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[0:00] But do not measure the court outside the temple. Leave that out. For it is given over to the nations, and they will trample the holy city for 42 months.

[0:16] And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1260 days clothed in sackcloth. These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth.

[0:34] And if anyone would harm them, fire pours from their mouth and consumes their foes. If anyone would harm them, this is how he is doomed to be killed.

[0:49] They have the power to shut up the sky so that no rain may fall during the days of their prophesying. And they have power over the waters to turn them into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague as often as they desire.

[1:09] And when they have finished their testimony, the beast, the one that rises from the bottomless pit, the abyss, he will make war on them and conquer them and kill them.

[1:26] And their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city that symbolically is called Sodom and Egypt, where their Lord was crucified.

[1:37] For three and a half days, some of the peoples of the tribes and languages and nations will gaze at their dead body and refuse to let them be placed in a tomb.

[1:51] And those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and make merry and exchange presents because these two prophets had been a torment to those who dwell on the earth.

[2:06] But after the three and a half days, a breath of life from God entered them and they stood up on their feet and great fear fell on those who saw them.

[2:22] Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, come up here. And they went up to heaven in a cloud and their enemies watched them.

[2:37] And at that hour, there was a great earthquake and a tenth of the city fell. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.

[2:58] The second woe has passed. Behold, look out. The third woe is soon to come.

[3:09] So it reads. Let us pray. Father, grant us your grace today as we go through all of this. Help us to see the picture you want us to see.

[3:20] There are a lot of different details here, Father. Help us to see the picture you want us to grab hold of.

[3:31] What is it here that you want us to hear? And what is it here that you want us to keep to apply? So, Father, help us to hear from you.

[3:46] Give us ears to hear and particularly give us hearts to receive what you have for us today. We pray this in Christ's name. Amen. Please be seated.

[4:05] Okay, are you good? You got it? Go on to chapter 12. Okay, Claire's mud. So I came across this story about witness.

[4:20] A minister was making a... There's trouble right there. A minister was making a wooden trellis to support his climbing vine. As he pounded away, he noticed that a little boy was watching him.

[4:34] Now, the youngster didn't say a word, but just... So the preacher just kept on working, thinking that the lad would leave, but he didn't. Pleased at the thought that his work was being admired.

[4:47] The pastor said, Well, son, trying to pick up some pointers on gardening? No, said the boy. I'm just waiting to hear what the preacher says when he hits his thumb with the hammer.

[5:03] Our witness. Our witness. People are watching. Not just the preacher. Makes me nervous if they're watching the preacher when he hits his thumb with the hammer.

[5:19] What's he really like? Here in this chapter, we are told of two witnesses. If they represent the church throughout time, which is what I am led to believe, this passage indeed speaks to us right now.

[5:45] It tells of our own situation, not some far distant thing with two irrelevant people that we don't even know. Jesus has called us to himself, and then he says, He says, Follow me, and I will make you what?

[6:04] Fishers of men. You follow me, I'll do the right. I'll prepare you to fish. I'll prepare you to witness. You are my witness.

[6:15] I will send you to witness. As I, as the Father sent me, I send you. Not two distant guys, you.

[6:27] Okay? We've already seen that the churches are represented by the picture of lampstands. We saw that in chapter one. The seven lampstands that Jesus is walking amongst.

[6:40] Remember, Jesus said, Those seven lampstands are the seven churches, which represent all the churches. Seven being fullness. It wasn't just seven churches in the first century.

[6:50] There was a whole bunch of churches, but he chose seven to be representative. Not just of the first century, but of every century. As we walked through those seven churches, we saw, oh, yeah, we're kind of like that.

[7:02] We're kind of like that. Oh, I hope we're not like that. We see what Jesus wants and what he's looking for. And it's not, he's not looking for what most churches show off the most.

[7:14] He's looking for faithfulness, faithful teaching, right? Endurance. How you doing under the pressure? Yeah, that's what he's looking for.

[7:26] Not what the world looks for. He's only concerned about certain things. So we saw that the church is lampstands. They're shining in a dark world.

[7:37] That's how Jesus sees us. That's the picture of revelation. Churches are lampstands. They are lights. Just as Jesus told his disciples, you are the salt of the earth.

[7:48] You are the light of the world. Not you individually. You collectively. You as my 12. You as my church. You are the light. By ourselves, we get kind of dim sometimes, don't we?

[8:01] But together, we make a light. And that's how he said it. You, together, are the light of the world. So, let your light shine.

[8:14] Allow it to shine. Don't hide it. Let it shine. Little children's song, right? Let it shine. Let it shine. Okay. Let your light shine.

[8:25] How? In such a way that they, the world, see your good works. So, in other words, don't hide your good works. Do your good work. But do it in such a way that they see your good works, but what?

[8:40] Glorify your Father. They say, oh, there's a connection here. It's not just you. It's you connected to your Father.

[8:51] Oh, you look like your Father. Your grace, your patience, your kindness, your joy, and suffering. Yeah? So, that's what Jesus calls us to.

[9:03] So, this is a message, really, not to get lost in the details, but to ask ourselves, do I give witness to God's grace in me by my works, by my deeds?

[9:19] Do I sometimes use words, words, if necessary? Do those represent Christ? Do you think about it? I've been thinking about it a lot more, more consciously, more circumspectly, when I go somewhere.

[9:36] In fact, I like to throw out little words, you know, little sayings, just to see if it sticks. How you doing with all this COVID thing? My king's on his throne, how are you doing?

[9:50] What? Yeah, that's right. Just to see, just to throw stuff out, just, that, that's me.

[10:03] You are my witnesses of what? The gospel. You are my witnesses of, what's the gospel again? Four things, right? God, man, Christ, response, or faith.

