The Ministry of the Two Witnesses

Transcript

GR 2020
11/05/2017
The Ministry of the Two Witnesses
Revelation 11:3-6
Gil Rugh

We’re privileged to be studying the Book of Revelation together so if you’d turn there in your bibles. What could be more exciting for us as God’s people than talking about how everything ends; that it will all come to its appointed conclusion? It is glory, victory and celebration for us who belong to the living God. He has provided a salvation that we have entered into in Christ but it’s not yet completed for someday we will see Him as He is, we will be like Him and someday He will establish a kingdom on this earth, and He will rule and reign forever and the amazing thing is we will rule and reign with Him.

The Book of Revelation is basically talking about the last seven years of Israel’s history. If you have that Seventy Weeks chart, we could put that up. We keep putting the chart up but I want you to know where we are, if perhaps you’ve come in a little more recently. Seventy, seven-year periods were established in God’s program for Israel. These come out of Daniel chapter nine and we’ve been back there a number of times. The first sixty-nine sevens, they are called weeks but they’re periods of seven. They’re weeks of years not weeks of days, so from 444 B.C., as you have on the chart, until the death of Christ, carried us through 483 years. Then God’s program for the nation Israel was put on a sidetrack and He established the church in Acts chapter two, that’s the colored period called the church age.

It doesn’t mean God is not dealing with Israel but Israel is not the focal point of God’s work of salvation in the world. They’re on a sidetrack, some Jews are saved but by and large, the church is made up of Gentiles, from around the world. We are one of the local churches that God has established as part of His universal church. Now, at the end of the church age, the church will be removed, and God will resume His program with the nation Israel. There’s one seven-year period left and if we study the Book of Revelation, chapter six and on we want to remember that we are back focusing on God’s program for the nation Israel.

You’ll note that last seven year period is divided into two segments, so that’s what we’re looking at now, we’re about the middle, we’re in Revelation chapter 11, and we noted in chapter 10, we start to take a break. Go to the next chart, if you would on the major events of the Tribulation and this shows just the breakdown. For the first three and a half years, we move through the seals and the trumpet judgments; each of these brings a judgment on the earth, then we come to that middle point. We’ll have more to say about the middle and events there but we’re about the middle of that seven years. We know because we have some timelines, forty-two months, (1,260 days). We’ll see that as we get back into our study and what is happening, we’re at the middle, He’s telling us about things that take place right here on the middle (where I get the middle) right here that will determine what happens all through this last three and a half years. There’s going to be a focus on these events because as we saw in Revelation chapter 11 verses one and two, by the time we get here, the temple in Jerusalem will have been rebuilt.

Now today we have problems with that because we’ve got the Dome of the Rock and a mosque up there and boy, the whole world would unravel if the Jews went in there and bulldozed that and started to build a temple. I don’t know how it all gets worked out, I just know, by the time we get to here, the temple has been rebuilt. We looked at a number of passages of scripture in our previous study that indicate the temple will be rebuilt, not a question of if, it’s a question of when. It may be as a result of the signing of the leader of the western world, he signs an agreement with Israel, guaranteeing the security and peace of Israel, so that may enable them to build the temple. I read you some articles from a secular news magazine talking about the fact they have prepared items that are necessary to be used in the temple, so they’ll be ready when it’s built. In that article, one of the Jewish leaders remarked, it’s not a question of if, it’s a question of when and if the Jews had that opportunity it could be constructed very quickly. By the time we get to the middle, not only has the temple been rebuilt but the whole sacrificial system has been in operation, so that’s where we are, we’re at this middle point.

If you want to put up that number two slide, it’s the third in these this morning. This is just a cut away view of Solomon’s temple. Just to remind you these are things we looked at in our last study. This is the temple. We’ll see some pillars in the next slide. This is the holy place here, where the priest would come in and these steps go up and there’s a curtain here, and behind there is the Holy of Holies where the Ark of the Covenant, the presence of God was manifest in the nation Israel. This gives you just an idea of Solomon’s temple. It was destroyed in 586 B.C. under the Babylonians.

