{"id":18981,"date":"2019-03-24T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-03-24T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/revelation-033-the-worlds-hatred-for-rightousness\/"},"modified":"2019-03-24T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2019-03-24T05:00:00","slug":"revelation-033-the-worlds-hatred-for-rightousness","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/revelation-033-the-worlds-hatred-for-rightousness\/","title":{"rendered":"Revelation 033 – The World’s Hatred for Rightousness"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[111],"series_event":[490],"sermon_service_type":[472],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-18981","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","book-revelation","series_event-revelation","sermon_service_type-main-service","speaker-dr-andy-woods","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":{"sermon_title":"Revelation 033 - The World's Hatred for Rightousness","sermon_date":"20190324","sermon_month":"3","sermon_year":"2019","sermon_notes":6518,"sermon_slides":6517,"sermon_mp3":6520,"sermon_id":"324191329166355","series_or_event":490,"service_type":[472],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":111,"chapter_and_verse":"11:9-13","sermon_transcript":"Andy Woods\n\nThe World\u2019s Hatred for Righteousness\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 3-23-19\n\nRevelation 11:9-13\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Lesson 33\n\nGood morning everybody.\u00a0 If we could take our Bibles sand open them to the Book of Revelation, chapter 11 and verse 9.\u00a0 The title or our message this morning is The World\u2019s Hatred for Righteousness.\u00a0 As we\u2019re progressing systematically through the Book of Revelation we\u2019re sort of in-between trumpet judgment six and trumpet judgment number seven where the second, what we would call break in the action takes place.\u00a0 Remember there was one between seal six and seal seven.\u00a0 We\u2019re in the middle of a break in the action between trumpet six and trumpet seven where the chronology sort of stops and we\u2019re put on pause momentarily.\n\nWe\u2019ve seen the one in Revelation 7 and now we\u2019re in the one in Revelation 10 and 11, and so we\u2019ve seen chapter 10 in between those two judgments, the announcement of no more delay.\u00a0 We\u2019ve also seen in between those two judgments the end of the time period that\u2019s predicted, called the end of the times of the Gentiles.\u00a0 And as we begin to study last week we are now moving into verses 3-13 where we get a picture of something called the ministry of the two witnesses.\u00a0 We\u2019ve seen first of all their ministry, verses 3-6.\u00a0 This morning we\u2019ll take a look at their martyrdom, verses 7-10 and then their revival, verses 11-13.\n\nYou\u2019ll recall their ministry, first of all how long it lasts, one thousand two hundred and sixty days, most likely the first half of the tribulation period.\u00a0 Number two, their empowerment; what is the source of power behind these two witnesses?\u00a0 And those are those two olive trees that we talked about which is a reference to the ongoing anointing of the Holy Spirit which is something we desperately need to do anything for God.\u00a0 And then from there we looked at the activity of these two witnesses, fire from heaven, drought, waters to blood and plagues.\u00a0 And then we moved from there into their martyrdom.\u00a0 It\u2019s interesting that the more effective\u00a0 you become in the ministry the more Satan tries to take you out and he does that here physically through the martyrdom of these two witnesses.\n\nWhat was the cause of the martyrdom.\u00a0 Well it was the beast or the antichrist himself coming out of the abyss, speaking of the demonic nature of the antichrist, probably in your first reference to the beast, second reference to the antichrist in the entirety of the Book of Revelation.\u00a0 Well, where does this martyrdom take place?\u00a0 It takes place, verse 8, in the city streets of Jerusalem.\u00a0 [Revelation 11:8, And their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city which mystically is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified.\u201d]\u00a0 Jerusalem being in a backslidden condition when this martyrdom occurs.\n\nAnd we move into verse 9, the contempt. What is the contempt that the world system will have towards these two witnesses who have just been martyred?\u00a0 Notice if you will verse 9, Revelation 11:9, \u201cThose from the peoples and tribes and tongues and nations will<\/em> look at their dead bodies for three and a half days, and will not permit their dead bodies to be laid in a tomb.\u201d\u00a0 You\u2019ll notice this language, it talks about their peoples, tribes, it talks about tongues, nations. Whenever you see those four terms together in the Book of Revelation those are literary devices that John is using to communicate the whole world.\u00a0 In fact, every time those same terms are\u00a0 used, or very similar terms, it has a global nuance. You\u2019ll see that in Revelation 5:9 concerning those for whom Christ died.\u00a0 [Revelation 5:9, \u201cAnd they sang a new song, saying, \u2018Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.\u2019\u201d]\u00a0 Who did Christ die for exactly.\u00a0 He died for every tribe, tongue, people and nation.\u00a0 He died for the whole world in other words.\n\nYou\u2019ll see it there concerning the antichrist\u2019s empire, the same four words, Revelation 13:7.\u00a0 [Revelation 13:7, \u201cIt was also given to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them, and authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation was given to him.\u201d]\u00a0 The antichrist\u2019s empire will govern the entire planet.\u00a0 You\u2019ll see it there in Revelation 10:11, those whom John is too prophecy to in his book, which would be the whole world..\u00a0 [Revelation 10:11, \u201cAnd they said to me, \u2018You must prophesy again concerning many peoples and nations and tongues and kings.\u2019\u201d]\n\nAnd finally you see those four terms in Revelation 17:15 concerning the influence of the harlot city and system called Babylon in the last days, which will govern and corrupt the entire world.\u00a0 [Revelation 17:15, \u201cAnd he said to me, \u2018The waters which you saw where the harlot sits, are peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues.\u2019\u201d]\n\nSo when those same four terms show up what John is saying here in this prophecy is the whole world is going to see this martyrdom.\u00a0 Everybody on planet earth will see the killing, if not the dead bodies of these two witnesses that will be denied a basic burial.\u00a0 And it\u2019s somewhat interesting to go back to older commentators.\u00a0 I tried to look at a couple last night, people that wrote commentaries on the Book of Revelation, say a hundred years ago, watching them try to make sense of how in the world can the whole world see what\u2019s going on simultaneously in the city streets of Jerusalem.\u00a0 A lot of the older commentators just skipped the verse, it doesn\u2019t make any sense to them.\u00a0 But isn\u2019t it interesting that we\u2019re living in a time period where we can clearly see how the whole world can observe what is happening in the city streets of Jerusalem.\u00a0 It requires virtually no imagination at all, as the Lord (I believe) is setting the table, setting the chessboard if you will, for the final drama.\n\nThe whole scenario of prophecy is becoming more and more believable and credible with the advent of modern day technology, whether it be Skype, live streaming, where you can actually go as I speak onto your cell phone and if you know where to look you know exactly what\u2019s happening in the city streets of Jerusalem right now.\u00a0 It\u2019s interesting to me how technology has finally caught up with the time period that the Bible predicts.\u00a0 In fact, I ran into this recent news article.\u00a0 It says: \u201cJerusalem has installed security cameras into the entrance to one of the holiest sites in Jerusalem as tensions between the Israelis and the Palestinians edge higher.