2. ANALYSIS OF THE JUDGMENTS

SUMMARY OF THE JUDGMENTS OF REVELATION

Over the years I have set through a few studies of Revelation, most of them fairly brief. I have attended a couple of prophecy conferences and read many books on end time prophecy. I have also listened to many teaching tapes on end time prophecy. One of these studies concluded that the Revelation judgments have already been fulfilled. Another concluded that there are seven judgments in Revelation, presented three times in somewhat different language. However, the vast majority concluded that there are 21 separate judgments presented in Revelation. What was I to believe? I had studied the Bible and taught it for many years, including studying and teaching Old Testament prophecy for about three years. However I had never seriously studied Revelation on my own and taught it. In 2007 I felt God leading me to seriously study Revelation on my own and teach it. Being a scientist, a physicist and mathematician, and trained as a systems analyst and systems engineer, I use the techniques that a scientist might use in my Bible study. My basic tools are an NIV Bible, a few good Bible dictionaries, and on-line Bible search tools. The on-line tools that I use most are Bible search tools. When I want to do a word or phrase search I generally use www.blueletterbible.com and when I want to study the Greek I use www.olivetree.com. Olive tree has a great tool they call the KJV with Strong’s definitions, which I use extensively. If I want to copy a passage into my writings I often use www.biblegateway.com . Each of these sites also has other valuable study resources. Generally when I study I just want to use these basic resources because I want to do my own personal study using principally God’s word and draw my conclusions from what it says and not from the opinions of others. I have done enough reading and listening over the years to already have a good feeling for what others have concluded. The only way I can be personally certain of what I believe to be the closest to the truth is to find it for myself from the Bible. The most valuable tool other than the a good Bible translation is a resource that allows you to check the original Greek and Hebrew Bibles tied to a dictionary that allows you to see the possible meanings of the original words. I find those tools to be extremely enlightening as I study.
I began my own personal detailed study of Revelation by reading the book completely through several times. I felt that I had to become familiar enough with the whole of the book to allow me to begin correlating information about the judgments. I slowly began to piece information together and started outlining and building correlation tables. The first two tables I built were A Comparison of the Seal, Trumpet and Bowl Judgments and Additional Comparisons between the Seal, Trumpet and Bowl Judgments which are included in the section Summaries of the End Times and the Revelation. From these comparisons I concluded that there were only seven judgments in Revelation. The first judgments described in Revelation, the seal judgments, were not judgments but the means for producing the judgments. The second judgments, the trumpet judgments, were the first application of the means defined in the seal judgments. The third set of judgments described in Revelation, the bowl judgments, described the continuing effects of the trumpet judgments over the years and also a possible reapplication of the trumpet judgments in the sixth and seventh judgments. I felt I had to convince myself of this before continuing with my study. I will next go through some of the arguments that I have produced that I believe confirm these conclusions. I will also go over the rationale for my conclusions about the sequence and timing of the judgments during the seven year period.
We will next do a study of the judgments that are described in Revelation as occurring during the tribulation. As we do this study we will learn some illuminating things. The tribulation lasts for seven years and is broken up into two periods of three and one half years. The antichrist is revealed early in the seven year tribulation period and at the midpoint of the seven years he sets himself up in the rebuilt temple in Jerusalem where he declares himself to be God. We will also see that there appears to be a rapture taking place in the fifth judgment. This rapture of tribulation saints appears to me to be a gleanings harvest. The main harvest had occurred three and one half years earlier, just as the tribulation period was beginning.
We will now look at and compare the various judgments. We know from 1 John that John often wrote in repeating patterns. God seemed to inspire use of that technique throughout the Bible, but nobody used it more than John. For that reason and others, including the similarities between the descriptions of the same numbered judgments and the statement in Rev 10:11 where John says that he was told to repeat the prophecies again, I suspect that there is really only one set of judgments. Some interpret that the seven trumpet judgments are part of the seventh seal judgment and the seven bowl judgments are all a part of the seventh trumpet judgment. That may be true, but after personally studying Revelation for about four years I seriously doubt it. To demonstrate some of my reasoning we will now study a table that compares and describes the judgments, as I interpret them, in summary form. Please go to the table titled A Comparison of the Seal, Trumpet and Bowl Judgments in the section Summaries of the End Times and the Revelation. You might want to copy that table as well as the chart titled Approximate Timing Sequence of the 7 Tribulation Judgments and keep them in front of you as we go over the next few pages.
