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The three woes of Revelation (the 5th, 6th, and 7th Trumpets) are the three sequential ‘birth pangs’ of Matthew 24’s Olivet Discourse that occur to bring in the kingdom of heaven. The 1st woe (the 5th Trumpet) is Matthew 24:4-8. The 2nd woe (the 6th Trumpet) is Matthew 24:9-14. The 3rd woe (the 7th Trumpet) is Matthew 24:15-25.
But here it should be noted that Matthew 24:15-25 is also describing the 1st woe. The reason for this is that the abomination of desolation which is starting the ‘great tribulation’ (Matthew 24:15-21) is occurring before the sign of the son of man in heaven (Matthew 24:29-30). In Revelation 13, the ‘living image’ abomination of desolation is happening after the sign of the son of man in heaven (Revelation 12:1 and then through Revelation 13:15).
In other words, there are two abomination of desolations: one at the start of the first woe and one at the start of the third woe, with a ‘gap’ of great tribulation where the two witness prophesy. The first event people can look for is something that looks like the end of the world which brings in the false christs, one of whom is calling himself God in the temple (not necessarily a physical temple) on the Feast of Tabernacles (more on this later). Trumpets 1-4 occur, this brings in the 5 months of the 5th Trumpet. This 1st woe is characterized by wars, the false christ, earthquakes, and famine. Then at the 6th Trumpet, Christians are hated, killed, and persecuted during the 1st portion of the great tribulation. This time-frame is cut short after killing a third of humanity (this probably lasts for 150 days because this is the ‘flood’ upon the ‘sanctuary’ from Daniel 9:26, but more on this later). The covenant of peace from Daniel 9:27 cuts short this time of great tribulation and then the gospel is preached by the two witnesses for 1260 days. The ‘antichrist’ then breaks this covenant at the 7th Trumpet and the 3rd woe begins with the 2nd abomination of desolation, the ‘living image’ of the mortally head wounded ‘antichrist’.
With our overview concluded, let’s get back to the birth pains of Matthew 24.
Matthew 24:4-
‘Birth pains’ here is the Greek word, ‘odinon’, G5604.
And in the following verse below, ‘woe’ is G3759 ‘ouai’, an expression of intense grief, that Jesus is putting in the context of giving birth:
Matthew 24:19
In Revelation, the use of ‘woe’ there has the same Greek word ‘ouai’ (after first 4 Trumpets have occurred, for the start of the 5th Trumpet).
Revelation 8:13
The three woes of Revelation (the remaining 5th, 6th, and 7th Trumpets) are the ‘birth pangs’ that result in the ‘birth’ of the kingdom of heaven, just like in Isaiah 66:7
And so, here at the 3rd woe, the third ‘birth pain’, which is the 7th Trumpet, the ‘kingdom of heaven’ is ‘born’ in Revelation 11
Now we can directly compare Jesus’ description of the ‘woes’/ ‘birth pangs’ to events in Revelation. Here is what is going on in the 5th Trumpet, which is explicitly called the ‘1st woe’ in Revelation 8:13 above. Because Matthew 24:8 says, ‘all of these are beginning of the birth pains’, it is just another way of saying that this is the 1st woe/ the 1st ‘birth pain’.
And again, all these items are the events going on in the 5th Trumpet, 1st woe: many false Christs saying, ‘I am the Christ’, world wars, famines, and earthquakes. Immediately after people think that it is the end of the world at the 6th Seal in Revelation 6:17, with the subsequent first 4 Trumpets, the false Christs arrive at the start of the 5th Trumpet (the same time as the first 4 Trumpets). This is 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4
The ‘day of the Lord’ is announced at the 6th Seal, which is the same time as the ‘day starting’ when the ‘man of lawlessness’ is ‘revealed’, one of the false Christs that is arriving.
Here is how Revelation describes the 1st woe in Revelation 9:
The ‘locusts’ are the ‘people of the prince to come’ in Daniel 9:26 who are ‘destroying the city’ in a ‘flood’ (which is why the 5th Trumpet lasts for 5 months – the ‘flood’ of Genesis 7:24 is 150 days). These symbolic ‘locusts’ that are destroying and ‘eating up the land’ are part of the curses for disobedience in Deuteronomy 28
Here is the 6th Trumpet of Revelation, the 2nd woe, as described by Jesus in the Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24
Now compare this with the 6th Trumpet’s violence and subsequent preaching of the gospel by the two witnesses in Revelation 9-11
Then it segues into Revelation 10
And this segues into the two witnesses in Revelation 11:
And then here is the 3rd woe, the third birth pang, as described by Jesus in Matthew 24:
And this event is the arrival of Revelation 13’s beast from the sea, the beast from the earth, the ‘living image’, and the mark of the beast.
