Revelation 11:15 - 19

15 Then the seventh angel sounded: And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!” 16 And the twenty-four elders who sat before God on their thrones fell on their faces and worshiped God, 17 saying:

“We give You thanks, O Lord God Almighty, The One who is and who was and who is to come, Because You have taken Your great power and reigned. 18 The nations were angry, and Your wrath has come, And the time of the dead, that they should be judged, And that You should reward Your servants the prophets and the saints, And those who fear Your name, small and great, And should destroy those who destroy the earth.”

19 Then the temple of God was opened in heaven, and the ark of His covenant was seen in His temple. And there were lightnings, noises, thundering s, an earthquake, and great hail.

When the seventh angel sounded his trumpet, the result of the restoration freed the kingdoms of the Roman empire from the rule of Rome.

The rulers of these kingdoms were given the freedom of ruling the way Christ had intended kings to rule. These kingdoms were not released from the domination of the Catholic church to join in support of the true church which is Christ's. For this to happen there would still been the condition of church-state control of the people. But by being free from the control of a church then the people would be free to worship as they believed was right and not be forced to worship in a state sanctioned manner.

Christ is the King of kings (Revelation 17:14)and He will rule (1 Peter 3:22)until the day of Judgment (1 Corinthians 15:24 – 25). When the earthly kings were under the power of Rome, they did not recognize Christ as their king.

The 24 elders (Revelation 4:4)who represent the law of Moses and the New Testament church rejoice at the of the reformation upon the destruction of the rule of the Roman Catholic empire.

This praise is for the power of good over evil as was seen when God's word was restored to the people of the empire.

The nations who were angry were not the ones who understood the deceptions of the Roman-Catholic empire and had freed themselves of that rule, but the nations who were so closely aligned with the Catholic church that they had enjoyed the profit they gained by being part of that empire.

The time has come for God's wrath and vengeance to be placed on the apostate church-state for abusing God's word.

The time has also come for the souls under the altar (Revelation 6:9) they cried for vengeance and were told their time would come, it had arrived.

God judged the apostate church-state by separating her from the power she had as head of the church-state empire, she lost all of the advantages she had.

God rewarded his faithful followers with giving His word back into their hands so they could follow the directions He gave them and not depend on someone else to tell them what God said.

He will destroy the ones who are using corruption to get rich off of the earth's bounty by being aligned with the church-state and using her to fill their pockets. He destroyed them by taking their advantages they had by being aligned with the church-state, no power, meant no ability to profit as they had.

Verse 19 is an important symbol in this chapter. Under the old law the “Law” was laid in the area designated “Most Holy Place” (Exodus 25:16) the people were not allowed to see the law. The 1260 years of the Dark Ages were symbolically the same, the word was taken away from the people.

John being able to see the word placed beside the Ark of the Covenant was showing that the word was now open for man to be able to read, comprehend, and follow it.

All of the lightnings, storms, and earthquakes were the effect the Reformation was having on the Roman-Catholic empire.