Word & Witness (Revelation 10-11)

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Well, good morning. You can go ahead, grab your Bibles, open up to Revelation chapter 10. We’ll be in Revelation 10 and 11 this morning. Revelation 10 and 11. As you’re turning to Revelation 10, as a father, I take my kids’ safety very seriously, kind of always thinking about what’s going on around them. Ladies, I’m gonna let you in on a little secret. There’s not a man in this room who does not think that he couldn’t have been a super spy if he’d made that career choice early on in life. And so that’s kind of how I approach parenting. I’m looking around. I’m assessing threats all the time. We hold hands when we’re crossing the street, seat belts all the rest. But the reality is, as much as I think about this, I cannot protect my children perfectly by any means. And there are times when that’s very, very clear to me. I don’t know if you guys remember a couple of years back, if you were here, we had actually had tornadoes touched down not far from here, and there was another threat later on, you know, a couple of weeks later, or something like that. And so, you know, I did what you’re supposed to do as a dad in that situation. I got the family downstairs. We’re under the I beam, you know, the pillar and stuff like the safest spot. I made sure we had water down there in case we were trapped. But I’m nothing against the tornado, like I know that, right? And so there is that sense always this is not in my hands, and that’s really scary. Now, why do I mention this? Because God is our Father, if we belong to Him by faith in Christ, does he take our safety as seriously as I take my kids’ safety, and can he protect us in ways that I cannot from? You know, given where we are in Revelation, persecution, but even just from the run-of-the-mill brokenness of this world. And you may be thinking, Well, those are obvious questions. Those are obvious answers, but I’m not sure there are. I mean, all this takes on added weight when we remember that Jesus said things to us like, I send you out as sheep among wolves. I don’t know if you saw that animal planet or not. It didn’t go well for the sheep, right? Like Jesus just said in that verse, I am sending you out to be devoured. The same Jesus, who says, I am the good shepherd. There’s a tension there. There’s a tension there that we’re going to explore this morning as we read this passage, the reality that there is a bitter and a sweet mix in the Christian life, and when it comes to our protection, God can Protect. God will protect, and God doesn’t always protect. And if you’re wondering how those all go together, well, we got four scenes. They’re going to help us get to our answer. They kind of proceed chronologically, in a sense, in terms of how we experience them in this life, chronologically at the end of time as well. So, let’s dive in. Scene one, which is word revelation. Chapter 10, actually, all of chapter 10. I’ll read verses one to 11 for us now. Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven. He was robed in a cloud with a rainbow above his head. His face was like the sun and his legs were like fiery pillars. He was holding a little scroll which lay open in his hand. He planted his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land, and he gave a loud shout, like the roar of a lion. When he shouted, the voices of the seven thunders spoke. And when the seven thunders spoke, I was about to write, but I heard a voice from heaven say, seal up what the seven thunders have said and do not write it down. And the angel I had seen standing on the scene on the land raised his right hand to heaven, and he swore by Him who lives forever and ever, who created the heavens and all that is in them, the earth and all that is in it, and the sea and all that is in it. And said, there will be no more delay, but in the days when the seventh angel is about to sound his trumpet, the mystery of God will be accomplished, just as he announced to his servants the prophets. Then the voice that I had heard from Heaven spoke to me once more, go take the scroll that lies open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land. So I went to the angel and asked him to give me the little scroll. He said to me, take it and eat. It will turn your stomach sour, but in your mouth, it will be as sweet as honey. I took the little scroll from the angel’s hand and ate it. It tasted as sweet as honey. In my mouth when I had eaten it, my stomach turned sour. Then I was told you must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages and kings, alright? Bit of context, just so we remember where we are in Revelation. Kyle gave us the first six trumpets last week. And if you remember, when we were talking about the seals, even then we get this seven structure a lot, but it’s kind of the first four go together, and the first four trumpets did, and then you get two more. And that was true. They kind of had some woes connecting them and stuff. And then we get an interlude, a little break before we get the seventh seal or trumpet or whatever. So we’re in the middle of the interlude here in chapter 10. Interesting. It. It’s the only interlude where John is actually a participant, where he’s an actor in it, and I think he’s standing in for the church, for reasons that we’ll see in a moment. So a mighty angel comes to him looks exactly like the mighty angel from Daniel chapter 10. And if you remember, and I’m guessing you don’t, and that’s cool, these are the kinds of things I remember, and it’s alright that you don’t. But the mighty angel in Daniel 10, when Kyle preached through Daniel 10, he actually said he thought that that might be Jesus himself, that this might be a Christophany, an appearance of Christ in the Old Testament because he looks so much like the description of Jesus that we get in Revelation chapter one. And so here we have an angel like that. So, whatever it was in Daniel 10, the point is still the same. This angel is clothed in Christ’s