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Sermon

A Vision of Things to Come

Series
Revelation
Scripture
Revelation 11:1-13

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Note: This transcript and summary was autogenerated. It has not yet been proofread or edited by a human.

Summary

Revelation 11 presents a condensed vision of God’s plan for the end times, covering the measuring of the temple, the ministry of the two witnesses, the emergence of the antichrist, and the ultimate triumph of Christ. We are reminded that God remains sovereign over all human history and that His favor rests on those who are faithful to Him, even in the darkest periods of tribulation. The chapter serves as a roadmap for the rest of Revelation, showing how God deals with both His people and the unbelieving nations.

Key Lessons:

  1. God’s measuring of the temple signifies His favor, ownership, and spiritual preservation of His faithful ones—even when physical persecution comes, our souls are secure in Him.
  2. God is merciful to send witnesses and messengers to call people to repentance, even to the very end of human history, demonstrating His relentless grace.
  3. The world’s celebration over silencing God’s prophets reveals the depths of human depravity when people reject God, yet God always has the final word through resurrection and judgment.
  4. Genuine repentance and conversion remain possible even in the darkest times, as God will bring a remnant of Israel back to Himself and fulfill His covenant promises.

Application: We are called to live faithfully for Christ right now—knowing the truth, standing firm in it, completing the good works God has ordained for us, sharing the gospel, and giving glory to the God of heaven every day. We must not drift spiritually but remain watchful and ready.

Discussion Questions:

  1. How does knowing that God spiritually preserves His people even through physical death change the way we face opposition or suffering for our faith?
  2. In a world of increasing deception through AI and technology, what practical steps can we take to ensure we are grounded in God’s truth rather than being swept along by the culture?
  3. The two witnesses were empowered by the Holy Spirit to complete their mission. How should we depend on the Holy Spirit to accomplish the good works God has ordained for us?

Scripture Focus: Revelation 11:1-15 provides the central framework, showing the measuring of the temple (vv. 1-2), the two witnesses’ ministry and martyrdom (vv. 3-10), their resurrection (vv. 11-12), and the seventh trumpet announcing Christ’s kingdom (v. 15). Supporting passages include Daniel 9:27 on the tribulation timeline, Zechariah 4:6 on the Spirit’s power, Matthew 17:1-5 on the transfiguration, and Luke 16:29-31 on Moses and the prophets.

Outline

Introduction

Okay, let’s take our Bibles this morning and turn to Revelation. It’s not hard to find. It’s the last book of the Bible. We’ll be looking at chapter 11, at least part of that chapter today.

As you’re turning there, let me have a word of prayer. Let’s pray.

Father, we thank you today. We thank you, Father, for your tremendous mercy and grace. As we think of the cost that it took to save us, you had to move heaven and earth for us to receive the truth of the gospel and be saved. We thank you, Lord, that you did that for sinners like us.

Lord, we want to be grateful every day for that. We want to be merciful to others because of that. We want to be faithful to live for you with our whole heart, our whole mind, and all our strength. I pray this in Christ’s name.

Amen. Revelation 11:1.

The title of my message today is “The Vision of Things to Come.”

The World’s Vision of the Future

But there’s a lot of talk today about a vision for the future. If you go on certain sites to read certain articles, you’re going to find a lot of information about artificial intelligence.

People are claiming that artificial intelligence will be integrated into most aspects of life, producing new efficiencies and enhancing human capabilities. It’s in a very real sense what’s already happening. You have Siri, you have Alexa, you have an iPhone. You already are being well trained for what’s coming.

“There’s a lot of talk today about a vision for the future.”

One person said that humans do poorly when it comes to making decisions based on facts rather than emotional issues. Humans get distracted easily.

There are certain things that AI can do better than humans like driving cars, handling finances, and diagnosing illnesses.

Promises and Dangers of AI

Another person wrote that human and AI connections over the next 12 years will improve the overall quality of life by finding new approaches to persistent problems. We will use these adaptive algorithms to explore whole new domains in every industry and field of study.

Material science, biotechnical fields, medicine, agriculture, engineering, energy, transportation and more. And then they said this: it goes beyond computability in human relationships.

