Two Witnesses – part 2

Revelation 11:1-14

¹Then I was given a measuring rod like a staff, and I was told, “Rise and measure the temple of God and the altar and those who worship there,

²but do not measure the court outside the temple; leave that out, for it is given over to the nations, and they will trample the holy city for forty-two months.

³And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.”

⁴These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth.

⁵And if anyone would harm them, fire pours from their mouth and consumes their foes. If anyone would harm them, this is how he is doomed to be killed.

⁶They have the power to shut the sky, that no rain may fall during the days of their prophesying, and they have power over the waters to turn them into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague, as often as they desire.

⁷And when they have finished their testimony, the beast that rises from the bottomless pit will make war on them and conquer them and kill them,

⁸and their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city that symbolically is called Sodom and Egypt, where their Lord was crucified.

⁹For three and a half days some from the peoples and tribes and languages and nations will gaze at their dead bodies and refuse to let them be placed in a tomb,

¹⁰and those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and make merry and exchange presents, because these two prophets had been a torment to those who dwell on the earth.

¹¹But after the three and a half days a breath of life from God entered them, and they stood up on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them.

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

¹³And at that hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.

¹⁴The second woe has passed; behold, the third woe is soon to come.

In our reading for today, John expands upon the work of the “two witnesses.” Their ministry (and their very lives) is clearly outlined for us. These two guys are not going arrive upon the earth in a literal sense. They are a figurative explanation for the work of all Christians since the Ascension of Jesus. They (we!) are here to spread the Gospel to our world. Within this picture shown to John we find the lives of witnessing Christians described in all of its glory and grim reality. They preach with Holy Spirit power and for those who hear/embrace their message, lives are changed forever.

John gives great attention to what happens to the world that would reject the Gospel and it is grim. After the Church has shared the truth of Jesus Christ and the message is complete, the witnesses are allowed to be killed. Evil wins a very temporary victory in a futile battle to silence the voice of God. The Church may be stomped out in one area only to rise up in strength in another. The Church will never be silenced totally. We are living in the heart of just such a time. The Church in West (Europe and North America), where it has been strong for centuries, is struggling to keep a voice in the culture. But the Church in China and South America is burgeoning even in the face of persecution. And for those who would harm the Church, beware. God will allow them to be tortured or silenced by death but only for a short time. They will arise to join God in glory for the final battle has already been won by Jesus on the Cross.

God’s judgment on those who would reject Him after hearing the message of “the witnesses” is ugly.

“Sodom and Egypt are to be understood “spiritually” (Rev 11:8) and connected to Jerusalem, where the Lord was crucified. Every place where the witnesses carry the message of redemption becomes, for the time of their prophetic ministry, a holy place, like the holy city of Jerusalem. But when the inhabitants of that place reject their witness, the place of their ministry becomes like apostate Jerusalem, that is, like Sodom and Egypt. To reject the witness of the church is to come into a depraved and idolatrous state (like Sodom), resulting in a spiritual slavery (like bondage in Egypt).”

Brighton, L. A. ©1999. Revelation (p. 298). St. Louis, MO: Concordia Pub. House.

While those who choose to reject the Gospel are dealt with most severely, so too are the “witnesses” dealt with but in a far different way. They rise to be with God forever. This passage isn’t pretty. But this exact process has been in place for 2,000 years and will continue until the End. Even as we live in a place where our voices are being silenced through disregard we will faithfully continue to proclaim God’s grace until the End.