\u00a0 After a violent week Israel installed security cameras in the entrance into the old city of Jerusalem, the holy site, early Sunday morning.\u201d\n\nIt\u2019s almost as if the Lord is saying get ready, you\u2019re about to see something credible happen.\u00a0 We\u2019re no longer living in a time period where people could just write off Bible prophecy; God is not allowing that, as He\u2019s allowing humanity to get to the precipice of the fulfillment of these things where the whole technology is in place, where the whole world could conceivable with very little imagination see what\u2019s happening in the city streets of Jerusalem.\n\nAnd notice the complete and total disrespect of the world for these two witnesses who have just prophesied unto God.\u00a0 It says in Revelation chapter 11 verse 9, \u201cThose from the peoples and the nations and the tongues will look upon their dead bodies for three and a half days, and will not permit their bodies to be laid in a tomb.\u201d\n\nYou have to understand something, that burial was a common practice amongst the devout within the nation of Israel.\u00a0 In fact, in the first martyrdom of the church age a man named Stephen, as his body was laying there it says this in Acts 8:2, \u201cSome devout men\u201d meaning the God-conscious men, people with a conscience, \u201cburied Stephen and made loud lamentation over him.\u201d\u00a0 Everybody is buried, that\u2019s basic common sense, it\u2019s common respect afforded to the deceased and consequently when you leave someone in an unburied state after they die and you just leave their corpses to rot there in the city street it\u2019s a sign of total disrespect.\u00a0 In fact, this was a practice practiced by the Philistines in 1 Samuel 31:8-13 in a place called Beth-shan.\n\nIn my Sunday School lesson this morning I\u2019ve been taking people to the different places in Israel; one of them I was hoping to get to today because of the sermon tie-in is Beth-shan where Saul and Jonathan\u2019s body was just hung on a wall; those bodies were hung on a wall not even given a proper burial, to show the Philistines disrespect for Saul.\u00a0 It says in 1 Samuel 31:10, \u201cThey put his weapons in the temple of Ashtoreth, and they fastened his body to the wall of Beth-shan.\u201d\u00a0 Verse 11, \u201cNow when the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul, [12] all the valiant men\u201d people with a conscience in other words, devout Israelis, \u201crose and walked all night, and took the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Beth-shan, and they came to Jabesh and burned them there.\u00a0 [13] They took their bones and buried them under the tamarisk tree at Jabesh,\u201d and what does it say, they \u201cfasted seven days.\u201d\n\nI mean, they couldn\u2019t believe that the Philistines wouldn\u2019t even give Saul a basic burial and so they quickly did that, with his bones at least, and they were so distraught over the whole thing that they fasted for seven days.\u00a0 That\u2019s how shocking it is to find these two Jewish witnesses lying in the city streets without burial; it shows the complete hatred of not just the world but unbelieving Israel for these two men.\u00a0 And I believe very strongly that this is the time period that we\u2019re living in because of the hatred of the world for the righteous.\u00a0 I have never seen it like it is today, at least in the United States of America.\n\nI remember very vividly when the late Jerry Falwell died; I didn\u2019t agree with every little thing with Jerry Falwell but I always appreciated his stance on moral subjects from the Bible and his willingness to articulate those subjects.\u00a0 I remember watching a newscast interview with the late atheist Christopher Hitchens on the very day that Jerry Falwell died. And Christopher Hitchens gets onto the airwaves in this interview, in an interview situation, and he just begins to lambast Jerry Falwell, what an intolerant bigoted demagogue he is and he was so vociferous in his personal criticisms of Jerry Falwell that it even embarrassed the secular host doing the interview.\u00a0 And the secular host would try to hold him back and say well wait a minute, shouldn\u2019t you give at least a small time period for the family to grieve, because he was making these criticism on the day Jerry Falwell died.\u00a0 And I remember watching Christopher Hitchens\u2019 reaction, how such a time of basic grieving was\u00a0 unnecessary, unneeded, and undeserved because of what a terrible man Jerry Falwell was.\n\nAnd as that interview was going on it was sort of shocking to my conscience, I mean, I don\u2019t think I would do that to my worst enemy.\u00a0\u00a0 You always give the family a time to grieve, you don\u2019t launch out in a criticism on the day somebody dies; you may disagree with them on something.\u00a0 Immediately my mind flashed to this passage here.\u00a0 I said that\u2019s the season that we\u2019re living in, the complete and utter rejection, and not just rejection but disrespect for the prophets of God.\u00a0 And that disrespect turns quickly into a celebration, verse 10.\n\nNotice, if you will, Revelation chapter 11 and verse 10, \u201cAnd those who dwell on the earth will<\/em> rejoice over them and celebrate; and they will send gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth.\u201d\u00a0 Now you\u2019ll notice this expression earth dwellers, it occurs there at the beginning of verse 10 and at the end of verse 10 it\u2019s translated earth dwellers and that is a phrase that expresses or refers to unbelievers.\n\nThomas Ice writes, \u201cThe phrase \u2018earth dwellers\u2019 is used eleven times in nine verses in the Book of Revelation. As you examine each individual use you will see that all refer to a special class of stubborn sinners who are set in their rebellion against God, the God of heaven.\u00a0 You also find that the phrase is only used to refer to those during the tribulation period.\u201d\u00a0 And this is the reason that God is bringing this judgment upon the earth, because of these earth dwellers.\u00a0 It\u2019s not a reference to the church, it\u2019s not a reference to the saints, many people are teaching that it\u2019s the church that\u2019s going to go into the tribulation period\u2026 not so!\u00a0 It\u2019s a judgment for these earth dwellers that apparently got so much amusement out of the death of these two witnesses.\n\nIt kind of reminds me of the world prior to the flood in Noah\u2019s day, how ridiculous it looked for Noah to be building this giant ark, and this went on for 120 years roughly.\u00a0 You\u2019ll find that number in Genesis 6:3. [Genesis 6:3, \u201cThen the LORD said, \u2018My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; nevertheless his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.\u2019\u201d]\u00a0 And these people, the best I\u2019m understanding the Bible, didn\u2019t even know what rain was.\u00a0 Mist used to come out, Genesis 2, from the ground and water Eden.\u00a0 [Genesis 2:6, \u201cBut a mist used to rise from the earth and water the whole surface of the ground.\u201d]\u00a0 The whole concept of rain and of a flood and a storm was something that was not even within their thinking of possibility.\n\nAnd can you imagine the jeering that Noah went through for a hundred and twenty years building this giant ark to endure a flood when these people didn\u2019t even know what flood waters were?\u00a0 And just\u00a0 prior to judgment humanity was its most arrogant toward the things of God.\u00a0 And beloved, may I just say to you that\u2019s where we are today, the total disrespect and contempt for God and His ways.\u00a0 And in fact, it\u2019s so severe that as they\u2019re gazing at these bodies lying in the city streets of Jerusalem for three and a half days they almost have an office gift exchange, they have a Christmas party.\n\nAnd I think to myself, look at what we\u2019ve done with Christmas here in the United States, around the world.