Revelation chapter 11.
If you came from a more dispensational background, maybe something like the Left Behind series is familiar to you. Know that this morning is going to be very different from that, and I recognize what I’m saying may not be as familiar to you if you’re from that background, but hear me out. As we begin, if you would join with me in prayer. Most merciful Father, from whom come all the blessings of the light, and who even in our darkness, you are still near to us. We praise you for your manifest goodness.
We thank you for your holy word delivered to your church, for the faith which is conveyed from one generation to the next. And Lord, we would ask that you would grant to us the same faith today to receive your words of life, that we too might convey our faith in Christ to the next generation. All in abounding joy and grace. And this we had asked through Jesus our Redeemer. Amen.
Beginning in verse 1, you’ll see the text has been condensed to fit into our bulletin.
Then I was given a measuring rod like a staff, and I was told, rise and measure the temple of God and the altar and those who worship there. 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. And I will grant authority to my witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth. These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth.
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, and their dead bodies will lie in the streets of the great city that symbolically is called Sodom and Egypt, where their Lord was crucified. Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven saying, ‘The kingdom of the world has come, the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.’ And the 24 elders who sit on their thrones before God fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying, ‘We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, who is and who was, for you have taken your great power and begun to reign. The nations raged, but your wrath came, And the time for the dead to be judged and for the rewarding of your servants, the prophets and saints, and those who fear your name, both small and great, for destroying the destroyers of the earth. The word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
John presents us with this series of images and one after another is piled on. And remember, this is a vision and these images come out of the Old Testament and are understood symbolically. If we mix and match literal and symbolic, we end up really with sort of a Marvel or DC superhero world. Everything is normal like we see now, but then at the very end, some very strange and fantastic things happen— fire coming out of the mouth of the speaker, blood and plagues, and a great beast rising up. Well, just like the throne room scene where Jesus is depicted as a risen and slain lamb with 7 horns and 7 eyes, so too we’re firmly in the realm of symbolism.
And we’ll see that in chapter 12 as well. Clearly this is meant not to be understood in a literal way, but a symbolic one. But what do these symbols mean? 2 realities are presented for God’s people: our absolute spiritual protection, along with real physical vulnerability of persecution. Now, we love the one, but the other one makes us very nervous.
Real persecution is something that the church has always had to contend with. Of the many strange things I heard, one of those during COVID was some people trying to equate wearing masks with the persecution of the church, like being dipped in oil and set on fire was the same. No, they’re not. There are times and places in history where God’s people have underwent excruciating persecutions. Not just inconveniences or bad op-ed pages in the newspaper, but real serious and sustained persecutions.
And it’s at these junctures that doubts can rise to trip us up. Enduring through the midst of such terrible ordeals. But because the Lord will provide for himself a witness to his son. We are called to proclaim the good news, even in the face of that opposition, knowing that we have received eternal protection. And as we go forward in chapter 11, as we’ve seen previously as well, I think one of the ways that might help understanding this vision in the whole of the book is seeing that these, these scene changes are a type of recapitulation.
That’s a very big word, just simply means to retell. John is summarizing or restating what he’s already shown us from different perspectives, and the purpose of this is to show an increasing intensity. So we move from seals to trumpets to plagues to bowls, and an intense retelling of the same events. Think of the throne room scene that we started with in chapter 1, and then how that moved to to chapter 4, and then to chapter 7 with the seals, chapter 11 here with the end of the trumpets, and then chapter 15 with the plagues. And then we’ll see that in chapter 20 after the bulls.
And while it’s the same in some ways, new images are brought up to speak about a developing history and increased intensity. And so the structure then becomes something that’s more cyclical rather than chronological. To be sure, many have understood the overall message of the book in either one of these ways, cyclical or chronological. But I think it helps us understanding what John is speaking of, that the whole of history that he’s covering is from the cross of Christ to the return of Christ. What has been referred to as the age of the church or the church age, that’s the history that he’s dealing with.
And otherwise, Revelation ends up just being about the very end of history. And so it has very little to speak to 2,000 years other than right up to the very end. I think it also helps us understand the symbols that are being used here. So thinking in with that in mind, at chapter 11, we see the witness of the church, both how she is protected and how she is persecuted. So looking first then, verse 1.
I was given a measuring rod like a staff, and I was told, rise and measure the temple of God and the altar of those who worship there. Right out of the Old Testament image from Ezekiel 40, where he was called— he saw the measuring of the new temple. Earlier in chapter 7, the Lord was identifying and sealing his people as a means of protection. And so too, this is a different picture of the same thing. What is measured is protected.
The Lord identifies and he marks out his own people. And the temple here is not literal. Revelation 21 tells us there’s no temple because God dwells directly with us. So these Old Testament metaphors are being piled up. We see temple, altars, worshipers.
