The God of the Two Witnesses (Part 32)

Revelation 11:3–14 (ESV) — 3 And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.” 4 These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. 5 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. 6 They have the power to shut the sky, 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. 7 And when they have finished their testimony, the beast that rises from the bottomless pit will make war on them and conquer them and kill them, 8 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. 9 For three and a half days some from the peoples and tribes and languages and nations will gaze at their dead bodies and refuse to let them be placed in a tomb, 10 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. 11 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. 12 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. 13 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. 14 The second woe has passed; behold, the third woe is soon to come.

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Bible Trivia: Who in the Bible is known for calling plagues on the enemies of God and God’s people? Moses.

Who in the Bible is known for praying that it would not rain for 3 ½ years? The prophet Elijah.

These two characters are in our text. Since this is a picture of symbolism, the question we ask is, who are these two witnesses representing? Let’s unfold some meaning, beginning with thinking of the whole picture John is giving us. It is, first of all, a picture of God’s people on the earth. When I say God’s people, I am not referring to the nation of Israel. Many people hear the term “God’s people” and automatically think of the nation of Israel. That is not a biblical view.  God’s people are all who have put their faith in the one true God and Savior—Yahweh, as He was called in the Old Covenant, and as Jesus Christ in the New Covenant.

From Adam and Eve through history to this day, there have been people of all nations, languages, tribes, and peoples who have trusted in the true and living God. The people of God are a spiritual people, not of blood but of spirit. The spiritual people of God are not defined by nationality, birth, or geography, but by the heart. Not all who were born an Israelite have trusted God as their Savior. Just as not all church-goers trust Jesus Christ for forgiveness and reconciliation with God.

So, who are the people of God throughout history? According to the Apostle Paul in Romans 4:3-8, the people of God are those who, by faith in God, are counted as righteous before God. Not a righteousness earned or deserved by being a good person. Romans 5:1 says it is a righteousness obtained by faith.

Romans 5:1 (ESV) — 1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Romans 4:24-25, those … who believe in him, the one who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. In Christ Jesus, who was handed over to die because of our sins, and he was raised to life to make us right with God.

Is it by faith. Therefore, who are the people of God in this picture in Revelation 11? Old Testament believers—Jews and non-Jews who trust in Yahweh and believers in the New Testament. Those who believe are God’s people, God’s living temple in whom He dwells. The Bible refers to the Church as the called-out ones and the assembled ones. This would include Abraham, Moses, Daniel, Rehab, and Ruth, as well as all who lived before Jesus came into the world. They were believers in the one true God by faith, and they were looking for the coming Messiah. This is the Church of God, all who belong to God by faith. This is one of the main points in Romans 4-5.  Therefore, Revelation 11 is a picture of God’s people testifying of Him throughout history up to the very end.

Revelation 11:3 introduces two “witnesses.” These are not literally two people. This is a symbolic picture. They represent something or someone. These two represent the Church—the people of God from all time. Those who have testified and will testify of Jesus Christ to the world. How do I see that? I have six ways this seems obvious to me.

Verse 3 - They are called “witnesses.”  Aren’t we called witnesses? Are we not to witness/testify of the resurrected Savior? Jesus said (Acts 1:8), “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses …”

Also, from verse 3, the two witnesses prophesy.  This word in the original Greek means, “Speak with inspiration.” Isn’t that what every believer is supposed to do? We do this in conversations when we are sharing our faith, scripture, and the gospel, and from the pulpit. We speak with inspiration from the Spirit of God.

Matthew 10:17–20 (ESV) — 17 Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues, 18 and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles. 19 When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. 20 For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.

Again, from verse 3, they are given authority to prophesy—preach. We were given authority from Him who has all authority in heaven and on earth.

Matthew 28:18–20 (ESV) — 18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

The fourth reason aligns with the last, found in verse 7. It says they “testify.” Who testifies, but the Church.

The fifth reason I see the Church represented by the two witnesses is in verse 4. These two witnesses are also depicted in verse 4 as “two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth.” We know from Revelation Chapter 1 that the lampstands represent the Church.  Regarding the two olive trees, this is also found in Scripture.

Romans 11:17–24 (ESV) — 17 But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree, 18 do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you. 19 Then you will say, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.” 20 That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith. So do not become proud, but fear. 21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. 22 Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off. 23 And even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again. 24 For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree.