\u00a0 Isn\u2019t it kind of odd to have a birthday party for somebody and you never invite the person whose birth you\u2019re celebrating?\u00a0 That\u2019s Christmas.\u00a0 In fact, they don\u2019t even say Christmas anymore, do they?\u00a0 They don\u2019t say Merry Christmas, they say what?\u00a0 \u201cHappy Holidays!\u201d\u00a0 In which case I come back and I say \u201cMerry Christmas.\u201d\u00a0 And sometimes the person behind the counter is so relieved they kind of sneak out \u201coh, Merry Christmas to you too.\u201d\n\nBut we\u2019re living in this time period where you can literally have a celebration for somebody and never invite the person whose birthday you\u2019re celebrating.\u00a0 And that\u2019s what Christmas has deteriorated into in the secular United States of America.\u00a0 It\u2019s a great big party but it has almost no spiritual quality or no spiritual content to it and that\u2019s the type of thing that\u2019s happening here as these people are having just a great grand old time at the death of God\u2019s key witnesses.\n\nI\u2019ve expressed before that one of the things that bothered me about the New York legislation legalizing abortion up to the point of birth, do you realize that?\u00a0 And many East Coast states following.\u00a0 What bothered me about the whole thing is not even so much the legislation as horrific as it is, but the absolute glee and celebration and the lighting up of the Empire State building in purple or rainbow or whatever it was to celebrate this great achievement.\u00a0 I\u2019m thinking to myself where is the basic conscience in human beings?\u00a0 Is it gone?\u00a0 Have we become a culture and a society that has gone so far in our rebellion against God that we don\u2019t even exercise common decency anymore?\u00a0 These aren\u2019t things to be celebrated, these are things to be grieved over.\u00a0 That\u2019s why these two witnesses, as we saw last week, are clothed in sackcloth.\u00a0 They\u2019re mourning about what\u2019s happening as the world itself is celebrating.\n\nAnd it\u2019s interesting here when you look at verse 10 there\u2019s a very interesting Greek verb.\u00a0 It says, \u201cbecause these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth.\u201d\u00a0 That\u2019s how the unsaved world looks at righteousness.\u00a0 They look at our proclamations from the Bible as a torment to their souls.\u00a0 In fact, I did a little word study on this word \u201ctorment,\u201d [\u1f10\u03b2\u03b1\u03c3\u03ac\u03bd\u03b9\u03c3\u03b1\u03bd ebasanisan<\/a>] and you\u2019ll find it used of demons in Matthew 8:29, fearful that Christ was going to send them into the judgment and to torture them, same word, before the appointed time. [Matthew 8:29, \u201cAnd they cried out, saying, \u201cWhat business do we have with each other, Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before the time?\u201d]\n\nIt\u2019s used of martyrs being tortured for the cause of Christ, Hebrews 11:35.\u00a0 [Hebrews 11:35, \u201cWomen received back their dead by resurrection; and others were tortured, not accepting their release, so that they might obtain a better resurrection;\u201d].\u00a0 And that same word is used to describe the righteous stand of these martyrs who apparently through their words of righteousness have tormented the same way the inhabitants of the earth.\u00a0 That\u2019s how the unsaved world looks at true biblical Christianity.\u00a0 It\u2019s not just a difference of opinion, it\u2019s a disagreement so profound that it torments their souls and that\u2019s why they work over time to shut the whole thing up.\n\nDo we understand that, that around the world and in Canada and in some extent coming into the\u00a0 United States of America is something called hate crimes legislation where they think that someone like myself teaching out of the Bible is the equivalent of a racist in their twisted logic and mind and so we\u2019ve got to shut him up.\u00a0 Look at what they\u2019re doing with social media,\u00a0 You tube, Facebook, I could go on and on with examples of how people are taken off or censored or removed.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Because they simple speak biblical truth.\u00a0 Why do they keep doing that?\u00a0 Because they look at our words as torment, they don\u2019t want anything to do with them.\u00a0 And of course Jesus warned us this day would come, didn\u2019t He.\u00a0 What did He say to the disciples in the Upper Room? John 15:18-19, \u201cIf the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated<\/em> you. [19] \u201cIf you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you.\u201d To such an extent that we want to silence you even to the point of death because your very words are tormenting us.\n\nAnd so that\u2019s a description of their martyrdom.\u00a0 And aren\u2019t they going to be shocked when verses 11-13 happen, because this martyrdom turns into a resuscitation leading to a spiritual awakening or a revival.\u00a0 Notice, if you will, verses 11-13, we have their resuscitation, verse 11, their rapture to heaven of these two witnesses, verse 12, and then the results, verse 13, four results.\u00a0 And God is often doing His greatest work at the times of greatest darkness.\u00a0 Just when you think that the human race has completely went off the rail and God has lost control of everything, that\u2019s the time to expect God to show up and do something great.\u00a0 And that\u2019s what happens here in the midst of pitch spiritual darkness.\n\nNotice their resuscitation, Revelation 11:11, notice what it says, \u201c\u201cBut after the three and a half days, the breath of life from God came into them, and they stood on their feet; and great fear\u201d I would think so, \u201cfell upon those who were watching them.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0God brings them back to life after three and a half\u00a0 days.\u00a0 Now if I remember right God\u2019s kind of a specialty in that, isn\u2019t He.\u00a0 I know about a Messiah, Matthew 12:38-40, in the tomb for three days that was brought back to life.\u00a0 [Matthew 12:38-40, \u201cThen some of the scribes and Pharisees said to Him, \u201cTeacher, we want to see a sign from You.\u201d [39] But He answered and said to them, \u201cAn evil and adulterous generation craves for a sign; and yet<\/em> no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet; [40] for just as JONAH WAS THREE DAYS AND THREE NIGHTS IN THE BELLY OF THE SEA MONSTER, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.\u201d]\n\nThe same kind of thing happens here.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think, though, that this is the resurrection.\u00a0 For one thing the word \u201cresurrection\u201d anastasis<\/em>, although it\u2019s used later in the Book of\u00a0 Revelation, is not used here.\u00a0 The resurrection of Old Testament saints and tribulation martyrs, according to Daniel 12:2 and Revelation 20:4-5, will take place at the end of the tribulation period.\u00a0 [Daniel 12:2, \u201cMany of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt.\u201d\u00a0 Revelation 20:4-5, \u201cThen I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received the mark on their forehead and on their hand; and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. [5] The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed. This is the first resurrection.\u201d]\n\nWe\u2019re not there in our chronology and at the beginning of the millennial kingdom. I think this is better described not as a resurrection but a resuscitation, they come back to life not in a resurrected body but in the same body, kind of like what happened to Lazarus in John 11:43-44.\u00a0 That couldn\u2019t be a resurrection there where he was brought out of the tomb in a resurrected body because Christ\u2019s resurrection, which hadn\u2019t happened yet, is the firstfruits.\u00a0 [John 11:43, \u201cWhen He had said these things, He cried out with a loud voice, \u2018Lazarus, come forth.\u2019\u00a0 [44] The man who had died came forth, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and his face was wrapped around with a cloth. Jesus said to them, \"Unbind him, and let him go.