But here it should be noted that Matthew 24:15-25 is also describing the 1st woe. The reason for this is that the abomination of desolation which is starting the ‘great tribulation’ (Matthew 24:15-21) is occurring before the sign of the son of man in heaven (Matthew 24:29-30). In Revelation 13, the ‘living image’ abomination of desolation is happening after the sign of the son of man in heaven (Revelation 12:1 and then through Revelation 13:15).
Matthew 24:29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days: ‘The sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.’30 At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and all the tribes of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory.
Revelation 12:1 And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed in the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. 2 She was pregnant and crying out in the pain and agony of giving birth.
[…] 13 And when the dragon saw that he had been thrown to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. 14 But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle to fly from the presence of the serpent to her place in the wilderness, where she was nourished for a time, and times, and half a time. […] 17 And the dragon was enraged at the woman, and went to make war with the rest of her children, who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus. And the dragon stood on the shore of the sea.
Revelation 13:1 Then I saw a beast with ten horns and seven heads rising out of the sea. There were ten royal crowns on its horns and blasphemous names on its heads. 2The beast I saw was like a leopard, with the feet of a bear and the mouth of a lion. And the dragon gave the beast his power and his throne and great authority. […] 11 Then I saw another beast rising out of the earth. This beast had two horns like a lamb, but spoke like a dragon. […] 13 And the second beast performed great signs to cause even fire from heaven to come down to earth in the presence of the people. 14 Because of the signs it was given to perform on behalf of the first beast, it deceived those who dwell on the earth, telling them to make an image to the beast that had been wounded by the sword and yet had lived.
In other words, there are two abomination of desolations: one at the start of the first woe and one at the start of the third woe, with a ‘gap’ of great tribulation where the two witness prophesy. The first event people can look for is something that looks like the end of the world which brings in the false christs, one of whom is calling himself God in the temple (not necessarily a physical temple) on the Feast of Tabernacles (more on this later). Trumpets 1-4 occur, this brings in the 5 months of the 5th Trumpet. This 1st woe is characterized by wars, the false christ, earthquakes, and famine. Then at the 6th Trumpet, Christians are hated, killed, and persecuted during the 1st portion of the great tribulation. This time-frame is cut short after killing a third of humanity (this probably lasts for 150 days because this is the ‘flood’ upon the ‘sanctuary’ from Daniel 9:26, but more on this later). The covenant of peace from Daniel 9:27 cuts short this time of great tribulation and then the gospel is preached by the two witnesses for 1260 days. The ‘antichrist’ then breaks this covenant at the 7th Trumpet and the 3rd woe begins with the 2nd abomination of desolation, the ‘living image’ of the mortally head wounded ‘antichrist’.
With our overview concluded, let’s get back to the birth pains of Matthew 24.
Matthew 24:4-
4 And Jesus answered them, “See that no one leads you astray. 5 For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray. 6 And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. 7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are but the beginning of the birth pains [‘odinon’].
‘Birth pains’ here is the Greek word, ‘odinon’, G5604.
And in the following verse below, ‘woe’ is G3759 ‘ouai’, an expression of intense grief, that Jesus is putting in the context of giving birth:
Matthew 24:19
And woe [‘ouai’] unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!
In Revelation, the use of ‘woe’ there has the same Greek word ‘ouai’ (after first 4 Trumpets have occurred, for the start of the 5th Trumpet).
Revelation 8:13
And as I observed, I heard an eagle flying overhead, calling in a loud voice, “Woe! Woe! Woe to those who dwell on the earth, because of the trumpet blasts about to be sounded by the remaining three angels!”
The three woes of Revelation (the remaining 5th, 6th, and 7th Trumpets) are the ‘birth pangs’ that result in the ‘birth’ of the kingdom of heaven, just like in Isaiah 66:7
“Before she was in labor, she gave birth; before she was in pain, she delivered a boy. 8 Who has heard of such as this? Who has seen such things? Can a country be born in a day or a nation be delivered in an instant? Yet as soon as Zion was in labor, she gave birth to her children.
