The Almighty; Elders; Thy Kingdom Come;
Rev. 11:16-17
We are in that section of
the book of Revelation called the little book prophecy. These chapters go back
and bring us up to date, as it were, with the other things that are going on
during the Tribulation period. Chapter eleven focuses on the ministry of the
two witnesses—these two probably Old Testament prophets who are resurrected or
brought back and are ministering in the same power as Moses and Elijah—and the
remnant of Israel. The focal point is what happens with Israel and what happens as a result of these two witnesses
is that after they ascend to heaven there is a tremendous earthquake in Jerusalem. Seven thousand are killed and all the rest give
glory to the God of heaven. This is when the majority of the Jews that are
living in Israel will finally turn to Jesus Christ, accepting Him as
Messiah. Now that is not when the corporate nation is saved; that doesn’t occur
until the second coming—the physical deliverance of Israel when as a nation they accept Him as Messiah. But this
in chapter eleven has to do with the regeneration of those Jews living in Jerusalem. Chapter twelve will continue to give revelation
about what happens to the remnant and takes us up to the point of the woman
fleeing [the believing remnant of Israel] into the wilderness after the setting up of the
abomination of desolation being set up in the temple at the mid-point of the
Tribulation. Then we are told about the reign of terror from the two beasts:
the dragon who is Satan and the real power behind the international global
kingdom of the Antichrist who is the first beast and the false prophet who is
the second beast. Nevertheless even in this period there will be a tremendous
outpouring of God’s grace through three angelic announcements.
Revelation 11:1-14 deals
with the two witnesses. Then in vv. 15-19 there is an interlude where we are
once again before the throne of God in heaven. This introduces the last of the
seven trumpets which contains the seven bowl judgments. The time it takes to
carry our these last seven judgments covers the last half of the Tribulation
period.
Revelation 11:15 NASB “Then the seventh angel sounded;
and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, ‘The kingdom of the world
has become {the kingdom} of our Lord and of His Christ; and He will reign
forever and ever’.” Several things are said in this verse. The loud voices
would comprise the resurrected church. Because of what we are going to get into
in the next verse we should be reminded of the difference here in this
statement between the Lord, referring to God the Father, and His Christ, which
refers to Jesus Christ. This emphasizes the distinction between these two
persons on the Trinity. It is important to keep track of what the Father is
called and what Jesus is called in Revelation because we can easily get
confused in places. Almost without exception in Revelation the Father is
referred to as “the Lord.” Usually the full title that he is called is “the
Lord God Almighty.” Jesus, the second person of the Trinity, is usually
referred to as the Lamb, His predominant title in the book of Revelation.
What is the kingdom of the
world? It is a term that is used to describe all that man has tried to
accomplish in order to make life work apart from God. The Greek word that is
translated there for “world” is kosmos
[kosmoj] and it is used a couple of different ways in
Scripture. Sometimes it just refers to the physical earth/world, but in other
senses it refers to the whole world system that man operates in independence
from God. So in that sense it refers to not just the system of the world but to
the thought system that makes that up. And we see in Scripture that there is a
juxtaposition between the thinking of the world, the thinking of man in
independence from God, and the thinking of God. The thinking of the world is
not just the thinking that generates from man himself but it has a parallel in
that it is synonymous to and it an outgrowth of the thinking of the god of this
world, which is Satan. John 12:31
NASB “Now judgment is upon this world; now the ruler of this world
will be cast out.” Jesus is talking about what will take place on the cross.
The casting out of the world ruler and the judgment of the world: even though
sins are judged on the cross, the actual defeat of that kingdom and the
throwing out of Satan where he is cast into the lake of fire doesn’t occur
until Jesus comes back the second time. But it is the cross that secures that.
Because Christ defeats Satan at the cross it secures his eventual defeat, so He
can talk about the defeat of the world system and the kingdoms of the world and
the ruler of the world in a present tense as if it has happened.
