Revelation chapter 11. I titled
the lesson this morning, The Church in the Last Days. You
know that the last days are all of the days between Christ's
ascension after his resurrection until his second coming. And
right before our Lord ascended back to his father, he told his
disciples to go into all the world and preach the gospel.
That is the commission of the church. The church's one function
is to preach Christ in all the world, in every opportunity that
we have. And the church has been doing
that ever since. That's what we're doing right
now, and by God's grace, that's what we'll continue to do until
the Lord returns. And this text this morning is
going to give us some encouragement as we preach. We cannot fail. The church cannot fail when we
preach Christ. We'll always accomplish God's
purpose when we preach his word, when we preach his son. And our
text this morning gives us four descriptions of the church in
these last days. And the first one is this. The
church seemed the true church. I'm not talking about religion.
I'm talking about the church, the body of Christ on earth.
The church seems very small. but it's not insignificant, it's
sufficient. Verse three of Revelation chapter
11. And I will give power unto my
two witnesses and they shall prophesy a thousand, two hundred
and three score days clothed in sackcloth. Now we began looking
at this verse last week. This is Christ giving power to
his pastors, to his preachers, to the church. And they're going
to preach an exact number of days. These last days between
Christ's ascension and his second coming are an exact number of
days. It's a number of days we don't
know, but the Lord does. And these two witnesses, I told
you this last week, are not two specific men. They represent
all of God's preachers. Really, they represent the whole
church. You know, God's pastors are the ones who preach and lead,
but the whole church is God's witness. on this earth. That's
what these two men represent. Now, two is not a very big number,
is it? But it's a sufficient number if God sends them. Remember
when the Lord sent out his disciples to preach, he sent them out to
preach two by two. Those two are enough to find
God's sheep wherever the Lord sends them. When the animals
came into the ark, they came two by two. Two's not very many,
but it was sufficient to let the species not die out. Let
every word be established by the mouth of two or three witnesses.
Two's not very many, but two witnesses is enough to establish
the truth. So two's a small number, but
it's more than sufficient, isn't it, when God uses them. And without
question, the church on earth is small compared to the total
population of the world. But it's enough, it's sufficient
to go into all the world and preach the gospel. Each local
church is very small compared to the population of their area.
The church is very small compared to the vast numbers of people
in false religion, but it's enough to feed the sheep in that local
area. And you know, I do pray that the Lord would save his
sheep, that he'd save more people out of our area, that he blessed
the gospel preached here and from this pulpit and the radio,
the internet, that the Lord would use his gospel to save more people
in our area. But no matter what the Lord does,
this congregation is plenty big enough to have a powerful effect
in our area, to preach the gospel in our area. So let's just be
bold in everything we do, because we can't fail. As long as we're
depending upon the Lord, as long as we're preaching his word,
we can't fail. Remember Gideon's army. Everybody thought Gideon's army
was too small, didn't they? And then the Lord willed them
down even smaller. And everybody said, well, they're
way too small now. But look what the Lord did with them. They
couldn't be defeated. And we can't either, as long
as we depend upon the Lord and preach His word, depend upon
the Lord to bless His word and to supply the victory. The church
seems small. The church on earth seems small,
but it's sufficient. Second, I'll tell you why it's
sufficient. Because the power of the church is not of men.
It's of God. Verse four. These are the two
olive trees and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the
earth. Now these two candlesticks represent
the church. Remember back in chapter one,
that's what John saw, the candlesticks represent the church, the Lord's
in the midst of his church. And the job of the church is
to be the candlestick, to hold forth the light of Christ in
this dark world. Now the church doesn't have any
light in ourselves, just like a candlestick doesn't have any
light in itself. Christ is our light. And if we
want to give the light of Christ in this vast, dark world, we're
going to do it by holding forth the Lord Jesus Christ. If you've
ever been home and electricity goes out and you go find a candle,
if you want to light the way, you don't hold the candle up
next to you, do you? You hold it down here so it gives
more light. That's what the church is to
do, to hold forth Christ, to spread forth the light of the
gospel in this dark world. And the two olive trees, John
sees, they give oil to the candlesticks. They give the oil that represents
the Holy Spirit to the candlesticks. Now, when we read about the candlesticks
in scripture, the candlesticks in the tabernacle, in the temple,
they didn't hold, you know, tapered wax candles like what we have.