And so, here at the 3rd woe, the third ‘birth pain’, which is the 7th Trumpet, the ‘kingdom of heaven’ is ‘born’ in Revelation 11
14 The second woe has passed. Behold, the third woe is coming shortly. 15 Then the seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and loud voices called out in heaven: “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He will reign forever and ever.”
Now we can directly compare Jesus’ description of the ‘woes’/ ‘birth pangs’ to events in Revelation. Here is what is going on in the 5th Trumpet, which is explicitly called the ‘1st woe’ in Revelation 8:13 above. Because Matthew 24:8 says, ‘all of these are beginning of the birth pains’, it is just another way of saying that this is the 1st woe/ the 1st ‘birth pain’.
Matthew 24:4 Jesus answered, “See to it that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in My name, claiming, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. 6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. These things must happen, but the end is still to come. 7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of birth pains.
And again, all these items are the events going on in the 5th Trumpet, 1st woe: many false Christs saying, ‘I am the Christ’, world wars, famines, and earthquakes. Immediately after people think that it is the end of the world at the 6th Seal in Revelation 6:17, with the subsequent first 4 Trumpets, the false Christs arrive at the start of the 5th Trumpet (the same time as the first 4 Trumpets). This is 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4
3 Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. 4 He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God.
The ‘day of the Lord’ is announced at the 6th Seal, which is the same time as the ‘day starting’ when the ‘man of lawlessness’ is ‘revealed’, one of the false Christs that is arriving.
Here is how Revelation describes the 1st woe in Revelation 9:
1 Then the fifth angel sounded his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from heaven to earth, and it was given the key to the pit of the Abyss. 2 The star opened the pit of the Abyss, and smoke rose out of it like the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke from the pit.
3 And out of the smoke, locusts descended on the earth, and they were given power like that of the scorpions of the earth. 4 They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any plant or tree, but only those who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads. 5 The locusts were not given power to kill them, but only to torment them for five months, and their torment was like the stinging of a scorpion. 6 In those days men will seek death and will not find it; they will long to die, but death will escape them.
7 And the locusts looked like horses prepared for battle, with something like crowns of gold on their heads, and faces like the faces of men. 8 They had hair like that of women, and teeth like those of lions. 9 They also had thoraxes like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the roar of many horses and chariots rushing into battle. 10 They had tails with stingers like scorpions, which had the power to injure people for five months. 11 They were ruled by a king, the angel of the Abyss. His name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek it is Apollyon.
3 And out of the smoke, locusts descended on the earth, and they were given power like that of the scorpions of the earth. 4 They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any plant or tree, but only those who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads. 5 The locusts were not given power to kill them, but only to torment them for five months, and their torment was like the stinging of a scorpion. 6 In those days men will seek death and will not find it; they will long to die, but death will escape them.
7 And the locusts looked like horses prepared for battle, with something like crowns of gold on their heads, and faces like the faces of men. 8 They had hair like that of women, and teeth like those of lions. 9 They also had thoraxes like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the roar of many horses and chariots rushing into battle. 10 They had tails with stingers like scorpions, which had the power to injure people for five months. 11 They were ruled by a king, the angel of the Abyss. His name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek it is Apollyon.
12 The first woe has passed. Behold, two woes are still to follow.
The ‘locusts’ are the ‘people of the prince to come’ in Daniel 9:26 who are ‘destroying the city’ in a ‘flood’ (which is why the 5th Trumpet lasts for 5 months – the ‘flood’ of Genesis 7:24 is 150 days). These symbolic ‘locusts’ that are destroying and ‘eating up the land’ are part of the curses for disobedience in Deuteronomy 28
49 The LORD will bring a nation from afar, from the ends of the earth, to swoop down upon you like an eagle—a nation whose language you will not understand, 50 a ruthless nation with no respect for the old and no pity for the young. 51 They will eat the offspring of your livestock and the produce of your land until you are destroyed. They will leave you no grain or new wine or oil, no calves of your herds or lambs of your flocks, until they have caused you to perish. 52 They will besiege all the cities throughout your land, until the high and fortified walls in which you trust have fallen. They will besiege all your cities throughout the land that the LORD your God has given you.
