Join us in today’s episode as we delve into the profound insights within Revelation chapter 11, where the seventh trumpet heralds a divine proclamation: the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ. Witness the earth’s reaction as the nations seethe and the heavens rejoice with thunder, lightning, and voices of triumph. Explore the promises of an eternal reign and understand how this vision transforms our understanding of worldly kingdoms and spiritual sovereignty.
In Psalm 47, verse 7 and 8, it says, For God is the King of all the earth, not anyone but the Lord. He’ll make all decisions. Can you believe it? There’ll be no cabinet. Is that great or what? There’ll be no Supreme Court. Amen? Lawyers will be out of business. Praise God. Doctors will be out of business. Amen. Preachers will be out of business. The Lord will be king over everything, and he’ll rule and reign forever and ever.
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This is Hope for Today with Bible teacher David Hawking. Today we begin a message by David called The Kingdom of Our Lord. It’s from Revelation 11, verses 15 through 19. In the passage, the seventh trumpet sounds. Heaven erupts with voices declaring that the kingdoms of this world belong to Christ. The elders fall in worship. The nations seethe in anger. And the earth reacts with thunder, lightning, earthquake, and hail. Today, David takes us into this passage for a study that will shake your view of history. It will stir your heart for the coming King and remind you that Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ will reign forever and ever. Amen. First, let me tell you about Meditations in the Psalms. This is a daily devotion that you can find on the homepage of davidhawking.org. And think about it, every day we’re bombarded with noise, opinions, and voices that can pull our hearts away from the Lord, get our attention off of Him. Now, what would happen if instead we started our days with the raw honesty of the Psalms and the clear teaching of Scripture? Listen, meditations in the Psalms will steady your heart, lift your faith, and focus your mind on the Lord. Check it out. Meditations in the Psalms, a new devotional in the Psalms every day, right from the homepage of davidhawking.org. Well, now let’s join David for today’s study in Revelation.
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Verse 15. Boy, is this an exciting passage. On the kingdoms of our Lord, the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ. Revelation chapter 11, verses 15 to 19. And the seventh angel sounded, and there were great voices in heaven saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever. And the four and twenty elders who sat before God in their seats or thrones fell upon their faces and worshipped God, saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, who art and wast and art to come, because thou hast taken to thee thy great power and hast reigned. And the nations were angry, and thy wrath has come in the time of the dead, that they should be judged. And that thou shouldst give reward unto thy servants, the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great, and shouldst destroy them who destroy the earth. And the temple of God was open in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament or covenant. And there were lightnings and voices and thunderings or thunderclaps and an earthquake and great hail. Let’s pray. Lord, in these moments together, I pray that you will cause us to see that you’re going to take over and there’s nothing to be afraid about in these days. We look around and we see violence on our streets, schoolyards, grocery stores, malls. We see terrible epidemics of drug addiction, alcoholism. And we see all over the world great tragedies and disasters. And just reading what happens in our world in one week, we are aware that these are awesome days. And soon and very soon, our Lord Jesus is going to come. Lord, we look forward to that day. And with John, we say, even so come, Lord Jesus. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen. Well, this is the third woe or the seventh trumpet. Now, when you remember how Revelation is being unfolded, you remember that it’s a seven-sealed scroll that’s being unraveled. The ceiling is on the top. You break one and you can unravel a little bit more. The last one, the seventh seal, is composed of seven trumpet messages within the seventh seal. When you get to the seventh trumpet, you are at the middle of the tribulation period. And the seventh trumpet literally blows over the last three and a half years. And in that trumpet message, you have an amazing potpourri of things that the Bible speaks about in terms of judgment, including the seven last plagues, including Armageddon. It’s an amazing prophecy. And the key is right here at verse 15. Apparently at the middle of the week, he is going to take over literally and bring his vengeance and wrath upon the world that has been long predicted by the Hebrew prophets of old. The kingdoms of this world will become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ. Now the very word kingdom presents a lot of problems to Christians. There