Again, as frequently in the course of the writing, the assurance of the final triumph of the truth over all opposers is clearly, definitely, and unequivocally given - given to the comfort and joy of the toiling, patient, enduring followers of the Lamb. Great voices in heaven are heard, and they proclaim one all sufficient and grand truth: "The kingdom of the world is become the kingdom of our Lord, and of his Christ." This word runs through the ages. It is the word of prophecy. It has ever and ever will comfort the hearts and stimulate the faith of the Christian warrior. It is the song of assurance with which the hosts of the contending forces of "him that sitteth on the white horse" are cheered and urged to unflagging zeal. Always before the eye of faith this assurance of victory floats. It is the summing up of all the prophetic words in one. It needs no exposition. The figure is too plain. It borders on the realistic.

"Jesus shall reign where'er the sun
Doth his successive journeys run,
His kingdom stretch from shore to shore,
Till suns shall rise and set no more." Universal, complete, and final, shall that conquest of the nations be. It is a complete rout. The long continued struggle is at an end. The truth has triumphed over error; righteousness over sin. The King long "set" upon the "holy hill of Zion" is now acknowledged as the lawful Heir, the rightful Sovereign. The holy oracles themselves define this complete reign over the individual, national, and universal life.

I. THE SUPREMACY OF THE DIVINE RULE SHALL BE UNIVERSALLY ESTABLISHED AND ACKNOWLEDGED. "The kingdom of this world is become the kingdom of our Lord, and of his Christ."

II. THE DIFFUSION OF DIVINE TRUTH SHALL BE UNIVERSAL. "The knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth as the waters cover the sea."

III. THE PRINCIPLES OF THAT GOVERNMENT SHALL PERMEATE NATIONAL LIFE, LITERATURE, AND INSTITUTIONS. "The little leaven shall leaven the whole lump."

IV. UNDER THIS GRACIOUS RULE NATIONAL ANIMOSITIES SHALL BE AMELIORATED. "The swords shall be beaten," etc.

V. CONFLICTING AND ANTAGONISTIC FORCES SHALL BE HARMONIZED. "The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, the leopard lie down with the kid," etc.

VI. HUMAN LIFE SHALL BE BEAUTIFIED, ADORNED, AND BRIGHTENED. "The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad, and the desert blossom as the rose."

VII. TO THE MILD AND BENEFICENT SWAY OF THE REDEEMER SHALL BE HANDED OVER THE OUTLYING AND OUTCAST NATIONS OF THE EARTH. "He shall have the heathen for his inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for his possession."

VIII. THIS REIGN SHALL BE CHARACTERIZED BY THE MOST BLESSED CONDITIONS. "In his day shall righteousness prevail, and abundance of peace, so long." etc. - R.G.

I. IT IS A LIFE OF WORSHIP.

1. The persons who are worshipping are described as twenty-four elders. They are the Universal Church, the blessed of the old covenant and of the new; and yet, as persons and representatives, are portrayed as leaders of the heavenly worship.

2. Their dignity. They are "before God," i.e., in His immediate presence, and sit upon thrones. They are said also to have crowns (Revelation 4:10). This is a picture in which vision, repose, kingly power, and victory each has a place.

3. Their worship. Observe, it is an act — they "fell upon their faces and worshipped God." Sitting upon thrones, contemplating God, was their habitual condition; but worship was the active expression of their sense of the Divine majesty. They offer Him inward and outward adoration.

II. IT IS A LIFE OF THANKSGIVING.

1. This arises from the clear realisation of their indebtedness to God for all. Gratitude is apt to be chilled by the sorrows, the sufferings, and the uncertainties of this present life. When it exists in the soul it has to struggle with life's burden, and its expression is like the transient rays of light which pierce the cloud that darkens the landscape. But the song of the redeemed is called forth by the sight of the Giver, and the dark problems of earth are solved in the light of heaven (John 13:7).

2. It arises from the possession of "the gift of glory." Grace is more precious than all the gifts of nature; but glory is greater than grace, as the flower is more than the bud. The consciousness of having "attained to the true end of their being elicits from the worshippers the anthem of thanksgiving with a fulness and a sweetness in the heavenly Jerusalem with which the songs by the waters of Babylon could never compare.

3. It arises from a deeper sense of unworthiness than can ever be felt on earth. What was the casting of their crowns before the feet of the Most High but a protestation that their excellence and their victories were due to the grace which He had vouchsafed to them?

4. It was a corporate oblation of thanksgiving — "We give," etc. Each has his own joy, and each can enter into the joy of all.

