The Witness and the Dragon

Look back over your life at things that were just about to happen. Dr. Tony Evans says when some of us recall a time when we narrowly escaped disaster.

What people would say is, I was lucky. That is heaven orchestrating things. This is the alternative broadcast featuring the timeless biblical teachings from the archives of Dr. Tony Evans.

Many of us have watched football games where one team seems unstoppable in the first half, only to see the underdog make a surprising comeback in the second, entirely changing the outcome. Well, we've reached a similar halftime moment in the book of Revelation, and today Dr. Evans dives into what's coming next. Let's listen in as he reveals the intense confrontation between divine power and humanity's defiance in a message called The Witness and the Dragon. We've come to the middle of the tribulation, the three and a half years. Tribulation is divided into two halves.

It's a seven-year period of two three and a half year segments. It's called the tribulation period. The rapture has already occurred. Believers are with the Lord, and now God is unleashing what He has held back, and it's called the day of the Lord. You and I are today living in the day of man.

One of the questions I always get is, why does God allow so much evil to take place in the world? And that is because this is the day of man, when He has allowed man to make his own choice. When that day ends, it becomes the day of the Lord, where he's gonna determine now what happens. And so we're at the middle of the tribulation period, and he sees another angel that is just—this angel is spectacular, clothed with a cloud, rainbow on its head, verse 1 says, face like the sun. He has in his hand a little book, which was open, and he places right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land. And he cries out with this loud voice, with the lion's roar, cries out seven peals of thunder, which is the perfect noise uttered out through the voices.

Seven is the number of completion. And when the seven peals of thunder had spoken, I was about to write when I heard a voice from heaven saying, Seal up the things which the seven peals of thunder have spoken, and do not write them. So there's the secret that is taking place that God does not want written. The angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land lifted up his right hand to heaven and swore by him, who lives forever and ever, the Lord, who created heavens and earth, because God is creator. We're not subjects of evolution.

We're subjects of creation. The things in it and the sea and the things in it, there will be no delay any longer. Right now, the seventh trumpet has not been exposed yet. The seventh trumpet is going to open up a whole new set of things called the seven bowls. Then the voice, verse 8, which I heard from heaven, I heard again speaking to me and saying, Go take the book which is open in the hand of the angel who stands on the sea and on the land.

So I went to the angel, telling him to give me the little book, and he said to me, Take it and eat it. It will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be sweet as honey. In other words, it'll be sweet to taste, but it will be bitter when you swallow it. Okay? It's gonna be hard to swallow.

Okay? It's gonna be sweet because it's the Word of God. It's gonna be hard to digest.

I took the little book out of the angel's hand and ate it, and in my mouth it was sweet as honey, and when I had eaten it, my stomach was made bitter. And they said to me, You must prophesy again concerning many people and nations and tongues and kings. So he is now digesting the prophecy that is to come.

Okay? He's gonna be talking about or lead into the last three and a half years of the tribulation period. Before he does, though, in verse 11, we're introduced to the two witnesses in chapter 11. And they will prophesy for 1260 days clothed in sackcloth. There are two olive trees and two lampstands that stand before the Lord on the earth.

Okay? The olive trees and the two lampstands. The lampstands give light to the olive trees, and it speaks again of God's illumination. And if anyone wants to harm them, the two witnesses, fire flows out from their mouths and devours the enemies.

So if anyone wants to harm them, he must be killed in this way. These have the power to shut up the sky so that rain will not fall during the days of their prophesying. And they have power over the waters to turn them into blood and to strike the earth with every plague as often as they desire. So these are the two powerful men who show up in the tribulation as prophets. Now, a contemporary thought is that these two men are Elijah and Moses, because both were prophets in the Old Testament and both did these kind of miracles in the Old Testament. And these are also the two that showed up at the Mount of Transfiguration in Matthew 17, representing the Old Testament.

So we don't know that for sure, but that's the rationale for why the thought is that this is Moses and the prophet, but since they're not named, we can't say for sure. But these men, these prophets who will be able to do the Old Testament things that you read in the Old Testament now in the tribulation period, you don't see things like this happening today because of the age we're living in. You saw it happening in the Old Testament. You're gonna see it happening in the tribulation, because now the tribulation of the New Testament gets connected with the Old Testament, because this age, the church age, is no longer operative anymore.

And in this age, that's not normal. So these men will be able to do supernatural tasks as desired, as needed, as part of divine judgment. And when they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up out of the abyss will make war with them and overcome them and kill them. So nobody will be able to stop these two witnesses except the Antichrist, who will kill them—kind of sort of. Verse 8, and their dead bodies will be in the street of the great city, which mystically is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified.

The Lord of the two witnesses was crucified. Those from the people and tribes and tongues and nations will look at their dead bodies for three and a half days. Okay, so this will be on CNN, Fox News, MSNBC. In other words, this will be worldwide. But why wouldn't it be worldwide if these guys are doing all this miraculous activity and all of a sudden they're wiped out? So it will be worldwide. There will be worldwide attention on this and will not permit their dead bodies to be laid in a tomb. Well, what's the point the beast wants to make?