As Satan is the ruler of
the world that means that the thinking of the world really imitates the
thinking of Satan. And the thinking of Satan is grounded in arrogance. It is
his own assertion that he can do what God can do. This is summarized in the
five “I will” statements in Isaiah 14:12-14, where he concludes saying, “I will
be like God.” So there arrogance on the one hand that focuses on the creature’s
ability to take over the role of the creator, and secondly, there is an
antagonism to God and to everything that God is trying to do. So there are
these two elements that relate to the thinking of the world. There is the
independence from God on the one hand and on the other hand there is hostility
to anything that God is going to do. That is what we see in the attitude of the
earth dwellers throughout the Tribulation period.
So the world, then,
manifests the kind of thinking of its founder, Satan, and this antagonism and
hatred for God and those who are aligned with him is what Jesus referred to in
John 15:18, 19 NASB “If the world hates you, you know that it has
hated Me before {it hated} you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you
are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the
world hates you.” When we are obedient to God’s Word we are setting ourselves
to be 180 degrees opposite the world’s system. As James says in James 4,
friendship with the world is enmity with God. We can’t find some middle ground
where we can become acceptable to the thinking of the world and not offensive
to the thinking of the world. And the more that our culture moves away from its
historic Judeo-Christian foundation—and we are moving away at break-neck speed
into paganism—the more believers are going to be rejected by the world around
them. Our values, our thinking, what we would like to see accomplished is always
going to be the opposite of the world around us. We are not going to win that
battle this side of the second coming. So the dichotomy, the tension Christians
feel, is that on the one hand we need to be involved. The disciples just didn’t
sit back and go into a monastery, they went out and taught the Word and were
actively involved in proclaiming the truth and providing the only solution
there is: salvation, the cross and the Word of God. On the other hand we have
to recognize that we can only do so much, this is the devil’s world after all,
and people are going to act that way; so we can relax a little bit and not
think that we are so defeated and everything is so terrible.
Jesus said, though, that
we can relax and can have joy even in the midst of all of this opposition. John
16:33 NASB “These things I have spoken to you,
so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take
courage; I have overcome the world.” This isn’t talking about reconciliation
peace because He is talking to the disciples who are already believers. There
is always going to be adversity, antagonism and hostility that Christians will
face in taking the gospel to people who are God-haters and suppressors of
truth. Then Jesus says in John 18:36 NASB “My kingdom is not of this
world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so
that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of
this realm.” So the kingdom of God is not going to be established through the militancy
of Christians.
The reference to the
kingdom of this world in Revelation 11:15 goes back to Daniel. In Daniel 2 we
have the image that appears to Nebuchadnezzar which was a prophetic look at the
history of the kingdom of man, the kingdom of the world. This is how the
kingdom looked from man’s perspective—it was glorious. It traced the kingdom
through the various empires, concluding with the fact that in the days of these
kings, when this kingdom is viewed as one integrated whole, the kingdom will be
destroyed and the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be
destroyed. This, then, is pictured in a different way in chapter seven which
looks at the kingdom of man from a bestial viewpoint. Babylon is presented as a lion with eagle’s wings, the
Media-Persian empire is pictured as a bear with three ribs in its mouth, the
Greek empire is pictured as a four-headed and four-winged leopard, and then the
Roman empire is pictured as this indescribable beast with ten
horns. Then there is going to be this event at the end where those ten horns
are conquered by a little horn, and that is the last form of the Roman empire
which is the revived Roman empire. The little horn is actually the beast of
Revelation 13, which is the Antichrist; and at the end of that we see that it
is the Son of Man who is given this everlasting dominion which shall not pass
away, and His kingdom is set up through the defeat of the kingdom of man.
We come to the last part
of the verse where it talks about the Lord and His Christ. Here we have
reference to Jesus Christ. The term christos
[xristoj] refers to the fact that He is the anointed one, or
the appointed one, who has been established to bring in the kingdom. Psalm 2 is
really the background for this event in Revelation 11. Psalm 2:2 NASB
“The kings of the earth take their stand And the rulers take counsel together
Against the LORD and against His Anointed…” There again we have the
two personages: the Lord being God the Father and His anointed being the
Christ; the same two personages mentioned in Revelation 11:15.