III. WHAT DIVINE PERFECTION DID THEY HYMN? THE ETERNITY OF GOD.

1. This perfection belongs to God alone. He alone is without beginning. This is the root-distinction between Creator and creature. He is, in the language of Daniel, "the Ancient of days" (Daniel 7:22). He is from Himself; with Him is "the well of life." None other is self-derived. He alone possesses His life without succession, unchangeably (iota simul).

2. Every creature has a beginning. "The creature is from that," says St. , "which is as yet not." As being is a base of all gifts, so creation is at the root of all worship. The realisation of God as the Beginning and End of our being is essential for worship. The elders grasped the difference between Creator and created. They offered Him, their God, "glory, and honour, and praise." Why? "Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are, and were created." Here every one and everything we see is created and transient; the line between eternal and temporal is clearly marked where the Eternal makes Himself known and seen.

IV. LESSONS.

1. The importance of worship as a preparation for the heavenly life.

2. The spirit of thanksgiving should enter more fully into our religion, which is sometimes lacking in brightness, trust, and unselfishness.

3. The contemplation of the eternity of God, "Thou art from everlasting," produces many fruits. There is a certain delight in the contemplation, as in regarding some vast and magnificent object, as the heavens or the sea. Then the thought of an eternity in the future, of the endlessness of human life, must stir within us hopes and fears — "hope of glory," and fear of missing it. Such a conception will always create in us a sense of the littleness of things present, in comparison with things eternal.

(Canon Huchings, M. A.)

I. IN THE ORIGINAL PRODUCTION OF ALL CREATURES. It is God alone who can create. Man, in the exercise of his wisdom and ingenuity, may indeed form and invent many things, but he must have the materials to work with: when God formed the world He found no materials to work with — He created the materials Himself. He called them into being with His irresistible voice: and when He surveyed the various works of His hands, we are told, they all met with His full approval: "And God saw everything that He had made, and behold it was very good." All the works of God are finished works; they will bear, as they invite, the closest and most minute inspection; and unlike the works of man, when most examined they will be the most admired. We may notice also the power of God in the greatness of some of His works, and in the smallness of others. The earth which we inhabit is said to be eight thousand miles in diameter, but what is this when compared with the body of the sun, which gives us light day after day, and which is said to be a million of times larger than the earth we inhabit, and ninety millions of miles distant from it. The smallness again of many creatures is equally surprising, as is the greatness of others.

II. IN THE PRESERVATION AND GOVERNMENT OF HIS CREATURES. "He upholdeth all things by the word of His power." The planets revolve in their appointed circuits with the most unerring and minute exactness. The various seasons succeed each other in their regular and appointed order. The great and wide sea also, whose billows roar and threaten to overwhelm the earth, is kept by the power of its Maker within its proper and prescribed limits. We may again observe the same Almighty power in making such constant and abundant provision for the vast family of the universe. All the innumerable tribes of beings which inhabit the earth, the air, and the water, "these all wait upon God." The moral government of God is still more wonderful to contemplate.

III. IN THE WORK OF OUR REDEMPTION BY CHRIST JESUS. How manifest was this in the person of our Divine Redeemer Himself! And when we come to consider the first planting of our holy religion in the world, by means so feeble and so unlikely to all human appearance, and notwithstanding obstacles so great, we shall see with what propriety the gospel is spoken of as "the power of God unto salvation." The gospel also is intended to produce a great inward change. The corruption of our nature is such as to render this change absolutely needful; and it is a change so considerable and complete, that it is called in Scripture a "new creation"; this, of course, can only be effected by the power of God. And the apostle, as if wanting language to express the greatness of this power, says, "and what is the exceeding greatness of His power to us-ward, who believe, according to the working of His mighty power, which He wrought in Christ when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places." One exertion more of the Divine power let us dwell on. When Moses beheld a hush on fire, and yet not consumed, he turned aside to behold it with admiration. In that burning bush he beheld the emblem of Israel afflicted in Egypt, yet not destroyed; and may we not also perceive in it an emblem of the true Christian, "kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation"? And what but the power of God is sufficient for this purpose? Lessons:

1. That God should be held in reverence and adored.

2. Let this Almighty God be also feared.

3. Blessed are they who put their trust in Him.

(J. L. F. Russell, M. A.)

Every attribute of God is proper and useful object of our consideration, as being apt to remind us of our duty, and excite us to the practice of it, for which purposes this of omnipotence, mentioned in the text, is of much avail, and deserves serious consideration.

1. God is παντοκράτωρ, as having a just right and authority over all thing, being naturally the sovereign Lord and Emperor of the world.

