In the end of chapter 10, God is
very interactive with John at this point, as
he's giving him the revelation, and he had
him eat the little book in verse 10
of chapter 10 that was in the angel's
hand.
And he ate it up and it was
in his mouth, sweet as honey, and when
he had eaten it, it was bitter in
his stomach.
I said to you that that was the
title deed to the earth.
The angel shows up standing on the earth
and the sea, and he's huge, and he's
holding the book in his hand, and then
he shrinks down to John's size, shrinks the
book down, and so John can eat it.
Remember now, we are dealing with prophecy, we
are dealing with vision, and God is fully
able to make interactive visions that are real,
and yet it's all supernatural.
So the question comes up, how do you
know that the book in the hand of
the huge angel, who shrinks down to John's
size and gives it to him, is the
title deed to the earth?
Because earlier in the book of Revelation, there
was the hand that came out from the
throne of God, and a voice came out
that said, who is worthy to take the
scroll and loose the seals?
And we looked at that in detail, that
that was the title deed to the earth.
The Lord God holds out his hand and
he says, who is worthy to take the
scroll and loose its seals?
The scroll is the title deed to the
earth, and inside of it is beyond just
the title deed, is the means by which
God will take the earth back into his
possession out of the hands of Satan and
evil men.
Thus, you have the seal judgments, which give
way to the trumpet judgments, which give way
to the bold judgments, seals, trumpets, and bowls.
That's how he takes it back from Satan.
When God made man, put him in the
garden, he gave him dominion over the earth,
right?
Man sinned, followed the devil, effectively gave the
title deed to the earth over to the
devil.
But it was all delegated authority, because in
the end, God almighty owns and rules everything
he has created.
So that when it's all said and done,
he still owns it all.
What Adam did in the garden was he
gave over the authority to rule to the
devil, but he didn't give the title deed
to the earth, to the devil, because God
kept it.
And so God gives it to Jesus Christ,
when he alone can step forth and take
it.
And thus, when the angel comes in chapter
10 to set in motion the events which
will now bring this all to a close,
that book is that scroll.
And so when John eats it, it's not
like it disappears.
Oh, my gosh, Johnny, the title deed to
the earth.
God kept it all this time safe and
sound.
John ate it.
It's more like what happened was really it
was a lot like what we're doing here.
We are eating of partaking of the book
of Revelation and all of these things.
And that's what happened when John ate the
book.
He partook of all the good and all
the bitter.
So are you with me?
Does that make sense?
Now, as we come to Revelation chapter 11,
verses one through 13, we come to deal
with these issues.
Then I was given a read like a
measuring rod and the angel stood saying, rise
and measure the temple of God, the altar
and those who worship there.
But leave out the court, which is outside
the temple.
Do not measure it, for it has been
given to the Gentiles and they will tread
the holy city under foot.
Forty two months and I will give power
to my two witnesses and they will prophesy
one thousand two hundred and sixty days clothed
in sackcloth.
These two witnesses are the two olive trees
and the two lampstands standing before the God
of the earth.
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.
These have the power to shut up heaven
so that no rain falls in the days
of their prophecy and they have power over
waters to turn them to blood and strike
the earth with all plagues.
This is different than anything we've seen so
far.
Strike the earth with all plagues as often
as they desire.
These are powerful men of God.
Verse seven.
When they finish their testimony, when they are
done doing what God has asked them to
do, the beast that is the Antichrist that
ascends out of the bottomless pit.
That's where he gets his power from.
Demons will make war against them, 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.
Sodom, a city, Egypt, a nation, both evil
in the Bible.
Spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt.
What city could this be?
He tells us where also our Lord was
crucified.
How could God called Jerusalem, Sodom and Egypt?
Because at this particular point in time, the
Antichrist is going to have his headquarters right
there.
He's going to be in the temple all
the time.
So you read a verse eight and they
are killed by the Antichrist is there.
Verse eight.
Their dead bodies will lie in the street
of Jerusalem.
And verse nine, then those from the people's
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.
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.
Verse 11.
Now, after three and a half days, the
breath of God, the breath of life from
God entered them and they stood on their
feet and great fear fell on those who
saw them.
The giver of all life is able to
give life when it is gone from the
human body and great fear fell on all
those who saw them.
And they heard a loud voice from heaven
saying to them, come up here.
