Kingdom, Power, and Glory (Revelation 11:15–19) | Coronation (Part 22)

Transcript

JRNT 521
KINGDOM, POWER, AND GLORY”
REVELATION 11:15-19
3/29/2026
JESSE RANDOLPH

We’re resuming our verse-by-verse study this evening of the Book of Revelation. And tonight, with the Lord’s help, we’re going to make our way to the end of Revelation chapter 11. As Andrew mentioned we will not have have evening service next Sunday night so make sure you take note of that. It will be Easter Sunday so no evening service. So we’ll resume our study of Revelation 12, Lord willing, the following Sunday night, April 12.

Now with a bit less territory to cover tonight in terms of the number of verses and the length of the passage we’ll be covering, I do think it would be a good for us to do this periodically just to take some time to do some review of where we’ve been so far in the book of Revelation, before we get into our text for this evening, just to maintain our bearings and keep the context in view of all we have studying and looking at in our study of this really remarkable book.

This is the book of Revelation. It is the vision that John received from the risen Lord Jesus while he was imprisoned on the island of Patmos in the mid 90’s AD. And while John was there, imprisoned on Patmos, Jesus gave him this vision. He gave him this vision of Himself and all His glory which we saw back in Revelation 1. Then He gave John this vision of the characteristics of the church age in Revelation 2 and 3 where there were those letters to the seven churches – to the church at Ephesus and Smyrna and Pergamum and Thyatira and Sardis and Philadelphia and Laodicea. And then we got to Revelation 4 and 5 where John was given this vision of the Lord’s heavenly throne room. And that took us to Revelation 6 where John began laying out this vision of this future period of Tribulation that will fall upon the earth after church-age saints are snatched up, taken away, caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, in this event that’s known as the Rapture.

And that’s where we’re sitting right now in our study of Revelation, this future period of earthly history that’s known as the Tribulation. This period during which God is going to unleash His righteous wrath and His fury on this planet. And He’s going to do so on account of this sin of mankind. Sin that’s been stored up and piled up for years and years, generations and generations and centuries and centuries by this point.

Now in terms of the flow of the book of Revelation, the events of the Tribulation are covered in Revelation 6 through 19. And we’re about five-and-a-half chapters at this point into the tribulation in our study. And to get us all caught up and to give us again that running start to tonight’s text, I’m going to give us some quick review of what we’ve learned about thus far with respect to the Tribulation.

In Revelation 6, you’re welcome to turn there with me, we studied that part of John’s vision into the future where He saw the Lamb, the resurrected, the ascended, the glorified Lord Jesus Christ who’s seated on His throne. And He’s opening this seven-sealed scroll which represents these different stages of future judgment which He will bring upon the earth during the Tribulation.

And then the first four seals in Revelation 6 involves these Tribulation-era judgments that are going to be ushered in by these four horsemen. There’s a rider on the white horse, and a rider on the red horse, and a rider on the black horse, and then rider on the pale horse. And each of those as we saw represents a distinct form of judgment at the beginning part of the Tribulation period.

And then there’s the opening of the fifth seal that’s in Revelation 6:9-11, where we’re introduced to this group of the martyred dead. These are the Tribulation Martyrs. And they’re gathered underneath the altar in the throne room here, and they’re looking to have their blood avenged by the Lamb.

And then we get to the opening of the sixth seal, starting in Revelation 6:12, where John witnessed through his vision a series of additional destructive events that would come upon the earth during the Tribulation. There’s the incident where the sun becomes blackened, there’s a great earthquake, there’s the whole moon turning into blood, there’s the stars of the sky falling to the earth, there’s the sky splitting and rolling up like a scroll, and then there are these kings and commanders who are being buried under the rocks in order to escape the wrath of the Lamb.

Then before the seventh seal was opened, we had Revelation 7, this interlude, this break in the vision. And in Revelation 7 what John was doing was describing this vision he had of these two distinct groups of the redeemed people, what I called in that sermon the mixed multitude. These would be individuals who would be handled specially by God during the Tribulation.

First would be those 144,000 converted and sealed Jews. You see them mentioned in verses Revelation 7:5-8. And these would be those 12,000 from every one of the twelve tribes of Israel who would be sealed and protected from the judgment that was to come during the remainder of the Tribulation.

And second was that “great multitude which no one could count,” as it says in Revelation 7:9, and who come “from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues,” it says. These are what are known as the Tribulation Saints. Meaning, those who come from different people groups and those who come to place their faith in Christ during the Tribulation.

