The Angel, the Little Scroll, and the Two Witnesses

Alright, we continue our sermon series. Now you may notice that, hang on, we were past

this last week and there were multiple reasons why, but as you'll see at the end of this,

that where we're going next week has to do with a very obscure number, 144,000, that's

been put in in chapter 7, it comes up again next week. And so part of it was a flip flop,

also to bring and lead into the faithful ones of God and what that means in the book of

Revelation. So let me ask a question this morning. What does it mean to be faithful?

Think about that word. There's probably a thousand different contexts that you could

have in that, all spanning all of life, but what does it truly mean to be faithful? To

not give up on something, absolutely, right? That I'm faithful to the cause, whether that

is helping someone learn how to bat, whether it's the musical newsies and they're all in

solidarity against those that own the newspaper, if you haven't seen it, watch it, thank me

later. Others, dedicated, absolutely, yeah, yeah, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, completely

trusting, good. To follow unconditionally, absolutely, yeah, that's a good one. Any others?

To be a servant, sure, to be faithful in the way we interpret something like scripture,

to interpret Jesus' words is to love God and love people, right, and to understand what

that actually means. There's the vertical relationship and we show that by a horizontal

relationship, getting that in the right order, obviously. Others? Constant, keep my word

and keep God's word, I'm going to flip that on you, keep God's word and then keep your

word, absolutely. Up in the balcony? Not to be swayed from the faith, interesting, okay.

So all good definitions and where the book of Revelation is going to take the understanding

of faithful, those that finished the race. And we think about, you know, one of the songs

we sung was talking about the heroes of the faith and I caught myself in my own narcissism

and piety in the moment and the Lord had to strike me, hopefully you guys didn't see it,

but I thought to myself, I wonder if I'll be a hero of the faith and then immediately

I heard the buzzer from Family Feud. Immediately it was ehhhh and the giant X and I got down.

This all happened right here, right, and it was the covering of Joe and Julie's prayers

that kept me from falling down. But understand that that's not the right desire. The desire

is not to be a hero of the faith, the desire is to be faithful in God because God is the

one that defines who the heroes are. But understand that it's walking this road, it's journeying

on this path, being faithful along the way, knowing that sin is in our life, knowing that

we are going to fall. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. That there isn't

a level of perfection, we don't believe like some Pentecostal denominations that one on

this earth can live a perfect life. Because if that was possible, we wouldn't need grace.

The beauty of grace is that it makes life not fair in the sense of when we fall, there

is a way back to whole, but we're going to fall. We all did this week, we all will next

week, we already talked about that. But what we're going to see in the book of Revelation

is jumping back to the scrolls, so you've got to go back two weeks, is that the judgments

between the sixth and seventh trumpet and the scrolls, a little scroll is introduced

and two witnesses symbolizing God's ongoing revelation for the church in this moment.

Now that got me very confused when I was reading this week that like this is it, this is the

grand drama, this is the end scene of life, yet God's revelation is continuing going back

to the very first sermon that we read that for then and now and to come. Interesting,

God is then and now and to come, He's everlasting upon everlasting, that there's still revelation

going on. I'm going to pick on the Wilchers because one of the areas where I sinned this

week is I coveted your trip. I saw all of those and we almost got a smile out of Jim

on some of those pictures. I know you enjoyed it because Jill was with you, but you got,

where did you guys go this past couple weeks? Utah, right? Not for the Mormons, but for

the beauty of God's creations, right? And like mind blown, like it's hard not to see

all of that and just be like, yeah, someone manufactured that, like, ah Disney. No, no,

it's like beautiful that the pictures that they showed or that they posted, it was, and

that's just creation. And that's not even creation in the image of God, that's just

creation, His created order of life. And so we see these things and the ongoing, I mean,

was it a spiritual experience, I'm sure? Yeah, and that is ongoing, what we call general

revelation, that there's revelation still going on in life today, revelation that God

is still at work. You have general revelation and then you have divine or specific revelation

when God speaks to you through His word, through a trusted friend. I don't think any one of

us has gotten a burning bush, you know, lately, but that would be seen as divine or special

revelation, that message was just for Moses. But God's revelation is ongoing. And really

the emphasis of these chapters is not only His sovereignty, but His sovereignty over

all the events and His determination to fulfill, that we see, hopefully you can get back enough

to see God continually fulfilling what He said He was going to do. This is the fulfillment

of Messianic prophecy. That yeah, there were little M messiahs all over the place, Jesus'

big M messiah is fulfilling what He said He's going to do, and that's a definition of faithful.

