Original Meaning

THE CLOSING VERSES of chapter 11 address the seventh trumpet. Although the final trumpet concludes the series of seven (11:15), it also fits the occasion here; trumpets were normally blown at the accession of a king to his throne (1 Kings 1:34–41; 2 Kings 9:13; 11:14). The Bible had promised that the Davidic Messiah would “reign for ever” (Rev. 11:15; cf. Isa. 9:7; 1 Macc. 2:57); naturally Jewish people recognized that God would reign forever (Ps. 10:16; 146:10; 1 En. 84:2).1 Daniel had emphasized the final triumph of God’s kingdom over the successive world empires (Dan. 2:44; cf. 7:17–18), a hope celebrated by many of John’s contemporaries.2 Jewish people also emphasized that whereas the nations ruled now, God and his people would reign in the world to come (cf. also comment on 19:6).3 The kingdom “of our Lord and of his Christ” (11:15) probably recalls the language of Psalm 2:2, where the nations challenge them but will ultimately be crushed (see comment below on 11:18).

God’s people often have praised him in response to his deliverance of his people (Ex. 15:18; Rev. 11:17–18; 15:3–4; on God’s omnipotence and eternality expressed in 11:17, see comment on 1:8). The wrath of the nations in 11:18 recalls the raging of the nations against God and his anointed king in Psalm 2:1–2, which in turn is met by God’s wrath (Ps. 2:12). Here their wrath (NIV: “were angry”; cf. the devil’s being “enraged” in Rev. 12:17) is met by God’s “wrath” on the Day of Judgment (11:18; cf. 6:16).

Jewish tradition also emphasized the rewards God would give his people at the time of the end (11:18; cf. 22:12).4 Contrary to some Christian attempts to denigrate Jewish tradition, reward is no less a Christian concept, though the works it rewards are impossible apart from the grace experienced in Christ (Matt. 5:11, 46; 6:1; Mark 9:41; 1 Cor. 3:8, 14; 9:17–18; 2 John 8). Everyone, both righteous and wicked, receive their rewards at this time (Rev. 11:18).

God’s “servants the prophets” (11:18) is a regular idiom in the Hebrew Bible (close to twenty times), but for John the expression may be identified with “saints” and with “those who reverence” God’s name (11:18). All believers are meant to be “prophets” in the general sense of Spirit-empowered witnesses for Christ (19:10; cf. 11:3), contrary to the arguments of some commentators. “Small and great” (11:18; cf. 6:15; 13:16; 19:5, 18; 20:12), like “least” and “greatest,” is a common idiom meaning “everyone” (close to forty times in the Old Testament; e.g., 2 Kings 23:2).5

The reference to “those who destroy the earth” (11:18) and so merit judgment is more difficult. Perhaps it refers to the devastation that ravages the land in response to sinners’ disobedience (7:3; cf. Jub. 9:15), but “destroying” may suggest more active involvement. It may refer to aggressors against God’s people, invaders who seek to devastate the holy land (2 Kings 18:25). That nothing in the context narrows the image specifically to the holy land, however, generalizes the image: The evil empire, like Babylon of old, devastates the whole earth (the Greek translation of Jer. 51:25 uses the same Greek words as here and is probably the source for the image in our text). That those who harmed others will suffer an identical fate was a commonplace of biblical and broader ancient wisdom (e.g., Matt. 26:52).6

Verse 19 is pivotal in that it introduces the following section (12:1–6; both involve visions in the heavens), but we will discuss this verse here to avoid confusion. Jewish people generally believed that God had hidden the ark, but that it would be restored in the end time (see comment on 2:17). Thus, once the time for the final judgment has come (11:15–18), God unveils his heavenly temple, indicating the end (11:19). Furthermore, regulations had previously prevented people on earth from viewing the ark when it was in the temple, for it remained shrouded in the Most Holy Place (Ex. 40:21; Lev. 16:2); the present revelation thus indicates an extraordinary change of affairs.

The picture of the ark suggests a variety of associations, especially involving the Sinai covenant, by which God demanded an accounting from a disobedient world. In the ancient Near East a nation usually deposited a covenant with another people before the deity in the temple, thereby inviting the avenging curses mentioned in the covenant if it were broken. It may also be relevant that edicts were displayed in public places, such as temples. Further, just as Israelites had taken the ark before them to war (1 Sam. 4:3–9), so the Romans believed the numen of their state would go forth from its temple to war and return afterward.7 The meteorological phenomena (Rev. 11:19) probably signify a new revelation from heaven comparable to the revelation of God’s word at Mount Sinai (cf. 4:5; Ex. 19:16).8

Bridging Contexts

SYMBOLIC IMAGERY IN 11:15–19, such as the ark in heaven, originally elicited a particular evocative impact, but what it evoked for its original audience would have more substance than what it evokes for us today. Because modern readers are typically unfamiliar with the many traditions and associations linked with these images, we need to explain the texts (focusing more attention on the Original Meaning section than may be necessary, say, with Philippians).