They had bowls in them that held oil and the oil is what burned
to give light. Well, that oil represents the
oil of the Holy Spirit. He gives light when Christ is
preached. Now, if you look back in Zechariah
chapter four, the angel says here, these are the two olive
trees and the two candlesticks. Well, if we look back in Zechariah
chapter four, we'll see what two candlesticks,
there's specific candlesticks and specific olive trees that
he's speaking of here. Zechariah chapter four, verse
one. And the angel that talked with
me came again and waked me as a man that is waked out of his
sleep. And he said unto me, what seest thou? And I said, I have
looked and behold a candlestick of all gold and a bowl upon the
top of it and his seven lamps thereon and the seven pipes to
the seven lamps, which are upon the top thereof and the two and
two olive trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl and
the other upon the left side thereof. See, this is the same
thing described to John in Revelation. So it's talking about the same
candlestick and olive trees. Verse four. And I answered and
spake to the angel that talked with me, saying, What are these,
my Lord? And the angel that talked with
me answered and said unto me, Knowest thou not what these being?
And I said, No, my Lord. And he answered and spake unto
me, saying, This is the word of the Lord, undeservable, saying
not by might, not by your might, not by power, but by my spirit. sayeth the Lord of Hosts. See,
the success of the preaching of the gospel, the success of
giving light to this world doesn't come by the power and influence
and ability to speak of the preacher. The power and light come from
Christ, from his spirit. And Christ is always sufficient. Christ is sufficient. Christ
is all it takes to save his people. Christ is all it takes to comfort
and encourage his people. If we're preaching Christ, our
message will always be sufficient because Christ is all we need.
And it's the preaching of Christ, the preaching of the gospel,
the preaching of grace in Christ that will lay the proud low.
Verse seven. Who art thou, O great mountain?
Before Zerubbabel, thou shalt become a plain. Just before the
preaching of Zerubbabel, you're gonna be knocked flat. And he
shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings crying,
Grace, grace unto it. It's the preaching of God's grace
that humbles the proud mountain, those proud people. It's grace
that humbles them. And at the same time, it's the
preaching of the gospel that builds God's people up. Verse
eight, moreover, the word of the Lord came unto me saying,
the hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house.
His hands shall also finish it, and thou shalt know that the
Lord of hosts has sent me unto you. It's the preaching of the
gospel that builds up God's people, and they're going to know it's
not the preacher. They're going to know it's not the servant. They're going
to know it's the Lord that's done the work. And the church,
while it seems very small, is plenty sufficient to give the
light of Christ to the blind. Verse 10. For who has to despise
the day of small things? You know, the church seems very
small, but don't think they're insignificant. Don't despise
the day of small things. For they shall rejoice and shall
see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven.
They are the eyes of the Lord, which run to and fro through
the whole world. Now that's the candlestick. Now
verse 11, here's the olive trees. Then answered I and said unto
him, what are these two olive trees upon the right side of
the candlestick and upon the left side thereof? And I answered
again and said unto him, what be these two olive branches?
which through the two golden pipes emptied the golden oil
out of themselves. Now here's what's happening here.
Those olive trees are right beside the candlestick and they've got
pipes going from the olive tree directly into the candlestick,
directly into those bowls. Men never touch it. Men don't
have to take the oil and put it into the candlestick. It just
goes directly into those bowls because the Lord have set them
side by side So the oil flows directly into the candlestick
without any help from men. Men aren't involved in this work
at all. See, that's what I said. Our power in preaching, our power
as a church is the power of the Holy Spirit. Men don't ever touch
it. God doesn't need the help of
man to accomplish his purpose. None of it is of man. It's all
of God. And that's why we don't try to
talk people into doing something. We don't try to talk people into
getting saved. We don't try to talk people into
making a decision. We just preach Christ and the
Holy Spirit is the power thereof. God doesn't need any assistance
from us to accomplish his purpose. All we're called upon to do is
faithfully preach the word of God and the spirit will bless
it. The spirit will bless it. He'll get the result and he'll
not fail one time. Now again, I know the church
seems small compared to the rest of the world, but it's plenty
sufficient to reach all of God's elect, verse 13. And he answered
me and said, knowest thou not what these be? And I said, no,
my Lord. And he said, these are the two
anointed ones that stand by the Lord of the whole earth. These
two anointed ones are anointed, they represent the church and
they're anointed of God. They're sufficient. to reach
God's elect in all of the earth, in the whole earth, because God
has sent them. So we can't fail in our mission
to preach the gospel. The power doesn't come from us.
