Revelation Chapter 11 Verse 3

• When you look at this statement literally in the Greek, what John wrote was not exactly, “I will give power to my two witnesses,” but rather, “I will give my two witnesses.”  Notice how in your Bibles the word “power” is in italics?  That indicates that the Bible translators have added that word for the sake of contextual understanding…and truly in context we do need to understand that these two witnesses are very powerful.  We’ll read about that in just a moment…
• But it strikes me that even in the midst of an utterly lost world, filled with haters and backbiters and rejecters of God…here He is…giving.  You see this throughout the Bible.  One of God the Father’s primary character traits.  “For God so loved the world, that He gave…”  We serve a longsuffering and loving Father, man.  And it just strikes me still right here that even though the world is full of men and women that refuse to repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts (all of those things we read back in Chapter 9 verse 21), God’s grace shows up!
• So unlike man.  I mean think about it.  Someone out there, out there in the world, you don’t know them, even if you did you wouldn’t associate with them because of their lifestyle, what they’re in to…and they steal your son, your only son, your only child…and they torture him, mock him, use him and abuse him, and then…they murder him.  And as they stand in your presence, they remind you arrogantly that they are not sorry…and so you give to them?  Wouldn’t happen would it?  God is so much higher than man.  He is so much stronger than man.  His love is unsearchable and His ways are past finding out…
• And here He is, in the midst of the Great Tribulation, once again…giving.  And John writes here that He has sent two witnesses into the world and their mission is to prophecy three and a half years, clothed in sackcloth.  The garment of affliction.  Why?  Because the world will hate them.  While the temple is being built, while the false peace of the ruling elite is upon the earth, here are these two proclaiming that the “emperor has no clothes!”  John says they will prophecy which literally means in the Greek that they will speak the truth!
• This temple…is the temple of Satan!  This ruler is the Anti-Christ, this world is about to fall…you have all been deceived!  And the world will hate them man…because in proclaiming the truth there will also come the proclamation of God’s condemnation upon their actions and their lifestyles.  And folks, we see it today, people will not tolerate that, will they? 
• But who are these two?  We can only speculate.  The Bible doesn’t name them.  But the prophecy is given in Malachi Chapter 4 verses 5 and 6 of God sending Elijah before the great and dreadful day of the Lord and his mission will be to turn hearts…and so many have concluded that one of the prophets could be Elijah.  In just a moment we will read how these prophets have the power to spit fire, dragon style in order to consume their enemies, and that does remind us of Elijah who had the power to call fire down from heaven to consume his enemies. 
• And you may recall that Elijah was raptured in the Old Testament.  In other words he was just taken by God, he didn’t see death, why?  Maybe because God had further work for him… just as Malachi prophesied.  And so one of these witnesses could be Elijah himself returned.  But what about the other one?  We’re really speculating now…I can only offer you my thoughts.  I tend to lean towards this being Moses.  Why?  Well first of all, on the Mount of Transfiguration who was there with Jesus?  Elijah and Moses…right.  And in the Book of Jude we are given clues about Satan wanting the body of Moses for some reason.  Why?  Maybe he knew…and wanted to stop Moses’ return.  Just a few thoughts.  We really don’t know who these two are because John doesn’t name them…it’s not like he’s seen photographs of Moses or Elijah so maybe he just doesn’t recognize them…
• But notice, it is also interesting that God sends two.  That’s kinda His way if you survey the Bible.  He sent two spies into the promised land to scope it out, He sent two angels into the empty tomb of Jesus, Jesus Himself sent out His disciples two-by-two in Mark 6:7…why?  Well, 2 Corinthians 13:1 says, “let everything be established upon the witness of two or more.”  And so maybe God desired for them to be heard…without slander from the Jews…because according to their law…having two witnesses rather than just one would demand audience.
• Maybe because Jesus said, “where two or more are gathered, behold I am in their midst.”  Interesting thought because as we continue to read we will see that these two witnesses are also a fulfillment of prophecy concerning the presence of the Holy Spirit.  Look at verse 4.

