Two Witnesses Down Rev, 11:1-7

Good morning. We've got some fascinating things to take a look at here this morning in Revelation chapter 11 and one of the things I wanted to do just kind of as a preface to that is kind of get us oriented here. The scene is focusing on Jerusalem. as we look in this chapter, and as we continue to look on, we'll see even more so. It just keeps on reinforcing that idea. We've looked at, oh, about a month and a half ago, we've looked at this picture here, which shows kind of an aerial view of Jerusalem. You see the Dome of the Rock there, which is center and to the right. And you can see the walls of Jerusalem, and you can see Mount of Olives off just in the hill beyond. And this allows you to get some sort of pictorial orientation.

This Dome of the Rock now is where the Jewish temple stood up until about 70 AD. So that was the place where the temple was when Christ came in his first coming. This shows the area surrounding And, of course, a lot of it has changed, but there are still some things that are very ancient that are there, that have been there a long time.

I bring this up because Jerusalem is not only critical to our passage, it keeps showing up in the Bible. From the beginning to the end, it does, as well as the passage we're looking at. There's 802 places where Jerusalem is mentioned in the Bible. There are 489 places where the references to Jerusalem are prophetic, looking ahead in time. Of those 489 references, a lot of them have already been fulfilled, but there are still some, as we'll be reading about in the next few weeks, yet to be fulfilled. Now, Jerusalem is mentioned in two-thirds of the Old Testament books and a half of the New Testament books.

And the reason I mention this, there's two actually, Jerusalem is the focus of this week's and next week's message, and it's also a major focal point in scripture in general, and will continue to be a focal point as we look here through this tribulation period.

Now, there's a number of places that Jerusalem pops up here, and we'll go over these briefly. The two main points that show up in our passage, here we'll be looking at this and actually into the next week, is the Jewish temple is going to be rebuilt in Jerusalem. That place where you saw the Dome of the Rock, that's the place where the temple is going to be rebuilt according to prophecy. And the second thing is this is where the two witnesses will be killed and their bodies will lie on the streets of Jerusalem for three and a half days. and that's going to show up. We're going to see other things that happen throughout the tribulation period in the city of Jerusalem. Now, the next thing as we look at this passage here, let's look at verse 1.

Then there was given me a measuring rod, like a staff, and someone said, Get up and measure the temple of God and the altar and those who worship in it. John says that a measuring rod like a staff was given to him. We're not quite told who gave him the rod, but it may be the same strong or mighty angel that we read about in chapter 10 also gave him this measuring rod.

And there were different kinds of measuring rods in those days. This is a Roman measuring rod. They would have this rod that was hinged in the middle. They'd fold it out, and then they'd have a side piece that they'd swing around, and that would lock it straight, so then they'd use that for measuring. and was a little more compact for carrying around when you weren't doing your measuring. But that's one kind. There were also others made of bone, for example. They take a length of bone and mark it off.

There were some made of wood, and others were made of bulrush reeds, or we might call them cattails. The evidence in this passage points to that it was actually most likely a bulrush reed. reeds that you see growing out in swampy areas. And they used this for food. The root area was a source of food. They'd weave mats out of them. When the stiff parts were dried out, they'd make furniture out of them.

They used the top parts, the cattail portion on the top for insulation. And they'd also use it for walking staffs and measuring rods. And it was mostly this Most likely this kind, and some of them would be nine or ten feet long that they would use for a staff. And you'd use that for measuring. But one of the things that comes out of this that doesn't immediately stand out in the English is this. And you've got this on your handout as well.

The Greek word that is translated rod or staff in this passage is robdos. And a judge in those days would often carry one of these reed staffs, this robdos. He would carry that with him. So the Greek word for an umpire or a judge, or one of the Greek words, is robdokos, who basically would be one who held this staff. Now, then since we know reading this passage, John was given one of these reed staffs, then he would be looked at not only as, see up to this point he's been writing, right?

