The Kingdoms of Our Lord and of His Christ - 31

The title of my sermon this morning is, The Kingdoms of Our Lord and of His Christ, taken from verse 15 of our passage this morning. The subject, obviously, is the reign of Christ, as we think about verses 15 through 19.

And as we consider that subject or that theme, I've got four headings that I want to guide us as we think through this passage. Number one, the proclamation of Christ's reign. Number two, the redeemed church's response to the reign of Christ. Number three, the description of the reign of Christ. And then lastly, the enjoyment of the reign of Christ, those four headings. It's been a while since we've been in our preaching series in Revelation, and because we come to these words in the beginning of verse 17, then the seventh angel sounded, we probably need to stop and just get our minds oriented to what is going on and where we are in the unfolding of John's vision.

Let's start back, this will not take but about three or four minutes, but I think it's helpful. Turn back to chapter 8 and verse 13. John says, And I looked, and I heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth, because of the remaining blasts of the trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound. We're in that section of the trumpet judgments, and John gives that instruction there in verse 13, and there is a woe associated with the fifth trumpet judgment, there is a second woe related to the sixth trumpet, and there is a third woe that's related to the seventh trumpet. Notice with me that first woe, the fifth trumpet, begins at chapter 9 in verse 1 and runs to the end of verse 12.

And notice what we read in verse 12. One woe is past, behold, still two more woes are coming after these things. The second woe begins in chapter 9 and verse 13, and it runs all the way from chapter 9 verse 13 to chapter 11 verse 14. And then we read in chapter 11 verse 14 this, The second woe is past, behold, the third woe is coming quickly, John says.

So that's where we are. We are at the beginning of the third woe, the seventh trumpet judgment. Now, let's give our thoughts to this portion of scripture. At the sounding of the seventh trumpet, a startling event occurs. The reader is expecting a terrible judgment to fall, since the seventh trumpet is to usher in the third woe. But, instead, we hear a heavenly choir lifting their voices in worship to God for what the entire Bible has been longing for and waiting for, that is the arrival of the glorious kingdom, the reign, the unquestioned reign, the undisputed reign of King Jesus.

So let's think, number one, about the proclamation of the reign of Christ. This choir, this heavenly choir announces this good news. Then the seventh angel sounded and there were loud voices in heaven.

Now, it's interesting that there is no identification. We don't know whether these loud voices in heaven are angelic. We don't know if these loud voices in heaven are the redeemed. Just loud voices in heaven saying, the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ and He shall reign forever and ever.

The proclamation of the reign of Christ. There's this outburst of praise. When we look at the entirety of the book of the Revelation, we discover there are 19 occurrences where loud voices are mentioned. Now, again, John doesn't mention a multitude or larger groups of angels, but he simply says loud voices. And I think that there's a reason for that. That is to stress the hymn, to stress the content and not draw attention to those who are doing the singing.

That's a pretty good pattern to follow, isn't it? When we come together to worship, what should dominate? Shouldn't the words that we're singing, shouldn't they dominate? And wouldn't we agree that any personality, any expression, any attraction that's drawn to the one who's doing the singing takes away from the main purpose? I hope you would agree with me about that. And if churches in our day would just honor that principle, it would be quite a change in a lot of music in a lot of churches.

But that's just a point of application. These voices are in heaven. And throughout John's writing, he moves from earthly scenes to heavenly scenes.

And we're now considering what's taking place in heaven. And just as the first advent of Jesus Christ was initiated with a heavenly choir, so it is with his second advent. The kingdom is no longer of this world, but now of our Lord and of his Christ. I want you to notice the inseparable link between God the Father and of his Christ. The kingdom of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ. Psalm chapter 2 and verse 2 talked of the kings of the earth standing against the Lord and against his anointed one. And after stating that the kingdom belongs to our Lord and his Christ, what does John say? Again in verse 15.

The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ and he. John switches to the third person singular, he, to stress the oneness between God the Father and God the Son. You know, I hear people say, well, I don't see the Trinity anywhere in the Bible. Well, what they're saying, what they mean by that is I don't see the word Trinity in the Bible, but it's throughout the Bible. Here's just another example of the oneness that there is in the Godhead. So we have the proclamation of the reign of Christ.

But we have number two, the redeemed church's response to the reign of Christ. Notice verse 16. Verse 16 says, and the 24 elders who sat before God on the thrones, fell on their faces and worshiped God. The 24 elders, we were introduced to the 24 elders in chapter 4 and verse 4, and we were told there that they are clothed in white robes and they have golden crowns on their heads. And not all commentators are in agreement as to the identity of the 24 elders, but when I preached through that, studied through that, I came to the conclusion that these 24 elders are representative of the redeemed church throughout all the ages. You say 24. What is the significance of 24?

