OK, well, turn with me then back
to Revelation chapter 11. I want to focus on verses 3 to
13 this morning, the account of the two witnesses in the final
days of this world. We've been studying through Revelation
now for several weeks, and this book is given, given so that
the servants of God might know the things that will shortly
come to pass. These are things that will shortly,
don't think that we're talking about things that are just theoretical
and beyond our experience, et cetera, and we shouldn't be wasting
time looking at it. No, it's relevant to now. It's
very relevant to today, the day in which we live. God's word
tells us, his people, of the conflict. What's the story of
the book? From Genesis through to Revelation,
the story of the book, the message of God to his people is about
the conflict that there is between the kingdom of Satan and the
kingdom of God. And the fact that the Kingdom
of God will triumph, and how the Kingdom of God will triumph,
by the redemption that is accomplished by the Lamb of God. So that His
people, those loved by God with an everlasting love from before
the foundation of the world, that those people are justified
from their sins, from everything that would keep them out of heaven,
from the curse that would separate them from God. They're justified
from it. brought into their inheritance,
their joint heirs with Christ. This is what this book is about,
the conflict between those two kingdoms. And Satan's kingdom
is not really his own, it's the kingdom of God which he usurped
through the fall of Adam. And so here we are, Christ has
accomplished redemption, and we're going to see more and more
of these things as we go into chapter 12 of Revelation. But
for now, Christ has accomplished redemption, and the end has not
yet come, but God's people are left in the world for a while.
Has he forgotten us? Has He gone and left us bereft
and without any hope? No! He said, I pray not, in John
17, that you take them out of the world, that you leave them
there, but keep them from the evil. Keep them from the... hell-damning
curse of Satan and his sin and his corruption and his evil. But whilst we're here, we're
told, we're promised that we will be subject to tribulation,
to trouble in this world, to conflict with this world, to
persecution from this world. We will be subject to all of
those things, so don't be surprised It is not a bed of roses following
Christ in this world. It's hard, at times it's hard.
But it's extremely, extremely satisfying and blissful and soul
satisfying. And then we'll finally be taken
to heaven. Look right at the start at verse 12 of Revelation
11. They heard a great voice. These
are the two witnesses. that have lain dead for three
and a half days in the streets. Symbolically, all of it's symbolical,
we'll come to it shortly. 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 there
was a great earthquake and so on. And then the seventh trumpet
sounds. The seventh trumpet hasn't yet
sounded, but that is clear, isn't it? The people of God, the followers
of Christ, the church of Christ, the bride of Christ, the body
of Christ, all of these terms are the same, will be taken out
of this world before that seventh trumpet blows. And they'll be
taken out and up to heaven. Come up hither. And they were
taken up, and their enemies beheld them. How do they, these people
of God, These people of God who are sinners like everyone else,
children of wrath even as others, it says in Ephesians chapter
2. How do they get to heaven? Because you know God's word is
quite clear. If you read the final chapters of Revelation,
there is nothing that defileth, nothing of sin shall enter in
to God's heaven. He cannot allow it. God cannot
allow anything of sin to enter into his heaven. So how will
people Even though they're called the people of God, yet they're
sinners like everybody else. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. They're all sinners. How will they get
to heaven when there's a complete bar on anything that defiles,
anything that is of sin? The answer is, as I've already
said, they are redeemed. How are they redeemed? How is
the purchase price made for their release from the bondage of sin?
How are they redeemed? The one currency that has accomplished
it is the same currency that qualified the Lion of the tribe
of Judah to unloose the seals of the seven-sealed book. It's
redemption. Christ's blood has paid redemption's
price. Christ's blood has satisfied
the offended justice of God on behalf of his people and nobody
else. You think back to all of those
hymns and choruses that we used to sing and you look at it and
you look how the message is one of universalism. It is, you know. I remember there was a song that
we used to like to sing with the guitar. Purple robe, a crown
of thorns, a reed in his right hand, before the soldier's smite. And it says in there, he bears
the sins of all the world. He doesn't. He doesn't. He bears the sins of his people.
He bears the sins of his church. That's the sins that he bears.
He redeems his people from the curse of the law. You shall call
his name Jesus, said the angel. Why? You shall call his name
Saviour, because Jesus is Joshua. It's the same name. You shall
call his name the one who saves. Why? Because he shall save who?
His people from their sins. He won't make it possible for
anybody that wants to. He shall save His people from
their sins. And it's all confirmed in the
truth of God. And it's all taught of God by
God's Spirit. He teaches God's people. They
shall all be taught of God, it says in the Old Testament. The
people of God shall all be taught of God. But we're all subject. to all the weaknesses of the
sinful nature, this sinful nature that we inhabit. We're distracted
by worldly comforts, I would say. You know, you thought I
was gonna say worldly difficulties. Well, yes, but worldly comforts
are such a distraction. Read the article I put in the
bulletin by Joe Terrell. It's very, very good, how God
deals with his people. Honestly, if we would learn that
lesson, read it, read it, it's so important. So we're subject
to all of these things. We're seduced by materialism
while we wait in this world for his kingdom to come. And we're
unable to see the big picture of this life, what is it all
about, except God's word tells us, hence revelation, to show
unto his servants things that must shortly come to pass, things
that you could never deduce by human wisdom and human logic.
You must have divine revelation to see these things, things that
assure of God's truth and of God's triumph, despite how everything
else seems to be. It doesn't look like God is triumphing,
does it? Where is his church compared
with what it was in the days of Whitfield and Spurgeon and
all these great men of the past that God raised up to preach
the gospel? Even 50 years ago, if you went
to Ashland in Kentucky, and found a thriving church there with
Henry Mahan preaching the gospel so faithfully. And then you look
at the situation as it is today, and things are on a much smaller
scale. How seemingly small is God's
people? Let me remind you of what we
considered last week in verses 1 and 2 of chapter 11, where
John, having had that vision of the Lord Jesus Christ, the
mighty angel come down from heaven in chapter 10, sovereign over
all things, one foot on the sea, one foot on the earth. He's sovereign
over all things, and he has a little book in his hand. And I am more
and more persuaded that the little book, it's not the seven-sealed
book of the eternal purposes of God, it's this book. It's
his written word. It's his breathed-out word for
his people. This is the little book that
John and all preachers have to imbibe. They have to eat it.
And its message of redemption is sweet. As sweet as honey,
as sweet as the honeycomb to the mouth, but when it gets down
into the digestive system, into the belly, it's bitter. Why is
it bitter? Because the war of the flesh
and the spirit, because of the war with the world around, and
its philosophy, and its culture. And so he's encouraged to eat
it up and then to preach at the end of chapter 10 to many peoples.
And then at chapter 11 verses 1 and 2, let's just see how big
the people of God are in this world. You know, I've been told,
I was told for years, that if it ends up that there are fewer
Christians in the world than there are non-Christians, then
the devil has won and Christ has lost. That is a completely
false teaching. A completely false teaching. What does God's Word say? What
saith the scripture? It teaches us that the people
of God at any time are a small number compared to the population
of the world. Symbolically 144,000. 12 times
12 times 10 times 10 times 10. The perfect number of the people
of God on earth at any one time. But when they come together in
eternal glory, I looked and I saw much people in heaven. A multitude
that no man can number of every tribe and tongue and kindred.
But how does it feel when you're on the earth at any one time?
It feels like little flock. So Jesus says to his disciples,
and he says it to us today, fear not little flock. He said, well,
why aren't we in some great big church, and wonderful singing
going on, and oh, great, great choirs, and all this sort of
thing, and powerful preaching, and the people flocking, pressing
to get into it. Why aren't we like that? Now,
fear not, little flock. Fear not, little flock. When
the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth? Let's
just see how big it is. To me was given a reed like unto
a rod, says John. And the angel stood saying, this
is Christ, stood saying, rise and measure the temple of God. Just see how big is the true
people of God at any one time. And the altar, and then the worship
therein. You know, this is the manifestation
of the kingdom of God on earth as it was in the Old Testament.
Measure that, the inner court. Measure that which is the altar. Why the altar? Because that's
where propitiation for sin is made. And them that worship therein. You know, God requires those
that worship Him to worship in spirit and in truth. Those that
truly know God, that have a mind like God, the mind of Christ.