He would say, I saw this, I heard this. Now he's doing something, or giving him an assignment. And his assignment has him in a position, basically, he's now a judge. He's measuring to see, does this measure up? He's active instead of just kind of recording. So he's got a little different role here.

Now, I think it's important to get an idea, what did they mean when they said measure? And it turns out there's a long history of that meaning of measuring. Several Old Testament passages have measuring as judgment or destruction. It meant that judgment was coming. Destruction was coming. Measuring was also used as restoration and God's protection in several Old Testament passages and even a New Testament passage that we'll be looking into as we go along here in the months ahead.

And here's something else interesting. Measuring is also brought up in Ephesians 4, where it talks about the full measure of Christ, the body of Christ measuring to the full measure of Christ. And one of the key things here, just in a sidelight, this measuring here in the New Testament passage is not talking about our measuring up, of our matching up to some standard. Instead, it is a measure of how much Christ has formed within us. See the distinction there? It's not a measure-up. It's not, do I meet the standard? Do I meet some law rule? But instead it's, how much has Christ been formed in me? That's the way that the word is used there. Okay.

When John is using the word measure here in the context of the Jews, and not in the church context, then that means he's talking about issues of judgment and restoration of the Jewish nation. The phrase, those who worship in it, that shows up in that verse, is given in the present tense, and that means placing this verse in the future time context that it occurs in, it means that the temple will be in place during the tribulation period. Now that's a bit of a trick from a human standpoint, because as you saw in the first photo we saw up there, The Dome of the Rock is there. That's where the Islamic folks teach that Abraham offered up not Isaac, but Ishmael.

So that rock is significant. And we'll be talking about this some more, but just a key insight here. This is also consistent. Remember when we studied in Daniel chapter 9? You remember that? I hope you remember at least a little bit of that. Daniel chapter 9, we also said that passage indicates that the temple will be rebuilt on this temple mount that we saw in the first photo. The temple will be rebuilt in Jerusalem.

It's also consistent with what Jesus told the disciples in Matthew 24, and we'll be studying that at a later point in time. He talks about the abomination of desolation. which has to take place in the Temple. So the Temple must be rebuilt. This verse that we're looking at here also brings forth further evidence that the Tribulation period is really about the Jews and the Church is not present at this time. The focus is on the Jews.

Do you see that? The Temple is referenced here, but the one that Jesus and the disciples walked in had been destroyed by the Romans about 26 years before John wrote the book of Revelation. Speaking of the resurrection, Jesus referred to his own body as a temple. Do you recall that?

Paul's letters to the Corinthians says that the temple is a figure for the church body as a whole and for individual believers. Here the passage, however, talking about the temple, is something which John can physically measure. This is a physical temple in Jerusalem. What's more, as we'll see in the next verse, the outer court of the temple is given to the nations, the ethnos in the Greek.

These verses make substantial distinctions between the Jew and the Gentile, which is in contrast to Galatians 3.28, remember?

There's no distinction in Christ. Now all of a sudden we're seeing a distinction. Something's changed. The church isn't in the picture. So the tribulation period is a time in which it speaks of the Jews and the Gentiles, but not of the church as a whole, because the church is gone. Let's take a look at verse 2.

Leave out the court which is outside the temple, and do not measure it, for it has been given to the nations, and they will tread underfoot the holy city for forty-two months. The word for temple here is, and you've got to get this now, naos. That's the word temple. It's different from the usual word for temple, which in the Greek was hieron. Naos means the holy place or the holy of holies. So it's a different, even though a lot of times it's translated the same in English, it's a different meaning. It's specific to a very special part of the whole temple area. Let's take a look at this to get the idea down. Here's the large temple area, and this roughly corresponds to that big pad where the Dome of the Rock is located. That's called the Temple Mount.

And that was approximately this area. This area outside, this sort of broad area, is called the Court of the Gentiles. It was okay for Gentiles to go into that area. That was fine. They weren't to enter, however, into this area, which was the temple proper. And the word for temple being used here, this na'af, that's just the holiest place and the holy place.

