As the curtain of human history nears its final drop, God and
His profound kindness will raise up two powerful preachers to be
some of the clearest and loudest witnesses to the world before
Christ returns in judgment. That is not to say that there
will be no other Christian evangelists or missionaries in
the Tribulation period. But the Holy Spirit highlights
these two distinct individuals because of their extraordinary
influence and impact in that time.
And for the Holy Spirit to single them out in this way is a
thrilling invitation for us to examine them more carefully.
And in doing so, I trust and I pray that we will learn some
valuable things for our own witness as followers of Christ
today. Moreover, we will definitely
understand the One who will one day summon these two preaching
powerhouses as an extension of His grace and wisdom.
And there are at least five things that I want us to
consider and take note of regarding these two prophets in
Revelation Chapter 11. The first thing that we will
look at is their identity. Who are these messengers
exactly? We will from there look at their
ability, because not only are they preachers, they are
prophets with incredible power and it's difficult to ignore
what they are able to do and what that means for them, for
their generation and even for us, their identity, their
ability. Thirdly, we will be confronted
with their mortality. As phenomenal as these preachers
are, they are human, and we are told about their death and the
manner of it, and it is very revealing from their mortality.
We will fourthly look at their indignity, the opposite of
dignity. Now why is that an appropriate
word? Well, we are told in detail of
the great humiliation they will experience, the mistreatment,
the dishonor by their global audience, and finally, we will
meditate on their testimony, the overall impact of their
ministry, and what that means for us as well.
Let's begin by reading Revelation 11/3 and four as we
meditate on their identity. And I will grant authority to my
2 witnesses and they will prophecy for 1260 days clothed
in sackcloth. These are the 2 olive trees and
the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth.
Pray with me, Father, the study of Your Word has been done, but
Lord, the delivery requires just as much of Your help, and we
pray that Your blessing would rest upon these truths being
expounded and delivered to the hearts of Your people.
And Lord, we come with hunger and expectation, believing that
Your Word will be sweet to our mouths.
And even if it is bitter in our stomachs, we accept it because
we trust that even this portion of Scripture will nourish us and
it will strengthen our fellowship with Christ and it
will help us advance in holiness and it will, by your grace, make
us better witnesses. For your name's sake.
In Jesus name we pray these things.
Amen. The identity of these witnesses,
it's strange, we're never given their names.
And that has led many to believe that these two witnesses are
actually symbolic representations and not
individuals at all. And some would say that these
two witnesses are actually just a picture of the church's
witness in the last days. Others prefer to say, no, no,
what you have here is actually a picture of the powerful work of
the Old and the New Testament. Others would disagree and say,
no, it's, it's actually more acceptable to conclude that this
is what the law and the prophets will do to a generation of
unbelievers who refuse to believe all of that.
Any kind of symbolism you would attribute to these two witnesses
is very, very, very difficult to sustain because we haven't read
it yet. But we're going to see that
there are behaviours and we read it.
There is actually clothing that they wear, sackcloth, and
there's going to be a real death that these two witnesses will
undergo. And just their overall destiny
dispels any notion that these are some kind of just imagery or
some kind of picture or symbol of something other than two real
human beings. What you and I have here are two
actual people that God will use in His end time program.
Now, among those who hold that view, there is friendly
discussion. OK, they are real human beings,
but who are they exactly? This is the stuff that some
people here like to talk about during lunch, after the service.
Who are they exactly? 1 popular view is that because
of the characteristics attributed to them, as we're
going to see, they have to be somebody like Moses or Elijah.
In fact, let's read verse 5 and 6.
Let's get ahead of ourselves. Just for a moment.
Let's look at this and if anyone would harm them, fire pours from
their mouth and consumes their foes.
If anyone would harm them, this is how he is doomed to be
killed. They have the power to shut the
sky that no rain may fall during the days of their prophesying,
and they have power over the waters to turn them into blood
and to strike the earth with every kind of plague as often as
they desire. This is strikingly resembling of
what the ministry of Moses and Elijah and that's why many are
comfortable to interpret these witnesses as a reappearance of
these mighty men of God. And they would add to that to
say, well, doesn't Malachi say that before the day of the Lord
Elijah will appear? Good point.
