Word of Salvation – Vol. 45 No.45 – December 2000

 

The Two Witnesses

 

Sermon by Rev L Douma

on Revelation 11:1-14

Scripture Reading: Revelation 11:1-14

 

Beloved in the Lord.

Those who have to do serious study appreciate those texts books where each chapter has an introduction or summary section that generally outlines what you are going to deal with.  In the mass of detail, of information, carefully reasoned arguments, facts and figures, it’s good to get a handle on the stuff by knowing generally how it all fits together.

That, in a sense, is what John is doing here in our text – the first 14 verses of Chapter 11.

We are still in the interlude between the sixth and seventh trumpet (which starts in 11:15).  We are still held in suspense in the drama.  The seventh trumpet is still waiting to be sounded.

Remember, the first four trumpets revealed the devastation of the environment, and the fifth and sixth revealed the locusts (with scorpion tails) and the hordes of warring horsemen.  All this was a dreadful warning on an unbelieving and unrepentant world.

In Chapter 10 the huge mighty angel was revealed to reassure the church that while it, too, has to go through these hard and terrifying events, the Lamb who holds the scroll will protect His church.  The angel made it clear that God’s judgment would now come without delay and called on John to prophesy.  John was to eat the little scroll that would be sweet to eat but bitter in his stomach.  He must declare the Word of God’s grace, even though it brings trouble.

Now this section in John’s vision continues on this same bitter sweet theme – now expanding it to the church as a whole.  In the midst of the mass of symbolism and catastrophe of the seven seals and seven trumpets, and before the details of the final battle between God and Satan, John, in this quiet moment – this break – gives a general picture of the church – what she must do and face in the current period in history.

He outlines the tough fight that is coming at the end, and the special resources the church will get, in God’s grace, to deal with it.  In a sense, we have a general overview of what will be presented in the rest of the book.  But as the awesome and terrifying details unfold, this interlude – this general overview – tells us beforehand that it will be alright.  The resources to cope and the final victory are already assured.

The assurance begins in Chapter 11 Verse 1 (& 2) as John says he is “given a reed like a measuring rod” and was told, “Go and measure the temple of God and the altar, and count the worshippers there.  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.”

Why is John told to measure the temple (actually the ‘naos’, the inner sanctuary) and the altar?  Well, we see on numerous occasions in the Old Testament that God’s prophet measuring something is a sign that it comes in for God’s special attention – either for judgment or special protection.  In this case God is giving His special care and protection to His people, to the church.

In the New Testament, Christians are said to be “the temple of God” – God resides by His Spirit in the hearts of believers.  John is told to measure the inner sanctuary, not “the outer court”.  So he is referring to the true believer, the one who truly comes to know God through Jesus and deeply worships Him.

Notice John is to measure the “altar”, the heart of the temple, which symbolises Christ’s sacrifice – His death for sin.  John is to “count the worshippers” – the full number must be there.  So it reminds us of Chapter 7, where the full number of God’s people are sealed – sealed by the Spirit.  Nothing and nobody can take any one of God’s people from Him because the Spirit is the guarantee of their inheritance.

Now we can say that the “temple is measured” by the gospel.  Those who truly believe the gospel become part of the temple.  Those who do not are left outside.  They do not “measure up”, if you like.  So it shows the awesome power and responsibility of preaching and witnessing.  It separates those who believe from those who do not.  It determines who is in the inner sanctuary and who is left in the outer court or out in the city.  There can be division even in a local congregation between those who truly believe and those who are there by upbringing, by custom, or for show.

John tells us that the “gentiles will trample the holy city”.  He means the world will oppress the church.  But the oppression will not only be “out there”, but also in the midst of the church.  The “outer court” of the temple (remember the various courts of the Jewish temple) is also “given” to the world, that is, in congregations there are “nominal Christians”, hypocrites, those who by their attitudes and actions water down the requirements of God, who subtly belittle the sense of worship, who question the articles of faith.  But God knows who is who – who is in the “inner sanctuary” by repentance and faith and who is in the “outer court” by show.  And the measuring rod clearly outlines who has God’s gracious protection and who will face His judgment.

So in devious ways or downright persecution the church of God will face oppression for a period of “42 months”, says John.  The 42 months is a short hand way of saying “for the entire period between Christ’s first coming and His second coming”.  Throughout the rest of Revelation we see reference to the period as 42 months, or 1260 days, or “a time, times and half a time” (i.e. 1 + 2 + ½ = 3 ½ years, cf Revelation 12:14 and Daniel 12:7).  So the world will oppress the church – but it’s an oppression that is contained by the will of God.  It will go for a set period of time – it is measured – and God will deliver His church out of that oppression.