This small area here is all that's included in that. Just that one little area. Now, We need to switch to a picture so I think you can get a better idea. This is a model that somebody has constructed. And the idea is that right in here, this would be the naaf.

This would be the holy place and the holy of holies. And to the Jewish mindset, this is the place where God is in there. This is the place where God is in there. And the rest of the temple area, and if you include everything, that was the other word for temple, the Hiram. And so there was a distinction they made between these two. John's talking about just this little area in here, the holiest part of the temple. And so anyway, it's important for us to get the distinction. He's being asked, measure this, don't bother with the rest of it.

Because it's going to be given to the Gentiles for 42 months Three and a half years, right? The last half of the tribulation period will be a time when it will be overtaken, overrun by Gentiles. But, you know how a lot of things are. When I start reading through it, it reminds me of a song. So, that's what we'll do now. It's a song. We are the holy of holies.

Don't fail the tour. Don't bail the door. We have His Spirit controlling. Don't hide the source. Don't hide the source. God wants to do a work in our lives. And to share His glory and fame. If we try to do it ourselves, We must wear veils of shame. Keep on beholding His glory, Don't veil the door. Don't bail the door. Growing from glory to glory. Don't hide the source. Don't hide the source.

The point is, although this passage here is talking about a physical temple, right here in the church age, every time it's brought up, every time it's brought up, When there's comparison made to the Christian as the temple, it's this holy of holies, the most holy place. And that's why this comparison is really valuable for us. Because what it's pointing to is, while the Jews looked at that building as the dwelling place of God, the New Testament is telling us, as believers during the church age, we are the dwelling place. So, don't hide the holy of holies. Don't veil the door. Don't hide the source.

Oh, by the way, several of you have asked because I sent around this email some weeks back about this red heifer. I knew I'd get some kind of reaction. First of all, some people are saying, what's this with the red heifer? And a few of you might be saying, what's a heifer? Well, I actually had a pet heifer. I'm not sure why it was, but I went out and was there while this little heifer was being born, and she was red. But she had a little white spot. It was cute, but she didn't qualify. But anyway, it followed me all over the farm. Everywhere I would go, I would pick apples, chop wood, it didn't matter. It followed me everywhere until the first baby was born. The reason I sent out the email was because a red heifer was born in Israel about two months ago. And you may think, so what Vern? So a red heifer was born. Numbers 19 is the passage that spells this out. It says that an unblemished and unyoked red heifer And unblemished means that every single hair must be red. Not a white or other color hair among them. All entirely red. That's the definition.

This red heifer must be slain and the priest must go into this, remember this naos that we saw? He must take the blood and sling it seven times towards the front. Must do this. It's essential. It's not, hey, if you want to do it, it's an essential. I have to do it. It's critical.

The rest of the red heifer was burned, sacrificially, and it was used for other cleansing purposes among the nation of Israel. And you can read that in Number 19, all the different conditions under which they would use the ashes of this red heifer. So both the blood and all the ashes were important But as you can see, in order for them to carry on the temple ceremonies, they had to have the blood from this red heifer. Now, it so happens that a few years ago, they thought they had one in Georgia, I think it was, and they had a rabbi come and look at it, and he found two white hairs, and he said, that's no good. And they weren't allowed to just pluck them either. So, anyway, the excitement came over this red heifer, being born, and this one is two months old now, in Israel. And they had two rabbis come and looked at it, and they said, this is it. We've got it.

And the reason this has been exciting to them is they've been training the priests, they've already got their garb and everything already, the Temple Institute already has a building with all the temple implements ready to go, a group called the Temple Mount Faithful has already gotten together the cornerstones and some of the building materials that are required, and they got plans all set up for this thing. The only thing that was missing from making the temple entirely legal was this. And now two months ago, it was born. So there is nothing other than getting permission to build, which that's no small obstacle, but there's nothing other than getting the permission to build from carrying out the reconstruction and reuse of the Third Temple. So the point of excitement is that this could happen any time. There's nothing stopping it from happening at any time. And we'll get into this some more.