Others would also include there's a a group of Jews that
also claim that Moses will make a reappearance and I won't get
into the reasons why they hold to that view.
So this duo being those two mighty prophets is something
that people think is is very fitting.
Now there are others who would say not Moses and Elijah, but
but it's more likely that it's going to be Enoch and Elijah.
Now why is that? Because they are the only two in
all of the Bible that have departed from this world without
experiencing death. And Hebrews 927 is often quoted
to support this view, where it says that it is appointed for a
man to die once, and then comes what judgement?
And so it makes sense then that you have these two prophets
making a reappearance, ministering, undergoing death
like the rest of us, and experiencing their own
resurrection. Well, there are strengths and
weaknesses to those views, but unless it is clearly stated, we
can't say with absolute certainty that these witnesses
are the reappearance of well known men, of God, of the past.
What is clear though, as much as that might be possible, the
reasonable interpretation is that these are unknown servants
of Christ that God will one day recruit and empower to be mighty
voices to speak to a generation that desperately needs this
demonstration of supernatural power.
With that being said, there is one clear reference to the Old
Testament and we read it. I'm not sure if you saw it, but
look again at verse 4. These are the 2 olive trees and
the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth.
So you can debate if this is Moses, Elijah, Enoch.
What you can't debate is that this verse is clearly drawn from
a vision in the book of Zechariah.
This is going to help us understand a little bit more
about their identity. Zechariah was a prophet during
the days of the Exiles who returned from Babylon, came back
to the city of Jerusalem, and attempted to rebuild the temple.
And he was used by God for many reasons.
But one of his purposes was to infuse grace and encouragement
to this remnant as they face many difficulties and challenges
in their desire their endeavor to resurrect this House of
worship. And in the midst of these
obstacles, God gives Zechariah a vision to share with the leaders
and the people so that they would know a new grace to see
this actually fulfilled. This is worth turning to in
Zechariah. So find the book of Zechariah
and meet me in chapter 4 and look at verse one with me.
Zechariah 4 verse one reads And the Angel who talked with me
came again and woke me like a man who is awakened out of his
sleep. And he said to me, what do you
see? I said, I see.
And behold, A lampstand all of gold, with a bowl on the top of
it and seven lamps on it, with seven lips on each of the lamps
that are on the top of it. And there are two olive trees by
it, one on the right of the bowl and the other on its left.
So I can't draw this for you, but I'll attempt to use my hands
to make it a little bit more clear.
Here's what the prophet sees. He sees this golden lampstand
and a bowl on top of it and these two olive trees on both
sides. And what's happening here is
that these olive trees are feeding oil into the bowl, and
then this bowl is then trickling oil into the lamps of this
lampstand. That's the picture.
But what's the meaning? Zechariah wants to know.
So look at verse 4. And I said to the Angel who
talked with me, what are these, my Lord?
And the Angel who talked with me answered and said to me, do you
not know what these are? I said No, my Lord.
Then he said to me, This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel,
not by might nor by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord of
hosts, Who are you, O great mountain, before it's ruble?
You shall become a plane, and he shall bring forward the top
stone amid shouts of grace, Grace to it.
So the Angel gives Zechariah the general interpretation of this
vision, and here's what it is. The completion of the temple
will be realized, and it's not going to be through human
diligence or man's strength. It's going to be attributed to
the energizing work of the Holy Spirit.
It's going to be God himself energizing his people and
providentially making a way for this to be done.
But more than that, whatever Zerubbabel began with the
Temple, because he was one of the leaders who led this
project, he will see through to completion, which will result in
what? The life and the light of the
nation of Israel being reignited and abundantly sustained.
That's what you have here. And Zechariah understood the
broader message, but he is curious, and so he begins to
probe and ask about certain details.