Go to the next slide, if you would. It gets rebuilt. This is the temple area so you can see there’s an altar, the brazen altar where sacrifice for sins was offered. These are the pillars that held up that porch that comes out here on the front. This is the holy place, the altar of incense, we’ve seen that in heaven because this pattern, which was the same pattern for the tabernacle was made after the model of heaven, and we’ve seen the altar of incense in heaven here, where the prayers of the saints are offered. This is the Holy of Holies so this area and outside here is where the Jews could function. Only the priests come into the inner area here.

Then the third slide we looked at in our previous study, the first two verses of what we studied previously, and you’ll note there that John was given a measuring staff and he was told to measure the temple of God, the altar and those who worship in it. That would be this area here including the temple complex itself and this surrounding area. Only Jews were allowed in here. This wall here, this line represents the wall, went around, this is the court of the Gentiles. Gentiles were allowed this far, no further on the pain of death, so what John does is measure this area and then verse two says leave out the court, this is Revelation 11:2, which is outside the temple and do not measure it. It has been given to the nations, now note “they will tread under foot the holy city for forty-two months,” so this area and then everything in Jerusalem. This is just the temple mount, as Herod would have reconstructed the temple from the days of Zerubbabel, we’ll be talking about Zerubbabel and his temple a little bit later in our study today but this will be under the control of the Gentiles, so what is represented here?

I have a couple of review points, so if you’d put up Revelation 11:1-2. The first thing we found in these first two verses is the Jewish temple will be rebuilt by the middle of the Tribulation, so that is important for understanding a number of events that are going to take place from this time on.

Secondly, the measuring of the temple area itself, the temple, the brazen altar and the people, you’ll note, those who worship in it; that would be the Jews because as I mentioned, only the Jews were allowed into that area, so the measuring and we’ll pick this up this morning as well indicates God’s protection for them. That’s important because we are moving into now, three and a half years when the devil will make his greatest attempt ever to destroy every Jew, so measuring this temple area, the altar where sacrifice for sins was made and the people who worship in here, the Jews indicates God’s promise of protection. That doesn’t guarantee that every Jew will survive but the nation will survive and the Jewish people and those who come to trust in their Messiah during this three and a half year period. We’ll be talking about that.

Then put up the third point if you would. God will allow the nations to bring great suffering on Israel during the last half of the Tribulation that’s what was indicated when he said, “don’t measure the outer court, because the city of Jerusalem, the holy city has been given to the nations,” so when we talked about--remember Jesus warned the Jews. “When you see, the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place,” so we’re in the temple that’s been rebuilt. Then you get out, run because there’ll be persecution like there has never been before. All right, so we’re in that middle period.

Let’s pick up, you’ll note the number at the end of verse two, they’ll “tread underfoot the holy city for forty-two months,” that’s the last half of the Tribulation, that last seven year period. That’s why I say we’ve got a timeline here. We are basically forty-two months away from the return of Christ, as we’re talking here now in Revelation 11, so we’ve moved half way through the seven-year period. He picks up and in chapters 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14 he’s giving us information that will be crucial for this last half. Then when we get to chapter 15, he will lead into that last trumpet and in chapter 16; we’ll have the final judgments and the return of Christ in chapter 19.

The Gentiles here, you see God’s sovereignty, Israel has had some protection for the first three and a half years because the Antichrist, the western world ruler has signed a covenant of peace for Israel, guaranteeing their security but in the middle of that, a change occurs, so we’re told what happens here and we’re prepared for the last half. Israel will be protected but it’s not going to be a pleasant time for them. Then we come to verse three, “And I will grant authority to my two witnesses . . .” Now just a preliminary comment about the two witnesses, two views. Number one, some say they’re resurrected Old Testament saints, Elijah and Moses or Elijah and Enoch, usually Elijah is one of the two and there’s disagreement then whether the second one would be Enoch or Moses.

Elijah because Malachi prophesied and Christ repeated it, God would send Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of the Lord and then some of the miracles done here by these two men are connected to the same kind of miracles Elijah did. Enoch didn’t die, so that’s also true of Elijah, so the two men who didn’t experience physical death in the Old Testament. Elijah the prophet was taken to heaven in a whirlwind when the chariot of the Lord came sweeping through. Enoch in Genesis 5, he did not see death either, so some say, “well those would be the two.” We know Enoch prophesied about the coming of the Lord because Jude refers to that or it could be Moses because the miracles that these two men do are like Moses, so that’s the one possibility, it is these two witnesses will be Old Testament saints brought back to life for ministry.

