"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.
And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God, 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. 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.
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." Rev 11:15-19 (KJV)
The last Trumpet! Highly anticipated, and even in the Book of Revelation preceded by anticipation... Rev 10:7 – "but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, then is finished the mystery of God". They mystery of God is finished, and now that the trumpet has been blown, we enter a radically new phase in human history.
The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ! The title has passed! Our enemy held sway over the kingdoms of this earth, even offering it to Jesus if He would bow down and worship him (Matt 4:8,9). This reign has ended. God has patiently tolerated the enemy's lordship over His creation, but that time is now over. As the elders say, He has taken to Himself His great power, and has reigned – his adversary has been given millennia to prove his point, and wrestle against God's plan – but all his efforts have come to nothing. Judgement day has come and our God's patience revealed!
For the first time ever in this book, we see (and are told that there exists) the temple of God - opened in Heaven, and the ark of His covenant displayed. This is the heavenly temple and ark that Moses was instructed to copy in exact detail for the people of Israel, which took the form of the Tabernacle or the Tent of Meeting in the wilderness. The faithfulness of God is revealed in that He has enshrined His promises and protected them from tampering close to His heart. All Heaven knows what He has said and promised He will do, and that contract is kept secure right up to the day of reckoning.
The work of this heavenly temple is nearing its end. Once the contract is completed this temple will be no more. It is filled with glory of His presence and wrath during the period of His pouring out of the 7 bowls of wrath – and no one is allowed to enter to it to plead on behalf of the people then, but once His wrath is done we do not see it referred to any longer. There will be a new human temple constructed during the millennium (or the long period of peace when Satan is bound) – seen in a vision by the prophet Ezekiel (Ezekiel 40). Once the millennium is over (Satan released for a short time for a final deception and battle) – and a new earth and heaven created – we are told about a great feature of the true Eternal City – "And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God the Almighty, and the Lamb, are the temple thereof." Rev 21:22 The City itself has become a temple by virtue of the everlasting presence of God on earth.
Our God tabernacled with His people in the Wilderness. His desire from everlasting was to always be in the midst of them, to rejoice over them, to love them, to sing over them! He desired that His dwelling place on earth be a house of prayer, a constant source of provision for the poor, and a place where His people could bring their offerings before Him, eat and drink and rejoice in Him always! Imagine his rage when He saw His temple defiled by the very priests He had chosen, who stole from His offerings, who persecuted the people who came to worship. We see just a trace of this anger in our Lord's cleansing of the temple – he overthrew the money changers tables and drove them out with a whip of cords. He could not tolerate seeing His Father's house populated by a den of thieves!
The destruction of His temple – both during the Babylon invasion, and later periods was for a specific purpose. It is the fulfilment of a warning given to King Solomon "Then will I cut off Israel out of the land which I have given them; and this house, which I have hallowed for my name, will I cast out of my sight; and Israel shall be a proverb and a byword among all people: And at this house, which is high, every one that passeth by it shall be astonished, and shall hiss; and they shall say, Why hath the LORD done thus unto this land, and to this house? And they shall answer, Because they forsook the LORD their God, who brought forth their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and have taken hold upon other gods, and have worshipped them, and served them: therefore hath the LORD brought upon them all this evil. (1 Ki 9:7-9)
The temple, the offerings, the ark, the feasts – all were designed to show the people of Israel the glory of their God, and when they forsook Him, they forfeited everything. Yet the Lord is faithful to His promises. He has promised a throne to His servant David, a kingdom to His people Israel, and He will fulfill those promises in the millennium. To us Christians, He has promised – "Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name." (Re 3:12) We are the living stones that are now, and will be the temple of the Lord in the Holy City! Hallelujah!
Speaking of temples, times and feasts, as we enter upon this season of Easter, we regret that the influence of the enemy on the Church over the ages has prevented us from a unified observing of Resurrection Sunday following the Passover, with our Jewish brothers (Boy does he ever hate that day!). Our Lord went to the temple during the days of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. As we enter into Passover week this Sabbath, and as we all celebrate Easter – our wishes for everyone is not to focus on feast days or other things, but look to Him who is the reason for all this! We wish you all a very happy and joyous Easter and Passover!