The seventh trumpet will include the seven bowls of the wrath of God as the third woe (11:14,18; 15:1, 7-8; 16:1-21). Verse 18 says, “And the nations were wroth, and Your wrath came.” “Wrath” here refers to the wrath of the seven bowls in chapter sixteen, which are a part of the negative contents of the seventh trumpet. The last woe consists of the seven bowls of the seventh trumpet. The seven bowls will be the intensification of God’s wrath. With the pouring out of these bowls, His wrath will be exhausted. The bowls will be poured out, not upon the earth or heaven, but upon man, especially upon Antichrist and his kingdom. At the time of the last woe, Antichrist will be fighting against God, and Christ will descend to earth to fight against him with His overcoming army. The seven bowls of the third woe will be like seven bombs dropped from heaven and used by God to demolish Antichrist and his kingdom. Probably all seven bowls will be poured out within a short time. With the pouring out of these seven bowls, the great tribulation will be finished and the age will be closed.
The seventh trumpet also consists of the eternal kingdom of Christ (11:15, 17). Verse 15 says that the kingdom of the world will become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ and that He will reign forever and ever. The kingdom of the world becomes the kingdom of Christ at His coming back after His judgment upon the nations (Dan. 7:13-14; 2:44-45). At this time, 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” (v. 17).
During the course of the seventh trumpet, Christ will judge the dead. Verse 18 says, “The time came for the dead to be judged.” The judgment of the dead mentioned in this verse does not refer to the judgment at the great white throne. Since “for the dead to be judged” is mentioned before “to give the reward to Your slaves,” it cannot refer to the judgment of the dead at the great white throne after the millennium (20:11-15). It means that at the close of this age, before the millennium, according to John 5:27-29, the dead will be judged as to who should share in the resurrection of life before the millennium (1 Cor. 15:23; Rev. 20:4-6) and who should be left to the resurrection of condemnation after the millennium (20:11-12). Before Christ resurrects the saints, He will firstly make a judgment among the dead regarding the first resurrection of life and the second resurrection of condemnation. After He makes this decision, the resurrection of the saints will take place.
Once the saints have been resurrected, they will be raptured. First Thessalonians 4 indicates that the dead saints will rise up, not come down. Many Christians hold the mistaken concept that the dead saints are in heaven and that when the Lord Jesus comes, they will descend with Him. Read your Bible again. The saints will not come down; they will rise up and, with the living ones, will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air. It is not scriptural to say that the dead saints are now in heaven.
Verse 18 also says that the time has come “to give the reward to Your slaves the prophets, and to the saints and to those who fear Your name, to the small and to the great.” The reward will be given by the Lord to His faithful ones at His coming back (22:12; Matt. 16:27). The judgment of the prophets and the saints will take place at the judgment seat of Christ (2 Cor. 5:10). Its purpose will be to determine who among the saved persons will be worthy of a reward and who will need further discipline. The giving of the reward to the prophets and to the saints will occur after the resurrection and rapture of the saints (1 Cor. 15:23, 52; 1 Thes. 4:16-17).
The seventh trumpet of Revelation 11 is the last trumpet of 1 Corinthians 15. At the last trumpet, the dead saints will be resurrected and, with the living ones, will be caught up into the air. It is not scriptural to say that the rapture of the majority of the saints will take place before the tribulation. How can anyone say that Christ will come back openly before the tribulation? The Bible is very clear about this. Paul says that the living saints will not precede the dead ones, and that at the last trumpet the dead saints will be resurrected. Everyone must admit that the last trumpet is the seventh trumpet. After the seventh trumpet, there will be no other trumpets. Before the seventh trumpet, there are the fifth and sixth trumpets as the main parts of the great tribulation. Since so many saints will be raptured at the seventh trumpet, which is at the end of the great tribulation, how can anyone say that the rapture of the majority of the saints will be before the tribulation? Do not follow today’s traditional teachings, which are shallow and inaccurate. We need to take the accurate word of the Bible. At the time of the seventh trumpet, the dead saints will be resurrected and the living saints will be raptured with them to the air. Thus, even at that time, Christ will not have come. At the beginning of the sounding of the seventh trumpet, He will still be in the air. After this rapture, Christ will set up His judgment seat to decide who will receive the reward and be a part of His overcoming army and who will need further discipline and punishment.