are theological systems today called kingdom now or dominion theology, which means that we can kind of take over and set up the kingdom of God on earth now through the work of the gospel. The Bible says that evil is going to get worse. Wicked men are going to wax worse and worse. The deception is going to grow. And the love of the majority is going to be very cold and indifferent. And Jesus predicted a terrible, terrible time. No, we’re not taking over. We’re trying to take as many men and women and boys and girls to heaven with us as we possibly can. But I’ll tell you, most of the world is going rapidly towards the Antichrist and the world system the Bible speaks about. We’re more secular today than we’ve ever been. We are further away from God and his truth than we have ever been. And people are really in desperate need of a moral and spiritual revival in this country. I hope you understand that. And if we don’t have one, I don’t give much hope to this country. I think we’re going to go down the tubes, and I think God’s either going to judge us, or we, in fact, may be the nation that will produce the Antichrist. But that will come more in our study, and I will stir up your fertile minds to great controversy when we come to that. But to show you how important the word kingdom is, the word kingdom in its forms is mentioned 562 times in the Bible. This is not a small subject. The kingdom of God is mentioned 69 times and all in the New Testament. The kingdom of heaven, very interesting term, is used 32 times in the New Testament and all of them are in the Gospel of Matthew. We often speak about Matthew presenting Jesus as the king. And the reason for that is because of the usage of the phrase, the kingdom of heaven. Our Lord Jesus, when he tells us parables, they are usually parables of the kingdom. If you notice that carefully, if you study Matthew chapter 13, for instance, you will see a number of parables all dealing with understanding the mysteries of the kingdom of God. Now there’s a sense in which God is ruling over everything, and the Bible makes that clear. I want you to look first of all at the extent of his kingdom. Verse 15 says that the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ. Now some of you have a singular kingdom. But the King James text, the Textus Receptus, that which was received and used by the King James scholars, and they had the majority of manuscripts available, it reads plural kingdoms. And I think it’s more proper. What he’s talking about is all the kingdoms of the world. There’s not just one, but all of them are going to become one under the headship of the Lord and his Messiah. I would look at the extent of the kingdom in two ways. First of all, in terms of time. It says at the end of verse 15, he shall reign forever and ever. Aren’t you glad of that? Hey, when the Lord takes over, nobody’s going to push him off the throne. He’s going to rule forever and ever. Some people say, well, he’s only going to rule for a thousand years. Not so. In the passages of the Bible, both Old Testament and New Testament, dealing with the coming kingdom of God on earth, it always speaks of it as being eternal. There will be what we call the mediatorial kingdom, that is the manifestation of the rule of Christ forever. under specific regulations and conditions during the thousand-year reign, but that will not stop or end the continual kingdom of our Lord. He’s going to reign forever and ever. There will be no end. We read in Isaiah chapter 9, verse 6 and 7, that unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given. The government, the one coming, will be on his shoulder. He will need no one else to bear it. The government will be on his shoulder, and his name will be called Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. And of the increase of his government and of his peace, there will be no end. On the throne of David to establish it with justice forevermore, and the zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this. What’s the extent of the coming kingdom of our Lord? As to time, he shall reign forever and ever. Turn to Psalm 93. There is no greater joy than to talk about how the Lord’s going to take over. When you see what’s happening, when you see what our leaders are doing, Nothing thrills the heart of the believer anymore than to realize the Lord is going to take over. The Lord’s going to be king. He’ll reign forever and ever. In Psalm 93, verse 1 and 2, it says, The Lord reigneth. He is presently reigning. He is clothed with majesty. The Lord is clothed with strength, wherewith he hath girded himself. The world also established that it cannot be moved. Thy throne is established of old. Thou art from everlasting. Turn to Psalm 145. In terms of time, he will reign forever and ever. Psalm 145. Look at verses 10 to 13. All thy works shall praise thee, O Lord, and thy saints shall bless thee. They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom and talk of thy power to make known to the sons of men his mighty acts and the glorious majesty of his kingdom. Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and thy dominion endureth throughout all generations. According to the Bible, it’s everlasting. Turn to Daniel chapter 4. The Bible is replete with evidence telling us that the kingdom of God will never end. The reign of the Messiah will be forever and ever. In Daniel chapter 4 and verse 3. How great are his signs and how mighty are his wonders. His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom and his dominion is from generation to generation. Look at chapter 6 of Daniel verse 26. I make a decree that in every dominion of my kingdom, this is King Darius, men tremble in fear before the God of Daniel, for he is the living God and steadfast forever, and his kingdom, that which shall not be destroyed, and his dominion shall be even unto the end. Turn to 2 Peter in the New Testament, chapter 1, and look at verse 11. The Bible speaks of the eternal, everlasting kingdom and dominion of our Lord over everything. He will reign forever and ever. In 2 Peter 1, verse 11, I like this. After telling us to make sure of our calling and election. If you do these things, you shall never fall. It says, for so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The New Testament also refers to the kingdom as being everlasting. But not only in terms of time, in terms of territory. Revelation 11.15 says the kingdoms of this world… are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ. And the Bible makes that clear. Turn to Psalm 47. In terms of territory, we see the extent of the kingdom of God, as well as in terms of time. In Psalm 47, verse 7 and 8, it says, For God is the king of all the earth, not anyone but the Lord. God is the king of all the earth. Sing ye praises with understanding. God reigneth over the heathen or nations. God sitteth upon the throne of his holiness. In Psalm 103, 19, it says, The Lord hath prepared his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom ruleth over all. He’s going to rule over the entire earth. And by the way, he’s going to rule from Jerusalem. It’s going to be a restructured, redesigned, brand new Jerusalem that will be elevated above the whole world. Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth is Mount Zion in the sides of the north, the city of the great king. And he’s going to rule over everything, over the whole world. He’ll make all decisions. all decisions. Can you believe it? There’ll be no cabinet. Is that great or what? There’ll be no Supreme Court. Amen. Lawyers will be out of business. Praise God. Doctors will be out of business. Amen. Preachers will be out. No, wait a minute. The Lord will be king over everything, and he’ll rule and reign forever and ever. But go back to Revelation 11. You look at the extent of his kingdom, but in verses 16 to 19, we have the exaltation of his majesty and coming kingdom. It’s time to exalt the Lord. It’s time to praise him. Remember that the early church said that Revelation was the worship book. Israel said Psalms is the worship book. But the early church said Revelation is the worship book of the New Testament and of the people of God. And you can see why in passages like this. The exaltation of his majesty in coming kingdom, verses 16 to 19. I want you to notice several things. Look at the immediate reaction of the 24 elders in verse 16. What do they do? The Bible says, upon hearing that the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign forever and ever, it says the four and twenty elders who sat before God on their seats or thrones fell upon their faces and worshiped God. That’s what it says. The immediate reaction of the twenty-four elders. Turn back to chapter 4. This has been a frequent theme in Revelation about the 24 elders who we believe represents the completed church in heaven while the tribulation is going on on earth. In Revelation 4, verse 10, it says, The four and twenty elders fell down before him that is seated on the throne and worship him that liveth forever and ever and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power, for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created. Look at chapter 5, verse 8. And when he had taken the book or scroll, the four beasts or living creatures, and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb. It’s a common theme. Look at verse 14. The four living creatures said, Amen. Literally, they kept saying Amen. And the four and twenty elders fell down and worshipped him that liveth forever and ever. Turn over to chapter 19, verse 4. even beyond where we are now in the text, we read again of them, as seen as in heaven, chapter 19, right before the return of Christ and power and great glory at the end of the tribulation. It says, the four and twenty elders and the four beasts or living creatures fell down and worshiped God that sat on the throne saying, Amen. Hallelujah, or praise the Lord. Verse 14, the four living creatures said, Amen. Literally, they kept saying amen. And the four and 20 elders fell down and worshiped him that liveth forever and ever. Chapter 19, verse 4. The four and 20 elders and the four beasts or living creatures fell down and worshiped God that sat on the throne saying amen, hallelujah, or praise the Lord. What are you saying? The immediate reaction of the 24 elders. Sing with me.