You know, if we had to reach everybody, well, we just throw
up our hands and we can't do it. But the power is not of us.
It's of God. The power of the church is not
our numbers. The power of the church is our
message. It's the message of God's free grace in Christ. That's
our power. So all of God's people will be
saved. Everyone, I don't care where
they come from, everyone who believes this message will be
saved. But everyone who refuses to believe
on Christ, everyone who refuses to believe this message will
be damned. Back in our text, Revelation 11 verse 5. If any
man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth
their enemies. And if any man will hurt them,
he must in this manner be killed." Now, if any man has a will or
a desire to hurt the church, that person is going to be consumed
by the fire that proceeds from the mouth of the church. And
that fire that comes from the mouth of the church is our message. It's the message of the gospel
that will consume them in the day of judgment. I'll show you
two scriptures, Jeremiah chapter five. Those who refuse to believe the
gospel, they're going to be consumed by it in the day of judgment.
Jeremiah five verse 14. Wherefore, thus sayeth the Lord
of hosts, because you speak this word, behold, I will make my
words in thy mouth fire and this people would and it shall devour
them. All those who refuse to believe
this message, it'll devour them. Now let me show you another scripture,
John chapter five. John five, verse 45. Our Lord says, do not think that
I will accuse you to the Father. There's one that accuses you,
even Moses, in whom you trust. For had you believed Moses, you
would have believed me. For he wrote of me, but you believe
not his writings. How shall you believe my words? Now Moses wrote of Christ. These
men read Moses. Oh, they loved Moses, but they
wouldn't believe Moses' message, would they? So the message of
Moses is what will be the thing to accuse them and judge them
in the judgment. And the same thing holds true
for everyone who hears the gospel and refuses to believe on Christ. The message of free grace in
Christ is gonna consume them in judgment because they refuse
to believe it. Now that'll happen just as surely
as everyone who does believe Christ will be saved. In the
exact same way, everybody, they'll be saved by Christ. Everyone
who refuses to believe that message will be judged and consumed by
it. All right, back in our text, Revelation 11 verse six. These have power to shut heaven
that it rained on in the days of their prophecy and have power
over waters to turn them to blood and to smite the earth with all
plagues as often as they will. Now, This is not saying some
preacher has a power to make it not rain or to turn the high
river into blood. That's not what this is saying
at all. Elijah and Moses had that power given to them in the
Old Testament, didn't they? God doesn't give that to preachers
today. And it's a good thing. I mean, it's just a good thing
that I don't have that kind of power because it's hard telling
where it wouldn't rain. This is teaching us a spiritual
truth. We've got to remember this about scriptures. Scripture
is teaching a spiritual truth. It's always pointing us to Christ. And this is what it's telling
us. Whoever does not believe this message of grace, whoever
doesn't believe the message of Christ that God's servants preach,
they're going to find themselves in a drought. They're going to
find themselves without the water of life. At first, they won't
believe it. then God will make it to where
they can't believe it. They're without the water of
life. And then He'll smite them with every plague in this book
because they refuse to believe not His Son. Now that's very
sobering isn't it? It ought to be sobering to us.
We're not playing games here. This is not just, you know, some
cute game that you find some something in God's Word to differentiate
us from everybody else, you know, and make us stand out from everybody
else. We're not playing games here. This gospel is powerful. It's the dynamite of God. Brethren,
let's not play with dynamite. Let's use it wisely. Let's preach
the gospel faithfully. Let's preach Christ clearly,
knowing this, God's going to bless it to accomplish his purpose. All right, here's the third thing
about the church in these last days. The church is going to
be afflicted, but it will not die out until the Lord returns.
