Revelation 11:15-19
In verse 15 the Seventh Trumpet is sounded and great voices in Heaven say, ‘The kingdoms of this world have become our Lord’s and of His Christ.”
There are teachers that believe these voices are the voices of the great multitude of people that will be there at this time. This too coincides with the speculation that the Church is very much involved throughout the seven year Tribulation Period.
There can be some confusion concerning this statement due to what Jesus said when He was on the Earth. He stated that ‘the Kingdom has come and is in us or among us.’ However, Jesus was talking about the Kingdom methodology or system at work within us, i.e., the laws of the spirit, the kingdom principles, the benefits of citizenship, the power that works within us, etc. had already come.
He was not speaking of the physical place that we know as Heaven coming to earth at this time. The kingdoms becoming the possession of the Christ in this verse is referring to after the Battle of Armageddon at the end of the Tribulation Period. That is when Jesus will come to set up His Throne in Jerusalem for the one thousand year reign on the Earth.
Again this being an informational chapter, we see events being foretold before the actual events take place. This is another principle of the spirit realm. Things happen in the spirit realm long before they happen in the physical realm.
In verses 16-18 the twenty-four elders that surround the Throne of God break out into total worship of God. These displays of worship can be somewhat foreign to us. Our flesh can weigh us down and keep us desensitized to yielding ourselves to this kind of true worship.
Unfortunately societal pressures, media exposure and negativity have stolen our ability to truly worship our Lord as He deserves. Once in awhile there will be a real move of worship in a Church or revival meeting, however on the norm this does not happen. ‘When we all get to Heaven, what a day of rejoicing that will be!’ We are going to break out and join these elders in worship of God!
These elders are proclaiming how great our God is as they give thanks. When we are in His presence and truly get an understanding of how great He is, we are going to be awed by His eternity and we will know that nothing is greater than He. That is the essence of what these elders are experiencing and praising Him about.
Then they exclaim what is to come concerning the dead that will be judged, the prophets and the saints. Verse 18 displays two events that seem as one mixed in the same verse.
It talks about the nations that are angry and the resulting dead that shall be judged as well as a statement at the end of the verse concerning those that destroy the Earth shall also be destroyed. This is a reference to the Great White Throne Judgment to come after the Tribulation Period and after the thousand year reign of Christ.
However in the midst of this verse is another Judgment called the Judgment Seat of Christ. This Judgment involves the rewarding of the people of God. Notice the prophets and the saints who are referenced in both Old and New Testament.
This will be a time of accountability concerning our works or we could say our fruit that we are to be growing and using for His glory while here on the Earth. If we did not grow fruit for Him to inspect, then it will be a sorrowful time temporarily, for we will find we have nothing to give in worship to Jesus.
However, it is temporary, for just being there will be a time of rejoicing for all. There will be different varying levels of what we will receive, what we will be commissioned to do and what our rank will be. All this is placed into verse 18.
Then in verse 19 we see a very powerful scene. The Temple in Heaven is opened exposing the Ark of the Covenant. Lightning’s, voices, thunderings, an earthquake and great hail are the result. This places this event most likely at the time of Armageddon.
Why is that? During the time of Israel’s possession of the Ark of the Covenant in the Earth, if need be they would bring the Ark out of the Tabernacle for a show of force to strike fear in their enemies showing God was with Israel.
God displaying it in Heaven in this way and the resulting power being displayed in the Earth could be the same principle of showing that He is present and ready for war.
This chapter is packed full of different events to happen throughout the Tribulation Period and since people are reading this study at different intervals, I like to remind everyone not to get confused with timeline when we are discussing informational chapters.
Informational chapters are just that and do not give consecutive times for the events. They can be placed anywhere; past, present or future.
