 Revelation chapter 11, beginning at verse 1, I'll read to verse 14. We're looking at Revelation 11 verses 1 through 14. The subject as we'll see in a moment is two witnesses. John writes, then, I was given a read like measuring rod, and the angel stood saying, rise and measure the temple of God, the altar, and those who worship there. But leave out the court, which is outside the temple. Do not measure it, for it has been given to the Gentiles, and they will tread the holy city underfoot for 42 months. And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy 1,260 days clothed in sackcloth. These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands standing before the God of the earth. And if anyone wants to harm them, fire proceeds from their mouth and devours their enemies. And if anyone wants to harm them, he must be killed in this manner. These have power to shut heaven so that no rain falls in the days of their prophecy. They have power over waters to turn them to blood and to strike the earth with all plagues as often as they desire. Now, when they finish their testimony, the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit will make war against them, overcome them and kill them. And their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where our Lord was crucified. And those from the peoples, tribes, tongues, and nations will see their dead bodies three and a half days and not allow their dead bodies to be put into graves. And 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. Now after the three and a half days, the breath of life from God entered them and they stood on their feet in great fear, fell on those who saw them, and they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, come up here. They ascended to heaven in a cloud and their enemies saw them. In the same hour, there was a great earthquake and a tenth of the city fell. In the earthquake, 7,000 men were killed and the rest were afraid and gave glory to the God of heaven. The second woe is past. You hold, the third woe is coming quickly. Let's go home, I'm scared. Now as we're looking at this passage, let me remind you that in chapter 10 in verses eight through 10, John had been given a command to take the little book out of the hand of a mighty angel and as he did so, he had been commanded to not only take it, but he had been commanded to eat it. In other words, as we looked at that, that was a command that was basically saying to him to assimilate and absorb the message of this book. And so by way of application, we would know that he's to assimilate and absorb what God has to say or God's word. Now, as we were looking at that, he was told that the book would be sweet to the taste but bitter to the stomach. It'll be sweet to the taste, but bitter to the stomach. And so for believers, there's really nothing to be more greatly desired than the sweetness of God's word. And so on one hand, the word of God is sweet and it is God's word and the sweetness of God's word is also nourishing to us. And because we're believers and because we as believers ought to love the Bible, we ought to love the word of God, then indeed to us, we would consider the word of God to be sweet. In Job 2312, Job said, I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my daily bread. Jesus in Matthew chapter four, verse four said, man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. So God's word is sweet and God's word is nourishing. And so for the Christian, the word of God is sweet and to be desired. And so John was being advised that God's word will be sweet to you because you desire God to act and you desire God to be honored. And therefore there's a sweetness to that. Now, when I first got saved back in 1970 and into early 1971, we would sing this song. It was found in Psalm 19 and it was about the word of God and all and we used to sing it and in verses 10 and 11 it says, more to be desired are they, speaking of the word of God, more to be desired are they than gold, ye then much fine gold, sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. Moreover by them your servant is warned and in keeping them there is great reward. So the word of God is sweet and there's a reward in the keeping of the command, statutes, ordinances, the word of God. And so for the Christian, and even as John is being spoken to here to take and to eat of this, the word of God is sweet and to be desired. But it also has a bitterness. In verse nine in chapter 10, it said, it will be bitter. Now, why would it be bitter? It would be bitter because a future that awaits unbelievers is gonna cause you pain. And I was mentioning to you that if you ever want to have an effective ministry and the dispensing and the sharing of the gospel, then there needs to be within you a depth of sorrow for those who are lost. There needs to be something inside of us that actually is broken because our friends are going to hell because our family without Jesus Christ is going to hell because your grandma as sweet as she is without Jesus Christ is going to hell because those whom you love the most, those friends of yours from school, neighbors perhaps that you've gotten close to, today I don't think a lot of people really believe that, which I think really does cut down