The Kingdom of Christ in Revelation

Imagine, if you can, that you live in the First Century AD. Rome is persecuting Christians. Idol and Emperor worship abounds. People all around use religion as license to gorge themselves on sex, food, and drink. Rome has built a culture of death. The Colosseum is an active place of entertaining bloodshed. Christians are being arrested and killed because they will not worship the Emperor. Those who deny the Emperor cannot buy and sell in the marketplace. The right to free assembly has been revoked off and on. Christians were being burned during Nero’s erotic garden parties. In this context, John writes the book of Revelation in order to encourage the local churches through such tribulation—far worse tribulation than we can imagine. So far, John has encouraged the churches by claiming that:

1. Christ is accomplishing what He promised He would. He is worthy to open the book.
2. Christ is not unaware of our pain and tribulation. He will make all things right.
3. Christ is justifying His people and judging the wicked.
4. The churches are Christ’s lawful witness against the injustices of the world.
5. Rome is persecuting the churches, but the churches will persevere in revival and resurrection.
6. Rome, who persecutes the churches, will eventually be ruined because God is just.

In today’s pericope, John reveals a truth to which First Century Christians (and every genuine Christian) can hold fast. Let’s be encouraged, together.

Revelation 11:15-19

Then the seventh angel sounded; 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 will reign forever and ever.”

And the twenty-four elders, who sit on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying, “We give You thanks, O Lord God, the Almighty, who are and who were, because You have taken Your great power and have begun to reign. And the nations were enraged, and Your wrath came, and the time came for the dead to be judged, and the time to reward Your bond-servants the prophets and the saints and those who fear Your name, the small and the great, and to destroy those who destroy the earth.”

And the temple of God which is in heaven was opened; and the ark of His covenant appeared in His temple, and there were flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder and an earthquake and a great hailstorm.

Christ’s advent (v. 15)

Then the seventh angel sounded; 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 will reign forever and ever.”

“Then” is a reference not to the timing of particular events. Revelation is not a chronological account in that way. “Then” describes the order in which John sees what he does in his vision. The visions can refer to any timeframe, perpetual events, or simple truths concerning the unveiling (or revelation) of Jesus Christ.

The seventh angel sounds the seventh trumpet, the seventh pronouncement of Christ’s coming in judgment and the celebration of the saints. The second interlude has ended, and we find ourselves observing, again, John’s primary sequence of symbols. Loud voices in heaven are singing Handel’s Messiah, otherwise known as the Hallelujah Chorus.

When the sixth trumpet was blasted, we saw Christ riding over the earth with His witnesses behind Him proclaiming the Gospel. John writes Revelation as an unveiling of Christ. Throughout Revelation, he describes Jesus Christ taking over the world by way of the sword in His mouth—His word. In 10:6-7, John identified the timing of the seventh trumpet—Christ’s incarnation. In John’s Gospel, John described Christ’s work:

• Jesus was God and was with God in the beginning (John 1:1).
• Jesus became flesh (John 1:14).
• Jesus came to testify to the truth (John 1:17; 18:37).
• All things were given to Jesus (John 3:35; 13:3; cf. Matthew 4:17; 28:18).

So, we know that, according to John (and the other Gospel writers), all authority was given to Jesus in His incarnation. Throughout Revelation, John consistently points us back to the incarnation. Jesus’s authority is not being reserved for a future date. He reigns. When the voices sing the Hallelujah Chorus, they proclaim a current reality. The messianic promises have been fulfilled. The kingdom of this world became the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He will indeed reign forever. If the Bible begins Christ’s reign at His incarnation (post- or amillennial), we must also if we are creatures of His word. This is the historic interpretation of the text and historic doctrine of the church. That is why we sing Handel’s Messiah, or the Hallelujah Chorus, when we celebrate Christmas. It is why almost every historic hymn of the faith is essentially postmillennial. I would not dare go against Scripture by claiming that Jesus’s reign has not yet begun—which means much for our interpretation of the 1,000 year reign in Chapter 20. Whatever we say there, it must be consistent with the rest of the Bible and John’s Revelation concerning the kingdom of Jesus Christ on the earth.

