An Everlasting Kingdom

Revelation 11:15-19

Immanuel – 5/15/22

There are three major parts to the book of Revelation. Part 1 consists of the introduction and a vision of Christ delivering messages to seven churches in Asia Minor. That’s chapters 1-3.

Chapters 4-11 are part 2. In this vision, God places John in a heavenly temple. It is not a literal temple that exists in heaven, but it is a symbolic vision; very much like Ezekiel’s symbolic visions of a temple. (And haven’t we seen loads of Ezekiel in part 2?) All the symbols that John beholds point to the realities of the kingdom of God – a kingdom that Christ has established and begun – a kingdom already in existence but ever-increasing.

Today we come to the end of part 2. This vision ends with one temple destroyed and another temple with door flung wide open.

Purpose

Review the 2nd part of Revelation.

How was the kingdom of God prophesied?

How is the kingdom of God been realized?

How do we help realize that kingdom?

Read Revelation 11:15-19

The seventh angel blows his trumpet. Let’s recall the events that have led us up to this point, because this trumpet concludes the vision of part 2. As we review part 2, the significance of the seventh trumpet will amplify.

Chapter 4 – The vision begins with John before the throne of God. The worship here is glorious! This place, so saturated with the presence of God, is like the Holy of Holies – the most sacred place in the temple.

Chapter 5 – John notices that God holds a scroll with seven seals. He immediately recognizes its significance. It’s the same scroll sealed at the end of Daniel – it is the scroll of the New Covenant. Jesus – crucified and risen – is the only one worthy enough to open the scroll and bring the kingdom of God to earth.

Chapter 6 – Christ breaks six seals, all of them are fulfillments of the Last Days. In history, the Last Days were the period of time from Christ’s life to the destruction of the temple in 70 AD.

It was the time when Old Covenant was ended and completely dismantled; and when the New Covenant began to emerge, like a seed sending up a sprout.

These six seals were judgements – covenant curses – leading up to the end of Old Covenant and the destruction of the temple in 70 AD. These seals deal with the persecution of the saints and the first few years of war between Rome and the Jews.

It is critical to remember that embedded within these seals is a prayer. The martyred saints cry out to God, “How long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the [land] (Revelation 6:10)?” They are told to wait a little while longer.

Chapter 7 – To intensify this new covenant reality, John is told of the elect in a symbolic number: 144,000. It is an interlude of salvation. They are sealed with the Holy Spirit and marked with the name of God, with the name of the New Jerusalem, and with the name of Christ (Revelation 3:12).

Then, when John looks at these 144,000 elect, he sees a multitude that cannot be counted, from every nation, tribe, people, and language.

John’s getting two pictures of the same thing. These are the people to whom the covenant has been given. The elect, those in Christ, possess the blessings of the New Covenant! And how they worship!

Chapter 8 – The final seal is opened and God receives the prayers of the saints – symbolized by smoke rising from the altar of incense, located within this heavenly temple. God immediately responds by raining down His wrath upon Apostate Israel.

At this point, the seven trumpets begin to blow. But all of these trumpets are within the seventh seal. The breaking of the seventh seal is not completed until the seventh trumpet finishes blowing.

Therefore, the scroll of the New Covenant is not completely opened until the seventh trumpet is blown.

The trumpets signal, again, covenant curses. The symbolic meaning of the first four trumpets are decisive: God has taken away the covenant from Israel, and given it to the nations. There is a new covenant now, where Jews and Gentiles are united by faith in Jesus Christ.

Chapter 9 – The 5th and 6th trumpets are blown; these are also called woes.

With the 5th trumpet, God judges Israel by unleashing a demonic horde upon them. The reality was madness, cruelty, and bloodlust that gripped the Jews trapped inside Jerusalem during the siege of 70 AD.

The 6th trumpet was a vast army driven by demons. This symbolism was fulfilled when Roman armies, and their many allies, encircled Jerusalem and began that same siege of 70 AD.

Chapter 10 – The sixth trumpet is interrupted with another interlude of salvation. Jesus holds the opened scroll. In the name of God, He swears that when the 7th trumpet is blown, the New Covenant would be fulfilled/released/fully realized.

John is told that he will have to proclaim this New Covenant to the nations.

Chapter 11 – The two witnesses symbolize Scripture and the gospel of Jesus and all those that faithfully proclaimed the word. Their testimony is completed. Jerusalem is cursed, like Sodom and Egypt. Rome – the beast – has come to bring ruin to all.

And like a passing shadow, like the last breath escaping the dying, Jerusalem and the temple are destroyed.

The sixth trumpet and the second woe are completed.