But he says, all of those that look religious and call themselves
Christians, the court which is without the temple, don't bother
with that, don't measure that. And it's given to the Gentiles.
And the Holy City, why did Jerusalem and Israel, as it was manifested
in the days of the Old Testament as the people of God on earth,
don't measure that. Because what are they going to
do? They are going to tread it underfoot. They're going to trample
it underfoot. They're going to treat it despitefully
for forty and two months. We'll see that in just a moment.
No, just the inner temple. And remember last week I said,
how do we identify the inner temple? Philippians 3 verse 3,
those who worship God in the Spirit, truly, not in liturgy,
not in outward forms, not in robes, not in candlesticks, not
in altars, not in icons, not in magnificent great big buildings,
worship God in the Spirit, neither in this mountain, nor in Jerusalem,
nor in that place, where you are gathered together in my name
two or three said Jesus I am there in the midst by his spirit
ministering the things of Christ to us no They are the people
of God, they rejoice in Christ Jesus because their only hope
is Christ Jesus, for they have no hope in themselves, for they
have no confidence in their flesh. Their confidence for eternity,
what is my passport into the kingdom of God? It's Jesus Christ
and Him crucified. It's the power of His precious
blood which was shed for me, that the wrath of God might be
turned away. And as Satan's kingdom seems
all-powerful, And as this world grows worse and worse, children
of God, Church of God, Bride of Christ, fear not, fear not,
Christ rules over all. He has one foot on the sea and
one foot on the land. Despite everything we see going
on, which is all the evil of chapter 9 that we see going on,
nothing goes beyond the permissive will of our God in Christ. and he gives a commission. For
these days, when it seems like Satan's kingdom rules, and it
seems like the kingdom of God is pathetically overwhelmed by
this world, he said, thou must prophesy again before many peoples
and nations and tongues and kings. Preach the little book. Preach it. Who knows at this
minute Who else has joined our broadcast this morning and is
hearing the Word of Truth, possibly for the first time? I don't know,
maybe, maybe. I see we've got quite a number
out there with us this morning. Preach the little book, this
book, preach it, because in it, these are the words of eternal
life. The words of eternal life. This
is the narrow way that leads to life, not the broad way that
the world is on, leading to destruction. And don't enlist, when you're
commissioned, go and preach it, don't enlist. It's so tempting,
it has been in the history of the church, the true church,
down the years, to enlist the help of what prove to be wolves
in sheep's clothing. They look like believers, they
look like they're on the same side, but in truth they're not. They're not. They're not involved.
They are the enemies of God. They are the enemies of the Gospel,
the enemies of Christ. No, don't measure the outer court
of hypocrites and the wider Jerusalem. Don't measure that. It's false
Christianity. They trample the Gospel underfoot. For how long? 42. what does 40,
those of you that are, even the young ones, learning your tables
at the moment, you know, six sixes are 36, seven sixes are
42, seven sixes, six times seven, seven is the number of perfection.
