Revelation 11:14-19

A quick reference to the chart at the end of this booklet helps to understand today’s reading.  The last three trumpet judgments are called “woes” (Rev. 8:13).  The second woe is past.  Behold the third woe is coming quickly.  Then the seventh angel sounded (v14-15).  The trumpet of the seventh angel signals the final series of judgments (bowls of wrath poured on the earth; Rev. 15-16).  There are actually seven more chapters (Rev. 12-18) before John sees Christ returning from heaven as King of kings and Lord of lords (Rev. 19).  

The point of today’s passage is to comfort the saints of God with the certainty of the exaltation of Christ.  This is our hope!  Our comfort comes in two ways.  First, in what John hears.  Loud voices from heaven announce that the Father’s promise to the Son to give Him the nations as an inheritance has happened.  The twenty-four elders tells us how it happens as they praise and thank God:

·        The nations were angry (Rev. 17-18).

·        Your wrath has come (Rev. 15-16).

·        The judgment of the dead has come (Rev. 14:14-20).

·        The saints and those who fear His name will be rewarded (Rev. 12, Israel; 14:1-13, tribulation saints; 19:1-10, the Church).

·        The destruction of those who destroy the earth (Rev. 13).

Second, comfort comes in what John sees.  He sees the Ark of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies in the temple of heaven.  The tabernacle and temple in Israel was patterned after the heavenly temple (Ex. 25:40; Heb. 8:5).  Thus, most would assume this ark is the original, so to speak.

The ark speaks of God’s dwelling with man (Ex. 25:10-22).  But it also speaks of the cross of Christ because on the top of the ark was the mercy seat, a gold plate that was covered with blood annually on the Day of Atonement.  These are not two different things; God’s dwelling with man and the cross of Christ are inseparable.  The vision of the ark at this moment is profound and comforting.  The death of the Lamb that was slain has been sufficient to bring mankind the only satisfaction for his soul: that which comes by communion with his Creator!  

If you are a believer in Christ this is your hope.  Be faithful, even in this increasingly wicked world.  Christ will come!  Christ will reign forever and ever!  And you will dwell with God!

If you are not a believer in Christ your situation is hopeless.  The revelation of Jesus Christ is your doom.  There is wrath and there is reward.  Your own sin and rejection of Christ to this point need not be the end of your story.  You deserve to be judged; but Christ, on the cross, died in your place if you will but turn to Him in faith.  Faith in Christ: a turning of the heart that you will know is true by the sorrow you have over your sin and the conviction in your heart that Christ is your only provision for sin.  This, no HE, is mankind’s only hope!