Our Final Trial and Ultimate Triumph

Q: What does the Bible say about the final judgment?

The Bible describes a final judgment where Christ will return, and God's people will triumph while the wicked face condemnation. Revelation 11 describes the final acts of judgment before the end of the world, detailing how the Lord will display His glory through His church and execute divine judgment on the wicked. In this passage, particularly verses 13-14, we see that the day of the Lord will bring both destruction for those who oppose Him and triumph for His elect. The assurance of victory for God's people is underscored in the revelation that the gates of hell will not prevail against the church, solidifying the truth that God’s sovereign power ultimately reigns over all events of history.

Q: How do we know the church will be safe in the end times?

The church's safety is assured by God's sovereign will and His promises in Scripture. Throughout Revelation, particularly in chapter 11, we are repeatedly assured that God measures and protects His church, signifying that true believers are marked out for safety, even amid tribulation and judgment. This means that while the world may seem tumultuous and chaotic, God's promises assure us that His church will endure and ultimately prevail. As Don Fortner emphasized, the church will not perish with the world because our Lord's sovereignty governs all events to accomplish His purposes. Our Redeemer, Jesus Christ, embodies this sovereign rule, granting His people peace amidst worldly turmoil.

Q: Why is understanding God's sovereignty important for Christians?

Understanding God's sovereignty provides comfort and assurance in the face of life's trials. The recognition of God's sovereignty is crucial for Christians, especially in turbulent times. As Don Fortner elucidates, knowing that God, through Christ, rules the universe brings profound peace and confidence. In Revelation, God’s sovereign control is illustrated through the events leading to the final judgment. This understanding empowers believers to endure suffering, reminding us that our struggles serve a greater purpose within God's plan. It reinforces our faith, ensuring that we remain steadfast, knowing that our Redeemer ultimately governs all occurrences, and comforts us with the certainty of our triumph in Christ.

Q: What role do God's witnesses play in the end times?

God's witnesses, represented as His church, proclaim His truth and serve as a testament to His grace during the end times. In Revelation 11, God's witnesses are depicted as essential agents of His truth and grace. They symbolize the church and its ministers throughout the gospel age who bear witness to God's sovereignty and the salvation found in Jesus Christ. These witnesses proclaim God’s message, empowered by His authority, showcasing a prophetic role that embodies the light of the gospel in a dark world. Though they may face persecution and death, their testimony will ultimately fulfill God's purposes, leading to a revival and recognition of His truth just before Christ’s return, as highlighted by the triumph shown in their eventual resurrection.

A while back, a friend of mine was going through a time of severe difficulty because of his preaching the gospel of God's grace, pastoring a nominal, typical Baptist church where men delight in everything except hearing the gospel. And God taught him the gospel. He began preaching it. And when he did, trouble started brewing. And he was having a lot of problems.

Of course, I've seen enough to know pretty well what's going to happen step by step, day by day. People don't change much. So I wrote him a letter one day. And I said to him, I said, Richard, hold on. Things are going to get worse. You think it's bad now? Just hold on. Time's coming. It's going to get worse and it did.

Well, I'm not a prophet of doom. I have great optimism because God rules and I'm delighted that God rules as he does in all things. I'm not a man who has his head buried in the sand. I know we're living in dark days. And I'm saying to you tonight, children of God, hold on. it's going to get worse. Things are going to be much worse than they presently are before the end comes.

And that's what we have described for us in Revelation chapter 11. You'll recall that in chapter 8, John saw an angel flying through heaven and heard him say with a loud voice, woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth. We've already seen what the first two woes of judgment are.

The first woe would be a plague of locusts coming up out of hell and spreading over the earth. But these locusts would be strange locusts indeed, for they wouldn't hurt vegetation, only the souls of men. This plague of false religion, it's the coming of false, superficial, God-hating, God-despising God dishonoring, Christ maligning religion, coming up out of hell and spreading over the earth. And in that day when that false religion seems to spread over the earth, this plague of locusts will bring a delusion to men so that the vast multitudes of men and women in the world will live under the delusion that they are the servants of God. while they are following the servants of Satan into hell itself. The Apostle Paul tells us in 2 Thessalonians 2 that this day is a day of strong delusion which God himself will send upon men who received not the love of the truth so that by this strong delusion they might all be damned.

