Earthly View on the Seventh Trumpet!

Revelation 11:18-19

Earthly View on Seventh Trumpet!

Revelation 11:14-19, The second woe is past. Behold, the third woe is coming quickly. Seventh Trumpet: The Kingdom Proclaimed 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!” 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.

This text marks the end of the first half of the book of Revelation. This text the introduction of the second half of the book of Revelation.

Revelation 1:1-11:14 is the first half.

Revelation 11:14-22 is the second half.

The blowing of the seventh trumpet announces the completion of God’s redemptive plan. The culmination of judgment on the ungodly sinners and the establishment of the eternal Kingdom of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. This is a very monumental moment.

V 15 says the seventh angel sounded. This sets in motion the final events that led up to the return of Jesus Christ in judgment glory for the setting up of His Kingdom. We know the comprehensiveness of this seventh trumpet.

Revelation 10:7, but in the days of the sounding of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, the mystery of God would be finished, as He declared to His servants the prophets.

The seventh trumpet brings to a climax and an end the unfolding mystery of God. The mystery is becoming reality of return of Christ and the establishing of the Kingdom.

The sounding of the final trumpet sets everything in motion, leading all the way to chapter 20 and the establishment of the Kingdom. This seventh trumpet marks the beginning of God's plan's final phase for the present world before the Kingdom is fully established.

The seventh angel sounds it initiates the eternal reign of Jesus Christ and involves the wrath of God. V 18, it involves the judgment of the dead. It involves the reward of the prophets and the saints. A very comprehensive event set in motion by the blowing of this seventh trumpet.

Seven seals, seven trumpets, and seven bowls each of those reflects judgment. ➢ The seven seals are seven judgments that encompass the full seven years. ➢ The seven trumpets are judgments that encompass the last few months of the seven years.

➢ The seven bowls are judgments that are poured out in final fury in the last few days and perhaps weeks of those seven years. There is an accumulation and an escalation of the fury and the rapidity of these judgments.

We have already studied the seven seals. We are now at the end of the seven trumpets. Chapter 16 we will see the seven bowls which are the final rapid-fire outpouring of last judgment before the Lord comes at Armageddon, destroys the ungodly, and sets up His Kingdom.

V 15, call to praise God for His sovereignty. When the seventh trumpet sounds, sovereign God begins to reclaim His rightful dominion over the kingdom of this world, asserting His ultimate authority. V 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!”

The seventh trumpet is now set to blow. The actual results of its blowing aren’t described for us until chapter 15. From chapters 15 to 18, followed by the return of Christ in chapter 19 and the establishment of the millennial Kingdom in chapter 20.

We don’t really see specifically what happens when the trumpet blows until we get to chapter 15.

Why? Because there are three chapters inserted here, chapters 12, 13, and 14. As we have come through the great tribulation, the last three and a half years since the abomination of desolation of the holy place by the antichrist.

We have come through it from God’s perspective. Chapters 12-14 we are going to be taken back. That same period is going to be looking at it from the vantage point of antichrist, Satan, the developing rule and reign and the career of antichrist.

Chapters 12-14 the career of antichrist unfolding.

Revelation 15:11, we will arrive right back where we ended here in V 15.

Revelation 12:1-15:11 the details of the career of antichrist, and it looks at the same period from the viewpoint of the world through the career of antichrist and all the things that are going on there. V ¹⁵ fulfilment does not occur until after the judgment of chapter ¹⁸ and the return of Christ in chapter ¹⁹ and the setting up of the Kingdom in chapter 20. Why does say ‘has become’ if it hasn’t happened?

The Greek language affords you the opportunity to speak of things as if they had already happened because they are so certain. They are so secure and sure that this will happen. The Holy Spirit guides the inspired writer to record the voice of the heavenly hosts, declaring that God's reign has already begun.

The time for final judgment has come. The moment has arrived to reclaim the universe from Satan, removing the antichrist, the false prophet, and all who follow them, so that the kingdom can be given to Christ. Psalm 2 is a very important psalm in the Old Testament because it’s a messianic psalm that talks about Christ, not in His first coming but in His second coming.

Psalm 2 talks about how that the nations will be brought under the authority of Christ and He will rule them with a rod of iron. Psalm 2 becomes reflected not only here in this specific text, but allusions and even direct references to it are made in chapters 12, 14, 16, 17, and 19 as the final book of the Bible picks up the prophetic impact of that great, great psalm.