We can call God ultimately faithful. He is faithfulness and we see that tangibly, we

see the evidence of that, of what He said He's going to do, He is now doing. So the

challenge as we go through the mighty angel, the little scroll, the two witnesses is a

mirror on how are we going to be faithful. So let's pick it up. In Revelation 10, we

have 11 verses to break through. So Revelation chapter 10, starting with verse 1. Then I

Revelation 10 · chapter mention

saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven, wrapped in a cloud, with a rainbow

over his head and his face was like the sun, and his legs like pillars of fire. He had

a little scroll in his hand and he set his right foot on the sea and his left foot on

the land and called out with a loud voice like a roaring lion. When he called out the

seven thunder sounded, and when the seven thunders had sounded, I was about to write,

but I heard a voice in heaven saying, seal up what the seven thunders have said and do

not write it down. And the angel whom I saw standing on the sea and the land raised his

right hand to heaven and swore by him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven

and what is in it, the earth and what is in it, and the sea and what is in it, and there

would be no more delay. But that in the days of the trumpet call to be sounded by the seventh

angel. The mystery of God would be fulfilled just as he announced to his servants the prophets.

Then the voice that I heard from heaven spoke to me saying, go, take the scroll that is

open and in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land. So I went to the

angel and told him to give me the little scroll and he said to me, take and eat it. It will

make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey. And I took the

little scroll from the hand of the angel and ate it. It was sweet as honey in my mouth.

When I had eaten it, my stomach was made bitter and I was told, you must again prophesy about

many peoples and nations and languages and kings. So very strange. We see for the first

time interaction between the one having the dream, the revelation, and the characters in

the revelation. We see this interaction and the angel first is described as mighty. There's

no other way to say it. One foot on all the sea, one foot on all the land symbolizing

God's sovereignty and his control and his faithfulness, remember that word, over all

creation. The rainbow around his head points to God's covenant. His covenant faithfulness

going all the way back. We see the rainbow as God's covenant in one story in the Old

Testament. Noah's Ark, right? And so we see the start of that covenant language with Noah

throughout the scriptures and we see that this represents Christ's ultimate control

over history even in the midst of judgment. What in the world does that look like? It

looks like if you are the parent not disciplining the child. You're the other parent. Sometimes

that's a hard place to be. That if you and your spouse, you are disciplining the child

whether time out or spanking or whatever and you're the other one. Sometimes it can be

heart wrenching. Because I remember we had one of our sons, we won't say it, and actually

our Dalmatian was good at it too where they tried to in conflict or discipline tried to

pin us against each other, my wife and I. Yes, the Dalmatian could do that too. But

understand that you have to remain faithful to your spouse in the midst of that. That

what would that look like if while, let's say I was disciplining, Carrie was saying

no everything is okay you don't deserve that. That would be undermining. There would be

a lack of faithfulness and you would be giving a very mixed message to your children. That

really could make a mess of things. But understand that Jesus while God is judging the world,

that there is this understanding that Jesus' God's sovereignty is over all of this. It's

a weird place for us to be. Like why can't God just fix everything? Why does there need

to be these judgments? We're a little over halfway and I know we're all like spent on

revelation and I get it, I'm one of them. But understand that these are judgments, these

are righteous judgments of the only faithful being ever in creation saying one thing and

doing the same thing. There's a consistency in this judgment. There is a love in this

judgment. It's hard to see but it's there and it's hard to see because we in some ways

believe ourselves not deserve it if something's so bad. My sin was little sins this week.