[10:16] God, who's God? I'm a witness of who God is. I testify how excellent he is. I testify that he is loving, and gracious, and kind, and compassionate, and forgiving.

[10:29] But that's not all he is. He's also holy, and righteous, and a judge.

[10:42] He's all of that. Well, I just want the part that I can work with. Because if that's who God is, then who am I? Well, you know, he's holy, righteous, and good.

[10:54] He does not allow the guilty to go and punish. So, who am I? I'm the guilty. So, how do I get along?

[11:05] How do I get the forgiveness side? How do I get the kind side? Because, right? Who's God? I witness to who God is. Not just the, not just the, the seeker-friendly kind of God.

[11:17] I have to witness to who he is. That's what revelation is showing us. This righteous God who will make things right, who will not tolerate evil forever.

[11:33] He's doing it because he's patient, because he is gracious. He's tolerating it. So, how does he resolve that issue between he's a holy God and he's a loving God?

[11:45] How does he resolve that? Well, that's what we have on the cross, isn't it? He sends his son. God so loves the world that he sends his son to be the solution for that, to take our sin and to pay our debt.

[11:59] Right? That's the gospel. For God so loved the world that he gave his only son so that what? Whoever what? Whoever believes.

[12:10] So, that's that fourth part, right? We got God, man, Christ, belief. So, Christ is the answer, I believe. Because, there's bad news, but there's good news.

[12:25] That's the gospel. Before Jesus, it's bad news. With Jesus, it's good news. That's what we tell people. That's what we share when we have the opportunity.

[12:36] That's what we live. So, Revelation 11, here we go. Here we go. Now, I want you to remember that Revelation 10 and 11 come between, remember, we're going through seal judgments, right?

[12:52] And then the trumpet judgments. We're in the middle of the trumpet. Well, actually, we're toward the end of the trumpets. We've gone through six trumpets. Chapter 8 and chapter 9 of Revelation were the first six trumpets.

[13:04] The first four and then the last three are distinguished as escalation, as woes now, right? So, in between the sixth and the seventh trumpet come these two messages.

[13:18] Another interlude. Just like with the seal judgments, there was an interlude between the sixth and the seventh seal. There was an interlude that asked the question, well, all these things are, all this tribulation's happening, what about the believers?

[13:32] What are they, are they safe? Are they, are they going to be killed? What happens to them? So chapter 7 answers that, right? He gives us two pictures of the church. The ones on earth, they're sealed. They're protected.

[13:43] That doesn't mean they don't get killed. They're sealed spiritually. And then, they're also those who are in heaven. So chapter 7 kind of answers that in two ways.

[13:54] Chapter 10 and 11 does the same thing. Because again, we're asking in between these two chapters, what about the Christians? All this stuff's coming. What about Christians?

[14:07] What about the church? Okay, so again, he's answering some of those questions, I believe. Now, before we jump into everything, I want you to notice a couple of things.

[14:19] There are the, first time we're introduced to certain measurements of time. Okay, verse 2, we're told that there's 42 months. 42 months that the outer court of the temple is trampled by the nations.

[14:34] Okay, 42 months. What's 42 months? Well, if you add up 42 months, it's something over three years, isn't it? Three and a half. Three and a half. Oh, interesting. It's three and a half.

[14:46] Okay. But, it's not told, we're not told three and a half, we're told 42 months. Okay, why say it that way? Now, we have the same phrase, 42 months, in chapter 13, verse 5, that describes the time that the beast is given authority, right, to war on the saints.

[15:11] To conquer them and to kill them. a phrase we see later in this chapter. Okay? So, is that the same 42 months?

[15:21] Is that the 42 months here and 42 months? Is it? I don't know. Is it? Then, the second phrase we have in verse 3 talks about, not 42 months, but now it says 1260 days.

[15:36] Okay, come on. 1260 days. That's how long the two witnesses, whoever they are, that's how long they have authority, power, to prophesy.

[15:51] 1260 days. Well, what's 1260 days? It's 42 months. But wait a minute. Wait a minute.

[16:02] Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. 365 a year. So, if we use our calendar, it doesn't work. No, you're fine doing it. Doesn't work.

[16:14] Some reason, they in the first century don't use our calendar. I don't know why. So, they go by 30 days a month. So, 30 days a month times 42 is 1260 or three and a half years.

[16:32] Daniel likes to make it fun because in Daniel, he calls it, he doesn't use any of those. The real phrase is time, times, and time and a half. So, three and a half times. Revelation is going to pick that up too.

[16:45] So, why all these different things? So, 1260 days. Okay, we see that exact phrase once again in chapter 12 where the offspring of the woman, the woman, by the way, who births the Messiah, the offspring of the woman and her son, who's caught up to heaven, by the way.

[17:06] Oh, yeah, that's Jesus. So, the offspring of the woman who are related to Jesus, that means Christians. Okay, so the offspring of the women are what? In 12, 6, they are nourished by God in the wilderness to be protected from the beast.

[17:24] 1260 days. Same time that the two witnesses have power and authority to witness. Hmm. Protected, protected. Is that the same period? Are these two different things?

[17:36] What's going on? Are the two witnesses the same as the offspring of, or are they different? Well, whatever commentary you read, you get a different view.

[17:50] So, I'm just going to tell you what's right. No, just hang with me. All right, I recognize there are many different views. What you have to do is, okay, what makes the most sense of the data that we have?

[18:03] What's most likely? Okay, so that's what we're dealing with. What's most probable? Okay? My understanding, my, and I know whoever, but I think it's metaphors.

[18:17] I think these are two metaphors of the church. I think the, the first two verses is a metaphor of the, of the church who, who is measured, church called the temple, and that these two witnesses is another picture, another metaphor, another parable, another symbolic portrayal of the church.

