And the seventh angel sounded [his] trumpet and there were great voices in the heaven, saying, The kingdom of the world of our Lord and of his Christ is come, and he shall reign to the ages of ages.
The seventh and last trumpet sounds. No new plague falls on the earth. Instead, loud voices break out in heaven. Heaven announces a change of ownership, not a slow improvement of the world. Commentators ask two things: what the voices announce, and why heaven celebrates before earth's trouble ends.
The six trumpets before this one each brought a blow. The seventh breaks the pattern.
In these respects the seventh trumpet is very like the seventh seal. It too is brief. It closes the trumpet-series of judgment — in fact the three special woes. And it opens into another condition of things. That condition is not woe at all, but the time long looked for.
The older English wording speaks of "kingdoms" in the plural. Commentators say the right reading is singular, and the difference matters.
It may seem a small difference, but it is not. "The kingdoms of this world" at once suggests many kings, many conflicting interests, international jealousies, and the like. "The kingdom of the world (or world-kingdom) of our Lord and of His Christ is come" means something else: one universal kingdom covering the globe, with every part of the earth brought under the rule of the One reigning monarch.
Right now Christ's kingdom is a matter of faith. That changes here. One writer also answers a common objection: Jesus said His kingdom is not of this world.
For now the kingdom is open to faith, and only believers value it. Its portion on earth is tribulation and waiting for the Lord... Instead of this we have an entire change... Someone may object that the Lord Himself in John 18 says His kingdom is not of this world. I reply that this misses the point. This world is never the source of His kingdom. But is it not destined to be its sphere? It was not His kingdom then, and that does not prove it will never be His kingdom at some future time.
Some read the verse as a promise that missions will win the world over time. The trumpets and woes point the other way, as one writer says (quoting the older plural wording):
In current missionary writing, few phrases are more common than "the conquest of the world for Christ!" Yet Scripture never uses such a phrase. The kingdoms of this world are indeed going to become "the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ" — but as the result of woes and judgments, not of the preaching of the gospel. There is a great difference between subduing the world to Christ and gathering people out of the world for Christ.
The two titles are not decoration. They pick up Psalm 2, where rulers band together against God and His anointed King. Here that opposition meets its end.
This phrase reminds us of Psalm 2:2: "The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against His Anointed." They have done this all along. But here their proud opposition is broken, and the reign of the Lord by His Anointed begins.
The same writer says the reign does not stop at the thousand years: "Once established, His dominion abides... From this point of view the millennium and the eternal state are considered as one."
Commentators differ on how far the announcement reaches. Some read it as the reign actually arriving. Others say only heaven celebrates, while earth still faces its worst suffering.
Heaven rejoices because the kingdom is near, not because it has actually been set up. When the kingdom is established in power, earth as well as heaven will unite in thanksgiving and song... Rejoicing marks the inhabitants of heaven — the angels and the redeemed. Meanwhile the earth is preparing to enter its last agony before the light of the millennial morning dawns and clears away the gloom.
Another writer explains why prophecy can speak this way: "Again and again it is the language of prophecy to speak of things as accomplished, which in fact are not yet come" (F. B. Hole).
One writer turns this future transfer into comfort for believers now.
This is not the brightest thought our souls can enjoy about the future. Still, the fact that the Lord Jesus is to take the throne of the world is a very great rest to the heart in all the present confusion... We shall not be subjects merely of Christ when He comes, but kings reigning with Him.
- Sounded — the seventh trumpet brings no new plague. It closes the series and opens onto the time long waited for.
- Singular — not many rival kingdoms handed out piece by piece, but one world-kingdom under one reigning King.
- Sphere — the kingdom never came from this world. This world is where it will be seen, and not by faith only.
- Seized — the change comes through judgment, not through preaching winning the world over.
- Settled — heaven sings it as done while earth still trembles. The reign runs on to the ages of ages, and that certainty steadies the heart now.
And the twenty-four elders, who sit on their thrones before God, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God,
The seventh trumpet has sounded and heaven has just announced that the world-kingdom now belongs to the Lord and to His Christ. Verse 16 gives the answer of the twenty-four elders: they leave their thrones and fall on their faces.
