Revelation Chapter 11
First in a Two-Part Series
By Karen Thompson
Rev. 11:14 The second woe is past; and, behold, the third woe cometh quickly. 15 And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever. 16 And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God, 17 Saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned. 18 And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth. 19 And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail.
The second woe is past. Behold, the third woe is coming quickly! In verse 15 John wrote, “And the seventh angel sounded” his trumpet. And as you know, the third woe is the seventh, and last, trumpet. In the last verses of chapter 11, John tells us the seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and then he described the activity of the 24 elders and the announcements they made as to what would happen at the sound of the last trumpet!
The Mystery of God Is Finished
Before we study these verses in chapter 11, let’s go back for a moment to chapter 10 where we read about the angel clothed with a cloud, whose face was as bright as the sun and had feet that looked like pillars of fire. I want to focus on the very first thing the angel said to John when he appeared to him. With his hand in the air, the angel made a solemn declaration on behalf of God and said, “…that there should be delay no longer, but in the days of the sounding of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, the mystery of God would be finished, as He declared to His servants the prophets” (Rev. 10:6–7 NKJV).
The angel declared that when the seventh trumpet is blown, the mystery of God would be finished. What mystery was he talking about? He qualified the mystery as being what God “declared to His servants the prophets.” The mystery the angel was talking about was all the prophetic words about the children of Israel and Jerusalem ever spoken by God’s prophets. They will all come to pass at the sounding of the seventh trumpet. That makes the last trumpet a mighty big deal! It’s such a big deal that the fiery angel, with his hand toward heaven, swore in the name of God that what he was proclaiming was so. The words God declared to the prophets would all come to pass. These prophetic words were spoken thousands of years ago. The Jewish people have long anticipated their fulfillment. Generation after generation has waited for them, and now they are about to come to pass at the sound of the seventh trumpet.
Now let’s continue with chapter 11. In verse 15, we get a more precise definition of the words “mystery being finished” in the proclamation that came after the seventh angel blew his trumpet. When the seventh angel sounded his trumpet, John wrote, “and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever” (v. 15). This proclamation is the definition of the mystery being finished—that the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms of our God. At this point, we don’t know all the details of what this proclamation means. But in the next chapter, we learn that the kingdom of man is taken away from Satan’s authority and goes back to God’s authority.
Satan’s War With God
At this point, it would be good to review the great war between God and Satan. In the beginning, God created Satan to be one of His most beautiful creations with a specific purpose. The prophet Ezekiel described both Satan’s beauty and purpose saying, “every precious stone was thy covering … the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou was created. Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so.” Ezekiel then went on to describe the privileged access Satan had with God saying he was in “Eden the garden of God, he was on the holy mountain of God, he walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire” (Eze. 28:13–14). In verse 15, it says Satan was perfect in his ways from the day he was created until the day when iniquity, or sin, was found in him.
What was the iniquity found in Satan? The prophet Isaiah described to us Satan’s great sin of rebellion. He was already an elevated being, yet he wanted to be even more elevated. Satan became full of pride and got it in his mind that he could take God’s place. We can read about Satan’s ultimate goal in Isaiah chapter 14: “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning ! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High” (Isa. 14:12–14).
Satan wants to be like the Most High. He made known his intentions with his five “I will” statements: 1) I will ascend into heaven, 2) I will exalt my throne above the stars of God, 3) I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north, 4) I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, 5) and I will be like the most high. Satan’s great sin is that He wanted to usurp God. He wanted to take God’s place. Because of his rebellion, Satan lost his place in heaven and was cast out. Many of the angels followed Satan in his rebellion. From that point on, Satan has had an ongoing war with God and His creation.
In Satan’s quest to usurp power and position that didn’t rightfully belong to him, he focused his attention on God’s creation—Adam and Eve in the earth. Satan’s intent was to infiltrate the Garden of Eden with hostile intent. His plan was to usurp Adam’s dominion and authority. When God created Adam and Eve, He gave them power and dominion over every living thing (Gen. 1:26). Essentially, Adam and Eve had complete authority on the earth.
We all know the story. Satan deceived Eve, and together, Adam and Eve disobeyed God. Some say Adam and Eve’s act of disobedience was the same as committing high treason against God. As a result, Adam and Eve lost their dominion and authority on the earth. That allowed Satan to move in and take over, and when he did, he became what the Bible calls “the god of this world” or the “prince of the power of the air” (2 Cor. 4:4, Eph. 2:2). When Satan became the “god of this world,” he took over and controlled the heavens over the earth, meaning the atmosphere directly over earth. That’s what is meant by the phrase “prince of the power of the air.” The word “air” is referring to the unseen realm where Satan’s fallen angels rule over the earth. Satan rules the kingdom of man through this double-kingdom system. Their control of the unseen realm over earth enables them to rule the kingdom of men. Ephesians 6:12 lists the satanic forces that rule over earth in this unseen realm: “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” It is this unseen realm in the heavenlies which Satan will lose control. When he does, he loses control over the nations. At the sounding of the seventh trumpet, Satan will be kicked out of his place in the unseen realm and then God will rule over the air, or atmosphere, over earth. That’s when “the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ.”
In the next post, we will learn more of what happens in heaven when the seventh trumpet is sounded.
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