THE SEVENTH TRUMPET: THE KINGDOM PROCLAIMED (VERSES 15-19)

“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!’ 16 And the twenty-four elders who sat before God on their thrones fell on their faces and worshiped God, 17 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.
18 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.’

19 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.”

Victory Proclaimed (verse 15)

“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!’”

We see several things here that are associated with the sounding of this seventh trumpet. First of all, it would seem that in the general scheme of things that the sounding of this seventh trumpet points to the consummation of all things. This seems rather strange, because we are about to begin the 12^th chapter of this book. There are still ten chapters to go. There is still quite a bit of ground to be covered, but this has a view toward the consummation, the end of all things, yea, the final judgment which will take place, albeit, everything that we will talk about between now and then—between now and the end of chapter 22—will not specifically relate to the final judgment. As we have gone along in this study, we have identified some things that have looked like, that have sounded like they may be associated with that final judgment, and in fact, they were not. So, we’re, in effect here, opening up, if you will, the final chapter—the last verse of the song to be sung, so to speak.

The Twenty-Four Elders Worship God (verses 16-18)

Speaking of a song to be sung, we see a very beautiful hymn of praise, which is uttered by the twenty-four elders. As that seventh angel sounds out the seventh trumpet, these twenty-four elders fall on their faces and worship God [verse 16] with this beautiful doxology that’s contained here in verses 17 and 18. Those verses, in fact, are verses worthy of our time to read and reread because they contain such marvelous thoughts about God the Father and His power and His wisdom and His glory. There are a number of hymns that have reference to this doxology and various excerpts from this doxology that we sing.

The Temple of God Opened in Heaven (verse 19)

And then verse 19, “the temple of God was opened in heaven, and the ark of His covenant was seen in His temple.” Was the literal temple in Jerusalem in view here? Was the ark of the covenant literally in view? Well, it’s hard to say, but knowing that we are dealing here with figurative language all the way through, it is, perhaps, in John’s vision, an expression of the great glory that he sees. An expression of that, a description of that, is that glorious temple that existed in the city of Jerusalem. Of course, the ark of the covenant was associated with that, as well—a symbol, a sign, of God’s covenant with His people in the long ago.

And then we see that there a number of natural phenomenon which are associated with this—“lightnings, noises, thunderings, an earthquake, and great hail,” verse 15.

This is the scene, so to speak—this is what is happening in John’s view as this seventh trumpet is sounded. We will move on to chapter 12 and get into some of the specific things that are associated with the sounding of the seventh trumpet.