glory, like that’s the idea here, and that’s important because it’s showing that this angel is speaking with Christ’s authority. It shows the divine source of his message. We see his authority because he puts one foot on Earth and one foot on the sea, kind of looks like the colossus of roads in his approach. And that’s to show His sovereignty over all, or the sovereignty of the one he represents, over all land and sea, whole Earth, right? It kind of, you know, we talked a lot about the images. They mostly come from the Old Testament, and if they don’t come from the Testament. And if they don’t come from the Old Testament, they come from the Roman imperial court. And this is definitely mocking the Emperor, because he would have coins where he was standing on earth and sea to show that he rules everything. And you’re like, No, that’s actually not true. Like you can’t even conquer death, so you’re clearly not sovereign overall. But here we know that Christ is and this angel who’s showing the authority of Christ holds this scroll in his hand. Is this the scroll that we saw in Revelation four and five, and that was slowly being unsealed. I mean, maybe because, if you know how scrolls work, if you pop off seals, you actually have to get all seven off before you could unroll the scroll and read from it. It’s also possible that that’s reading apocalyptic, apocalyptic imagery way too rigidly, because apocalyptic is just crazy, as we’ve learned at this point. And so maybe it’s a totally different scroll. It’s a different word that’s used. I don’t know. No idea. Okay, we’ll find out when we get there kind of thing. What we do know is that the scroll holds God’s plan that will be proclaimed, and as it’s proclaimed, it will be affected, it will be put in to action at the same time. Well, so we get this angel with a scroll, and kind of before we do anything with it, he roars like a lion, which is like, weird. This is the Howard Dean of angels here, and he’s just really amped up about what’s happening or something I don’t know. No actually, why he’s roaring like a lion helps us understand the point of this passage, all of Revelation 10 and 11, because it is drawing from, as we’ve come to expect, the Old Testament. This is Amos, chapter three, verses seven and eight. Surely, the Sovereign Lord does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants, the prophets, the lion has roared, who will not fear the Sovereign Lord has spoken, who can but prophesy. And this whole section is about prophecy. It’s about the importance of God’s words getting to people everywhere, all people everywhere. Which is why it’s then interesting that we don’t get the seven thunders. His whole passage is about God speaking words to his people, and we get some words, and then the angel goes, no, no, don’t write that down. And I don’t know why. It may just be that the secret things belong to the Lord, as Deuteronomy, 29 says. And so there are aspects of the end the judgment that is coming that are not for us to know. We know that’s true. And so this might just be an example of it, but it may also be kind of drawing from verse six. What’s coming here in a moment that there will be no more delay, that we’re not going to get another interruption. We did the seven seals, and we get the seven trumpets and the seven plagues and the seven bulls. We’re not going to get the seven thunders also because it’s time. It’s time. I don’t know. Okay, the other one could be true. We certainly know, though, that the last trumpet will bring the end, like, that’s what he’s just said. There will be no more delay. And that idea is important enough that the angel actually takes an oath right he’s standing on the earth and see he raises his right hand, he’s he’s taking an oath to say the time is coming when God will fulfill his every promise in keeping with the words of the prophets, his servants, the prophets, quoting Amos three again, and so everything that the Old Testament has predicted is coming will be fulfilled at that time. The seed of Eve will finally crush the serpent’s head underfoot, the promises to Abraham that he be a blessing to all nations, to David, that someone will reign on his throne, the prophecies of Ezekiel and. Daniel that we keep looking at in Revelation, they will all be fulfilled in Christ’s first coming, and then in Christ’s coming again. And then John is told to take the scroll, which is important, because this actually completes the chain of revelation that we talked about way back in chapter one, verse one, on the screen for you, so you so you can see the chain of Revelation, right? The revelation from Jesus Christ, which God gave him. If this is the scroll of Revelation, four and five, right? God the Father was holding it. Jesus took it from him. Now the angel has it. He made known by sending his angel to his servant, John. And John has taken the scroll at this point. So this is the chain of Revelation, and of course, it goes from there because John then makes it known to all of us. And that is why he must eat the scroll. That is, He is to ingest God’s Word so that he can proclaim it prophecy again. And we know that that’s what is meant here, because this is exactly what happens to Ezekiel like this is just recapping Ezekiel early life. Ezekiel, two, eight and nine. Open your mouth and eat what I give you. Then I looked and I saw a hand stretched out to me, and it was a scroll, if you remember all the way back. This is the scroll that had writing on both sides. This is the scroll that we’re talking about, right? And it will taste sweet, the angel says, which is also true of Ezekiel. In fact, that’s a quote from Ezekiel that we have here in Revelation chapter 10, but then it will upset his stomach. It’s gonna turn his stomach sour. That doesn’t happen to Ezekiel that we read, but we know it’s true because that scroll with writing on both sides had words of lament and mourning and woe, and that’s why it’s going to turn John’s stomach sour here too. Is why it will turns our stomach sour as we