"The Two Witnesses" Sermon: Revelation 11:1-14 (manuscript)

 

“The Two Witnesses”

Revelation 11:1-14

May 19, 2024 YouTube

          As we begin chapter eleven of Revelation, let’s remember that the book of Revelation is a book of comfort and hope to the Christians suffering persecution at that time and for all Christians throughout time and space. Let’s remember that the book of Revelation is written in symbols that the first century Christians would have understood. And let us remember that Jesus didn’t say anything about rebuilding the Temple after its destruction in 70 A.D.  The Temple was for the offering up of animal sacrifices for sin.  Now, the blood of Jesus covers the sin of believers.

In the nineth chapter of Revelation, we are told that in the first woe Satan and his angels are released from the bottomless pit for five months, and the four demons bound at the Euphrates River are freed and given permission to kill one third of the unbelieving mankind.

In this morning’s reading, we are told about the second woe.

And we see, first, the new temple is made up of all the believers in which God dwells.

“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, 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. And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.’”

John is told to measure the temple of God – remember the physical Temple was destroyed in 70 A.D. – there is no physical temple at the time John is writing.  Yet, there is a distinction:  John is told not to measure the outer court, but only the temple and the altar and those who worship there. Who are those who worship only in the temple and the altar?  Who are the temple who worship their God and Savior?

Paul tells us, “For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit” (Ephesians 2:18-22, ESV).

Peter, likewise, reminds us, “you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (I Peter 2:5, ESV).

True believers are in the inner court – in the temple – worshipping Jesus, the Savior, offering up spiritual sacrifices.

Those left in the outer court are nominal Christian and blatant unbelievers.  Jesus says of these, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness’” (Matthew 7:21-23, ESV).

Jesus distinguishes between those who believe in the true Jesus and a fake Jesus. There are churches – which are not churches – who have all the trappings of a church, but the Jesus they preach, and worship is not the real Jesus.

At this time, there is violent persecution against believing Jews and Gentiles – Christians. (Throughout all of history, there has been violent persecution against Christians somewhere.) John is told that the temple – now – is built by Jesus of true believers, and all Christians find their security in the temple where Jesus is the Corner Stone.

Paul writes of the persecution of Christian even to death, “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple” (I Corinthians 3:16-17, ESV).

Again, “What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God;” (II Corinthians 6:16a, ESV).

We are told that those of the outer court – those who have not been marked on their heads with the indwelling of God the Holy Spirit – will engage in violent persecution of believers and trample the Holy City, Jerusalem – those of the inner court – all believers.

Then we read, “and they will trample the holy city for forty-two months. And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.’

The unbelievers will trample the Holy City – the Church – for forty-two months.  Jesus will give the two witnesses the authority to prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth – symbolic of repentance and mourning.

How do we understand these numbers?

They tell us that the period of what is going to happen is specific and limited. It is the period from Jesus’ Ascension to His Second Coming.  It is the time of the tribulation.

We will see in our text this morning that the two witnesses have remained dead for three and a half days.

All of these numbers can be stated in approximate factors of forty-two. We also read that Israel was in the desert for forty-two years.  There were forty-two camps, forty-two months with no rain, forty-two months from when Antiochus Epiphanes set the abomination of desolation in the Temple to the Second Coming, and there are more (Philips, Revelation, 313).

These are all times of intense persecution, but Christians understand that no matter what happens to us at the hands of the wicked, as we go through this tribulation, we are to have hope and be comforted in knowing that we have been marked by God, we are indwelled by the Holy Spirit, we are the temple of God, build on the Word of God with Jesus as our Cornerstone.

In the new temple, all we who believe throughout time and space are secure in our salvation and off up spiritual sacrifices.

Second, God sends two witnesses with the authority to prophesy for 1,260 days (42), and they are dressed in sackcloth to indicate that their prophecies are not of good news, but of bad news.

          “These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. 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.”

          Who are the two olive trees?

          Zechariah records: “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 two golden pipes from which the golden oil is poured out?’ He said to me, ’Do you not know what these are?’ I said, ‘No, my lord.’ Then he said, ‘These are the two anointed ones who stand by the Lord of the whole earth.” (Zechariah 4:11-14, ESV).

          The two olive trees are the two witnesses. There are two witnesses because God requires at least two witnesses to confirm a statement in court.