It wasn't big ones. Like I didn't kill people. Yeah I trolled people online and said some

really awful things but I didn't kill anybody. We don't hold the scales of sin. One person

does and we've already seen it in the beginning parts of the book of Revelation. So there's

this weird tension that Christ's ultimate control, love and sovereignty is present even

in the midst of judgment. So the little scroll, the little scroll that the angel gives to

John represents God's word. Specifically one thing and it's very specific to kind of slice

through the onion a little bit. What John is being commissioned to speak is very tasteful

and very wonderful to the lips but very sour in his stomach. For lunch and a conversation

with Pastor Jim, what do we think those are? What is sweet to the mouth but sour in the

stomach when it comes to what John now has to do with it? Anybody? Oh so we're in the

parking lot. That was good but we're not in the restaurant yet. Oh okay. We've left Matt

in the parking lot. Jeremiah and I are now at the host stand. Well now we're back in

the car. Let's start with what's sweet because you guys both went to what's sour in your

stomach. That's probably a conversation for both of us later but what? Yes honey. Okay

but that's what does honey represent? The sweetness of? Oh close. Closer. Thank you.

Salvation. Who got it? Very good. Salvation. So you got water or the drink of your choice.

You haven't gotten the food yet. Take it from the other side. So salvation is sweet. What

is sour? Where are we in the book of Revelation? The judgment. Close. Salvation. The sweetness

of salvation that God loves you. Put your faith in Christ. The sins of the past. The

sins that are. The sins that will be. Christ's blood shed for you and for me. You can have

everlasting life in the person of Jesus. Sweet like honey. Sour is if you don't. And there's

a void there. There's an emptiness. No wonder it's bitter. It's the dual nature of the gospel.

It's the message of salvation to all believers but the part that we really don't like or

we like too much the judgment of the unrepentant heart. There are some of us today that cannot

fathom that there are people that we know in hell. And so we struggle with it. I know

for a lot of you in this room you struggle with it specifically. And for some reason

you whip your back that you should have done more. And again you can't go back but you

can go forward with the fervor of the gospel in your life and the way you engage people.

But notice the dual nature of that. That the salvation is sweet but the judgment is bitter.

So what should that be? That should be a call for all of us. For all of the people we know

in our life that are unrepentant. The people that God puts in our path to give them the

sweet message of salvation. And so John is then commanded to prophesy again reinforcing

the call to the church to proclaim the gospel despite the opposition in history. Despite

the opposition of today or tomorrow or whatever opposition the church comes up with. We already

know the gates of hell cannot overtake the church but we are to proclaim the gospel.

And so what does this mean for us? How do we take these first 11 verses and apply it

to our heart? It's actually pretty simple. Kind of. We are called to proclaim God's word

even when it's difficult or bitter. The message of judgment and salvation is both urgent and

necessary. We cannot shy away from declaring the full counsel of God. And that counsel,

that love, right? That God is that person that hears you and sees you and knows you

and wants the best for your life. You, believer, you, Christian can speak that into somebody

else's life. And what do we call that? We call that witnessing. We call that evangelism.

Right? In our church today, in our little Ileana bubble, right? We can believe that,

well, we can evangelize and tell people about Jesus to people that already know Jesus. That's

not evangelism. That's discipleship. It was the very first sermon I gave at this church

January of 2018 that we do a real bad job of understanding what evangelism actually

is. Evangelism isn't me witnessing to Julie Robertson because I know Julie already believes

in Jesus. Not that it's a waste. We can have good discipleship. We can go deeper in Scripture

together. We can grow in the Lord. But she's already saved. It's finding the unrepented.

It's finding the lost and speaking words of hope. So we have these then two witnesses

on the scene. We're going to jump a little bit between two sets of verses. We're going

to go 3 to 7, then 11 through 13 of chapter 11. And I will grant authority to my two witnesses.