AIs are beginning to understand and speak the human language of emotion.

One way they’re using that even right now is pre-crime security monitoring at airports and gatherings in different places, able to detect dangerous body language before the person can actually take out whatever they’re going to do that day. Also, companion pets monitor aging owners and then interact with them in ways that will improve their health and disposition.

People believe that by 2030—only five years from now—AI will transform our daily lives. One person from the Institute of the Future said that our visual and audio surroundings may be altered or filtered to improve our moods, better our focus, or otherwise alter our subconscious perceptions of the world. Most of this AI will function invisibly behind the scenes as long as it’s working properly.

We see that we’re in a time where people are predicting a future in which we will be more and more dependent upon these digital assistants. But there are many dangers to those things, and people are writing articles about them even right now.

People believe that artificial intelligence will provide an overkill of surveillance. We will actually become slaves and not even know it, controlled by others and not even know it. AI will be used to replace human workers to a disproportionate extent, where jobs will change so quickly that many people will be left without the necessary skills to do the next thing.

“We will actually become slaves and not even know it and controlled by others.”

Algorithms, not doctors, will be diagnosing many diseases. Even if doctors are still in the loop, AI plays a negative role in education where students may not often actually do the hard work of learning. It might actually make the overall population much dumber.

God Has a Vision Too

This is the future. And I’m going to mention it again when I get to a certain chapter in Revelation because techno gods will be on the rise and people will believe more in that than they will believe in truth and who God is.

But God has a vision too. He has a vision of things to come.

“God has a vision too. He has a vision of things to come.”

Overview of Revelation 11

And as I came to Revelation 11, I found it to be a very difficult chapter to even interpret. The more I read it, I said, “What is happening here? I see the details, but what’s the point?” Because this is the last interlude before the rest of Revelation is going to be laid out before us.

Now we have read of many judgments that will come to earth on sinful, ungodly, idolatrous mankind. The seven seals were broken and the wrath was poured out there, and then the seven trumpets. When the fifth and the sixth trumpets blew, we saw that all hell broke loose on earth, literally.

The released demons from the pit unleashed torment upon the earth with Satan the king over the demonic army, an army which is not permitted to kill at that time, but only torment for five months. Then the sixth trumpet sounded and the four bound angels are loosed to lead a very large army from the east which is permitted to kill one-third of mankind by three plagues.

And now we come to another interlude started in chapter 10, continues in chapter 11 down to verse 14. That is before the seventh angel blows the seventh trumpet which will unleash the vials of God’s judgment. Each judgment becomes more rapid as we are now in the middle of the tribulation period, right in the three and a half year period in the seven-year period of the great tribulation.

“This is the last interlude before the rest of Revelation is going to be laid out before us.”

It’s a time when the Lord spoke in Matthew that there will be great tribulation as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now nor ever will. The prophet in chapter 10 has eaten the scroll, the little scroll, and he has taken into his mind the message of God.

Now what he is to do is communicate that message. And that’s what the rest of Revelation is going to be. But chapter 11 is actually a condensed version of what’s going to come all the way to the end of Revelation.

So the prophet has eaten the little scroll. He has taken into his mind the message of God, the message that God wants the world to know. And now he sets before us broad lines of the development of God’s plan and lays out the scheme of this chapter and also the arrangement of the rest of the book of Revelation.

In Revelation 11:1-2, the measuring of the temple. We’re going to see that in a minute. Then verses 3-6, the preaching of the two witnesses that are the heralds of the end. In verses 7-10, the first emergence of antichrist in the form of the beast from the abyss.

And then Revelation 11:11-13, the restoration of life of the two witnesses and the consequent repentance and conversion of the Jews. And then in chapter 11, which I’ll not look at today, but next week is the final sketch of the final triumph of Christ.

We have the thousand-year reign, his initial reign. We have the rising of the nations. We have the defeat of the nations. We have the judgment of the dead and the establishment of the kingdom of God and his anointed one.

The Measuring of the Temple

That’s the whole book of Revelation. And that’s what chapter 11 does. It takes the whole book from chapters 12 all the way to chapter 19 and then chapter 20 to chapter 22. It takes the whole thing in this one chapter.

