“He
Shall Reign Forever and Forever”
Revelation
11:14-19
June
9, 2024 YouTube
We have reached the end of chapter eleven of
Revelation. It is the end of another
cycle of the telling of the history of sin and its consummation, and the Incarnation
of the Son Who pays the debt of believers and credits us with His Righteousness
culminating in the full coming of the Kingdom – this history is told seven
times with increasing intensity. The reason God revealed these things to John
and sent them out to the Christians suffering great persecution is that they
would be comforted and have hope knowing that their suffering has purpose, and
Jesus is coming in Glory to bring them into the fulness of His Kingdom
forever. These things are true for all
Christians throughout time and space.
Our reading last time ended with verse fourteen: “The
second woe has passed; behold, the third woe is soon to come.”
Take note for now that the second woe ends at the end of
verse fourteen of Revelation 11, but the third woe does not come next. Next, we have the joyous promise of the
punishment of all evil eternally and the eternal Reign of God, Father, Son, and
Holy Spirit manifest in bringing all who believe in Jesus savingly into the
Kingdom God prepared for them from before the foundation of the world. The third woe will be revealed later – after
this joyous good news about the end of these corrupt people and the restoration
of the world.
The seventh trumpet is blown by the seventh angel. Paul tells us what the seventh trumpet is in
I Thessalonians: “For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of
command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of
God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are
left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in
the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one
another with these words” (I Thessalonians 4:16-18, ESV).
In Jesus’ time, when a General brought his army back victorious
from a battle, the army would gather behind him, and then the people would
gather behind them as they proceeded into the town. We see this as Jesus enters Jerusalen with
the crowds following after Him.
Paul uses this imagery telling us that at the blowing of
the seventh trumpet, Jesus will descend through the clouds – just as He
ascended – to eternally put down evil and bring His people eternally into His
Kingdom on earth. Jesus – as the
victorious General – goes forth, and all of the believes who died will be
resurrected in their bodies and join Jesus, and then those believers who are
still living will be brought to the clouds behind the dead, and they will all
descend as His victorious entourage.
` Paul says that these words should encourage believers because
it tells us that suffering has purpose, there is hope, and we should find hope
in remembering that Jesus will descend through the clouds, and He will raise
the dead in their bodies to descend with Him, and He will bring the living up
with Him that they too would be part of those who descend with Him in victory.
The
seventh and final trumpet in blown by the seventh angel, loud voices cry out in
heaven – the angels, the creatures, the saints waiting for the last day, and
they say, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of
his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.”
The
cries in heaven become louder as we go through the book, “building a sense of
excitement” (Beeke, Revelation, 330).
And
they proclaim that the kingdom of Satan and his demons and all those who never
believe in Jesus savingly will become the kingdom of our Lord and of his
Christ. Based on Jesus’ victorious work on earth to save His people, all that
are evil will be cast into the lake of fire to be tormented forever and
ever. However, Jesus will bring all of
His people, resurrected in their bodies, to the restored earth, which is the
Kingdom, and Jesus shall reign forever and ever over His Kingdom, and He lives
among His people.
Paul
tells us, “Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall
all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.
For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we
shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and
this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the
imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the
saying that is written: ‘Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is
your victory? O death, where is your sting?’ The sting of death is sin, and the
power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through
our Lord Jesus Christ (I Corinthians 15:52-57, ESV).
“And
the twenty-four elders who sit on their thrones before God fell on their faces
and worshiped God,”
We
will remember that the twenty-four elders represent the tribes and the apostles
– as well as all of the elect. They get down from their thrones, which is only
right, and they fall on their faces as though dead and worship God. Is there
anything more appropriate to do in the presence of God?
And
notice that we must use our minds in worship – it is not all emotion – there
must reasons behind our praising God. We
don’t just say praise God with no substance behind it (Beeke, Revelation,
335-336). Listen to the song of the
elders:
“saying,
’We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, who is and who was, for you have
taken your great power and begun to reign. The nations raged, but your wrath
came, and the time for the dead to be judged, and for rewarding your servants,
the prophets and saints, and those who fear your name, both small and great, and
for destroying the destroyers of the earth.’”
“We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, who is and who
was,” We give thanks to the Immortal God – why?
Because You have taken Your Great Power and begun to
reign. At the blowing of the seventh
trumpet, the fullness of the Kingdom is no longer future – it is now.