Those who interpret the Bible to be inerrant and literally true can still have differences in interpretation. With a book like Revelation which uses symbolism extensively that is particularly true. The three sets of judgments can be viewed in several ways and could possibly include 7, 13, 14, 19 or 21 judgments. We will next look at the most likely and finally come to a conclusion as to which makes the most sense and which fits all of the situations presented without violating our belief that the Bible has no contradictions.
♦ 19 separate judgments. In this case, which is widely held and taught, there are seven seal judgments, but the seventh is composed of the seven trumpet judgments, and there are seven trumpet judgments but the seventh is composed of seven bowl judgments. In this case the seventh seal and seventh trumpet judgment are not separate judgments, thus there are 19 total judgments.
♦ 13 or 14 separate judgments. In this case the seal judgments are not considered judgments, but simply the means of accomplishing the trumpet and bowl judgments. Thus there are 13 or 14 separate judgments, the combination of the trumpet and bowl judgments, depending on how you interpret the seventh trumpet judgment.
♦ 7 separate judgments. In this case the seven seal judgments are not really judgments, but simply describe the means for accomplishing the trumpet and bowl judgments. The trumpet and bowl judgments are not separate judgments in that the trumpet judgments represent the initial results of the application on earth of the means for judgment described in the seal judgments and the bowl judgments represent the continuing results over the years of the application of the means described in the seal judgments on earth.
For example, if the means for destruction in the first seal judgment is nuclear weapons, then the trumpet judgment would be the initial destruction caused by the nuclear weapons and the bowl judgment would be the resulting cloud cover, radiation fallout over a large area and the resulting sickness, death, etc. over several years.
In the Hebrew language, repetition is often used to multiply the significance of something. Thus, when God is referred to as Holy, Holy, Holy that represents the ultimate in holiness. John used this technique repetitively in 1 John to emphasize several very important truths to believers. In Revelation John, or Jesus in truth, uses this repetitive style to emphasize the significance and finality of the wrath of God.

Thus, I tend to believe that the third option is most likely what is intended and what will happen. When you look at the means for the judgments, that option seems to make the most common and scientific sense to me. When you read and study the seal judgments you do not see any judgments being applied; you see only the means for accomplishing a judgment. When you study the tables comparing the judgments you can quickly and easily see a common thread between the first seal, first trumpet and first bowl judgments. Likewise you can see a common thread between the second seal, second trumpet and second bowl judgments. The same holds for the third, fourth, fifth and so on.
We will take a look at the second and third judgments to see what I am saying. The means for judgment described in the second seal judgment is something that makes men want to kill each other. We are not told what it is specifically. We come to that in the second trumpet judgment. Here we see a large heavenly body, likely a comet or asteroid from other descriptions given elsewhere, hitting one of the earth’s oceans. The result is described as one third of the sea being turned to blood (made poisonous to life through loss of oxygen), one third of the sea creatures being killed and one third of the ocean going vessels being destroyed.
We can predict the result of an asteroid hitting an ocean. If the asteroid is sufficiently large the initial shock would kill all sea creatures for many miles. The concussion would certainly release a lot of sea creature blood into the sea. A tidal wave several hundred or even several thousand feet high would be generated and would sink ocean going vessels for hundreds of miles in every direction. When the tidal wave hits the coasts in each direction it would likely kill millions of people and literally destroy anything in the landscape for possibly hundreds of miles inland. The impact would generate a large cloud cover of debris that would encircle the earth, affecting the climate. Commerce would be disrupted worldwide. Electric power grids would be down affecting hundreds of millions or possibly billions of people worldwide. This effect would continue for months and probably years. The ability to ship oil around the world would be disrupted, meaning that food, medicines and other essential goods could not be distributed. Hospitals would not have power. People could not go to work. Banking centers would be destroyed. Peripheral effects would include famine and plagues. Neighbor would kill neighbor just to stay alive, as the second seal judgment states. There would be anarchy in many areas of the world.