ingest God’s word too, because of the church’s bittersweet role that we have to play. I mean, as we take in God’s word and as we then proclaim God’s Word, we know that we will experience divine protection and at the same time, the world’s persecution. So there’s a sweetness and a bitterness there. We know the sweetness of obedience to God’s Word as we proclaim it, but the bitterness of the world’s rejecting that sweet word. And ultimately, of course, we know the sweetness of the triumph of the Lamb who was slain the lion from the tribe of Judah, but the bitterness of the judgment that comes on the unrepentant wicked at the consummation of history, the saints of God will experience the fullness of His joy and His presence forevermore, but the unrepentant will suffer unceasing anguish, and so like Jesus weeping over Jerusalem, it breaks our hearts to see this sweeter than honey message rejected, like I’ve preached Joel and Daniel and now we’re in Revelation that is A lot of judgment I take no joy in preaching the destruction of the wicked. You should take no joy in hearing about or speaking about the destruction of the wicked. For many of us, we are talking about our loved ones, family members, friends who have not yet repented. We don’t come at this, these passages dealing with judgment with like a Ha, ha, you’ll get yours attitude. We come with weeping and pleading, turn and trust in Jesus here and now. And I think it’s important to say that in the end, when this day comes, there will only be joy, even in judgment, when we see God’s glory and His goodness, the rightness and justice of his judgments, no one of us will go, why are you doing this like we will understand it perfectly. But here we grieve, and so how do we respond as we just finish up chapter 10 here, first of all, of course, we trust God. And Kyle talked about this already, right? You make it easy to trust you, and that’s even in a context like this, where hard things are happening, it is easy to trust God, because we know who he is and what he’s done. We know that everything is under his feet. He is in control. Second thing we do is we take in God’s Word. We eat this book, eat this scroll, because we want to know everything that God has for us, and we want to be prepared to proclaim it as well. Is why it’s so important that we’re in the Word of God daily, studying it, reading it, memorizing it, meditating on it. And third thing, of course, is that we then proclaim that word, and that’s where we’re going here in chapter 11. So we go from word to scene to witness. Let me read chapter 11, just verses one to six to start, I was given a read like a measuring rod, and was told, go and measure the temple of God and the altar with its worshipers, but exclude the outer court. Do not measure it. Because it has been given to the Gentiles, they will trample on the holy city for 42 months. And I will appoint my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1260 days, clothed in sackcloth, they are the two olive trees and two lamp stands, and they stand before the Lord of the earth. If anyone tries to harm them, fire comes from their mouths and devours their enemies. This is how anyone who wants to harm them must die. They have power to shut up the heavens so that it will not rain during the time they are prophesying. And they have power to turn the waters into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague as often as they want. Alright? So this scene opens very similarly to Ezekiel chapter 40, where Ezekiel is told to measure the new temple in the New Jerusalem that will be rebuilt. This measuring indicates God’s preservation and protection, like this means he’s going to keep the temple to the end. I worked just for a period of a few months for a friend who was an architect, he did a lot of remodels for houses that had had a fire in them. And you know, the smoke damage from a fire means you just gut the place right. You you strip it down to the studs. And then I would go in and I would measure the studs, basically, why? Because that was what was going to stay right. You measure what will remain, and then you build around it. And so the measuring here, that’s God saying, this is what will remain. Notice the temple includes the worshipers, very specifically, you know, the measuring the temple of God, and the altar with its worshipers. Of course, this makes sense, because we now are the temple of God. Christians are the temple of God. You see this in First Corinthians, where the temple the Holy Spirit, First Peter, where it talks about the fact that we’re all being built like living stones into a temple where God will dwell by His Spirit, even in Revelation, chapter three, one of the letters we read that those who persevere, who overcome, will be made pillars in God’s temple. I’m not going to spoil it for you, but when we get to the end of the book, Revelation, 21 and 22 we will see that the new heavens and the new earth are the temple of God. So we are talking about people. We are talking about the church. That’s what gets measured, preserved and protected. But then the angel goes out of his way to point out that you should not measure the outer court, because that’s going to get trampled. The holy city is going to get trampled. All right, what’s going on here? What exactly is the Holy City? I know our first instinct is Jerusalem, for understandable reasons, but let’s see if we can’t find clues in the book of Revelation as to what this city is. And I don’t think it’s Jerusalem, but it is the New Jerusalem. Why do I say that? Because of the end again, Revelation, 21 verses nine and 10, and an angel says to John, come I will show you the bride. And we know the bride is the Church of God throughout the New Testament, you can see that all sorts of places. So we’re talking about, again, a person. We’re talking about people. And then it says, he carried me away in the spirit to mountain, great and high, and showed me the holy city. There are those words, the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven, from