Because the nations raged, but Your Wrath came, and the
time for the dead to be judged has come. All will rise from the dead in their
bodies and the wicked will receive the Wrath of God.
Because You will reward Your servants, the prophets and
saints, and for the rewarding of those who fear Your Name, both small and great. They also will be raised in their physical
bodies.
Because You destroy the destroyers of the earth.
Because the seventh trumpet is sounded and Jesus returns
with His entourage of the angels, the resurrected dead, and all those who
believe but have not died, and He will judge all who bear the Image of God
throughout time and space. Because He is Holy and cannot allow sin and evil to remain
in His presence.
Consider another song, “I love Him, oh how I love Him, sun
and moon and stars, you know I love Him.” What does that tell us about God? Is there a reason for why the singer loves
Him?
We worship for a reason – for many reasons – there must be
a reason behind why we thank God, why we love God, why we worship God, and so forth.
When the seventh trumpet sounds, God will display all that
He has been doing.
“Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his
covenant was seen within his temple. There were flashes
of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and heavy hail.”
God’s temple will be opened to all people throughout time
and space. All will know that the
physical Temple is gone, and the Heavenly Temple is revealed to all.
Paul
tells us, “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit
dwells in you?” (I Corinthians 3:16, ESV).
And
Peter tells us, “As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the
sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being
built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual
sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (I Peter 2:4-5, ESV).
Of
course, we are not turned into real stones, and neither is Jesus. We are like the house build on the rock that
Jesus talked about in the parable.
Both
believers and unbelievers will see the revealing of the heavenly temple, and
all will see the Ark of the Covenant that we remember from the Old Testament. A piece of Holy furniture in the Holy of
Holies containing the two tablets of the Law.
The
Ark of the Covenant is a sign of God’s presence with us.
It
is the sign of God’s grace. Inside are the two tablets of the Law – those
things that must be kept to be righteous before God.
Consider
the Ark of the Covenant itself. The lid
of the Ark was the Mercy Seat, and it is where the priest would sprinkle blood
for the forgiveness of the sin of the people – God’s pardon for their sin. The Ark symbolized Jesus: the Ark was gold covered wood. The gold symbolizes the deity of Christ, and
the wood symbolizes the humanity of Jesus. Jesus takes the place of the Ark of
the Covenant on our behalf. His blood –
the blood of the God—man is poured out, so we are forgiven and pardoned.
(Beeke, Revelation, 328-329).
For
all we who believe, the blowing of the seventh trumpet will be a glorious day when
God reveals how God’s plan has worked out through history since the Creation
until that day.
It
will not be so for the unbelievers: “There were flashes of lightning,
rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and heavy hail.” For the unbelievers,
the seventh Trumpet, the coming of Jesus, and the opening of the Temple will be
a day of great horror as they see the eternal plan of God for them and even
nature attacks them in preparation for God’s judgement of them.
In
the end of chapter eleven of Revelation, we see the joyous news that Jesus is
the Victor over evil and sin, and He will gather all His people to descend with
Him to earth where He shall reign forever and forever.
We
see that worship is the right response to coming into the presence of God and
seeing all that God has done. The elders
fell on their faces as they understood that Jesus will return and resurrect
every person who has ever lived to face God’s Wrath for the evil or God’s
blessing on believers. And we see that
worship has a purpose – everything that we lift before God has a “because”
attached to it. True worship is not a simple
mouthing of words.
And
we see that at the seventh trumpet, Heaven will be open, and all will see Jesus
and all believers who make up the temple. Everyone will see the work Jesus did
symbolized by the Ark of the Covenant, and the believers from all time and
space will rejoice beyond all joy, and then those who never believe, Satan and
his demons, will suffer and be thrown into the lake of fire.
And
we have comfort and hope because our God and Savior is carrying out His Plan as
He intended from before the foundation of the world. Know what happens to the Christians
of the first century – and all Christians throughout time and space, don’t lose
heart, our God reigns forever and ever.
Let
us pray:
Almighty
God, give us hope and comfort as we suffer for being Christians. Keep our eyes on Jesus, and His eternal reign.
Keep us focused on His promises and not the threats of the world. Let us praise Jesus because He reigns forever
and ever. Rejoice! In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
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