2. He is also such inregard to His infinite power, as that word may signify omnipotent.

3. He is also so, because He doth actually exercise all dominion, and continually exert His power, according to His good pleasure; "for the Lord hath prepared His throne in heaven, and His kingdom ruleth over all," etc.

4. God is παντοκράτωρ, as the true proprietary and just possessor of all things; "the heavens," saith the Psalmist, "are Thine; the earth also is Thine," etc.

5. Also as containing and comprehending all things by His immense presence and infinite capacity. "I fill heaven and earth," said God in Jeremiah; and King Solomon in his prayer observes, "the heaven of heavens cannot contain Thee," etc.

6. God is παντοκράτωρ, in regard that He sustains and preserves all things (Nehemiah 9:6; Colossians 1:1.17).

I. IF GOD BE THE JUST SOVEREIGN OF ALL THINGS, HAVING A RIGHT TO GOVERN THE WORLD, AND ACTUALLY EXERCISING IT, then —

1. We see our condition here; that we live not in an anarch, or in perfect liberty to follow our own will, etc.

2. We understand our duty as subjects and vassals, etc.

3. We may hence discern the heinousness of every sin as committed against the crown and dignity of God.

4. We may learn what reason we have to be content in every condition, since our station is allotted to us by unquestionable right.

5. It is a matter of great consolation to reflect that we and all the world are under such a governor, who is no usurper and tyrant, but a most just, wise, and gracious sovereign.

II. THE BELIEF OF GOD'S IMMENSE AND UNCONTROLLABLE POWER IS ALSO OF GREAT IMPORTANCE AND INFLUENCE ON PRACTICE.

1. It serves to beget in us a due awe and dread of Him.

2. It consequently dissuades and deters us in a high manner from sin, nothing being more reasonable than that advice of the preacher, "contend not with him that is mightier than thou."

3. Whence the consideration of this point may dispose us to weigh well our counsels.

4. It may also serve to depress confidence in ourselves, and in all other things, as to any security they can afford.

5. It may be of special efficacy to quell and mortify in us the vices of pride, arrogance, self-will.

6. Also to breed and nourish faith in God, as to the certain performance of His word and promises, which, be they never so difficult, He is so able to perform.

7. Hence also particularly it may produce and cherish faith in the sufficiency of God's providence, and induce us entirely to rely on it.

8. It affords comfort and encouragement to us in the undertaking and prosecution of honest and prudent enterprises, giving us hope and confidence in their success.

III. THAT NOTION OF THE WORD "ALMIGHTY," WHICH IMPLIES GOD'S BEING UNIVERSAL PROPRIETARY AND POSSESSOR OF ALL THINGS, HAS ALSO MANY GOOD USES. We may thence learn —

1. That we are not our own, and therefore are obliged to submit with patience to His disposal of us.

2. We ought to be content with that share of accommodations which He allows, since all things are His, and we can claim nothing from Him.

3. To be satisfied when He withdraws that of which He has before afforded us the enjoyment.

4. To be heartily thankful for all we ever have or enjoy.

5. Carefully to manage and employ all which is put into our hands for His interest and service.

6. To be humble and sober, not to e conceited, or to glory in regard to anything we love.

IV. THAT SENSE, ACCORDING TO WHICH THE WORD SIGNIFIES GOD'S CONTAINING ALL THINGS BY HIS IMMENSE PRESENCE, IS ALSO OF MOST EXCELLENT USE. We thereby may learn with what care, circumspection, modesty, and integrity we ought always to manage our conversation and behaviour, since we continually think and speak and act in the immediate presence of God, "whose eyes are on the ways of men." Hence also we are prompted to frequent addresses of prayer, thanksgiving, and all kind of adoration.

V. THE CONSIDERATION THAT GOD UPHOLDS ALL THINGS, AND CONSEQUENTLY OURSELVES, IN BEING, MAY POWERFULLY DETER US FROM OFFENDING HIM; for put the case that our life and all the comforts of living depended on the bounty and pleasure of any person, should we not be very waxy and fearful of offending such an one?

(Isaac Barrow, D. D.)

JohnEgypt, Patmos, SodomAlmighty, Begun, Exerted, Hast, Kingdom, O, Power, Praise, Reign, Reigned, Ruler, Ruling, Saying, Thanks, Wast1. The two witnesses prophesy.
6. They have power to shut heaven so that it rain not.
7. The beast shall fight against them, and kill them.
8. They lie unburied;
11. and after three and a half days rise again.
14. The second woe is past.
15. The seventh trumpet sounds.

