The Two Witnesses | Rev 11:1-14

Revelation chapter eleven is where we are this morning.

As you know, I do electrical work. One of my all-time favorite electrical jobs was working on historic mansions in downtown Louisiville. I tried to go back into my old photos to find pictures of one house in particular, but I couldn’t find what I was looking for.

Most contractors hate working in old houses because the ceilings and walls are plaster, they are dustier, and who knows what kinds of hazards are present from over a century of dust, debris, and whatnot. Some of these homes have stone or brick walls. Some have crumbling foundations. Some have never been updated to modern electric. Some are so run down that you wonder if its just best to bulldoze the thing and start over.

There are a few, however, that look at old, run-down buildings, and don’t see it for what it is, but for what it can be.

They have a vision for a future where the home is not just updated, but restored.

Several of the homes that I’ve had the opportunity to work in fell under historic restoration laws. Even though they were allowed to update and modernize the utilities and function of the home, they were required by law to ensure that the original architecture and design of the home was preserved.

The gutters and soffit had to conform to the original unique design, the 12 inch baseboards with its original custom moulding design had to be preserved, etc.

When stepping into one of these neglected homes, it is easy to be overwhelmed by the shear magnitude of the the job that is in front of you.

Hasn’t been lived in for decades, its run down, its moldy, its musty, its damaged!

But the skilled contractor will walk in, survey the situation, pull out his tape measure, and start taking measurements. He takes notes. He sketches. Why?

He sees not what it is, but what it will be. His measuring is a declaration of intent: this will be rebuilt and restored.

That’s essentially what John is told to do in Revelation 11: “Measure the sanctuary of God.” Not because it was shining beacon of truth, but because God had plans to restore.

Amid the world’s corruption and opposition, God hasn’t abandoned His purposes. He measures what is His—not to admire the architecture, but to signal His intention to restore what has been defiled.

God is going to restore the glory of the temple and purify it of all pagan influence, and he is going to use His witnesses to prepare the world for Christ’s return.

Let’s read the text.

Revelation 11:1–14 LSB

Then a measuring rod like a staff was given to me, saying, “Get up and measure the sanctuary of God and the altar, and those who worship in it. “And leave out the court which is outside the sanctuary and do not measure it, for it has been given to the Gentiles, and they will trample the holy city under foot for forty-two months. “And I will give 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 wishes to harm them, fire comes out of their mouth and devours their enemies; so if anyone wishes to harm them, he must be killed in this way. These have the authority to shut up the sky, so that rain will not fall during the days of their prophesying; they also have authority over the waters to turn them into blood, and to strike the earth with every plague, as often as they wish. And when they have finished their witness, the beast that comes up out of the abyss will make war with them and overcome them and kill them. And their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified. And those from the peoples and tribes and tongues and nations will look at their dead bodies for three and a half days, and will not permit their dead bodies to be laid in a tomb. And those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and celebrate and send gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth. But after the three and a half days, the breath of life from God came into them, and they stood on their feet, and great fear fell upon those who were watching them. And they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here.” Then they went up into heaven in the cloud, and their enemies watched them. And in 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 is past; behold, the third woe is coming quickly.

I must note that as we study this text, several commentators have noted that this is one of the more challenging sections of the book of Revelation.

The reason for this is that there are just so many details to wade through, much dependence upon Old Testament texts.

Having a literal hermeneutic certainly helps. Many of those who struggle with the text struggle because they assume that certain details cannot possibly be literal.

Our habit here at Pillar is to assume that as John describes what he sees he says what he means, unless there are clues in the text that he is not speaking literally.

Here we do not many such clues. It seems best to take the details, the numbers, the timeframes, the results, etc. at face value, especially when we pair these texts up with parallel texts from Danial, Zechariah, and Ezekiel and see that in those texts the details, numbers, timeframes, and results are intended to be taken literally as well.

Your God Restores His People

Measure the Temple/Sanctuary, the alter, and its worshipers.

Ezekiel 40, Zech 2. In both these contexts, the measuring is a sign that God intends to restore.

When both of these authors wrote, there was no temple. Jerusalem was in ruins. And yet, the symbolic act of measuring signified ownership and the intent to restore.

Such is likely the case with Rev 11 here. John was told that he had more to prophesy about, and here he picks up the prophetic themes of Zech and Ezek and measures the temple and the worshipers, signaling God’s intent to restore.

This prophecy is one of a rebuilt temple. As we stand here today, there is not a temple built. We believe it will be rebuilt, if not prior to the rapture, very shortly thereafter.

Dan 9 speaks of sacrifices being offered during the seven year tribulation period.

Leave out the court. This is outside the sanctuary. The temple was built with layer of sorts. The outer rooms were left to the gentiles to be trampled on for 42 months, or 3.5 years.

Daniel 9:27 LSB

“And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will make sacrifice and grain offering cease; and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate.”