[18:37] Okay? So let me, let me show you how. You okay? If I can do that. All right. So, two metaphors. Chapter 11, verses one and two, the metaphor of, he talks about a measuring rod, measuring the temple, the altar, and the people.

[18:55] Okay? So measuring the temple. That's the first measurement of the temple altar. You can't just say temple. Temple, altar, and people. He's measuring all three. I think it's a picture of the church being protected.

[19:07] On, in a spiritual sense, but in earth, whereas the outer temple, the outer court, which is also called the holy city, that's vulnerable on earth.

[19:21] It's not measured. It's not protected. It's not, okay? So, and then the second metaphor, verses three through 13, about the two witnesses. Who are they? Okay, so metaphor number one.

[19:32] In the temple, in verses one and two, this temple altar worship picture, I believe we see the church who is secure in heaven before God, who is spiritually safe with God, yet physically vulnerable and suffering on earth.

[19:54] Just like chapter seven. They're protected, going through tribulation on earth, protected spiritually. We have the Holy Spirit protected spiritually, yet vulnerable.

[20:05] Because here we have later the two witnesses who are, who are like invincible and then they are, when their time's up, killed. When God says, you're done.

[20:18] Till then, you're invincible. Okay, so I think that's what we have here. So, let's look at these things. First of all, verse one, we have the measurement.

[20:29] He's told, he's given. Now, John's again, once again, participating in the vision. Remember in chapter 10, he was participating. Remember, there's the scroll and he's to take the scroll and then he's to eat the scroll, remember, and it's sweet and bitter all at the same time.

[20:43] And then he's told, here's what you're to do. You've eaten the scroll. Now, what you're going to do is you're going to preach it. Now, you're going to preach it. Now, you're going to proclaim, you're going to prophesy. Okay, so now, in chapter 11, now he's got it.

[20:57] Now, it's not a scroll. Now, he's given a measuring rod. Now, you need to do something. I want you to go to the temple and rise and measure the temple of God and the altar and those who worship there.

[21:10] Measure those three things. So, what's measuring? You ever build something? Talk about pastors building things. I've been building stuff and measuring stuff and falling off ladders.

[21:25] So, but measure. It's like, what are you doing when you're measuring? Now, we've got to be careful not to read in what we think measure means to the biblical, but just what's measuring. So, I measure, okay, I'm going to make this.

[21:37] It's going to be this wide. It's going to be this deep. It's going to be this high. All right, so, what am I making here? What am I defining by that? What am I identifying?

[21:50] Right? So, so measurement, I think means defining what's included. So, I'm measuring the temple. What is the temple?

[22:03] Right? What is the identity of the temple? And here, we're told in verse one, it's just the temple building. You're thinking of the Holy of Holies, right?

[22:13] We think of a building. Of course, he's not, and then the altar, right? Which is in the temple and then the worshipers. But in verse two, he's told, don't, don't do the outer court.

[22:26] So, it's just the built. So, we think of the building, right? Remember the temple, the tabernacle had two parts. It had the building, which was the holy place and then the Holy of Holies, right? Big building there.

[22:37] That's where the bread and the lamp stand and the altar of incense and the veil, remember? And then inside is the Holy of Holies where the ark sat, the chair of being, right?

[22:49] The mercy seat, the throne of God. Okay? So, outside the temple, that's where everyone congregates. So, he's saying, don't do the outside, just do the temple.

[23:05] So, the same kind of thing happens in the book of Ezekiel. Want to have some fun? Read Ezekiel. Particularly chapters 40 to 48, so the very end, because he's given a vision of the end and he's given a vision of the temple at the end.

[23:21] And again, he's told to measure. Ezekiel's told to measure too. Measure the temple. But there, in Ezekiel, he's measuring everything. Inside, outside, measure everything.

[23:34] And then the message is, in Ezekiel, that this is the presence of the Lord. So, whatever he's measured is the presence of God.

[23:45] So, it's defining where God is. Okay? It's defining what is God's, where is his presence, and therefore, his protection, and who are his people.

[24:00] That's what measuring is doing. So, remember, he's measuring three things. He's measuring the temple, he's measuring the altar of sacrifice, and the worshipers.

[24:11] How do you measure the worshipers? Well, this guy's, you know, this guy's 5'6". This guy used to be 5'7". Now, he's 5'7". No. Is that what he's doing? So, it's a symbol of security.

[24:28] They are spiritually secure. The temple, the altar, the worshipers are spiritually secure. They belong to God. That's where God's presence is.

[24:39] Nothing can touch them. Okay? They're not vulnerable in some sense. So, what is the temple? Okay, so let's, what is the temple?

[24:51] What does he mean by the temple? Which temple is he talking about? Is he talking about the earthly temple that was on earth? If he's talking about the temple that was on earth, this letter would have had to have been written before 70 A.D.

[25:02] because by 70 A.D., it was crushed and demolished and never rebuilt. Okay? So, it's, and it's very, very improbable that this letter was written that early.

[25:15] It doesn't bear the marks of that. This letter was written in the 90s, 90, 95, very end of the century. John is very old. He's old. Which means he was really young when he was a disciple of Jesus, probably a teenager when he was following Jesus.

[25:31] That's another insight, isn't it? Interesting. So, is it the earthly temple?

[25:41] Maybe, no, probably not. So, is it a heavenly temple? Well, maybe. Oh, is it the future temple? Okay, there's a lot of people that think it's the future.

[25:55] It's going to be a rebuilt temple on the Temple Mount. We know that the Jews are already, they already have a, a shop where they're making, where they have made almost all of the temple furniture, the lamps.

