Thursday, August 1, 2019

Reasoning Through Revelation. Day 42, The Seventh Trumpet

We are now at about the halfway point of the book of Revelation. The seventh trumpet is about to sound today. You will recall that the opening of the seventh seal on the scroll led to the blowing of the seven trumpets, known as the trumpet judgments. The blowing of the seventh trumpet will introduce the seven bowl judgments.

But there is a difference between what happens after the blowing of the seventh trumpet and what happened after the opening of the seventh seal. When the seventh seal was opened, there was silence in heaven for half an hour. When the seventh trumpet is blown, there is rejoicing in heaven.

"The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, which said: 'The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of the Lord and of His Messiah, and He will reign forever and ever.'" (Revelation 11:15) When John says "have become" in the Greek, he uses a verb tense that is present and ongoing. Here in Revelation 11, we do not yet see the kingdoms of the world under the rule of the Messiah, but His reign is certain. The throne is His. The crown is His. They always have been, because anything God promises is as good as done. God is able to speak of things that haven't happened yet as if they have already come to pass. At this halfway point in the book, those in heaven with Christ "see the light at the end of the tunnel", so to speak. It won't be that much longer now.

The twenty-four elders, who most likely represent the church, add their voices to the song of praise. "And the twenty-four elders, who were seated on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying: '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.'" (Revelation 11:16-17) The kingdom has not come yet, but the church can almost see it now. The end time events are the last things that will happen before Christ comes to earth to assume the throne of David.

This throne was promised to Him long before He was ever born. He is the Lion of the tribe of Judah to whom the scepter and the ruler's staff of the eternal kingdom belong. (Genesis 49:10) The prophet Isaiah foresaw the reign of the Messiah---the One who would be a descendant of David---and said, "Of the greatness of His government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this...In love a throne will be established; in faithfulness a man will sit on it---one from the house of David---one who in judging seeks justice and speeds the cause of righteousness." (Isaiah 9:7, Isaiah 16:5) The throne of David was promised to Christ when the angel Gabriel announced to Mary that she would be the mother of the Messiah: "Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David, and He will reign over Jacob's descendants forever; His kingdom will never end." (Luke 1:30-32) The time of Christ's eternal reign is so close now in Revelation 11 that all the saints and all the angels can almost see Him seated on the throne already, and they can't help breaking into shouts of praise.

Judgment must come before Christ can establish a kingdom of peace and righteousness. The voices in heaven join together in thanks that at last every wicked thing will be judged and that sin will be done away with forever. "The 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 people who revere Your name, both great and small---and for destroying those who destroy the earth." (Revelation 11:18)

The hold Satan has on this world will soon be broken. Wickedness will be judged and peace will be the law. There will be peace between human beings and there will be peace throughout the whole creation. The entire world will be like Eden. "The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox, and dust will be the serpent's food." (Isaiah 65:25a)

The crowd rejoicing in heaven gives praises to the Lord because the fulfillment of His every promise is near: every promise He's ever made to the to church and every promise He's ever made to the nation of Israel. As we move on into the second half of Revelation tomorrow, we are going to be studying things having to do with Israel---regarding how Satan has tried to destroy Israel as a nation since the very beginning, and regarding how God has preserved the nation of Israel and will continue to do so. To remind His people Israel that they are neither forgotten nor rejected, and that He will keep His promise to preserve them as a nation and a people forever, this happens at the conclusion of Chapter 11: "Then 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 severe hailstorm." (Revelation 11:19)

The ark of the covenant was Israel's most holy object. It was the symbol of God's presence with them. It was the proof of God's mercy. It was the reminder of God's protection. The ark that resided on earth (first in the wilderness sanctuary and later in Solomon's temple) has been missing ever since the southern kingdom of Judah was defeated by Babylon. Most likely the priests hid it when they saw that invasion was imminent. But the ark that resided on the earth is not the ark seen here in Revelation 11. Moses was commanded to make the articles of the temple according to a "pattern" given to him by God. (Exodus 25:40) The author of Hebrews tells us that the reason Moses was given a pattern is because the temple articles on the earth were copies of the real articles in the temple of heaven. (Hebrews 8:5) The ark we see in heaven in our passage today is the real ark. It is God's copy of the ark, and in that sense it is far more real than the ark which existed on the earth. Each year when the mercy seat of the ark on earth was sprinkled with the blood of the animal sacrifice, mercy was granted to the people of Israel until the process was repeated again the next year. But Christ took His own blood and sprinkled it on the mercy seat in heaven, and this blood was holy enough to grant mercy forever to all who place their trust in Him. (Hebrews 9:11-14)

It's necessary for God to remind Israel of His eternal covenant with their nation, because we are about to enter a portion of Revelation in which Satan more fiercely than ever tries to wipe Israel from the face of the earth. We are going to talk about how he tried to prevent Israel from becoming a nation in the very beginning, because he knew the Savior of the world would come from Israel. We are going to talk about how he will want to destroy the Jewish people in the end times so that the promise can't be fulfilled about Christ returning to rule the earth forever from the throne of David. If there is no Israel, then there is no throne of David, and there is no scepter and ruler's staff for Christ to hold, and there is no king's crown for Him to wear. God reminds Israel of His promise because His promises are unbreakable. Even when all the powers of hell come against them, God will sustain them and bring them through the Great Tribulation.

I want to close with some words of encouragement for everyone. When we begin a very difficult task, or when we know we're about to go through an extremely trying experience, we sometimes feel like giving up before we even start. We have thoughts like, "I don't know how I'm going to make it through." Our earthly minds and our weak mortal bodies will tell us that the task is too big for us. Satan will whisper words of discouragement in our ears. This is why we must be familiar with the unbreakable promises of our God. Sometimes holding onto these promises is the only thing capable of getting us through. This is what got the Old Testament saints through. This is what got the church through. This is what will get Israel through. There is nothing more important than knowing the word of our holy and righteous God. His word and the great promises contained in it are there for our benefit. Our strength is to be found in knowing and believing the promises of a God who always keeps His word.

Those we see rejoicing in Chapter 11 are people who have trusted in the promises of God. He kept His word to them while they lived on the earth. Now the final promises in His word are about to come true. We are halfway through Revelation now, and have you ever noticed how you feel when you're halfway through a tough job? That's when you start really believing you are going to make it to the end. Voices are raised in praise in Revelation 11 because those who are in heaven know the end of the Great Tribulation is very near. They know that Satan's day is almost done. This means that the eternal reign of Christ is coming soon. The prayer they prayed while on the earth---the thing they've always longed for---is about to happen: "Your kingdom come! Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven!" Amen!






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