So let’s look at the first thing: the measuring of the temple. This is where we see the vision of things to come. The measuring of the temple is described in verses 1 and 2.

Now the apostle John was given a measuring stick and told to rise and measure the temple. In Revelation 11:1, it says, “Then there was given to me a measuring rod like a staff.” This was a small, lightweight, straight, hollow stick often used to measure the length of things. It was about 9 to 10 feet in length, so it was quite large and it measured large things.

What was John to measure? Well, it says that he was going to measure three things. In the next part of the verse, someone said, “Come up and measure the temple of God, the altar, and those who worship in it.”

According to biblical history, Israel will have four temples built. The first question we have to ask is: Is this Ezekiel’s temple, the end time temple, that’s the fourth millennial temple? Or is this Zerubbabel’s Herod’s temple, the second temple, destroyed in 70 AD? I believe John is looking forward to the rebuilt temple in the tribulation period. That would be the tribulation temple, which is the third temple.

So the tribulation temple is measured and the measuring goes out to show God’s favor and ownership of his people.

“The measuring goes out to show God’s favor and ownership of his people.”

God’s Favor and Ownership

The measuring is like a ceiling which is described in Revelation 7. The ceiling and the measuring are both the protection of God’s faithful ones in the demonic terrors to descend upon the earth during this time in human history.

“The measuring is the protection of God’s faithful ones in the demonic terrors to descend upon the earth.”

Remember the church will not be there.

Now God is going to be dealing with Israel, not only apostate Israel, but also Israel there in the land that has not converted to Christ yet and are still alive. So this is not necessarily a physical measuring as when Ezekiel was commanded to measure the temple because there are no dimensions forthcoming here.

One of my professors in seminary, Dr. Thomas, wrote two large volumes on the book of Revelation. He says this about this section: John’s future prophecies will distinguish between God’s favor toward the sanctuary, the altar, and their worshippers, and his disapproval of all that is of Gentile orientation because of their profaning the holy city for half of the future 70th week of Daniel.

The distinction shows in the case of the two witnesses that we’re going to see who are in association with the sanctuary and the altar. What they do is they enjoy God’s blessing. They enjoy God and his message and what he has done historically and what he is going to do.

Even though it’s a difficult time, they enjoy that. And then there are the Gentiles, the foes who oppose him. They will experience, as we’ll find at the end of the chapter, a devastating earthquake because of God’s disfavor towards them.

So the two witnesses enjoy God’s favor and his protection and preservation from all the enemies because we’re going to find that they’re going to be killed.

Spiritual Preservation of the Saints

The measuring is an object lesson of how entities favored by God will fare during the period of gentile oppression that lies ahead. In other words, God is going to be favorable to one group and he’s going to be disfavorable to another group. One group is going to follow the Lord. The other group is not going to follow him.

God provides for the preservation of his saints spiritually in the coming great persecution of this time. The saints may be killed physically but their souls will be saved. No matter what anyone does to them, even to us today as believers, they can take our life, but they can’t take our soul because our soul has already been purchased by God.

“They can take our life, but they can’t take our soul because our soul has already been purchased by God.”

The Outer Court Given to the Nations

So we already noticed that he measures the temple and it’s marked by God’s favor. Also, he’s not to measure the outward courts of the temple. Now notice in verse two it says, “Leave out the court which is outside the temple and do not measure it for it has been given to the nations that they will tread underfoot the holy city for 42 months.”

Now, if you don’t know anything about the temples of God that were built in history up until this time, the temple in Jerusalem was divided into four courts. Each court was further away from the holy of holies, or the presence of God. You had the gentile court, then the court of the women, then the court of the Israelites, and then the court of the priests.

The priests were the closest to the holy of holies. The priests were the ones who took care of the altar of burnt offering, the altar of incense, and the holy place. Only the priests might come that close.

The holy of holies—remember, only the high priest may come into that part of the temple once a year with a blood offering from the people. When the priest went in there, he had his garments on, but on the bottom of his garments, he had bells.

When the high priest was moving around in there, the other priests outside heard the bells so they knew that he was still alive. When he went in to offer up the offering on the mercy seat and the people heard the bells, and then he came out and they heard the bells, they knew that God accepted the sacrifice.