Now that's the first quote. And then in chapter nine, we are again told what the second woe would be. The second woe of judgment, according to John's vision, will be a terrible time of war. A time of war such as the world has never seen before. In this war, one-third of the earth's population will be destroyed. I don't know whether he's speaking of a singular worldwide outbreak of war or whether he's speaking skirmishes of war between countries all over the earth, but it's a time of great, terrible war.

And then we had a word of assurance. Throughout the book, we have these little pauses and intermissions. We had a word of assurance given in chapter 10 to comfort and sustain our hearts. In that 10th chapter, John sees the Lord Jesus standing with one foot upon earth and another upon the sea with the book of God in his as the universal monarch over all things, and he is ruling heaven and earth. He's ruling the universe according to God's sovereign purpose. Now, there's a reason for that word of assurance.

You see, we, as God's children on this earth, seeing things as they really are, recognize how bad life is in this world for the church and the kingdom of God. how little Christ is honored, how little the gospel is preached, how little men and women hear the truth of God. And we get discouraged. We have a tendency to get discouraged. It's ever the tendency of the flesh not to believe God, but rather to look to things that we see, and that drives us into despair. And so we have these little encouragements, these great encouragements given to us throughout the book. You can't help noticing that as you read through this book of Revelation, we're given repeated assurances of these three things.

First of all, we're told constantly that our Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ, is in absolute control of the universe. Don't ever forget that. Don't ever forget that. If you can, in your heart, if in your heart, you can constantly recognize that he who loved you and gave himself for you rules the universe. I mean rules. He totally, absolutely, truly, sovereignly, in every detail of all things, rules this world. That'll keep your heart at peace. That'll give you some confidence. That'll give you some encouragement.

Whatever's going on, whatever it is, in the religious world, in the political world, in the secular world, in the Church of God, outside the Church of God, in heaven, in earth, in hell, whatever's going on, my Redeemer's controlling it. He's ruling it. He's doing it. He's accomplishing it. He's performing his will. Now that's the God I worship. That's the God who rules this world. That's the God I preach. Jesus Christ, the Sovereign Lord.

And we're constantly reminded as well, throughout this book, No matter how bad things may appear, the Church and the Kingdom of God is safe. You'll recall that back in the days of Israel, when the Philistines would attack the children of Israel, the one question on the king's heart is, is the Ark of God safe? That's the one question, is the Ark of God safe? That's the question that's on the hearts of God's people today. is the Ark of God safe? Is the Church of God, the Kingdom of God, the testimony of the Lord in this world safe?

Yes, sir, it is. Yes, sir. Religious world around me, and I hear the blasphemies that are proclaimed in the name of Jesus Christ, and I see what's going on. And were it not for this assurance, my heart would sink into despair. The Ark of God is safe. The Church of God, the Kingdom of God, the people of God shall not be destroyed by the flood of false religion. The people of God shall not be hurt by all that goes on in this world. The Lord Jesus Christ is bringing these things to pass that we now see for the good of His Church, for the good of His people.

I don't know. Honestly, I don't know how under God The preaching of a babbler like Jimmy Swagger could possibly be good for God's church, but it is. It is. Somehow or another, with these heresies that spring up, God is distinguishing the precious from the vile, the weak from the chaff, the true from the false, the righteous from the profane. He's separating his children and making them to stand out characteristically as men and women who are contrary to the religious tide of the age. the church of God's sake, no matter what happens.

And we are also assured that the people of God will triumph in these. When everything's done, when everything's done, when the final chapter has been fulfilled, when all of God's purposes and every decree of our Father has finally been accomplished, the church, the people of God, the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ shall be gloriously triumphant. The Lord God in the last day will hold before a despairing, tormented universe the church of his redeemed ones and he will display within us the glory and the wisdom and the marvel of his infinite grace. This, these are my redeemed ones gathered from the four corners of the earth.

The Lord takes great care to comfort and assure his church. He takes great care to make us know that his elect have a victory that is certain and sure. We are more than conquerors, more than conquerors through him that loved us and gave himself for us. The gates of hell shall not prevail against his church. The gates of hell cannot possibly destroy his church. We shall, in the end, tread upon the head of Satan himself, and we shall triumph over all our enemies. There's a reason for this often repeated assurance.

It often appears that we're losing ground. It looks like defeat is inevitable. Do you ever feel that way? I do. I talk to preachers all the time. I try my best to encourage them, and I understand their discouragement. I don't like it, but I understand it. I don't like it in me, but I understand it in me as well.