1 Corinthians 15:24, Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power.

Christ is coming to wipe out the kingdom of Satan, the kingdom of antichrist, the kingdoms of this world. He takes the kingdom, and He gives it to the Father. He must reign until He has put all enemies under His feet, the last enemy that will be abolished is death. All things will be put in subjection.

When all things are subjected to Christ, then the Son Himself will be subjected to the One who subjected all things to Him, that God may be all in all. All that human history since the fall has known of the rule and dominion of sin and Satan will be ended. Christ will establish His Kingdom.

There will be sin in the Kingdom, but sinners will be crushed with a rod of iron, and sin will be punished instantaneously and severely because Christ will rule. The Kingdom belongs to Him, and it will be His. V 15, “He will reign forever and ever”

This sweeps you through the thousand years and then on into the new heaven and the new earth, the eternal state, in which the Lord Jesus Christ will rule. They are detailly described Revelation 21& 22. Now we know the flow of the book.

12-15 chapters takes us back through the tribulation and the career of antichrist. 15-18 chapters describes the events of the sounding of the seventh trumpet in the final judgment. 19th chapter is the coming of Christ and the destruction of the ungodly, the casting of Satan, the beast and the false prophet into the pit, the lake of fire where the angels are who sinned.

20th chapter the establishing of the millennial Kingdom. 21 and 22 chapters, the eternal state. All that flows out of this great moment of the blowing of the seventh trumpet. V 16-17, 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.

Add to the angelic hosts of heaven the voices of the twenty-four elders. The twenty-four elders as the redeemed and raptured and ascended, exalted church. They add their praise to the angelic hosts of heaven. It is a time of thanks.

It is a moment for which they have been waiting for a long time.

Revelation 13:7, It was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. And authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation.

They are happy because at the end of the time of the tribulation, the antichrist has made war with the saints. He has overcome them. Authority over every tribe, people, tongue, and nation has been given to Him, and all who dwell on the earth have worshiped him.

This worldwide operation of Satan is now totally in the hands of the antichrist that is broken, shattered, and devastated at the sounding of the seventh trumpet at the return of Jesus Christ when the kingdoms of the world become. This is when the kingdom of the world becomes His.

While there is praise for sovereignty in Heaven but something else happens on earth. We have seen what is happening on the heavenly side from V15-17. We will see what happens on the earthly side from V18-19.

Earthly View

V 18, “And the nations were enraged.” We move from heaven to earth.

What do we see? We see resentment for judgment, hostility against God. The nations were enraged. The term enraged is chosen from the Greek language expresses defiant rage.

• They are angry.
• They are filled with hostility.

Revelation 16:14, For they are spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out to the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.

The whole world gathers to fight against God and against Christ.

Revelation 16:16, And they gathered them together to the place called in Hebrew, Armageddon.

The valley of Megiddo.

Revelation 16:19, Now the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. And great Babylon was

remembered before God, to give her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath. The nations will come together in a massive war against God and against the Lord Jesus Christ in His return. This is when human history reaches the apex of unbelievable hostility against God.

There will be another expression of this at the end of the millennial Kingdom.

Revelation 20:8-9, and will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea. ⁹ They went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them. Satan gets one last rebellion against Christ, which is squashed for the final time. V 18, “And the nations were enraged.”

We have been going through this book and seeing them get more hostile all the time. If they don’t respond to Christ, by now their hostility has escalated to a fever pitch, and now they are not only willing to

reject Christ no matter what judgment may fall, but they want to fight Him and destroy Him. They have reached a point now where we could safely say they are beyond the hour of grace. There will be no salvation at Armageddon.

When the seventh trumpet blows and the furies are poured out, we see them blaspheming God, hating God, and gathering their armies to fight the coming Christ in a last-ditch effort to destroy the One who has a right to the world.

Their futile power, however, will be answered by God’s fury.

Revelation 19:19, And I saw the beast, the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army.

But they are destroyed and devastated. While we have on the one hand in heaven the praise for sovereignty, on the earth you have this great hostility against God in the face of judgment. It is a fearsome thing and it’s tragic to see it.

Here is a world that has felt God’s judgment, but they felt it in doses that should have led them to repentance.

But instead, they have wasted their opportunity. They have wasted their privilege. They have wasted the very evident reality that they needed to make a choice for Christ in the wake of impending disaster. As a result, their hearts are totally hardened like Pharaoh. God sent all kinds of evidence of judgment. Their hearts were hardened.

Finally, God hardened Pharaoh’s heart. 1. The plan for judgment. V 18, 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.”