The reason for the command given to John is to exclude the measuring of the outer court because God is allowing the gentile nations to trample down the holy city. This was spoken of by the prophet Daniel when he told us that the little horn, which is antichrist, will trample down the host of heaven. Zechariah the prophet also says the same thing where it says, “And it will come about in that day that I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples. All who lift it will be severely injured and all the nations of the earth will be gathered against it.”

So we see that this is happening.

“God is allowing the gentile nations to trample down the holy city.”

The 42 Months of Trampling

This is going to be a horrible time. Now, what was the length of this trampling down of the holy city, which is Jerusalem? Notice what it says in verse 2. It says, “For it has been given to the nations that they will tread underfoot the holy city for 42 months.”

Now the gentile nations are allowed to trample down the city of Jerusalem for 42 months, which is three and a half years. There are many numbers being given here in Revelation. We have the 42 months. We have three and a half years. We have the prophet Daniel said the designation of his time would be a time, times, and a half a time.

A time would be one year. Times, plural, would be two years. And a half a time would be a half a year, or six months.

That’s three and a half years. So everywhere you go in scripture, you find this designation of this last part of the tribulation, the great tribulation, where it will be three and a half years. It’s very hard to get away from that in scripture.

If you just read it literally, you’ll find that’s what’s going on. This is the last half of the 70th week of Daniel, where Daniel tells us exactly what’s going to happen. Why don’t you turn there? Daniel 9:27.

“If you just read it literally, you’ll find that that’s what’s going on.”

In Daniel 9:27, it says, “And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week.” What’s that firm covenant going to be? It’s going to be that he’s going to make an agreement with Israel for one week. And one week would be a seven-year period.

The Preaching of the Two Witnesses

And then it says, “But in the middle of the week, there’s the three and a half years, he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate until even until the complete destruction, one that is decreed is poured out on the one who makes desolate.”

Now, this is going to be the abomination of desolation where the antichrist sits on the throne in Jerusalem and proclaims himself God. But you see that Daniel lays out what’s actually going to happen: he’s going to make an agreement with Israel. He’s going to break that agreement in the middle of the week and he’s going to stop their sacrifice and grain offering.

So there is a literal temple. It is functional in the tribulation period and it’s there for God’s purpose in not only ministering to his own but also for the gentile nations to come in there and trample over it and over the whole city.

A second thing that we see in our text is the preaching of the two witnesses. Now, anytime things happen like that, God will always send spokesmen. In this case, he’s going to send two prophets. And that just shows that God is going to be merciful to the people of earth right to the very end.

“God is going to be merciful to the people of earth right to the very end.”

Now, these are the last two prophets that will ever come and speak to Israel. Remember, God sends prophets to Israel. Prophets do not study to preach. Prophets get direct revelation from God and speak exactly what God wants them to say.

So notice what it says in verse 3 of Revelation 11: “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.

So we’re going to see who they are, what they’re doing, and what will happen to them. Well, who are they? Well, they are prophets. They have the gift of prophecy and God is going to speak through them for 1260 days, 42 months, three and a half years.

The Prophetic Ministry and Its Purpose

We really can’t make a mistake that this is a three and a half year period. Now what is a prophet? A prophet of God really speaks when there is a problem among the people, some crisis, some issue, some need that the people have.

The whole prophetic ministry is a loving God meeting the needs of his people. God speaks direct revelation, but it is occasioned by and related to some need amongst God’s people. If they need encouragement, he will speak through the prophet and give them encouragement. If they need warning and rebuke, that is the message that he will provide through the prophets.

That’s the message that these two witnesses have. And they have a three-fold ministry. The first thing is that they are legal witnesses. Remember, two witnesses were needed to establish all the facts.

“The whole prophetic ministry is a loving God meeting the needs of his people.”

These are two witnesses because of the deuteronomic demand to legally bear the facts proving the guilt of the world before God. That’s what they were doing here. Like it says in Deuteronomy, “On the evidence of two witnesses or three, he who is to die shall be put to death. He shall not be put to death on the evidence of one witness.”