Now in verse 3 John is further told that there will be “two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1260 days, clothed in sackcloth”.  So they will witness for the same period that the people of God are oppressed.  Now just who are these two witnesses?  That is a question that has commentators giving a variety of answers (depending on whether we see this text dealing with Jews only, or dealing with a specific period, e.g., Reformation, two witnesses = Old and New Testaments, etc).  It seems best to say that the two witnesses represent the witness of the whole church – the true believers who make up the measured temple.

There are two witnesses because in Bible times one witness was not sufficient in a court of law.  There had to be at least two witnesses to make the testimony legal (Deut.17:6; John 5: 31-32).  It can be said that the witness of God’s Old Testament people is represented by Moses and Elijah.  They are eluded to when John says the two witnesses have the “…power to shut up the sky so that it will not rain during the time they are prophesying; and they have the power to turn water into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague as often as they want”.  Remember Elijah praying for drought during the reign of King Ahab, and Moses calling for the plagues on Egypt.  It were Moses and Elijah who spoke to Jesus when He was transfigured encouraging Him before His crucifixion.  So now these two witnesses John speaks of are types of the likes of Moses and Elijah who represent the witness of the New Testament church.

John tells us that the two witnesses (vs.4) are the “two olive trees and the two lamp stands that stand before the Lord of the earth.”  This is also how Zechariah puts it.  He speaks of two olive threes who are described as “the two who are anointed to serve the Lord in all the earth.”  There we see the picture of the two olive trees providing the oil for the lamps via two golden pipes.  Zechariah is told “Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord.”

The church (as we see from Chapter 1) is the lamp stand.  It is to shine its light into the world.  The oil, which fuels the lamp, is the Holy Spirit.  So the main task for the church (that’s us) in this period before Christ’s coming is to witness to God’s truth.  A silent witness is by definition impossible.  We are to state what we know to be true, and about the experience in our own lives of the work of Jesus and His Spirit.  We are not asked to win arguments or be able to outsmart others or make it all sound nice.  We simply witness to the truth – that Jesus is the Son of God and that He died and rose again; that He will come again to judge the living and the dead.

It is the Spirit who provides the continual flow of the good oil as we shine.  It’s the Spirit who gives the power to speak and who actually changes lives.

We notice that the clothing of the witnesses is “sackcloth”, which is the biblical garb for mourning.  It means there is a sadness in their message – a call for repentance because of sin, a declaring of God’s judgment for those who refuse.  Yes, we must witness to the joy and forgiveness and hope we have in Jesus.  But that witness only makes sense if we realise our sin and need for Christ – if we face the fact that we are worthy of being damned.

We have got to get people thinking in terms of eternity – not just here and now.  The easy going, everything is sweet and nice, church has no power to stir anyone on to seek Christ.  Nor does it stir up any opposition from the world.  Is that part of why the church is not so challenged or oppressed in Australia?  Our witness is lame – if there is any real witness at all.

Now we can see how important this witness is because we see that no harm can come to these two witnesses before their mission is accomplished.  Those who try to harm them only end up destroying themselves.  Note verse 5: “If anyone tries to harm them, fire comes from their mouths and devours their enemies.  This is how anyone who wants to harm them will die.”

What are we to make of this?  Well, the clue is in the fact that the witnesses devour by fire from their mouths.  From their mouths come words.  Which words?  Well, the witness to Christ and the gospel.  That is how they devour their enemies.

But how does that stop those oppressing the church from harming it?  Well, how does the world hurt the church?  Not by doing them physical harm.  Even if individual Christians are killed, the church as a whole continues and those who have died have gone to be with the Lord.  To hurt the two witnesses (or the church) you must get at their spiritual existence.  You must make them waver in their testimony.  You must make them deny Christ.

The clue for this is given in Jeremiah 5:14.  “The Lord says, because the people have spoken these words I will make my words in your mouth a fire and these people the wood it consumes.”  The people of Israel wanted to harm Jeremiah by opposing his prophecy and making it of no effect.  But God’s Word is all powerful – a consuming fire that cannot be opposed.  Our witness either saves or condemns.  The Word of God is never ineffective or thwarted.