Here is the 6th Trumpet of Revelation, the 2nd woe, as described by Jesus in the Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24
9 Then they will deliver you over to be persecuted and killed, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name. 10 At that time many will fall away and will betray and hate one another, 11 and many false prophets will arise and mislead many.
12 Because of the multiplication of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold. 13 But the one who perseveres to the end will be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
12 Because of the multiplication of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold. 13 But the one who perseveres to the end will be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
Now compare this with the 6th Trumpet’s violence and subsequent preaching of the gospel by the two witnesses in Revelation 9-11
13 Then the sixth angel sounded his trumpet, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar before God 14 saying to the sixth angel with the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.”
15 So the four angels who had been prepared for this hour and day and month and year were released to kill a third of mankind. 16 And the number of mounted troops was two hundred million; I heard their number.
17 Now the horses and riders in my vision looked like this: The riders had breastplates the colors of fire, sapphire, and sulfur. The heads of the horses were like the heads of lions, and out of their mouths proceeded fire, smoke, and sulfur. 18 A third of mankind was killed by the three plagues of fire, smoke, and sulfur that proceeded from their mouths. 19 For the power of the horses was in their mouths and in their tails; indeed, their tails were like snakes, having heads with which to inflict harm.
20 Now the rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the works of their hands. They did not stop worshiping demons and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk. 21 Furthermore, they did not repent of their murder, sorcery, sexual immorality, and theft.
15 So the four angels who had been prepared for this hour and day and month and year were released to kill a third of mankind. 16 And the number of mounted troops was two hundred million; I heard their number.
17 Now the horses and riders in my vision looked like this: The riders had breastplates the colors of fire, sapphire, and sulfur. The heads of the horses were like the heads of lions, and out of their mouths proceeded fire, smoke, and sulfur. 18 A third of mankind was killed by the three plagues of fire, smoke, and sulfur that proceeded from their mouths. 19 For the power of the horses was in their mouths and in their tails; indeed, their tails were like snakes, having heads with which to inflict harm.
20 Now the rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the works of their hands. They did not stop worshiping demons and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk. 21 Furthermore, they did not repent of their murder, sorcery, sexual immorality, and theft.
Then it segues into Revelation 10
1 Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven, wrapped in a cloud, with a rainbow above his head. His face was like the sun, and his legs were like pillars of fire.
[The ‘rainbow’ signifies the end of the killing of a third of humanity, with its covenant of peace after the ‘flood’ (Genesis 9) of the 6th Trumpet events.]
[…] 11 And they told me, “You must prophesy again about many peoples and nations and tongues and kings.”And this segues into the two witnesses in Revelation 11:
1 Then I was given a measuring rod like a staff and was told, “Go and measure the temple of God and the altar, and count the number of worshipers there. 2 But exclude the courtyard outside the temple. Do not measure it, because it has been given over to the nations, and they will trample the holy city for 42 months. 3 And I will empower my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.”
And then here is the 3rd woe, the third birth pang, as described by Jesus in Matthew 24:
15 So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination of desolation,’ described by the prophet Daniel (let the reader understand), 16 then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 17 Let no one on the housetop come down to retrieve anything from his house. 18 And let no one in the field return for his cloak.
19 And woe [‘ouai’] unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! 20 Pray that your flight will not occur in the winter or on the Sabbath. 21 For at that time there will be great tribulation, unmatched from the beginning of the world until now, and never to be seen again. 22 If those days had not been cut short, nobody would be saved. But for the sake of the elect, those days will be cut short.
23 At that time, if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There He is!’ do not believe it. 24 For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders that would deceive even the elect, if that were possible. 25 See, I have told you in advance.
19 And woe [‘ouai’] unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! 20 Pray that your flight will not occur in the winter or on the Sabbath. 21 For at that time there will be great tribulation, unmatched from the beginning of the world until now, and never to be seen again. 22 If those days had not been cut short, nobody would be saved. But for the sake of the elect, those days will be cut short.
23 At that time, if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There He is!’ do not believe it. 24 For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders that would deceive even the elect, if that were possible. 25 See, I have told you in advance.
And this event is the arrival of Revelation 13’s beast from the sea, the beast from the earth, the ‘living image’, and the mark of the beast.