And what really he wanted to know was what about these olive
trees? And so Scroll down here to verse
11 of Zechariah 4. Then I said to him, what are
these two olive trees on the right and the left of the
lampstand? And a second time I answered and
said to him, what are these two branches of the olive trees
which are beside the 2 golden pipes from which the golden oil
is poured out? Can you pause for a moment?
Do you notice how many questions Zechariah is asking?
That's for your instruction and mine.
Here's a man who is beholding visions from God and he doesn't
understand. So what does he do?
He asks and when he doesn't get an answer, he asks again.
He keeps asking, can I ask you something?
When you don't understand something in the Word of God,
how desperate are you to know it?
How much investigation do you do?
Or are you just content with seeing it, closing your Bible,
saying why? At least I did my part.
I read. Revelation does not come to
readers, it comes to thinkers. And for those who meditate and
take what they see and bring it before the Lord in prayer,
that's where they get illumination.
Here's this man, He's not giving up easily.
Even in the verses we just read, He asked the question.
He didn't get an answer immediately.
So what does he do? He asks again, ask, seek, and
God will give you answers. He doesn't in many ways, but you
and I have to do our part and seek Him.
Verse 13 He said to me, do you not know what these are?
I said no, my Lord. Verse 14 Then he said, these are
the two anointed ones who stand by the Lord of the whole earth.
Does that sound familiar? You should.
We read in Revelation 11 something very similar
contextually. The two anointed ones in this
vision are representation of two people, Zerubbabel, the man that
we read of earlier and Joshua, Zerubbabel and Joshua the high
priest of this time. Now why them?
For two simple reasons. Number one, these were the two
that God raised up to lead the Exiles to go back home and start
the rebuilding of the temple. They oversaw this endeavor.
And secondly, Zerubbabel and Joshua both came from lineages
that experienced and required anointing oil.
Zerubbabel was a political leader.
He was the governor of this time, but he came from the royal
line of David. Were kings anointed in the Old
Testament? They were anointed.
Joshua, who worked alongside Zerubbel, came from the priestly
line. Were priests anointed?
They were. Then.
It would make sense then for these two to be the anointed
ones who stand by the Lord of the whole earth.
Now here's how this interpretation adds to the whole
vision. As much as the life and the
light of the nation of Israel will be reignited by the Holy
Spirit's work, it will be channelled through the agency of
these leaders. These leaders will be God's
instruments of bringing in God's favor, God's blessing on the
nation, surviving and thriving again.
And this is precisely why the Holy Spirit connects these two
witnesses in Revelation 11 with this description and Zechariah.
Not only because these two witnesses will be supernaturally
empowered by God, but because they will play significant role
in the restoration of the people of Israel during a time of
renewed persecution in a world under the control of the
Antichrist. In the same way that Zerubbabel
and Joshua were used by God to help the Exiles who are harassed
by the enemies of their time. Go back to Revelation 11.
Let me remind you of something in verse 2.
In verse 2 of Revelation 11, we learned that the holy city is
going to be trampled for 42 months, right?
That speaks of persecution against the holy city, that is
Jerusalem and its people. But in verse 3, we read that
these two witnesses will be preaching for the same length of
time. So the duration is given in
days, and we're going to see how the impact of these two
witnesses will have on the people of Israel by the end of
the message. But before we move on, allow me
to say one more thing. I find it amazing that the
length of the preaching of these two witnesses was only 1260
days. To put into perspective, we just
at the time of this message, pass our four fourth year
anniversary as a church. That's not very long in terms of
a preaching resume. And these men will be preaching
for 3 1/2 years. And it's a helpful reminder
about how God sovereignly works in our ministries.
Each of us in His mind, the length and the duration of our
service to Him varies. It varies, and quantity does not
always mean quality. These men will do profound
things in a short amount of time.
And listen, you and I should strive.
