The Seventh Trumpet

I. Introduction
A. This is the second of several preliminary grand finales, culminating in Rev.21-22, the final finale.
1. Seventh seal: half hour of silence // seventh trumpet: loud voices
B. Revelation 11:14–19 The second woe has passed; behold, the third woe is soon to come. 15 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.” 16 And the twenty-four elders who sit on their thrones before God fell on their faces and worshiped God, 17 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. 18 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.” 19 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.
II. (The bad news of Revelation 11:14-19) What’s so terrible about the seventh trumpet?
A. We have been led to expect something horrific in the seventh trumpet. V.14 says, “The second woe has passed; behold, the third woe is soon to come.”
1. This takes us back to the eagle in Revelation 8:13. Right after the fourth trumpet, John says, “I looked, and I heard an eagle crying with a loud voice as it flew directly overhead, ‘Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the earth, at the blasts of the other trumpets that the three angels are about to blow!’” So, the eagle is saying that the remaining three of the seven trumpets are going to be considerably more severe than the first four. (CHART)
2. Now the first four were very severe: hail, fire, blood, a great burning mountain thrown into the sea, a third of the sea becoming blood, a third of the sea creatures dying, a third of the ships destroyed. And that’s just the first two. (Revelation 8:7-12)
3. But according to the eagle, the fifth, sixth and seventh trumpets were not only going to be worse, but dreadfully worse.
4. It’s even repeated again. Between the fifth and the sixth trumpets, Revelation 9:12 says, “the first woe has passed; behold, two woes are still to come.”
5. But when we actually come to the seventh trumpet, there’s not mention of bloodshed or slaughter, no torment, no oppression, no famine, no terror.
6. In fact, it seems more mild – and much more happy – than the others. So much so, that v.15 finds itself inserted into one of the humanity’s most popular songs.
B. So, what’s so scary about the seventh trumpet? It doesn’t sound like a woe.
1. The blowing of the seventh trumpet yields two results:
a. 15 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.”
(1) Notice that the kingdom of this world is singular and not plural. “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord.”
(2) This verse is not talking about the various nations on earth; it’s talking about THE kingdom of THE world.
(3) You see, the kingdom of God is not the only kingdom the Bible speaks of. There is another kingdom – set against the kingdom of God.
(4) Paul refers to this other kingdom in Colossians 1:13, “He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son.”
(5) This other kingdom, this domain of darkness, is ruled over by Satan himself, who Jesus called “the ruler of this world” in John 12:31.
(6) This is the kingdom to which all of us belonged before we came to Christ. And it is the kingdom to which all non-believers belong to this day.
(a) “You once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience.” Ephesians 2:2
(7) This is the kingdom which gives nonbelievers their sense of security; it’s where their confidence lies; it’s their support system; it’s their source of hope – How could billions of people be wrong?
(8) But on that day when the seventh trumpet sounds, “the kingdom of the world will be taken over by the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.”
(9) People buy tickets to hear Handel’s Messiah and they stand up for the Hallelujah Chorus, many of them ironically exulting in music which celebrates their own demise.
b. The second thing which happens is in v.16-18, “The twenty-four elders who sit on their thrones before God fell on their faces and worshiped God, 17 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. 18 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.”
(1) This is a difficult sentence. So let me simplify it for you. The 24 elders, to whom we were introduced in Rev.4:4, give thanks to the Lord that He’s taken His mighty power & has begun to reign. Then he goes back to Psalm 2 to make a very long story very short.
(2) You remember Psalm 2, where it says, “Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? 2 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against his Anointed, saying, 3 ‘Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.’ 4 He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision. 5 Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying, 6 ‘As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.’”
(3) Well, Rev.11:18 picks up on this story and takes it further: “The nations raged, but your wrath came.” And several other things came as well:
(a) the time for the dead to be judged, [presumably those who have already died without Christ]
(b) (the time) for rewarding your servants, (the prophets and saints), and those who fear your name (both small and great),
(c) and (the time) for destroying the destroyers of the earth.” [presumably living non-believers]
2. You see, the seventh trumpet far surpasses the earlier trumpets in severity (chart).
a. The first four trumpets talked about normal earthly troubles & difficulties in the present age.
b. The fifth & sixth trumpets are talking about the intense suffering right before the end of history.
c. This seventh trumpet is talking about final & eternal judgment.
d. This is not scary to the redeemed. But it sure is to the rest of mankind!
e. The very One they have resisted all their lives, the very One they fought against with every bone in their bodies, the One they desperately tried to avoid and to forget about, the One they mocked and spat upon and ridiculed and crucified, this One is now seated on the throne as indisputable ruler and judge. And He knows all their secrets. And He’s not happy.
3. As the curtain closes on the description of the seventh trumpet in v.19, we are given a first glimpse into the rewarding of God’s servants, as God’s temple opens in heaven, and the ark of the covenant is there, on which was the mercy seat, where the blood of the covenant was sprinkled, pointing to the atoning work of Christ on the cross.
4. But we also get a first glimpse of the coming of God’s wrath, and the judging of the dead, and the destroying the destroyers of the earth. For just as the curtain is closing, we read, “There were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and heavy hail.”
III. The good news of Revelation 11:14-19
A. When the seventh seal is opened (Rev.8:1), there is silence in heaven for a half hour, as the whole creation stands in awe of the glorious appearing of the Son of God.
B. But that doesn’t last long. And the next time we’re given a glimpse into that spectacular day, here in Rev.11:15-19, we hear loud voices declaring that “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.”
