 So let's begin reading here in Revelation 11 at verse one. We'll read verses one and two. Like I said, I'm going to give you Pretty much the same thing I gave you last time adding a couple of details and we would I should probably say good morning to those of you who are right now wearing your bunny slippers and pajamas our Online viewers and I'm talking about the men the women. I don't know but It's good to have you with us and we look forward to having you with us live as soon as you're able So Revelation chapter 11 verses 1 and 2 then we'll move into verse 3 and conclude up to verse 14 And John writes 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 for three and a half years and So again, I shared much of this with you. Please to bear with me. Perhaps we need to say it twice I don't know But as we're looking at this passage John has been commanded To take the little book out of the hand of the mighty angel. We had seen that in chapter 10 and this little book contained information concerning the future that awaiting believers and Remember as he had taken that book from the angel. He was commanded to take it and Eat it so taking and eating was speaking of assimilating and absorbing the word of God He had been told that the book would be sweet to the taste but bitter to the stomach So the word first would be sweet to the taste For believers There's nothing to be more greatly desired than the word of God We realize that God's word is pure We know that it is beloved and we also know that it instructs us and we're to follow its command Even as Psalm 119 verse 140 says your word is very pure. Therefore your servant loves it So God's word is valued God's word is valued by the Christian and God's word is to be desired above all material things Psalm 19 verse 10 says more to be desired. Are they then gold? Yeah, they're much fine gold sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb in Job 23 verse 12 Job said I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my daily bread So as believers we know that God's word is sweet to the taste We know that there are benefits in loving and keeping God's word like it says in 9th Psalm 19 verse 11 moreover by them your servant is warned and in keeping them. There is great reward So Jesus made it clear that God's word was of immense importance and value Again, he'd said in Matthew 4 verse 4 man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God So for the Christian God's word is sweet God's word is to be desired His word will be sweet to you because you desire God to act and you desire God to be honored But verse 9 says it'll also be bitter because a future that awaits and believers is going to cause you pain Having concern for others will always cause pain when you understand their future. See that's the thing that drives somebody in Ministry that's what drives you in life. It's a concern for people's future That's what drove me to tell my mom and my dad my sisters my brother and those that I encountered That's what drove me to tell them. I was teaching a Bible study a young lady shows up in that Bible study Here's the word of God had never heard a Bible study before and two or three weeks later She comes to faith in Christ and I ended up marrying her the word is of great value It changes lives and God is able through his word to put together his plans for us And so his God God's word shall always be desired It should always be acted upon it should always be honored But for those who reject it the future that awaits and believers will head on a cause pain to us Having concern for others will always cause pain when you understand their future in Romans 9 verse 3 Paul said it like this Paul said I could wish that I myself were a curse from Christ for my brethren my countrymen according to the flesh I'd give up my salvation for them to be saved in Romans 10 verse 1 brethren my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved So in in obeying God's word in direction There is there is a great reward But on the other hand for those who refuse to do that there is great penalty in John 1248 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 So the more you hear the more you have to account for Somebody who was raised in a Christian home and rejects the word of God has a great amount to account for Because the word that you've heard is going to be used as the judgment Because you rejected Christ In John 15 verse 22 if I had not come and spoken to them They would have no sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin And so John had been told Prophecy Prophecy again about many people's nations and tongues Continue writing out the prophecies that you're delivering to the people these prophecies relate to everyone Everywhere and bring them warning of judgment And so that's what we had seen in chapter 10 So beginning in Chapter 11 at verse 1. He says I was given a read like a measuring rod So John is given a measuring rod and a command rise and measure the temple of God Measure the altar and those who worship there Now this event takes place during the last half of the tribulation called the great tribulation In Matthew 24 21 Jesus said then there will be great tribulation Such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time. No nor shall ever be In revelation 7 verse 14 we had seen how he's how it says I said to him sir, you know So he said to me these are the ones who come out of the great tribulation wash their robes and made them white In the blood of the lamb So during this