It's unbelief. It's looking at things with these eyes rather than with the eye of faith. Looking at things with a natural understanding rather than with the revelation of God. We get discouraged because it looks like we're just simply spinning our wheels in the sand, accomplishing nothing. It looks like that the church of God is headed for inevitable defeat and overthrow.

I see the spread of religion in this day and I I see these men on television. I hear them on the radio. I see their huge plants as we drive down the highway. And here are men who blaspheme God. Here are men who, every time they stand in the pulpit, deceive the souls of men. Multitudes, multitudes, multitudes follow them. They lack for nothing.

And here are those men who struggle to preach the gospel of God's grace. have to struggle even to get enough money to pay the light bill. And I think to myself, it looks to me like we're fighting a losing battle. It looks to me like we're headed for certain ruin. It looks to me like we're headed for certain destruction. Don't be so foolish. Don't be so foolish. Oh, no. Oh, no. That's not the way it is at all.

Here in chapter 11, we're given a description of God's final act of judgment before the final destruction of the earth. Our text for this evening is Revelation 11, verses 1 through 14. Here again, we are assured of the safety and triumph of God's church, though for a time defeat appears certain. These verses describe our final trial and our ultimate triumph. In these verses, our Lord shows John and us what will happen in those days just before the end of the world and the second coming of Christ.

As I read this passage, I thought to myself, it's very difficult to determine whether we are living in the days of the first woe, a time of the spread of locusts from hell, a time of the universal spread of false religion, or whether we're living in these latter days of the second woe, which are described in this eleventh chapter.

But this I know, this I know. The world has never before seen such days of spiritual darkness and religious deception as the darkness and the deception of these days. Now, I'm not speaking off the cuff. I know that what I say is serious. I know it has serious, profound implications. But I've read a little history. I've read this book a time or two, and I'm telling you that the world has never before seen such spiritual, religious darkness and deception as the spiritual deception, darkness, and ignorance of this day.

There are more people in the world today. Now listen to me. There are more people in the world today. Let's forget the world. Let's just forget the world for a minute. You don't know what's going on other places, and I don't know much. But right here in the United States of America, let's forget the United States.

Right here in Danville, Kentucky, there are more people today who profess the faith of Jesus Christ here in this city than there have ever been. In the time I've been here, I can't count the churches that have been established in the last nine years in this city.

All of them call themselves Christians. All of them say they're following Christ. All of them say they're the servants of God. All of them say they're seeking the glory of Christ. Men and women by multitudes are joining the churches. They've been baptized. They wear the name Christian. You ask them if they're Christian? Yes, I'm a Christian. We live in a Christian city. We live in a Christian society, in a Christian community, with Christian churches.

And the whole city's going to hell. That's all there is to it. The whole city. Everybody's persuaded they're going to heaven. Everybody's persuaded everything's all right. Everybody's persuaded that God's on their side, that they can use God any way they want to, and they're persuaded that they walk in the truth of God, when in reality, they know nothing of the character of God, the truth of God, the glory of God, or the Christ of God. Absolutely nothing.

I talk to men and women in this town every day, and you do too, every day. It's astounding. How utterly ignorant people can be of the word of God and the truth of God while they claim to believe it. How utterly ignorant they can be. How utterly unaware they are of the character of God. Why? Why? Because we live in a society where people are absolutely blinded with religious deception.

I was at a place of business in town here last week, and somebody came up and asked me, I better not say what they asked me for. Asked me directions to one of the religious institutions uptown. And I said, I'd rather give you directions to the nearest whorehouse. And that's just what I said to her. I'd rather give you directions to the nearest whorehouse. I don't want to tell you where it is. Ain't going to tell you.

That's all it is to her. I mean to tell you this religious age in which we're living is a religion of anti-Christ. It's a religion contrary to Christ. It's a religion contrary to this book, contrary to the glory of God. And there's nothing more damaging, nothing more deadless, nothing more damning in this world than the religion which we now experience. The greatest mission field in this world, the most needed mission in this world, is the church that now calls itself the Church of Jesus Christ. Baptist churches, conservative, fundamentalist churches, men and women, preachers, deacons, teachers, people in the pews, slap, do not know God. Just do not know God.