God. So we’re talking about the Heavenly Jerusalem, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven to the earth. And so we’re talking again about the the people of God. Here makes sense. Remember, this is the interlude between six and seven, between the sixth seal and the seventh seal. We got an interlude of the 144,000 and then the great multitude, the people of God protected, preserved. Well. Here between the sixth trumpet and the seventh trumpet, we get the same vision, the people of God protected, except with nuance, because here the people of God are protected and trampled at the same time, God will not keep us from all harm, but he will keep his own steadfast in the midst of suffering and persecution, as G.B. Caird puts it in his commentary on Revelation, it is God’s intention that the church should remain outwardly vulnerable to the full hostility of their enemies, secure only in their faith in the crucified and risen Lord. And by the way, Jesus is such a good picture of what we’re talking about. God preserves and protects Jesus raises him from the dead, but he gets trampled first, and in being trampled. Of course, he tramples on death and the grave, and then rises in triumph. And so we see, okay, that’s what’s coming for us, too. And remember, this is written to a church, group of churches in western Turkey who are undergoing persecution right then and there. And think of what a comfort this would have been to know what. This is happening according to God’s plan. It ain’t fun, but we know how the story ends. God’s got this and good news here also, it will only be for a limited time. Persecution does not go on forever. 42 months. If you were to do the math, you would discover that that is three and a half years. Three and a half years, exactly, which is drawing from Daniel seven, but really kind of Daniel seven through 12 shows up a lot the time, times and half a time we talked about back then, why three and a half years? Because seven years would be a perfect length of time, and it’s cut in half. It’s cut short. That’s the idea. Persecution is cut short. This part’s getting tricky, alright? So just like, hang on, this is stuff that would be easier to read than to hear, but that’s, that’s how it goes. So we get 42 months, and then in the next verse, we get 12 160 days, same period. By the way, if you do 30 day months, then 12 160 is exactly three and a half years. So 42 months, then 12 160 days. And then in chapter 12, we’re going to get 12 160 days. And then in chapter 1342, months. That’s called a chiasm Greek letter chi, which looks like an X for us, so you kind of go, looks like an X. Okay, got it. And what happens we see in that the 42 months persecution, and then 1260 days protection, and then 1260 days protection and 42 months persecution. Pull all that together, and you’re going to see this more next week when we when we get to chapters 12 and 13, it helps us understand that this 42 month period is symbolic for the whole period between Christ’s first and second comings, between the ascension of Christ and when He comes again, it’ll be quite clear next week, and that helps us understand that whole period right there is going to be a pretty mixed bag for us. We’re going to experience God’s protection and the world’s persecution at the same time. So what do we do in this time of persecution and protection? Well, we would expect this, because prophecy is kind of the thread that weaves this whole passage together. We proclaim, we prophesy, and hence we the two witnesses there in verse three. I think these two witnesses are representative of the church as a whole. Why? Because everything in this passage has like major, major symbolism, right? We’ve got olive trees, we’ve got lamp stands, we’ve got fire coming out of their mouths, which we’ll talk about in a moment. It even says the word figuratively in the next couple of verses that we’ll get to here. So there’s a whole lot of symbolism. So probably this is symbolic also, and then we’ve seen lamp stand a bunch of times already in Revelation, and it is the church. So we’re talking about the church now, why two lamp stands instead of seven lamp stands? This time, probably because of the witness idea and the laws requirement that every testimony is confirmed by two witnesses, and that’s what we have here. Now, maybe these are at the end of time, like we kind of this is happening all along, and then it intensifies at the end. We’ve talked about that some. I’m hoping that you’re all looking at me glazed. I’m sorry. You know, maybe there are two literal people at the end, also, because the olive trees are two literal people in Zechariah four. We’ve met them before. Also, right. That’s Zerubbabel the king and Joshua the priest. So maybe if we live to see that and stuff, I hedged my bets. Okay, so you can be like, Oh, Brandon was right, because I was right either way. Alright, that’s the important thing that you take away from this today. But no, so they’re wearing sackcloth, these two witnesses who stand in for the church as a whole. Why? Because they’re calling the people to repentance, and then fire comes out of their mouths to devour their enemies. Now in Revelation, every time something comes out of somebody’s mouth, it’s words shocking. I know we saw this in Revelation. One already Jesus, double edged sword coming out of his mouth. That’s the word of God. We’re going to see it with the beast next week. We’ll hang on to that one. But here it is fire. How do I know that it’s a fire that is going to consume those who don’t heed the word? Because I’ve read the Old Testament, that’s how. And this is drawing from Jeremiah, the prophet Jeremiah, five, verse 14. Because the people have spoken these words, by the way. Let me just hang on to that for a second, because the people have spoken these words. What words? It was words dismissing the prophets of God. They’re saying, no, not these words, you know, like those aren’t real prophets. We don’t have to listen to that. So because