Tool Beta
The Ancient World Behind the Text
Pick a passage anywhere in the New Testament. See the customs and ideas a first reader knew without being told.
Revelation 11:15-19, the seventh trumpet and the ark
At the seventh trumpet heaven announces that rule over the world now belongs to God and his Messiah for ever. The elders worship, the angry nations meet God's judgment, and the heavenly temple opens to reveal the ark of the covenant.
Revelation 11:15-19, in every translation this tool compares.
The seventh trumpet brings a shout from heaven that the world's rule has passed for good to God and his anointed king. The elders bow and thank God for taking up his power, saying the time has come to judge the dead, reward his faithful servants and destroy those who ruin the earth. Heaven's temple then opens to show the ark of God's covenant, with storm and earthquake around it.
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/kingdom-of-god\/","n":"God's kingdom","s":"Kingdom meant God's reign, God becoming king in fact. It was the good news Isaiah promised, and in Jesus' day it was also a slogan.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/messiah\/","n":"The Messiah, son of David","s":"The anointed king most Jews expected from David's line, who would free Israel from its enemies. Nobody expected him to be killed.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/divine-council\/","n":"God's council and throne room","s":"Israel's Scriptures picture God presiding over an assembly of heavenly beings, the sons of God, and Psalm 82 calls its members gods. Who those gods are is one of the hardest questions behind John 10.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/the-tabernacle\/","n":"The tabernacle and its heavenly pattern","s":"The tent sanctuary Israel carried through the wilderness, with an outer room for the priests and an inner room, the holy of holies, for the ark. Moses built it to a pattern shown on the mountain, and many Jews thought of the earthly sanctuary as a copy of a heavenly one.","r":""}
Trumpets hailed a new king (1 Kings 1:34) (the cultural backgrounds notes; Keener). The seventh trumpet brings no event of its own, only hymns (Carson, Moo and Morris); Heiser takes it as the day of the Lord itself, not AD 70. Keener notes that the world's kingdom was then Rome, to be handed to God's people (Daniel 7:17-18). The Messiah and the raging nations of verse 18 echo Psalm 2 (the cultural backgrounds notes; Keener; Heiser), and Heiser counts the fallen gods among the destroyers destroyed. The ark's fate is uncertain: the Zondervan dictionary says in one entry there is no evidence, and in another, citing Josephus's empty holy of holies, that it was evidently destroyed in 586 BC. Many Jews expected God to restore it at the end (the cultural backgrounds notes; Keener). Once seen only by the high priest, it is now open to view; in Near Eastern symbolism it matched a throne, fitting a heaven drawn as throne room and temple (Keener; the cultural backgrounds article Heaven as a Temple in Revelation). Lightning and thunder recall Sinai (Keener; the cultural backgrounds notes; Heiser, for whom God again makes a covenant people).
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on Revelation 2:17, 11:14-15, 11:17, 11:18 and 11:19
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, notes on Revelation 2:17, 11:15, 11:18 and 11:19, and article Heaven as a Temple in Revelation
- D. A. Carson, Douglas J. Moo and Leon Morris, An Introduction to the New Testament, chapter on Revelation, Contents
- Zondervan Illustrated Bible Dictionary, entries ark of the covenant and temple
- Michael S. Heiser, Revelation 11: The Two Witnesses and the Seventh Trumpet, video lecture (Naked Bible Revelation series)