In response to this blast
of the trumpet: Revelation 11:16 NASB “And the twenty-four elders,
who sit on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshiped God…”
They are bowing down in obedience to Him. This relates to one of the key
meanings for worship which is the Greek verb proskuneo
[proskunew] which has the idea of bowing the knee or bowing down
before Him; it is a recognition of the authority of the ruler. So in this
passage we see that an aspect of worship of God is recognizing His authority to
do what He is doing in history. And that runs through worship. When we talk
about worship on Sunday morning it is the believers coming together in the body
of Christ to submit themselves to the teaching of God, the teaching of His
Word, so that they can conform their thinking to God’s thinking. It is not
simply a time to come together and have fellowship or to enjoy being with other
believers; it is a time for orienting to submission to God.
These twenty-four elders
need to be identified. There are some who think these are angels; others that
twelve represent the church, twelve represent Israel. Actually the twenty-four elders must be understood
to be resurrected, glorified and rewarded church age believers. They are
actually 24 representatives of the mass of church age believers. Old Testament
saints haven’t been resurrected yet, Tribulation saints haven’t, and so we just
have the church age believers. They are called “elders” –presbuteroi [presbuteroi]—a word that is never ever used anywhere of angels.
The term “elders” emphasizes maturity. They are crowned, which indicates that
they are rewarded. So the word “elders” is a good term because it emphasizes
their maturity; these are the overcomer believers who have been rewarded.
Secondly, at no point is there mention of these 24 elders in heaven prior to
the events of Revelation four, no mention of them in any of the Old Testament
passages, such as Isaiah 6.
Thirdly, the prophecies in
Daniel are the frame of reference for the book of Revelation. Again and again
as we go through the book of Revelation we see how important it is to go back
and understand the prophecies of Daniel. Daniel 7:9 NASB “I
kept looking Until thrones were set up…” So these are the thrones that the 24
elders are sitting on. “… And the Ancient of Days [God the Father, not Jesus
Christ] took {His} seat; His vesture {was} like white snow And the hair of His
head like pure wool. His throne {was} ablaze with flames, Its wheels {were} a
burning fire.” The description of the Ancient of Days given here is similar to
the vision that John has of the Lord Jesus Christ in Revelation chapter one.
Revelation 1:13 NASB “and in the middle of the lampstands
{I saw} one like a son of man…” There’s the connection. In Daniel 7 we see the
one who appears before the Ancient of Days is the son of man. “… clothed in a
robe reaching to the feet, and girded across His chest with a golden sash.
[14] His head and His hair were white like white wool, like snow; and His eyes
were like a flame of fire.” Because of this similarity there have been those
down through church history who have tried to identify the Ancient of Days as
the Lord Jesus Christ. This really leads to some terrible problems. In Daniel
chapter seven we have the introduction of the term “son of man.” Daniel
7:13 NASB “I kept looking in the night visions, And behold,
with the clouds of heaven One like a Son of Man was coming, And He came up to
the Ancient of Days And was presented before Him.” So there are two personages
there, the Son of Man and the Ancient of Days. So even though there are certain
similarities in the appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ in Revelation one to
the Ancient of Days we have to maintain that distinction. We need to be reminded
of the fact that when our Lord was on the earth He made the statement: “I and
the Father are one.” In His explanation of that we see that what the Father
thinks, the Son thinks; what the Son thinks, the Father thinks. So at times it
is almost impossible to distinction whether the term “God” or “Lord” is
focusing on one member of the Trinity or another. Sometimes we push it too far
and say, This has got to be the Father; this has got to be the Son. There is a
solution to that.
Why do we have the number
24? It is not just a symbolic number, it is a literal number based on the
representative priesthood in Israel. So that when there was a mass of priests who were
qualified to serve in the temple they would take twenty-four. They functioned
as representatives of the entire body. Every month another set of twenty-four
would serve. So this is a representational group and it changes every so often.
The white garments that they wear are those of rewarded church age believers,
as stated on Revelation 3:5, 18. The golden crowns that they wear are stephanos [stefanoj] crowns, crowns that are given as a reward, not ruler
crowns which would be a diadema [diadhma] crown. Angels are never said to wear victor’s
crowns. The function of the 24 elders as kings and priests fits the role of the
glorified church, not the role of angels. Revelation 5:10 is not a function of angels. These twenty-four elders
are stated to be redeemed by the blood of the Lamb in Revelation 5:9; angels
are not redeemed. So in Revelation 11:16 we see the response of church age
believers: they will fall down on their faces and worship God. That worship,
that sign of their submission to God, is indicated by what they say. The
content of what they say is remarkable.