The Apostle Paul likens the remnant of believing Israelites to “a natural olive tree.” Then Paul refers to a second tree, calling it a “wild olive tree.” These are the non-Jewish believers who come to believe. The wild olive tree is grafted to “the natural/cultivated olive tree.” These are the two olive trees. All believers, whether per-crucifixion and resurrection of Christ, or after.

The seventh reason I find that these two witnesses represent the spiritual people of God, that is, the Church, is that they are also likened to Moses and Elijah. We find this in Revelation 11:6.

Revelation 11:6 (ESV) — 6 They have the power to shut the sky, 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.

Elijah was the prophet who prayed, and it did not rain for three and a half years. See James 5:17. He represents the prophets who spoke the truth.

Moses is the one whom God used to bring the plagues upon Egypt, the enemy who enslaved Israel. Moses was given the Law of God, including the moral law of God. The Law and Prophets are represented by Elijah and Moses. In Jesus’ day, the Word of God was often summed up by the phrase, “the law and the prophets.” (Matt. 5:17; 7:12; 22:40; Luke 16:16; Acts 13:15; Rom. 3:21). One example is the Apostle Paul testifying of his faith (Acts 24:14-16) says,

“But this I confess to you, that according to the Way, which they call a sect, I worship the God of our fathers, believing everything laid down by the Law and written in the Prophets, having a hope in God, which these men themselves accept, that there will be a resurrection of both the just and the unjust. So I always take pains to have a clear conscience toward both God and man.”

To me, it is obvious that the two witnesses represent the Church down through the ages who testify of Yahweh.

Verse five is harsh.

Revelation 11:5 (ESV) — 5 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.

I think of 1 Corinthians 3:17, and how it has a connection to Revelation 11:5.

1 Corinthians 3:17 (ESV) — 17 If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.

We move to Revelation 11:7. It says there is a day when the Church will finish her purpose on earth to proclaim and testify of Christ Jesus. Her job will be done. No more calls for repentance. The last trumpet will blow. The end has come.

Before I go further, I want to address the number of months and days in this chapter. Obviously, they are also symbolic like the rest of the picture. In my opinion, many people spend too much time and effort trying to figure out their meaning. What often happens is that they then believe they have figured out when Jesus is returning. Either the decade, the year, the day, or the hour. They do this even though Jesus said emphatically, no one knows the day or hour of His return. That means, do not try to figure out when. It’s a mystery hidden in God. If anyone … anyone … tries to tell you the day, month, year, or decade that Jesus is coming back, that is your sign to wave goodbye to them. You can say with a southern drawl, “Well, bless your heart.” Then move one to sound biblical interpretations.

In verse seven, when the Church finishes her Christ-given task on earth, God allows the Beast from the bottomless pit to make war on them and conquer them and kill them, so it seems. So, it seems. At least the Beast and the enemies of the Church think they have destroyed God’s church. But the church is actually invincible. It is not dead.

The Beast, the unbelieving world, thinks it has killed the Church, putting a stake in the life of the Church. This is like when the religious rulers looked at Jesus on the cross and were convinced they had rid their nation of this man from Nazareth. They saw him die on the cross, a spear pierced his side, and then carried off to a tomb. They were celebrating the death of the man from Nazareth. But then there was Sunday! So, it will be with the unbelievers who think they have rid mankind of the Church of Jesus Christ.

Who knows what this will look like in America? We see how it has happened in many civilized countries in modern times, even recently in Canada and England. Perhaps the Supreme Court in America will join the other nations and outlaw Christianity. Perhaps a decision will be made, “This religion is full of hate. It is a hindrance to the progress of humanism. Their Bible is outlawed. Their meetings are outlawed. Their speech is outlawed. If any three gather together, they will be arrested and imprisoned.”

You may think I’m describing a fairy tale. This is happening today in countries that were once sending missionaries to other countries. Now Christianity is being trampled on and outlawed. Prayer is outlawed. Bibles confiscated, preaching outlawed as hate speech, and church buildings being confiscated. Perhaps in the final days, Christians in America will be driven to meet in secret, like in other countries. I do not know what it will be or how it will happen in America. I do know that it will. All nations will turn against the Church and the God of the Church of Jesus Christ.