And so they ascended into heaven in a
cloud and their enemies saw them go.
And 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.
Pretty heavy passage, wouldn't you say?
Basically, there's two things here.
There is the temple measured and there are
the two witnesses.
Let's talk about the temple being measured here.
It's one of the most interesting passages in
the book.
John, to begin with, is given a measuring
rod, a reed, verse one.
Then I was given, he says, a reed.
I just marvel at what it must have
been like for John at that point in
time in his life.
Whatever bad has happened to him is now
eclipsed by all that God is doing in
his life along the way.
So here he is on the island of
Patmos and he's already eaten the little book
and now he's given a reed.
It just gets better and better.
So he's given a reed.
And you say, well, what is a reed?
A reed is a hollow bamboo like cane
plant that grew in the Jordan Valley.
And it was very lightweight, very firm.
And so they could they commonly used it.
They would cut them certain length and had
a certain rigidity to it.
So they would use them for walking sticks.
Very lightweight, but very rigid.
Also is because of its lightweight and rigidity,
it was also commonly cut just right and
used for making little pens to write with
little ink pens like you dip in an
inkwell.
Further and more commonly, perhaps, was that it
was commonly cut and used as a measuring
rod so that you find this exact thing
in Ezekiel chapter 40, where there is a
temple there that is measured, probably the temple
that will be in the millennium.
That is a whole study all by itself.
Seems that way anyhow.
And so these measuring rods, these reeds that
were made into measuring rods were usually about
nine feet long.
A rod was six cubits.
Might as well discuss it for a moment
because you run into cubit all over the
Bible.
A cubit is about 17 to 18 inches.
How do you come up with that length?
It's from the elbow to the tip of
the middle finger.
That's how long a cubit is.
Six of those put together makes nine feet.
And so that would make up the length
of the rod.
So because they didn't have on their belt
in those days, a nice silver square thing
where you could pull it and yellow tape
came out and you can measure things.
They would take this reed from down by
the river and cut them and make a
nice measuring yardstick, as we would call it,
for lack of a better phrase.
Now, John then is given a reed to
measure this area of the temple.
If you read the Bible long enough, you
will begin to realize God is into measuring
things.
Read numbers, you'll find out he's into numbering
things.
God is into measuring things in the Bible
because everything that he does is exact and
precise.
For example, God measures out judgment in the
Bible.
If it wasn't for that fact, when we
read in this passage, as we just did,
that seven thousand died in that hour, if
it wasn't for the fact that he measures
out judgment, more would have died.
You understand?
It's the mercy of God that causes him
to measure out and limit judgment when it
occurs.
Judgment is God's strange work.
He doesn't like to do it.
Saving souls and blessing people is what he
loves to do because his name is love.
So God measures out judgment in the Bible.
God also measures out his own possessions for
preservation, for preservation.
That is effectively what he has John doing
here, measuring out the temple area, the altar
and those who worship there.
He is measuring out what is his to
preserve it, to make sure that everything happens
exactly, precisely the way that he wants it
to happen.
The reason I point this out to you,
for one thing, it's in the text, but
the other reason is very important to me.
And that is that we come to understand
this measuring process that God uses and we
will come to realize something very important.
God has measured out your life as his
possession.
He loves you and he knows every little
detail about you.
I thank God that he measures and protects
what is his.
His plan is precise.
It is exact.
He measures with a divine exactness to guard
what belongs to him for an appointed hour,
month, day, week, moment.
In other words, all of that is to
say this, you can trust your life in
the hands of your God.
I love what Ecclesiastes 311 says.
He has made everything beautiful in its time.
So God here has John measuring off this
part of Israel for his own protective reasons.
In John's time, if you look at John
and his own relationship with the Lord at
this point in John's time, he'd seen so
much desecration.
He saw the desecration of the temple in
Jerusalem by Titus Vespasian in 70 A.D.
At that time, Israel had nine hundred and
eighty five towns overrun by the Romans.
That is tragic and sad and heartbreaking to
behold.
So he's given a measuring rod.
Now John measures out the area for the
new temple that will be built.
God is going to have the temple rebuilt
in Jerusalem on the temple mount where it
was when Jesus Christ walked on this earth.
So you read Revelation 11 one again.
I was given a read like a measuring
rod.
The angel stood saying, rise and measure the
temple of God, the altar and those who
worship there.
