The seventh trumpet brings punishment and reward. This devotional reading looks at how the world will worship God and Jesus.
Nuggets
- This world will become God’s and Jesus’.
- Our worship now prepares us for worship for eternity.
- Heaven is God’s temple.
Well, I thought the seventh trumpet heralded the seven bowls. Was I wrong!
Let’s see what really is going to happen.
Let's Put It into Context
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Devotions in The Trumpets and the Bowls series
The Seventh Trumpet
“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’” (Rev. 11: 15 ESV)
This world will become God’s and Jesus’.
This is interesting, and definitely not what I thought!
I was under the impression that the kingdom of the world wouldn’t become Jesus’ kingdom until the Heaven and earth passed away (Rev. 20: 11).
Easton tied the rest of the judgments with this. He wrote, “These means (the judgments) are also, historically or prophetically, the last means by which shall be accomplished that national regeneration which shall precede and usher in the glory of the millennial era, which is thus described by revelation (Revelation 11:15).”
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Halsey talked about the result of the the world becoming the kingdom of God and Jesus. He said that Jesus would become Lord of our minds.
Halsey had an interesting take. He said that we are not to despair because of the huge intellectual gains mankind have made. Those were important for us to progress.
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But isn’t that logical that Jesus is to become Lord of our minds? Our acceptance of the Plan of Salvation starts in our minds.
We are to have the mind of Christ. The mind rules our thoughts and actions.
That plays out in our attitude. Having the mind of Christ means that we have His attitude.
Think of it this way. The new world will still run on knowledge. It will just be knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Life will be based on His laws. It will be characterized by joy.
Worship by the Elders
“And the twenty-four elders who sit on their thrones before God fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying, ‘We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, who is and who was, for you have taken your great power and began to reign. 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’” (Rev. 11: 16-18 ESV)
Our worship now prepares us for worship for eternity.
Yeah, this could be a song. The elders are good at singing.
Remember, if we are going with the elders are the sons of Israel and the Apostles, we have both the “old church” and the new. That means believers of all time will worship God.
As they were in Revelation 4, the elders are falling on their faces before God to worship Him. I like what Huchings said. He wrote, “Sitting upon thrones, contemplating God, was their habitual condition; but worship was the active expression of their sense of the Divine majesty. They offer Him inward and outward adoration.”
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Ooo, baby. How many times do we stop and meditate? If we do, which part do we leave out? Is it the profoundly or the at length?
Well, how many times do we rush through reading the devotion so we can check it off and get on to the next thing?
Do we dig deeper into something that catches our hearts? If the verses aren’t spelled out, do we look them up to read them?
Our worship has to stem from our gratitude to God. It wouldn’t be true worship without it.
True, that gratitude will be challenged when we face tribulations. We have to continue to be content even then.
The elders were unanimous in their gratitude. They may each have had their own Sanctification Road to navigate, but each road brought them to Heaven.
God deserves our gratitude. He created this world and everything in it. He designed the plan of salvation before we had even been created.
The time for judgment and reward has come. There are three groups that will be rewarded: the faithful servants, the pious saints, and those that fear God.
God’s Temple
“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” (Rev. 11: 19 ESV)
Heaven is God’s temple.
Okay. How did we reconcile this with Revelation 21, which says there is no temple?
All of Heaven will be God’s temple.
There will be some changes, explained to us by Wells. He wrote, “It is true preaching will end, the ordinances of the present dispensation will end; but we shall always have the same Jesus Christ, and the same God, and the same covenant, and the same life, and the same sanctification. Christ’s kingdom shall reign through all ages, and never be moved; and everything must be subservient to the government of Christ’s kingdom.”
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Sorry, Pastor Steve. You are going to be out of a job. No preaching, no baptism, no Lord’s Supper.
We will be living what we are learning about now.
This isn’t the first time we’ve talked about all the rumbling. We know this is the sounds from God’s throne and Mt. Sinai.
- “From the throne came flashes of lightning, and rumblings and peals of thunder, and before the throne were burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God” (Rev. 4: 5 ESV).