Paul, he speaks of the temple as the church. 1 Corinthians 3: Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? Or 2 Corinthians 6: For we are the temple of the living God. Peter also speaks this way. 1 Peter 2: You yourselves are like living stones being built up in a spiritual house.
God’s people are his temple. The altar— we’ve seen that through Revelation so far. The altar He speaks of those who sacrifice their lives for the Lord, those who have given everything for him. And these images are compounded, we see, with worshipers. So all in all, we dwell with God, we are with God, we are in the temple, we are his temple.
Our lives are totally given to him, the altar, and we are completely devoted to him as worshipers. All three of these speak of God’s people. And it goes on, but do not measure, verse 2, 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. And I will grant authority to my witnesses, and they will prophesy 1,260 days clothed in sackcloth.
So inner and outer courts, these two groups are believers and unbelievers. One writer puts it, the temple represents the Christian community who worship God. While the courts outside the temple and the holy city refer to the outer life of the church, the vulnerability of the people of God to suffer and to die. Now, we generally want to be protected physically. We want to be safe from harm.
That’s understandable. The promise, though, is not for that.
Those measured in the temple, they are protected. They are safe. How they are protected spiritually, but in the outer court, no measurement. It’s for the unbelieving nations to trample. Inside safety, outside harm.
And we live in the reality of both of those.
Well, what about the 42 months? The numbers in Revelation that are given are symbolic numbers. 42 is the same as 1,260 days. In the ancient calendars, 30 days was in a month, and so this is the same way of speaking of this. In verse 3, as well as in chapter 12, we get the 1,260 days.
This comes from Daniel chapter 7 and chapter 12, where Daniel speaks of a time, a times, and a half times. We see that here as well. It’s specific of a very specific revelation given to Daniel, prophecy of what was to come. And he prophesied very specifically about the nations leading up to the time of Christ, which ones would follow which ones and when that would take place. And one of those, he talked about what we see in the New Testament as the abomination of desolation.
And Daniel’s prophecy was fulfilled around 168 BC. There was a Syrian ruler, his name was Antiochus IV, He came and he sacked Jerusalem. He even offered a pig to Zeus in the temple area, and it was called the Abomination of Desolation. And he ruled over the city roughly 3-ish years. No sacrifices were allowed while he was there.
This is also— once he left, this is where Hanukkah comes from, the cleansing of the temple. But this time period that John is speaking of, it borrows from that. This idea of the persecution of God’s people. 3 and a half is half a 7. 7 is a complete number, perfection.
This is a broken 7. It’s incomplete. It speaks of persecution and trials of those who belong to the Lord, which many would say is the church age, the age of the church from the cross to the return.
One commentator even notes that when 42 is mentioned, it’s regarding persecution And when 1260 is mentioned, it’s about preservation and protection. It’s the same time period. And these two witnesses are modeled after Moses and Elijah. The question is, are there literally two witnesses, or they represent something else? I think you know where I’m going to go.
They represent something else. Plenty have thought of two literal witnesses, to be sure. I think though, if you mix the symbols with literal and symbolic, you end up with a very convoluted interpretation that becomes very complicated. People have made all kinds of guesses for two literal witnesses, and they’ve been wrong to date. The list changes constantly.
The time of the Reformation, if you wanted to know who the Antichrist was, you just asked one group or the other. If you’re Catholic, of course it’s the Reformers. Who are the witnesses? Well, they’re the popes and the faithful saints. You ask the Reformers, well, of course the Antichrist is the pope.
Who are the witnesses? Well, they’re the faithful reformers. And this is the kind of thing that we’ve seen through history depending on who’s ruling and who’s reigning. In the 1600s in England, two tailors, John Reeves and his cousin Lodowick Muggleton, both claimed to be these two witnesses. And they actually started a movement that lasted 300 years, and they were called the Muggletonians.
The last one died in 1979. Can’t make this stuff up. This is the kind of things that we see through history.
But rather, these are representative of the witness of God. We see in verse 4 that these are the two olive trees. This image comes from Zechariah 4. Two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. So olive tree speaks of anointing.
Again, Old Testament images. We’ve already seen the lampstands speak of the churches back in chapter 1. Only 2 churches, Smyrna and Philadelphia, were completely faithful. That might also overlap with that. But why do we say they’re modeled on Moses and Elijah?
Well, that’s the ministries that are described here. In verse 6 it says they have power to shut the sky and no rain would fall. That’s Elijah. And they have power over the waters to turn them into blood, to strike the earth with every kind of plague. That’s Moses.
Moses and Elijah were also present on the Mount of Transfiguration in the New Testament. They represent the whole of the Old Testament, the Law and the Prophets. If you wanted to speak about the whole of the Old Testament, you said the Law and the Prophets, Moses and Elijah. Also, in Numbers 33, it tells us the number of places that Israel encamped while in the wilderness was 42. Interesting.
