Revelation 11:14-19

The City, the Kingdom, and the Covenant

A sermon by Pastor Joe Haynes

Preached on February 24, 2019 at Beacon Church

As much as verse 14 is ominous, verse 15 is glorious. If verse 14 reminds us that there is still one more "Woe", a dire judgement still to fall, verse 15 reminds us that the Kingdom of Jesus Christ is close.

In verse 15, heavenly voices resound that the Kingdom of this world has become of our Lord and of His Anointed One, the Ruler appointed by God, King Jesus Himself. Those voices declare that the Kingdom has already been invaded and overthrown--lit. "the kingdom became" the Lord's, and it became Christ's. And verse 15 says Jesus will rule the Kingdom forever--and just so the imagery sinks in, that word "reign" at the end of verse 15, means "to reign as king". This is the hope every loyal Christian must long to see. We saw in chapter 11 so far a shocking courtroom drama where the only witnesses were attacked and killed by the accused, but then that they were raised to life and vindicated by God, and the evil empire of the Antichrist suffered a great blow. Although the Courtroom scene didn't include a visible Judge, His presence could be felt. And in the interlude of verses 14-19, it's as if His silhouette appears on the horizon. It won't be long now until we see Him face to face. This prophecy is the Revelation of Jesus Christ. It's all about Him.

I've explained before that in Revelation, chapter 10-14 contain a story within the larger story. The whole prophecy of Revelation was symbolized as a scroll with seven seals (chas.4-6). Someone has said the seventh seal was like a folder you double-click on your computer and it opens up seven more folders inside it.[i] Inside the seventh seal we found seven angels with trumpets, each one announcing another major judgement on the earth. The last three trumpets were particularly serious. They are called "three woes", dire warnings: “Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the earth, at the blasts of the other trumpets that the three angels are about to blow!” (Rev. 8:13 ESV). The first two woes, trumpets #5 and #6, showed the Islamic invasion of the ancient Christian world, and then the fall of the mighty Byzantine Empire at the Battle of Constantinople in 1453. At that point, Revelation 10 interrupted the story of the seals and trumpets with another story, inside the larger story. A little scroll with more prophecies showing that the Christian Church, or Christianity in general, had become corrupt and finally fallen away from Christ altogether. These prophecies reveal how far Christianity had fallen: John's prophesying in chapters 11-14 are to "measure" the Church and show which part is true and faithful to Christ's Gospel, and which part is false and antichristian.

The City Is Falling

14 The second woe has passed; behold, the third woe is soon to come.  15 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. 11:14-15 ESV)

That’s the first thing we need to understand about verses 14 and 15: it’s telling us a great city is going to fall. That’s what the allusion is here: It’s one of the most famous Sunday School stories. The seventh trumpet in particular alludes to the Fall of Jericho. In Joshua 6 we read about a decisive event in the history of Israel, 1500 years before John wrote Revelation, when God told Israel to march around the fortress city of Jericho seven times, and the last time, for seven priests to blow seven trumpets, while the people all shout. Israel did as God instructed, and the walls of the city fell down. John’s readers would read about seven trumpets and assume God was giving His people victory over another great city. But what city? In chapter 11 so far, in the prophecy of the Two Witnesses, we learned that it predicted what Church history shows, a long, long time when very few congregations really believed and taught God’s Word, only to be persecuted for it by the powerful Roman Catholic Church. We saw how for 3 ½ years it looked like the Popes had finally silenced all opposition to their rule, and then suddenly how the preaching and teaching of God’s Word burst out again in 1517 when Luther’s protest sparked the Protestant Reformation. So, what city? Well the city in that prophecy was a symbol for the whole Christian religion up until that time, i.e., the Catholic Church. We saw in verse 13 that a great earthquake broke off parts of the city and many people left the Catholic Church to become Protestants, and we saw that those events redrew the map of Europe. That symbolic city in verses 1-13 was the Roman Catholic Church, and though chapter 11 doesn’t go as far as naming which city is going to fall under the seventh trumpet, it seems like all the clues point to Rome.

Before we go any further, I want you to notice the main points in this passage. Verse 14 and 15 mark the progress of the unfolding story of Revelation: John writes that “the second woe is past” and then that “the seventh angel blew his trumpet”. Then two groups praise God: in verse 15, voices from heaven, and in verse 16, twenty-four elders. Verses 17-18 are what those elders say, or sing, as they praise God. Finally, verse 19 is the finale, a vision of God’s Temple opened up so that the readers are allowed to see inside, as lightning and thunder, an earthquake, and hail add serious drama to the scene. It’s like verse 19 is underlined and written in bold font. What is seen inside that opened Temple is the reason this mystery city is about to feel God’s wrath. If we can figure out the point of the opened Temple, we will know why God was about to judge the city in question.