If you want to check that out, the two groups, the Temple Institute and the Temple Mount Faithful are the Jewish groups that are working on pulling this thing together. They're very well financed. They're very enthusiastic. You can get on their email list. Look on their websites. Amazing stuff. Okay. Enough with red heifers for a while. If you have any other questions, you can ask me. I'll see if I can answer them. All right. Verse 3. Now we start to turn a corner here. John's been measuring for two verses. Now we start to turn a corner.

Fascinating. and I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for twelve hundred and sixty days clothed in sackcloth." Now, we should take note here that the Greek doesn't actually say either power or authority is given to the two witnesses. The original Greek doesn't say that. Our Bible frequently has that in English. It actually says in the Greek, I will give unto my two witnesses.

That's what it comes across with. The idea here is that whatever the two witnesses want, they've got it. God's telling them here, whatever you need, you've got it. That's it. Straightforward statement. Whatever you need, you've got it. I'm going to give unto them. He didn't even say what it is because he doesn't have to. He says, whatever they need, I'm going to give it to them. That's God's statement. The truth is that the Lord has provided for us, too, hasn't he? The truth is that the Lord has provided a great deal for us, but it's real different from what these two witnesses have, which further underscores that the Church isn't here.

But we'll take a look at that in a minute. Now, what are these two witnesses given? As we look ahead in the verses that we'll be reading here, we've got these things. We've got a divine appointment. They're my witnesses. He calls them personally. They are my witnesses. They're testifying about and for God. The next thing, they have a ministry of prophecy for this 1260 days. Prophets speak forth for God. They say, thus says the Lord. They speak forth for God.

The next thing, they have an expression of mourning within the verse. They're preaching a gospel of repentance. There is something sad about this. There is something heart-rending about what is going on. So they're communicating that as well. They have offensive powers. They have this fire that proceeds out of their mouth.

For anybody wishing to harm, anybody who has a will to harm these two witnesses, they have this offensive power against whoever it is. The next thing is there are miraculous plagues. They're able to say, no rain, and they turn waters to blood. They can respond to resistance or a lack of repentance. with these plagues whenever they want. However many times, whenever time they feel it needs to happen.

And the last thing, and we'll be looking at this until next week, is they're given resurrection life. This life is returned to their bodies miraculously after the three and a half days. Now, you may be saying, why do we have two witnesses? And if you've been thinking that, good. Very good question. Okay. I'm glad you asked.

Deuteronomy 19.15 in the Old Testament and John 8.17 in the New Testament calls for two witnesses to verify any accusation.

Two witnesses to verify any accusation. So I'm afraid what's happening is these two witnesses are making accusations or verifying the accusations that the Lord Himself has made. They're verifiers. They're there to stand by what is true. And incidentally, what happened to a witness that spoke things falsely?

They were stoned. So it's not something you take casually. I don't imagine these guys are taking it casually. These are guys who are stating what is true, standing by what is true, at the expense of their lives. At the expense of their lives if they state what's wrong. Now, it's interesting here. These two witnesses are appointed by God, aren't they? He says, they're my witnesses.

But this is further evidence the church isn't here. The church is not here at this point. Why? We look back at Acts 1.8, and what is Christ? He's speaking directly to those who are his apostles, and what does he say? You are my witnesses. Well, if they are the witnesses, why do we need some more?

It's because the church is gone. The church is out of the picture. It seems like almost every chapter there's multiple reminders. The church has been taken out of the picture and it is simply because the church has been raptured, taken out prior to the events that have been revealed here. Okay.

