(Revelation) the Seventh Angel Sounded — Willie Mullan

The Seventh Angel and the Last Trumpet

And we're up to the eleventh chapter, please. Book of the Revelation, chapter eleven. And we're going through from verse fifteen this evening to verse nineteen. Fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen.

Far as vessels this evening. And you notice that verse fifteen begins like this. And the seventh angel sounded. And those of you who have been attending the class right along, you know this. Just let's do this and see if there's a newcomer in the class.

Go back to chapter eight, verse one. And when he, the Lord Jesus, had opened the seventh seal, that's the seventh seal that was lifted out of the hand of God, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.

And John said,. And I saw the seven angels which stood before God, and to them were given seven trumpets. And in chapter eight and in chapter nine, we have watched very carefully these trumpets being sounded.

You remember there were four trumpets sounded in chapter eight. And each time something on the earth, or around the earth, or in the bowels of the earth, or above the earth, something was burned up. And that was a dreadful chapter as we went into the exposition.

Chapter nine began with the sixth angel sounding. And that's the portion where the bottomless pit is opened. And this world is invaded by demons. And I think the demonology is on the encased just now.

And then, at verse thirteen of chapter nine, the sixth angel sounded. And you remember there were four fallen angels let loose, and they had a determination to slay the third part of men. And so there were the six angels sounding.

Chapter ten was the palimpsestical portion, and we saw the Lord putting his foot on the land and on the sea, and cleaving it for his own. The first part of chapter eleven, from verse one to verse fifteen, it was the palimpsestical portion also telling us that God would put two special witnesses on this earth, even in those dark, diabolical, dreadful days, and that they would witness for God.

And now that we've heard six of the angels sounding, and God has given us these explanations in the palimpsestical portions, we have come to the last angel sounding. It's the seventh one. Verse fifteen says, and the seventh angel sounded.

Now it's good for the class to notice that that is what is called, right through the scriptures, the last trumpet. Did you get that now? Because I want you to get the whole of that. That's the seventh angel, that's the seventh trumpet, that's the last trumpet.

But I think that you need to differentiate between the last angel sounding the trumpet, that we call the last trumpet. You've got to differentiate between the last trumpet and the last trump, for that's very different, because that is the trumpet of God.

You see, there's a phrase that talks about the trumpet of God, there's a phrase that talks about the last trumpet. For you can see that the trumpet of God and the trumpet of the angel is two different things.

The Last Trump and the Resurrection of Believers

Let's make sure of this for the young folks in the class. Let's go back to 1 Corinthians chapter fifteen, please. 1 Corinthians chapter fifteen. Corinthians reads at verse sixty, and Paul writing to these saints of Corinth said, Now this I say, brethren, and when he puts that little word in, you know he's writing to believers.

Not this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. And that's something that every young believer here should take note of, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.

You know, I think there is more nonsense talked about the kingdom of God than perhaps any other doctrine in the book. I had somebody at the door once and they said to me that they were one of the leaders in the kingdom of God.

I said, You're very sure about that? Yes, I'm one of the leaders. So I immediately lifted his Bible up from the Lord's arm and I read this verse to him. It says, Here flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.

I said, As far as I can see, you're just flesh and blood. You're a mortal. And it says here that mortals cannot inherit the kingdom of God. And he didn't know where he was then. You see, it was perhaps unfair of me to do that, but I had to shock him a little bit.

Because I knew that he didn't know what he was talking about. When we get this phrase, the kingdom of God, it comes in many senses, you know. There are different senses that are spoken of in the word of God.

You see, in Romans it says that the kingdom of God is within you. I could have quoted that to him too, but I started at the place where it puzzled him most. You see, when it says that the kingdom of God is within you, and the kingdom of God is within me just now.

Because the kingdom of God is not meat and drink, you know, but joy and peace in the Holy Ghost. That's talking about the kingdom of God in its spiritual sense. You see, when we get along a little bit in the book of the Revelation, we'll be seeing something of the millennial kingdom of the Lord Jesus.