time God is going to raise up two bright lights in the midst of great darkness And we're going to see that in just a moment But again, I'm going to revisit some of the things that we've already seen in verses 1 and 2 So when he said in verse 1 rise and measure the temple of God the altar and those who worship there These events that are being mentioned take place in Jerusalem Now when you read your bible the word Jerusalem the city of Jerusalem is is found some 806 times And the word Jerusalem can actually be translated city of or habitation of peace Even though it's called the habitation of peace More wars have been fought in Jerusalem than any other city in the world The city of Jerusalem has been burned to the ground no less than five times And in recent history has been the center of no less than four concentrated wars The temple that is being referred to here Speaks of the fact that that Jerusalem is once again under the authority of the jews Now we know that israel was reestablished as a nation in 1948 In 1967 after the sixth day war, Jerusalem came under jewish authority On december 6 2017 president trump formally recognized Jerusalem as the capital of israel And the american embassy was moved from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem on may 14th 2018 That would make it clear that the temple which does not yet exist must be rebuilt Now jesus had told his men that the temple would be destroyed in matthew 24 verses 1 and 2 It says jesus went out and departed from the temple and 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 That particular Destruction that he's speaking of was fulfilled in ad 70 under the roman general titus And that means that the temple had already been destroyed by the time of the writing of revelation That makes it clear that the temple spoken of would be a future temple Now in matthew 24 jesus spoke of events that would transpire during the great tribulation And he made it clear that the temple would be in existence at that time In matthew 24 15 he said when you see standing in the holy place the abomination that causes desolation Spoken up through the prophet daniel let the reader understand that tells us that the temple is rebuilt And that the holy place is once again in existence Now jesus was speaking in matthew 24 specifically to the jews We see that in matthew 24 20 when he said to them pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath So we know he's speaking to the jewish nation And later on we're going to see This is the place where antichrist is exposed for who he is Now paul spoke of that when he was writing to the thessalonians in second thessalonians 2 3 and 4 He had said don't let anyone deceive you in any way For that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness Which is another name for antichrist the man of lawlessness is revealed The man doomed to destruction He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called god or worship So that he sets himself up in god's temple proclaiming himself to be god So we know the temple is going to be rebuilt We know antichrist will be exposed for who he is because he's going to be in that temple proclaiming himself to be god And so This is going to take place in the last half of the tribulation, but how will it happen again? I mentioned this to you last week Daniel gave what is called the 70 weeks prophecy And when he gave that prophecy it reveals that antichrist is going to make a treaty with the nation of israel In daniel 9 27 it says he'll confirm a covenant with many for one seven speaking of seven years In the middle of the seven he will put an end to sacrifice an offering And on the wing of the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation Until the end that is decreed is poured out on him He's going to have a covenant a covenant. It's simply another way of speaking of a treaty The antichrist is going to have a treaty And in that treaty Undoubtedly that treaty will include resuming temple sacrifice in a rebuilt temple So the jewish temple has to be rebuilt jesus spoke concerning that pal prophesied concerning that The jewish temple has to be rebuilt Now i mentioned that when we go to jerusalem we go to the temple institute And the institutes activities include education and research Development the temple institutes ultimate goal is to see israel rebuild the holy temple on mount mariah in jerusalem In accordance with the biblical commandments. That's what they say of themselves And so again the problem with rebuilding is islam islam has two important buildings on the temple mount It has the al aksa mosque It has the dome of the rock The dome of the rock is where many muslims believe muhammad ascended to heaven So how can you have a temple built on a muslim holy site without world jihad? Well, the biblical archaeological review states that the actual place of the temple is 26 meters from the dome of the rock When you look at diagrams of the temple, it's divided the temple area is divided into four court Four courtyards. You have the court of the gentiles and court of the women court of israel and the court of the priests As part of the agreement A section could be left for muslims and the dome of the rock Ezekiel indicates that there will be a wall separating the temple From a place and it could be the mosque in ezekiel 42 verse 20 It says he measured the area on all four sides It had a wall around it 500 cubits long and 500 cubits wide to separate the holy from the common Now I mentioned that the dome