Good
morning! We’re closing in on the
midpoint of the book of Revelation.
Before we get into today’s passage, I’d like to keep with the pattern of
giving a short recap of where we’ve been over the past weeks. I don’t know about you, but I find myself struggling
a bit to keep things in order in my mind.
There are a lot of seals and trumpets and bowls and things going on.
Let’s look
at a power point slide with a graphical display of the chapters. The first glance is as series of blocks which
correspond to each chapter of the book.
There are 22 chapters in Revelation.
In chapter
1, John received instructions about this revelation. It’s not John’s revelation. It is the revelation of Jesus Christ. John saw Jesus in His glory, and John will
see and write about much of what is to come.
The first
part of the revelation was letters for seven churches in Asia Minor. Four of those letters appear in chapter 2 and
the other three in chapter 3.
In chapter
4, John writes about what he saw of heaven:
God sitting on His throne, surrounded by the 24 elders and the 4 living
creatures all engrossed in worship.
In chapter
5, we’re introduced to a special scroll which no one is worthy to open, except
… the Lamb.
In chapter
6, six of the seals are opened each with increasing impact until the people of
the earth hide themselves in rocks of the mountains which have just crumbled
from an earthquake.
In chapter
7, there is an interlude or interruption in the opening of the seals for a
different kind of sealing, the sealing of the 144,000. This sealing serves as a protection from
God’s judgments in chapter 8. We also
see a great multitude before God worshiping, people from every nation and tribe
and people and language.
Chapter 8
returns us to the opening of the seventh and final seal on the scroll. This is the one followed by half an hour of
silence. In turn, seven trumpets are
given to seven angels. The first four
trumpets are sounded bringing more judgments against the unrepentant people of
the earth.
Chapter 9 sounds
the fifth and sixth trumpets. It is also
at this point that we are introduced to the term “woe.” So the fifth and sixth trumpets also
correspond to the first and second “woes.”
Woeful indeed, the unsealed are tormented for 5 months by horrible stinging
locusts followed by a judgment that kills a third of all the people on the
earth.
That brings
us up to today’s passage, we’ll look at chapters 10 and 11. In chapter 10, there are seven thunders, but
John is told to seal them up. We don’t
get to hear what they said.
The end of
chapter 11 brings the final trumpet.
This will be the text for next week’s message.
Let’s go
ahead and briefly work through the end of the book. Chapters 12 and 13 deal with the attacks of
the dragon which is Satan and his servants, two different beasts.
Chapter 14
includes the reappearance of the 144,000 and the Lamb on Mount Zion. At this time, there are three proclaiming
angels which give messages to the earth.
The earth is harvested.
Chapters 15
and 16 deal with the seven plagues which are also described as the bowls of
wrath.
Chapters 17
and 18 describe the woman who rides the beast which is Babylon and her terrible
fall.
Chapters 19
through 22 are the part of Revelation that I think most of us like to concentrate
on. The rider of the white horse
arrives. Satan is bound, and Christ
reigns for 1000 years on the earth. A
new heaven and earth are given along with a new Jerusalem. The book ends with the river of life and the
reminder that Jesus will come and these things will be fulfilled soon.
So, I hope
that quick overview is helpful to you.
Sometimes I find it is good to just wrestle through things even though
it may take me longer than I would like.
All these
different symbols should give us a sense of the magnitude of God’s judgments as
well as the completeness of them. This
continual appearance of seven seals, seven trumpets, seven thunders, and seven
bowls all speak of fullness or completeness.
At the same
time, there are chances for the people to repent. There are waiting times: silence, stillness
after the earthquakes where people are trying to hide. Two witnesses appear that we will talk about
today and later three angels with their message of repentance and warning of
the imminent and final judgment of God.
Is what we
read in Revelation terrible? Yes. Is it frightening? For the unbeliever, it definitely is. Is it for us today? Yes (or we wouldn’t be studying it). Seriously, it is for us today. God doesn’t want to leave us in doubt as far
as the severity of our sins and the consequences.