We've established societies in the name of God for closing down everything And it'd be perfectly all right with me if you closed down every brothel, and closed down every porn shop, and closed down every liquor store, and closed down every theater. That'd be all right. But I sure do wish somehow, under God, we might close down the religious buildings around this place so that men can not any longer hear a man lying about the character of God. I'm telling you the truth. we would be better off with no religion.

As we go through this passage, I want to just call your attention to four things that John here describes for us. First, I want you to see in verses 1 and 2 what is implied by the measuring of the temple. And there was given me a reed, likened to a rod, and an angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein.

And the court, which is without the temple, leave out, and measure it not. For it is given to the Gendiles, and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months. It should be needless for me to tell you that this is all a symbolical picture. To seek, as many do, a literal interpretation of this chapter is to miss its message altogether.

John was commanded in verse 1 to measure the temple of God. Specifically, he was commanded to measure the sanctuary containing the holy place and the holy of holies. He was commanded to measure the altar and them that worship therein. That is to say, the symbolical picture is that of the church of the living God, the people of God, all true believers, the holy priesthood, the royal priesthood of our God. The Lord did not command John to measure the size of the temple as though he were needing some information, but rather he commands John to measure the temple, that is, to mark it out. to mark it out for protection, to mark it out for safety, to mark it out for specific care, for specific attention. And so John goes and measures the temple of God. Now, this measuring of the temple declares to us that this temple, the people of God, all true believers, the church of God, is absolutely safe no matter what comes to pass. Oh, it's true.

God will visit judgment upon this earth, and when he visits the earth with judgment, the people of God will suffer with the wicked. If God causes famine to come, God's people in the country where famine is suffer famine just like the others do. If God causes flood to come, God's people experience the flood just like others do. When God sends judgment upon the earth, the people of God are affected by that judgment, but they're not hurt by it. The people of God suffer by the judgment, but it's not intended for them, and they shall not perish with the world. Oh, they'll suffer with the world, but they'll not perish with the world in the end.

And this is what John is telling us. He's telling us that the Lord commands me to mark out His elect. He commands me to measure the temple of God so that these are marked out, preserved, and kept by the power of God. Well, Don, how do you know that's the meaning of this passage? I'll give you three or four reasons. Number one, the temple of the Old Testament was a type of the church. The church is called the temple of God throughout the New Testament.

In 1 Corinthians 3, the Apostle Paul says, you are the temple of God. If any man defile or destroy the temple of God, him will God destroy. He tells us in 2 Corinthians 6, know you not that your body is the temple of God? You are yourselves the temple of God.

God dwells in you. He tells us in Ephesians 2, in verse 21, that the church is a spiritual household, a habitation of God by the Spirit, the temple of the living God. God Almighty meets men in this place. God reveals himself to men in this place. God resides in the congregations of the righteous. God's people are his temple.

Not only are local churches the temple of God and individual believers the temple of God, but God's elect scattered throughout all the earth, both in heaven and upon the earth. These are the temple of God, God's spiritual temple, of which that earthly temple was only a type, a symbol, and a representation. The temple of God is defined in this text as meaning only the holy place and the holy of holies. You'll remember that in the Old Testament temple, there was the outer court, and then there was the holy place.

In this holy place, there was the holy of holies. And in the holy place, only the priest would minister. All the other ordinary, common people worshiped out here in the outer court. Both the Gentile proselytes and those who were of the physical seed of Abraham, they worshiped out here in the outer court. In the holy place, The priests served, and they kept the sacrifices, and they observed the ordinances of God. And in that holy of holies, the high priest alone went once every year.

So the significance is this. John was commanded of God to mark out the temple, the sanctuary, the holy place in the holy of holies. That place where only the priests of God go and worship God. where the sacrifices are made and accepted to God. In other words, not the nominal people, not those who are Israel in name, not those who pretend to worship God, but these who truly worship him. They are the ones who are marked out by him. Clearly the text refers to the believers, the true believers. God's royal priesthood who continually worship in the holy place, offering up spiritual sacrifices of prayer and praise through Jesus Christ the Lord. And the measuring of this temple is much like the measuring of the temple in Ezekiel's day. Turn over to Ezekiel chapter 40. Ezekiel 40. I'll show you a passage here.

The measuring of the temple in Ezekiel's vision, as in John's vision, was for the purpose of protecting God's sanctuary. It was for the purpose of separating the precious from the vile. In Ezekiel chapter 40 and verse 3, And he brought me thither, and, behold, there was a man whose appearance was like the appearance of brass, and with a line of flax in his hand, and a measuring reed. And he stood in the gate, And the man said unto me, Son of man, behold with thine eyes, and hear with thine ears, and set thine heart upon all that I shall show thee. For to the intent that I might show them unto thee art thou brought hither.