C. This is the fulfillment of what the OT promised.
1. In Ps.2:8, God declared to the Messiah, “I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession.”
2. It is the same thing Nebuchadnezzar saw in his vision and was explained by Daniel, “In the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever.” Daniel 2:44
3. It is the same thing Daniel foresaw in his night visions: “Behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. 14 And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.” – Daniel 7:13-14
D. And now the heavenly voices proclaim that “the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ” has come because the kingdom of this world has been defeated and judged and God takes back to Himself the authority He had permitted Satan temporarily to exercise over the world.
E. This is the moment we’ve all been waiting for! It was promised in the OT; it was initiated at the coming of the King, when John the Baptist proclaimed, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand.” – Mark 1:15
F. This is what Jesus has been leading us to in all of His talk about entering His kingdom, and about being shut out of His kingdom.
G. And now in the seventh trumpet, John sees it happening, he sees the day when Christ’s rule will be unopposed and unquestioned, when the head that once was crowned with thorns is crowned with all authority.
H. 17 “Lord God Almighty, who is and who was”
1. He is no longer called the One who was and is and is to come (Rev. 1:4, 8; 4:8) but simply the One who is and was, for He has already come!
I. Ever since the garden of Eden, we have lived under this great clash of history, this great tension between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of this world.
1. It was initiated after the fall, when in Genesis 3:15 God said to Satan, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring.”
2. And down through history this great conflict has played out in human community and in the human heart.
J. And we’ve seen in the book of Revelation, and we’ll continue to see, that at the end of history it will look like the kingdom of this world will have won. But then dramatically, Christ will come and end the conflict once and for all.
1. And notice the quick turn-around. One day the wicked are rejoicing over the death of the righteous and the next day everything has been turned on its head. The agony of the wicked will be intensified by the fact that they will be pulled down right when it appears that they have climbed their way to the top, and have finally won the victory.
2. What a day of celebration it will be when the Lord will rule over everything.
K. For now we live in a world which opposes God. “The nations rage and the peoples plot in vain. The kings of the earth set themselves against the LORD and against his Messiah, saying, “Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.” He who sits in the heavens laughs. Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying, “As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.” He is my Son and I will make the nations his heritage, and the ends of the earth his possession. He shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.” Now therefore, O kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth. Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.” (Ps.2)
L. Isn’t the Lord reigning already? Yes, He is. But on that day we are told in v.17 that He will take His great power and begin to reign.”
1. You see, God is all-powerful. And secretly He already reigns over all.
2. But in this age He often hides/cloaks/veils His power.
3. I love the way Isaiah 52:10 says it, talking about the coming of Christ, “The LORD has bared his holy arm before the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.”
4. When you bare your arm, it implies that it has been covered by your sleeve, and that you pull up your sleeve so that everyone can see your mighty muscles.
5. God doesn’t go around in a muscle shirt so that He can show off His great power. Usually His arm is cloaked. But every once in a while, the times comes when God bares His holy arm, and displays His great might.
6. And that’s what Rev.11:17 is telling us happens on the last day.
7. But even when you can’t see God’s muscles, it doesn’t mean that you can’t know that they’re there. We know of many occasions where He has bared them, so we know they’re there to bare.
M. So, we live in this rather strange reality where the Kingdom has come but not completely. The King has come but we still pray, “Your kingdom come!”
N. We know the victory, but we don’t yet see the victory.
O. We are pessimistic about this world, but we are very optimistic about the future.
P. We are triumphant and yet we look forward to that day when our sense of triumph is no longer held back by the pains and confusions of this life. We look forward to the day when every difficulty will be seen as a blessing, for the pain of it will be gone & the purpose and benefit of it will be evident.
Q. How sweet that will be!
IV. Two things I’d like to mention in conclusion as to how this truth relates to Americans:
A. The issue of this world is not this nation over against that nation.
1. No, the issue of this world involves only two kingdoms: the kingdom of this world and the kingdom of our Lord, the dominion of darkness and the the kingdom of God’s beloved Son
2. “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, authorities, and cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” – Ephesians 6:12
B. It’s harder for many Americans to put their hope in the return of Christ than it is for many others.
1. Those who live under intense persecution can grasp this much more than most of us. Sometimes we have to work hard try to convince ourselves that heaven is going to be much better.
2. Songs written by poor Christians talk about heaven much more than songs written by the rich.
3. We think of ourselves as privileged, and so we are. But we are also tested. American Christians like most of us have been given a severe test by the Lord. We may not be given the test of severe persecution, but God has given us the test of affluence.
4. And God wants to prove that our faith is genuine, just as he wanted to prove that Job’s faith was genuine.
a. Remember that Job was rich. He had possessions. He had good health. He had family. He had a pretty good set-up.
b. But Satan suggested that it was because he was so outwardly blessed that he was faithful.
c. And the fact is, there are many who appear faithful just because they are so outwardly blessed.
5. As Jesus said, it is hard for the rich to enter the kingdom. They have so many distractions, so many other securities, the worries and cares of this life can so easily squeeze the life out of them.
6. The Bible says to love God with our whole heart, soul, mind and strength. But for the rich there are so many other things to love. We have such nice houses, such good tools, such beautiful parks, such delicious food, such fun games, such solid insurance policies. And God has given all things to enjoy (1Tim.6:17), but there’s also a blessing which God has largely withheld from us.
7. Luke 6:22-23 “Blessed are you when people hate you and exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man! 23 Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven.”
8. Right now, this is our challenge, it seems to me. We have so much comfort, so much peace, so much earthly security. And we need to recognize it as a challenge, as a temptation, as a vulnerability. For if our faithfulness to God really is based on the continuation of His earthly comforts, we are just as lost as the world.
9. It doesn’t meant necessarily that we have to sell everything and give the money to the poor, but it does mean we have to be willing to.
10. We need to put labels on everything we own, labels which say, “This was a gift from Jesus Christ and still belongs to Him.”