So that was Revelation 7. That was the interlude. Then in Revelation 8, we saw that John resumed his chronological summary of what was happening in the Tribulation and he’s given more insights, further insights into these outpourings of God’s wrath that will happen in the Tribulation. There was the opening of the seventh seal of the seven sealed scroll in Revelation 8:1-5. But only after, you’ll recall, there was a 30-minute period of silence in heaven. And then with the opening of that seventh seal, we saw that angel take his censer from the altar in the throne room of God, and in Revelation 8:5 he took the censer and “filled it with the fire of the altar, and threw it to the earth.” And then he ended up wreaking even more havoc on the now Tribulation-ravaged earth.

And then after the opening of that seventh seal and the pouring out of those judgments associated with that seventh seal, John in his vision saw these additional waves of judgment that would be poured out upon the earth after the seventh seal was opened. And then what we saw is that these next waves of judgment would be brought about not by opening of further seals, but rather through the sounding, the blowing, the blaring of seven trumpets.

So, the Tribulation period starts with the opening of seven seal judgments. That then flows into another seven-step phase of judgment, the trumpet judgment phase. We’ve already covered the first six trumpet judgments, but again by way of review, let’s go ahead and get our eyes on these once more.

The first trumpet judgment is mentioned in Revelation 8:7 where it says, “And the first sounded, and there came hail and fire, mixed with blood, and they were thrown to the earth; and a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up.”

The second trumpet judgment starts in verse 8. “And the second angel sounded, and something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea; and a third of the sea became blood, and a third of the creatures which were in the sea, those which had life died; and a third of the ships were destroyed.”

The third trumpet judgment is found in Revelation 8:10-11. “And the third angel sounded, and a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of waters. And the name of the star is called Wormwood; and a third of the waters became wormwood, and many men died from the waters, because they were made bitter.”

Then the fourth trumpet judgment is found in verse 12. “And the fourth angel sounded, and a third of the sun and a third of the moon and a third of the stars were struck, so that a third of them would be darkened and the day would not shine for a third of it, and the night in the same way.” Then we see that eagle flying mid-heaven in verse 13 declaring additional woes to come and more trumpet judgments to come.

And then the fifth trumpet judgment is found in Revelation 9:1-12. “Then the fifth angel sounded. Then I saw a star from heaven which had fallen to the earth, and the key of the pit of the abyss was given to him. And he opened the pit of the abyss and smoke went up out of the pit, like the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke of the pit. Then out of the smoke came locusts upon the earth, and power was given them, as the scorpions of the earth have power. And they were told not to hurt the grass of the earth, nor any green thing, nor any tree, but only the men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. And they were not permitted to kill anyone, but to torment for five months, and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings a man. And in those days men will seek death and will never find it; they will long to die, and death flees from them. And the appearance of the locusts was like horses prepared for battle. And on their heads appeared to be crowns like gold, and their faces were like the faces of men. And they had hair like the hair of women, and their teeth were like the teeth of lions. And they had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots, of many horses running to battle. And they have tails like scorpions, and stings; and in their tails is their power to hurt men for five months. They have as king over them, the angel of the abyss. His name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in the Greek he has the name Apollyon. One woe is past; behold, two woes are still coming after these things.” So that’s the fifth trumpet judgment.

Then verse 13 is the sixth trumpet judgment. (Revelation 9:13-21) “Then the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, one saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, ‘Release the four angels who have been bound at the great river Euphrates.’ And the four angels were released, who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year, so that they would kill a third of mankind. And the number of the armies of the horsemen was two hundred million; I heard the number of them. And this is how I saw in the vision the horses and those who sit on them: the riders had breastplates the color of fire and of hyacinth and of brimstone; and the heads of the horses are like the heads of lions; and out of their mouths come fire and smoke and brimstone. A third of mankind was killed by these three plagues, by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone which came out of their mouths. For the power of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails; for their tails are like serpents, having heads, and with them they do harm. And the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, so as not to worship demons, and the idols of gold and of silver and of brass and of stone and of wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk. And they did not repent of their murders nor of their sorceries nor of their sexual immorality nor of their thefts.”

So, these trumpet judgments individually, and certainly when they are combined as I’ve read extensively there, and we see them rolled one after the other out in succession. They’re obviously going to bring about mass carnage, and mass devastation to the planet and its people during the Tribulation. We’re talking about hail and fire and blood and darkness and destruction. And then pain and death brought about these demonically empowered beings resembling locusts and horses, which are going to cause even more terror and more agony and more destruction during the Tribulation.

Well, even with all of these harrowing details concerning the Tribulation and where we sit right now in our study of John’s vision here in Revelation, there is still yet a seventh trumpet to blow. One which is going to roll right into the seven bowl judgments which will cause even more destruction and more devastation upon the earth.