The second option is they’re just two men raised up by God for prophesying at this time. Well the way we’re going to handle it, first we’re going to look at the ministry of these two prophetic witnesses and then we’ll look at their identity, because what is clear is what their ministry is. Who they are is secondary. What they will be doing is clear. There may be some disagreement, on who they are, so what we’ll do is look at what the word says about these men and their ministry, and then we’ll consider their identity. If there’s a disappointment for you, we won’t consider their identity until the next week, but we have enough to handle right now in looking at their ministry

That verse three begins with the conjunction “And,” and there are different kinds of conjunctions in Greek, and we do that in any language I think and get along just as well, but this particular conjunction, kai, some of you have studied Greek, indicates this is closely connected with what he just said. You could use a conjunction that wasn’t denoting a close connection here, so when he had said they’ll tread under foot the city for forty-two months, the nations, the Gentiles, but the Jews will be protected, and connected with that, “I will grant authority to my two witnesses” and you note here, I will grant authority. God is sovereign in all of this. These aren’t two unique powerful men that come on the scene, these are two powerful men brought on the scene by God, and He gives them authority to carry out His purposes here, and one thing we want to note, this last three and a half years, we’ll see an outbreak of miracles clearly demonstrating two opposing forces. These two witnesses will be doing miracles and as we get over further into chapter 13 we’ll find the representative of the devil will be doing mighty miracles as well, so, similar when Christ came the first time. There was an outbreak of the miraculous, demonic activity as well as God’s activity. It’s going to be as we come into the context of Christ’s second coming because keep in mind, we’re only three and a half years away from chapter 19 and the return of Christ visibly to earth.

“I will grant authority to my two witnesses.” That tells you what they are going to be...witnesses. They are going to be there to testify and represent the living God. I tell you they’ll be bearing witness. I think their ministry will be in Jerusalem, in the context of the Jews. They are prophets. I take it they’ll be Jewish prophets, they will be ministering primarily to the nation Israel, but a ministry that impacts the world and they’re going to die in Jerusalem. That comes up here as well, so they are witnesses and we know how the world responds to hearing the word of God. They’ll be testifying about the judgment that God is bringing on the world, because they are not only witnesses, they are prophets.

They will prophesy and I take it if we looked back in the Old Testament as we have on occasion to the Old Testament prophets, they prophesied God’s judgment. They prophesied God’s deliverance for the nation. They prophesied God’s judgment on the nation Israel for their unbelief. They prophesied God’s deliverance on the nation because of His sovereign choice of Israel. These prophets will be prophesying. They’ll be telling about coming judgment, telling about why the world is enduring and experiencing such catastrophic events. These are just not nature going crazy; this is God, intervening in the world to bring judgment. They’ll be declaring to the Jews, the judgments they are experiencing in the persecution, even as God had to bring on them in their Old Testament history, so now He is bringing on them because of their rejection of their Messiah and crucifixion of Him.

They may reveal things that have not been revealed in the Book of Revelation. They are men empowered by God for a special and unique ministry. They will prophesy for twelve hundred and sixty days in sackcloth. It’s a ministry of judgment and mourning, a call to repentance; we’re familiar with the expression, sackcloth and ashes because it was an indication of mourning in the Old Testament because of judgment and in the context of calls to repentance, that’s what these men will be carrying out. Jump down to verse 13. “In that hour there was a great earthquake, a tenth of the city fell; seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, the rest were terrified,” and note, “gave glory to the God of heaven.” We’ll see when we get down here in a future study, the ministry of these two prophets, dead in the streets of Jerusalem.

Now the nation Israel, under their persecution, begins to respond and it will take a while but these judgments will bring Israel, so keep in mind that’s the focal point. God pouring out His wrath on an unbelieving world, but God dealing specifically with the nation Israel, that He prophesied He would bring to their knees in repentance and faith, so that the kingdom can be established, so we pick up in twelve hundred and sixty days at the end of verse three.