Declare all that thou seest to the house of Israel. And behold a wall on the outside of the house round about, and in the man's hand a measuring reed of six cubits long, by the cubit and in hand breadth. So he measured the breadth of the building, one reed, and the height, one reed. Now turn over to chapter 42, Ezekiel 42. What was this measuring for? What was the purpose of the measuring? In Ezekiel 42, in verse 20, we're told.

He measured it by four sides, and it had a wall round about 500 reeds long, 500 broad, to make a separation between the sanctuary and the profane place, to separate the precious from the vile, to separate the true from the false, to separate God's people lest they be consumed with that which would take place in the profane place. And in the outer court of the temple, John was specifically commanded not to measure. Look at verse 2. But the court which is without the temple Leave it out. Measure it not.

It's given to the Gentiles. Another word for Gentiles is heathen. And the Holy City, that which is called the Holy City, shall they tread under foot forty and two months. People of God, and now he's talking about those in the outer court who merely profess to be the people of God, and the Holy City, speaking of the whole religious world.

The whole religious world. God's special care and protection does not extend to those who are believers in name only. This court which is without the temple represents all false religion and all false professors of religion. This outer court is to be trampled under feet of the heathen precisely because God is determined to destroy all false religion in the world.

The world invades the false church and possesses it. Worldly religionists welcome the ideas and the principles of the world. Worldly religionists feel perfectly at home in the world. Worldly religionists are of the world, and the world loves its own.

This condition of worldliness, worldliness in the church—and I don't mean, I don't mean, you know, having things that appear modern in the church. That's not what I'm talking about. I don't mean the way folks dress. I don't even mean specifically the kind of music they have. I mean worldliness. I mean worldly principles. I mean worldly doctrine. I mean worldly acceptance, worldly approval. This worldliness in the church will last throughout the gospel age, as it is represented here by forty and two months.

Even in the New Testament era, the true people of God were plagued with men and women. Men and women in their midst who were governed and motivated by the principles of the world and the religion of the world. John dealt with it in his epistles, Paul dealt with it in his, Peter dealt with it in his. The church has always been plagued by it. The problem is, it keeps getting bigger. Surely no one will question the facts. that the great curse of this age is the utter worldliness of the church.

The church of the 20th century is nothing under the sun but a poor man's. It's the easiest society in the world to get in and the hardest one in the world to get out of. Doesn't cost you anything to join up, doesn't cost you anything to stay joined up, and folks will keep you on the road long after you're dead. Church of the 20th century could not convert the world, so she joined the world. She could not change the world, so she changed to suit the world.

You see it all over the place. We build huge buildings and call them churches of God. We build our gymnasiums and call them family life centers. Build a building or just an amusement park called a Christian vacation land. Everything under the sun. Everything under the sun. Go begging for a hearing.

Any more hear from God, we'll get him a football player. We'll get him a movie star. We'll get him a conga gig. We'll get him a country western singer. We'll get him something, somehow. We'll entertain folks. We've got to do something to get them in the church. We're not going to tell them anything, but we've got to act like we're doing something anyway.

So we had brought the world into the church. The greatest mission field in this world, I say without reservation, is that society of men and women who are called Christians, who gather in churches around the world in the name of Jesus Christ. The greatest mission field in this world.

Preacher, you're mad. You bet your boots I'm mad. I'm just flat upset. I'm upset that men lie on God, and I'm upset that God's people say so little about it. I'm upset that men will stand and deceive the souls of men, and I'm upset that faithful men will say so very little about it for fear of offending. I'm upset that men will despise the truth of God, the gospel of God, and the glory of God, and I'm upset that men who say they love the truth of God, the gospel of God, and the glory of God say so little about it. John gives us this measuring of the temple. He tells us that God's protected his church and he's determined to destroy false religion. He's going to do it. He's going to do it.

Secondly, John was given instruction regarding the Lord's two witnesses in verses three through six. Who are these two witnesses? Lots of suppositions have been given. Some say they're the law and the gospel. Some say they're Enoch and Elijah. Some say they're Moses and Elijah. Others say they represent certain men who appeared in history, maybe Luther and Calvin.

