Okay, today we're going to take
another look at Revelation 11. And I'm taking the title from
what is said in verse 12. And they heard a great voice,
a great voice from the great God, the true and living God
from heaven. God speaks from heaven. Oh, so
thankful. Saying unto them, saying unto
His children, His covenant people, come up here. Come here. Come
up here, hither. And they ascended. He called,
they answered. He spoke, and it was done. His
purpose was accomplished. And they ascended up to heaven
in a cloud. And their enemies watched it
all happen. So I'm taking the title from
the words there, come up here. come up here, will come up to
glory, the glory of heaven, and to be with the Lord forever. Come unto me and rest." Oh, weary
and heavy laden. Remember our Lord, when He was
nailed to the tree, as our substitute dying in our room and in our
stead, said to that thief who was granted repentance, He said
to that thief, today you'll be with Me, in paradise. Come to me. That's paradise. To be with Christ wherever He
goes, that's heaven. To be with the Lord Jesus Christ,
to be one with Him, that's heaven. That's rest. Our Lord said over
here, and don't turn, let me read it to you. This is His promise
in John 14. Let not your heart be troubled.
You believe in God, believe also in Me, My Father's house. are
many dwelling places, many mansions. If it were not so, I would have
told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare
a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself
that where I am, there you may be also. Come up here. Come up hither. That's a glorious,
glorious time for the church as a redeemed. This is one of
those effectual, Invincible, irresistible calls of Almighty
God. When He said, come up here, when
He said, come up here, what happened? They ascended. They ascended. When He speaks, it's done. He
commands and it stands fast. His purpose cannot fail. Those
who he calls by the effectual call of God in the gospel will
come at his command, because thy people shall be willing in
the day of his power. He said, no man can come unto
me, except the Father which sent me draw him. I often think, when
I think about the effectual call of God to his people. I often
think about the Lord Jesus Christ at the tomb of Lazarus. You remember
he had died, had been dead four days. They rolled a stone over
the mouth of the grave because the body was beginning to corrupt,
decay, and, of course, put off that terrible odor. And the Lord
said, take away the stone. And they said, maybe we shouldn't
do that. No, he said, take it away. And
then the Lord commanded Lazarus, he was dead, Lazarus come forth. Was that an invitation? It was
a command. And he that was dead came forth. That's what God does when He
quickens the dead sinner and He gives them life. He speaks
and it's done. He commands and it stands fast.
Now last week we learned about the importance here in Revelation
11, the importance of the gospel ministry. The importance of the
gospel witness and how the Lord has ordained that to be a blessing. to God's people, God's church.
He raises up these witnesses, verse 3, I'll give power unto
my witnesses, and they shall preach the gospel. The determined
time that God has determined, they shall preach the gospel. Those two witnesses that we read
about here represent all gospel preachers sent into the world,
all have the same message, It doesn't matter if it was 500
years ago when Martin Luther wrote those words to that hymn,
or 50 years ago, or 5 years ago. All God's servants, His true
witnesses, all have the same message. We preach not ourselves,
but Jesus Christ the Lord. Salvation accomplished by the
Lord Jesus Christ alone. We do not have a defeated Savior. We have a victorious Lord and
King who has accomplished all salvation for us. That's the
message of those witnesses. It's a testimony. If you turn
back here to chapter 1, it's a testimony, Revelation chapter
1, It's a testimony of Jesus Christ. Revelation 1, verse 1. Go back to the beginning. "...the
revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him to show unto
his servants a thing which must shortly come to pass. And he
sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John,
who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of
Jesus Christ." What was their testimony? What was their witness? It's the testimony of Jesus Christ
and all things that He saw. So when we talk about the witness
and the prophets and their preaching, it's all about preaching the
Lord Jesus Christ. Who He is? God Almighty, what
He has done, put away our sin, satisfying the law of God, making
complete atonement for our sin. Why did He do these things? That
God might be just and the justifier of those that believe the gospel. As Paul said, I'm determined
to know nothing among you. But Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That is the testimony. I believe
He uses that word. Let me look here real quick.
I think He uses that word. Yes, He does. In 1 Corinthians
2 verse 1, And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with
excellency of speech or wisdom, but declaring unto you the testimony
of God. The testimony of Jesus Christ,
the testimony of God, for I am determined not to know anything
among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified." That's our witness.