When Christ will reign and rule wherever the sun of its successive journeys run on this very planet for one thousand years, and that is the kingdom of God in its millennial sense. And that is different again.

But what Paul is talking about now is the kingdom of God in its eternal sense. And in its eternal sense, flesh and blood cannot be there. You would know that. Flesh and blood is not eternal. Flesh and blood is mortal.

As I stand before you, I'm just flesh and blood. I'm a mortal being. If you shed my blood tonight, I shall die mortal. Well, sure a mortal cannot live in an eternal kingdom, can he? He would need to be changed.

For that's the sense, the fear. It's the eternal sense. Watch it again. He says, now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.

These are two impossibilities. And he says, behold, I show you a mystery. You young people who go through this book, you'll come to this word, mystery, many times. Because there are a great many mysteries.

We talk about the mystery of godliness, which simply means God manifest in flesh. We talk about the mystery of iniquity, which means Satan taken over the man of sin, the Antichrist. There are mysteries.

Now, when you come to the word mystery, don't let it mystify you too much. You see, it's not something you can't understand. I think that's the way we look at the word mystery sometimes. As soon as Paul's saying, I show you a mystery, he couldn't be saying, I show you something you don't understand.

It'd be a contradiction of terms, wouldn't it? Now, when we talk about the mysteries of God, and there are seven of them, we're talking about something that God hath revealed to mankind through our intelligence, something that our minds would never have thought up on their own.

You see, had I been left to myself, I would have never thought that God would have walked on this planet in a human form, God manifest in flesh. I couldn't just think like that. Had I been left to myself, I would never have thought that the devil could have so completely taken over mind and body and soul and everything else as he will do with the Antichrist until he becomes his incarnate.

You see, what he's doing here, he's saying, look, I show you a mystery. You can't go to heaven flesh and blood, that's true. Here's what he's showing us. Behold, I show you a mystery. We believers shall not all sleep.

And he's using sleep here for the word die. We shall not all die. To the believer it is only sleep. He says we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. You know, there's a great moment coming when Christ will come.

What a mighty, marvellous, magnificent moment it will be. And I'll be changed. It will be a wonderful thing. Yes, change. I'll be mortal no longer. I'll be like Christ. This body of humiliation will be changed like unto his glorious body.

Now, here's what he's saying. He's saying, I show you a mystery which shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. Now, so many of my friends have tried to make these two things one.

They've said the last trumpet and the last trumpet are the same thing. I'm afraid not, and I think I can easily prove that. You see, the last trumpet that we're looking at this evening is an angel sounding a trumpet.

This phrase here is a military term that Paul used. Military term. Nothing to do with the angels at all. You see, Paul knew all about the Roman army, and the rules in the Roman army that when the Roman army was away on the outskirts of the empire doing something for the emperor, and the whole army is in bed at night, and a trumpet somewhere sounds, they immediately get up, and they stand outside the tent.

And they may be left standing there for quite a long time, but they must stand, trained army. And then a second trumpet sounds, and they take down the tent, they fold it up, they get their spears, and they get every bit of the equipment ready, and they get into line.

And then what they called the last trumpet sounded, and the army marched away. This was going to be happening one of these nights. That's the term he took. That's a military term. It'll come quickly, you know it.

The last trumpet will go marching in. It'll be the moment when the saints go marching in. Yeah, that's quite different from what we're in at, because when we get over to the last trumpet this evening, you'll find that the saints are already in.

Now I go back from chapter 11 to chapter 5, and they're in heaven. And they're singing, Thou art worthy for Thou art slain, and hast redeemed us to God by Thy blood, out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation.

And they're there long before the last trumpet is ever talked about. You see, the last trumpet here, and that great moment when Christ will come, the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God.

The trump of God and the last trumpet are just the same. But the last trumpet is not the same. Why, the saints of God have been in heaven for a long time. Let's go back to Revelation 11, and get on with it.