They are speaking in the past tense as if it has already happened, though the trumpet has just sounded. Nobody who understood Scripture should be surprised by this.

Isaiah 24:17-23, Fear and the pit and the snare Are upon you, O inhabitant of the earth. ¹⁸ And it shall be That he who flees from the noise of the fear Shall fall into the pit, And he who comes up from the midst of the pit Shall be caught in the snare; For the

windows from on high are open, And the foundations of the earth are shaken. ¹⁹ The earth is violently broken, The earth is split open, The earth is shaken exceedingly. ²⁰ The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, And shall totter like a hut; Its transgression shall be heavy upon it, And it will fall, and not rise again. ²¹ It shall come to pass in that day That the Lord will punish on high the host of exalted ones, And on the earth the kings of the earth. ²² They will be gathered together, As prisoners are gathered in the pit, And will be shut up in the prison; After many days they will be punished. ²³ Then the moon will be disgraced And the sun ashamed; For the Lord of hosts will reign On Mount Zion and in Jerusalem And before His elders, gloriously.

Isaiah 26:20-21, Come, my people, enter your chambers, And shut your doors behind you; Hide yourself, as it were, for a little moment, Until the indignation is past. ²¹ For behold, the Lord comes out of His place To punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity; The earth will also disclose her [l]blood, And will no more cover her slain.

They won’t even bury the dead. There will be such a massive slaughter. The Bible also tells us the birds of the air will eat their flesh as they lay exposed.

Isaiah 30:27-33, Behold, the name of the Lord comes from afar, Burning with His anger, And His burden is heavy; His lips are full of indignation, And His tongue like a devouring fire. ²⁸ His breath

is like an overflowing stream, Which reaches up to the neck, To sift the nations with the sieve of futility; And there shall be a bridle in the jaws of the people, Causing them to err. ²⁹ You shall have a song As in the night when a holy festival is kept, And gladness of heart as when one goes with a flute, To come into the mountain of the Lord, To the Mighty One of Israel.

³⁰ The Lord will cause His glorious voice to be heard, And show the descent of His arm, With the indignation of His anger And the flame of a devouring fire, With scattering, tempest, and hailstones. ³¹ For through the voice of the Lord Assyria will be beaten down, As He strikes with the rod. ³² And in every place where the staff of punishment passes, Which the Lord lays on him, It will be with tambourines and harps; And in battles of brandishing He will fight with it. ³³ For Tophet was established of old, Yes, for the king it is prepared.

He has made it deep and large; Its pyre is fire with much wood; The breath of the Lord, like a stream of brimstone, Kindles it. Fearful judgment. At the same time, the saints will be celebrating in a place of protection as they are sheltered from this devastating judgment to enter into the Kingdom which has been promised to and prepared for them.

Ezekiel 38:16, You will come up against My people Israel like a cloud, to cover the land. It will be in the latter days that I will bring you against My land, so that the nations may know Me, when I am hallowed in you, O Gog, before their eyes.”

Some would associate this with the judgment at the end of the millennial Kingdom, Gog and Magog described in Revelation. It might well be that. But certainly, both of those would encompass the great fury of the day of the Lord. Peter describes the final fury of God. The day of judgment is described further as a day of blazing wrath.

Ezekiel 38:19-23, For in My jealousy and in the fire of My wrath I have spoken: ‘Surely in that day there shall be a great earthquake in the land of Israel, ²⁰ so that the fish of the sea, the birds of the heavens, the beasts of the field, all creeping things that creep on the earth, and all men who are on the face of the earth shall shake at My presence. The mountains shall be thrown down, the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground.’ 21 I will call for a sword against Gog throughout all My mountains,” says the Lord God. “Every man’s sword will be against his brother. ²² And I will bring him to judgment with pestilence and bloodshed; I will rain down on him, on his troops, and on the many peoples who are with him, flooding rain, great hailstones, fire, and brimstone. ²³ Thus I will magnify Myself and sanctify Myself, and I will be known in the eyes of many nations. Then they shall know that I am the Lord.” ’ Zephaniah has a number of prophecies about the same thing. As we come to Revelation 11, to this great event that the prophets foresaw.

The people knew these events were to come. For centuries have cried out for them.

Psalm 3:7-8, Arise, O Lord; Save me, O my God! For You have struck all my enemies on the cheekbone; You have broken the teeth of the ungodly. ⁸ Salvation belongs to the Lord. Your blessing is upon Your people. Selah God, do the total work, smite them totally, devastate them totally. God’s people have always cried for the destruction of the wicked who have dishonoured the name of God.

