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Revelation 11:15-18 and 12:10 indicate that we may experience and enjoy Christ as the eternal King.
Revelation 11:15 says, “The seventh angel trumpeted; 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.” This verse indicates that after God’s judgment upon the earth, the earth will be taken over by and returned to God so that Christ will reign in His kingdom on the earth forever and ever. The kingdom of Christ will be everlasting in that it will last not only for a thousand years but for eternity without end. Therefore, the Lord’s reigning forever and ever is the Lord’s reigning in the millennial kingdom and in the new heaven and new earth for eternity (22:5). He will reign as a king forever and ever. We will also reign with Him (2 Tim. 2:12). All the overcomers will reign with Christ for a thousand years (Rev. 20:4, 6), and all the saved ones will reign forever and ever in eternity (22:5b).
After Christ executes His judgment upon the nations at His coming back, the kingdom of the world will become the kingdom of Christ (Dan. 7:13-14; 2:44-45). At the sounding of the seventh trumpet, not only will the great tribulation come to an end, but also this age will be closed, the mystery of God will be finished (Rev. 10:7), and another age, the age of the kingdom, will come for a millennium, a thousand years. When the age of the kingdom arrives, the entire earth will be the kingdom of Christ.
Today the earth is a worldly kingdom under the rule of Satan. But the day is coming when the Lord, as the King, will regain this world. Revelation 11:15 says, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He will reign forever and ever.” The world spoken of in Revelation 11:15 is the earth that the meek will inherit in Matthew 5:5.
Christ alone is the proper Owner of the earth. He paid the price on the cross to purchase the entire earth so that one day the kingdom would be established on it (13:44). Every inch of this earth belongs to Christ. We do not agree that any part of the earth belongs to anyone else. All others are usurpers; Christ is the unique Owner. Moreover, He is coming back to take possession of the earth (Rev. 10:1-2). If we truly know the New Testament, we will see this clearly. Wherever our travels may take us, we need to learn to declare, “This is my Lord’s property. Temporarily it is usurped by the enemy, but one day my Lord will come to claim what is His.” Sooner or later, the kingdom of the world will become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ.
Revelation 11:15 is a part of a promise that God made to Jacob in Genesis 35:11, which says, “A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, / And kings shall come forth from your loins.” First, we have “a company of nations,” indicating multiplication, and then we have “kings,” indicating the kingdom. Following Jacob, there was the nation of his descendants. Then there was the kingdom of his descendants under David and Solomon. In the New Testament there was the kingdom under his descendant, Jesus Christ; in the next age there will be the millennial kingdom; and after that, the eternal kingdom in the new heaven and the new earth. This one matter of the kings requires all the subsequent books of the Old Testament and the New Testament for its fulfillment. Even the church today as God’s kingdom on earth is included in this promise. Everything in Jacob’s life is a type to be fulfilled by us. We should not be satisfied to have one or two people saved through us. Rather, we should say, “Lord, I am not happy with this. I want to see the kingdom. I need the multiplication that will issue in the kingdom.” This is a great matter. We should have the faith for it, saying, “Lord, I would have the faith to be multiplied, not for my empire but for Your kingdom.”
When the kingdom of the world becomes the kingdom of Christ at His coming back (Dan. 7:13-14; 2:44-45), the twenty-four elders will fall on their faces and worship God, saying, “We thank You, Lord God the Almighty, He who is and who was, because You have taken Your great power and have reigned” (Rev. 11:17). Here it is difficult to determine to whom the word You refers. This is because verse 15 speaks of Christ’s reigning, but in verse 17 it is the Lord God the Almighty who is reigning. Does the word You in verse 17 refer to Christ or Lord God the Almighty? In other words, is it Christ or Lord God the Almighty who reigns? Although this is ambiguous, we may say that it is both Christ and Lord God the Almighty who reign. In these verses we see the Divine Trinity — God, who is three-one. The Bible often refers to the Divine Trinity in an ambiguous way. Because certain terms in the Bible reveal the Divine Trinity in an ambiguous way, it is difficult to discern which one of the Trinity they refer to. It is often better to attribute such terms to the entire Triune God.
