesy during those forty-two months. Here we gain information about the two witnesses' ministry, what happens to them, and God's immediate response. The passage ends by alerting us to the fact that the second woe has ended, but the third woe is coming soon.

This chapter continues the interlude between the sixth and seventh trumpet judgments. John received a measuring rod and was told to measure the temple, the altar, and the worshipers. However, he was told not to measure the court outside the temple, because the Gentiles would overrun it for three and a half years. During that time, two divinely authorized witnesses would prophesy. They would have power to summon fire from heaven and to strike the earth with plagues. At the end of their testimony the beast from the pit will kill them and leave their bodies in a street in Jerusalem. But, three and a half days later, God will resurrect their bodies and draw them up to heaven. At that time a powerful earthquake will level a tenth of Jerusalem and kill seven thousand people. When the seventh trumpet sounds, loud voices in heaven proclaim Jesus as the possessor of the world's kingdoms, and the twenty-four elders praise Jesus as the Lord God Almighty who will begin to reign. He will judge the dead but reward His servants. The chapter ends with the opening of the temple in heaven.

The eleventh chapter of Revelation provides information about an event that transpires between the sounding of the sixth and seventh trumpets. It involves two powerful witnesses that God raises up in the middle of the tribulation. These two witnesses minister throughout the second half of the tribulation. They are martyred, but God raises them up and lifts them to heaven. Concurrent with their ascension a mighty earthquake destroys one tenth of Jerusalem and kills seven thousand people. This is the second woe. The first woe is described in chapter 9 as an invading army of locusts.

The word ''revelation'' means ''an unveiling or disclosure.'' This writing unveils future events such as the rapture, three series of judgments that will fall on the earth during the tribulation, the emergence of the Antichrist, the persecution of Israel and her amazing revival, as well as Jesus' second coming with His saints to the earth, the judgment of Satan and his followers, and finally, the eternal state. This content, combined with the original Greek term apokalypsis, is why we now refer to an end-of-the-world scenario as ''an apocalypse.''