Some place these two witnesses in the first half of the Tribulation and some good writers do. I personally think it fits the flow of Revelation and the context better that we’re in the last half of the Tribulation; the forty-two months are clearly the last half of the Tribulation. When we get down to chapter 12, verse six, when Israel flees into the wilderness at the end of verse six, for one thousand two hundred and sixty days, that’s clearly the last half of the Tribulation. When you come down into chapter 13 verse five, where the Antichrist, “the beast out of the sea has authority to act for forty-two months;” all of that’s clearly the last half of that seven year period. That along with the close connection of the end here, I think the twelve hundred and sixty days and that’s why they need God’s supernatural protection during this period of time.

I think, well, if the Antichrist is ruling, wouldn’t he kill these men? He can’t! Divinely, supernaturally God protected them like some of the Old Testament prophets, and that’s what we’ll see and that’s why they need the protection. During the first three and a half years, the nation Israel is functioning. They have a temple, they have sacrifices but during the last three and a half years, the devil is making his greatest attempt to destroy the Jews. You understand this is why the Jews are such an enemy of the devil. If he doesn’t destroy the Jews and they come to believe in Jesus as their Messiah, then the kingdom can be established on the earth and Christ can reign. If there are no Jews, there can be no fulfillment of the promise, so he will pour out his greatest wrath against the Jews during this last three and a half year period. We’ll see that in chapter 12 of Revelation, so they’ll prophesy three and a half years clothed in sackcloth. It’s a ministry of judgment; it’s a ministry calling them to repentance because of their sin.

Then, they are identified in verse four; these are “the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth.” Now remember the hundreds of references and allusions we have to the Old Testament, no quotes but hundreds of references and allusions. That’s why many people, when they get in the Book of Revelation, were just adrift because we don’t know much about the Old Testament. Just a reminder, Christ here is addressing this to the churches, and He is expecting us to know His word and so here, we have the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. Wonder who they are?

Well if you think, remember Zechariah chapter three and chapter four, that’s who they are. Come back to Zechariah. Stop in chapter two. I don’t believe we did this last week because of time. Zechariah chapter 2 verse one. “Then I lifted up my eyes and looked, and behold, there was a man with a measuring line in his hand.” Now remember what we just read in Revelation chapter 11 verse one, “John was given a reed to measure the temple, the altar and the worshipers.”

Here a man has a measuring line. “I said, ‘Where are you going?’ He said to me, ‘To measure Jerusalem’ . . . now remember what we said measuring was, he said, ‘. . . to see how wide it is, how long it is’” but the issue in measuring is not to get the physical dimensions, they knew that. It indicates they’re being measured for a purpose, like marking them off for protection in Revelation. Same thing here in Zechariah. At the end of verse four, Jerusalem, Zechariah 2:4. “Jerusalem will be inhabited without walls because of the multitude of men and cattle within it. For I,’ declares the Lord, ‘will be a wall of fire around her, I will be the glory in her midst.’” Verse 10, “Sing for joy and be glad O daughter of Zion; behold I am coming, I will dwell in your midst,’ declares the Lord” and on, so you see the measuring, the context is, it’s a similar context for what we had with Revelation and the apostle John, measure, there it was the temple. Why? Because I’m going to protect, this nation and they will come through, that’s what He is saying here, and they’ll be the ultimate realization, so what happens,
Zechariah has some previews, and there will be some preliminary events, in anticipating the final event, so when you come to chapter 3, “then He showed me Joshua,” still in Zechariah, “the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing to accuse him.”

There’s two key figures in chapters 3 and 4, Joshua the high priest and Zerubbabel the king, he’s not the king, he’s the governor but he’s the political leader and what you see here, we have the two offices in Israel, the ruler and the priest and remember under the law they could not be merged in one person. The high priest couldn’t serve as king; the king couldn’t serve as priest. When Saul intruded into the priest’s office he was removed from being king by God, so here you have these two offices. Now they anticipate the time when they will be brought together in one person. Christ is prophet, priest and king, so He is the priest after the order of Melchizedek and He is the Messiah of Israel.