Maybe you
have heard this before. God created the
earth and everything in it. He, in turn,
gave it to Adam and Eve, to mankind. He
created it and gave it to us. What did
we do with it? We turned around and gave
it to Satan which also corrupted us and gave us a sin nature, a bent for
sinning, that we can’t get rid of by ourselves.
By God’s grace, He had a plan to get us and all creation back, but it
cost Him the life of His Son, Jesus.
Interestingly,
Satan offered Jesus the world, but with a significant condition--that Jesus
would worship him. Of course, Jesus
declined that offer. And, we know what
happened at the cross. That is what
makes the smiley faces on the right hand side of this slide possible. It is our sin that causes the middle part of
the book of Revelation that makes some of you feel so icky and squishy inside
to listen to and talk about.
Think about
that when you’re tempted to give in to temptation. Think about that when you tell yourself, it’s
no big deal that you did this or that.
This testimony, this revelation, tells us, it is a big deal. These are things we should take
seriously. I know I’ve talked about this
before, but in my younger days (as a younger man and as a younger believer), I
used to always try to figure out where the line was. I wanted to know how close I could get to the
edge of sin and not go over. I was
really focused on being “good enough.” I
had a totally wrong attitude. We should
be eager to give sin a wide berth. Don’t
even get close to it.
“Flee from
sexual immorality.” (I Corinthians 6:18) “Flee from idolatry.” (I Corinthians
10:14) Flee false doctrines, flee
controversies and quarrels, flee the love of money. (I Timothy 6:11) “Flee the evil desires of youth.” (II Timothy
2:22)
Instead, “pursue
righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness.” (I Timothy
6:11) Paul thought it so important, he told Timothy nearly the same thing in
his second letter. “Pursue
righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out
of a pure heart. (II Timothy 2:22)
I was
fighting the wrong fight. I was trying
to figure out how close I could get to sin without crossing the line. Paul encouraged Timothy to “Fight the good
fight of the faith.” When I was younger,
I was fighting the “bad fight” of the faith.
What about you? Are you fighting
the good fight all of the time … most of the time?
I want to
charge you the same way that Paul charged Timothy:
"I charge you to keep this command
[Flee from sexual immorality, idolatry,
false doctrines, controversies and quarrels, the love of money, and the evil
desires of youth. Instead, pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love,
endurance and gentleness.]
without spot or blame until the appearing of
our Lord Jesus Christ, which God will bring about in his own time—God, the
blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone is
immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see.
To him be honor and might forever. Amen." I Timothy 6:14-16
I charge
you. As your elder, I command you. As your teacher, I instruct you. As your pastor, I exhort you with authority. Flee!
Flee from sin!
Let’s pray
and jump into our passage before it’s lunch time, okay?
Father God,
I pray for each one of us here today. I
pray that you would transform us by the renewing of our minds. I pray that you would remind us that we have
the Holy Spirit inside of us, and by the Spirit, we have the very mind of
Christ (I Corinthians 2:16). Help us to
take this charge seriously. Let us
purify our lives of all the muck and mess.
Help us to recognize the things which do not belong in the life of child
of God. May we run from coarse jesting
and putting our needs and desires above the needs of others. Give us courage to sacrifice in love for one
another. Teach us from this passage in
Revelation in the time that we have left.
In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
Let’s pick
up at the beginning of Revelation chapter 10:
Then I saw another mighty angel coming down
from heaven. He was robed in a cloud,
with a rainbow above his head; his face was like the sun, and his legs were
like fiery pillars. He was holding a
little scroll, which lay open in his hand. He planted his right foot on the sea and his
left foot on the land, and he gave a loud shout like the roar of a lion. When he shouted, the voices of the seven
thunders spoke. And when the seven
thunders spoke, I was about to write; but I heard a voice from heaven say, “Seal
up what the seven thunders have said and do not write it down.” Revelation 10:1-4
Perhaps you
remember the description of God seated on the throne from chapter four. The throne was surrounded by a rainbow. This mighty angel is carrying the likeness
God Himself. This is not a simple errand
boy. The size of this angel also gives
us a sense of great importance. He’s so
big, he stands on the sea and land. Have
you ever heard a lion roar up close? I
haven’t, but I have been in the zoo when the big male lion roared. I was glad he was in a cage. It was startling.