And they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth. These are the two olive trees

and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. And if anyone would harm

them, fire pours out of their mouth and consumes their foes. If anyone would harm them, this

is how he is doomed to be killed. They 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 desired.

And when they have finished their testimony, the beasts that rise from the bottomless pit

will make war on them and conquer them and kill them. Wow. Okay. But after the 3 1 2

days, a breath of life from God entered them and they stood up on their feet. The great

fear fell on those who saw them and 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. And at the

hour there was a great earthquake and a tenth of the city fell. 7,000 people were killed

in the earthquake and the rest were terrified and gave glory to God of heaven, to the God

of heaven. So that's some intense witnessing, isn't it? I know I've gone on to kind of

evangelistic journeys. I've done some street evangelism. I remember my very first time

going to the parking lot of Larkin High School in Elgin, Illinois. My supervisor dropped

me off to witness about 10 feet from the group of kids. I was in my Judson Polo in my cargo

pants and they were not about that. And they pretty much cursed me out and said, go back

to the church. There was a part of me that wished I could breathe bowls of fire out of

my mouth and earthquakes and smite all of them. But that's not good ministry. That's

not a good pastorate, right? And I remember I sat on the stairs pretty dejected and my

supervisor who had peeled out of the parking lot after he pretty much pushed me out of

his car came back and said, do you want to know why that nothing happened there? And

I was like, because they're possessed. And he said no. He said because they smelled your

agenda from a mile away. And that opened my eyes to ministry. That opened my eyes to the

understanding that if we have this agenda to make people different than us, to be exactly

like us, to serve the Jesus that we serve, I think we're doing it wrong. That it's Jesus,

unadulterated, unfiltered Jesus, not Jim's version of Jesus. The power of testimony is

to show where God and Christ has worked in Jim's life. That's not going to be the same

as in someone else's life. That God is going to meet them and going to call them and going

to regenerate their heart in different ways. It's not the only prescribed formula of evangelism

is confessing that Jesus is Lord and believing in your heart that God raised him from the

dead. It's not. You better know, Lord, it's day 19. No. No, that's important. Don't get

me wrong, our confessions deepen our faith, but for salvation, it wasn't whatever polo

shirt cargo pants Jim had for them. There's a relational component to this. But understand

where we are is the end. You and I are in the here and now. We're not at the end. Oh,

I don't know. All these things in the political realm, all of the earthquakes, all of the

fires. You know, pastor, I think we're in the end times. And if that brings you to a

fervor in your evangelism and you want to be like McDonald's, 99 billion people evangelized

and served, fantastic. If you're doing that to pinpoint the day and time that you will

be gone and Christ will come down, I'm not going to follow that with you. I'll listen,

but I will challenge you. The fervor of that should lead to evangelism. Not sitting up

here perched going, yes, the unrepentant will get theirs. That is not what we see.

So these witnesses are at the end. Almost like the final attempt of evangelism and witness

has been given to John. John is now giving it to us. We need to carry that out. The two

witnesses symbolize the church. The church is a prophetic community. They are often compared

to Moses and Elijah who represent the law and the prophets. Their testimony period is

a 1260 days which refers symbolically to the church's witness in the world during the age

between Christ's ascension and his return. Now, symbolizes, not actual data. Okay? So,

Jeremiah, after Christ ascended, what was 1260 days? Ready, go. Exactly. Yeah, and so

understand we have no idea, though Jeremiah's guess is a lot closer than mine would be,

and you all know that. But understand it symbolizes that there is a time period. I liken that

to when you have to give your kids timeouts, when timeouts actually work. We're getting

to a point where we put our boys in timeout and they're like, cool. You're like, that

was a swing and a miss. How can I make this timeout hurt? You'll do timeout upside down.

No, you can't do that. But understand that there is a time period that we set. Have

Alexa set a timer for 20 minutes. You have been set for 20 minutes in your timeout. This

is a set time. There is a set time. When we get too caught up in, we're there, we're at

the day. You can't figure it out. There is no formula to figure it out. What is being

taught to us is that God has set a time. Belgian Confession, the last article, until the elect

is complete, Christ will come back. There's no numeric date. There's no numeric algorithm.

