Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction:

Throughout history God has faithfully sent His spokesmen to call sinners to repentance.

During the long, dark years of Israel’s rebellion,

Main Thought:

Sub-intro:

a

Throughout history God has faithfully sent His spokesmen to call sinners to repentance.

During the long, dark years of Israel’s rebellion,

however, they did not listen, but stiffened their neck like their fathers, who did not believe in the Lord their God.

They rejected His statutes and His covenant which He made with their fathers and His warnings with which He warned them.

And they followed vanity and became vain, and went after the nations which surrounded them, concerning which the Lord had commanded them not to do like them.

(vv.

14–15)

The Lord, the God of their fathers, sent word to them again and again by His messengers, because He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place; but they continually mocked the messengers of God, despised His words and scoffed at His prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against His people, until there was no remedy.

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I sent you all My servants the prophets, again and again, saying, “Oh, do not do this abominable thing which I hate.”

But they did not listen or incline their ears to turn from their wickedness, so as not to burn sacrifices to other gods.

Therefore My wrath and My anger were poured out and burned in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, so they have become a ruin and a desolation as it is this day.

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Prophets such as Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Jonah, and the others confronted both wayward Israel and sinful Gentile nations.

The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah (that was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon), which Jeremiah the prophet spoke to all the people of Judah and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, “From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, even to this day, these twenty-three years the word of the Lord has come to me, and I have spoken to you again and again, but you have not listened.

And the Lord has sent to you all His servants the prophets again and again, but you have not listened nor inclined your ear to hear, saying, ‘Turn now everyone from his evil way and from the evil of your deeds, and dwell on the land which the Lord has given to you and your forefathers forever and ever; and do not go after other gods to serve them and to worship them, and do not provoke Me to anger with the work of your hands, and I will do you no harm.’

” ()

Yet the picture has not been entirely bleak; God has always preserved a believing remnant.

In the New Testament, as in the Old, faithful preachers called for repentance and faith, offering all sinners the hope of forgiveness in Christ.

Chief among those preachers was the Lord Jesus Christ Himself (; ).

The ranks of New Testament preachers also included John the Baptist (), the Twelve (; ), Peter (.; 3:12ff.),

Stephen (), Phillip (, , ), and the most prolific of them all, the apostle Paul (.; ; ).

They in turn passed the truth of the gospel to a next generation of godly preachers, who passed it down to other preachers (cf.

), such as Timothy, Titus, and the prophets and apostles of the churches, as well as the evangelists, pastors and teachers of those early churches.

Along with the many unknown preachers through the ages there have been notable proclaimers of the gospel, such as Clement, Ignatius, Polycarp, Chrysostom, Irenaeus, Wycliff, Huss, Tyndale, Luther, Calvin, Zwingli, Latimer, Knox, Bunyan, Wesley, Whitefield, Maclaren, Edwards, Spurgeon, and a host of others down to the present day.

In the future, during Earth’s darkest hour, God will raise up two exceptional and powerful preachers.

They will fearlessly proclaim the gospel and will proclaim God’s judgment on the wicked world.

In addition to preaching the gospel, these two preachers will proclaim God’s judgment on the wicked world.

Their ministry will likely stretch from the midpoint of the Tribulation until just before the sounding of the seventh trumpet.

That trumpet will herald the pouring out of the rapid-fire vial judgments, the battle of Armageddon, and the return of Christ.

During that period, they will declare that the disasters befalling the world are the judgments of God.

They will participate in fulfilling the words of the Lord Jesus Christ that the

Main Thought:

God will protect his people against all satanic opposition, and they will proclaim the gospel until the kingdom comes.

But before introducing these two faithful witnesses, John records a fascinating incident in which he himself took part, an incident that sets the stage for the arrival of the two preachers.

[Introduction Adapted from: John F. MacArthur Jr., , MacArthur New Testament Commentary (Chicago: Moody Press, 1999), 290–292.]

[James M. Hamilton Jr., Preaching the Word: Revelation—The Spirit Speaks to the Churches, ed.

R. Kent Hughes (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2012), 232.]

But before introducing these two faithful witnesses, John records a fascinating incident in which he himself took part, an incident that sets the stage for the arrival of the two preachers.

But before introducing these two faithful witnesses, John records a fascinating incident in which he himself took part, an incident that sets the stage for the arrival of the two preachers.

[Introduction Adapted from: John F. MacArthur Jr., , MacArthur New Testament Commentary (Chicago: Moody Press, 1999), 290–292.]

[Adapted from: John F. MacArthur Jr., , MacArthur New Testament Commentary (Chicago: Moody Press, 1999), 290–292.]

Body:

I.

The Surveyors Tools & Task ()

a

This activity of measuring the temple of God had precedent in the vision of Ezekiel.

The OT prophet saw the angel measure the future Millennial Temple with a reed of six cubits (about eighteen feet) in .

Elsewhere in Scripture, the measuring of Jerusalem (cf.

.)

and the measuring of the New Jerusalem (cf. ) suggest divine ownership, interest, and building.

Taking measurements apparently refers to the building or construction activity of the Tribulation Temple which will include the holy place, the altar of incense, and the worshippers.

The Scriptures reveal four temples in Israel history, namely Solomon’s Temple (cf. ; .), the Zerubbabel-Herod Temple (cf. ; .), the Tribulation Temple (), and the Millennial Temple (.).

Daniel predicted and Paul confirmed that there will be a Tribulation Temple.

For instance, the OT prophet implied that future temple sacrifices[1580] would cease at the midpoint of the Tribulation, saying, “And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate” (; vide 12:11).

The NT apostle confirmed this interpretation, saying, “Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God” ().

1580 The Jews have had a long time desire to rebuild their temple in Jerusalem so that they can reinstitute animal sacrifices.

[Thomas M. Strouse, To the Seven Churches: A Commentary on the Apocalypse of Jesus Christ, Selected Works of Dr. Thomas M. Strouse (Bible Baptist Theological Press, 40 Country Squire Rd., Cromwell, CT 06461, 2013), 417–418.]

II.

The Angel's Statement & John’s Recounting ()

A. Instructions for Measuring ()

1. Include the Temple, Altar and Worshippers ()

2. Exclude the Outer Courtyard & Why ()

a

The times of the Gentiles began with Nebuchadnezzar (cf. ) and his destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BC (cf. ; .), and will end with the conclusion of the battle of Armageddon (cf. ; cf. also ).

The gentilic nations depicted in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream included Babylon, Media-Persia, Greece, Roman, and the revived Roman empire (.), whose true natures were cast as a lion, bear, a leopard, and a dreadful and terrible beast, respectively (cf. ).

Paul succinctly summarized the fulfillment of Gentile dominion, stating, “For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert graffed contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be graffed into their own olive tree?

For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.

And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob” ().

[Strouse, 420–421.]

Thomas M. Strouse, 420–421.]

B. Introduction of the Two Witnesses ()

1. Overview of their ministry of prophecy ()

a

The immediate question arises, who are these two witnesses?

The phrase literally reads, “the two witnesses of mine,” implying they are known characters.

A popular conclusion is that they are Enoch and Elijah because they never suffered death.

In collating that fact with , “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment,” the conclusion is made that these two must someday face death.

Because these two witness will die, the conclusion is that they must be the two.

Furthermore, the prophet Malachi foretold that Elijah would come before the great and dreadful day of the Lord in .