of the tablets and the dome of the spirits It's also called is lined up with the eastern gate The eastern gate is where messiah is to enter into the temple The eastern gate is one of eight gates that was built into the wall surrounding the temple It provides the only entrance from the east and it faces the mount of olives So the prophet Ezekiel wrote in Ezekiel 43 verses one and two Afterward he brought me to the gate the gate that faces toward the east And behold the glory of the god of israel came from the way of the east In chapter 43 verse 4 of Ezekiel the glory of the lord came into the temple by way of the gate which faces toward the east Well as Ezekiel went on to prophesy in chapter 44 verses 1 and 2 He brought me back to the outer gate of the sanctuary which faces toward the east. It was shut And the lord said to me this gate shall be shut It shall not be opened no man shall enter by it Because the lord god of israel has entered by it. Therefore it shall be shut Well in ad 70 the gate was destroyed But between the sixth and seventh century or so it was rebuilt In 1541 Suleiman the first sealed the gate Because Suleiman had heard messiah was to enter it If you go to israel now you have a sealed gate you can see just the the crown of it But right in front of The the gate when you're looking from the mount of olives towards the dome of the rock Right in front of it is a muslim cemetery So they've been burying people there in front of the eastern gate for many years They believed that if they built a cemetery That a jewish holy man would never defile himself by going amongst the dead And that's why they have this cemetery and when we're there on the In and the garden of guess gethsemane We will actually be looking from the garden of gethsemane right towards the eastern gate And as we are looking down there i'll point out there is the cemetery Because they thought that by building the cemetery it would prevent messiah from entering in the eastern gate And when you're there on the on the uh in the garden area Looking towards You'll see the towards the west you'll see the dome of the rock But you'll also see that the eastern gate is not lined up with the dome of the rock. It's actually off to the side And that's because that's where they would actually go in To temple worship and so it appears that they're going to be able to have in the covenant The ability to build or rebuild the temple and re-institute temple sacrifice Well being able to continue to have the dome of the rock And in doing so that covenant will allow both jew and and muslim to have their sites without a war In verse one john is to measure the temple the altar those who worship there So when he speaks of temple that word temple is a is a word neos it speaks of Of the inner temple it speaks of what is called the holy place and that would be also leading to the holy of holies So the temple speaks of that inner temple the altar speaks of the brazen altar Which is the altar of sacrifice which is outside the holy place. It's in the courtyard Then he speaks concerning the people the people would speak of the jews who have been saved who are there worshiping Now the days are increasingly growing darker judgment is falling upon the world In the midst of the judgment god has witnesses that declare his grace Remember the 144 000 jewish evangelists that are protected by god during this time, but they're not alone in their witness Notice how he says leave out the court, which is outside the temple. That's the court of the gentiles It's a boundary separating jew from gentile Gentiles aren't to come close to the temple It's given over to the gentiles until antichrist under antichrist you suffer persecution But at this time god will use two preachers and these two preachers will bring many to salvation Verse three i will give power to my two witnesses And no it's not raw wreath And they will prophesy 1260 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 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 Then 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 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 They stood on their feet great fear fell on those who saw them They heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them come up here and they ascended to heaven in a cloud And their enemies saw them in the same hour There was a great earthquake a tenth of the city fell In the earthquake seven thousand people were killed And the rest were afraid and gave glory to the god of heaven The second woe is past behold the third woe is coming Quickly we're introduced now to two witnesses They're going to be ministering the last three and a half years of the tribulation That makes it that makes sense because antichrist evil rule dominates the last half of the tribulation Notice how they wear sackcloth when it speaks of these witnesses wearing sackcloth sackcloth is a symbol of mourning For the unbelieving christ rejecting world They were warned of coming disasters. They're going to be speaking of the judgment of god They're going to preach judgment in hell And we'll call people to receive the gospel and to repent And he says in verse four these are the two olive trees and the two lamp stands When you when you look at the book of Zechariah The book of Zechariah symbolizes these these lamp stands symbolize the source of light as well as revival In Zechariah 4 verses 2 and 3 it says he asked me what do you see? I answered I see a solid gold lamp 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 