The Revelation of Jesus Christ
“The Last Trumpet and Final Interlude” Rev 11-12
Review
I. PROLOGUE 1:1-20 (Things you have seen)
II. Messages to the Seven churches 2-3 (Things with are)
III. Last Days 4-22 (Things which are about to take place)
A. Heavenly worship around the throne 4-5
B. The Seven seals 6:1-8:1
C. The Seven Trumpets 8-9
1. Earth Shaking Prayer 8:3-5
2. First six trumpets 8:6-9:21
3. Interlude 10-11:14
a. The mighty angel and the little book 10:1-11
b. The temple 11:1-2
c. The Two Witnesses 11:3-14
The book of Revelation outlines a most engaging drama of the last days. The concepts and players are not all new. Old Testament prophets have provided numerous pictures and clues of end times events and players. So far, we have tracked this drama on two dramatically different stages. Events will unfold on a heavenly stage. Events will unfold on an earthly stage.
Heaven is portrayed as the control center of the universe; God’s throne room. Earth is the dwelling place of the kingdoms of men. John has introduced numerous characters in this drama. He began with a striking vision of the resurrected Christ. This was nothing like the picture of Jesus in the Gospels. This is a resurrected glorious, powerful Christ almost too majestic to describe. John related specific messages from Jesus to each of 7 literal churches in existence at the time of the writing. Jesus addressed issues related to each church common to issues churches have faced throughout church history. John then related a vision of the heavenly stage related to worship in the throne room. He described a most stunning place.
He introduced a number of heavenly characters. Him who sits on the throne. 24 angelic beings seated on 24 thrones around the central throne. 4 other angelic beings inside the throne.
They constantly proclaim the greatness of the eternal holy God who created all things.
John also introduces “The Lamb that was slain”. Jesus comes forward to finish the redemptive work conceived from the beginning of time. The angelic beings offer their praise to the Lamb for His redemptive work extending to people from every tribe and language and people and nation. Their praise is joined by an innumerable number of angels surrounding the throne and grateful creatures and people from every corner of the earth. All heaven declares the glory and worth of the one who sits on the throne and the Lamb. The lamb breaks the seals of a document of the final days of judgment as the scene shifts to the earthly stage where each seal will unleash devastating earthly catastrophes.
John introduces the earthly players. Pagan kingdoms and people of the earth who continue to defy God’s authority. Angels stationed at the four corners of the earth. 144,000 divinely protected Hebrews witnesses for God. John describes a multitude of faithful martyred during this period giving praise around the throne. The breaking of the seventh seal introduces the sounding of the seven trumpet judgments. Demonic hordes join the drama with their own torment. At this point, it is a universal power struggle that includes both seen and unseen beings. The trumpet judgments are more intense and closer together.
Even though the kingdoms of the earth realize that these are divinely caused judgments, they refuse to repent.
20 The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, so as not to worship demons, and the idols of gold and of silver and of brass and of stone and of wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk; 21 and they did not repent of their murders nor of their sorceries nor of their immorality nor of their thefts. Revelation 9:20-21
John was given another vision after the sixth trumpet detailing other events happening during this same period. He describes a strong angel with a little book of further judgments. He is instructed to prophecy concerning the fate of the remaining kingdoms and people. He is told to measure the rebuild temple in Jerusalem. He describes two powerful witnesses who will bear witness to the truth in the last days. John introduces a beast from the abyss that kills the witness once their ministry is done. They are resurrected after 3.5 days to the astonishment and fear of those who see it. That brings us to the sounding of the seventh trumpet and another interlude that introduces some additional characters of the last days.
4. The seventh trumpet 11:15-19
Following these events John switches back to the heavenly stage from where the last trumpet sounds announcing the final showdown. The result of the seventh trumpet is the pouring out of the final seven bowl judgments just as the seven the seal introduced the seven trumpet judgments. The seventh of all three sets of judgments are similar in that they take place in heaven with loud declarations.
Let’s track the events.
• The trumpet sounds
• Loud voices from heaven announce the coming Kingdom.
• The twenty four elders break out in praise and worship
"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." Revelation 11:16-18
The nations rage in rebellion against God
Rather than rejoice at a righteous ruler finally coming to rule, the nations will rage.
David’s Psalm 2 reflects the response.