The elders appear again and again in Revelation. Their number and their clothing point back to the priests of Israel.
Revelation often mentions the twenty-four elders John saw in heaven. He saw them around the throne, sitting on thrones (not seats), dressed in white, with crowns of gold on their heads, and they worship God. In the Old Testament, when everything was in order, there were twenty-four courses, or groups, of priests. Each group had an elder as its head (1 Chronicles 24:7-18). The elders in Revelation are twenty-four in number, and may point back to them. The elders in heaven have harps and golden bowls full of incense, "which are the prayers of the saints" (Revelation 5:8). This shows that they act as priests. They are without doubt the redeemed, including both Old and New Testament saints.
In chapter 4 the elders sit round the throne. Here they sit before it, and one writer draws out what moves them from their seats.
"The kingdom of our Lord" here means the setting up of God's government in contrast with man's misrule. So in Revelation 11:16 we have "before" (enopion) the throne. This partly shows its moral force, for they were "round" the throne, chapter 4:4. In chapter 11 the elders are again in their own distinct place, as intelligent worshippers — not the living creatures... But the setting up of the governmental power of God draws them to prostrate worship, just as the celebration of creative glory had done in chapter 4.
Their seat is more than a detail of that moment. It says where they belong.
We are again reminded that they sat on their thrones before God. The point is not so much that they were sitting there at that moment, although they were. It is that this shows their place in the presence of God. It is characteristic; the elders occupied thrones before God. What a view this gives of the exaltation of the glorified saints! They are gathered around the Eternal Presence, and seated on thrones themselves, for they are kings as well as priests. They look on at God's ways in governing the earth as spectators — adoring spectators.
This is not the elders' first act of homage. Reading their prostrations in order shows what each one answers to.
"And the twenty-four elders fall down before Him who is seated on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne" (Revelation 4:10). That is in respect of creation. "And when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb" (Revelation 5:8). That is in relation to redemption... Then Revelation 11:16... This one is the climax. The kingdom of this world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ.
The elders give thanks at a point when the earth below is anything but peaceful, and they do so knowing the cost.
So here the last trumpet sounds, and heaven announces "the world-kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ." At once the twenty-four elders are on their faces, giving God thanks, because He had taken to Him His great power and had reigned. It is true that this must come through much sorrow for guilty men. For the sword of judgment has to clear the way, so that the sceptre of righteousness may have free course... But they knew well that man must come down with a crash. They also knew that in the kingdom of our Lord and of His Anointed he will be lifted up in the only true and lasting way.
Commentators differ over how far the kingdom has arrived at this point. One writer reads the scene as heaven looking ahead of the event.
The anticipation of the kingdom, and not the actual setting up of it, is the cause of the rejoicing in heaven. When the kingdom is established in power, earth as well as heaven will unite in thanksgiving and song. We repeat: heaven alone celebrates the kingdom as come. Rejoicing marks those who live in heaven — the angels and the redeemed. Meanwhile the earth is getting ready to enter its last agonies, before the light of the millennial morning dawns and drives away the gloom.
- Who — the elders are the redeemed. They are pictured as twenty-four heads of the priestly groups, crowned, robed, and at home in God's presence.
- Where — they sit on thrones before God. They are kings as well as priests, watching how He governs the earth from the closest place of all.
- Why they move — creation moved them in chapter 4, redemption in chapter 5. Here God takes up His governing power, and that brings them off their thrones onto their faces.
- What it costs — they thank God knowing the price. The sword of judgment must clear the way before the sceptre of righteousness can rule.
- Where you hear it — this thanksgiving rises in heaven while earth enters its darkest hour. Heaven worships for a kingdom the world has not yet seen.
saying, We give thee thanks, Lord God Almighty, [He] who is, and who was, that thou hast taken thy great power and hast reigned.
Heaven has just announced that the world-kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ has come. The answer to that news is not a shout of victory but worship. The thanksgiving of the elders tells us who God is, what He has done, and why a reign still to come is spoken of as already past.
