Month: May 2023

The Seventh Trumpet

The Book of Revelation gives us many of the pictures we have about life after death. In this article, I want to look at short passage with plenty of content. This is part of a series of revelations that starts with seven seals being broken on a critical scroll, is then followed by seven trumpets sounding, and finally seven incense burners being poured on Earth. These visions are not to be understood as being in chronological order, but rather each set of seven run parallel between the time of Jesus re-entering Heaven and His return to Earth.

The section I will write about today is Revelation 11:15-19:

15 Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, 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 shall reign forever and ever.” 16 And the twenty-four elders who sit on their thrones before God fell on their faces and worshiped God, 17 saying,

“We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty,
    who is and who was,
for you have taken your great power
    and begun to reign.
18 The nations raged,
    but your wrath came,
    and the time for the dead to be judged,
and for rewarding your servants, the prophets and saints,
    and those who fear your name,
    both small and great,
and for destroying the destroyers of the earth.”

19 Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant was seen within his temple. There were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and heavy hail.

Revelation 11:15-19

The seventh trumpet is sounded in the midst of Judgment Day. Perhaps it is the trumpet spoken of in Matthew 24:31 and 1 Thessalonians 4:16. It marks the transition from the Earth being Satan’s kingdom to it being God’s Kingdom once again. Once this happens there will be no more falling away again, for it says that He will reign forever and ever. “Forever and ever” is a bit redundant, but it emphasizes the point and makes for great music lyrics.

In what sense did God not reign? He is the Almighty. But operating under God’s own laws, Satan had seized control through Adam and Eve and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. That event changed the genetics of creation at a minimum. Now God’s Word will be coded in the flesh of all living things.

The inhabitants of God’s throne room give Him praise, for now Judgment Day will begin. What does it involve?

The list of those being rewarded is curious. First, anyone being rewarded on Judgment Day has to be someone forgiven through the death of Jesus (John 14:6) They are made clean by Jesus’ blood (Revelation 7:14b). Then building on that forgiveness people can have a reward. The list breaks out prophets, saints (literally holy ones, not the Roman Catholic definition of saint) and those who fear God’s name. This would seem to be overlapping categories. The point I would make is that it is a comprehensive description of God’s people, as opposed to Revelation 6 and 20 which only enumerate the martyrs. The reward is some aspect of living in the New Heaven and Earth.

The final bullet is the destroying of the destroyers. Who is this? People have defiled the planet through pagan worship and sin, but they would be included in the judgment of the dead. Judgment Day also brings the final destruction of Satan and the demons that follow him. They have been fundamental in ruining God’s creation for Him. Now they will get theirs.

In the final verse, God’s temple in Heaven is opened. This is to distinguish between the former earthly temple (gone since 70 AD) and the arrangement of the New Jerusalem which will have no temple. Within it is the ark of the Covenant. So it is not in a church in Ethiopia https://nypost.com/2021/02/20/at-least-800-ethiopians-killed-after-defending-ark-of-the-covenant/ , nor is it in a US government warehouse like in Indiana Jones. God’s most holy relic is His. Its unveiling is merely to show that God’s people will have direct access to God.

The Glory I Had with You

In Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer in John 17, Jesus speaks of returning to a “glory I had with you before the world existed”. What would Jesus consider to be glorious? Is it a glory that we will be able to see? Is it something that will be experienced in other ways?

The first thing to note is that “glory” is probably not the same in God’s eyes as in ours. We think in terms of power, praise, pleasure, and authority. I expect that such categories would also be a part of God’s definition. But God would add love to that list.

In His prayer, Jesus asks the Father to glorify Him. This request is focused on what would happen before Jesus ascended back to Heaven. Crucifixion is not glorious. Being forsaken by God is even more inglorious. Being crucified with the purpose of fulfilling God’s Law for others because you love them and honor the Father, that is very glorious. Paying the ultimate price when you didn’t owe it out of love, that is the pinnacle of glorious.

Prior to the crucifixion James and John and their mom went on a glory-seeking mission. Having been enculturated to see glory in terms of praise and power they approached Jesus about sitting on His right and left when He entered into His glory.

20 Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came up to him with her sons, and kneeling before him she asked him for something. 21 And he said to her, “What do you want?” She said to him, “Say that these two sons of mine are to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your kingdom.” 22 Jesus answered, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am to drink?” They said to him, “We are able.” 23 He said to them, “You will drink my cup, but to sit at my right hand and at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.”

Matthew 20:20-23 (ESV)

James, John and mom definitely were thinking in terms of some sort of throne arrangement. Jesus indicates that this isn’t what you are thinking. His ultimate glory would be on the cross. The thieves to the right and to the left are the ones “chosen” for roles. These are not necessarily coveted positions. None-the-less, James and John would be chosen for the glory of suffering for the Gospel and, in James’s case, martyrdom.