These two witnesses will prophesy. They'll be mouthpieces for the Lord. And the length of time that they're given to prophesy will be 1260 days. that is based upon the Jewish measure of a month. The Jews had a 30-day month. That was their standard month. And you might say, well, how did they accommodate the fact that 360 days, 12 months in a year all added up, that leaves you with some days left over. What they'd do is they'd throw in an extra month every once in a while to catch up with the fact that it got out of sync with the sun and the moon and all those things. So, you've got this 1260 days, 42 months, 3.5 years.

Is it the first half or the second half of the Tribulation? Which one? Should we vote? Well, maybe not. Anyway, there are some that say it's the first half, and there are some that say it's the second half, and there are others that say, who can tell? But I think it's pretty clear that this is actually are actually having their ministry, prophetic ministry if you will, in the first half of the Tribulation. And let's take a look at that. These two witnesses here are prophesying. And what happens is, Brian read for us, at the end of this passage we're looking at now, these two witnesses are killed.

At the end of this time period, And then they lie on the streets for three and a half days. As we'll see farther on, they lie on the street dead for three and a half days. Well, if that was the second half, they would have been lying on the street for three and a half days in Jerusalem when Christ had already returned.

That doesn't quite make sense, does it? And besides that, when Christ comes back, the beast isn't going to be interested in killing any witness. He's going to be a whole lot more interested and concerned about Christ. So that's a couple of reasons. We'll be looking at some more, including one a little bit later on here. But the passage here spells out this, that we've got these two witnesses here in the first half of this tribulation period, in this first three and a half years. The second half, this section in here, is when the beast takes power. And so this killing of the two witnesses will be part of his initial measures to take power. Get rid of these guys. Why? Because they're in Jerusalem and they're powerful. Get them out of the way. So he will be given the ability to do that. We'll look at more of that in a bit.

The next thing to look at though is the text says that they were clothed in sackcloth. And that word translated, clothed, is given in a passive voice. That means that the clothing was done to them. They were clothed, not of their own doing, but of a doing outside of them, of a being outside of them. That means the clothing that they were wearing was given to them and placed upon them.

We see it as, this is the Lord's act. He may have used some agent to do that, but this is the Lord's act. Sackcloth, as we know, was a sign of mourning among the Jews. Isaiah 37, verses 1 and 2, and Daniel 9, 3 are some good examples of how they would use sackcloth. This is a sign of mourning, a sign of distress. This sackcloth is important enough to the Jewish mindset. It's mentioned 40 times plus in the Old Testament. It's not mentioned, and this is interesting, Forty times plus in the Old Testament, it is not mentioned once in the epistles that are addressed during the church age. And why? Why is that?

It's because we're seated with Christ. And mourning goes along with crying, doesn't it? Ephesians 2.6 says we're seated with Christ. If we're seated with Christ... Remember what happened when John wept in heaven? Remember that? The elders said, stop weeping! Right? is inappropriate. So sackcloth is not even mentioned in any of the New Testament epistles. It's not fitting. One more thing to note about this verse in comparison to verse 2.

The times of the occupancy of the outer area of the temple, remember this is the area that's included in the Hiram, is given as 42 months. But you notice here, the same period of time Why? It's interesting, he switches to days. 1,260 days, right? Why the difference?

Well, let's notice a pattern. Matter of fact, it shows up, we've already looked at it before, but now we're going to need to really take a look at it. If you look at all the places in Revelation where things are measured out in months, everything that is measured out in months, the stinging locusts twice, the Gentile nations, And the beast, all those things have time frames given in months. If it's an evil thing, the time frame is given in months. But look at this pattern. If it's about somebody that God cares about and is protecting, it's given in days.

See that? sharp contrast, and it's entirely consistent. John doesn't skip around any of this. It is a consistent pattern, and here's why I think it is. I think this isn't just accidental. Those that the Lord loves and are His, He counts their every day. And I think we can take that as comforting.