And that brings us to our passage today, which opens with the sounding of the seventh and final trumpet.

Read vs 15

With the sounding of the seventh trumpet, the breaking of the seventh seal has completed, and now the New Covenant has come. It is just as the Mighty Angel – Jesus Christ – had promised a chapter earlier.

In the days of the trumpet call to be sounded by the seventh angel, the mystery of God would be fulfilled, just as announced to His servants and prophets.

-Revelation 10:7

The mystery of God is fulfilled with the seventh trumpet. The servants and prophets, like two witnesses, had announced this news; just as it was announced to them.

Let us consider a few ways in which the prophets of old had announced the kingdom that was to come; because it will help us – now studying chapter 11 – understand what exactly has come.

The Prophesied Kingdom

In the book of Daniel, the king of Babylon had a vision that terrified him. In it he saw a mighty statue made with four metals. Gold, which represented Babylon; silver=Medio-Persia; bronze=Greece; iron=Rome. Then the king saw an uncut stone strike the iron feet and the whole statue turned to dust and blew away. The stone then grew into a mountain and filled the whole earth.

Listen to how Daniel interprets the last part of that dream:

And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever. -Daniel 2:44

The days of those kings: Daniel is talking about Rome, though he lived before the days of Rome. During the Roman reign the kingdom of God would emerge and it would become greater than all other kingdoms. God’s kingdom will spread across the earth and it will stand forever!

Has this not been fulfilled?! Here we are, on the other side of the planet, talking about the kingdom of God which has lasted longer than any empire of men.

Later, in Daniel’s book, he records another vision; this time of four beasts. The four beasts represent the same four empires. But the last beast terrifies Daniel – the last beast which, of course, symbolizes Rome. During the terror of the fourth beast – Rome – Daniel is told that the saints will possess the kingdom.

The kingdom and the dominion and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven shall be given to the saints of the Most High; His kingdom shall be an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey Him. -Daniel 7:27

Indeed, just as Daniel prophesied, the kingdom of God arrived in the days of Rome. And the kingdom did not come on the heals of some global apocalyptic war, but with the birth of a child.

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulder, and His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and of peace there shall be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish and uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of Hosts will do this. -Isaiah 9:6-7

Do you see how Isaiah and Daniel agree? The kingdom of God increases. In fact, Isaiah says it will not stop increasing: Of the increase of His government and of peace there shall be no end. The kingdom of God is something that grows and increases and outlasts all other kingdoms.

This is just a sampling of what the prophets have announced, as it was announced to them. But to them, these things were sealed. They saw shadows, but they could not yet perceive how it would all come to pass.

The King

All that changed when a child was born and the Son of God was given; for in Jesus of Nazareth is the fulfillment of the long-hidden mystery.

Listen to what Jesus said about His own ministry.

“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” -Mark 1:15

Jesus began His ministry with the proclamation that the kingdom of God was near. It was soon. It had almost arrived. It was not some thousands of years in the future. It was at hand.

But a few things had to happen before the kingdom could be completely realized. First, was His death and resurrection.

“The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” -John 12:23-24

Jesus is the seed that died. It was not a death He deserved, but a death we deserve. Our pride and selfishness and self-justifying machinations have earned for all of us death. It’s purely that God is patient and generous that the wicked go on breathing. We are the wicked. And the All-Righteous God would be entirely justified to give us our hellish wages.

But Christ died in place of the wicked. He became sin. He bore our penalty. And then, like a seedling breaking through the earth, Jesus burst from the grave. Death was defeated – His death and ours!

Now all who repent, and believe in Christ’s death and resurrection, will be forgiven. His death is your death, and it has already been died. And His life is your life. And as He lives, today and forever, so shall you live! Oh death, where is your sting! Oh death, where is your victory!

Jesus died, like a seed falling into the earth, but He is risen! And all who come to Him in faith are the very many fruits. We, the church, are the ever-increasing kingdom of God!

“The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.” -Matthew 13:31-32

Do you hear what Jesus is saying? The kingdom of heaven isn’t something that would come all at once; as if there would be some fantastical rending of the heavens and earth and boom! The fully formed kingdom of God! Instead, the kingdom of God starts small, in a man, and grows and grows, disciple by disciple, until it fills the whole garden.

Sound a lot like Daniel.

The kingdom of God has come, and it happened without anyone seeing it.

Being asked by one of the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them, “The kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed, nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.” -Luke 17:20-21

The kingdom of God arrives in obscurity. The proud and selfish will not see it. It arrives more like the blowing of the wind than the sudden construction of a city; and only those who have eyes and ears from the Spirit will know the kingdom’s appearance.