Why are the nations in an uproar and the peoples devising a vain thing? 2 The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers take counsel together against the LORD and against His Anointed, saying, 3 “Let us tear their fetters apart and cast away their cords from us!” 4 He who sits in the heavens laughs, the Lord scoffs at them. 5 Then He will speak to them in His anger and terrify them in His fury, saying, 6 "But as for Me, I have installed My King Upon Zion, My holy mountain." 7 I will surely tell of the decree of the LORD: He said to Me, 'You are My Son, Today I have begotten You. 8 Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance, and the very ends of the earth as Your possession. 9 You shall break them with a rod of iron, You shall shatter them like earthenware.' 10 Now therefore, O kings, show discernment; take warning, O judges of the earth. 11 Worship the LORD with reverence and rejoice with trembling. 12 Do homage to the Son, that He not become angry, and you perish in the way, for His wrath may soon be kindled. How blessed are all who take refuge in Him! Psalms 2:1-12
God pours out his wrath.
The rebellious dead will be judged.
The faithful bond-servants, prophets and saints who fear God will be rewarded
Reward will be according to faithfulness not significance.
Both the great (significant or prominent) and the small (insignificant, obscure).
The core of genuine faith has to do with confidence in a all powerful rewarding God.
And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him. Hebrews 11:6
God will destroy those who destroyed the earth
This is not an environmentalist manifesto.
Even the earth itself will suffer under the wickedness of sinful people and demonic corruption.
Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. 6 For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience, Colossians 3:5-6
The word can be translated corrupt. Later (19:2), the harlot is condemned for having corrupted the earth with her immorality. Not only will He exercise absolute reign but an absolutely righteous reign. The righteous will be rewarded. The wicked will be punished.
• The heavenly temple opens to view
• The ark appears in the temple
The Ark represented connection with a Holy God. The prominence of the Ark in times of battle was common in Hebrew history.
• More catastrophic phenomenon
Lessons from the seventh Trumpet
• Jesus is coming to reign over the whole earth and establish righteousness and justice.
• Jesus is coming to reward the faithful and punish the wicked.
• All heaven continually recognizes and declares the power and majesty of our God.
• Even nature responds to His greatness.
Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless, 2 Peter 3:14
D. Interlude 12-14
This next section is another interlude.John received another vision detailing the events on the earthly stage taking place sometime between the Seal and Trumpet judgments. These are tribulation details. John provides insight on the driving force behind the last days devastation and world conflict. This section serves as a detailed backfill to tribulation events. The end times chronology does not resume until the bowl judgments in chapter 15. In this interlude, John introduces several additional characters to the drama. Even though some parallels may be seen with certain mythological literature, we must reject any notion that John was influenced by them. It is clear that God gave the information to Jesus to tell John who faithfully recorded it.
1. The Pregnant Woman and the Great Red Dragon
The Woman
A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars; 2 and she was with child; and she cried out, being in labor and in pain to give birth. Revelation 12:1-2
John calls this a “great sign” in that it is a significant event in the whole scheme of things.
Our attention is drawn to the long standing war between Satan the seed of the woman. The war between Satan and a woman rages on to the end. Human defection started from Satan victimizing a woman. Again we find Satan attacking a woman. Satan sought to prevent the promised seed from day one of the prophetic word against him.
Many theories have been offered as to the identity of this woman.
• Mary the actual mother of Jesus. (Persecution during the tribulation dictates against this)
• Israel
• The Church
• The covenant community of God made up of Old and New Testament followers.
I lean towards seeing the woman as representing Israel. Joseph had a dream where he say the sun (Jacob) and the moon (Rachel) and eleven stars (his 11 brothers) bowing down to him.
Israel is considered the mother of Messiah and source of blessing to all nations.
For I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh, 4 who are Israelites, to whom belongs the adoption as sons, and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the Law and the temple service and the promises, 5 whose are the fathers, and from whom is the Christ according to the flesh, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen. Romans 9:3-5
Even as far away as they strayed throughout history, God made an eternal covenant concerning their welfare and blessing that He is about to bring to fulfillment. Israel is the source of worldwide blessing.
The Great Red Dragon
3 Then another sign appeared in heaven: and behold, a great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads were seven diadems. 4 And his tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour her child. Revelation 12:3-4
Here we are given a significant key to human history. Scripture identifies this dragon as Satan.
Dragon image is sinister, deadly and frightening. Red is the color of bloody warfare.
He is great in the sense of power and influence. It is a story of Satan’s attempt to circumvent God’s plan and promise. Just look at a world map. How can one little country with less territory than the state of Washington attract so much attention and so much hatred around the world? From the time of Abraham, Israel had been “with Child” suffering the pain of child birth. Satan continually targeted God’s people to prevent the fulfillment of the Messianic promises.
He made every effort to thwart the birth of our deliverer and his conqueror.
Saul threw a spear at David.
David’s line was threatened several times.
Haman tried to legislate the extermination of the Jews.
The Maccabees resisted the Roman government’s attempt to destroy them.