Let’s jump to verses nine and ten. The powers will rejoice, like the religious leaders at Jesus’ death, that Christianity is finally dead. Our society and government will rejoice that they are finally rid of Christianity and its god. Verse ten shows that the celebration will be only for a period. God lets them celebrate in their foolishness, but for a limited time. Again, He is in control.

Why does the unbelieving world hate Christians and the church so much? Verse ten says, “because these two prophets (representing the church) tormented those who dwell on the earth.” That is an interesting statement. The unbeliever considers the Church as tormenting them. The word “tormenting” in the original Greek is an accusation of being tortured and tormented. Are we “tormenting and torturing” unbelievers with our mercy ministries? All the good the church has done in the world—created hospitals, scientific discoveries, orphanages, drug rehabs, feeding the poor, etc. is worth nothing to the unbeliever because we do it in the name of our Savior, Jesus Christ. And they hate Him, so they hate us. That is what Jesus said,

Matthew 24:9 (ESV) — 9 “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake.

Where does this hate come from? Jesus gives us a clue, recorded in John 16:8

(ESV) — 8 And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment:

An unconverted heart is convicted of its sin (Romans 2:15-16). The unconverted heart of man hates righteousness. They want to do what they want to do, whether it is right, good, or true. It doesn’t matter if it hurts others. We see this clearly today, and growing. The unconverted heart hates being told they will be held accountable by a just God. Sin, righteousness, and judgment. And what vessel does the Spirit of God preach this through? The Church, the people of God.

You can also say that the torment was in telling the truth. Christianity is telling the truth about who we are as humans—broken, separated from God, unrighteous, and desperately needing a Savior. We are sinners who deserve justice. That is not what people like to be told. Man is not good in God’s eyes. We are wicked in God’s eyes because we have broken his law. We have rejected who He made us to be and gone our own way. We have turned and made our own gods to fulfill our lives. God sent his son to save us, and the unbeliever has killed him.

The truth is also telling us who God is—holy, just, the definer of love, life, and truth; He is our creator. Unless a person is forgiven his sins and made new, he will be judged for all of his words, actions, and unclean thoughts. To the guilty conscience, that is a torturous truth. As Romans 2:15 says, their own conscience bears witness with their guilt and condemns them. They cannot run away from the truth written on their heart, so they hate the ones who remind them of what the heart says. That is the Church!

We move to verses eight through eleven. It says the two witnesses will lie in the street for a period of time. Again, I’m not going to spend time on the period of time. The question we should be asking is, what is this part of the picture saying? When we think of something happening “in the street”, we think of it being made public for all to see. From the description, this appears to be an open mockery of a defeated church. They think we are defeated.

Then  .. then … the church rises up.

Revelation 11:11 (ESV) — 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.

 God will raise up His church, that seemed dead, that seemed conquered, that seemed hidden and broken. The picture tells us that great fear, not a little bit of fear, but “great fear” will cover the whole earth, because in every nation, community, and family, there will be believers, and they will rise up. These believers will come forth in courage and power. An army that appeared dead but was not. A church that seemed dead, but was alive.

Perhaps this rising up is speaking of a great revival of the Church throughout the world. An awakening, perhaps? The Church comes out of hiding against the laws of man, against the fierce threats and attacks, and takes a stand. All of this just before the 7th trumpet sound.

This rising up and taking a stand sounds similar to a vision the prophet Ezekiel had of a valley of dried bones.

Ezekiel 37:10–11 (ESV) — 10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army.

11 Then he said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel.”

This must be remembered! The Word of God cannot be killed. The Church of Jesus Christ cannot be killed. The Gospel of Salvation cannot be shut up or shut down. The religious leaders thought they had stamped out Jesus’ teachings and preaching, and drove his disciples underground to dissolve, but the opposite happened. The seeds broke through the ground and sprouted. Then the tree grew and grew and busted Jerusalem wide open. Then the Church spread across the border to other nations. For 2,000 years, the Gospel of Jesus has thrived under persecution and under every device of man to stamp it out.

A story which Christian apologists have told for years involves the French philosopher Voltaire (1694-1778). The story purports that Voltaire, known as the “Prince of Infidels”, in his voluminous writings against Christianity and the Bible, predicted in 1776,

“One hundred years from my day, there will not be a Bible on earth except one that is looked upon by an antiquarian curiosity-seeker.” As the story alleges, within fifty years after his death, in an ironic twist of Providence, the very house in which he once lived and wrote was used by the Evangelical Society of Geneva as a storehouse for Bibles and Gospel tracts and the printing presses he used to print his irreverent works was used to print Bibles.”

