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In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in Heaven, which said:
“The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Messiah, and He will reign forever and ever.”
And the twenty-four elders, who were seated on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying:
“We give thanks to You,
Lord God Almighty, the One who is and who was, because You have taken Your
great power and have begun to reign. The nations were angry, and Your wrath has
come. The time has come for judging the dead, and for rewarding Your servants
the prophets and Your people who revere Your name, both great and small—
and for destroying those who destroy the earth.”
Then God’s temple in Heaven was opened, and within His temple was seen the ark of his covenant. And there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake and a severe hailstorm.
Revelation 11:15-19
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
After the seventh seal was broken by Jesus on the scroll He took possession of from His Father God, a series of seven angels armed with trumpets set off judgments on the earth when they sounded the horn when their time came. Each of these judgments was progressively worse with the final three being the most severe. These three are known as the “Three Woes” based on the words proclaimed by an eagle that soared above the earth after the events set off by the fourth trumpet had concluded (Revelation 8:13).
As we get to the closing verses of Revelation, chapter 11, we finally come to the sounding of the seventh and final trumpet which as we see in today’s passage set off a preliminary proclamation followed by a time of worship and praise unto the Lord. Look again at today’s verses:
The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in Heaven, which said:
“The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Messiah, and He will reign forever and ever.”
And the twenty-four elders, who were seated on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying:
“We give thanks to You, Lord God Almighty, the One who is and who was, because You have taken Your great power and have begun to reign. The nations were angry, and Your wrath has come. The time has come for judging the dead, and for rewarding Your servants the prophets and Your people who revere Your name, both great and small—and for destroying those who destroy the earth.”
Then God’s temple in Heaven was opened, and within His temple was seen the ark of his covenant. And there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake and a severe hailstorm. Vv. 15-19
Right after the seventh trumpet was blown, we read the words of “loud voices in Heaven” who cried out:
“The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Messiah, and He will reign forever and ever.”
God’s plan for the world and mankind was about to enter into its closing stages as He was set to make ‘the kingdom of the world” the total domain of Him and Jesus, His Son, the Messiah, where they would both “reign forever” in complete, unrivaled authority and power. It was definitely a time of celebration over how good and righteousness was soon to gain total victory over evil and wickedness so it’s not much of a surprise how dedicated and devoted worship would break out in Heaven. This was initiated by the “twenty-four elders” who were “seated on their thrones before God”. The scriptures tell us that they “fell on their faces” and declared their thanksgiving and praise unto their Lord, saying:
“We give thanks to You, Lord God Almighty, the One who is and who was, because You have taken Your great power and have begun to reign. The nations were angry, and Your wrath has come. The time has come for judging the dead, and for rewarding Your servants the prophets and Your people who revere Your name, both great and small—and for destroying those who destroy the earth.”
At the heart of this heartfelt tribute to their “Lord God Almighty” was a joy-filled appreciation over Him taking His “great power” so to reign over the entire world. This applied authority would bring wrath to “the nations” who “were angry” as “the time” of “judging the dead”, “destroying those who destroy the earth”, and “rewarding” the servant prophets as well as all “people” who revered His name, whether “great or small”. It was a long time coming but one thing is for sure. It was coming in God’s perfect time and in His perfect way.
After the proclamation and praises, we read where the temple of God was opened wide for all to see to include the “ark of His covenant” which in Old Testament times was to be kept isolated from everyone except the high priest who would enter the Holy of Holies once a year to offer atonement for all the Israelite people (known as the Day of Atonement or Yom Kippur).
Now, the temple was open wide as God came to rule and reign on earth with His Son Jesus. To usher in the final events after the seventh trumpet was sounded, the third woe that we’ll see spans across the Book of Revelation to chapter 19. The scriptures tell us that the prelude to what was to come came in the way of “flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake and a severe hailstorm” happening on the earth.
Indeed, the judgments comprising the third woe, the greatest woe yet, were set to begin and we’ll start to look at them as we move onto Revelation, chapter 12 tomorrow.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.
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