Scripture Reading: Rev. 10:1-7; 11:15-18
Ⅰ
Revelation 11:15-18 and 12:10 indicate that we may experience and enjoy Christ as the eternal King:
A
“The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He will reign forever and ever”—11:15b:
１
At the sounding of the seventh trumpet, not only will the great tribulation end, but also this age will close, the mystery of God will be finished (10:7), and another age, the age of the kingdom, the millennium, will begin.
２
The kingdom of the world becomes the kingdom of Christ at His coming back after He executes His judgment upon the nations—Dan. 7:13-14; 2:44-45.
３
Here 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—Rev. 22:5.
B
“You, O Jehovah, abide forever; / Your throne is from generation to generation”—Lam. 5:19:
１
God’s eternal being and His throne are higher than His lovingkindness, compassions, and faithfulness—3:22-23.
２
God’s lovingkindness and compassions can fluctuate, but God’s person and His government remain unchanging forever.
３
In the New Jerusalem, God will be fully unveiled in His person as the eternal King and in His government as His eternal, unshakable kingdom (Heb. 12:28; Rev. 22:3), both of which are the unshakable foundation of His dealing with His people.
Ⅱ
In Revelation 10:1-7 we have a clear vision of Christ coming to take possession of the earth:
A
In this chapter Christ is “another strong Angel” (v. 1), like the One in 7:2; 8:3; and 18:1.
B
John saw another Angel “coming down out of heaven”—10:1a:
１
Christ is now coming down out of heaven.
２
This vision is a hint that Christ is still on His way to the earth.
C
Christ is “clothed with a cloud”—v. 1b:
１
He is not yet “on the cloud,” as in 14:14 and Matthew 24:30; 26:64.
２
To be “on the cloud” is to come openly, whereas to be “clothed with a cloud” is to come secretly.
３
Christ will be coming secretly, not openly, until He is seen by all the tribes of the earth, as mentioned in Revelation 1:7 and in Matthew 24:30.
４
Even at the time of Revelation 10, Christ’s coming is still secret.
５
He will be wrapped in the cloud until chapter 14, when He will sit on the cloud and His coming will be public.
６
By this we can see that the general teaching that Christ will come before the great tribulation is inaccurate.
D
“The rainbow was upon His head”—10:1c:
１
Here the rainbow indicates that Christ in His judgment upon the earth and in His coming to take possession of it will keep the covenant that God made with Noah concerning the earth—Gen. 9:8-17.
２
It indicates also that Christ is the One who will execute judgment according to the God who sits on the throne with the rainbow around it—Rev. 4:2-3.
３
The book of Revelation reveals that God will judge the earth and all the inhabitants.
４
The rainbow around His throne signifies that God is the covenanting God, the faithful God, who will keep His covenant while executing His judgment upon the earth.
５
He will not judge mankind again with a flood nor destroy all mankind, but will keep a part of mankind to be the nations of the new earth for His glory—21:24, 26.
E
“His face was like the sun, and His feet like pillars of fire”—10:1d:
１
Near the time of His coming to the people on the earth openly, Christ will be like the sun, not like the morning star, which appears before the darkest time, prior to dawn, to those who love Him and wait for Him.
２
Fire in verse 1 signifies the holiness of God (Exo. 19:18; Heb. 12:29), according to which Christ will execute His judgment upon the earth.
F
“He placed His right foot on the sea and the left on the land”—Rev. 10:2b:
１
Christ’s placing His feet on the sea and on the land is His treading on them, and to tread on them is to take possession of them—Deut. 11:24; Josh. 1:3; Psa. 8:6-8.
２
This indicates that Christ is coming down to take possession of the earth.
３
Only He is worthy to open the scroll of God’s economy, and only He is qualified to possess the earth.
G
“He cried out with a loud voice just as a lion roars”—Rev. 10:3a:
１
A lion’s roaring is likened to a king’s wrath—Prov. 19:12; 20:2.
２
This indicates that Christ, as the King of the earth, is provoked to wrath.
Ⅲ
“The mystery of God is finished”—Rev. 10:7b:
A
In the dispensations from Adam to Moses and from Moses to Christ, everything was unveiled, manifested, and there was no mystery.
B
In the dispensation of the millennial kingdom and in the new heaven and new earth, everything will be unveiled, and there will be no more mystery.
C
In the dispensation from Christ to the millennial kingdom—the church age, the age of grace—everything is a mystery:
１
The incarnation of Christ, as the beginning of the dispensation of mystery, is a mystery—1 Tim. 3:16:
ａ
Through the incarnation of Christ, the infinite God was brought into a finite man.
ｂ
The entire God, not God the Son only, was incarnated; hence, Christ in incarnation is the entire God manifested in the flesh.
２
Christ is the mystery of God—Col. 2:2:
ａ
God is a mystery, and Christ, as the embodiment of God to express Him, is the mystery of God.
ｂ
As the mystery of God, Christ is the embodiment, definition, and explanation of God; all that God intends to do is related to Christ.
ｃ
In Christ dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; that is, the fullness of the Triune God dwells in Christ in a bodily form—v. 9.
３
The church is the mystery of Christ—Eph. 3:4-6:
ａ
Christ is a mystery, and the church, as the Body of Christ to express Him, is the mystery of Christ.
ｂ
This mystery is God’s economy, which is to dispense Christ, as the embodiment of God, into God’s chosen people in order to produce a Body to be the increase of God’s embodiment in Christ, that God may have a corporate expression.
ｃ
Christ and the church as one spirit are the great mystery—5:32.
４
The kingdom of the heavens (Matt. 13:11), the gospel (Eph. 6:19), the indwelling of Christ (Col. 1:27), and the coming resurrection and transfiguration of the saints as the end of the dispensation of mystery (1 Cor. 15:51-52) are all mysteries.
５
At the trumpeting of the seventh trumpet, all these mysteries will be completed; therefore, the mystery of God will be finished.