Verse seven. And when they shall have finished
their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless
pit shall make war against them and shall overcome them and kill
them. Now, this beast coming out of the bottomless pit, you
know, is Satan. And Satan's always going to war against Christ.
against Christ, against his body, against his throne. What's the
very first thing in scripture we ever hear about Satan? It's
he said, I'm going to take God's throne. First thing we ever hear
about him. He wanted to take the throne
that belonged to Christ. And because of that, he was cast
out of heaven. He's cast into the bottomless pit. And even
though he's cast out of heaven, he's never quit trying to take
that throne. Never. And he never will. Satan will
always attack and oppose God's church. And there are times he
will come and kill some of them. There's been many martyrs over
the history of the church, haven't there? There'll probably be more.
But that never means that Satan is successful and the church
has failed. He'll never win the victory over
God's church. Look here at verse eight. And
their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city,
which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord
was crucified. They of the people and kindreds
and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days
and a half and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in
graves. And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over
them and make merry and shall send gifts one to another because
these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth.
Now here are these. I told you there's going to be
believers that are martyrs. And the church, the world will
rejoice. But their rejoicing is going
to be premature. I'll show you that in just a
minute. But really, this isn't talking about the martyrs. It's
talking about the church being oppressed in this world. There's
going to be times that it looks like the church is laying dead
in the street. It's going to look like the church
has died out of the world. At least the world thinks so.
And they're going to rejoice because God's church torments
the earth. The preaching of the gospel torments
the flesh because it takes away all hope in the flesh. It's putting
flesh in the dust. And so in that way, the preaching
of the gospel torments this world. And they'll rejoice when they
think that the church is dead. You know, sometimes even God's
people think that. Look back in Romans chapter 11. The world is going to think that
the church is dead, but there are times even the church thinks
so. Romans 11 verse 1. I say then, hath God cast away
his people? God forbid, for I also am an
Israelite of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God
hath not cast away his people, which he foreknew. Watch ye not,
know ye not what the scripture saith of Elias? How he maketh
intercession to God against Israel, saying, Lord, they've killed
thy prophets, and dig down thine altars, and I am left alone,
and they seek my life. The church on earth is dead.
But what saith the answer of God unto him? I have reserved
to myself 7,000 men who have not bowed the knee to the image
of Baal. Even so then, at this present time also, there's a
remnant according to the election of grace. Just don't think the
church on earth is dead. Even so, at this time, there's
a remnant according to the election of grace. God's not going to
let his church die out. And I'll tell you why we tend
to think the church is lying dead in the street. Because it
looks like the church doesn't have any influence on this world
anymore. It seems like that to us. It
seems like we're not reaching people like the church used to.
We're not seeing the Lord save people like we used to. It certainly
seems like false religion has far more influence on the world
than we do, doesn't it? Here in Revelation, false religion
is called Sodom because of its great wickedness. Now, it's cloaked
in religion, but it's very wicked. It has a great influence on the
people there. False religion is also called
Egypt because of the bondage of the law it puts people under.
It puts people under the bondage of their own rules and traditions
of men. It puts them in this bondage and it has great power
over them. They can't escape that bondage. It seems like false
religion has all of the influence in the world, doesn't it? And
they rejoice because they think the gospel of free grace is dead. But their rejoicing is premature.
God's not going to let his church die out. Not until he returns. Verse seven says, and when they
shall have finished their testimony, the church is going to finish.
their testimony, they're going to finish the mission that God's
given them. Now look at verse 11. And after three days and
a half, the spirit of life from God entered into them and they
stood up on their feet and great fear fell upon them which saw
them. Now, these three and a half days
are representative numbers, just like all the other numbers here
in Revelation. They're representative numbers.
It's a short time. The church seemed dead laying
there in the street. for just three and a half days,
a short time. But it was a definite time, a exact time. Now it wasn't
three days and a quarter, not three days and three quarters,
not four days, it was three and a half days, an exact time appointed
by God. And just when it seems like false
religion is reigning, God sends a time of revival to his church.
