The Two Witnesses
The Book of Revelation • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 1 viewNotes
Transcript
Before We Get Started:
Before We Get Started:
For all reading Revelation, it often takes an unexpected turn here and there. What I mean by that is, this book doesn’t quite have a “cookie-cutter” narrative.
Chapter 10 closes with John told to eat the little scroll. Clearly John is to assimilate the message of the scroll. While we cannot be dogmatic on the contents of the scroll, the point I believe we are to take from this strange interaction is this…To assimilate the message so that it is a part of John to be able to declare God’s message.
“The eating of the scroll is a symbolic action. It shows in a vivid and concrete way that the prophet does not announce his own message, but one which comes from outside himself.”– Collins
There is a practical lesson for us in this:
In Aristotle’s canons of rhetoric, the philosopher called for ethos, pathos, and logos.
Ethos refers to the persuasion based on the credibility or authority of the speaker; pathos refers to the persuasion based on emotion, and logos refers to persuasion based on logic or reason.
Ethos reflected the credibility of the witness. What better witness then John, the disciple who Jesus loved. He was consistent and held to the Christian conviction, and had a long-term service to the Lord.
Logos represented the content itself; and since the content is part of the divine revelation, sufficient logos is insure.
Pathos is the internalizing of the message of the logos, accentuated by the ethos of the messenger, and it then gives the persuasive power and the empathy needed in effective communication.
For us, like the prophet, who are called to share the Gospel with others. Are in some way a spokesman for God when we thoroughly internalize the message (the Gospel) we are to bring before others.
The pathos of our message (the Gospel) not only must be understood by us, but we must also embrace the application of the message and be living it out.
v. 1) The Temple:
v. 1) The Temple:
A reed like a measuring rod: Again we find ourselves with a rather peculiar passage. [Ezek. 40:3–42:20; Zech. 2:1; Rev. 21:15]
Ezekiel is best understood as to measuring the millennial temple. Whereas our passage is dealing with the tribulation temple.
Zechariah’s passage, has a man measuring Jerusalem, a scene that evidently shows God’s coming judgment on Jerusalem.
Revelation 21 is measuring the New Jerusalem.
John has consumed the book given to him by the angel and is told to prophesy again concerning many people, nations, languages, and kings.
From my studies, this chapter is probably the toughest to bring about an interpretation. We are going to try our best to glean from the passage and rightly apply it to our lives.
The reed is apparently referring to a common reed, found in the marshy areas of Israel, particularly in the Jordan River Valley. These reeds easily grow to 15 feet and in some cases up to 18-20 feet. It is a hollow reed apparently used commonly for measurement when some other carefully prepared means wasn’t available.
Measure the temple of God: Where the passages in Ezekiel, Zechariah, and Revelation 21 seem to indicate a measuring of length. Here it means something different.
Measurement served different purposes in biblical times. Of course a measurement could be for the purpose of determining size, but more often in Scripture measurement served as a device for indicating divine action.
Sometimes that divine action was judgment as in:
7 Thus He showed me: Behold, the Lord stood on a wall made with a plumb line, with a plumb line in His hand.
In other places in the OT measuring communicated ownership, protection, and preservation:
6 He stood and measured the earth;
He looked and startled the nations.
And the everlasting mountains were scattered,
The perpetual hills bowed.
His ways are everlasting.
the idea was that the lord owned the earth and could do with it has He pleased.
So perhaps here, it shows that God knows its every dimension, and He is in charge. This is one of the many major themes of this book. In v. 17 the title “Lord God Almighty” describing God as All Powerful, Omnipotent One only of God.
I see it as the reed employed by the prophet is used to mark off the temple of God, the altar, and the people worshipping there.
Because John is told not to measure a portion of the temple—the outer court. That outer area doesn’t receive the protection of God but is rather given to the Gentiles, who will trample on Jerusalem and this outer court for 3 and a half years.
The temple of God: There are several different ways that we can interpret the temple of God.
A very common one is that the temple is a symbol of the church. Now there is no doubt that God’s Word associates the church with a temple.
Paul in Eph 2:19-21
19 Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord,
Peter in 1 Peter 2:5
5 you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
However, if this was a symbolic representation of the church, why should it be measured? Who are the worshippers? There is too much specific detail here in our passage for this to match the generalized picture of the church.
I believe that this is much more likely the temple that must be on earth for the fulfillment of what Daniel, Jesus, and Paul said regarding the abomination of desolation.
Daniel told us the Antichrist will break his covenant with the Jewish people, bringing sacrifice and offerings to an end. The Antichrist will defile the temple by setting something abominable there.
27 Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week;
But in the middle of the week
He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering.
And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate,
Even until the consummation, which is determined,
Is poured out on the desolate.”
31 And forces shall be mustered by him, and they shall defile the sanctuary fortress; then they shall take away the daily sacrifices, and place there the abomination of desolation.
11 “And from the time that the daily sacrifice is taken away, and the abomination of desolation is set up, there shall be one thousand two hundred and ninety days.
Jesus said to look for an abomination standing in the holy place, which would be the pivotal sign that the season of God’s wrath was upon the earth.