This brings me back to the idea of heavenly glory. Is it all just bright lights, beautiful music and praise? I expect the glory of love will remain a big part of it. Will there be a necessity for sacrificial love in Heaven or the New Earth? Maybe. It will be nothing like the cross and nothing near forsakeness. The need to care for each other, to give to each other is not just limited to a world with sin and the curse in it. We will experience God’s love for us and a love for each other in many ways.

For me, this emphasizes the importance of our current life. Because sin, the curse, and the work of Satan are such influential forces, the need for genuine, sacrificial love is so important. The need and the opportunities abound. This won’t be so in Heaven or the New Earth. Living in a world that incorporates evil is terrible and I want no more of it than I have to take; but I am willing to stay as long as I can be useful and exercise my “glory” which is the love of God working in me.

This point-of-view can also illustrate why Sheol and Gehenna are so bad. Yes, the description of fire and maggots is mortifying. But the absence of the glory of God is worse. There is a growing absence of love.

In the one story about Sheol that we have, that of the beggar Lazarus, at least the rich man has compassion on his living siblings. He cares whether they arrive in Sheol. This indicates to me that being forsaken by God has not yet set in. In Gehenna, post-Judgment Day, I don’t expect any hope or unselfishness to be found. It is completely inglorious.

The glory of God, in Jesus’ crucifixion, enables the experience of the broader glory of God in eternal life. We will observe His glory in astounding beauty and power. We will live in the midst of the light of His glory in the New Jerusalem. We will experience and express His glory in a great love for each other. We can get a head start on it now.

That Can Never Perish, Spoil or Fade

When we do funerals at our church, we often start the service with a verse from 1 Peter 1. It reads, in part:

In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, 5 who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.

1 Peter 1:3b-5 (NIV)

Keep in mind, that our existence past the grave is not just a simple Heaven or Hell https://wordpress.com/post/afterdeathsite.com/131. The wording of this passage does raise some questions. First, and this may surprise you, this is one of the few passages that suggests that Heaven is a destination for human beings. There is no promise of Heaven in the Old Testament. There is more mention of the resurrection and the New Earth even in the New Testament. This passage suggests that our inheritance is in Heaven. Does it mean that we go there to get it? Does it say that we must wait until Judgment Day to have it?

I conclude that we do go to Heaven upon our death and receive at least part of our “inheritance”. I back that up with a passage in Revelation 7:9 that speaks about the location of the victorious dead:

9 After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands,

Revelation 7:9 (ESV)

They are standing before God’s throne which was shown to be in Heaven to this point in Revelation.

What is the “salvation that is ready to revealed in the last time”? Isn’t this something that happens on the last Day–Judgment Day? I always read it that way. I see it differently now. God’s plan of salvation for human beings was only partially revealed prior to Jesus. They knew about the resurrection of the dead. They might have had an inkling that God would provide a way of forgiveness of sins that was permanent. They didn’t expect to go to God’s throne room. It wasn’t promised.

That didn’t mean that Heaven wasn’t in the plan. Heaven wasn’t officially on the table until Jesus had atoned for sin with His completion of God’s Law, paying the penalty of forsakeness https://wordpress.com/post/afterdeathsite.com/2234, and the casting of Satan out of Heaven (Rev. 12:7f). You could really say that it was contingent on Jesus’ success. But now that Jesus has prevailed, God’s full plan of salvation can be rolled out. It does say “last time”, not last day. Now is the last time, not Judgment Day.

The good news is not only will we have a resurrection of our bodies in perfected form and a New Earth after Judgment Day, but we a have immediate access to Heaven and glorious things within it, because God has “given us new birth”, connecting us to Jesus.

When you think about the best things in life now, they all will perish, spoil or fade. A new car will eventually be a boring old car and then rust. Exciting experiences lose their excitement. Everything declines either physically or in our reaction to it or both. Not the stuff of Heaven.

Relationships remain exciting. Seeing God never gets old. Our adventures remain fresh.

In the mean time, all these will keep. We have a job to do here and a certain amount of time to do it. While here, we remain in a danger zone. In Revelation 7 the inhabitants of Heaven refer to our current world as the Great Tribulation. This is hard to appreciate unless you are in a war zone, are chronically ill, or are trapped in dysfunctional relationships. But even if things are good, they are not Heaven good.

While here we are exposed to sin and the curse. God protects our connection to Christ, but we can still walk away from it.https://wordpress.com/post/givingchrist.com/843 We may suffer quite a bit while here. But God will support us and transform us. God will use us in powerful and unique ways. All of the trouble associated with the Great Tribulation will seem small once we move to our home. The one thing that I expect will fade, will be our memory of our struggle here.

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