Pay close attention to this first to leave
out the court, which is outside the temple.
Do not measure it for it has been
given to the Gentiles.
They will tread the holy city underfoot for
forty two months, three and a half years.
Now, this temple that is being measured here
will be already built and operational before the
last three and a half years on earth.
The Antichrist will help the people of Israel
to rebuild their temple during the first three
and a half years of the tribulation period,
which is calm.
He will be kind and benevolent and he
will help them rebuild their temple.
And then sometime around right here, three and
a half years into it, just pass it
right there.
He will turn on them, but first he
will help them.
So that's how the temple is going to
come to be built in a very short,
quick time with the aid of the Antichrist,
who's going to be helping all kinds of
people in the first three and a half
years of this last seven year period on
earth.
You might ask the question, why does God
want them to rebuild the temple anyway?
Why is this in his plan?
Because he's a saving God.
God wants them to rebuild the temple, to
drive them back, to focus on the law.
He gave them originally the law of Moses,
which pointed straight to Jehovah God, and that
pointed straight to Jesus Christ.
I have the Bible's word on it.
Galatians 3, 24, Paul writes, and he says,
therefore, the law was our tutor to bring
us to Christ that we might be justified
by faith.
They are so far.
You see, since the time of the destruction
of their temple and the scattering throughout the
world, most Jews are not Orthodox.
So when you talk about an Orthodox Jew
that's concerned about the law of Moses, the
study of the scripture, they are very far
and few in between.
So because they are so far from Moses
and the law that pointed to Christ, God
is going to allow them to rebuild the
temple, to get back into the process of
living out the law of Moses, doing all
of the sacrifices and everything in the temple
and the sacrifices.
All of it spoke of Jesus Christ.
So it's to point them, get them back,
focus on Jehovah God and point them toward
Christ.
Why?
Because God is going to fulfill the promises
he's made to Israel.
Hold your place here in Revelation and turn
to Romans chapter 11, verse 26, because it's
tied directly into what we're studying right now.
And this is the time period where this
will come to pass.
Romans 11, 26, Paul has gone through the
whole issue.
Romans 9, 10, 11, has God cast off
Israel since they rejected their Messiah or will
he work again with them in such a
way as to bring them to Christ?
And the answer is yes.
And in Romans 11, 26, so all Israel
will be saved.
They will come wholesale to Christ through the
witness of the hundred and forty four thousand.
As it is written, the deliverer will come
out of Zion and he will turn away
ungodliness from Jacob.
That's Israel.
Verse 27, for this is my covenant with
them when I take away their sins.
So there is the promise on the pages
of Scripture.
And this will come true.
And the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem
is critical to the logistical fulfillment of that
promise right there in Romans 11.
Critical.
Galatians 3, 24, again, the law was our
tutor to bring us to Christ that we
might be justified by faith.
So you know what God's going to do?
He's going to meet them on their own
turf.
Let them rebuild it, let them get back
in action, and that will prepare them that
they might turn to the one true God
in Jesus Christ.
And the two witnesses are going to be
involved in that because they're going to be
right there alongside all of that action.
Now, if you are thinking and if you've
traveled to Israel or study these things, the
immediate question comes up.
How can they rebuild their temple when on
the Temple Mount in Jerusalem there is the
Dome of the Rock shrine?
Because the Dome of the Rock shrine is
a Muslim holy place.
In fact, they believe that Muhammad ascended from
the rock that's inside of it back into
heaven.
So it's one of their great holy places
on Earth.
So how are you going to do that?
How do they rebuild the temple?
Well, what is so fascinating?
We read here, as John is told to
measure Revelation 11 to leave out the court,
which is outside the temple.
Do not measure it.
It has been given to what?
The Gentiles, Revelation 11 to at the time
of Jesus, it was 39 acres.
How big is that?
Think of a field for sale around here
that's 39 acres.
That's pretty big, isn't it?
The Dome of the Rock shrine takes up
much of the temple area.
However, there is 12 acres to the north
of the Dome of the Rock and to
the west of the 12 acres is the
Dome of the Tablets and to the east
is the eastern gate of Jerusalem, which was
sealed up as the prophet foretold and will
not be open again until Jesus Christ comes
back.
Those, the eastern gate and the place where
the Dome of the Tablets is, which was
where the Ark of the Covenant sat inside
of the Holy of Holies.