This takes place during the last 3.5 years of the tribulation period. The Weeks in Daniel refer to 7 year periods of time, as we noted when we studied that text.

Jerusalem will be trampled, made into a desecration. Desolations are decreed!

And yet. God has measured his temple.

God has measured his people.

Even though the world is overrun by demons, even though the antichrist seems to be having his way, even thought Satan seems to be winning on the earth.

God says. I will restore.

We are often mocked for our belief in the restoration of Israel.

Dispensationalists are even being blamed by others for America’s involvement in the conflict between Israel and Iran.

Brothers and sisters. do you know why it is so important that God keeps his promises to Israel?

We delight in God’s faithfulness to Israel because it highlights God’s faithfulness to those who are His!

Your God is a promise-keeping God!

Your salvation is secure today, because God has promised that all who believe will receive eternal life!

If God had no intention of keeping his promises to Ezekiel, to Zechariah, or to John, then why would you have any reason for believing that you have salvation today? Why would He keep his promises to you?

Christ said he will build his church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. Is that true? How can we know, if God will not be faithful to Israel??

As it stands, God will restore, he will keep his promises, and this should be a comfort to the church today, even as the world quakes and waits to find out if WW3 is about to unfold. We don’t have to be shaken! God keeps his promises.

Even if there is severe desctruction, massive wars, nuclear fallout...God will restore, because he keeps his promises.

God will restore, and he will do so though his witnesses.

Your God Raises His Witnesses

These witnesses carry on their ministry for 1260 days, which is 3.5 years, the same time frame the gentiles are trampling the city. Even while it seems evil reigns, the witnesses are faithful

Resemble the Prophets - 3-4

Sackcloth - a sign of mourning.

olive trees and lampstands

Zech 4. There God used two individuals to speak to the people and rebuild Jerusalem. Zechariah emphasizes the empowering of the Holy Spirit in the task, and that is the backdrop for the two witness here. In like manner they speak to the people and desire the restoration of Jerusalem. They are empowered by the Holy Spirit.

Represent the Truth - 3

They prophesy. They speak for God. They are witesses. They proclaim truth.

Reviled by the World - 5, 10

People wish them harm

People rejoice over their deaths - they act like it’s Christmas.

“A righteous prophet is always a torment to a wicked generation” Walvoord 181

Render judgment - 5-6

These actions resemble the works of Moses and Elijah, with the plagues of Egypt and the miracles Elijah did.

Some have identified them as Moses and Elijah. Some have said Enoch and Elijah. I’m personally convinced that one of them will be Elijah, because of Mal 4. Their identity is not essential to the passage.

Ruined by Satan - 7-10

beast from the pit. Satan, or else someone controlled/influenced by Satan will kill them.

Resurrected to Life - 11-13

Resulting Repentance - 14

gave glory to the God of heaven.

What a remarkable text!

While this is the extreme, here we have the basic pattern of hod God works!

He uses his witness to speak truth!

Those who speak truth will be reviled by the world.

They will be opposed by the world.

Satan will try everything he can to ruin them.

But by God’s grace, even if they are killed, they will be resurrected

and by God’s grace many will repent and give glory to the God of heaven!

We think of the tribulation period as a period of darkness and despair on the earth, such that those who who remain on the earth had their shot, but now it’s time for nothing but judgement.

But that’s not the picture we see throughout Revelation!

God consistently keeps His Gospel accessible to the world!

God preserves His witness through witnesses that he raises up to speak.

We saw this with the 144,000. We see it here with these two. We will see it later on with other means God uses.

Through all generations all the way until the very end, God raises up his witnesses.

Acts 14:16–17 ““In the generations gone by He permitted all the nations to go their own ways; and yet He did not leave Himself without witness, in that He did good and gave you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling your hearts with food and gladness.””

In the tribulation God uses these two men to powerfully speak truth to a wicked and perverse generation.

In today’s generation, the chosen witness is the church.

It is you. It is me.

We are to be witnesses.

We are the ones that God has raised up.

Are you fulfilling your calling?

We don’t get to call fire from heaven, or spit fire out of our mouths.

But we get the opportunity to see people come to faith in Christ based on the promises of God that Christ will build his church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.

Chapters 10 and the first part of 11 stand as a kind of interlude in the midst of the judgments on the earth.

They help us take a step back and gain proper perspective.

We saw last week hod God remains Lord.

We see this week how God intends to restore, and he does so thorugh the minsitry of his witness.

The result is that while many have been in rejection of the Lord, it seems that many come to faith, and perhaps this is what God uses to fulfill the promise that All Israel will be saved.

We look ahead to what God is going to do and we see a fmailiar pattern. God uses His witnesses to bring people to reprentence.

We live in uncertain times. We do not know what will come of our dealings with Iran. But there is time to be faithful Witnesses as long as there is breath in our lungs.

May God so bring people to repentence through our fiathfuln witness.