Psalm 7:6, Arise, O Lord, in Your anger; Lift Yourself up because of the rage of my enemies; Rise up for me to the judgment You have commanded!

The nations, V18, again were enraged and Your wrath came. A momentous historical fulfilment of prophecy. V 18, 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.”

Along with the wrath and the judgment, the time came for the dead to be judged. The time to give their reward to thy bondservants, the prophets, and to the saints and to those who fear your name, the small and the great, and to destroy those who destroy the earth.

We can see there are two components in this great final event. It will be a time of judgment, a time of destruction. It will also be a time of reward. The Greek word used for time Kairos, not Chronos. This great event will come.

First the dead are to be judged. Now, that’s probably a general statement. The judgments that are going to take place, both the dead of righteous and the unrighteous. But when the time comes for the dead to be judged, it will split into two parts.

V 18, 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.”

The time for the dead to be judged it will be like the sheep and goats judgment that comes at the end of the time of the tribulation. God separates the sheep from the goats, deciding who will enter His Kingdom. Among the resurrected will be the church and the Old Testament saints, as described in Daniel 12.

They will be brought then into the Kingdom in glorified form. They will go in in physical bodies. The Kingdom would be made up of exalted saints from the church. Those who died during the tribulation time and their bodies in the grave since Old Testament times, their spirits, of course, all of them with the Lord.

There will be a resurrection described in Daniel chapter 12, and the Old Testament saints, the tribulation saints, will be raised to join the church saints already raised at the rapture. Together we will come down to inhabit the Kingdom.

There will also be the entry into the Kingdom of those sheep who are alive on the earth who will enter the Kingdom. The Marriage Supper of the Lamb is a prophetic event described in Revelation 19, symbolizing the union between Christ and His redeemed followers.

This grand celebration takes place after the saints have been glorified and redeemed, and they will return with Christ to partake in the establishment of His Kingdom. The imagery draws from ancient Jewish wedding customs, emphasizing joy, unity, and the fulfilment of God's redemptive plan.

Jesus says an hour is coming and now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.

John 5:25-29, Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live. ²⁶ For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself, 27 and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man. ²⁸ Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice ²⁹ and come forth—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation. Seventh trumpet blows, heaven praises, earth begins to panic.

The plan of judgment unfolds. It is the time for the dead to be judged. It is time for the righteous dead will be glorified and taken into the Kingdom with the returning Christ.

V 18, And that You should reward Your servants the prophets and the saints, A time for reward. When the Lord Jesus comes, He says His reward is with Him, to give to righteous. He is going to reward the prophets and the rest of the saints because the prophets have a very special place in God’s economy.

But all through Scripture, believers are promised rewards, and they are promised at Christ’s coming that they will receive those rewards.

1 Corinthians 3:8, Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labour.

1 Corinthians 4:5, Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the counsels of the hearts. Then each one’s praise will come from God.

Revelation 22:12, “Behold, I come quickly, my reward is with me to give to every man.”

What is the reward? To inherit the Kingdom.

Matthew 25:21-40, Mark 10:29-31, to inherit the millennial Kingdom. Furthermore, the Bible says there are crowns.

The crown, which is life, righteousness, glory, and so forth. It is a time for the rewarding of the saints. Jesus splits them into two groups. ➢ Servants ➢ Prophets. V 18, And that You should reward Your servants the prophets Some would say Old Testament prophets, some would say New Testament prophets.

All the prophets will be rewarded. Certainly, there are two of them mentioned here will be rewarded. The two witnesses who preached the gospel and were murdered in the city of Jerusalem, their bodies left there for three and a half days until they were raised from the dead.

But that phrase, “Your servants, the prophets,” is a very familiar Old Testament phrase.

Daniel 9:6; 9:10; ² Kings 9:17; 9;21; 9:24. Simply refers to anyone who have proclaimed the truth of God throughout redemptive history. All who have prophesied the Kingdom, whether during the Old Testament time, the New Testament time, the time of tribulation, the time of great tribulation. From Moses all the way through to the two witnesses, the heroes of faith and everybody who has come after them up until the very end. All who proclaimed the coming King and Kingdom, they will receive their reward. Matthew 10, Jesus said they will receive their reward.

This will be the time when the saints receive their ultimate and complete reward, experiencing the full glory of the Kingdom they have long awaited. It is the fulfilment of all that true prophets have preached, leading to the eternal state—the final and most glorious destiny of God’s faithful, where they will reign with Christ and share in His divine inheritance.