It seems most reasonable to me to stay within the interpretation of the passage and say that these two witnesses are another representation of the church. Why is the church then represented by two witnesses? Perhaps it's represented here because there are There is the body of the church itself, and then the spokesman of the church, its pastors, its ministers. But I rather suspect that the church is here described by two witnesses for these reasons. Number one, in the word of God, in the law of God, everything must be established in the mouth of at least two witnesses. Number two, that the church is represented here under the sign of two witnesses, the symbol of two witnesses. because our Lord sent his disciples out into the world two by two, what one lacked the other fulfilled. And number three, the Lord here describes his church as being two witnesses because the church as a functioning body, a cooperative body in the world, is always represented and always carries on its work through her chief spokesman, two witnesses, pastors and evangelists.

We call them missionaries. Her chief spokesmen are these two witnesses, pastors and evangelists. They are the ones who carry on the work. Oh, they can't do the work without the church itself. The work is the work of the body as a whole, but the work is carried on throughout the world, throughout the age, by pastors and evangelists, men who proclaim the gospel of God's grace. And the church is an organization. functions through these two witnesses. These witnesses carry out their work for 1,260 days.

That's just another symbolical figure. It's the same period of time that's described under 42 months. It speaks of the whole gospel age. It's a definite figure. It's a definite period of time. And we're given a definite number to describe it, but we don't have any idea how long or how short that period of time will be.

In order to give a clear description, a clear picture of the church and its mission of evangelism throughout this age, John gives us here four characteristics. First of all, those men who preach the gospel are under God the means by which his grace is bestowed upon men. Look at verse 3. And I will give power, authority, unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand, two hundred, and threescore days, forty-two months, twelve hundred and sixty days, throughout the gospel age. Clothed in sackcloth, they know what they're doing. They take their business seriously.

These are the two olive trees and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth. Joshua and Zerubbabel were called olive trees of the Lord, olive trees before the Lord. We've already seen what the candlesticks are. The candlesticks, those are the lights of the gospel in this world.

And the pastors are themselves the angels of the churches. They're the messengers of the churches. And what John is telling us is this. Like olive trees, God's servants bring with them the oil of grace and the blessings of the Spirit of God. And like candlesticks, they bring the light of the gospel. Now, gospel preachers are not preached. They cannot confer and they cannot withhold the grace of God.

But as they preach the gospel, where they preach the gospel, and only where they preach the gospel, God bestows His saving mercy and grace. I don't hesitate to declare to you that those men who preach the gospel of God's grace, Any man who preaches the gospel of God's grace, any man who faithfully tells the truth of God to a congregation of men, he is a means of God's mercy to men.

Now, that's just fact. That's the way God deals with men. But now, men, I know there's danger. I know there's abuse. But faithful men don't abuse. And a man who's faithful, who's God's servant, will not abuse. his privileges and his authority under God.

But I'm telling you that God's servants are the means by which God brings his grace to men. Merle read the passage earlier in Acts chapter 8. Those folks at Samaria believed the gospel when they heard a man preach it. That Ethiopian eunuch believed the gospel when he heard a man preach it.

God sends his grace to men. He sends his grace to cities. He sends his grace to countries. He sends his grace to churches as he sends a man to declare the gospel of his grace. And when God withdraws that man marker down, he withdrew his grace. That's just that. That's just that. You say, well, Pastor, do you mean that the grace of God depends on a man? No. And yes. No, God does his work as he will through men, but he never works apart from men. Is that right, Lindsay? He never works apart from men, never.

God's servants, secondly, as well as his church, are under the special divine protection. I can't elaborate on this, but in verse five we read, if any man will hurt them, these two witnesses, the Church and her spokesmen, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, like it did out of Jeremiah's, and devoureth their enemies. And if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed.

It is written in the book of God, Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm. That simply means you better not do anything against any of God's elect or against any of God's preachers. That's what it means. Pastor, how do you dare say the things you do about other preachers? They're not gods. If they were gods, Burl, I wouldn't talk about them that way. If they were faithful men, I wouldn't speak anything against them. But I'm telling you, and I tell you, people hear this tape, I don't know who will hear it or where it will be heard. I tell you, you better not touch God's servants or God's people. You better leave them alone. either join up to support him or leave him alone.

