The Testimony of the Two Witnesses. (Revelation 11:1-14)

The World Wide Web and the Internet zoomed from “what’s that?” to universal awareness during the 1990s. Only a few computer geniuses created a powerful communications tool that swept over the planet in less than a decade. Few people predicted its arrival or impact. When Christianity arrived two thousand years ago, who could have guessed its initial power to sweep over the planet and impact the world? Perhaps even now we stand on the verge of new and powerful manifestations of the truth of the gospel that will sweep the world like the Internet has. Perhaps God will raise up new “Elijahs” in the days just ahead.

The times before Christ’s return will indeed bring about powerful Moses-like and Elijah-like proclaimers of God’s truth. Need we wait until then to see the powerful truth of God proclaimed in a world that sometimes questions whether there is any such thing as truth? The gospel is a word from God. It can be enabled by the Spirit of God. When his people proclaim it, no one can stop it without divine permission.

We are to stand firm. Firm that the Word of God is truth for a world that has denied truth. Firm that God has all the power in the universe to see to it that his truth will be powerfully manifested. Firm that God intends his churches to be agents of his truth and his power. The world has seen power without truth and is impressed. The world can ignore truth without power. What will shake our society is truth coupled with unmistakable divine power. This would revolutionize our planet beyond anything computer technology could ever hope for.

I. The Ministry of the Witnesses (vv.1-6)

1 Then I was given a reed like a measuring rod. And the angel stood, saying, “Rise and measure the temple of God, the altar, and those who worship there. 2 But leave out the court which is outside the temple, and do not measure it, for it has been given to the Gentiles. And they will tread the holy city underfoot for forty-two months. 3 And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy one thousand two hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth.”

4 These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands standing before the God of the earth. 5 And if anyone wants to harm them, fire proceeds from their mouth and devours their enemies. And if anyone wants to harm them, he must be killed in this manner. 6 These have power to shut heaven, so that no rain falls in the days of their prophecy; and they have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to strike the earth with all plagues, as often as they desire.

A. The place is Jerusalem and the time is the first half of the Tribulation.

Israel is worshiping again at its restored temple, built under the protection of the Antichrist, whose true character has not been revealed.

John’s measurement of the temple is a symbolic action. To measure something is to claim it for yourself. The Lord was saying through John, “I own this city and this temple, and I claim them both for Myself!”

B. What John did was especially significant because the Gentiles had taken over Jerusalem.

Antichrist had broken his agreement with Israel and now he was about to use the temple for his own diabolical purposes.

Look at Luke 21:24, 24 And they will fall by the edge of the sword, and be led away captive into all nations. And Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. The times of the Gentiles began in 606 BC. when Babylon began to devastate Judah and Jerusalem, and it will continue until Jesus Christ returns to deliver the Holy City and redeem Israel.

C. These two witnesses declare God’s words, but they also do God’s works.

1. Verse 3 introduces us to two witnesses who prophesy for 1,260 days. “Clothed in sackcloth,” the traditional sign of mourning and indicates something of the nature of the message they bring. They are described as being two olive trees and two lampstands before all the earth. Unlike witnesses of the church, they turn out to be lethal when there is an attempt to harm them. Fire proceeds from their mouths and devours the antagonists. In addition to this, they have power to prevent rain, to turn water into blood, and to exercise a great variety of plagues.

2. The first thing we want to do is identify these two witnesses. In the end, there is no reason why the two witnesses must be identified with previously known figures from the Bible. Perhaps they are better seen as two remarkable Jewish witnesses who arise during the tribulation with ministries similar to those of Elijah and Moses. Their names would remain unknown since it is more important to grasp the significance of what they do.

3. They are also described as being two olive trees and two lampstands before all the earth. This simply means that the two witnesses of Revelation 11 are anointed specifically by God for a ministry that will be observed by the whole world.

II. The martyrdom of the witnesses (vv. 7-10)

7 When they finish their testimony, the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit will make war against them, overcome them, and kill them. 8 And their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. 9 Then those from the peoples, tribes, tongues, and nations will see their dead bodies three-and-a-half days, and not allow their dead bodies to be put into graves. 10 And those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them, make merry, and send gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth.

A. God’s two witnesses of the tribulation period have a fixed assignment.

1. No-one can harm God’s witnesses before their mission has been accomplished. Those who try succeed only in bringing destruction upon themselves.

2. God will permit the beast to slay them, for no one will be able to war against the beast and win. The witnesses are not cut short. They accomplish their task. The beast comes up from the Abyss, which indicates his connection with the forces of evil.

B. The witnesses will not even be permitted a decent burial.

1. Their bodies will lie in the street unburied means extreme revulsion for the message of truth. This is heightened by the glee with which people will gaze on their dead bodies and refuse them burial.

2. But even this indecency will be used by God to bear witness to mankind.

III. The resurrection of the witnesses (vv. 11-14)

11 Now after the three-and-a-half days the breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them. 12 And they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here.” And they ascended to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies saw them. 13 In the same hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell. In the earthquake seven thousand people were killed, and the rest were afraid and gave glory to the God of heaven.

14 The second woe is past. Behold, the third woe is coming quickly.

A.The victory celebration of the world over the two witnesses was premature.

1. The global party takes an unanticipated turn. As participants celebrated the demise of these two witnesses, someone noticed that they were breathing; then they were standing to their feet. This resurrection of the two prophets is attributed directly to God and to the fact that the breath of life entered into them from God, and they then stood.

2. They must have wondered, having been victimized through the previous unleashing of these plagues by the witnesses, what would befall them now that the witnesses were alive again? Just as the disciples witnessed that ascension, so the enemies of these two prophets are allowed to gaze, doubtless stupefied, upon the ascension of the two prophets.

B. Their gaze is interrupted quickly by a severe earthquake that causes the collapse of a tenth of the city and the death of 7,000 people.

1.The survivors are terrified more than ever, and at this point the text takes still a different turn than anything that we could have anticipated. Most often the text of Revelation records that whatever judgments occurred have no effect on the inhabitants of the earth.

2. Obviously there was something so remarkable about the events associated with the ascension of the two witnesses that the terror felt by the survivors of the earthquake in Jerusalem led them to acknowledge God as the author of all of these events and even give glory to God. That such an expression indicates a positive response to the work of the witnesses, even leading to repentance and salvation on the part of some, is conceivable. On the other hand, it may be nothing more than the acknowledgment of rebellious people so that eventually even the wicked will have to be a part of “every tongue confessing that Jesus is Lord.” These remarkable events terminate the second woe, and the third woe is coming quickly.

ISSUES FOR DISCUSSION:

1. How can the two witnesses be protected and severely persecuted at the same time?

2. Why would the world’s response to its seeming victory over the two witnesses be so shamefully gleeful?