Here Comes the Judge

Series on Revelation

II The Viewpoint

B Cycle Two, The Seven Angels and Trumpets

4 The Terminal Trumpet

Text: 11:15-19

Introduction

“Here Comes The Judge” is a song by American comedy singer Dewey Markham released in 1968. The song was a mockery of formal courtroom etiquette and judicial propriety, It made fun of the administration of justice and was later featured on comedy shows such as “Rowan and Martin’s Laugh In” and “Saturday Night Live.” I guarantee that when the vision of this text actually occurs there will be no laughing, and no frivolity. This courtroom judgment is final and irrevocable. It is fearful and terrifying. It is stately, strict, solemn and obdurate. This is the last trumpet and it announces the end of this old creation and the beginning of the new heavens and new earth. Men choose to disregard the inevitable confrontation with justice. Shakespeare wrote, “Heaven is above all yet; there sits a judge That no king can corrupt.” He judges men with perfect knowledge, unperplexed certainty, and undisturbed compassion. How different from our contemporary situation where injustice runs rampant in society. One of the founders of our nation, Thomas Jefferson reminded us, “God who gave us life gave us liberty. Can the liberty of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of God? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, that His justice cannot sleep forever.” Justice cannot sleep and it will not sleep as our text bears witness. Vance Havner wrote, “If God dealt with people today as he did in the days of Ananias and Sapphira, every church would need a morgue in the basement.” Here in this Scripture we see an announcement of the Judge, and an ascription and access to the Judge.

I An Announcement

We begin with the announcement of impending judgment in verse 15, The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, which said: “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign for ever and ever.” This was the purpose from the beginning. Christ is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Christ was always the last Adam and thus the Lord and Judge of the world. These words, immortalized by George Friedrich Handel in the “Hallelujah Chorus” remind us that every atom of creation moves inexorably toward one goal, and that is, to be summed up in Christ and thereby to have the Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit reigning without rival over all creation. The ministry of Christ began with an announcement, and although we might not realize it, it is the same announcement. He said the kingdom of God has come unto you. The full goal is now achieved because the kingdom of the world now belongs to “our Lord and his Christ.” This means that Satan, who tempted Jesus in Matthew 4 by offering him the kingdoms of the world, no longer possesses them. From the perspective of this Scripture the utter defeat of Satan and his cohorts has taken place. They were usurpers of world power; now Christ is the victor and will reign eternally. As in the prophetic vision of Daniel in 7:14, His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed. Many more visionary revelations will be made in the book of Revelation, but it is clear that the seventh trumpet brings us to the end as did the sixth and seventh seals and as will the vials or bowls that follow.

II An Ascription

And now we hear from the 24 elders around the throne who have not been mentioned since chapter 4, and they are singing a paean of praise in verses 16-18, And the twenty-four elders, who were seated on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying: “We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, the One who is and who was, because you have taken your great power and have begun to reign. The nations were angry; and your wrath has come. The time has come for judging the dead, and for rewarding your servants the prophets and your saints and those who reverence your name, both small and great—and for destroying those who destroy the earth.” The elders clearly identify this as the time of the last judgment and also the final rewards, but in doing so they make a deliberate but somewhat obscure reference to God’s patience, The nations were angry; and your wrath has come. This is a direct reference to Psalm 2 in which David long ago described the course of human history that is so evident in Revelation. It is summed up later in chapter 13 in the description of the beast, the emissary of Satan. He is the representative of the political state. Like the pagan emperors of Rome, he uses political power to compel men to worship him, and if they do not, they perish. David wrote in Psalm 2:1–5, Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against his Anointed One. “Let us break their chains,” they say, “and throw off their fetters.” The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them. Then he rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath. This is a description of the titanic struggle that has been going on since Lucifer’s rebellion. In this passage you get to see the fulfillment, the total subjugation and humiliation of the enemies, namely, all the nations that opposed God. We are so concerned about the environment conservation and “greening”, but not at all concerned about the moral pollution of God’s world. Thus God will destroy those who destroy the earth. Environmentalism today is not about a desire to have cleaner air and water. That is a worthy goal in itself. But environmentalism has become a full-fledged religion and its main tenet is “raw nature as godlike, and mankind as a plague infecting it. If you support it in its present manifestation you are supporting an ideology that promotes the destruction of mankind including yourself and everyone you care about. God originally put the earth under man and he is responsible for caring for it and using it for God’s glory, but now it appears we should believe that the earth is over man instead of the other way around. The destruction of the earth is a crime of selfishness and hubris and it is a result of sin and that cannot be fixed with government programs or secular education. It can only be fixed by recognizing that we are stewards under the true and living God. The 24 elders are the closest to the throne: closer than even the angels because they represent the body of Christ seated in the heavens in Christ Jesus. They are rejoicing in the vision that the day of judgment has come but the fulfillment for us is still future. When it does come it will matter much more how you treated your neighbor than how you separated your trash for recycling.

III An Access

The last portion of our text keeps our eyes focused heavenward and introduces a remarkable view in verse 19, Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, and within his temple was seen the ark of his covenant. And there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake and a great hailstorm. Here you are looking where no one in the Old Testament could look save the high priest of Israel on one day a year, the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur. You are gazing into the holiest of all, and upon that place which was the throne of God in the tabernacle and the temple, the Ark of the Covenant. Expeditions real and imaginary have searched for the lost ark. Real expeditions have suspected it was on Mt. Nebo in modern day Jordan, or in Ethiopia, Southern Africa, and 5 different locations in Europe including Chartres Cathedral in France, Vatican City, and Ireland. This has made fodder for fictional stories, the best known of which is a Hollywood film, “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” in which archeologist and adventurer Indiana Jones is hired by the US government to find the Ark of the Covenant. There is no real evidence that the ark of the tabernacle and temple still exists since the Babylonian destruction of the Jewish temple in 586 BC. Today, however, in Revelation you are looking at the real ark in John’s vision, not the earthly copy but the prototype in heaven. This ark, now open to all, is God’s viewable demonstration that he keeps covenant with his people. At that place filled with glory, God met with them and established his law among them. The words of His law were inscribed on stone tablets in the ark reflecting God’s sacred presence in the lives of his people. With them He still has a covenantal relationship so that the covenant of grace in all its sweetness is realized in the hearts and lives of God’s children. The same law that is written on their hearts, however, is also the law which brings the most severe penalties upon the unrepentant and that is why we see flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake and a great hailstorm. In all this we must remember that the temple in heaven is open because the temple and the holy of holies on earth was opened when Jesus died on the cross for His people. The description in Matthew 27:50-53 is eerily similar to our text, And Jesus cried again with a loud voice, and yielded up his spirit. And behold, the veil of the temple was rent in two from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake; and the rocks were rent; and the tombs were opened; and many bodies of the saints that had fallen asleep were raised; and coming forth out of the tombs after his resurrection they entered into the holy city and appeared unto many. For us the open holy of holies represents the full and free salvation and the access we have to God in Christ. Praise the Lord for this picture.