And then again in Deuteronomy it tells us that on the evidence of two or three witnesses a matter shall be confirmed. So they are legal witnesses in Revelation, and that is a ministry they must fulfill.

And then also it tells us in verse number three they will prophesy. So they are going to prophesy before the world. This is going to be a global event.

Clothed in Sackcloth: A Message of Warning

Everybody in the world is going to know their message. This is not a local event. This is not even a state event, a national event. It’s a global event. Everybody will know their message.

And then it’s also notice in our passage that they are going to be dressed in sackcloth, clothed in sackcloth. Now we know that sackcloth symbolizes the prophet’s sober task as messengers of God Almighty to bring a message of warning and rebuke calling the earth dwellers and the nations to repent. This is a last chance for the world to repent.

“Sackcloth symbolizes the prophet’s sober task calling the earth dwellers and the nations to repent.”

And then you notice the passage we read this morning in Zechariah. Because at the end of the verse, it tells us there that these are the two olive trees in verse four and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth.

Now, where does he get that from? He gets that from Zechariah because that’s exactly what Zechariah said. But what does it all mean?

The Power of the Holy Spirit

It means that these are the two anointed ones. The oil that provides the fuel to light the lamps in the temple has reference to the Holy Spirit who empowers these two witnesses to carry out their mission for three and a half years during the great tribulation.

In the second temple built by Zerubbabel and Joshua, we see what power they had to build the temple back then. What does it say in Zechariah? It says, “Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of hosts.”

These men are going to have the fullness of the Holy Spirit of God to do what they need to do. God gives them special abilities. What does he give them? Notice in verse five, because he’s given them power in at least four areas.

The first one in verse five is power to send fire out of their mouths. Notice it says, “And if anyone wants to harm them, fire flows out of their mouth and devours their enemies. So if anyone wants to harm them, he must be killed in this way.”

This is just the desire to want to harm them. So they know who their enemies are and they can even take their enemies out before they even do anything. Secondly, they have power.

Zechariah 4:6: “Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of hosts.”

Supernatural Powers of the Witnesses

They have the power to shut up heaven.

Verse six, these have the power to shut up the sky so that rain will not fall during the days of their prophesying. Also, they have the power over the waters to turn them into blood. And then they have power to strike the earth with every plague as often as they desire.

Now these men are given an incredible amount of power, and the purpose for their great power is to show the world the power of God in contrast to the power of the antichrist. What are they going to do? Back to verse three, they’re going to proclaim God’s faithfulness.

They’re also going to preach concerning things to come. They’re going to prophesy. They’re also going to help those who receive the Lord to return to normal thinking. And why is that? Because the Antichrist will be deceiving people quite convincingly.

“The purpose for their great power is to show the world the power of God in contrast to the power of the antichrist.”

It even says in Thessalonians, God himself is going to send strong delusion so that people would believe a lie. Satan knows how to use truth to sell every lie. He always uses truth to sell lies. And they’re going to preach the gospel to the Holy Land.

God’s Faithfulness to Send Messengers

That’s what they’re going to do. I believe we learn from this that God is faithful to send people across our path to turn us to God or even in some cases to bring us back to God if we strayed away. God is always faithful to do that. And he will do that if you are one of his. He’ll not leave you alone. He will bring you back.

“God is faithful to send people across our path to turn us to God or bring us back to God.”

This past week, I had a phone call with a man who said he professed Christ over 20 years ago, but for the last 20 years, he hasn’t been living for the Lord. We had to try to figure out where he was at.

I think right now, anybody who has a case like that—who made a profession of faith when they were younger and then years go by without going to church, reading the Bible, or doing any of those things—where do they stand spiritually? I would say that they were not converted back then.

I think right now is the gospel. If God’s bringing you to a place, you should believe the gospel, repent of your sin, trust in Jesus Christ, and from this day forward live for him. That’s what you ought to do. And I think that’s what he’s done. That was good. He lives in Florida.

We had several conversations with him this past week. So, who are these two witnesses?

Who Are the Two Witnesses?

That’s the big question. Some suggestions are Elijah and Enoch because both Elijah and Enoch didn’t die. They were caught up to heaven. Some believe it’s Elijah and John the Baptist. Or some believe that it’s Elijah and Moses.

Now recall that these two men were the ones who appeared with Christ in his transfiguration, indicating their connection with Christ’s future return in power and glory. I believe there are several reasons why this is Moses and Elijah. They have gifts and powers like Moses and Elijah.

“Moses and Elijah were the ones who appeared with Christ in his transfiguration.”

But significant to what I’m saying is that at the mount of transfiguration, two representatives came forward to represent the Old Testament when Peter, James, and John were there with the Lord as he was transfigured. If you care to turn there, you probably should.

Moses and Elijah at the Transfiguration

In Matthew 17:1-5, we see what happens there.

But I want you to notice who shows up during this time. Matthew 17:1 says, “Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter, James, and John, his brother, and led them up on a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them. And his face shone like the sun, and his garments became as white as light.

And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them. Talking with him, Peter said to Jesus, ‘Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will make three tabernacles here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.’ And while they were still speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed them. And behold, a voice out of the cloud said, ‘This is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased. Listen to him.’”

So Moses, remember, manifested power to bring plagues on the earth and turn water into blood. Elijah had power to call down fire from heaven and stop the rain.

Matthew 17:5: “This is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased. Listen to Him.”

Moses and Elijah combined together represent the whole Old Testament. Moses represents the first five books of the Bible, and Elijah represents the prophetic books. That equals Moses and the prophets.

And so when we consider a passage of scripture where there’s a discussion between heaven and hell, when father Abraham had a conversation with someone, let me read the passage. It says, “And he said, then I beg you, father, that you send him to my father’s house, for I have five brothers in order that they may warn them so they will not also come to this place of torment.” And then in verse 29 of chapter 16 of Luke, Abraham says, “They have Moses and the prophets.

Let them listen to them. And if they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, they will not be persuaded if anyone rises from the dead.”

So you see that the connection of these two people represents the whole of the Old Testament. And right after the transfiguration, Christ predicted in Matthew 17:11, “Elijah is coming and will restore all things.”

The First Emergence of the Antichrist

We see here that the preaching of these two heralds will be the last of the prophets that God will bring to the earth to bring people back to God and also to judge them. Then we go back to Revelation 11:7.

Here is thirdly the first emergence of antichrist in the form of the beast from the abyss. Notice in verse 7 it says, “When they had finished their testimony the beast that comes up out of the abyss will make war with them and overcome them.”

The beast, the antichrist, the man of sin—all the same person, personified—we’re going to see in the further revelation of the unholy trinity. They will hate the two witnesses and they will make war with them. But there’s something else they’ll do to them.

Not only will they make war with them. For your information, the beast is not Satan, but the Roman prince with a satanic source of power. Satan is more acting like the Holy Spirit. So the beast and the antichrist, the man of sin, will hate these two witnesses and make war against them.

Notice in our text in verse 7: “and kill them.” They will be killed. The beast will have no power over them until they finish their work.

What will happen once they kill them? It tells a lot about the mindset of the world at that time because remember this is a global issue. This is not just an issue for Jerusalem. This is a global issue.

In verse 8, it says, “And their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city.” So their bodies will be left open in the street. What does that show? It shows the degrading nature of humanity, not even caring to want to bury the dead.

Also in verse 8 it says the great city which mystically is called Sodom and Egypt, where also the Lord was crucified. We see that these two prophets—if they are, which I believe they are, at least in the spirit of Moses and Elijah—they are connected to Christ. They are Christ’s prophets and they are prophesying there to the great city Jerusalem.

But notice how it’s identified here as Sodom and Egypt. Jerusalem, Sodom and Egypt really symbolizes materialism, rebellion, and immorality. Jerusalem will become the most wicked city on the face of the earth at this time. Jerusalem will be under the power of the antichrist, the beast.

The whole world observes this. They will gaze on their dead bodies for three and a half days and they will not be permitted to be buried. That’s not hard to imagine these days with our super speed communication satellite systems.

“The beast will have no power over them until they finish their work.”

The whole world can view what’s happening in real time. Notice what it says in verse 9.