[26:08] I've seen the lampstand and the ephod when it wasn't finished then. And they're, you know, they're doing all that. They're, they're planning to retake the Temple Mount and rebuild the temple. Okay? Possible.

[26:20] I don't know why God would do that because it's going backwards, offering animal sacrifices when Christ has fulfilled it. But, God can do whatever He wants, right? And He might have a reason to do that.

[26:31] That's fine. I, I just think it's improbable. But that's possible. The other option is, well, what's the temple? So there's an earthly one, there's a heavenly one, there's a, there's a, Christ said, I'm the temple.

[26:43] Destroy this temple and in three days I will rise, right? Or three days I will rebuild it. And they say, oh, He claims to build, destroy and build the temple three days. He was talking about His body. So He was a temple.

[26:55] But then He transfers that to the church. Now we're the temple. The New Testament says that several places. We are the temple. We are the spiritual house where we offer up spiritual sacrifices to God.

[27:11] So you could say, and I believe this is right, that He measures the temple. That's the church. He measures the altar. That's also the church because we are living sacrifices.

[27:26] And we've already connected the altar with the saints, the souls of the saints who are praying, right? We've already got that connection in Revelation. And then obviously we're the worshipers. So I think it's just three different pictures of the same church where I'm going.

[27:42] All refer to the believers whose life is in Jesus. Remember Colossians 2 says, your life's already with Christ. Ephesians 2 says, you've been, you were dead, right?

[27:53] Now you've been, by grace, you've been made alive. And that's not all. You've also been raised up with Christ. And you've been seated with Christ.

[28:05] Not will be. He says, you already have been. So there's a spiritual sense where we're already there. We're already in the temple without walls, without veils.

[28:20] We're already in the temple spiritually. We're already good. but there's a, so part of us here, still vulnerable, still to go through.

[28:37] I think that's what this is saying. Listen to how Peter says in 1 Peter 2. He says, as you come to him, to Jesus, a living stone rejected by men, but in the sight of God, choice and precious.

[28:50] You, you yourselves, not you individually, you as a church, you yourselves, like living stones, are being built up as a, what? A spiritual house.

[29:03] Your rocks are being put together as a spiritual house. To do what? To be a holy priesthood. Did you know you're a priest? I thought that was, you know, I thought, yeah, you're all, if you're a Christian, you're a priest.

[29:19] Period. Not like you think. Different kind. Right? Okay? To do what? Am I a priest? Well, to offer spiritual sacrifices. Oh, that's my prayers. That's my gifts.

[29:30] That's my deeds. To offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Then he proves it from Scripture.

[29:42] He says, for it stands in Scripture. Behold, I'm laying in Zion a stone, a rock, a cornerstone chosen and precious. Whoever believes in him, see, it's not just a physical stone, it's a person.

[29:55] Whoever believes in him will not be put to shame. So the honor is for you who believe. But for those who do not believe, there's a consequence.

[30:07] The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. And a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.

[30:18] Jesus is offensive, is he not? He's loving. Right? He's compassionate. But he's also offensive because he calls us out. And he says, we must come to him or die.

[30:33] Right? So the rock of offense. They stumble. Why? Because they disobey the word, the word that Jesus spoke. As they're destined to do. But you, you, here's your identity. You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood.

[30:46] Two terms put together. Royal king. You're a kingdom of priests. You're a royal priesthood. A holy nation. A people for God's own possession. What for?

[30:57] Why does he possess us? That you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. you are my witnesses. I've called you out.

[31:08] I've saved you. Now I'm sending you forth to proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into light.

[31:20] You're a lampstand. See? So, what is the trampling? Verse 2, what's that? In heaven, there is no outer court.

[31:31] There's just a temple, right? There's no veil anymore. Right? There's no walls. There's no actual walls of building anymore. It's just presence of God coming right in.

[31:41] Jesus is there who was, in a sense, a veil. He tore the veil by his flesh, right? So we now can enter right into the real temple. There is no outer temple.

[31:53] There's no need for an outer temple. There's no need for sacrifices in the sense of atonement. So, the true temple, we all have immediate access to God and Christ.

[32:07] But he's talking about 42 months that they're trampled. This outer court is trampled by the nations. So that means it's earthly. Now, if it's the nations, then it's on earth.

[32:22] So physically, the outer court is trampled. But then notice what he says, for it is given over. Don't measure the outside of the temple. Leave it out. For it is given over, God has given it over to the nations, the Gentiles.

[32:37] And they, the Gentiles, the nations, will trample the holy city. Wait a minute. I thought we were talking about the outer court. Now he calls it the holy city. The outer court is, right?

[32:48] He just changed the name. They will trample the holy city for 42 months. So what court, outer court are we talking about? We're not talking about the outer court of the physical temple or the Jews.

[33:02] We're talking about the holy city. Who's the holy city? According to Revelation 21, the holy city is coming down from heaven as a bride made ready.

[33:15] it's the church. The holy city is the new Jerusalem. Not a physical place, but a people. The holy city. They will trample the holy city.

[33:26] They will trample believers for 42 months. Okay? So, secure in heaven, vulnerable, suffering on earth.

[33:38] That's the picture. that's our life. You come to Christ, you are already in the temple, spiritually, you are spiritually secure, you're safe, your soul is safe, but until he takes you home physically, you're still vulnerable.

[33:57] You'll still be trampled. You'll be hated. You'll be shunned. You'll be mocked. Because people hate the life.

[34:11] Okay? So, the temple metaphor here, this picture, verse 1-2, we see the church secure in heaven, but suffering on earth. Now, we see a second metaphor in verses 3 and following, metaphor of the witnesses.

