a period of time to follow its sounding, in which will be fulfilled the
events predicted of that era.

The voices in heaven, which immediately follow its sounding, are prophetic
utterances of events then to transpire; and are distinct from the response
of the elders. When Christ "shall be revealed from heaven," he will be
accompanied "with his mighty angels," 2 Thess. 1:7. He will descend "with
a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God," (1
Thess. 4:16); and the shout is evidently that of the attending angels,
symbolized by those voices, which will announce the revolution which is to
be made in the empire of the earth, and of the substitution of the kingdom
of God in the place of human governments.

The kingdom here established, is the long promised consummation, foretold
by prophets, and anticipated by saints of every age. It is that predicted
by Daniel, when he says: "In the days of these kings shall the GOD of
heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom
shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and
consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever." Dan. 2:44. He
also "saw in the night visions, and behold, one like the Son of Man came
with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of Days, and they
brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory,
and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him:
his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and
his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.... And the kingdom and
dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall
be given to the people of the saints of the Most High, whose kingdom is an
everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him." _Ib._
7:13, 14, 27. It is that referred to in the simple petition, "Thy kingdom
come" (Matt. 6:10), which was to be the great object of our prayer till
the final consummation; which the disciples thought was to appear
immediately, when they journeyed towards, and were nigh to, Jerusalem, and
which misapprehension the Saviour corrected by the parable of a nobleman
going into a far country to receive for himself kingly authority, and to
return, Luke 20:12. It is that respecting which they inquired, as the
SAVIOUR was about to be taken from them, if he would at that time restore
it to Israel, (Acts 1:6); and to which the apostle refers, when he
de