The momentum has been building and we are anticipating the worst at this point.  This is the third woe that is to pass and should be more intense than anything before it.   We are surprised again, just as we were at the seventh seal being opened.  Then there was silence in heaven for half an hour.  Here there is great shouting and loud voices, but not what we are expecting.  Here we have the entire heavenly host praising God.  It is a celebration in heaven because God has now taken His great power and begun to reign.  The time has come when the destroyers will be met with God’s wrath and the servants of the Lord will be rewarded.  This is a summary of all that is yet to happen.  The events are spoken in the past tense to indicate the certainty of their happening just as God declared.  But, just as the seven seals led to seven additional visions, so the seven trumpets leads to seven additional visions that are about to be revealed.  We have been brought to this point and prepared for the next teaching that John is about to unveil.  It introduces the great themes of the following chapters.

It’s all over but the shouting – and here there’s even shouting!

 

v. 15 – We expect the “third woe,” but we experience loud voices proclaiming the final triumph of the kingdom of God.  All the heavenly host declare the replacement of the kingdom of the world by the kingdom of God and His Christ.  Satan is dethroned and Jesus is set to reign over all the earth forever and ever.  This event has been so awaited that all beings begin to sing a hymn of praise.  God has worked out His perfect plan and now the rebellion of evil is finally crushed – past tense – certainty.  This is no temporary thing – “he will reign forever and ever.”  This declares the universal sovereignty of God as has been proclaimed through O.T. prophecy.  (Dan. 2:31-45 – Daniel predicted that the kingdom of God will destroy the kingdoms of this world.  Zechariah said, the day is coming when the Lord will be the only God of all the earth – Zech. 14:9). 

 

When Jesus was tempted by Satan in the wilderness, He was promised all the kingdoms of the earth if He would worship Satan (Matt. 4:8-9).  Now we see that He is King over all the kingdoms of the earth and heaven anyway - by fulfilling God’s will for Him and us. Obedience to God is a rewarding thing – no matter how long it takes for fulfillment.  Psalm 2 is again brought to mind at this point.  “The Lord and His Christ” brings us to Ps. 2:2 as we reflect on the prophecies about Jesus’ coming and reigning. “He will reign” joins Jesus/Christ to the Father on the throne of the eternal Kingdom – Together – One.

 

v. 16 – The twenty-four elders are again on the scene.  We haven’t see them since 7:11, but they are still worshiping the Lord and here they again fall on their faces at this wonderful event. 

 

v. 17 – The praise to God is in recognition of His power and might – “the Lord God Almighty” – El Shaddai in Hebrew.  Then they chant an almost familiar phrase – “the one who is and who was” – but it stops there.  There is no – “and is to come” – because he is there – the time of His coming is present – this is what we’ve been waiting for.  “You have taken Your great power” – God deliberately exercised the power He has all along.  He purposely dethroned evil and will now reign as originally intended.  The mixture of tenses helps put this in perspective. 

v. 18 – We again reflect on Psalm 2 where the ruler of the earth plot evil against God and His Anointed One.  This crisis is dealt with here.  “The nations were angry,”  but God was angry too.  God’s anger is kindled against those who plot rebellion against God and His plan.  The punishment fits the crime.  God’s wrath/anger is appropriate against the conduct of the nations.  The time is the right time, the appointed time.  Apocalyptic style allows for the fierce assault against God and then for God to triumph over evil in the end.  We will see this play out:  14:10-11; 16:15-21; 20:8-9.

 

This is the fitting time for judgment, reward, and destruction.  Judgment of the dead will take place at the great white throne in ch. 20, and the righteous are rewarded according to their deeds for the kingdom, although all rewards are of grace and not of our own doing.  There are three groups mentioned who receive the rewards: the prophets, the saints, and those who reverence God’s Name.  John holds the prophets in high esteem and in this writing has been commissioned as a prophet.  He is writing prophecy.  This generic grouping of people being rewarded is to show the all-inclusiveness, just as in other places the sinners are grouped by nations and languages, and kings, and peoples.  It is a way of showing the extent of the address.

 

This act of God will bring destruction to the destroyers.  God will act in kind for those who bring havoc to the earth and its inhabitants. The destroyers to John are those of the Roman Empire and all who serve its evil plans as accomplices.  Rome – the evil of John’s day – becomes the model for the final assault against all evil.

 

v. 19 – This is a response to the hymn of praise in v. 17-18.  We see here a combination of the covenant love and fellowship of God as well as His wrath.  The ark has always been a sign of God’s presence with His people and the reward for the righteous.  The limited opening of the temple reveals the Holy Ark, which is a sign of God’s faithfulness in fulfilling His covenant promises.  However, there are days of the immediate fury of the Lord, and the believers need the assurance that God will bring his own safely to their eternal reward.  It is widely understood that the ark was destroyed along the historic path, but there is speculation that it may have been preserved in a cave and is still intact.  According to 2 Macc. 2:7, it is to stay hidden until a final gathering of God’s people for their reward.  The Jewish people still expect the recovery of the ark at the messianic revealing at the end of the age.  However, the ark in John’s revelation is not likely to be this eschatological event.  It is rather a “gracious reminder that God will faithfully carry out His covenant promises and destroy the enemies of His people.”  (Mounce, p. 238).

In our case here, the ark has a heavenly significance rather than earthly.  It represents the heavenly realm rather than worldly.  It is to show that the presence of God is open.  The scene closes with a cosmic fanfare confirming that this is a God thing.