[34:25] Now, he says, and these are connected, so it's just, it's, don't measure that, that will be trampled. Verse 3, and I will grant authority. So, it's connected. It's not starting a whole new, it's, this is a connection, but a different picture.

[34:39] And I will give the two witnesses authority for 1260 days. So, here's what I think. These two witnesses, in these two witnesses, we see a metaphor of the church's powerful witness, which is patterned like Christ.

[34:55] It's a powerful witness. For those 1260 days, they are invincible. They are invincible. They are invincible. And then when they're done, just like Christ, they're killed.

[35:12] Their body lays for three days. Well, theirs is a little longer than Jesus. He laid three days in a tomb. They lay three and a half in the street. And then just like Jesus, they are raised, and they ascend to heaven.

[35:26] So, their ministry is powerful like Christ. Their ministry is suffering like Christ. Their ministry is victorious like Christ. They're also like some others.

[35:40] Maybe you picked up Elijah and Moses in this, in this, right? It's kind of like, that's why some people think, oh, those two, that's Moses and Elijah coming back. Well, that could be. So, this is the church's powerful witness pattern like Christ.

[35:52] So, who are these people? Who are they? So, two witnesses, a lot of people, a lot of evangelicals believe this is Moses and Elijah. Elijah never died, right? He went up in a whirlwind. So, he's got to die, right?

[36:03] He's got to come back and die. Or Enoch, maybe Enoch, maybe it's Enoch. Or Moses, it says he was buried, but what does that mean? Right? Nobody saw the body, nobody, you know, Moses.

[36:14] And then in the transfiguration, right, it's Moses and Elijah, the law and the prophets. It could be them. Got it. That's probable. I don't think it's the most probable, but it's probable.

[36:27] Because these guys are certainly Elijah-like and Moses-like. But they're also Christ-like. So, I don't know. Who are they? Are they two future prophets?

[36:38] Or is it possible, and I think it is, most probable, that they represent the church throughout the age? Now, so, no debate. Verse 4, John tells us exactly who they are.

[36:50] He tells us who they are. Are you wondering who they are? Well, he says, verse 4, oh, these, these guys, oh, I already know. These guys are the two olive trees. You know, the two lampstands. Yeah.

[37:02] That's who they are. Yeah. Got it. Right? No argument. Sure, John. Thanks. That helps a lot. Oh, they stand before the Lord of the earth. Okay.

[37:13] Well, actually, John is referring to something very specific. In fact, he uses the very words from Zechariah chapter 4. And Zechariah chapter 4 describes a vision that Zechariah had of a lampstand with seven lamps and two olive trees.

[37:33] So, let's read that. See what we get. Now, Zechariah, no, understand how this text applied at the time in the, about 500 and something BC.

[37:45] Okay. This is after the exile member Israel, Judah had been sent away to Babylon for 70 years. So, at the end of that time, they're starting to come back. The king is allowing them to start to come back.

[37:57] Zerubbabel's with the first group. Zerubbabel gets to come back and build the temple. After him will come Ezra, and Ezra will bring the law. And then will come Nehemiah, Nehemiah, you know, Nehemiah will come, and he's going to build the wall.

[38:12] Short wall, but it's a wall. No, sorry. Okay, so that's the time frame. Esther's in there. That's during the time when Esther's, you know, the Jews are saved. Right?

[38:22] They're about to be extinguished all over the 121 provinces of Persia. Okay? So, it's a dramatic time. So, the Jews are coming back. So, Zerubbabel's already come back, started to build the temple.

[38:35] So, this is when this vision comes. Zechariah 4, 2. He said to me, what do you see? I said, I see, and behold, a lampstand, all of gold, with a bowl on top of it, and seven lamps on it, with seven lips on each of the lamps that are on top of it.

[38:56] There's that seven again. And there are two olive trees by it, one on the left and one on the right, one on the right and one on the left. And so, I said to the angel who talked to me, I said, what are these, my Lord?

[39:10] The angel who talked with me, answered and said, do you know what these are? Interesting conversation. It's like, kind of like Jesus, you know, what are these, Lord? Do you know what they are?

[39:22] No. And again, no, I don't know. How do I know? I'm asking you. Right? So, no, my Lord. Then he said to me, here's what this means. This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel.

[39:38] Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord. What is he talking about? He says, who are you, O great mountain?

[39:50] He's talking about the enemy at the time. Before Zerubbabel, you shall become a plain. He's going to level it. And he shall bring forward the top stone amid shouts of grace, grace to it.

[40:05] Remember, he's building the temple. Okay? How are you going to do it, Zerubbabel? Not by might, not by power, but by the spirit. He started it.

[40:16] He's going to finish it. He's going to be lining the top stone of the temple with the shouts of grace. God, it's God, it's God.

[40:27] How did he do that? Everybody's against us. How did he build that temple? Okay? That's the picture. Okay? Then the word of the Lord came to me saying, the hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house.

[40:42] Talk about the temple. His hands shall also complete it. Then you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you. For whoever has despised the day of small things.

[40:54] So, Zerubbabel so far, right? Built the foundation. Not a big place. The temple wasn't very big, you know. Just the foundation. It's like, what's that? Small thing.

[41:05] Big deal. God's, God's church on earth. Ah, they're just a tiny little chapel. Not a big deal. They're not physically strong.

[41:18] Little thing. Little log thing. Little insignificance. So whoever despises the day of small things, it's going to change.

[41:31] They're going to rejoice. They shall see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel. He's building. It's more than a foundation. And now he's got the plumb line out. He's lining up, right? He's lining up the stones.

[41:43] Right? Remember the New Testament? Right? Right? How did the prophets build on the foundation of Christ? They had a plumb line. We line up with the cornerstone.