God's number, it's the number that completes the kingdom of
God. But this is six times seven. It's one short. The number of
man is six, six, six. We'll see that later. The number
of man is six, six, six. This is six times seven. Always four. It's Satan's kingdom
trying to be God's kingdom. and it always falls short. So
they'll trample it for six times seven months, always falling
short, always falling short. But then we see what I want to
get to now, which is two empowered witnesses. Verse three, I will
give powers in italics, I will give unto my two witnesses, and
they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and three score days,
clothed in sackcloth. These are the, listen to this,
and remember what we just read before, these are the two olive
trees, and the two candlesticks, standing before the God of the
earth. And if any man 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. These have power to shut heaven,
that it rain not 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. I will give power, I will give
unto my two witnesses. Having imbibed God's gospel and
God's kingdom message, the inner temple worshippers are to make
that message known widely. That was the commission of verse
11 at the end of chapter 10. The inner temple worshippers,
which are the true people of God, the elect of God, the people
of God on earth at any one time, and those taken in victory to
eternal glory, they are to make the message known widely. Why
are they to make the message known in this evil world? Well, firstly, to call out the
remnant of God's people out of the bondage of Satan's kingdom
into God's marvellous light. You see, as Ephesians 2 tells
us, there are in this world even now, I believe this is true because
we're still here unless Christ comes in this moment, we're still
here, but there are in this world those who to all intents and
purposes look like children of wrath even as others. They don't
look like believers, but they are. They're like the ones in
Acts chapter 13, when Paul and the others preached, and they
preached a message to the Gentiles, it says, and it says, those that
were ordained to eternal life, those that were the elect of
God, those that were chosen in Christ before the foundation
of the world, though living as sinners and Gentiles with ignorance
and no knowledge of the truth, when they heard the gospel of
grace, the light shone in their hearts. and they believed the
truth. Those ordained to eternal life
believed it. It wasn't the power of Paul's
persuasion. No, it wasn't that. It was Holy
Spirit conviction that applied that light and that truth to
their hearts. That's why we preach, that's
why we're called to continue preaching, that there are some
of God's sheep still out there, there are some ordained to eternal
life who at this moment are children of wrath even as others, as they
would seem, they don't know the things of God. But if God has
chosen them, when they hear the preaching of the Gospel of Grace,
they will believe it, they will embrace it, they will flock to
it. And then secondly, they're to
preach this message of the truth of God, this little book, this
little book is full of messages of God's condemnation of sin,
of God's righteous judgment against sin, of the fact that you cannot
get away with sin, with impunity. God will punish sin. And so it's
to pronounce God's judgment on sin and this world. It seems
like we have impossible odds how little, how weak this little
flock is against, we're going to read in future chapters, the
devil portrayed as this dreadful dragon and his beasts. He's seducing
evil beasts, and we've already seen the seducing evil locusts
in chapter 9. And how is it all manifested,
all this symbolism? It's manifested in deceitful
government. You say, oh no, our government's
true, it's held up. No, no, it's absolutely full
of corruption, utterly and completely full of corruption. The powers
in this world that there be, This is where all these things
are manifested. The godless thinking that is throughout our society,
the evil that is being taught in schools to our children, and
the huge numbers of those who don't believe, and those in power.
It seems like such overwhelming odds against the little flock
of God to preach this message. But Christ who is the one who
is speaking, I will give unto my two witnesses. I will give
unto my two witnesses, says Christ. We know it's Christ from chapter
10, verses 1 and 2. The picture there is undoubtedly
Christ. I will give. He will give to
his witnesses what they need. As weak as they are, his strength
is made perfect in weakness. He commissioned his disciples
in Luke chapter 10, didn't he, to go out. In verse 2 he said,
The harvest is truly great, but the labourers are few. Pray ye
therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers
into his harvest. Now he says to the disciples,
go your ways, behold, I send you forth as lambs, you look
so weak and frail and little, and I'm sending you out into
a pack of wolves. Isn't that what it seems like?
This world, it's a pack of wolves. But don't go, I mean, he's not
teaching us not to make provision and not to prepare, but he says,
don't carry purse or script or shoes, because all things he
has under control, all of it. He says, salute no man by the
way, don't waste your time. Into whatsoever house ye enter,
first say, Peace be unto this house. Aim to live at peace with
all men. And if the Son of Peace be there,
the Son of Peace, I believe, is an object of God's grace,
and He'll hear that message and He'll believe it. Your priests
shall rest upon it, and if not, it shall turn to you again, it'll
reject you. And in the same house remain,
if you receive a welcome, eating and drinking such things as they
give. You're not taking anything from them, for you're giving
them treasure and riches in the truth of God. The labourer is