And the other on its left in verse 11 of chapter 4 He says I asked the angel. What are these two olive asked the angel? What are these two olive trees on the right and left of the lamp stand? And in verse 14 he said these are the two who are anointed to serve the lord of all the earth So these two prophets Are going to lead a spiritual movement in israel Their testimony and their preaching is going to produce conversions many conversions And so as they're preaching god is going to divinely protect them notice verse 5 If anyone wants to harm them fire proceeds from their mouth and devours Their enemies now I wouldn't mind that but Such a ministry Is going to cause many To desire to shut them up I want to talk to you about that for just a moment. We'll take a Few moments to look at this portion again if anyone wants to harm them fire proceeds from the mouth devours the enemy If anyone wants to harm them he must be killed in this manner We all know this we're seeing it more today We see a lot of it in other countries There's more persecution going on now than almost in any time in history In various countries people are beheaded for the faith in christ imprisoned for their faith in christ there Their their churches are burned down Sometimes the churches are burned down with believers inside These things are taking place even as I speak and and and we americans up to this point Have have been very very protected by the lord. I think we can all say that Even though we're seeing movement now made against the church to silence our voice It is being done right now Again, all of us see that all of us know that if we don't know that we ought to A friend of mine don mcclure's son marcus Not marcus a michael is the pastor up in calvary chapel san jose And the state of california has been coming against him for some time He he is now being fined a million dollars. They want to put him in jail for five days for preaching the gospel This is taking place right now. It's taking place in the calvary chapel family. It's taking place right now right now We just don't see it. We're not aware of it. It's not always reported. You don't read it in the newspapers, do you? Do you see it on the news? No, why not because many times the news won't report those kinds of things But we're aware of it. We know what's taking place. I'm aware of it right now That's taking place. It takes place all over the world persecution those who live godly for christ jesus paul said in second timothy 312 Shall suffer persecution That's what happened. Jesus promised it to us. It's going to happen And so here in the book of revelation, we see it unfolding We have two witnesses and and when the two witnesses are preaching you need christ You need the gospel you'll get peace if you do and god's grace They don't want to hear that message and so what they do is they're going to be opposed And and that's because people can become violent when they hear a message that calls for a change of life See a lot of people want to have christ and their sin too. They want to continue in their sin and go to heaven They believe they're going to heaven anyway right now All you have to do today in the united states is die and you go to heaven Just don't be as bad as a mass murderer. Don't be a charlie manson or whatever and you'll go to heaven. Everybody thinks that Everybody thinks all you need to do is die and you'll go to heaven by the bible didn't teach that but american culture does And a lot of people believe in christianity at least intellectually that's why on christmas We still celebrate it even though people say don't say merry christmas. Say happy holidays There are still many many americans who will use the word christmas because they realize that christmas is a celebration of jesus christ So we live in a in a uh a society that acknowledges certain things, but will not acknowledge repentance And that's the problem guys Is we want our sin and salvation too you can't have both And when these ministers are preaching They will want to harm them They want to harm them the bible says in psalm 37 12 the wicked plots against the just And gnashes at him with his teeth They don't like hearing it So they'll pass laws shut up. They'll ban you from from social media. Don't write your posts We don't want to hear about prayer. We don't want and they really don't and it doesn't take a whole lot of people It doesn't have to take millions it takes one person with power to pull the plug It's all it takes just one person and a committee of people who are saying oh, you shouldn't say this You know, we're reading your posts and we think that goes against our standards We're living in that right now And and americans don't seem to understand what's going on. We really don't They are censoring the gospel And you don't you don't see it You don't see it some some rock star dies And people are crying on tv A preacher of the gospel who lived faithfully for christ for many years dies and you never even hear it Why because the world doesn't care and i'm not complaining it doesn't matter to me whether i get the acclaim of the world I don't care, but i see it And sometimes people don't and they don't like being told that there's sinners nobody really does I mean, I didn't wake up this morning and join marie calling me center five times I said takes one to no one but you know That's what happens guys We're living in a time when the wicked gnash their teeth and they do Say something on the job Be there in your office say something about christ about repentance Say something And when you do do they all stand up and applaud all you know, we needed to hear that no they get upset They may report you they may say you're pushing your faith down my throat That's what they do. I'm not complaining against them. That's the reality of life. I'm simply identifying the reality That's what happens. That's what happens You don't find a lot of people who are willing to come and hear about repentance There are a lot of people who will go to a church if they're entertained Or informed But they don't want to hear actual gospel. They don't want to hear that. Why because it calls for a change of life Change that they don't want to have You see sometimes the fear of man's response may tempt Us to refrain from speaking And this is common in what is today called the the uh cancel culture. We're all hearing that term It's simply a way of shutting you up If I don't approve of what you're saying, I don't want you to say it and now I was just listening to the news and I won't draw too much of that into my study today other than to make this observation Where I heard several people saying we need to reprogram the way these people think I heard several people say that Several news broadcasters from various organizations saying the same line because a lot of times They're just fed lines and they all repeat that that's how people's minds are brainwashed. That's how everybody's saying this We we learned that I learned that when I was nine years old About how to sell something and I learned that in school when I was in the fourth grade They said there are various ways for you to be able to get your opinion made and part of the propaganda is simply to say Everybody believes this I learned that in 1959 And it is true now as as it was then a lot of people have never been taught that They just been victimized by it. So if every news program you hear says the same thing You begin to believe that that is true because you don't go to another source to discover whether or not there are facts behind it It's simply emotions. And by the way, we don't like Facts, right? We like our feelings and americans are filled with feelings. And so if someone feels offended They will say don't say this. It's called cancel culture. Not only do they not want you to say it But they want to reprogram you like in 1984. So you don't believe it anymore That's a fact Don't say anything that I don't approve of is now American way of thinking which makes it more difficult by the way to preach a gospel message When Jeremiah was called the prophet Jeremiah He was hesitant He was hesitant to accept the call He even tried to evade it When you look at the book of Jeremiah in the old testament in chapter one verses four through eight It says the word of the lord came to me saying Before I formed you in the womb. I knew you Before you were born I sanctified you I ordained you a prophet to the nations Then said I lord god Behold I cannot speak i'm a youth But the lord said to me do not say i'm a youth For you shall go to all to whom I send you and whatever I command you you shall speak Listen do not be afraid of their faces for i'm with you to deliver you saith the lord Jeremiah didn't want to speak Many of us in this room don't either many who are watching right now online don't either I don't want to cause problems. I don't want to have arguments. I don't want to start a fight So we just keep our mouth shut And somebody begins to speak to us and somebody's sharing with us and it's that person in you alone that person in me alone And they're speaking and the holy spirit's prompting your heart to say tell them about the love of god Tell them how god forgives sin Tell them how good god is Oh no, if I do I'll get in trouble If I do they may reject me if I do and that's what's going on. There's so much Canceled culture that christians are being silenced by threats And now laws that are passed called hate speech laws So if I preach the whole gospel and actually go through the book of romans and read chapter one and give you what paul actually said You're speaking hate speech. There are there are already countries you can be put in jail For preaching the gospel that you wouldn't think Go to canada Go to canada and preach romans one which speaks of various sins And your your your teaching will be confiscated by the government You can be fined They don't allow it Surprise, but it's true And perhaps that's where we're moving right now. It's going to come to a time I'm going to preach you who preaches the whole council Can be put in jail. That's why i'm going to hand the church to john But i'll visit you I will I promise you That's that that time is coming it it's very much now I mean churches already have been successfully shut down Many churches you may or may not be aware of this have folded Because of the um the requirements through covet in all The voice of the church is being silenced and we're not even aware of it But it's taking place even right now. That's why I made a decision That's why back in march when they said you're gonna shut down I am willing to do whatever it is to protect this church But I got to the point where I said, you know what? I want to protect their spiritual life too. We're gonna meet again. We're gonna talk about Jesus as a group That's what we're going to do. That's what we did You know and and and so that's that's what that's what ministers do And but the time has come Where we're beginning to see this unfold you