Sermon
The Miraculous Mission of Revelation's Two Witnesses
Publisher transcript
Transcript
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Well, tonight we're picked back up in Revelation chapter 11,
Revelation 11 chapter mention
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and we were looking in verses 1 through 14, I believe, and we're picking up
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with the two messengers tonight.
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And I'll pick back up with the verses here, and it says, And I will grant authority
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to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1260 days clothed in a sackcloth.
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These are the two olive trees and the two lap stands that stand before the Lord of the earth.
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And if anyone wants to harm them, fire flows out of their mouth and devours their enemies.
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Just think about it. These two prophets, these two witnesses,
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if anybody seeks to harm them, and people are going to seek to harm them,
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they want them dead, right?
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They don't want to hear this message that you need to repent and put your faith
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in Christ, right? They don't want to hear all that.
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They don't want to hear about their wickedness, so they're going to want to
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kill them, but if somebody wants to harm them, what do you think? What would y'all think?
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I mean, if somebody wanted to harm you, think about this for a minute.
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If somebody wanted to harm you, and all of a sudden you could have this fire
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just fly over your mouth and take care of it, right? I mean,
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y'all saying dragons, right?
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Y'all say maybe it's probably about dragons. It reminds you of that, right?
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A fire coming out, and it's like, wow. I mean, this is unbelievable what God
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allows these two men to do.
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And so if anybody wants to harm them, he must be killed in this way.
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And they have the power to shut up the sky so that rain is not going to fall
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during the days of their prophesying. And they have power over the waters to
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turn them into blood and to strike the earth with every plague as often as they desire.
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When they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up out of the
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abyss will make war with them and overcome them and kill them.
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And their dead bodies will lie in the streets of the great city,
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which mystically is called Sodom in Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified.
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And those from the peoples and tribes and tongues and nations will look at their
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dead bodies for three and a half days.
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And will not permit their dead bodies to be laid in a tomb.
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And those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and celebrate,
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and they will send gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented
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those who dwell on the earth.
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But after the three and a half days, the breath of life from God will come into them.
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And they stood on their feet, and great fear fell upon those who were watching them.
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And they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, Come up here.
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Then they went up into heaven in the cloud, and their enemies watched them.
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And in that hour, there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell.
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Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified
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and gave glory to God of heaven.
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The second woe has passed. Behold, the third woe is coming quickly.
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And that's verses 3 through 14 of chapter 11.
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But the connection between this vision of the two preachers,
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if you will, and the previous passage we looked at last week really focused
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on one and two, it should be clear, right?
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They are among God's unique witnesses who's going to proclaim his message of
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judgment during the final stages here of the Gentile trampling on Jerusalem
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and will preach the gospel so that the Jewish remnant here, if you remember,
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can believe and enjoy God's protection.
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Seven features of the lives and ministry of these two remarkable prophets,
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powerful preachers, they're going to actually unfold in the text that we just read.
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We'll see it. Their duty that they have, their attitude, their identity,
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power, death, resurrection, and impact that they have.
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And so I want to break those down tonight. Hopefully we'll get through those
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tonight, but we'll try to. First of all, their duty.
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In the first part of verse three, it says that I will grant authority to my
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two witnesses that they will prophesy for 1260 days.
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Once again, the speaker who will grant authority to the two witnesses here is
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not identified, but it could only be God the Father or the Lord Jesus Christ.
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I mean, witnesses is plural form of martis from which the English word,
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you probably guessed it already, martyr, derived, right?
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Since so many witnesses of Jesus Christ in the early church paid with their
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lives, since it's always used in the New Testament to refer to persons,
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the two witnesses must be actual people, not movements.
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It's not like a movement. These are two people.
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And some commentators have held these are two witnesses because the Bible requires
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the testimony of two people to confirm a fact or verify true.
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And we find that in Deuteronomy and Matthew, John, 2 Corinthians,
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1 Timothy, Hebrews even talks about it.
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But it'll be their responsibility to prophesy.
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Prophecy in the New Testament does not necessarily refer to predicting the future.
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Its primary meaning is to speak forth or to proclaim or to preach.
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And so as we see this and we look at this prophesy,
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these two witnesses will proclaim or preach to the world that the disasters
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occurring during this last half of the tribulation, the great tribulation,
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are the judgments of God.
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That's where it's coming from. They'll preach that. They will warn that God's
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final outpouring of judgment and eternal hell is going to follow this.