Strive for longevity and loyalty wherever God has placed us to
serve. But we also must be dependent
upon the truth that He is the one who determines what we do
and how long we do it for. This is His prerogative, and
what makes the quality of your service to God and mine
meaningful and lasting is the same thing with Zerubbabel,
Joshua, and these two witnesses. Dependence on the Holy Spirit
being connected to Him, continually asking for His hand
to remain on your life and to bless your efforts and to
multiply your fruit. Can I ask you, O precious Saints
who serve God, how much? How much do you seek God to
bless what you do for God? How much are you aware?
How much are you? Are you, are you understanding
of your neediness of Him? So what we see here is that the
picture from old to new is that men and women who have done
great things for God are those who are aware that they need
Him, They need to abide in Him, That unless He goes before them
and is by their side and behind them and over them, they will
not know true success. And this is what we find here,
that the Holy Spirit will work through these men not just to do
miracles, but to play a part in the people of Israel coming
closer to their salvation. That being said, they do
accomplish remarkable things, which brings us to our second
heading. Not just their identity, but
their ability. So like the fire that fell from
heaven and consumed Elijah's enemies by command, by the way,
we see these men doing something similar.
And like Elijah, who according to James prayed and for 3 1/2
years there was no rain, these men apparently can shut the sky
by their word. And I find it interesting.
It's for the same duration that Elijah did, 3 1/2 years.
And what about the water turning to blood and plagues striking
the earth? That is a clear parallel to
Moses. So what do we do with these
parallels? What do we do with these
connections? Here's the key take away.
Just as the miracles of Elijah and Moses vindicated their
message in times of great apostasy and oppression by
empires, these witnesses will have comparable power.
In other words, you're going to see here that these signs and
wonders mirror these prophets of God of old, to authenticate the
ministry of these men, to show to the world that they are
genuine prophets of God. And this will be extremely
useful in a time where there will be terrifying distractions,
palpable demonic activity, and frightening deception on all
sides. This kind of power that we read
in verse 5 and 6 is necessary and it will show the world that
these these prophets, they resemble the prophets of the
Hebrew Scriptures. Therefore they represent the
true God. And that is an indirect message.
But we got to think about the practical implications of this.
You've been with us week after week.
Is the world in a good place at the time of these ministers
preaching? Everything is falling apart,
diseases and waters being corrupted and land being
destroyed and things falling from the sky.
And and with all of that, what do you have?
Two men, whenever they desire, adding to their suffering,
adding to their turmoil. And it's really going to show us
why the world hated these guys. They make sense because of the
torment they will inflict, not just by the truth that they
preach, but even by the power that they will demonstrate.
But there is a phrase, the last part of verse 6, that caught my
attention and moved me deeply. Look at it again.
As often as they desire, they will have the ability to perform
any of these powerful acts whenever they wish and as many
times as they want. That is incredible.
That is staggering, and here's why it's intriguing.
Much of Revelation, including this section, shows how God has
carefully fixed and planned events.
Down to what? The very hour the holy city will
be trampled for 42 months? These two witnesses will preach
for 1260 days. Later on, in the same section,
we're going to see that an earthquake is going to Sheikh
Jerusalem and a tenth of the city fell.
That is precise, undeniable, sovereign acts of God.
And yet in the in the middle of this, just witnessing the
absolute control that God has over the affairs of the world in
the final days, you get a hint that man is granted freedom of
choice as often as they desired. This reminds me actually of
another place concerning the last days, namely with Jesus
Christ when He gave His own play by play prophecy of the final
moments of human history. Let me remind you of this.
In Matthew 2419 and 20, our Lord said, and alas, for women who
are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those
days, look at verse 20. Talking Matthew 2419 and 20,
Look at verse 20. Pray that your flight may not be
in winter or on a Sabbath, for then there will be great
tribulation. Such has not been from the
beginning of the world until now.
No, and never will be. Pray.
Pray for what? We'll pray that the conditions
will be favorable in your travels.
Pray that it will not happen where there will be traffic
jams. And so Jesus here even indicates
that prayer can still make a difference even in the context
of predetermined events and elements of it being
established. Do you see what I see?
So here's what I want to say. You and I may not be able to
fully understand how this all works, but one thing is certain.
God's foreknowledge does not make our freedom an illusion.
Our freedom is real, our actions or our inactions actually make a
difference, and all of this makes our relationship with God
what authentic and it makes our responsibility very genuine and
personal as often as they desire.
I love that thought as it's sandwiched between what days
determined and events taking place.
God's foreknowledge does not negate your responsibility.
My brother and sister Jesus equally says pray, pray.
Prayer makes a difference. Well preacher, can you explain
all the mechanics? I can't do you much service in
that area. But what I do understand is that
God has asked of me to do certain things and I will obey
Him, believing with all my heart that should I not do it, it will
actually change or not change their ability.
But let's consider their mortality.
Now we haven't read this yet, but let's look at it in verse 7.
And when they had finished their testimony, the beast that rises
from the bottomless pit will make war on them and conquer
them and kill them and their dead bodies will lie in the
street of the great city That symbolically now the Greek there
were for symbolically is actually spiritually, that's
symbolically slash spiritually. It's called Sodom in Egypt where
their Lord was crucified. This is the first time in the
Book of Revelation, the words the beast that title this
individual, the beast appears the first time.
But reference to the Beast will actually resurface nearly 30
times in the rest of the Book of Revelation.
So obviously whoever the Beast is, he is an integral part in
the events of the Last days. And all we know up to this point
in his introduction is where he came from.
The Beast came from the Abyss. We were here when we learned
about the Abyss. This is in reference to the
underworld where certain demonic spirits were imprisoned by God
himself. This has then LED some to say,
well the beast has to clearly be a demonic creature or even Satan
himself. Is Satan appearing before these
two witnesses and slaying these two witnesses?
Well it's not until you continue Revelation where you discover
who the beast actually is. More light is shed on this
character. So look at Revelation 13.
Just to give you an example how this is going to help us.
Revelation 13 Look at verse one, John says.
And I saw a beast rising out of the sea with 10 horns and seven
heads, with 10 diadems on its horns and blasphemous names on
its heads. And the beast that I saw was
like a leopard. Its feet were like a bear's, and
its mouth was like a lion's mouth.
And to it the dragon gave his power and his throne and great
authority. One of its heads seemed to have
a mortal wound, but it's mortal wound was healed and the whole
earth marveled as they followed the beast.
It's very tempting to go deep into this passage, but we're
going to refrain from doing so and look at just two simple
observations about the beast number.
We know based on this passage that the Beast is not Satan.
Why? Because contextually, the dragon
is Satan, and he empowers the Beast.
That's clear. More than that, though, there is
strong indication that the beast is actually flesh and blood.
Why? Because John says that he he saw
a mortal wound that the beast had and the wound was was
healed. Well, some would say that this
is reserved just for a symbolic picture of an empire falling and
rising again. But if you continue Revelation
13, which we will when we get there, there's great support
about how this beast is actually an individual.
And if that is the case, then there is something that will
happen to this beast that will affect his body.
It will be healed almost in a miraculous fashion that will
even cause the world to devote themselves more ferociously and
intensely to the beast. This leaves us with only one
logical conclusion, that the beast is the Antichrist, that he
is the prophesied coming world ruler that Jesus spoke about,
that Paul spoke of, and it's given out in great detail in
this marvelous book, Revelation. This is the Antichrist.
And So what does it mean for us in Revelation 11?
That the Antichrist will be the one who will personally deal
with these two witnesses, that their message and their movement
will be so enraging to him that he will deal with them with a
devastating blow. You have to remember, Paul
prophesied that in the last days one of the turning points would
be the man of lawlessness entering into the temple of God
and declaring himself to be God as he takes his seat there.
Where's the temple of God? Jerusalem.
And it could be that these two witnesses who are prophesying in
the holy city, in the great city, are getting in the way of
the Antichrist sustaining his headquarters in Jerusalem.
They're not making his job easier as he is trying to win
the worship of the world. Here they are preaching about
the true Christ. Here they are preaching with
power, interfering with his attempt to dominate the globe.
And so finally, he will take action, but not until what Their
testimony was complete. Don't you love that truth?
