Reading… and Thinking

Most Bible reading plans, including the one we’re using here, finish up the year with Revelation. A lot of folks are intimidated by Revelation, and some other folks aren’t as afraid of it as they should be! The intimidated shouldn’t be – because it’s not beyond us, or Jesus wouldn’t have given it to us! On the other hand, unfortunately there are some students who don’t understand that all the imagery and all the themes of Revelation come from the rest of the Bible, primarily from the Old Testament prophets. They impose their own thinking on the book, and that’s something Jesus strongly cautions against in the final chapter.

Revelation does contain a lot of figurative language (as mentioned, derived from the OT prophets). I’m not saying it isn’t tough. But there’s quite a bit that’s given in plain language. Let’s look at the passage quoted above from chapter 11.

Does the “last trumpet” ring a bell? (Kind of mixing the musical metaphors there, I guess.) Paul talks about the “last trumpet” in his great prophecies of the return of Jesus and the resurrection of the dead. See 1 Corinthians 15:52 and 1 Thessalonians 4:16 – and be sure to read the whole passages, not just the individual verses. Jesus also included a “loud trumpet call” in his prophecy of his own coming and gathering his people (Matthew 24:31).There are 7 trumpets blown in Revelation. However we may understand the first 6, there is no doubt at all about the significance of the seventh one!

Look at what the passage tells us. “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.” This is language right out of Daniel 2:44-45, and Daniel 7:13-14. However we understand the 24 elders, they sing a song, which reflects the promise of Psalm 2, and also strongly echoes Paul’s description of Christ’s return as a conqueror, and the resurrection of the dead, in 1 Corinthians 15:20-28. With the resurrection and gathering come the judgment, and giving eternal life to the faithful – the subject of many of Jesus’s parables.

There just isn’t any question what this trumpet announces. The Lord Jesus Christ has returned! The dead are raised and the living are gathered! The faithful are given eternal life! Messiah is seated on the throne of David in Jerusalem! The rule of Jesus over the Kingdom of God has begun!

And one more thing, which I could hope would sober the leaders and the citizens of every nation, but I know does not. The destroyers of the earth are to be destroyed. The conquerors and oppressors, certainly. But we should not necessarily let ourselves off the hook, if we give no thought to our own actions that damage the beautiful world God has given us.