There’s a picture of the ceremonial cleansing of Joshua, the high priest, so he can function as God wants him to, then you come down, we have been here, verse eight of chapter 3. Listen, Joshua the high priest, you and your friends who are sitting in front of you—indeed they are men who are a symbol, so here we got an indication. I’m using them to represent something greater; I am going to bring in My servant, the Branch, the sprout. Remember, in Isaiah’s prophecy, he prophesied that a root from the root of David would spring up and this picture in the prophets, it’s anticipating Christ, so they, two men representing the two divisions, the priesthood and the ruler ship.

The kingship will be merged together in the servant, the Branch, and you’ll note you have here the “stone with seven eyes” and we get the identification over in verse 10 of chapter 4. These are the “eyes of the Lord, which range to and fro on the face of the earth,” and in the context of this, we have seven lamps with seven spouts and all this putting together the oil, the eyes. Down in verse six of chapter 4, “Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,” says the Lord of hosts, so all of this is going to be accomplished and carried out by the work of the Spirit of God. Not by might not by power but by My Spirit, so we look at what’s going on in the world today. How can you be sure it’s all going to come out as God has said? That’s why it’s accomplished by His power, He doesn’t need an earthly army, He’s working.

We want to come down to verse 12 of chapter 4. “I answered the second time and said to him, ‘What are the two olive branches which are beside the two golden pipes, which empty the golden oil from themselves?’ He answered, ‘Do you not know what these are?’ I said, ‘No, my lord.’ ‘These are the two anointed ones who are standing by the Lord of the whole earth.’” That’s the reference, we have in Revelation chapter 11, “these are the two olive trees, and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth.” It’s just a reference back, verse 14; “these are the two anointed ones, who are standing before the Lord.” What are we talking about? The two olive branches and the two golden pipes for the lampstands, so you see the connection to the Old Testament?

Under Zerubbabel the temple will be rebuilt and become operational again in 519, destroyed in 586 and then will become operational, the rebuilt temple of Zerubbabel, which was the one expanded and greatly enhanced by Herod as we’ve talked about in New Testament times, so we’re not only anticipating and can see the kind of time. Israel under judgment but raised up to talk about and prepare for the coming of a rebuilt temple and witness the fulfillment of what God has promised, judgment but ultimate deliverance. So we saw Israel measured, the different visions that flow through Zechariah. We haven’t gone into them all, but they’re being measured because there’s judgment coming, there’s deliverance coming. We’ll be back as we move further in Revelation to the closing chapters of Zechariah, which are spectacular in unfolding events that are clarified further in Revelation.

All right, come back to Revelation 11, so, these are two witnesses who come to prophesy as God’s spokesman, during this last three and a half year period. They stand before the Lord of the earth, a reminder judgment is coming on the earth but God is the one sovereign over the earth. People wonder, “well, I don’t know how they could survive in light of what we’re going to talk about with what the Antichrist is doing and his power,” but the reason is clear, verse five. If anyone wants to harm them, fire flows out of their mouth and devours their enemies; so “if anyone wants to harm them he must be killed in this way,” so it’s pretty simple. Anybody who tries to kill them—I almost said is toast—is burnt up.

Come back to Second Kings. This connects to the ministry of Elijah; 2 Kings Chapter 1, it’s in chapter two where Elijah will be taken to heaven in the whirlwind. He’s one of the men who won’t die along with Enoch but in chapter 1, the king of Israel, Ahaziah, wants to send his men because he’s heard that Elijah has given a prophecy about him and it wasn’t good, so he sends a contingent of fifty soldiers with a captain. You bring Elijah in, that ought to be enough for one scraggily prophet, “so the king,” verse nine, 2 Kings 1, the king “sent him a captain of fifty with his fifty, they went up and Elijah is sitting on the top of a hill, and the captain gives an authoritative command. ‘O man of God,’ the king says, ‘Come down’” and Elijah has a word for him. “Elijah replied to the captain of fifty, ‘If I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty.’”