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And at the same time, they're going to preach the gospel.
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They're calling people to repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus.
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In other words, they want to see people saved. God wants to draw people to himself.
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The period of their ministry, again, 1260 days, right?
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And that's the last three and a half years of the tribulation.
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And when Antichrist's forces oppress the city of Jerusalem and many Jews are
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sheltered in the wilderness, it's going to talk about this in the next chapter in verse 6.
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The fact that they are actual preachers and not symbols or institutions or movements
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or anything like that is really indicated here by the description of their clothing
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and the behavior which follows here.
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So that kind of flows us into their attitude.
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Look at it here in this latter half of verse three. They were clothed in what?
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What were they clothed in?
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Sackcloth, right? Sackcloth was like this rough, heavy, coarse cloth that's worn in ancient times.
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It's a symbol of what? Somebody help me. What does it mean?
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Mourning, right? Distress, grief, humility, just being humble.
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Jacob put on sackcloth when he thought Joseph had been killed in Genesis 37.
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David, if you remember, ordered the people to wear sackcloth after the murder
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of Abner and wore it himself during the plague that God sent in response to
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his sin of numbering the people.
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And King Dehoram wore sackcloth during the siege of Samaria,
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the second kings, as did King Hezekiah when Jerusalem was attacked.
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Job, Isaiah, and Daniel, as we look at the Old Testament, also wore sackcloth.
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And the two witnesses will actually put on sackcloth, it's like an object lesson
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to express their great sorrow for the wretched and unbelieving world.
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And that's going to be reeked by God's judgments, right?
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Overrun. If you remember, don't lose perspective here, overrun by demon hordes
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and populated by wicked, sinful people who refuse to repent.
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They don't want to repent.
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And they will also mourn because of the desecration of the temple.
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Remember that? We talked about a little bit last week.
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And the oppression of Jerusalem and the, you know, the ascendancy of Antichrist as well.
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All those are going to be part of why they wear the back cloth,
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why they're in mourning over this, what's taken place.
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Well, let's talk a little bit about their identity, their identity.
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Look at verse four with These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands
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that stand before the Lord of the earth.
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The question of who the two witnesses will be.
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It's actually intrigued Bible scholars, you know, for years.
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You know, there's always these little things and little nuances people look
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at and get excited about and try to figure things out.
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And numerous possibilities have been suggested.
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John identifies them merely as the two olive trees and the two lampstands,
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right, here in this passage that stand before the Lord of the earth.
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And so that mysterious description, it's also drawn from Zechariah.
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Now, I've been going back to the Old Testament some because some of these passages
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point towards all this, and Zechariah 4, it talks about that.
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If you want to read about it a little bit later about that, I won't read all
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of that to you tonight, but Zechariah's vision had both a near and a far fulfillment.
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That historical fulfillment was the rebuilding of that post-excellent temple
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by Joshua, the high priest, right, the religious leader, and Zerubbabel, the political leader.
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But Zechariah's prophecy that he gives also looks forward to the restoration,
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of Israel in the millennial.
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So that's why it's important. The olive trees and the lampstands there,
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they actually symbolize the light of revival.
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Since olive oil, if you remember this, olive oil was commonly used in lamps, right?
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And the connecting of the lamps to the trees It's intended to depict to us a
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constant, spontaneous, automatic supply of oil flowing from the olive trees into the lamps.
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And that symbolizes that the truth that God will not bring salvation blessing from human power.
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He won't bring salvation blessing from human power, but by the power of who?
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The power of the Holy Spirit.
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The power of him. And so, like Joshua and Jerubbabel, the two witnesses,
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are they going to lead like a spiritual revival of Israel, culminating in the building of what?
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Building of their temple. Their preaching will be instrumental in Israel's national conversion.
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Tells us in verse 13 of the same chapter we're in of that, Romans 11.
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And the temple associated with that conversion will be the millennial temple here.
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And while it's impossible to actually be, I think I said this last week,
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dogmatic about the specific identity of these two preachers,
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there's really a number of reasons that suggest,
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and I mentioned this last week before we left, that they may be Moses and Elijah.
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And I don't know, have y'all, anybody ever heard anything different than that?
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Okay, but they may be Moses and Elijah. I figured many of you had heard that before.
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But first, the reason that that is looked at that way is the miracles they will perform.
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Like, for example, destroying their enemies with fire, withholding rain,
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turning water into blood, striking the earth with plagues, right?