I'm the beast. And those, verse 10, who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and celebrate. So wait a minute. They're celebrating not over the two witnesses. They're celebrating over the beast who killed the two witnesses.

Okay? So all of a sudden, this beast is very popular for the whole world, because the whole world is watching this. And they will send gifts to one another. So this is a big part. It's a big celebration, because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth.

However, verse 11, after three and a half days, the breath of life from God came into them, and they stood on their feet, and a great fear upon those who were watching them. The party's over. It's time to call it a day.

You know, all of a sudden, everybody partying and watching TV. The beast is bragging, I didn't kill these two guys who've been causing you trouble. And all of a sudden, there is a resurrection after three days. That ought to help you right there.

Okay? So there is a supernatural depositing of life from God, and they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, come up here. Then they went up into heaven in the cloud, and their enemies watched them. Now, there's a whole lot of rationale going here that has not been made clear yet, and there are holes here. That's because we're going through this through events. When we hit chapter 12, we're going to be going back through the tribulation through personalities. And when we go back through through personalities, he's gonna fill in the gaps of what we've gone through so far based on events.

So he's hitting high point events. He's gonna go to personalities, back up, and put the personalities into events so you can put the story together. Many of us have watched movies like that that show something, then brings a person back and plugs them into a piece in the story. Well, it's sort of how this is unfolding. So these two witnesses have now been resurrected, and they've been raptured. And in that hour, verse 13, there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell. 7,000 people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven. So let me explain something about God. God allows negative things to happen if, out of those negative things, He gets more glory.

Okay? So He's gonna allow men to rebel. He'll even allow these two witnesses to be killed in order to do something that will bring Him greater glory.

Because if you think they were watching television when they died, they stuck to their TV when He rises from the dead. Coming up, Dr. Evans unpacks the powerful moment in Scripture that inspired the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel's Messiah, Don't Go Away. Impactful, amazing, intense, thought-provoking. That's how just a few students describe their experience since enrolling in the Tony Evans Training Center. The best part is the Training Center is wherever you and your online connection are. Going beyond a Sunday sermon, these compelling Bible study courses take a much deeper look at Scripture, the Bible's writers, social issues of today, and so much more. Log on today to learn more at tonyevanstraining.org.

tonyevanstraining.org. Explore the kingdom anytime, anywhere. The message we've been presenting today on the alternative is part of Dr. Evans' compelling series on Revelation, one of the Bible's most challenging books, filled with intense subject matter and complex symbolism. In this 10-part series, Dr. Evans guides us through Revelation's heavenly scenes and explains the spiritual meaning behind what God shows to John, revealing how they fit into our earthly timeline. Through these messages, you'll gain clarity on God's plans for the future and find the answer to the ultimate question, who alone is worthy to end evil on earth? We'd like to send you all 10 full-length messages from this powerful series on either CD or digital download so you have a chance to dig deeper and review them again at your own pace. For a limited time, we've packaged Tony's Revelation series along with his brand new book, Trusting God in Turbulent Times, a 30-day devotional guide designed to deepen your commitment and understanding of how God works through life's toughest seasons. They're both our gift to you and thanks for your support of this ministry. To take advantage of this special offer, visit tonyevans.org to get the details or call 1-800-800-3222 any time to connect with our resource team. That's 1-800-800-3222 or online at tonyevans.org. I'll repeat that contact information for you after the second part of today's message.

Here's Dr. Evans. Then the seventh angel sounded. There were loud voices in heaven saying, the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He will reign forever and ever. So there is an announcement.

There is an announcement. So now we're really close to the end of the tribulation because we're announcing that the kingdom is about to come, which is the second coming. The rapture is not the second coming. The second coming is when Jesus comes to earth. The rapture is when He comes in the air to receive believers, to meet Him in the air. He does not come to the earth in the rapture.

He only comes to the earth in the second coming or second Advent, as it's called. The 24 elders who sit there on the throne before God fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying, We give you thanks, O Lord Almighty, who are and who were, because you have taken your great powers and have begun to reign. And the nations were enraged, and your wrath came, and the time came for the dead to be judged, and the time to reward your bondservants, the prophets, and the saints, and those who fear your name, the small and the great, and to destroy those who destroy the earth. So now we hear about another resurrection. This is now the resurrection of Old Testament saints. The church has already been resurrected. This is now, at the end of the tribulation, when Old Testament saints get their new bodies.

And the temple of God, which is in heaven, verse 19, was opened, and the ark of His covenant appeared in His temple, because there is a temple, and there were flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder and earthquake and a great hailstorm. So we come to the end of chapter 11, and at the end of chapter 11, we have the preparation for the return of Christ, okay? And we've seen the events, the major flow of events leading up to it. So we want to now go to chapter 12. Chapter 12 now introduces us on a rewind, that is, so that we can look through the eyes of the personalities and get a grasp of the tribulation through the personalities, particularly the last three and a half years. Because the last three and a half years, Jesus called the Great Tribulation. The whole seven years is called the tribulation, or time of distress. The last three and a half years, Jesus says in Matthew 24, that's where Jesus predicts, prophesies about, actually chapter 24 and 25 of Matthew, Jesus predicted to His disciples about this coming tribulation. So now we get to view the tribulation through the eyes of the personalities that will be the dominant personalities in the tribulation period, predominantly in the second half of the tribulation.

Chapter 12, so let's go through some of this. A great sign appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. And she was with child, and she cried out, being in labor and in pain to give birth.

So we're introduced to the first person here, who's a woman who's pregnant and whose labor pains start with the purpose of giving birth. We know who this woman is because there are twelve stars, the twelve tribes of Israel. So the woman, who is called the wife of God in the Old Testament, is Israel. Israel was to give birth to Messiah. One of the purposes of the tribulation is to give birth to the second coming of Jesus Christ.

However, Jesus can't come until Israel receives Him. So Israel is troubled because she's in pain, because it's time to give birth. So we got the first personality, the woman, pregnant woman. Now we got another personality. Then another sign appeared in heaven. And behold, a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his hands were seven diadems. And his tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth.

And the dragon stood before the woman, who was about to give birth so that when she gave birth, he might devour the child. So now we're introduced to Satan. His tail, it says, swept away one third of the stars.

Angels are referred to as stars in Scripture. So one third of all the angels belonged to Satan. And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron. That's the kingdom, the millennial kingdom. And her child was caught up to God and to His throne.

Of course, we know Christ ascended. Then the woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared by God so that there she would be nourished for 1,260 days, or three and a half years. So God is going to protect Israel for three and a half years so that the baby can return. But he can't—the baby can't return until Israel receives Christ as Messiah.

Fast forward. When they finally receive Messiah, it says, they will look on Him whom they pierced and they will submit to Him as their Lord. Verse 7, And there was a war in heaven, Michael and his angels warring with the dragon. Because the angels have to protect Israel. Hebrews 1 14 says every believer has an angel. So you may not feel like your angels doing much, but wait till you see what would have happened and could have happened if he was not there. All right?

See, you're not aware of that. Just look back over your life at things that were just about to happen. If it wasn't in that nick of time, there would have been that car accident.

If you didn't do what you did at that moment, what people would say is, I was lucky. Uh-uh. That is heaven orchestrating things.

Okay? And the great dragon was thrown down. He was overcome by my man Mike. The great dragon, who is he?

The serpent of old, so we know he's the devil, who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world. He was thrown down to earth and his angels were thrown down with him. Let me just say this as a close. Hollywood ain't got nothing on this.

Simple as this. If Jesus Christ is real, then all this is real. If Jesus is not real, then none of it's real. So you got to make your decision on Jesus Christ. Because if it's not real, he's a liar. And if he's a liar, he can't be the Son of God. And if he's not the Son of God, then we believe and we're wasting our time. But if he is the Son of God, and he declared in Matthew 24 and 25 that all these things ought to come, then even though it's beyond our imagination, other than what Hollywood produces, this is real. To experience the reality of the Son of God, you must first recognize the personal sacrifice He made for you.

Here's Dr. Evans to walk you through it. When you're going through tough times—a job loss, a breakup, or maybe financial stress—having someone who loves you unconditionally is a game-changer, and no one can do that better than Jesus Christ. He proved it long ago when He made the ultimate sacrifice for each of us, and He proves it again and again each day in the lives of those who've already acknowledged His incomparable love. When you embrace Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, you not only receive an eternal home with Him, but you also unlock extra courage and hope for today, helping you face life's challenges with confidence. Invite Him into your life right now by saying this simple prayer with me. Dear Heavenly Father, I recognize Jesus Christ as your Son, who died on the cross for my sins and rose again. I invite you into my life to be my Savior and Lord.

Wash away my sins. Lead me in your ways. Thank you for your unconditional love and your gift of salvation. I trust in you and place my faith in your promise of eternal life.

In Jesus' name, amen. We encourage you to follow up on that prayer at toneavans.org. Click the link at the top of the home page that simply says Jesus. Dr. Evans has posted a video that explains God's plan of restoration, and you'll find some additional follow-up resources there as well.

Again, that's toneavans.org. Well, as mentioned earlier, today's lesson is part of a series from Dr. Evans on the book of Revelation. Don't forget, for a limited time, we are offering the full-length version of all 10 messages in this series on CD or digital download, along with Tony's brand-new 30-day devotional guide, Trust in God in Turbulent Times.

They're yours as our thank you gift when you make a donation to help us continue this ministry to a world desperately in need of the good news of Jesus Christ. Call us right away at 1-800-800-3222. Our resource center never closes, so don't wait. That's 1-800-800-3222. Or visit toneavans.org to make the arrangements. Again, toneavans.org. Well, on Monday, Dr. Evans unpacks the dramatic events surrounding the rise of the Antichrist, whose rebellion against God sets the stage for the final confrontation between good and evil. Be sure to join us for this compelling look at Revelation.