I love it because it shows that even the Antichrist who is
empowered by Satan will not be able to touch any of Christ's
witnesses until he says so. Let's take it, take a breath
now, OK? What is this truth show about
our life in Christ? It shows that our existence on
earth is tied to our service to the Lord.
They could not be touched until their ministry was accomplished.
And once their ministry was fulfilled, God allowed them to
be killed. What does that say about life?
Life is about living for Him. Life is about serving God.
Life is about discovering your ministry.
And even though if you don't have a clearview of what your
calling is, and I put that in quotation marks, just knowing
what God's will is from His Word and finding a place and a people
to do it with, that's what your life is about.
And I wonder if we think of it that way.
I wonder if you think about your life that way.
Paul did. Do you remember what he said to
the Philippians and Philippians 122?
If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for
me. What is he saying to the
Philippians? Well, he's in prison.
There's talks about him potentially dying, being
martyred, and he's wrestling with, departing and being with
Christ for that is far better. Amen.
It is far better. But then he realizes that I only
have one opportunity to serve God in a way that I can't in
heaven. And so the only compelling thing
for me to remain in this body, battered in bruises, succumb to
all these things and to stay on this wretched planet is if I am
fruitful for him. There is no other appeal from
this world apart from that truth serving him.
And that's what we find here. These men were taken once.
They served well. Speaking of thinking a certain
way, did you notice a contrast in these verses?
Look again at verse 8 and their bodies, their dead bodies will
lie in the street of the great city.
That's worth highlighting. The great city that
symbolically, or again I told you earlier, the Greek word is
spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt where their Lord is
crucified or was crucified. So in case there's any confusion
of what this great city is there, there's no more debate
now. It's it's Jerusalem.
That's where our Christ was crucified and Jerusalem here for
some reason it's called the great city.
Whatever the reasons are for it being called great, they're not
godly ones. Do you know why?
Because in the very same breath, this city is condemned by being
titled two of some of the worst cities in all of biblical
history. And so in God's eyes, Jerusalem
at this point is bankrupt. But in worldly terms, it's
great. Here's how this challenged me in
my perception of everything around me.
Do I discern and evaluate spiritually, or am I prone to do
so in my flesh? What's great in the eyes of the
world, symbolically and spiritually, is horrendous to
God. You know, some of you know that
my wife and I had a chance to go to Rome just a few weeks ago,
and there was so much about Rome that was great.
The historical preservation, the architectural beauty was
stunning. But throughout our stay there, I
had to constantly remind myself to perceive these things from a
spiritual standpoint and to make my final estimation there,
especially when looking at these religious structures.
Great. But spiritually, what is it?
You know, there are a lot of Christians who are passionate,
sometimes too passionate about politics.
If they fail to consider the spiritual reality behind it,
it's never in the conversation. It's just left and right and
this news and that is, do you perceive it spiritually, though?
You have others Christians who are enthralled by certain forms
of entertainment but never reflect on the spiritual
influences at work. You know Christ has something
profound in light of this. When He was dealing with the
self-righteous Pharisees in Luke 1614, He said, For what is
exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God.
Let me say that again, For what is exalted among men is an
abomination in the sight of God. Well let me read you the whole
verse. And he said to them in Luke
1615, You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God
knows your hearts. For what is exalted among men is
an abomination in the sight of God.
Why is he saying this? Because in the verse right
before it, we learned that the Pharisees were lovers of money
and they justified it. In fact, they actually convinced
people that their growing wealth was a sign of God's favor.
And Jesus reminds them and us, your value system, Pharisees,
that might be praised, you might have excused it and convince
others of it, but in God's sight it's an abomination.
You and I have to constantly come before the Lord and ask Him
to sharpen our perception the way we understand the world, how
it functions, what is valuable, what is not, what is to be
treasured, what is to be despised, what is to be pursued,
what is to be ignored. Because your default setting and
mine is not to see it spiritually, it's to see it
carnally. It's to see the the way the rest
of the world does. And the closer you get to God,
the more you will see the way he sees the city of Jerusalem.
