Revelation 11:11 – 14

11 Now after the three-and-a-half days the breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them. 12 And they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here.” And they ascended to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies saw them. 13 In the same hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell. In the earthquake seven thousand people were killed, and the rest were afraid and gave glory to the God of heaven.

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

The Dark Ages have run their course, there work against the Bible is over. Martin Luther and the rest of the ones who worked against the leadership in Rome have in effect brought the Bible back into the hands of the people. This breathed new life into the scriptures because it was read again and showing God's word to the world.

This is another symbolical passage because the Bible was already in heaven. King David writes in Psalms 119:89, “Forever, O Lord, Your word is settled in heaven.”

What this means is it is a notification to the enemies of the word of God that the forces of Heaven recognized the scriptures and welcomed its renewed power on earth. The enemies of the scriptures saw this restoration of the scriptures and understood this as being the work of God.

This earthquake represented a revolution in the governments and the powers that be. The work of the reformers caused many disturbances among the rulers of the kingdoms which were under the control of the Roman Catholic empire.

When the people were able to read God's word the rulers lost the control they once held over them. The numbers mentioned show that a great part of the tyrants who had been controlling the people were over thrown. The ones still left in power convinced some of the leaders of the errors of their ways and they were led to acknowledge their wrongs. The force of God's word in the hands of the people forced them to feel a greater respect for God and His scriptures than they had felt before.

The Dark Ages is over, the second woe to afflict those in power of the wicked empire was the breaking of the union of church and state.

The third woe will now come upon the wicked empire which had suppressed the word of God.