By Bob Bunn
Scripture Reading: Revelation 10:1-11, Revelation 11:1-19, Psalm 2:1-12, Daniel 2:36-44
It was a significant day for my wife and me: the day we paid off our mortgage.
After years of making payments (and with a little help from my parents), we walked into the bank, wrote the final check, and walked out with a title in our hands. We held legal proof that the debt had been paid and that we owned our house with no strings attached.
Our home belonged to us, and we could prove it.
Of course, we have other proofs of ownership around our house. They take different forms, but they all validate “possession” in one way or another. We have the titles for my car and my wife’s van, showing that they are paid in full. We have birth certificates proving that our kids belong to us. I have a driver’s license that identifies Tennessee as my state of residence and a passport to verify that the United States is my homeland.
In so many areas of our lives, ownership is a big deal. It’s an itch we all long to scratch. It’s a goal for the future, a victory that provides incredible satisfaction.
There’s just something special about saying, “This belongs to me!”
Throughout the Old Testament, we catch glimpses of God claiming ownership and authority over everything He created. In Psalm 2, we see how He laughed at the nations that try to stand against Him. Despite their best efforts, no earthly power can stop Him from installing His Son (the Messiah) as the ultimate King over all things.
Later, the prophet Daniel acknowledged God’s ownership as he interpreted a dream for Nebuchadnezzar, the undisputed ruler of the world’s supreme superpower at the time. Daniel explained that God had allowed the king to see into the future, to get a sneak peek into how human history would unfold under the domination of multiple, but temporary, empires (Daniel 2:36–43).
But Daniel also revealed that the final kingdom—God’s kingdom—would have no end (v.44).
In Revelation 11, New Testament believers get their own chance to see the future. Like Nebuchadnezzar, God has shown His people that a day is coming when the seventh trumpet will sound and Jesus Christ will return. When He does, He will take His rightful place over every kingdom. In words that have become familiar thanks to George Frederic Handel’s stirring “Hallelujah!” chorus, we learn that the “kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ” (Revelation 11:15).
And, unlike other rulers, Jesus will reign forever. His ownership will be undisputed.
In Revelation 11, the response to the kingdom’s fulfillment is worship (v.16). That’s what happens when God’s people acknowledge Him as King. As believers, we don’t have to wait for Jesus’s return to live out the reality of God’s kingdom on earth. We don’t have to wait for the seventh trumpet to sound.
Jesus is coming back one day, but our lives can announce His rule and reign everywhere we go and in everything we do right now.
Written by Bob Bunn
Post Comments (0)