What was the means for judgment given in the second seal judgment? The ability to make men want to kill each other. What did we just see happening as a result of the asteroid hit in an ocean? Men wanted to kill one another just to keep themselves and their families alive. Now let’s go to the second bowl judgment. What is described here? Well something happens to turn the entire sea to blood and kill every creature in the sea. This certainly sounds like a continuing effect of the asteroid hit on an ocean. We will next look at what it might mean to turn the water and sea to blood. From Gen 9:4, blood is that which gives life to a living being. We see in the second and third trumpet and bowl judgments that the sea and fresh waters turned to blood and the living creatures all died. We see how this happens from Rev 16:3 where we see that the blood was like that of a dead man. The blood of a dead man has lost its oxygen and can no longer support life. That means that the sea and fresh water had lost their ability to sustain life. We also see in Rev 8:10-11 that the fresh waters became bitter or poison to life. Apparently the asteroid hit caused the ocean to lose its ability to sustain life and all of the living creatures eventually died. Thus it appears that the bowl judgment is simply the continuing effect of the means for the second judgment, the asteroid hit on an ocean.
One of the Canary Islands is a volcanic island with a large rift across it. This rift is widening and scientists tell us that one day the large mountain that largely encompasses the island will fall into the Atlantic Ocean. This would certainly cause a large tsunami and other catastrophic effects. There are some who see this as a possible cause for the second judgment. I believe that this would more likely fit into the large number of catastrophe’s that occur in the sixth judgment about which Revelation states “every mountain and island will be moved from its place.” An asteroid hitting an ocean seems to me to be a much more likely cause for the second judgment.
Let’s now look at the third judgment. The causative agent in the seal judgment is said to be something that causes food shortages and famine. In the trumpet judgment we see a description of what appears to be Satan and apparently his evil angels being thrown out of heaven and confined completely to earth. It seems that Satan himself is the agent for poisoning one third of all of the fresh waters on earth. In the ensuing bowl judgment we see that this effect continues as the fresh waters turn to blood, meaning that they can no longer sustain life. We have not discussed it yet, but the causative agent for the first judgment seems to be a nuclear war. By the third judgment we have clouds encircling the earth containing radioactive material from the nuclear exchange which has taken place plus the material thrown into the upper atmosphere by the asteroid hit. The clouds that encircle the earth could easily cover a band of one third of the earth. The fallout from the poisonous clouds would poison the fresh water and the effect would be cumulative over time. The longer the time that has expired since the agent was first introduced, the more poisonous the waters would become. Thus the third judgment may simply be a continuing effect from the first or second judgments or it may be something new and unknown released upon the fresh waters by Satanic influence. Both may be true and I suspect that is the case.
Anyway, we see that in each of the two cases the bowl judgment seems to be a continuing effect of the means for the trumpet judgment. The same type of argument can be made for all seven judgments. Thus, I have arrived at the conclusion that there are really only seven judgments. This is also supported by the fact that John is told by Jesus to repeat his prophecies after he has described all of the trumpet judgments except the seventh, which is the Second Coming of Jesus. (See Rev 10:13 where John says that he was told, “You must prophecy again about many peoples, nations, languages and kings.”)
The language used in Rev 15:1 and 16:1 may be indicating that there will be another application of the means that caused the trumpets judgments during the sixth and seventh judgments. As I have said before, it certainly appears that the bowl judgments describe the continuing effects of the primary means for the trumpet judgments. However, it does appear that there may be another application of the primary means for each of the trumpet judgments. This seems to take place in the sixth and seventh judgments, and be called bowl judgments. In the sixth and seventh judgments there seem to be nuclear wars, things falling from the sky on the oceans, natural disasters, etc., all with the kinds of effects already described in the trumpet judgments, only much more severe this time. By now the earth has already suffered from five-six years of terrible judgments and it is severely crippled. Now all of a sudden all of the judgments seem to be repeated in very short order. This is akin to a typical fourth of July fireworks show. There are many individual fireworks that are shot into the sky over a period of time, and them at the end a grand finale takes place where all of the individual fireworks are shot off again, only this time nearly all at the same time. The climax to the tribulation period will apparently be just like that.
