Revelation 11: The Seventh Trumpet

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. (Revelation 11:15-19, ESV)

This section of Revelation tells of the end of the world kingdoms and the church's reward in very eschatological terms.

Verse 15: 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.” The loud voices are not specifically identified. It could be the heavenly multitude of the saints (Revelation 7:9; 19:1, 6). God now takes the rule of the world from those he permitted before, the earth dwellers and Satan. This is the end of history, just as the seventh seal and seventh bowl are another look at the end of history. It shows that the Father and the Son will now rule forever. This the consummation of the Old Testament prophesies of the messianic kingdom. The phrase “Lord and of his Christ” indicates that Christ is ruling but in subjection to his Father. This is indicated in 1 Corinthians 15:24-28. In 1 Corinthians, Christ will rule, probably during his redemptive phase, where everything is put under Christ’s feet. Then, at the end of history, the end of the redemptive phase, Christ puts everything in subjection to his Father.

The Old Testament allusion is Daniel 7. In Daniel’s vision, the Son of Man is handed over the authority of all the defeated kingdoms, and he reigns forever and ever.

Verses 16-17: In response to the declaration of God’s victory and rule, the 24 elders fall down and worship God. There is an interesting variation in the three-fold name used for God. In Revelation 1:4, 8 and 4:8, God is referred to as the God of the past (who was), the present (who is), and the future (who is to come). This threefold divine name is used to describe the God who is sovereign over all of history. Associated with this threefold discretion is the phrase, “The Lord God Almighty,” which reinforces the idea of God’s sovereignty. In verse 17, the last of the threefold name, “who is to come,” is replaced with “for you have taken your great power and begun to reign.” This means that “who is to come” does not just speak of God ruling in the future, but it specifically refers to God’s defeating all of his enemies and establishing his eternal kingdom.

Some people suggest that the consummation of God’s reign occurred in 70 AD with the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple be the Romans under Christ’s direction. But this kind of consummation is equivalent to the kind of sovereignty God exhibited when Assyrians and Babylonians took Israel captive in the Old Testament. Verse 18 shows how universal God’s rule is, referring to the nations, a time of judging and rewarding, and destroying the destroyers of the earth.

Some suggest that Revelation 11:15-19 alludes to Psalm 2, and that Psalm 2 refers to Christ’s death and resurrection and hence this is not the final judgment. However, the language of verses 15-19 contains unmistakable consummative images indicating this is the end of history when God assumes his final rule and authority.

Verse 18: The elders continue their praise. They recount how the nations raged, but God’s wrath put an end of that. The unbelieving dead are judged, indicating this is the end of history. The elders praise God for rewarding his servants, for seeing God’s servants vindicated and hence God’s righteous and sovereign rule vindicating God. The servants are identified as prophets and saints. Prophets ties into the role of the two witnesses, the church, and identifies God’s servants as God’s prophetic witnesses of the previous section of Revelation.

Verse 19: The chapter closes with more imagery of the final judgment, “flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and heavy hail.” This is the language of the last act of judgment. This comes from the inner temple in heaven. The Ark of the Covenant is seen in the temple. This again ties the allusion to the fall of Jericho in Joshua 6, where the Ark of the Covenant followed the trumpet blowers. The Ark of the Covenant speaks to God’s presence at the start of the eternal kingdom. It is not a literal Ark as Revelation 21:3, 22 shows. The temple speaks metaphorically of God’s presence with his people, which is an intense, consummative presence.

One interesting thing to note – this is the establishment of the eternal kingdom, but there is no mention of the millennium. There is a millennium spoken once, later in Revelation. The millennium is not present as various “premillennialists” advocate, a period of time between Christ’s return and the establishment of the final, eternal kingdom. What will be argued in later posts is the millennium is actually the period of time from Christ’s first advent until his second coming. The end of Revelation 11 provides evidence for this view of the millennium.