They're right in line with each other and
they look straight across the Mount of Olives.
Now, here's where it gets really interesting.
You say, does anybody take this seriously?
Oh, yes.
There is in Jerusalem an institute called the
Temple Institute and they take this, they're Orthodox
Jews, and they take this so seriously.
They've been very busy, very busy for a
number of years.
In fact, I have some pictures to show
you.
They've been very busy.
Here is the temple.
You see it there to the right.
See how huge the Temple Mount is?
There is the temple when there was no
Dome of the Rock shrine.
Whole empty space to the left, half there,
court of the Gentiles at the time of
Jesus.
Leave out the court of the Gentiles.
Don't worry about it, God says, right?
Well, that leaves the area over to the
other side.
So, at the time of Jesus, there was
no Dome of the Rock and it would
have looked like that.
In fact, you'd come in from the left
as you look at the picture and they
would use it as a shortcut.
They would cut across the court of the
Gentiles and they'd go down and out the
eastern gate.
This is an aerial shot of the Temple
Mount today and that is the Dome of
the Rock shrine.
Very interesting, inside of that there is this
big rock and you can see it.
By the way, this is the ridge on
Mount Moriah.
That rock is most likely inside of there
where Abraham took Isaac to offer him to
the Lord before the Lord stopped him.
Same, it's the ridge of Mount Moriah.
So, just over the ridge a little ways
further is Calvary.
OK, go to the next one.
If you look at this, you see where
the court of the Gentiles, the bottom half
where it's empty?
Leave out that area, it's for the Gentiles,
God says.
So, if you just don't build the court
of the Gentiles, then you have room in
the 12 acres north of it to go
ahead and build a temple that will face
west to east.
Here we are on the Mount of Olives
and we're looking down from the Mount of
Olives and just down to the bottom right
you see the sealed up golden gate, the
eastern gate.
It's a bricked in.
Straight ahead from that is a little tiny
thing which you'll see in a minute which
is the Dome of the Tablets and to
your left then is the Dome of the
Rock shrine.
That's the Wall of Jerusalem around there.
Moving on, we're zooming in now.
We've gone straight in and across and that's
the little Dome of the Tablets I told
you about.
What is interesting is that that entire temple
mount with the exception of the rock underneath
the golden shrine, it's all hollow underneath.
39 acres of a platform built by Herod
except right here under that little, looks like
a gazebo, it's bedrock.
Right there, inside of there is where the
Ark of the Covenant stood inside the Holy
of Holies and the Shekinah glory of God
was manifest there.
I'll tell you what, I have stood in
there.
I just couldn't bear to put the picture
with me in it at this point in
time.
But that is what you're looking at.
Now you see the eastern gate, that rectangle
down in front of the picture, that's the
eastern gate sealed up until the time when
Jesus Christ comes back.
Sealed up according to prophecy.
Straight beyond it, now you see the little
Dome of the Tablets back there.
So if you rebuilt the temple and the
Holy of Holies was right there and the
Ark of the Covenant, which the rabbis believe
they know where it is, some believe it's
buried down underneath there.
If you rebuilt it, you could put it
right there exactly as it was before and
everything would be in place biblically.
Go to the next one.
As they go ahead and rebuild it, this
is what it would look like inside.
Now the Temple Institute in Jerusalem is so
serious about all of this, they have already
built everything necessary.
Let me show you.
Temple Institute.
You see it on the window there?
You know what that is right there?
That is the first temple menorah since the
temple was destroyed in 70 AD.
That's real.
It's made of solid gold and it's sitting
in the Temple Institute in Jerusalem.
It goes right in that holy place we
just saw in the last picture.
There it is up close.
That right there is what is used to
clean the seven branch menorah.
It's already built too.
The priest uses that to clean the different
parts of the candelabra.
Next one.
That is built, ready, waiting to hold the
showbread.
That's the table for the showbread in the
new temple.
Go to the next one.
That is the golden altar, the vents for
the incense, which stands right in front of
the veil.
It's made, it's there.
In fact, go to the next one.
There it is inside of a glass case.
You have the different parts.
That, remember when we were studying Revelation and
the angel took the incense, the censer with
the incense in it and he put fire
in it and he swung it around and
around and then he turned it loose and
it went out and the judgment came on
the earth?