15 “Therefore when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place” (whoever reads, let him understand), 16 “then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.
21 For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be.
Paul told us that the Antichrist would sit in the temple of God.
3 Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, 4 who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.
Today you can visit the Temple Institute in the Jewish Quarter of the old city in Jerusalem. There, a group of Jews absolutely dedicated to rebuilding the temple attempt to educate the public and raise awareness for the new temple. They are trying to replicate everything they can for a new temple, down to the specific pots and pans used in sacrifice.
Ever since becoming a nation, there have been those Israelis putting in the effort to train and be trained for the priesthood. Going so far as to learn how to conduct animal sacrifices. I would say most Israelis don’t care that much or at all about a temple being built.
Rightly Christians get excited when we hear and see the efforts to rebuild the temple. It is important to note that the basic impulse behind rebuilding the temple is not of God at all—the desire to have a place to sacrifice for sin.
Christians should understand that all sacrifice for sin was finished at the cross, and any further sacrifice for sin is an offense to God, because it denies the finished work of Jesus on the cross.
Side note: the orthodox Jews consider that the Messiah will rebuild the temple; and the man they may initially embrace as their Messiah could be the Antichrist:
43 I have come in My Father’s name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive.
v. 2) The Outer Court:
v. 2) The Outer Court:
Jerusalem will be tread underfoot for a period of 42 months. This trampling of Jerusalem by Gentiles most likely takes place in the last half of the final seven year period descried in Daniel 11:26-27
26 Yes, those who eat of the portion of his delicacies shall destroy him; his army shall be swept away, and many shall fall down slain. 27 Both these kings’ hearts shall be bent on evil, and they shall speak lies at the same table; but it shall not prosper, for the end will still be at the appointed time.
This is when the Antichrist pours out his fury on the people of Israel:
13 Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male Child. 14 But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent. 15 So the serpent spewed water out of his mouth like a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away by the flood. 16 But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the flood which the dragon had spewed out of his mouth. 17 And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.
[Matthew 24:15-28]
To tread underfoot seems to mean “to trample with contempt.”
In these two verses it seems to imply that Israel is no longer in control of its destiny but is ruled but is ruled by Gentiles. These Gentiles, however, do allow worship to continue in Israel, and those in the temple are therefore protected.
Application: God is also going to measure us. Will we measure up? No one will be able to pass this test. Our hope is in Christ who fills up what is lacking in us replacing our sin with His righteousness. Yet we still have a responsibility. First, we must place our faith in Him. Second, we should live our lives in a worthy manner of the calling to which we have been called.
vv. 3-6 The Two Witnesses:
vv. 3-6 The Two Witnesses:
This four verses introduce two of the more interesting characters of Revelation, the two witnesses. Their ministry is prophetic; they preach and demonstrate repentance, and they have an effective ministry.
They are able to witness for 1,260 days in spite of the antagonism of the world.
These witnesses have an unique, continual empowering from the Holy Spirit, as shown in Zechariah’s olive tree and oil lamps picture:
2 And he said to me, “What do you see?”
So I said, “I am looking, and there is a lampstand of solid gold with a bowl on top of it, and on the stand seven lamps with seven pipes to the seven lamps. 3 Two olive trees are by it, one at the right of the bowl and the other at its left.”
14 So he said, “These are the two anointed ones, who stand beside the Lord of the whole earth.”
The passage from Zechariah had its first application to two men in Zechariah’s day: Joshua and Zerubbabel.
Just as these two witnesses were raised up to be lampstands or witnesses for god and were empowered by olive oil representing the power of the Holy Spirit, so the two witnesses of Revelation 11 will likewise execute their prophetic office.
They will be continually and abundantly supplied with the power of the Holy Spirit.
Application: If we will be witnesses, we must first have something to witness—our own person encounter with Jesus Christ. Then, we must have the power of the Holy Spirit to bring forth the story of what we have witnessed effectively.
Fire proceeds from their mouth: the two witnesses have special protection from God, similar to Elijah’s in 2 Kings 1. They will also have the power to bring both drought and plague, similar to the power Elijah and Moses had.
In the Greek grammar, all the nouns used to speak of the two witnesses in this passage are masculine, meaning these two witnesses are definitely men.
Application: Miracles were never about being flashy. They are meant to point people to Christ. We should care more about humility, sincerity, and repentance than about flashy signs. It is easy to be drawn to flashy ministries and powerful sounding speakers. But we should evaluate what we listen to more critically. Search not for the flashy. Don’t focus on the number of likes or subscribers. Instead focus on the content. Follow speakers who encourage humility, holiness, and repentance.
Application: Every believer is to be light. The world we live in is also a dark place. Are you being a witness for the Lord? Are you shining the light from the lampstand or covering it up in fear?
vv. 7-10) Their Death:
vv. 7-10) Their Death:
vv. 11-14) Their Resurrection:
vv. 11-14) Their Resurrection:
v. 15) The Seventh Trumpet:
v. 15) The Seventh Trumpet:
vv. 16-18) The 24 Elders Worship:
vv. 16-18) The 24 Elders Worship:
v. 19) The Temple in Heaven Opened:
v. 19) The Temple in Heaven Opened: