15 The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, which said: “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah, and he will reign for ever and ever." 16 And the twenty-four elders, who were seated on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshiped God, 17 saying: “We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, the One who is and who was, because you have taken your great power and have begun to reign. ~ Revelation 11:15-17
With the blowing of the seventh trumpet we reach the midway point of the book of the Revelation. This marks the end of the tribulation period and the beginning of the millennium. Up to this point in our study of Revelation, we have been given heaven’s viewpoint, and it is obvious that heaven is exhilarated at what is about to happen.
This brings up a very important point. Many things in life do not make sense to us, especially when we only see it through the lens of time and this world. But, when we view it from the viewpoint of God, we see it differently. This is one of the main points in the book of Ephesians. The phrase "In Heavenly Places" is a very prominent theme in Ephesians. The point is that unless we transcend in our perspective of this life, we will be overwhelmed and debilitated in our understanding of the will of God for our lives. Incidentally, when we get to the bowl judgments, in Revelation 16, we will view these same events that we have been viewing through the seven trumpet judgments, but through the bowl judgments we will see them through the eyes of those on the earth at that time. Learning to view life from God's perspective is of major importance for us to walk in the will of God. This is what faith in the God of the Bible is all about. If we only view life from our vantage point our understanding of Him and life will be quite limited.
In v.15 we read, "The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, which said: “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah, and he will reign for ever and ever."
With the seventh trumpet, we are being introduced to the one thousand year reign of Christ on the earth which will take place after the Tribulation. The angels here loudly proclaim the beginning of Christ's millennial reign on the earth, and this creates great worship in them. They worship Him because He has taken His great power and He has begun to reign righteously for eternity. The power of Satan is now broken forever, the issue of God's sovereignty is revealed and forever sealed.
Now, notice that in v.15 we read “The kingdom of the world,” not the kingdoms, the kingdom, it is singular. That is very important because the world, though it is divided into many different nations and peoples and languages is really one kingdom under the god of this world, the ruler of darkness. This world is really one kingdom with one monarch, namely Satan. He received his dominion of the earth after Adam and Eve rebelled against God in the Garden of Eden.
Government was designed and ordered by God for the well-being of man. There is no government on earth, nor has there ever been that is submissive to God. God has ordained government and put it in place, but people within those governments and even the leaders are not totally submissive to God. His sovereignty has never been recognized by the governments of this world. There are no Christian nation, there have never been any Christian nations. Yet, the long rebellion of this world’s kingdoms against God will end at the end of the Tribulation.
In v.16-17 we read, "16 And the twenty-four elders, who were seated on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshiped God, 17 saying: “We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, the One who is and who was, because you have taken your great power and have begun to reign."
At this point those who represent the Church, the twenty-four elders who sit on their thrones before God, fall on their faces and worship God. They praise God for His sovereignty. And here, we are given the events of the end from the viewpoint of God. When we get to Revelation 12 we will look at the Tribulation not from God’s point of view, but from Satan’s point of view. We will view it not from the side of the conquering Christ, but from the side of the eventually defeated Antichrist.
With the sounding of the seventh angel, the effects of the judgment will not be explained until we get to Revelation 15. Heaven rejoices with praise because God has already given these happenings from the eternal viewpoint, and it is obvious that righteousness will win the day.
So the end of Satan’s power has come and the establishment of the sovereign kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ will now be reality. The twenty-four elders fall on their faces and worship God. They did the same thing in Revelation 5:14. They are so exhilarated because this is the moment for the fulfillment of the age-old prayer, “Thy kingdom come.”
This will be a time of thanksgiving, according to v.17. It will be a time for the elders to express their gratitude to God for answering the prayers of the tribulational saints for justice to reign. All the prophecies predicting this event will once and for all be fulfilled. All the hopes of God’s people throughout time will be fulfilled, and thanksgiving will be the most proper response.
Notice the wonderful truth in what they say: “We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty.” The word “almighty” means “the absolutely sovereign one.” They will acknowledge the Lord Jesus Christ as the One who is able to fulfill the promises of the prophets, because His power surpasses the power of Satan. This has the sense of God exercising His all-encompassing, all-embracing will by His unbelievably mighty power, against which no one can stand.
They also identify Him as "the One who is and who was, because you have taken your great power and have begun to reign." In Revelation 1:8 we read, “The Lord God is the Alpha and Omega, who is and who was and who is to come; who is, who was, who is to come.” And, then in Revelation 4:8 we read, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty who was, who is, who is to come.”
Here in Revelation 11, the words “who is to come” is not included, because this will be the time of His arrival. And, when we go to Revelation 16:7 we read, “O Lord God, the Almighty, true and righteous,” again He is identified as the Almighty One. In Revelation 16:5 we read, “The one who is and who was.” Again, the words “who is to come” is not included because it’s not any longer in the future. It will be at this point that Psalm 24:1 will be realized. It reads, “The earth is the Lord’s and all it contains, the world, and all who dwell in it.”
To pray "Thy Kingdom come" means to invite God’s will in the world and to open our hearts to what God wants for our lives. It’s a prayer that summarizes the entire Bible and what God wants to do on the earth. We experience brokenness in this world because of our rejection of God and His plan. This is why we have war, sickness, injustice, and all manner of brokenness in the world. His Kingdom is good, merciful, and full of wisdom. This is the message of the entire Bible from beginning to end, from Genesis to Revelation. God wants to restore this broken and hurting world to His original design, where there will be no more brokenness.