The thanksgiving answers an announcement made two verses earlier. One writer says the older wording of that announcement is far too weak:
As it stands now, verse 15 has been given a very weakened turn: "The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ." The true force is: "The world-kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ is come." In my opinion this gives the verse a very different and weightier meaning. It is the world-kingdom; and why? Because this book has shown us from the very beginning that there was another order of kingdom altogether. In Revelation 1 John spoke of himself as a "brother and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience in Christ."
The elders who give thanks have a settled place of their own in God's presence.
It is characteristic; the elders occupied thrones before God. See how high a place the glorified saints are given! They are grouped around the Eternal Presence, and seated on thrones, for they are kings as well as priests. They watch God's ways in the government of the earth — and they watch as worshippers.
What they do here they do nowhere else in the book:
The elders, who represent the redeemed, answer the many voices of the heavenly host with an act of deepest worship. Their normal place is enthroned and crowned before God. Twice in chapter 5 the elders fall down and worship (vv. 8, 14). Only here is it said, "They fell upon their faces, and worshipped God." Nowhere else do the elders bow this low. The occasion demands it.
Three titles come together here, and one familiar phrase drops out. One writer explains both:
The elders give thanks to Jehovah (Lord) God Almighty, a strong combination of divine titles. Jehovah is the self-existing One. God (Elohim) is, as such, the Creator. He is Almighty too, in power and in resources. Then His Being is declared eternal: "Who is" (eternal existence), and "Who was" in relation to the past. The Authorised Version adds "and art to come," but it should be left out, as the Revised Version and other translations leave it out. "To come" would be out of place in this doxology, because the kingdom, in its time and its eternal features, is here regarded as present. That dropped phrase does belong in Revelation 4:8.
Why these particular titles here? Another writer ties them to the subject in hand:
They worship God as He was revealed in the Old Testament, that is, as Lord God Almighty (Jehovah Elohim Shaddai). The reason is that the question now is God's kingdom on earth.
The kingdom belongs to the Lord and to His Christ, yet the thanks go to one. The quote below keeps an older wording, "hast reigned," where the ESV has "begun to reign":
It is interesting to observe that while the kingdom is that of our Lord and of His Christ, or Anointed (Ps. 2), yet He takes it, not they. Jehovah and Christ are distinguished here, yet they are united in taking the kingdom and in the reign that follows. That is why the pronoun is singular where you might expect a plural. It may well be called "your great power." The fullness of divine power, the might of the Eternal God, is put forth. The kingdom in its widest sweep takes in the heavens and the earth, and stretches on through time into eternity. It has been wrested from the grasp of the enemy. And "hast reigned" is the term used — so sure that it is spoken of as past.
The kingdom the elders celebrate has not yet come in public power. One writer gives the reason:
This kingdom in its public power has been delayed, because Christ has been rejected (see Rev. 11:17). The delay lasts all the time that Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. It ends when He rises from the throne of His Father to judge. God has said, "Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool," Psalm 110. Still, it is true that the kingdom had already come in mystery, according to Matthew 13.
- Announced — the true force of the news is that the world-kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ has come. That is weightier than kingdoms merely changing hands.
- Adored — the elders are kings and priests, enthroned before God. Only here do they fall on their faces. The occasion demands it.
- Named — the elders thank Him as Jehovah the self-existing One, God the Creator, the Almighty in power and resources; these are the titles for a kingdom on earth.
- Present — "and is to come" is left out here, because in this scene He has come. The kingdom is regarded as present.
- Delayed, not doubtful — the public kingdom waits while Christ sits at the right hand of God. Yet the reign is spoken of as past, so sure is it.
And the nations have been full of wrath, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead to be judged, and to give the recompense to thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and to those who fear thy name, small and great; and to destroy those that destroy the earth.
Revelation 11 ends with the seventh trumpet. Heaven announces that the world's kingdom has passed to God and His Christ. The elders answer in one sentence. It holds rage, wrath, judgment, reward and the clearing of the earth, and it reaches from the start of Christ's reign to the very end of it.
Writers read it as a broad statement of all that follows Christ taking the throne, reaching to the far end of His kingdom:
This is a general statement, and only a general one, of what follows when the kingdom is set up in power. So it reaches down even to the close of that kingdom, since the dead will not be judged until then.