Revelation 11:17

     1105   God, power of
     1140   God, the eternal
     8676   thanksgiving

Revelation 11:16-17

     8627   worship, elements

Revelation 11:16-18

     8642   celebration

Revelation 11:17-18

     2324   Christ, as Saviour

Worship
Eversley, September 4, 1870. Revelation xi. 16, 17. "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." My dear friends,--I wish to speak a few plain words to you this morning, on a matter which has been on my mind ever since I returned from Chester, namely,--The duty of the congregation …
Charles Kingsley—All Saints' Day and Other Sermons

Sermon at the Second Annual Meeting of the Missionary Council in Washington, D. C. , Nov. 13, 1888.
"/The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign for ever and ever/."--REVELATION xi. 15. THESE words are God's surety that the prayers, the trials and the labors of His Church shall be crowned with success. We are living in the great missionary age of the Church. Impenetrable barriers have been broken down. Fast-closed doors have been opened. There is no country where we may not carry the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Divine Providence has been …
H.B. Whipple—Five Sermons

The Extent of Messiah's Spiritual Kingdom
The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ, and He shall reign for ever and ever! T he Kingdom of our Lord in the heart, and in the world, is frequently compared to a building or house, of which He Himself is both the Foundation and the Architect (Isaiah 28:16 and 54:11, 12) . A building advances by degrees (I Corinthians 3:9; Ephesians 2:20-22) , and while it is in an unfinished state, a stranger cannot, by viewing its present appearance, form an accurate judgment …
John Newton—Messiah Vol. 2

The Time of the Evening.
The morning was of 270 years' duration. The first form of the apostasy lasted, as we have shown, 1260 years, bringing us to the Lutheran reformation in 1530. Now when we ascertain the duration of the second beast power we will know the time the sun, moon and stars reappear in the evening. One especial text that gives us information on this subject is found in Revelation. In speaking of the two witnesses the Revelator says: "And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, …
Charles Ebert Orr—The Gospel Day

The Second vision "On Earth"
E^2, THE FIRST SIX TRUMPETS (viii. 7 - xi. 14). A., The First Four Trumpets (viii. 7-12) Before we give the Structure of this section we must again call attention to the fact that the sixth Seal takes us on to the time of the end; and the seventh Seal takes us back and commences a new series of judgments initiated by the seven Trumpets and followed by the seven Vials. So that the whole of the rest of the Apocalypse comes under the seventh Seal. Whereas the seventh Trumpet issues in and contains …
E.W. Bullinger—Commentary on Revelation

The Interest of his Biography.
"John, than which man a sadder or a greater Not till this day has been of woman born; John, like some iron peak by the Creator Fired with the red glow of the rushing morn. "This, when the sun shall rise and overcome it, Stands in his shining, desolate and bare; Yet not the less the inexorable summit Flamed him his signal to the happier air." F. W. H. MYERS. John and Jesus--Contemporary History--Anticipation of the Advent. The morning star, shining amid the brightening glow of dawn, is the fittest …
F. B. Meyer—John the Baptist

"The Carnal Mind is Enmity against God for it is not Subject to the Law of God, Neither Indeed Can Be. So Then they that Are
Rom. viii. s 7, 8.--"The carnal mind is enmity against God for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God." It is not the least of man's evils, that he knows not how evil he is, therefore the Searcher of the heart of man gives the most perfect account of it, Jer. xvii. 12. "The heart is deceitful above all things," as well as "desperately wicked," two things superlative and excessive in it, bordering upon an infiniteness, such …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

The Almighty
This title is used nine times [12] in the Apocalypse, and only once elsewhere in the rest of the New Testament (2 Cor. vi. 18). [13] It is (...) (pantokrator) and means having dominion over all, and is used in the Old Testament as the Septuagint translation of "Lord of Hosts" (Heb., Jehovah, Sabaioth; see 2 Sam. v. 10; vii. 25, 27). In Revelation the title is used in i. 8; iv 8; xi. 17; xv. 3; xvi. 7, 14; xix. 6, 15, 22. "The Lord of Hosts" means Jehovah of the hosts in heaven above, and on the earth …
E.W. Bullinger—Commentary on Revelation

The Third vision "In Heaven"
H3, xi. 15-19-. THE SOUNDING OF THE SEVENTH TRUMPET. The Seventh Trumpet brings us back to Heaven and to the Third Vision seen there by John. For it is "in heaven" that the Trumpet is sounded. After it is sounded, we again hear the heavenly utterances which tell us of the design of this sounding. In xix. 1-16, heavenly voices again tell us of the completion of its effect. After it is sounded, and its object unfolded, there is a break; and an episode occupying chaps. xii., xiii. and xiv.; the effects …
E.W. Bullinger—Commentary on Revelation

