Revelation 11:15-18 and 12:10 indicate that we may experience and enjoy Christ as the eternal King.
Revelation 11:15 says, “The seventh angel trumpeted; and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He will reign forever and ever.” This verse indicates that after God’s judgment upon the earth, the earth will be taken over by and returned to God so that Christ will reign in His kingdom on the earth forever and ever. The kingdom of Christ will be everlasting in that it will last not only for a thousand years but for eternity without end. Therefore, the Lord’s reigning forever and ever is the Lord’s reigning in the millennial kingdom and in the new heaven and new earth for eternity (22:5). He will reign as a king forever and ever. We will also reign with Him (2 Tim. 2:12). All the overcomers will reign with Christ for a thousand years (Rev. 20:4, 6), and all the saved ones will reign forever and ever in eternity (22:5b).
After Christ executes His judgment upon the nations at His coming back, the kingdom of the world will become the kingdom of Christ (Dan. 7:13-14; 2:44-45). At the sounding of the seventh trumpet, not only will the great tribulation come to an end, but also this age will be closed, the mystery of God will be finished (Rev. 10:7), and another age, the age of the kingdom, will come for a millennium, a thousand years. When the age of the kingdom arrives, the entire earth will be the kingdom of Christ.
Today the earth is a worldly kingdom under the rule of Satan. But the day is coming when the Lord, as the King, will regain this world. Revelation 11:15 says, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He will reign forever and ever.” The world spoken of in Revelation 11:15 is the earth that the meek will inherit in Matthew 5:5.
Christ alone is the proper Owner of the earth. He paid the price on the cross to purchase the entire earth so that one day the kingdom would be established on it (13:44). Every inch of this earth belongs to Christ. We do not agree that any part of the earth belongs to anyone else. All others are usurpers; Christ is the unique Owner. Moreover, He is coming back to take possession of the earth (Rev. 10:1-2). If we truly know the New Testament, we will see this clearly. Wherever our travels may take us, we need to learn to declare, “This is my Lord’s property. Temporarily it is usurped by the enemy, but one day my Lord will come to claim what is His.” Sooner or later, the kingdom of the world will become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ.
Revelation 11:15 is a part of a promise that God made to Jacob in Genesis 35:11, which says, “A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, / And kings shall come forth from your loins.” First, we have “a company of nations,” indicating multiplication, and then we have “kings,” indicating the kingdom. Following Jacob, there was the nation of his descendants. Then there was the kingdom of his descendants under David and Solomon. In the New Testament there was the kingdom under his descendant, Jesus Christ; in the next age there will be the millennial kingdom; and after that, the eternal kingdom in the new heaven and the new earth. This one matter of the kings requires all the subsequent books of the Old Testament and the New Testament for its fulfillment. Even the church today as God’s kingdom on earth is included in this promise. Everything in Jacob’s life is a type to be fulfilled by us. We should not be satisfied to have one or two people saved through us. Rather, we should say, “Lord, I am not happy with this. I want to see the kingdom. I need the multiplication that will issue in the kingdom.” This is a great matter. We should have the faith for it, saying, “Lord, I would have the faith to be multiplied, not for my empire but for Your kingdom.”
When the kingdom of the world becomes the kingdom of Christ at His coming back (Dan. 7:13-14; 2:44-45), the twenty-four elders will fall on their faces and worship God, saying, “We thank You, Lord God the Almighty, He who is and who was, because You have taken Your great power and have reigned” (Rev. 11:17). Here it is difficult to determine to whom the word You refers. This is because verse 15 speaks of Christ’s reigning, but in verse 17 it is the Lord God the Almighty who is reigning. Does the word You in verse 17 refer to Christ or Lord God the Almighty? In other words, is it Christ or Lord God the Almighty who reigns? Although this is ambiguous, we may say that it is both Christ and Lord God the Almighty who reign. In these verses we see the Divine Trinity—God, who is three-one. The Bible often refers to the Divine Trinity in an ambiguous way. Because certain terms in the Bible reveal the Divine Trinity in an ambiguous way, it is difficult to discern which one of the Trinity they refer to. It is often better to attribute such terms to the entire Triune God.