they have rejected the prophets, I will make my words in your mouth of fire and these people the wood it consumes. It’s exactly the image that we have here. Of course, the fire consuming God’s enemies might make you think of Elijah against the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel, where fire comes down from heaven and eats up not just Elijah’s sacrifice, but also all those who worshiped the false idols the Prophet. It’s of Baal. If you’re thinking Elijah, that’s fine, because in verse six, we definitely get Elijah, because he’s these witnesses have the power to shut up the heavens so that there’s no rain, which is exactly what Elijah did as well. And then it’s not just Elijah that we get, but we also get Moses. Why? A lot of people think these two witnesses are Elijah and Moses? Specifically, because they’ve given the power to turn water into blood and to bring plagues. Sounds a lot like Moses. So you throw all that together, we got Jeremiah, we got Moses, we got Elijah, we got Zechariah four. Like, what in the world is happening with all these images? I quote James Hamilton. I think he pulls them together really nicely for us. He says the olive trees symbolize the spirits empowering the church, because olive oil is associated with anointing, and anointing with the coming of the Spirit can make sense. Zechariah four, not by might, not by power, but by My Spirit, says the Lord, you’re sure the fire symbolizes divine protection for the church. The power to shut the sky points to demonstrations that Yahweh is the one true God, and the ability to bring the plagues highlights the church’s ability to liberate people from bondage through gospel proclamations. The church then is empowered by the Spirit, protected by the Father, and able to liberate people through the gospel of Jesus Christ. So two questions before we turn to the next scene. The first one is, do you know this power? Not know about it. Know this power. If you are in Christ, this power is in you because the Spirit of God dwells within you. You’re thinking, I don’t have the power to shut up the heavens or turn water into blood, yeah. But neither did Elijah or Moses, except by the Spirit of God working in and through them. And maybe you won’t do miracles like that, but you get to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ. And there is no greater miracle than God bringing a sinner to salvation, to new life in Christ, raising the dead physically is nothing compared to that miracle. Do you know that that power dwells within you? And second question following from it, what are you doing with it? Are you proclaiming the Word of God? We will talk more about that as we go. So I’m just going to leave that hang in there. Third scene, war, what happens when we witness? Let me read verses seven to 14 now, when they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up from the Abyss will attack them and overpower and kill them. Their bodies will lie in the public square of the great city, which is figuratively called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified for three and a half days. Some from every people, tribe, language and nation, will gaze on their bodies and refuse them burial, the inhabitants of the earth will gloat over them and will celebrate by sending each other gifts, because these two prophets had tormented those who live on the earth. But after the three and a half days, the breath of life from God entered them. They stood on their feet, and terror struck 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 while their enemies looked on. At that very hour, there was a severe earthquake, and a 10th of the city collapsed. 7000 people were killed in the earthquake, and the survivors were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven. The second woe has passed. The third woe is coming soon, while we witness the world tramples us under authority, by the way, from the beast from the sea. I’m not going to talk about him, because he gets to talk about in chapter 13. And it’s kind of like we’re just waiting we get this, like foreshadowing here, Revelation does this a lot just kind of casually throws out a main character or a main idea and then says nothing about it for a couple of chapters. We already saw that with the Holy City. Of course, here to get is again with the beast. So you got beast questions. Come back next week. We’ll meet him in chapter 13, for sure. But the beast has the power to kill God’s people, and so the bodies of these two witnesses that represent the church lie in the square of the great city. What is the great city?
Notice that word figuratively. It’s almost like John’s helping us out here where he’s going. Y’all are reading this symbolically, right? You know, I’m not talking about this literally, let me just okay, figuratively. Here it is, right? So pay attention to the symbols, is what he’s saying here. Now, why Sodom? And Egypt in particular. Sodom is, of course, famous for its wickedness, its depravity. And then Egypt, which is not a city, of course, so definitely figurative, Egypt is famous for its oppression of the people of God. And then Jerusalem gets mentioned. Why Jerusalem as part of this great city? Well, because in Jerusalem, the powers of wickedness and the powers of oppression conspired together to murder the Son of God. So that’s the great city then, except we still don’t know what it is later on in Revelation. It’s Babylon that is called the great city. And if you pay attention, and we’ll see this as we go, Babylon is standing for Rome. So it’s Sodom and Egypt and Jerusalem and Babylon and Rome. Everyone. Good. We’ll move on. No what is happening here the great city is in contrast to the Holy City. Like these are the images that led Augustine to write his famous city of God, the original A Tale of Two Cities, because there’s the city of man and there’s the City of God, the City of God, the holy city, the New Jerusalem, the people of God, and then the great city, Babylon, the city of man is every city that stands in