Revelation chapter 11. I was given a reed like a measuring rod and was told, go and measure the temple of God and the altar with his worshipers, but exclude the outer court. Do not measure it because it has been given to the Gentiles. They will trample on the holy city for 42 months. And I will appoint my two witnesses and they will prophesy for 1260 days, clothed in sackcloth. They are the two olive trees and the two lampstands, and they stand before the Lord of the earth. If anyone tries to harm them, fire comes from their mouths and devours their enemies. This is how anyone who wants to harm them must die. They have power to shut up the heavens so that it will not rain during the time they are prophesying, and they have power to turn the waters into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague as often as they want. Now when they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up from the abyss will attack them and overpower them and kill them. Their bodies will lie in the public square of the great city, which is figuratively called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified. For three and a half days, some from every people, tribe, language, and nation will gaze on their bodies and refuse them burial. The inhabitants of the earth will gloat over them and will celebrate by sending each other gifts, because these two prophets had tormented those who live on the earth. But after the three and a half days, the breath of life from God entered them and they stood on their feet and terror struck those who saw them. And then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, come up here. And they went up to heaven in a cloud while their enemies looked on." At that very hour, there was a severe earthquake and a tenth of the city collapsed. 7,000 people were killed in the earthquake and the survivors were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven. The second woe has passed. The third woe is coming soon. God does amazing things. On May 14th, 1948, something truly amazing took place. On that date, after nearly 1900 years, Israel became a nation. It had been dispersed. The people of God, the Jewish people, had been dispersed for so many centuries, and yet in 1948 they became a nation. It seemed impossible. Historically, there was no way that that could have happened, but became a possibility because God has a plan for his chosen people, the Jews. And he's continuing to work out that plan. And it was an amazing thing. And even out of the tragedy of the Holocaust, God brought about life. He's an amazing God. He does amazing things. That shouldn't surprise us when we read the pages of Scripture because we know that God has done amazing things all through history and that God is going to do some amazing things in the future. And this is what we see when we come to Revelation chapter 11. We've been looking together at this book of Revelation in the New Testament and this book is a book that talks about the future, that talks about what it's going to be like prior to the second coming of Jesus Christ. Those those weeks and months and years leading up to the return of Jesus Christ, seven-year period of tribulation as it's described in other passages of scripture. And in that seven-year period of time, God is, through a series of judgments, going to break the hold of human dominance in the world so that the kingdom of Christ can be established on earth. And so we've seen through these series of judgments, the seal judgments, the trumpet judgments, and eventually the bold judgments, that God is doing that work and it's an amazing work. But along the way in this book of Revelation, we see a series of interludes that help us to understand what that time will be like. And chapter 11 is one of those interludes. It talks about the temple of God and it talks about two witnesses that will be on earth. And so as we look at them together, we'll learn that as we see these two men and the experiences that take place there, that we like them in some ways. We like them need to be very focused in our faith and our commitment to Jesus Christ. In fact, I'd suggest that we think of this chapter in these terms, that as followers of Jesus Christ, we must be vigilant, diligent, and resilient in our faith. Now, I want you to actually write those words down, so go ahead and take out your outline, and if you wouldn't mind taking a pen and write those down. Three words, vigilant, diligent, and resilient. Why those words, vigilant, diligent, and resilient? When I look at these two witnesses in Revelation chapter 11, I'm impressed with these aspects of their character. Vigilant, meaning awake, alert, ready. Diligent, staying with their calling and their commitment right to the end. Resilient, being able to bounce back and to be strong in the middle of opposition. Vigilant, diligent, and resilient. And as followers of Christ, we need to have those qualities. Vigilant, diligent, resilient. I chose those words because it reflects those two prophets. I chose those words because they rhyme. And so there's that as well, right? When we begin this chapter, we find that God reveals to John that there will be a temple on earth, a temple in Jerusalem. In verse one of chapter 11, Revelation, John says, I was given a reed like a measuring rod. was told, go and measure the temple of God in the altar and count the worshipers there. Go and do a measurement of the temple of God. Now, when we think about the temple of God in Jerusalem, we immediately recognize there is no temple of God in Jerusalem today. So we have to deal with that question. But as we think back historically, let's think about the temple that existed in Jerusalem in time past. The temple was first built by King Solomon nearly a thousand years before the time of Jesus Christ. And it was a glorious temple, a beautiful temple. It had outer courts and inner courts and a Holy of Holies that contained the Ark