The Lord counts our every day. The Lord counts our every day. He doesn't let big blocks of time go by and say, oh, heaven's sake, there's burn down there. Instead, He counts our every day. He's watching and caring and looking for us. And that's why every time you see somebody He cares about in the book of Revelation show up and their days are numbered, it's numbered in days and not in months. Months is for those who are evil, days are for those that are His. Amazing distinction. Okay, verse 4.

These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the Earth. Now about these two symbols, these two olive trees and the two lampstands. These symbols come from Zechariah chapters 3 and 4. The two olive trees in these chapters are clearly figurative names for Joshua the High Priest and Zerubbabel, the governor of Judah.

You go around pronouncing Zerubbabel all the time, right? Alright, just making sure. These two guys, Joshua and Zerubbabel, were important figures, and the distinction with these two is they had a place in the rebuilding of the Second Temple. First, while in the process of getting the Second Temple rebuilt.

This is the one that Christ walked in, right? first in the process of getting that temple rebuilt, and then in the initial stages of that temple's use. It is another reason that backs up the two witnesses being in the first half of the tribulation period, because what do you notice? The temple is being rebuilt and put into service, just like the second temple, And so why the comparison here? We're calling them two olive trees and two lampstands. It's just like Joshua and Zerubbabel in the second temple. That's the comparison. He's saying these guys are around during the rebuilding and initial use of the third temple. See that? So it's another thing that just nails down.

This is the first half of the tribulation period that this is taking place. Now, then, Verse 5, 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. Now, the last time I had fire flowing out of my mouth is when I had too much of this hot sauce that we had some guests have an opportunity to sample a couple days ago.

But that's not at all what it's talking about, right? This, instead, is an ability to have fire come against the enemies. Now, let's look carefully at what this verse does not say about here there. It doesn't say that fire comes out of their mouth when the enemies try to hurt them. Do you notice the pattern there? It says it twice. When the enemies will or want to hurt them. Isn't that interesting?

If you want to hurt these guys, you're dead. So clearly the message after this happens a few times, don't even think about it. Don't even think about it. It's not a good idea. If you think about it, you might start to want to and then you're done. You'll be a crispy critter.

These guys, they have amazing power. Someone desires with an inclination to action, that's the Greek word, sthelo, someone desires to take out these two witnesses, they're gone. I mean, that's impressive. That's amazing. You even think about it and you're toast. Burnt toast.

I'm glad the Lord doesn't work that way now with us. And by the way, I can't find anything that says that church-age believers have that power. Forget it. Okay, verse 6. These have the power also to shut up the sky, so the rain will not 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 plague as often as they desire. The examples of these plagues, of these two, are able to bring upon the earth are similar to those that we read about of Elijah. in 1 Kings 17 and 2 Kings 1 where the fire is brought down from heaven and of Moses in Exodus chapter 7 where he turns the water into blood. But they have power beyond these.

You see the next part there? They can bring down any plague they wish. This is make a wish, right? Only not quite the same. Any plague they wish, anytime they wish, anywhere they wish. It's sort of like rent-a-plague, only these guys can't be bought. Anytime they want to bring something down, it happens. And it doesn't matter what it is. Notice, too, the way it's worded.

The rain was stopped, and it was stopped until these two were done prophesying. Do you see that in the wording? Until these two were done prophesying so that meant that if they brought this plague upon you at the beginning of the tribulation Period you have to wait for three and a half years for it rains again That's tough. We think we're in the draft, right? That's bad. That's nasty But that's what people were looking looking to How about no rain or snow for the next three and a half years, right? That'd be tough.

That's what people are looking forward to If that's what these witnesses call for They can call for that. They can do that. All right, verse 7. When they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up out of the abyss will make war with them and overcome them and kill them. Wow. Now it says in verse 3 that their assigned time for prophesying is 1260 days. Now put yourself in the shoes of these prophets.

How would you like to be in a spot where you've got amazing power and capability if somebody thinks about taking you out? They're dead. They're cooked. Okay? But you have this immense responsibility to be a witness and how would you like to also know that come the middle of this tribulation period, you're over. You're done. Your time's up. That's something, isn't it?

