Seventh Trumpet: The Kingdom Proclaimed
Then the seventh angel sounded: And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!” And the twenty-four elders who sat before God on their thrones fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying: “We give You thanks, O Lord God Almighty, the One who is and who was and who is to come, because You have taken Your great power and reigned. The nations were angry, and Your wrath has come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that You should reward Your servants the prophets and the saints, and those who fear Your name, small and great, and should destroy those who destroy the earth.” Then the temple of God was opened in heaven, and the ark of His covenant was seen in His temple. And there were lightnings, noises, thunderings, an earthquake, and great hail. - Revelation 11:15-19
The seventh trumpet is the finale, it is the final woe and final trumpet. Previously, in Revelation 10:7 John is told, "but in the days of the sounding of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, the mystery of God would be finished, as He declared to His servants the prophets." In Revelation 11:15-19, those days have come, the mystery of God is finished. It is announced that the kingdoms of this world are God Almighty's and His Son's, Jesus Christ. You may say, but they have always been His. Yes, God is in control of all things, people, places, and every creation. When God created this world, He created man and gave him dominion over Earth. However, when Adam and Eve sinned by disobeying God's command and listening to the devil's lies, their authority was given to the devil. In summary, Adam and Eve gave up their authority and close relationship with God to "be like God". Satan's lie was exactly that, a lie! If they had only stopped to remember that they were created in the image of God and given dominion over everything on Earth, they would have realized the devil's deceit. He is obsessed with being "greater than God" and since he can't overtake/beat God, he aims to ruin God's creation as much as possible. God gave His Son, Jesus, complete authority over all of heaven and earth, but since this is still a sinful world, God's kingdom is in heaven, hence why we pray "Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as in heaven". (Matthew 6:10). It does not mean He loses power over the earth, on the contrary, God is in control, but until the last person decides to reject or accept His free gift of redemption, God's kingdom is not currently on Earth. God is and always has been in control and Ruler of all, but God has also given everyone free will to choose their "master", and either live according to the world's sinful nature or live obediently for God.
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. - Matthew 6:9-13
Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” - Genesis 1:26-28
Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings. And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. - Genesis 3:4-8
And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. - Ephesians 2:1-3
We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one. - 1 John 5:19
The beautiful part of this scripture is the praise and worship by the 24 elders to God. They once again proclaim God's deity, power, eternity, and wisdom. Notice the 24 elder's praise and thanksgiving mentioned in Revelation 11:17-18, it states that the Lord God Almighty has taken His great power and reigned. God's wrath has now come, and judgment day is here. This is the final woe to the inhabitants of the earth because they will have to face their decision of rejecting God and the unsaved dead will have to face their choice of denying Jesus.
“We give You thanks, O Lord God Almighty, the One who is and who was and who is to come, because You have taken Your great power and reigned. The nations were angry, and Your wrath has come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that You should reward Your servants the prophets and the saints, and those who fear Your name, small and great, and should destroy those who destroy the earth.” - Revelation 11:17-18
The heavens are opened and the ark of His covenant will be seen in His temple. The ark of God's covenant being seen is of great importance! The ark of the covenant was first built in Exodus 25:10, when God gave instructions to Moses on how to build the ark of the testimony and declares, "And there I will meet with you, and I will speak with you from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are on the ark of the Testimony, about everything which I will give you in commandment to the children of Israel." (Exodus 25:22). Remember, God walked with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden before they sinned. Since God is holy and righteous, sin separates us from Him, which is why He sent His only Son, perfect, and holy to be our final sacrifice so His righteous blood would cover us and allow us to be with God again. Jesus' defeat over Hades and death was the victory against sin and the grave. However, during the Old Testament, before Jesus came to Earth, God chose priests, the Levites, who would make animal sacrifices for the sins committed. This was a covering of sin only, a picture of the intimate sacrifice of Jesus Christ that was to come. These chosen priests would enter the tabernacle, after cleansing themselves, with a specific attire/robe on, and would meet with God with a veil between God and them so they wouldn't die. God is light, and powerful, seeing Him in our weak human body would kill us. It would be like looking face-to-face with the sun, but even greater as He is God. When Jesus' died, the veil was torn, symbolizing that the block between God and us has been removed and we can communicate with Him directly instead of having a chosen priest to seek forgiveness for us. The ark of the covenant is extremely powerful, there are many stories in the Old Testament about its use and power. Read about the Philistines encounter with the ark of the covenant upon stealing it from the Israelites. After the Old Testament, nothing is mentioned about the ark of the covenant until here in Revelation 11:19, "Then the temple of God was opened in heaven, and the ark of His covenant was seen in His temple." In this passage the great significance of the ark of the covenant being seen is that 1) the ark of the covenant is in heaven currently; 2) at the time of the seventh trumpet everyone will see the ark of the covenant in the temple of God; 3) this demonstrates that the kingdom of God has finally come to earth!
With this sight, there is a great storm, "lightnings, noises, thunderings, an earthquake, and great hail." (Revelation 19). Our God is all-powerful, the Almighty, and deserves our praise, reverence, and respect. Ever notice, anytime something major and transforming happens for the world, thundering and lightning, earthquakes, and hail happen? God is demonstrating His power, authority, and announcing the big news.
Are you ready? If Jesus Christ came back today, would you go to Heaven with the Church or would you be left on the earth to go through the Great Tribulation? If Jesus Christ came back today, would your loved ones, family, friends go with you to Heaven or would they be left on this earth? This is the time to make sure you are ready for eternity and to witness to those you love and to those you meet so they will not have to go through eternal torment, but will live in eternal glory where God wipes away all tears and we live in perfect, sinless, holy beauty face to face with Jesus Christ forever.
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