on people having a burden to share. If everybody's going to go to heaven sooner or later and one way or another, because after all like a recent book states love wins, plus everybody ultimately goes to heaven, why would you have any kind of concern? Why would you? But if it's true, the gospel word is true, unless a man is born again, he shall not see nor enter into the kingdom of God, that came from Jesus, then maybe we ought to be sharing the gospel. And John is saying, well, it's being said to John, on the one hand, because you love God's word, there's a sweetness, but it's also going to produce bitterness because those who don't love God's word ultimately will be judged, these things will come upon them. So having a sincere concern for other people will always cause pain when you understand their future without Jesus Christ. That's why Paul would say something that I think is absolutely remarkable. I frankly have not embraced this, I have not come to the point where I could. I'll be honest with you, up front, because he said in Romans chapter nine, verse three, I could wish that I myself were a curse from Christ, from my brethren, my countrymen, according to the flesh. I would go to hell, he says, if they would go to heaven. I would give up my salvation. What an incredible thing for him to say, but that shows you the power of his love that had come because he had gotten saved. He had said in Romans 10, verse one, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved. That was his great desire, so in obeying God's word, in obeying God's direction, even as we saw a moment ago, there's great reward, but for those who refuse to do so, there is great penalty. John 12, 48, Jesus said, he who rejects me and does not receive my words has that which judges him. The word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day. In John 15, 22, he said, if I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. So he came and gave this message that they are now responsible to respond to. And so we were seeing that in chapter 10 of Revelation, we now move into chapter 11, and John continues by saying, I was given a read like a measuring rod. Now, these events, this is taking place during the last half of the tribulation, and I mentioned to you that the tribulation is a seven year period of time, and we're gonna look at this in some detail tonight, it's a seven year period of time where God pours his wrath out on unbelievers. Those who have rejected Messiah. So what we're looking at takes place during the last half of the tribulation, and the tribulation is actually called tribulation, and then the second half is called great tribulation. And so we're looking at great tribulation. In Matthew 24, 21, Jesus said, then there will be great tribulation, such as it's not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. And so we're looking at the period of the last half of the tribulation that is referred to as the great tribulation. During this time of great tribulation, God will raise up two bright lights in the midst of great darkness, and you'll see that in just a moment. So in verses one and two, let's begin by looking at that. This was all introduction, let's get into our study. Then 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, but leave out the court, which is outside the temple and do not measure it, for it has been given to the Gentiles and they will tread the holy city underfoot for 42 months, 42 months or for three and a half years. Now as we begin, the events mentioned here in verses one and two of Revelation chapter 11 will take place in the city of Jerusalem. Jerusalem is found around 806 times in the Bible, and the word Jerusalem is translated city of peace, which is interesting because in the history of Jerusalem, there really hasn't been that much peace. More wars have been fought in Jerusalem than any other city in the world. In its history, the city has been burned to the ground no less than five times. And in recent history, it has been the center of no less than four concentrated wars. Now, as we look at this, I want to develop something because this may pass you by without it being pointed out. In verse one, notice what he says here, when it says the angel stood saying rise and measure the temple of God, the temple is referred to. That means that the city is once again under the control of Israel. Now to us, we say, well, yeah, of course, but you need to understand that Israel ceased to exist as we know it now had ceased to exist since 70 AD because when Titus of Rome had come in to the city of Jerusalem and destroyed it, Israel ceased being a nation until 1948, rather. And so this prophecy is real important to point out here, by the way, this prophecy that we're looking at could not have been fulfilled in any other time other than the time that we're living in right now. So these events that we're looking at actually have a possibility of being fulfilled because Israel once again was resurrected as a nation in 1948. And then in 1967, after the Six Day War, Jerusalem once again came at that time under the authority of Israel. And so these are events that are taking place in the last day that we'll say somebody in the 1700s or the 1800s, when they read through Revelation, they would spiritualize these things because Israel had ceased to exist. There was no nation of Israel. When you go to Israel to this day, there are those referred to it as the land of what? Palestine. Do you know, most of you know why? Do you know why they call it Palestine for those who may not know? Because the word Palestine was given to that place by the Romans. The Romans called it Palestine simply because it was their way of saying Philistine. So that region was taken out of the authority of Israel and the Romans would refer to it as Palestine, the land of the Philistines. From AD 70 with the destruction of the temple and the taking of the Jews and the scattering them throughout the four corners of the earth, this land that we know of as Israel ceased to exist as we know it is today and did so. It ceased to exist century after century after century after century on and on and on and on for almost 19 centuries. It is unheard of in the history of man for a nation to have ceased to quote unquote exist to once again have an existence as Israel has. You read your Old Testament and you see the different people that were there. I mentioned the Philistines. Where are they now? And you can see the different peoples that are mentioned, the Edomites. You can see the variety of people, the Canaanites. You can see the people like the cellulites and the uptites and the outisites. I don't know why I like to say that, but I really do. All theites. But there were no Israelites. But now there are. So when you're reading the Revelation, you need to remember that Revelation was given to John somewhere in the middle of like 95, right in that area, 95. You have to keep in mind that as this was given to him in 95 AD, Jerusalem had already been sacked and destroyed. That had happened 25 years earlier. So you have to keep that in mind to see what's going on here. Because he's referring to an event that would have been unheard of during his day because Jerusalem didn't exist anymore. And yet he's speaking concerning this event that will take place in the latter day. And it speaks concerning the Jewish temple. So he's saying the temple that does not exist at this moment must be rebuilt for these things to take place. Now remember, Jesus had stated that the temple would be destroyed. Remember that in Matthew 24? In Matthew chapter 24, it says Jesus went out and departed from the temple. His disciples came up to show him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said to them, do you not see all these things? assuredly I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another that shall not be thrown down. And so his men had shown him the beauty of the temple. Indeed, it was a beautiful structure. Herod had worked on it for many, many years. And it was an unbelievably beautiful structure. And they were just really in awe of the beauty of the structure in awe. And they said, look at this. Isn't this glorious? And Jesus said, do you think it's beautiful? Well, the stones are going to be thrown down. And when you go and you look at some of the remaining, some of the portion of the wall that remains. And you see that some of the stones that were used on that, on the wall weighed 70 tons. Just to imagine how that must have looked, that the beauty of it and the temple itself would have been glorious and beautiful. And the disciples were so taken by it. But that's why Jesus said it's all going to be thrown down. As mentioned, that occurred AD 70 under the Roman general Titus. So that would mean that, again, that the temple had already been destroyed by the time of the writing. And so that makes it clear that the temple spoken of is a future temple. Now, Jesus spoke of events that would transpire during what is called the great tribulation. When you look into Matthew chapter 24, you see much of that. But one of the things he said in Matthew 24, verse 15 is this. He said, when you see standing in the holy place, the abomination that causes desolation spoken of through the prophet Daniel, then it says, let the reader understand. He's speaking at this time, concerning something that takes place in this holy place. Again, that's in reference to a rebuilt temple. Now, in this passage of Matthew 24, something to remember is that Jesus is speaking specifically to Jews. We know that when he gets to verse 20 in Matthew 24, because he says, pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath. And so he's speaking concerning this time that will take place. It's called the tribulation. Now, the question has to be asked. Well, when you go to Israel today, and you look at what is called the temple mount, there is no temple there. How will that temple be rebuilt? How is that going to take place? Well, let me give you some things that I hope isn't too confusing to you, because it can be, especially the way I teach. I can confuse you terribly. I'm gonna do my best to confuse you. There's a prophecy that you can find in the book of Daniel. If you're taking notes, it's found in chapter nine, verses 24 through 27. In Daniel chapter nine, verse 27, we get some insight into how the temple will be rebuilt. The temple is going to be rebuilt, we believe, because there is going to be an agreement that will be signed between the nation of Israel and the one who is coming, who is called Antichrist. In Daniel 927, it says he will confirm a covenant with many for one seven. The seven speaks of seven years. In the middle of the seven, or in a three and a half year mark, in the middle of the seven, he will put an end to sacrifice and offering, and on a wing of the temple, he will set up an abomination that causes desolation until the end that is decreed is poured out on him. The Antichrist is going to, according to Daniel 927, have a covenant with the nation of Israel. The covenant that he has, undoubtedly, is going to make it possible for the nation of Israel to rebuild their temple on the site that is called the Temple Mount. The Bible makes it very clear that that will take place. Paul, in 2 Thessalonians chapter two, verses three and four makes reference to this, when he says, don't let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed. That's another title of Antichrist, the man of lawlessness, the man doomed to destruction. He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or worshiped so that he sets himself up in God's temple, proclaiming himself to be God. Antichrist, and we'll see more of Antichrist as we go through the book of Revelation. We're just getting an introduction, really. But Antichrist is going to set an agreement with the nation of Israel, make it possible for them to rebuild their temple and their temple will be rebuilt. Revelation chapter 11 points to it, Matthew 24 points to it, 2 Thessalonians chapter two points to that. Now, when we go to Jerusalem, we go to a place that is called the Temple Institute. Some of you have been to Israel and some of you have gone into what is called the Temple Institute. You'll go into this place called the Temple Institute and they'll show you various things that they've already prepared for the rebuilding of the temple. They will show you the articles of clothing for the high priest. They'll show you the different knives and various things that they have that is to be used in sacrifices and offerings. They have everything pretty much set up and they're just waiting to rebuild. The temple indeed, in the mind of those who have the Temple Institute, that temple will be rebuilt. As a matter of fact, if you go to, and all you have to do in this age of the internet is just Google Temple Institute, Jerusalem. And their page will open up, which I did today and I just cut and paste this out just to read what they say. It says this, this is on the Temple Institute page. It says, the Institute's activities include education, research and development. The Temple Institute's ultimate goal is to see Israel rebuild the holy temple on Mount Moriah in Jerusalem in accord with the biblical commandments. They have this desire to build that right now, right now. And every time we go to Israel, we will take you in to the Temple Institute and they will give you an entire conversation related to their plans to build it. They have Levites who are instructed in sacrifice and the art of sacrifice, the whole nine yards. All they're waiting for is the opportunity to rebuild this temple. That exists even as I'm speaking right now. Their desire and their plans are already formulated. They're just waiting for the opportunity to do it and they've been waiting for some time. But there's a problem. The problem is Islam has two of its most important buildings on the Temple Mount. Here's something interesting. Oh, Pastor David, everything's interesting. No, this, here's something. Last time we were in Israel, we had gone someplace, I forget. And we had a taxi driver who has taken us from an area that is inhabited by Muslims. And he was taking us back to our hotel in the city of Jerusalem. And he was not a real friendly guy. A lot of the cabbies are nice guys. This guy, he really wasn't very friendly. He had kind of like an antagonistic feel to him. And he asked us, what have you been doing? Well, we're here on a tour. What have you seen? Oh, we've been seeing various things. My wife Marie says, we're going to the Temple Mount. Immediately, he gets upset. Immediately, there is no Temple Mount. There hasn't been a Temple Mount since the first century. That is not Jewish. That belongs to Islam. And so I smiled at him and smiled at Marie. And I said, shut up, we want to get back to the hotel. He was not a very happy camper when we said Temple Mount. There is no Temple on the Temple Mount. What you find on the Temple Mount is the Al Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock. That is there. Those are two of the holy sites in Islam. And especially the Dome of the Rock because there are Muslims who believe that the Dome of the Rock in their legend is where Muhammad ascended on his horse to heaven. So for them, it's a very, very holy site. The idea that there would be a Temple built there, well, there have been times in the past where zealous rabbinic students following the rabbi have attempted to get up so that they could blow up the Dome of the Rock. I mean, when you go to Israel, you'll go in these tunnels that we go into by the Western Wall. And they will take you to certain areas and you get to see foundations and all kinds of things, very interesting. But there is a certain section that is bricked off. You cannot go in that section. And the reason you can't is because that was a tunnel that led actually to underneath the Dome of the Rock. And a rabbi and some of his students had tried to get in there to blow up the Dome of the Rock so they could build their Temple. And they were discovered. They heard noises and they discovered them down there and it created a tremendous problem as you could imagine. So here's your question. How are you going to build the Temple when the sensitivities and the emotions are so, so caught up in protecting the alexa mosque and the Dome of the Rock from any intrusion like that? How's it going to happen? Well, the Biblical Archaeological Review, which is a magazine, states that the actual place of the Temple is not where the Dome of the Rock is. I want you to notice something here. In verse one, Yen and verse two, the angels stood saying, rise and measure the Temple of God, the altar, and those who worship there. But verse two, leave out the court which is outside the Temple. Do not measure it for it has been given to the Gentiles. They will tread the holy city underfoot for 42 months. When we go to the Temple Mount, which we do every time we go to Israel, you have to go through all of these checkpoints. Well, there's a major checkpoint and that you have to go through. And there, you have to leave certain things behind and also, when we go there, we don't carry anything on us because you have to leave it at the checkpoint and all because they're afraid of any incidents that could take place. And so the Muslims control that area. And so the last time we went, when we went up onto that site, we had all of these people walking on the site, there were these children that were being marched around and they have, and these are Muslim kids, and they have their religious instruction that takes place up there in that area. It's a good size area. And they have these kids receiving religious instruction up there. And the teachers, I can't help but believe that the teachers, when they saw this Christian group coming up, marched the children past us. So you see these children who are seven, eight years old, nine years old, small babies, beautiful, beautiful babies. As they're walking by in columns of two and maybe 40 kids, and they're yelling at us when they walked by. And they were yelling Allah Akbar and things like that at us. And with some of them had these real angry little faces. They were kind of clenching their teeth at us and they're yelling at us. And Marie, my wife, is looking at the babies. We love these babies. And she's saying, Jesus loves you. Jesus loves you. And they're going by, Allah, Allah, Allah, like that. They really are, I'm not kidding, I'm not exaggerating. And a lot of them. And then another teacher would march and by and they would turn to us and they would yell and go by. And as we're walking, it just had, there was a bit of tension. It's not, I wouldn't take you anywhere that you'd get hurt. But you can feel what you don't necessarily feel here. You will feel it there. That there is an antagonism because according to certain elements of the Islamic faith, you are basically, you're an infidel and Jews are descendants of pigs and monkeys. And they look at you as being less than them and they will let you know that. And so it can be somewhat awkward. When you're there saying, oh, I just love Jesus and they're going by pig monkey. You know, it can be a bit, I'm used to that. I get that at home, but you might have a problem with it. It is a place that the idea of building a temple is so foreign to the Muslim. The idea that somebody would actually come up there and build a temple on what they consider to be one of their holy sites. Well, the idea of doing that or even the attempt to would start jihad throughout the entire world. I mean, Islamists from all over the world would descend on Jerusalem instantly. That's what would happen. There's no doubt about that. We know that. So how was that going to happen? When we go up onto that site, some of you have been with me or some of you have gone there with other tours and you've seen this, we will go up and we will walk to where the dome of the rock is. And we pass the dome of the rock and we go north past the dome of the rock. And as we go past the dome of the rock, we come up to a place called the dome of the spirit or the dome of the tablets. When you stand at this place called the dome of the tablets and it's like a little, it's like a small gazebo. The biblical archeological review, Asher Kaufman has pointed out that the dome of the rock is not the highest portion on that area, but there's a higher portion, dome of the spirits, dome of the tablets. When you stand at the dome of the tablets, and this is what we'll do, I'll have you if you were with me right now up there, I would be facing the eastern gate by the dome of the spirits. So I'm looking towards the eastern gate and I have you standing in front of me. And then I will have you normally just kind of come around to me. And I normally will have my pocket Bible and I'll pull it out and I'll read this passage and then I will point. So it's like this, let's imagine for a minute, I'm at a place now, the dome of the spirit. I'm looking towards the eastern gate. Off to my right is the dome of the rock. The dome of the rock's about 26 meters away. The eastern gate is directly in front of me. We can actually walk to see where the top of the gate is. You can look down and see that this is the eastern gate. In front of the eastern gate, when you pass that in the wall, there is a graveyard that has been put there. Some would say they believe that that graveyard was placed there to keep the king of glory from entering in because scripture says that's where Messiah will enter in. And so as we're there, I will say this is, according to Asher Kauffman, according to Pastor Chuck and many conservative Bible scholars, the actual site of where the temple will be rebuilt. So how can you build a temple when the dome of the rock and the alexa mosque is in the same geographic location? And I'll say to you, because this says in verse two, leave out the court which is outside the temple, do not measure it, it has been given to the Gentiles. When you look at the temple in its ancient diagram, it was divided into four courtyards. If you're looking at the temple in your mind's eye and you have rectangles, it was four courtyards. It had the court of the Gentiles. It had the court of the women, the court of Israel and the court of the priests. The court of the Gentiles simply means that you as a Gentile could enter into that area which Jesus, by the way, did a lot of teaching in this area called the court of the Gentiles. You could, as a Gentile, as a non-Jew, you could go into the court of the Gentiles and you were safe. If you were to enter past the court of the Gentiles and to the court of the women, and you are not Jewish, the Jews had been given permission from Rome to put you to death. There were actual signs that said that you enter into this area at your own peril and the death penalty will be enacted. And so you, as a Gentile, would not be permitted to go beyond that, but you could go into the court of the Gentiles. You could, as a Gentile. And so the answer would seem to be this. And this is the study we give on the Temple Mount. Anti-Christ will have an agreement that he makes with the nation of Israel that will make it possible for the Temple to be rebuilt and to be able to coexist with the Dome of the Rock because that actually has been given over, it's called given over to the Gentiles, but that's been given over. So they can actually coexist. You can have the Temple rebuilt because the Temple structure will fit there and coexist with the nation of Islam. That is going to take place through the diplomatic genius of the Anti-Christ. Ezekiel indicates that there's going to be a wall separating the Temple from the mosque. In Ezekiel 4220, it reads he measured the area on all four sides that had a wall around it, 500 cubits long, 500 cubits wide to separate the holy from the common. So there will be a division. Now, as we're looking at this, and then we're going to look at it a little bit further, on the days here as we're in the Revelation, we're in chapter 11, obviously, the days are increasingly growing darker, judgment is increasingly falling upon the world, but in the midst of all of this judgment, God is still able to and continues to witness his greats. Remember earlier, we saw the 144,000, they've been referred to as Jewish Billy Graham's. 144,000 evangelists, and remember how they have a seal of the Father upon them and he protects them, and so they are protected by God during this time and they are witnesses, but they're not alone in their witness for the Lord, because in verses three through six, you see the two witnesses, and he says these two witnesses are given power and will prophesy, he said 1260 days. So we're introduced now to the two witnesses. Now there are those, and let me say this very briefly, we don't know the names of these two witnesses, and I'll look at that with you in a moment, but there is a lot of speculation concerning this, but let's look at it here, because it says here that these are the two olive trees and the two lamb stands, who stand before the God of the earth. Now these two witnesses are going to be witnessing more than likely in the last half of the tribulation, that makes sense because Antichrist's openly evil rule is dominating the last half of the tribulation, and they're referred to as the two olive trees and the two lamb stands. Now this picture for those who take notes is found in Zechariah, the Old Testament, chapter four verses two and three. It says there, he asked me, what do you see? I answered, I see a solid gold lamb stand with a bowl at the top and seven lights on it, with seven channels to the lights. Also there are two olive trees by it, one on the right of the bowl, the other on its left. I asked the angel, what are these two olive trees to the right and the left of the lamb stand? It says in verse 11 of Zechariah four, in verse 14 he said, these are the two who are anointed to serve the Lord of all the earth. These are two witnesses that is being referred to you. Now the question is asked, who are they? There's a rumor and that's why I'm gonna give you the rumor and then I'll give you what I think. There's a rumor that it's Rawl Reese and Greg Laurie. I think that's not true. Rawl's been teaching that but that means he'd have to stay when the rapture happens and I think he probably will but I don't think it's one of these. You can tell him I said that. We don't really know of course, they're unnamed. There is speculation though. Some would say and I think with good reason, one could be Elijah and the other Moses. That is very commonly believed, why Elijah? Well in the book of Malachi chapter four verse five it says there that God sends Elijah before the great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. And when you look at the works that they do you see that Elijah did similar things. Notice it says in verse five, 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. These have power to shut heaven so that no rain falls in the days of their prophecy. 