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Similar to the judgments that were inflicted in the Old Testament by who?
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By Moses and Elijah for the purpose of actually stimulating repentance.
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Remember, Elijah called down fire from heaven. Do you remember that?
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In 2 Kings 1, and he pronounced a three-and-a-half-year drought on the land.
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Three-and-a-half, three-and-a-half, okay. And the same length here as the drought
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that was brought by the two witnesses.
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Moses turned the waters of the Nile into what?
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Blood in Exodus 7 and announced the other plagues on Egypt reported in Exodus chapter 7 through 11.
Exodus 7 chapter mention
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And then second, both the Old Testament and Jewish tradition expected that Moses
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and Elijah to return in the future.
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Actually, Malachi chapter 4, I believe it's verse 5, predicted the return of Elijah.
Malachi 4 chapter mention
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And the Jews believed that God's promise to raise up a prophet like Moses necessitated
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his return. That's what they believed.
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And so Jesus' statement actually in Matthew chapter 11, verse 14,
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that if you are willing to accept it, John the Baptist himself is Elijah who was to come.
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Now, it doesn't necessarily preclude Elijah's future return since the Jews,
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they hear they didn't accept Jesus, right?
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John did not fulfill that prophecy. We know that. But he came in the spirit and power of who?
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Elijah. That was the point, to turn the hearts of the fathers back to the children
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and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous so as to make ready a people
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that were prepared for the Lord.
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That was shared in Luke chapter one. And then third, both Moses and Elijah,
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perhaps representing the law and the prophets, appeared with Christ, where? You remember?
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You got it, the Mount of Transfiguration, the preview of the second coming in
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Matthew chapter 17, verse three.
Matthew 17 chapter mention
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And then number four, both left the earth in very unusual ways.
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Elijah never died, but he was transported to heaven. Do you remember?
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In a fiery chariot. That had to be cool, right?
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I mean, you talk about some cool rides, Jason. I mean, how would you like to
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have a fiery chariot come down and pick you up?
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I mean, come on. Thank you, brother Ryan.
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Fiery chariot. And that's in 2 Kings 2. And God supernaturally buried Moses'
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body in a secret location, it says in Scripture.
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And the statement of Hebrews 9, verse 27, that it is appointed for men to die
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once, and after this comes judgment.
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It doesn't rule out Moses' return, since there are other rare exceptions to
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that general statement. Can you think of a couple?
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Himal came back to the witch of Endor, well, first of all. Right, and who else? What?
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Yeah, that's what she mentioned here. Who else came back?
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Lazarus, right? Okay. Now, he died again, obviously, but he came back.
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And so since the text, though, here, like I said, there are rare exceptions
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there, but since the text does not specifically identify those two preachers again,
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The view defended here, and what I kind of laid out tonight as well,
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like all other views, just regarding their identity, we have to still say it's
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speculation, but I think it's built upon very tremendous evidence in Scripture.
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This is likely who these two preachers are.
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It sure looks like it, okay? All the evidence seems to point in this direction.
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And then there are power. Let's talk about that a little bit.
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I don't know why I thought of home improvement just then. You know,
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Tim, the tool man, power.
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I know I don't do that well. I do Scoopy's life pretty good,
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but I won't do that tonight.
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But it says here, and if anyone wants to harm them, fire flows out of their
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mouth and devours their enemies. So if anyone wants to harm them,
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he must be killed in this way.
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These have the power to shut up the sky so the rain will not fall during the
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days of their prophesying.
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And they have power over the waters to turn them to blood and to strike the
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earth with every plague as often as they desire. Verses 5 and 6.
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So whether or not these two witnesses are Moses and Elijah, they will have miraculous
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power, not in doubt here, that is similar to those two Old Testament figures.
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If they are to have a singular impact on and to capture the attention,
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think about it for a minute, of the world during this terrifying events that
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are taking place in the second half of the tribulation, they will need to be
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capable of miraculous deeds.
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And they are. In fact, like Noah, if you remember before the flood and Moses
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before the plagues on Egypt, the two witnesses here will fear,
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fearlessly proclaim God's judgment.
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I mean, they're going to be bold, bold, in-your-face preachers, right?
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They're going to preach on his judgment, wrath, vengeance, the need for repentance.
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Because of that, they will be universally hated.
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Now I have to ask y'all tonight I think I know the answer How many of you believe that.
