Revelation for Now & Future Part 22
Revelation for Now & Future • Sermon • Submitted
0 ratings
· 2 viewsNotes
Transcript
Our focal verses will give us a picture of God’s sealed church.
That the church is sealed because of its lasting and enduring witness to the good news.
Now John’s message will move from his calling/commissioning to the message itself.
Judgement
An answer to the prayer from 6:9-11
Simultaneous with the first six trumpets.
1 Then I was given a measuring rod like a staff, and I was told, “Rise and measure the temple of God and the altar and those who worship there,
2 but do not measure the court outside the temple; leave that out, for it is given over to the nations, and they will trample the holy city for forty-two months.
3 And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.”
4 These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth.
5 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.
6 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.
7 And when they have finished their testimony, the beast that rises from the bottomless pit will make war on them and conquer them and kill them,
8 and their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city that symbolically is called Sodom and Egypt, where their Lord was crucified.
9 For three and a half 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,
10 and those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and make merry and exchange presents, because these two prophets had been a torment to those who dwell on the earth.
11 But after the three and a half days a breath of life from God entered them, and they stood up on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them.
12 Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here!” And they went up to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies watched them.
13 And at that hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.
14 The second woe has passed; behold, the third woe is soon to come.
The Parable of the Measurement
The Parable of the Measurement
1 Then I was given a measuring rod like a staff, and I was told, “Rise and measure the temple of God and the altar and those who worship there,
2 but do not measure the court outside the temple; leave that out, for it is given over to the nations, and they will trample the holy city for forty-two months.
Five Views on this passage:
The Dispensational Futurist
The Preterist View
A Modified Futurist
Another (Close) View
The Final View
Dispensational - Teaches this is the period right before the second coming. (Comparing this to the literal restoration of the temple in Jerusalem)
Thus the picture is a literal Jerusalem overrun for 3 1/2 years.
Preterist - Exactly like the literal view as it holds to the temple, Jerusalem, and the surrounding complex literally overrun, but this occured in 70 AD.
Modified Futurist - A figurative understanding. The sanctuary/altar/worshipers refer figuratively to ethnic Israel saved ath the end of history by the “measuring”. Likewise, the outer court is a reference to the ethnic Jews who do not get saved.
Another Close View - The scenario is not future only. The outer court is the professing, but apostate church throughout history and will align itself with the persecutors of spiritual Israel.
Final View - Figurative Interpretation. Outer court is the physical expression of the true, spiritual Israel, which could be hurt by the persecution.
measuring- is background-ed by the prophecy of Ezekiel 4-48
We know these are Jewish & Gentile Believers in Christ
If the literal interpretation is to be understood, then we must understand John to be delineating between believing and unbelieving ethnic Jews.
We must point to the fact that each of these views have some flaws, but are the best understandings available.
We must also note that there is no need for a physical temple as the representation of Christ. Jesus identified himself as the temple.
19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”
20 The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?”
21 But he was speaking about the temple of his body.
22 When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.
22 And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb.
The altar, from 11:1, should be connected to the the idea of sacrificial worship spiritually.
So we are referring to the ones who worship there.
Thus if the temple signifies the church dwelling in the presence of God, then the outer court must represent its vulnerability to the world in which it lives.
What about the 42 months?
It is a symbolic length of time connected to Daniel 7:25, but also to Elijah’s ministry of Judgement.
25 But in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens were shut up three years and six months, and a great famine came over all the land,
Also the same amount of number for Israel’s wandering which involved 42 encampments over 42 years in the wilderness.
The Two Witnesses
The Two Witnesses
3 And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.”
4 These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth.
Now we go from the church as a temple to the church as the prophet of the Lord.
“Who Are the Two Witnesses?”
This is a most common question with a widely debated answer.
Let’s look at some of those answers:
Possibilities:
Historic Figures:
Enoch & Elijah/Moses & Elijah/Peter & Paul
Twin Components of Revelation
Law & Gospel/Law & Prophets/OT & NT
Part of the Church on Earth in a prophetic role
Based on Vs 4, I feel the last possibility is most likely.