That's a model of it right there.
And that's what they used to put the
incense on the altar we just saw.
Go to the next one.
That's the laver.
You read about the laver in the Bible
and you go, what in the world is
a laver?
And what the laver was is the priest
when they would come to do their service,
whether it be at dawn or in the
evening or whatever, they would come and they
would wash completely with the laver to be
clean, to do their service.
And then being a priest was hard, dirty,
bloody work.
So at the end of their time of
service, they would wash off again.
The laver is already there.
They have it, it's built, it's made.
This is the silver shovel.
This is a real thing we're looking at.
At dawn in the morning, the priest would
come and shovel out the ashes from the
altar of the burnt sacrifice.
There it is, the shovel ready to go
when they build it.
You know what this is?
These are a silver knife and a bronze
knife.
These are sacrificial knives to use in the
offerings that will be offered when they open
the temple.
They're there ready to go.
Next one.
These are the lots they would cast in
the great day of atonement for the scapegoat.
One would be slain and the blood would
be taken into the Holy of Holies and
put on the mercy seat.
And the other, they would lay hands, the
priest would lay hands on the high priest,
would lay hands on the scapegoat, and then
they would turn him loose to run into
the wilderness.
And he'd go way out there and they
would shout back each one in turn that
he was gone, they couldn't see him anymore
until finally he was so far out there
nobody could see him.
And then they would give shout word back
to the congregation of Israel and they'd all
clap and cheer because all their sins were
atoned for for the whole year.
It was a great day of rejoicing.
The way they would choose which goat would
do which thing was by casting these wooden
lots and there they are ready to go
when they start the operation.
Next thing.
These are the trumpets they would blast before
they would they would blow before they would
do the burnt offerings.
Next, they're built ready to go.
You know what this is?
Red heifer.
The ashes of the red heifer had to
be mixed with a certain mixture and part
of the offerings in order to be accepted
by God.
And throughout all these years has been a
big mystery.
How can even if we had everything else,
we still couldn't do the offerings if we
didn't have the ashes of a red heifer
and we don't have a red heifer.
So how can we do it?
It's been one of the most perplexing things.
This is Melody.
Melody is a red heifer born in the
northern part of Israel.
Now the sad and tragic news is I
just saw an update on the Internet that
Melody's been disqualified.
But there are other red heifers.
There's a guy in Texas.
He's got a lot of them.
He's sending over there.
All of that is to say here is
a red heifer.
They found one disqualified.
If they find one little blemish, they can't
use it.
But there's red heifers they have found and
they will be able to do that.
That's a whole study by itself to the
whole red heifer thing, obviously.
Go to the next one.
These are for the drink offerings, libations, so
on.
Go real quick now.
That's for music in the temple.
That's ready to go.
It's been made, crafted, temple heart.
Next.
That is what the average priest would wear.
That's average priest garment.
That's sitting there waiting for a priest to
put it on.
They have them.
Next one.
See, just like the one before.
Next one.
This is amazing.
We'll study this in the Old Testament on
the high priest breastplate.
He had 12 stones with the names of
Israel on them.
So signifying that God always had his people
on his heart.
And so did the high priest.
There they are.
They're ready and they will be.
See the little holes around the edges.
They will be woven through with thread that
has to be made from spun gold to
be woven into the breastplate.
It has to be made out of special
thread and material and then put onto the
ephod of the high priest on his chest.
Well, there are the jewels.
The next one.
There's the gold thread.
The next one.
There's the gold thread holding the stones on
to the breastplate.
It's there.
They've made it.
Next one.
When the high priest would go into the
Holy of Holies one time a year and
on the Day of Atonement, he would have
around the hem of his robe 70 bells
in the shape of pomegranates.
They would be jingling as he went in
70 of these around the bottom of the
high priest robe.
Well, there they are.
And the high priest wore those into the
on the bottom of his robe, because when
he went into the Holy of Holies one
time of year into the presence of God,
if he messed up even one tiny bit,
he died.
So, you would hear a jingling, a jingling,
a jingling, a jingling.
And if you heard silence, they had a
rope tied around his ankle and they would
reel him back out.
Nobody would go in there.
And so, here they are.
High priest, pomegranate-shaped bells for the priest's
robe.
Next.
Those are the stones of remembrance that would
go on the shoulders of the ephod that
would cover the high priest's chest and shoulders
and back.