That's our testimony. To Him give all the prophets
witness. Now in our lesson today, we see
that the church and ministry of the gospel will come under
brutal, vicious attack from the enemies of the gospel, and it
will be against those who love, believe, and preach the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Just as we read in John 16. Let
me remind you of it again. Our Lord said to His apostles,
they shall put you out of the synagogue, gave the time cometh,
that whosoever killeth you, will think that he's doing God a favor,
doing God's service. These things will they do unto
you because they have not known the Father nor me." Now, who
persecuted the apostles? Those lost religious Jews. They hated the God of the Scripture. They preached, the apostles preached
the Gospel of God, and they were persecuted and hated for it. All of them died as a martyr,
for preaching the gospel of grace alone, faith alone, and Christ
alone. That's the message, Christ alone.
That was the message of Luther and Calvin, those reformers in
their day. The word of God alone, faith
alone, Christ alone, grace alone. The true gospel church will appear
in the last days as though it was dead, as it says there in
verse 7, when they shall have finished their testimony, the
beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit shall make war
against them and shall overcome and kill them. But that's not
the end of the gospel. and their dead bodies shall lie
on the street of that great city, spiritually, the city of the
ungodly, Sodom and Egypt, where the Lord was crucified. The true church will appear as
though in the last days it's dead, no influence, smothered
by the religion of Satan, the devil, the beast, Antichrist,
man-centered way of apostasy, free will, works, religion. But
we know who will have the final victory over all the enemies
of the Lord's church. Let us keep this in mind at all
times. God's eternal purpose is being
carried out exactly as He has decreed all things. He's decreed all things. And
we know who's going to win. Turn over here to Revelation
19. I've read ahead. Revelation 19. When we see the
gospel witnesses dead in the street and all the ungodly rejoicing
that the ministry is over, the gospel is dead, God is dead,
we don't need to worry no more. We know who's going to have the
final victory, don't we? Revelation 19, verse 19, And the kings of the earth and
their armies were gathered together to make war against him that
sat on the horse and against the army. And the beast, with
the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which
he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and that
worshipped His image, these were both cast alive into the lake
of fire and brimstone. God must and will have the victory
over all His enemies. Look at chapter 20 verse 10,
Revelation 20 verse 10, And the devil that deceived them was
cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and
the false prophet are and shall be tormented day and night forever
and ever and ever. We know who's going to win. The
devil and all of his allies are going to be put out of business.
Put out of business forever and ever. Now remember there were
seven trumpets to be sounded when that seventh seal was opened. From chapter 9 verse 14. Through
chapter 11, verse 14, we see all the events that take place
during the time of the sounding of the sixth trumpet during the
second woe. Now, I know all that gets complicated
and a little confusing. And then in chapter 11, verse
15, we see the sounding of the seventh and final trumpet when
it's the end, when the Lord comes back. Robert Hawker says of these
times during the second woe when the sixth trumpet is sounded,
and we're living in that time. We're living in that day. The
old preacher from back in the 1800s, Robert Hawker, says that
no man can imagine the nature of the horrific calamities the
church will endure during this time, the close of the sixth
trumpet during this woe. I believe we're living in that
day right now. It's not as bad as it's going
to get. It's going to get worse. It's going to get worse. It's
going to be so bleak and so barren that there will be, as it seems,
no gospel witness at all. But we can take heed because
the Lord said in His Word that He will not leave Himself without
a witness. Now, it may seem in our eyes
that all things are going south and that the enemies are winning.
But in the end, God must have the victory. In verses 7 and 8, when the Lord
is pleased to wrap things up before His second coming, remember
that all things are ordained of God, ordered of God for His
eternal purpose. And that verse I often quote
in Romans 11, verse 36, of Him and through Him and to Him are
all things, to whom be glory now and forever and ever. Amen. God's truth shall, must, and
will prevail in the end of this world. All enemies are defeated,
and Christ must have the victory over all things. Over sin, over
death, over hell, over Satan, and all of his allies. Remember,
he reminded Peter of that. When he said to Peter, flesh
and blood have not revealed this unto you but my Father. He said,
I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail
against it. In our eyes, it may seem like
we're being defeated, being diminished. And the enemies grow and grow
and grow. But in God's eyes, you know, one old preacher friend
of mine said this years ago, if you knew everything that God
knows, if you knew everything God knows, you wouldn't change
one thing. Now, we don't know everything
God knows. And we think, well, if I was in charge, I'd do this.
Thank God you're not in charge. Thank God I'm not in charge.