Revelation Chapter 11 Verse 4

• Notice, the quotations have ended.  The angel is no longer speaking so this is John continuing the description and what interests me the most here is yes that what John says here is prophecy fulfilled, but what I notice is that John knows prophecy.  What do you mean, Matt?
• Look, the two olive trees and the two lampstands are references to a vision Zechariah had that he recorded for John and for us in the fourth Chapter of his Book, hundreds of years earlier.  The vision speaks of the oil that flows into the lamps situated in the Most Holy Place in the temple.  You see for the presence of the Lord to remain, the lamps had to be continually lit…the oil supply had to be uninterrupted, and oil of course is a picture, a type of the Holy Spirit in the Bible.
• Well the angel there in Zechariah four showed Zechariah a vision of two olive trees that continually supply oil into the Most Holy Place…and the meaning was that God’s presence with His people will be something that He will provide, not man and thus the most quoted verse in Zech 4:6, “not by might, not by power, but by My Spirit says the Lord of Hosts…”
• And John looks upon these two witnesses and whispers through his pen, “there they are.”  But the detail that interests me the most here is that the quotations have ended and therefore we know this is John just telling us what he saw and understood and man I just dig that because the fact is if John didn’t know the Book of Zechariah, man he would have missed this whole scene!  He would have gone and popped some popcorn and grabbed his soda and watched but no, he’s getting so much more out of this…and because of what he got, man WE get!
• And the same goes for us!  All day, God’s faithfulness and works are all around us…lining entirely up with His word but we miss so much because we simply don’t know His word!  And because we miss, our wives miss, our kids miss, our neighbors miss…not John!  He knows the word of God and when it comes to pass, man he is blessed.  And he blesses us!
• He might just have skipped the next verse set where we see their detailed description if he wasn’t so hype about who these two were…look at what John records for us…

Revelation Chapter 11 Verses 4 – 6

• A few additional clues here.  James tells us in James 5:17 that Elijah prayed and it did not rain for 3 and a half years.  And who was it that pronounced the plague on Egypt that turned the water into blood?  Yup, Moses…just some clues.  The Bible doesn’t tell us by name who these two are…

Revelation Chapter 11 Verses 7 – 8

• Notice they aren’t approached, they are untouchable until they finish their testimony…and I see many applications here.  One, that you and I cannot be harmed until an appointed time.  Two, each person in this room has a testimony to give, a testimony of purpose and redemption that will set many souls free.  And third, probably the most controversial, I see these two having great power and being very well protected, until they stop breathing fire.  And I believe that is what has happened to the church and what happens to ministries all the time.  And it’s tragic.
• Someone gets saved.  Comes alive.  On fire, burning hot for the things of the Lord and eternity.  And then it gets hard.  People turn against you.  Not everyone approves of you anymore.  Folks don’t like being held accountable.  And so you soften up the message.  Begin to be preoccupied with filling seats and such, and before you know it…the testimony of the church is watered down, why?  Because the cares of this world and the approval of men has become the testimony, not the all consuming fire of Jahovah God…and the beast makes war against the church…wrong!  It should be the other way around!  We should be storming the gates of hell man and overcoming the wiles of the enemy!  Right?  What has happened to us?  What has happened to Jerusalem?
• It’s so dark and different by now that John calls it Sodom and Egypt!  Why?  Sodom, all kinds of sin!  Egypt, all kinds of idolatry.   What happened?  Well it already happened!  They rejected Jesus man.  Not only Jesus as their Messiah but they rejected His work in their hearts and lives…and the result…is always Sodom and Egypt.  Where is Sodom now?  GONE.  How is Egypt now?  Utter turmoil.  Such is the life of the one who disallows the power, presence and leadership of Jesus.
• And notice, they kill the olive trees.  The supply of the Holy Spirit, the endless flow of oil, they kill them…

Revelation Chapter 11 Verses 9 – 10

• Understand, for hundreds of year no one could accept that all peoples, tribes, tongues and nations could see these two lying dead there on the streets of Jerusalem.  When Chuck Smith began teaching the Bible verse by verse, he had to imagine a way for this to be possible.  Then in 1965, Early Bird was launched into orbit.  The first commercial communication satellite and then shortly after in 1967, the first national network of satellite television was created called Orbita in the Soviet Union.  Then Anik 1 was launched in North America in ’72 and finally Ekran , the first direct-to-home geostationary satellite was launched in 1976.
• Now, not forty years later, thousands “eyes in the sky.”  Isn’t that interesting that we call a satellite an “eye in the sky?”  Whose eye?  Everyones’ man! And now there is no more imagination needed…we, this generation, us…we are seeing it with our own eyes!  Precisely how Revelation Chapter 11 verse 9 will unfold…on our big screens in our living rooms!  John couldn’t see this, have this in his day.  Chuck couldn’t have seen this when he started preaching!  It’s us!  This generation!  The stage is set!  All is in order.  And the Lord’s return…the calling up of His bride into heaven…right now!
• And do you know what is going to happen when all the Jesus freaks disappear?  The world will rejoice!  Why?  No more accountability!  No more of this God talk!  No more of this prophecy…just like they do when the beast slays the two witnesses…they have a Satanic Christmas of sorts…and this is the only time we read of the people rejoicing in the Great Tribulation.  “Hey, the ones who made us uncomfortable with their truth, leave them in the gutter and let’s celebrate because they are dead!” 
• If you feel beaten down and left out…man YOU rejoice, you’re in good company!  And keep reading!  Get into the word of God and you’ll be encouraged, strengthened because what we’ll see next week…is that you can’t keep a good man down.  Though a righteous mans falls 7 times, he will rise again but the wicked stumble and are knocked out cold when difficulty strikes.  Proverbs 24:16.  Next week we’ll keep reading and we’ll see these two rise again with the breath of life from God Himself!