The war of the sixth trumpet runs almost to the end of the 1,260 days, and the Antichrist rules until then, breaking the power of the holy people until the three and a half years are over (Daniel 12:5–7). By the end all who refused the mark have been killed, and they stand before the Lord praising Him. This session asks what happens when that time ends.
The ten kings and the "one hour"
Revelation 17:12–13 speaks of ten kings, the ten kings of Europe, who receive power "one hour with the beast" and give their strength to it. The "hour" is about thirty days: the Antichrist reigns 1,260 days, and Daniel's 1,290 days add thirty more.
The beast is a power formed by uniting all the nations, like the United Nations, with a man in the office of Pope at its head. He is chosen as a good man. This does not mean that everyone in that office is bad, but the man of that time must come from the Roman church, which came from the Roman empire. With all that authority his mind changes, Satan enters him as he entered Judas, and he sits in God's temple showing himself to be God.
His system has its own currency, the mark of 666 on the right hand or forehead, which everyone needs in order to buy and sell. It may work like bank cards and phone payments today, except that a hand is shown, or the forehead is scanned as you walk out of a shop with your goods, with no counter or cashier.
When the seven years end, the ten kings turn on it:
…these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.
— Revelation 17:16
They close the whole system down. The Antichrist loses his authority and stays only as a figurehead while the ten kings decide everything.
Babylon is fallen: come out of her
Revelation 18:1–3 announces that Babylon the great is fallen: not dropped from above, but ruined and gone astray, since all the nations took on the 666 system.
Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.
— Revelation 18:4
God is warning His people now. Those who stay in the Roman church are more likely to be drawn, step by step, into this system, and denominational churches that belong to the World Council of Churches will unite through it and join the Roman church in the same system. So do not stay in either. If the covenant is made, it is best not to live in a country that signs it. If you cannot leave, do not take the 666 mark or his name.
Everyone inside will think as the woman does, "I sit a queen" (18:7). Just as people trust phone payments never to fail, they will feel that nothing can go wrong. Yet "in one day" her plagues come, death, mourning and famine, and she is burned with fire by the ten kings (18:8).
The world weeps
Those who relied on the system mourn: the kings of the earth, meaning the leaders of the other countries that signed; the merchants, whose gold, silk, spices and cattle no one can now buy; and the shipmasters and sea traders who carry goods between lands. The currency is worthless, and wealth stored in 666 accounts is gone. It is like demonetisation, when banknotes in your hand suddenly become paper. In "one hour" such riches come to nought (18:17), within those thirty days.
Heaven, the apostles and the prophets are told to rejoice, for God has avenged them (18:20). The system came out of Rome: Pilate, a Roman official, put Jesus to death, and later apostles and saints were killed by Roman authority, so the blood of prophets and saints is found in her (18:24). A mighty angel throws a millstone into the sea, and the system sinks suddenly. After that no Roman system will remain in any form, not even as a church.
The seventh trumpet
When the thirty days end, the seventh trumpet sounds:
The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.
— Revelation 11:15
For the seven years of the covenant the Antichrist ruled the world, and for thirty days the ten kings ruled with him; now the Lord takes the kingdom and begins to act in His own way. The twenty-four elders give thanks that the nations were angry, that God's wrath has come, and that the time has come to judge the dead, reward His servants and destroy those who destroy the earth (11:16–18).
The next forty-five days, up to Daniel's 1,335, are the time of wrath. The temple in heaven is opened (11:19; 15:5), and seven angels come out with the seven plagues in seven golden vials full of God's wrath (15:6–7). No one can enter the temple until the plagues are finished (15:8): the martyrs killed up to the end of the 1,260 days are already inside, worshipping. During these forty-five days no good person will die. The Lord holds the kingdom, and only those marked for destruction perish. The earth will be thrown into great upheaval, which the next session describes.
Takeaway
God's warning is for now: come out of Babylon. Do not stay in the Roman church or in denominational churches that belong to the World Council of Churches, keep as far as you can from the covenant countries, and if you cannot, refuse the mark when the time comes.