Thank God that He reigns over all things in heaven, earth,
sea, and deep, all deep places. Now, the beast out of the bottomless
pit that's mentioned there in verse 7, we know that that is
Satan and his alliance. Satan and his allies. Back in
chapter 9, look at verse 2. He opened the bottomless pit,
and there arose smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great
furnace. And the sun and the air were
darkened by a reasonable smoke out of the pit. And there came
out of that pit of smoke locusts upon the earth. Now who was in
charge of all these demon spirits? In Revelation 9 verse 11, and
they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless
pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, which means
destroyer. In the Greek tongue, his name
is Apollyon, destroyer. One woe is past, behold there
come two woes hereafter. So the beast and the false prophet
and those that are inspired by him, those that follow him in
his delusion, they make war on the church and they overcome
them and kill them. Our Lord said, except there be
a great falling away The Lord will not come. Again here we
have a symbolic picture of what's going to happen before the Lord
returns and it is happening now. The one who comes out of the
bottomless pit shall make war against them, they war against
God, they war against the church, they war against his servant,
and shall overcome them and kill them. Verse 8, their dead bodies
shall lie in the street of the great city, which is spiritually
called Sodom and Egypt, where the Lord was crucified. The gospel
church will be silenced in this world for a period of time. Not
completely, not totally. When its message is discarded,
its influence is diminished, its power is gone, it appears
as if the Lord's church was dead, lying in the street of Main Street,
USA, or wherever it may be in this world. False religion, before
the Lord comes back, and before the time of revival, false religion
will thrive. And I mean by that false religion.
I identify that by saying that man gets the glory rather than
God. False free will works religion
will thrive. The message of the beast, the
religion of Antichrist will have great influence, but the gospel
message will be thrown on the scrap heap as foolishness. It's almost there in our day
now. There's not many gospel churches left. Thank God there
are some. Now, this is all happening and
will happen according to the purpose of God. If you find 2
Corinthians 11, turn over there. 2 Corinthians 11. Let's turn to 2 Corinthians chapter
4 first. Turn there first. 2 Corinthians
chapter 4. If our gospels be hid, verse
3, It's here to them that are lost, and whom the God of this
world has blinded the mind of them which believe not, lest
the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of
Christ, should shine unto them. We preach not ourselves, but
Christ Jesus, the Lord, and ourselves your servant for Christ's sake.
For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has
shined in our heart to give us the light of the knowledge of
the glory of God in the face of Christ. God will shine in
our heart. But now there's something else
in this chapter. I want you to turn now to 2 Corinthians
11. Turn over there. 2 Corinthians 11 verse 3. But I
fear, lest by any means, that the serpent beguile thee through
his subtlety, so your mind should be corrupted from the simplicity
that's in Christ. For he that cometh and preaches
another Jesus, whom we've not preached, or another spirit,
which you've not received, or another gospel, which we've not
accepted or preached, you might bear with me, is a better translation
of that. Now, 2 Corinthians 11, look at
verse 13. For such are false apostles,
deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles
of Christ, and no marvel for Satan himself, is transformed
into an angel of light. Therefore, it's no great thing
if his ministers, his allies, the false prophet, the beast,
also be transformed as ministers of righteousness. They're ministers
of morality, going about to establish the righteousness by their doing.
whose end shall be according to their deeds. You remember
those in Matthew 7 who said, Lord, we preached in your name.
We've done these many wonderful works in your name. Remember
what the Lord said to them? Depart from me. I never knew
you, you workers of iniquity. False religion one day will thrive,
the message of the beast, the religion of Antichrist will have
great influence, and the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ will
be discarded as nonsense. The preaching of the cross to
those who are perishing is foolishness. Verse 8, spiritually speaking,
this great city was called Sodom and Egypt, where they crucified
the Lord. Obviously, this is not referring
to the physical city of Jerusalem, where the Lord was actually crucified. But like unto Sodom, an ungodly
city, like unto Egypt, an oppressive city full of idols and idolatry,
False religion is ungodly and oppressive like Sodom, like Egypt,
and they crucify the Lord Jesus Christ again and again by denying
his lordship. They will join forces again to
persecute and crucify the church, and as much as they can, silence
gospel preachers. Maybe we saw an evidence of that
Sunday night on our TV broadcast. I was watching the TV broadcast,
and up until 8 o'clock, everything was fine. As soon as our program
came on, they blacked it out. Around 8.30 until the next program
came on, boom, it was there. Wow, how did that happen? Well,
I know it was by the purpose of God. I called the radio or
the TV manager. I've known him for a number of
years. And he said, oh, we must have had a power blackout or
something. Well, that's awful convenient
because it seems to happen quite often at 8 o'clock, Sunday night.