Vs 4. — “Two lampstands”
The lampstands seem to be a picture of prophecy, and the logical outflow of many OT/NT passages remind us that God’s people will prophesy.
17 “ ‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams;
18 even on my male servants and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy.
19 And I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke;
20 the sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day.
21 And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.’
If we look back to the earlier sections of Revelation and the letters to the churches. Many scholars will come to this passage and remind that there were two faithfully witnessing churches in the midst of the seven. These two required no condemnation.
5 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.
6 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.
The Judgement begins by the witnesses themselves.
Notice: fire pours from their mouth and consumes their foes.
In essence the witnesses will defend themselves with the judgement that comes forth from their mouths.
Notice the power they hold in vs. 6:
“The have power to shut the sky…power over waters to turn them into blood…to strike the earth with every kind of plague...”
So they defend themselves, but as much as they are on the earth…the presence of God is with them.
We might compare them to the two olive trees from Zechariah 4. The Lord provided the oil to light the lampstand.
6 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.
So if these two prophets are the church in some form, then they may be harmed to the degree that the Lord allows, but His defense will rise on their behalf.
These words remind us of Matthew’s Gospel
18 Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
The Struggle in Remaining Faithful
The Struggle in Remaining Faithful
7 And when they have finished their testimony, the beast that rises from the bottomless pit will make war on them and conquer them and kill them,
8 and their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city that symbolically is called Sodom and Egypt, where their Lord was crucified.
9 For three and a half 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,
10 and those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and make merry and exchange presents, because these two prophets had been a torment to those who dwell on the earth.
vs 7
If we think back to the vision in Rev. 6:9-11 we are reminding of the words spoken about the request of those who had been martyred.
There would be a time when the full number had been killed. In essence, the full number of the saints who would be martyred.
Thus the church would look defeated.
This would be a fulfillment of Daniel 7:21
21 As I looked, this horn made war with the saints and prevailed over them,
18 Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour.
Think of this passage as a means whereby the enemy has stayed partially in the shadows while the others have persecuted, but now is fully coming forth. Do not think of this as an idea of him being inactive to this point, but coming fully out at this point.
vs. 8
The death of the witnesses.
Think the church as appearing defeated.
Think of the disgraceful manner in which the world will wish to treat the church.
The church would look insignificant.
Think of times, historically, where the church has appeared silent because great persecution, in parts of the world.
Now consider at the end, the church will go silent as a whole.
Think of the terms Sodom and Egypt.
These are symbolic of the evil upon the earth.
They point to the reality of utter disgrace and spiritual depravity across the world, not in one general local.
If we read the words “where their Lord was crucified” - it is easy to understand that Christ was not crucified in physical Sodom or Egypt.
vs. 9
Certainly the church is disdained by the world and treated poorly.
We further see their depravity in their dis-allowance of the burial of the bodies.
Look at where the bodies are allowed to lay.
In the streets. To be seen. To be mocked.
Notice the time 3.5 days. Note the the 3.5 years in contrast to the short 3.5 days.
Notice the very fact that the antichrist victory is short in comparison to the final victory in Christ.
v. 10
The appearance of their celebration will be short lived.
They make merry, give gifts, and rejoice…but Their judgement will come.
Victory is in Christ
Victory is in Christ
11 But after the three and a half days a breath of life from God entered them, and they stood up on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them.
12 Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here!” And they went up to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies watched them.
13 And at that hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.
Compare the wording of vs. 11 to Ezek. 37:5, 10
5 Thus says the Lord God to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live.
10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army.
You see it is a restoring from God.
The enemy saw an end to the battle, not the war.
The earthquake is the initial phase of the final judgment
Therefore what we are seeing in their being terrified is simply fear. They gave glory to God in that they accepted He is the sovereign.
This does not mean they were converted.
Walking Away, But In...
Walking Away, But In...
Suffering will come, but the text reminds us of God’s provision in the midst of suffering.
The promised land is waiting, but there are matters that must occur first.