of the Covenant. And there was an opportunity for worshipers to come and bring their offerings and sacrifices and that procession of bringing themselves into the presence of God and those sacrifices taken into the Holy of Holies on their behalf by the high priest coming into the presence of God, the presence of God among his people. And that temple became the central feature of Jewish worship for so many centuries. But because of Israel's disobedience over time, God brought judgment on his people. And in 586 BC, the Babylonian armies came into Jerusalem under Nebuchadnezzar, and they destroyed the city of Jerusalem and destroyed and leveled the temple. And it seemed as though all was gone. But some years later, the Jewish people were allowed to return to their promised land, under God's guidance and God's direction, and they returned and began to rebuild the temple. And so a second temple was built. this largely under the direction of one of the leaders named Zerubbabel. And that temple was re-established, it was rebuilt in that place in Jerusalem as a central place, as a place for God's people to come together and worship. And that temple stood down through into the first century. It was the temple that Jesus walked about. It was embellished by King Herod, it was made great and glorious again. And it seems as though when it finally hit its most glorious peak, it too was leveled by the Roman armies, this time under General Titus in AD 70. And since that time, and since that destruction of the Jewish nation, there was no Jewish nation until 1948. And it seemed impossible that there could ever be another Jewish nation. the nation of Israel was established. God does amazing things in history. God does amazing things in the future. So when we look at Revelation 11, verse 1, and John is told to go and measure the temple, we would say, wait a minute, there's no temple in Jerusalem. How in the world could a temple be established in such a hotbed of religious and political fury? I mean, can you imagine what it would be like today for the Jewish leaders to go up on the Temple Mount of Jerusalem and say to those who control that region, that Temple Mount, say, we're going to level the mosque and build a temple to the living God. It's beyond our imagination. It just is impossible. But so was it to those in the 40s who thought a nation of Israel, impossible. See, God does amazing things. How that will come about, I don't know. And we can't even begin to imagine, really. But God does amazing things. When John is told to go and measure the temple, when we look back in the Old Testament, and chapter 11 is filled with Old Testament references, in the Old Testament, we find that this measuring of the temple was something that took place in the days of Zerubbabel, when he was preparing to build the second temple. There were measurements to be made. Measurement talks about taking ownership, it talks about preparation. And I wonder if, in these verses, God isn't saying to us, in that tribulation period, in that future period, there's going to be a measurement and a preparation and the building of that temple. It could happen before that, I suppose, but it could happen in those very first years of the Tribulation. And John is told to measure it, and to measure the altar, that there'd be a place of sacrifice again, a central place of coming into the presence of God and the worshipers that will be there. And this seems to describe to us a situation, a future situation, in which God's chosen people, the Jews, rally again around the kind of worship that took place in ancient times around a temple. But then John also is told this in verse 2, So the outer courts don't measure those. The Gentiles have control of those. So we see there's still tension in the Middle East in the future, right? We realize that there's trouble and difficulties there. And that's described for us by Jesus himself in Luke chapter 21, verse 24. In that chapter, Jesus is talking about end time events as well, what it's going to be like in the days leading up to his return. And he says that many will fall by the sword and will be taken as prisoners to all the nations. Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles. This is where John gets this phrase, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. And so if we can imagine together, and we have to speculate a little bit when we look at Revelation, but we can imagine that what takes place is in those early days, those first couple of years of that great tribulation period, that the temple is re-established, worshipers come together again, but then Jesus states that they will fall by the sword, that Jerusalem will be trampled on, that midway through that tribulation period, the world leader of that time comes into the temple. Jesus also says there's gonna be a desecration of the temple, that they establish an idol within the temple, and the Jews flee. And the last half of that tribulation period becomes a great tribulation. Three and a half years of fleeing because the Gentiles are trampling the city. Well, this is exactly what we find in Revelation 11. They'll trample on the holy city for 42 months. When I read those verses, first off, I want to say, let's be amazed. Be amazed. Because in spite of pagan Gentile dominance, temple worship will be restored. Be amazed at that. God does amazing things. Let's not stop being amazed at what God has done and what God is going to do. He's guided human history. We see that with the building of the first temple, the second temple, the reestablishment of Israel, the potential for a future temple. God guides human history. And when we realize that God guides the history of the whole planet, doesn't it only make sense that he guides your history, your life, mine? That the things that are taking place in our life, he's aware of them. He knows them. He guides us. He leads us through them. Sometimes those paths are