We continue with Brother Hagensick’s discourse on the seven last plagues.

1 Cor 15:52 speaks of the resurrection of the saints as being “at the last trump.” The term “last trump” implies the last of a series.

Since the first letter to the church in Corinth was written long before Revelation described the “seven trumpets,” which series of trumpets did Paul have in mind?

The only precedent for a series of trumpets in Paul’s day was the sounding of the seven trumpets in the battle of Jericho (Joshua 6). In that battle the Israelite’s marched around the city for six successive days, concluding with a daily trumpet blast; on the seventh day they marched about the city seven times and concluded with a shout and seven trumpet blasts. It was then that the walls of Jericho fell. This implies that the “seventh trump” was itself composed of seven trumpets, implying that the seventh trumpet of Revelation may well be the “seven last plagues.”

There is general concord among students of the Bible that these plagues refer to the concluding troubles which will remove the present social and religious orders. In Rev 18:4 we read, “I heard another voice from heaven, saying, come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.”

The strong implication is that all who hear and reject the call to “Come out of her” are in danger of receiving her plagues. If this call was issued in the latter part of the nineteenth century (A.D. 1878), as most Bible Students believe, then the plagues would have had to BEGIN within the average life span of a person living at that time.

Note also that in the illustration of the fall of Jericho, there was no introductory trumpet to the final seven which brought down the wall, but that the main cause of Jericho’s fall was the seven trumpets on the seventh day. Thus, the seventh trumpet of Revelation and therefore the third woe (Rev 11:14) comprise “the seven last plagues.”

The plagues are destructive forces that bring down symbolic Babylon. In Rev 18:8 we read: “Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judges her.” This is definitive of the results of the seven last plagues.

In agreement with this thought are the words of Pastor Russell:

“This catastrophe — sectarian destruction, the fall of Babylon—is what is referred to in the Book of Revelation under the symbol of the seven last plagues (Revelation 15-18). The pain from these will consist largely of mental chagrin, the disappointment of sectarian hopes and plans, and the wounding of sectarian pride. When the Master said, `Watch ye, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things coming upon the world,’ it included the pain of these plagues, as well as other annoyances to which the world will be subject because of ignorance of the real plan of God. It is of escape from these plagues that the Revelator (our Lord—Rev 1:1) speaks to us, saying, `Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues’—Rev 18:4.” —R1573.

The Three Woes and First Three Plagues

Just as there were three plagues that preceded the final seven in Egypt prior to the exodus, so the plagues of Revelation are preceded by three “woes”,which precede the more destructive judgments of the plagues.

Rev 8:13 “And I looked, and I heard an eagle flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, “Woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth, because of the remaining blasts of the trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound!”

“This verse seems not to be an integral part of the fourth Trumpet. It takes its chronological position at the end of the fourth Trumpet, and it serves as a bridge to the final three Trumpets. It is also linked to the fourth part of the Church by the use of the symbol of the eagle.

AND I LOOKED, AND I HEARD: The John Class (the saints) observe a change.

AN EAGLE FLYING THROUGH THE MIDST OF HEAVEN: (Literally ONE eagle.)

The eagle certainly represents wisdom; but it also represents the Scriptures as the physical embodiment of that wisdom. Peter Waldo (The fourth angel or messenger to the Church) had let the eagle out of the cage! By making a vernacular translation of the Bible, he set the eagle free to soar! Now it appears in mid- heaven (available to anyone in “heaven” [the religious heavens here on earth] — no longer restricted to any one part of heaven).

SAYING WITH A LOUD VOICE, “WOE, WOE, WOE TO THE INHABITANTS OF THE EARTH:

The RESULT of a readable Bible spells trouble (woe) to the establishment (those who dwell on the earth). The RESULT of the beginning of the freeing of Scripture is here stated to be the soon-to-be continual threat to those who would hide truth. The remaining Trumpets (5-7) WILL cause trouble to Jezebel (the apostate church, Roman Catholicism) and all who use her ways.

The first of these “woes,” identified during the sounding of the fifth trumpet (Rev 9:12), are the twin dogmas of Rationalism and Humanism which followed the great Reformation. These had the effect of undermining the legitimacy of the Papal hierarchy.

The second woe (Rev 11:14), during the sixth trumpet, occurred during the political revolutions in Europe which removed the foundation for the concept of the divine right of kings.

The third woe deals with the Lord’s return and its mission to remove the present social order prior to establishing the kingdom. This is the work of the seven last plagues.