see we have a message people need to hear it We speak of the grace of god. We speak of god's forgiveness We warn people of the judgment to come And people need to hear there's hope People need to hear there's forgiveness But not all people appreciate it and and violent responses do occur We need to be wise When we share But we need to share when we're led to And that's what's taking place in verse 6 It says they 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 this has led some to speculating That these two prophets being spoken of here. This is all speculation Could very well be elisha and moses Why is that? Well The old testament states that elisha returns before messiah In malachi 4 verse 5 i will send you elisha the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the lord So they say that sounds like elisha It also they also speak of it sounding like moses Because in deuteronomy 18 verse 15 it says the lord your god will raise up for you a prophet like me From your midst from your brethren him you shall hear So they say these are characteristics of both elisha and moses in the old testament But also the miracles that are performed are like the works that moses and elisha performed when they were on earth Notice how fire proceeds from their mouth That's reminiscent of elisha In first kings 18 verses 20 through 40 those verses reveal elisha calling down fire from heaven In first king 17 verse 1 as well as james 5 verses 17 and 18 elisha caused the rain to stop falling for three and a half years When you look at moses while moses brought the plagues which included water turning to blood You see that in the book of exodus so Both were with jesus and both of them were on with jesus on the mount transfiguration in matthew 17 So these are the things that cause people to wonder if perhaps they could very well be elisha And moses again scripture doesn't give their names. We can only speculate and wonder But notice in verse 7 when they finish their testimony the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit Will make war against him overcome their notice and kill them Now when it says the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit, that's the first of 36 references Of one that is referred to as the beast He is antichrist. We're going to see him more closely in chapters 13 and 17 But we see that the beast is a man and we see that his power is derived from satan And this is what john means when he says he comes up from the abyss You see in chapter 12 satan is portrayed as a dragon. He's not called the beast But chapter 13 reveals that the beast is a world ruler and is called Antichrist He portrays himself the antichrist portrays himself as messiah. You see We use the word anti very much to speak of being in opposition He's anti this or anti that but the word anti could also mean instead of And the word antichrist is presenting himself instead of Jesus who is messiah and he portrays himself as messiah And he rules and we'll see this he rules over people and he demands worship And it's the beast who overcomes the two witnesses So notice it says in verse 7 That he will make war against him overcome them and kill them And their dead bodies will lie in the street of the city, which is spiritually called saddam and egypt Where also our lord was crucified that would be the city of jerusalem One of the things i was thinking of just before walking up to teach is Is the fact that these men these witnesses are Invulnerable until the lord's gives permission for them to die It's appointed unto men to die once and after this is judgment And god determines the moment of their death Now without i didn't prepare a lot of thoughts about this is just something i was thinking about That's one of the things for me in my own life that i That's one of the rules of my own life is that and and and i don't mean this in In the way it can it can appear but I'm invulnerable until god says it's time When the lord says it's time to go no matter what i do i'm going To die But you can't take my life from me If i'm not presumptuous if i'm not Leaping from the pinnacle of the temple and shortening my life voluntarily A person can't take my life from me until god says it's time for you So don't live in fear Don't be living in fear You know there are things i don't want to have happened to me god knows those secret things But one of the things i'm not afraid of is death itself I'm not afraid of that because my name is written in the lambs book of life Because when i close my eyes here it's only to be looking at him face to face Why would i be afraid of that i've been preparing myself for that since the day i got saved And one of these days and it's not that long now I'll be looking at him face to face Why would that cause me fear So the fear of death doesn't reside in me Not because i'm stupid and not because i am so faithful No, because he's faithful He has promised and these two witnesses are Invulnerable when people wanted to come and take them fire came out of their mouth These people became crispy critters because they burned them And then the lord says now i'm going to let you You die and they do And notice what happens Their dead bodies verse 8 will lie in the street of the great city, which is spiritually called Sodom in Egypt Or also our lord was crucified What happens is Jerusalem has become terribly evil. It is the seat of antichrist rule So the people dishonor them They leave them to decay without burial In israel it's it's appropriate to bury quickly