The Seventh Trumpet
15The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, which said:
"The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ,
and he will reign for ever and ever." 16And the twenty-four elders, who were seated on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshiped God, 17saying:
"We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty,
the One who is and who was,
because you have taken your great power
and have begun to reign.
18The nations were angry; and your wrath has come.
The time has come for judging the dead,
and for rewarding your servants the prophets
and your saints and those who reverence your name,
both small and great—
and for destroying those who destroy the earth."
19Then God's temple in heaven was opened, and within his temple was seen the ark of his covenant. And there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake and a great hailstorm.
Dig Deeper
The other day my wife, oldest son, and myself went to get a litany of shots in preparation for a trip we are taking to South Africa soon. I'm certainly not afraid of shots but I'm not necessarily fond of them either. The one that really loomed as ominous for me was the tetanus shot. I hadn't had one of those since I was a teenager, and for some reason I have a memory of it being particularly painful both during the shot itself and after. I probably have exaggerated the pain in my mind since then, but by the time we got to the office to the have the shot, I was full of expectation of the pain that was going to accompany that shot. As I sat in the chair, I braced myself, took a deep breath, and as I went to close my eyes, I noticed the nurse turning around away from me. I had literally missed the shot. I had not even felt it. In fact, had I not asked, I would simply not have known because all I felt was her hand on my arm. It was not at all what I had expected.
Although we certainly could not claim that anyone would have completely not noticed the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in 70 AD at the time it happened the way I didn't notice the shot, it does seem that people miss the significance of it now. At His death, resurrection, and ascension, Jesus' Kingdom was officially brought to bear upon the earth and He promised His followers that the proof of who He was and their vindication as the true people of God would come before that generation had passed away completely (Matt. 12:41-42; 23:36; 24:34; Mark 13:30; Luke 11:30-32; 11:51; 17:25; 21:32). So many people though, and this continues to this very day, expected something else. Some other sign that God's Kingdom was here; something, perhaps more grand and tangible than the people of God worshipping God, doing His will, and taking part in the ministry of reconciliation. Because so many people have other expectations, they think that the Christ has yet to take reign and started ruling in His Kingdom. They're simply misreading many biblical passages and expect something different than Jesus' resurrection, ascension, and the destruction of the Temple as the signs that He was the son of God and is now ruling in the Kingdom of God. They're still waiting for it to come as though that hasn't already happened. True, Christ is yet to return to the earth to renew all things (Matt. 19:28) but when that happens his Kingdom will be fully consummated not initially instituted. The great inauguration of the Kingdom of God and the vindication of the Son of God have already happened, as passages like today's reading makes clear.
11:15 - The destruction of apostate Israel has placed the Jews and Gentiles on equal footing when it comes to the Covenant. God has now created a new nation and a new Temple. Thus, John says that the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and his Christ. This consummates Jesus' words recorded in Matthew: "the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit" (Matt. 21:43). Later, Jesus told His disciples about the time of the destruction of Jerusalem, "At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky" (Matt. 24:30). The wording in the NIV demonstrates the bias of the futurist view. The actual wording should say "at that time will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven." It was the destruction of and judgment upon Jerusalem that would be the sign that Christ was reigning in heaven. It was not that a sign would appear in the sky or the physical clouds, the judgment of Jerusalem was the sign. The destruction that befell Jerusalem signaled the full beginning of a new, world-wide kingdom, marking the final separation between the Christian Church and Judaism.
Daniel's "fifth kingdom" prophesied in Dan. 2 is realized as the voices in heaven shout the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and his Christ. In other words, the world is no longer completely ruled by the Kingdom of Satan, or the kingdoms of men, but the Kingdom of Christ, the only Kingdom that will last forever.
11:16-18 - The twenty-four elders, who were seated on their thrones, signifying that they are ruling with Christ, now fall on their faces and worshiped God. The word for give thanks is eucharisteo, which is the same word used quite often to indicate the communion or Lord's Supper. John has shown us that the pattern of God's redemptive action in history is the same as that acted out on every Lord's Day: The Church, having died and resurrected in Christ (v. 7-11), ascends amid judgments to heaven at the divine command (v. 12-14). Surrounded by the heavenly host singing praises (v. 15), the Elders fall down before God's majesty, proclaiming we give thanks (eucharistoumen).
They continue praising him because, as they say, you have taken your great power and have begun to reign. Christ had poured out judgment on Israel by allowing Rome to attack them. As it says, the nations were angry, and your wrath has come upon apostate Israel. Jerusalem would now feel the brunt of both the angry nations and the wrath of God. The time has come for judging the dead, and for rewarding your servants the prophets and your saints an those who reverence your name. God's prophets would be vindicated and rewarded in the coming judgment. This does not refer to the final judgment on the last day, but the historical vindication of the martyred saints at the hands of a rebellious Israel. The song closes with the realization that Christ has served the purpose of destroying those who destroy the land. Israel had defiled the land, and so, had to be purged (see Lev. 18:24-30).
11:19 - The significance of the fall of Israel meant that God's temple in heaven was opened. The earthly Temple, which was just a shadow anyway, is gone, and now only the true Temple remains. God's Temple has been shown to be His Church, and now within that Temple is the ark of his covenant. The Ark contained the Ten Commandments and was "hidden" in the sanctuary, where no one was allowed access. In the New Covenant, all believers are saints, and saints are someone who has access to the sanctuary. In the New Covenant, the mystery has been opened through Christ. With the sounding of the seventh trumpet, the revelation is complete and definitive. What was a mystery has now been revealed. Paul wrote in his letter to the Romans, "Now to him who is able to establish you by my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past, but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all nations might believe and obey him" (Romans 16:25-26). For this reason, all the signs that had been associated with the glory cloud in the Old Covenant are now spoken of in relation to the Church including flashes of lightning and an earthquake. Through the Church, the door to heaven and "the age to come" has opened up to us. The end of old Israel was not the beginning of the end, but the sign that Christ's worldwide Kingdom has begun and that we could begin to live in the "age to come" now.
Devotional Thought
One day Christ will return again and set all of creation to rights. Because of Christ's atonement at the Cross, however, we have access, through the Church, to live out the "age to come" in the present world. This is the radical call of the Kingdom of God. In what ways are you living out the "age to come" now? By your actions are you more interested in living in the glorious "age to come" now, or the present age? Are you in the world but not of it, or are you in it and of it?
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