They are ready to go.
Next.
This is amazing.
I have been hunting all over everywhere for
all of these pictures, obviously.
And today, I'd already been to the Temple
Institute site and today on the Temple Institute
site on the Internet, it said breaking news.
This is what was there today.
530.
I thought, thank you, Lord.
This is the high priest's entire outfit.
And this is from the back.
The next one is from the front.
You see the breastplate?
And the ephod is like a vest, but
it's more than that.
It goes up around the shoulders.
You see all that?
Well, the late breaking news is they finally
found everything they needed to make the ephod.
They have everything else.
And now, they're just figuring out how to
assemble the stones of remembrance on the top
shoulders there, as you see in the picture.
And then, I believe there's one last picture.
There it is, right there.
Artist's conception of a completed ephod.
So, it wraps around you, goes over your
shoulders, and then you see the front view
on the right with the breastplate attached.
And what it said on their site is
this.
Late breaking news.
Having completed the breastplate for the next high
priest of Israel, we are now pleased to
announce that the initial stage of the weaving
of the sacred ephod garment for the uniform
of the high priest has been completed.
The Temple Institute must now begin the complicated
task of joining the ephod to the remembrance
stones and affixing the completed breastplate.
This is a complex project and will be
based on the research the Institute has already
completed.
We are hopeful this task will be completed
soon so that the results can be made
public in the near future.
They have every single thing they need to
go right into the sacrifices and everything else,
the worship and the law of Moses, as
soon as the Temple is built.
Now, when I became a Christian, none of
this existed.
When I went to Israel the first time,
they had a few of these items.
Today, they have everything.
Tell me we are not in the last
days.
Tell me we are not at the time
where the Antichrist is going to come to
power.
These things will be fulfilled.
Jesus Christ is coming back.
He is going to rapture his church exactly
like the Bible says.
And then, just as we have been studying
the book of Revelation, all these things are
going to occur.
As John has measured the Temple, the next
thing is the two witnesses.
The two witnesses are given this power to
prophesy 1,260 days.
They will rebuild the Temple.
The one who helps them rebuild it is
the Antichrist.
They recognize him as their Messiah.
And so, they are going that direction.
In the meantime, these two witnesses are raised
up by the Lord and they are in
Jerusalem.
Yes, they witness to the world.
They have this incredible power.
But, their main function is to be right
there at the Temple to witness of the
fulfilled law of Moses in Jesus Christ.
So, when the Antichrist turns on the Jewish
people, they will be there interpreting all these
things we have been learning.
All the Old Testament prophecies, the book of
Revelation, they will be there to witness to
them of these things.
The Greek term for witness is martyrs, from
which we get our word in the English
martyr.
That is because in the early church, so
many Christians died for their witness for Jesus
Christ that a witness for Christ in death
became synonymous.
Now, there is something about them that is
distinctly mosaic.
Now, we just looked at everything distinctly mosaic,
right?
God does everything strategic and specific and precise,
right?
So, these two men have something distinctly mosaic
about them and one is in verse 3
of Revelation 11.
I will give power to my, what does
it say?
Two witnesses.
That is distinctly mosaic right there.
Deuteronomy 17.6, the testimony of two or
three witnesses.
Deuteronomy 19.15, one witness will not rise
up to indict someone, but by the mouth
of two or three witnesses, the matter will
be established.
Matthew 18.16, Jesus Christ says, if he
will not hear you, take one or two
more that by the mouth, he quotes Deuteronomy,
of two or three witnesses, every word will
be established.
It is distinctly mosaic.
Hebrews 10.28, he who has rejected the
law of Moses dies without mercy on the
testimony of two witnesses or three.
The whole two witness thing is distinctly mosaic
and if you see that right up front,
then it flows from there and it is
not so mysterious.
Their ministry takes place right alongside the new
temple, right alongside the mosaic law being put
back into effect.
As the Jews return to the practice of
the law of Moses, these two witnesses come
along witnessing to the fact that the law
has been fulfilled in Jesus Christ.
As the Antichrist sets up the abomination of
desolation and he says that he is God
and he commands the Jews to worship him,
they will then turn from him and they
will rush effectively from the place, guess what,
into the arms of the two witnesses.
Who are basically Bible interpreting evangelists with tremendous
power.