difficult. He warned, Jesus warned that that would be the case. It would not be easy to be a follower of Jesus Christ. But with Jesus Christ we know that path is right and we can trust him with it. We need to look and listen for his amazing work around us. We need to pay attention when God does something to say that was a work of God. to recognize His amazing work. It may look like circumstances to us. It may look like just people that have come into our life. It may look like just simply events or opportunities and we say, wow, what a great opportunity came my way, came knocking at my door. And then we step back and say, God, it's in control of my life. And he's the one that opens the opportunities and brings the people and orchestrates the circumstances. Let's look for God in those things. He does amazing things even today. We go on in chapter 11, we read about these two prophetic witnesses. And here in verses three through six, we read that that the voice from heaven says to John, and it seems like it's an angelic voice speaking on behalf of God, God says, I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1260 days, clothed in sackcloth. Here, 1260 days before, we saw 42 months. If we do the math, 30 days to a month, that was ancient calculations, it's the same period of time, three and a half years. The question is, when do these witnesses prophesy during that second half of the tribulation when we see the trampling by the Gentiles or in the first half leading up to it? And scholars debate it back and forth. I think the scales tip slightly in favor of the first half of the tribulation, that these are two prophetic witnesses that when the church is taken to heaven, these witnesses come on the scene and they begin to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ and many come to faith. 144,000 Jewish converts that we read about earlier in Revelation, multitudes of Jews and Gentiles all around the world. And so it seems like that first half is the place, but we could debate that back and forth. What we do know about these two witnesses is that they're prophetic witnesses. They have the ability to take the message of God and proclaim it to the world with the kind of power that we see in some of the Old Testament prophets. Look at what it says about them, clothed in sackcloth, meaning that they have the clothing, the attire that sets them apart as those who are in a place of mourning or a place of judgment. They're bringing judgment on the earth. He says in verse 4, these are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. What in the world is he talking about there, the two lampstands, the two olive trees? This is going back to the Old Testament, the book of Zechariah. The ancient prophet Zechariah talked about the two olive trees and the lampstands, and in those days it was the rebuilding of the second temple. Saying to Zerubbabel, the lampstand is the power of the Spirit. In fact, Zechariah says to him, not by might nor by strength, but by my Spirit, says the Lord. This is how the temple's going to be built, he says to Zerubbabel back in the day. The lampstand talking about the Holy Spirit. So two prophets, two lampstands, the Holy Spirit is emanating from their lives. The two olive trees, Zechariah doesn't give us an interpretation of that but back in that day there were two particular leaders helping to establish the temple and it seems as though God is saying these are two who bring that strength of authority to being God's people again. And so these two witnesses come on the scene and it says they have unusual power. If anyone tries to harm them, fire comes from their mouths and devours their enemies. Sounds harsh and it is, but it's a period of judgment in which God is wrestling the control of human dominance from the world to become the kingdom of Christ. And so, as the prophets proclaim the reality and the truthfulness of God and His Son, Jesus Christ, in the gospel, there's going to be all kinds of opposition to that, and some are going to try to harm and even kill these prophets. And it says they have this unusual power. They can speak fire. What does he mean by that? Well, again, going back to the Old Testament, in 2 Kings 1, there's an interesting story of the prophet Elijah. When Elijah was prophet, there was an ungodly king who hated him, but the king became ill and he didn't know if he was going to live or die, so he sent word to find out, and Elijah said, you're going to die. And the king didn't like those words, of course. And so the king said to his soldiers and his captains, he said, go capture Elijah. Go get Elijah and bring him to me. So sent out 50 soldiers with a captain and the captain and the 50 soldiers came to Elijah's house and they said, Elijah, come down. We're taking you to the king. And Elijah says, no. And he speaks fire from heaven and instantly 50 soldiers and their captain are killed by fire, by his spoken word. So the king sends 50 more. Kings are brilliant in the Old Testament times, right? Let's send 50 more. Another captain. Another captain. Elijah, come down. We've told you to come to the king. Elijah says, no, if I'm a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you. Boom, they're gone. 100 now have perished. King in his wisdom says, let's try again. So he sends out another 50, another captain. And I love the second King's chapter when you have to read it. The third captain comes to Elijah's house and he falls on his knees and he says, please, Elijah, don't kill me. I'm just doing what I'm told. Will you please any way possibly come and see the King? And he said, sure, I'll be happy to do that. He goes along with him. You know, In the future, these two prophets have that ability. Someone comes to them and they say, if I'm a prophet of God, may fire fall from heaven and it comes. Like Elijah the prophet. This is how anyone who harms them must die. It says, verse six, these men have the power to