Well, we don't have the time to turn to the passage and look at it, but it is the combination of the names of the 12 tribes of Israel with the 12 apostles, which make the 24. This is the redeemed church's response to the reign of Christ. No doubt you picked up when I read verse 15 those famous words, the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever. When Handel's Messiah was performed at a concert in Ireland in 1742, there was a great crowd assembled, and among them was King George II of England, and he was so moved by the Hallelujah Chorus that he stood for that part of the performance, and thus the tradition remains to this day. Audiences stand for the Hallelujah Chorus.

What a contrast. The great monarch, the King of England, standing, and the redeemed church falling on its faces before the reigning Christ. That's the redeemed church's response to the reign of Christ. And as satisfying and as engaging as worship is in our present state, church redeemed brothers and sisters, we need to think on and long for that day when we are there in that place where we can worship without distraction, without hindrance, without opposition, without remaining sin.

I can't imagine what that's going to be like, but it is going to be glorious. What follows this redeemed church's response to the reign of Christ is a hymn of thanksgiving. Notice, the 24 elders who sat before God on their thrones fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying, We give you thanks, O Lord God Almighty, the one who is and who was and who is to come because you have taken your great power and reigned. Three times in this book, God has been addressed as the one who is and the one who was and the one who is to come, chapter 1 and verse 4, chapter 1 and verse 8, chapter 4 and verse 8, but in verse 17, there's something that's added.

Thanksgiving to the one who is and who was and who is to come, but what's added in verse 17? The one who has taken up his power and begun to reign because you have taken your great power and reigned. The final consummation of the kingdom obviously was future from John's vantage point and it is yet future from our vantage point, but it has happened from the perspective of those who are offering this heavenly praise of thanksgiving. We give you thanks, O Lord God Almighty, the one who is and who was and who is to come because you have taken your great power and reigned. Now, the actual event of the reign of Christ is, the details of that are given to us in chapters 18 through 22, but as I studied and I thought about this, I thought and anticipated questions that we might have, you might have, and the question that seems to dominate at least my thinking and perhaps your thinking is, is Christ ruling and reigning in His kingdom today or is that still yet future?

Is it still yet future? You say, well, that's a challenging question. And I'd like to address that question by reminding you of a theological paradigm that I think is very, very helpful.

And it is that paradigm of the already and the not yet. There is a sense in which Christ is ruling and reigning. He ascended from this earth after His resurrection to take His seat beside God the Father and He's there ruling and reigning in this world. There is no creature who can thwart His will. There is no government that can rise and overcome His reign. Psalm 110 verse 1 says, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool. There is a sense in which Christ is reigning in this world.

It is not a undisputed reign. There are powers, the devil is at work to challenge the reign of Christ, to subvert the reign of Christ, but even the devil and all of his cohorts cannot thwart and undermine the rule and reign of Christ. The devil is an unwilling servant of Jehovah. And it should cause us to marvel that God allows sin in this world, He allows opposition and rebellion in this world, and although He allows it, it's still within His rule and reign as Sovereign King. So there's a sense in which He is already reigning, but not yet in the full sense of the word, because there is a day future that John is drawing our attention to where His reign will be an undisputed reign. All of His enemies will be brought into subjection to Him, put at His footstool.

So the already and the not yet. He is ruling over this broken world and all of its sin and all of its rebellion to accomplish His decreed ends. And as a child of God, we should never wonder and question, what is this world coming to?

Well, I tell you what it's coming to. It's coming to God's decreed ends. He has decreed, He has a script, and He is following that perfectly, unerringly. And we can rest in that confidence that nothing is going to upset the plan of God, nor thwart the purposes of God. He will one day reign finally and completely with all of His enemies, defeated and subdued.

He must reign until He puts all His enemies under His feet. So, we've seen the proclamation of the reign of Christ. We've seen the redeemed church's response to the reign of Christ. Let's consider number three, a description of the reign of Christ. Now, again, keep in mind that what we have here through John is just a portion of a description. It's not complete in any way, but it's what God is determined to tell us in this particular context. So, the description of the reign of Christ, what does He tell us?

Well, there are three aspects here that make up the description. We have the wrath of God, the judgment of God, and the rewards of God. The wrath of God, the judgment of God, and the rewards of God.

Let me read those verses. Verse 18, the nations were angry and your wrath has come. And the time of the dead that they should be judged, and that you should reward your servants, the prophets and the saints, and those who fear your name, small and great, and should destroy those who destroy the earth. The first description of the reign of God is the wrath of God.