Back in Revelation, let us not forget what the seventh trumpet is announcing; for only after Jerusalem’s temple has fallen is it blown. And only when that final trumpet is blown is it proclaimed, The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever.

The Old Kingdom Passes

So which is it? Did the kingdom of God come with Jesus, or did it come in 70 AD? Well, as Scripture foretold, the kingdom arrived in increasing measure. Or, it was slowly opened, like the breaking of many seals to unfurl it.

Part of it came in Jesus’ birth. More during His ministry. A far greater measure in His death and resurrection. But still, Jesus had to ascend into heaven and take His seat at the right hand of the Father. Then, from there He sent the Holy Spirit to dwell in the hearts of His elect.

All of these together needed to happen to bring the kingdom to us – to the nations. Such is the revealed the kingdom of God: the King is Jesus Christ – crucified and risen – seated upon the throne; and His people filled with the Spirit of power from on high. In Christ are Jews and Gentiles united!

But still, for another 40 years, there remained vestiges of the Old Covenant: the temple, the priesthood, animal sacrifices, etc. People had to become Jews to truly enter the covenant.

As long as these things remained, they would be an enduring distraction; even a source of heresy. The book of Galatians deals heavily with the temptation to try to integrate the two covenants with one another. It was heretical! It was anathema! As if the kingdom of God could be confined to a hill in Jerusalem!

Jesus said, “No one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins – and the wine is destroyed, and so are the skins. But new wine is for fresh wineskins.” -Mark 2:22

The old wine skins had to be taken away, because there was a new and better wine. Just as Jesus fulfilled the entirety of the Old Covenant, it must now pass away, so that all that remains is Christ: the New and Living Covenant.

In speaking of a new covenant, He makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away. -Hebrews 8:13

All the vestiges of the Old Covenant had to vanish away, forever uprooted from earth’s garden, so the New Covenant could freely grow and fill the earth. The temple had to come down.

This is what the book of Revelation is all about. The Old Covenant – and the Apostate Israel that refused to give it up – were being destroyed. What endures is a New Covenant, and a new people – the True Israel.

Listen, again, to the purpose statement of Revelation:

To Him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by His blood and made us a kingdom, priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him, and all the tribes of the [land] will wail on account of Him. Even so. Amen.

-Revelation 1:5-7

At the blowing of the seventh trumpet, we find all of these things fulfilled. The temple is destroyed and the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and Christ.

The Kingdom Realized

Yes, all Scripture testifies to this: that in the New Covenant, Jesus – the Messiah – reigns as King of all the earth.

Again, from Daniel: this is a vision immediately after Christ ascends into the clouds while the disciples watch. He left earth in the clouds and He is presented in heaven in the clouds.

I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and He came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before Him. And to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages, should serve Him; His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom one that shall not be destroyed. -Daniel 7:13-14

Yes, when Jesus ascended, He ascended to the throne. Immediately He was given the kingdom.

Paul wrote: [The Father] raised [Jesus] from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the one to come. -Ephesians 1:20-21

Christ’s reign began while the last age – the Old Covenant – still lingered. That’s when Paul wrote these words to the Ephesians. Christ’s reign continues into this age, the age of the New Covenant, the age of the church.

Peter said: [Jesus Christ] has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to Him. -1 Peter 3:22

Every authority, in heaven and on earth, have been given to Him. He reigns today as the King of kings and Lord of lords. So Revelation 11:15 is true now: the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ.

The seventh trumpet has blown. The seventh seal is completed. The scroll is finally opened and the long hidden mystery is revealed.

Read vs 16-18

The 24 elders, who themselves are symbols of the church, fall on their faces with the revelation of the New Covenant. Passionately they worship God who has spoken this new creation into existence, who has died for its fulfillment, and who has come to dwell in the hearts of men. They worship Him because, as the end of verse 17 says, He has begun to reign!

When the 24 elders say the nations raged, they are quoting Psalm 2.

Why do the nations rage and the people’s plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against His Anointed…He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision. Then He will speak to them in His wrath, and terrify them in His fury, saying, “As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.” -Psalm 2:1-2,4-6

The nations have raged against the Lord. The Jews defied Him, killed the Messiah, and persecuted His followers. The Romans, and their many allies, have armed themselves against God and have done the same as the Jews. But God laughs.

God will hurl His uncut stone at Rome, and this Christ will turn the Roman empire to dust. From out of the grave God has set Jesus on the highest throne. Christ’s kingdom will outgrow, outlast, and outshine anything the empires of earth could ever achieve.