After His birth, Satan did everything possible to destroy the baby. Satan tried to either tempt Jesus or destroy Him all through His earthly ministry. Eventfully, he accomplished what he thought to be final victory but turned out to be personal defeat.
The description and symbolism of this great red Dragon has been debated over and over.
Many try to identify the seven heads, ten horns and seven crowns John described. At the least, it is a general description of world powers and leaders effectively used by Satan to influence the world and build his kingdom.
The number seven signifies completeness, and the number ten is the number of fullness in the decimal structure. The seven heads and ten horns refer to completeness in conquering the world, which is evident in the appellation applied to Satan, prince of this world (Jo 12:31; 14:30; 16:11).
It may refer to literal historical world powers and their leaders. Some have attempted to identify past powers.
Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome and the last days world power.
Another possibility -- The seven heads are seven high ranking demons driving and empowering world powers.
20 Then he said, "Do you understand why I came to you? But I shall now return to fight against the prince of Persia; so I am going forth, and behold, the prince of Greece is about to come. 21 "However, I will tell you what is inscribed in the writing of truth. Yet there is no one who stands firmly with me against these forces except Michael your prince. Daniel 10:20-21
It is not unreasonable to assume that there is a prince of Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Rome and the Prince over one-world government during the last days. Chapter 17 provides additional insight into some of these numbers and connects them to the beast of the last days.
"Here is the mind which has wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits, 10 and they are seven kings; five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; and when he comes, he must remain a little while. 11 "The beast which was and is not, is himself also an eighth and is one of the seven, and he goes to destruction. 12 "The ten horns which you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but they receive authority as kings with the beast for one hour. 13 "These have one purpose, and they give their power and authority to the beast. Revelation 17:9-13
Following is Raymond Ducks application of these symbols.
The five fallen kings = Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greece
The one that is = Rome who was in power at the time of the writing.
The one to come is possible something associated with the United Nations.
One United Nations proposal came before the UN.
It called for the nations to surrender their sovereignty to the UN, divide the world into ten regions, increase the number of permanent members on the UN Security Council to Ten, and put one permanent member over each region.
The Bible hints at a last days sequence of events.
Phase I – World divides into 10 regions with 10 leaders (10 horns, ten crowns)
Phase II – Antichrist takes over 3 regions leaving the 10 kings but only 7 regions or crowns.
Phase III – Antichrist takes over the whole world controlling the 10 kings and 7 crowns of regions similar to the toes of iron and clay in Daniel’s statue.
World powers have brought grief to Israel and persecuted Israel all through history. This is not the perspective on world history or western civilization taught in our institutions. No matter how it breaks down, we are certain that Satan is behind the development and empowering of the last days governments and individuals just as he has been throughout history. It perfectly explains how some powers gain their power and influence and why certain individual leaders rise to such prominence. History is the story of Satan’s attempt to establish his own rival kingdom and determination to destroy God’s.
John mentions the Dragon’s tail sweeping away 1/3 of the stars. This is not likely a reference to literal stars as the earth would be completely destroyed. Stars are sometimes a symbolic reference to angels. A common interpretation equates this statement with the corruption of a third of the angelic host when Satan led his rebellion against God. Remember, that still leaves 2/3 of the holy angels. Satan could not prevent the birth so he stood poised to obliterate the child at birth.
The birth of the Child
And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron; and her child was caught up to God and to His throne. Revelation 12:5
Here is a brief reference to the birth, destiny and ascension of Jesus. The earthly ministry of Christ is viewed with one grand sweep. Born to rule caught up to the throne.
The pursuit of the woman by the dragon
Then the woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared by God, so that there she would be nourished for one thousand two hundred and sixty days. Revelation 12:6
God was not done with Israel and so neither was Satan. His persecution continued and has continued up until this very day. Only the Bible can explain the intense hatred directed at Israel and the Jews. It appears that in the final days this hatred will be at its greatest intensity.
They will become a world target. The antichrist will lead the assault on Jews around the world.
As in times past, it will become necessary for God to supernaturally protect a remnant of His people to avoid complete annihilation.
Next week we will learn more of the behind the scenes activity as we are informed of a great angelic war waged in the celestial realms, in the spirit world.
Who will win? Will Satan be able to gain victory over Michael?
We are often ignorant of the battle raging in that realm that influences the events in this.
LESSONS
• Israel is still God’s special people, so continue to bless her.
And I will make you(Abraham) a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great; and so you shall be a blessing; 3 and I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed. Genesis 12:2-3
• The root cause of evil stems from the activity of the evil one, so continue to battle him.
Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Ephesians 6:12
SO
Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. 13 Take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. Ephesians 6:10,11,13
Later in Revelation we will learn the key elements necessary to overcome his assault.