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Thou art worthy. Thou art worthy. Thou art worthy, O Lord. To receive glory, glory and honor, glory and honor and power. For thou hast created, hast all things created. For thou hast created all things. And for thy pleasure they are created For thou art worthy, O Lord And all God’s people said
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And the next word is? Hallelujah. Let’s do it again. All God’s people said? Amen. And hallelujah. To who? To our God. The exaltation of his majesty and coming kingdom. What are you saying?
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Hallelujah. Hallelujah.
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That’s David Hawking, and this is Hope for Today. David will be back to bring our time in the Word to a close, so do stay with us for that. First, though, you know, so many people ignore the book of Zechariah, and by doing that, they miss the hope, the warnings, and the promises that God has put there about the Messiah, about Israel, and about the coming kingdom. Don’t make that mistake. Matt’s here, and we’re going to tell you about a powerful resource on the book of Zechariah by David.
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Matt? All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. That’s 2 Timothy 3.16.
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Well, Matt, this includes each and every book of the Bible. Amen. So this month, we’re focusing a spotlight on your dad’s book, Visions of the Future, which guides readers through a fascinating study of Zechariah.
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You know, Jim, Zechariah is often referred to as the little revelation book. Zechariah speaks of the centrality of Jerusalem and God’s prophetic plan and tells us how this city will become a cup of trembling. To all the nations. Oh, yeah. It includes prophecy concerning a future invasion of Israel, the Battle of Armageddon, the glorious return of the Messiah to the earth, and the setting up of a kingdom that will never end.
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And David’s book, Visions of the Future, will show you all the vivid details, the historical context, explanations of crucial original text terms, cross-references, and fascinating applications for your life today. Amen to you.
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Dive into Zechariah with Visions of the Future and see the glorious future awaiting all of us who’ve put our faith in the coming Messiah. Amen, amen.
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Visions of the Future is our featured offer again for the month of September. And we have your copy for just $15. Indeed we do. And when you purchase, please consider adding an extra amount as a donation to Hope for Today, or perhaps make a donation by itself. Your gift makes you a part of this ministry. And as always, please start by praying for hope for today. Amen. To get your copy of Visions of the Future for just $15, call 1-800-75-BIBLE. That’s if you’re listening in the United States, or 1-888-75-BIBLE if you’re in Canada. Our staff is ready to help you receive that book. And also remember that you can order safely and securely online if you prefer that at davidhawking.org. On the website, you’ll also find this resource along with many other studies to help you dig deeper into God’s Word. And if you’d like to add a donation to your order, or perhaps make a donation all by itself, remember this. Your gift is not just an envelope in the mail or a line on a receipt. It is seed that God multiplies. It is hope placed in the hands of someone who may have never heard the word of God before. You can send your gift to Hope for Today, Box 3927, Tustin, California, 92781. That’s in the U.S. Or Hope for Today, Box 15011, RPO7OAKS, Abbotsford, B.C., V2S 8P1 in Canada. Prefer to give by phone? Call us at 1-800-75-BIBLE in the U.S. or 888-75-BIBLE in Canada. Bible is 24253. And of course, you can also donate safely and securely online at davidhawking.org. And once again, here’s David.
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One of the great things about the book of Revelation is that here we have the truth about what’s going to happen to planet Earth, and about the future of things that we don’t understand now. But the book of Revelation is our text. It is opening up God’s Word to our hearts about what is coming. And boy, it’s pretty exciting. I don’t believe we’re going to go through the tribulation, by the way. I think I’ve made that clear. If you need a book on that, like does the Bible teach the rapture before the tribulation, we have one that would be very helpful to you. But the truth is, after the tribulation, and that is the subject matter of most of the book of Revelation, but after that, There’s coming a blessed time, a new Jerusalem. Well, plan to be with us. God bless.
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Before we go, remember you can get the free Hope for Today monthly ministry letter and free booklet downloads from the homepage at davidhawking.org. Well, next time is day two of The Kingdom of Our Lord from Revelation chapter 11, verses 15 to 19, where heaven erupts, the nations seethe, and the earth shakes under the hand of God. Be sure to invite a friend and join us as we bring you the Bible, the whole Bible, and nothing but the Bible, right here on Hope for Today. Hope for Today