worthy of his hire. Go not from house to house. Don't
scurry around frantically. Go where God leads you. And into
whatsoever city ye enter, if they receive you, Eat such things
as are set before you, and heal the sick that are therein, and
say unto them, The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you. And
so he goes on. We'll stop it there. But look,
what happened? He sent them. And then later,
in Luke 22, in Luke 22 and verse 35, he asks them. He asks them
about their experience. He said to them, when I sent
you without purse and script and shoes, lacked ye anything? You know, I sent you out and
I said, don't make provision in this way. Just go and everything
will be provided for you. When you went, according to my
commission, did you lack anything? Were you ever left hungry and
without shelter? And they said, nothing. They
didn't lack anything. Everything he'd promised, was
given them. And so, I will give, it says
in verse 3 of chapter 11 of Revelation, I will give unto my two witnesses. I will give what they need to
bear testimony to the truth of God. I'll give that to my two
witnesses. Remember who rules and whose
side we are on. Romans 8 31, if God before us Who can be against us? You look
and you're daunted by this evil world and the corruption and
the evil therein. And you think we've got to be
up and fighting. We've got to be up and bringing down this
government and replacing it with another one just as evil. You
know, it's like I'm reminded of Christ and the demon possessed
being released from his demon possession. And he says, beware
what you do when you do that, that you don't leave it empty
so that seven even worse come in and take the place. So the
Apostle Paul went in this strength and undaunted by Satan's kingdom
power as he went on his ministry, he who had opposed the gospel
of grace. And he experienced Jewish opposition
and physical persecution and the Roman Empire treating him
badly and eventually taking his life. But he went in that strength
and look what we have as a result. Even when they imprisoned him
in his own house in Rome, final chapter of Acts, for two whole
years. What did he do? These epistles,
these epistles, most of them were written from that house
arrest. Isn't that amazing? What we have
today, nearly 2,000 years later, we have all of that because in
the provision and the sovereignty of God, he confined Paul. You know, people are saying,
oh, I must do this on my bucket list, and I must do that on my
bucket list, and I must, my life will not be complete unless I've
had this experience. No, let's just trust God. to
put us where He will put us, and to give us the grace and
the resources to do that which He would have us to do. for His
kingdom. It's for His kingdom. It's for
His kingdom that we're here and waiting. We're waiting for His
kingdom. Thy kingdom come. Oh, the power of that. You know,
we're all taught it as children in school to recite it. I don't
think they are today, but we were. Back in the 1950s, we were
taught that. We could say it off by heart
before we could repeat most other things. Thy kingdom come. Because
it's not this world, this world that the world rejoices in, that
those without Christ rejoice in. No, not that, the kingdom
of God. So they are to prophesy, how
long are they to prophesy for? 1,260 days. Now let me tell you
something interesting about that if you haven't already noticed
it. If you can bear with an approximation that a month is 30 days, and
that a year is 12 thirties, which is 360, which happens to be the
number of degrees in a circle. 360 degrees in a circle. They're
to prophesy 1260 days. Do you know what that is? It's 42 months. The people of God are to testify
for the same period of time as the Gentiles, the unbelieving
world is to trample underfoot the kingdom of God. Or it's three
and a half years, 42 months is three and a half years. Do you
know what three and a half is? It's a time, times and half a
time, yeah, time, a time, times and half a time, three and a
half, it's half of seven. Seven is God's perfect number
for the completion of God's kingdom. Half of God's perfect number
for the completion of his kingdom. These are symbolical numbers,
they're not literal numbers, they're symbolical numbers, but
what's the symbology? That it will take, seven to complete
the Kingdom of God, from the creation through to the end,
it will take seven. And in the fullness of the time,
halfway through, when the fullness of the time was come, God sent
forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem
those who are under the law, that they might receive the adoption
of sons, whereby they cry, Abba, Father, called out of darkness
into His marvelous light. All the time, from Christ's ministry
of redemption to his return in judgment is this symbolical 1260
days, or 42 months. We're to keep on preaching God's
message of gospel grace. You see, it's put like that because
it's the purpose of God's kingdom, to accomplish it, to keep on
preaching God's message of gospel grace and judgment on sin. But
who are these two witnesses? In verse 4, two olive trees and
two candlesticks. Some think that they're either
Enoch or Moses and Elijah, because look at verse 6, they have power
to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy.
That was Elijah, wasn't it? Three and a half years without
rain. They have power over waters to turn them to blood. Moses
with the plagues in Egypt, turning the River Nile to blood, and
to smite the earth with all plagues as often as they will. But we
need to remember that scripture often speaks in types and symbolism. So John the Baptist was the spirit
of Elijah, which had to prepare the way for Christ. Jesus taught
these things to his disciples. He said, they said, shouldn't,
doesn't it say in the scriptures that Elijah will come again before
the Messiah comes? And he said, he's already come.
