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The Two Witnesses
Good afternoon!
Today we are going to continue our series and we are looking at Revelation chapter eleven verses one through fourteen.
This section of the book of revelation is perhaps the most debated and the most difficult to fully understand.
I don’t intend to be a bit vague on the meaning of some of this.
But the truth is some of it is just a bit vague.
And this is the nature often times of what is called apocalyptic writing.
The unfortunate part is that you have probably heard people state that this is clearly what is being stated.
The problem is that very little in this passage is exactly clear.
Some of the struggle is how to read the passage.
Even those who take a very literal approach to the reading of the book of Revelation recognize in this passage that much of it is spiritualization.
And that will always make a concrete understanding of something that has yet to occur difficult to understand.
This is the exact problem that the Jews often times had when attempting to understand much of the prophecies concerning the coming messiah.
This struggle is going to even make coming down to a good means of applying these verses to our lives difficult as well.
I’ve done it.
But in the end I’ll be honest I took what I believe to be low hanging fruit in order to keep my conclusion both simple and safe.
So let’s look at Revelation chapter eleven.
It actually contains within it three different sections.
The first two are related so we will be covering both of those.
The first concerns the measuring off of the Temple in the first two verses and then we will be looking at what are called the two witnesses.
So let’s look at the first two verses concerning the measuring of the Temple.
They read.
Ok, so almost all of this passage is debated.
First, let’s address the why of the measuring of the temple.
Biblically there can be two completely diametrically opposed reasons for measuring off the temple.
That’s right God on multiple occasion tells Old Testament prophets to measure off an area.
Whether that be the temple or Jerusalem.
And here’s the difficulty.
Sometimes he does this with the intent of protecting that which is measured.
In other words everything contained within this area I will protect says the Lord.
But, on other occasions he measures off and he does this again with both the temple and with Jerusalem biblically with the intent of showing the nation what it is that he intends to destroy because of their continued sin.
As a result, you will find people making both arguments.
Why? because God doesn’t explicitly state.
I do believe he does state just not clearly.
So here’s how I read this.
God has John measure off the temple to include all of the courts except for the outer court which was the only area that gentiles could enter.
And he says that this area will be trampled upon, or destroyed.
That along with the two witnesses that are about to come upon the scene I believe show that God has marked off the temple for protection.
And this is the position that most people come to concerning this passage.
Now the more difficult part is the understanding of the temple.
So I have used some terms in the past that I have not used in a while, but I am going to use them again because sometimes labels are helpful in keeping things spearated so as not to confuse them.
So, with that.
What does the temple that is being protected represent?
There is no end to understandings concerning this.
And most of it comes down to HOW one chooses to read the book of Revelation.
I read it fairly literally.
However, with the nature of the writing being apocalyptic even Dispensationalists who tend to be the most literal recognize you can not do this consistently.
And particularly with this passage.
So, dispensationalists understanding the protection that God grants to the temple to be a literal rebuilt temple that is to occur at some point in our future.
This is why they get super excited about certain political events surrounding the wailing wall, the dome on the rock, and that area of Jerusalem where the temple was originally built.
So, this is one understanding.
I actually don’t believe that this understanding makes a whole lot of sense if Jesus fulfilled perfectly the primary purpose of the temple.
Which was the worship of God through sacrificial offerings.
So, there are two other groups that I want to look at as well.
Both of them would be from what we might call the reformed understanding of the book of Revelation.
But with two different understandings of the timing and event of the end times.
The first group that is popular today is what is called amillenialists.
So, they do not believe that there will be a specific yet to occur millenial rule of Jesus Christ.
They would typically state that we are currently within that period of time.
If you have had a primarily dispensational view of the end times.
Which is most of america.
Because of the left behind series.
This idea seems very strange.
But, let me say this there are a lot of scholars out there.
Men and women a whole lot smarter than any one in this room.
Men and women whom I respect a whole lot that hold to this position.
It was until perhaps the last 30-40 years to predominant view throughout the world.
And throughout the world it still is.
Dispensationalism is mostly a North American reality.
Not entirely but predominantly.
So, this group would typically state the it is spiritual Israel that is being measured off for protection which would actually fit best with the context of the rest of the book.
And spiritual Israel is today called the church.
And so God intends to protect the church and not Israel or better yet Jews.
The last group that I want to look at.
Is a group that is primarily reformed in their theology but postmillenial in their understanding of the end times.
And of course this is where I tend to land.
So how do I see this passage.
I actually end up closer to the dispensationalists on this one, but not exactly there.
I do not believe that a rebuilt temple is in mind in this passage.
This is a spiritualization of the temple in order for Jesus to present a truth.
Paul in the book of Romans spends three chapters defending the fact that in the end the Jews will be brought back into the fold and as a result all of Israel will be saved through the blood and sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
And I believe that this chapter is the final application of those verses.
And so God measures off all but the court of gentiles in order to show that God intends to protect only those who are ethnically Jewish in their heritage.
The rest of the chapter explains why he does this.
And that is that after he marks them for protection he is going to send two witnesses to Jerusalem in order to testify concerning the fact that Jesus is the Messiah.
And through the two witnesses we will see every Jew alive come to Jesus during the end times.
So let’s try to look as quickly as possible at these two witnesses.
In verses three and four we read.
So for three and a half years, or 1260 days, these modern day prophets will preach the gospel under the authority of God almighty.
I am not going to get into all of the details concerning the olive tress and the lampstands and the sackcloth because of time.
I will probably put something online later this week.
What I want to spend time on this morning is more concerned with the identity of the two witnesses and more importantly their mission.
We need to read a bit more though before we can begin to identify these two witnesses.
Verse five reads.
So God has sent these two witnesses to testify concerning the gospel of Jesus Christ and they are going to complete their mission.
No one will be able to harm them.
And I do believe that there will be some who will attempt to harm them and those that do will be literally consumed by fire.
Now will fire literally pour out of their mouths as it is pictured here.
That I don’t necessarily believe to be the case.
Something similar is seen in second kings chapter one verses eleven and twelve.
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