After the two witnesses, the seventh angel blows the seventh trumpet, and loud voices of praise break out in heaven (Revelation 11:15). We\u2019re back in heaven, and the twenty-four elders prostrate themselves before the Lord, the pantokrator<\/em>, and praise Him because the kingdom of this world (tou kosmou<\/em>) has become the kingdom of the Lord (tou kuriou<\/em>) and of Christ.\u00a0<\/p>\n Verse 18 gives liturgical expression to the pattern of events by which God comes to His throne. The verse is surrounded by neat lex-talionic<\/em> phrases. As in Psalm 2, the nations rage (orgizo<\/em>); the Lord responds to the rage of the nations with a rage (orge<\/em>) of His own. When the dust is cleared, He will have destroyed the destroyers of the land (the same verb, diaphtheiro<\/em>, used twice). Whatever is happening here, it is a just happening. The enraged nations get nothing that they don\u2019t deserve; destroyers have destruction turned back on their own heads.<\/p>\n Within this frame, the portrait of the coming of the kingdom is more positive. God\u2019s orge<\/em> isn\u2019t just wrath against wrath. When the time of orge<\/em> comes, it\u2019s time to give rewards. The passage is organized in a complex set of overlapping triads:<\/p>\n God judges<\/em> the dead; He gives<\/em>\u00a0wages; and He destroys<\/em>. Each verb is an infinitive. governed by the word kairos<\/em>: The time of wrath is the time for judgment, reward, destruction. In context, \u201cjudgment\u201d for the dead seems to be the judgment of new life, like the \u201cjudgment\u201d rendered on behalf of the two witnesses when the pneuma zoes<\/em> is breathed into them. Revelation isn\u2019t describing a medieval altarpiece, but speaking of a judgment to life.<\/p>\n The second of these verbs (give) has a triple object. God rewards the bondservants, His prophets (though two terms, these go together in Revelation); the holy ones (hagioi<\/em>); and the fearers of the name. Those categories echo the triple categories found in some Psalms (cf. 135:19-20), and includes the leaders of the people of God, the holy ones, and God-fearing Gentiles. The last phrase \u2013 \u201cthe small and the great\u201d \u2013 seems to be attached specifically to the Name-fearer, but we might take it as a promise that even the least prophet and saint will also receive his reward.\u00a0They are all rewarded with an appropriate wage. Judgment day, the day of wrath, is also payday.<\/p>\n All this happens when God\u2019s kingdom comes: The faithful dead are raised (or their names are vindicated); the faithful receive their wages, rewarded for their faithfulness; the destroyers are destroyed. Only when this has happened does God take His great power and begin to reign. Think of the Copts beheaded en masse<\/em> by ISIS. God\u2019s kingdom will come when the dead are judged favorably, when they receive their reward in heaven, and<\/em> when their destroyers are destroyed.\u00a0<\/p>\n This is cause for praise in heaven. It should be a matter of earnest prayer, and praise, on earth as well.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" After the two witnesses, the seventh angel blows the seventh trumpet, and loud voices of praise break out in heaven (Revelation 11:15). We\u2019re back in heaven, and the twenty-four elders prostrate themselves before the Lord, the pantokrator, and praise Him because the kingdom of this world (tou kosmou) has become the kingdom of the Lord […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3021,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17048","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bible-nt-revelation"],"yoast_head":"\n