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You could be universally hated, right?
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I think so, you know. I think so.
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I mean, in fact, many will desire to harm them during the days of their preaching.
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And Brother Ronnie, I don't know. It may come to it one day.
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But so far, nobody's taken a shot at me here at Eastwood or trying to harm me so far.
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Now, I don't know whether I should say, you know, I need to preach harder.
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I don't know, but I'm just saying that they're not going to be holding anything back.
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And that harm will be attempted. People are going to attempt to take these guys
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out, not just one person, many people. They're not going to stop.
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And when it's attempted, guess what? As you read in Scripture,
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they will react with miraculous power.
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Fire will flow out of their mouth and devour their enemies.
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All it would take do you think to see that one time would you think twice about
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coming up against them again apparently some won't you know maybe they'll devise
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new things well i think we can if we just get their mouth well maybe we just
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blow their heads off and they can't blow the fire i don't know what they'll
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come up with but they're going to try all these different things,
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but it's not going to work is it and so their enemies will be devoured in fact
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there's no reason to assume that this is not real, by the way.
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Literal fire, since God has in the past used fire, if you remember,
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to incinerate his enemies.
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Look at the Old Testament. In Leviticus, Numbers, Psalm even talks about this in Psalm 106.
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So those who wish to harm the two preachers must be killed in this way. Because why?
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Because God does not want their preaching stopped until their ministry is complete
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and will judge with death those who try to halt it. Gone.
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I think sometimes we lose sight that God holds the keys.
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God's the one. The reason that you're alive tonight is because God wills it.
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And if he said it's time to come home, there ain't nothing you or me can do to stop it.
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I don't care how many shots you take. I don't care what you do.
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I don't care what you try to do in this world. How many pills you pop when it's
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time to go home, you go in.
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And that's just the truth of it. And when people come against God's men here,
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he says, no, I'm not finished with them yet.
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And that ought to bring us great comfort, I think, not just as preachers,
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but all of us are preachers in some way anyway, being witnesses for Christ.
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That ought to bring us comfort in knowing that you're invincible until Jesus calls you home.
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I'm just saying, y'all, when God calls us to do something, that reminds me of
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this morning, right? I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.
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Because when God calls you to do something, he will give you the power to do
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it, just like he did these two prophets here, and nothing will by any means harm you.
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When God wants your life gone, he will take it. He will allow that to happen
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because he said it's time to come home.
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Nobody ever takes God by surprise. you
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know you're not going to take him by surprise god knows
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he is the one who calls us home he knows the number of hit
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hairs on your head and he knows the number of your days in fact your days are
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numbered my days are numbered some of us may be alive when the lord comes back
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i don't i mean there will be some alive but some of us may not be many of us
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may not be but in both the old and the New Testament,
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God often did use the miraculous to authenticate his messengers.
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And in the tribulation here, in this tribulation time, when the world's overrun,
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again, think about it, by the supernatural demonic activity,
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false religion, murder,
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sexual perversion, rampant wickedness, the supernatural signs performed by the
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two witnesses will actually mark them as true prophets of God, true prophets of God.
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And the extent of their great power is going to be revealed when they actually
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demonstrate power to do what? To shut up what?
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The heavens, right? The sky. So that the rain's not going to fall during the days of their prophecy.
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Okay. Waters are off. They're gone.
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And that's going to greatly intensify the torment people are experiencing.
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And that third trumpet judgment resulted in the poisoning of one-third of the
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earth's fresh water supply. Remember that all the way back in chapter 8?
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Adding to that the three-and-one-half-year drought that's lasting throughout.
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1,260 days of their preaching. See how it's all coming again?
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And so it's brought by the two witnesses here who will cause worldwide this
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spread, devastation of crops, loss of human and animal life,
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through thirst, through starvation, all this taking place.
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And really, if we think about this, Moses, like Moses, the two witnesses here,
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they're going to actually have power over the waters to turn them into what?
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Blood and distract the earth with every plague as often as they desire.
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And the havoc, think about it, that these two preachers, these two miracle-working
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preachers will wreak over all the earth here in this passage,
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it's going to cause them, again, don't miss this,
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to be hated and feared at the same time, Both.
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People are, well, no doubt they're going to search desperately,
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like I said, for a way to take them out, for a way to destroy them, but to no avail.
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And they'll be, you know, like I said, indestructible, if you will,
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invincible, unstoppable for the duration of their ministry.
