February 27 - The Seventh Trumpet (pt. 2)

February 27 – The Seventh Trumpet (pt. 2)
Revelation 11:16-19

“And the twenty-four elders who were seated on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying:

‘We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, who is and who was, because you have taken your great power and have begun to reign. The nations were angry and your wrath has come. The time has come for judging the dead, and for rewarding your servants the prophet and your saints and those who reverence your name, both small and great – and for destroying those who destroy the earth.’

Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, and within his temple was seen the ark of the covenant. And there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake and a great hailstorm.”

As soon as the voices sing the song we recognize from Handel’s “Messiah,” the elders fall from their thrones again on their faces before God and worship Him.

“We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty.” This is the only time the word ‘thank’ is used in the Revelation. The Lord God Almighty is commonly an OT term for God. The Hebrew for this is ‘El Shaddai.’

“Who is and who was” Do you see something missing from this sentence? The time is now. The future has come and now simply ‘is.’

“because you have taken your great power and begun to reign.” He is. He is now. He has begun to reign.

“The nations were angry and your wrath has come.” We don’t see it in English, but this is a Greek play on words. John is actually being a bit ironic with this sentence. The Greek word for angry is ‘orgidzo’ which simply means ‘to arouse to anger,’ while the Greek word for God’s wrath is ‘orge’ which means ‘indignant anger, anger exhibited in punishment.’ John is telling us that the nations’ anger is impotent, while God’s wrath is omnipotent.

“The time has come for judging the dead, and for rewarding your servants the prophets and your saints and those who reverence your name, both small and great.” These three things will take place. All of God’s people, from the least to the greatest will be dealt with before …

“and for destroying those who destroy the earth.” …before it’s all over. We have seen some of this destruction occur, the rest is soon to follow. As soon as we finish this time of worship, we move into the horrors that await us.

When the temple is open, we see the ark of the covenant. This could either be the heavenly counterpart to the Ark designed for the Tabernacle or it could be the Ark that carried the Ten Commandments.

The original Ark disappeared at some point, probably when Nebuchadnezzar burned the temple (2 Kings 25:9). Jeremiah laments that the Ark will no longer even be remembered or missed, nor will another be made (Jer. 3:16). Tradition has it that Jeremiah hid the ark in a cave in Mt. Sinai to await the final restoration of Israel.

Now, though this story isn’t in our canon of the Bible, it is from 2 Maccabees, which is accepted in the Catholic church and is from the period of time between the Old and New Testaments.

“The same document also tells how the prophet, following a divine revelation, ordered that the tent and the ark should accompany him and how he went off to the mountain which Moses climbed to God’s inheritance. When Jeremiah arrived there, he found a room in a cave in which he put the tent, the ark, and the altar of incense; then he blocked up the entrance. Some of those who followed him came up intending to mark the path, but they could not find it. When Jeremiah heard of this, he reproved them: “The place is to remain unknown until God gathers his people together again and shows them mercy. Then the Lord will disclose these things, and the glory of the Lord will be seen in the cloud, just as it appeared in the time of Moses and when Solomon prayed that the Place might be gloriously sanctified.”

Whether God has gathered the Ark of the Covenant to heaven or this is the heavenly original, the sight of it is there to remind us that He is the God of His Covenants. He made the covenants with us and He will keep them.

The chapter ends with lightning, rumblings, thunder, an earthquake and a great hailstorm. God certainly makes a scene when He wants to. In a dramatic sequence in a movie, you might see a couple of these things happen, but to prepare us for the final battles, God presents all the noise and action He has. Are you ready?