\u201d]\u00a0 That must have been a resuscitation, where He comes out of the tomb, Lazarus does, John 11, in his same body only to die again.\n\nAnd it\u2019s interesting that as this happens great fear falls upon the world and everybody watching, and we know that everybody\u2019s watching because verse 9 has told us that the entire planet, through the repetition of tribes and nations and tongues and peoples, the entire planet is watching this happen.\u00a0 [Revelation 7:9, \u201cAfter these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands.\u201d]\u00a0\u00a0 They\u2019re looking at the dead bodies of these two prophets for three and a half days and suddenly they come to life, not even giving them a common burial decency, they come back to life and it scares the daylights out of them.\u00a0 Fear comes over them.\u00a0 Now more on this fear in just a moment.\n\nAnd then what happens is we move away from their resuscitation to their rapture into heaven, these two witnesses when they come back to life.\u00a0 Look, if you will, at verse 12, \u201cAnd they\u201d that\u2019s the two witnesses who have just come back to life, \u201cheard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, \u2018Come up here...\u2019\u201d\u00a0 That rings a bell, doesn\u2019t it. \u201c\u2026And they went up into heaven in the cloud, and their enemies watched them.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cCome up here,\u201d my goodness, that\u2019s what John was told to do.\u00a0 Remember, in the third section of the book, the futuristic section of the book, he was catapulted into heaven, \u201cCome up here,\u201d and he was given the third and final section of the book, the futuristic section that we\u2019re reading about here.\n\nYou say will this is all a bunch of science fiction stuff, I mean, you don\u2019t really believe that people are actually going to be called up to heaven and rocketed upward?\u00a0 You bet your bottom dollar I believe it.\u00a0 You know why I believe it?\u00a0 Because the Bible describes this happening to people over and over again.\u00a0 What do you think happened to Enoch, Genesis 5?\u00a0 The same kind of thing happened to Elijah, 2 Kings 2.\u00a0 Even Jesus, now it\u2019s different because He was in His resurrected body at that time, ascended, Acts 1:11; Revelation 12:5.\u00a0 Phillip the deacon was brought up into heaven, Acts 8:39, as was Paul, the third heaven, 2 Corinthians 12:2-4.\u00a0 John Himself as I mentioned had this experience and apparently the same kind of thing is going to happen to these two witnesses.\n\n[Acts1:11, \u201cThey also said, \"Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.\u201d\u00a0 Revelation 12:5, \u201cAnd she gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron; and her child was caught up to God and to His throne.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 Acts 8:39, \u201cWhen they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; and the eunuch no longer saw him, but went on his way rejoicing.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 2 Corinthians 12:2-4, \u201cI know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago\u2014whether in the body I do not know, or out of the body I do not know, God knows\u2014such a man was caught up to the third heaven. [<\/strong>3] <\/strong>And I know how such a man\u2014whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, God knows\u2014[4] was caught up into Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which a man is not permitted to speak.\u201d\n\nAnd that\u2019s why there are a lot of Bible teachers that believe that one of these two witnesses has to be Enoch, because only Enoch, like Elijah, was caught up into heaven, Genesis 5.\u00a0 More on that a little later.\u00a0 But I would just say this, I would warn you against that kind of interpretation and the reason I say that is because the tribulation period God\u2019s hand is back on the nation of Israel.\u00a0 Jeremiah 30:7 calls this time period a time of Jacob\u2019s distress.\u00a0 [Jeremiah 30:7, \u201c'Alas! for that day is great, There is none like it; And it is the time of Jacob's distress, But he will be saved from it.\u201d]\u00a0 It is part of the seventy weeks of Daniel\u2019s clock which concerns Daniel\u2019s people in Daniel\u2019s city, the Jewish people.\n\nI\u2019ll remind you that Enoch was not Jewish; he was a Gentile.\u00a0 The story of Enoch is recorded in Genesis 5; God does not begin to create and form the nation of Israel until Genesis 12.\u00a0 I think if you want to identify these people caught up in this rapture I would say one of the persons you should identify is Elijah because the same exact thing happened to him, caught up to heaven in a chariot, a fiery chariot, 2 Kings 2:11-12.\u00a0 More on that a little bit later.\u00a0 [2 Kings 2:11-12, \u201cAs they were going along and talking, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire and horses of fire which separated the two of them. And Elijah went up by a whirlwind to heaven.\u00a0 [12] Elisha saw it and cried out, \u2018My father, my father, the chariots of Israel and its horsemen!\u2019 And he saw Elijah no more. Then he took hold of his own clothes and tore them in two pieces.\u201d]\n\nBut these two witnesses, whoever they are, are going up into heaven and the world is actually watching them ascend.\u00a0 Did you catch that there at the end of verse 12.\u00a0 The end of verse 12 says, \u201cand their enemies watched them.\u201d\u00a0 [Revelation 11:12, \u201cAnd they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, \u2018Come up here.\u2019 Then they went up into heaven in the cloud, and their enemies watched them.\u201d]\u00a0\u00a0 It kind of reminds me of the ascension of our Lord in Acts 1:9-11.\u00a0 It says this concerning the Lord, Acts 1:9-11, \u201cAnd after He had said these things, He was lifted up [and a cloud received Him out of their sight. [10] And as they were gazing intently into the sky while He was going, behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them. [11] They also said, \u201cMen of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.\u201d]\u00a0 And then it says while they were looking on, they were actually watching Him go, and not only will the world see their deaths, their martyrdom, the will actually see their departure into heaven.\n\nAnd this event looks so similar to the rapture of the church there are many people that will argue for a mid tribulational rapture.\u00a0\u00a0 They believe that this is symbolic of the church being removed from the earth, not before the tribulation period starts (as we teach it here) but in the middle of the tribulation period.\u00a0 And they base their whole argument on these two witnesses being taken into heaven.\u00a0 Let me ask you a question\u2014as we studied the passage have\u00a0 you seen the word \u201cchurch\u201d anywhere?\u00a0 Have you seen the words \u201cbody of Christ\u201d?\u00a0 And if this is the body of Christ who is doing the miracle?\u00a0 And what people do is they say well this is just a symbol, you\u2019re taking it too literally.\u00a0 Well, are the miracles symbols?\u00a0 Is 1260 days a symbol?\u00a0 Is three and a half days a symbol?\u00a0 Seven thousand people are about to get killed, is that a symbol.\u00a0\u00a0 We ran into the third temple, chapter 11:1-2, is that a symbol.\u00a0 Didn\u2019t we learn that the two witnesses will be dead and lie in the city streets of Jerusalem where their Lord was crucified.\u00a0 Is Jerusalem a symbol?\u00a0 Is city a symbol.\u00a0 Is the street a symbol?\u00a0 Is Jesus a symbol?\u00a0 Is the crucifixion of Christ a symbol?\u00a0 You see how ridiculous this gets.\n\nI mean, of course the Book of Revelation has many symbols in it but when the Book of Revelation wants to be understood symbolically it will give you a clue, like it does right there in chapter 11, verse 8, \u201cmystically,\u201d and then it will interpret what the symbol means.\u00a0 [Revelation 11:8, \u201cAnd their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city which mystically is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified.\u201d]\u00a0 And unless I have that kind of warrant my obligation as a Bible reader and a Bible teacher is to take God\u2019s Word as His Word.\u00a0 No, this is not the rapture of the church folks; the rapture of the church has already happened before this event even takes place, three and a half years, at least three and a half years earlier.\u00a0 This is the rapture of two individuals called the two witnesses.\n\nBut what happens, what\u2019s the result?\u00a0 Take a look at verse 13.\u00a0 What does God do on account of these things.\u00a0 Verse 13, \u201cAnd in that hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth if the city fell and seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.\u201d\u00a0 [Revelation 11:13]\u00a0 What exactly happened.\u00a0 It says \u201cin that hour\u201d so as these events are happening God is striking fear into the hearts of the unbelievers because He wants to lead these earth dwellers into a saving knowledge of His Son.\u00a0 God does not leave the earth without a witness of Himself.\n\nAnd right down to the very last moment of human history God is trying to reach out to people.\u00a0 Maybe God is trying to reach out to you right now as I\u2019m talking.\u00a0 Maybe that\u2019s the reason\u00a0 you\u2019re here, you\u2019ve gone far in rejection of Him, rebellion of Him but you\u2019re hearing this and praise the Lord that\u00a0 you\u2019re hearing it because it\u2019s a testimony that God wants to reach YOU!\u00a0 And not only does He want to reach you He wants to reach every person through you that has not yet trusted in Christ as Savior.\u00a0 The fact of the matter is God is a lot more patient with people than most Christians are.\u00a0 He is not willing that any should perish.\u00a0 [\u201cThe Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.\u201d\u00a0 2 Peter 3:9]\n\nBut at this same hour these events happen.\u00a0 What happens?\u00a0 Number one, \u201ca great earthquake\u201d it says, verse 13. This is not the first earthquake we\u2019ve seen in the Book of Revelation, there was one at the opening of seal judgment number 6, Revelation 6:12.\u00a0 [I looked when He broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood.\u201d] And there\u2019s actually going to be another great earthquake, this one much bigger than anything that\u2019s been described thus far, described as the seventh bowl judgment, Revelation 16:18.\u00a0 [Revelation 16:18, \u201cAnd there were flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder; and there was a great earthquake, such as there had not been since man came to be upon the earth, so great an earthquake was it, and so mighty.\u201d]\n\nEarthquakes, can God speak through earthquakes?\u00a0 I\u2019m from southern California, there\u2019s nothing that got my attention to God faster than an earthquake, which we had several of them, no major ones in my lifetime but growing up, remembering what it felt like with the ground moving under\u00a0 your feet, I mean, there was such an\u00a0 utter helplessness that you feel and your recognize very fast that you don\u2019t have control of anything in life.\u00a0\u00a0 You are totally dependent on God!\u00a0 And until an earthquake happens physically, until the ground starts moving under your feet we\u2019re deluded into thinking that we\u2019re in charge.\u00a0 And earthquake, physically speaking, is a great cure for that.\n\nIs God actually going to bring an earthquake to the nation of Israel in the last days?\u00a0 Look at this news article.\u00a0 \u201cScientists say thousands could die because Israel, which sits on a major fault line, has ignored warnings to strengthen homes and schools. After a series of minor tremors rattled through northern Israel\u00a0 over the last two weeks experts warn that the country is negligently unprepared for a major earthquake that would likely kill thousands of people.\u201d\u00a0 Isn\u2019t it interesting that we\u2019re dealing with a number of seven thousand here in this same verse, including many children.\u00a0 The experts say that the threat of an earthquake is in my eyes the greatest threat facing the state of Israel.\u00a0 Geologist Aerial Hyman told\u00a0 Hadashot<\/em> News on Friday, \u201cIt is definitely a greater threat than rockets themselves being fired into the land of Israel.\u201d\u00a0 He goes on, \u201cFrom Gaza, it\u2019s far greater danger than the Iranian threat,\u201d wow, the news isn\u2019t telling you that.\u00a0 \u201cIsrael sets on the Syrian\/African rift, a tear in the earth\u2019s crust running the length of the border separating Israel and the Jordan. It\u2019s part of the great rift wall which extends from Northern Syria to Mozambique.\u201d\u00a0 Quote, \u201cIf God forbid we have an earthquake like this it will leave thousands dead and hundreds of people will have to leave their homes.\u00a0 Houses will be destroyed, there will be massive economic damage that will set the country back dozens of\u00a0 years,\u201d Hyman warned.\n\nI think the stage is being set, folks.\u00a0 I know I say that every single Sunday but the fact of the matter is I can\u2019t even imagine how much closer we can get to these realities than we\u2019re at right now.\u00a0 I mean, we are sitting on the precipice, the sand is almost out of the hourglass, and we\u2019re at the very final moments of human history.\u00a0 I\u2019m not a date setter nor the son of a date setter, but the fact of the matter I live because of prophecy every day of my life as if this could be the last one, and I organize my priorities accordingly.\u00a0 And that\u2019s why God has given us His prophetic words.\n\nWhat else happens?\u00a0 A tenth of the city\u00a0 is destroyed.\u00a0 Why would a tenth of the city be destroyed? Because the city is in wickedness\u00a0 at the time this happens; this is not millennial Jerusalem, this is Jerusalem described with the words Sodom and Egypt, which we saw last week.\u00a0 And what else happens?\u00a0 Seven thousand people die.\n\nYou know, it\u2019s so tempting to read this, seven thousand people, interest, we\u2019ll go on to the next verse, forgetting that these are real people, with real children, real families, real homes, real struggles that this will happen to.\u00a0\u00a0 That\u2019s seven thousand people, and what does it produce?\u00a0 Something that we desperately need in modern day Christianity, something we desperately need here in the United States, some that we desperately need worldwide, a holy fear!\u00a0 It says at the end of verse 13, \u201cpeople were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.\u00a0 [Revelation 11:13, \u201cAnd in that hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell; seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.\u201d]\n\nWhy do these people need to give \u201cglory to the God of heaven\u201d?\u00a0 Look at their backslidden dilapidated state in verse 8.\u00a0 I mean, their whole live is characterized like it\u2019s Sodom and Egypt.\u00a0 And the wakeup call happens and great fear comes upon them, and they give glory to God.\u00a0 Isn\u2019t it interesting what a little trauma will do to people.\u00a0 The very folks that were celebrating the death of these two witnesses as they watched it worldwide, even denying them a common decent burial suddenly the shock hits the system and they\u2019re glorifying God.\n\nWhat does the Bible say?\u00a0 \u201cThe fear of the Lord is the beginning of\u201d what? \u201cwisdom.\u201d\u00a0 [Proverbs 9:10, \u201cThe fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.\u201d]\u00a0 In face in Proverbs it even says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.\u00a0 Knowledge or understanding begins with depositing one\u2019s self before God in His presence and saying You\u2019re the boss, I am a created finite being, You are the Creator, You take the reins.\u00a0 Do you do that because of the fear of the Lord?\u00a0 Do you watch knowledge and wisdom skyrocket in your life, I don\u2019t care where you are in life, you\u2019re going to have greater skill, greater understanding, greater insight, because you are living within your design.