Greetings! In our last post, we started a study of the “Last Trump.” The Bible says when the last trumpet is blown, the resurrection of the dead will take place. In this post, we will wrap up our study on the last trump. It’s important!
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD
Second in a Two-Part Series
By Karen Thompson
THE LAST TRUMP
The Seventh Trumpet
The heralding angel’s announcement about the seventh trumpet isn’t the only announcement concerning the seventh trumpet. The 24 elders who sit on their thrones before God also made an announcement about the seventh trumpet. Let’s read about it in Revelation chapter 11:
15 Then the seventh angel sounded: And there were 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!” 16 And the twenty-four elders who sat before God on their thrones fell on their faces and worshiped God, 17 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. 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.” (Rev. 11:15–18 NKJV)
When the seventh angel sounded his trumpet, John said he heard voices in heaven making a loud proclamation saying, “The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!” What does that mean? It’s referring to the regime change that will take place in the unseen realm when Michael and his angels go to war against and defeats Satan and the fallen angels with him. As a result, Satan and the demonic powers that rule in the unseen realm over the earth are cast down to earth. That’s when the archangel Michael and the angels with him take over the heavenly unseen realm over the earth. We can read about this great war in Revelation: “And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, and prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him” (Rev. 12:7–9 KJV). This war takes place in the middle of Daniel’s 70th week. At that point in the timeline of events, there will be three- and one-half years until Jesus’ Second Coming.
After the voices in heaven were done making their proclamation, the 24 elders 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.” Through His victorious angels, the Lord has taken back control and is reigning over the kingdom of men.
The Time of Judgment for Two Different Groups
The next portion of the 24 elders’ proclamation about the seventh trumpet is extraordinary. In verse 18, the 24 elders made a statement that involves two different groups of people: 1) the destroyers of the earth, and 2) the dead. This is the verse that tells us the time of the resurrection of the dead takes place at the sounding of the seventh trumpet—the last trump! What also takes place at the sounding of the seventh trumpet is the great day of the Lord, when God pours out His wrath on the rebellious and lawless nations.
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 (Rev. 11:18 NKJV).
In my opinion, this is a badly written sentence. Its subject matter is of great importance, yet it’s written in a way that causes most readers to skim past it. But in this one sentence, the 24 elders give us a lot of information. The elders are telling us what time it is for two different groups of people. It’s time for these two groups to be judged. Let’s examine the sentence phrase by phrase.
It begins by saying, “The nations were angry.” Nations are made up of people. What happens when people are angry? They say angry words. If the anger escalates, it might result in a physical altercation. It’s the same with nations. Only when nations are angry with each other, the ultimate expression of a physical altercation is war. This phrase is talking about nations being angry and at war with each other.
The next phrase says, “and Your wrath has come.” God’s wrath has come, meaning the time had come for God to deal with the angry nations. In other words, the appointed time for the day of God’s wrath had come. The Old Testament prophets prophesied about the “day of the Lord” many times. With a couple exceptions, every time the prophets used the phrase, “The day of the Lord,” they were prophesying about the latter times, also known as the end times. They all prophesied that the day of the Lord would bring His wrath. Here are a few of the many examples:
Isaiah prophesied, “Howl ye; for the day of the Lord is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty. … Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it. For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine” (Isa. 13:6, 9–10 KJV).
Jeremiah prophesied, “For this is the day of the Lord God of hosts, a day of vengeance, that he may avenge him of his adversaries: and the sword shall devour, and it shall be satiate and made drunk with their blood” (Jer. 46:10 KJV).
Ezekiel prophesied, “For the day is near, even the day of the Lord is near, a cloudy day; it shall be the time of the heathen” (Eze. 30:3 KJV).
The next phrase in verse 18 says, “and the time of the dead.” The dead! It’s talking about dead people. The phrase, “the time of the dead,” tells us that the time had come for dead people. It was their time to be dealt with, their appointed time. The topic of this book is the resurrection of the dead, and this verse is talking about dead people. Your ears should be tingling right now!
The next phrase tells us what is going to happen to the dead people: “that they should be judged.” When people hear the word “judged,” they automatically think about it being something negative, that sin is being judged. But you can be judged for the good you’ve done as well as the bad. For example, employers must judge the work of their employees. Based on what he sees, he might fire one employee for being lazy, but to another, he might give a raise for good work. Both employees were judged. One was punished while the other was rewarded.
The next phrase identifies what kind of dead people we’re talking about and what should happen to them: “and that You should reward Your servants the prophets and the saints, and those who fear Your name, small and great.” This group of dead people are referred to as “Your servants.” The 24 elders were talking to God so when they say, “Your servants,” they are talking about the Lord’s servants. The dead people are God’s servants. The servants are more specifically identified as “prophets and saints.” And, lastly, the dead people are identified as “those who fear Your name, small and great.” This last phrase identifying the dead people is all inclusive. All the people in this group of dead people are believers and followers of God. The prophets and everyone else—both great and small.
Then we are told what time it is for the dead saints of God: “that You should reward Your servants.” It’s time for the resurrected saints of God to be judged and then rewarded for their faith. The book of 2nd Timothy tells us of one reward that every believer will receive: “Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing” (2 Timothy 4:8). A crown of righteousness!
Now, let’s talk about the other group of people: the destroyers of the earth. As I said before, verse 18 is strangely written; it starts out talking about the angry nations and then the subject abruptly changes to the dead saints being rewarded. Then it switches back to talking about the nations who are at war with each other. But in spite of it being oddly written, the one thing this verse tells us is that these two events happen at the same time.
Let’s put together the parts of this sentence that deal with the angry nations. It looks like this: “The nations were angry, and Your wrath has come … and should destroy those who destroy the earth.” The angry nations are destroying the earth through their constant warfare with one another. About this end time constant warfare, the book of Daniel tells us this period will be the worst time in all of history: “And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation, even to that time” (Rev. 12:1 NKJV).
The elders’ statement tells us what time it is for the angry nations: at the sounding of the seventh trumpet, it is time for the destroyers of the earth to be destroyed. This is the great day of the Lord when He pours out His wrath upon the warring nations. People have labeled this period of time as “the great tribulation,” whereas the Bible has labeled it as “the day of God’s wrath.”
One last thing. Did you notice the dead saints were already in heaven waiting to be judged and rewarded before God’s wrath was to be poured out on the earth? These two groups are judged at the same time, but the dead saints are in heaven receiving their rewards before the destroyers of the earth receive God’s wrath. The saints will not be present on earth during the tribulation period, thus fulfilling 1st Thessalonians 5:9: “For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ…” (KJV).
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