Those from the peoples, the tribes and tongues and nations will look at their dead bodies for three and a half days and will not permit their dead bodies to be laid in a tomb. Jewish tradition and practice would have the bodies buried before sunset, but here their bodies are degraded by exposing them as a trophy of victory unburied in the former holy city.

The World Celebrates Their Death

And what does the world do? Verse 10 says they celebrate over the deaths of these preachers of righteousness. “And those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and celebrate. They will send gifts to one another because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth.”

But the world is saying to them, “Yeah, we got these prophets. They tormented us, but we put him to death. We got you. We won.” See, they will be overjoyed to get rid of two witnesses from God as they were overjoyed to get rid of Christ. Same mindset.

Unbelieving Jews had a long history of abusing and murdering the prophets.

“They will be overjoyed to get rid of the two witnesses as they were overjoyed to get rid of Christ.”

The Depth of Human Depravity

And God will always send the prophets because of his mercy. And these will be the last two prophets. But just think of this. Men and women will hate God so much that the only thing that makes them happy is to persecute and kill God’s precious servants. That is about as warped as you get. You say that sounds sick. Yes, it is sick.

“The only thing that makes them happy is to persecute and kill God’s precious servants.”

Behind that sickness is Satan himself and his minions that are coming against God, and now it’s being evident. I think in our own day demonic activity is definitely on the increase. What is the reason for that?

Deception in Our Own Day

Well, primarily it is due to the lowered spirituality and godlessness of the whole country. And as godlessness increases, the whole concept of God in the public mind diminishes. When that happens, you would expect a corresponding increase in the manifestation of evil forces. They don’t even want to hide anymore. They are just in your face everywhere you go.

Truth is maligned. Lies are prevalent. You have to sift through a lot of stuff just to find out what exactly is true.

And the people that are supposed to be giving us the truth, we can’t even trust them anymore. So we trust nobody. You want to trust but verify.

That was President Reagan who said that.

Verify everything. Don’t go on the internet and search something out and think this is gospel. This has got to be true because this person said it.

No. I mean, you can actually go to the internet and say, “Hey, I want to write this.” And say, “Tell AI what you want to write.” They’ll ask you about three or four questions and boom, comes out with a great paragraph, statement, whatever.

So we’re living in very, very deceptive times and it’s going to be more deceptive as we go forward. That means we need to know the truth. We need to know what we believe. We need to know where we stand.

“We need to know the truth. We need to know what we believe. We need to know where we stand.”

The Resurrection of the Two Witnesses

We need to be living for Christ. But what happens? Let’s look at Revelation. The last thing is the restoration to life of the two witnesses and the consequent repentance and conversion of the Jews.

Notice in Revelation 11:12. “But after three and a half days, the breath of life from God came into them and they stood on their feet and great fear fell upon those who were watching them.”

We see here that the world thought physical death was the end. They were wrong. And the reason why they’re wrong is they left something out of the equation: God himself.

So after three and a half days are over, God raises these two witnesses from the dead and catches them up to heaven, creating fear in all those who have rejoiced over their death. This exposes the sickness of the mindset of that time and even our day.

But notice what it says in verse 12: “And they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, ‘Come up here.’ Then they went up into heaven in the cloud and their enemies watched them.”

You noticed who was watching this because it is a global event. Everybody in the world who is an enemy, who wanted them dead, who did not want to honor them and buried them—God wouldn’t allow that anyway because this had to take place.

God gave them life. They got up. They stood on their feet. And you can imagine what kind of fear it put into the world. If these prophets did this in this time period and tormented the world by what they were allowed, the power they were given by God, could you imagine now that they’re resurrected and standing there alive, what are they going to do to us now?

But that’s not what happens.

“The world thought physical death was the end. They were wrong. They left God out of the equation.”

God’s Promise to Complete His Work

And I think that we can also just think of it in this way. We have a promise of God’s favor to complete the good works that he has ordained for us until we’re done. Until God’s done with us. He honors faithfulness.

As the psalmist tells us, “For the Lord loves justice and does not forsake his godly ones. They are preserved forever.”

Psalm 37:28: “The Lord loves justice and does not forsake his godly ones. They are preserved forever.”

But the descendants of the wicked will be cut off. So the climax of this episode, what does God do? In verse 13, it says, “And in that hour there was a great earthquake, and the tenth of the city fell, and 7,000 people were killed in the earthquake.”