\u00a0 God never created us to be gods and little gods, in fact, that\u2019s the first lie, do you remember Genesis 3:5, that the serpent tempted our forebears with, \u201cye shall be like God. [Genesis 3:5, \u201cFor God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.\u201d]\u00a0 And how we fall for that, we\u2019re not gods at all, we\u2019re merely finite created beings whose very next breath we couldn\u2019t even experience if God was not sovereignly allowing it.\n\nDo you realize the Book of Colossians says Jesus keeps this world moving correctly?\u00a0\u00a0 [Colossians 1:16-17, \u201cFor by Him all things were created, both<\/em> in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities\u2014all things have been created through Him and for Him. [17] He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.\u201d]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 He didn\u2019t just create it, He sustained it.\u00a0 Colossians 1, Colossians 2.\u00a0 Do you realize that the very reason you woke up this morning with your heart beating and palpating is an act of grace?\u00a0 Many people didn\u2019t wake up this morning. Why did you wake up?\u00a0 Why did I wake up?\u00a0 Why am I given another twenty-four hours when people all over this world are dying.\u00a0 It\u2019s called grace; use it wisely, don\u2019t presume on tomorrow.\u00a0 Don\u2019t think tomorrow\u2026 the Book of James talks about this quite a bit, that tomorrow is going to be just like today.\u00a0 You\u2019re like mist that appears for a while and then it\u2019s gone.\u00a0 And may God help us to have a fear of the Lord.\n\nWell, I know the question you\u2019ve all been asking---I wish you would tell us who these two witnesses are? So I\u2019m going to try to do that.\u00a0 It\u2019s not an easy question because there\u2019s at least four positions on it.\u00a0 The first position is the symbolic view, oh, these are just symbols of something, symbols of the church, symbols of the two parts of the Ten Commandments, symbols of the Law and the Prophets, just make it a symbol for something.\u00a0\u00a0 Well, do symbols perform miracles?\u00a0 And what do you do with all these numbers?\u00a0 2 witnesses, 1160 days,\u00a0 3\u00bd day, 7,000 killed?\u00a0 What about bodies without tombs?\u00a0 Are those symbols?\u00a0 How about the temple we saw earlier in the chapter, that can\u2019t be a symbol, that\u2019s got to be real.\u00a0 And after all, as we mentioned before, they\u2019re lying in the street looks very literal to me; where Jesus Himself was crucified, that can\u2019t be a symbol, in a city.\u00a0 These are not symbols of something; these are two real people that just lost their lives for the cause of Jesus Christ and they\u2019ve been resuscitated.\n\nA dominant view out there,\u00a0 as we\u2019ve already hinted at, is that these two must be Enoch and Elijah.\u00a0 Why do people think that?\u00a0 Because of Hebrews 9:27, it says, \u201cAnd inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment.\u201d\u00a0 Enoch never died, Genesis 5:24, Hebrews 11:5.\u00a0 [Genesis 5:24, \u201cEnoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.\u201d\u00a0 Hebrews 11:5, \u201cBy faith Enoch was taken up so that he would not see death; AND HE WAS NOT FOUND BECAUSE GOD TOOK HIM UP; for he obtained the witness that before his being taken up he was pleasing to God.\u201d]\n\nWho else never died?\u00a0 Elijah never died, he was taken to heaven, 2 Kings 2:11-12.\u00a0 [2 Kings 2:11, \u201cAs they were going along and talking, behold, there appeared<\/em> a chariot of fire and horses of fire which separated the two of them. And Elijah went up by a whirlwind to heaven. [12] Elisha saw it<\/em> and cried out, \u2018My father, my father, the chariots of Israel and its horsemen!\u2019 And he saw Elijah no more.\u201d]\u00a0\u00a0 And because it is \u201cappointed for men once to die\u201d and those two never died, these two have got to be Enoch and Elijah.\u00a0 [Hebrews 9:27, \u201cAnd inasmuch as it is apportioned to men to die once, and after this, judgment.\u201d]\u00a0\u00a0 It can\u2019t be Moses, people say, because Moses died, Deuteronomy 34:7.\u00a0 [Deuteronomy 34:7, \u201cAlthough Moses was one hundred and twenty years old when he died, his eye was not dim, nor his vigor abated.\u201d]\n\nLet me just say this: I think Hebrews 9:27, \u201cIt is appointed for men to die once\u201d and then to face the judgment, is a general rule.\u00a0 All things being considered that\u2019s generally how it works but it is not an ironclad rule and I can show you examples in the Bible of people like Lazarus, who died, came back to life and presumably died again; he died twice.\u00a0 And what do you do with us if we\u2019re the rapture generation, who won\u2019t die once but are taken to heaven without even experiencing death?\u00a0 Beyond that, as I mentioned before, Enoch was a Gentile and this whole story God\u2019s hand is back on the Jewish nation, the nation of Israel.\n\nWhich leads\u00a0 us to view number three, these people are Moses and Elijah like, they\u2019re not actually Moses and Elijah but they do similar things to Moses and Elijah.\u00a0 A lot of good people believe that, not the least of which is my learned professor, J. Dwight Pentecost, he tried to teach me that.\u00a0 Arnold Fruchtenbaum, to my knowledge, believes that.\u00a0 But what does Bible prophecy say?\u00a0 What does it say in Malachi 4:5-6 concerning the end times?\u00a0 \u201cBehold, I will send you\u201d who? \u201cElijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful Day of the LORD.\u00a0 [6]\u00a0 And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers. Otherwise, I will come and strike the land with a curse.\u201d\u00a0 Do you believe that?\u00a0 I mean, does the prophecy say God is going to send you someone just like Elijah? Does it say he\u2019s going to come and do similar things that Elijah did?\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t say that does it?\u00a0 It says it\u2019s going to be Elijah.\n\nNow when you talk like this people will quote Matthew 11:13-14 which says this:\u00a0 Matthew 11:13, \u201cFor all the prophets and the Law prophesied until John.\u201d\u00a0 John the Baptist.\u00a0\u00a0 [14] \u201cAnd if you are willing to accept it,\u201d Jesus says, \u201cJohn\u201d the Baptist \u201chimself is Elijah who was to come.\u201d\u00a0 John the Baptist, interestingly according to what Christ says here, could have fulfilled the prophecy in Malachi 4:5-6.\u00a0 So people say well if John the Baptist could have fit the bill then someone like Elijah could fit the bill.\u00a0 I think this: if God, through infinite foreknowledge knew that the nation of Israel would reject the King and his offer of the kingdom and He always knew that they would not accept the offer, and so John could have never been the guy; it\u2019s got to be the literal Elijah.\n\nSo I don\u2019t really think, based on Malachi 4, 5 and 6 that these are two people like Moses and Elijah, I think it\u2019s view number four, Moses and Elijah literal.\u00a0 In fact, if I\u2019m right about this you may be out in the shopping center and if we\u2019re this close to when these events will happen you might even bump into Moses and Elijah.\u00a0 What do you think about that?\u00a0 Moses and Elijah, literal!\u00a0 Why would I believe that?\u00a0 Andy, you\u2019re an educated person, you can\u2019t hold views like that?\u00a0 I hold the view primarily because it\u2019s how these two witnesses are described.\n\nFirst of all, Revelation 11:5, they\u2019re protected by divine fire.\u00a0 [Revelation 11:5, \u201cAnd if anyone wants to harm them, fire flows out of their mouth and devours their enemies; so if anyone wants to harm them, he must be killed in this way.\u201d]\u00a0 My goodness, that\u2019s what happened to Moses, Numbers 16:35, and Elijah, 2 Kings 1:10-14.\u00a0 [Numbers 16:35, \u201cFire also came forth from the LORD and consumed the two hundred and fifty men who were offering the incense.