As part of Christ’s kingdom today, we can look back at the ruins of a long-lost empire, much of it covered in dust and dirt, while the global church is stronger than ever. Indeed, that uncut stone has become a holy mountain, and it fills the earth today!

The prophesies of Daniel and Revelation are alive around us, we only need the eyes to see it!

Look again at verse 18 where we read your wrath came, the time for the dead to be judged, and for rewarding your servants, the prophets and the saints. This is not a statement about the final judgement, but of Jerusalem’s destruction. We know this because of the context of John’s vision.

In chapter 6 the martyred saints have cried out that God would avenge their blood. God responded in chapter 8 by pouring out judgements, or His wrath, upon Apostate Israel. Remember also Matthew 23:35-36. Jesus said that that generation of Jews would be held accountable for all the innocent blood spilled in the land, from both prophets and saints.

And at the public trial of Jesus, when Pilate washed his hands of Christ’s blood, the Jews cried out,

His blood be on us and on our children. -Matthew 27:25

When Jerusalem was finally destroyed, and so many of the Jews fell, the dead received their reward. The dead who had died for the faith, the martyrs, were rewarded with the judgement they had cried out for; the vengeance of God was poured out on Apostate Israel and their vindication was complete. Like verse 18 ends, those who destroyed the land were themselves destroyed. The judgement they received was their condemnation.

All that remained of the Old Covenant was forever gone. The final woe to fall upon Jerusalem and its temple, even as it lay in ashes beneath Roman boots, was the emergence of a new and eternal temple.

Read vs 19

Nothing in the Old Covenant symbolized the presence of God like the ark of the covenant: the ark which had been lost centuries before Jesus’ day. But here it is, finally found in the heavenly temple!

To say it again, this is not a literal temple. This is a spiritual temple. And the presence of the ark of the covenant symbolizes that the most potent presence of God saturates this new and spiritual temple.

What is this new temple? Where can this heavenly temple be found?

Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. -1 Corinthians 6:19-20

Each one of our bodies are temples of the Living God. The ark of the New Covenant resides within us. The Holy Spirit dwells in the hearts of men!

You yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

-1 Peter 2:5

The temple, the priesthood, the sacrifices; all of them have found a home in the church. The heavenly temple that is opened in Revelation 11 is opened within our hearts! Wherever we go, so goes the temple. Wherever we dwell, so also is the kingdom of God.

To Him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by His blood and made us a kingdom, priests unto His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. -Revelation 1:6

But after all this, I think I know what many of you may be thinking, because we look around our world and we see wars, rumors of wars, the love of many growing cold, earthquakes and famines, and all kinds of tribulations. How could it be possible that the kingdom of God is in our midst?

Well, that very question betrays a misunderstanding. It implies that Christ will do all the work to bring the kingdom of God. But remember, the kingdom of God is ever-increasing and growing; and He was the seed, we are the fruit. He is the head; we are the body. And if Jesus is going to bring the whole world into subjection, is He not going to do it through His hands and feet? We are the hands and feet of Christ!

All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to Himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the ministry of reconciliation.

-2 Corinthians 5:18-19

Christ is reconciling the world to Himself through us! How exactly does this happen? Jesus gave us the model. After announcing that the kingdom of God was at hand, He then proclaimed that everyone must repent and believe in the gospel. We are to proclaim that same message.

The King of all the earth has spoken: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” -Matthew 28:18-20

This is how the kingdom grows, from mustard seed to garden bursting tree, from uncut stone to earth filling mountain. We, the living stones, are the ambassadors of Christ, filling the earth and heralding to all how to be reconciled to God through Jesus.

So when you observe tribulations on earth, Christ has given them to you, church, to reconcile. You have hands that can feed the hungry. You have shoulders to catch tears. You have feet that can take you to the despairing. Stand, that the oppressed may have justice. Humbly argue, and take captive every false teaching. Demonstrate the love of Christ with good works. Pray for all.

And above all, shout from the rooftops that Jesus Christ is Lord! He has died and risen. In Him can forgiveness from sins be found. In Him can peace and life and love be enjoyed. In Him can sinners be reconciled to God! Shout it out so all people can know joy in God!

The thunders and lightnings and earthquakes at the end of Revelation 11:19 signify that God has spoken and it is finished. Just as these same signs were present at Sinai when the first covenant was established, so they are present when this final and eternal covenant is established. The scroll is opened. The mystery is revealed. The old temple is fallen and the new has come! It is forever finished.

And as creation was completed on the seventh day, the seventh trumpet sounds the beginning of a new creation.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. -2 Corinthians 5:17

The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever. -Revelation 11:15