But before getting there and before getting to that part of John’s vision, before the sounding of the seventh trumpet, and the pouring out of the seven bowls of judgments, there was yet another interlude, another break in the vision which John was receiving from Jesus Christ. And that interlude is found in Revelation 10 and 11, which we’ve been studying for the past couple of weeks.

First, in Revelation 10, there was John’s encounter with that strong angel who was holding that little scroll and He ultimately commanded John to eat that little scroll, that scroll which, as we saw, contained the contents of the remainder of the book of Revelation, or what became the book of Revelation. John complied and John ate the scroll as Revelation 10:10 tells us. And it was sweet to the taste, like honey in his mouth, but bitter to his stomach. Meaning, the prophetic words that were contained in that little scroll had truths which on the one hand were sweet and assuring to him, but on the other hand had some bitter realities contained in them, as there was yet more judgment and carnage and destruction that would continue to befall the earth during the Tribulation.

Then last Sunday night we got into our study of Revelation 11 where John was given further instructions by the Lord to measure the inner sanctuary of the temple which will be constructed by the Jews during the Tribulation. Those instructions we saw were pointing to the fact that God will again turn His attention to the Jews during this period in the Tribulation.

And then, still in Revelation 11, we looked on this account of these two witnesses who I lean toward those being Moses and Elijah, who are raised up to prophesy for 3.5 years against the wickedness that will still exist at this point. But they’ll eventually be killed much to the excitement, much to the delight of those who are inhabitants of the earth during that time. Remember they have sort of an anti-Christmas celebration to celebrate the killing of those two witnesses. But then the two witnesses are eventually raised up and taken into heaven. And that event leads to a great earthquake, which we’re told in Revelation 11:13, a tenth of the city fell; seven thousand people were killed, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven. But as we’ll see as more developments unfold their giving glory to the God of heaven in that instance was really only temporary. They would soon be shaking their fist at him again.

And then we ended last Sunday night in verse 14. “The second woe is past; behold, the third woe is coming quickly.” So at this point in the Tribulation, seven seals have been broken with corresponding judgments attached to each, six trumpets have blown with corresponding judgments attached to each. And now we’ve arrived at the sounding of the seventh trumpet and the issuance of the third woe.

That brings us to our text for tonight. Revelation 11:15-19, “Then the seventh angel sounded, 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 will 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 You thanks, O Lord God, the Almighty, who is and who was, because You have taken Your great power and have begun to reign. And the nations were enraged, and Your rage came, and the time came for the dead to be judged, and to give reward to Your slaves, the prophets and the saints and those who fear Your name, the small and the great, and to destroy those who destroy the earth.’ And the sanctuary of God which is in heaven was opened, and the ark of His covenant appeared in His sanctuary, and there were flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder and an earthquake and a great hailstorm.”

I’ve titled tonight’s message Kingdom, Power, and Glory, because with the opening of this seventh seal, I should say with the blowing of the seventh trumpet, we see all three described. Through the words of the loud voices which come from heaven, which are mentioned in verse 15, there is this proclamation of the kingdom. And we’ll spend quite a bit of time fleshing that one out. In the voices of the twenty-four elders, in verses 16-18 there is this proclamation of the Lord’s power. And then finally, in verse 19, with the appearance of the ark of the covenant in the Lord’s sanctuary, the heavenly Sanctuary, there’s this tangible representation of the glory of the Lord. So, Kingdom, Power, Glory.

Let’s start with the Kingdom. Verse 15. “Then the seventh angel sounded, 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 will reign forever and ever.’” So this seventh angel sounded or blew his trumpet. And then came this chorus, it says, of loud voices in heaven. Now it’s clearly plural so it’s more than one voice here. Whose voices these are, we’re not told. But note the contrast with what we saw back in Revelation 8:1, which was in connection with the opening of the seventh seal. When the seventh seal was opened as contrasted with the seventh trumpet being blown, there weren’t loud voices. But instead, there was what? Silence. 30 minutes of silence in heaven. There was silence in heaven for about half an hour. There’s no silence here in Revelation 11:15. Instead, these loud voices in heaven are saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He will reign forever and ever.”