For that which is done to the people of God is done to God himself. Just as Jeremiah's enemies were condemned by his words, those who oppose God's kingdom today shall be condemned by the gospel that we preach. And then thirdly, in verse six, we're told that those who preach the gospel as the spokesman for Christ and his church have power over men and power with God. Look at verse 6.

These have power, authority, might. They have power to shut heaven that it rain not in the days of their prophecy. Elijah did that, to shut the heavens. And they have power over waters to turn them into blood. Moses did that, and to smite the earth with plagues as often as they will. What does that mean? It's still a symbolic picture. This power is not absolute, but it's real. I'll tell you how real it is. You read Luke.

Our Lord told us to go to this city and enter into that house. If they receive you, the blessings of God be on the house. If they receive you not, don't say a word. Don't say a word. Get up from your seat. Go out the door, in the streets, and God's wrath is on us. God's wrath is on us.

For he that receives you, receives me. He that rejects you, rejects me. The Lord told Samuel, I believe it was Samuel, the children of Israel despised him and rejected him. The Lord said, they haven't rejected you. They've rejected me. They've rejected me.

God's servants have real power with God and real power over men. Not only does the Lord judge men according to the prayers of his afflicted people, as we saw in Revelation 8, but in the final day he will judge men according to the gospel that we preach.

So that as we preach the gospel under the power of God, that which we bind on earth is bound in heaven, and that which we loose on earth is loosed in heaven. Fourthly, God's servants, his church and his kingdom, will accomplish and fulfill the mission for which they were sent into this world. In verse 7 we read, And they shall have finished their testimony. The gospel of Christ will be preached throughout the entire world, and all of God's elect will be brought to Christ in saving faith by the preaching of the gospel. But this present gospel age is going to come to an After this gospel has been preached in all the earth, our Lord said, then comes the year. God's church and his witnesses will finish their testimony. I suspect we're getting close. I suspect we're getting close. So in the third place, I want you to see how the John describes the death of God's two witnesses and the joy of the world because of their death. Read with me beginning at verse seven.

And when they shall finish their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit, Antichrist, shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them. And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, that same holy city described in verse 2, that same holy city called the holy city.

Everybody thought it was the holy city. Everybody imagined it was the holy city. It's the religion of the world. It's the religion of Babylon. It's the religion of man. It's false religion. They lie in Main Street of the Holy City, which is spiritually called Sodom and Egypt. Sodom and Egypt. That's what God calls the religion of this world. Folks think I'm mean, Bobby. Sodom and Egypt. Sodom and Egypt. Sodom for their immorality, their perversion, Egypt for their persecution, where also our Lord was crucified.

What's that speaking of? It's speaking of the whole religious world and the whole secular world. Just as the whole religious world and the whole secular world joined in one purpose to crucify the Son of God, The whole religious world and the whole political secular world joins together to silence God's servants in this day and to silence his church. It always has and it always will.

Now then, look at verse 9. And they of the people, kindreds, and tongues, nations, shall see their dead bodies, these two witnesses, three days and a half a definite period of time, but a brief period, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in the graves. And they that dwell on earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and send gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth. Now, what does that mean?

It does not mean that all of God's saints and all of his faithful servants will be literally Though I have no question, many will be physically tortured. But it does mean that while there are true believers in the earth and true witnesses upon the earth when Christ comes again, there will be few in number, but there will be some. God will not leave himself without a witness. The gates of hell shall not prevail against Christ's church.

Remember, the picture is symbolical. It's not to be taken in a literal sense. The meaning is just this. There is a day coming. Maybe we're in that day. I don't know. There is a day coming when the true church of God and the true gospel of Christ, true gospel preachers, will be almost totally eradicated from the earth. So much so that the church will be looked upon as a dead corpse in the earth, altogether without power and influence. That's what John sees.

I'll give you an example. In Russia today, religion's everywhere. They've got cathedrals and churches. Religion's not dead in Russia. Religion's very much alive, but the church of God's dead. When Billy Graham went to Russia, he was Preachings of packed houses with congregations gathered from near and far, religions alive.

But the church of God is without power, without influence, unknown in that country. And that's what's going to happen throughout the earth just before Christ comes. The voice of God's church will be silenced, smothered by the religion of Antichrist. It will lie like a dead corpse in the main street of the world and the religious world and the political world. Sodom and Egypt, which crucified the Lord, will join forces again to silence God's church for three and a half days. That is for a brief but definite period. The church in this world will be as though it were dead. It will cease to have power and influence. Its prophets will be slaughtered. And those who remain faithful will be so few that they cause no disturbance. No disturbance. Nobody pays any attention.