AI can't predict this, but there is a set time. Don't get caught up in the start or

the end. Be in the now. The fervor for evangelism is in the now. One thing we have to see from

the witnesses is they have power and they have power and persecution. They're given

divine power to perform miracles, but they also are killed by the beast from the abyss.

One of the things that this brings out to us is in our evangelism, friends, we will

have successes, we will have failures, and for some of us, we may actually pay the ultimate

price of our lives. What else we can pull from that symbol is that there is persecution

in the church, but the church endures. Even with a world hostile to the church, hostile

to the gospel, the church will endure. Three and a half days later, these witnesses are

resurrected symbolizing the vindication of God's people in the end times. Their ascension

into heaven foreshadows the final resurrection of believers, pointing to the ultimate victory

of Christ and His church. So what does it mean to be a faithful witness in a hostile

world? Our application should be we should be prepared to witness for Christ, knowing

that the world may oppose us, yet we take comfort in knowing that our suffering will

lead to triumph in Christ. Yet for a lot of us, we get hung up with, they're going to

reject my words. I hope you burn. We believe that. We struggle with that. That's a pride.

That is not our call. Clearly, it is not our call of when the burning is going to happen,

but understand that those that are unrepentant, that is where they will end. So what does

this mean? What does this mean as we go to the temple? We go to this understanding of

the temple, of the church, the body of Christ. The temple is going to be brought about, which

temple symbolizes the bride of Christ, the church, us. What does it mean in the beginning

of Revelation when it comes to the temple and the measuring of God's people? The first

two verses. Then I was given a measuring rod like a staff and was told, rise and measure

the temple of God and the altar and those who worship there, but 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 42 months. This is a weird little curve ball. Now we

have a tape measure or this rod. Now we have to measure all those that are really into

numbers. You guys love this, but understanding that measuring the temple means something.

It represents the spiritual protection of God's people. The inner sanctuary where the

true worshipers are, are measured and protected while the outer court is given over to the

nations for trampling, symbolizing the end, symbolizing the church's suffering in the

world, but God's ultimate preservation of the church. Guys, we've hit this almost every

week and we should be so comforted in the fact that he's gone above and beyond to protect

his church that it should cause that evangelistic thrust to really be there. That we should

be able to put that in high octane to evangelize the word of God. Though God's people face

trials they are spiritually secure in Christ. This is a promise of God's faithfulness to

his church even in the midst of tribulation. Now, pause two minutes. Over the last six,

seven years at Munster Church we've seen a lot of grace. We've seen a lot of God's

providing. He's not only provided people, he's providing funds, he's providing ideas,

he's providing visions for the future, he's providing a conversation that is very different

from what this church has gone through in the past of we may close. And that's all well

and good. That God is clearly doing the work. Three things I always remind you, stay excited,

stay humble, slightly terrified. Now you know why I say that. But understand that it's not

about that. We have been protected from the gates of hell that have tried from outside

forces to come in. And we will continue through prayer, supplication, fellowship, worship,

instruction, evangelism, all of those things to continue bringing the message outward.

But what can still decimate this church? Pride, gossip, talking, drawing lines in the sand,

divisions in the church. Let us not get so caught up in our own ideas, our own opinions,

our own desires, our own pound of flesh with brothers and sisters in the church. Free yourself

from that. Little sidebar for some of you, stay off Facebook for the next three weeks.

You may find joy and life in your soul instead of division and anger. Because one thing we

can do is we can decimate a church from the inside out. We are always one step away from

being whitewashed tombs in the church of God. So understand that God is preserving his people

inside and outside the church, but in the end the call is for salvation. The measuring

echoes of Ezekiel 40 where God measures the temple as a sign of his presence and his protection

over his people. It also anticipates Revelation 21 where the new Jerusalem is being measured,

signifying the eternal security of God's people. So even in times of trial and judgment,

how do we walk from this? Even in times of trial and judgment, God knows and protects

his people. He must trust in his sovereignty and his faithfulness even when facing persecution

or hardship. And here's the rub. For a lot of us we look at what is outside coming in.