It seems to me that there are two obviously valid ways to look at the Revelation judgments. In both cases the seal judgments are not judgments but descriptions of defining characteristics of the seven judgments and/or the means for causing the judgments. These two valid ways for looking at the judgments follow. (1) The trumpet judgments describe the initial application of the means for the judgments. These judgments have lingering effects that go on for years and they fit the descriptions of the bowl judgments. There is also a reapplication of the means in the sixth and seventh judgments and these are also referred to as bowl judgments. (2) There are seven judgments that are applied two separate times. The first application is called the trumpet judgments and the second application is called the bowl judgments. The second application occurs while the first application is still ongoing in the sixth and seventh judgments. The first seems to me to best fit the situation that is described in Revelation.

SOME SCRIPTURES THAT SEEM TO CONFIRM THAT THERE ARE ONLY SEVEN JUDGMENTS
♦ Rev 6:17: At the end of the sixth seal judgment, and right before the seventh, it sounds like the Second Coming is about to take place as we read “For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?”
♦ Rev 10:7: At the sounding of the seventh trumpet, the mystery of God will be accomplished. This mystery was revealed in Eph 1:9-10, “To bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ.” This leaves no room for seven more judgments. The seventh trumpet judgment signals the Second Coming in Rev 11:15.
♦ Rev 10:11: Here John is told, “You must prophecy again about many peoples, nations, languages and kings.” This says to me that John is to tell us again what he has already told us, but in different words. That is exactly what he does, in my opinion.
♦ Rev 11:16: This is also in the seventh trumpet judgment and this verse says that Jesus had taken his great power and begun to reign. Again, this leaves no time for seven other judgments.
♦ The sixth trumpet and sixth bowl judgments sound like the same judgment, with both involving the Euphrates River. In the sixth trumpet there are four angels at the Euphrates River who had been kept there for some time waiting for the proper time to come when they would kill one third of mankind. This would involve an invasion of 200 million troops. They used fire, smoke and sulfur to do their killing. This sounds like a nuclear war. In the sixth bowl judgment we see that the angel dried up the Euphrates River, apparently to allow the 200 million troops to pass by. We also find out they belonged to the kings of the east. These are very complimentary descriptions of the same event, the sixth judgment.
♦ Rev 15:8 taken with Rev 11:19: In Rev 15:8 we see that the temple in heaven was closed until the seven bowl judgments were completed. In Rev 11:19 we see that the temple in heaven was opened at the end of the seventh trumpet judgment, indicating that it had been closed prior to that. Thus the seventh bowl judgment had to end at the same time as the seventh trumpet judgment. Sounds to me like the bowl and trumpet judgments are the same seven judgments, broken into two phases, the initial phase and the continuing effects. This proves the seventh trumpet judgment is at the very end of the tribulation (as is the seventh bowl judgment).
♦ Job 5:9: In six calamities he will rescue, in seven he will save you.

SCRIPTURES THAT LEAD OTHERS TO BELIEVE THAT THERE ARE 19 OR 21 JUDGMENTS
♦ Rev 15:1: This scripture tells us the following, “I saw in heaven another great and marvelous sign: seven angels with the seven last plagues – last because with them God’s wrath is completed.” I do not see any contradiction with my interpretation that the seven bowl judgments are a continuation of the effects of the seven trumpet judgments. The seven trumpet judgments have continuing effects and the bowl judgments describe those continuing effects. If you look at and compare the language in the like numbered trumpet and bowl judgments you will see just that. I have done that in the table, “A Comparison between the Seal, Trumpet and Bowl Judgments.” To me the evidence indicates that the end of the effects of the trumpet judgments signifies the end of God’s wrath. It may also be true that there is a reapplication of the trumpet judgments taking place in the sixth/seventh judgments. In fact we just saw proof above that the seventh bowl and seventh trumpet judgment end at the same time