Revelation 11:15 and the Heavenly Coronation

Now, Revelation 11, and verse 15 says this,. And the seventh angel sounded. That's the last trumpet of the seven angels. Now, following on our passage this evening, lets us know a lot of things. You know, there were great voices in heaven.

Just the moment that that trumpet sounded, it seemed all heaven got excited, because they had a vision in heaven of what was going to happen quickly after the trumpet was sounded. And you'll find this, that we get the anthem here, and the headings in our little paragraph this evening, but we don't get the details.

We have to wait for justice for the details. We're only getting what I give you in the class. We're only getting the headings. And all the headings are there. You see, when the last trumpet sounds, there's going to be this excitement in heaven, because all heaven knows that God is going to bring this great work of readjusting this earth and taking the kingdoms of this world to be his own.

He's going to bring it about quickly now, and so all heaven stirs. Of course, we'll have to go through chapter 12 and see what happens to the Jews, because next week we'll be looking at the desolation of Israel.

See what the devil will do to Israel. Then we'll have to go to chapter 13, and there we'll see the full revelation of the beast. We'll see the beast for what he is. And we shall see the idol and the image being set up, and the world commanded to fall down and worship.

We'll have to go on into chapter 14 to see the 144 ,000 that were sealed away back in chapter 7, being brought right through the whole tribulation, and not one of them lost. When we come to chapter 15, it's a parenthetical portion again.

God's got something to say to us. When we come to chapter 16, it's the Battle of Armageddon. When we come to chapter 17, it's the Charlotte Womb, it's the Roman Church being judged. When we come to chapter 18, it is commercial Babylon that God deals with.

When we come to chapter 18, it is the Married Supper of the Lamb. When we come to chapter 19, we see the Lord coming back to take the land over again. And in chapter 20, the dead, small and great, are at the great white throne on 21 and 22, let us see the glories of God's eternal home.

Because we've got to wait a long time for all the chapters. All the details are there, we'll take time to the details. But in the chapter tonight, we just have the headings given to us. So it's the last chapter, and of course this great vision is in heaven, because we get excited.

Then in 12 will be the desolation of Israel, and in 13 the revelation of the beast, and in 14 the presentation of the 144 ,000. I just started that off for you, but I could go on 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, quite easily.

And we're going to have a look at these voices in heaven. Verse 15, 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 then here are the voices, and of four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their feet, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God, saying, We give thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art and was and art to come, because thou hast taken through thee thy great power and has reigned.

There's the church in heaven, under the figure of the twenty-four elders that we have in chapter five. Oh, they're not going through any tribulation, they're praising and thanking God. And then there are other voices, verse 19, And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament, the ark of the covenant, and there were lightnings and voices.

There's so many voices here. Just the moment that that trumpet was blown, you know all heaven, and I think this goes for cherubims and seraphims and angels and all the saints, they all seem to know that God's about to finish the thing.

They've got the hold of it, and I'm sure there were many hallelujahs. God was going to bring the thing to an end. And we see some of the headings here, some of the items that's going to be done in the next chapters.

This coronation is seen, of course. The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ. You know, all heaven seems to know this. You know, this is a tremendous thrill to me, because you remember, let's go back to Matthew chapter four.

This is the temptation in the wilderness. Matthew chapter four, and the old devil is tempting our Lord Jesus. Now, don't let's look at the first temptation at all, because I'll take too much time out of it, but look at this one, the second one, verse seven.

Verse eight, again the devil takes him up into an exceeding high mountain and showeth him all the kingdoms of the world. That's the phrase that we have back in chapter eleven, the kingdoms of the world, or the kingdoms of this world.

And he didn't only show him the kingdoms of the world, but he showed him the glory of them. And he said unto him, all these things will I give thee. And in one of the translations that I have, it says, all this power will I give thee.

And I underline one day the word kingdom and the word power and the word glory. The kingdom and the power and the glory. And the devil is saying, look, if you only fall down and worship me, the kingdom and the power and the glory shall be mine.