Another writer draws the same conclusion from the shape of the book itself, noting that the announcement is made before any of the details are shown:
The elders then come in, and, as usual, give the reasons for praise… Only now He had taken to Himself His great power and the kingdom. The nations were angry, but how uselessly! Jehovah's Messiah and Son would be set up in Zion; the dead would be judged, the prophets and the God-fearing rewarded, and the destroyers of the earth destroyed. It is the general statement of the close of God's ways; of judgment and of its effects; the government of God made good in its final results.
The nations do not welcome the kingdom. One writer presses how much that single fact settles:
When Jehovah and His Christ take the kingdom to reign forever and ever, "the nations raged." That statement alone is enough to demolish the false idea that the gospel is going to convert the world. On that idea, the kingdom would come as the fruit of gospel effort, and the nations would be delighted to see it! Instead, the kingdom will be set up as the result of God's wrath coming.
Another writer names what that anger may take in, at both ends of Christ's reign:
The anger of the nations may include the gathering together of the kings of the earth, with their armies, under the leadership of the beast (Rev. 19:19), to make war against Christ as He comes from heaven with His army. It may also include the nations from the four quarters of the earth, gathered together by Satan at the close of the thousand years (Rev. 20:7-9).
One writer weighs the phrase "the time for the dead":
The time of this world's activity is not the time of the dead. Among the dead there is no planning and no understanding. But when God's time comes, it is the time of the dead — and the time for them to be judged… I would not at all leave out those judged at the very end, the wicked dead.
Another writer sets this judgment apart from the earlier ones:
"The time for the dead to be judged" carries us on in thought to the close of the kingdom (Rev. 20:12). The judgment of the nations (Matt. 25:32) comes at the start of the kingdom reign. The judgment of the world, the inhabited earth (Acts 17:31), runs through its whole course. The dead are judged after the earthly kingdom has passed away (Rev. 20:11-12).
One writer points to what the verse does not say:
Not a word here speaks of the saints caught up to heaven; it is a later hour… This says nothing about taking them to heaven. It speaks of rewarding them. No one can give that reward until the Lord Jesus appears publicly.
And the reward does not come as one flat payment. It fits each life:
God gives the recompense of rest and glory to all His saints alike. But there are special crowns and rewards as well… So "the recompense" is not only God's answer to what His afflicted people go through here. It also takes in the different positions they will hold in the kingdom. That second kind of reward is measured by the faithfulness, suffering, and service of each saint.
The verse names three groups. The last is the widest. It reaches people whose stand for God was quiet or hardly noticed:
"Those who fear Your name, both small and great." This last group takes in everyone of that kind who owns the Name of the Lord. No doubt there are many hidden ones in every age whose moral separation from the world is so weak that it is genuinely hard to call them saints. But there are people who fear the Name of the Lord in every rank and class of society.
The last clause sounds like pure punishment. One writer hears something warmer in it:
The destruction of those who destroy the earth seems to be noted here not so much as judgment. It is noted rather to assure us that the damage will be repaired. That damage was done to what came out of His hands at the first, and He has never stopped caring tenderly about it, in spite of the evil He has allowed during "man's day."
The clearing has a purpose beyond itself — it makes room:
Destroying those who destroy the earth clears the earth of evil. It makes room for those who are to be rewarded to have their place in the coming kingdom. The flood did the same: it destroyed those who destroyed the earth, and so prepared the way for Noah's place in the new earth of that day.
- Rage — the nations meet Christ's kingdom with fury, not welcome. It arrives through wrath, not through a world slowly getting better.
- Wrath — once God's wrath comes, it runs its full course. It ends only with the judgment of the dead, after the earthly kingdom has passed away.
- Reward — rest and glory come to all God's people alike. Special crowns are measured by each one's faithfulness, suffering, and service.
- Reach — prophets, saints, and the God-fearing, "small and great." God counts the hidden ones nobody else counted.
- Repair — destroying the destroyers is not spite. God clears the earth of evil so the rewarded can take their place in it.