Often we focus simply on the lexical meaning of words in our interpretations. But moving from exegesis to biblical theology requires sensitivity to the “rhetoric” or nature of writing in our documents, without which we will find many “contradictions,” often even within the same book of the Bible. This passage provides an example of one such “contradiction” that is best resolved by understanding the nature of the language Revelation uses. That both the righteous and the wicked receive rewards at the same time (11:18) suggests either that the chronological distinction between the two resurrections in 20:4–6 is symbolic, or that such statements as the present ones are summaries not intended for chronological precision. In any case the author views both passages as complementary presentations of the end.

Further, if God’s “servants the prophets” refers to the saints, coextensive with those who fear God’s name (11:18), this means that all believers are empowered for prophetic witness in some way (19:10). But in what ways are witnesses like biblical prophets? How can we learn from the biblical prophets and encourage other Christians to do the same? Scripture sometimes speaks of a specific gift of prophecy (1 Cor. 14), but when Revelation refers to the prophetic witness of the entire church, it probably focuses on the need for us to depend on the power of God’s Spirit to understand and announce his message.9

Contemporary Significance

NO RESPECTER OF PERSONS. Those who face grief or any hardship in the world will find comfort in the message of these verses. They announce that this world ultimately belongs to God (11:15) and that God will right all the wrongs of history in the Day of Judgment, shattering all opposition (11:18); they also invite worship as we contemplate God’s coming intervention to rule (11:16–17). Moreover, they remind us that God will reward both small and great (11:18) just as he will punish both great and small (6:15); God is no respecter of persons.

Traditionally in the Black church tradition that I know best firsthand, especially in the hardships of the past, many who were oppressed in society looked forward to coming to church, where janitors could be deacons, just as in early Christianity those who were slaves and freedpersons in society could rise to the office of bishop. Today we often transfer worldly status (not just experience) into church offices; one wonders if we have not lost sight of something (1 Cor. 6:4).

Environmental concerns. The earth is the Lord’s (Ps. 24:1), and the kingdom will be his (Rev. 11:15); hence those who devastate the earth challenge God’s rule. Far from being merely a modern reading, this reflects an apocalyptic theology in which those who corrupt or abuse God’s creation warrant judgment (4 Ezra 9:19–22; 2 Bar. 13:11).10 This devastation thus may imply corrupting the earth, a reversal of the original creation mandate in Genesis 1:26; conquerors usually destroyed natural resources (Deut. 20:19; Isa. 14:8). This text thus may have significance for Christian environmentalists today who want believers to become more responsible stewards of the resources God has provided the world.11

Environmental degradation ultimately harms not only the rest of creation but also people, starting with the poor, even in the short run.12 While many environmentalists focus on the problem of global warming, a far more immediate threat is water-born diseases in unsafe drinking water, which kills over three million children each year.13 International toxic waste is regularly dumped in the Third World.14

Likewise, over several decades Nigeria’s northern powerbrokers stripped Ogoniland of its resources and contaminated its countryside to the extent that Ogonis faced increasing health risks from the black smoke hanging over their land, the poisoning of their water, and the ruining of their farms.15 The oil companies paid the government, taking land but providing for the locals in return less than one-half of one-thousandth of their revenues in development. When one village demanded guarantees of better environmental protection from Shell Oil, the company refused to talk, but the police showed up, burning to death the village elder and his sons and gunning down many other people.16

Widely respected Nigerian writer Ken Saro-Wiwa protested the massive environmental degradation of his native Ogoniland as a “slow genocide.”17 But eventually Saro-Wiwa and some other nonviolent activists, falsely accused of murders they could have had nothing to do with, were summarily executed by the corrupt military dictatorship that profited from the oil revenues. A Christian, Saro-Wiwa led his fellow prisoners in prayer before their executions.18 Shell Oil, which did business with Sani Abacha’s dictatorship and had made as much as $35.5 billion from Nigerian oil over the past three decades, failed to publicly condemn Abacha for the murders. “We do not get involved in politics,” they claimed.19

The allusion to Jeremiah 51 in this text focuses especially on the harm conquest does to human lives; though the word “earth” (ge) can refer to the planet (Rev. 7:1–3), it usually refers to humanity in Revelation (13:12, 14). Significantly, the wicked earth-dwellers may destroy earth, but not cannot harm “heaven,” with which it is coupled over ten times (e.g., 5:3, 13; 12:12). Thus the passage condemns not only environmental destruction (though that would be included because of its effects on people) but any unjust exploitation of power that destroys others. God will judge evil empires who oppress others; the modern proverb “what goes around comes around” is appropriate for the wicked empire that passes its cup to all other nations (14:8) and finally must drink itself (14:10).

Symbolism of the ark’s unveiling. The unveiling of the heavenly ark means that the hidden things (10:4) will all come to light in the end. But the fact that it is recorded in Revelation indicates that, concerning the “hidden” things that really matter in this age, we Christians already have an “inside scoop.” We know enough about heaven’s perspective that we should choose to live accordingly.