Their message is all the prophecies of the
Old Testament fulfilled in Christ, the law of
Moses fulfilled in Christ and they will be
calling people to Christ.
They are two human beings, they are very
distinctly mosaic in their qualities about them, they
are Bible interpreting evangelists and the time of
their ministry is revealed to us here.
It is the same time as you have
everything going on that we have been discussing
in verse 3 of Revelation 11.
Power to the two witnesses to prophesy 1260
days.
It's the last three and a half years
of the tribulation.
These men are going to be preaching and
evangelizing right along everything, everything that's happening in
the new temple at the exact same time
period, leading people to Jesus Christ.
And what is amazing is in Revelation 12,
6.
Just look there real quick.
Revelation 12, 6.
During this same time, God is going to
have many Jews sheltered in the wilderness.
Revelation 12, 6.
Then the woman, that's Israel, fled into the
wilderness where she has a place prepared by
God that they should feed her there.
How long?
1260 days.
So God is going to be protecting a
lot of his people for that period.
Many think it's the rock city of Petra.
They're in the desert.
We'll see more of that as we go
on in Revelation.
So here's their calling to witness alongside the
temple in Jerusalem and to the world because
it's a global village with satellite TV and
everything else.
Their clothing is sackcloth because they are mourning
sackcloth in the Bible.
You run into it everywhere.
It is a symbol of mourning, deep mourning,
deep distress, deep grief, deep humility before God.
The reason you find it in the Bible
is because the Bible, God uses it to
paint a picture of pointed, stark, intense distress
and grief.
It comes off the pages of the Bible
in one word, sackcloth.
You find men like Jacob and David and
King Jehoram and King Hezekiah and Job and
Isaiah and Daniel and others wearing sackcloth when
they're deeply grieving over sin and the rejection
of God.
And that is why they are wearing it
as an object lesson to the world.
So you see their clothing, their identity is
largely taken from Zechariah's vision in Zechariah chapter
four.
When you read in Revelation 11 for these
are the two olive trees and they are
the two lampstands that stand before God, the
God of the earth.
Now, the reason that is important, it's the
direct language of Zechariah chapter four, Zechariah four.
Now, the angel who talked to me came
with me and wakened me and the man
who wake wakened out of his sleep.
And he said to me, what do you
see?
I said, I'm looking.
There's a lampstand of solid gold with a
bowl on top of it.
Seven lamps with seven pipes to the seven
lamps.
This is a temple.
Zerubbabel's temple.
Zechariah four, three, two olive trees are by
it.
One on the right hand of the bowl
and one on the other.
So I answered, spoke to the angel, talked
to me and said, what are these?
My Lord, the angel talked to me, answered
and said, don't you know?
I said, no, my Lord.
And he said, this is the word of
the Lord to the to Zerubbabel.
When it came time to take all the
rubble and rebuild the temple, Zerubbabel's rebuilt temple.
This is what God says.
You can't do it humanly speaking.
So this is what God says.
Zechariah four, six.
It's not going to be my might nor
by power, but by my spirit, says the
Lord.
So we quote that often and we don't
have a clue about the context.
The context is the rebuilding of a temple
with these two men of God involved as
witnesses to the people that had denied the
Lord their God.
Very similar scenario, because God is very precise.
You go on in chapter four, there are
olive trees, the lampstands.
It's the same language.
And you come to Revelation eleven four and
you have two olive trees, two lampstands and
the building of a temple.
Same language, same scenario and very much mosaic.
Now, who are these guys?
Well, their identity is drawn from their likeness
to Old Testament prophets.
They have the power to breathe fire, right?
Who was the prophet in the Old Testament
who could call down fire from heaven?
Elijah.
Second Kings one ten.
Elijah answered and said to the captain of
the 50, if I am a man of
God, that fire come down from heaven and
consume you and your 50 men and fire
came down from heaven and consumed him in
his 50.
So this guy sends another group to Elijah.
So Elijah answered and said to them, if
I'm a man of God, that fire come
down from heaven and consume you and your
50 men and the fire of God came
down from heaven and consumed him in his
50.
Another guy comes.
He says, look, I'm a family man.
You know, I know you're a man of
God.
I know you can call down fire.
Can you just not do that this time?
Can you just come with me?
Elijah goes, OK, and he goes with him.
So the point being, citing the reference there
is that Elijah had that power.