opposition to God’s rule and reign in this world, which means the great city is yes, Jerusalem and Rome and Babylon and Sodom and Egypt and New York and DC and Chicago and Elmhurst, or at least those within all those cities who are against God’s rule and reign. And that makes sense, of course, of verse nine, then, because we get some from every people and tribe and language and nation, and we go, hang on, we’ve met those four before. The four meaning, you know, all four corners of the earth, the four winds, like this is everyone, right? But, but it was people were being saved from these four. Yes, exactly. So there are people in Sodom and Egypt and Jerusalem and New York and DC and Chicago and Elmhurst who belong to the holy city, and there are people in every one of those cities who belong to the great city as well. People from all over the world gaze at their dead bodies and gloat over them because they reject God. Now I am sure that some of us have been struggling with these passages of judgment. We’re going to spend a lot of time on that next week, but if you’re struggling, notice verse 10, where the unrepentant celebrate the murder of God’s witnesses celebrate their murder. They’re they’re they’re throwing parties. They’re sending gifts to each other. Why? Because the word of God that they proclaimed tormented them, which is what the Word of God does to the unrepentant. And some of you lived this for a long time. By the way, like took a while the Hound of Heaven to get you. You know that the word of God pricks your conscience, it introduces doubt, it can throw you off balance. We also know that the word of God, like brings plagues and fire from heaven, because we’ve seen that in the Old Testament also. So they’ve been tormented, and that’s why they are celebrating, but that just means they missed what God was trying to do. Here’s the way one commentator put it. He says the aim in sending the plagues is that people should be converted from idolatry. They are meant to drive people to repentance before it is too late, but people will not be warned. And that’s what we see here, and that is, of course, what turns our stomachs as the people of God in the here and now, that and the bitter persecution that we just read about. But there is sweet vindication, because after three and a half days, they rise again. I know, I know you want this to be three days, because if it’s three days, it’s the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Doesn’t matter how you spin it. You cannot make the resurrection of Jesus Christ into three and a half days. Wasn’t even 48 hours, right? But Friday night, all day, Saturday, Sunday morning. That’s 123, days in Hebrew reckoning. It’s not three and a half, though. And so three and a half has to go back to the three and a half that we keep coming up against the time times and half a time. So it’s three and a half. It’s that perfect period cut short, although it’s interesting now it’s days instead of years. It’s like God has cut it even shorter. Makes me think what Jesus said in the Olivet Discourse, unless God had cut those days short, no one would have survived. And here we see God cutting them short, and these two witnesses rise like Jesus. It’s true, except the breath of God enters them, and they stand on their feet. That’s actually all language taken from Ezekiel, 37 when the valley of dry bones, they all stand up and are closed in flesh. And then they’re they’re raptured like Elijah, when the chariot of fire swoops down to pick him up. And of course, they’re leaving on the clouds when people are looking up at them, that’s the ascension of Christ. Lot of different images all coming together. You can’t miss the point. We triumph. In the end, the people of God, His true witnesses, will be raised to new and everlasting life because of their faithful witness to Christ. And then there is a great earthquake, which, in Revelation, always signals the end. The end, the end is here. The city of man collapses. The great city collapses. Why? Because in the last earthquake, God shakes the earth, and only what is permanent will remain. And the city. Body of man is not permanent, and 7000 are killed. That is, of course, a big round number, the full number of those to be judged. But as this is happening and as events are speeding toward their conclusion, notice that some repent. End of verse 13, the survivors were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven. Giving glory to God always represents true worship in Scripture, and so we must be dealing with true conversion. This is why we keep witnessing even though the world tramples on us, because this is as sweet as it comes to see people turn from death to life. It’s like we’re saying, Do your worst, and I will still love you with the gospel of Jesus, Christ. And so the takeaways from this section are clear, there must be a willingness to suffer for the cause of Christ, participation in Christ’s sufferings. And then what Paul says in Philippians, right? I want to know Christ. I want to know the power of his resurrection, and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so somehow attaining to the resurrection from the dead. Another great chiasm, by the way, if you follow that. But that’s it. I want to know the power of his resurrection. But if I want to know resurrection like Christ, then I need to know martyrdom like Christ also. And so all the persecution we experience for Christ’s sake is a victory for the believer, a participation in his triumph over the grave. And of course, as Justin Martyr famously said, the blood of the martyrs is seed. Seed like this is their blood is being scattered like the seed of the gospel and new life comes from it. The only evangelistic victory that we read about in Revelation follows martyrdom. It makes me think of the the Centurion standing at the foot of the cross as Jesus dies, right? As Jesus is killed. He says, surely this man was the Son of God, and that’s what we have here as well. And this reminds us, then, of the purpose of it, all right? God sends judgment, not to punish, not in this life, not to punish only, but to call people to him self, and some, the full number will come, and that is reason enough for us to keep proclaiming
