Revelation 11:14–19 - Reasons to Rejoice

The apostle Paul’s ministry in the city of Thessalonica is described in Acts 17 in the NT. There we learn that some Jews and Gentiles in that city trusted in Christ, but there were others who opposed Christianity, formed a mob, and attacked the house of a new convert. Paul had to escape Thessalonica by night, so he was unable to remain there and teach these new Christians about the faith.

He later sent Timothy to help them, and then he wrote the church a letter to encourage and instruct them. After all, they had been through an ordeal, and the harassment was ongoing. We call that letter 1 Thessalonians.

And knowing the background makes Paul’s words in ch. 5 even more curious. He tells them to “Rejoice always.” In other words, “Be glad at all times.” But how could they, with the trials they were facing? Paul’s command isn’t a “one-off.” He told the Philippians, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.” Clearly, Paul understands that the command could be questioned.

Was he being insensitive? Was he out of touch with reality? Paul understood that gladness is not the natural response in suffering. We rejoice when suffering is over. But believers have reasons to rejoice even as we suffer.

A few things in general interfere with our ability to rejoice. There’s our sinful nature, coupled with the restraints of our physical bodies, along with the attacks of the enemy. All of these can hinder our rejoicing. Instead we may lose our sense of hope, or become consumed with worry, or we may become bitter and self-reliant, or we may just occupy ourselves with some temporary thing and withdraw from God.

And all of these are sin.

But Christ has dealt with this sin. He not only saved us by reconciling us to God, but He enables His people to rejoice in this life, even in suffering. How did Christ do this?

He was fully human, and yet He had no sinful nature. But He was also fully God, and so His devotion to God never wavered. Therefore, He was able to endure the pains of life and rejoice always in your place. One day, when we shed the sinful nature and this mortal body once and for all, and when the enemy can no longer affect us, we too will have unhindered devotion to God. And we will constantly rejoice.

But many of our reasons to rejoice in eternity are reasons to rejoice right now. What are those reasons to rejoice? Three of them come into focus here at the end of Revelation 11.

John’s vision tells us about God’s people in heaven at the time of the Final Judgment. They possess an unhindered view of God and an unhindered love for Him. And with redemptive history complete, they rejoice. Look at the reasons listed for you on pg. 6. Like the saints in heaven, we can rejoice always in God’s powerful reign, His exact justice, and His gracious presence.

Now, verse 14 refers to the second and third woe. A woe is some kind of disastrous event. These woes began to be described in Revelation 9. The first woe was the unleashing of Satan and his demons on unbelievers in the last days. This is a form of God’s judgment where the enemy was given a measure of power. The second woe is the wars and man-made disasters that occur in the last days. And the third woe is the Final Judgment, after the return of Jesus Christ.

From Revelation 10:1 to 11:13 there was a brief break between the 6th and 7th trumpet blasts to address the believer’s experience during the gospel age, ending with Jesus coming back. And now we see that moment from the perspective of believers in heaven. Now remember, this is still a vision. Therefore it is symbolic of heaven.

Look at verse [15], “Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, These “loud voices” are all who dwell in heaven. They say, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ.” All of the havoc wreaked by Satan and his minions – and all the ruinous effects of sin on the world – are completely over.

This victory after the 7th trumpet is reminiscent of how the city of Jericho fell to the Israelites in Joshua ch. 6. That event was a foreshadowing of this. There are many similarities.

When the final trumpet sounds, the rule of Christ over all things will be revealed. Every eye will see; everyone will know and understand that Christ is King of all. And notice how long He will reign – “forever and ever.” Bible scholar Joel Beeke connects this verse to the popular end-times view known as Postmillennialism, which supposes that a time will come in history before the return of Christ when the whole world will be Christianized. But clearly that won’t happen until the conclusion of the gospel age.

Now, verse 16 brings back the 24 elders. We learned in Revelation 4 that these elders in John’s vision symbolize the foundations of God’s covenant people – the whole church of God from both OT and NT eras – 12 OT tribes and 12 NT apostles. Simply put, they represent all those saved by grace who have been in the eternal presence of God waiting for the Last Day.

Look at John sees them do in this vision, verse [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.” Notice that phrase, “who is and who was.” Something’s missing. “and who is to come.” They no longer say that because at this point, Christ’s return is no longer in the future.

And the 24 elders rejoice over the same thing that the loud voices of verse 15 rejoice in: God’s powerful reign. What they knew was always true is now apparent to all.

There’s something deeply satisfying about others learning what you already knew. At certain times and certain places it may look as if this world belongs to Satan. But the truth about this world is captured by hymn writer Maltbie Babcock. He wrote,
“This is my Father's world, O let me never forget
That though the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the Ruler yet.
This is my Father's world, Why should my heart be sad?
The Lord is King: let the heavens ring! God reigns; let earth be glad!”

Jesus Christ reigns now. His kingdom has come and continues to grow. Evil has not been given absolute power. As bad as evil is in the world, it is restrained. And we can rejoice always in God's powerful reign.

It’s natural to lament that you can’t bring His reign into some part of the world that troubles you, but can you invite Christ to reign more today in your own life? Can you give more of yourself to Him? Does He rule over you completely, with both His grace and His law? If not, is it because of something you are holding back?

Look at what else they rejoice over in heaven. In verse [18], they continue their song. “The nations raged, but your wrath came, and the time for the dead to be judged.” This is a song of thanksgiving. They give thanks that now the wrath of God is finally being poured out on the wicked.

But notice the rest of the verse, this is also the time, “for rewarding your servants, the prophets and saints, and those who fear your name, both small and great.” They give thanks that now the reward of God will be poured out on those who are in Christ – on the members of the true Church.

