The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever! Rev 11:15-16 (NKJV)
It’s always a bit dangerous to interpret a prophecy about the end of the world. Prophets generally have different word usage than the average person. It would be nice to be given a more definite time for the end of the world. Looking for a time of “wars and rumors of wars,” false prophets, famines, earthquakes and persecution doesn’t really help much because these things have been happening ever since the Garden of Eden was closed. Jesus himself said that the only one who knows when the end will come is God and he’s playing it close to the vest.
The thing that I like about this scripture is that it seems to imply that there will come a time when we’ll all be one kingdom under one ruler. We’ve been looking for peace among nations since before World War I. Somehow it has always eluded us. There always seems to be at least one country who decides that they want to walk their own path, and the rest of the world can just butt out, thank you very much!
When I was growing up, I read the book “Cheaper by the Dozen,” written by Frank Bunker Gilbreth Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey. It’s about growing up in a family of efficiency experts, Frank and Lillian Gilbreth and their 12 children. There were only two children in my family and there were eight years between us, so we didn’t have a lot in common. Reading the story of a family of 12 children made me a bit jealous about all the action going on in that family. The thing is that the action was both peaceful and war-like. I understand that the most vicious wars are fought within families – witness our own Civil War. Somehow, there seems to be a lot of paybacks and retaliation among some families.
Revelation promises us that there will come a time when a final judgment will happen. Good people will be rewarded, and the bad people will get what’s coming to them. The thing is, I don’t think we really know who the “good” or the “bad” people are. A lot of evil has been perpetuated by Christians and a lot of compassion and tenderness has been offered by those who don’t believe in Jesus. The only one who knows the ending of everyone’s story is God. Jesus, himself, in John 3:17, said, “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”
I think that we might be a bit surprised at who ends up where in that final judgment. Sometimes jerks will bring more people to God than saints will. It’s hard to relate to someone who is perfect in every way. Just a thought.
Becky Gillette is a former teacher, newspaper reporter, and preacher who seeks to take an original approach to life’s lessons. She has recently published her first book, Jessie’s Corner: Something To Think About, which is now available for purchase. Based on several lesser-known scriptures from the Bible, this is a collection of articles which she wrote for a weekly newspaper.