[41:56] Right? Remember that? But our teaching stays accurate with what Christ laid. He's got the plumb line. He's laying the house.

[42:08] It's not going to be all jumbly. It's going to be straight. Right? And so, he goes on.

[42:18] He says, These seven are the eyes of the Lord. Talking about the seven lamps. Which reigns throughout the earth. Remember, the eyes of the Lord also stand for the Spirit of God. So the sevenfold power of the Spirit here.

[42:30] Then I said to him, What? Okay, that's the lampstand. What about the olive trees? What's that? What's that? What are these two olive trees on the right and on the left of the lampstand?

[42:44] And a second time I answered. Apparently he didn't answer. A second time I answered and said to him, What are these two branches of the olive trees? Which are beside the two golden pipes from which the golden oil is poured out.

[43:00] But he said to me, Do you not know what these are? Again, Lord, no, I don't know. Then he said, These, these, these are the two anointed ones who stand by the Lord of the earth.

[43:14] That's almost an exact quote of Revelation 11 verse 4. These are the two anointed ones who stand by the Lord of the whole earth.

[43:25] So there you go. That's who the two witnesses are. They're two anointed ones. Okay. We're good. Sorry.

[43:37] I know. It's like, I want a better answer than that. Okay. So I have to dig. We have to dig a little bit. We have to understand a little bit. So here's the picture. Okay. Lampstand.

[43:47] He talks about two lampstands. Zechariah just had one lampstand. But on that lampstand is a bowl for the oil. And then there's the seven, there's the branches going out to the oil. And then there's the seven lamps.

[44:02] Right? Seven lamps. So we do have the seven lamps. Spirit filled lamps. And then we have the olive trees on either side. And what do you, what fuels the lamps to burn?

[44:17] Oil. Olive oil. Mount of Olives, where they made olive oil. Gethsemane, where Jesus stayed, was the olive press.

[44:34] By the way, it's underground, not above here. Been there. Cool. Nobody goes there. It's really cool. Yeah.

[44:45] That's where they stayed. So, so, so olive. So, so the picture, here's the, the oil's coming in constantly. Constantly supplied for the lamps that burn.

[44:58] The burning by the power of the spirit. Oil. What's oil? It's the power. It's the source. They're constantly supplied. Again, spirit, spirit, spirit, spirit, spirit to the stand.

[45:12] That's the picture. So how does it apply? In that century, back in 500 BC, it applied to Zerubbabel. Obviously, he's mentioned. Zerubbabel, this is about you.

[45:23] You're not going to do it by, you're not going to finish the temple by, by might or by power. You're going to do it by the spirit. It's going to be supernatural. That's where you'll get the strength. The, the oil will just keep coming and you'll keep building.

[45:34] And, and that's, no one's going to stop you. You're one of the witnesses. You're one of the anointed ones. Zerubbabel. By the way, anybody know who Zerubbabel is?

[45:45] Besides, do you know how to spell it? No. Anybody know who Zerubbabel is? He's the grandson of the last king of Israel. I mean, of Judah. He's in, he's mentioned in the line of Christ.

[46:00] He is the bloodline of Jesus Christ. He is the royal line. He is the king. Now he's not king on a throne, but he's king.

[46:13] He's the king. He builds the house. My king will build. Remember he said to David, my, my son will build the house. Well, here's another. Solomon built one and Zerubbabel was also a son of David.

[46:25] He built one. Oh, then there's Jesus. He built a whole different kind. Right? But a temple. So Zerubbabel is one. And then in chapter three of, of Zechariah, it talks about the priest.

[46:38] The priest is Joshua. He's the high priest. And in chapter three, Joshua's a mess. He's all dirty. He's all sinful. And he gets cleaned up.

[46:50] He's cleaned up so he can be a priest. Okay? So there's the two witnesses in, in the time of Zechariah. It's Zerubbabel and Joshua, the king and the priest, the dual identity of the church, because Christ has made us to be what?

[47:07] Revelation chapter one, verse six. He has made us to be a kingdom, comma, priests.

[47:19] He's made us king, priests. He says the same thing about the church in chapter five, verse 10. Peter just said it in second Peter, first Peter chapter two.

[47:32] We are a royal priesthood. Okay? That's who the church is. I think when he talks about two witnesses, I think it's talking about the dual nature of the church, the dual identity of the church.

[47:47] As like Zerubbabel and Joshua, we are king, priests. Okay? Priests that get dirty and need to be cleaned. Oh, kings that aren't really, you know, like David on the throne, but king, king, king, king, inheriting kingdom.

[48:03] I think that's, I think that's what it's talking about. So, notice that, that in verse five and six, they're invincible, right?

[48:16] I mean, if anyone tries to harm them, verse five, what happens? Fire comes out of the mouth and consumes their foes. If anyone tries to harm them, this is how he's doomed to earth, doomed to be killed.

[48:30] Verse five, verse six, they have power to shut up the sky so that no rain may fall in the days of their prophesying. That sounds exactly like Elijah. Elijah for three and a half years, right?

[48:41] Prayed and shut up the sky. There was no rain for three and a half years. That's Elijah. That's gotta be Elijah. And then the next one, oh, what does the next one do? They also have power over the waters to turn them into blood.

[48:55] Well, who did that? Moses, yeah. And what else? And he also struck the earth with every kind of plague. That's Moses. So it's clearly, you know, and this is where our good friends who have this view that it's two literal prophets, it's Moses and Elijah.

[49:13] Get it. That's, that's, that makes, that is probable. I, I just don't think that's something we're keeping. That makes it irrelevant to me.

[49:25] That doesn't mean that's not right. I'm just saying, here's the whole purpose of the book. It's soon, not far distant. It's now. These, these seals and trumpets are from the time of Christ until the end.