this the second woe is passed. We met the first woe last week. Kyle explained that the third woe is coming. We actually never get the third woe. Most people think it’s the seventh trumpet to which we’ll turn. Now last seen worship verses 15 to 19, the seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven which said, The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Messiah, and he will reign forever and ever. The 24 elders who were seated on their thrones before God fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying, We give thanks to You, Lord, God Almighty, the one who is and who was, because you have taken your great power and have begun to reign, the nations were angry and your wrath has come. The time has come for judging the dead and for rewarding your servants, the prophets and your people who revere your name, both great and small, and for destroying those who destroy the earth. Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, and within his temple was seen, the ark of his covenant. And there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder and earthquake and a severe hailstorm. So here the last trumpet sounds, and that means the end has come. And I know you’re like, but we got more right, because we recapitulate, right? We’re going to recap. We’re going to go back, starting next week, but the last trumpet sounds, the end has come in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, as Paul says in first Corinthians 15, at the last trumpet for the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable and we will be changed. That’s the moment we’re at, and given the song of praise that follows there in verse 15, it’s pretty clear these trumpets are coronation trumpets, because this is Jesus ascending his throne. Now I mentioned the chiasm a couple of times, right? You know the and when you get a big chiasm in Scripture, you always want to look for the center of it. This chiasm actually goes from Revelation seven through chapter 14. We’ll talk a little bit more about it next week, even if you don’t get it, just trust me, there’s a chiasm there. These verses, right here are the centerpiece. This is what it’s all building towards. This is the moment, the climax. Jesus is King, fully, finally and forever. Now, Jesus has always been king. At no point was there any danger of him losing his throw throne. But now. While he exercises dominion over all without challenge or rival. That’s what’s happened here. The Rebellion has been put down. This is the fulfillment of Second Samuel seven, when God promises David that one of his descendants will reign on his throne forever. This is the fulfillment of Daniel two. Remember that statue, and it falls over because the mountain comes up, this rock, not cut by human hands, comes up, topples all the earthly kingdoms, and this kingdom will endure forever. It’s the fulfillment of Daniel seven, When the Son of man approaches the Ancient of Days and is given an everlasting dominion. It’s not just the fulfillment of Scripture. It’s also the answer to the prayer that we pray daily, your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Here it is God’s rule and reign over every inch. And that is the glory of the new heavens and the new earth, by the way, that at long last He is King and acknowledged as king by all in the kingdom, there is no more delay, the mystery, the sovereign unfolding of God’s hidden plan has been accomplished. And so that prompts not just praise, like we see in verse 15, but Thanksgiving that we see in verse 16. And Thanksgiving is really a part of praise. That is, we worship God for who he is and what he’s done, and the what he’s done is Thanksgiving. This is why Paul tells us in Romans 121, that the heart of sin is actually in gratitude. Although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God, nor gave thanks to him like this is the heart of sin. They forgot to give thanks to God for all that he has done. And so it’s worth asking, when we read passages like these, just how thankful Are you? How thankful Are you? How are you practicing gratitude? I was talking to my journey group guys, even just this week, we were talking about the importance of of naming what we are thankful for, especially in times when you’re not feeling particularly thankful. And my car just got totaled a couple weeks ago, I was not feeling thankful, but I had just read about this naming thing. Alright, like, I guess I better obey, otherwise not gonna be able to preach on this later. So I like and you know what? I’m thankful no one was in the car. I got hit while I was parked. Okay, no injuries to work with. I’m thankful about that. I’m thankful that the other person’s car was totaled also, which meant their insurance had to cover it. I was thankful for that, that there was justice done. That doesn’t always happen. You can ask other members of our pastoral staff about that. I was thankful. Yes, that one thankful. So, all right, you know, just going through it, it was different. I think gratitude looks like savoring experiences. Like the way you savor, feel like this is good, like, sometimes we just need to go through something. We need to step back and go, Wow, this is good. I think gratitude looks like remembering redemptively. Like redemptive remembering. How many times when tragedy strikes do we remind ourselves we’ve done it here today. We certainly did it last week. Like we remind ourselves, God works all things for the good of those who love Him. He is working for our good and for His glory. Redemptive remembering is when we get a little ways away and we look back and we go, I see, I see some of the good that he has done. I want to remember that and thank him, even for that. And we will be grateful, of course, in the end, because the one who was and who is, and did you notice