Sunday, May 10, 2020
“The Two Witnesses” Revelation 11:1-13
Idea: God is never without His witnesses.
Intro: Thomas Aquinas, who knew a great deal about education and a bit about motivation, once said that when you want to convert a person to your view, you go over to where he is standing, take him by the hand, and guide him. You don’t stand across the room and shout at him. You don’t order him to come over where you are. You start where he is and work from that position. He said that’s the only way to get people to budge.
This past Thursday morning, I had an opportunity to be on a video conference call with the president of the IMB, some of his staff, and pastors from across our state convention. I heard stories of how our missionaries are serving the peoples of the world and sharing the gospel in the midst of this pandemic. I heard about believers in Nepal who are under a strict stay-at-home order. In that culture families daily go out and gather the food needed for the day. The stay-at-home order has made it extremely difficult and dangerous for families. Do they obey the order and starve? Or do they go out for food and risk getting sick, being fined, jailed, or beaten? Many Nepalese believers have taken their church offerings and used the money to purchase food for their communities. The believers’ homes have become stations where their neighbors can purchase basic foods. In addition to being able to easily get supplies, families are hearing the gospel proclaimed and seeing the gospel lived out as believers risk their own health and safety to serve their neighbors. They are beautiful witnesses of the kindness and sacrificial love of Jesus Christ.
The Bible reveals that God has always had His witnesses, testifying and proclaiming the gospel to the peoples of the world. It may look different in various places and times, but God graciously gives people opportunities to hear and receive the knowledge of His grace and justice. Jesus said this will continue until everyone has heard.
And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. – Matt 24:14
In our study through Revelation, we are seeing that God continues to have His witnesses preaching and sharing the good news during the eschaton. The judgments of the seals and trumpets have all been coupled with a call for repentance and faith. The Church is present and protected from these outpourings of God’s wrath. They are a beautiful picture of God’s provision, protection, and affection. In addition to the witness of the Church, the angels and creatures of heaven have warned of God’s judgment and called for repentance (8:13). God is never without His witnesses. This is both a grace given as an offering of warning as well as a judicial decree informing of legal action to come. This continues in chapter 11.
Read Revelation 11:1-13.
Inquiry: The scene of the mighty angel and the little scroll in chapter 10 assures the church of God’s provision through suffering and persecution. It also calls non-believers to faith and repentance. This warning and appeal for repentance is seen again with the two witnesses of chapter 11.
Before the two witnesses are introduced, John again becomes a participant in the vision. He is given a measuring rod and told to measure the temple of God, the altar, and those who worship there (vs. 1). As Ladd points out, the metaphor of measuring the temple area has nothing to do with determining its dimensions. “It is a symbol of preservation and protection.” God, as the sovereign owner and ruler of His people, will preserve them in the midst of the great tribulation that is intensifying. The temple, altar, and the worshipers picture a heavenly temple. Often in the New Testament “temple” (naovV) signifies the church (1 Cor 3:16-17; 2 Cor 6:16; Eph 2:19-22). Therefore, as Grant Osborne points out, the measuring of the worshipers identifies them as belonging to God and under His protection. This protection is from spiritual harm not physical harm. The Church is sealed and protected from God’s wrath, but they are not completely protected from physical harm unleashed on them by the beast and his followers.
In Revelation 6:9-11, we saw that many Christ-followers will be martyred. In chapter 13:7 God will grant power to the beast to make war and conquer the saints. This suffering of the church is symbolized in 11:2 with the court outside the temple and the holy city being trampled by the nations. The church will be handing over to the Gentiles and nations for a time. According to John this trampling will last for forty-two months or three and a half years.
During this time, God again shows His sovereign control over every event. Verse 3 says, “I will grant authority to my two witnesses.” Their authority and power to do great wonders come from the hand of God. They come in the spirit of Christ who was a faithful witness. There are two witnesses because of the Deuteronomic demand for two witnesses as legal proof of guilt before God (Deut 17:6; 19:15; Num 35:30). The two witnesses will prophesy for 1,260 days or three and a half years, wearing sackcloth as a sign for repentance in the face of judgment.