Thunder
itself is often associated with divine punishment. In this case the thunders made more than
noise. They spoke. We don’t get to hear the message though. This has been sealed up. We don’t know why for sure.
Then the angel I had seen standing on the
sea and on the land raised his right hand to heaven. And he swore by him who lives for ever and
ever, who created the heavens and all that is in them, the earth and all that
is in it, and the sea and all that is in it, and said, “There will be no more
delay! But in the days when the seventh
angel is about to sound his trumpet, the mystery of God will be accomplished,
just as he announced to his servants the prophets.” Revelation 10:5-7
Why would
this enormous awe-inspiring angel take an oath?
Isn’t his appearance enough to communicate his credibility as a
witness? In the Old Testament, oaths and
vows were meant to be quickly fulfilled.
So, taking an oath that there will be no more delay means that it is
coming really, really soon. Also, it is
another attempt at giving people another chance. This is serious. There is not much time left. It is also accompanied with the testimony of
the prophets. This is not a new
story. God is fulfilling something which
has been told since long times past.
What is this
mystery of God? I don’t want to steal
the thunder of next week’s message. You
can skip ahead to the second half of chapter 11 and find out. Let’s just say it has something to do with
the promised descendant of David who will come and reign forever.
Then the voice that I had heard from heaven
spoke to me once more: “Go, take the scroll that lies open in the hand of the
angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.”
So I went to the angel and asked him to give
me the little scroll. He said to me,
“Take it and eat it. It will turn your stomach sour, but in your mouth it will
be as sweet as honey.” Revelation 10:8-9
The voice is
the one which told John not to write down what the thunders spoke. Why eat the scroll? Internalize it. Understand it. Experience it. Taste and see. Psalm 119 (v. 103) talks about how God’s
words are sweet. Probably if he just
read the scroll, he would have gotten the bitterness of the message but missed
the sweetness.
What is your
experience with the Word? Is it sweet to
you? Are you tasting it regularly? Do you hold it at arm’s length fearing its
bitterness? Do you find yourself reading
it academically without applying what you’ve read to your life? Is the Word living and active to you? Does it tell you things you need to know?
If not, I
encourage you to get with one of the pastors or a more mature believer to get
some ideas of how to engage in this “tasting and seeing.” At the very least, pray before you read the
Word and ask God to speak to you. That
prayer will open a door, and God is more than happy to walk right in to your
life.
I took the little scroll from the angel’s
hand and ate it. It tasted as sweet as
honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it, my stomach turned sour. Then I was told, “You must prophesy again
about many peoples, nations, languages and kings.” Revelation 10:10-11
Sure enough,
the angel’s warning proved true. The
prophecy will include more suffering. There
is a bitterness of delivering a harsh message.
The Old Testament prophets (especially Jeremiah and Ezekiel) lived lives
of sourness or bitterness. They did not
shirk from the responsibility. What
about you? Do you deliver hard
messages? Can you share with others that
God’s judgment is coming? Is it
easy? No. Is it necessary? Yes, even critical.
We saw at
the beginning of the message that we’re about halfway through Revelation. There is much to come yet about the peoples,
nations, languages, and kings. In other
words, what is yet to come will affect everyone.
I was given a reed like a measuring rod and
was told, “Go and measure the temple of God and the altar, and count the
worshipers there.” Revelation 11:1
There is an
interesting verse from Zechariah (1:16). “Therefore this is what the LORD says: ‘I
will return to Jerusalem with mercy, and there my house will be rebuilt. And
the measuring line will be stretched out over Jerusalem,’ declares the LORD
Almighty.” Perhaps, the temple is newly
rebuilt, and John himself is fulfilling this prophecy of God by measuring the
temple?
