Sermon Tone Analysis

III.

The Two Witnesses

Review

Chapter 10

John ate the small scroll given to him by the Great Angel.

The scroll was sweet to the mouth but bitter to the stomach.

This message John is to proclaim is one of ultimate vindication for the Christians, as they would be protected from His wrath.

However. it is also one of bitterness because of the persecution that will come upon them.

And it is a message of warning to all those who are not in Christ.

Chapter 11:1-3

John was given a measuring rod and was told to measure the temple, the altar, and those who worship there.

Explain the Temple (overlapping of Heaven and Earth)

The new temple, as explained throughout the NT, represents the church (the foundation is the Word of God, Christ is the Cornerstone, and we are the stones)

The measuring of the temple likely represents God’s protection from His wrath that will be poured out in the last days.

Furthermore, it is His promise to be present amongst His people

However, the fact that the outer courts are not measured and that they will be trampled, means we are vulnerable to persecution, as was Jesus.

Today

We see the purpose/mission of the church in the last days.

We are to join John, in his prophetic task, bearing faithful witness to Jesus.

In Chapters 2 and 3, Jesus promises special rewards to the those who “conquer,” which means they would rather face martydom rather than compromise.

Revelation 11:3–14 (ESV)

And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.”

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.

Two witnesses are a hotly debated topic

Why TWO Witnesses?

1) Two witnesses echo the two OT stories that serve as a backdrop for this text

A) The story of Moses and the Exodus

Moses demonstrated God’s power to the hard-hearted Pharoah through the plagues, which we have seen echoed already in the trumpet judgement recorded in chapters 8 and 9.

B) The story of Elijah

Stood up against Ahab, the ungodly King of the northern kingdom of Israel

He demonstrated God’s power by successfully praying for a drought and then calling fire down from heaven

2) OT Law Required the requirement of two witnesses in order to validate any claim

Deuteronomy 17:6 (ESV)

On the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses the one who is to die shall be put to death; a person shall not be put to death on the evidence of one witness.

Deuteronomy 19:15 (ESV)

“A single witness shall not suffice against a person for any crime or for any wrong in connection with any offense that he has committed.

Only on the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses shall a charge be established.

Matthew 18:15-16(ESV)

“If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone.

If he listens to you, you have gained your brother.

But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses.

The Identity of the Two Witnesses

1) Two Literal Men Who Return to Earth to Carry Out Chapter 11

A) Moses and Elijah

Revelation 11:6 (ESV)

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.

Because of the two stories echoed in the text

B) Elijah and Enoch

Because they did not die during their earthly lives.

Some think that they will die in the future.

This view is not impossible.

Tertullian and Jerome, amongst other early church fathers believed that Enoch and Elijah would return as witnesses.

2) The Two Witnesses Symbolize the Church

A) The Genre of Revelation

Apocalyptic literature that often uses symbols

John doesn’t mean, though some have thought this, that Moses and Elijah would literally return to earth and carry out what chapter 11 says.

That is to mistake the sort of writing this is.

What John is saying is that the prophetic witness of the church, in the great tradition of Moses and Elijah, will perform powerful signs and thereby torment the surrounding unbelievers, but that the climax of their work will be their martyr-death at the hands of ‘the monster that comes up from the Abyss’.

- NT Wright

B) Direct Evidence from the Text (v. 4)

John refers to the two witnesses as “Olive Trees” and “Lampstands”

i. Olive Trees (Zech 4; Joshua and Zerubbabel)

John picks up on Zechariah 4, where Joshua the high priest and Zerubbabel the King are described as two olive trees.

Zechariah 4:14 (ESV)

Then he said, “These are the two anointed ones who stand by the Lord of the whole earth.”

Zerubbabel & Joshua were the two anointed ones, King and Priest, respectively, and were seeking the restoration of their Holy City

a) In the NT, we are called a Kingdom of Priests and Kings

Revelation 1:5–6 (ESV)

and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth.

To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever.

Amen.

Revelation 5:10 (ESV)

and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God,

and they shall reign on the earth.”

It is compelling to believe that when John refers to the two witnesses as lampstands, that He has in mind the whole of the church, who serves as a Kingdom of Priests and Kings.

This view is reinforced by referring to the witnesses as “lampstands.”

ii.

Lampstands

John has already explicitly identified the church with lampstands

Revelation 1:20 (ESV)

As for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.

Note on the Oil and the lampstands

The oil of the olives fills the lampstands, that they may burn.

Oil in the Bible often represents God’s Spirit

1 Samuel 16:12–13 (ESV)

And he sent and brought him in.

Now he was ruddy and had beautiful eyes and was handsome.

And the Lord said, “Arise, anoint him, for this is he.”

Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers.