Thank you so much for your good singing tonight.
In our study of the book of the Revelation, we are now in the tenth chapter, and I invite
you to open the last book of the New Testament to chapter 10.
Because of some of the questions that I've received the last couple of times that we've
talked about this book, I thought it might be good to back up just a bit and remind ourselves
of the context of some of the things that we are studying together.
You will notice that this chart gives Israel, the nation of Israel, in the premillennial
sequence of world events.
What that means is that there are other ways of looking at the materials that we're studying,
and the position, the place of the nation of Israel in prophecy.
I suppose you would always expect that to be true when there are theologians involved,
that there are at least two different opinions, and in this regard there are at least three.
But the scheme of things that I prefer, which I follow, is the premillennial sequence, which
means that we believe that there is going to come yet upon the earth a literal 1,000
year reign of Christ.
The word millennium means 1,000 years.
It refers to the millennial kingdom, the reign of the Lord Jesus Christ.
There are good people who don't agree with us on that, and we certainly want to respect
them.
But if you take the Bible literally, which I think is the only legitimate way to interpret
it, if you understand it in its historical and grammatical context and interpret it literally
in that sense, then I believe it leads you to the sequence that we're looking at.
You will notice that it mentions the nation of Israel here, and there is the cross of
the Lord Jesus Christ when the Messiah was rejected.
This of course was prophesied in the Old Testament, including that crucial chapter of the ninth
chapter of Daniel, in which he predicted when Messiah would come, present himself, that
he would be cut off, referring to his crucifixion.
As a result of those events surrounding Messiah's rejection when he came to his own and his
own received him not, Israel was set aside.
It was scattered.
Romans chapters 9, 10, and 11, it seems to me, point to God's sovereign purpose in all
of that.
It was not accidental.
It was part of his plan.
But Israel as a nation, as the people of God, were set aside for this period of time that
we call the church age, or which is called here on this chart, the times of the Gentiles.
A time when God is visiting the Gentiles and is calling out a people for his name's sake,
as is said in Acts chapter 15.
Now it's not that the Jews aren't saved, they are saved in this time, but the church
is largely and primarily, in its total make-up, Gentile.
The church age is lasting, now some 2,000 years.
As our Lord returned to heaven, the Holy Spirit came on the day of Pentecost.
We're living, we believe, very close to the end of this age that we call here the church
age.
It is a time when Israel will return to the land.
I don't think that shows up very well in this particular overhead.
But Israel, having been scattered, returns to the land.
And it seems to me that the return to the land in 1948 may well be the fulfillment,
or at least a step toward the ultimate fulfillment of God's promise to the Jews to return them
to that land.
During the tribulation period, which is the closing of this particular time period, Israel
will again be in center stage.
Now why is that?
Well, it's because the church is raptured.
You can see in this chart that, again, the theologians have debated, and there are a
couple of other positions here represented by the dotted lines.
But of course, it's the solid line that is correct in these charts.
I think that's how it works.
And it shows here, thanks Roy, it shows here what is called the pre-tribulational rapture
of the church, which means that the church is taken out of the world, called out.
First Thessalonians 4, 1 Corinthians 15, Philippians 3, and is not in the world any longer.
That initiates this period called the tribulation, which is approximately seven years in length.
Or maybe a better way to say it would be it's at least seven years in length.
There are seven years yet to be fulfilled in Israel's history.
You recall that in Daniel chapter 9 again, there were 490 years prophesied for the people
of Israel to Daniel.
483 of those were fulfilled here.
And then there.
And the clock stopped.
And it has not moved, but the last seven years, totaling the 490, will take place in this
tribulation time.
Well that brings us up to the context of where we are now.
I want to throw another overhead on here that will take that tribulation period and display
it in a certain way.
This is a colored overhead.
It's a little hard for you to see, but what we have here, the total of seven years, is
divided into two periods, each three and a half years long.
And that plays into our study tonight.
For the three and a half years is equal to 42 months, or 1,260 days.
Or it's also called in Daniel, as you may recall, time, times, and a half a time.
But all of that refers to a three and a half year period.
The total of the seven is broken into two three and a half year periods.
And the person who drew up this chart laid out for us, at least how he saw or how she
saw the chapters of Revelation in the middle of the book.
And this person believes that chapters seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, and twelve take
place here in the first three and a half years.
So generally I would agree with that, and that beginning in chapter twelve and on, we
have the last three and a half years of the tribulation.
In other words, we believe that the best understanding of the book of the Revelation is that it's
laid out chronologically.
It's not just a hodgepodge, but there is a certain movement, a purpose, a sequence of
events in the book of the Revelation.
And as we come to chapter ten in our study this evening, we are coming to the midpoint
of the tribulation period.
Now John does step back from the chronology of the book and he gives us some material
to fill in the blanks.
And so that's what happens as we come to chapter ten.
The chronology here stops and John is backing up to give us some background material that
we need to know.
You will notice that the tenth chapter focuses on an angel with a little book.
And verses one through seven we see this angel discussed.
John says, and I saw still another mighty angel coming down from heaven, clothed with
a cloud.
And the question that has often been asked by students of the Bible is, who is this angel?
And there are some that we respect a great deal who believe that the possessor of the
little book is the Lord Jesus Christ, here manifesting himself as an angel.
And they do that because of the description of this being.
It is a spectacular person that John sees.
You say, well are angels persons?
Yes they are.
They are indeed persons.
They are not human persons.
They are spiritual persons.
But they have individuality and personality somewhat similar to ours.
And so as we think about the identity of this one described as an angel, there are some
who say this is the Lord Jesus Christ.
However, I believe that this is indeed an angel and not the Lord Jesus Christ.
If this were Christ, it would be the only time since Bethlehem, that is when he came
incarnate into the world, that he ever again appeared as an angel.
As you know in the Old Testament, he appeared in a pre-incarnate form as the angel of the
Lord.
But once he joined himself to humanity through the miracle of the virgin birth and what happened
at Bethlehem, we don't see him again appearing as an angel unless this be the exception.
Furthermore, when the word angel is used in the book of Revelation, it always refers to
an angel unless again this be the exception.
I don't see an overwhelming reason to consider this an exception.
It is a mighty angel, a strong angel, angels of course are God's servants to do his bidding.
We often neglect their existence.
I think when we get to heaven, we will be surprised to learn how much they have been
involved in our lives in the world and involved certainly in the flow, the progress of human
history.
Now this very powerful angel is described with grandeur and splendor that is awesome.
It says a rainbow was on his head.
Now the last time we saw the rainbow in the book of Revelation, it was around the throne
of God.
And of course the rainbow originated at the time the flood ended.
It was a sign of God's faithfulness and God's mercy to the world.
When we see the rainbow today in the sky after a summer thunderstorm, it reminds us of the
mercy of God that the rain stopped.
It did not continue.
It did not create another flood.
God allowed that rainbow to be in the sky as a perpetual reminder of his mercy to the
human race and that he would not destroy the race again by a flood.
So here the rainbow around the head of the angel depicts the mercy and the faithfulness
of God.
Now it says that his face was like the sun.
Again this reminds us of the Lord Jesus in his transfiguration or when Saul saw him on
the road to Damascus.
But I don't believe this is Jesus.
This is rather an angel.
His feet are like pillars of fire.
And it says he has a little book open in his hand.
And again a question arises, what is this little book?
Is it the scroll that Jesus took from the one who sat on the throne, from the Father
back in chapter 5?
The word here is different than the word there.
The word there refers to a scroll.
Here it's a different word meaning a small scroll.
So I wouldn't understand it as being the same document as we've seen a couple of chapters
ago in this book.
But rather we have here probably a little scroll that represents some aspect of God's
revelation for what is going to take place by the power of this angel.
Or another way of saying it, what he has in his hands may be his marching orders.
Now it says that he set his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land.
And we think my, what a majestic personage this is to be able to do this.
He is not merely the size of a human being, but he is obviously much larger than that.
That presents no problem to an angel.
And as he positions himself he places his feet carefully on the land and the sea, perhaps
to claim it for God.
And it says that he cries with a loud voice as when a lion roars, depicting to us the
majesty and the authority that was in his voice and what he said literally, it might
say here, he screamed.
It means to cry out loudly and then as I say it further describes a low rumble like the
deep resonant voice of a lion.
When I read this I think of that British broadcasting production of the lion, the witch and the
wardrobe and Aslan who at one point in that depiction roars with a mighty voice of a lion.
Well here that is how the angels voice sounds.
And it says that when he had cried out seven thunders uttered their voices.
Vernon McGee called these thunders God's amen.
It is a response to whatever the angels said and it is a mighty response.
Whatever it was that was said was only for John's illumination.
Because it says that when these thunders had uttered their voices John was about to write
what he heard.
But John says I heard a voice from heaven saying to me seal up the things which the
seven thunders uttered and do not write them.
So whatever it was that John heard he was not permitted to record for us.
This is the only place in the book of the revelation where something is concealed.
This is a book of revelation.
This is a book in which things are revealed but in this case God said John this is not
for public announcement at least yet.
So do not write it.
When the angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land lifted up his hand to
heaven and swore by him who lives forever and ever who created heaven and the things
that are in it, the earth and the things that are in it and the sea and the things that
are in it that there should be delay no longer.
The King James version puts it there should be time no longer but that is not what he
is saying.
It means that there should not be a stretching out of the time any longer, no more delay.
In other words let's get on with it.
It's time for the real judgment from God to be poured out.
Now already fierce judgments have been poured out as we've seen in our study.
Approximately one half of the population of the earth has died as a result of the judgments
that God has poured out.
And yet now this angel says no more delay.
It's time to get on with it.
In the days of the sounding of the seventh angel when he is about to sound the mystery
of God would be finished as he declared to his servants the prophets.
The mystery of God that is mentioned here may include all of the mysteries as we see
them unfolded in the word of God.
And it probably does refer to all of them summed up.
He is saying that it is time to get on with all of the decrees, the purposes of God.
That all of them be fulfilled and that nothing be delayed any longer.
And John says then the voice which I heard from heaven spoke to me again and said go
take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel who stands on the sea and
on the earth.
What an awesome command this must have been for John to walk to this angel that he saw
and to receive from this angel that little scroll.
And I went to the angel he says and I said give me the little book and he said to me
take and eat it and it will make your stomach bitter but it will be as sweet as honey in
your mouth.
And so John was told to eat it which seems to indicate that he is to fully digest it.
He is to appropriate what is in that book.
Now this is not the first time that a command like this or similar to this has been given
in the word of God.
It happened to Jeremiah, it happened to Ezekiel and in those cases the eating of the scroll
symbolizing the eating or the appropriating of God's word produced sweetness or there
was a pleasant result but not in this case.
There would be sweetness to the mouth but the result would be a tummy ache.
He says it is going to be bitter in your stomach.
Now why is that?
Well the things in the book would be pleasant to John in that it would be the unveiling
of the justice of God.
God is going to be glorified in the things that are about now to take place because of
the ministry of this mighty angel who is getting things moving on.
God is going to be glorified and for any believer that is a sweet thing.
That our God be exalted and honored and praised for he alone is worthy.
But it also in this case brings judgment to the world and because of that aspect of the
judgment coming there seems to be this sense of bitterness in his stomach because that
is not pleasant.
It is not pleasant to God.
God does not delight in the death of the wicked nor should we.
We do delight and find pleasant the fact that God is going to be exonerated if I can put
it that way.
He is going to be exalted that his righteousness is going to be vindicated but at the same
time to many many people that is going to bring judgment and eternal judgment.
So John ate the little scroll as he was told and it happened exactly as he said.
He said to me you must prophesy again about many people's nations tongues and kings.
So it seems that what John now ate is going to be coming through him to us.
He is going to prophesy.
He is going to give out what he himself has taken in.
Folks there is a spiritual lesson here for you and me that we first need to partake of
the word of God before we can give it out to others.
We have to ourselves eat of it as it were and make it really a part of us.
We have to digest it into our spiritual systems before we can be effective then in communicating
it to others.
Well so much for the little book and John's eating of that book and the effect of it upon
him.
We come now to the eleventh chapter and we are going to look at the first fourteen verses
this evening and think about not only the little book but the two witnesses, the latter
part of the outline that you have.
We are going to talk about their identity, their power, their martyrdom and their resurrection.
When I was given a read like a measuring rod and the angel stood saying, rise and measure
the temple of God, the altar and those who worship there.
So John is given a command as this chapter begins.
He is to take this rod in his hand representing an instrument of measurement probably about
ten and a half feet long and he is told to measure out the temple of God, the altar which
is a part of that complex and those who worship in the immediate context of the temple but
leave out the court which is outside the temple and do not measure it for it has been given
to the Gentiles.
Now you may recall that the temple in Jerusalem had an outer area where the Gentiles could
enter but they could not come into the immediate presence of the temple under penalty of death.
That picture is carried over here what John is told to do.
Now the first question that arises in this difficult chapter is what is this temple?
Now those who do not take Revelation in a literal sense but who interpret it symbolically
arrive at a number of different conclusions as to what the temple of God is and usually
they say that it is either the church or that it is all believers or something of that sort.
But it seems to me again if we are simply to take the word for what it says it is talking
about a literal temple.
So what is this building that John is to measure?
Is this the heavenly temple?
Well it does not seem so because it says that the outside of the temple has been given to
the Gentiles.
How could that hardly refer to heaven?
There is of course the real temple in heaven, the one that was built on the earth was a
mirror pattern after the real one in heaven.
But what is this temple?
Well it seems to me that the best answer is that it is the temple that will be rebuilt
in Jerusalem in this tribulation period or just prior to it.
It is possible that we will see the temple rebuilt before the rapture of the church takes
place.
That would be quite a phenomenal event for us to see.
If there would be anything that would signal the shortness of the time before our Lord
is coming it would be that.
We may see that, I am not saying that we will, but we may see that.
But certainly there will be a temple constructed in Jerusalem by the Jews and as you know the
one thing that stands in the way now is the little matter of an Islamic mosque that is
near that site.
And it has been thought for all of these years that that mosque has been built on the exact
site of the temple.
Interestingly the biblical archeology review in an issue a few months ago suggested that
in fact that may not be built exactly where the temple was and that the temple area may
be just slightly away from that mosque.
And so it would seem that the temple might be, if that is true and can be confirmed,
that it may be that this temple can be built without the removal of the mosque which of
course would create quite a war in the Middle East if the Jewish nation tried to remove
that mosque.
And so we may see that temple constructed where they now believe it actually was.
As I recall it was just a bit to the north of where the mosque of Omar is currently located.
Well John is told to go to this temple to measure it out.
The idea seems to be to claim it, to stake it out.
It's not so much to see what size it is as it is to indicate that this is being staked
out by God, this area, this territory.
He is specifically told however not to include that outside area, the court of the Gentiles,
as they will tread it underfoot, the holy city, and he goes on to say here that they
will tread it under city for 42 months.
And so we have this three and a half year period calculated in months.
The time we live in now is called, as we referred to earlier, the time of the Gentiles.
Here we see there's a special assignment to this area around the temple that the Gentiles
will tread underfoot for this three and a half year period in some specific sense.
And so the question seems to be, well what is this three and a half year period?
And it seems to me that this three and a half year period is the last half of the tribulation
period.
The temple will be built in the first part or just prior to it.
And during that first part of the tribulation, the first half of it, there will be the sacrifices
in the temple that will be permitted and the rituals, the Old Testament rituals, in some
sense will be resumed.
But then at the three and a half year point, Scripture indicates that the Antichrist who
has been gaining power in Europe and has made a covenant with Israel for seven years will
come to Jerusalem and commit the abomination of desolations.
That is, he will enter into the temple in Jerusalem and there declare that he is God
and will demand that he be worshiped as God.
From that point on, seems to be the 42 months referred to here, when that temple area will
be dominated by the Gentiles and by their prince, the Antichrist.
Now this further information is given.
I will give power to my two witnesses and they will prophesy 1,260 days clothed in sack
cloth.
And so again we have a three and a half year period, this time calculated in days.
These months, by the way, are lunar months and that's why you come up with the 1,260
days.
And I should back up and say there are again those who take these days and these months
as being symbolic of a period of time.
However, because it is so specific, it hardly seems to me fair to say this is merely symbolic
and stands for something and try to take a guess as to what it stands for.
It says 42 months and I believe we ought to understand it that way.
It says 1,260 days, we ought to understand it, literally that period of time.
But the question is, well, what three and a half year period is in view here?
When do these witnesses come and prophesy clothed in their sack cloth?
Well, it seems that here he's backing up and talking about that first three and a half
year period.
During the time that this temple is being used by the Jews and before Antichrist comes
and commits the abomination, that these witnesses are going to be proclaiming on behalf of God
to the world the necessity of repentance.
And there is the question then, who are these witnesses?
Now I told you this is a difficult chapter and it is.
Who are these witnesses?
What is their identity?
Well, this again has a number of answers as you might suspect, but most people say, well,
one of them surely must be Elijah, for in Malachi 4 it says to the effect that Elijah
will come and preach before the coming of the Lord.
And although John the Baptist was something of a picture of that, it does not seem that
John the Baptist was a fulfillment of that prophecy.
It seems to me that we may well expect that Elijah will return from heaven and will be
one of these two witnesses.
Why Elijah?
Well, because Elijah, as you know, did not die.
He was caught up with a chariot of fire and taken into heaven bodily and did not die.
And so he is probably a good guess for one of the two witnesses.
Well then others say, well, if he is the prophet, it must be Moses the law.
The law and the prophets are represented here.
And Moses must be going to return and be one of these two and that could well be.
There's a strong argument that the other witness would be Moses come back to the earth.
But Moses, as you know, did die and his body was buried by God.
There is one other man who did not die in the Old Testament and that is Enoch, who lived
in those days before the flood.
Enoch went out one day walking with God and simply was not.
He disappeared for God took him home.
And so it may be that the other witness to come back is the other man in the history
of the world who left the earth without dying, Enoch.
If so, then you have a rather of a balance here between those who were after the flood
and those who were before the flood, a representative at least of both of these civilizations.
It would make sense that the other would be Enoch in that both of these witnesses are
put to death.
And it does say in Hebrews that it's appointed unto man once to die.
And Enoch as well as Elijah have not yet died in a physical sense.
They have not died.
But these witnesses will, as we'll see in a moment, die.
It's interesting though that the information that John records for us doesn't relate these
two witnesses at all to Elijah or Moses or to Enoch, but rather to two other people.
Verse 4 says, these are the two olive trees and the two lampstands standing before the
God of the earth.
The imagery here goes back to Zechariah, the fourth chapter.
In that chapter, the two leaders of the returned exiles to Jerusalem.
I'm speaking of Zerubbabel and Joshua or Jehoshua, not Joshua back in Moses' day, but another
man.
These two men led the nation of Israel in those days when they returned from their captivity.
Zechariah sees them in the same imagery that these two witnesses are seen here.
And God is saying in that imagery in Zechariah 4, you have these two men who stand before
you as my witnesses, but it is not by their might or by power, but it is by my spirit,
says the Lord of hosts, that the nation will be blessed.
And so again, we have that kind of imagery called on here, that it's not these two men
in themselves, it is the spirit of God working through them.
Their resource is in God and they are God's witnesses, they are his lampstands in the
world in this first half of the tribulation period.
Well, it says, if anyone wants to harm them, fire proceeds from their mouth and devours
their enemies.
If anyone wants to harm them, he must be killed in this manner.
And so these witnesses are supernaturally protected.
And when we see this fire destroying their enemies, it reminds us of Elijah and the kinds
of things that happened in his ministry and the ministry of Elisha who followed him.
These have power to shut the heavens so that no rain falls in the days of their prophecy.
And again, that's Elijah, he did that in the days of Ahab the king.
And they have power over waters to turn them to blood and to strike the earth with all
plagues as often as they desire.
And so of course, this is the imagery that pictures Moses to many people.
And Moses was involved in the plagues of Egypt that these seem to draw their picture from.
But whoever these two witnesses are, they are men who command a great deal of attention.
The whole world knows about them.
And because of what they declare, because of their testimony, because of their increasingly
intense conflict with the Antichrist that seems to grow during these three and one half
years, everybody is aware of them.
It says that when they finish their testimony, the beast that ascends out of the bottomless
pit will make war against them and overcome them and kill them.
You see, up until this point, they cannot be killed.
Up until God is finished with them, they call fire down on their enemies.
You see, the one who is serving God is protected by God.
No harm can come to him except by God's hand.
And here we see that clearly depicted in what happens to these two witnesses.
When their work is done, God allows this beast, the Antichrist as we will see in chapter 13,
he is called a beast there.
This beast will make war against them.
He will have had enough and he will overcome them and he will put them to death.
They will be martyrs.
And it says their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city which spiritually
is called Sodom and Egypt.
Those are not two pleasant names in terms of Bible symbolism.
You know what Sodom represents in terms of filthiness and perversion and rebellion against
God.
Egypt refers to basically the same kind of an idea.
And so in this great city that is spiritually called Sodom and Egypt, their bodies will
lay out in the open.
And it says that this city is where our Lord was crucified.
So it leaves no doubt as to what city is in view here.
He's talking about Jerusalem.
These men will be killed in Jerusalem and their bodies will lie there in the streets.
And it says then those from the peoples, tribes, tongues, and nations will see their dead bodies
three and a half days.
Well, is this literally three and a half days?
Why not?
How will they see them?
Well, the answer is clear today since the 1940s as to how that can happen through television.
I've said that they are going to be renowned throughout the world.
When they are put to death, this is going to be instant news.
I was listening to the radio and heard them break in and say that Thurgood Marshall had
died in Washington.
Well, this happened within minutes of the public being aware, just known everywhere
that he had died.
When these three men die, they're going to break into the networks.
Everybody's going to know that they're dead and the television cameras will be focused
on them.
There will be reports from ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, and their bodies will be there for all
the world to behold.
And they will not allow their bodies to be put into graves.
That's because they are mourning and weeping over the death of these men, right?
Wrong.
We have here a satanic Christmas celebration.
Notice what happens.
Those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them.
Make merry and send gifts to one another because these two prophets tormented those who dwell
on the earth.
You see, they were the focus of a lot of hatred.
And as a result of that, when they are put to death, there is rejoicing around the world
and people send gifts like it was Christmas time to indicate how happy and merry they
are that these two enemies of the people have now been dealt with and no longer will they
be the source of torment and judgment upon them.
But God isn't finished yet.
He says, now after the three and a half days, the breath of life from God entered them and
they stood on their feet and great fear fell on those who saw them.
And so they are miraculously resuscitated.
They are resurrected.
They come to life and you can just imagine the sheer terror.
And you talk about breaking into the programming when they were put to death.
You talk about CNN being there live.
When these two men come back to life, you can count on it.
That is going to be world news.
And they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, come up here.
Wait a minute.
That rings a bell.
Where have we heard that before?
Well, those are exactly the words that were given to John when he was in the Isle of Patmos.
And he looked up and there was a door open in heaven and God said, come up here.
As I told you a few weeks ago, that's one reason I believe that heaven is not far away,
but is merely another dimension of reality that is above the earth.
And that God at any moment that he desires can cause that dimension to be made visible.
I believe that at Bethlehem, the angels really just appeared right in heaven and the shepherds
there in the fields saw into that next dimension.
And then that dimension was closed up and the angels disappeared from their sight.
And a door, God opened a door and allowed John to look up and see and to enter into
that door.
It was a way of getting into that other realm.
And now these two witnesses hear a loud voice, the same phrase, and they ascended to heaven
in a cloud.
And their enemies saw them.
Can you imagine the terror?
Can you imagine the sense that must have come over the world, that will come over the world
when these two men ascend into heaven on a cloud?
And in the same hour there was a great earthquake and a tenth of the city fell.
There's been an earthquake before.
I think it was the sixth seal that was opened and there was an earthquake that did great
devastation throughout the earth.
There is a worse earthquake to come, the big one still to come in the book of Revelation.
But here is another earthquake.
This is in the city of Jerusalem.
A tenth of the city of Jerusalem is destroyed.
And it says 7,000 men were killed.
Now the language suggests here that these are not just 7,000 commoners.
It may be that these are 7,000 very important people, VIPs, who've come from around the
world to this celebration of the death of these men.
And they're there to lead the world in rejoicing that the two witnesses have been put to death,
that after they ascend to heaven an earthquake comes and these people are killed, 7,000 of
them.
And the rest were afraid and gave glory to the God of heaven.
Doesn't mean they were saved, but they recognized the source of what was taking place.
And it says the second woe is past.
Do you remember that angel flying around heaven saying, woe, woe, woe to the earth dwellers?
Well, one woe has come, now the second one has passed, and the third one is just about
to be announced.
It comes with the seventh trumpet.
And at this point we bring our study tonight to a close.
One of the more fascinating chapters, and not an easy chapter, a lot of speculation
here as to who these are and what this was about, but I can tell you that if we just
come to this chapter and read it and let it say what it says, it seems to tell us of a
very interesting time when God is going to bring two men in dynamic ministry to the world.
They're going to be put to death, resurrected, taken back to heaven, and that is going to
signal then, it seems, the last three and a half years.
And what is often referred to as the great tribulation.
The whole time is the tribulation, but the last half of it is extremely intense.
The suffering is terrible.
The cruelty, the wickedness of Antichrist is inhuman, as you would expect, because he
is a satanically controlled individual.
And so it is called the great tribulation.
And as we return to our study in the Revelation next Sunday night, we will get into that period
of time as we begin to look at the mysteries of Revelation chapter 12 that come out of
the seventh trumpet.
Now I invite you to bow with me in prayer.
Don't we have much to give thanks to God for?
How good God is in His grace to save us, to give us some understanding of the future.
Let's sing together.
Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost, but now am found, Was blind, but now I see.