          And we know from the first chapter of Revelation that the two candlesticks are churches.  Why are there only two churches?  Again, two churches confirm who the false churches are.

          The two witnesses are all of the prophets and their message of woe. Symbolically, we will remember that Moses and Elijah met with Jesus during the transfiguration.  So we can say that the two witnesses are like Moses and Elijah or come in the power and authority of Moses and Elijah.

          They are given the authority and power to pour out fire on those who try to harm them. 

          Notice the miracles that God has authorized them to do if someone tries to harm them.  They are allowed to withhold rain, like Elijah did. They were allowed to turn water into blood and to cause other plaques to occur, like Moses did. They come in the power of Moses and Elijah.

          God sends these two witnesses to proclaim a woe of disaster on the wicked.

          Third, the beast believes he has defeated the Church – the believers who are the temple of God.

“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, 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. 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, 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.”

After the two witnesses have delivered their woe against the wicked, the beast from the bottomless pit – remember we have already seen that this is Satan – he conquers and kills the two witnesses and throws their bodies in the streets of Sodom and Egypt – the place where the Lord was crucified – Jerusalem. Jerusalem is called Sodom and Egypt and Jerusalem – and we will see later, Babylon – signifying places where the true people of God suffered intense persecution.

          For three and a half days (42) the wicked from all of the earth – peoples, tribes, languages, and nations. And they will joyously come together to celebrate and have a party.  They and the beast believe that they have conquered the Church.  They leave the bodies out and refuse to let them be buried signifying that they cannot be buried in consecrated ground because they were perceived as tormentors rather than those calling the wicked to repentance.

          With the two witnesses dead, they rejoice, make merry, and exchange presents in this abomination to the murder of the two witnesses.

          Fourth, Satan and his demons cannot conquer the Church, no matter the tribulation he is allow to bring on her.

          “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. 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. 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.”

          Daniel writes, “As I looked, this horn made war with the saints and prevailed over them, until the Ancient of Days came, and judgment was given for the saints of the Most High, and the time came when the saints possessed the kingdom” (Daniel 7:21-22, ESV).

          The Church cannot be defeated.  She is the Bride of Christ, and through the tribulation, she will come through triumphant.

          God gave the beath of life to the two witnesses and they stood up and terrified those who had been rejoicing.  A great fear fell upon them, and they didn’t know how to react.

          The initial reaction of the disciples at Jesus’ resurrection was fear, “And he said to them, ‘Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.’ And they went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had seized them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid” (Mark 16:6-8, ESV).

          How much more the fear of the wicked at the resurrection of these two – as well as the resurrection of Jesus – causes them to tremble and fall down in fear.

          Symbolic of the truth, we see that in the two witnesses and in Jesus, the Church shares in the death, resurrection, and exaltation of Jesus at His ascension, as we are united with Jesus.

          As the wicked tremble before their resurrection, a voice from heaven calls them, “Come up!” and they ascend, just as Jesus had ascended. And as they went out of sight, God sent a massive earthquake which killed ten percent of the inhabitants of Jerusalem.  7,000 people died.

          And we are reminded of what happened at the last breath of Jesus on the cross: “And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit. And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split. The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many.  When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, ‘Truly this was the Son of God!’” (Matthew 27:50-54, ESV).

          In the terror of the wicked who rejoiced in the death of the two witnesses, “they gave glory to God.” This was a response out of fear, not of faith, not of belief.  We have heard the expression, “There are no atheists in foxholes.” Likewise, they gave God glory not because they believed He deserved glory, but in fear and in the hopes that they would escape the Wrath of God by mouthing the words.

“The second woe has passed; behold, the third woe is soon to come.”

The two witnesses have come among us in the whole Word of God.  Hear the Good News and turn from sin.  Know that whatever pain you suffer, and the Church at large is attacked, the Church is victorious through Jesus.

Let us remember that the Church is potent in the world not by money, political influence, worldly gimmics, not worldly strategy but through the proclamation of Jesus Christ Who lived, died, rose, and ascended to the Glory of the Father. (Philips, Revelation).

Let us pray:

Almighty God, we believe that You are Absolutely Sovereign, and still we fear the tribulation brought by the devil and his demons. Help us to trust that the Church is victorious through You Son and let us look to Your Word to find hope and comfort until the day of Christ Jesus.  In Jesus’ Name, Amen.