John the Baptist has come. That's the spirit of Elijah that's
come. So we don't need to insist on literal interpretation of
two individuals, because what practical use is that to us?
We need to interpret it spiritually. See Zechariah 4 that we read
earlier on. In Zechariah 4 we read about
these two anointed ones that stand by the Lord of all the
earth. What are they? The candlesticks and the trees,
the olive oil trees, and the lamps which burn using that olive
oil. That passage of Zechariah, that
prophecy of Zechariah near the end of the Old Testament, was
written at the time of the restoration of Jerusalem following the Babylonian
captivity. It was in the days of Ezra the
priest, and in the days of Nehemiah a bit later, and it was under
the decree of Cyrus to go and rebuild. It was restoring the
witness of God's Kingdom in the world of Satan. And that witness
had been silenced by 70 years of Babylonian captivity. But
now and again in Zechariah, there are two individuals who stand
out. Zerubbabel, who was the rightful
heir to the throne of Judah. He was the rightful heir, the
prince. And Joshua, who was not the Joshua that followed on from
Moses and the book of Joshua, no, Joshua the high priest. We have king and priest in Zerubbabel
and Joshua. Who else is king and priest?
Christ. is king and priest. And he pronounces
gospel grace. Look at verse 7 of Zechariah
4. Who art thou, O great mountain,
before Zerubbabel? Thou shalt become a plain, and
he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying,
Grace, grace unto it. It was a message of grace. The
message of Christ is a message of gospel grace, of salvation
from sin on the basis of the gift of God, the gift of God,
you know, God's riches at Christ's expense for you who believe. That's it. And it's not by worldly
might or power, as verse 6 of Zechariah 4 says, but by my Spirit
Don't be daunted by what the world seems to be doing, it's
not the might or power that we need to match physically, it's
by God's Spirit. He's pictured with the candlesticks
and the olive trees, the light and the oil, and so we have the
light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus
Christ. And in Zechariah 14, we saw that
those were the two anointed ones standing by the Lord of all the
earth. And surely it's the same as these
two in Revelation 11, 3 and 4, my two witnesses who shall prophesy. The two olive trees and the two
candlesticks standing before the God of all the earth. God's
servants who bear witness to God's truth and God's light.
His people doing what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, let
your light so shine before men. And his equipped preachers, those
that he equips, those that he calls and equips and burdens
with the message of gospel grace, supplying his people. What are
the preachers to do? They're to supply the people
with the oil of divine knowledge, the divine knowledge of Christ
to keep their light shining. And therefore, the preachers
preaching and the people learning are to bear that truth and that
testimony in this fallen world. So what's the witnesses' interaction
with the world? And I know we're running out
of time. They keep steadily on preaching the gospel of grace,
calling the children of wrath into God's marvellous light,
but in the face of strong opposition. And What we have then in verse
5, if any man will hurt them, strong opposition, fire proceedeth
out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies. And if any man
will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed. When they're
preaching with power, look, it's like this. Elijah was on his
own, wasn't he? But in 2 Kings chapter 1 and
verse 10, Elijah called down fire from heaven. on the opposers
of His message from God. It literally happened then, it's
symbolical now. The Word of God is like a fire.
It's not my word like a fire, says Jeremiah 23, 29, concerning
the Word of God. His word is like a fire that
consumes His enemies. Wherefore, in Jeremiah 5, 14,
wherefore thus saith the Lord God of hosts, Because ye speak
this word, behold, because you preachers speak this word, I
will make my words in thy mouth fire, and this people would,
and it shall devour them. The killing is a symbolic killing.
It will conquer the enemies of God. As we know, 2 Corinthians
chapter 10 and verse 4, the weapons of our warfare, people of God,
witnesses, two witnesses, preachers and people, The weapons of our
warfare in this world of Satan are not carnal, they're not physical
or fleshly, but they are mighty, through God, to the pulling down
of strongholds. So the sword of the Spirit, which
is the Word of God, kills God's enemies, it kills their arguments.