shut up the sky so that it will not rain during the time they are prophesying. Three and a half years of drought. Again, Elijah in the Old Testament, three and a half years of drought, he calls on because God commands it. It says, during that time, they have power to turn the waters into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague as often as they want. Sounds like Moses and the Egyptians, doesn't it? See, it's the power of God through his prophets. Now, because of those similarities, some have said these future witnesses, maybe they're Moses and Elijah, come back from the dead. I don't think so. I think God can use any number of his prophets to do these things. And it seems as though he raises up two unique individuals in that day to accomplish Moses and Elijah-like activities. But they have this power. And how I've cast this is to say, be courageous. First, be amazed because in spite of pagan dominance, pagan Gentile dominance, temple worship will be restored. That's an amazing fact of the future. Be courageous. In spite of harsh opposition, two prophetic witnesses will stand up for God. So let's learn from them. Let's also be courageous in our faith. They discovered what so many have discovered in the scriptures, examples like Elijah and Moses and Daniel and Paul. They inspire us to be strong, to be strong in the face of opposition. This morning in my devotional reading, in addition to the Psalms that we're reading through together as a church this year, I trust that you're doing that in the poetic books, 2 Corinthians chapter 11, and it just seemed like it fit so well with this morning's message. This is Paul talking about how He had to be courageous in his work as a missionary. Verse 21 and following, Paul says, Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they Abraham's descendants? So am I. Are they servants of Christ? I'm out of my mind to talk like this. He says, I am more. I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flagged more severely, been exposed to death again and again. Five times I received from the Jews the 40 lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. I spend a night and a day in the open sea. I've been constantly on the move. I've been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles, in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea, and in danger from false brothers. I've labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep. I've known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food. I've been cold and naked, and besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches. I think we've lost that. Let's try another one. Am I back? Okay, I'm back. Let's be courageous like these two. What amazing, amazing individuals. Well, Revelation goes on and it talks about what seems like disaster. Verse 7, now, when they have finished their testimony, see, God has a task for them. But when they finish their task, it's time for them to go home. The text says, the beast that comes up from the abyss will attack them, overpower them, and kill them. their time comes. And it seems as though partway through that tribulation period, this beast from the abyss comes on the scene. Now, who's this beast from the abyss? We'll find as we go into chapter 13 and verse 1 and verse 11, there's a beast that comes up from the sea and a beast that comes up from the land. This is a beast that comes up from the abyss. I think he's distinct from the other two. The abyss, the holding tank, as we saw before, of demonic spirits. It seems like this is a demonic individual, probably Satan himself, comes up out of the abyss. and has the ability at last, by God's permissive will, to take the lives of these two prophets, overpowers them and kills them. And at last, it seems, the world can lie at rest. The bodies, it says, will lie in the street of that great city, which is figuratively called Sodom, a place of immorality. It's figuratively called Egypt, a place of great oppression. But literally, the place where the Lord was crucified. Where's that? Jerusalem. the place of the temple. It says this is where these two prophets are going to die. The beast from the abyss is going to slay them in the streets of Jerusalem. And for three and a half days, men from every people, tribe, language, and nation will gaze on their bodies and refuse them burial. To refuse burial is a huge insult. It's just another way of demeaning these prophets and saying, let them lie there. Look on everybody. And people will pass by from all over the world. Because Jerusalem's a metropolitan city, it's going to be a central city. People from all over will see them. And moreover, not just seeing them, but the inhabitants of the earth will gloat over them. Celebrate, send gifts to each other. The prophets are dead, the prophets are dead. Let's send presents to one another. Celebrate. Because these prophets only tormented the people on earth. Fiery judgment certainly was tormenting, but it was the message that was most tormenting. God is real. The kingdom is coming. You're about to lose your grip on this world. That's tormenting to those who hold on so tightly to this world. That's a tormenting message for you and me if we're holding on to our own lives, refusing to let Christ into our life. They're happy. They're celebrating. And here I'd say, be hopeful. Be amazed, yes, be courageous, be hopeful. In spite of the obvious work of God, evil will seemingly be victorious. In spite of God's work, evil will seemingly be victorious. What do we do when evil prevails? We know that it does, don't we? We see it in places around the world today where it just seems like evil is running rampant. And we think to ourselves, why doesn't God intervene? What's happening? That doesn't seem fair. It doesn't seem right. And there's something deep within us, particularly in our Christian faith, that says this needs to be made right. Seems like evil prevails, but