Now I’m sure many of you here have heard of George Frederic Handel’s Messiah. It’s a mid-18th century musical composition which to this day is riveting for any of us to listen to. Now the story of how this iconic piece of music came to be is fascinating. In 1741, Handel was heavily in debt following a string of musical failures. It looked like his career was over and that he might even have to go into debtors’ prison which was a thing back then. In April of 1741, Handel gave what was believed to be his final concert. But then later that same year, desperate, Handel was given a grant to compose a new musical arrangement for a benefit performance which somewhat ironically was meant for the benefit of freeing men from debtors’ prison. Handel’s task was to take lyrics which had been put together by a man named Charles Jennens and he was supposed to, Handel was supposed to, provide orchestration for them to set them to music. Well eager to earn a few bucks, Handel started working furiously on the project on August 22, 1741. And he worked nonstop. He rarely slept. He hardly ate. When his assistants checked on him they would find him often in tears as he was putting it all together. Well on September 14, 1741, just 24 days later, Handel was done. 260 pages of musical orchestration later and his masterpiece, Messiah, was written. I took 5 weeks to write a thesis. Handel wrote the Messiah in 24 days.

But I bring this story up because at the heart of this piece, Handel’s Messiah was a Hallelujah chorus. You’ve all heard it before I’m sure. King of Kings. Lord of Lords. The most famous part of Handel’s Messiah is the Halleluiah chorus. It moves us whenever we hear it, and it moved Handel when he put it together. He reportedly told one of his assistants after he completed the musical parts, he said I did think I did see all heaven before me, and the great God Himself seated on His throne, with His company of angels.

Now why do I bring all that up about Handel’s Messiah in the context of Revelation 11. Well, the man who wrote those lyrics, Charles Jennens, his motivation for writing this piece, writing the lyrics to this piece and the Hallelujah chorus specifically, was our text for tonight. Revelation 11:15. “‘The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He will reign forever and ever.’”

Now Handel’s work in this, his musical work, his orchestration, has been recognized by musicologists down through the centuries as a complete masterpiece. It’s moved many to tears as they turn the volume up when you hear it, right? On YouTube or the radio or whatever. But its lyrics written by Jennens, who was an Anglican. They reveal a theological prejudice. And that theological prejudice that we’ve all become accustomed to, especially in our day, and that theological prejudice is the idea that Christ’s kingdom is here. That His kingdom is now. That He rules as King of Kings and Lord of Lords today. That, as it says here in Revelation 11:15, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He will reign forever and ever.” So now we listen to Handel’s Messiah every Christmas and we’re so accustomed to reading Revelation 11:15 as being an incarnational passage. Because I heard Handel’s Messiah, this must be about the incarnation. This must be about the virgin birth. This must be about Bethlehem.

But we know from our study of Revelation up to this point, and we are going to see this in our study of the remainder of Revelation, that that’s not what Revelation 11:15 is about. The kingdom is not now. The kingdom is not today. The kingdom rather is yet future. It’s coming. And the kingdom of the world has not yet in our day become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ. Meaning, Handel’s Messiah beautifully and richly composed as it was, rests on a theological misunderstanding in that it supposes, along with much of the over-realized eschatology of our day, that the kingdom is now.

So now that I’ve ruined your Christmas playlists for nine months from now, let’s go ahead and head back to our text, Revelation 11:15, which again, starts this way, “Then the seventh angel sounded, 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 will reign forever and ever.’”

Now, when the first six trumpets sounded, remember something very definite happened upon the earth. The earth was burning or a star was falling or a river was turning into blood or demonically empowered locusts were roaming. But when the seventh trumpet sounds, note that nothing definite takes place. Rather this blowing of the seventh trumpet is preparatory. It’s an announcement. It’s a summary even of what is yet to come through the seven bowl judgments which will be poured out in the latter half of the Tribulation specifically, in Revelation 16.

Now here in our passage in Revelation 11:15, what makes this passage so difficult for people to grapple with and understand, especially when they read it through the lens of Handel’s Messiah, is that on first glance it seems to be saying that at this point, what is being described in Revelation, is Christ already achieving His final victory. I mean on its face it appears to be saying that the kingdom has come and that Christ is presently enthroned and Christ presently is reigning. Hallelujah, Hallelujah, right? That appears to be what is being said here.

But at the same time, we’re only in Revelation chapter 11. We’re barely past the halfway point in the book. We’ve got a long way to go, and we know as we’re going to read on through Revelation that Christ doesn’t even return to earth until Revelation 19, and the establishment of His millennial reign, His kingdom doesn’t come until Revelation 20. So what gives? How do we explain the fact that our text for tonight, Revelation 11:15, seems to indicate that Christ has begun reigning as King, and seems to indicate that Christ’s kingdom has in fact come when we know that so much more has to happen?