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 you know that in the case of Elijah that Elijah according to first Kings 18 verses 20 through 40 he called fire down from heaven. In first Kings chapter 17 verse one as well as James chapter five verses 17 and 18 God allowed Elijah to cause the rain to stop falling for the space of three and a half years. And so you see that they have certain powers like it says in verse six to shut heaven so that no rain falls in the days of the prophecy. So there are those who would say this sounds very much like the Lord has brought Elijah to work. Moses, when you look at Moses, Moses brought the plagues. And as Moses brought these plagues they included the waters turning to blood. Another reason why some would say that this could be them is because both of them were with Jesus in Matthew 17 one through five and what is called the Mount of Transfiguration. And so that's why people say and they only speculate we don't know of course that it could very well be Elijah and Moses. Now they're wearing sack cloth. Sack cloth is a symbol of mourning and gives you an insight into their ministry. Now as they're going out and they're doing this ministry think about this for a moment. When they're being opposed it says that and someone's trying to harm them. Verse five it says fire proceeds from their mouth and devours their enemies. That would be kind of cool. No, you're sharing your faith with somebody on the job and they don't want to hear it and you go, the burned up. Next, you'll have revival I promise you. Well, they have this ministry but it's limited to a for a certain time because in verse seven it says when they finish their testimony the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit will make war against them, overcome them and kill them. Their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt where also our Lord was crucified. That's the city of Jerusalem. Those from the people's tribes, tongues and nations will see their dead bodies three and a half days not allow their dead bodies to be put into graves. And 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. Think about that for a minute. You think you're being opposed when you're preaching the gospel and somebody just says, I don't want to hear you. These people have desperately wanted to kill them. They were unable to do it because God had protected them but she gives to us some insight and I'll say this briefly but it gives you some insight and it's been said this way you are indestructible until the Lord determines you're coming home. Keep that in mind. You are indestructible until God determines you're coming home and that's a great thing to know that God's taking care of you. And so as they're given the word out and they're being greatly opposed and people hate them because conviction causes interesting responses on those who are being convicted. Not everybody appreciates conviction and sometimes in the Holy Spirit is convicting somebody they can get angry, they can do strange and odd things. And as they're given the word out there are some who are trying to violently oppose them but these people haven't got the ability to do that. Why? Because they're able to take care of their enemies in that fashion but at a certain point God says, your ministry's over and I'm taking you home and they end up dying. It says in verse seven they finish their testimony the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit will make war against them, overcome them and kill them. And this beast that's being referred to is the Antichrist. This is the first of 36 references of the one referred to as the beast in Revelation. 36 references as the beast, the Antichrist. We will see him more closely in chapter 13 and 17 but the beast is a man, his power is derived from Satan that's the image of coming up from the abyss. So conviction brings torment and hatred and when the witnesses die people rejoice. The Lord removes them and takes them home. It's interesting, notice again their death is an occasion for great rejoicing because they're no longer preaching. I had somebody write me a letter a while back now it's been a while now and this person was upset because they lived in the neighborhood across the street and they weren't happy because members of our church were parking in the neighborhood over there and they were mad. They were mad because our people apparently were pulling up in front of their house and sometimes our people would open their