You have
likely heard that there are Jews who eagerly desire to rebuild the temple even
now. Preparations are being made. This is something that could come about quickly. The fact that the temple has not been rebuilt
is not a barrier for this prophecy. It
could happen in a few years or even months!
We can be
excited that a rebuilt temple would indicate Jesus return is nearly upon
us. However, it is important to keep in
mind that the worship of the temple and the sacrifice of animals to pay for the
penalty of sin is not valid. This kind
of worship says that Jesus death on the cross is not valid to pay for sin.
“But exclude the outer court; do not measure
it, because it has been given to the Gentiles. They will trample on the holy
city for 42 months.” Revelation 11:2
There are
other structures on the temple mount now including a mosque and the Islamic
Dome of the Rock. For years, it was
believed that the Dome of the Rock is on the site of the temple. However, recent investigations begin to push
for a location that is north of the Dome of the Rock. If that is the case, the temple could be
rebuilt, but not the outer courts, at least not without removing the Dome of
the Rock. In this way, the outer courts
could be “given to the Gentiles.”
At the same
time, this idea of trampling on the holy city for three and half years seems to
indicate something more than just a too-close neighbor. We will come to the Antichrist in chapter
13. The time period of his authority is
also 42 months. II Thessalonians (2:3-4)
says that he will “oppose and exalt himself over everything that is called God
or is worshiped.” Sounds like trampling.
”And I will give power 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. If anyone tries to harm them, fire comes from
their mouths and devours their enemies. This
is how anyone who wants to harm them must die. These men have power to shut up the sky so
that it will not rain during the time they are prophesying; and they have power
to turn the waters into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague
as often as they want. Revelation 11:3-6
Who are
those masked men? If you use 30 day
months which is consistent with the Babylonian and Persian calendars that
Daniel would have used, 1260 days is 42 months like the previous verse. This time of trampling will not go
unanswered. God will have witnesses that
will continue to speak truth even during these dark times. They are clothed in sackcloth, often goat or
camels’ hair, like the garment of John the Baptist, the preacher of
repentance. They have power given by
God. They will be effective.
The
witnesses are described as olive trees and lampstands. In Zechariah (4:14), two olive trees are used
as symbols of “the two who are anointed
to serve the Lord of all the earth.”
Lampstands are obviously the means of shedding light, communicating
truth. Jesus Himself being the true
light.
This idea of
fire coming from their mouths is also indicative of God’s power. Psalm 18 (v. 8) and Psalm 97 (v. 3) speak of
the consuming fire of the Lord against His (and our) enemies.
Their power
in working miracles gives us a clue to their possible identity. Shutting up the heavens from rain is
obviously associated with Elijah (I Kings 17:1) which lasted three and a half
years (Luke 4:25). Also, Elijah called
down fire on the soldiers of Israel who came to capture him (II Kings 1). Seeing waters turned to blood and bringing
plagues is obviously associated with Moses (Exodus 7-11).
It is
possible that these two witnesses could literally be Moses and Elijah. They did meet with Jesus on the mount of
transfiguration, even discussing His death.
Malachi (4:5) says that Elijah will appear before “the great and terrible day of the Lord.”
Moses stands
as a representative of the Law. Elijah
stands as a representative of the Prophets.
Jesus said, “I have not come to
abolish the Law or the Prophets but to fulfill them.” (Matthew 5:17) And, “He
said …, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be
fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the
Psalms.” (Luke 24:44) Moses and
Elijah obviously have the credible witness to give at a rebuilt temple based on
the Old Testament practices. Moses quite
literally “wrote the book.”
Now when they have finished their testimony,
the beast that comes up from the Abyss will attack them, and overpower and kill
them. Their bodies will lie in the
street of the great city, which is figuratively called Sodom and Egypt, where
also their Lord was crucified. For three
and a half days men from every people, tribe, language and nation will gaze on
their bodies and refuse them burial. The
inhabitants of the earth will gloat over them and will celebrate by sending
each other gifts, because these two prophets had tormented those who live on
the earth. Revelation 11:7-10
It is
important to note that first phrase.