And the Lord Jesus says no. He says, I'll get it another way. I'll get it another way. And you know that he went to the cross, and on the old blood-streamed rugged cross, Christ not only died for the ungodly, which is the great cult of Calvary, Christ tasted death for everything.

Don't you forget that. Because he was determined to buy back everything. He's going to take it all back. And you know when Calvary is over and he's risen again, on resurrection morning he gathers his disciples round him, you know, just a few country men from Galilee.

And he said this to them, listen boys, all power in heaven and on earth belongs to me. I'm sure the devil must have trembled. You see he bought everything back and it's really his. It was always his. His first because he was the creator.

His forever because he's the redeemer. He not only made it, he bought it. And then comes this moment in this world's history when he's really going to step out and let everybody see it's his. It's when the seventh trumpet sounds and all heaven gets excited because they know the moment has come when the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms of God and his Christ.

It's a very lovely thing when you get it just like that. Let's go back to Revelation chapter 11. You see the books in heaven are seeing the coronation. And then the twenty-four elders who are representing the church and the Old Testament saints.

Verse 16, 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. Watch the wording very carefully. Oh Lord God almighty.

Get that bit into your heart. The mighty God. Which art and was and art to come you. And that's the eternal God isn't it? Which art, which was, which art to come, the eternal God. Because thou art taken to thee thy great power and authority.

This is the sovereign God. And you know it's a pity that the church waits until she gets to heaven to pray like this. Because I think that in this province of ours, just now, when they're killing men on every street it seems, when diabolical villains are at large, and murders are every night, and blood cries from this province to God.

God's Sovereignty in Times of Violence

I think the saints should always remember that the God that's looking after us is the mighty God. Sometimes I think we forget this, you know. In the case of Annie Russell I'd say, yeah, the day the Lord Jesus was born, that day that the child was born, that day that the son was given, his name that day was and still is, wonderful counselor, the mighty God.

Because if you don't know that the child of Bethlehem was the mighty God of eternity, it's a pity of you. But you believers, won't you forget that the mighty God is on your side? Won't you forget that?

Don't you forget as you go through this withstrawing wilderness that the counselor of the church is the mighty God of heaven? And I think we shouldn't forget that the eternal God is our refuge. I think sometimes we forget this.

Why didn't the psalmist get a hold of this? And he said, God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble, therefore will not we fear though they ask, be removed and stormed along with it.

Oh, what are we getting sated about? They won't move God, you know. Oh, bother with him. He happens to be the eternal God. I think the saints should remember this. My God, the God that looks after me, he's the mighty God.

He's the eternal God. And this is the great bit that you must get out of this. Here's what they said in verse 17. We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which hast and dost and hast become, because thou hast taken to thee thy great power.

And it's raining. My God put up with a lot of things for a long time. But you see, the sovereign God can move at any time, any way he likes. There's going to come a day when he'll let everybody see who he is.

My, he'll take his great power and he'll shift the devil and the false prophets and all his emissaries and shift all that follows him. And he'll clean this earth up a little bit. My, I wonder do we get the hold of this.

Don't let's wait till we get to heaven. You get down at the bedside tonight and say, Lord, you're the mighty God. My times are in my hands. You're the eternal God. You'll never change. You're the sovereign God.

You can do what you like, when you like, where you like, with whom you like. Yes, he can, you know. And there's a moment when he'll let everybody see who he is. When the last trumpets out. All heaven has got the hold of this, you know.

Judgment of the Nations and the Great White Throne

And you know there is not only this coronation scene and there is not only this adoration upwards, but all heaven knows that the desolation of earth has ended or is about to end. You see, when God takes over and the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of our Lord and his Christ, you know the nations will be angry.

Of course the nations will be angry. I think that Russia will be very angry. They're what is called in this book the king of the north. And they're so big and gigantic and powerful and mighty that they almost think that God can do nothing with them.

They'll find out. Of course Mr. Heath's common market's a big thing. And he just imagines it's the greatest thing that ever happened. And God will take it from them. And the way out where the kings of the east are and China and Japan, when they make the path together, they'll be a mighty force to be reckoned with.