These witnesses will be historical figures…real people preaching and performing miracles. They also symbolize the witnessing church in its suffering and triumph. The details of their ministry show that they will come in the spirit and power of Elijah and Moses. Their message will be one of judgment as well as redemption. It will be rejected and hated by the world. The ones who reject and seek to harm them for the message will be killed by fire coming out from their mouths (11:5). They will be able to cause droughts and turn water into blood. In fact, they will be able to recreate all of the Egyptian plagues whenever they desire (11:6). Nothing and no one will be able to harm them until they have finished their time of preaching. When it is over, the beast will make war against the witnesses and kill them (11:8). John says that their bodies will lie in the street of the great city for three and a half days.
This great city most likely carries the idea of a combination of Rome and Jerusalem. Jesus was crucified in Jerusalem by the hands of Rome. The city is personified by its Sodom-like depravity and rebellion against God and its Egyptian-like oppression of God’s people.
The world will gaze upon the dead bodies of the two witnesses. They will celebrate their deaths by throwing big parties and exchanging gifts. They will celebrate because their tormentors have died and can no longer torment their souls (11:9-10). This celebration ought to remind us why and how far people will go in their rejection of God. The gospel exposes darkness to the light. This exposure is painful. It is uncomfortable. It is regarded as binding when in fact it brings freedom from bondage. Sinners then will rage against the gospel. They will seek to hurt and even kill the messenger in an attempt to get out from under the message.
After three and a half days, the two witnesses will be resurrected (11:11). God will breathe life back into their lifeless bodies. The world will watch this resurrection, and the joy and celebration they have been enjoying will quickly turn into fovboV mevgaV (great fear). Abject terror at the power of God will overwhelm them. Their fear is compounded as God calls His witnesses into heaven. They will watch as the two are swept up in a cloud and carried away (11:12). Then a great earthquake erupts and kills a tenth of the city. Seven thousand people will die in their rebellion against God (11:13).
This judgment, like all the other judgments so far, is a partial judgment. One-fourth were killed in the seals, and one-third were killed in the trumpets. In all of those judgments a call for repentance accompanied the wrath. The same takes place in this judgment. Only a fraction of the population will be killed. As W.J. Harrington says, “Both the visible triumph of the two witnesses and this mitigated punishment were meant to bring people to their senses.” It seems that most if not the rest of those in the city will turn in true repentance and faith to the God of heaven.
These witnesses testified to both the judgment and grace of God. Through suffering they both experienced victory and brought it to those who needed it. There are three certainties that I want us to take away from this passage.
1. God’s protection of believers promises security through suffering and death rather than from it.
John’s measuring of the temple in verses 1-2, symbolized God’s preservation and protection of the church as it experienced suffering. It was not a symbol of removal from suffering.
The concept of suffering is completely foreign to the vast majority of American Christians. We have never had to experience it. We are healthy and wealthy by the world’s standard. We enjoy incredible freedoms and rights protected under the Constitution. As a result, it is hard for us to comprehend the Bible’s teaching on suffering. We cannot fathom what that looks and feels like. For example, the past eight weeks have been hellish for all of us in this shutdown. Therefore, we tend to interpret God’s promise of protection in suffering as His protection from suffering. We neither want to suffer nor think we should.
One of the main reasons I have always had issue with the pretribulation rapture position is the emphasis that is placed on escaping the great tribulation. Why do we think that the church present during the eschaton will be spared from persecution and trouble when that has not been true of any other period throughout church history? The reality is that we should not expect to be spared. Historic premillennialism and its posttribulational position offers no escape from hardship. It paints a very realistic picture of the demands, costs, and pains of the Christian life, while reminding believers of the resources of power upon which they can draw when living in the midst of hardship. It seems to have greater symmetry with the experience of the New Testament church.
God has promised His church security through suffering.
2. The sweetness of victory can only be known through the pain of suffering.
The death and resurrection of the two witnesses parallels the death and resurrection of Christ and symbolizes the call to every believer that victory is found only in suffering. According to Jesus, the disciple is to take up his cross and follow in His steps (Mark 8:34). Paul talked about the disciple sharing in the sufferings of Christ, even becoming like Him in His death (Phil 3:10). Peter related the sharing in Christ’s sufferings as the path to glory (1 Pet 4:13). Therefore, like the two witnesses, believers should look on suffering for Christ as a privilege and the deepest possible fellowship with Him.
Again, suffering is a foreign concept in our American Christianity. It makes no sense to us that a loving God would allow His children to suffer and endure pain and death. Many times, when believers are thrust into such a fiery ordeal, they become disillusioned in their faith. They didn’t sign up for suffering. They thought they were signing up for a pain-free experience with God. But how can that be while living in this world?