But they leave their bodies there to begin to decay And notice verse 9 then those from the people's tribes tongues and nations will see their dead bodies Three and a half days and not allow their dead bodies to be put in the grave How is it that everybody and notice Those from the people's tribes tongues and nations speaks of the world How is it that the world will see their dead bodies seems obvious satellite broadcasting And verse 10 and those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them make merry send gifts to one another Because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth If you want to see how wickedness reacts to righteousness here is a clear picture The people who had been convicted by their preaching party They give gifts to one another their consciences were tormented These prophets are dead. They celebrate You see conviction brings torment and hatred And when the witnesses died the people rejoice In matthew 24 verses 9 and 10 jesus said they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you You will be hated by all nations for my name's sake Many will be offended will betray one another and will hate One another and john 16 verse 2 he said that will put you out of the synagogues Yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers god service So their deaths become an occasion of celebration. They they send messages to one another They take selfies they party on The self-righteous haters are dead It's like a holiday. They begin to exchange gifts It says that they were tormented and they think they are now safe The call to repentance the warning of further judgment Ultimate judgment is cease and the response is relief and they party. I didn't want to hear that You bothered me when you brought it up. You'd say these things to me and now that voice is silent I don't have to hear it anymore It's dead, but verse 11 after three and a half days the breath of life From god entered him god breathed life into them Even as he breathed life into the first man adam And in verse 12 it says Verse 11 it says great fear fell on all those who saw them. They heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them come up here They ascended to heaven in a cloud Their enemies saw them A huge amount of the population Is now about to be killed by an earthquake in the same hour There was a great earthquake and a tenth of the city fell In the earthquake seven thousand people were killed the rest were afraid and gave glory to the god of heaven The second woe is past behold The third woe is coming quickly Fear begins to strike Some even gave glory to god, which is usually a phrase to speak of people actually Believing in him It seems that some come to faith Through these judgments in romans chapter 4 verses 20 through 22 It says abraham didn't waver at the promise of god through unbelief But 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 So it appears that many who are giving glory to the god of heaven are actually being converted Coming to faith because they believed and they saw and it drew them But he says finally verse 14 the second woe is past behold The third woe is coming quickly This is the end of what is called the sixth trumpet judgment. It's leading now to the seventh The seventh trumpet judgment introduces the final series of judgments. We'll be looking at called the bowl judgments The bowl judgments lead to the return of jesus recorded in chapter 19 He says the second woe is past Behold the third woe is coming quickly. It's coming soon Behold the bowl judgments are about to hit As I mentioned to you and we'll close with this thought there are a series of judgments that began with the break End of the seals moved to the trumpets and now It's about to see the worst of the worst We have seen bad things up to this point where the earth is devastated natural disasters plagues and death But it's going to get worse and that's why he's saying and now it's going to move more quickly than it has up to this point Be aware he says the bowl judgments are about to fall on the earth You know one of the things that we need to as christians today is we need to take seriously the word of god to believe that god's word is true Prophecy has been called pre-written history. These are words that are most surely going to take place And if you haven't come to faith in christ yet and speak to those also online If you haven't come to faith in jesus christ if you haven't received his grace if you haven't repented God's word is true heaven and earth will pass away. Jesus said about my word shall never pass away God's word is a sure word. It's a pure word. It will definitely come to pass And if you have yet to receive christ, you need to receive them You need to turn from your wicked ways and you need to say god be merciful to me I turn from them and I turn to you lord save me forgive me wash me cleanse me make me new Because lord, I know these things are taking place. I know they're about to We're seeing them begin to unfold even in our day. We're seeing how people can believe a lie even in our day And it's going to be even worse The church is going to be removed and all hell is going to break loose And as we're looking at this we're seeing actually heaven's going to break loose on earth The wrath of the lamb will fall on those who rejected him. So why reject him? God will forgive you. God loves you. He'll wash you cleanse you give you brand new life No, we need to receive him and if you haven't done that yet you need to do that today