“Fire came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty,” so I think when it says fire comes out of their mouth, it doesn’t have to mean like a dragon fire, but it’s the word of God. He calls down fire so that’s why they can survive during this time. “The king,” they don’t come back, “so he says, ‘I’ll send another fifty,’” so he goes, the next man comes and we have the same thing repeated. Elijah come down. Fire come down from heaven and consume you, so you get to verse 13, “and he sent again a captain of a third fifty with his fifty” and you see a change of attitude here. When the third captain of fifty went up, he came and “bowed down on his knees before Elijah and begged him, please spare my life.” You know, I’m stuck here, if I don’t bring you back the king will kill me. I’m filling in the details that weren’t recorded for you, so he can’t go back to the king and say I was afraid, to bring Elijah, and if I try to bring you Elijah, you’ll burn me up, so have mercy on me, so you can see despairing.

Let’s see, go back to Numbers chapter 16. God did this with Korah, and the men associated with him. Remember, Korah decided that he didn’t approve of God’s selection of Moses and Aaron so that he thought that he and his friends ought to assume their role of leadership and the priesthood and so on, so the earth opened up and swallowed Korah. Then, he had 250 men of renown who agreed with him, so verse 35 of chapter 16 in Numbers, “fire also came forth from the Lord and consumed the two hundred and fifty men who were offering the incense," so this kind of response in the context of God’s appointed witnesses, and Moses was a prophet also. He doesn’t himself personally necessarily call the fire, but you can see God’s action in preserving and protecting Moses and Aaron on this case. Not only the opening up of the earth but the fire consuming the rest.

Come over to Jeremiah, chapter 5 and there’s not literal fire here but it tells you something about the effectiveness of God’s word, and Jeremiah, there’s a reason he’s called the “weeping prophet.” The appearance of a prophet in Israel is always an indication of judgment. It just is, so these prophets in Revelation come into Israel, what? Because it’s a time of judgment for Israel, for their unbelief. Jeremiah, the Babylonian captivity, so in chapter 5 of Jeremiah, verse 14. “Therefore, thus says the Lord, the God of hosts, ‘Because you have spoken this word, behold I am making My words in your mouth fire and this people wood, it will consume them,’” so it’s the destruction that comes. He’s not going to call fire down from heaven literally on this occasion but it is because Israel has rejected the word of the prophets. Verse 12 while you’re here. “They have lied about the Lord and said, ‘Not He; misfortune will not come on us, we will not see sword or famine. The prophets are as wind, the word is not in them. Thus it will be done to them,’” so, Jeremiah, I’m making your words fire. I’m going to bring the judgment on them that you prophesy because they’ve rejected my prophetic word up to this point. They say the prophets are windbags, they’re wind, blowhards, what they say is not true. Well Jeremiah, you’re words are going to come true and they do. In Jeremiah’s day the Babylonians conquer, the southern kingdom and the destruction takes place, so that picture.

Come back, God’s word will be fulfilled, it will be done, there is no escaping it so these men are preserved. They have the power, verse six of Revelation; they have power to shut up the sky so that rain will not fall during the days of their prophesying. That also happened during Elijah’s ministry, we’ll see that in our next study, we won’t go back there because of time but Elijah brought a drought, no rain on Israel for you know how long? Forty-two months, (1,260 days; three and a half years), so there’s a similarity of Elijah’s prophetic ministry in this area of judgment. A set up so there was no rain for the days of their prophesying and they’re going to prophesy for twelve hundred and sixty days and they have the power over the waters that turn them into blood.

Remember Moses in Exodus 7…. he turned the waters in Egypt to blood, and struck the earth with every plague and again a connection to Moses’ ministry when delivering Israel. There were plagues brought on them. They even have greater liberty than Moses had. Moses was sent with specific plagues, one after another, these men have the power to bring these plagues, at the end of verse six, “as often as they please.” That doesn’t mean on their own, because they’re men empowered by the Spirit. They stand before the Lord, they are His representatives and they are empowered by Him, so that’s why they’ll survive for three and a half years, but they won’t survive everything, because after three and a half years they’re going to die, so we have to wait for that until next time.

We’ll look at the connection to the different prophets in the Old Testament and Joshua and Zerubbabel and sort through who these men may be, but their ministry is clear whoever they are. You know how gracious God is, He brings a message of judgment, He brings a message of salvation; people ignore it. We’re hard in our sin! Let me just review with what we’ve looked at in verses three to six, so if you’ve got the list there.