The preparatory events of Revelation 12-15, the pouring out of the seven bowls of wrath in Revelation 16. The battles of Revelation 17, 18 and 19. How can this be saying that Christ’s kingdom has come when we know all of that still has to take place? How do we explain this tension, this seeming tension in the book of Revelation, between the truth that the kingdom has come, Revelation 11:15, but then the fact that we know more is to come before the kingdom comes? Revelation 19, 20.

Well, there actually, and there should be no surprise when I say this, there actually is no tension in this text, as is true of all of God’s Word. There are no inconsistencies in Scripture. Now what we have rather in Revelation 11:15, is an instance of divine foreshadowing. A summary of what is still to come. This language in verse 15 is looking ahead. It’s looking past the events of Revelation 12 through 19, and pointing forward to the thousand year reign of Christ, which begins with the Millenium. It’s pointing forward to that event with such certainty that it’s as though the event has already happened.

The reality is that at this point in the vision, Jesus gave John in Revelation 11, there still was much destruction to come and many battles to come and much judgment to come as we’re going to see as we march our way through the remainder of this text. But what follows each of those events will be the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ. And it’s looked forward here by John with such certainty that it is being announced in this text as having already come.

The Greek verb here for “has become” is “egeneto.” And here it’s written in the aorist tense. You’ve heard that mentioned before. The aorist tense, which typically refers to some single past action, something that has already occurred at some specific point in time. But what a number of scholars of biblical Greek have recognized is that the aorist tense can take on a number of different forms and tenses including the proleptic use of the aorist conveys the absolute certainty of events to come by referring to them as they’ve occurred, as though they’ve already occurred. I’ll say that again. The proleptic use of the aorist indicates the absolute certainty of events that are still to come, by referring to them as though they’ve already occurred.

That’s what we have here in Revelation 11:15. We have a proleptic meaning, a foreshadowing, or anticipatory use of the aorist. Those words, “the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He will reign forever and ever,” though they sound like they are communicating present-day realities, or even that they sound like they might be communicating certain settled past tense, already having occurred events.

They are actually describing a future event when the kingdom of the world, a kingdom which to that point, has been ruled by a counterfeit king. The one who’s referred to in Scripture by a number of different titles, the accuser, the adversary, the prowling lion, the tempter, the serpent of old, the evil one, the prince of the power of the air, the god of this world, the ruler of this world, the devil. I’m speaking, of course, of Satan.

Well, his shanty of a kingdom is going to come crumbling down. And it will become the kingdom of our Lord. That’s referring to God the Father. And it will become the kingdom of His Christ. That’s referring, of course, to God the Son.

And He, meaning Christ, will reign for ever and ever. That is when He returns to earth and initiates His kingdom reign as reflected in Revelation 20 and beyond. There are definite echoes of Daniel 7:13,14 here which says, “I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven one like a Son of Man was coming, and He came up to the Ancient of Days and came near before Him. And to Him was given dominion, glory, and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations, and men of every tongue might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which will not be taken away; and His kingdom is one which will not be destroyed.”

So, to summarize this passage, Revelation 11:15, is referring to the anticipation of the coming kingdom, not the actual setting up at this point of the kingdom at this point in John’s vision. And it’s this anticipation of the kingdom that is cause for rejoicing in heaven. It’s causing these loud voices in heaven to say what they are saying here. That the kingdom of this world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He will reign forever and ever. So, the seventh trumpet does not bring in the kingdom, rather it’s highlighting its nearness.

The heavenly throng that’s described here in verse 15, they’re exuberant, notwithstanding all the judgment and darkness and gloom that are still to come in the Tribulation, because they are looking forward to that coming kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ. And note, it’s our Lord and of His Christ. The future kingdom will belong both to God the Father and to God the Son. We know that from 1 Corinthians 15:24, where it says, “Then comes the end, and He hands over the kingdom to God and Father.” Their rulership will begin in the Millennial Kingdom, but it will go on into eternity. Verse 15 ends with these words, “He will reign forever and ever.”

Now one little side trail, if I may. Here at Indian Hills we hold to the position that the rapture of the church occurs prior to the Tribulation. So we’re not only premillennial, in that we believe that Jesus Christ is going to return before the millennial kingdom, articulated in Revelation 20, but we are also pretribulational. Meaning, we believe the Scriptures teach that believers will be raptured, snatched up, taken away to meet the Lord in the air, as we’re told in 1 Thessalonians 4, before the events of the Tribulation that we have been studying in the book of Revelation. We are waiting, 1 Thessalonians 1:10 says, for God’s “Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath to come.”“

Now there are those who hold to a different position. It’s called the midtribulation position who maintain that the church is raptured here, right here in Revelation 11 at the midpoint of the Tribulation. And they do so based on their belief that the trumpet that’s mentioned here, the sounding of this seventh trumpet by this seventh angel, is the same as the last trumpet in 1 Corinthians 15:51,52. And that text says, “Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed.”