Verse 18 begins with a reference to Psalm 2 and verse 1. Why do the nations rage and the people plot a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against His anointed saying, let us break their bonds in pieces and cast away their cords from us. He who sits in the heavens shall laugh, the Lord shall hold them in derision, then He shall speak to them in His wrath and distress them in His deep displeasure.

Yet I have set my King on my holy hill. The object of the nations wrath and empty plots is the Lord. Their anger is directed toward the Lord and His anointed one.

And God's response there in Psalm 2 is alluded to in the next phrase of verse 18 of our text. The nations were angry, angry at whom? Angry at God, angry at His authority, angry at His reign. And your wrath has come, your wrath has come. Every reference of the word wrath in the book of Revelation concerns the time of the final great outpouring of God's wrath at the end of history, at the end of the age. The judgment of God, not just the wrath of God, but the judgment of God. This is a reference to the final judgment. The nations were angry and your wrath has come and the time of the dead that they should be judged.

Now that reference to time is not chronological. It's speaking of God's appointed time. God has a time that He has appointed where He will judge this world.

And we won't take the time to turn, but when you look at Revelation chapter 20 verses 11 through 14, we have there a description of the great white throne judgment. And the dead are judged according to their works. And I think the reference to dead there in verse 18, again Revelation 11 verse 18, the time of the dead that they should be judged is a reference to not all the dead, but unbelievers, wicked doers, the unrepentant.

You say, well, why do you say that? Well, because believers are in a different category. They're going to be addressed when He speaks of the matter of rewards later on in this passage. So I think the reference there to the dead are the unregenerate, unbelieving people.

This is from one of the commentators that I've studied behind. And this commentator says this, John is not alluding to chronological time, but to the right moment that God ordained for the day of judgment. It is a time God has appointed for the last judgment, the sixth seal, the seventh trumpet, and the sixth bowl, all refer to the moment when the great day of judgment comes. And again, I think it's good to just be reminded of the cyclical nature of John's writing. John wrote about the seven seals. Then he goes back and he speaks about the seven trumpets.

And then there will be the seven bowl judgments or the seven vial judgments. Just so you can see, the same event, the final judgment is mentioned in all three of those occasions. So if you're reading the book of the Revelation chronologically, you think that it is a record of sequential historical narrative. The obvious question you're going to have in your mind when you get to the end of this chapter, why isn't this the end of the book? Why is this only the end of chapter 11? Why is there chapters 12 through the end of the book?

Well, again, it's because of the cyclical nature of John's writing. Now, let's very quickly look at Revelation 6 and verse 17. This is a description of the end of the age. I've got the time to read this so just follow as I begin to read it, verse 12 through verse 17. And ask yourself the question, is this a description of just minor disturbances in the cosmos or is this a description of the final judgment, the end of the age? I looked, verse 12, when he opened the sixth seal and behold there was a great earthquake and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair and the moon became like blood and the stars of heaven fell to the earth as a fig tree drops its late figs when it is shaken by a mighty wind. Then the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up and every mountain and island was moved out of its place and the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man hid themselves in the cave and in the rocks of the mountains and said to the mountains and rocks, fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the lamb. For the great day of his wrath has come and who is able to stand? There's a description of the great day of his wrath, the final judgment, the end of the age, chapter 6 and verse 17. That's what we're reading here in chapter 11 and verse 18. The nations were angry, your wrath has come, the time of the dead that they should be judged. The same period of redemptive history and then chapter 16, turn to chapter 16. While you're there, just stay there a minute.

Let me again just reinforce what we're trying to observe here. There in chapter 6, it was the sixth seal judgment. The seventh seal ushers in the seventh trumpet judgments.

Where are we in chapter 11? It is the seventh trumpet judgment. And then when we turn to chapter 16 in verse 14, well I'm going to read beginning at verse 12 down through verse 16.

But where are we? We are now at the end of the bull judgments or the vile judgments. Notice again chapter 16 verse 12. Then the sixth angel poured out his bull on the great river Euphrates and its water was dried up so that the day of the kings from the east might be prepared. And I saw there unclean spirits like frogs coming out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. For they are spirits of demons performing signs which go out to the kings of the earth and of the whole world to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. Behold, I am coming as a thief.

Blessed is he who watches and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame. And they gathered them together to the place called in Hebrew Armageddon. Then the seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air and a loud voice came out of the temple of heaven from the throne saying, It is done.

And there were noises and thunderings and lightnings and there was a great earthquake, such a mighty and great earthquake as had not occurred since men were on the earth. Now the great city was divided into three parts and the cities of the nations fell and great Babylon was remembered before God to give her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath. There again, God's judgment at the end of the age.