V 18, and the saints, And those who fear Your name, small and great, The saints is a common Old Testament title for redeemed people. It is a common New Testament title for redeemed people, and so is the ones who fear God’s name.

All saints whether they are alive and go into the Kingdom as the sheep or whether they have died already and been exalted or whether they have been waiting for the resurrection at the end of the tribulation time. All the saints, all the holy ones, all who have been made righteous by the grace of God, all of them will receive their reward. Old Testament saints and the elect of the New Testament, all the saints of God.

The term “saints” is used repeatedly through the book of Revelation. ➢ There were saints in the Old Testament, ➢ There are saints in the New Testament, and ➢ There will be saints in the time of the tribulation. They are the ones who fear His name, who are the true worshipers.

It is a general phrase describing Christians, according to Luke 1:50 and Revelation 19:5. It’s also used in the Old Testament to describe believers.

Joshua 24:14, ¹ Samuel 12:24. V 18, small and great, Everybody, from slaves to kings, everybody who has known the lord, everyone who could be classified as a true worshiper and a saint.

When the Lord comes, He brings His Kingdom to His own, preachers and people alike, with all that the Kingdom promises and ultimately the eternal state. Though the church will receive its reward at the time of the rapture, the full reward will not be realized until believers return with Christ to reign in His Kingdom, as promised. This ultimate fulfilment includes entering into the eternal state, the final and most glorious destiny assured to the faithful. The scriptures emphasize this as the culmination of God's divine plan, where His followers will reign alongside Him and partake in His everlasting inheritance.

The seventh trumpet encompasses the great all-embracing judgment of the dead, both believing and unbelieving.

V 18, And should destroy those who destroy the earth.” The unrighteous dead will be damned and sent to hell. They will be destroyed. That is a characterization of unbelievers.

• All the evil people who are a part of the satanic system, which is destroying the earth,
• All of those who are a part of antichrist’s kingdom,
• All of those who followed the false prophet,
• All who have polluted the world not with trash but with sin,
• All of those who are rejecters of God in every age,

Fire will come down from heaven and judge them.

Genesis 1:28, Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” God’s first command was, “Subdue the earth.” Man was to have dominion over the earth to make it flourish. Instead, man fell into sin and corrupted it. He corrupted it so badly that God is going to have to destroy the whole thing.

God is going to have to burn the whole thing to ashes and create a new heaven and a new earth, but He is going to punish the corrupters. Those who destroyed the earth, He will destroy. 2. The promise of communion. The picture is a little complex, but the point is simple. Bound up in this seventh trumpet also is the promise that we are going to enter into an unbroken fellowship with God forever. This is signified in the imagery of verse 19.

V 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. A simple way of saying the covenant which God has promised to men is now available in its fullness.

The temple is open, the ark of covenant is there, and in the midst of all the judgment. God is throwing open the Holy of Holies and drawing His people in. The temple of God is the sanctuary. The temple of God speaks of His presence, His throne, the place where He dwells.

We saw that in Revelation chapters 4, & 5, the throne of God, the dwelling place of God. We were taken in chapter 4 up to

heaven with John. We were taken right into the throne room of God where He dwells. We saw Him there, dwelling with the angels. We saw Him there, dwelling with the twenty-four elders, the four living creatures. They were all around Him and there was God and Christ.

There was the fulfilment of eternal, glorious, heavenly communion to which the covenant of God takes believers, into that eternal, glorious fellowship with Him. Again, heaven is opened, and we see the ark of His covenant.

The covenant speaks of God’s promise to have eternal communion with the redeemed. The covenant is where the blood was poured to atone for men’s sins so that they could have ongoing communion with God. The ark corresponds to the rewarding of the faithful, even though it also shows here the pouring out of God’s wrath.

There are a lot of openings.

Revelation 4:1, a door was opened. Revelation 6, the seals were opened. Revelation 9, the abyss was opened. Revelation 11, the temple of God here is opened. Revelation 15, the tabernacle of testimony is opened.

Revelation 19, heaven is opened. Revelation 20, the books of judgment are opened. In this revelation, we see not only God's throne but also the Ark of the Covenant, where He made His promises to His people. It was the place of atonement, where blood was sprinkled to cover sin, allowing fellowship with God. The Ark symbolized His presence, mercy, and the fulfilment of His covenant.

The earthly temple was opened only once a year and into that place where the ark was going the high priest to pour out the blood to atone for the sins of his people and to keep access open to God. The very thing which God used to provide communion with His people, the very point of His union with them here is seen in heaven.