The Little Scroll prophecies start with the Two Witnesses and then the Woman and the Dragon, and all the way to chapter 14. But here in the end of chapter 11, the Little Scroll is interrupted by an update from the Seven Trumpets story. The Little Scroll is like a local city map, inside a map of the whole country. It's kind of like using a City of Victoria Map to find the Terry Fox statue at 18 Douglas Street, and then suddenly seeing you're also at Mile Zero of the Trans-Canada Highway in the bigger map. Verses 14 and 15, with the announcement of the 2nd Woe and the Seventh Trumpet interrupt these prophecies about the Apostate Church to show us where we are in the whole story of Revelation. And in history. In other words, when John, so to speak, double-clicks the seventh trumpet, in chapter 15, it opens up seven angels with bowls of judgement to pour out on the earth. That's when the Little Scroll prophecies end and the seven trumpets story resumes. That means that wherever we are in the timeline of world history, after the Two Witnesses prophecy in chapter 11, since chapter 15 resumes the timeline right where these verses press pause, the next few prophecies in chas. 12-14 all describe events that are already past.

The second woe began in 9:13 and ends here in 11:14. That’s what verse 14 says. So everything in between 9:13 and 11:14, happens during the era of the second woe / sixth trumpet. We saw before that the second woe in chapter 9 brought us up to the year when the capital city of Christendom, Constantinople, fell to the Muslim Turkish armies in 1453. Then we saw chapter 11 bring us up to the great earthquake in the Christian lands of the west, the Protestant Reformation that literally redrew the map of Western Europe. Roman Catholic Christendom lost the seven Dutch provinces to Protestantism in 1581. Then verse 14 tells us this is when the “second woe is past.” When the Turks took over Constantinople in 1453, they didn’t stop there. They continued to expand their empire, the Ottoman Empire, up until a turning point in 1571.[ii] Let me put this in perspective. Verse 14 announces the end of the 2nd Woe, the Sixth Trumpet; verse 15 announces the beginning of the seventh and final trumpet. The sixth trumpet in history stretched 400 years up to the 1570’s. Then the seventh trumpet sounded. About 400 years ago. "The night is far gone; the day is at hand." (Rom 13:12 ESV)

The Kingdom Is Coming

"The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever."  16 And the twenty-four elders who sit on their thrones before God fell on their faces and worshiped God,  17 saying, "We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, who is and who was, for you have taken your great power and begun to reign.  18 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. 11:15-18 ESV)

 When the seventh trumpet sounds, heaven resounds. The voices John hears are not named, but they might be the same as the Four Living Creatures in chapter 4-5, which represented all those in the history of the Church whom God calls to preach His Word. (The Twenty-Four Elders likewise stand for all of those redeemed by Jesus—the True Church, the Saints throughout the ages.) If that’s the voices of the Living Creatures here, then the idea is that around this time in history, Christian churches would begin to be filled with Bible preaching that heralds the overthrow of the Kingdom of Antichrist, and the nearness of the coming of Christ. The preaching and writing of Reformed churches in Europe, and Englishmen like Joseph Mede, Thomas Brightman, John Bunyan, Sir Isaac Newton, and Matthew Henry, the whole movement of the Presbyterians in Scotland, the Puritans in England, and the early Baptists also resound with a consistent message that echoes the song of these heavenly voices: “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). At the very least, this is an angelic interlude declaring the battle is won, even if it’s not over. Like how D-Day in WWII was almost a year before VE Day. The tense of that word “has become”, in Greek, suggests a translation, “the Kingdom of this world became the Kingdom of our Lord…”. The outcome of the battle will last forever: “He will reign forever and ever”.

As soon as this chorus sings the victory of Christ, the choir of the Redeemed answers back with praise.

The Covenant Is Here

“19 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).

This Temple scene predicts a time when the true Christian Church would be out in the open, preaching the Good News, and warning the nations that Christ is returning soon. The Temple scene is parallel to another Temple scene in chapter 15, when

Remember I said this was underlined and in bold print by the drama associated with this verse: the thunder and lightning and earthquake and hail. Notice this verse that should stand out and be the center of the whole passage we've looked at so far.

