Biblion Bible Commentary
Read the introduction to Revelation · About this commentary
The Kingdom of Our Lord
Revelation 11:15-18
15 The seventh angel sounded, and great voices in heaven followed, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the Kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ. He will reign forever and ever!” · WEB
The seventh trumpet announces the transfer of the world's kingdom, and the elders' anthem is the agenda of everything the book has left.
The seventh angel sounded, and great voices in heaven followed, saying, "The kingdom of the world has become the Kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ. He will reign forever and ever!"
The last trumpet sounds, and what follows is not a plague but a proclamation — the sentence the whole Bible has been waiting to say. The kingdom of the world — singular: the one world-order, long in the usurper's administration Revelation 13:2 — has become the Kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ: the transfer of title Daniel saw when the Son of Man received dominion Daniel 7:14, the second psalm's decree executed Psalms 2:2 Psalms 2:8. The mystery of God sworn to finish in this trumpet's days Revelation 10:7 finishes here in announcement: the world changes hands, and the reign has no term — forever and ever.
The twenty-four elders fall for their anthem, and the tensed name marks what has changed: we give you thanks, Lord God, the Almighty, the one who is and who was, because you have taken your great power and reigned Revelation 11:17. The greeting's third clause — who is to come Revelation 1:4 — is gone: he has come; the coming tense has retired into the act. You have taken your great power — the patience of the long era, the held winds and measured thirds, ends in a taking.
And then the elders sing the agenda of the entire remainder of the book, item by item: the nations were angry, and your wrath came, as did the time for the dead to be judged, and to give your bondservants the prophets, their reward, as well as to the saints and those who fear your name, to the small and the great, and to destroy those who destroy the earth Revelation 11:18.
Read as a table of contents, the verse maps every chapter ahead. The nations were angry — the second psalm's rage, staged in the dragon's war and Armageddon Revelation 12:17 Revelation 16:14. Your wrath came — the bowls Revelation 15:1. The time for the dead to be judged — the thrones and books Revelation 20:12. Reward to the prophets and saints, small and great — the resurrection reign and the city Revelation 20:4 Revelation 22:12. And to destroy those who destroy the earth — the lake of fire's justice stated as ecology: the destroyers destroyed, the earth avenged of its wasters Revelation 19:2.
The trumpet-series ends where the book's first half ends — at the consummation announced. What remains is to see how: and the next verse opens the temple to its innermost furniture to begin the telling again, deeper Revelation 11:19.
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