That earthly ark was made of acacia wood, gold, and it was placed in the Holy of Holies. It was two and a half cubits long and one and a half cubits high. Exodus chapter 25.

• It was a symbol of God’s presence.
• It was a symbol of God’s covenant.
• It was the place of atonement.

Here we find that throne open this is nothing, but the arms of God are thrown open to take into His presence because of His

covenant all His people, right in the very midst of lightning, thunder, earthquake, and a great hailstorm. The Ark of the Old Covenant was closely connected to key moments in Israel's history—it was part of Moses'tabernacle, carried into the Promised Land with Joshua, central to David's kingdom, and placed in Solomon's temple. These earthly representations pointed to the heavenly ark, of which the physical ark was just a symbol. It served as a reminder of God's presence and covenant with His people.

Zacharias song when he was filled with the Holy Spirit.

Luke 1:68-75, “Blessed is the Lord God of Israel, For He has visited and redeemed His people, ⁶⁹ And has raised up a horn of salvation for us In the house of His servant David, 70 As He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets, Who have been since the world began, ⁷¹ That we should be saved from our enemies And from the hand of all who hate us, ⁷² To perform the mercy promised to our fathers And to remember His holy covenant, ⁷³ The oath which He swore to our father Abraham: ⁷⁴ To grant us that we, Being delivered from the hand of our enemies, Might serve Him without fear, ⁷⁵ In holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our life.

The covenant, an eternal communion with the living God, and Zechariah knew that that was what salvation would assure.

Here the covenant is thrown open, it is called the ark of covenant, in Scripture, because God made promise. ➢ It is called the ark of testimony. ➢ It is called the ark of God, the ark of God’s strength. ➢ It is called the holy ark.

➢ It held the golden pot of manna by which God was causing the people to remember His faithfulness to them in the wilderness. ➢ It held Aaron’s rod that budded, by which God was reminding them of His sovereign power. ➢ It held the law, the tablets of law by which we are reminded of God’s standard.

But it spoke compositely of a God who would supply for His people, who was the sovereign of His people, who gave His law to His people, and ultimately all of that that they might enter into an uninterrupted and eternal covenant.

But along with that vision of covenant, we must see the lightning and the sounds and peals of thunder, the earthquake, and the great hailstorm. We shouldn’t be surprised by that.

Revelation 4:5, And from the throne proceeded lightnings, thunderings, and voices. Seven lamps of

fire were burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.

Revelation 8:5, Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and threw it to the earth. And there were noises, thunderings, lightnings, and an earthquake. Earlier it was in anticipation. Here, it is in realization.

We can begin to see what is going to happen when the seventh trumpet blows by virtue of lightning, sounds, peals of thunder, earthquake, and a great hailstorm. The seventh bowl is poured out in Revelation 16:17 and, of course, the seventh bowl is the last event within the seventh trumpet.

Revelation 16:17-18, Then the seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, “It is done!” ¹⁸ And there were noises and thunderings and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such a mighty and great earthquake as had not occurred since men were on the earth.

The great climactic event, in the blowing of that seventh trumpet. Heaven is a point of vengeance but at the same time, it is a place of covenant.

We have been introduced to the seventh trumpet –

• a scene of praise,
• a scene of hostility,
• a scene of judgment,
• a scene of covenant.

All this will unfold in the second half of this tremendous book of Revelation.

• History is not rambling on to some haphazard ending.
• History is not just flopping along like a piece of bark in a stream.
• History is moving inexorably with every detail formed fully in the mind of God and being executed in His own way to His own end.
• History is moving specifically down a path, culminating in the very precise events described in the book of Revelation.

The message of the seventh trumpet is that everybody in this world needs to hear that the Lord Jesus Christ is sovereign, and He reigns, and He is going to take the petty kingdoms of men and the monarchs of this world, and He is going to take the rule to become King of kings and Lord of lords.

The Lord Jesus Christ is sovereign. He is the one who has the right to rule the earth and someday He’s going to take it back.

There is coming a moment when that happens, and it will be a moment of final judgment.

That judgment will have two parts

The judgment of the godly will be to take them into blessing and a Kingdom and to an eternal new heaven and new earth. The judgment on the ungodly will be to send them to hell forever and ever. This is how history is going to end.

People talk as if the world is going to go on the way it’s going forever. People act as if God doesn’t matter, as if Christ doesn’t matter. The Word of God is so crystal clear about what’s going to happen.

2 Corinthians 5:11, Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are well known to God, and I also trust are well known in your consciences.

Will you?