message is to proclaim the gospel to nations, to peoples, to kings. Instead of his normal quartet of “nations, tribes, peoples and languages”, John substitutes “kings” for “tribes”. Yes, we even proclaim the gospel to kings—the holders of power and the source of threat. Remember chapters 10–11 take place in a pause between the sixth and seventh trumpets. The seventh event in each of John’s sequences describes the return of Christ and the final judgment. In one sense this pause is a literary device