ONE DOOR, AND ONLY ONE
“And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever. And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God, Saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which 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 is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.” —Rev. 11:15-18
The sounding of the seventh trumpet anticipates the regency of the King of kings and Lord of lords, the Lord Jesus Christ. When His redemptive work was finished He “…sat down on the right hand of God; From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified [Heb. 10:12-14].” From that day till the day prophesied in our “nugget,” history has been preparing the world for His millennial reign. “The day of His appearing will come at last.”
In anticipation of that great day, the senate of heaven engages in an act of worship, giving thanks to “the Lord God almighty,” the Lord of heaven and earth, for the exhibition of His power and the exercise of His authority. What is now anticipated by faith will soon be confirmed by sight. For now “we see not yet all things put under Him. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor; that He by the grace of God should taste death for every man [Heb. 2:8b-9].”
For now that “glory and honor” which affirms His right to reign as Lord of all is hidden from the sight of those who are clouded by unbelief, but it gives assurance of the great day coming to those who by the eye of faith anticipate the time of His coronation described in our nugget for today. And, as it generates worship by the twenty four elders in heaven, so should it do now in the part of every redeemed soul on earth.
Several things follow which confirm great truths that are prominent in the scriptures. For example, the incorrigibility of the willfully unregenerate, the eternal reward of the redeemed and the final judgment of the unrepentant.
“”The nations were angry,” and God’s wrath is come and “the time of the dead, that they should be judged…” When that day arrives, the sin hardened majority of mankind will receive the tragic and terrible reward of unbelief, corporately and individually, and carry their outrage into the hell initially prepared for the devil and his angels. Even death itself will provide no refuge from the final judgment. The Savior said, “God sent not His Sin into the world to
condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God [John 3:17-18].” Here is the greatest tragedy in the history of mankind; not that man sinned, but that a remedy having been provided for that original transgression and its awful consequences, men should continue in sin rebellious and unrepentant until the end.
Today even some professing Christians seem to entertain the vain hope that God will make some kind of exception for some, if not all, of those who have rejected the Savior. Not so, our text affirms, and in so doing confirms the declaration of the Son of God, “I am the way, the truth and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me [John 14:6]”
Happily (for those not yet converted,) the day anticipated in our text has not yet arrived, and our day remains a “day of salvation,” offering hope to all the lost who will “repent and believe the gospel.” For those who will, there is a glorious alternative. The King will “give reward to [His] servants the prophets, and to [His] saints, and to them that fear [His] name, small and great.”
There are none so insignificant that He will not reward their faith, and no one so great as not to need and benefit by it. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” To continue in stubborn unbelief is to invite everlasting destruction, and that without excuse.
For the believer, serve the King until He comes, so that you may rejoice with Him when He comes!
For Him Who is “the Truth”,
"Pastor" Frasier
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