Monday, August 21st 2017 Revelation 11:15-19

Monday, August 21st 2017

Revelation 11:15-19
key verse: 15

THE SEVENTH TRUMPET

Ch 11:15 proclaims the day when Jesus will come back to impose his reign on the nations. It is introduced to us in the context of chapter 19. According to John's inductive method, after this proclamation, he presents us chapter 12-19 where the events stagger: the terrestrial reign of the Antichrist (12-13), the celestial visions (14-15), the terrestrial jugdments (16-18), before Christ's Second Coming. When the wedding feast of the Lamb will be prepared, Jesus will come on white horseback. 

This word proclaims, not whatever gathering, but the coronation of the King of kings and Lord of lords. Satan is excluded and the divine peace reigns. It's the coming of the eternal kingdom of Christ. Paul speaks about the millenium kingdom of Christ: "be unrebukable until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ: who, in his time, will show the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords" (1 Ti 6: 14-15). Not the kingdoms but the only kindgom. History tells us that all the attempts to corner the world power have failed. The Antichrist reigns for a moment, but Christ reigns under the aegis of the universal government. His kingdom is united, indissoluble and submitted to his rod of iron, which means a balanced division of power between the Father and the Son. Therefore, the attempt of Satan to skew the power of the Son to have the world power is annihilated. So the celestial army shouted out in praise (16-18). The nations were angry (Ps 2:1-4) but the Lord comes to manifest his wrath which will have consequences forever and ever. He speaks about "the small and the great". The Lord will remember small and humiliated people who the great of this world haven't ever taken care of.

Among all this deployment of activities, God doens't forget Israel. So, the ark of the Covenant (alias Old Testament) appears. Jesus is guarantor of the New Covenant in which he makes God's celestial people enter. So, the Old Covenant is forgotten (predicted by Jr 3:16) and the New Covenant appears in the sky and a new temple whose God opens the door. The ark predicts the events for Israel which are described in the next chapters, but above all the ark reminds us of God's loyalty towards his people in the past. God's loyalty is manifested in an infinite concern for Israel during the reign of the Antichrist, whereas the opponents to the Jewish people will suffer the effects of the divine wrath (flashes, voices, thunderclaps, earthquakes, hail).