[49:40] I'm convinced this is us. See, I'm not that powerful. Not, not talking about literal fire coming from your mouth.

[49:55] Okay. Not talking about literal water becoming blood. That was Moses. This is different. It's from the mouth. What comes from the mouth?

[50:07] Words. Your witness. Your words. Your words. The words given by the spirit, empowered by the spirit, are power.

[50:20] They give life. And they also give death. Your word is your witness. Two witnesses, right?

[50:31] So in a legal procedure, you need at least two or three witnesses, right? Here we have two. That's enough. Jesus said, if your brother sins, go to him privately.

[50:44] Don't tell anybody. Just go. Try to win your brother. If he doesn't listen to you, if he doesn't listen to you, here's what you do. You're going to take two witnesses. Why?

[50:55] Is this a legal matter? No. They're there to make sure that all the evidence is right. that what you're saying is accurate, that what they're hearing. They're not coming, ganging out.

[51:06] They're there to witness the process of discipline. Are you being fair? Are you stretching? Are you, right? Brother, you need to just back off.

[51:19] Or, brother, you need to hear. Okay? They're there to witness. Here again, we have two witnesses. What are they witnessing? Their words going out, and there's a result of judgment if their words are heard or if their words are ignored.

[51:37] If their words are ignored, what's the incident? Fire comes, judgment, and death. If you do not listen to the words of the Spirit, what is the consequence?

[51:50] Judgment, and death. Jesus told us that. Remember? John chapter 3. We love this verse. For God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

[52:03] There's the good news. Here comes the bad news. For God, they're still explaining God loving the world. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world. He didn't send us to do that either.

[52:16] Our mission is not judgmental, but its result is judgmental. But in order that the world might be saved through him, whoever believes in him is not condemned.

[52:30] There you go. Passes out a judgment in the life. Whoever does not believe him, however, is what? Condemned already.

[52:45] I'm the witness. I'm giving the message. The response to that message determines whether they are not condemned or condemned. And the response is not about works.

[52:57] The response is, do I believe it or do I not? Jesus says, I didn't come to condemn, but if you reject my word, you're already condemned. I haven't condemned you.

[53:08] I've just told you the basis. My witness is the judge. Jesus goes on. They're condemned already. Why? Because he's not believed in the name of the only son of God.

[53:20] And this is the judgment. The light has come into the world. People have loved the darkness rather than the light. Because why? Because their deeds are evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light lest his deeds should be exposed.

[53:37] I don't want anybody to see the evil that I do. That's why it's done in darkness. But whoever does what is right, whoever does what is true, comes to the light so that it may be clearly seen that his works are not his but have actually been carried out by God.

[53:57] Jesus is interesting that way. So we give light. We're a witness. We give light. The light is the message. The words come out.

[54:08] The words have an effect one way or the other depending on their response. Well, what's their response? Because here's the irony. Verse 7. When they finish witnesses, these invincible people for 1260 days, at the end of their witness, suddenly they're vulnerable.

[54:26] They're invincible for three and a half years or 42 months or 1260 days, whatever you want to call it. And if it is the church, then the church is invincible the whole time it's witnessing.

[54:39] Each age of the church has so much time. Each individual within the church has so much time. During that time that you're alive, you're invincible. Your words are powerful until God says, okay, you're done.

[54:56] Well done. Come home. See the picture here? Is it just two distant guys or is it us? If it's us, I want to pay attention to this.

[55:11] Because then this is about me now. Witnessing now. Not am I successful or failure. I'm successful if I live according to Christ and I am a witness and I speak when the Spirit tells me to speak.

[55:28] That's success. The result of that, that's totally God's. Right? How come Peter got the big crowd and Jesus didn't?

[55:40] How come Peter got 3,000 converts in one day and Jesus never did? Well, Peter's a better preacher, obviously. He probably had music and, you know, he got emotional response and he used a movie, a sound clip and got him, you know.

[56:01] No, it's just, they're both successful. By the way, Jesus has said, yeah, you're going to reap a big thing but you're not, you don't really, that wasn't yours, it was mine.

[56:15] That 3,000, those were Jesus's. Peter just got to draw the net in. Throw the net on the other side, Peter. There you go. Okay. Okay. So, they finished, when they finished the beast of the abyss, this is our first sight of this beast.

[56:32] Right? We had, we had Polyon before who was the angel of the abyss. Maybe this is the same one. I don't know. Here's the beast of the abyss. He comes out of the demonic channel.

[56:43] Right? And what does he do? He's allowed to war and conquer and kill these witnesses. Then their bodies are left. Interesting where they're left, verse 8, they're left in this symbolic city.

[56:59] Not a literal city, a symbolic city. It has a whole bunch of names. Oh, it was Sodom once, where righteous Lot was persecuted.

[57:12] It was called Egypt, where God's people were persecuted and enslaved. it's also where our Lord was crucified.

[57:24] So it was also the city of Jerusalem where he was persecuted, where he was rejected, where the stone was rejected, literally. It's also been called Rome, Babylon, Palmer Lake.

[57:38] Talk to me afterwards. It is. Palmer Lake has a very insidious history.

[57:51] Okay? Devil has had power here. I'm not, that's historical. Yeah, so, great city, no, this isn't a great, this is a little town, but, devil works where he works, where he gets a foothold.

[58:10] By the way, that does not, should not unnervous by any means. Okay? That just says, this is important territory. This is important territory.

[58:25] The great city, that's the city of idolatry, right? It's the city of suffering. So here's the, again, the irony is that these invincible ones are defeated. Well, they appear to be defeated.