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But y'all, guess what happens? When it's time, it's time.
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And who said it was time for these two?
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God. It was God that said it was time. Their death, let's talk about it quickly.
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When they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes from up out of
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the abyss will make war with them and overcome them and kill them,
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and their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city,
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which mystically is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified.
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Those from the peoples and tribes and tongues and nations will look at their
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dead bodies for three and a half days and will not permit their bodies to be laid in a tomb.
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And those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and celebrate,
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and they'll send gifts to one
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another because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth.
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So think about the scenario here. Hang with me just a little longer.
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Sinful men will try desperately and unsuccessfully to get rid of these two witnesses
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throughout their ministry.
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In a kind of, you know, kamikaze effort, right?
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And that results in their own incineration. They're going to all be consumed with fire, right?
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But God, however, will protect them. He's the one who protects them until they
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have finished their testimony.
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And having achieved God's purpose during this time, he sovereignly determined
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for their ministry because he marked it out already, 1260 days, three and a half years.
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At the end of that time The beast that comes up out of the abyss Will make war
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with them And this is the first time of 36 references This is the first one
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of 36 references In Revelation to the beast.
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And anticipates the more detailed information About him to come And we're going
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to get there In chapters 13 and chapter 17 But he's introduced here With the
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emphasis on his origin He said to come up out of where?
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Yes, out of the abyss, and indicating that he is empowered by who? By Satan.
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Since Satan is depicted, as you know, in chapter 12, verses 3 and 9,
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as a dragon, this figure here is not Satan.
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The revelation about him in chapter 13 indicates that the beast is a world ruler,
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often called Antichrist, okay, who imitates the true Christ,
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who rules over the people of the world.
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He demands their worship, as we'll see again in chapter 13.
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The abyss is the prison for certain demons.
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We learned that in Scripture, right? And also in chapter 9 here.
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Though he is a man, the beast here is energized by the demonic presence and
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power coming from the abyss.
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That's where he rises up from, right?
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That's what he's empowered from. And to the great joy and relief of a sinful
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world, that beast, or the Antichrist, will finally overcome the two witnesses and do what?
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He's going to kill them. And after their deaths, their dead bodies are going
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to be buried right away, right?
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No. They're going to be contemptuously left to lie and rot in the streets.
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I know that's not a pretty picture, and it probably would be a smelly night's picture either.
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But they're left there, and they're killed.
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And in the ancient world, y'all know this, y'all probably remember this,
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that exposing the enemy's dead body like that was the ultimate way of what?
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Dishonoring them, right, and desecrating them.
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And God forbade actually the Israelites to engage in that practice,
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if you remember the Old Testament.
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But this great city here is Jerusalem.
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Really mystically we think about it here the way we have it
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rendered in our English translation but better we'd say spiritually
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called Sodom and Egypt due
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to its wickedness but tragically the city
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of Jerusalem that think about it for a minute that was once God's
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city will be so overrun with evil that it will be like the wicked city of Sodom
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and the evil nation of Egypt and so the The description here of Jerusalem as
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no better than Sodom and Egypt was to show that the once holy city,
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that once holy city of Jerusalem,
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had become no better than places that were known for their hatred of the true
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God, right? And his word.
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So if you stop and think about it, and if there's a footnote here,
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the footnote that the two witnesses will be killed in the city where also their Lord was crucified.
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Makes the identification of Jerusalem just crystal clear.
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The two witnesses will die in the same city that their Lord suggested,
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as it was for him, that city will be the focal point of their preaching.
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And it also appears that Jerusalem will be the seat of Antichrist's rule.
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We see even back in 2 Thessalonians 2, talking about this.
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And so that use there of the all-inclusive phrase, as we see it there,
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peoples and tribes and tongues and nations. See it there in the passage?
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It indicates that people around
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the world are going to look at the dead bodies of the two witnesses.
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Can you think of satellite TV, visual media, streaming, posting on Facebook,
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YouTube, right? Who knows what we'll have by then?
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We may have probably, you know, some type of, I don't know, we may have evolved
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even from the glasses, Jason. and I don't know what they'll have then,
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but it's going to get to the whole world to see it.
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That morbid display of contempt and hatred that people have,
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they're going to actually throw a party because these two preachers are dead.
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And three and a half days, the world's not going to permit the bodies to be laid in a tomb.
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And the unrepentant, think about it here as we close, the sin-hard mass of people
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will want to gloat along with their leader, the Antichrist, right?