Revelation 11:18 goes on to say, “The time came for the dead to be judged, and the time to give the reward to Your slaves the prophets and to the saints and to those who fear Your name, to the small and to the great.” In this verse the word Your refers to both Christ and God. This again implies the trinity of the Godhead.
The positive aspect of the seventh trumpet includes (1) the coming of the eternal kingdom of Christ, which is the kingdom in its manifestation (vv. 15, 17); (2) the judgment of the dead before the resurrection of the saints (v. 18); and (3) the giving of the reward, at the judgment seat of Christ (2 Cor. 5:10), to the prophets and the saints after the resurrection and rapture of the saints (1 Cor. 15:23, 52; 1 Thes. 4:16-17), and the giving of the reward, at the throne of God’s glory (Matt. 25:31-34), to those who fear God’s name (Rev. 14:6-7).
Since in Revelation 11:18 for the dead to be judged is mentioned before to give the reward to Your slaves, the former must not refer to the judgment of the dead at the great white throne after the millennium (20:11-15). Rather, it refers to the fact that at the close of this age, before the millennium, according to John 5:27-29, the dead will be judged concerning who should share in the resurrection of life before the millennium (1 Cor. 15:23; Rev. 20:4-6) and who should be left to the resurrection of condemnation after the millennium (vv. 11-12). Before Christ resurrects the saints, He will first make a judgment among the dead regarding the first resurrection of life and the second resurrection of condemnation. After He makes this decision, the resurrection of the saints will take place.
At His coming back, Christ will reward His servants. The reward will be given by the Lord to His faithful ones at His coming back (22:12; Matt. 16:27). After the resurrection and rapture of the saints (1 Cor. 15:23, 52; 1 Thes. 4:16-17), Christ at His judgment seat will judge the prophets and the saints (2 Cor. 5:10) to determine who among the saved persons is worthy of a reward and who needs further discipline.
Christ will also reward the God-fearing people. Revelation 11:18 also specifically mentions that a reward will be given “to those who fear Your name.” Those who fear God’s name are the “sheep” mentioned in Matthew 25:33-40. They are those who will heed the eternal gospel, fearing God and worshipping Him and not worshipping Antichrist and his image (Rev. 14:6-7).
After Christ comes back to earth and establishes the throne of His glory in Jerusalem, the center of His kingdom, He will judge the nations, who are all the living unbelievers. The New Testament indicates that Christ has been appointed to judge the living and the dead (Acts 10:42; 2 Tim. 4:1). He will judge the living after He fights the war at Armageddon and destroys Antichrist, the false prophet, and their followers (Rev. 19:11-21). At that time, there will be a large number of unbelievers still living on earth. According to Matthew 25:31-46, Christ will gather all the nations to His throne in Jerusalem and judge them.
Many think that this judgment refers to the judgment exercised upon Christians to determine who is real and who is false. But we need to consider what Matthew 25:31-32a says: “When the Son of Man comes in His glory and all the angels with Him, at that time He will sit on the throne of His glory. And all the nations will be gathered before Him.” In the New Testament the word nations refers to the Gentiles. Matthew 25:32 goes on to say, “He will separate them from one another, just as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.” This judgment will be neither according to the law nor according to the gospel of grace; it will be according to the eternal gospel preached by the angel in Revelation 14:6-7. During the three and a half years in which Antichrist will force people to worship his image, an angel in mid-air will proclaim the eternal gospel, telling the people on earth not to worship the image but to fear God and worship Him. Some of the inhabitants of the earth will heed this eternal gospel. They will fear God and worship Him rather than the image of the beast, and they will also care for the needy Jews and Christians who will be suffering under the persecution of Antichrist. Therefore, in Matthew 25:34-36, the King will say to those on His right hand, “Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty and you gave Me a drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in, naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.” When these righteous ones ask the Lord how they could have done this to Him, He will answer, “Truly I say to you, Inasmuch as you have done it to one of these, the least of My brothers, you have done it to Me” (v. 40). During the great tribulation these “sheep” will care for His little brothers, that is, the believers who suffer persecution and the Jews who fear God. Hence, they will be transferred into the millennial kingdom as the nations on the earth (Rev. 2:26; 12:5).