It pronounces God's judgment, verse 6, they have power to shut
heaven, they turn waters to blood. Do you know, in the days of the
plagues in Egypt, The true people of God amongst Israel prayed
that those plagues would fall upon their Egyptian persecutors. And we should pray that God would
judge this world in righteousness. Thy kingdom come. judge this
world in righteousness, be vindicated in truth and justice. Moses and
Elijah are just historical types, examples of what God's two witnesses
today do. We do pray that God will judge
this world in righteousness and bring to pass all the plagues
and all the vials of wrath that we're going to read about soon,
that he specifies in this book, that his kingdom might come in
triumph. So then, what is the response?
The response of Satan's kingdom. Verse 7, when they 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. We won't look at it for sake of time, but that's the
same beast as is in Daniel chapter 7 verse 21. So after prophesying
for 1260 days, the white horse of the first seal, disrupting
Satan's kingdom objectives, The beast from hell comes in opposition
to Christ from heaven. You see how Satan always tries
to mimic the kingdom of God, but he always fails because he
will not uphold the justice of God. And he shall fight this
beast of Satan, and he shall overcome and kill the two witnesses. Church? It's going to overcome
and kill. Now then, let me say this. In the United Kingdom,
this country, in Europe, most of it, in most of Australia,
in most of the world, the true church is today effectively in
this situation. We are effectively lying dead
in the streets. Here we are, just a handful of
us, in a living room on a Sunday morning. You could go the length
and breadth of this land and you will barely find one place
where you will hear the true message of Gospel grace. It's
visible to all. The world around is rejoicing
over the fact that the true church of God has been silenced. In
verse 10, they're giving gifts to one another because they're
so happy that this horrible, annoying thing called the church,
pronouncing on their sin, has been killed. You may not be there
yet in the USA, but believe me, it's coming. The church here
is now underground. We're on the internet. Thank
God for the internet and what he's accomplishing, feeding his
church in wilderness separation from this world. We're prevented
from public meetings. We can't buy and sell. Even the
show church, you know, the outer court of the temple of hypocrites
tries to silence the truth. I'll give you an example and
I'm going to name names. I'm going to name names. Three
or four years ago, Don Fortner was coming over to preach at
the New Focus Conference, and we wanted to advertise it in
a magazine that used to bear testimony to the truth, called
Evangelical Times. And, you know, we tried to advertise
it there, but, you know, the Evangelical Times editorial committee,
when it knew what we were going to preach, and the one who was
coming to preach it, they refused our advertisement. They wouldn't
let it go ahead. That's the days we're living
in over here. I don't think you, our friends in America, you don't
really understand what it's truly like. But, just three and a half
days later, they come alive. The Spirit of God comes upon
them. Look, they're lying dead in the streets, unburied. and
they won't be suffered to be put in graves and they're all
rejoicing. Verse 11, 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 all them which saw it and they heard
a great voice from heaven summoning them up to heaven. Christ's church
is taken out of this world before the very worst of the end comes.
Jesus said that they would be taken out of this world. Even
in Matthew 24, see this is consistent. He said, talking about the end,
he said it'll be like the days of Noah. He said, then shall
two be in the field. I'm leaving out the italics.
Then shall two be in the field. The one shall be taken and the
other left. Two grinding at the mill, the one taken and the other
left. There are going to be those who
are not of Christ's kingdom who are left in this world for the
judgment to fall. And there are His kingdom, His
kingdom people will be taken out. His people will be taken
out. As in the days of Noah, the same
hour that they all thought everything was going on without any change
whatsoever, the same hour. the flood came. In the same hour,
the people of God will be taken out. The judgment of God will
fall upon them. Before the final trumpet, and
before the final vials of wrath, the seven vials of wrath, and
before Armageddon, There are two ways, you know. I'm just
going to finish with this. I know the time has gone. There
are two ways with this. There is the broad way that leads
to destruction. Are you on that broad way, along
with everybody else? Because it seems such an easy
way to go. You don't have to strive in any
way. Just go with the flow. but there's
the narrow way, that narrow rugged uphill way which leads to life
and the bliss of heaven. Where will you be found when
the heavenly summons is heard? It's a stark separation and I
call on you as I have frequently done but the words of Joshua
to the people in Joshua 24 15 seem very appropriate to finish
with. Choose you this day whom you will serve. whether the gods
which your father served that were on the other side of the
flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But
as for me, and my house, we will serve the Lord. Amen.