Number one, in the last half of the Tribulation, God will have two prophets who witness for Him. God is merciful; He just doesn’t withdraw His word and bring judgment. He brings His prophets to tell them of what is happening, why it’s happening and what is going to happen and there is deliverance. There is a Savior that was rejected, but He can cleanse you and prepare you, so God will have two prophets witness for Him, and I take it in Jerusalem, because that’s the focal point where we are. Remember, seventy sevens are determined upon your people Daniel, the Jews and your holy city, the Jerusalem in Daniel 9.

Secondly, They will be empowered by the Holy Spirit, like Joshua and Zerubbabel, and you read those if you haven’t read the whole chapters, sometime sit down and read, Zechariah chapters three and four. You get connected, it’s “not by might nor by power but by My Spirit says the Lord,” and the Spirit enabling power to accomplish their ministry, and they will be able to call down fire on their enemies like Elijah but the reference there for 2 Kings 1:9-15 with Elijah.

Number three, they will be able to stop the rain for three and a half years like Elijah. That’s recorded in First Kings, chapter 17 verse 1 and referred to in the other references I’ve listed there for you. Luke 4:25, James 5:17, so you see the connection to Old Testament ministries.

Number four, they’ll be able to turn water to blood like Moses in Exodus 7 and they’ll be able to smite the earth with all kinds of plagues similar to Moses in Exodus chapters 7 to 12.

Awesome time ahead, a time of judgment. Remember, as we talk about this last three and a half year period, it is going to be the worst ever. Jesus said when you get to the middle of that period and the indication of the middle, you Jews better run and hide wherever you can. Then there’s going to be persecution like there has never been since the creation of the world and with that there’s going to be judgments on the world like there has not been. So we’ve seen over half the earth’s population destroyed already by the time we get to the middle, about 3.5 billion people. Now we’re ready for the serious, really bad stuff. It’s hard to imagine, and now the tables turn for Israel. It really turns negative and there’ll be joy when we get to chapter 14. We’ll see 144,000 Jews in anticipation of Christ standing on Mount Zion, standing with Him, we saw them sealed in that chapter 7.

God is merciful and He brings salvation, even in judgment, but why would you want that? I can’t understand. God offers salvation freely as a gift today. “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, in order that whosoever believes in Him will not perish, but will have everlasting life.” I’m not interested; I’ve a lot of things on my mind, everybody has their own view. Well, why would you reject God’s salvation because everybody else is being a fool? God is merciful. People say, “oh, I don’t think God would do those terrible things[C11].” Well, you won’t believe in Him when He’s doing these gracious things and you’re blessed so much, you hardly have time to listen to Him and you won’t believe. What do you do with a person who won’t quit doing the wrong thing?

You have to bring the necessary punishment. People who persist in rebelling, you know what God says in Romans chapter 2; “you continue to reject the kindness and the grace of God, you’re just storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath.” There are no alternatives, either you place your faith in Christ and are rescued from condemnation, or you continue on your course and it will culminate in hell. How gracious God is that we can sit here, read His word, hear what He says—“all have sinned and have come short of the glory of God, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ.” Why isn’t everybody saying I agree with you God, I am a sinner, I deserve judgment, I deserve condemnation but I believe what You’ve said is true, Christ died to pay the penalty for my sin, I don’t have to pay that penalty, He paid it. I place my faith in Him. When you do, you’re cleansed, you’re forgiven. You become a child of God for time and eternity. Let’s pray together.

Thank you Lord, for Your grace for Your patience. Even our being gathered today is another testimony of Your patience. You’re not willing that any should perish but that all should come to a knowledge of the truth and we can sit here together, open Your word, which is truth and hear what You have said, be told of the offer of Your grace of free salvation. The penalty’s been paid, the price has been paid, we can simply receive it by faith in Christ. I pray for any who are here. Lord, you know our hearts. They may have sat here for a long time; they may have been here a short time, but Lord, they’ve never trusted You. May this be a day of salvation for them and Lord for those of us who have, may we never become distracted and caught up in the things and activities of this world and lose our perspective. This world is not our home, we are destined for a glorious kingdom, but we are here, to witness and testify as Your representatives, to tell others of life in Christ. I pray You will use us to that end in the day before us. In Christ’s name. Amen.





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