In Revelation 12:5 there is the birth of the man-child. The man-child signifies the overcomers who have the authority to rule over the nations. This man-child will be raptured to the throne of God in the heavens. When the man-child is raptured to the throne, there will be a great battle in the heavens against Satan, and Satan will be cast down to the earth (vv. 7-9). Today the enemy, Satan, is still in the heavens, but once the overcomers arrive there, he will have no place but will be cast down. Once he has been cast down, a loud voice will declare, “Now has come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ” (v. 10). Here Christ is spoken of as “His Christ,” the Christ of God. Again this implies the trinity of the Godhead, for Christ is God Himself (Rom. 9:5).
The Lord’s desire today is to establish His kingdom in us. To be a Christian is not merely a matter of being holy and victorious; it is a matter of submitting to the authority of the kingdom. To be a Christian is not only a matter of grace, enjoyment, life, and power; it is also a matter of allowing Christ to have the right to govern us, constitute us His kingdom, set up His throne, and carry out His will in us. When there is a group of people in the church who are willing to allow Christ’s authority to flow among them, this will bring Christ’s kingdom to the earth. When there is a group of overcomers in the church, these overcomers will bring the authority of heaven, the kingdom of God, to the earth. At that time the church will be victorious, and the enemy will be powerless.
The overcoming believers fight against Satan to usher in God’s kingdom. The Lord taught us to pray for the coming of the kingdom (Matt. 6:10). May the Lord grant us mercy and show us that His prayer is for the unlimited spread of the kingdom of God on the earth and in the whole universe. Of course, in order to carry out such a plan of God, there is the need for God’s people to pray sufficiently. The true prayers of God’s people are for His kingdom. We may pray for numerous things, but unless the ultimate purpose is for God’s kingdom, those prayers are of no value before God. We admit that in the Lord’s prayer there is the matter of dealing with sins and the matter of the daily living, but its beginning and ending are entirely for the kingdom of God. In the beginning it says, “Your kingdom come; Your will be done, as in heaven, so also on earth” (v. 10). At the end it says, “For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever” (v. 13). Therefore, this prayer shows us that He wants our prayer to be wholly for God’s kingdom.
The situation in Revelation 12 depicts the true prayers of the saints. There we see the woman bringing forth a man-child (v. 5). The woman signifies the totality of the redeemed ones. The man-child signifies the stronger part of the redeemed people, that is, the overcomers. We need to realize that the woman and the man-child whom she brought forth have prayed (v. 2). Their voices have reached God; hence, following the rapture of the man-child there is war in heaven. Consequently, God’s enemy is cast out from heaven to the earth. Then there is a loud voice in heaven saying, “Now has come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ” (v. 10). Hence, once God’s people utter the real prayers, the result is always the ushering in of God’s kingdom. On the other hand, without the prayers of God’s people, there is no way for God’s kingdom to come. The coming of the kingdom is absolutely related to our prayers.
The examples in the Old Testament also confirm this. When the children of Israel were in captivity, Jerusalem was destroyed, the temple was burned, and the nation of Israel was in complete collapse. At that time, God raised up several men of prayer in Babylon. Daniel and three of his friends were competent in prayer. Their prayers brought in the kingdom. God’s kingdom had come to the earth through David, but after Solomon’s time it was defeated again. In Babylon Daniel was praying precisely for this matter so that God’s kingdom might be brought back once more to the earth (Dan. 6:10). It was completely due to Daniel’s prayer that God was able to build the temple, restore Jerusalem, and have the dominion. Therefore, we must be clear that whether or not God’s kingdom can come and whether or not He can rule on earth all depend on whether or not God’s people will pray. The ultimate purpose of prayer is for bringing in God’s kingdom.