The wilderness was the time of trials for God’s people as they were about to enter into the Promised Land. God protected and he preserved them through 42 different places. And then the 3 and a half years It speaks of the time of drought and famine by Elijah. Jesus specifically gives us that timeframe in Luke 4, saying the skies were shut up for 3 and a half years. And so we have pictures from both of these representatives.
And so I think it’s best then to understand that these two witnesses are the witnesses of God to the watching world. This is the church. Why would I say that? Revelation 11:7. The beast kills the two witnesses.
In Revelation 13:7, it’s the beast makes war and conquers the saints. Same time period, the same idea spoken of, but one is the saints and one’s the two witnesses. One is a part representing the whole. Throughout the Old Testament, you know this very well, that a testimony could only be established upon 2, at least 2. Nothing was valid in court without 2 witnesses.
Jesus sends off his disciples in 2. God’s message, his witnesses are validated. They are complete. They are going into the world and they have been given power. In verse 5, it says, if anyone would harm them, fire pours from their mouth and consumes their foes.
It’s a picture picture of the power of God’s Word. Jeremiah 5, I will make my words in your mouth a fire. And in 5 and 6, these symbols of witness of the church, it’s the power of the gospel going into the world. Think of the Great Commission when Jesus in Matthew 24, he’s telling them that as the gospel of the kingdom shall be preached to the whole world for a witness the nations. Say, witness to the nations.
And then the end shall come. The gospel being presented to the nations, and at that time, given by the Father, appointed by him, the end. And there is going to be protection, and there’s going to be power in this presentation, but it’s also met with persecution. There’s a call to endure. In verse 7, when they had finished their testimony, The beast that rises from the bottomless pit will make war on them and conquer them and kill them.
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. For 3.5 days, some from the peoples and tribes and languages, nations, will gaze on their dead bodies and refuse to let them be placed in a tomb. It’s speaking of, of a sacrilege. It’s taking place. They’re being desecrated.
The shame not being afforded a proper burial. And we’re expressly told that these cities are symbolic. Sodom, it speaks of moral wickedness. And Egypt, those who would oppress God’s people. Wickedness and oppression.
And throughout history, these names change, though generally they’re still the same. We see this all the time. The great city here is Jerusalem. It represents all those who oppose Jesus. His rule and reign.
The witnesses finish their testimony, though they’re not cut off prematurely. They finish it, then they are overcome. When does that take place? What does it mean that they’re killed? It could very well speak of the very end, that this takes place when the gospel has gone into all the world, and at the very end when the Lord returns.
At the same time, it does also speak of what we see throughout history. There are times and places where persecution has all but wiped the church off the map in spots. Japan in the 17th century, all the Christians were asked to leave, and those who were indigenous were put to death. Some Muslim countries, we’ve seen this. Communist Russia, even Communist China, Places of Syria and Turkey where the church first flourished are no longer really there.
We’ve seen how this has taken place. You think of Genesis 3:15 where we see this war between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent. Where it says, “He will bruise the serpent’s head, but the serpent will bruise his heel.” This is the people of God through history. There’s this constant warfare taking place. And this 3.5 years of power that the gospel is speaking to the age of the church that is going forward, and a very short time period, 3.5 days of intense persecution.
Uh, again, it doesn’t have to be a literal one, but it’s speaking of a short and a measured duration by God. Think of the measuring of the temple back in verses 1 and 2. All of this is appointed by God to his purposed ends.
He is bringing forth the witness of the message of Jesus into the world. And at times it is persecuted, and at times very intensely, so that it even seems that that word goes out, but the Spirit blows afresh and anew somewhere else. And we see this also in history.
But after verse 11, 3 and a half days of breath of life from God entered them. They stood up on their feet, and the great fear fell on those who saw them. And they heard a loud voice from heaven saying, ‘Come up here.’ And they went up to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies watched over them. Watch them. God’s protection of his people.
A picture could be of the end of the resurrection. Sure. It also depicts what we see through history. Breathing life in them A reference to Ezekiel 37, the valley of dry bones, the renewal of God’s people, new spiritual life in a time when everything seems lost. The good news of Jesus prevails.
But we also know it’s not good news to everybody. Paul says as much in 2 Corinthians. He says, Christians are the aroma of Christ to those who are being saved, but a fragrance of death to those who are perishing. Why? Because there’s human opposition to the things of God.
There’s satanic opposition to the things of God.
Some things get better and better, and some things get worse. And there’s a mixture. That’s why— where some actually think of, you know, the end times is going to be brought in by this ever-increasing goodness to the end. This is going to keep growing. I don’t think that’s the case.