♦ Rev 16:2: This scripture reads, “The first angel went and poured out his bowl on the land, and ugly and painful sores broke out on the people who had the mark of the beast and worshiped his image.” That is a tough one since the antichrist does not appear with his mark until after the mid-point of the tribulation period. However we saw in Rev7:3 that those who had the mark of God were immune to the effects of the plagues during the first half of the tribulation. Also, my interpretation of the mark of the beast is that it is the mark of Satan, which is on anyone who belongs to him and always has been on those who have belonged to him. Everyone, even today, has a mark on the hands and forehead of his spirit indicating that he belongs either to God or to Satan. Thus, I do not see this scripture necessarily contradicting my conclusion that there are only seven judgments. Also, this may be speaking of the reapplication of the seven judgments in the sixth and seventh judgments. In that case both of these statements would be true; (1) painful and ugly sores broke out on all of those who did not belong to God starting after the nuclear war in the first judgment and continuing for several years, and (2) another influx of painful and ugly sores broke out on those belonging to Satan after the reapplication of the first judgment, radiation caused by a new nuclear war, this time in the sixth and seventh judgments. It is fairly easy to identify when chapter 15 and the first two verses of chapter 16 take place within the seven year tribulation period. In the early part of chapter 15 we see the seven angels with the seven bowl judgments, called the last seven plagues. We also see that the two witnesses, the 144,000 and all of those raptured to heaven at the very end of the fifth judgment are already in heaven. Thus we know that this scene in the sixth or seventh judgment. We also see the seven angels with the seven last plagues coming out of the temple n heaven and the temple being closed until the seven plagues have ended. We know when these plagues are finished from Rev 11:19, in the description of the seventh trumpet judgment, because that is where we see the temple in heaven being reopened. Just after John sees the seven angels coming out of the temple in heaven, again in the sixth or seventh judgment, Rev 16:1-2 says that the first angel went out and poured his bowl on the land and painful and ugly sores broke out on the people who had the mark of the beast. It seems that the seventh judgment only lasts for about one week, and it does not seem logical that all seven bowl judgments as described could take place in one week, so it seems that the seven bowl judgments take place across the sixth and seventh judgments, a period of about three years. Again, the language of the bowl judgments match up with the seven trumpet judgments and logically are the continuing effects of the seven trumpet judgments as they are spread out over the whole seven years of the tribulation period. It also seems clear that the seven trumpet judgments are repeated are repeated in the last two judgments, because the seven bowl judgments are repeated and they seem to require the agents present in the trumpet judgments in order for them to take place.

IDENTIFYING WHERE THE SEVEN JUDGMENTS FIT IN RELATION TO THE MID POINT OF THE TRIBULATION
It seems to me that the first four judgments, the four horsemen judgments, take place in the first half of the tribulation period while the last three judgments, the three woe judgments, take place in the last half of the tribulation period. There are several things in Revelation that lead me to that conclusion. I will next discuss some of them.
♦ First, an eagle appears in Rev 8:13 to announce the three woes, the last three judgments. This is at the end of the fourth trumpet judgment. An eagle also appears in Rev 12:14 to carry Israel away to the desert to protect her for 3 ½ years. Thus, this seems like it is at the very middle of the tribulation period. If we assume that these two events involving the eagle are really part of the same event then that places the first four judgments in the first half of the tribulation period and the last three judgments, the three woes, in the last half of the period. It seems reasonable to conclude that if Israel was going to be protected supernaturally by God from the three woe judgments, and if God sent an eagle to announce that the three woe judgments were about to start, that he would use the same eagle to do both. An eagle uses her wings to protect her young and may carry her young on her wings. That is exactly what God is doing for Israel; he is carrying her on his wings.
♦ In Rev 7:1-3 we see that the angels of the four empires and the antichrist representing the four empires were not allowed to harm those who had been sealed as belonging to God. The 144,000 and the two witnesses appear to do their work in the first half of the tribulation period. The 144,000 were sealed during the first half of the tribulation period it seems. The beast out of the sea representing the four world empires of the past does not come to power until the middle of the tribulation period, Rev 13:5. The angels in Rev 7:1 are seen holding these four empires back until God’s proper time had come. The 144,000 and the two witnesses complete their work by the midpoint of the tribulation period and we see that the beast from the Abyss then has power to kill the two witnesses. He apparently had no power to do so before that. He also was not on earth until the beginning of the 5th judgment, the first woe. Thus it again seems that the three woe judgments are in the last half of the tribulation period and the four horsemen/angel administered judgments are in the first half.