But you can't be part of Christ's Kingdom if you haven't already come under the protection of Christ's Covenant. If you read this verse and all you see is a temple and an ark and a storm you've missed the point. The thunder and lightning is supposed to make you think of one event. The rumblings and the hail are supposed to make you think of one event. It's supposed to make you think of the presence of God on the mountain. It's supposed to make you think of the presence of God on Mount Sinai. Exodus 20:8 says,

Now when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and trembled, and they stood far off  19 and said to Moses, "You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die." (Exod. 20:18-19 ESV)

And we read verse 19 so casually. It’s supposed to show us the presence of God! The presence of God filled Israel with dread because he had made known his law. This was right after the Ten Commandments. He had made known his law and when he made known his law he made known their sin. Their sin was revealed against the backdrop of the Majesty of his Holiness, and it was a fearsome thing! So Moses spoke for God but Moses could not remove the people's sin. Sinners need a better mediator than Moses. Sinners need a better Covenant than God gave Moses (which was only a temporary covenant: 2 Cor 3:7-11). Sinners need God himself to save them.

Here is that urgency. This is an urgency you hide from. This is an urgency you find all kinds of ways to distract yourself from so you don't have to think about it. This is an urgency that is so uncomfortable and difficult to contemplate. Movie theaters, and Social Media, and TV exists to entertain us so we don't have to look directly at the truth; so that we can pretend we're not mortal; so that we can pretend the day of our own death is not rapidly approaching--much less the day of Christ's return. Here is that urgency and we do everything to hide ourselves from it.

These prophecies show that the day is coming when no one will ever be able again to hide from the Holiness of God. When Christ himself will stand upon the Earth, in the flesh: When God in Christ comes to rule His kingdom forever. And whether that encounter with that King—your encounter with the King of Kings—whether that encounter that you one day will have will be the beginning of your Eternal death, or the beginning of your eternal life, depends on one thing: Whether you have asked the king to remove your sins. That's how you can be protected from the Wrath to come.

Romans 11:27 explains the Covenant in the shortest way I know in the entire Bible: “…And this will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins," (Rom. 11:27 ESV). The Ark of the Covenant was seen in the temple. A sign, a symbol of God's Covenant of Grace in Jesus Christ—the only way we can come to God and say, “Lord because of what you've promised, forgive my sins in Jesus Christ. Please father include me in this circle of protection. Include me in your Covenant. I put my trust in Jesus and I ask because of what he did for me, shield me from the wrath that I deserve.” “…And this will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins," (Rom. 11:27 ESV).

But look again one last time at this scene in verse 19. Look again here at this dreadful display of wrath on Mount Sinai. Notice the person, who is not described explicitly but he's there prominently, and see how this scene of wrath and judgment and darkness is juxtaposed with the urgent display of grace on Mount Zion: the temple was not on Mount Sinai. The temple belongs to Mount Zion. These are two mountains juxtaposed together. Two mountains standing like one over top of another. One of Law and condemnation if we are unprotected in our sins and one of grace and forgiveness under the blood of Jesus Christ. Sinai and Zion. The temple is open: you can see the Ark of the Covenant; you can see the promise of gospel grace. If you believe in Jesus Christ you are saved. You can see it right there! And as we turn the pages of Earth's history you have living out your life day by day just like always, unaware that the end of this age is upon us.

This Temple scene predicts a time when the Christian Church, the true Church, would be out in the open. Opened up, preaching the Good News, warning the nations that Christ is returning soon. And since the time of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century, the Church of Christ, the true Spiritual Church—the Temple!—has been opened wide. Not one denomination, not two denominations, not a particular Confession of Faith: the Church of Jesus Christ that believes and preaches His Good News according to His Scripture! Millions have humbled themselves, confessed their sins to Jesus, and asked for mercy. Millions have joined the Church of the Redeemed, those Twenty-Four Elders waiting in eager hope to see and rejoice to see the coming of the Kingdom of Christ. Missionaries were sent around the world and still are being sent. Thousands upon thousands. Probably hundreds of thousands of churches have been planted like this one all around the world. The gospel has been preached. Bibles have been translated in every corner of this Earth.

The temple was opened and the Gospel of Christ's Covenant was proclaimed far and wide. And it seems to me today that people have stopped listening. And it seems to me today that it's because we have become distracted. The people who should feel dread are distracted and deluded and the people who should feel urgency are asleep. So now, my friends, seeing this Temple opened like this, now is not the time to sleep. Now is not the time to fall silent. Now is not the time to stop sharing the Good News or to slip quietly into the quicksand of worldly sins. Now is not that time. Paul says in Romans 13,

…You know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed.  12 The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light.  13 Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy.  14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.  (Rom. 13:11-14 ESV)

The king is on His Mountain.  Will we shout his victory? May God help us do this for the glory of our coming King.