- “On the morning of the third day there were thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud on the mountain and a very loud trumpet blast, so that all the people in the camp trembled. Then Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they took their stand at the foot of the mountain. Now Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke because the Lord had descended on it in fire. The smoke of it went up like the smoke of a kiln, and the whole mountain trembled greatly. And as the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him in thunder” (Ex. 19: 16-19 ESV).
Wells identified the lightening and thunder as God’s Word, the voices as salvation, regeneration as an earthquake, and hail as persecution and tribulations.
I’m sorry. I don’t think so. I think it is really lightning, thunder, voices, rumbling of earthquakes, and hail.
Also in the temple will be the ark of the covenant. The ark of the covenant symbolized God’s presence. It also symbolized God’s faithfulness and guidance.
The original box was made by the Wilderness Wanderers (Ex. 25: 10-22). A second box was made to hold the stone tables of the Ten Commandments (Deut. 10: 1-5).
Of all the temple objects that were made, the ark of the covenant was revered the most important, possibly because it was considered as God’s throne. Solomon’s temple was built to house the ark.
The ark was lost, either by theft or destruction. It is possible that it was taken by the Babylonians in 587 BC.
Maybe because the ark and its contents have been gone for so long, it isn’t even a blip on our radar. But we do know Jesus.
In other words, is the ark needed for us?
- “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people” (Jer. 31: 33 ESV).
- “And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh” (Ezek. 11: 19 ESV).
- “And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh” (Ezek. 36: 26 ESV).
The Wilderness Wanderers were under the covenant with Abraham. We are under the covenant of Jesus. It is one of grace.
The ark was also called the ark of the testimony. Jesus was the living testimony of God.
Making the Connections #1
You should read Cortney’s sermon The Kingdom of God. It talks about how, when the seven Messianic congregations got John’s letter, they probably thought fulfillment of the revelation was imminent.
But the Romans stayed. The idol worship stayed.
Yeah, it’s rough. We think God is going to end the persecution soon, and hey! It keeps right on rolling.
Part of that was the mistaken Jewish belief that Jesus would be a military Messiah. Courtney wrote, “The tradition of the old Jewish Church was of a people going forth as the Lord’s messengers to crush down all the Lord’s enemies.”
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Ooo, baby! We don’t like it when God doesn’t do things our way.
God’s way is better. God separated His kingdom from the worldly kingdom. While Jesus said the kingdom of God is at hand, it only is reached when this world is done — either by our death or by the death of this world.
That means this world does not become God’s kingdom. That means the kingdom is not based on us.
The role we have in the kingdom of God is to imitate Jesus.
Making the Connections #2
Huchings said something interesting. He wrote, “But the song of the redeemed is called forth by the sight of the Giver, and the dark problems of earth are solved in the light of heaven (John 13:7).”
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In Elaine-speak, our worship bursts forth because of the mere presence of our Savior. We cannot hold back the flood of our gratitude.
John 13: 7 pits an interesting twist on it. “Jesus answered him, ‘What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand’” (Jn. 13: 7 ESV).
We are to have gratitude even when we don’t understand. Someday, we will.
Making the Connections #3
Jesus, by accomplishing the Plan of Salvation, initiated a covenant of the Spirit, rather than the law. God didn’t want His people to continue being interested in only the letter of the law.
God wanted us to be more concerned about the relationship. He wants us to worship Him in Spirit and in truth.
How Do We Apply This?
- Make sure our relationship with God is right.
- Perform the tasks God has for us.
- Pray individually and corporately for this prophecy to be fulfilled.
- Look forward to worshiping God in Heaven by worshiping Him now.
- Use our worship now to prepare us for our eternal life.
- Practice gratitude daily.
- Contemplate the greatness of God.
- Revere and adore God.
- Trust God in everything.
- Understand what the kingdom of God really means.
- Imitate Jesus
Resources
Father God. We thank You for the new covenant that You had offered us. We choose Jesus as our Savior. We worship You now and will throughout eternity. Amen.
What do you think?
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