Christ’s reign (v. 16-18)

And the twenty-four elders, who sit on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying, “We give You thanks, O Lord God, the Almighty, who are and who were, because You have taken Your great power and have begun to reign.”

The twenty-four elders, symbolizing the church, praise God. God is and was. He is eternal, omnipresent throughout time. In the incarnation of Jesus Christ, God has taken His great power and has begun to reign. But, I though God was always sovereign? How is it possible that God begun to reign only at the advent of Christ in the First Century AD? It seems illogical and impossible that God would not have reigned prior to the incarnation. John clarifies.

“And the nations were enraged, and Your wrath came, and the time came for the dead to be judged, and the time to reward Your bond-servants the prophets and the saints and those who fear Your name, the small and the great, and to destroy those who destroy the earth.”

John refers to a pre-advent time. The nations of the world were enraged. They ruled themselves. In Christ, God’s wrath came. At Christ’s advent, the time came for the dead to be judged, the servants of God to be rewarded, and those who destroy the earth to be destroyed. John is not teaching, here, that God was ever not sovereign or that Christ was ever not Lord. He is teaching that, when Christ became incarnate, He ascended to David’s throne. Through His ascension to David’s throne, He inherited every worldly kingdom as His own possession in the flesh.

Adam was created the federal head of creation in God’s image to rule the earth (Genesis 1-2). Adam transgressed God’s Law and brought the world into sin and wretchedness (Genesis 3) because of his representative rule. Only God could be the righteous federal head of His creation. Christ was born, the last Adam (1 Corinthians 15:45). At His incarnation, Christ—who was already sovereign Lord—became the federal head of His creation (the chief representative ruler), ending the curse upon the land—which came through Adam. God has begun to reign in this way. All authority was given to Christ, and the kingdoms of the world have become the kingdom of God and His Christ. Now Christ’s body, the church, follow Him as true representative rulers according to God’s design and accomplished by Him. At His incarnation, Jesus began judging the world and rewarding His saints—which we saw bearing out in the destruction of Jerusalem, Rome, and continue to see bearing out in the tearing down of heathen nations (indeed they are tearing themselves apart), building up of the saints, and renewal of God’s earth from the turmoil of those early centuries. Christ isn’t finished with His work of renewal yet. When He is, He will return to the earth to dwell with His church forevermore. He judges the world, but He does so with prudence and grace (cf. Genesis 15:16).

Despite the tribulation he and the seven local churches to whom he writes partake in (1:9), John believes that Christ has begun to reign and is bringing peace and justice to His earth like the prophets foretold. Thus, he encourages the saints. Christ is king. He is making all things new.

Redemptive history (v. 19)

And the temple of God which is in heaven was opened; and the ark of His covenant appeared in His temple, and there were flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder and an earthquake and a great hailstorm.

At the incarnation of Christ, the temple of God is opened. This temple is not on the earth. There have been two Jewish temples on the earth. They have been open to the nations. Christ opens the temple in heaven where John sees the ark of His covenant—which houses the Law, the little book in 10:1-11. The symbolism, here, is unmistakable. The opening of the heavenly temple and revelation of God’s ark indicates the end of the curse and the end of the separation between God and man—a binding up, if you will, of Satan. God has fulfilled His covenant and Law in Christ alone. Jesus taught that He came to fulfill all the Law and Prophets in His incarnation (Matthew 5:17), and He fully revealed God (Hebrews 1:1-4)—which John envisioned in 10:1-7. Not only is the testimony about the world complete in Christ (7 seals), Christ’s declaration against the world is also complete in His incarnation (7 trumpets).

Lightning, thunder, an earthquake, and a great hailstorm accompany the uncovering of the ark, which have previously accompanied the proclamation of the Law and Prophets in the Old Testament and Revelation (cf. 4:5; 8:5). Be encouraged. In this world, we experience tribulation. Christ is king. He is making all things new.