door maybe and drop their trash out in the gutter and stuff like that and I didn't blame this individual by the way for being upset. Of course we shouldn't use somebody's yard for our trash can but they were real angry and they wrote me a letter and they said in the letter I can hardly wait for the church to be out of here. So I wrote back and I said, you know what? That's gonna happen in an event called the Rapture and I don't think you're gonna be happy when that happens because sometimes people actually hate the message some of you know this firsthand hate the message so much that they would almost rejoice if you died. So they would have peace because you finally shut up. I don't have to hear it anymore. Do you know that that actually is true? There are those who really do believe that but that's actually gonna happen. They rejoice. They actually make this kind of like a anti-Christ celebration like a Christmas celebration it's an anti-Christmas celebration where they're actually giving gifts to one another and they're partying because these two men that they were so afraid of and could do nothing to harm while the beast made war against them, killed them they give all credit to the beast, the anti-Christ and they rejoice and they leave their bodies in the street. Now this is interesting now I want you to see this by the way they leave their bodies in the street and people can see it and see this notice first time those from the peoples, tribes, tongues and nations will see their dead bodies three and a half days how would that have been possible 2,000 years ago? They're gonna be people and well maybe this sounds a bit crass to you but who are taking selfies next to the bodies and they're gonna be putting it on their Facebook or Instagram or whatever and they're gonna be posting it. There's gonna be a live satellite feed of these dead bodies where the whole world will be able to see it. Now again, remember with me 2,000 years ago that was unheard of how would it have been possible for the whole world to see this? In our day we know exactly how because we receive news every day from around the world you know we're around the world in 80 seconds you know we're in Africa here we're gonna be in India here we're gonna be in China here we're gonna go to Mexico here around the world in 80 seconds and you're getting pictures live sometimes feeds from around the world and that's what's gonna happen. So the bodies will be lying they're dead now by leaving them unburied that is a great insult because in the Jewish religion and the Jewish faith you bury the bodies immediately you don't leave them out like this so this gives you insight into them desecrating them and devaluing them it's a great insult that's why they leave it out in this fashion and the way that they do it and they're celebrated celebrating these it's like they're gonna be saying these self-righteous haters are dead they're dead as they send their instant messages to one another about these haters all being dead so everything is gonna be great for about three and a half days and then something happens they rise it says in verse 11 after the three and a half days the breath of life from God entered them they stood on their feet and great fear fell on those who saw them and they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them come up here they ascended to heaven in a cloud and their enemies saw them in the same hour there was a great earthquake and a tenth of the city fell and the earthquake 7,000 men were killed the rest were afraid and gave glory to the God of heaven the second wall was passed, behold the third wall is coming quickly they're supernaturally resurrected slowly they ascended to heaven the people are watching them as that voice has come up here and great fear of course hits everybody imagine, it's hard to imagine isn't it? Imagine as they're watching this they stand to their feet I mean it's like they have the little party favors that they've been going all of a sudden it's just the little hats and they watch that take place what's interesting, I want you to note this in a couple of thoughts and we'll close the great fear comes upon them the enemies saw them but they also gave glory to God that means that some when they saw this took into consideration what had been said and some of them actually were going to come to faith in God through these judgments they give glory to God this earthquake hits a tenth of the city falls 7,000 men are killed the rest are afraid they give glory to the God of heaven so even in the midst of this God is still saving people God still saves people this emphasizes to me the righteousness of God but it also emphasizes the grace of God because even after all that was taking place there are some that see this that would appear to a genuine faith in the Lord it only takes trusting God to be saved remember that in Romans chapter 4 verse 20 through 22 Abraham did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief he was strengthened in faith giving glory to God and being fully convinced that what he had promised he was also able to perform therefore it was accounted to him for righteousness you can have a relationship with God even at the last moment as these did many died but some came to faith