♦ Another argument goes like this. We know that Jesus told the Jews to flee to the mountains when they saw the antichrist standing in the temple proclaiming that he was God. We know from Daniel that this was at the midpoint of the tribulation period. We know that the three woe judgments are administered by Satan and his followers. We know that the evil angels and Nephilim from the Abyss are on earth starting with the first woe, the fifth judgment. The beast or antichrist is given forty two months to exercise his authority. Israel is taken care of in the desert for forty two months. It is obvious and clear that these all refer to the second half of the tribulation period. The leader of the empire called the beast of the sea becomes the “beast” at about the same time that he declares himself to be God. He becomes the “beast” in the fifth judgment. This clearly places the fifth judgment at which the beast out of the Abyss is released on earth, at the midpoint of the tribulation period. There seems to be a natural dividing line between the first four and the last three judgments from several perspectives.

♦ DETERMINING THE TIMING OF THE FIFTH JUDGMENT USING THE EVENTS SURROUDING THE DEATH AND RAPTURE OF THE TWO WITNESSES (REV 6, 7, 9, 11-13): We can conclude from a study of Rev 11 that the two witnesses were a combination of all of those who had become believers during the first 3 ½ years of the tribulation. They are referred to as the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord. The two olive trees seem to be two individual leaders of the tribulation believers who do their work in the spirit of Elijah and either Moses or Elisha (Rev 11:5-6). The two lampstands include (1) all believing gentiles and (2) all believing Jews (the 144,000), Rev 11:3-4. These two witnesses did their witnessing for Jesus on earth for 3 ½ years and were then killed by the beast, resurrected after 3 ½ days and raptured to heaven. This appears to be the same event as the rapture described in the fifth judgment in Rev 6:9-11 and in Rev 7:9-17. We will next examine that.
The timeline for the rapture of the two witnesses is apparent from a careful study of the fifth seal judgment in Rev 6:9-11, the great multitude rapture in Rev 7:9-17, the rapture of the two witnesses in Rev 11:6-14, the fall of Satan to earth in the third trumpet judgment in Rev 8:10-11 and Rev 12:1-12, the release of the evil angels from the Abyss in Rev 9:1-12 and the pursuit of Israel by the evil angels and their return to the Abyss in Rev 12:13-17. An analysis of these passages to determine this timeframe follows.
The evil angels who were released from the Abyss were allowed to operate on the earth for five months (Rev 9:5, 10). They were not allowed to harm believers (Rev 9:4). It seems that for five months they were torturing the unbelievers of the earth, with the exception of those unbelieving Jews who had sought refuge in Bozrah. We conclude this from Rev 12:13-16. Here we find that Satan spews out a river to overtake the Jews who are in hiding in Bozrah. This river is symbolic language for a torrent of spirits. The timeframe and other contextual factors lead us to believe that these spirits are the evil angels who had been released from the Abyss. We see that when they begin to pursue the Jews in hiding they are sent back to the Abyss; figuratively speaking the earth swallowed them up. Thus we conclude that these particular evil angels were only given five months total to torture the unbelievers on the earth, not including those unbelieving Jews in hiding in Jordan. We conclude that the Jews hiding in Bozrah were unbelievers from Rev 12:17 which says that Satan was enraged that he could not engage the Jews in hiding so he went off to make war against those who had accepted Jesus as their Savior. This attack could not include these evil angels from the Abyss, since they had just been sent back to the Abyss and since they were forbidden from harming believers. However, it did include the beast that came up from the Abyss (Rev 11:7). This beast includes the antichrist and the false prophet (Rev 13:1, 11). They represent and lead several nations of the earth as we will see later. Thus we see that the attack that led to the death of the new believers involved several nations of the earth led by the antichrist (and Satan). Remember, this attach was just after the evil angels from the Abyss were sent back to the Abyss. Also, the evil angels from the Abyss were doing their work for 5 months in the fifth judgment.
There are some things that are difficult to understand about how the antichrist was able to make war on and kill the two witnesses, which as we saw was a huge number of people who had become believers during the first half of the tribulation period. Rev 7:9 describes them as a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language. How did the antichrist manage to selectively find and kill just these people? My suspicion is that the work assigned to the evil angels from the abyss was to visit every one on earth during the five months. If someone was a believer in Jesus they herded them into concentration camps but did not harm them. If someone was an unbeliever in Jesus they were asked to accept the antichrist as their God and pledge allegiance to him. If they refused they were tortured by the evil angels until they relented and accepted the antichrist as their God. Thus all believers on earth were herded into one or more concentration camps, probably in Israel. This made it possible for the antichrist to then kill them all at one time and have it broadcast all over the world. This may be confirmed by Rev 13:10. This is a warning to believers that it is better to be taken captive and killed than to yield to the antichrist; to take the mark of the beast. Rev 11:8-9 says that people all over the world saw the believers lying dead in Israel.