And those men who dance and rejoice and throw a big party over the death of these two witnesses will think they're doing God's service. That's what our Lord said in John 16, Merle. When they despise you and persecute you and imprison you and kill you, they'll think they're doing God's service. They'll think they're doing God's service. In verses 9 and 10, John tells us that while these corpses lie in the streets, here lies the servant of God, the witness of God, the truth of God, the church of God, as though it were dead in the streets.

And the whole world throws a party just to congratulate one another. We finally put them out of business. We don't have to listen to those bigots anymore telling us what evil people we are. We don't have to listen to that stuff anymore. We all get along well now. Those disturbers are dead. They throw a great big party and have a good time. But hang on. their joy is premature.

The Lord hasn't turned the final page yet. It's not over yet. We read in verse 11, And after three days and a half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet, and great fear fell upon them which saw them. The last thing John saw was this. There will be a final revival and triumph of these two witnesses.

The day is coming. I don't know how long or how brief that day will be, but there's a day coming when the church of God will be revived. There's a day coming when the servants of God will be heard in this world, when the truth of God will be declared in heavenly power. In that day, however long or however brief it is in God's purpose, That dog in Rome will go begging for a hearing. Those peddlers of freewill works religion will not be heard by anybody, for they will be exposed to be the deceivers they are. In that day, men and women will hear the servants of God proclaim the truth of God's free and sovereign grace in Jesus Christ. And they'll know that that man who speaks, speaks the truth of God.

I don't know that there will be a universal acceptance. It's not implied in the text, but there'll be a universal recognition of it. There'll be universal recognition. If I have to live through the hell that precedes that glory day, I sure would like to be around. I may not live to see it, but I'm telling you that this is what's going to happen. In the last day before Christ comes, God's going to revive his church. The spirit of life from God will enter in again.

So we're in. I'm talking about in here, right here with me. I'm talking about there with you. The reason we have no influence, no power in this world to influence is a lack of life. That's all there is to it. But the time is coming when the spirit of life shall enter into God's church. And in that last glorious day, the church of God will finally be triumphant. When the spirit of life entered into them, they stood upon their feet and the world stood back in shock. I didn't know it was in them. I didn't have any idea they could do that. Look at them. They were listening. fell upon them which saw them.

And they heard a great voice from heaven saying, the voice of the archangel, the trump of God, the Lord Jesus Christ saying, come up hither. This is talking about the last resurrection day. You can read about it in 1 Thessalonians 4. Come up hither, and there's a great resurrection. Ascend up into the clouds, clouds of glory. And there's nothing secret about it. Nothing secret about it. Folks talk about a secret rapture. Here it says their enemies beheld them.

When this church that has been despised for 2,000 years ascends up in the glory of God, the whole world's going to see what's going on. The whole world's going to see that these are the people of God and these people demonstrate the glory of God. And then in that same hour, God's judgment will begin to fall upon the earth. Verse 13, that same hour there was a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell. And the earthquake was slaying men, 7,000, and the remnants were scared to death. They weren't converted, but they did these things of God. They gave God the glory. Now the stage is set for the final act of judgment. Now the stage is set for the Lord Jesus to turn and fulfill the final page of the book.

The second woe is past, and behold, the third woe cometh quickly. Are you prepared for this great and terrible day of the Lord? If you're in Christ, you're prepared and anxious for it. If you're not in Christ, that day will seize you suddenly, and in terror you shall be crushed into hell.

Let us who are born of God live as those who look for a new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. Lift up your hearts with praise to God. and lift up your hearts with confident faith. In the end, we shall triumph. We shall be victorious. We shall prevail over our enemies. The cause of Christ shall be sustained. The glory of Christ shall be revealed in this earth. God hasten the day, God hasten the day, when the religion of Antichrist is stamped out of the earth and the truth of God known throughout the universe.

Our Final Trial and Ultimate Triumph

What does the Bible say about the final judgment?

How do we know the church will be safe in the end times?

Why is understanding God's sovereignty important for Christians?

What role do God's witnesses play in the end times?

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Our Final Trial and Ultimate Triumph

What does the Bible say about the final judgment?

How do we know the church will be safe in the end times?

Why is understanding God's sovereignty important for Christians?

What role do God's witnesses play in the end times?

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About Don Fortner

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