The Two Witnesses

THE TWO WITNESSES

Revelation 11: 1-14

With chapter 11 here you have the continuation of the vision as well as the continuation of the interlude between the 6^th and 7^th trumpet.

Again, as we said last week, these interludes between the warnings of judgment are here to encourage or reassure the saints in some way.
And this does just that.
So, let’s look at what the second half of this interlude says.
We saw the first half of the interlude last week…now we see the second half.
Look beginning in verse 1.

And there was given me a measuring rod like a staff; and someone said, “Rise and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and those who worship in it. 2 “And leave out the court which is outside the temple, and do not measure it, for it has been given to the nations; and they will tread under foot the holy city for forty-two months.

Here John is given a measuring rod and told to measure the temple of God the altar, and those who worship in it.

Now, when John measures these things what he is doing is he is setting them apart.
He is making a separation between them and the things he does not measure.

And notice, he is to measure the “temple of God.”

At the time that this revelation was written there was only one temple that existed.
And that is the church of God.
- In I Cor. 3:16, 17 we are told that Christians are ”the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in them.”
- And over in Eph. 2:19-22 we are told that “Christians are fellow citizens of God’s household, being built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, and that we are being fit together and growing into a holy temple in the Lord.”

So when this is written, the Jewish temple in Jerusalem had already been destroyed in 70 A.D., and the only temple that existed was the church of God.

So John is told to measure for the purpose of setting it apart, the temple of God.

And the word temple here is not the Greek word “heiron” which speaks of the whole of the temple.
This is the word “naos” which speaks of the inner sanctuary.

And so John is to measure the inner sanctuary, and the altar, and those who worship in the inner sanctuary.

Now, notice verse 2, John is told not to measure the “the court which is outside the temple.”

And he is told why he is not to measure it: For it has been given to the nations; and they will tread under foot the holy city for 42 months.”

So what you have here is a measuring for the purpose of separation…and the inner sanctuary, and the altar, and the people who worship in the inner sanctuary are separated away from the court that is outside.

And the reason there is this separation is because the court that is outside is going to be trampled under foot by the nations.

And what you have here is the inner sanctuary, and the altar, and those who worship in it are going to be protected.

But not so the court that lies outside….they will be profaned by the nations.
Or in other words, they will be persecuted.

You see, this whole building…the whole of the temple as well as the holy city all belongs to God.

All of it represents the church of God.

And what is going to happen is, the church is going to enter into a period of persecution and suffering.

But at the same time, it will be sustained.
The church will endure hardship and abuse, but it would also be preserved by the Lord.
For the persecution cannot go to the church’s heart.
The inner sanctuary and all within will be preserved by the Lord…and even though there will be tremendous persecution…there will not be annihilation.

And we are going to see this developed more in the next few verse. In fact, look at the end of verse 2. John says that: the nations will tread under foot the holy city for forty-two months.

Notice the “forty-two months.”

This is the same as 1260 days…which we will see later.
Both the 42 months and the 1260 days is equivalent to “time, times, and half a time.”
You will see this over in chapter 12: 6, and verse 14.

Now, we know what the time is, it is 42 months or 1260 days, or “time, times, and half a time”…but what does it mean?

Well, any time you find these terms there are two things that are always present: persecution and protection.
Every time the saints are subjected to persecution…and yet in time they are victorious.

Look at this passage in Dan. 7:25. This has reference to the little horn and it says:

And he will speak out against the Most High and wear down the saints of the Highest One, and he will intend to make alterations in times and in law; and they will be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time.

But now look at the next verse: But the court will sit for judgment, and his dominion will be taken away, annihilated and destroyed forever.

Look at Revelation 12: 6:

And the woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared by God, so that there she might be nourished for one thousand two hundred and sixty days.

Notice, the woman flees into the wilderness.

Wilderness speaks of hardship and difficulty.
And yet, in the wilderness she is nourished.
Right in the place of hardship, she finds nourishment…for “1260 days.”

Look here in chapter 11 again, in verse 3. The one speaking to John says: “And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for twelve hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth.”

For 1260 days they will suffer hardship and mourning….that is what the sack cloth represents.
But at the same time they cannot be stopped from preaching.

So the 42 months, or 1260 days, or “time, times, and half a time” always has associated with it: persecution or hardship…and protection.

They saints are persecuted…and yet they are protected.

Now, also, 42 months is half of 7 years.

Or, it is 3 ½ years.
Seven speaks of completeness of a thing, or fullness, or perfection.
3 ½ says that it is a limited time…that the hard times will only last for an allowed period.
They will not last forever.

So with all of that said, Lets read again the first two verses of chapter 11: And there was given me a measuring rod like a staff; and someone said, “Rise and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and those who worship in it. 2 “And leave out the court which is outside the temple, and do not measure it, for it has been given to the nations; and they will tread under foot the holy city for forty-two months.

God is saying to these Christians at the time that there is good news and bad news.

The bad news is the church will be persecuted.

But the good news is: It will not be annihilated.
God will protect it and keep that from happening.
And the hardship and persecution will not last forever.
God will see to that.

Now, verse 3: “And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for twelve hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth.”

Now, whoever these two witnesses are they are “enabled” from heaven to do what they are to do.
And notice what the two witness are to do…”they will prophesy” or teach…or speak forth the will of God.

Now, who are the “two witnesses”?

Well, there are a lot of different opinions and it is extremely difficult to know.

But let me give you who or what I believe the “two witnesses” are.

Deut 17:6

On the evidence of two witnesses or three witnesses, he who is to die shall be put to death; he shall not be put to death on the evidence of one witness.

Deut 19:15-16

5 “A single witness shall not rise up against a man on account of any iniquity or any sin which he has committed; on the evidence of two or three witnesses a matter shall be confirmed.

As you can tell by these two verses it took two witnesses or more to confirm testimony.

In Matthew 18:16-17 you find the same thing…two witnesses to confirm what was taking place.

16 “But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every fact may be confirmed.

In John 8:17 Jesus says that two witnesses were needed to confirm the truth.

17 “Even in your law it has been written, that the testimony of two men is true.

Now, with this in mind “the two witnesses” of Rev. 11:3 seems to be those that God has sent forth to confirm what is true…during a time of great persecution.

In fact, He says that the “two witnesses” will prophesy for 1260 days clothed in sackcloth.
So the two witnesses seems to be those that God has sent forth to confirm what is true during a time of great persecution.

And now look at verse 4: These (the two witnesses) are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth.

Both of these, the two olive trees and the two lampstands are needed to give light.
The olive trees furnish the oil that keeps the lampstands burning.
And back in chapter 1 we are told that the “lampstands” represent the different churches.

So what I believe you have here is a description of all the saints…or the church…that speaks forth the truth of God’s word during a time of great persecution.

But keep in mind, even though they are persecuted….they are still protected.

In fact, look at verse 5:

And if anyone desires to harm them, fire proceeds out of their mouth and devours their enemies; and if anyone would desire to harm them, in this manner he must be killed.

Now, keep in mind, this is a vision and is not to be taken literally.
This is just a part of the whole picture and what this is saying is: these two witnesses…those who go forth and speak God’s truths…the saints…or the church…in spite of the persecution are unstoppable.
Those who try to stop them will fail miserably.
God will protect those who witness of Him.

Rev 11:6 These have the power to shut up the sky, in order that rain may not fall during the days of their prophesying; and they have power over the waters to turn them into blood, and to smite the earth with every plague, as often as they desire.

This verse reminds us a lot of the prophets of the OT, especially Moses and Elijah.
Moses and Elijah had the power to do these things…and the reason they had that power was to accomplish God’s will.
And that is what is being said here about these “two witnesses”…in spite of the persecution, God will give them the power to accomplish His will.
God’s will, will be done.

7 And when they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up out of the abyss will make war with them, and overcome them and kill them.

Now, this happens at the end of the 1260 days mentioned back up in verse 3…and the thing that is confusing is we have just talked about how the “two witnesses” are unstoppable.

Now here, it seems that the beast is victorious. What is going on?
Well, first of all, this reminds us that Christians were never promised that things would be easy.

But let’s keep going: vs. 8:

8 And their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city which mystically is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified.

The great city here is called by three names: Sodom, Egypt, and “where also their Lord was crucified.”
All three of these are symbols of wickedness…and all three are places that Satan used to accomplish his purpose.
All three of these places underscore the wickedness of Rome.

So the idea that you get here initially is, God’s witnesses are defeated…the church has lost. Or has it?

Rev 11: 9 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.

Notice the four terms: indicative of the world…or those who have not accepted Christ…those not part of the “two witnesses.”

And notice the 3 ½ days…that is a broken time period…signifies that this is not completeness.
They are definitely dead…but they will not stay that way.

Rev 11:10 And those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and make merry; and they will send gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth.

It appears that the beast has been victorious…and the people are rejoicing.
Why, because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth.
- Isn’t that true.
- What we as God’s people…as God’s church…proclaim causes people who do not want to hear it or accept it to torment…it causes them agony.
- I remember a few years back I went into restaurant in Hobbs one morning to eat breakfast and I saw a guy there that I knew and I went over to just speak to him and he said: “I don’t want to hear any of your sermons…and don’t ask me to come to church.”
- I hadn’t said a word to him…but his conscience was already bothering him.
  - There is nothing that the world would like better than to see us defeated and proven wrong.

So here you have the world rejoicing because they think the beast has been victorious over those who speak forth the word of God. But look now at verse 11:

And 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 beholding them.

Here is what this said to the Christians at the time that this was written.

At the time it seemed like to them that the conflict was going Rome’s way.
Rome seemed to be winning.
But in reality, Rome loses again.

And notice at the end of the verse it says that “great fear fell upon those who were beholding them.”

They stood in the streets and made merry over the death of the two witnesses.
They sent gifts to one another.
And they refused to bury their dead bodies.
- No reverence…no respect…just celebration over the fact that they thought the beast had one.

But it has all changed now…and they are filled with fear because the one’s whose death they celebrated are now alive.

We may be persecuted…we may be disrespected…we may even be killed…but in the end we will be victorious…and the wicked who did those things to us…will have plenty of reason to fear.

Rev 11:12-13

12 And they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here.” And they went up into heaven in the cloud, and their enemies beheld them.

13 And in that hour there was a great earthquake (a manifestation of God’s judgment), and a tenth of the city fell (not final judgment); and seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake (7 as well as 1000 are symbolic of completeness or totality. What this seems to be saying is that all of those who reject God’s witnesses and their message will experience the judgment of God), and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.

They aren’t converted…they are just terrified.
- And I think that is another point that can be made here.
- The judgment that falls on others should have its terrifying affect on those who see it.
- Every one of us is going to die…when we witness the death of another that should strike a fear in our own hearts of what is going to happen to me when I die?

Rev 11:14

The second woe is past; behold, the third woe is coming quickly.

The interlude is over.