The Two Witnesses

Looking at the Seven Trumpets:

• Most likely these are a revisitation of God’s justice that is poured out on the earth, but from a different perspectives

• The trumpets and the bowls have echos of the plagues that God sent upon Egypt in the book of Exodus )

Trumpets are Split into sections, much like the seals:

• Four Trumpets, and interlude, and then 3 more trumpets

Hebrews–Revelation (Section Overview)

Trumpet 1

Earth

8:7

Hail, fire, and blood on land

Trumpet 2

Sea

8:8–9

Burning mountain thrown into the seaTrumpet

Trumpet 3

Rivers and springs

8:10–11

Burning star falls on rivers and springs

Trumpet 4

Sky

8:12

Sun, moon, and stars darkenedInterlude

8:13 (Interlude)

Trumpet 5

First woe

9:1–12

Demons from the abyss

Trumpet 6

Second woe

9:13–21

Demons from the east

Interlude

10:1–11:14

Trumpet 7

Third woe

11:15–19

Kingdom come

Interlude:

After the sixth trumped, we would expect the blowing of the seventh trumpet.

Rev. 10:1-11:14, serves as an interlude prior to the final trumpet (i.e. the end of History)

According to Schreiner, “In this interlude, John prepares readers for the seventh trumpet by emphasizing the prophetic ministry of the church—namely—the proclamation of God’s Word.

Chapter 10:

A mighty angel comes down from heaven; he is glorious in his appearance. Yet, this mighty angel is but a servant of God, showing us the infinity power and splendor of the Lord.

The angel has a small scroll in his hand

The small scroll echos Ezekiel, leading scholars to believe that this is a prophetic commission for John.

The voice of the angel roars like seven thunders, but John is NOT permitted to write down what he says; the implication is that some of what is to come is hidden from us.

The angel swears by Creator God that the final trumpet will be blown and the end will come. God’s promises will come to pass.

John is then commanded to take the scroll and to eat it. He is to internalize the words that he may prophesy.

The scroll is sweet in his mouth, but it is bitter in his stomach.

The Word of God is sweet and great news for those in Christ; however, it prophesies against those who turn from the Lord (like my message on Sunday)

Today

We join in the prophetic commission given to John.

Revelation 11:1–3 (ESV)

Then I was given a measuring rod like a staff, and I was told, “Rise and measure the temple of God and the altar and those who worship there, but do not measure the court outside the temple; leave that out, for it is given over to the nations, and they will trample the holy city for forty-two months. And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.”

I. The Temple (Views)

Preterist View: (Most of Rev. Already Happened)

Literal temple in Jerusalem that was destroyed in AD 70

This would require an early writing of Rev.,

Not really plausible, as most scholars date it in the mid 90’s AD.

Futurist (Dispensationalist)

Believe that these verses demand the rebuilding of the literal temple.

This could be.

My View: The Temple Represents Christians (i.e. The Church).

A. Revelation is Apocalyptic Literature, and much of what John sees is symbolic.

B. In the NT, the temple regularly symbolizes the church (Jews and Gentiles)

1 Corinthians 3:16 (ESV)

Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?

2 Corinthians 6:16 (ESV)

What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said,

“I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them,

and I will be their God,

and they shall be my people.

Ephesians 2:18–21 (ESV)

For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord.

1 Peter 2:5 (ESV)

you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

C. The Temple Symbolizes the Church in Other Parts of Revelation

Revelation 3:12 (ESV)

The one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. Never shall he go out of it, and I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name.

Revelation 13:6 (ESV)

It opened its mouth to utter blasphemies against God, blaspheming his name and his dwelling, that is, those who dwell in heaven.

Craig Keener says, “... this is the more common scholarly interpretation of this temple today.”

II. Measuring Rod?

A) Meaning

Futurists would argue that it is a real measuring of the temple.

I believe it is symbolic, representing God’s care for his people.

God will continue to build His church, even in the face of tribulation. The gates of hell will not come against it.

B) The Outer Court

Revelation 11:2 (ESV)

but do not measure the court outside the temple; leave that out, for it is given over to the nations, and they will trample the holy city for forty-two months.

Options (A few of the MANY VIEWS)

Futurist/Literal: 1

This is a literal temple that is rebuilt

Those who worship in it are the remnant of believing Jews

Those in the outer courts are unbelieving Jews

The measuring of the temple, altar, and remnant, indicates that they will be protected by God.

Figurative View 1

Revelation: A Shorter Commentary (Beale)

Understands the outer court as the professing but apostate church throughout the Last Days (resurrection through Second Coming), which will be deceived and align itself with unbelieving persecutors of those who are in Christ.

Figurate View 2 (Keener)

The temple is the true church or remnant (Jews and en-grafted Gentiles)

The trampling of the outer courts then depicts the rule of the evil one, who misleads the rest of the Jewish people, the end-time remnant who eventually understands and repents.

Revelation 11:13 (ESV)

And at that hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.

Figurative View 3 (Most Compelling)

God measured the temple, symbolizing his protection over true believers, who will be protected from ultimate harm (i.e. the wrath of God). This fits with the last interlude before entering the three woe judgements.

However, in another sense, true believers will be vulnerable as they will be persecuted by the pagan nations.

C) 42 Months

Echoes OT

#1 Daniel 9:24-27;

#2 Elijah

Luke 4:25 (ESV)

But in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens were shut up three years and six months, and a great famine came over all the land,

Futurists/Literalists -

Literal 3 1/2 Year period during the Great Tribulation.

Figurative

Believe this text (and Daniel) are symbolic.

This would fit with the context of Daniel 9; Jeremiah had prophesied as a seventy year exile, but as Daniel saw, it referred to a much longer period of time.

Half of 7, which—in the Bible— is a number of completeness

III. The Two Witnesses

Revelation 11:4–14 (ESV)

These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. And if anyone would harm them, fire pours from their mouth and consumes their foes. If anyone would harm them, this is how he is doomed to be killed. They have the power to shut the sky, that no rain may 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 kind of plague, as often as they desire. And when they have finished their testimony, the beast that rises from the bottomless pit will make war on them and conquer them and kill them, and their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city that symbolically is called Sodom and Egypt, where their Lord was crucified. For three and a half days some from the peoples and tribes and languages and nations will gaze at their dead bodies and refuse to let them be placed in a tomb, and those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and make merry and exchange presents, because these two prophets had been a torment to those who dwell on the earth. But after the three and a half days a breath of life from God entered them, and they stood up on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them. Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here!” And they went up to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies watched them. And at that hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.

The second woe has passed; behold, the third woe is soon to come.