\u201d\u00a0 2 Kings 1:10-14, \u201cElijah replied to the captain of fifty, \u201cIf I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty.\u201d Then fire came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty.\u00a0 [11] So he again sent to him another captain of fifty with his fifty. And he said to him, \u201cO man of God, thus says the king, \u2018Come down quickly.\u2019\u201d [12] Elijah replied to them, \u201cIf I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty.\u201d Then the fire of God came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty.\u00a0 [13] So he again sent the captain of a third fifty with his fifty. When the third captain of fifty went up, he came and bowed down on his knees before Elijah, and begged him and said to him, \u201cO man of God, please let my life and the lives of these fifty servants of yours be precious in your sight. [14] \u201cBehold fire came down from heaven and consumed the first two captains of fifty with their fifties; but now let my life be precious in your sight.\u201d]\n\nNumber two, look at their ministry activities, verse 6 says they strike the earth with plagues.\u00a0 [Revelation 11:6, \u201cThese have the power to shut up the sky, so that rain will not 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 plague, as often as they desire.\u201d]\u00a0 Look at that in the Old Testament, it reminds me a lot of Moses.\u00a0 In fact, one of the signs that\u2019s going to be done is water is going to be turned blood red, doesn\u2019t that sound like Moses and the Nile River, Exodus 7?\n\nAnother one shuts up the heavens so that it cannot rain, verse 6.\u00a0 Doesn\u2019t that sound like Elijah?\u00a0 1 Kings 17:1.\u00a0 [1 Kings 17:1, \u201cNow Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the settlers of Gilead, said to Ahab, \"As the LORD, the God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, surely there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word.\u201d]\u00a0 And my goodness, how long is their ministry going to last for?\u00a0 According to Revelation 11:3 exactly three and a half years.\u00a0 [Revelation 11:3, \u201cAnd I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for twelve hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth.\u201d]\n\nIsn\u2019t that the length of Elijah\u2019s ministry, when he shut up the heavens so that it couldn\u2019t rain for three and a half year?\u00a0 In Luke 4:25 you\u2019ll see the number.\u00a0 In James 5:17 you\u2019ll see the number.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 [Luke 4:25, \u201c\"But I say to you in truth, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the sky was shut up for three years and six months, when a great famine came over all the land;\u201d\u00a0 James 5:17, \u201cElijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months.\u201d]\n\nAnd it talks, verse 12, we just read the verses, that they\u2019re going to be raptured or taken into heaven.\u00a0 Gosh, that sounds an awful lot like Elijah, taken into heaven in a fiery chariot, 2 Kings 2:11.\u00a0 [2 Kings 2:11, \u201cAs they were going along and talking, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire and horses of fire which separated the two of them. And Elijah went up by a whirlwind to heaven.\u201d]\n\nIn other words, the calling card of these two witnesses is described.\u00a0 And if you have a modicum of knowledge in the Old Testament you say to\u00a0 yourself, this sounds an awful lot like Moses and Elijah.\u00a0 You say well, give me some more proof.\u00a0 I\u2019m glad you asked.\u00a0 Who appeared with Christ on the Mount of Transfiguration?\u00a0 Jesus transfigured Himself showing what the glorified kingdom, His glorified state would be like, and who\u2019s right there with Him.\u00a0 My goodness, it\u2019s Moses and Elijah. These two witnesses have a tendency to make guest appearances when the kingdom offer is near.\u00a0 And that\u2019s what\u2019s happening in the tribulation period, the kingdom offer is near.\n\nAnd one of the things I love about God is He\u2019s a God of second chance; aren\u2019t you glad about that?\u00a0 You know, Moses was never allowed to finish his ministry?\u00a0 Remember God said, \u201cSpeak to the rock,\u201d he struck the rock, he was not allowed to enter Canaan;\u00a0 he died in the Transjordan on Mount Nebo only seeing Canaan from a distance.\u00a0 Wouldn\u2019t it be just like God, the God of second chances, to let Moses come back and finish the job.\n\nElijah, of course, was taken into heaven in a fiery chariot so his ministry was cut short as well.\u00a0 One of my favorite verses in the whole Bible, I shared this this morning in Sunday School, is Jonah chapter 3 and verse 1, which says, \u201cNow the word of the LORD came to Jonah\u201d what? \u201cthe second time,\u201d you don\u2019t think God gives second chances to people.\u00a0 Look in the mirror and you\u2019ll see an example of God giving a second chance to someone, and a third chance, and a fourth chance, and a fifth chance, because that\u2019s the nature of God.\u00a0\u00a0 You know, we disqualify ourselves and other people so fast and yet God is not like that, is He?\u00a0 He\u2019s a God of grace and longsuffering.\n\nAnd another reason I think this is Moses and Elijah is because other Scriptural data, to my mind, indicates that it has to be Moses and Elijah,\u00a0 I\u2019ve already shared with you Malachi 4:5-6 which says Elijah is going to come back.\u00a0 In fact, you know who believes this?\u00a0 The Orthodox Jews. Did you know that in their homes during certain Jewish feast days they set out a chair, they call it Elijah\u2019s chair.\u00a0 I mean, evangelical Christianity may not believe this but I\u2019ll tell you something, the Orthodox Jews believe it because they think Elijah is going to walk right in the door and sit down and have supper.\n\nThere is a very interesting reference in Jude 9, most people don\u2019t have any idea what to do with this.\u00a0 It says this, \u201cBut Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a railing judgment, but said, \u2018The Lord rebuke you!\u201d\u2019\u00a0 Why is Michael arguing with Satan over the body of Moses?\u00a0 Maybe because Moses is going to need his body again.\u00a0 And consequently Satan is coming again, the plan and program of God.\u00a0 Whatever\u00a0 you hold on this, and we can still be friends at the end of the day, I mean you might think it\u2019s Sonny and Cher or whatever you want it to be, there\u2019s no price.\n\nBut whatever view you\u2019re going to come up with I hope you come up with the view that answers the most questions in the Bible because what you\u2019ll discover about the Bible is it\u2019s like giant jigsaw puzzle, all these pieces scattered everywhere, they all start to somehow fit together. And beyond that people say well, John the Baptist fulfilled that Malachi four prophecy.\u00a0 No he didn\u2019t, John the Baptist never fulfilled Malachi 4, 5 and 6 because Jesus said, of John the Baptist, the forerunner would come before Him, not as Elijah but in the spirit and power of Elijah.\u00a0 Luke 1:17.\u00a0 [Luke 1:17, \u201cIt is he who will go as a forerunner before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, TO TURN THE HEARTS OF THE FATHERS BACK TO THE CHILDREN, and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous, so as to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.\u201d\n\nIn fact, John the Baptist was asked, John 1:21, are you Elijah, to which he answered I am not.\u00a0\u00a0 [John 1:21, \u201cThey asked him, \u2018What then? Are you Elijah?\u2019 And he said, \u2018I am not.\u2019 \u2018Are you the Prophet?\u2019 And he answered, \u2018No\u2019\u201d]\n\nWhat am I saying?\u00a0 I\u2019m saying that Malachi 4:5-6 is a prophecy in the Word of God which has never been fulfilled in history.\u00a0 God means what He says and says what He means; I believe that prophecy is going to be fulfilled exactly like it says right here in Revelation 11.\u00a0 The transfiguration, the fact that their ministries have been cut short, the fact that other Scriptural data seems to comment on this, and the fact that Malachi 4:5-6 have never been fulfilled.