Many scholars believe one of the witnesses will
be Elijah.
Why?
Because he never died.
Elijah went up in a fiery chariot, right?
OK, well, then what about the other one?
In John one twenty one, they asked John
the Baptist and they said this.
Who are you?
Are you Elijah?
He said, I am not.
Are you the prophet?
Know who they meant by that?
Moses to the Jews.
Moses was everything.
And Elijah, are you Elijah?
I am not.
Are you that prophet?
Are you Moses?
No.
Finally, they said, who are you?
Give us an answer to take back to
those who sent us.
What do you say about yourself?
John replied in the words of Isaiah, the
prophet.
I am the voice of one calling in
the desert.
Make straight the way of the Lord.
Some of the Pharisees who had been sent
questioned him and they said, then this.
Watch this.
Why then do you baptize if you are
not the Christ or Moses or Elijah in
their brain?
It was the Christ and Moses and Elijah.
They had the three together in their thinking
in the time of John the Baptist.
Now, we know Jesus Christ came, lived, died
on the cross and rose again and went
back to heaven.
And we know that he's not one of
the two witnesses.
But that leaves Moses, doesn't it?
He said, well, wait, Moses died.
Deuteronomy was his last sermon, a long one,
a month.
But it was his last sermon.
And then he went up into the mountain
and God took him.
Deuteronomy 34, 5 and 6.
God supernaturally took Moses' body.
And so it can't be Moses because Hebrews
9.27 says is appointed to men once
to die and then the judgment.
So it can't be Moses.
Really?
Question.
How many times did Lazarus die?
Lazarus died.
He was dead for days.
The old King James said when Jesus came,
they said, by now he stinketh because he
was decomposing.
So Jesus brought him back to life.
Lazarus come forth.
He had to call him by name because
with that voice calling into the realm of
the dead, everybody would have come out if
he didn't use his name Lazarus.
So he came out, he said, loose him,
untie him.
But he's at dinner with Jesus and Bethany,
you know, a few nights later.
He died again after that.
So you see, Moses may have died.
The devil tried to get his body from
Michael, the archangel and Jew.
It's nothing to God to bring a body
back to life.
We see even the two witnesses die on
the streets of Jerusalem here, their death and
they finish their testimony.
All the world sees it.
They get so excited.
They don't bury them.
They leave their bodies.
Revelation, verse 9, three and a half days.
So they're beginning to decompose and they're laying
there.
They're getting gooey.
They're starting to rot.
They're giving gifts to one another.
It's beyond Christmas.
They're more passionate than Christmas.
Revelation, 11, 10.
Then those who dwell on the earth will
rejoice over them, make merry, send gifts because
these prophets tormented those who dwell on the
earth.
Now, after three and a half days, the
breath of God came into them and they
stood on their feet.
Can you imagine the newscasters?
They're covering this story.
We're here on the streets of Jerusalem.
And as you can see, they're beginning to
decompose.
It's a time of making merry.
The atmosphere is charged with joy.
I have never seen so many smiles on
faces in my life.
And then all of a sudden you see
this.
Wait a minute.
Hold it there.
They're standing up and you can hear the
newscaster.
And then they stand and they go, hey,
what's up?
We're done.
And so are you.
Goodbye.
And God calls from heaven and takes them
in their own two-man rapture.
And there's an earthquake, verse 13, in that
same hour to punctuate the event with the
hand of God.
And a tenth of the city falls because
God measures things out.
And the earthquake killed 7,000 people.
You know who those 7,000 most likely
are?
They are most likely the royal guard of
the Antichrist.
Because at that point in time, he has
set himself up in the temple as God.
You bet.
His most trusted men are there and 7
,000 are marked out to die in that
earthquake.
I can be dogmatic, but that's who I
think they are.
Oh, my.
God is amazing, isn't he?
Christianity is exciting, isn't it?
And there's never a dull moment when the
divine life of God is in your soul
by the free gift of Jesus Christ.
Let's pray.
Father, thank you for this time.
I pray that you would bring these things
back to our minds and hearts, that we
might meditate upon them and release your truth
within our souls to strengthen us in every
way.
We thank you for the hope set before
us in Jesus.
We know what's coming on this earth.
And we know what's coming for us in
heaven.
Thank you, Jesus.
In your name we pray.
Amen.