Thus it seems that this attack of the two witnesses and their death, resurrection and rapture occurred at about five months past the beginning of the fifth judgment. But when did the fifth judgment begin? We will next try to determine the answer to that. At the midpoint of the tribulation period, the antichrist goes into the temple in Jerusalem and declares himself to be God (Dan 9:27), thus breaking the seven year peace treaty that he had established with Israel at the beginning of the tribulation period (Dan 9:27). Also Dan 7:26 confirms this when it tells us that the antichrist would have control over the Jews for 3 ½ years. Jesus told the Jews that when they saw the antichrist in the temple in Jerusalem they should immediately leave the country and head for the mountains (Matt 24:15-20). Prophecy seems to indicate this mountainous hiding place is in Bozrah (Petra) in Jordan (Isa 33:16, 34:6, Jer 49:22; also see Rev 12:13-14). Thus we see that many Jews headed for the mountains at the mid-point of the tribulation period. Next, we see in Rev 12:12-17 that when Satan was thrown down to earth he was filled with fury and went off to pursue Israel. Verse 14 describes Israel’s flight to Bozrah and we see that she would be there for 3 ½ years. This clearly establishes the fact that the antichrist goes into the temple at the exact mid-point of the tribulation period to tell the world that he is God. Israel went to Bozrah at the exact mid-point of the 7 year tribulation period so she stayed there until the end of the 7 year period. Satan pursued Israel after the evil angels from the Abyss had been on earth for 5 months, for we see that they were sent back to the Abyss when they began pursuing Israel while she was in hiding.
Rev 11:3 tells us that the two witnesses, which included the 144,000 believing Jews, would do their work on earth for 3 ½ years. This obviously takes place near the beginning of the 7 year tribulation period. A person is sealed at the instant that they become a believer in Jesus. This certainly would have started almost immediately after the general rapture and the beginning of the period of wrath on earth. The 3 ½ years in which the two witnesses did their work on earth would thus have ended shortly after the mid-point of the tribulation. Also they would have felt somewhat safe while they were under the 7 year peace treaty established by the antichrist. This peace treaty was broken at the exact mid-point of the tribulation as we saw above and the two witnesses would no longer be safe in witnessing for Jesus. Thus it seems that the fifth judgment begins at the mid-point of the tribulation period. We have the confluence of two 3 ½ year periods moving from opposite directions, with each ending at the middle of the 7 year tribulation period.
The believers that Satan and his henchmen, the antichrist and false prophet, make war against and kill are the two witnesses since they are the only believers on earth at the time of the attack. In Rev 11:7-12 we see that they are successful in killing the two witnesses, who then lie in the streets for three and one half days and are seen by peoples all over the world. They then are miraculously resurrected and raptured to heaven. This rapture is described in the fifth seal judgment (Rev 6:9-11). The timeframe of this rapture of tribulation believers coincides exactly with the rapture of the two witnesses. They are the same event. This rapture is also described in Rev 7:9-17. Those in heaven suddenly see a great uncountable multitude of souls appear in heaven wearing white robes, just as those in fifth judgment in Rev 6:11 wore white robes. We see in Rev 7:14 that this great multitude was those believers who had been killed and had come up to heaven out of the great tribulation on earth.
