Revelations 11 (Part 5) Power

By Odon Bulamba (30 March 06) Summary only

“The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, which said: “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah, and he will reign forever and ever.” Revelations 11:15

It’s not easy to reign over a country if you are not ready and you have to accept all the advantages and disadvantages of the job. You’ll have opposition that will be against you no matter what you say or do, even if you are doing a good job. That’s why the Lord Jesus Christ wanted to reign in our lives so He could take control but we sometimes try to stop that power.

When the 7th trumpet sounds everybody will understand that something is happening and will discover the power of God and understand how much He will rule everything. During that time God will come with power and prove He is able to rule all the nations.

You can’t reign without power and that power will come from somewhere, usually from nations. The people elect someone but before to be elected there must be an election campaign where the person will try to be kind to everybody and give food, housing, clothes etc to get the votes. Our Lord Jesus Christ was given power since the beginning of everything, He came down to do His campaign but we didn’t recognize Him and we tried to take away His power but He continues to reign.

We need power to perform miracles and for God to act through us so people can be pleased and find the name of God among them. To gain power you just have to follow the first commandment to love your neighbor as yourself. If I love my neighbor, I will get favor from her because love is patient and love is kind etc and so when it is the time for election my neighbor will remember these qualities and she’ll tell others about me. If my behavior is not good no one will vote for me and if my behavior is not good in front of God He also will not choose me so for that reason we must watch our behavior with others if we want to reign with Christ.

When there is a campaign there are many promises made and we must remember those promises we have made and make sure to fulfill them. If you told God you will pray twice a week then make sure to do it. Whenever we want to reign be careful with what we say and confess because we can confess things that will either build or destroy. Samson lost his power just because of a few words that he confessed and God is sometimes very tough with us and can remove our power just because of a few words.

Many people today are given a power; power of the Holy Spirit; power of knowing how to love each other; power of glorifying God in everyday life, but we often put that power aside and try to glorify ourselves and put love last and forget we are called to reign in this world. God gave to you everything you have and now you have to control that kingdom but we only want to control other people. Some of us are unable to control our own children but we want to control other people’s children. We can easily see the picture of others but we try to hide our own picture.

Power is something very important, in the kingdom of God things can change in an instant and if God decides something no one can stop it and He doesn’t need the support of humans.

After blowing the seventh trumpet the world was supposed to know who the true ruler is, the King, the One controlling everything. A king knows everything that is happening in his kingdom and must care when his kingdom is attacked. We forget about God’s reign in the kingdom of God and we destroy His church, His plan, His Kingdom, we destroy everything although God has given us that power, we use it to destroy.

When the trumpet is blown the 24 elders will fall down and glorify the man. When God speaks to us what do we do? Do we fall on our knees or do we neglect? Do we stop and think this is the voice of the Almighty God and think about what to do? When people or your conscience tells you something, do you recognize you are in front of someone powerful and kneel down and humiliate yourself or do you say you don’t care? The Kingdom of God is being destroyed today because we always think we are the best and others are below us.

The elders bowed down and adored and no one pushed them because power is powerful and you don’t have to push people to respect you. But today we try to push others to respect us; e.g. ‘She is supposed to come to me, I am not supposed to go to her first’. We are good at judging others and critiquing their mistakes but God is looking at us to see who is reigning (us or satan). Am I among the 24 elders adoring God or do I just wanting others to adore me?

In the Kingdom of God democracy doesn’t exist, God is not a dictator but a father and whoever loves His child will show him the right way.

Power without opposition is not a power and if you want to reign in the kingdom of God accept people to come to you to tell you your mistakes, to show you the way, accept so you can improve and the name of God can be glorified.

Jesus is love and is the King who reigns and He comes to us and says that because He gave His life for us, we must also give our lives for others. That means you have to put yourself in the shoes of others and think, ‘if that was me what would happen?’ and that will make you think deeply and that is the secret of forgiveness because I can also make mistakes and if I say I can’t forgive how will that person also learn how to forgive?

We have to learn the Word of God and teach it to others with our actions and that is the campaign of the Kingdom of God and God will want to use you because everybody will be ready to work with you.

SUMMARY

1. You can’t reign without power

2. To gain power you have to love your neighbor as yourself
- to love is to die for others
- to die for others is to put yourself in their shoes

3. We must remember our promises and keep them

4. Power is given to us to glorify God, not ourselves

5. We have to control our own lives before we can look at the lives of others

6. When God speaks to us we must listen and not neglect (He uses people/our conscience)

7. don’t consider yourself above others