Seventh Angel's
Trumpet
(Daniel and
Revelation by Uriah Smith 1897- Excerpts)
Revelation Chapter
11
VERSE 15. And the
seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The
kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ;
and he shall reign forever and ever. 16. And the four and
twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and
worshiped God, 17. Saying, We give thee thanks, O
Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast
taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned.
From the 15th verse
to the end of the chapter, we seem to be carried over the ground, from the
sounding of the seventh angel to the end, three distinct times.
In the verses last quoted, the prophet glances
forward to the full establishment of the kingdom of God. Although the seventh
trumpet has begun to sound, it may not yet be a fact that the great voices in
heaven have proclaimed that the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms
of our Lord and of his Christ, except it be in anticipation of the speedy
accomplishment of this event; but the seventh trumpet, like the preceding six,
covers a period of time: and the transfer of the kingdoms from earthly powers
to Him whose right it is to reign, is the principal event to occur in the early
years of its sounding; hence this event, to the exclusion of all else, here
engages the
p 539 -- mind of the
prophet. (See remarks on verse 19.) In the next verse John goes back and takes
up intervening events as follows:
VERSE 18. And the
nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they
should be judged, and that thou shouldst give reward unto thy servants the
prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and
shouldst destroy them which destroy the earth.
"The Nations
Were Angry." - Commencing with the wonderful revolution in Europe in 1848,
that spontaneous outburst of violence among the nations, their anger toward one
another, their jealousy and envy, have been constantly increasing. Almost every
paper shows the fearful degree to which they are now excited, and how tense has
become the strain on the relations between them.
"And Thy Wrath
Is Come." - The wrath of God for the present generation is filled up in
the seven last plagues (chapter 15:1), which consequently must here be referred
to, and which are soon to be poured out upon the earth.
The Judgment of the
Dead. - "And the time of the dead, that they should be judged." The
great majority of the dead, that is, the wicked, are still in their graves
after the visitation of the plagues, and the close of this dispensation. A work
of judgment, of allotting to each one the punishment due to his sins, is
carried on in reference to them by the saints, in conjunction with Christ,
during the one thousand years following the first resurrection. I Cor. 6:2;
Rev. 20:4. Inasmuch as this judgment of the dead follows the wrath of God, or
the seven last plagues, it would seem necessary to refer it to the one thousand
years of judgment upon the wicked, above mentioned; for the investigative
judgment takes place before the plagues are poured out.
The Reward of the
Righteous. - "And that thou shouldst give reward unto thy servants the
prophets." These will enter upon their reward at the coming of Christ, for
he brings their reward with him. Matt. 16:27; Rev. 22:12. The full reward of
the saints however is not reached till they enter upon the possession of the
new earth. Matt. 25:34.
p 540 --
(picture
omitted)
p 541 -- The
Punishment of the Wicked. - "And shoudst destroy them which destroy the
earth," referring to the time when all the wicked will be forever devoured
by those purifying fires which come down from God out of heaven upon them, and
which melt and renovate the earth. 2 Peter 3:7; Rev. 20:9. By this we learn
that the seventh trumpet reaches over to the end of the one thousand years.
Momentous, startling, but yet joyous thought! that the trumpet is now sounding
which is to see the final destruction of the wicked, and to behold the saints,
clothed in a glorious immortality, safely located on the earth made new.
Once more the
prophet carries us back to the commencement of the trumpet, in the following
language:
VERSE 19. And the
temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of
his testament: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an
earthquake, and great hail.
Having introduced
the seventh trumpet in verse 15, the first great event that strikes the mind of
the seer is the transfer of the kingdom from earthly to heavenly rule. God
takes to him his great power, and forever crushes the rebellion of this
revolted earth, establishes Christ upon his own throne, and remains himself
supreme over all. This picture being completed, we are pointed back, in verse
18, to the state of the nations, the judgment to fall upon them, and the final
destiny of both saints and sinners. This field of vision having been scanned,
we are taken back once more in the verse now under notice, and our attention is
called to the close of the priesthood of Christ, the last scene in the work of
mercy for a guilty world. The temple is opened; the second apartment of the
sanctuary is entered. We know it is the holy of holies that is here opened, for
the ark is seen; and in that apartment alone the ark was deposited. This took
place at the end of the 2300 days, when the sanctuary was to be cleansed, the
time when the prophetic periods expired, and the seventh angel commenced to
sound. Since that time, the people of God have seen by faith the open door in
heaven, and
p 542 -- the ark of
God's testament there. They are endeavoring to keep every precept of the holy
law written upon the tables therein deposited. And that the tables of the law
are there, just as in the ark in the sanctuary erected by Moses, is evident from
the terms which John uses in describing the ark. He calls it the "ark of
his testament." The ark was called the ark of the covenant, or testament,
because it was made for the express purpose of containing the tables of the
testimony, or ten commandments. Ex. 25:16; 31:18; Deut. 10 2, 5. It was put to
no other use, and owed its name solely to the fact that it contained the tables
of the law. If the tables were not therein, it would not be the ark of his
(God's) testament, and could not truthfully be so called. Yet John, beholding
the ark in heaven under the sounding of the seventh trumpet, still calls it the
"ark of his testament," affording unanswerable proof that the law is
still there, unaltered in one jot or tittle from the copy which for a time was
committed to the care of men in the typical ark of the tabernacle during the
Mosaic dispensation.
The followers of the
prophetic word have also received the reed, and are measuring the temple, the
altar, and them that worship therein. Verse 1. They are uttering their last
prophecy before nations, peoples, and tongues. Chapter 10:11. And the drama will
soon close with the lightnings, thunderings, voices, the earthquake, and great
hail, which will constitute nature's last convulsion before all things are made
new at the close of the thousand years. Rev. 21:5. (See on chapter
16:17-21.)
*******
More tomorrow on
this, by the grace and mercy of our LORD and SAVIOR, JESUS CHRIST!
Amen.
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