Let me flip that this week as we come to the table next week. How many of you are doing

the persecuting and creating the hardship for other believers? Because it's all. Yeah,

we have God's sovereignty, his protection. Hallelujah, this is great, but how is Satan

working in your life? Pastor, who are you to ask me that question? Well, you just said

it, I'm your pastor. I also ask that of myself. That though I thank God for his divine protection

over this church, though sometimes it's hard, how are we bringing in the division, the evil,

the sin from the inside out? Because ultimately it will all be judged. Revelation 11, 13,

14, we started with faithfulness, we will end with faithfulness. And at the 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. The second

woe has passed. Behold, the third woe is soon to come. The resurrection and the ascension

of the two witnesses followed by the earthquake is acknowledgement of something that we cannot

forget. And it's really hard in this sermon series that this, this, all of this is actually

for God's glory. Now, a bunch of you don't like that. A statistic I could easily make

up is that 17% of us go, this is for God's glory? What about the goodness of the honey?

What about the sweetness of salvation? What about all of the new life in Christ? What

about the baptisms and the professions and the ministry and the trunker treats and the

candy and all of these things? What about all the good things? How is this the glory

of God? Because this is exactly what he said he was going to do. You guys answered it in

the beginning. What is faithfulness? Faithfulness is staying the course. Faithfulness is being

faithful in the moment and being complete, being complete in the process, being complete

in whatever it is, being faithful to the team, faithful to the cause, faithful to the spouse,

faithful to the job, faithful to the whatever. This is God being faithful with his church.

This is God being faithful to the world. The seventh trumpet is about to sound, heralding

the final judgment and the full establishment of Christ's kingdom. Paul reminds us in 2

Corinthians 4, our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that

far outweighs them all. The suffering of the witnesses leads to the proclamation of God's

glory reminding us that our present suffering leads to future glory in Christ. So how do

we do that with the Rinesma family this morning? How do we do that with those families that

are hurting, with the churrillas, with whoever is coming to your mind that are going through

suffering and pain, maybe not persecution in a way that we think, but pain and suffering?

Friends we must hold fast to our faith knowing that our suffering is temporary and the results

will be eternal glory. This should motivate us to be bold witnesses and endure hardships

with hope as Christ's victory is assured. But in the church it's the power of presence.

It's the power of understanding that no matter what I got going on in my life, no matter

what conflicts I may have with another person in the church, another person in another row,

that in times of hardship we rally around our people. We shepherd our people, we love

our people, we come together in prayer and supplication. When someone is dying the divisions

of the world don't matter. All that matters is the peace and comfort of Christ. So friends

we're about to round third. That final judgment is coming so what are we going to do with

it? Let's take away with these because I think we've done enough today. The first is proclaim

the full counsel of God's word. As Munster Church we are called to proclaim both the sweetness

and bitterness of God's word, the message of salvation for the believer and the reality

of judgment for the unrepentant heart. Do not shrink back from sharing the gospel in

its fullness. Number two, be faithful witnesses despite opposition. Like the two witnesses

we are called to stand firm and are witness to Christ even in the face of persecution.

God will vindicate his people in his time. Let this truth embolden us to live as courageous

witnesses with the love of Christ my ad, my edit this morning. Third, trust in God's protection

amid suffering. Though we may experience hardship, persecution, and suffering in the world, God's

spiritual protection is always with his people. We are eternally secure in Christ. This should

bring peace and assurance even in life's most difficult moments. And finally, endure with

hope. Endure with the hope of Christ's final victory. The ultimate triumph of the witnesses

and the resurrection points us to the final victory we have in Christ. Whatever trials

we endure, they are temporary and Christ's kingdom will prevail. Let this hope strengthen

us in our evangelism and our Christian walk. Let's pray.