The Setting of 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.”
Revelation 11:15

Revelation 11:1–19 – The Book of Revelation: Worship. Obey. Endure.
Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost  – September 25, 2022 (am)

Three weeks ago, I opened saying Rev.10 and 11 (latest interlude) belong together, just like Rev.8 and 9 (seven trumpets), Rev.4 and 5 (throne room), and Rev.2 and 3 (seven churches). I said we’d handle these chapters separately, just as we did with each of those other couplings. But we’ll work hard to help them hang together in our minds, especially this time when the two parts have been separated by three weeks.

As we said in the title that day, c.10 is the opening of a new interlude, much like we saw back in c.7 between the sixth and seventh seals. But this one between the sixth and seventh trumpets is a bit different. That one focused on promise, praise, and protection to undergird the assurance of God’s people in tribulation. This interlude has three similar but different emphases: (1) it declares the certainty and nearness of the end (10:1-7); (2) it reaffirms and extends John’s commission to prophesy (10:8-11); and (3) it clarifies the [church’s call] to bear witness to Christ in the time of tribulation (11:1-13) (Beasley Murray 1994 1439). In other words, cc.10-11 are getting us situated and set up for all that follows. And what follows begins before today’s chapter even ends! Here in c.11, we finish the setting of the seventh trumpet. Then we hear that trumpet sounded and we see what begins to happen. [This] chapter is extraordinarily difficult to interpret and the most diverse solutions have been proposed (Morris 140). But there are two primary approaches among premillennialists. Let’s consider them.

·    Some take these images literally. This requires belief in a literal temple being rebuilt in Jerusalem and two literal witnesses, most often believed to be Moses and Elijah, whether literally, like their appearance on the Mount of Transfiguration (Mar.9:4), or symbolically, like when Jesus said that [John the Baptist] is Elijah who [came] (Mat.11:14) to prepare [the] way before [Him] (Mat.11:10/Mal.3:1).

·    Others see a more symbolic meaning, most commonly by understanding the temple (1) as the church. The two witnesses (3ff.), then, are some subset of the church that suffers persecution for their witness to the gospel. The great city (8) is this fallen world order, mainly Rome in John’s day, or Babylon in biblical history—all that’s opposed to God and will be destroyed in the end.

I believe John intended his readers to see these images as symbolic of great realities that are recurring and escalating as world, and especially redemption, history advances, just as has been the case through most of this letter. But I also believe we’ll see an ultimate, final, literal fulfillment of these images in the end. And that moves us into the text. Let’s look at c.11 in its three thematic parts.

The Measuring of the Temple – 1-2

The first hint that John intends us to see these as symbols comes as we hear him being instructed to 1 … measure the temple of God and the altar and those who worship there—the people! How do you measure people? But then he goes on to say that the part he’s not supposed to measure is not measured because 2 … it is given over to the nations, and they will trample the holy city for forty-two months. This confirms that John is speaking symbolically. It’s like a parable (Beale 1999 557). Surely John isn’t being sent to determine the dimensions of the temple, or the number or sizes of those who worship there!

Measuring in the OT can symbolize assessment either for judgment (2Sa.8:2a; 2Ki.21:13; Amo.7:7-9; Isa.34:11; Lam.2:8) or for protection (2Sa.8:2b; Eze.40:1-6; 42:20; Zec.2:5). Here it’s obviously for protection—keeping the promise of the seal of the living God that was issued back in c.7 (7:2). Greg Beale presses this point even further, saying that this measuring is a promise of God’s nearness to His people as the end approaches. The faith of his people will be upheld by his presence, since without faith there can be no divine presence. No aberrant theological or ethical influences will be able to spoil or contaminate their true faith or worship. In c.11 this means that the promise of God’s eschatological presence begins with the establishment of the Christian community. The command to measure is to be viewed from God’s perspective as representing a decree already enacted prior to the issuing of [that] command. Even before the church age began, God made a decree that secured the salvation of all people who would become genuine members of the church. Therefore, the measuring here has the same meaning as the sealing in 7:3-8 (Beale 1999 559-560). We are secure!

So, what is this passage (1-2) actually telling us? That’s not easy to say! This is one of the most disputed chapters in this whole letter (perhaps more than c.20) with layer upon layer of OT references and allusions! But at the heart of all that, it’s not that difficult to discern. Just before the sounding of the final trumpet, God promises to protect His people, just as He did before the opening of the final seal (c.7).

A bit of context: the word John used here for temple (1) [points to] the temple building [itself, distinguished from] the outer court (Ladd 151), as we can see (2). This section would include the Holy of Holies and the Holy Place plus the courts of the priests, of Israel, and of the women. The [outer] court (2) was that of the Gentiles, then the city.

From among those who dwell in proximity to the presence of God, then—the inhabitants of the holy city—and from among those who’ve skirted on the edges of the people of God—in the [outer] court of the temple—there are those, a faithful flock, a remnant of true believers, who’re being measured to know the protecting presence of God for these horrific times, these forty-two months (2; 13:5), these 1,260 days (3; 12:6). Since Daniel’s day (Dan.9:27), this had become a virtual metaphor in Israel for life under evil oppression, great tribulation (7:14). That was epitomized for them during the days of Antiochus IV and the Maccabean revolt (167 bc). This number will reoccur in varied forms over the next three chapters.

Here in c.11, as with the two multitudes that were actually one (c.7), I believe these worshipers in the temple are the true church, the one new man (cf. Eph.2:15), Jew and Gentile alike who’ve trusted Christ as Savior. Several times in the NT the church has been called the temple using this same word (1Co.3:16; 2Co.6:16; Eph.2:21). The church, the temple of God (1), is promised His protecting presence during this escalating season of great tribulation (7:14; 2:22).