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And glorify him for this victory over these two irritating preachers.
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Anybody ever known an irritating preacher?
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They said, Brother Jimmy, yeah.
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But they will gloat over this, and, you know, they think about what all they
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did. They preached truth. They preached righteousness.
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Yeah, they preached repentance. They tried to call people to Christ,
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but they also brought about drought and incineration of those that tried to kill them.
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And the deaths of these two witnesses will torch off that wild celebration around the world.
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Incredibly, those who dwell on the earth, it actually is a technical term there
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for just unbelievers, okay? that dwell on the earth is going to rejoice over
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them. They're going to celebrate.
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Because these two prophets, these two preachers, tormented them who dwell on the earth.
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And so this is the only mention, by the way, I don't know if it jumped out.
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Maybe you haven't thought of it yet.
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Those of you that have already read through the book, but it's the only place
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mentioned in Revelation of rejoicing.
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Sinners will be happy here because those who declared to them God's judgments
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tormented them with miracle power and messages condemning their sin and proclaiming
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God's impending judgment upon them and called for them to repent,
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they're dead.
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They're dead. We snuffed them out, right, is what the thought is.
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And their emotional response, y'all, it's just gonna be exuberant, right?
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But what's gonna happen then? We can't stop there. What's going to happen next?
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The resurrection, their resurrection of these two preachers. Now, come on.
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I won't read everything, but they get up after three and a half days, right?
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And people, they were all, all of a sudden, were they still rejoicing when these
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two guys got up and God breathed the breath of life back in them?
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What does it say again? What happened? Great fear fell upon those who were watching them.
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And then they heard a loud voice from heaven I really like this y'all because
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they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them come up here then they went
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up to heaven in the clouds and their enemies watched them go.
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You see, God was done with these two preachers. You know, some people might
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think, well, they'd come back and they were fearful and they're going to start,
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they're going to wipe them out, right?
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No, God said, this is it. What I have for them to do is done.
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Come on up here. Time to come home. Time to come.
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And the parting here and the gift giving that they will have,
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I don't know what they'll call it, Brother Ronnie, maybe Dead Witnesses Day.
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I don't know. but they'll be dramatically halted by this shocking event, right?
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After the three and a half days during which the bodies lay in disgrace,
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God breathes the breath of life into them, into these two witnesses.
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They stand on their feet.
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Great fear falls upon everybody else, panicked.
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They're probably wondering what's going to happen, but God had other plans.
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Came a loud voice from heaven again, come up here, come up here.
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And this is likely the voice of the Lord who summoned John to heaven in chapter four, verse one.
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Then the two preachers went up into heaven in the cloud and as their enemies
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watched him. So in awe here.
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This two-man rapture, if you will, will no doubt, y'all can probably think of it right now.
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How many times do you think that's gonna be played across social media and news outlets?
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Yeah. I mean, they'll probably show it in slow mode, right? This ascension.
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And so you.
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Some may wonder why the two witnesses were not permitted to preach after the resurrection.
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But y'all, I want y'all to remember this tonight. Signs and wonders,
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don't make the gospel believable.
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Because if unbelievers do not listen to Moses and the prophets,
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do you remember, neither will they be persuaded if someone rises from the dead.
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Do you remember that in Luke chapter 16?
Luke 16 chapter mention
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After hearing the teaching here and observing the miraculous ministry of Jesus,
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the Son of God, think about it.
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Unbelievers still rejected and killed him.
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Again, their ministry completed. The two ascended with the whole world watching.
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No doubt, I believe they hear the Lord say, well done, good and faithful servants,
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right? Good and faithful slaves.
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They enter into the joy of the Lord here. But I want you to know they had a
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tremendous impact We're wrapping it up here. In an hour, there was a great earthquake.
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A tenth of the city fell. 7,000 people were killed.
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The rest were terrified and gave glory to who? To God.
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So that great earthquake that came, all those things that took place there,
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result of the violent earthquake,
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the astonishing resurrection of the two witnesses here, the rest were terrified
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and gave great glory to the God of heaven.
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That must refer to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, from Jews who will come to faith in Christ.
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Supporting that interpretation is the fact that giving glory to the God of heaven
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is the mark of genuine repentance and revelation all throughout Scripture.
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So this passage then describes the reality of the salvation of the Jews in Jerusalem
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as God fulfills his pledge of blessing for Israel.