I don't know what's going on. The Lord does know. But maybe
they're trying to block us out, stamp us out. Maybe because the
gospel message has tormented some. Maybe some have called
and said, I don't like that preacher. Get him off the air. Well, I
don't know. They will join forces again to
persecute and crucify the church and silence it. Just like they
did in the days when Herod and Pontius Pilate, they were enemies,
they hated each other. The Jews and the Romans, they
hated each other, but they all joined forces. Remember Acts
chapter 4? Herod and Pontius Pilate, the
Jews and the Gentiles were all gathered together for to do,
to crucify the Lord Jesus Christ, but they only did what God determined
before to be done. And they thought, well, that's
the end of this. We've killed Him. We've run off
all the apostles. We've killed their Lord. And
now we're in charge. Three days later, the Lord came
forth from the dead. Always remember, Things may look
bleak, and things may look sad, but God's people are forever
saved and sealed, redeemed in the Lord Jesus Christ, and they
cannot perish. Verse 9 and verse 10 and following,
And they, the people of the kindred and tongues and nations, shall
see their dead bodies. Now we're not talking literally,
we're talking in a spiritual picture here. When the gospel
appears to be dead in Main Street, USA, for this time and period
of three and a half days, and shall not suffer their dead bodies
to be put in the grave, no honor, no just burial, no common courtesy,
and they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice and make
merry. and shall send gifts one to another."
What did those old Pharisees think when they saw the Lord
Jesus Christ die? They thought, alright, we're
through with this guy. We put an end to his ministry. We put an end to this man and
his apostles. They make merry. They send gifts
one to another because these two prophets of God, these who
have the witness and testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ, they
tormented them that dwell on the earth. The gospel truth will
torment a man who is hiding in a refuge of lies. It won't give
him comfort. It will torment him. It will
expose his refuge of lies. For three and a half days, a
short period of time, God-known time, the followers of the beastly
religion of man will have an ungodly celebration over Christ
being stamped out and put to death, they shall rejoice, they
shall make merry, they shall congratulate themselves by rewarding
each other with gifts. The terrible, terrible try. This
terrible time and terrible trial of religious deception must come
because the Lord has ordained it to come. But it will have
an end. It will have an end. Because
these two witnesses tormented them with the truth of the gospel,
salvation through His blood and through His righteousness alone,
they were angry. It says over here in verse 18
of Revelation 11, the nations were angry because of the wrath
of God has come upon them. Those that are hiding in a refuge
of lies have no interest in having their delusion destroyed or exposed,
do they? They're not interested in the
gospel, they rejoice. When the true servants of the
Lord are put out of business, burn that place down. When they killed the Lord and
all the apostles, isn't that exactly what was going through
their mind? Look at verse 11. This celebration
of the young godly will last but a short time, after three
days and a half. The Spirit of life, the Spirit
of God from God will enter into them, into God's servants, God's
church. There's going to be a great time
of revival. I'm not saying when it will be,
but I know according to the record of God, before the Lord Jesus
Christ comes back, before the second woe is over, that sixth
trumpet, before the seventh trumpet is sounded, God entered into
them. His people. And they stood upon
their feet boldly, publicly, declaring the gospel. And great
fear fell upon them which saw them and heard their message. The celebration of the ungodly
will last but a short time. Just before the Lord returns,
In His second coming, the church will be revived once more. The
true witness of the gospel church will be heard once more. The
Lord will be glorified in the preaching of the gospel of God
concerning Christ. Like unto the days of Pentecost,
when Peter stood there and preached the gospel, 3,000 converted. And then at another time, they
preached the gospel and 5,000 were converted. God will send
forth His mighty Holy Spirit and infuse power and life into
the gospel ministry of the church, and the enemies of the gospel
will be silenced in fear." Wow. In the midst of wholesale and
total apostasy, God will raise up faithful gospel witness again,
like in the days of Martin Luther, like in the days of John Calvin,
like in the days of the Reformation, or like in the days of George
Whitefield in this country in the 1700s, 1730, like in the
days of Jonathan Edwards in that day of what they call the Great
Awakening, or even like the days when that old rough cut A preacher
from West Texas showed up in Ashland, Kentucky in April 1950,
Ralph Barnard. And he told the people, Jesus
can't save a flea. They about died. They said, who
is this man? Get rid of him. Run him out of
town. He said, it's the Lord Jesus Christ that saves. If he's
not your Lord, he's not your Savior. Someone said, after that
meeting in April 1950, said, that town's never been the same.