The Fourth
refers to the books of Numbers and Samuel. The promise is, "to him will give power over the nations: And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers; even as I received of my Father. And I will give him the morning star" (Rev. ii. 26-28). Here again the literary order in the Apocalypse goes forward with the historical order: for it is in the book of Numbers that we have the basis of this promise given to the same People, who were the subjects …
E.W. Bullinger—Commentary on Revelation

A Book for Boys and Girls Or, Temporal Things Spritualized.
by John Bunyan, Licensed and entered according to order. London: Printed for, and sold by, R. Tookey, at his Printing House in St. Christopher's Court, in Threadneedle Street, behind the Royal Exchange, 1701. Advertisement by the Editor. Some degree of mystery hangs over these Divine Emblems for children, and many years' diligent researches have not enabled me completely to solve it. That they were written by Bunyan, there cannot be the slightest doubt. 'Manner and matter, too, are all his own.'[1] …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

The Desire of the Righteous Granted;
OR, A DISCOURSE OF THE RIGHTEOUS MAN'S DESIRES. ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITOR As the tree is known by its fruit, so is the state of a man's heart known by his desires. The desires of the righteous are the touchstone or standard of Christian sincerity--the evidence of the new birth--the spiritual barometer of faith and grace--and the springs of obedience. Christ and him crucified is the ground of all our hopes--the foundation upon which all our desires after God and holiness are built--and the root …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

The Sick Person Ought Now to Send for Some Godly and Religious Pastor.
In any wise remember, if conveniently it may be, to send for some godly and religious pastor, not only to pray for thee at thy death--for God in such a case hath promised to hear the prayers of the righteous prophets, and elders of the church (Gen. xx. 7; Jer. xviii. 20; xv. 1; 1 Sam. xii. 19, 23; James v. 14, 15, 16)--but also upon thy unfeigned repentance to declare to thee the absolution of thy sins. For as Christ hath given him a calling to baptize thee unto repentance for the remission of thy …
Lewis Bayly—The Practice of Piety

The Water of Life;
OR, A DISCOURSE SHOWING THE RICHNESS AND GLORY OF THE GRACE AND SPIRIT OF THE GOSPEL, AS SET FORTH IN SCRIPTURE BY THIS TERM, THE WATER OF LIFE. BY JOHN BUNYAN. 'And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.'--Revelation 22:17 London: Printed for Nathanael Ponder, at the Peacock in the Poultry, 1688. ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITOR. Often, and in every age, the children of God have dared to doubt the sufficiency of divine grace; whether it was vast enough to reach their condition--to cleanse …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

Conclusion.
"From Heaven He came and sought her To be His Holy Bride, With His own Blood He bought her, And for her life He died." "The Kingdom of Heaven," what is it? It is the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church of Christ. It is that Kingdom which was prophetically set forth by our Lord in His parables; that Kingdom, the subjects of which were described in His teaching, and redeemed by His Blood to be His own "purchased possession" (Eph. i. 14); that Kingdom which was founded through the coming of the Holy …
Edward Burbidge—The Kingdom of Heaven; What is it?

Opposition to Messiah in Vain
He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh; the Lord shall have them in derision. T he extent and efficacy [effects] of the depravity of mankind cannot be fully estimated by the conduct of heathens destitute of divine revelation. We may say of the Gospel, in one sense, what the Apostle says of the Law, It entered that sin might abound (Romans 5:20) . It afforded occasion for displaying the alienation of the heart of man from the blessed God, in the strongest light. The sensuality, oppression and …
John Newton—Messiah Vol. 2

Covenanting Predicted in Prophecy.
The fact of Covenanting, under the Old Testament dispensations, being approved of God, gives a proof that it was proper then, which is accompanied by the voice of prophecy, affording evidence that even in periods then future it should no less be proper. The argument for the service that is afforded by prophecy is peculiar, and, though corresponding with evidence from other sources, is independent. Because that God willed to make known truth through his servants the prophets, we should receive it …
John Cunningham—The Ordinance of Covenanting

Covenanting Enforced by the Grant of Covenant Signs and Seals.
To declare emphatically that the people of God are a covenant people, various signs were in sovereignty vouchsafed. The lights in the firmament of heaven were appointed to be for signs, affording direction to the mariner, the husbandman, and others. Miracles wrought on memorable occasions, were constituted signs or tokens of God's universal government. The gracious grant of covenant signs was made in order to proclaim the truth of the existence of God's covenant with his people, to urge the performance …
John Cunningham—The Ordinance of Covenanting

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