But that's the position that these two witnesses are in. Now, if you're asking who are these two witnesses, you're asking a question that a lot of folks would like to know. There are those who said that these two witnesses are Enoch and Elijah, because after all, Enoch was taken up and Elijah was taken up, and neither of them died, and now since it was appointed unto a man once to die, right? Then now they would die. Once. And at this time, they would be killed, and then that would be it. So it must be Enoch and Elijah.

And others say, no, wait a minute. On Mount of Transfiguration, that's where Moses and Elijah showed up, and besides that, what you have here is the fire being called out of the sky is like Elijah, and the water being turned to blood, that's like Moses.

Well, okay, how about that one? But guess what? It doesn't say what the names are either way. What it has told us is that they are the two olive trees and lampstands, and that would make them Joshua and Zerubbabel. See? Amazing. You know what? We aren't given the names. And you know what?

I think that's on purpose. I think that there are going to be two people that God appoints. And they will have characteristics that will be very much like Jewish people in the Old Testament. Specific Jewish people. But I think the fact that names are not given is likely on purpose. And that similarities are there to help us relate to it.

This is, however, the first time in the book of Revelation that we're going to see this name again, where the beast is mentioned. And especially when we get into chapter 13, there's going to be some more specific definition of who the beast is and how the beast behaves. We're going to find out more about the beast's character and the beast's activities.

So now we've been reading on for chapter and chapter and chapter, and now finally we're at a place where now the beast is directly mentioned in the first thing he does, as far as we have any record of, is he goes and kills these two witnesses. These two, if anybody thought about killing them, they were dead. And it's going to be one of the things that those who want these two witnesses dead, but are afraid to even think it, they're going to be glad for the beast, aren't they? Which is going to be their undoing.

Well, so we're going to want to come back to this beast thing again from chapters 13 all the way to 20. He is a satanically empowered being. He's going to play a huge but horrible part, a huge but horrible earthly role during the last half of the tribulation period.

Right as the two witnesses finish up their 1260 days, She comes onto the scene, right in the middle of the tribulation period, the first time we see him. The story of these two witnesses, however, does not end, as we'll see next week. It goes on. Next week you'll see how the story ends, and I think you'll find it fascinating.

And what's more, we're going to find it just a marvelous example of God's power and mercy, and how even in the midst of a horrible and awful time, God is working. But these two themselves, even though we read stories of their power, even though we read stories of their ability to take out those who are enemies, they are in fact witnesses to the truth. And because of that, they're actually a testimony to God's mercy. They're actually witnesses of God's mercy and God's love in the midst of this. even shown specifically to them by giving them defense in the midst of all these enemies. It's encouraging, actually, to see the Lord's mercy and to see the Lord's sovereignty and to see that the time that these two witnesses are given has been determined by God. We use words like accident. This is not an accident, is it? that it's exactly set. As a matter of fact, here we're reading about it and it's going to take place maybe as soon as four years from now. Their life will be ended.

As we look at that, we see God's sovereignty. We see God's mercy. We see God's care for, as we saw in the contrast between months and days, for their every day. God's loving concern for these two as He has for us. Let's pray. Lord, as we look at these two witnesses, you have given them ominous protection. And yet at the same time, Lord, you have given us spiritual protection. We have armor that is in every way complete.

And Lord, as we look at their lives, we see that you have valued and numbered every day, that you have watched and counted and cared for them each one of those days. And we count upon that same faithfulness, we count upon your same caring for us during each one of our days. And Lord, unlike these two, we don't know exactly how long our days are. But like these two, we can trust you and depend upon you to carry us through each one. And Lord, we look to the heavenly seating that we have, that unlike these, who are wearing sackcloth, that we can rejoice in being seated with you in the heavenlies. And we give you thanks for every marvelous blessing. In Jesus' name, Amen.