Illust: A few days ago, I watched the movie “I Still Believe” with my family. It is a movie that tells us the real-life story of Jeremy Camp. Jeremy’s young wife (Melissa) had a recurrence of ovarian cancer. This time the cancer had spread throughout her body, and there was no longer a medical option. She was given weeks to live. Melissa was going to die.
As you can imagine this was extremely painful for Jeremy and Melissa. After her death, he wrestled with understanding why the Lord had allowed a godly and faithful woman to die at the age of 21. In a fit a rage, he broke his guitar and found a note written to him by Melissa. In the note, she assured Jeremy that she was good, that he could and should move on with his life and music, and that she had come to understand more fully what suffering does. Melissa said, “Suffering doesn’t destroy faith. It refines it.”
It draws the believer into a deeper and more full understanding of the goodness and grace of Jesus. Elisabeth Elliot who knew her own suffering said, “If God is in charge and loves us, then whatever is given is subject to His control and is meant ultimately for our joy.”
“Blessed is any weight, however overwhelming, which God has been so good as to fasten with His own hands upon our shoulders” – Frederick Faber
There are certain depths in our walk with God that we can reach only through the experience of pain.
“God washes the eyes by tears until they can behold the invisible land where tears shall come no more.” – Henry Ward Beecher
The sweetness of victory is known best through the pain of suffering.
3. Faithfulness in the tribulation today will lead to conversion in others tomorrow.
The two witnesses persevered through everything hell had to bring against them. They were brutally assassinated in view of the entire world. Their bodies being left in the street and denied burial was an extreme indignity and demonstrates their contempt. Those who gloated over their death dismissed their preaching and subsequent deaths as a waste of time and energy because after all they were conquered. But three days later…
Those two get up and ascend into heaven. Then an earthquake devastates the city and kills seven thousand people who were enjoying their party. These events shake and bring the rebels to their knees. They remember and recall the preaching of the two witnesses and begin to call upon Jesus for help.
In the midst of tribulation, we often ask, “Why?”. We try to understand God’s purpose for our suffering. And often it does not make sense. Many times, the purpose involves our own sanctification and growth in the grace of God. But many times, it also means the salvation of those who watch us faithfully struggle through the fiery ordeal.
Illust: Melissa Camp’s story had that kind of ending. She had accepted her fate and believed that if her story helped one person find hope and life in Jesus, then it was worth it. Jeremy began to tell her story of faithfulness, which led to a young lady, who was struggling through her own disillusionment, finding faith in Melissa’s faithfulness. In God’s providence and grace that “one” would become Jeremy’s wife and sweet healing to his broken heart.
The people around you are watching your life. They want to know if the Jesus you follow is worth the trouble. If you give up when life gets hard, then they know that this Jesus thing is a sham. They know He is not worth following. But when you hold onto Him in faith when the world around you is burning down, they know something is different. They listen. They pay attention. When you sell out to Jesus, they long to know more (Matt 13:44).
Your tribulation today will lead others to faith into Christ tomorrow.
Conclusion: God always has His witnesses. Christian, what kind of witness are you? Are you like a firm tree planted by streams of water (Ps 1:3)? Your roots of faith are deep and strong, and you are a great example and witness for others. Or do you waver in your faith and faithfulness? Let’s remember that suffering is part of the Christian experience, and God uses it for His glory and good.
There is a good chance that some listening may be the spectators in this story. You are not a follower of Jesus, but you are interested. There is a message for you too. You can be like those in verse 13 who put their faith in Christ.
Bad News – Sin has broken God’s design. The sinful nature that overcame Adam and left God’s design in him broken has been passed on to us. It has separated us from God. Today, in our sin, we are on the wrong side of the great chasm. Our sin condemns us before God, so that we are deserving of His judgment. This brokenness should not surprise anyone; because if we are honest with ourselves, we recognize it. We feel it in our anxiety, fears, and broken relationships. We know there is a deep need that we cannot meet ourselves.
Best News - The gospel declares that God the Son has paid the penalty for our sin so that we can be set free (Rev 1:5). He offered His life as a substitute for you and experienced the wrath of God the Father against your sin. So that now, you can experience forgiveness for sin by placing your faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. You are given a choice to make? As a follower of Jesus, you have experienced His grace and forgiveness. And thankfully you can never exhaust His grace. Forgiveness is always available if you will turn to Him in faith and repentance of all sin.
What prevents you from placing your faith in Jesus and turning from your sin today?