Great. Oh, but to God spiritually,
Sodom and Egypt, this is striking and it carries
instruction for us. We still have two more thoughts
to consider. We moved out from their
mortality to their indignity. Not their dignity, their
indignity. Look at verse 9.
Now, for 3 1/2 days, some from the peoples and tribes and
languages and nations will gaze at their dead bodies and refuse
to let them be placed in a tomb. And those who dwell on the earth
will rejoice over them and make merry and exchange presents,
because these two prophets have been a torment to those who
dwell on the earth. This is a fascinating passage in
a book that's primarily about the future, because what would
have been unexplainable to John's immediate audience up to
roughly 70 years ago, it's very understandable to us today.
How could the peoples and tribes and languages and nations of the
world gaze upon the dead bodies of these two prophets for 3 1/2
days in one specific location? Is that hard to imagine today?
Absolutely not. These slain bodies of these
prophets will be so significant that it will be broadcasted.
That's the only explanation for this.
It will be broadcasted live on streaming platforms across the
world, and not from an objective journalistic standpoint.
No, no, no, no. It will be recorded as a
celebratory event. They're they're gone.
Finally, we don't have to watch another sermon short.
We don't have to deal with another plague in these random
cities. We have better chances to have
drinking water. They're done.
And so exciting will this news be that they will actually go to
the stores, purchase presents, visit their friends and
neighbors, and exchange gifts. Someone called this passage a
Satanic Christmas. That's very fitting.
You you can't think of another way, I'm sure, of trying to
explain the joy of these peoples, the inhabitants of the
earth, over the death of two righteous men who are calling a
dying and collapsing world to repentance and eternal life.
And this may be just a few short years ago, might have been also
unthinkable to us. But I can't help but think about
the recent assassination of Charlie Kirk and understand that
we got a sobering reality check of just how vile people can be
at the sight of a man who had his neck blown up by a bullet in
front of people, including his family.
More shockingly, this is the first time the word rejoice
appears in the Book of Revelation.
The only other occurrences in Revelation 19, seven where we
read of the righteous celebrating, rejoicing, exalting
in God in the marriage supper of the Lamb.
Imagine this. How staggering is this?
You're reading through the Book of Revelation and the first time
you are confronted with the word rejoice on earth.
Rejoicing on earth is when sinners are gleeful about the
assassination of two of God's chief workmen.
Let me take this opportunity to remind you and I that we live in
a very wicked and depraved world.
And listen. It has always hated the truth.
It has always attempted to run from the light.
But that hatred for the truth will intensify, and those who
speak it will also be objects of people's hatred.
So if you're despised, dear brother or sister, do not be
surprised. It's only going to get more
intense. The fate of these prophets isn't
too surprising, though, is it? How many times have we read both
an Old and New Testament of God's faithful messengers being
killed, sometimes in the prime of their lives?
But what we discover in our final heading is most definitely
not common. Let's discover now their
testimony in verse 11 down to verse 14.
But after the 3 1/2 days of breath of life from God entered
them, and they stood up on their feet, and great fear fell on
those who saw them. Then they heard a loud voice
from heaven saying to them, come up here.
And they went up to heaven in the cloud, and their enemies
watch them. At the hour there was a great
earthquake and a tent of the city fell. 7000 people were
killed in the earthquake and the rest were terrified and gave
glory to the God of heaven. I sat back and I use my
sanctified imagination at this point of my study that if indeed
it will be modern technology that will be able to allow the
world to look at these slain bodies for 3 1/2 days.
Maybe, just maybe, again, sanctified imagination that
while cameras are rolling and people are posting breaking news
alert, this is not AI footage. Suddenly, unexplainably,
miraculously, these two witnesses are alive again.
You can just imagine the replays of these two slain bodies
suddenly getting up to their feet and dusting their
sackcloth. This is incredible.
But in a book with so many miracles, not just Revelation,
but our entire book, the Bible, this is not so hard to imagine.