we don't lose hope because we know the outcome, the final outcome, is certain. That good prevails. And it will prevail in the future, and sometimes even now it prevails. sometimes even now, but in the future, to be sure. You see, that's the theme of every human heart, whether we know it or not, that good and justice would prevail. It's a theme of every movie you've ever watched, okay? Every book we've ever had written. There's an author, Christopher Bookers, wrote a book entitled The Seven Basic Plots. It says there's only seven plots in every movie. There's the overcoming the monster plot, that's, you know, like Star Wars, overcoming the enemy, right? There's the rags to riches plot, that's like Mark Twain's Prince and the Pauper. There's the the quest, this hero learning about a great treasure and going after it, that's Lord of the Rings. And by the way, if you haven't watched all three extended edition of the Lord of the Rings, but by all means, waste your time doing that. That would be great. So there's the voyage and return theme, you know, Gulliver's Travels. There's the comedy theme, A Midsummer Night's Dream in Shakespeare's literature, for example. There's the tragedy, overcoming the monster, like Hamlet in Shakespeare, and there's the rebirth theme where the villain changes his ways, like in A Christmas Carol. And it says there's just these seven plots, every movie. So, you know, once in a while I'll start thinking, why am I going to the movies? I know how it's going to end. I know it's just going to be a different path to get there, but ultimately it's going to be the same. And it's because there's only seven plots. Well, as it turns out, I think there's really actually only one plot. It means the plot is justice prevailing. You know, the good guy always wins in the end. Or if he doesn't, we know something's wrong. It's the victory of good over evil. It's the idea of redemption. It's the whole plot of Scripture, the redemption of the lost world. Redemption of lost hearts for Jesus Christ. I see that in the richest of literature, for example, Winnie the Pooh, right? Winnie the Pooh gets lost in the woods, right? because Rabbit thinks he knows the way, and they go around in circles and circles. Wow, that's a tragic, one of these journey kind of themes, and how will they ever be redeemed? How will they ever find their way out? Well, Rabbit wanders off, and then Pooh, he hears his honeypots calling, and he says to Piglet, who also makes me wonder, Piglet and Hamlet, are they related? But that's a different thing. It makes him say, I can hear the honeypots, and Piglet says, how can you hear the honeypots? Well, Rabbit's gone, and Rabbit would talk, you know, and so Pooh finds his way back, and it's restoration. It's all the same story, isn't it? It was better with poo and piglet, isn't it? Yeah. Well, it seems like a tragic end. The prophets die. People gloat over their death. They give gifts. But that's not the end of the story. It's not the end. Because finally, in verses 11 through 14, we can be confident. Because in spite of seeming victory over these two prophetic witnesses, God's resurrection power will prevail. Verse 11, after the three and a half days, a breath of life from God entered into them. And it says they stood on their feet. Imagine what the people looking on and gloating said. Now it says terror overcomes them. Wait a minute. These two are alive again. Then they heard a voice from heaven saying, come up here. Your time's up. Come on up to heaven. Come on up here. And they went up to heaven in a cloud while their enemies looked on." As much as Jesus ascended into heaven in a cloud, these two witnesses are going to ascend in a cloud in such a way, and much like Elijah going up in the whirlwind, they're going to see them go up. they're going to be stunned. And it says at that very hour, as if that weren't enough, there's going to be a severe earthquake. A tenth of the city of Jerusalem will collapse. 7,000 people will be killed in the earthquake and survivors are going to be terrified. And they gave glory to the God of heaven. Before we've only seen people resist, resist, hide, resist. Now they're saying, well, we'll give glory to the God of heaven. I don't think it means they've converted. It means, wow, this must be a God thing. We'd better be careful. The second woe has passed, the third woe is coming soon. We've been tracking along with these judgments and John has described some of them as woeful judgments. While there's another one coming, he says, hang on, there's more to come. And we'll see, Lord willing, next time about the seventh trumpet judgment. But for today to look at these prophets and say, God is a God of resurrection. Where there seems as though evil is prevailing, there is hope. There's a certainty, a confidence of the future, we should be amazed, we should be courageous, we should be hopeful, we should be confident, because God is a God of resurrection, new life. That's the message of Jesus. When it seemed hopeless, Jesus on the cross, hopeless, buried in the tomb. Third day, Jesus rises from the dead. And there's hope again. And that hope is ours. Because Jesus, in His death, paid for our sins, and His resurrection gives us life. And if we'll just simply receive that gift, we enter into that resurrection life, eternal life with Him. Maybe today you know that you haven't accepted Christ as your Savior. You don't have Him living in you. You're considering Him. You've admired Him from a distance. You just know there's not a relationship with Christ, but He's calling to your heart and saying, will you let me come in? Will you receive the gift I have? Will you enter into my kingdom? Because there's a clash of kingdoms and we want to be on the winning side, the side in which the Lamb is Lord. Will you receive Jesus Christ this morning? And having received him, then will we be vigilant, diligent, and resilient in our faith?