So the thought is for those who hold to a midtribulation rapture position, is that there will be believers in Christ who live up to this point in the Tribulation and go through the Tribulation, and they’re raptured at that point when this seventh trumpet blows, which again, they merge with the last trumpet of 1 Corinthians 15:51,52. That’s when they believe followers of Christ are raptured.

There are a few ways that you can argue against that. And a few ways to point out some of the weaknesses of that midtribulational position. First of all, these trumpets, for a number of reasons, are clearly not the same trumpet. The seventh trumpet of Revelation 11:15 and the last trumpet of 1 Corinthians 15:52 have much different audiences and purposes.

For instance, the trumpet in 1 Corinthians 15, it is with reference to the church. It’s the church that is caught up to meet the Lord in the air when that trumpet sounds. The last trumpet of 1 Corinthians 15, that trumpet is marked by grace because that trumpet’s calling the church up. Its earthly mission is closed. In that instance those people are pulled up, they’re taken up and they’re protected from the wrath that is to come.

But the seventh trumpet that we’re studying here in Revelation 11:15, it’s sounded for an entirely different purpose, namely the judgment that is about to befall the godless populace of this wicked world. So the Revelation 11 trumpet, this trumpet is not signaling that anyone is going to be spared like the 1 Corinthians 15 trumpet does. Rather, this trumpet is signaling that judgment is further intensifying as Christ prepares to return and to set up His Kingdom reign on earth.

Also, whereas the 1 Corinthians 15 trumpet blasts in an instant, and it brings about these instantaneous results, (verse 52) “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye,” it says. The Revelation 11:15 trumpet extends over a period of time. It feeds directly into those seven bowl judgments that we’re going to study. It doesn’t occur in a twinkling of an eye, but instead it brings in this prolonged and painful era of judgment. So those are a couple of reasons, there are many more why the midtribulation position doesn’t hold biblical water.
That was verse 15. (Revelation 11:15) “Then the seventh angel sounded, 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 will reign forever and ever.’”

Now, take a look at verses 16 and 17, which is still in the context of John’s vision of the days of the Tribulation in which this seventh trumpet of judgment is going to blow. And we have these two verses. (Revelation 11:16,17) “And the twenty-four elders, who sit on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying, ‘We give You thanks, O Lord God, the Almighty, who is and who was, because You have taken Your great power and have begun to reign.’”

Now in light of this heavenly praise in verse 15 over the certainty of Christ’s coming kingdom, we next learn in verses 16 and 17 of power, God’s power, in bringing all of this about. We first met these twenty-four elders back in the heavenly throne room scene in Revelation 4. In fact, go and turn there with me to Revelation 4 just to be reacquainted with these individuals. Revelation 4:1-4. This is the beginning of the throne room scene. “After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven, and the first voice which I had heard, like the sound of a trumpet speaking with me, said, ‘Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after these things.’ Immediately I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne was standing in heaven, and One sitting on the throne. And He who was sitting was like a jasper stone and a sardius in appearance; and there was a rainbow around the throne, like an emerald in appearance. Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and upon those thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white garments, and golden crowns on their heads.”

Now, as we worked our way through that passage awhile back now, we saw that these twenty-four elders are representative of the redeemed and raptured church. Meaning they’re representative of church-age believers in Christ. Those who put their faith in Christ before the Rapture.

We see these elders again in Revelation chapter 5. They were among those saying with a loud voice, in Revelation 5:12, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing.” These elders then fell down (Revelation 5:14) and worshipped. Also, these elders are mentioned among the multitude of Revelation 7. After that multitude cried out, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb,” John reports in Revelation 7:11, that these “elders fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, ‘Amen, the blessing and the glory and the wisdom and the thanksgiving and the honor and the power and the strength, be to our God forever and ever. Amen.’”

Well now here in Revelation 11:16, these elders do what they are routinely described as doing in the book of Revelation, namely worshiping God. Look what it says, verse 16. “And the twenty-four elders, who sit on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshiped God.” During each of the seal judgments and during the first six trumpet judgments, meaning during the first 3.5 years of the Tribulation, these elders apparently had remained seated upon their thrones as they were observing below the events happening on the earth. But no longer. Now they are described as falling on their faces, getting off those thrones, dismounting and worshiping God.