In 1764 Voltaire wrote, “The Bible. That is what fools have written, what imbeciles commend, what rogues teach and young children are made to learn by heart” (Voltaire, Philosophical Dictionary, 1764).

In a 1767 letter to Frederick the Great, King of Prussia, he wrote: “Christianity is the most ridiculous, the most absurd, and bloody religion that has ever infected the world…My one regret in dying is that I cannot aid you in this noble enterprise of extirpating the world of this infamous superstition.”

While a Deist, he vehemently opposed the Christian faith and wrote many rather scoffing works expressing his disdain for the faith and the Bible. His railings against Christianity are filled with poisonous venom, calling the Christian faith the “infamous superstition.”

Only fifty-eight years after his death, the former home of Voltaire in Geneva, Switzerland, was indeed serving as a storehouse for Bibles and Gospel tracts. While the Evangelical Society of Geneva did not actually purchase the house, Henri Tronchin, president of the Society, resided in the house, and used some of the rooms to store Bibles which Voltaire so vehemently opposed and prophesied Christianity’s downfall! Yes, an ironic twist of divine Providence.

But wait, let it also be noted, only sixteen years after Voltaire’s death, the very printing presses which Voltaire employed to print his irreverent works were used to print editions of the Bible and, according to the eyewitness account of Hannah More, were printed on paper that had “been especially made for a superior edition of Voltaire’s works. The Voltaire project failed, and the paper was bought and devoted to a better purpose [of printing Bibles]!”

For more on this, go to:  https://drdanmerritt.com/2019/03/16/voltaires-prediction-home-and-the-bible-society-truth-or-myth/

“No skeptic’s scoffing hammer has ever made a dent in the Eternal Anvil of God’s Word. To those who attempt to do so, Jesus emphatically declares, “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away” (Matthew 24:35). (Dr. Daniel Merritt)

Verse twelve says,

Revelation 11:12 (ESV) — 12 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.

The seventh trumpet will blow. Christ will come with the church members in heaven. The living saints on earth will be called by Christ to come to him in the air, in clouds of glory. All unbelievers will watch them ascend to Christ and the saints in the sky. This is not an invisible, secret rapture. The whole world will see Christ and see the church going up to meet Jesus. They will also see Christ and his holy saints coming to conquer.

Revelation 1:7 (ESV) — 7 Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen.

Look at verse thirteen.

Revelation 11:13 (ESV) — 13 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.

You may initially think that many people will repent and give their lives to Christ. That idea would contradict this same account in Revelation 9:20-21 that says, “the rest of mankind, who were not killed by the plagues, did not repent.”

This phrase in verse 13, “gave glory to the God of heaven”, is not repentance and a love for Christ. This is like the Roman Centurion who oversaw the crucifixion of Jesus on Calvary. See Matthew 27:50-54.

Matthew 27:54 (ESV) — When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, “Truly this was a son of God!”

These Roman soldiers did not repent. They knew they had crucified some deity and feared greatly. This is the picture we read in verse thirteen. It is fear, but not repentance.

There are three big takeaways I want to give you from this message.

• We, the Church, are unconquerable. You need to have that mindset. You need to have that faith.

• We have a task to complete, to finish. What is the task? To testify to the truth about God, about man, about salvation by faith in Jesus Christ. This is the way 1 Peter 2:9 describes the Church. “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”

We are to proclaim the excellencies of God until the last trumpet sound. It may appear as if the governments and nations and all societies in this unbelieving world are shutting us down and shutting us up. But when it looks like they have knocked us out, we are still alive and well. The underground church in China, Iran, Vietnam, Russia, Ukraine, and many other places is not only alive but thriving. The persecutions and executions have not dimmed the light; it has made it brighter.

We at Muddy Creek have upcoming opportunities to do this. I mentioned them earlier in the service, and they are in your bulletin.

• The third takeaway is for you as an individual. Do not give in to the lie that your faith has dried up and died. It’s a lie designed to neutralize you and destroy you. It’s a lie. Your faith and devotion may be weak and dry, but it is not dead. If this describes your faith and affection for Jesus, do this: Take Action! Pray! Get with others whose faith is alive and kicking. Let their faith and devotion be contagious to yours. Don’t withdraw from the fire you need. Jump in it!

Amen.