Let us summarize what we have just argued in slightly different language. The antichrist sets up the abomination in the temple in Jerusalem at the midpoint of the seven year tribulation period, Dan 9:27, 7:26. Jesus told the disciples in Matt 24:15 that when the Jews see the antichrist spoken of in Daniel in the temple setting up the abomination of Dan 9:27 that they should flee to the mountains. Rev 12:14 says that the Jews will do just this and flee to safety for 3 ½ years. This 3 ½ years would put their flight at the exact midpoint of the seven year tribulation. Thus Israel was not in their hiding place until the midpoint of the tribulation period. Satan was thrown out of heaven and fell to earth in the fourth judgment, just before the midpoint of the tribulation. Rev 9:1 confirms that the star that fell to earth in the fourth judgment was Satan. Rev 12:13 says that as soon as Satan was thrown to earth he pursued Israel in their hiding place. Satan’s pursuit of Israel in their hiding place as recorded in Rev 12:13 would thus have been at the end of the fourth or in the fifth judgment. However, Satan used the evil angels released from the Abyss in the fifth judgment in his pursuit of Israel. Thus the pursuit had to be in the fifth judgment. These angels from the Abyss could not begin their work until the midpoint of the tribulation because it involved rounding up all of the believers in the world and they were protected supernaturally by God for the first 3 ½ years of the tribulation. These angels were only given five months to do their work, Rev 9:5, 10. When they accompanied Satan in pursuit of Israel God sent them back to the Abyss, thus ending their five months on earth. They were spoken of in Rev 12:15-16 as spirits, as “water like a river” who were swallowed up by the earth. In Rev 12:17 we see that Satan then gave up on this and went back to Israel to kill the Christians, the two witnesses who had been rounded up. We are told that the two witnesses had finished their 3 ½ years of work on earth and were then allowed to be killed, resurrected and raptured, Rev 11:7, 11-12. Satan had them killed, they lay dead in Israel for three days and were then miraculously resurrected and raptured to heaven. All of this took place in the fifth judgment, in the five months immediately after the midpoint of the tribulation period.

♦ DETERMINING THE TIMEFRAME OF THE FALL OF SATAN (Rev 6, 9, 12): In the third judgment we saw that there was a great famine and runaway inflation on the earth (Rev 6:5-6) and the fresh waters of earth were becoming poison as the oxygen became depleted, meaning that they could no longer support life (Rev 8:10-11, 16:4-7). We also saw a star falling to earth from the sky. In the fifth judgment (Rev 9:1-2) we find out that this star is really Satan. The star is referred to as “he” in Rev 9:2 and he was given the key to the Abyss. We know from Luke 8:31 that Jesus controls who goes to the Abyss. We also saw in Rev 1:18 that Jesus holds the keys to death and Hades, so it was Jesus who gave Satan the key to the Abyss.
We see a further description of the fall of Satan in Rev 12:1-12, which indeed confirms that Satan is kicked out of heaven during the tribulation period, along with his evil angels. Here he is called the dragon, the enormous red dragon, the great dragon, Satan and the devil. Verse 5 says that his tail swept a third of the stars from the sky and hurled them to earth. In verse 9 we see that these stars were Satan’s angels. We see in verses 7-8 that there is a war in heaven involving the Archangel Michael and his angels against Satan and his angels. Michael and his angels prevailed and threw Satan and his angels to earth. Verse 10 makes the timeframe of this war and Satan’s exile to earth very clear. We see that Satan being hurled to earth paved the way for Jesus to come to earth and claim his kingdom (Rev 11:15). This clearly takes place in the tribulation period and as we saw above Satan’s exile occurred in the third judgment, near the end of the first half of the tribulation period. Rev 9:12 says “woe to the earth and the sea because the devil has gone down to you.” This likely ties into Rev 8:13, which describes the three judgments in the second half of the tribulation period as the “woe” judgments. In fact it says “Woe! Woe! Woe! to the inhabitants of the earth;” three woe judgments with Satan himself and his angels participating in the terrible wrath being inflicted upon the earth and its inhabitants. Rev 12:12 further says that Satan is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short. Either the fourth trumpet judgment description in Rev 8:12 or the sixth seal judgment in Rev 6:13 may be symbolically referring to the fall of Satan’s angels when they say that one third of the stars turned dark, and that the stars from the sky fell to earth.
The timeframe of the fall of Satan is confirmed conclusively by comparing Rev 12:7-9 with Dan 12:1. Dan 12:1 says that the archangel Michael will arise at the time of the great tribulation. The language that Daniel uses was quoted by Jesus in Matt 24:21. It is clear that this is the time of the “great tribulation,” which is the second half of the seven year tribulation period. When do we see Michael arise? It is presented in Rev 12:7-9. What happens at that time? There is war in heaven between Michael and the good angels against Satan and his evil angels. God’s angels prevail and Satan and his angels are kicked out of heaven and down to earth. This seems to make it very clear that Satan and his angels are kicked out of heaven near the time of the beginning of the great tribulation. The fifth judgment, the first woe judgment, begins the time referred to as the great tribulation.