it doesn’t say and is to come, God who was and is and is to come. And here it’s just was and is, why? Because he’s come, he’s back at this point, but the God who was and is reigns now, and he is worthy to reign and to reign. Well, not all acknowledge this, though the nations are still raging. We see in verse 18, when God can’t reign while the nations rage to pretend otherwise would be like to pretend to health while cancer is ravaging your body, or maybe closer to the image that we have here to pretend peace when you have daily terror attacks in your kingdom that’s not reigning and so God, again, must put the rebellion to an end. And there is no repentance here. This is the time when we are past that, when those who are going to repent have repented and those who will not repent will never repent. And so this is the time to settle every account we actually get, the lex talionis here, the law of retribution, right, because those who destroy will be destroyed. They will get what they deserve in the end, and on that day, we will rejoice. We will praise God, and we will thank God, because the end we seek what we’re all. Hoping for again, Revelation 21 no more death, no more mourning, no more pain, none of that stuff, right? None of that can happen without judgment, and that is why we will Rejoice, rejoice and praise and thank. But the end has come. Heaven’s Temple is open. The Ark is seen, the Ark which shows us the glory of both the law and mercy, because it’s got the tablets, the 10 Commandments within it. It also has the mercy seat, the Atonement Cover. But it’s not just the ark that we see here. It’s not just the exciting because the temple curtains get parted and we get to, you know, peer into the Holy of Holies. No, it’s the fact that God Himself is revealed. That’s the thunder and lightning and all of that every time that shows up, we know God is there, and that’s what we’re really waiting for in Revelation 21 but what do we do until then? What do we do until the end actually comes nothing new. We keep saying it over and over and over again, but the big idea kind of your takeaway from this passage, go on proclaiming, no matter what, until kingdom come, go on proclaiming. God has given us His word to ingest so that we can witness to it. Some of the world aren’t going to like it. There will be war. We will be trampled upon. Yes, others will turn and repent, and in the end, we will worship, because He will reign forever more. What we’ve seen, though, in this passage is that this is serious, serious business, because it ends in judgment. We have to be so reminded about this. So ask yourself even now, just as we’re wrapping up here first, am I proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ? Am I sharing the word that God has given me to ingest so that I can proclaim? Am I proclaiming? And maybe ask yourself as a follow up question to that, just to get really practical, when was the last time you shared the full gospel message with someone who does not believe. I don’t mention this to shame anyone or to guilt you into something else. That’s that’s not the point of this at all. It is to encourage convict, maybe, but to encourage us. We get to participate in God’s mission. This isn’t we have to share the gospel we’re bad Christians. We get to share the good news of what God has done for us in Christ, Jesus, whom have you told? And that’s my third question, whom would God have you reach even this week? I mean, ask the Spirit of God to lay someone’s name on your heart even now to go I
gotta talk to them. I gotta talk to them. Go on proclaiming, no matter what we see, what happens to those who reject God’s word when we see that we are willing to risk a little bit of rejection on our part, which is the worst thing that can happen, right? They get angry with us. Maybe they even trample us under foot and we die. Who cares? Right? We know how the story ends. We rise again. We can do this to bring this message to those who need it. This message here in Revelation is no different than the last message that Jesus gave his followers right before He ascended into heaven. Right? He’s getting ready to ascend, and his disciples come to Him. They go, is it time for the kingdom now, Lord, like this is what they want, right? The Kingdom, the world, has become the kingdom of our Lord and His Messiah, and we’re going to be like his Secretary of State. It’s gonna be awesome. It’s time, right? Jesus. And Jesus goes, I’m worried You weren’t listening, but Okay, nope, you got revelation to go through still. But here’s what Jesus says, Is it time for the Kingdom? Jesus says it is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. What a great reminder. As we study Revelation, the point is not to puzzle it out so that we know better than everyone else how it’s going to end. It’s not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and in Samaria and to the ends of the earth go witness. Go on proclaiming, no matter what the world throws at you till Christ’s kingdom comes, let’s pray. I Amen, Lord, we worship and thank you because of who you are and what you have done for us, that you have redeemed us from sin and death and raised us to new spiritual life in Christ, and you will raise us to new physical life at the end, we know as well when that trumpet sounds, we praise you God, we thank you because you then have invited us, given us the privilege of participating in your mission in the world that we get to be a part of that. Redemption in other people’s lives when we proclaim your word, God, give us a holy, winsome boldness, even this week, open our eyes to see those around us harassed and help us like sheep without a shepherd, to look on them with compassion and to be willing to take the risk to share the Good News of the Gospel with them, and God, would you open hearts and minds in response to our faithful witness, and we might see the harvest that you are reaping God, as men and women turn from sin and trust in you to the glory, the everlasting glory of your name. Amen.