Ah, God will take it off them. And the Egyptians and the Arabs will get together one day, you know. And they'll be the king of the south. And there's a good crowd of them. God will take it off them. And when the IRA begins to find out that God is taking over, they will be angry too.

God will not get too hoots about their anger. The kingdoms, did you get it? Black and white, red and yellow, orange and purple, green and white. God will take it off them. He'll scare them, I bet you now.

They'll be very angry. They think they're going to rule this place forever. No, they're not. Yes, did you see that? Watch this. The nations were angry. And thy wrath is come on the time of the dead. Because when we get over into chapter 19, we're going to see the dead, small and great, brought up to stand before God.

Because you know, there's a lot of folks who lived in churches all their lives and gave money in. And they were nice people. They were moral. They were upright. They were honest. They were true. They were noble.

They were very good people in many senses. And then they died and lifted up their eyes in hell. You know, if a man who lived a religious life all his life and lifted up his eyes in hell, he'll ask God questions.

He'll say, you know, I was in the big church all my life and I gave all my money and I did everything I could. Why am I here? Oh, well, God will have to bring the dead back out again, won't He? And the dead, small and great, will have to stand at the great white throne.

The Murder Trial and God's Moral Judgment

And God will have to open the books. And God will open the books. What a day it will be when He opens the books. You know, I had to go to a murder trial once in the Crumlin Road there. A young fellow being tried for murdering his wife.

And you know, the KC, it was in those days, put him in the witness box. Because he could do without doing that. He was being tried and the law of the land is that they must prove him to be a murderer.

He could do without knocking the door. But it was Mr. Agnew and he was a very smart character and he put him in the dock, in the witness box. He had been in the dock between the two borders, brought down and put in the witness box.

Then the other KC started to ask the young fellow questions. And then the judge said, just a minute now, just a minute, said, young man, tell me this now, tell me just between late night and full hour.

He said, I was sitting at the fire, it was two in the morning. He said, now take your time, just wrote it down. Sitting at the fire, two in the morning. My wife came in through the door. He said, just take your time, my wife came in through the door.

She showed me her hand, I have my rings off. I was not with soldiers all night. Yes, she was annoying him. He said, in my haste I rose, I lifted the knife, I chased her up the hall, I stabbed her in the back.

Just a moment now, just a moment. Wrote it all down. He said, all right, go your head now. And he goes on talking. He might as well not bother, he said. And the KC is putting it every way he might as well have done.

Because when it came to the summing up, you know, the old judge opened the book, opened the book, he said, gentlemen of the jury, this young man said that he lifted a knife, that he stabbed his wife in the back.

Let me tell you that that is murder. I know that she did things wrong. I know she annoyed him. I know all about the provocation. But there's another way of dealing with a whore than with a knife. No more talk, is there?

You would have no bother if you were one of the jury men, you were being directed by the judge. There are only ten minutes, you know, till the renegade and the foreman says, Gypsy, one day God will bring the dead back and stand them before him and open the books and let them see what they have done with his son.

Maybe there's a nice man in this meeting tonight and you've been in the church all your life. Maybe in the choir. Maybe you've given a lot of money. You have no time for Jesus Christ. You'll go to hell.

God will open the books on you. And it will be much worse than me, let me tell you. Because you'll not have any notion of answering back. Oh, the time of the dead will come when the seventh trumpet is sounded.

The kingdoms are going to be taken over and the nations will be angry. Watch it. The nations were angry. Thy wrath is come, the time of the dead, that they should be judged and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servant the prophets.

And I believe that this is the prophets of the tribulation of God. I'm sure that the others have been to the judgment feet of Christ before this. And I'm sure that they have had their rewards. At least I see them with crowns on in Revelation chapter five.

So I'm taking it that these are the prophets of the tribulation who will have to be rewarded. And the saints, and I'm sure the saints are the saints of the tribulation, them that fear thy name small and great and shouldest destroy them, for God will destroy them which destroy the earth.