So, back to chapter 11. We're giving attention to the description that John has been given through inspiration, the description of the reign of Christ. We've seen the wrath of God, we've seen the judgment of God, but notice with me the rewards of God. In the middle of verse 18, And that you should reward your servants, the prophets and the saints and those who fear your name, small and great. Rewards, the reward of the faithful.

It's spoken here in the context of the judgment of an unbelieving and wicked world. And I wonder if part of the reward will be their vindication when God judges their enemies. Do you remember back in chapter 6 when the martyrs were crying out for vindication? Revelation 6, 10, they cried with a loud voice saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, until you judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?

Then a white robe was given to each of them and it was said to them that they should rest a little while longer until both the number of their fellow servants and their brethren who would be killed as they were was completed. Again, I'm just wondering if that isn't part of their reward, that God vindicates their plea for judgment to come upon those who were their persecutors. When we think about rewards, what are rewards? Aren't rewards tokens of God's free grace? They're not earned. They're not meritorious because if they were, there would be room for us to boast. Look what I've earned. Look what I've merited.

There'll be no boasting in heaven. So rewards, again, are tokens of God's free grace. Anything we do, anything we accomplish is energized and directed and enabled by the indwelling Spirit of God. God is at work in us both to will and to do according to His good pleasure. So when we will and do according to His good pleasure, do we get rewarded for that? Yeah. God rewards us for what He's doing in us.

It's an amazing thing. We are what we are, brethren, by the free grace of God. There are three phrases that John uses to identify those who are going to be rewarded. Notice what he says, that you should reward your servants who are the prophets and the saints.

So I see really two categories of people, servants who are prophets and the saints, and all the saints are those who fear God's name, both small and great. Rewards. And again, it's not detailed what exactly those rewards are, but we can rest that God is going to take note of what we do and reward it. When we read in the Gospels that even a cup of cold water given in His name will receive a reward, we know that God will grant rewards to those who have been faithful to Him.

So, four headings here. The proclamation of the reign of Christ, the redeemed church's response to the reign of Christ, a description of the reign of Christ, but number four, the enjoyment of the reign of Christ, the enjoyment. Notice with me verse 19 that says, Then the temple of God was opened in heaven, and the ark of His covenant was seen in His temple.

And there were lightnings, noises, thunderings, an earthquake, and great hail. The enjoyment of the reign of Christ, the temple of God, that place given by God in the Old Testament where His manifold presence was most obvious and manifested. The temple of God. It speaks of the very presence of God.

And yet, chapter 21 verse 22 of this same book, we read this. This is a description of the New Jerusalem. John says, But I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.

So God will not be confined to a temple. He won't be identified with the ark of the covenant, although that is also in picture here. We will enjoy an aspect of the presence of God unknown in this broken, fallen world. We will know unhindered fellowship and communion with our God. We will enjoy the reign of Christ. The ark of the covenant.

What was that? Well, again, it was a vivid reminder of God's presence and power. John is drawing many, many times in his giving of this vision of Old Testament narrative. You go back and read Joshua and the fall of Jericho and the instructions that God gave. They were to take trumpets and they were to march around the city blowing trumpets. And on the seventh day, they were to do that. Seven times they were to go around the walls of Jericho. And those who were blowing the trumpets were leading, followed were the priests carrying the ark of the covenant. And then the rear guard were other soldiers.

And what happened? The blowing of the trumpet. What do we have here in Revelation chapter 11? The seventh trumpet.

God brought victory there in Joshua chapter, I think, maybe three or four. But what is being pictured here for us is the enjoyment of the reign of Christ. We will know Him. His presence will be so conspicuous, so accessible to us, that we will enjoy that without any hindrance, without any obstacles. And what a day that will be. So, the reign of Christ.

The proclamation of it, the redeemed church's response to it, a description of it, and then the enjoyment of it by the people of God. Let us pray. Father, we thank you again this morning for your word and the richness of it, for granting us insight concerning what awaits the redeemed church, what awaits the people of God, and we say, eyes have not seen, ears have not heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man the things that you, O God, have prepared for those who love you. We thank you for so great a salvation. We thank you that you have redeemed us, reconciled us to yourself, made us children of yours. We thank you for our family privileges. Thank you that there's a day coming that there will be no separation, no hindrance, that we'll know you in a way that we could only and barely ever even think about in this life. How we thank you for those who've gone on before us and what they are enjoying. Create a longing in our hearts, O God, for the consummation of your kingdom and for the reign of Christ. And grant us believing faith in this troubled world, in all the chaos we see and all the defiance of your rule and reign to know that there is a day coming when all of that will be put under the feet of King Jesus. And that you love your redeemed church enough that we will be with you forever and ever and ever. Cause your church to rejoice in this truth today, I pray in Christ's name. Amen.