Nothing has power over these witnesses until they are finished with their
testimony. We likewise should not walk
in fear. We can have confidence in God
that He cares for us. If our trust is in
Jesus, if Jesus is our Savior and Lord, then we will not leave this world a
moment sooner than He intended. The
beast or the evil of this world has no more power or influence than is allowed
to it.
Note too
that Jesus is the Lord of Moses and Elijah.
Does that make you say, how can that be?
Moses and Elijah lived hundreds of years before Jesus. How can their trust be in Jesus? Because their faith is in God’s plan and not
their own righteous acts to get to heaven.
Our faith is credited as righteousness.
Our best performance is still not enough to get us in to heaven. Moses didn’t get to enter the earthly
Promised Land because of his unrighteousness.
The beast
from the Abyss is likely Satan himself introduced back in Revelation 9:11.
The people
gloated and sent presents to one another.
Isn’t that shocking? They didn’t
remove the bodies. They treated these
witnesses of God like so much roadkill.
Leaving dead bodies on display is the worst kind of disgrace. Why were they so happy? Their torment was over. What was the torment? Obviously the physical plagues and lack of
rain. But, their witness too would have
been a torment. Hearing the truth when
you’re living a lie is a torment. More
than anything, you want to silence the voice which causes dissonance. Cain killed Abel to silence his testimony.
People
mention this as evidence of the current state of mass media. In John’s time and for nearly 2000 years
after, it was impossible for every people, tribe, language and nation to see
something. Today, it is easy to imagine
major news like this being seen around the globe.
But after the three and a half days a breath
of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and terror struck
those who saw them. Revelation 11:11
I should
imagine so! Both shock and awe. That’s like the creepiest thing to imagine
isn’t it. Something that was dead to
come back to life. Why does that creep
us out? We, even men and women of faith,
are conditioned to think of death as absolutely final. And yet, He
Still Moves Stones. That’s the title
of a book by Max Lucado. I haven’t read
more than a few quotes from it. The
subtitle is equally powerful: “Discover
the God Who Still Does the Impossible – In Your Life.” Do you believe it? Think on that. Can God, will God do the impossible in your
life? If not, why not? One quote from this book regarding faith, “Faith
is not the belief that God will do what you want. It is the belief that God will do what is
right.” Even raising the dead.
Then they heard a loud voice from heaven
saying to them, “Come up here.” And they went up to heaven in a cloud, while
their enemies looked on.
At that very hour there was a severe
earthquake and a tenth of the city collapsed. Seven thousand people were killed
in the earthquake, and the survivors were terrified and gave glory to the God
of heaven. Revelation 11:12-13
Now, the
people have seen a resurrection and ascension.
This is God at work on a world stage.
Matthew records a great earthquake at Jesus’ resurrection. Notice what happens to the survivors
following the earthquake. This is the
only place in Revelation where those who are opposed to God stop and give Him
glory. Will some of those be saved? I sure hope so.
The second woe has passed; the third woe is
coming soon. Revelation 11:14
This is the
end of our passage for today. We have
come to the end of the interlude shoehorned between the sixth and seventh
trumpet blasts. The mighty angel has
spoken. God’s judgment will come without
delay. We begin hurtling forward toward
that end. And yet, God will send
messengers at least once more to proclaim the gospel before the end.
The message
for those at the end of days is the same message that we have today,
Let the wicked forsake his way, and the
unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that He may have
compassion on him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon. Isaiah 55:7
“Repent, for
the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matthew
3:2)
Let’s pray.
Lord Jesus,
thank You that there is still time left for ones to make a decision to follow
You. Thank You that there is “mercy
still reserved for me” and each one here.
Help us to see that the wages of sin truly are death. Give us a healthy fear. A fear that motivates us to run from sin like
we would run from a burning building.
Help each one here to be committed to be holy as You are holy. We know that is only possible by Your grace
and in Your Spirit. Give each one here
the ambition to live for You. In Jesus’
Name. Amen.
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