And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound!
What is said in this verse hath no connexion with the former, neither doth it form a part of the trumpet proclamations. It is not one of the seven Angels who had the seven trumpets, but another angel which John beheld flying through the midst of heaven, that as through the midst of the church. And the design of his embassy seems to have been to call up the more awakened attention of the Apostle to what was coming on under the remaining dispensations, which were to take place when the other three angels should sound their trumpets The Angel intimates this, by thrice repeating woe to the inhabitants of the earth, when these awful times came on, which should take place, as they sounded their trumpets. And awful indeed they have been, still are, and must be until the whole predictions contained in them are accomplished! We, who stand upon the hill of time which hath been trodden over by the generations since then, and before us, in ascending the rising ground of observation, and now look back, and behold in those already accomplished, in the correspondence between the prediction and the event, can and do see enough to lament; and much more to deplore in what yet remains to be fulfilled. And the generation now which looks on, if taught by grace, in viewing the whole that is past, compared with the prophecies here recorded by divine inspiration, may be well assured that every tittle must and will be accomplished.
It doth not fall within the compass of this chapter to enter upon the subject. This would be to anticipate it; and it will more properly meet our attention, as we prosecute the history of the trumpets, in their due time and place. But, before we finish the present chapter, I would take occasion, from what the angel here said (whom John beheld flying through the midst of heaven), to observe, that as the times of the three last trumpets, evidently take in, not only the whole period of centuries, which have already run out, from the moment the fifth trumpet was sounded, to the present hour, but to the very end of time (for the seventh is not yet sounded, neither will, until it ushers in the kingdom of Christ, as is related, Revelation 11:14-15.) it will be our wisdom to consider the subject, with an eye to the Lord, more especially from the great interest in which the Church is included, in the events coming on, as well as our own personal concern. There cannot remain the shadow of a doubt but that we are now under the sixth trumpet. It hath been a long sounding trumpet of woe indeed in the Church. Many hundreds of years have passed since it opened, and no man can ascertain how much longer it will continue. It is blessed to consider, that, when ended, all the powers of antichrist will end with it: and that blessed period will come on when the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ: and he shall reign forever and ever. In the mean time it will be our mercy to watch a gracious God, as a gracious God is everlastingly watching over his people for good. I know the thoughts I think towards you, said the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end, Jeremiah 29:11. Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him. Woe unto the wicked, it shall be ill with him, Isaiah 3:10
But, Reader with these things in view, and in the fullest assurance a faith, knowing that they must be so, allow me to say one word in closing up this chapter. We behold here an Angel pronouncing, woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth, by reason of the other voices of, the trumpet of the three Angels which were then remaining to be sounded. Most evidently the last of these trumpets hath not yet sounded. The two great powers which oppose Christ's kingdom, both in the East, and in the West, are still in their plenitude. The latter did indeed lately seem to be somewhat tottering; but is now more than recovered from his halting. And indeed great changes are to be expected according to scripture prophecy before the total fall. The death of the witnesses which is to take place before that event plainly shows that his termination is not yet, Revelation 11:8-9. But what I would in this place beg to remark is that after the second woe trumpet is said to be past, the third woe (not the seventh trumpet) is said to come quickly. And this is said, before the seventh Angel is said to sound. See Revelation 11:14
From hence it should seem abundantly clear and evident, that under the sixth trumpet, or at the close of it, there is to be the third woe. And whoever considers the subject attentively, must conclude that so it will be. I am not, in the very nature of things, (unless the judgments indeed are now at the door), likely to live to see it going fast as I now am the way of all the earth. But without a spirit of prophecy (for there can need none more than is before us) great commotions, such as the third woe intimates, may be supposed likely to take place before those two Anti-Christian powers of Mahometanism and Popery are destroyed. And however some men may please themselves with the hope that the world is evangelizing, the Holy Ghost speaketh expressly, and speaketh to the reverse: in the latter time there will be great departures from the faith, 1 Timothy 4:1. The Lord prepare his people for what he is preparing for them! Who that considers the real state of vital godliness in the present day but must be concerned for the eventual consequence. If there was ever a period more suited for that solemn question of our Lord's one than another, the present is eminently so: when the Son of Man cometh, shall he find faith in the earth, Luke 18:8
REFLECTIONS
MY Soul! behold the grace of thy God, when at opening of the seventh seal, and silence took place in the Church, before the new circumstances of sorrow began, Jesus will be seen at the Altar, in his High Priestly Office, with his golden Censer! Was it not to teach the Church, both then, and now, yea, in all ages, that under every seal opened, every trumpet sounded, every vial poured out, He is unceasingly engaged, for all his redeemed ones, and not a moment intermits his care, but is forever carrying on the whole purposes of his unchangeable priesthood? Oh! what a blessed view was here opened, for the everlasting consolation of the Church. Ye redeemed of the Lord! Ye Priests of my God! Ye Ministers of the sanctuary! never cease to shew the Church Jesus in this endearing office, as always engaged for his people. And do ye follow up petition after petition, neither keep silence, nor give him rest, until he hath made his Jerusalem a praise in the earth. Oh! the preciousness, from this blessed view of our God, that Jesus it is, at the Altar, which offers up in his incense, the prayers of his saints; and both the persons and offerings of his people ascend before God out of this Almighty Angel of the Covenant's hands!
Lord! thy Church finds cause to bless thee to this day, that amidst the destructions which have followed those trumpets, Jesus hath yet a seed to serve him, which are counted to the Lord for a generation, And, though heresies still abound, yea, are in various instances, increasing in the earth; yet the Lord knoweth them that are his. Oh! for grace, to be found faithful, and to live above the reproach of men, by living upon the faithfulness of God in Christ. And then, while all the woe trumpets have been, or now are sounding, and our God shall show wonders above, and signs in the earth, beneath, blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke, Jesus will own them whom he hath sealed; and the world shall know whose they are, and to whom they belong, when that great and notable day of the Lord shall come!