Just when the world thinks God's church is dead, maybe God's people
think the church is dead, Seems like they have no influence,
they have no power, there's nothing there. God blesses them anyway
and gives life to his people. Nothing's gonna stop God from
giving life to his people. He sends his spirit to his people
and they stand up. And we say, oh, they weren't
dead at all, were they? The church wasn't dead at all.
God's gonna bless his people, he's gonna save his people. This
may be a time where 3,000 souls are saved in one day, like the
day of Pentecost. And it may be a time when just
one is saved. But either way, it's a life-giving
revival, a life-giving revival. The Lord's not gonna allow his
church to die out until he returns. Remember that little book that
the Lord has in his hand? That little book that's the purpose
of God? Much of it's been, it was a big book. Now it's a little
book because much of it's been accomplished. Much of God's purpose
and will has been accomplished. But there's still a few pages
left. And whatever's in those pages, whatever God's purpose
is in those pages, Christ is going to accomplish on this earth.
And he's going to use his church to do it. So let's not worry
about what's happening around us. Let's not worry that we don't
have the influence we wish we have. Let's do what we can. Let's do what the Lord's put
to our hand to do today and be faithful to preach the gospel.
Because this is the only means that God has ordained to give
life and light to his people. All right, here's the fourth
thing. The church on earth in these last days, the church on
earth now is going to end up being the church in heaven. Verse
12. And they heard a great voice
from heaven saying unto them, come up hither. And they ascended
up to heaven in a cloud and their enemies beheld them. And what
this is speaking of is the resurrection at the last time. You know, you
see movies and hear people talking about a secret rapture. You know,
somebody comes home and all their family and friends are gone.
They don't know what's happened, where they are, and the Lord
secretly came and took them all to heaven. That's not going to
happen. There's no such thing as a secret
rapture. When the Lord speaks to call
his people to heaven, everybody's going to hear him. Everyone's
going to hear him speak, and everybody's going to see his
people taking up into glory. where they will be forever with
the Lord. But you know, even that sight,
even the sight of that glorious power and revelation of Christ,
even that will not make the natural man repent. Verse 13. In the
same hour, there was a great earthquake, and the 10th part
of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men
7,000, and the remnant were affrighted and gave glory to the God of
heaven. Now, I don't know if these earthquakes
are literal. Maybe there'll be a bunch of
earthquakes when the Lord returns. I don't know. But I do know,
you know, and the other thing is, it doesn't matter. I mean,
this doesn't matter. But I do know this. When Christ
returns, there's going to be a great spiritual earthquake.
When Christ returns, the foundations of false religion are going to
be shaken and that whole building is going to fall down. And you
know, it's going to be frightening to those people that see that.
It's going to, you, you imagine the foundations of everything
you hold dear, everything you believe. If those things were
shaken, you'd be frightened, wouldn't you? It's going to be
very frightening to them. They're going to see it happen.
They're going to understand what happened and they're going to
give God the glory for it. They're going to give God the
credit. They're going to say, they're going to have to acknowledge
God did this. They're going to acknowledge
that they won't be able to deny it, but they still won't repent. They still won't seek forgiveness
from, they still won't seek shelter in Christ. Look back in Revelation
chapter six. Here's this, what this is, this
John referring to the same time here, Revelation six verse 15. And the kings of the earth and
the great men and the rich men and the chief captains and the
mighty men and every bond man, every free man hid themselves
in dens and in the rocks of the mountains. And instead of asking
God for mercy, they said to the mountains and rocks, fall on
us and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne
and from the wrath of the lamb. For the great day of his wrath
has come and who shall be able to stand? They give God the credit,
don't they? They give God the glory. The
king has come. Nobody can stand in front of
his wrath. Nobody can stand against his will. He's going to do whatever
he wants to do. And they still don't ask him
to forgive. They still don't ask for repentance. That's the
natural man. But God's church on earth is
going to end up being God's church in heaven. He brings them all. He calls them all to him and
every one of them rise up in the air to come to him, to be
with him forever. You know why? Because that's
God's purpose for his people, that they be hid safe in Christ. just as surely as the message
of grace, not believing the message of grace, well, damn those who
don't believe it. Those who believe it will end
up being the church in heaven with Christ forever. All right. I hope the Lord will bless that
too.