You see, he's giving us all the items. We're getting all the headings. But we'll have to wait for chapter after chapter before we get the details. You got that now because that has puzzled a lot of folks trying to figure it out.

The Ark of the Covenant as a Type of Christ

We'll just start on the details. But there's one thing here that's really staggering. When this trumpet is blown and the kingdoms become Christ's and the nations are angry and the dead are judged and these servants are rewarded, you know, the temple of God was opened in heaven.

And there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament. And one of the translations I have, the ark of the covenant. Well that's a very mighty thing, you know. The ark of the covenant. I'm sure a great many of you know a great lot about the ark of the covenant.

But there may be some young folks who don't know very much about it. Let me take a moment or two just to do this for you, and it'll do the old ones no harm. Let's go back to the book of Exodus, chapter 25.

Book of Exodus, chapter 25. And this is where Moses is getting all the details up on the mount with God about making the furniture of the tabernacle. And one of the pieces of the furniture was the ark of the covenant.

And I'll tell you why it was called the ark of the covenant. We're at chapter 25, verse 10. And they shall make an ark of chippenwood. Now that's the old acacia tree. And the botanists that are here with us this evening, there's one or two from Queens and I've got to be very careful.

They will tell you, and I will support them, that this chippenwood, this acacia tree, it had the common name of the incorruptible tree. It's one tree in the far east that hath no diseases. No diseases in the bark, no diseases on the leaves.

No disease was ever found in that. Now this is the tree that God selected. Because the ark of the covenant that we are going to think about just now was a type of his son, one of the cults. And so it was fitting that it should be incorruptible, because there was no blemish in him.

And you'll find that the dimensions are given here in verse 10. Two cubits and a half shall be the length and the cubit and a half the breadth and the cubit and a half the height thereof. And I don't want to go into that.

It's just a box-like thing, made of chippenwood. But watch this. Thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, within and without shalt thou overlay it. So you can see this chippenwood made into a box-like structure and then covered with gold within and without.

So that this thing was made of wood and of gold. It was made of something that came from earth, this tree, this chippenwood. And that would speak about the humanity of our Lord Jesus, because the first man was of the earth, earthly.

Because when we talk about gold, we're talking about something that's everlasting, something that never loses its power, something that never changes. It's like God. And you know this is very wonderful of God to put these two things together, because he's picturing for us in this type, the perfect humanity and the perfect deity of our Lord Jesus.

And I think that's really, that's why this book is so precious, no matter where you go or great things in it. You look at this, it says in verse 11, And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold within and without, shalt thou overlay it, and thou shalt make upon it a crown of gold round about.

You see it was a box-like thing made of this chippenwood covered with gold, and then of course this crown was right round the top of it. Because while our Lord Jesus was a perfect human, he had real humanity, and while he was really God, he was God manifest in flesh, while he had humanity and deity, remember he was born a king.

Royalty belonged to him. Don't forget that, you know. He was the king the day he was born. The wise men said, where is he that is born king of the Jews? Funny that God put it all back there so quickly, didn't he?

You can see his deity, and you can see his royalty, and you can see his humanity quite easily. Now, I don't want to give a whole lecture on the Ark of the Covenant. Let me turn you to Hebrews chapter 9 for a moment.

The letter to the Hebrews, chapter 9. Hebrews 9, verse 1. Then verily the first covenant had also ordinances of divine service in the worldly sanctuary. And there was a tabernacle made, that's the tabernacle in the wilderness.

The first, because it was in two parts, and he calls one part the first, wherein was the candlestick, and the table, and the showbread which is called the sanctuary, it was called the outer sanctuary, or the holy place, if you like.

And then there was the veil, after the second veil, the tabernacle, or the second part, which is called the holiest of all, which had the golden censer and the Ark of the Covenant, overlaid round about with gold.

He puts that in very carefully. Now, inside this Ark of the Covenant was the golden pot, they put a golden pot in there that had manna. And Aaron's rod that bothered, they put it in there too. And the tables of the covenant, the ten commandments, tables of the covenant.