The time has come for God to reward His servants, and (see the end of the verse) “for destroying the destroyers of the earth.” Some will be rewarded (which, to be clear, is not earned by them but by Christ) – some will be rewarded and the rest will be condemned. And you can see here that those who are no longer hindered by the sinful nature and the constraints of the physical body and all the harassment of this world – those who are with God in heaven – give thanks for both. They thank God for the destruction of the wicked. Why? Because their condemnation together with the reward of God’s people encapsulates the whole of His justice.

Would you say you love justice? I assume you would quickly say “Yes.” We want to see evil punished and good upheld in our country. American columnist and author Bill Vaughan made an interesting statement about justice. It’s kind of funny and clever, but he makes a good point. He writes, “A real patriot is the fellow who gets a parking ticket and rejoices that the system works.”

Have you ever received a parking ticket? Did you get one and think, “I love America!” Did you think, “I just love this country where we penalize lawbreakers like me.” Probably not! But if the ticket was just and deserved, and you’re a lover of justice like you say you are, shouldn’t you be pleased that justice is being served? That’s a sort of trivial example. But here’s the point: we like justice when it’s convenient for us.

But can you give thanks for both the coming reward for the righteous and the coming destruction of the wicked? What about when the wicked is someone you know and love? That’s very difficult. This is why some people stray from God’s Word. They reject God’s truth because God’s truth rejects the behavior of someone they love. Don’t do that. We can rejoice always in God's exact justice.

He will do what is best down to the smallest detail. We don’t know what the future holds for our unsaved loved ones and friends. And that’s very difficult. We should pray for them and tell them the gospel when we can. But we don’t have to question God’s goodness in His justice or what our view of His justice will be when we are with Him in eternity. We can rejoice always in God's exact justice.

Now look finally at verse 19. John sees something else. “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.” Sometimes when houses are for sale, the owners and the agent will host an “open house.” Joel Beeke calls verse 19 “God’s open house.” Heaven is unveiled; nothing is hidden.

But why, of all things, would the ark of the covenant be on display in John’s vision of the LastDay? This is loaded with meaning for God’s people. For one, it’s more evidence of the continuity from the OC to the NC. There is one way to be saved – by grace alone through faith.

Therefore there is one people of God, not two peoples. There isn’t Israel and the Church.
The true Israel is the true Church – all Jews and Gentiles saved by grace either before or after the coming of Christ into the world. The ark is just as meaningful for us today as it was for the ancient Israelites. It is our history because it was given by our God – we have been adopted into His family.

Also, as Beeke puts it, the ark is – for all who are in Christ – a symbol of fellowship with God based on atonement. Exodus 25 in the OT says that on top of the ark was the mercy seat.
And God says, “There I will meet with you.” In ancient Israelite worship, the blood of a sacrifice was sprinkled on the mercy seat. This was done for the pardoning of sin – symbolic of God’s grace. It foreshadowed the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ – one final, sufficient payment for sins.

In addition, the revealing of the ark at the time of Jesus’ return is more evidence that the Covenant of Grace will be fully realized on the Last Day. God showed grace to Adam and Eve, and so many after them, but the Covenant of Grace came clearly into view when God spoke to Abraham in Genesis 17 and said, “I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you.” Not because of any good thing they had done, but because of God’s free grace.

In Genesis 12, God told Abraham that He would bless him and in him all the nations of the earth would be blessed. That was a gospel promise. It was realized in the person and work of Jesus Christ. So the ark is a symbol of grace.


But the ark is also a symbol of God’s wrath. There is mercy for the redeemed, but only wrath remains for the unregenerate. Those who don’t have their sin atoned for must make atonement themselves.

And along those same lines, the ark is a symbol of God’s law. The ark held the tablets of the law given to Moses by God. Christ fulfilled that law for His people.

And last but not least, the ark is a symbol of God’s presence. Since the Babylonians captured the Israelites in 586 B.C., the ark has not been seen again. Jewish legend says it was hidden, perhaps buried. Of course, God always knew where it was.

In previous generations, as long as the ark was with the Israelites, that meant God was with them. But again, that was only a foreshadowing of Christ who was to come. Today, if you are in Christ, the eternal presence of the living God abides unceasingly with you.

See the rest of verse 19 – “flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and heavy hail.” These are signs of God’s magnificent glory. These are all earthly phenomena that God controls just by speaking a word. The powerful and only true God is with His people. This will be unveiled on the Last Day, but it is unchanging now: that We can rejoice always in God's glorious presence.

Do you ever feel that you are alone, and God is not with you? While we live in the body, and the sinful nature still wages war against the Holy Spirit within us, we feel that way sometimes. But Christ promised that He would always be with us.

Look again at these three reasons to rejoice: God’s reign, His justice, and His presence. The enemy and the world and even the sinful nature within you tries to flip these. They tell us, “God does not reign. He’s not in control.” They tell us, “There is no justice. The wicked won’t get what they deserve.” They tell us, “God’s not with you. You’re alone in the world.” Each of those are lies from the pit of hell! God’s people have reasons to rejoice always!

And do you understand that we have these reasons because we have Christ? You must have Christ. I know many of you do, but have you forgotten that you have Christ? We naturally lose sight of Him in all the craziness of life.

Is your devotion to God hindered by sin and by the world? Is your love for God and your hope in Him being torn down by the troubles of life? Then please let me remind you: you have Christ! You have Christ! This does not diminish the reality of your pain, but you have reasons to rejoice always! You must cling to these reasons!

And if you don’t have Christ, then will you take Him as Your Lord and Savior today? Will you bow your heart down before Him, humble yourself and admit your sin and your need? Jesus is gracious and full of mercy, and He stands ready to receive you. And in His arms are all these reasons to rejoice.

As we go now to His table, let’s go rejoicing. Bow with me in prayer.