At Last: Daily Thoughts from Revelation (Revelation 11:15-19)

Christians of every generation have wondered if the kingdom of God was not about to come in their day. It feels normal and healthy for that to be our expectation. It means we haven’t forgotten. We haven’t lost sight of the most significant and life-changing event on our horizon.

But it might surprise us to see that heaven’s inhabitants are also flush with that same expectation. As the seventh trumpet blows the residents of heaven get super-excited. “It’s happening at last, God is about to begin His reign on earth!”

Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.” And the twenty-four elders who sit on their thrones before God fell on their faces and worshiped God, 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.”

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.  (Revelation 11:15-19 ESV)

With the blowing of the seventh trumpet and the expectation of the final judgments being poured out on the earth (the 7 bowls), excitement mounts in anticipation of God’s kingdom overthrowing “the kingdom of the world.”  Mankind’s rebellion against God is near the end.

As the 24 elders worship they note that God has begun to reign by overcoming the nations that rage against Him.  It is time for the dead to be judged (which we will see in chapter 20) and for the saints to be rewarded.  The destroyers of the earth will be destroyed, for this is how God sees our rebellion, as a destruction of what He created to be perfect.

A vision of the temple in heaven is given and the ark of the covenant, the box that on earth contained the 10 commandments, Aaron’s rod that budded miraculously, and some manna, but that was a copy of what is in heaven.  The ark symbolizes the throne of God and it is being made visible because his throne is about to come to earth.

This is described as the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ. This is not to slight the Holy Spirit, who is given His due in other places, but the Father and the Son are the key focus of this kingdom which is about to come. Jesus will first rule over this kingdom for a thousand years from Jerusalem, as described in Revelation 20. Then the earth will be renovated in a drastic fashion, as described in Revelation 21, and the heavenly temple, the heavenly Jerusalem, will descend to earth and God will rule forever. This will be the eternal form of the kingdom.

Are you already a member of this kingdom? Jesus said, “Unless you are born again you cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3). If you acknowledge that you are a destroyer of the earth, a rager against God, and trust in Jesus as the one who has purchased your redemption by his death on the cross, you will be given this rebirth.