The Ministry of the Two Witnesses – 3-14

3 And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, this entire time, clothed in sackcloth. Debate has raged for centuries over the identity of these two witnesses. Are they real people, or do they symbolize something else? Are they actually two ancient prophets returned to life? Why are there two? Options abound (cf. Aune II 599ff.). There are two likely because the Law requires at least two for any conviction (Deu.19:15). From the miracles in vv.4-6, they most resemble Moses and Elijah—wielding fire (5) and stopping rain (6), turning water to blood and striking the earth with every kind of plague (6). So, even if it’s not Moses and Elijah in-person (as at the Transfiguration [Mar.9:4]), these two will do the same work those two did in their respective days. But here they’ll be bearing witness to Jesus! (my two witnesses [4])

7 And when they have finished their testimony—nothing will stop them prematurely—the beast that rises from the bottomless pit will make war on them and conquer them and kill them. This is almost certainly the same beast that John will see rising out of the sea in 13:1 (Ladd 155). This is his first appearance—antichrist (1Jo.2:18), the abomination of desolation (Mar.13:14), the man of lawlessness (2Th.2:3), Daniel’s little horn (Dan.7:8) who’ll wear out the saints of the Most High… for a time, times, and half a time (Dan.7:25), forty-two months (2), 1,260 days (3). Here he’s, putting to death the two witnesses who’ve finished their [work] (7). And he’s doing it in the most demeaning way possible. 9 For three and a half days, echoing three and a half years ([cf. Dan.9:27; Luk.4:25] forty-two months, 1,260 days, a time, times, and half a time), some from the peoples and tribes and languages and nations will gaze at their dead bodies and refuse to let them be placed in a tomb. So, the godless nations will celebrate this travesty like it was Christmas! (10)

This is how it will be in the end. But don’t think this isn’t already how it is here and now, today, and has been in every generation of the church since Jesus ascended to the Father. Perhaps the biggest reason we don’t know precisely who these two witnesses are is because they’re different in each generation of the church, right on up to the last when there will be these final two. After all, we know there will be many antichrists before the final one (1Jo.2:18). Same with the witnesses.

And just as there will be some from every tribe and language and people and nation who are ransomed for God by the work of Jesus (5:9), there will also be some from the peoples and tribes and languages and nations who will gaze at [the desecrated] bodies of these martyred witnesses and refuse them [a decent burial] (9). But regardless, the two witnesses will be vindicated by resurrection (11), as will all of God’s people in the end, thus also identifying these two with the church in her mission and her destiny.

The Sounding of the Seventh Trumpet – 15-19

Now, in what appears to be this middle of this current interlude, we read: 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.” 16 And the twenty-four elders who sit on their thrones before God fell on their faces and worshiped God. This response lends much credence to the words of the angel back in 10:6 … there [will] be no more delay! It reads with an air of finality—16 … the twenty-four elders… worshiped God with yet another hymn, 17 saying, “We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, who is and who was, notice, this no longer includes and is to come (cf., 1:4, 8; 4:8; 16:5), 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, sounds a lot like final judgment on the nations (19:11-21), and for rewarding your servants, the prophets and saints, and those who fear your name, both small and great, sounds a lot like resurrection of the righteous (20:4-6), and for destroying the destroyers of the earth,” sounds a lot like the judgment of Satan and his armies (20:7-10) (cf. Beasley-Murray 1994 1441).

Let’s keep reading. 19 Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, sounding like the completion of the work God started when the curtain of the temple was torn in two (Mat.27:51) as Jesus died, yet it still anticipates the time when His dwelling place will be with his people (21:3) in the city with no temple because its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb (21:22) (cf. Ladd 163), and the ark of his covenant was seen within his temple, confirming this is the same God Who’s been working toward this moment since He first established His temporary dwelling among his people. There were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and heavy hail—His judgment falls (Beale 1999 618).

Conclusion

With the sounding of the seventh trumpet, the consummation of the kingdom of God has arrived (Beasley-Murray 1994 1441). Strangely, there’s eleven chapters left in this letter! We’re only halfway through it! But we’re clearly hearing John describe the second coming of Jesus, and in terms that anticipate the closing chapters of the book with virtually the same progression of events! This is one of the reasons it doesn’t work very well to try to chart this book or lay it out chronologically. It just doesn’t really progress that way. From here to the end, we’ll see recaps and replays of some things, and deeper studies of others; we’ll see compressed sequences of judgments with more interludes of worship mixed in. And the metaphor we’ve used of a fireworks finale remains a good image for what lies ahead before the end.

But what is our take-away this morning? What’s our word of encouragement beyond seeing yet another stunning manifestation of the fact that our God is sovereign over all things and nothing, not one thing, is out of His hands? I’d say it comes in v.19. We can get so concerned, and even fearful, about the possible trials and tribulations and persecution and suffering that mark the end of days that we can be reticent to echo this book’s clear bottom line: 22:20 … Come, Lord Jesus! V.19 can help us with that. For those of us who are measured off with the temple, and who are witnesses to the good news of our Lord Jesus Christ, heaven opens up for us! The presence of God is our destiny, our inheritance. That which with sustains us spiritually in our times of trial here and now, and thrills us in our times of worship, will be our day-by-day, moment-by-moment experience forever and ever 7 … when [we] have finished [our] testimony…—when our sojourn in this world is complete!

I don’t believe there could be any more encouraging take-away than that this morning! Heaven opens for us! This makes the God of heaven worthy of our enduring worship and obedience! And the best news of all is that He can actually enable each of these things within us!

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Resources

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NEXT WEEK’S SERMON: The Woman and the Dragon, Revelation 12:1–17