In fact, many, many years before this, there was another faithful
witness, the Witness of Witnesses, Christ himself, who
ministered in Jerusalem. And he too was killed.
And he was buried for three days before he was resurrected.
And now we read here of the Messiah's two witnesses who also
minister in Jerusalem. They will be killed.
They will be slain, though not buried for 3 1/2 days before
they are resurrected. But here's the main difference.
Their resurrection and essentially will be seen by the
entire world. Even their enemies will behold
this remarkable reversal of events.
Why? Why is the Lord doing this?
Why is He making it so public? Well, surely to vindicate His
witnesses, but also to extend undeserved mercy to this
generation as they are accelerating and racing towards
eternal doom. This is God again in His great
grace, allowing this world at this point to actually see
resurrection and ascension to validate their message even
more. Things are wrapping up as much
as the judgments are increasing in intensity.
So at this point is God's grace and trying to get the attention
of these unbelievers. So instead of trying to wrestle
with why and why them and just see God's mercy, just look at
His wonderful grace and be moved by it.
How much more can He do to awaken a generation that is
inundated by so much filth and so much carnage and so much
evil? And what happens?
Well, if that wasn't enough, the Lord will cause an earthquake to
shake the city of Jerusalem to confirm that what it just
transpired was His doing. 7000 will perish as a tent of the
city will collapse. But notice again in verse 13.
Look at it. The rest were terrified and gave
glory to the God of heaven. Who are the rest?
Well, the thing that makes the most sense here is that they are
the rest of the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
Contextually, that's what makes the most sense.
And what does it mean then that they gave glory to the God of
heaven? Is this a forced confession, or
is this genuine repentance? And there's debate about that.
And you can actually make a strong case that this is real
because whenever you see giving glory to God in the context of
revelation, it is strongly associated with genuine
repentance. And we don't have time to look
at every reference, but we will as we move forward in this text.
But let's just step out of this for a second.
Whether this means that they genuinely repented or this is
just a spontaneous, sudden kind of response of recognizing that
God is actually real, one thing is absolutely certain.
The testimony of these men will bring the people of Israel that
much closer to their destiny, and that is them acknowledging
Christ as their true Messiah. That is the impact of these men.
We're seeing what Paul taught about in Romans 11 coming to
fruition more and more. We saw it with 144,000.
We see it with these two witnesses who very likely were
Jews themselves. And as they are brought into the
clouds, there is something that we rarely see happening in this
book. Sinners giving God glory.
And not just sinners across the board, but sinners in a
particular city, A city that is called holy, a city that's
called great. A city that spiritually is not
pleasing to God, but because of His covenant towards them is
doing His part to lead them to His pleasing will.
Let me remind you as I close now, that what we've discussed
in these past few weeks is the pause and the interlude between
the 6th and the 7th trumpets. Next week, God permitting, we
will look at the 7th trumpet and we will move that much closer to
the end of the end. Let's pray.
Oh Lord, your word is wonderful. How even in a text like this
that is often cited as a platform of debate, has become
our nourishment. We received instruction from it,
and we glorify you for that. We thank you, Lord, that this
has provided some clarity in our understanding of the last days,
but we're, Lord, even more thankful that you were able to
make it so relatable to us because Your word is designed to
do so. So speak to our hearts, God.
Speak to our hearts with these words, and maybe they echo in
our hearts throughout this week. Lord, if anybody is here and
they don't know you, we pray that you would use even this to
awaken them to the saving love of Christ and that they would
not waste a moment. They would bend their knee and
realizing I was made for God and I was separated from Him, but he
redeemed me and he built the bridge again and I can know him.
I pray, Lord, with my brothers and sisters, that that would be
that would be a testimony for the unbeliever in this place.
For those of us who know you, Lord, we pray that you would
sharpen our perception that we would see things the way you do,
including our own lives. I pray Lord that you would
energize each of us in our service to You because that's
where life is, worshipping you and serving you.
Before we meet you, we glorify you and we sing Your praises.
Now in Jesus name we pray. Amen.