Along with our praying for the kingdom’s coming, we need to fight for it. The coming of the kingdom has two aspects: the reality of the kingdom (Matt. 5:3), which is in the proper church life today (Rom. 14:17), and the manifestation of the kingdom in the millennium, which will be brought in through the overcoming believers. The phrase now has come...the kingdom of our God denotes the manifestation of the kingdom of God. If we are the overcomers, we are living in the reality of the kingdom today. Since we are in the reality of the kingdom now, we will certainly be in the manifestation of the kingdom in the future. Being in the manifestation of the kingdom requires us to be in the reality of the kingdom.
The book of Revelation opens with the kingdom. In Revelation 1:9 John tells us that he was our brother and fellow partaker in the tribulation and kingdom and endurance in Jesus. He is our companion in the kingdom. The Lord’s intention in Revelation is to open up the matter of the kingdom to all the saints. Yet in the first few chapters of Revelation, the lampstands as the churches are revealed, not the kingdom. This means that, practically speaking, the churches are the kingdom. The proper church life is the reality of the kingdom. The churches are not simply for the churches but for the kingdom. In Revelation John does not say that he is one of the members of the Body of Christ but that he is our companion in the tribulation and kingdom and endurance in Jesus. Tribulation is needed for the kingdom, and endurance is needed for tribulation. If we would enter into the kingdom, we must suffer. To bear the suffering we need a certain amount of endurance. This is not our endurance but the endurance of Jesus.
The first few chapters of Revelation show us our participation in the kingdom. God’s intention for the church is to have the kingdom, and for this, all His believers must be matured to the extent that they can live in the reality of the kingdom and bring in the manifestation of the kingdom. The manifestation of the kingdom will simply be the maturity and the ultimate growth of the kingdom life. When we live in the reality of the kingdom in its ultimate state, that will be the manifestation of the kingdom. God’s purpose is to have the church, which can bring in His kingdom. The redemption of Christ is to bring in the kingdom. The normal church life is simply the reality of the kingdom, and this reality will consummate in the manifestation of the kingdom. One day the kingdom of God will be manifested. That will be the fulfillment of Revelation 12:10. The kingdom of God will come in full manifestation.
Regrettably, many genuine Christians have not seen this view and are short of this experience. Most have fallen below the standard of the normal church life. Therefore, in the last book of the New Testament, Revelation, the Lord Jesus sounded forth a call, not to the unbelievers but to the believers. Every believer has been called once by the Lord. But in Revelation 2 and 3 the Lord Jesus sent forth a second calling to the believers, a calling to be overcomers. We all have been called to believe, and we all have been called into the church life. But many are still short of the Lord’s purpose and not up to the normal level which is adequate to bring in the manifestation of the kingdom.
Revelation begins with the kingdom in chapter 1 and also declares the coming of the kingdom in chapter 12. This indicates that Revelation is a book on the kingdom. Matthew contains the seed of the kingdom, the Epistles contain the growth and development of the seed of the kingdom, and Revelation contains the harvest of the seed of the kingdom. The first aspect of the harvest of the kingdom is the seven lampstands, and the ultimate harvest of the kingdom will be the holy city, New Jerusalem. The New Jerusalem is simply the harvest of the kingdom to the uttermost. In the New Jerusalem the kingdom will be fully manifested. Even the millennium will not be the ultimate manifestation of the kingdom. But the New Jerusalem in the new heaven and new earth will be the ultimate consummation and fullest manifestation of the kingdom. In the new heaven and new earth with the New Jerusalem, there will be the eternal kingdom of God.
When the manifestation of the kingdom comes, the salvation of God will come in full with the kingdom. God’s salvation has already been manifested to us today, but it will come in full in the kingdom age. It is the same with the power of God and the authority of His Christ. We have participated in God’s power and Christ’s authority today, but our full enjoyment of them will be in the kingdom age.