[58:36] It only lasts for three and a half days. Compared to their 1260 days of preaching, three and a half days, they're cut down. But at the end of three and a half days, which is kind of like Jesus at the end of three days, theirs is just, you know, theirs is a half day longer because, you know, they're not Jesus.

[58:53] So, but it's like Jesus and they're raised and ascended, just like Jesus. But notice in verse 9 and 10, he says, I can find it.

[59:07] They refuse to let them be placed in a tomb. What is that? Why would you not let somebody be properly buried, recognized?

[59:22] Because you utterly hate them. you despite, you want them shamed and humiliated. Why?

[59:32] Because he says, why? Where am I? Refuse to let them be placed in a tomb and those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them. They're going to make merry over, they're going to exchange presents.

[59:44] Why? Because these two prophets had been a torment, had been a torment to those who had been on the earth. to earth dwellers.

[59:56] How did they torment them? Oh, fire, blood, you know, that's plagues. That's symbolic. Their words tormented them. I don't want to hear the light.

[60:09] They've shed the light and what happens when the people in darkness hear the light? They hate the light. They hate the light because it exposes me.

[60:20] I don't want the light. So once the light's out, yes, party's on. Party's on. No more guilt, no more condemnation, no more this conscience just eating away at me because now the Christians have been silenced.

[60:41] Finally, have you picked up the attitude of the world toward Christianity? Of course you have. No other religion suffers like Christianity does in that way of condemnation, hatred.

[60:59] In fact, the world is totally hypocritical about it. Everybody deserves a voice except for Christians. Right?

[61:09] We are hated. Why? Because we're not like other religions that tell you to be better and, you know, just proceed and everybody's, you know, okay, whatever you choose.

[61:22] Christianity says, no, there's only one way. There's only one truth. There's only one Savior. There's only one way to God and that's through Jesus Christ. That's offensive. What do you mean the cross?

[61:33] I don't like the cross. Give me grace. Well, there's grace. Yeah, but it's judgment too. I don't, that's where I was supposed to. No, I'm better than that. Are you?

[61:45] They don't want to hear that. It's like in the days of Noah. They didn't want to hear it. They hate, they hate, they hate. So, the irony is they appear to be defeated but after three and a half days it's very brief.

[62:03] They're raised up, they're ascended. The church is just like Christ. They have a powerful testimony. Their testimony is about a gospel that's very ironic because you're saved by what?

[62:16] A death. Your Savior saves you by conquering what? Ultimately death but he dies.

[62:29] Our Savior saves by dying. That's, no. That's not what the masters of the universe do. That's not what the Marvel guys do.

[62:42] That's not what real heroes do. Bruce Willis always wins. Well, I'm dating myself now. It's ironic. It's ironic.

[62:55] In fact, Paul says, yeah, it's a foolish message. The world thinks it's absolute foolishness. But it's also extremely powerful. In fact, it's the only, well, I'm not ashamed of the gospel for it is what?

[63:12] The power of God. Those words, they're like fire! They're also like healing rain. So, when the word comes of the gospel, are you getting rain?

[63:30] Are you getting fire? does it burn at you or does it soothe and heal and draw you? It ends with an earthquake just like at the end of the sixth and seventh seal there's an earthquake, just like at the end of the seventh trumpet there's an earthquake, just like at the end of the seventh bowl there's an earthquake.

[63:52] In other words, it's kind of like pum pum, done. It's over. So, at the end of these 42 months, these 1260 days, this time span I don't think is literally three and a half years, it's like half of a one week tribulation thing.

[64:13] I think it's the 42 months, 1260 days, I think, I can change my mind later, but I think it's the whole time. I think it's just a way of describing the whole time. As Daniel said, time, times, and time and a half.

[64:25] It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. Because here, all of a sudden we're at the end. So, next week we do the seventh trumpet, right, which is, whoo, we win, right, and judgment comes, the very end, and then we go to chapter 12 and what happens?

[64:48] Where does chapter 12 start historically? All the way back to Jesus. Okay, we're going to start it again. So, I think Revelation is doing that over and over and over and over again. Here's another view.

[65:00] Here's the seals. Oh, it ends with a bang. Okay, here we go. Here's the trumpets. Chapter 12. Oh, here we go again. No trumpets or bowls.

[65:12] This is, this is just visions. Here comes Jesus. Here comes the dragon. Here come the angels. Here come the other angels. Okay? Okay. Different views of the same span of time and a really quick view of the very end because by the very end, as we were told in chapter 10, in the days of the seventh trumpet, there's no more time and the mystery's done.

[65:45] Okay, so the first six trumpets, that's the whole time. Seventh trumpet is the last trumpet. In comes, we're raised, right? Judgment begin. We're just getting several views of that.

[65:58] Did I go as fast as I hoped I went? I probably didn't. I get so disappointed every time. I'm like, I'm going to hustle through this one. It won't take so long. That was probably one of those things I asked the Lord not to keep me from saying and I got out before.

[66:12] Sorry. So in the two witnesses, we see the church's powerful witness, pattern like Christ. And I think the New Testament is clear, that's us.

[66:25] Whether we're the exact two witnesses or not, we are witnesses. And we are spiritually protected and we are physically vulnerable. But while you're alive, you're invincible.

[66:41] Don't be afraid. You're invincible. You will not be taken one day, one hour sooner than He determines. Okay?

[66:52] Don't be afraid. Let it happen. Enter into the joy of your Master. Let's pray. Father, we thank You for Your Word.

[67:03] We pray, O Father, that in the midst of all of this information, that Father, we can hear You speak to us. So take whatever parts of this from chapter 11, apply it to each one here in ways that help encourage them, in ways that lift them up, give them that gentle reign.

[67:25] This we pray in Christ's name. Amen. Amen. Thank you.