NOTES for Rev 11:15-17

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¹⁵And 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.

¹⁶And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God,

¹⁷Saying, 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.

The trumpet of the seventh angel marks, in fact, the moment when history is completed, a moment connected with the transformation of the world into the Kingdom of God. Even before Christianity, the reign of God was connected precisely with the transformation of the world into the Kingdom, and therefore with its transfiguration.

A special hymnographic canon connected with the feast of the day of Yahweh, the day of the Lord, included in the hymn the phrase 'Yahweh has become king' or 'The Lord reigns,' usually either at the beginning or at the end. Now that same phrase is heard from the elders, who in the vision symbolize the fullness of what we usually call the heavenly Church. The world has finally become part of the Kingdom and has itself become the Kingdom. Above all, this transformation was marked by the opening to the world of the heavenly Temple, whose prototype was the earthly Temple in Jerusalem. Behind the symbols, the spiritual reality they signify is revealed.

Every earthly altar exists and has meaning only insofar as the heavenly altar exists, that Throne of glory located at the point where God meets the world. In creation there is a 'place' where the will of God, the intention of God, directly touches the creation of God. Of course such a place does not exist as a physical reality, but a projection of the Throne into physical space is possible wherever God indicates. That is how sacred places, altars, and places of Presence appeared in the world even before the coming of Christ, places where heaven touched earth.

The Temple in Jerusalem was such a place. Even before the coming of the Messiah, the prophets perceived this place symbolically as a vision of the Throne of glory. Now what had formerly been invisible, the spiritual center of creation hidden from the eyes of fallen humanity, becomes visible, and the world is transfigured as it becomes able to receive directly the spiritual influences that come from God. Thus the world becomes the Kingdom, beginning to exist openly before the throne of God. And the King of this Kingdom is the Messiah risen from the dead, also openly and manifestly for all.

Other notes

For Rev 11:15-19

¹⁶And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God,

¹⁷Saying, 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.

¹⁸And 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.

¹⁹And 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.

As we can see, God's judgment on the Church precedes the day of universal Judgment, which comes immediately after it. This is not... Read more

As we can see, God's judgment on the Church precedes the day of universal Judgment, which comes immediately after it. This is not surprising: according to God's design, Judgment must become not only punishment for those who oppose the Kingdom, but first of all the beginning of the transformation of the world, so that, once transformed, it can become part of the Kingdom. Judgment presupposes above all precisely an evaluation of everything and everyone from the standpoint of fitness for the Kingdom. It would seem that in the world created by God there can be nothing unfit for the Kingdom; but unfortunately the world has been thoroughly damaged by those who oppose God, and now, through the efforts of God's opponents, much has appeared in it that is incompatible with the Kingdom. And if God evaluates a person above all from the standpoint of readiness for repentance and for cleansing from everything that prevents participation in the life of the Kingdom, then He considers the works and fruits of human hands in the context of their future inclusion in the life of the Kingdom in the state they have on the day of Judgment: what can be taken into the Kingdom, even after the transformation that awaits the whole world, is taken, and everything else is left behind and shares the fate of that part of creation which remains outside the Kingdom, in the Gospel phrase, in the "outer darkness."

Strictly speaking, the trumpet of the seventh angel announces first of all not Judgment, but the reign of Christ, which is so awaited both in heaven and on earth (vv. 15-16). Judgment, as we can see, turns out to be only a consequence, a kind of side effect of this reign (v. 18). It would not have existed at all if the world had not been damaged by the fall. Judging by the testimony of the Book of Revelation, the world was conceived from the beginning precisely as the kingdom of God, where authority was to belong to the One who created it, and directly so (Rev 4:9-11). And the One who created the world also, as we can see, intended from the beginning to give it into the governance of His Son, who has been revealed to us as the Messiah, sanctifying and transforming what the Father created and bringing His creation to the fullness worthy of becoming the dwelling place of its Creator (Rev 5:11-12).

Judgment became a sad necessity after forces opposing God interfered with this design, and their activity unfortunately left its mark on the world God created, even despite their defeat. In such conditions Judgment becomes in God's hands the tool needed to correct what can be corrected, so that the Kingdom may include everything and everyone possible.

The only obstacle here can be the free will of those whom God created free, whether angels or human beings: both can not only reject for themselves the opportunity offered to them, but can also make the fruits of their activity unfit for the Kingdom. And here even God is powerless: He cannot force the Kingdom on anyone. One can enter it only by choosing it freely; otherwise the Kingdom would cease to be the Kingdom and turn into its opposite. That is why God gives everyone the right of free choice, placing the full measure of responsibility for the decision on the one who chooses.

For Rev 11:15-19

¹⁶And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God,

¹⁷Saying, 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.

¹⁹And 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.

Earthly history ends not with the destruction of the world or the cessation of its existence, but with its complete transformation... Read more

Earthly history ends not with the destruction of the world or the cessation of its existence, but with its complete transformation. The kingdom of this world, which in the Gospel the Lord called hostile to Himself, killing those who believe and remain faithful, now becomes the eternal Kingdom of the Lord. This is not the death of the old and the birth of the new; it is the complete transfiguration of everything. We hear the voices of angels and saints celebrating the heavenly liturgy in the Temple of God, in the heavenly Jerusalem.

NOTES for Rev 11:15-17

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