‘And the seventh angel sounded, and there followed great voices in Heaven, and they said, “The kingdom of the world is become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign for ever and ever”.'
Thus is declared the final hour. This is the seventh and last trumpet (compare 1 Corinthians 15:52). The church is raptured, the king is crowned and will now immediately exert His authority and judge the world. ‘The kingdom of the world' is now His. The kings of the earth, and the rulers, took counsel against the Lord and against His Christ (anointed one)' (Psalms 2:2). But God could only laugh at their puny efforts (Psalms 2:4) and now He will ‘speak to them in His wrath and vex them with His sore displeasure' (Psalms 2:5), having set His king on His holy hill of Zion (Revelation 2:6). The Lord now ‘sits as king for ever, He has prepared his throne for judgment' (Psalms 8:7).
It would not have been possible in John's earlier description of the rapture to include the sound of the trumpet, for there we had what those in Jerusalem heard and saw and there is no suggestion that the last trumpet would be heard by man. Man hears the voice from Heaven, but the trumpet sounds in Heaven declaring the final fulfilment of the purposes of God. John therefore now immediately introduces it to connect it with what has gone before.
The resurrection has been seen from earth's point of view, now it is declared from Heaven's point of view. The third woe is declared, the trumpet sounds, the dead are raised and the church is raptured, an example of which we have seen, and then, in that hour, the third woe actually comes, the judgment, which is carried out on those who dwell on earth. Then they will weep and gnash their teeth for they can no longer hide from His face.