Revelation 11:17 NASB
“saying, ‘We give You thanks, O Lord God, the Almighty, who are and
who were, because You have taken Your great power and have begun to reign.”.
There is a grace orientation there; gratitude is always related to grace. They
recognize that despite all the horror and the judgment that has come upon the
earth this is something to give thanks for because God is judging evil as it is
exemplified in human history and the kingdom of the world. Who is the Lord God,
the Almighty in this verse? It is God the Father. Jesus Christ is going to come
and is going to reign on the earth as the messianic King. Is God the Father
also going to reign and rule? Yes, He is. Both the Father and the Son are going
to reign together. The words “who are and who were” is seen in the first
mention of the term “the Almighty” in Revelation 1:8 with the appearance of the
one who was sitting on the throne. The one who sits on the throne is always the
Father. “I am the Alpha and the Omega” is a term that refers to the Father, not
to the Son. It applies to the Son later on but initially it is a term for the
Father. It can apply to both because they are both equally eternal. Where
people get confused is when the Father and the Son are viewed so closely
together. There is a word for this: perichoresis.
This is a very old theological term that was used to describe the
inter-penetration of other members of the Trinity with each other—so that Jesus
can say, “I and the Father are one.” Some titles apply to both the Father and
the Son and we make the mistake when we see a title like Alpha and Omega and
say that applies to Jesus at the end of Revelation, so this has to be Jesus
here in 1:8.
The other thing that
confuses people is in Revelation 1:8 NASB “who is and who was and
who is to come, the Almighty.” Revelation seems to focus on Jesus’ coming. He
is going to come in Revelation 19, but who comes in Revelation 21 in the new
heaven and the new earth? The Father dwells upon the earth because there is no
need for a temple anymore. The Trinity is coming. Revelation 1:8 makes it clear
that it is the Father who is and was and is to come. But Revelation 11:17 says, “who are and who were.” It doesn’t say “who is
to come.” Why not? Because in their proleptic framework they are putting
themselves in the future time of His coming, when His kingdom supplants the
kingdoms of the world. Rev 4:8 And the four living creatures, each one of them
having six wings, are full of eyes around and within; and day and night they do
not cease to say, ‘HOLY, HOLY, HOLY {is}
THE LORD GOD, THE ALMIGHTY, WHO WAS AND WHO IS AND WHO IS TO COME’.” Who is that referring to? It has to be the Father
because in 5:1 the one who is on the throne has a scroll in His hand and they
start looking for someone who is worthy to take the scroll, and the only one
worthy to take the scroll is the Lamb. The Lamb comes up and takes the scroll
out of the hand of the Lord God, the Almighty.
In Revelation 15 we have
the prelude to the bowl judgments. Revelation 15:3 NASB “And they
sang the song of Moses [They sing the song of Moses before the throne. This
would be the church], the bond-servant of God, and the song of the Lamb,
saying, ‘Great and marvelous are Your works, O Lord God, the Almighty [the
Father]; Righteous and true are Your ways, King of the nations!’” In 16:7 NASB
“And I heard the altar saying, ‘Yes, O Lord God, the Almighty, true and
righteous are Your judgments’.” So chapter 16 focuses on the content of the
seven bowls and again we see that the Lord God the Almighty is the one on the
throne, the one who is distinguished from the Lamb. The Lamb is the one who
will be leading the charge back down to the battle of Armageddon. Revelation
19:6 NASB “Then I heard {something} like the voice of a great
multitude and like the sound of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals
of thunder, saying, ‘Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty,
reigns’.” He is going to reign but He reigns through the Son who is the Davidic
King, the Messiah who reigns. [7] “Let us rejoice and be glad and give the
glory to Him [the Father], for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride
has made herself ready…. [15] From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with
it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron
[Ps. 2:9]; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God [the
Father], the Almighty.” Revelation 21:22
NASB “I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.” Again they
are distinguished. So what we see here is this doctrine of perichoresis which
is that there is a distinction between the Father and the Son but the Father
reigns, the Son reigns. The Father and the Son are viewed so closely together
at times that they both are pictured doing the same thing.
Illustrations