And God raised up one Henry Mahan and preached the gospel there
for over 50 years. Maybe it'll happen again. And
it will. It will, according to what is said here. And then they
heard a great voice, verse 12, from heaven saying, when they've
completed God's purpose, and finished their course, and finished
their ministry. You know, the Word of God teaches
the gospel shall be preached in all the world for a witness,
and then, the end. The end comes. Matthew 24. And
they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, come
up here. Come here. Come here. We've got a little dog at home,
and this is a poor illustration. It's a homely illustration. But
all of you have had pets, and you say, come, come. And I often
take my little dog outside to help my dear wife with her little
dog. And I take my little dog outside,
and he goes out and does his business. And I say, Benny, Benny,
come. And he just ignores me. I mean,
he just totally ignores me. Benny, Benny, come. I know he's hearing me. He just
ignores me. Mama stepped out on the porch,
and she said, Benny, come. Boy, right now. That's an effectual
call. You see, I'm calling, but it's
not effectual. Mama calls. Benny answers. Now that's a homely illustration,
but it gets the point across. God affectionately calls out
His people. Irresistibly, affectionately
calls out His people. The Lord will come back and call
His bride, His church. And this is no secret thing.
They talk about a secret rapture. There's no such thing. God's
going to take His people out and He's going to call them up.
But it says here that their enemies beheld them ascend to heaven
in a cloud. Now let's read about it. Turn
to 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. Turn over there. This is an effectual call. Come
up to heaven. Come up here. Be with me where
I am. This day shall you be with me
in paradise. 1 Thessalonians 4, verse 14,
if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, we do. Even so,
them also which sleep in Him, rest in Him, will God bring with
Him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that
we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall
not precede, is a better word, them which are asleep, those
who have died in the Lord. For the Lord Himself shall descend
from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, with
the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then
we which are alive and remain," oh, caught up, caught up together
with them in the clouds, come up here and they ascended to
heaven in a cloud. It's going to happen. then we
which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them
in the clouds and meet the Lord in the air. So shall we ever
be with the Lord." Comfort one another with these words. We
shall ascend to heaven when the Lord comes back. Verse 13, back
in our text, Revelation 11 verse 13, Judgment fell, great earthquake,
and the 10th part of that city, talking about spiritually called
Sodom and Egypt, Babylon, that religious ungodly city, earthquake
slaying, a great earthquake, the 10th part of the city fell,
7,000 men and the remnant were frightened. and gave glory to
the God of heaven. And that same hour, the Lord
takes the church up. There will be judgment. Judgment
will begin to fall on those not one with Christ, those not found
in Christ. He that believeth on the Son
hath life. He that believeth not the Son
shall not see life. But the wrath of God abides upon
him. The 10th power of the city falls.
7,000 are killed. Judgment and destruction begins. Again, these are symbolic numbers,
not literal. They represent a horrible judgment
to come. Now, let's turn and read about
that. Back to 2 Thessalonians. Turn over there. 2 Thessalonians
1. 2 Thessalonians 1. And to you, verse 7, 2 Thessalonians 1 verse 7, To you
who are troubled, rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be
revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire,
taking vengeance on them that know not God, that obey not the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall be punished with everlasting
destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory
of his power, when he shall come to be glorified in his saints,
and to be admired in all them that believe, because our testimony,
the witness, would believe, in that day among you, because our
testimony among you was believed in that day, the gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ. The remnant of those remaining
and not killed will be terribly frightened because they will
face God in judgment. He's appointed a day in which
he will judge the world by that man, the Lord Jesus Christ. Those
remaining and not killed shall be terribly frightened and will
confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, not to their salvation,
but to their condemnation. You remember in Philippians chapter
2, where it says that God has highly exalted him and given
him a name which is above every name, that name every knee will
bow, every tongue will confess what? Jesus Christ is Lord, to
what? To the glory of God the Father. Verse 14, in closing, the second
woe is past. The third woe comes quickly. And here, when the seventh angel
sounds that trumpet, this is talking about the end. When the
Lord comes back and judgment begins, the elect of God are
taken to be with Him, and then judgment falls. And we'll begin
there. And next week, Lord willing,
when the seventh trumpet sound and the third woe begin, final
judgment upon this ungodly