\n\nHave you noticed as we\u2019ve gone through the Book of Revelation, the futuristic vision, how Jewish the whole thing was?\u00a0 I mean, God is working through the 144,000 Jewish witnesses, Revelation 7.\u00a0 [Revelation 7:4-8, \u201cAnd I heard the number of those who were sealed, one hundred and forty-four thousand sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel:\u00a0 [5] from the tribe of Judah, twelve thousand were<\/em> sealed, from the tribe of Reuben twelve thousand, from the tribe of Gad twelve thousand, [6] from the tribe of Asher twelve thousand, from the tribe of Naphtali twelve thousand, from the tribe of Manasseh twelve thousand, [7] from the tribe of Simeon twelve thousand, from the tribe of Levi twelve thousand, from the tribe of Issachar twelve thousand, [8] from the tribe of Zebulun twelve thousand, from the tribe of Joseph twelve thousand, from the tribe of Benjamin, twelve thousand were<\/em> sealed.\u201d]\n\nHe\u2019s working here through two Jewish witnesses, Revelation 11.\u00a0 Why isn\u2019t God using us? Why isn\u2019t God using the church?\u00a0 I mean, we\u2019re the main act, aren\u2019t we?\u00a0 I mean we\u2019re the ones that spread the gospel all over the world in the church age and there\u2019s not a shred or a drop or a hint of any reference in any church, in fact the word \u201cchurch\u201d doesn\u2019t even appear, it\u2019s all Jewish, it\u2019s all national.\n\nYou say well who cares?\u00a0 I\u2019ll tell you why I care, because the top view is right.\u00a0 The reason God is not using the church is because the church is in heaven watching it from above.\u00a0 That\u2019s why I don\u2019t believe anything you throw at me that the church is going to be raptured halfway through or at the end or three-quarters the way through.\u00a0 That\u2019s what a lot of people are telling them\u00adselves today, three-quarters rapture, kind of like medium well-done I guess.\u00a0 No, beloved, we\u2019re not appointed unto wrath.\u00a0 Jesus can appear at any moment through the rapture and take you to heaven. There is not a single shred of prophetic data that indicates there is some other sign that has to happen before the church can be raptured to heaven.\n\nAnd if we\u2019re getting this close with technology to the end of the age and the coming of the seven year tribulation period then the rapture of the church can\u2019t be far away. And yet today within evangelical Christianity the rapture and a sermon like this is almost unheard of.\u00a0 It\u2019s sort of interesting that people all around the country keep sending us e-mails, we get this e-mail two or three times a week, I get it personally at least two to three times a week, I don\u2019t even know how frequently the staff gets it but it\u2019s always the same.\u00a0 We live in this part of the country over here or many times they\u2019ll say we live in this part of the world over here, can you recommend a church that teaches the way you teach, that believes the way you teach it.\u00a0 And they sometimes ascribe to me omniscience, as if I\u2019m familiar with every nook and cranny on planet earth.\u00a0 And I usually just say politely say I\u2019m sorry, I just don\u2019t know your area well enough.\u00a0 I mean, I\u2019m trying, through Chafer Seminary and other mechanisms to train people to fill this need\u00a0 all over the world.\u00a0 The need is so astronomical in terms of its depth and severity.\u00a0 We just can\u2019t find the people to fill the need.\u00a0 We\u2019ve got a lot of people that want to get out and talk about pop spirituality.\u00a0 That\u2019s not what the body of Christ needs, they need Bible teachers that rightfully divide and handle the Word of God.\n\nAnd do you know what they tell me when I give them the negation?\u00a0 They say thank God for the internet, thank God for You Tube, thank God for Sermon audio, thank God for Facebook live because you are our lifeline.\u00a0 And isn\u2019t it interesting that God has put us at Sugar Land Bible Church at this time in history to meet this need by doing something as simple as setting up a couple of cameras which can be done very cheap.\u00a0 Do you realize that in the old days, before we had all this technology, to get a message going outside of your church required a lot of money because it cost money to get on radio, it cost money to get on television, and here we can set up a couple cameras, and we can speak truth to the whole world.\u00a0 Don\u2019t you think we\u2019re privileged?\n\nAnd what a time to pray for a ministry like this and get behind a ministry like this.\u00a0 And so the reason this is so Jewish is because the church is not here, the church has been removed to heaven and so we see the story of these two witnesses, concluding as we look at their ministry, their martyrdom and their resuscitation.\u00a0 And you don\u2019t want to miss next week because next week is the sounding of the seven trumpets which is a game changer as we\u2019ll talk about.\n\nYou know, you might be here and not even understanding how if God came back today\u00a0 you\u2019d be taken.\u00a0 I mean, how could a privilege like that be afforded to little old me?\u00a0 And that\u2019s an offer that we call the gospel.\u00a0 The gospel means good news.\u00a0 Good news that Jesus did everything in our place.\u00a0 His final words on the cross were \u201cIt is finished.\u201d\u00a0 [John 19:30, \u201cHe said, \"It is finished!\" And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.\u201d]\n\nHe\u2019s done everything necessary to bridge the gap between sinful man and woman and a holy God.\u00a0 It\u2019s all paid for and the only obligation for the lost sinner is to receive it as a gift.\u00a0 You know, the world is all involved in gift exchanges, we even saw a prophecy of one nightmarish gift exchange here in God\u2019s prophetic Word, the perversion of the idea of a gift in the minds of people and yet God gives humanity a gift which is only accessible to the person or has power to change the person\u2019s life to the extent that they receive it.\u00a0 If it\u2019s never received it just remains a present under the tree, it has no value.\n\nAnd so God has created the gift but He\u2019s asked humanity to do something\u00a0 which is to receive it.\u00a0 The Bible says 160 times that you receive a gift from God by trusting, which means believing, in what He has done for you; you\u2019re no longer trusting in yourself, you\u2019re no longer trusting in your good works, you\u2019re not longer trusting in your credentials but you\u2019re trusting specifically in what Jesus did for you on the cross two thousand years ago.\u00a0 And the moment you place your personal trust, or faith, or reliance, or confidence, in Him is the moment your sins are thrown as far as the east is from the west.\u00a0 You say well how far is the east from the west?\u00a0 You don\u2019t see an east pole, do you?\u00a0 Or a west pole, like the North Pole and the South Pole.\u00a0 That means east and west must be an infinite line.\u00a0 It\u2019s paid for, you receive it and suddenly it accrues to your account simply by way of faith.\u00a0 You can receive that gift right now where you\u2019re seated, in the quietness of your own mind and in the quietness of your own heart by trusting specifically in what Jesus has done for\u00a0 you, as the Spirit of God places you under conviction.\u00a0 If it\u2019s something that you need more explanation on I\u2019m available after the service to talk.\u00a0 Shall we pray.\n\nFather, we\u2019re grateful for your prophetic Word and Your prophetic truth that help ministers to us in the 21st<\/sup> century and reminds\u00a0 us that we\u2019re living on borrowed time.\u00a0 Help us, Father, to understand the days are evil and yet You called us to redeem the time and live for You in these last days.\u00a0 We\u2019ll be careful to give you all the praise and the glory.\u00a0 We ask these things in Jesus\u2019 name, and God\u2019s people said\u2026 Amen!","series_sermon_number":""},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t