And as they do so, note the words again of praise which are coming out of their mouth. Verse 17. “Saying, ‘We give You thanks, O Lord God, the Almighty, who is and who was, because You have taken Your great power and have begun to reign.” So as these elders step down momentarily from their thrones as they fall on their faces to worship the Lord, note what they are doing here.

First they give thanks to God. “We give You thanks, O Lord God.” Now in context, we have to link this back to prayers that were prayed earlier in the Tribulation. They are giving thanks to God because God has answered the prayers of the Tribulation martyrs back in Revelation 5. And those prayers have been answered by these consecutive waves of judgment that have since been brought about during the Tribulation. These elders are also praising God for His omnipotence, His power. They refer to Him as the Almighty. The idea behind that is that none can resist His all-sovereign power. They also praise God for His eternality. They refer to Him as the one “who is and who was.” That speaks to God’s uninterrupted existence both in the present and in the past.

And then note this. These elders praise God for the certainty of His coming kingdom reign. Note the last few words of verse 17. These elders give thanks and praise to God because You have taken Your great power and have begun to reign.

Now we just went over this a couple minutes ago in verse 15. There will be those who will take those last few words, “You have taken” or “You have begun” and they’ll say listen, those are aorist verbs. And aorist verbs typically point to an action in the past that’s already been completed. And because these are aorist verbs the argument will be made that the Lord’s kingdom, this is saying it, has already begun. He’s already begun to reign and at this point in the Tribulation.

Well, I would argue back that once again there is a recognized form of the aorist verb, know, as a proleptic aorist which records still-yet-future activities as being so certain to occur in the future that they’re spoken of in a past tense as though they already have occurred.

And we saw that back in verse 15 just a moment ago. The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ. That’s a proleptic aorist. And John is doing it again here in verse 17 as he describes the words of worship and thanks that are being uttered by these twenty-four elders where they say, “You have taken Your great power and have begun to reign.”

In other words, these truths are so settled, these future kingdom reality truths are so settled that they can be spoken of as though the kingdom has already come. As though the kingdom is already now, though in reality it’s not. That’s the proleptic use of the aorist. These are the kinds of things I geek out about all week. These are the reasons I don’t get any dinner party invites. That’s okay.

But all joking aside, there is real significance to these words. There’s real significance to this being a proleptic aorist. And the significance is that though additional judgments will come. Revelation 12 all the way through 19. Though there will be the sounding of the seventh trumpet, and though there will be the pouring out of the seven bowls of wrath that follow, the Lord’s coming kingdom reign is still on its way, and His future kingdom plans and purposes will not be thwarted. The kingdom of the world will indeed become the kingdom of our Lord. And this will indeed take place at the end of Tribulation.

Now as we turn to verse 18, it’s still the twenty-four elders speaking and they say this, (Revelation 11:18) “And the nations were enraged, and Your rage came, and the time came for the dead to be judged, and to give reward to Your slaves—the prophets and the saints and those who fear Your name, the small and the great—and to destroy those who destroy the earth.” And now you’re not going to be surprised at this point when I say this, but what we have going on here in terms of the syntax, the way that verbs and nouns and words all work together is exactly what we’ve seen in verses 15 and 17.

See these twenty-four elders are praising the living God and now they’re mentioning these five events in verse 18, which on first read, appear as though they have already taken place. But once again we have a proleptic aorist with each of these verbs. The nations were enraged. Your rage came. The time came. These events are so certain to happen in the future that they’re referred to here as though they have already taken place. The proleptic use of the aorist. Meaning the elders here in verse 18 are speaking of future events that are so certain, so fixed, so thought out, so planned out that with confidence they can speak as though they have already occurred.

And note, there are these five future events mentioned here in verse 18. First is the rage of the nations. It says, “And the nations were enraged.” Throughout history, and on into the Tribulation, the nations have exhibited defiance against God, and arrogance against God. But in the future, the nation’s arrogance against God will reach its peak. This language in verse 18, “the nations were enraged,” ought to remind us of Psalm 2:1-3, “Why do the nations rage and the peoples meditate on a vain thing? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers take counsel together against Yahweh and against His Anointed, saying, ‘Let us tear their fetters apart and cast away their cords from us!’” So, this is proleptically speaking to the future rage of the nations toward God and His anointed.

A second is the wrath of God. Note the next few words in verse 18. “And Your rage came.” Now unlike the rage of the nations, God’s rage, God’s wrath, is both perfect and just. It’s balanced out evenly and perfectly by every other one of His attributes, including His patience. But by this point in the future, John, speaking proleptically is saying that that God’s patience will gradually or eventually give way to his wrath, to His rage, to His fury. The hour of His vengeance will have arrived. Psalm 2:4-6 says, “He who sits in the heavens laughs, the Lord mocks them. Then He speaks to them in His anger and terrifies them in His fury, saying, ‘But as for Me, I have installed My King upon Zion, My holy mountain.’”