So in other words, God says, “I want the world to know who’s in charge. I want the world to know who’s on the winning side, who I count with favor because those are the ones who will be blessed.”

And those who do not know the Lord and those who hate him and come against him, God will judge them. He will let no judgment go unjudged. He will take care of everything. Whether a person got away with it or not in this world, he will not get away with it before God.

The Repentance and Conversion of the Jews

But I want you to notice something else that happens with the repentance and conversion of the Jews at the end of verse 13. It says, “And the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.” Now this looks like genuine repentance to those who remain.

The reason why is because the same terms are used for genuine worship in Revelation 4:9, Revelation 16:9, and Revelation 19:7.

So again, what’s going to happen in the tribulation is God is going to bring Israel back to himself and they’re going to get converted in the land. See, that’s God’s plan. That is God’s plan and that will take place.

So God grants genuine repentance to those people. Yes, it took all that to bring them to that place.

“God is going to bring Israel back to himself and they’re going to get converted in the land.”

The Seventh Trumpet and Christ’s Kingdom

But finally in the end they give glory to God. This is right before the seventh trumpet, which we’ll look at more next week. But I want you to notice in verse 15 what it says.

Then the seventh angel sounded, and 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 will reign forever and ever.”

In other words, this is the whole view from chapter 12 all the way to chapter 19, then in chapter 20. This is everything of what the rest of Revelation is going to be like without the details. But we’ll look at the details.

But notice in verse 14 of chapter 11, it says, “The second woe is passed. Behold, the third woe is coming quickly.” Our future is rushing upon us so quickly and it will become increasingly difficult to navigate all the new changes. I find it hard to keep up even now. As you get older, you don’t want to know the new technology anymore.

Revelation 11:15: “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign forever.”

Right. I still remember—I mean, I was here before cell phones, landlines. If you wanted to talk to somebody privately, you had this 20-foot cord that you went in the other room and shut the door.

There are so many changes that it’s just overwhelming, and it’s going to be more rapid.

Be Faithful and Give God Glory

It’s going to be hard to navigate those new changes, but according to our text, the most important thing in the end is that you give glory to the God of heaven. That’s the most important thing. We know what comes before that: real conversion to Christ.

But that’s the end result. We praise God as we sang this morning. We give God, the God of heaven, glory. We live for him. We are his witnesses now. We tell others the gospel. We live the gospel. We adorn the gospel of Jesus Christ every single day. That’s what we ought to be doing.

And all the good works that God has ordained for you to do, you will do it. Amen. Until God’s done with you.

As I did a study on good works, it’s anything you do for the Lord. It’s a cup of cold water to somebody. That’s a good work. Helping somebody, writing a letter to somebody, visiting somebody, going to the nursing home and feeding them, witnessing to someone, praying for someone. It’s all good works.

God ordains all of it for us to finish. Let’s be faithful to that because when you read Revelation like this in the world in which we live right now, it seems like these things are going to happen tomorrow. Let’s be ready. Make sure Christ is your Lord and Savior.

Make sure you are living for him and being faithful to him. And make sure that you are giving glory to the God of heaven every day of your life.

“The most important thing in the end is that you give glory to the God of heaven.”

Let’s pray. Lord, thank you so much for a book that you’ve given us in the Bible called Revelation, which you unveiled to us, Lord, what will take place. This is not a fairy tale. This is not even a fanciful story. But Lord, this is the truth.

And Lord, you have given it to us. I pray, Lord, that as we think of these things and we realize what you’re going to do and what you have done, Lord, that you would make us the most humble and faithful people there are on this earth. Lord, use us and the gifts that you’ve given us for your glory and for your honor, for the exaltation of Christ, for bringing those who are still lost and in sin to repentance.

And that, Lord, every day of our life we may honor your name. Though we, Lord, do it imperfectly, we want to do it from our heart and we want to do it consistently. We don’t want to drop off, Lord. We want to continue to put one foot in front of the other and honor you with the next thing.

So Lord, today work your work in our heart and make us the people you want us to be. And I pray this today in Christ’s name.

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