John reminds the church he writes to that they (and we) have the same resources as God’s prophets of old.  In verse 6, remember we spoke of the two witnesses praying for draught and striking the earth with plagues as Elijah and Moses did?  Elijah and Moses were able to do those things not in themselves, but by the power of God, by the Spirit who dwells in every believer.  So the church as its witnesses has those same resources.

Jesus said that his disciples would do greater things than He if they believed in Him.  He said faith was sufficient to move mountains.  And John, in Chapter 8, showed how the prayers of the church calling for the coming of the kingdom brought about the judgments of the trumpets.  Too often we are not aware of the resources and effect of faithful witness and prayer.

Now we can see how central the task of witnessing is to our existence as the church, because as soon as the witnessing task of the two witnesses is complete (vs 7) “…the beast from the abyss will attack them and overpower and kill them”.  So the two witnesses are untouchable and invincible till their job is done.  So they are not cut short.  John tells us that it’s “the beast from the abyss that… attacks” them.

The way he says the beast (with a definite article), he implies his first readers know about it, probably from the prophecy of Daniel 7, where he describes the “fourth beast – terrifying and frightening and very powerful… with ten horns.”  John goes on to mention the beast in detail in Chapters 13 & 17 as he continues the drama.  We see that the beast is the Antichrist – the physical form of the satanic world (notice he comes from the abyss), as Jesus the Christ is in human form as God’s Son.  Jesus is the “Lamb that was slain”.  This Antichrist is symbolised as “the beast.”

The beast, “makes war” and kills the “two witnesses”.  The fact that he makes war supports our interpretation that the two witnesses represent the church as a whole.  The beast does not come out of the abyss at this last time when the witnessing is completed.  He is around in one form or another throughout the period of the church’s witness.

Think of the persecution by the Roman Empire (during the Reformation the Pope was seen as the Antichrist).  But towards the end the beast will be allowed to gather his strength and war against the church.  Remember we are in summary mode here in this interlude.  So John just outlines the actions of the beast.  Details will come later in the full drama.

The result of the beast’s action is that the two witnesses are killed and “…their bodies left to lie in the street of the great city, which is figuratively called Sodom and Egypt (vs.8).  Sodom is the Bible’s symbol of the most immoral of places.  Egypt the most oppressive to God’s people.  The great city would be any and every city where human beings live in organised community – a community that displays unrepentant behaviour.  The bodies of the witness are left to lie in the streets – symbolising the shame that is heaped on the witnesses.  People from every tribe, language and nation will gloat over them and celebrate.

This again shows that we are dealing not just with two witnesses but the church as a whole.  The world is glad that the church is sunk.  But why?  “Because these two prophets had tormented those who live on earth” (vs.10).  The gospel is a threat to those who do not want their true colours to be shown, being challenged for their greed; their lust; their lies; their hidden motives; their sin.

The gospel truly preached has always challenged the powerful in the world.  John the Baptist threatened Herod and lost his head.  Jesus challenged the Pharisees and was crucified.  The Christians cried “Jesus is Lord” when Caesar said he was, and they were persecuted.  So the world has a holiday and sends gifts because the church is subdued.

But their rejoicing is short lived.  John tells us that “…after three and half days a breath of life from God entered them and they stood on their feet… and they went up to heaven in a cloud” (vs.11).  So John tells us that the time will come that the church looks like it will be cleaned up by the world.  But the suffering will be short – only three and half days, a tiny portion compared to the 42 months, or 3½ years.  Then there will be the glorious resurrection of the dead as the church is taken into heaven as Christ returns.

At that hour, says John, “there will be a severe earthquake… 7000 people were killed… and the survivors were terrified and gave glory to God.”  We are reminded of the sixth seal in Chapter 6 where the unbelievers call on the “mountains to fall on them’ and hide them from the “wrath of the Lamb”.

Here again the events are so awesome that everyone is forced to acknowledge that the Almighty God is at work – and He is glorified.  It’s not that they are converted and worship.  It’s too late for that.  The witness of the church is over – and the church they persecuted is gone to heaven.  Now they are forced to acknowledge that “Jesus Christ is Lord.”

John, in this interlude, outlines the life of the church.  Our main task is to witness for Christ by our lives, worship and words.  It will not always be appreciated.  In fact in the end the church will suffer as Christ.  Yet rise like Him.  Trust God that the temple is measured.  His church is protected.  In the end everyone will acknowledge Jesus is Lord.  The question is will you worship Jesus joyously as you believe the witness and witness for Him.  Or will you be forced to acknowledge him as Lord as you face the final judgment and hell?

Amen.