Third in this passage, verse 18 is the judgment of the dead. Note the next few words in Revelation 11:18. “And the time came for the dead to be judged.” This is most likely a reference to the future Great White Throne judgment in Revelation 20:12 which says, “Then I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds.”

Fourth is the rewarding of the godly. Look at the next few words of verse 18, “And to give reward to Your slaves—the prophets and the saints and those who fear Your name, the small and the great.” For the church, this series of rewards will occur at the Rapture, when we receive our Bema seat rewards. For other saints, this will take place at the resurrection of the righteous when they are raised in the first resurrection, described in Revelation 20.

And then fifth is the destruction of the destroyers of the earth. Look at the final words of Revelation 11:18, “And to destroy those who destroy the earth.” This really covers all that is to come from John’s vantage point here in the remaining days of the Tribulation, as the remaining seven bowl judgments are poured out, as the various future battles are carried out and where those who had once been destroyers of God’s people, destroyers of God’s creation are themselves destroyed.

So to summarize. what we see here in verse 18, is the foretelling of still-future days, where unbelieving peoples will continue to rage against the Lord as they attempt to ward off Christ’s coronation as the King. But instead, He will be angry with them and He will judge them and He will destroy them.

Well last as we close out our study here of Revelation 11, and this divine interlude which makes up both Revelation 10 and 11, we come to verse 19. So, in this section of Revelation that we’ve been studying tonight, we’ve see the Kingdom, that was verse 15, we’ve considered the topic of power, God’s power. And in verse 19, we are given a glimpse of glory, God’s glory as John had this vision of this sanctuary or the temple of God in heaven. Verse 19, “And the sanctuary of God which is in heaven was opened, and the ark of His covenant appeared in His sanctuary, and there were flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder and an earthquake and a great hailstorm.”

I was thinking this afternoon there’s been a lot of temple talk coming from this pulpit of late. This morning in our study of Zechariah we studied the setting of that prophecy and how that was all about the days of the reconstruction of the temple that had been destroyed back in 586 BC when the Babylonians captured Judah but was then being rebuilt during the days of Zechariah. And then in our study last Sunday night of the earlier portions of Revelation 11 we saw how there will be the construction of a temple in Jerusalem during the days of the Tribulation, the Tribulation temple. Even earlier this week on our podcast we recorded an episode with Dr. Jason Beals who described the Millennial temple.

But what we’re told in Hebrews 9 is that these earthly temples are copies of the true one, meaning, the temple of God in heaven. And we’re told in Hebrews 8:2 that there is a “true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, not man.”

And John, here in his vision is given a glimpse into God’s heavenly temple, which by the way has already been described for us, in part where we’ve been introduced to God’s heavenly throne, in Revelation 4:5. And we’ve already been introduced to an altar that exists in heaven in Revelation 6:9.

And here in Revelation 11:19, we’re told that the sanctuary of God which is in heaven was opened. And now look at what John saw when this sanctuary, this heavenly Holy of Holies, was opened. He says reading on, “And the ark of His covenant appeared in the sanctuary.” Now in the Old Testament the ark of the covenant was found in both the tabernacle, and then later in the temple. And more than just a piece of furniture, the Ark of the Covenant symbolized God’s presence with His people. It was there that at the Ark of the Covenant that God communed with His people above the mercy seat which covered the ark between the two cherubim. Well, the earthly ark ultimately was a copy of this heavenly one. And as the earthly version did, the heavenly version pointed to God’s mercy, His presence with His people and atonement for sin.

But it wasn’t just the ark that John saw in this heavenly temple. As verse 19 concludes, he also described as coming from this heavenly temple, “flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder and an earthquake and a great hailstorm.” Similar to what we saw back in Revelation 4:5 and Revelation 8:5, God’s throne room, His heavenly throne room. Though a place of mercy and presence of God and atonement for those who are His, it’s also the source of judgment for those who are not. For the wicked and the godless in this world, for those who reject His rule, for those who rage against Him as it said in verse 18, it will be from this throne room of God, from His heavenly temple, that they will face His fury and His wrath.

So Kingdom, Power, and now with this vision of the heavenly ark of the covenant, Glory. And that’s going to take us to the end of our study of Revelation 11. Again, we’ll be off next Sunday night for Easter. But then we’ll resume in two weeks Lord willing with a study of Revelation 12. Let’s pray.