We just don’t see We don’t see it in history. The state of our own country and Western Europe has been a drastic decline, morally speaking. In very obvious ways of sexual ethics to be sure, but in less obvious ways too. Think of how much greed and the pursuit of consumption and wealth have choked our culture. Rightly, we get upset about sexual ethics.
Wrongly, we sometimes completely overlook the greed and the consumption part. These affect us both. This is a part of what we see in that saturation of godlessness that prevails at times. And yet the church continues to grow throughout the world. Africa, South America, and Asia are becoming new centers of Christianity.
That’s good news. There are now more Christians in Africa than there are in Europe. Christianity is advancing in many of the places that it was once squashed. But so is persecution.
There are estimates there’s a million martyrs in a 10-year period of time. It’s a lot. Increased light of the gospel going into the world, increased opposition and martyrdom.
This flows out of the message, the witness of the church.
And then John sees, sort of wrapping through in verse 15, the seventh angel blew his trumpet. We’ve been waiting for this. There’s an anticipation. It’s like there’s long interval in between. And once the trumpet is blown, it says there were loud voices in heaven saying, the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.
It’s hard not to hear Handel’s Messiah. The words from that is beautiful. As Jesus said, when the witness of the church has come to an end, so the end comes. And it’s wonderful, it’s glorious. So much so that the elders fall down and they’re saying, we give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, who is and who was, for you’ve taken your great power and begun to reign.
The nations rage, but your wrath came at the time for the dead to be judged, for the rewarding of your servants the prophets and the saints, for those who fear your name both small and great, destroying the destroyers of the earth. How all of this is brought together at the end. And because of that, we are not to lose heart. We win. It may seem at times like we’re losing, and in places it does seem to be more of that, and other times it seems to be flourishing.
But when we step back, we see what the Spirit is doing across the globe, and there has been this increase. Of the, the name of Jesus going into dark places and releasing people by its power and freeing them. The gospel has power and the witness will accomplish its appointed task. And when that is accomplished, there is an end. And that is good news for us.
And so we don’t stop being Christians in hard times because of God’s supernatural protection. Don’t let that quickly go by you. Think about this, no show of hands, how many of you have thought at one time or another because of the hard things of life, you’ve wanted to throw in the towel? You just wanted to quit, you wanted to give it up. There’s some who just wanted to like, I’m just done with the Christian thing.
I’m done with the life thing.
That describes most people at some time in their walk of faith.
Why are you still here?
Because what God has measured in this temple is safe.
We may be exposed in the world, but we are protected.
God is holding on to us. It’s his grip. He has marked us. He has sealed us. He has measured us.
And that is super good news because at times we want to quit. There are times when we could look at the life of somebody where terrible things have happened to them and they’re still praising and glorifying God. And you think, I don’t think I would do that if I was in their shoes. And you’re right, you wouldn’t. But Christ in you would.
You are his temple.
He has placed you on his altar. You are his worshiper. It is he who is in you who is greater than he who’s in the world. That’s the good news of the message here, because we do feel like giving up at times. There are times and places where our life just feel squashed.
We don’t see the power and the victory. We see the death.
God is just as real in the power as he is in the persecution. He hasn’t left. And he’s told us ahead of time, these are the things that are happening, but I have you. You are mine because you bear my name.
That should strengthen us. It should encourage us even as we go in and we speak of the good news of Jesus to those around us. And we’re not really facing great and serious persecution here at this time. I mean, we’re not. It may change, but we have brothers and sisters in other places who are really struggling and suffering.
But it is the church. It is the Christian community. We all together.
And Jesus is overseeing this, and his message is being completed till the very last person who’s intended to hear it has heard.
And then the end will come, however that may look, wherever we are in the midst of that. The rule and the reign of our Savior is going to be known. And brought forward.
And while we think, I wish I was more than spiritually protected, no, brothers and sisters, that is the greatest protection.
These bodies, the things that happen to us are gonna come and they’re gonna go. They’re gonna be up and they’re gonna be down. But we forever have the absolute surety of what Jesus has accomplished on our behalf. The Lamb who was slain is standing in the throne room, who’s interceding for us. And we are a part of that unquenchable, unconquerable witness to the world.
Pray with me. Father Almighty, we do give you thanks and praise. Father, thank you for your power and your greatness. Thank you for opening our eyes to see the message of Jesus, the hope that is ours. And we would ask, Father, that you would also embolden us to proclaim, that you would continue to bring forth the reward of our Savior’s suffering through us.
Father, that you would bring men, women, and children to a saving understanding of Christ Jesus our Lord, that you would continue to encourage us in those moments where we have all but given up. We bless you You for the strength to endure that is given by You and You alone. We praise You, Father, Son, and Spirit, one God forever. Amen.
Discaimer: This sermon text was generated by an automated transcription service.